Nasa said the asteroid has just a 1-in-26,000 chance of striking Earth - meaning there is a 99.9961 per cent chance the rock will sail past.
Eventually, more data revealed came in about the asteroid's orbital path which flipped predictions on impact with Earth.
Binzel invented the Torino scale - the system used since 1999 to categorize potential Earth impact events and he explained that Level 0 means there is "No Hazard".
The space rock will appear near Earth again in 2028 - around 5 million miles away - giving scientists another chance to gather data on it.
NASA has repeatedly changed estimates on whether a huge Big Ben-sized asteroid first spotted last year will crash into Earth - and now an expert has revealed the reason why.
