The massive lump of rock – almost two miles wide and about a quarter of the size of Mount Everest – sailed past, passing a million miles closer than the space agency had predicted.

Travelling at a staggering 40,000 miles an hour the asteroid, known as 86666 (2000 FL10), could have wiped out a small country, killing thousands, if it had hit Earth when it rushed by in the early hours of Saturday morning.

After it had passed, NASA issued an all-clear to reassure people the scare was over.

But the agency revealed the shocking fact that the rock was actually 15million miles away from Earth rather than the 16m miles originally predicted.

The asteroid, which is estimated to be between 0.7miles and 1.6 miles wide, making it more than 15 times bigger than any of the others currently being monitored by NASA, was first spotted 16 years ago and experts have been tracking it ever since.

It is classified as a 'Near-Earth' asteroid because it comes within 4,600,000 miles of us and is large enough to cause significant damage if it smashes into the planet.

bbabo.Net