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NASA scientists have just discovered a massive space rock that could collide with Earth - and take out a major city in the process.
The asteroid named 2024 YR4 was detected on December 27, 2024 by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
According to the space experts, there's a 1-in-83 chance that 2024 YR4 could strike our planet in 2032.
Those chances might not sound like a lot but it's enough to keep the scientists on alert.
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What's worrying is that, whilst the impact won't be enough to wipe out human civilisation, it could wipe out a major city.
2024 YR4 is around 180 feet (55 metres) across and scientists estimate that it would release about 8 megatons of energy upon impact. This is more than 500 times the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
Right now, 2024 YR4 is moving away from Earth, but it’s not gone for good.
NASA expects the asteroid will pass our planet multiple times in the next half-century - with its next close encounter in late 2028.
After that, it will have six more close approaches between 2032 and 2074, with the December 22, 2032 encounter being the riskiest, NASA added.
Even though 2024 YR4 has been orbiting the Sun for ages, it was only recently detected because of its unusual path.
The asteroid travels in an elongated orbit, looping past Earth before swinging way out between Mars and Jupiter, explained Kelly Fast, a planetary defence officer at NASA.
"In the past, even though it's passed through the inner solar system before, it didn't always pass by where the Earth happened to be, where it could be picked up easily," she said.
Astronomers monitoring the ATLAS telescope at the University of Hawaii first spotted the asteroid as it was moving away from Earth and immediately reported it to the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center.
Now, the US space agency has placed 2024 YR4 at Level 3 on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale - a system used to rate asteroid threats.
This threat level means that 'attention by public and by public officials is merited if the encounter is less than a decade away.'
However, most asteroids at this level end up being downgraded to Level 0, meaning 'the likelihood of a collision is zero, or is so low as to be effectively zero.' In the meantime, NASA and other space agencies are working on asteroid deflection techniques to try to alter the asteroid’s path if needed.
