There would be only seconds to prepare before the fireball strikes. A ‘city-destroying’ asteroid is currently on a path towards Earth and could hit as soon as 2032. Now experts have modelled what the possible impact of 2024 YR4 – equal to 15,

An asteroid becomes a meteorite when it travels to Earth from a nearby orbit or the outer solar system and collides with Earth, according to the United States Geological Survey. Small asteroids typically burn up in the upper atmosphere before ever reaching Earth’s surface to become meteorites.

The asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, has a 2.3% chance of colliding with Earth on Dec. 22, 2032, according to a NASA update on Feb. 7. This probability of impact has increased since Jan. 29 when NASA observed that the asteroid had a little over 1% chance of impacting Earth.