If you haven’t caught up with recent updates, there’s a potential asteroid impact that could happen in a few years, and Neil deGrasse Tyson has issued a warning about it.
The universe is an expansive realm teeming with incredible sights… and also asteroids capable of destroying cities.
Normally, such phenomena would be a subject of interest for scientists, but recent developments about a specific asteroid have prompted NASA to take notice.
This newly identified asteroid, named ‘2024 YR4,’ might collide with Earth in 2032.
Adding to the concern, nine countries are identified as being at the highest risk should this asteroid make landfall there: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Even if it doesn’t impact the ground, astronomers suggest that 2024 YR4 could cause a mid-air explosion upon entering the atmosphere. Such an explosion would have the destructive power equivalent to eight million tons of TNT, affecting everything within a 30-mile range.
Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson addressed the situation on Twitter on Saturday (February 15).
He tweeted: “At the moment, mansion-sized Asteroid 2024-YR4 has a one-in-fifty chance of hitting Earth in the next eight years.
“Now might be a bad time to reduce spending on Science. Just sayin.”
Other estimates suggest there is a one in 43 chance of a collision with Earth in 2032, adding to the concerns.
As expected, Tyson’s remarks sparked reactions on social media.
One user noted: “I noticed you used the ‘1 in 50’ rather than the 2% to describe the odds. Which sounds more ominous? As better & more observations are done the 2% will be lowered just as with every other object in the past. Scare tactics don’t work.”
Another person commented: “Personally, I think there is a lot of taxpayer-funded science that should be reviewed & potentially reduced, but planetary defense against NEO threats seems disproportionately underfunded relative to the likelihood and magnitude of the associated risks & consequences.”
While a third remarked: “Now if only there was a billionaire genius that was spearheading a renaissance in rocketry and trying to make humanity multiplanetary. Oh, wait, there is. Elon Musk and SpaceX.”
A NASA blog post on the topic says: “As more observations of the asteroid’s orbit are obtained, its impact probability will become better known. It is possible that asteroid 2024 YR4 will be ruled out as an impact hazard, as has happened with many other objects that have previously appeared on NASA’s asteroid risk list, maintained by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.”
The agency has also emphasized that the chance of the asteroid striking Earth is still an ‘extremely low possibility’.