On December 27, 2024, astronomers discovered asteroid 2024 YR4, which may collide with Earth on December 22, 2032.

While this sounds alarming, there’s no immediate cause for concern, as impacts from objects of this size are rare.

Asteroids like the one that caused the Tunguska event in 1908 and the Chelyabinsk explosion in 2013 remind us that smaller impacts are more common, but large-scale collisions are much less frequent, Science Alert has reported.

Currently, there’s about a 1-in-77 chance that 2024 YR4 could hit Earth, though this risk will be refined as more observations are made.

Written by B.C. Begley