Asteroid 2024 YR4, discovered by a NASA-operated telescope, weighs 220 million kilograms and has a 1-in-100 chance of impacting Earth in 2032. This object was first detected on Christmas Day 2022 and is expected to cause devastation akin to an eight-mega-ton TNT explosion if it were to collide with our planet. Measuring between 40 to 90 meters in diameter, further observations will be necessary to refine data about its orbit and potential threat. It is projected to be visible from Earth until April 2023 before disappearing around the Sun and returning to view in 2028.
At this point astronomers have measured the object's orbit, and further observations will refine that orbit to give us a more precise understanding of its potential danger.
We have a rough estimate of its size based on its brightness, and from variations in the brightness, we can infer that it has an elongated shape.
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