Asteroid 2024 YR4, dubbed “city killer”, is making headlines after astronomers projected that it has 1.5%, or 1 in 67, chance of striking the Earth during its close approach on December 22, 2032. NASA and other space agencies across the world, have been closely monitoring its trajectory.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 size
This celestial object was discovered in December last year, Scientific American reported. This event has caught attention of experts as the odds of the asteroid hitting our planet is above the threshold level of one per cent. At the time of space rock 2024 YR4’s discovery, NASA had said, “No other known large asteroids have an impact probability above 1%,” NBC reported.
With minimal possibility of the incoming space rock could striking the moon, the asteroid is estimated to be 130 to 300 feet wide. Thus, asteroid 2024 YR4 is about the size of a large office building.
Esimated impact of Earth-asteroid collision
The expected impact corridor of Earth-asteroid collision spans the area between eastern Pacific Ocean and South Asia, according to simulation experiment of Scientific American. The impact area spans covers densely populated cities of the world, including Bogota, Colombia, Lagos, Nigeria and Mumbai.
As per simulation experiments, if the asteroid manages to break apart Earth’s skies or punches a crater into the surface in the collision, the impact would be similar to a detonation of hydrogen bomb. This collision would be strong enough to result in localised devastation, devouring any metropolis that falls in the way.
How likely is Earth-asteroid collision according to experts?
However, scientists have dismissed the possibility of such happenings as the chances of Earth-asteroid collision reducing every day and may soon come down to ‘zero.’ “At some point in the next months to few years, the probability will go to zero,” the New York Post quoted chief scientist for the nonprofit Planetary Society Bruce Betts as saying.
