Richard Binzel, Professor of Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who created the Torino scale, said: "The NASA JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) now lists the 2024 YR4 impact probability as 0.00005 (0.005%) or 1-in-20,000 for its passage by Earth in 2032.
Nasa now believes YR4 has just a 1-in-26,000 chance of striking Earth - meaning there is a 99.9961 per cent chance the rock will sail on past.
YR4 had been graded as level three on the Torino scale - the system used since 1999 to categorize potential Earth impact events.
If YR4 - estimated between 40m and 90m wide - did strike Earth, it would pack a punch equivalent to eight billion kilos of TNT, scientists calculated.
After being discovered in December, YR4 shot to the top of Nasa's asteroid risk list - and was judged to have an alarming 1-in-32 chance of smashing into us.
