Netflix's Don't Look Up: the reality behind the film

 Behind the comedy drama portrayed in the film Don't Look Up on Netflix, which tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn the world of a forthcoming impact event on Earth, there remains a rather serious undercurrent.

Don't Look Up, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, made Netflix history recording the most viewing hours for a movie in one week. 

But despite tens of millions of views, it's unlikely the passage of a sizeable asteroid this month will cause such a stir.

On Tuesday January 18, one such occurrence will take place as (7482) 1994 PC1 -  an asteroid measuring just over half a mile wide - will pass Earth at a comfortable distance of 1.2 million miles. 

Travelling at a lively 43,754 mph, the rock and others like it are a reminder of the ongoing threat from space.

Classed as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), more than 3,000 such bodies were added to the list in 2021, the first time that such a number has been added in one single year. 

As of January 5th 2022, according to the European Space Agency, there were 27,764 asteroids and 117 comets that make up the NEO's with 1309 of them in the so-called risk list. At some juncture, they could cause impact concerns for Earth.

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• Whilst many if not all of these bodies will pass Earth at a safe distance, astronomers are taking the matter seriously, with NASA recently dispatching a craft which will deliberately strike the moon of an asteroid in an attempt to alter its course.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), will reach its target in autumn 2022. As it stands, there still remains very little we can do should a rogue body target the Earth.