Using data from NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope observations collected on Feb. 18 and 26, experts from NASA\u2019s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have refined near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4\u2019s orbit and are ruling out a chance of lunar impact on Dec. 22, 2032. With the new data, 2024 YR4 is expected to pass by the lunar surface at a distance of 13,200 miles (21,200 km).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This update reflects improved precision in our understanding of where the asteroid is expected to be in 2032 rather than a shift in its orbital path. Previous analyses, made before the incorporation of these new observations, suggested 2024 YR4 had a 4.3% chance of lunar impact on this date.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The observation team, led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, used Webb to capture the two additional observations of 2024 YR4<\/a> in an application of the telescope\u2019s unique capabilities. Since spring of 2025, the asteroid has been unobservable from both Earth and space-based observatories except for this use of Webb to make among the faintest ever observations of an asteroid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Asteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered in late 2024 by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System station in Chile. In early 2025, the information available about the asteroid\u2019s trajectory indicated the asteroid had a small, but notable chance of impacting Earth. Over time with more observations collected by observatories around the world, NASA concluded the object poses no significant impact risk to Earth on Dec. 22, 2032, or through the next century. It\u2019s typical to have initial observations and risk models updated once additional observational data is gathered and models are able to be refined.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: CNEOS Recent News<\/a><\/p>\n
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![<\/a><\/figure>\nAnimation of asteroid 2024 YR4\u2019s potential locations on December 22, 2032. The animation demonstrates how the additional data from the February 2026 James Webb Space Telescope observations have increased the certainty of where the asteroid will be in the future and decreased the range of possible locations. With this new data, 2024 YR4 is expected to pass by the Moon at a distance of 13,200 miles (21,200 km) and lunar impact is no longer a possibility. <\/div>\nNASA\/JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe observation team, led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, used Webb to capture the two additional observations of 2024 YR4<\/a> in an application of the telescope\u2019s unique capabilities. Since spring of 2025, the asteroid has been unobservable from both Earth and space-based observatories except for this use of Webb to make among the faintest ever observations of an asteroid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\nAsteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered in late 2024 by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System station in Chile. In early 2025, the information available about the asteroid\u2019s trajectory indicated the asteroid had a small, but notable chance of impacting Earth. Over time with more observations collected by observatories around the world, NASA concluded the object poses no significant impact risk to Earth on Dec. 22, 2032, or through the next century. It\u2019s typical to have initial observations and risk models updated once additional observational data is gathered and models are able to be refined.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\nSource: CNEOS Recent News<\/a><\/p>\nSource: CNEOS Recent News<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observations on Feb. 18 and 26, 2026, refine near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4’s orbit and rule out a chance of lunar impact on Dec. 22, 2032.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-space-nasa-jpl-near-earth-objects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":597,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2024yr4.gif\"){kind=link}