{"id":793883,"date":"2025-02-25T12:01:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=793883"},"modified":"2025-02-25T12:01:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:01:05","slug":"that-city-killer-asteroid-it-wont-hit-earth-after-all-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=793883","title":{"rendered":"That ‘city-killer’ asteroid? It won’t hit Earth after all : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n This image made available by University of Hawaii’s asteroid impact alert system shows the motion of asteroid 2024 YR4 over about one hour, Dec. 27, 2024.
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AP\/ATLAS \/ University of Hawaii \/ NASA<\/p>\n

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AP\/ATLAS \/ University of Hawaii \/ NASA<\/p>\n

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The astronomers warned us this was the most likely outcome: the probability that a “city killer” asteroid that was once calculated with a better than 3% chance of striking Earth in 2032 is no longer a concern.<\/p>\n

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The near-Earth object 2024 YR4 was found in December by a telescope in Chile. It crossed an important threshold last month when the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN)<\/u> \u2014 a global collaboration started in 2013 to monitor and track potential Earth impactors \u2014 issued a notification alerting the astronomical community that it had a greater than 1% chance of hitting us in seven years. <\/p>\n

Now, “it’s down to about one in a few hundred thousand \u2026 and that’s below the background of things we’re very interested in,” IAWN Manager Tim Spahr says.<\/p>\n