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Map reveals what will happen if asteroid hits most populated cities

MailOnline
Summary
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76% Informative

Asteroid 2024 YR4 currently has a one in 45 , or 2.2 per cent , chance of hitting Earth on December 22, 2032 .

If it did hit, the impact would release a blast with the power of eight to 15 megatons of TNT .

Explosion would be similar to that of the Tunguska asteroid which flattened 830 square miles ( 2,150 square km ) of Siberian forest in 1908 - an area more than double the size of New York .

In Washington DC , the blast has the potential to destroy all three branches of government.

In Paris , the shockwave would flatten almost the entire city, with fatalities likely as far out as the suburb of.

2024 YR4 has jumped to the top of NASA 's list of risky objects.

It is the only large asteroid with an impact probability greater than one in 100 .

This has earned the asteroid a rare score of three on the Torino Scale.

Scientists hope that the impact probability will fall towards zero as they learn more about its orbit.

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