NASA and ESA monitor asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a 1.2% chance of impacting Earth in 2032. Learn about Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), their risks, and planetary defense strategies.

A recently released animation shows a new look at a large asteroid that has a small, but significant, chance of impacting planet Earth in seven years.

Experts are tracking asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a 1.2% chance of impacting Earth in 2032. Observations continue to refine its path.

The asteroid named "2024 YR4," which is about the size of a football field, now has a 2.3% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. That's up from 1.3%. That little fact has hit the internet and people are reacting exactly how you'd imagine.

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The internet is currently swimming with talk about an asteroid that could hit Earth in 2032. "Could" is a stretch, however, as scientists currently estimate those chances are 2.3%, according to Space.com. So, why is everyone up in arms about something that has a 97% chance of missing us?

Chance of Earth being hit by asteroid in 2032 double - Rock will still almost certainly pass by without incident

Days after it was confirmed that asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 1-in-83 chance of colliding with Earth, American space agency, Nasa has charted the course of its orbit and the object's trajectory in space. Nasa's Center of Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) is tracking the asteroid and has already prepared its projected orbit that brings it in extreme proximity to Earth.