The risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth seems to be creeping up as astronomers gather more data, but does that mean we should be scrambling to prepare for an impact in 2032?

Look at it this way — there's almost a 99 per cent chance an asteroid up to the size of a football field won't hit the Earth in eight years. Still, there's up to a two per cent chance it will, according to NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

A recently released animation shows a new look at a large asteroid that has a small, but significant chance of impacting planet Earth in 7 years. The animation, provided by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS),