NASA has raised the chances of the city-killing asteroid hitting Earth once again.
The space agency now predicts that there is a one-in-32, or 3.1 per cent, chance that the asteroid 2024 YR4 will slam into our planet on December 22, 2032.
Following the news, social media has gone into meltdown as NASA’s predictions sparked fears of an impending disaster.
The similarities with the plot of the 1998 sci-fi blockbuster Armageddon were simply too great for some cinema fans to ignore.
In the film, Bruce Willis stars as the leader of a crew of deep-core drillers sent into space to blow up an asteroid the size of Texas.
With a deadly space rock now hurtling towards the planet, fans joked that the 69-year-old actor might need to reprise his role in real life.
On X, one commenter cheekily asked: ‘Where’s Bruce Willis when you need him?’
However, all jokes aside, scientists say ‘we might not be able to stop 2024 YR4’ from hitting Earth – even with a deflection mission.
As NASA raises the chances that the asteroid 2024 YR4 will hit Earth in 2032 to one in 32, social media has gone into meltdown over fears of a deadly impact (stock image)
On X, cinema fans did not miss the similarities to the plot of the 1998 blockbuster Armageddon, staring Bruce Willis
Commenters joked that Bruce Willis might be the only person capable of saving Earth from a deadly asteroid
Since its discovery in December last year, the city-killer asteroid’s impact probability has been steadily rising.
In January, 2024 YR4 sparked serious concern among the world’s space agencies when it became the only large asteroid with a greater than one per cent chance of impact.
Since then, the probability of the asteroid hitting Earth has tripled to 3.1 per cent, up by 0.5 per cent from the previous estimate.
While it might not be the size of Texas like the asteroid in Armageddon, with an estimated diameter of 55 metres (180ft) 2024 YR4 could still do some serious damage.
NASA estimates that the asteroid’s impact would release a blast equal to 7.8 megatons of TNT – more than 500 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
If it were to hit Earth, current predictions of the asteroid’s orbit place the ‘risk corridor’ in which it could land over eight of the world’s 100 most populated cities.
This makes 2024 YR4 by far the most dangerous asteroid in space and has raised concerns over the genuine possibility of a deadly impact.
Although the asteroid wouldn’t be a ‘planet killer’, social media commenters quickly leapt to imagine a doomsday scenario.
In the movie Armageddon (pictured), Bruce Willis stars as the leader of a team of deep-core drillers sent to an asteroid the size of Texas in order to blow it up and save Earth
One commenter joked that it was now time to ‘get Bruce Willis on the line’
Another commenter jokingly asked whether it was time to start panicking
One commenter on X wrote: ‘Uh oh. Sodom and Gomorrah is a thing?’
Another asked: ‘Can we begin to panic?’
Facing down an approaching asteroid, many commenters suggested there was only one person to call.
‘Has anyone talked to Bruce Willis?’ asked one commenter.
Another chipped in: ‘This keeps getting closer and closer, more and more likely – and Bruce Willis is out of commission’.
One commenter added: ‘Better send up Bruce Willis with a drill crew.’
The social media reaction also caused panic for a few fans who were surprised to see the actor’s name suddenly trending on X.
A social media user wrote on X: ‘Bruce Willis trending I was like NO! Then I found out it’s just an asteroid going to hit the Earth in 2032 no biggie Bruce is still alive’.
With the chances of the asteroid hitting Earth now higher than ever, some commenters joked that the plot of Armageddon could serve as a guide for protecting the planet
One commenter joked that the only thing needed was an ‘elite team of offshore oil drillers’, just like in the movie Armageddon
A social media user shared how relieved they were to find Bruce Willis was still alive after seeing his name trending on social media
Meanwhile, a few pessimistic social media users appeared to calmly embrace their potential annihilation.
‘Just hit already’, wrote one defeated commenter.
Another added: ‘I can think of worse ways to go.’
Unlike in the movie Armageddon, a real plan to deflect 2024 YR4 wouldn’t involve a crew of drillers and a nuclear bomb.
Instead, the most likely option would be to use a ‘kinetic impactor’ – essentially ramming the asteroid with a spacecraft to push it off course.
In 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission showed that this was possible by crashing a satellite into the asteroid Dimorphos.
By slamming the 570kg spacecraft into the rock at 14,000 miles per hour (22,530 kmph), NASA was able to alter the massive asteroid’s orbit.
If 2024 YR4 passes a certain risk threshold, the Earth’s space agencies could send a similar mission to adjust its orbit so that the asteroid passes at a safe distance.
Unlike the movie Armageddon, a real mission to protect Earth from the asteroid wouldn’t use drills and a nuke. Instead, scientists would fire a satellite into the side of 2024 YR4 to deflect its course slightly
However, some scientists have questioned whether a kinetic impactor could save Earth from 2024 YR4.
In a chilling post on X, Dr Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and author based in London, claimed that ‘we might not be able to stop 2024 YR4’ from hitting Earth, even with a deflection mission.
Dr Andrews points out that we ‘have less than eight years to potentially deal with it’.
‘You need 10 years or more to build, plan and execute an asteroid deflection mission,’ he said.
Likewise, Dr Andrews says that 2024 YR4 could be a loose rubble pile held together by gravity rather than a single solid monolith.
If that were the case, then an impact mission could eject a massive cloud of debris which might rain down over a larger area of Earth.
However, NASA’s studies show that if 2024 YR4 is a rubble pile, this would actually improve the chances of a deflection mission working.
Dimorphos, the asteroid moved in the DART mission, was also a rubble pile and it was the plume of ejected material which helped to push it off course.
2024 YR4 (pictured) is already so far from Earth that most telescopes can’t see it and will disappear beyond sight in April. Astronomers must gather as much data about the asteroid as possible before then in order to plan for when it returns in 2028
On X, Dr Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and author based in London, claimed that ‘we might not be able to stop 2024 YR4’ from hitting Earth, even with a deflection mission
Just like a jet of air streaming out of a balloon will move the balloon, the ejected material actually propels the asteroid out of the way.
Although the chances of an impact have increased, astronomers currently maintain that there is no reason to be concerned about the asteroid.
Dr Shyam Balaji, researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, told MailOnline: ‘As more observations improve our understanding of the asteroid’s orbit, impact probabilities typically decrease and often trend toward zero.
‘This happens because initial calculations often have big error bars. As data improves, these ranges shrink, and most objects are eventually determined to miss Earth entirely.’
Likewise, Daniel Bamberger, founder of Northolt Branch Observatories which has observed 2024 YR4, told MailOnline: ‘The chance that it will drop to zero eventually is still at about 97 per cent.
‘How long it will take to get there, and how far the impact chance will rise before that, is impossible to say.’
