World's most famous astrophysicist issues eerie warning amid talks of "city killer" asteroid

The world's most famous astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, has issued a chilling warning about a "city killer" asteroid, increasing the chances that the asteroid 2024 YRA, which has a width of 40 to 100 meters, could crash into the Earth significantly.

However, according to NASA, this space rock has a 2.3 percent chance of a direct impact on our planet. Still, the data is still subject to change, as the asteroid will approach the Earth on December 22, 2032, DailyMail writes.

"At the moment, mansion-sized Asteroid 2024-YR4 has a one-in-fifty chance of hitting Earth in the next eight years," the scientist wrote on X.

Experts say that if this space rock was to hit the Earth, it would leave a crater over 900 meters wide on the surface. And its explosion would be 500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.

Although the chances of a direct impact are low, scientists from all over the world will be watching the asteroid very closely to know whether it will become a serious threat to the Earth as early as possible. And if it does, space agencies will have enough time to launch a defense mission.

Meanwhile, Trump administration is cutting down research funding, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) has frozen its grant approval process and new spending in January 2025 in response to President Trump's order.

It is worth noting that NSF is the largest funder of scientific research in the country. However, this month, the agency was told to prepare to lay off half of its staff and two-thirds of its funding.

Other federal research agencies are also facing layoffs and funding cuts. Many scientists, including astronomers, have expressed serious concerns about what this could mean for scientific progress in the United States.

Now that asteroid 2024 YR4 has a chance to hit our planet, hindering research efforts could have devastating consequences, experts say.

"Now might be a bad time to reduce spending on Science. Just sayin'," Neil said in his post.

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