The ‘city killer’ asteroid heading for Earth gives scientists a terrible surprise: it’s bigger than expected

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of the asteroid that caused a stir earlier this year when it topped the list of possible impacts with Earth. It was predicted that ‘2024 YR4’ would have a 3% chance of impacting the planet in 2032.

The chilling update on the so-called ‘city destroyer’ that will pass dangerously close to Earth and the Moon in 2032 is its size. Thanks to observations made with the telescope, it was discovered that the initial estimates that it would be 40 meters in diameter were short, as it was found that the asteroid is 60 meters, a considerable difference when it comes to a celestial body that is heading for imminent contact and at a speed of 17.32 kilometers per second.

Absolute devastation! Shocking video shows what could happen if an asteroid hits Earth in 2032

While further observations led the agency’s scientists to reduce the threat to virtually zero, where it remains, there is a small chance that it could impact the Moon, as the asteroid swings towards us every four years.

‘2024 YR4’ is of great importance, as it is large and fast enough to worry anyone, as if it were to impact our planet, the asteroid would cause an explosion 500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. However, estimates of the probability of impact with Earth have dropped from an alarming 3.1% to virtually zero, compared to the 2% that remains when talking about the Moon.

How did they discover the size difference?

The European Space Agency said that “in general, the brighter the asteroid, the larger it is, but this relationship depends heavily on the reflectivity of its surface“, so the James Webb telescope staff designed an instrument that measures the infrared radiation of the asteroid. After observing it for five hours, they determined that ‘2024 YR4’ was 60 meters in diameter and rotated on its axis once every 20 minutes.

When would ‘2024 YR4’ collide?

According to information from different world space agencies, ‘2024 YR4’ would impact the Moon on December 22, 2032, but so far nothing is certain and the situation, course, speed and all its variations are still being monitored in detail.

Astronomer Andrew Rivkin of Johns Hopkins University said Webb’s observations served as “invaluable practice for other asteroids” that could threaten us in the future: “We found that the thermal properties of 2024 YR4, that is, how quickly it heats up and cools down, and its temperature at its current distance from the Sun, are not similar to those we observe in larger asteroids,” he concluded.

*With information from Lapresse

This news was originally published on this post .

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