NASA Says Mighty James Webb Space Telescope To Track Asteroid 2024 YR4; Check Photo
Considering Asteroid 2024 YR4's chances of striking Earth, NASA has indicated it will deploy the mighty James Webb Space Telescope to get all the details.
A number of asteroids have come very close to Earth and are threatening to do so in the future, but none in recent times created the kind of panic that Asteroid 2024 YR4 did. The data at first suggested that the chances of it hitting Earth were huge in 2032.
However, after more potent technologies were deployed to track the asteroid, the chances of it hitting the Earth have reduced considerably. So much so that it now registers at only 0.28%. That is a big climbdown in risk from 3.1%, to 1.5% to the current one. And the James Webb Space Telescope will play a big role soon in this saga.
Having said that, even as the risk of the asteroid striking Earth has reduced, the same cannot be said about the moon, which may now be in the line of fire. Current calculations as supplied by various asteroid tracking gadgets on both the ground and in space indicate the chances of the asteroid striking the moon have increased to almost 1%. Do note that the average distance between Earth and the moon is about 385,000 kilometers.
How Big Is This Asteroid?
NASA has indicated its size is anything between 130 to 300 feet. It is humongous, either way.
Notably, as far as origins are concerned, Asteroid 2024 YR4 has been classified as belonging to the Apollo group of asteroids and dubbed as a near-Earth Asteroid, (NEO). The asteroid, when it gets close to Earth in December 22, 2032, will be travelling at a fiery speed of 29856 miles per hour, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Small-Body Database Lookup.
And now, it has been revealed that NASA will be deploying the biggest telescope of them all in space to track this dangerous asteroid. This is the heir to the Hubble Space Telescope, the mighty James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, the study by the telescope will likely start only in March, 2025 and not immediately. Notably, the JSWT is in orbit around the Sun some 1 mn miles away from earth in space.
Interestingly, this asteroid will be visible through even ground-based telescopes all the way into April 2025.
How It All Started
The initial assessment had created quite a furor. NASA had said this about the threat this asteroid posed, "This is the highest impact probability NASA has ever recorded for an object of this size or larger."
How Was Asteroid 2024 YR4 Found
According to the Centre of Near-Earth Object Studies, "2024 YR4 was discovered on December 27, 2024, by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile."
What made it possible was the fact that this asteroid had made a close approach with Earth on December 25, 2024. At that time it became bright enough to be detected in the asteroid surveys.
