Bloody hell. I caught this out of the corner of my eye on a recent news report but didn’t follow up on it. So, from The Register:

A vast, inky black sphere approximately the size of a nuclear aircraft carrier is plunging through the void of space towards planet Earth, though NASA rather panickily insists that it will definitely not smash into our planet with devastating force.

“The asteroid safely will safely fly past our planet slightly closer than the moon’s orbit on Nov 8”, says a NASA statement issued yesterday (our emphasis), perhaps indicating a certain level of flap at the space agency’s press office.

Now excuse me ‘slightly closer than the moon’s orbit’! In astronomical terms that’s what called too fucking close for comfort. No wonder there’s a bit of buttock clenching going on, and that’ll increase if someone’s calculations are a bit off. Of course, if this ‘blacker than charcoal object’ were to slightly alter its course and fall into orbit around Earth I suspect there’ll be a bit of pants filling too.