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- P31A-05: JWST as a Planetary Defense Asset: The Case of 2024 YR4
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NOLA CC
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Andrew Rivkin, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (First Author, Presenting Author)
Eric MacLennan, University of Helsinki
Bryan Holler, Space Telescope Science Institute
Thomas Müller, Max Planck Insitute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Julien de Wit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Artem Burdanov, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maxime Devogele, ESA NEOCC
Petr Pravec, Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Marco Micheli, ESA NEOCC
Cristina Thomas, Northern Arizona University
Davide Farnocchia, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Allison Glantzberg, Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins
Luca Conversi, NEOCC
Jessie Dotson, NASA Ames Research Center
Lorien Wheeler, NASA Ames Research Center
Stefanie Milam, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Heidi Hammel, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
We used JWST in March and May 2025 to observe the asteroid 2024 YR4, which at one point had an estimated 3% chance of hitting the Earth and currently is estimated to have a roughly 4% chance of hitting the Moon. The JWST observations were used to determine the diameter of the asteroid (roughly 60 meters) and also obtain positional information that was used to better determine its orbit. The use of JWST to make these measurements of 2024 YR4 show that the telescope has unique capabilities for planetary defense. We will discuss our use of JWST and the lessons we learned about its best use for studying potentially dangerous asteroids.
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