Asteroid 2024 YR4, the size of Big Ben, is predicted to pass over eight of the top 100 most populated cities in the world. The impact risk corridor stretches from the Pacific Ocean, over South America, Africa, and into Asia. NASA scientists are tracking the asteroid, which has a potential force of 8 million tonnes of TNT, roughly 500 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
The predicted path will take the city-killer over cities including Bogotá, Abidjan, Lagos, Khartoum, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Dhaka. According to NASA chief scientist Bruce Betts, if it hits a major city like Paris or London, the impact could be catastrophic, “basically wiping out the whole city and some of the environs.”
NASA has tested ways to change an asteroid’s path, with its DART mission successfully moving a similar-sized asteroid in 2022. Two UN-supported teams are studying Asteroid 2024 YR4’s path, and scientists will continue observing it until April.
The asteroid is currently traveling away from Earth but will become too faint to view again after June 2028. NASA’s automated Sentry page and planetary defence blog will provide updates on the asteroid’s impact probability as more observations are made available. The current risk of collision is 3.1% or a 1-in-32 chance, making it the biggest extra-terrestrial threat in over two decades.
Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/cities-most-risk-asteroid-2024-103722643.html