No chance asteroid will hit the moon in 2032, NASA says

Asteroid 2024 YR4
Scientists have ruled out a collision between asteroid 2024 YR4 and both the earth and the moon. -AP

NASA has issued a welcomed all-clear, saying there is now zero chance that asteroid 2024 YR4 will crash into the moon in 2032.

The space agency had been predicting a 4.3 per cent chance of a direct hit. 

But observations by the Webb Space Telescope in February helped scientists refine the asteroid's orbit. 

This new information indicates that the asteroid will miss the moon by 21,200km on December 22, 2032. 

Discovered at the end of 2024, the asteroid at first looked like it might threaten earth.

Scientists last year ruled out a collision with our planet anytime in the next century but kept the moon as a possible target.

The asteroid is about 60 metres across.