In an update provided this week, NASA shared that an asteroid, which previously sparked concerns due to its potential to hit Earth, no longer poses a significant threat.
The space agency shared on Monday that Asteroid 2024 YR4, which was first spotted on Dec. 27, has seen its impact potential drop from 2% to 0.004%. NASA now says that the rock is “expected to safely pass by Earth in 2032.”
Before Monday’s update, the space agency had warned that the asteroid had a “very small, but notable chance” of colliding with the Earth or moon in 2032.
However, observations of the asteroid, which is now far enough away from Earth, have allowed experts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies to create “more precise models” of the asteroid’s trajectory.
Those models now show that “there is no significant potential for this asteroid to impact our planet for the next century.”
Richard Moissl, the head of the European Space Agency, shared with CBS News after the red flag was first raised that the asteroid passes by the Earth every four years, last doing so in December 2024, meaning it will fly by again in December 2028, which he says wasn’t the problem.
The pass-by that could have resulted in an impact, and might still, may occur in 2032, on Dec. 22.
Astronomers were concerned as they had discovered that the asteroid was going to pass through a part of the orbit of the Earth, but due to the asteroid’s proximity, they couldn’t accurately project the path it would take until now.
“The latest observations have further reduced the uncertainty of its future trajectory, and the range of possible locations the asteroid could be on Dec. 22, 2032, has moved farther away from the Earth,” NASA said.
Even though the Earth is clear of potential impact, the moon isn’t, as NASA says there is still a 1.7% chance the asteroid cut hit the moon on Dec. 22, 2032.
Still, like before, the asteroid will be further examined in March when it gets further away, and NASA can use its $9.7 billion James Webb Space Telescope to “further gain insights about its size for scientific purposes.”