Asteroid 2024 YR4, which has been labelled a “city killer,” will not be impacting Earth in 2032 after all, with observations from the James Webb Space Telescope among others reducing the expected impact risk to a fraction of a percent.
Conversely, a Citibank customer was potentially a trillionaire for a few hours in April after an $81tn mistake in their favour, although the transaction was reversed before any astronomical purchases could be made.
Space is also becoming more crowded closer to Earth, with South Korean’s Danuri probe photographing the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as it passed in parallel orbits but at 11,500 km/h relative to one another.
Finally, an airport security anecdote comes courtesy of a Wi-Fi hotspot name, with a passenger on a domestic American Airlines flight causing a four-hour delay after an unintended hotspot name.
