It has reached the threshold for an international response with the risk of hitting being reduced from one in 83 to one in 43 and for comparison, the second most threatening asteroid only has a tiny 0.68% chance of an Earth smash.
A planetary defence team is being put together by China over a ‘city killer’ asteroid whose odds of hitting Earth have been dramatically reduced.
It has been rocketing up NASA’s impact risk list since it was discovered and now the European Space Agency calculates that it poses the highest ever risk recorded for an asteroid.
Given the significant threat, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has also been made accessible to international scientists to assess the potential devastation and strategize a response plan.
Scientists now believe the 2024 YR4 has a one-in-43 chance of crashing into our planet in 2032 and it has led to the planning of emergency measures as well as fears we may not have enough time.
