Asteroid 2024 YR4, previously deemed a considerable danger to our planet, has been scrutinised by the James Webb Space Telescope, which has accomplished a remarkable achievement in this regard.

Having been referenced on numerous occasions since its identification last December, asteroid 2024 YR4 has once again captured headlines as we enter April 2025. However, this is rather encouraging news; as anticipated, the celestial body is not set to impact Earth in 2032, but may instead make contact with the Moon. A recent observation from the James Webb Space Telescope, meticulously examined by NASA scientists, has confirmed this finding.

By the close of February, NASA had definitively dismissed any concerns regarding the threat this asteroid might pose to our planet in 2032.

Thanks to newly acquired images from the combined efforts of the Miri instrument, which operates in the mid-infrared spectrum, and NIRCam, functioning in the near-infrared, observers have successfully identified the initial percentage risk of a collision with the Moon: a modest 3%. This is once more an estimate, and it is entirely possible that this figure may fluctuate in the months and years ahead. What appears to be more assured, however, is the dimensions of 2024 YR4, estimated to be approximately 60 meters, akin to a rather impressive 15-story structure. Notwithstanding this, it stands as one of the tiniest entities ever directly observed by the telescope.

Although 2024 YR4 is anticipated to exert minimal influence on our planet or its moon, the act of observing it stands as a noteworthy accomplishment that may prove beneficial down the line. Andy Rivkin, the principal investigator of the Webb Director’s Discretionary Time program at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, remarked: “Gaining insight into the optimal use of the data that the James Webb Space Telescope will provide during the 2024 YR4 experiment is crucial for informing our strategy in an urgent observing program, should another asteroid present a potential impact threat in the future.”

“Moreover, should a collision with the Moon take place, it would not merely present a breathtaking (and safe) display for the public, but also serve as a significant advantage for the scientific community.”

According to Julia de León from the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics in La Palma, “We already know that the Moon is full of craters and that very small objects constantly collide with its surface, but we’ve never observed a collision involving an object larger than 50 m.” That would be absolutely remarkable.