The asteroid killer of cities 2024 YR4, which was discovered at the end of December 2024,, as scientists call it, bothers astronomers for several weeks. Initially, it was assumed that this space stone about 55 meters wide has a probability of 1.2% to fall to the ground in December 2032. Later, scientists from NASA said that this probability is already 2.3%. New calculations show that instead of the Earth, asteroid 2024 YR4 can crash into the moon, although such a probability is also low. Nevertheless, the consequences of the blow will probably be felt on our planet, writes Live Science.

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Asteroid 2024 YR4, which flies towards the Earth at a speed of about 48,000 km/h, is now considered potentially dangerous for our planet. Its size (it is assumed that the width of the asteroid is 55 meters) is not enough to destroy human civilizations, but its gift can destroy the big city. If such an asteroid fell on our planet, then about 8 megaton energy would be released during the blow. This is about 500 times more than during the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

David Rankin from the University of Arizona, believes that instead of crashing into the ground, an asteroid 2024 YR4 may fall into the moon, although this probability is only 0.3%. Scientists believe that during a blow on the surface of the moon, many stones will be thrown into space that can reach the ground. But most likely, even if this happens, then all these stones will burn in the atmosphere of our planet and do not cause any damage.

Rankin's calculations show that the fall of space stone to the moon will be clearly visible from the ground, because during the blow it will be released about 340 times more energy than during the explosion of an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The moon has existed for more than 4 billion years and all this time asteroids of different sizes fell on its surface. They all left many craters that are clearly visible on the surface of the Earth's satellite. It is assumed that if 2024 yr4 crashes into the moon, then the asteroid will create a crater with a diameter of about 2 km. For comparison, the largest crater on the Moon called the South Pole Ethken basin has a diameter of about 2400 km.

Now scientists intend to use the WebB space telescope in order to better study the asteroid 2024 YR4, which will clarify its size and find out the composition..

According to Rankin, the chances that this space stone will fall on our planet are still extremely small, and therefore, according to current estimates, there is a probability of more than 97%that it will fly by in 2032.

As Focus already wrote, scientists suggested that an asteroid 2024 YR4 in 7 years would be approximately 4 times closer to the ground than the moon, but the instability of its orbit can lead to a clash with our planet.

Focus also wrote that scientists from the USA and China took up the determination of the exact orbit of the asteroid 2024 YR4 in order to understand how high the probability of its fall on the ground.

Focus also wrote that the physicist explained why he hates what is shown in the film Star Treet. It happens that the scriptwriters of science fiction films do not quite correctly understand the physics of certain phenomena in space, and therefore are mistaken in their view on the screen.