FOOTBALL FIELD SIZED ASTEROID MAY STRIKE EARTH IN 2032

An asteroid that has a slim chance of hitting Earth on December 22, 2032, was recently discovered by astronomers. The space rock, called 2024 YR4, is roughly the size of a football field, with a diameter of 130 to 300 feet. Scientists say there is currently no reason to be concerned, but they will continue to closely monitor it to rule out any threats.

The NASA-sponsored Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), an early warning system for asteroid impacts, made the discovery. The European Space Agency recently revised the impact probability of 2024 YR4 from 1.2% when it was first observed to 2.2%. Because of its orbit, 2024 YR4 will be visible through April before disappearing until 2028, giving astronomers crucial windows to gain more knowledge about it.

Given that the encounter is less than ten years away, 2024 YR4 is rated as "a close encounter that warrants attention from astronomers and the public" on the Torino scale, which rates the impact hazard of near-Earth objects on a scale from 0 to 10. The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), headed by NASA, and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), chaired by ESA, have been activated as UN-endorsed asteroid reaction groups because the asteroid is larger than 50 meters (164 feet) and has an impact probability greater than 1% at some point in the next 50 years. These groups will continue to monitor the situation.

"On December 22, 2032, asteroid 2024 YR4 has an almost 99% chance of safely passing Earth, but a possible impact cannot yet be entirely ruled out," the ESA states, noting that it is currently impossible to pinpoint the precise location of its potential impact. NASA has stated, however, that the impact would take place somewhere along a risk corridor that encompasses portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Arabian Sea, South Asia, northern South America, and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Even though the asteroid is not nearly as large as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, it could still harm a region several miles away.

NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office acting planetary defence officer Kelly Fast told NPR, "The global community is watching this and taking notice that it's reached this threshold." "We do wish to monitor it." Though we want to put it in perspective, we do take it seriously. The likelihood that it would have any effect at all on Earth is still extremely low.

To allay public fears, ESA points out that only since humans have the means to monitor them have we learned about close encounters like the one that occurred in 2024 YR4. They state that "we are likely to detect an increasing number of objects passing close to Earth that we would have missed in the past as our asteroid survey technology improves." It is currently hoped that the impact probability will eventually drop to zero.