YR4 has a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032, but for now, you can watch it fly harmlessly through space in a short time-lapse video captured by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope.

In a rare "time-critical" decision, the James Webb Space Telescope will study the true size of the "potentially hazardous" asteroid 2024 YR4 twice over the next few months. The asteroid has a roughly 2.

The Webb telescope is well-suited to identify asteroid 2024 YR4's size. Webb views a type of light we can't see with the naked eye, called infrared. Infrared light is largely heat energy, allowing Webb to observe the heat from distant objects, whether they're planets or distant galaxies.

Humanity's most powerful eye on space will be closely examining asteroid 2024 YR4 in the coming weeks and months.