Time to breathe a sigh of relief. The asteroid that once posed the greatest impact risk to Earth in recorded history now has an effective 0% chance of striking our planet. The probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth was reduced to zero thanks to new data collected on Sunday, Feb. 23. Discovered in Dec. … Read more
New information is pushing Asteroid 2024 YR4 off of our front pages. Initial estimates gave it a 2.8% chance of striking Earth in 2032. Now, the European Space Agency says the chance of it striking our planet is down to a paltry 0.001%. Scientists dislike expressing things in absolute terms because Nature can make fools … Read more
EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd interviewed asteroid expert Dr. Richard Binzel of MIT – inventor of the Torino Scale – about asteroid 2024 YR4. Increasing odds of impact Asteroid 2024 YR4 still sits at a 3 on the Torino scale, but its odds of hitting Earth have inched up. Keep in mind that those odds are still … Read more