large asteroid that has a small but significant chance at impacting planet Earth with over 30 famous observatories keeping an eye on the approaching threat it is arguably one of the most frightening asteroids in orbit today an asteroid has a one in 83 chance of hitting Earth in just over 7 years the asteroid 2024 yr4 also known as the city killer is large enough to flatten areas almost twice as large as Los Angeles and the odds of clashing with our planet are much higher than anything astronomers have observed for almost a century when was it discovered
recently and what has Elon and his team uncovered so far join us as we learn more about the massive asteroid that is predicted to crush our planet y are4 the city killer on December 27th 2024 astronomers at NASA's asteroid terrestrial last alert system discovered a large asteroid up to 90 M wide that is predicted to come in our Direction at great speed before this moment the large Rock was traveling on its own through space without getting noticed when they noticed the asteroids features it quickly became clear they had to do something about it this asteroid
now called asteroid yr4 or the city killer is large enough to cause city-wide Devastation far from the exciting stories of aliens paying a visit to New York this is an event nobody looks forward to given how far it was from Earth and how fast it was going scientists believe it would hit our planet a couple of years from now with the furthest possible date being late 2032 now here comes the scary part recent Studies have shown the date of impact might happen much sooner than expected as in early January the asteroid was shown to be
coming towards us at a much higher speed than we first realized you see when Atlas first discovered the asteroid coming our way they believed the large Rock Only Had A 1% chance of hitting the Earth and there was no reason to panic however the asteroid was still large enough to destroy an entire city and with human lives on the line This Means even a 1% chance of collision should be considered as a Potential Threat with this in mind the experts at the observatory took this very seriously and reported it to the experts at other observatories
soon enough multiple NASA observatories around the world were looking out for the latest asteroid all eyes were on asteroid yr4 it was made a top priority for astronomers around the world with everyone monitoring Its Behavior as a Potential Threat to no one's surprise this turned out to be the right decision as on January 5th just over a week after asteroid yr4 was first discovered the chances of colliding with our planet Rose to over 2.2% the numbers keep Rising the closer the asteroid comes and the latest news implies that the chances have now risen to one
out of 40 while the numbers imply that the asteroid is still far away in space terms it is dangerous close so close in fact that it caused a wild Buzz within the science Community why so you may ask because this isn't the first time an asteroid has raised a lot of concern the worst fears we have about asteroid yr4 happened just over 20 years ago when an asteroid over 70 M smaller entered the atmosphere over chubin a popular city in Russia despite being over four times smaller than asteroid yr4 and having less than a 1%
chance of colliding with with our planet this small asteroid not only arrived but caused an impact so powerful that it shattered hundreds of Windows and injured almost 2,000 people without even hitting the ground the only reason the people of that City lived to tell the story was because the natural friction in the atmosphere destroyed the entire asteroid before it could hit the ground please note that this asteroid which caused so much damage was over 80% smaller than asteroid yr4 and had a lower chance of colliding with our planet as for how damaging it would be
if the asteroid hits Us in the near future we will save that for later for now what we do know is that the United Nations activated the planetary defense protocol for the first time in history once they were informed about the nature of the approaching threat this protocol is designed to help Allied countries plan and coordinate a response just in case one of their cities becomes the next tragedy with help from the European Space Agency NASA has done a great job of monitoring the asteroids behavior and once again they discovered something a bit concerning based
on how the asteroid goes around the Sun scientists predict that asteroid yr4 after a while won't be seen again for at least 3 years at this point the asteroid would be too far for us to notice even with our latest and most powerful telescopes for these three years nobody will know about its current trajectory or its speed and location no expert will be able to tell if it would still be heading towards us or safely moving away after colliding with another space object like a fast moving car speeding into a thick blinding fog the best
thing experts will be able to do when it gets to that point is guess where it is based on Old information right now the asteroid is easy to keep track of because it's very visible and even then it is still unpredictable all it took was a week for the chances of reaching us to double and the chances are only increasing by the decimals as every day goes by with this in mind what do you think would happen if the asteroid goes out of sight for such a long time with no way to keep track of
