Space experts were poised to warn us that a deadly giant asteroid was about to threaten Earth. In scenes eerily reminiscent of Hollywood blockbuster Armageddon, it was feared the cosmic rock would come within a whisker of terra firma. Even astronomer Sir Patrick Moore sought to calm nerves with a 'don't panic' message. But US scientists were left redfaced when their gloomy predictions were scotched. A sharp-eyed Russian tracked the trajectory of the 'asteroid'... and discovered it was a comet-chasing European space probe, named Rosetta. The panic was sparked last week by America's Minor Planet Center, which tracks unidentified, Earth-threatening objects. It prepared an emergency e-mail warning that the alien lump would skim Earth by 5,600km (3,500 miles) – the distance from London to New York and a very close nearmiss in astronomical terms. But Moscow-based scientist Denis Denisenko realised the mysterious mass was Rosetta, the European Space Agency probe launched in 2004 on a ten-year mission to chase a comet. Sir Patrick said: 'It certainly wasn't an asteroid. And the last comet to hit us was about 65million years ago, when the theory is it wiped out the dinosaurs.' Finally, the Americans released a memo calling off the alert. Rosetta, about the size of a Transit van and with a 32-metre (104ft) wing span, is due to orbit close to Earth tomorrow to get a gravity boost so it can be catapulted towards the comet Churyumov Gerasimenko. The space agency hopes that, once Rosetta has caught up with the comet, it will be able to land on it to collect data.
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