CHILLING new telescope photos of the "city killer" asteroid hurtling towards earth at 30,000mph have been released.
The chance of the space rock smashing into Earth when it loops around in 7 years' time is estimated at a 1-in-48 chance - or just over two per cent.
The striking new images of asteroid YR4 2024 were captured by a space telescope in Chile on February 7, and show it in the most detail yet.
They were taken through the lens of the Gemini South Telescope - a powerful, 26-foot device in the Andes that specialises in staring deep into space.
Bryce Bolin, a NASA astronomer involved in the photo operation, told Space.com: "Only a few asteroids have been studied like this."
The grainy images show 2024 YR4 as a bright white smudge against the night sky.
The rock was around 37 million miles from Earth when it was snapped.
Photographing a fast-moving object from such a distance is incredibly difficult, and required the team's full expertise.
Bryce explained that they "took 12 200-second long exposures in the Red Band [the wavelength of red light] and tracked the motion of the asteroid".
He said the task was difficult because the asteroid was relatively faint - meaning it could only be picked up using a very large telescope.
Another challenge was presented by the moon, which was 70 per cent full.
The moon's illumination caused background lighting that made it even harder to see the asteroid.
Physicists will be keeping a close eye on YR4 over the next seven years as it cycles through its orbit around the sun, and are eager to learn as much about it as they can.
They currently believe it is between 40m and 100m across, and if it hits earth could produce an impact equivalent to 8 megatons of TNT.
The "city-killer" name comes from scientists' prediction that the blast would blow a crater the size of a city into the Earth's crust.
A terrifying simulation has been produced showing the devastating impact it could have.
The day of potential collision has been calculated as December 22, 2032 - just before Christmas.
There's also a 0.3 per cent chance that the asteroid could smash into the moon, rather than our planet.
David Rankin, an operations engineer for the University of Arizona, said that if the moon was hit we would be able to see the strike with our own eyes.
He said: "There is the possibility this would eject some material back out that could hit the Earth, but I highly doubt it would cause any major threat.
"It would be very visible from Earth."
Bryce said that, despite the chance of danger, he finds YR4 "to be extremely exciting" due to "the scientific potential of studying such a small asteroid in high detail".
He added that this could be the final "chance we have to observe the asteroid from Gemini" before it approaches again in 2028.
The rock is expected to fade around mid-March, making it more difficult to detect from the ground, but passes nearby Earth around once every four years.
The approach after next is when it could collide with Earth.
Soon after being discovered in late December, the asteroid rocketed to the top of NASA risk list - and further study has only increased the calculated chance of impact.
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