IT’S STILL A NEAR-MISS IN ASTRONOMICAL TERMS: “A large asteroid hurtled harmlessly past the Earth early Monday at a distance of about 269,000 miles _ slightly farther away than the moon. . . . Asteroids the size of 2004 XP14 collide with Earth about every 84,000 years. Scientists said it’s hard to predict what would happen if such an event occurred because it depends on the object’s makeup, its angle and speed, and whether it was headed for the ocean or land. An asteroid similar in size to 2004 XP14 would probably punch through the atmosphere and cause destruction on a regional scale, one expert said. If it smashed into the United States, it would probably destroy several states, but not the entire continent, said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near Earth Object Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.”