An asteroid the size of a football pitch could hit the Earth in seven years, astronomers have warned.
The rocky object, measuring between 40 and 100 metres wide, was spotted on Christmas Day by a telescope in Chile and is believed to have a 1.2% chance of hitting our planet.
Whilst such a probability seems slim, it is one of the highest probabilities of any of the asteroids ever recorded by the European Space Agency (ESA), leading it to be placed at the top of a “asteroid risk list”.
The second highest risk asteroid has a probability of 0.68%.
Analysis of the space rock codenamed 2024 YR4, shows that it is currently moving away from the Earth at 38,000mph but that its orbit could bring into a collision with Earth on 22 December 2032 at 5.25am.
The Torino Impact Hazard Scale measures how concerned we should be about an asteroid hitting Earth. Such is the relative threat posed by 2024 YR4, it has been graded at level 3, the highest level for any asteroid currently being watched.
Astronomers will continue to monitor the asteroid’s path and gain a better understanding of its likely trajectory before it disappear outs of sight.
ESA said that it was not currently possible to determine where the asteroid would hit if it was to crash into Earth.
The International Asteroid Warning Network and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group have both been activated and are working on potential steps to take.
Space experts have long considered what action they would take in the event of an asteroid posing a major threat of collision with Earth.
In recent years, NASA has experimented with flying spaceships directly at asteroids in a bid to alter the trajectory of the objects and push them off course.
Experts also say that Hollywood style plans to send nuclear warheads to smash the rock could also be considered if the asteroid was over 1km in size, although this is extremely rare.
Ian Carnelli, a planetary defence expert at the ESA, told The Telegraph in 2023: “A kinetic impactor, a spacecraft, will be a lot more precise [than a nuclear bomb] because you can select the mass, the velocity and the direction of the impact; you can really control the deflection.
“However, it is a lot more complex with a nuclear device, and that is before you get into the political discussion because nuclear explosions in space are banned by UN treaties.
“But even so, the nuclear device is not like you see in Armageddon where you send drillers to put the bomb in the core of the asteroid and destroy it, the idea is to detonate it at a certain distance from the asteroid.
“Triggering an explosion a certain distance away from an asteroid is extremely complex and nobody would agree to test it before a real threat is identified so you really would have a total lack of knowledge of how to do it.
“Whereas the kinetic impactor is a proven technique and the technology is ready now and it is much more controllable. It’s really the ideal deflection technique.”
