Subaru Telescope Validates: Asteroid 2024 YR4 Is No Threat to Earth – What You Need to Know!

The Subaru Telescope, located at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, has confirmed that the asteroid 2024 YR4 will not collide with Earth anytime soon. This is great news for all of us!

When 2024 YR4 was first spotted in late December 2024, there were some worries. Initial assessments showed a small chance—about 1%—that it could hit Earth during a close approach in December 2032. This led to a global effort to track the asteroid. Thanks to new observations, astronomers have now concluded that there is no significant threat from 2024 YR4.

2024 YR4 was discovered on December 27, 2024, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), a program dedicated to identifying asteroids that might hit Earth. This asteroid is part of the Apollo group, which includes space rocks that occasionally cross Earth’s orbit.

The asteroid made a close pass on December 25, 2024, then began to drift away. However, the early calculations raised concerns, prompting an alert from the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN)—the first notification of its kind for this particular object.

After the IAWN alert, several observatories took a closer look at 2024 YR4 to reevaluate its path. Throughout February 2025, there were several updates on its collision risk:

• Early February: Risk rose to 2.3%, then 3.1%
• Mid-February: Dropped to 0.28%
• Late February: Subaru Telescope’s data further reduced the risk to an impressive 0.004%

The Subaru Telescope’s Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) played a vital role in capturing the necessary data to allay concerns about a potential impact. This effort was supported by organizations like the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies(CNEOS), and the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre (NEOCC).

2024 YR4 is significant because it orbits the Sun every four years. While it spends most of its time far from Earth, it crosses our orbit at times. Astronomers closely monitor such asteroids because even tiny changes in their paths—caused by gravity from other celestial bodies—can have major effects over time.

The latest data indicates that 2024 YR4 will safely pass Earth, far beyond geostationary satellites and possibly even beyond the Moon. The IAWN has confirmed that there is no significant impact risk from this asteroid for the next century.

Monitoring will continue until early April 2025 when it will become too faint to see from Earth. After that, astronomers will wait until it approaches again in 2028 for more observations.

This situation highlights the importance of working together internationally to track asteroids and assess any impact risks. The work of the Subaru Telescope illustrates how ground-based observatories are vital for planetary defense efforts.