Mon Feb 17 07:10:00 UTC 2025: **NASA’s James Webb Telescope to Investigate Potentially Hazardous Asteroid**

**Pasadena, CA** – NASA will utilize the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to gather critical data on asteroid 2024 YR4, currently posing a small but escalating risk of impacting Earth in 2032. The probability of impact, initially calculated at 1.3%, has risen to 2.3%, according to astronomers. While a near miss remains the most likely scenario, the increased risk has prompted urgent action.

JWST, located near the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, will conduct observations in early March and May, measuring the asteroid’s heat signature, size, and density. These measurements are crucial because current estimates of 2024 YR4’s size (between 130 and 300 feet in diameter) and composition are uncertain. The telescope’s infrared capabilities will provide a more precise assessment than currently available ground-based observations.

The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), chaired by NASA, issued a warning about 2024 YR4 on January 29, 2025. The asteroid is currently ranked high on the Sentry Risk Table, a list of potentially hazardous objects.

Oliver Hainaut of the European Southern Observatory, who has already observed 2024 YR4 using the Very Large Telescope, emphasized the advantages of JWST’s observations: “Webb will get data on the full spectrum…in one go…so it will be much cleaner and easier to interpret,” he stated. The data will allow scientists to determine the asteroid’s size and composition more accurately.

The asteroid’s current trajectory and observational limitations highlight the urgency of the JWST observations. Lord Dover of the Bayfordbury Observatory explained that extending the observation arc with JWST will help refine trajectory calculations and improve impact predictions. 2024 YR4 is rapidly moving away from Earth and becoming fainter, making ground-based observations increasingly challenging. Radar observations will not be feasible until 2032.

The four-hour observation window allocated to 2024 YR4 is critical given the time constraints before the asteroid is again observable from Earth in June 2028. The findings from JWST will be invaluable in assessing the potential threat posed by this near-Earth asteroid and informing any necessary mitigation strategies.

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