The United Nations (UN) Planetary Defense Organization is closely monitoring an asteroid with a low risk of hitting Earth.
The European Space Agency (ESA) said there was a 99 percent chance it would safely pass Earth on December 22, 2032, but that a possible impact "cannot yet be completely ruled out."
The probability that the asteroid, called 2024 IR4, could hit our planet on that day is currently estimated at 1,3 percent.
Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society says he is "not panicking or losing sleep over this".
"There is no need for alarm. It has been shown that these types of events can disappear when all options are worked out."
"We need to be aware and give astronomers the resources they need to monitor these types of threats so we can then respond as quickly as possible," he said.
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IR4 was discovered on December 27, 2024.
Astronomers calculated that its diameter was between 40 and 90 meters.
If it were to strike, it would be like a nuclear bomb, causing serious damage if it were to occur in a populated area.
But it's much more likely that IR4 will fall into the ocean or a remote part of the planet.
It is too far from Earth and at this stage there is too much uncertainty to determine where a potential impact would occur in the unlikely event of a collision.
Since early January, astronomers have been using telescopes to more precisely calculate the size and trajectory of the asteroid.
On the Torino scale of impact risk from one to ten, IR4 is at the third notch, meaning "a close encounter that requires the attention of astronomers and the public."
A collision is only certain when it reaches eight, nine, or ten, with the numbers increasing according to the likely damage caused.
If asteroids are initially calculated to have a low probability of hitting Earth, those chances of impact usually drop to zero after additional observations.
This happened in 2004 when it was calculated that an asteroid called Apophis had a 2,7 percent chance of hitting Earth in 2029, but additional observations ruled out that possibility.
For any object wider than 50 meters, which is claimed to have more than one chance of hitting the Earth, a whole series of precautionary measures are initiated.
This ensures that a threat, no matter how small, is closely monitored and, if necessary, responded to in order to eliminate it.
The first phase activates two UN-approved asteroid response groups: the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAVN), chaired by NASA, and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), chaired by the European Space Agency.
SMPAG is having a series of meetings this week to determine next steps.
They previously said it was too early to take immediate action, but that they would "closely monitor the development of the strike threat and possible knowledge of the magnitude."
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There will be another meeting in late April or early May to decide on future actions "if the development of the threat is justified."
If the probability of an asteroid impact remains above the one percent threshold, SMPAG will make recommendations to the UN to consider options.
In the unlikely event that IR4 heads our way, one option would be to redirect it by impacting it with a robotic spacecraft, which has already been successfully tested by NASA's Dart mission in 2022.
"The DART mission showed that we have the means to deflect an asteroid, but only if we spot it early enough," says Dr Massi.
IR4 is currently moving away from Earth in an almost straight line, making it difficult to accurately determine its precise orbit before it returns to our planet.
Over the next few months, the asteroid will begin to fade from view, after which it will be tracked by ground-based and space-based telescopes.
"It is possible that asteroid 2024 IR4 will fade from view before we can completely rule out any chance of an impact in 2032."
"In this case, the asteroid will likely remain on ESA's risk list until it becomes visible again in 2028," the organization said.
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