The asteroid passes the Earth...

- A horse steak!

- We've dodged it

- But what is the EU doing?

While the EU has decided to launch a DNA testing programme to detect the presence of horsemeat in meals supposedly made of beef, an asteroid the size of half a football field is passing close to the Earth on the night of February 15.

Named 2012 DA14, it is coming to within around 27,000km of Earth – closer than the geostationary telecommunications satellites that orbit our planet and closer than any other object of its size has come to the Earth in the past.