Travel and Leisure Travel and Leisure

An asteroid has a 2% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Here's how astronomers are tracking it


Published on 2025-02-15 15:42:26 - MSN
  Print publication without navigation

  • YR4 has a 2% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Astronomers are tracking it to refine estimates of its size and orbit to see how much of a risk the space rock poses.

An asteroid named 2023 DW has a 1 in 560 chance of impacting Earth on February 14, 2032, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This asteroid, discovered in February 2023, measures between 42 to 94 meters in diameter. While the probability of impact is low, it's significant enough for astronomers to keep a close watch. The European Space Agency (ESA) has also noted this asteroid, highlighting its potential threat due to its size and the uncertainty in its trajectory. Efforts to track and study such near-Earth objects (NEOs) are ongoing, with organizations like NASA and ESA using advanced telescopes and radar to refine the asteroid's orbit and assess the risk more accurately. If the asteroid's path becomes more certain, potential mitigation strategies could be considered, although currently, the focus remains on monitoring and data collection.

Read the Full MSN Article at:
[ https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/an-asteroid-has-a-2-chance-of-hitting-earth-in-2032-here-s-how-astronomers-are-tracking-it/ar-AA1z6V2Y ]