Overview

• June 2025 observations by ESA and NASA refined 2024 YR4’s trajectory, shifting its risk to a projected lunar encounter in 2032.
• NASA’s 2022 DART mission successfully altered Dimorphos’s orbit and ESA’s Hera probe will arrive in 2026 to analyze the impact crater and refine deflection methods.
• Space agencies now track nearly 38,500 near-Earth objects and plan new wide-field telescopes, including a Sicilian ground-based hunter, to spot sunward asteroids.
• In 2029 the 350-meter asteroid Apophis will fly within 32,000 kilometers of Earth, offering a rare chance to study its composition and behavior.
• Historical events such as the dinosaur-extinction impact, 1908 Tunguska blast and 2013 Chelyabinsk airburst underscore NEO dangers and drive global initiatives like UN Asteroid Day.