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New data shows asteroid 2024 YR4 will narrowly miss the moon
The James Webb Space Telescope ruled out a 4.3% chance of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting the Moon, confirming it will pass 14,229 miles away, protecting future lunar missions.
- Researchers using Webb reported that asteroid 2024 YR4 will pass about 14,229 miles from the Moon, ruling out a 4.3% impact chance.
- Discovered at the end of December 2024, asteroid 2024 YR4 once carried a 3.1% Earth-impact estimate and by June 2025 a 4.3% lunar-impact concern, prompting Webb observations.
- Using precise astrometry and timed exposures, Webb detected YR4—about 60 meters wide and 4 billion times fainter—during two five-hour windows identified by Dr. Artem Burdanov.
- That finding reduces risk by ruling out a lunar impact, lowering short-term hazards to astronauts, lunar infrastructure, and satellites, and demonstrates Webb's role with future space telescopes like Near-Earth Object Surveyor and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
- A paper will soon outline the techniques used, and NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could help refine asteroid tracking.
14 Articles
14 Articles
The possibility that a huge space rock — formerly considered “the most risky asteroid ever observed” — could impact the Moon seems to be discarded.
Breathe in space or rather on Earth: The asteroid 2024 YR4 will miss the moon. New data from the James Webb telescope give final warning for the year 2032, because there is now certainty about the trajectory. (Continue reading)
[Article already published on February 24, 2025] 2024 YR4 by this, 2024 YR4 by this way, if you have not spent the last few weeks in a cave, you are aware that an asteroid discovered in December 2024 would have a very slight chance of crashing on Earth in 2032. But the latest estimates tend to show that it could crash on the Moon. However, if you have heard of 2024 YR4, many asteroids are totally unknown to you and yet they approached the Earth …
Asteroid 2024 YR4 Will Safely Pass Moon, Scientists Confirm
Astronomers say a space rock that once triggered global concern will now pass safely by the Moon. New observations have allowed scientists to precisely calculate the path of Asteroid 2024 YR4, removing earlier fears that the object could collide with Earth or the Moon in the coming decade. Researchers using advanced space telescopes recently refined the asteroid’s orbit, concluding that the building-sized object will safely pass near the Moon in…
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