The asteroid 2024 YR4, once feared to strike Earth on December 22, 2032, may now collide with the Moon instead.
New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have ruled out an Earth impact but suggest the asteroid could still hit the lunar surface.
An international team of astronomers confirmed the revised impact risk and announced that further observations will be made in May 2025 to refine the asteroid's orbit and thermal properties.
If 2024 YR4 had struck Earth, the explosion could have been 500 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, devastating an area the size of Washington, D.C.
