Data on "City-Killing" Asteroid from MRO's 2.4m Telescope Reduces Odds to Nearly Zero
Feb. 21, 2025
Photo by Drs. Eileen and Bill Ryan, Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4m telescope, New
Mexico Tech.
As reported in New York Times and Washington Post this week, according to Dr. Eileen Ryan, "the staff of the MRO 2.4-meter Telescope
have been observing potential Earth impactor 2024 YR4 since mid-January to help better
define its orbit through high-precision astrometric positional follow up. The MRO
2.4m is one of the largest telescopes within NASA’s Planetary Defense network, and
is currently well suited to making ground based observations of 2024 YR4, as the asteroid
is currently very faint at visible magnitude V~24.
"Based on observations collected by MRO and the 4.3m Lowell Discovery Telescope (AZ)
on Feb. 19, the impact risk was reduced from a peak of 3.1% to 1.5%. Observations
taken by MRO and other telescopes internationally on Feb. 20, has further reduced
the risk to 0.27%.
"This was an excellent demonstration of NASA’s Planetary Defense network doing its
job to assess risk via ground based observations and plan accordingly.
"Observations will continue through April 1 to continue to refine the asteroid’s orbit
and completely retire its impact risk to Earth or our moon." --Dr. Eileen Ryan.