it quite frightening as far as the experts are concerned given how unpredictable this asteroid is asteroid yr4 might come into view just a few weeks after going out of sight with much higher chances of reaching our planet in a much shorter amount of time this is why it seems experts are working in ways that don't align with what they tell us for example they say there is no need to worry because the chances are low and yet they monitor the asteroid each day as a Potential Threat it got so serious that the United Nations began
a worldwide protocol against an asteroid for the first time in history the asteroid is still coming towards Earth if you disintegrate it there will be many bodies they will still be coming into Earth all while there was no need to worry because the chances were low now experts are looking back to using NASA's famous double asteroid redirection test carried out a few years ago and because of this as we shall see there seems to be hope on the horizon Elon Musk in the asteroid impact preparing for undiscovered threats like asteroid yr4 in late 2022 with
help from SpaceX NASA completed an important test to see if they were able to change the path of an asteroid much larger than what struck cheliabinsk over two decades before preparations began in November 2021 and they had the perfect asteroid to test it on this asteroid was demoro a large Rock orbiting a much larger asteroid named damos deorosan weighing over 5 billion kg while damos the larger asteroid it was orbiting was over four times larger and heavier than the target with the help of Elon musk's Falcon 9 rocket the spacecraft traveled through space for nearly
a year and covered a distance of over 7 million km before reaching its Target the big day came on September 26th when when it successfully crashed into the asteroid at over 10,000 mph the result was that the asteroid's Direction Changed slightly along with having a huge dent on the surface due to the danger caused by the spacecraft this proved that we could change the direction of an asteroid heading straight for us in the near future and given that asteroid yr4 is much smaller than deorosan acccurate and here is why first of all it is important
to note that demorphis was a lot slower and predictable than the much faster and erratic City killer we are looking at today the size and speed of asteroid yr4 make it much harder to move and even though D's crash in late 2022 showed that it's possible to shift the direction of an asteroid the impact velocity which will be in the order of 17.3 km/ second at the moment of of the possible impact in just a matter of days asteroid yr4 has proven itself to be the biggest exception to that rule secondly it is important to
note that we are still studying how to track and Target asteroids properly though the dart mission was a huge success every expert who contributed to it would tell you that it took a great Stroke of Luck to make it work also keep in mind that it required several months of preparation and planning to pull it off and the damos asteroid could be seen all through the process the same thing cannot be said about asteroid yr4 as it is expected to go out of sight for at least 3 years without being able to see what we
are targeting we could lose valuable time and fail to see a change in course until it's too late to do anything about it on top of that the method D used requires the asteroid to be in just the right position for us to hit it with the right amount of force required to change its direction this means that if asteroid yr4 is targeted either when it's still too far or has gotten too close to Earth we will not be able to prevent a catastrophic threat as far as We Know given the pattern of orbit that
is still not reliable based on what we know so far asteroid yr4 would be moving at a much higher speed as it gets closer to our location in the solar system it is also important to note that while the dart results were exciting they were not so impressive in what was achieved changing the course of an asteroid moving about on its own is one thing but doing so for one headed R direction is a whole different ball game it would require a lot more energy than anything the dart spacecraft would provide today even with slightly
upgrad Technologies with this in mind it is no wonder reports tell us that Elon Musk was reluctant to help NASA launch the dart Mission back in late 2021 two years before then Elon Musk despite leading an ongoing program designed to colonize Mars by the following decade made it clear that our best Technologies do not have what it takes to defend our planet from large asteroids this statement came at a very interesting time for astronomers around the world as it was when NASA predicted that another large asteroid called apus would pass close to Earth sometime in
2029 despite the experts assuring everyone that it won't collide with our planet astronomers and space enthusiasts couldn't help pondering the most frightening question at the time but what if it does this scary thought came about when NASA revealed both what the asteroid looked like and how large it was an asteroid has a one in 83 chance of hitting Earth in just over 7even years according to them this monstrosity was almost 4 100 m wide and so frightening that apus quickly became known across the Internet by the title it was named after the God of destruction
