Asteroid 2024 YR4 Won’t Hit Earth

Asteroid 2024 YR4.  Credit Wikimedia

Finally, the Subaru Telescope confirms asteroid 2024 YR4 won’t hit Earth.

In February, new measurements changed the asteroid’s impact risk several times—rising from 2.3% to 3.1% before dropping to 0.28%. Thanks to observations by the Subaru Telescope, requested by JAXA’s Planetary Defense Team and the IAWN, the risk is now just 0.004%.

NASA’s Center for NEO Studies CNEOS, ESA’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre  (NEOCC), and NEODyS calculated the updated estimate. The Subaru Telescope used its Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) to capture images of 2024 YR4 as it faded.

According to IAWN: “The 2020 YR4 will pass at a distance beyond the geosynchronous satellites and possibly beyond the Moon.”