A rock the size of a 30-story building is hurtling towards Earth. Travelling 20 times faster than a bullet, Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2.3 per cent chance of hitting us in 2032, roughly the same probability as rolling double sixes on a pair of dice.
These newly revised odds make it the biggest extra-terrestrial threat to our planet since 2004, when astronomers discovered an asteroid that had a 2.7 per cent chance of colliding with us. That space rock eventually proved harmless, but if we’re lucky, this newly-discovered one will be on a direct collision course with Earth.
