Pass-By of Asteroid 2012 DA14

A very near miss from a decent sized asteroid.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 circles the Earth once a year - and when it flies by next February, it will be just 24,000km away.

Luckily, it is not going to hit us this time round - but be warned that this is just one of just 500,000 rocks circling in a close orbit.

Scientists say there is no chance of an impact in 2013, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out during the asteroid's yearly approach .

If it did enter the Earth's atmosphere and explode, the force would be enough to destroy an area the size of Greater London.

The asteroid was spotted last month by a team operating from the La Sagra Sky Survey observatory near Granada in Spain. The observatory uses automated telescopes to track small asteroids and comets.