It's probably the Vogons coming to destroy the earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Make sure you have a towel.
Or to save us from impending doom..
Everybody likes to watch a car crash. And while not many will admit it, had we had the ability to go back in time to September 10, 2001, most of us would choose to travel to New York City so we could personally witness the events of September 11th (albeit from a safe distance).
A few years back, when a comet hit Jupiter, we had every telescope pointed towards it just before impact.
So it stands to reason that if it was known by more advanced civilizations that Earth was about to be destroyed in some manner, they would certainly want to keep an eye on that. And if they had the ability to send spacecraft to our area to observe, why they'd do that as well.
well that will fix the budget problem.