Alarms were raised at the beginning of this 2025, after the United Nations (UN) activated for the first time in history the Planetary Security Protocol due to the possibility that the asteroid YR4 could collide with Earth on December 22, 2032. Fortunately, NASA has now reported that the rocky object is no longer a threat to the planet.
Very few times in history, asteroids have exceeded a 1% probability of impacting Earth, and YR4 surpassed this threshold. The UN calculated the possibility of impact at slightly over 1.5%, then recalculated it to 2.3%. NASA reported a similar risk percentage: 2.27%. However, experts highlighted that it was likely for this percentage to decrease, and indeed, that’s what happened.
The outlet The Sun reported that according to NASA, the asteroid YR4 now has only a 1 in 26,000 chance of hitting Earth, which means there is a 99.9961 percent chance that it will continue its path through space.
Scientists estimate that there will be 167,000 miles of distance between Earth and YR4 in December 2032.
“Asteroide YR4 y por qué fue alarma planetaria”
The asteroid YR4 was a planetary alarm because if it had struck Earth, it would have wiped out an entire city the size of Paris, London, or New York. It would not only have destroyed an entire city but also its surrounding areas.
The YR4 had a potential collision with localized destruction within a 50 km radius, as it was at level 3 of danger on the Turí scale, which ranges from 0 to 10. This level warrants special attention from astronomers and international organizations. The Sun says that according to scientists, its impact would be equivalent to eight billion kilograms of TNT, more than 500 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
If the threat of impact had persisted, it could have struck Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela (in northern South America), as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, and Ethiopia.