In light of the threat posed by Asteroid 2024 YR4 to Earth, the European Space Agency (ESA) said the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be used to observe the space rock in the coming months. Asteroid YR4, a near-Earth asteroid, could potentially strike the planet in December 2032.
Asteroid YR4 hitting Earth in 2032?
☄️ We aren’t just waiting for an asteroid to strike. We are taking active measures to help Earth defend itself against a potential impact.
— European Space Agency (@esa) February 7, 2025
Our Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre monitors over 37 000 near-Earth asteroids. The vast majority are entirely safe, but occasionally… pic.twitter.com/1qvSEWs5nw
As of now, the asteroid is estimated to be about 130 to 300 feet (40 – 90 meters) wide and "has a very small chance" of crashing into Earth. The chances of Asteroid 2024 YR4 crashing into Earth was 1.3% in late January, which marginally rose to 1.7% in February. By the second week of the month, scientists learnt that it reached 2.3%, The New York Times said in a report. In other words, there is a one-in-45 chance of Asteroid 2024 YR4 striking the only known planet to sustain life. According to NASA, Asteroid 2024 YR4 is big enough to cause "localized damage in the unlikely event that it should impact Earth."
What is JWST?
The James Webb Space Telescope or the JWST is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built. It is as tall as a 3-story building and is able to capture images of some of the first galaxies ever formed. Launched in 2021, the giant telescope is able to observe objects in the solar system from Mars outward, look inside dust clouds to see where new stars and planets are forming and examine the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.
Merry Christmas! We got you a new telescope.
— NASA (@NASA) December 25, 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope launched today, beginning a one-million-mile journey to see 13.5 billion years into the past. Follow @NASAWebb and join the quest to #UnfoldTheUniverse: https://t.co/TlYpoUHdJu pic.twitter.com/ilwWPuIJun
All data from JWST's observations of the asteroid will be reportedly made available to public. JWST is expected to help experts understand how big Asteroid 2024 YR4 really is. The current data with NASA and ESA is solely based on inputs provided by telescopes on Earth which are not very accurate.
How can James Webb Space Telescope help?
Instead of looking at sunlight reflected on the asteroid, JWST's infrared instruments will study the heat emitted by the asteroid itself, helping to understand how big it really is. It is also expected to help the scientists identify the asterid's surface composition.
NASA-CSA-ESA-jointly owned JWST will first observe 2024 YR4 in March 2025 when the space project reaches its peak brightness. Later in May, the telescope will observe the asteroid again as it zooms far away from the sun — the final viewing opportunity for this space rock until its next close approach comes in 2028.
"It is very important that we improve our size estimate for 2024 YR4: the hazard represented by a 40 m asteroid is very different from that of a 90 m asteroid. The space-based JWST will also have a much clearer view of the asteroid compared with its ground-based counterparts, which must peer through the obscuring veil of our planet's atmosphere to observe near-Earth objects," Live Science quoted ESA as saying.
In total, JSWT will observe Asteroid 2024 YR4 for over four hours, and will amount to the telescope's "director's discretionary time," a small stash of research hours reserved for time-sensitive observations that can't wait, the report added.
