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The asteroid's provisional designation as a minor planet, "2024 YR 4", was assigned by the Minor Planet Center when its discovery was announced on 27 December 2024. [2] The first letter, "Y", indicates that the asteroid was discovered in the second half-month of December 2024 (16 to 31 December), and "R 4" indicates that it was the 117th provisional designation to be assigned in that half-month.
The diagram shows how orbit data can be used to predict impacts well in advance. This particular asteroid's orbit was only known a few hours before impact. The diagram was made later. Once the initial orbit is known, the potential positions can be forecast years into the future and compared to the future position of Earth.
A 10 indicates that a collision is certain, and the impacting object is large enough to precipitate a global disaster. An object is assigned a 0 to 10 value based on its collision probability and the kinetic energy of the possible collision. The Torino scale is defined only for potential impacts less than 100 years in the future.
The European Space Agency previously said the asteroid was "spotted on a collision course with Earth," and that it was about 70 centimeters, or about 27 1/2 inches, in diameter.
The rocky object called Bennu is classified as a near-Earth asteroid, currently making its closest approach to Earth every six years at about 186,000 miles (299,000 km) away. ... with scientists ...
Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 clearly shows the slow evolution of the debris coming from asteroid P/2010 A2, assumed to be due to a collision with a smaller asteroid. In 1998, two comets were observed plunging toward the Sun in close succession. The first of these was on June 1 and the second the next day.
The asteroid making so much news today ranks as a three, representing “a chance of collision capable of localized destruction.” Read More : NASA’s New, $4 Billion Space Telescope Will ...
Artist's impression of the asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatán Peninsula in what is today Southeast Mexico. [13] The aftermath of the asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago, is believed to have caused the mass extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. [13]