BRUCE Willis has been put on standby. But only in an advisory capacity. By the time the Earthbound asteroid 2011 AG5 approaches our atmosphere, the star of Armageddon will be 85 years old.

The asteroid obviously needs a better name but that will come if Hollywood decides to make a film version of a real scientific dilemma.

Many movies have been made about threats to our planet from ice age to alien invasion to collision from outer space. But this time the possibility is real that an asteroid may hit the Earth.

Scientists spotted the danger last year and the United Nations Action Team on near-Earth Objects is on alert even though it is by no means certain that it will actually strike home. Mind you, they have the date if it does. Mark February 5, 2040, in your diary now.

They say there is only a one in 625 chance of it hitting the Earth as if that is supposed to be reassuring. I only have a one in 14 million chance of winning the Lottery but I think this is my turn each time I buy a ticket.

Just my luck to win the asteroid lottery.

“We have identified the impact site,” UN officials will say.

“By heck. But that’s my house?”

Do you think I will be able to sell seats for the occasion?

The rock is 140 metres (460ft) wide and, at the moment, is 91 million miles away. As it gets closer scientists will work out whether or not it actually will make landfall or skim past. And in case the odds change, the UN Action Team (Hollywood won’t need to change that name) are already working out ways to divert it. Probably with Bruce’s help.

If it did hit it would cause a great deal of damage but it would not be the end of mankind.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was nine miles wide compared to 460ft. So any surviving dinosaurs – such as Rupert Murdoch and John Prescott – will be OK this time round.

We should, of course, view the possibility of asteroid intervention philosophically as just another option that could lead us into disaster, along with the environment, pollution, leaking nuclear power stations and bankers.

There are 19,000 asteroids between 330ft and 3,300ft wide within 120 million miles of Earth, according to Nasa. The Aphophis asteroid (another rubbish name), which is the size of two and a half football fields, is predicted to pass close to Earth in 2036. I wonder if there will be a game on when it does? This is expected to come within 18 miles of the Earth but will not hit.

I confidently predict that neither will the AG5. Not while we have Bruce on our side, even at 85.