NASA Updates Odds Of A City-Killer Asteroid Smashing Into The Moon In 2032

NASA has announced that the asteroid known as 2024 YR4, a space rock roughly the size of a 20-story building, no longer poses a threat of crashing into the Moon during its close approach in 2032. While initial projections suggested a slim but still possible lunar impact, new data has refined the object’s trajectory that will carry it past the lunar surface at a distance of approximately 13,200 miles.

The saga of 2024 YR4 began when the asteroid was first detected by NASA's ATLAS station in Chile in 2024, which was initially assessed to have a near-Earth trajectory, later re-calibrated to a 4.3% chance of lunar impact. At roughly 220 feet (67 meters) wide, the asteroid is significantly larger than the bolide that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013.

Had it struck the Moon, the collision would have been a spectacular, albeit violent event visible from ...