New observations have dramatically reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032, lowering the risk to minimal levels, but its extraordinarily close approach will offer astronomers th

For several years, astronomers have been aware of a much-ballyhooed “city-killer” asteroid named YR4 2024, which is hurtling roughly toward the Earth; as it approaches, astronomers have been waffling about how likely it is to strike.

New calculations indicate that the asteroid known as 2024 YR4 is now much less likely to hit Earth than earlier measurements had suggested. Late on 19 February, telescope observations of the object revised down the estimated chance of impact in 2032 from 3.1% — the greatest such threat ever recorded — to a still-worrying 1.5%.