NASA identifies asteroid that could hit Earth. Here's why you shouldn't panic
(QUEEN CITY NEWS) — NASA has upped the chances of impact of an asteroid currently orbiting in deep space.
The object at hand, 2024 YR4 was discovered in December 2024 during its most recent flyby of the Earth, with a diameter or roughly 180 feet. Recent orbital calculations have increased the chance of Earth impact to 1 in 44 (2.3%) on Dec. 22, 2032.
Why asteroid 2024 YR4 is unlikely to hit Earth in 2032 and how scientists keep track
Who is monitoring the skies for asteroids like this one? Well, it is a relatively new department within NASA called the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This office was created in 2016 with the explicit task from Congress to find and track every asteroid at least 140 meters in size. To date, 98% of all asteroid and comets at least 1 kilometer in size have been found in the solar system.
So, is it time to panic? In a word, no, as it is likely further observations of 2024 YR4 will drop to the impact chances to zero. But if the improbable does happen, would a potential impact look like? It could resemble very much like the Tunguska Event of 1908 in Russia where an asteroid of similar size exploded over Siberia. It is estimated that 2024 YR4 would have the energy of roughly a 10-megaton bomb, which if impacted in a populated area could be devastating.
NASA has already potential interception techniques for asteroids hazardous to Earth with the DART program where an impactor was sent to hit an asteroid and change its path. So, while its unlikely, there are plans to deal with this asteroid if impact chances do go up for 2024 YR4.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Long-Dead NASA Satellite Suddenly Lets Out Epic Blast of Energy
NASA's experimental Relay 2 satellite had been dead in the sky since 1967 — until last summer, when it emitted a super-short and very powerful burst of energy out of nowhere. In an interview with New Scientist, one of the researchers from Australia's Curtin University who discovered the strange pulse coming off the dead communications satellite described his shock at finding the nearby source of that nanosecond-long energy blast. Curtin astronomer Clancy James and his team had been using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope array when they detected something so "loud" that it briefly outshone everything else in the night sky. Even stranger, it turned out, the signal was coming from so close to Earth that ASKAP's radio telescopes couldn't all focus on it at once. "We got all excited, thinking maybe we'd discovered a new pulsar or some other object," James told New Scientist. "This was an incredibly powerful radio pulse that vastly outshone everything else in the sky for a very short amount of time." As explained in a new paper that's now awaiting peer review, the Curtin researchers eventually traced the source of the pulse to NASA's derelict Relay 2 — but that discovery raised more questions than answers. Because Relay 2 had been dead for nearly 60 years, the Curtin team thinks that something either collided with the defunct communications craft that made it produce such a wild racket, or that electricity had been building up within it for so long that it resulted in a huge type of energy burst known as an "electrostatic discharge." As astrophysicist Karen Aplin of the UK's University of Bristol told New Scientist, all the space junk crowding Earth's orbit makes it nearly impossible to determine if either of those explanations, or any other, is correct. (That problematic crowding of Earth's orbit, it's worth pointing out, was not a pressing issue during Relay 2's short life in the mid-1960s.) "In a world where there is a lot of space debris and there are more small, low-cost satellites with limited protection from electrostatic discharges, this radio detection may ultimately offer a new technique to evaluate electrostatic discharges in space" explained Aplin, who was not involved in the research. More on strange energy: Scientists Spot Mysterious Object in Our Galaxy Pulsing Every 44 Minutes
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
NASA's New Data Has Scientists Sounding the Alarm on Climate Extremes
The latest satellite data from NASA is painting a troubling picture of Earth's climate, and it's coming into focus faster than expected. According to new research from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, extreme weather events like floods and droughts are not only becoming more common, but also more intense, longer-lasting, and more destructive. The Guardian reported that data from the past five years show these events doubling in intensity compared to averages between 2003 and 2020. Even researchers behind the study admit they didn't anticipate such a dramatic spike. "We were surprised to find the actual population living in rural areas is much higher than the global data indicates," said lead researcher Dr. Bailing Li, who helped compile the figures using NASA's Grace satellite and dam relocation data across 35 countries. The result: a grim confirmation that climate change is fueling a shift in the planet's water systems, and the consequences are just data, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, reveals that global extremes now show a stronger correlation with rising temperatures than with other climate drivers like El Niño. Events are lasting longer, affecting wider areas, and shifting with less predictability—creating what scientists call "hydroclimatic whiplash," sudden transitions from drought to flood or vice versa. What's most worrying isn't just the scale of the change, but how unprepared most of the world remains. Experts say the current infrastructure, especially in water management, was built for a different era—one with a more stable climate. Christopher Gasson of Global Water Intelligence warned that most water systems are facing extremes from both ends—too much water or too little—and that investment must scale quickly to keep up. Meteorologists and climate experts across the globe echoed the concern. Richard Betts of the UK's Met Office called the data "a stark reminder" that what was once theoretical is now reality. He stressed that most societies have built their systems around past weather patterns, leaving them vulnerable to extremes that now fall outside the historical norm. With the World Meteorological Organization predicting an 80% chance that one of the next five years will be Earth's hottest ever, the window for adapting is narrowing. NASA's findings serve as a warning: the planet is heating up, and the consequences are already surging across every New Data Has Scientists Sounding the Alarm on Climate Extremes first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 22, 2025
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Unsung women behind moon landing celebrated in art
More than a thousand unsung women whose circuits helped man land on the moon have inspired two Kent artists to celebrate the historic moment of 1969. The work is based on the female Navajo weavers who were employed for their perceived dexterity to make microchips in New Mexico in the sixties, which were used by NASA in the Apollo Guidance Computer. Moon Landing is by weaver Margo Selby and composer Helen Caddick is a 16m (52ft) handwoven textile suspended from The Trinity Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral, accompanied by an original score for six strings. The tapestry is described as a celebration of the crossover of mathematical patterns, tone and rhythm found in weaving and music and will remain in the chapel until 31 August. Ms Caddick said she was inspired by a weaving tool to compose music about space exploration. She said: "I had gone to see Margo weave and I noticed that she used a shuttle to move the thread along and that made me start to think about space." She added that when she had saw documentaries or films about the space shuttle, she noticed there was an "indicator light flashing in the cabin". "So so I took the rhythm of that to mirror in the harp part," she said. In turn, Ms Selby translated the musician's work into textile art. The textile artist said: "With these incredible carvings and shapes, to see my contemporary work hanging alongside them is truly thrilling." Some 1,200 indigenous people - mostly women - were employed to work at a Fairchild Semiconductor factory in Shiprock, New Mexico, from 1965, during the United States' race to the moon. The manufacturer was tasked with building complicated microchips for NASA's Apollo Guidance Computer, which was integral to space missions. A contemporary brochure from Fairchild compared the intricate work creating elaborate microchips to weaving the Navajo population's traditional tapestries. However, these women who contributed to the space race were largely overlooked in their time. The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral David Monteith said the chapel was excited to celebrate the work of art. "In life sometimes things can become a bit grey scale but this is such an assault of colour that it gladdens the heart and that's such a gift," he said. Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Mars art installation on display at cathedral Girl, 8, uses dad's ham radio to chat to astronaut Canterbury Cathedral
