New data has emerged about the asteroid that threatened Earth

An international group of researchers made an unexpected discovery after studying asteroid 2024 YR4, which previously raised concerns about a possible collision with Earth. The space object has an extremely unusual shape for asteroids, reports The Associated Press.

Observations conducted using the powerful Gemini South telescope in Chile in February of this year, just a month and a half after the object was first detected, showed surprising results. The asteroid, with a diameter of about 60 meters, turned out not to have the typical "potato-like" shape characteristic of most similar cosmic bodies, but instead is a flat disk, visually resembling a hockey puck. Particularly noteworthy is its rotation speed - the asteroid completes a full rotation around its axis in just 20 minutes.

"This discovery came as a real surprise, as we've grown accustomed to thinking that asteroids usually have an elongated or asymmetrical shape," shared the research team leader Bryce Bolin from Eureka Scientific.

Scientists believe that the unusual asteroid came from the main asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is rich in silicate compounds. At the beginning of this year, specialists from NASA and the European Space Agency estimated the probability of this cosmic body colliding with our planet at 3%. However, the latest calculations virtually eliminate such a possibility in the next hundred years. At the same time, there remains a 3.8% probability of it colliding with the Moon, although scientists assure that even in this case, the orbit of Earth's satellite will not change.

The asteroid approaches Earth approximately once every four years, but next week it will move to a distance that makes it impossible to observe from our planet. In the coming weeks, additional studies of this unique space object are planned using the James Webb Space Telescope.