That Ominous Asteroid Headed Toward Earth

A 130-foot asteroid comparable to the meteor that exploded over a remote patch of Siberia in 1908 and decimated 800 square miles of forest is predicted to be heading toward earth. An asteroid of this size could easily devastate New York City or Washington DC.

If it hits in the ocean, it will create a tsunami causing massive coastal flood damage. A desert hit will create a damaging sandstorm.

The size is currently an estimate. The initial impact probability as of this January 29th NYT article was 1.3 percent.

However, the orbits of the earth and this Asteroid, named 2024 YR4, have been recalculated by experts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and as of February 24th, 2025, they have updated its probability of an impact with earth at only 0.004%. That is a very small possibility. Not enough to worry about.

They’ll get a closer calculation on the next passing through earth’s orbit in 2028. This will generate the closest predicted hit, or near miss of their orbital crossings 2032. There is also a 1.7% chance that the asteroid will hit the moon in 2032. We’ll keep you posted of any updates again at the next 2028 orbital crossing. So, keep reading Riverside Idyll’s “Anything Goes Corner”.

Source: New York Times, January 29th, 2025, and updated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. February 24th, 2025

Source: NASA's Planetary Defense facility that monitors and publishes near-earth space objects