Astronomers next month will be utilizing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to better observe an asteroid the size of a football field orbiting the solar system that has a slight chance of colliding with Earth around Christmas Day in 2032.
The Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first spotted the asteroid, named 2024 YR4, on Dec. 27. It is one of many asteroid discovery programs funded by NASA to scan the solar system in search of near-Earth asteroids.
At the time, NASA said the asteroid, believed to have a width of 131 feet to 295 feet, had a 1.2% chance of striking Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. The probability has now increased to 2.1%, according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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