Asteroid no longer a threat to Earth, scientists say

Scientists have finally given the all-clear to Earth from a newly discovered asteroid.

After two months of observations, scientists have almost fully ruled out any threat from the asteroid 2024 YR4, Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday.

At one point, the odds of a strike in 2032 were as high as about 3% and topped the world’s asteroid-risk lists.

The ESA has since lowered the odds to 0.001%. Nasa had it down to 0.0027% — meaning the asteroid will safely pass Earth in 2032 and there is no threat of impact for the next century.

Paul Chodas, who heads Nasa’s Centre for Near Earth Objects Studies, said there is no chance the odds will rise at this point and that an impact in 2032 has been ruled out.

“That’s the outcome we expected all along, although we couldn’t be 100% sure that it would happen,” he said in an email.

But there is still a 1.7% chance that the asteroid could hit the moon on December 22 2032, according to Nasa.

The world’s telescopes will continue to track the asteroid as it heads away from Earth, with the Webb Space Telescope zooming in next month to pinpoint its size.

It is expected to vanish from view in another month or two.

Discovered in December, the asteroid is an estimated 40 metres to 90 metres across, and swings towards Earth every four years.

“While this asteroid no longer poses a significant impact hazard to Earth, 2024 YR4 provided an invaluable opportunity” for study, Nasa said in a statement.