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Astronomers examined the City-killer asteroid before disappearing until 2028, according to NASA.
Space Rock, called 2024, had previously given up 3.1% likely to hit Earth in December 2032, but since then astronomers have eliminated the possibility of strike at that time based on additional observations.
Astronomers are closely watching 2024, trying to learn everything they can, before disappearing from the view until mid-April, Kelly Fast, a planetary defense employee in NASA, told ABC News earlier this year. Its unique elongated orbit leads the asteroid around the sun and near Earth before it goes far between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and beyond sight, Fast said.
The NASA NASA Center for NASA uses James Web Space Telescope -the largest, the most powerful telescope put into space to capture photos of the asteroid, the space agency reported on Wednesday.
This image, provided by the European Space Agency, April 2, 2025, captured by NASA’s WebB Telecope, shows the asteroid 2024.
European Space Agency through AP
New infrared observations show that the asteroid measures between 174 feet and 220 feet with a diameter-about the size of the 10-storey building, according to NASA. Although it is not predicted to hit Earth in 2032, the asteroid is now 1.7% likely to hit the moon at that time, the space agency said.
Space Rock was first discovered on December 27 by astronomers watching the Atlas telescope at the University of Hawaii, Fast said.
In the past, even when the asteroid passed through the inner solar system, it did not always come close to where Earth was at that time, which is why it was only discovered recently, Fast said.
The asteroid is called a “killer city” because of its size and potential to cause great destruction. It is big enough to cause localized damage if it was hit in a populated city, Fast said.
Graphics of possible places – represented by yellow points – on asteroid 2024. On December 22, 2032, from April 2, 2025.
NASA
In 1908, an asteroid of similar sizes tunguska flattened trees on an area of about 1250 miles after exploding in the sky above Siberia.
NASA Congress is loaded with the localization of asteroids of a larger length of 450 feet, which are large enough to cause “regional” damage in the case of a strike, Fast said.
Currently, the asteroid has a 1.1% chance of hitting Earth on December 22, 2047, according to NASA.
More than 2% chance of an asteroid impact is “rare,” David Farnokia, a navigation engineer at NASA’s jet -acting laboratory, told ABC News in February.
But astronomers will continue to follow the asteroid closely.
“We don’t want to take the risk,” Farnokia said.
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