In reality, even as the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 was moving away, ground-based telescopes were able to gather enough observations to get a better handle on its orbit. So we can safely take a deep breath and return to the more pressing existential problems posed by threats on this planet rather than off-world.

An asteroid becomes a meteorite when it travels to Earth from a nearby orbit or the outer solar system and collides with Earth, according to the United States Geological Survey. Small asteroids typically burn up in the upper atmosphere before ever reaching Earth’s surface to become meteorites.

The risk that an increasingly ominous asteroid dubbed 2024 YR4 will crash into Earth in seven years now exceeds the the threat once posed by Apophis.