The Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), Spaceit is one of the international research centers that is active monitoring of the asteroide 2024 YR4qualified by the United Nations Organization (UN) as Potentially dangerous, having 1.5% probabilities of impact with Earth in 2032.
The asteroid was discovered in December 2024 and has an estimated size of between 40 and 90 meters, On Wednesday, February 5, the IAC in a statement.
Given these data, the UN activated the planetary defense protocols to better specify the orbit, size and threat of 2024 YR4.
The protocols of the Him They are activated precisely when the probability of impact is greater than 1% and for this the international asteroid alert network (IAWN) is used, chaired by NASA; and the Space Missions Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), directed by ESA.
The IAC is one of the referents in this area through its solar system group, led by researchers Julia de León and Javier Licandro.
In this regard, says the IAC that participates by contributing and, in addition, Julia de León acts as a point of contact of the ESA in Spain for the Neos (Near-Ath Objects, that is, objects close to Earth) and for planetary defense, which, which They are the observation and action techniques aimed at preventing impacts of these objects on our planet.
The IAC has been following the 2024 YR4 asteroid from its observatories, which has allowed to obtain very precise measures of its position and improve the determination of its orbit.
In addition, despite how weak the object is, Julia de León has provided information about its composition thanks to obtaining spectra obtained with the great Canary Islands (GTC), the largest in the world.
Javier Licandro also explains that “It is important to know well what type of asteroid it is, in terms of its composition, to have the greatest precision in terms of size.”
He also recalls that this is the second case in which when observing an object and calculating its orbit it is determined that it can have a greater probability than 1% of impact on the near future.
The first was apophis
“The first was apophis, which was discovered in 2004 and that, in some first observations, it was determined that the possibility of impact was greater than 1%, but, after the follow -up, the orbit and more precisely studied the orbit and It was determined that it will happen very close to Earth in 2029, but that will not impact. Apophis measures approximately 375 kilometers “, Comenta libro.
The researcher adds that in this case, the size is smaller, but being above 1%, a monitoring protocol that has been established to study everything possible is already entered.
Julia de León details that with her observation program in GTC she has been able to determine that the object is A rock formed by silicates and some metal.
“Knowing the composition, we can infer the Albedo (the amount of light that reflects its surface), and with the Albedo measure we estimate its size,” says León.
The IAC continues to monitor this object and is in contact with the rest of international organizations to contribute to a better determination of its size, orbit and possibility of impact.
2024 YR4 was discovered by one of the telescopes of the Atlas Network, dedicated to the detection of asteroids In impact trajectory with the Earth, of which the IAC is part.
The Fifth Atlas Unit (Atlas-Teide) has just been installed in the Teide Observatory (Canary Islands, Spain) and will soon begin its scientific operation, which places these observatories at the forefront of the planetary defense programs.
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Read more: Newly discovered asteroid could impact the Earth: NASA
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