When scientists spot an asteroid whose trajectory might take it close to Earth, they monitor it frequently and calculate the probability that it might collide with our planet.

At the time of the announcement in January, the asteroid’s impact probability was reported to exceed 1%. The impact probability describes how likely a hazardous asteroid is to hit Earth.

Scientists are working on an accurate way of calculating the probability of finding alien life elsewhere in the universe. Astrophysicists have developed a theoretical model that could be used to ...