You may remember, just a few short days ago, when we told you about the asteroid that could pose a serious threat to Earth in the next decade:
Well, NASA took another look at that sucker this week, and they've now determined that it is — no joke — the highest-rated likely impact of any asteroid they've ever studied:
On Feb. 7, NASA increased the likelihood that asteroid 2024 YR4 will hit Earth in seven years time from 1.2% to 2.3%. The odds of impact then climbed to 2.6%, and are now at 3.1%, according to the latest data on NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies website.
With the upgrade, according to the New York Times, 2024 YR4 has become "the most likely sizable space rock ever forecast to impact planet Earth."
The good news, of course, is that the big ol' rock still has a near-97% chance of missing us.
The bad news is that, if it does hit us, it could do some very serious damage:
Asteroid 2024 YR4 has an estimated diameter of around 177 feet (54 meters), or about as wide as the leaning tower of Pisa is tall. But while it is too small to end human civilization, the asteroid could still wipe out a major city, releasing about 8 megatons of energy upon impact — more than 500 times the energy released by the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan.
"Five hundred times the energy released by the Hiroshima bomb" is, you might imagine, VERY destructive.
Thankfully, the probability remains quite low. Moreover, "as researchers learn more about its trajectory, the odds of a strike are likely to decrease to 0%, based on its current risk level in the NASA data."
And remember, in 2022 humanity officially became a species with the capability to defend its planet from potential impactors:
I'm not super worried about 2024 YR4. But let's keep an eye on it, just in case.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
