NASA discovered that the asteroid that sparked fears of a possible collision with Earth is the size of a building. The asteroid 2024 YR4, which momentarily looked like it would collide with Earth in 2032, has been photographed in more detail and with additional information by the Webb Space Telescope.
The discovery of the asteroid late last year sparked concern around the world, and preliminary observations suggested that it might have a 3% chance of striking Earth.
Scientists were prompted by more observations to lower the threat to almost zero, where it is now. However, there is a remote possibility that it will strike the Moon at that time. Every four years, the asteroid swings towards us.
The images, which depict the asteroid as a fuzzy dot, were made public by NASA and the European Space Agency on Wednesday.
The asteroid appears as a hazy dot in the Solar System in new photos that were made public this week. According to the two space organisations, Webb verified that the asteroid is around 200 feet (60 meters) broad, or roughly the height of a fifteen-story structure. It is the largest and most potent item ever sent into space, and the smallest object the observatory has ever seen.
According to astronomer Andrew Rivkin of Johns Hopkins University, Webb’s findings provided “invaluable” practice for future asteroids that could pose a threat to humanity. Over the past three months, this specific space rock has also been monitored via ground telescopes.
Mr. Rivkin, who assisted with the observations, said in a statement that all of this “gives us a window to understand what other objects the size of 2024 YR4 are like, including the next one that might be heading our way.”
Although it emphasises that the asteroid is the size of a big skyscraper, scientists currently think it poses almost no threat. However, there is now a remote possibility that it will strike the moon instead.
The Mirror revealed earlier this year that the asteroid 2024 YR4 was orbiting our planet in the opposite direction from where it was located in the crab-shaped Constellation of Cancer.
However, NASA predicted that the broad rock fragment would alter its trajectory over the next years and return to Earth’s orbit by 2032, where it would strike the planet and cause an explosion equivalent to 500 atomic bombs.
The likelihood rate assigned to YR4’s chances of making planetfall during the next seven years has been reevaluated by NASA on multiple occasions.
Before yesterday, the rate was set between 2.6 and 0.1 percent below the greatest rate ever recorded. But the space agency increased that rate again, less than a day later, making it the most likely asteroid to strike Earth ever recorded.
The pace puts its collision danger above that of Asteroid 99942 Apophis, sometimes known as the “God of Chaos,” which was found in 2004 and was predicted to strike Earth by 2029 with a 2.7 percent chance.
The 2032 collision danger was formally increased by NASA’s Centre for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) from 0.5 percent overnight to 3.1 percent.