When scientists spot an asteroid whose trajectory might take it close to Earth, they monitor it frequently and calculate the probability that it might collide with our planet.

At the time of the announcement in January, the asteroid’s impact probability was reported to exceed 1%. The impact probability describes how likely a hazardous asteroid is to hit Earth.

Calculating probabilities How to describe probabilities and the probability scale Learn about probability, the probability scale and how to express probabilities with this BBC Bitesize Maths article.