with an approaching Force capable of destroying multiple cities long before the big crash it was dangerous enough to make experts more frightened by possibilities than reality it was concerning to Elon and many others that even though we had what it took to send a man to the Moon advanc robots to Mars and Voyager One to the edge of the Galaxy we were still completely defenseless when it came to dangerous asteroids this was a hard pill to swallow for most experts with many of them believing we had been chasing the wrong priorities for almost 60 years
it was also a punt on Elon who was planning to colonize Mars in 10 years when our home planet doesn't even have what it takes to protect ourselves from asteroids today yr4 is the most observed asteroid showing that astronomers have accepted the fact that it is colliding with Earth at the predicted time with this in mind stay with us as we find out what to expect if and and when the asteroid hits the impact and its consequences for an asteroid almost 300 ft wide y R4 colliding with Earth would be nothing short of catastrophic though
it is much smaller than Regional Killers like the AP foas it is still large enough to destroy very wide areas so dangerous in fact that the consequences would be unbearable no matter where it lands whether land or water the results would be very difficult to live with based on the safest calculations available let us start with the moment of impact unlike the smaller asteroid that got destroyed in the Russian atmosphere over a decade ago asteroid yr4 would crash into the Earth moving at over 40,000 mph right before then as it moves through the atmosphere the
friction would cause it to heat up so much that it would cause a blinding light to stretch out across the sky after that happens what we would see Falling Towards us would look like a meteor but a lot larger and brighter the reduced pressure of the atmosphere would cause the asteroid to crack as much smaller parts break off and burn causing large explosions in the air this would be very dangerous for birds and aircraft unfortunate to be in the region where this happens though many chunks of the asteroid gets burned off the biggest part of
it would still reach the ground the moment it strikes the asteroid would release a great amount of energy in an instant for an asteroid of its size scientists believe asteroid yr for's explosion would have the same amount of force as several nuclear bombs combined and depending endg on where it hits the force could be much greater or lesser if it hits the water for example the energy from the asteroid would send huge waves in all directions creating a tsunami more frightening than anything seen in recorded history with the smallest waves being over a 100 ft
tall it would be very unlucky for people living in coastal areas as the tsunami's waves would wipe out entire cities within moments the water would rush Inland for Miles sweeping off cars in buildings like beach balls before naturally flowing back to the Sea given how hot the asteroid is the impact with water would cause multiple steam explosions that would form large clouds of mist and Ash leading to heavy rains filled with dangerous chemicals from the asteroid of course crashing on land would be no less devastating than crashing on water the moment yr4 strikes the ground
it would create a massive crater stretching out well over a mile the Heat and force of the impact will cause surrounding hard surfaces to melt immediately huge chunks of molten rock and debris would be blasted into the sky causing a more dangerous type of rain than what would happen if the asteroid struck water so pinning down how these Rubble pile asteroids actually work is going to be important for future missions the spreading shock wave would be most dangerous if it happened to land on a city destroying buildings within several miles in a matter of seconds
everything from trees buildings and even mountains would be damaged to a high degree but the most frightening part is the Air Blast scientists believe believe it would be so powerful that people and animals caught near the explosion would be thrown hundreds of feet and the heat from this impact would set everything Ablaze before they reach the ground after everything falls what remains would be large clouds forming in the sky these clouds would be thick enough to block out sunlight for days or even weeks as a result the destroyed places would quickly become cold areas depending
on where it is there would be slight earthquakes and minor eruptions and these would only get worse if the asteroid Falls anywhere close to dangerous places like Yellowstone Caldera unlike the exciting thought of a friendly open Alien Invasion the only good thing resulting from This Disaster would be that it wasn't a global threat as the only places affected would be the city-wide areas where it struck while these outcomes might sound shocking to hear it is something that has played out numerous times in the minds of astronomers around the world this is why they keep monitoring
