2010 AL30

If you're wondering what on Earth 2101 AL30 is, the simple answer is that it isn't.  On Earth, that is.  It's actually a 100 ton lump of rock which just missed us last week. According to Alan Harris of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, last week's unexpected visitor, called 2010 AL30, kept far enough from Earth to be invisible for more than a century. The prolonged avoidance occurred because the period of its solar orbit was 366 days - very close to Earth's year (though the close pass shifted the space rock into a 390-day orbit). Like a slightly slower race car that is periodically lapped by its competitor on a circular track, it stays far from Earth for long stretches.

"2010 AL30 may become a sort of 'poster child' for hiding asteroids," says Harris, thus warming the cockles of everyone's heart while presumably checking his shares in B & Q and concrete manufacturers.

But is it worth worrying about? After all, think of the dreadful things already happening on the Earth: earthquakes, Tsunami, Fires, Disease, Wars, the publication of the Daily Mail - the list is endless and thinking about all these things will only give you a headache, and most are insoluble - except perhaps the Daily Mail.  Of course, perhaps some good might come out of a small meteorite strike, if it came down on the Daily Mail...