We're So Screwed, Even That "City Killer" Asteroid Doesn't Want to Destroy Earth Anymore

Earlier this year, a roughly 200-foot near-Earth asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, made major headlines, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab warning that there was a small chance it could impact our planet on December 22, 2032.

Over the following weeks, the probability of a collision grew steadily, eventually reaching 3.1 percent — or about a 1-in-32 chance — according to figures from NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies last week.

But fears over a space rock wiping out one of the most populous cities on Earth amounted to nothing. According to the JPL's "more precise models of the asteroid’s trajectory," scientists came up with an updated impact probability only 0.004 percent.

"There is no significant potential for this asteroid to impact our planet for the next century," NASA wrote in a recent blog post. "The latest observations have further reduced the uncertainty of its future trajectory, and the range of possible locations the asteroid could be on December 22, 2032, has moved farther away from the Earth."

In short, not even a near-Earth asteroid was willing to finally put us out of our mystery.

At least we could soon get an even more precise glimpse of the slacker asteroid. Scientists are hoping to use NASA's groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope to zoom in on the space rock next month.

Intriguingly, according to NASA, there's still a small 1.7 percent chance 2024 YR4 could impact the Moon on December 22, 2032, which could result in a massive collision that's visible from Earth.

"There is the possibility this would eject some material back out that could hit the Earth, but I highly doubt it would cause any major threat," University of Arizona asteroid hunter David Rankin told New Scientist earlier this month.

With a collision with Earth exceedingly unlikely, NASA is still excited to use the opportunity to "test planetary defense science and notification processes," according to the agency's latest update.

And the space agency already has some practice when it comes to fending off errant space rocks.

In September 2022, NASA smashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into a tiny asteroid called Dimorphos. The groundbreaking mission saw the space rock be knocked off its trajectory, releasing copious amounts of dust and loose rock in the process.

Fortunately, it doesn't look like the agency will have to do anything like with 2024 YR4, though.

More on the space rock: Killer Asteroid Could Be Headed for Some of the World's Most Populous Cities