A newly-discovered metre wide asteroid heading towards Earth has triggered a planetary defence response group. Spotted last month by a telescope in Chile, the near-Earth asteroid - designated YR4 has a chance of smashing into Earth in , said space agency officials in the US and Europe, who have placed it at the top of impact risk lists.
Still the chances of it striking Earth are minimal and it would not cause a mass extinction as happened 66m years ago when an asteroid led to an end of the dinosaurs as that was up to 15 kilometres wide. And Catalina Sky Survey engineer David Rankin wrote on Bluesky : "This is one of the highest probabilities of an impact from a significantly sized rock ever.
Most likely outcome is still a near miss. The discovery of the asteroid has led to the activation of two UN-endorsed global asteroid response groups. The International Asteroid Warning Network is now making further observations of the asteroid and its path while the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group has also been alerted.
The asteroid route is being closely watched as it moves around the sun and it will gradually fade from view over the next few months, according to Nasa and the European Space Agency. Until then, some of the world's most powerful telescopes will keep monitoring it to better determine its size and path. Once out of sight, it will not be visible until it passes our way again in It came within roughly , miles of Earth on Christmas Day which is about twice the distance to the moon and it was discovered two days later.
Mr Chodas said scientists are poring over sky surveys from , when predictions show the asteroid also ventured close. If scientists can find the space rock in images from then, they should be able to determine whether it will hit or miss the planet. Earth gets clobbered by an asteroid this size every few thousand years with the potential for severe damage, according to ESA. That is why this one now tops ESA's asteroid risk list.