asteroid yr4 to know what it's up to and the most likely time it would hit Earth for over a month following the discovery of asteroid yr4 many experts have come up with different ways of saving our cities from the coming threat these plans go from repeating NASA's famous Dart test to using our best nuclear tools before it gets out of sight to know whether using our best nuclear tools would be enough to pull this off we have to first look at the more technical details of asteroid yr4 along the way we will find out what
it's made of how it orbits the sun its pattern of mov movement how strong it is and how it would react to All Things nuclear so without further Ado let's get to it nuclear tools and asteroid yr4 the asteroid terrestrial impact last alert system tells us many interesting things about asteroid yr4 to help us guess how effectively our best nuclear tools would work against it to get accurate results the first thing we need to consider is the composition of asteroid yr4 what is it made of and how will it react to a nuclear reaction for
starters asteroid yr4 is most likely made of silicate rocks having small amounts of pure Metals we know this because of how light reflect from the asteroid this information was obtained with help from the grand telescopio canarius one of the world's most powerful telescopes located at a Spanish Observatory based on more details revealed it is likely asteroid yr4 is a collection of multiple rocks that fused over time by the force of gravity while this is interesting to know it is also important not to confuse it with a rubble asteroid this is because even though the asteroid
is a collection of multiple rocks joined together by the force of gravity these parts have fused very well together into a near-perfect hole I study mostly nearth asteroids which are objects on their own orbits around the Sun that cross or come near the orbit of the Earth the only thing that would cause parts of yr4 to crack away is either when it clashes with a much stronger asteroid or when it gets burned up by our planet's very protective atmosphere and with the size already established by NASA we can now determine the mass and orbit of
the object with figures given to us by NASA the safest calculations put asteroid y R4 at least 3 million metric tons and using this in the latest simulations and videos captured at various observatories they also tell us that the asteroid rotates around the Sun and takes at least 4 years to complete one cycle unlike other asteroids what makes yr4 so unpredictable is that its style of movement and speed could easily change based on how close it gets to the Sun and other planets right now it's reaching the furthest point from Earth making it less and
less possible to see as the weeks go by as of the making of this video it is likely almost invisible and is expected to stay out of sight until early 2028 it would come close enough for us to observe as it comes near to our planet and then it would go around the Sun once again before striking directly in late 2032 these aren't just rocks they're asteroids the silent Wanderers of the solar system with the composition and orbit taken care of let us now examine just how strong asteroid yr4 is as we've said it is
a solid rock made up of multiple smaller rocks that joined infused under high pressure over thousands of years this makes the asteroid very tough and almost impossible to break apart even when it gets disturbed by powerful Cosmic forces Atlas also discovered that asteroid yr4 doesn't just move around the Sun but also spins very fast fast completing at least one rotation every 20 minutes we know this based on how the brightness of the asteroid changes over time recent pictures show that one side of the asteroid reflects light better than the other the asteroid known as 2024
y4 has a 1 in 45 chance of hitting and this changes so fast in the same regions that the best explanation is that it rotates at a very high rate the fact that it does this without breaking apart also supports the idea that it is a solid rock and it shows that we need the best nuclear tool in our our Arsenal for the attack to work now here comes the crazy part based on all we've known so far if asteroid yr4 is a solid as we believe it is the best nuclear explosion we can throw
at it would at best vaporize a small chunk of the large rock as far as damage is concerned we will not be able to achieve much but what it will do is push the asteroid onto a different path and if we tune it just right the increasing angle it moves over time could save our planet from getting hit despite not destroying the asteroid entirely it is a much better option for obvious reasons one reason is that even if we were able to cause an explosion that would crack the asteroid into much smaller chunks these pieces
would be harder to stop and still cause a lot of damage once they arrive at Earth with this alone in mind it is clear that nudging off the asteroid is a much better option than trying to blow it apart but while it's easy to talk about the Grim reality is that the amount of energy needed to do this alone is enormous if we follow the rules of basic momentum equations then we are looking at a nuclear explosion generating over 50 megatons of TNT this means the explosion would have to rival that of the Zar bomba
