When I was taking physics at the University 20 years ago, one of my professors said that the closest we have ever come to predicting an asteroid impact was "whoa that was close" as it zipped by.

Sounds like that's still state of the art.

I find it very interesting even if the approach was yesterday, as the chances were seemingly quite high and asteroid was quite big. Also, Hacker News isn't exactly only news, just any interesting things, current or past.