Is there a remedial school for headline writers? Naturally it missed the Earth or we wouldn't be here. Perhaps the headline writer meant - "Billion-Ton commet MISSED Earth by perhaps a few hundred kilometers in 1883".
To quote George Carlin - "It's not a near miss. A collision is a near miss. It's a near HIT!"
To quote George Carlin - "It's not a near miss. A collision is a near miss. It's a near HIT!"