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After two months of careful observations, scientists from the United States and Europe have lowered the threat level of a newly discovered asteroid that previously posed a significant collision risk with Earth. These risks have now been fully ruled out, NASA said in a post on its Planetary Defense blog. Asteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered on Dec. 27, 2024, by the ATLAS telescope in northern Chile. Circling our solar system in a four-year orbit, the rock was measured to be approximately 130 feet to 300 feet across. Automated warning systems quickly identified that the object had a small, but worrisome...

An asteroid with a once-alarming chance of hitting Earth in 2032 was quickly brought under control by global astronomers, including a leading Finnish team. Its trajectory has been clarified, but a small risk to the Moon remains. Credit: SciTechDaily.com ******************************************************************* A recently discovered asteroid, 2024 YR4, sparked the first-ever global alert from the International Asteroid Warning Network after it showed a small but real chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Finnish astronomers and an international team jumped into action, using telescopes from the Canary Islands to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to track the object and refine its size, trajectory,...

A lunar impact could generate debris that damages key satellites, the ISS…and potentially any lunar installations that had been constructed as part of the new space race. Asteroid 2024 YR4 is a near-Earth object approximately 53–67 meters wide that was discovered in December 2024. While initial models suggested a small chance of Earth impact, refined tracking now indicates that there is no risk to Earth, but about a 4% probability that it will strike the Moon on December 22, 2032. Earlier this year, asteroid 2024 YR4 drew global attention when its estimated chance of striking Earth in 2032 reached 3%....

An asteroid has a small chance of hitting Earth less than eight years from now, and astronomers are enlisting the help of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study it. Characterized as a potential "city-killer," the asteroid was first detected in December and its odds of impacting our planet have increased slightly since then, according to the European Space Agency. The space rock is formally named 2024 YR4. Scientists say it currently carries a 2% risk of making contact with Earth when it eventually reaches this part of the solar system on Dec. 22, 2032. Although the asteroid will most...

A last-minute observation from the Webb telescope has sharpened predictions for asteroid 2024 YR4, slightly increasing its odds of hitting the Moon but confirming no threat to Earth. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com ============================================================ NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently made a final observation of asteroid 2024 YR4 before it drifted out of range. This rare data update refined the asteroid’s projected path and revealed a small uptick in its chance of striking the Moon, though Earth remains in the clear. Webb Telescope Captures Final Glimpse Asteroid 2024 YR4 may be out of sight now, but before it slipped too far...

In a rare announcement that has captured the attention of scientists and the public alike, NASA has issued a warning about an asteroid with a 4% chance of striking the Moon in 2032. The news, which has stirred both intrigue and concern, highlights the ongoing efforts to monitor near-Earth objects (NEOs) and assess potential threats to our planet and its natural satellite. Astronomers tentatively designated the asteroid 2025-XF47. NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program first detected it earlier this year. According to a statement from the agency, widely reported by outlets like CNN and BBC News, the object measures approximately 150...

Ground-based telescopes from the International Asteroid Warning Network have been tracking the asteroid, but it will be too faint to observe until June 2028...That’s why Webb was called in for the job, measuring the asteroid’s brightness across a range of infrared wavelengths to better determine its size. In late January, a team of scientists proposed using the mid-infrared instrument on Webb to observe the asteroid and better understand its damage potential. The team recently released the preliminary results of Webb’s observations of asteroid 2024 YR4, suggesting that, while the asteroid is larger and rockier than previous observations, it has nearly...

On Friday the 13th (yes, really) of April 2029, Earth will avoid an apocalyptic event by an astronomical hair’s breadth as the asteroid Apophis, streaks by. It will come closer to Earth than the Moon — much closer in fact. It will come between us and the satellites that bring us radio, television and military intelligence. Apophis is named after an Egyptian god of chaos and evil. If it were to hit Earth, chaos would be the least of our trouble. It’s 1,000 feet across, the size of a football stadium, and it’s going 69,000 miles an hour. Apophis won’t...

Graphic of the possible locations of 2024 YR4 on December 22, 2032, as of February 19, 2025. Earth is close to the center of the white circle, which represents the Moon’s orbital path. The range of possibilities has decreased from the previous image because of the additional data gathered. Credit: NASA JPL/CNEOS ================================================================== Astronomers are closely monitoring asteroid 2024 YR4, which once had the highest recorded impact probability for its size. Current estimates place its chance of hitting Earth at 1.5% in 2032, with a smaller risk for the Moon. With the full moon now past, the skies have darkened,...

The probability that a major asteroid, big enough to wipe out an entire city, will hit Earth in 2032 has just increased to 1 in 32, or 3.1%, according to NASA. On Feb. 7, NASA increased the likelihood that asteroid 2024 YR4 will hit Earth in seven years time from 1.2% to 2.3%. The odds of impact then climbed to 2.6%, and are now at 3.1%, according to the latest data on NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies website. Asteroid 2024 YR4 has an estimated diameter of around 177 feet (54 meters), or about as wide as the leaning...

At the end of 2024, astronomers detected an asteroid...the estimated orbit put it at a 1% chance of striking Earth. As of this writing, it now has a 2.3% chance of striking Earth on December 22, 2032. While you might think this resembles the plot of Don't Look Up, none of this is too unusual. You can see this in the image above, which indicates potential trajectory points. The 2.3% odds aren't simply the chances of a die roll. What it means is that when astronomers run 1,000 orbital simulations based on the data we have, 23 of them impact...

An asteroid big enough to destroy a city has a 1.9% chance of impacting Earth on December 22, 2032.

An asteroid with the power to unleash an explosion one hundred times greater than an atomic bomb has triggered global space agency alarms. The odds that the space rock dubbed Y4, which is nearly the size of a football field at between 130 and 300 feet wide, could hit Earth is now too close to ignore, they warn. “If you put it over Paris or London or New York, you basically wipe out the whole city and some of the environs,” Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, told Agence France-Presse last week. The asteroid was first observed on...

2024 YR4 is a newly spotted asteroid with the potential to hit Earth... A 1.2% chance the asteroid hits Earth based on very preliminary calculations. Which means—obviously—a 98.8% chance the rocky object misses us! The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) first spotted 2024 YR4 on December 27, 2024. At that point the asteroid was 515,116 miles (829,000 kilometers) from Earth. The asteroid is currently moving away from our planet but its next close approach will occur in December 2028. CNEOS reports that the asteroid is 180 feet (55 meters) across, and its speed at (potential) impact estimated at 10.76...