The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has definitively ruled out any possibility that asteroid 2024 YR4 could collide with the Moon in 2032, according to new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Earlier orbital calculations had indicated a small 4.3 percent chance that the asteroid could strike the Moon. However, improved readings from the James Webb Telescope, collected in February, confirmed that the asteroid will pass at a safe distance of about 13,200 miles from the Moon’s surface on 22 December 2032.
The asteroid, estimated to be about 200 feet in diameter—roughly the size of a 15-storey building—was discovered in late 2024 by an early warning system in Chile. In early 2025, there were brief concerns that it might collide with Earth, but this scenario was quickly ruled out, while uncertainty about a possible lunar impact persisted for a longer period.
Since spring 2025, the asteroid had become too faint to observe until it was captured last month by the James Webb Telescope’s camera, finally confirming that it will safely pass by.