The 2024 YR4 Asteroid Threat

In the celestial ballet of 2025, a brief, heart-stopping moment unfolded as astronomers detected an asteroid, christened 2024 YR4, whose trajectory threatened to intersect with Earth. Initially spotted in late December 2024, this space-faring entity, estimated to be between 40 and 90 metres in width, sparked a flurry of calculations and concern.

Its possible paths across the solar system converged, alarmingly, with our planet, prompting astronomers to assign a 1-in-83 chance of a catastrophic impact in 2032. As the new year dawned, detailed observations of 2024 YR4’s trajectory only heightened the sense of urgency. By early February, the odds of a devastating impact had escalated to a perilous 1-in-32 chance, a scenario that would have unleashed energy equivalent to megatonnes of TNT, potentially ravaging a city and its environs.

The asteroid’s threat level merited a Torino rating of 3, a designation that triggered a concerted response from the international community. United Nations-affiliated bodies sprang into action, coordinating global telescope observation campaigns and deliberating on the feasibility of an asteroid-deflection mission.