A near-Earth asteroid as wide as the Statue of Liberty is tall could strike Earth on Dec.22, 2032, alerting planetary defense groups at the United Nations.

The threat of a newly discovered asteroid has risen slightly in the past few weeks, as the world’s telescopes rush to track its course. But the chance of an impact is still quite slim. New calculations suggest there's a 2% chance the space rock 2024 YR4 will smack Earth in 2032.

A recently discovered asteroid, named 2024 YR4, has on average a 2% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. While those odds of an impact are slim, astronomers are closely tracking the space rock to uncover more details — a process that could soon involve the most powerful observatory ever launched into space.