It wasn't the end of the world, but asteroid 4179 Toutatis did pass close to Earth last night

Asteroid DA14 is the size of a city block and will pass within 14,000 miles of Earth in February (Getty Images)

Stargazers had reason to fear the Mayans were a few days out with their predictions, when an asteroid scraped by Earth, a mere 4.3 million miles from direct collision last night.

Fear not; Armageddon is still scheduled for a week on Friday, but this particular cosmically close shave was visible from the Canary Islands at around 8pm last night. 4179 Toutatis was first seen back in 1934, then disappeared for a few decades before reappearing in 1989.

Although it has passed close to earth in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012, scientists say there is very little chance of it colliding with Earth during the next six centuries. But we will meet again Toutatis, oh yes, we will meet again...