A frightening new animation has unveiled the projected path of the 'city destructive' asteroid on the way to earth.
And it suggests that the earth is not the only object in the shooting line.
According to Dr. David Rankin, Operations Engineer for the Catalina Sky Survey of the University of Arizona, also runs the risk of being affected.
Dr. Rankin calculated the route that the Asteroid, 2024 JR4, will take the most likely.
His calculations indicate that 2024 JR4 currently has a 2.1 percent or one in 48, chance of collision with the earth on December 22, 2032.
This is actually slightly less than earlier estimates, which suggested that there was a 2.3 percent chance (one in 43).
In the meantime, the scientist predicts that there is around 0.3 percent (one in 333) a chance to hit the moon 2024 JR4.
If the asteroid touches the earth, the impact could release an explosion of energy that is equivalent to 15 megatones TNT – 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that dropped at Hiroshima during the Second World War.
David Rankin, Operations Engineer for the Catalina Sky Survey of the University of Arizona, calculated the Route 2024 -JR4 most likely (White Line). Showing the precise collision course that can lead to a deadly impact
A frightening new simulation unveils the path of the city murderer Asteroid 2024 JR4, which has a 2.1 percent chance of clashing with the earth in 2032 (Stock image)
The asteroid was first detected by the NASA-financed Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (Atlas) Station in December last year.
It quickly turned on alarm bells, while NASA almost doubled the chance of an impact with the earth from 1.2 percent to 2.3 percent.
Although that chance has now decreased somewhat, 2024 -JR4 is still the only large asteroid with an impact chance more than one percent – making it by far the greatest threat to the earth.
The calculations of Dr. However, Rankin offer a hair -raising new possibility that the asteroid could collide with the moon instead.
In a post on Bluesky, Dr. Rankin that there was about 0.3 percent chance on 2024 JR4 that hit the moon.
Without any atmosphere to slow down his approach, the asteroid in the moon's surface would hit at a stunning speed of 31,000 miles per hour (50,000 kilometers per hour).
The collision would release an explosion 343 times the size of the atomic bomb that dropped on Hiroshima and transfers a crater to 1.2 km (2 km).
If it touches the moon, it is probably in the region that extends to the south of the mare crisie, a large plain of solidified lava, to the crater Tycho.
Asteroid 2024 -JR4 is about the same size as the asteroid of Tunguska, which caused the greatest impact event in the registered history when it shot through the atmosphere of the earth in 1908, flattening of 830 square miles (2,150 square km) forest (depicted)
Analysis of the course of 2024 JR4 indicates that the asteroid will most likely pass through the earth on December 22, 2032. However, new calculations suggest that it could also clash with the moon
This can be worrying, because this would place the impact on the side of the moon opposite the earth, making it possible to be exposed to a shower of the grenade of Maan.
Fortunately, experts say that the earth would probably not be harmed by any impact that takes place on the moon.
Dr. Rankin said to New Scientist: “There is the possibility that this would eject some material that the earth could hit, but I very much doubt that it would cause every big threat.”
Unlike a large object such as 2024 JR4, these smaller pieces of debris must burn in the atmosphere that create nothing more than a particularly clear meteor shower.
Some experts even suggest that the collision between the asteroid and the moon could create a really spectacular display.
Gareth Collins, a professor of planetary science at Imperial College London, said New Scientist: “The impact flash of evaporated rock would be visible from the earth, even during the day.”
This means that all sharp starcases on earth can see the moment that the asteroid on the moon's surface on the moon surface can explode with the naked eye.
However, it is currently seven times more likely to hit the earth instead of the moon.
Without any atmosphere to delay it, the asteroid would touch the moon at 31,000 miles per hour (50,000 kilometers per hour), which creates an explosion clear enough to see the earth with the naked eye
These opportunities will probably change in the future if scientists collect more information about the asteroid's job.
The current estimates for the orbital path, the speed and size of 2024 years have come from hundreds of images taken by powerful telescopes around the world.
For such a short period, however, it is difficult to predict exactly where the asteroid will travel.
Although astronomers hope that the chance of an impact will quickly fall to zero, a direct collision with the earth cannot be excluded.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) recently took the emergency decision to use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to take more accurate measurements.
The JWST records the heat broadcast by the asteroid with the help of its infrared sensors that will give a more accurate estimate for its size.
A team of ESA scientists will make one observation in March when the asteroid reaches his peak clearance and another in May while traveling away from the earth.
This is the last chance to observe 2024 JR4 before it becomes too weak to see the earth until it returns in 2028.
The European Space Agency has received emergency access to the James Webb Space Telescope (photo) to measure the size of the asteroid more accurately
NASA has already achieved a hugely important milestone with the Dart Asteroid Deflection Mission. In September 2022, the Dart -Space Varitage was deliberately crashed in Dimorphos, an asteroid 6.8 million miles away. A similar method can be used to deviate Asteroid 2024 JR4 before it reaches the earth
These observations will be crucial to determine whether the space agencies of the world should take action to divert its course.
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) mission showed how a space rock could be thrown with the earth from a collision race by dropping a spacecraft.
The use of a similar strategy such as Knock 2024 -JR4 of its predicted job is a possible way in which planetary defense organizations can protect the earth.
With just eight years until the asteroid arrives, some scientists have doubted the plan to ward off the murderer -Sasteroid.
In a post on X, Dr. Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and author in London, that we have less than eight years to possibly deal with it '.
“You need 10 years or more to build, plan and execute an asteroid bending mission,” he said.
