Fears it might be too late to deflect asteroid headed towards earth

Astronomers are keeping a close eye on Asteroid 2024 YR4, which currently has a 2.3% chance of colliding with the Earth in 2032.

The asteroid currently has about a 2 per cent chance of colliding with Earth in December 2032, according to NASA and the European Space Agency.

The 300ft (90m) wide rock is roughly the same size as a football field and has shot to the top of NASA’s watch list after it was first discovered in December 2024.

With the ‘time-critical meteor hurtling towards our atmosphere at an alarming rate, the space agency has enlisted the help of the James Webb Space Telescope to study YR4 and gauge how much damage it would cause if it did strike our planet.

By New Year's Eve, Kelly Fast, the acting planetary defence officer at NASA, had identified the asteroid as a matter of concern.

"You receive observations that eventually dwindle. This one appeared to have the potential to remain," she stated to AFP.

The risk assessment continued to rise, and on 29 January, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), a global collaboration focused on planetary defence, released a memo regarding the asteroid.

2024 YR4 follows a highly eccentric four-year orbit, traversing the inner planets before passing Mars and continuing towards Jupiter.