Key points
- The asteroid is estimated to be 131 to 295 feet (40 to 90 meters) wide
- Its destructive potential is 500 times of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- The asteroid that led to the extinction of dinosaurs was estimated to be about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter
ISLAMABAD: Asteroid 2024 YR4 could hit Earth in seven years and Nasa data shows that more than 100 million people live in the risk corridor of Asteroid 2024 YR4.
According to CNN, a recently discovered asteroid, named 2024 YR4, has on average a two per cent chance of hitting Earth in 2032. While those odds of an impact are slim, astronomers are closely tracking the space rock to uncover more details — a process that could soon involve the most powerful observatory ever launched into space.
“Planet killer”
Not much is known about 2024 YR4, but the asteroid is estimated to be 131 to 295 feet (40 to 90 meters) wide, a “size range comparable to that of a large building,” said Dr Paul Chodas, manager for the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, or CNEOS, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
That’s not even close to the size of the “planet-killer” asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago and led to the extinction of dinosaurs. That one was estimated to be about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter and marked the last known large asteroid to hit our world. Planet killer asteroids are space rocks that are one kilometer across or larger and could have a devastating effect on life, according to CNN.
According to the Independent, the asteroid’s destructive potential is 500 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The estimated flight path of an asteroid the size of Big Ben’s tower will see it pass over some of the world’s most populous cities, according to the latest data from Nasa.
Biggest extra-terrestrial threat
Asteroid 2024 YR4 currently has a 2.6 per cent chance of hitting Earth on 22 December, 2032, making it the biggest extra-terrestrial threat in more than two decades.
Scientists have calculated that the impact risk corridor of the space rock stretches eastwards from the Pacific Ocean, over South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Middle East and into Asia.
This trajectory takes it over eight of the top 100 most populated cities in the world: Bogotá, Abidjan, Lagos, Khartoum, Mumbai, Kolkata and Dhaka.
The urban area of these cities alone have a combined population of more than 110 million, with the destructive potential of Asteroid 2024 YR4 equivalent to 8 million tons of TNT – roughly 500 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The impact zone would have a radius of around 50 kilometres (30 miles), though Nasa and other space agencies are hopeful that the asteroid does not pose a serious threat to Earth, according to Independent.
