JWST Observations of Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2024 YR4
Abstract The destructive power of an impacting asteroid is primarily estimated by knowledge of its size. Asteroid 2024 YR4 reached a peak 2032 impact probability with Earth of 3%, motivating a desire to determine its size. Owing to its infrared capabilities, JWST is uniquely suited for such assessment, especially for decameter-scale objects. We used JWST to observe 2024 YR4 and find a diameter of 60 ± 7 m. This size range corresponds to an albedo for 2024 YR4 of 8%–18%, consistent with observation that it is an S-type asteroid (International Asteroid Warning Network, https://iawn.net/obscamp/2024YR4/index.shtml ), if at the low-albedo end of that asteroid taxon. Future observations through 2025 May will help further refine the asteroid’s thermophysical model.
Authors
- L. Conversi
- Cristina A. Thomas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3091-5757)
- Julien de Wit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2415-2191)
- Lorien Wheeler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-3721)
- Heidi B. Hammel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8751-3463)
- Eric MacLennan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9870-123X)
- Bryan J. Holler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6117-0164)
- Petr Pravec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8434-9776)
- Stefanie N. Milam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7694-4129)
- Artem Burdanov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9892-2406)
- Jessie Dotson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4206-5649)
- M. Micheli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7895-8209)
- Maxime Devogèle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6509-6360)
- Allison K. Glantzberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1929-8105)
- Davide Farnocchia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-884X)
- A. S. Rivkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9939-9976)
- Thomas Mueller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1045-2110)
- J. de Leon
Publication Details
- Journal
- Research Notes of the AAS
- Published
- 2025-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/adc6f0
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 13.86