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Space

Asteroid 2024 YR4 could still hit the moon, JWST observations reveal

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year seemed to be at risk of hitting Earth in 2032. Earth is now safe, but astronomers are cheering on a possible collision with the moon

By Matthew Sparkes

28 March 2025

There is a small chance of asteroid 2024 YR4 striking the moon

ESA/NASA

For a brief period earlier this year, the world’s space agencies were warning that the sizeable asteroid 2024 YR4 had an uncomfortably high 3.1 per cent chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Thankfully, more detailed observations have now dropped those odds to near zero, but fresh analysis using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows there is still a chance it will impact our moon – something that astronomers are excited to see.

In February, when concerns of an impact with our planet were still high, Andrew Rivkin…

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