the most powerful nuclear weapon ever used on Earth creating something with that level of power would have great political implications going far beyond astronomy other nations would never rest easy knowing that the US has built something that could be used as a global threat on top of that there have been International laws that prevent various countries from building anything that powerful so of course even though leading scientists have considered this option long before asteroid yr4 was discovered many avoided doing so for this reason the thought of using nuclear weapons to nudge off large asteroids goes
way back to the 9s when scientists like Edward Teller first proposed it to the blooming science Community while this method sounded effective to a lot of people the subject of how to properly use nuclear energy was just as sensitive back then as it is today especially cons considering the international laws that restrict how it's handled past dangers and accidents have proven to us that it is simply not worth the risk as the slightest mistakes with using this kind of energy still pose serious risks even in the empty vacuums of space this makes many experts not
even consider using nuclear energy to ward off asteroid yr4 but it begs the question is there a much safer way of doing this and if so how do we go about it well Elon Musk believes there is a way way to do this without causing a lot of trouble so stay with us as we explore his answers and what they mean for all of us in light of all that is coming a safe planetary defense Elon Musk has described the asteroid as a large space rock as large as a football pitch believing it would strike
a lot sooner than what is believed today he believes it might come up to 3 years earlier as the estimated time it takes the asteroid to move around the Sun might be a lot faster in the coming years based on the predicted position of the planets in the next few years Elon believes the chances would only increase as time goes on and I just want to say thank you for making it happen thank you as it first started with 1 in 83 and in a matter of days it dropped to 67 then it came down
to 43 and now it's less than 40 this makes it impossible to ignore and will most likely grow into a serious public concern later this year even if the numbers remained at 83 the chance of winning the lottery is one and0 over 10 million these days and yet people look forward to the results with lots of anticipation with this in mind it is safe to see asteroid yr4 as the most dangerous object in space at least for now right now the asteroid is almost invisible and we have only a few months to study it closely
before it goes out of sight until early 2028 and for that reason Elon believes it is time for the country to make a bold decision on what it is going to do about the large rock this means having difficult conversations with domestic and foreign leaders on the next step to take considering the potential impact of the approaching asteroid Elon insists that it isn't a time for leaders to keep worrying about the potential misuse of nuclear energy especially considering how we live in a time when entire countries are relying more on nuclear energy to meet their
needs France for example has the highest number of people relying on nuclear energy for their everyday activities with almost 70% of the country's electricity coming from nuclear power provid ided by at least 56 active reactors China has almost the same number of reactors Russia has over 30 in operation while South Korea has 24 reactors providing over 25% of the country's electricity ironically the US is no exception to this as it has over 90 active reactors effectively making it the leading country when it comes to properly using nuclear energy for everyday needs uh yeah I think
so I think uh yeah I think so all right have a good one according to Elon experts at SpaceX believe the asteroid has the highest probability of hitting Earth than anything they can recall he also disclosed that the space mission planning Advisory Group is currently discussing their latest observations of the asteroid through various meetings in places like Vienna and so far it seems the impact risk is enough to get the United Nations to start taking measures more drastic than the ongoing planetary defense protocol depending on whether NASA plans to join forces with the esa to
eliminate this threat it's safe to say that Elon might be launching another Falcon spacecraft to knock the asteroid off course but as we've covered that would do little to change the outcome of the situation which is why Elon insists that its time the United States made a tough call on what it's going to do about the problem as for its impact he believes it would be very similar to what happened in Siberia way back in 1908 with a much smaller asteroid known as tunguska this was the second greatest Cosmic impact in recorded history and is
predicted to be a walk in the park compared to what lies ahead with yr4 for this reason Elon believes the United States has what it takes to safely deflect the asteroid without breaking laws or causing harm to anyone so what do you think is Elon right about this or are we just one step away from an unintended nuclear disaster let us know in the comments down below if you enjoyed the video please make sure you like share and subscribe also click on the next video shown on your screen you will enjoy it ah and X
is with him X come on say a couple
