Of particular interest, NASA and ESA (European Space Office) closely watch an asteroid in the size of a football stadium that could hit the Earth in about 7 years.

According to the latest estimates, the asteroid 2024 YR4, with a diameter of 40 to 90 meters, has about 98% probability of safely passing the land to the land in December 22, 2032.

In other words, that day, there are 2.3% chances (1 to 43) the meteorite to clash with the earth.

“The possibility of an impact is very small and the asteroid is small enough that the results of any possible impact are on a local scale but The situation is important enough to justify the attention of the global planetary defense community“ESA said in a statement.

“Unnecessary to be”, astronomers and the world’s largest space telescope, the space telescope James webb They have turned their attention to the course of 2024 YR4 to have a better picture of its size and orbit if you need to take any precautions to keep the earth safe.

“It is very important to improve our 2024 YR4 estimate,” ESA said in a statement, stressing that “the risk of an asteroid 40 meters is very different from that of a asteroid 90 meters.”

“We need at least 10 years to build, design and perform a asteroid diversion mission,” said Dr Robin George Andrews.

Asteroid will be visible in the telescope in early March and scientists will give battle with time to observe him as best he can.

After a few months, the 2024 YR4 will cease to be visible and is not expected to return by 2028.

Asteroid described as possible ‘murder“, It was first identified on December 27, 2024, thanks to a specialist risk tracking telescope located in Chile.

Where will it fall (if it falls)

According to the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), from the observations so far, areas that are potentially at risk of an asteroid impact are:

  • The Eastern Pacific Ocean,
  • the northern part of South America,
  • The Atlantic Ocean,
  • Africa,
  • The Arabic Sea and
  • South Asia.

In these areas, a possible decline would cause “serious damage”.

With information from The Independent, CBS News