Dr Mainzer expects that calculations, simulations and models based on this data "will keep people busy for decades".

BBC: Asteroid thought to kill dinosaurs may not be guilty

Mainzer said between 20% and 30% of the estimated 4, 700 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far.

CNN: NASA estimates 4,700 'potentially hazardous' asteroids

Mainzer said asteroids in orbits pitched at a similar angle offer not only a hazard, but also an opportunity.

CNN: NASA estimates 4,700 'potentially hazardous' asteroids

The instruments aboard the satellite allowed scientists to spot close-in asteroids by picking up the heat they emit, Mainzer said.

CNN: NASA estimates 4,700 'potentially hazardous' asteroids

Scientists believe it would take an asteroid around 10 million years to travel from the main belt to Earth, so "this doesn't give a Baptistina fragment much time to get into a suitable position", said Dr Mainzer.

BBC: Asteroid thought to kill dinosaurs may not be guilty

Dr Amy Mainzer, principal investigator on the Neowise (Near-Earth Wise observations) project at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in California, said that "estimating the ages and origins of the asteroids should help us to correlate events on Earth and impact craters on the Moon with what is going on in the Solar System".

BBC: Asteroid thought to kill dinosaurs may not be guilty