The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed it is closely monitoring an asteroid the size of a football pitch that could hit the Earth in a little over seven years.
The asteroid, called 2024 YR4, is estimated to have a one in 83 chance of a direct hit, causing “severe damage to a local region”, according to ESA.
The space rock, which measures 100m by 40m, is currently at a distance of around 27 million miles and moving away from the planet. But its path will cross the Earth’s orbit on 22 December 2032.
Most likely there would be a near miss, with the asteroid passing within a few thousand miles.
The Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, which is chaired by ESA, will discuss the latest observations of the asteroid at a meeting in Vienna next week.
