Asteroid that is large enough to destroy the city could beat the moon in 2032, says researchers

The notorious “City-Killer” Asteroid 2024 YR4 could still beat the moon in the near future, according to Living science.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made two planned observations of the Asteroid 2024 YR4, and found in the first observation on February 5 that 2024 years could be slightly larger and rockier than previous studies listed.

In the second observation, March 26, JWST confirmed that the asteroid is no longer a danger to the earth, with an almost zero chance that it will strike the earth on December 22, 2032.

But there is still a 2% chance that it can directly collide with the moon in 2032, report co -author Andrew Rivkin, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University, told New researcher.

A second round of JWST observations is planned for next month and will monitor the asteroid before it disappears in the external solar system over the next few years, per living science.

The asteroid was first reported in December 2024 and is large enough to destroy an entire city. It was originally calculated to have a 1% chance of meeting the earth in 2032. The chance of the asteroid collision then continued to vary during the weeks after.

The estimate started with the asteroid having a 1% chance of meeting the earth, since February 7, it doubled more than 2.3%. Less than two weeks later, on February 18, the Nasa odds estimated at 3.1%, before it fell to 0.28% two days later.

Four days later, NASA announced that the probability was “Only 0.004%.”. NASA also reported that day that there is still a 1.7% chance that the asteroid could hit the moon on the same day in 2032.

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The initial observations were carried out with ground -based telescopes and estimated that the asteroid had a diameter of about 180 feet, which made it about as wide as the inclined tower in Pisa is high.

If the asteroid were to collide with the earth, it can erase an entire city with a strength comparable to 500 Hiroshima bombs.