NASA says an asteroid heading towards Earth has a greater chance of impact than first thought.
The United States-based space administration body had initially estimated a more than 1 per cent chance of the asteroid hitting Earth.
It now says the chance is more than 2 per cent.
Detected in the last week of December 2024, the minor planet has been called Asteroid 2024 YR4, and if it were to hit Earth, it would do so on 22 December 2032.
While there is more than a 97 per cent chance it will not hit the Earth, NASA has said: “Currently, no other known large asteroids have an impact probability above one per cent.”
Asteroid 2024 YR4 has been described as “a serious-sized object” – 40 to 90 metres is the estimate … and that’s quite sizeable for an asteroid we believe!
NASA says if it was to hit [Earth], it would have the potential to wipe out something the size of a city, it could do significant damage.
