Scientists have been granted permission to use a space telescope to observe Asteroid 2024 YR4 (Image: Getty)
Space agencies have been granted permission to use a giant telescope to discover how much damage a so-called “city-killer” would cause if it were to hit the Earth.
The rare decision comes as astronomers predict the has a one in 43, or 2.3%, chance of colliding with Earth.
Scientists will have access to the (JWST) to measure the size of the asteroid and gain more details about its orbit.
Estimates currently put the size between 130ft (40m) to 295ft (90m), which is just under the height of the tower housing Big Ben.
JWST will be able to get a clearer picture of Asteroid 2024 YR4 because it is in space, rather than on Earth where the planet’s atmosphere interferes with the clarity of ground based telescopes.
Scientists expect the probability of the asteroid hitting Earth to drop (Image: Getty)
A spokesperson at the European Space Agency said: “Astronomers around the world are using powerful telescopes to measure the asteroid’s orbit as accurately as possible.
“But knowing its orbit will only tell us the asteroid could impact Earth, not how significant an impact could be.
“It is very important that we improve our size estimate for 2024 YR4: the hazard represented by a 40m asteroid is very different from that of a 90m asteroid.”
At its current size estimate, space experts suggest Asteroid 2024 YR4 could blast Earth with an explosion equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT if it were to hit.
Such a blast would be 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War, which killed an estimated 140,000 people according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
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Space agencies have expert eyes trained on the asteroid (Image: Getty)
The reports that JWST will complete two observations of Asteroid 2024 YR4, with the first in March when its brightness reaches its peak. The second will follow in May.
Scientists predict the probability of 2024 YR4 hitting Earth will drop towards zero as more data is collected.
Astronomer, Dr Emily Rice, said the asteroid has just passed its closest approach to Earth so right now is a “good time” to track it.
She told US broadcaster : “From the observations that we have so far, figuring out how big it is, tracking its orbit, determining exactly where it’s going to go in the future [shows] it does have a one to two percent chance of impacting the Earth, but that’s still in flux.”
She said NASA and other space agencies will continue to track the asteroid to refine their understanding of its orbit and gain a “much better” grasp of the percentage, which she added is “more likely than not to go down” rather than up.
Dr Rice said scientists “always” pay attention to asteroids, particularly larger ones, such as Asteroid 2024 YR4. She added: “When we find them, when we know their orbits are potentially impacting Earth, then we pay attention.”
But she said 2024 YR4 is new so each observation will reveal how worried we need to be for the future.
NASA has already changed the orbit of an asteroid by aiming an unmanned spacecraft at it via its DART mission.
Other defences at humankind’s disposal are small telescopes monitoring asteroids as well as ground based facilities which help to improve NASA’s capabilities and expertise.
Dr Rice cautioned against political upheaval in the US potentially derailing NASA efforts to keep an eye on threats from space.