The 2024 YR4 asteroid, which is nearly the size of a football field, now has roughly a 0.004% chance of hitting Earth in about eight years, according to the space agency's latest calculations. The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies previously projected a 3% chance of the asteroid striking our planet before lowering the chance to 0.28% last week.

YR4 has now been reassigned to Torino Scale Level Zero, the level for 'No Hazard' as additional tracking of its orbital path has reduced its possibility of intersecting the Earth to below the 1-in-1000 threshold.

In reality, even as the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 was moving away, ground-based telescopes were able to gather enough observations to get a better handle on its orbit. So we can safely take a deep breath and return to the more pressing existential problems posed by threats on this planet, rather than off-world.

The chances of Asteroid 2024 YR4 striking Earth have increased. Here's what that means, and where the potential impact zone could be.

New observations have dramatically reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032, lowering the risk to minimal levels, but its extraordinarily close approach will offer astronomers th