The Earth is at serious risk of an asteroid strike, according to a leading Irish astrophysicist.

Leading astronomers and scientists, including evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and physicist Brian Cox, have called for more to be done to prevent a devastating asteroid strike.

A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia’s Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb today, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring about 1,100 people.

The Earth had a near miss early today when a giant asteroid hurtled past almost as close as the Moon.

A fleet of mini-probes could be sent to rendezvous with asteroids under an ambitious British-led plan to investigate the threat of space objects hitting the Earth, it was revealed today.