ASTEROID YR4

NEWS: The asteroid poses negligible (almost zero) risk to Earth

Asteroid YR4

• Asteroid YR4à A Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) discovered in December 2024 using the ATLAS telescope in Chile.
• Belongs to a group of objects called Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) because its orbit comes close to Earth’s orbit.

Important Characteristics

• Size: Around 65 metres (about the height of a 10-storey building).
• Orbit: Comes within 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance.
• Observed using the ATLAS telescope and later studied by the James Webb Space Telescope

New Conclusion

• After detailed observation using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists refined the asteroid’s orbit.
• The asteroid poses negligible (almost zero) risk to Earth.
• Its size is below the 140-metre threshold required to classify it as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).
• Thus, YR4 is no longer considered a threat to Earth.

Asteroids

• Also called minor planets
• Rocky remnants left over from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Characteristics

• Mostly irregularly shaped rocks
• Some are nearly spherical
• Some have small moons
• Some exist as binary or triple asteroid systems