The building-size asteroid 2024 YR4 has a small chance of striking the moon in 2032 — and a new study predicts it could also put on a spectacular show for skywatchers by creating thousands of impact flashes as well as extreme meteor storms.
The space rock — which is about 200 feet (60 meters) wide, or about as big as a 15-story building — was discovered on Dec. 27, 2024. It briefly gained notoriety in February 2025, when astronomers calculated that it had the highest-ever probability of colliding with Earth of asteroids that size or larger. Although this likelihood reached as high as 3.1%, more detailed estimates of the asteroid's trajectory negated any chances that the rock would collide with Earth during its near pass on Dec. 22, 2032.
