NASA's Webb clears asteroid 2024 YR4's path to Moon
Good news—NASA's James Webb Space Telescope confirmed that asteroid 2024 YR4 won't hit the Moon on December 22, 2032.
This space rock, about 197 feet, will safely zoom past the Moon at a distance of roughly 21243km.
The latest observations in February 2026 nailed down its path and cleared up any worries.
Webb tracked faint asteroid against background stars
Webb's super-precise camera tracked the faint asteroid against background stars, using data from ESA's Gaia mission.
Thanks to this high-tech teamwork and some impressive tracking skills, scientists got rid of a previous 4.3% chance of a lunar collision.
If it had hit Moon, could have caused massive explosion
Over 50 observatories worldwide checked things out and confirmed there's zero risk to Earth from this asteroid.
If it had hit the Moon, it could have caused an explosion as powerful as six million tons of TNT—but that scenario is officially off the table.