- News. NASA puts everyone on alert as odds of asteroid hitting Earth continue to rise
- News. China prepares for the worst: asteroid 2024 YR4 approaches Earth
It is clear that we must always keep a special watch on everything that happens outside our planetary borders. This is something that is always being taken into by the different space agencies.
Specifically, this monitoring has led to asteroid 2024 YR4 gaining international fame, as since news broke of its minimal chance of colliding with Earth in 2032, it has been making headlines around the world.
Now this worldwide knowledge about the asteroid has grown over the weeks, as NASA has increased its probability of a collision with Earth by as much as 3.1%. Therefore, according to the US agency, the possibility of such a body impacting our planet on December 22, 2032 already exceeds 3%, that is, more than that calculated with the asteroid Apophis in 2004, which, indeed, never came to impact the Earth.
The European Space Agency also increases its calculations to 2.8%
But it is not only NASA that has warned of this fact in its own forecasts about the asteroid, as the European Space Agency has also considered increasing this possibility according to its calculations. However, it should be noted that they are lower than those of the US agency. According to the European agency, 2024 YR4 would have a 2.8% chance of impacting our planet. It should be noted that at the beginning of February it was only 1.2%.
It should be noted that its size is between 40 and 90 meters, so it would not be something that could exterminate the human race, but it could destroy a city completely. Because of this, it is under constant surveillance.
Regarding its increased probability of impact against our planet, ESA commented a few days ago that this number could rise in the following dates or even decrease, as has happened in the past with other asteroids.