Context

• According to the European Space Agency, Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2.2% chance of hitting our planet on December 22, 2032.

About Asteroid 2024 YR4

• Currently tops the risk list of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies Sentry.
• Pre Covered by: David Rannkin with the help of data from the Catalina Sky Survey.
• Precovered here stands for the process of finding images or data of an astronomical object before its official discovery.
• Estimated to be 131 to 295 feet (40 and 90 meters) wide
• Discovered: December 2024
• He said that this leads to a confined uncertainty zone known as “line of variation”.

What are Asteroids?

• Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky, airless remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.
• Asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter.
• The larger forms of asteroids are also known as planetoids.

Asteroids are classified into 3 main groups:

1) C-type

• These are the most common type of asteroids, consisting of 75% of the known asteroid population.
• All carbonaceous asteroids fall under this category.
• Asteroids are extremely dark in their nature.

2) S-type

• The moderately-bright asteroids (albedo/reflection coefficient- 0.10-0.22) with components mainly including iron and magnesium silicates.
• These are mainly found in the inner asteroid belt.

3) M-type

• The asteroids with nickel and iron in its purest form are categorised under M-type.
• All the asteroids are visible by binoculars except for one, 4 Vesta.

Asteroid Detection Systems

• NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)
• ESA’s Space Situational Awareness Program tracks potentially hazardous asteroids.

Strategies to Prevent Asteroid Collisions

• Kinetic Impact Deflection: It is a technique that uses a high-speed spacecraft to hit an asteroid and change its trajectory.
• Nuclear Deflection Strategy: It is a last-resort method for deflecting asteroids from Earth using nuclear explosives.
• Gravitational Tractor: It is a spacecraft that uses its gravitational pull to deflect an asteroid or other object in space.

Major Related Missions

• DART Mission by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Hera mission by European Space Agency (ESA)

Related terms and their definitions

• Alpha Centauri
• It is a star system, and is widely believed to be the closest to the solar system at a distance of 4.37 light years.
  • The star system is constituted of three stars, which include Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Alpha Centauri C, which is often referred to as Proxima Centauri.
• Galaxy
• The vast pool of stars, stellar remnants, dark matter and interstellar gas and dust is known as a galaxy.
• Nebula
  • A nebula is a formation in space which is constituted mostly of helium, dust, and other gases in various concentrations.