The Webb telescope is well-suited to identify asteroid 2024 YR4's size. Webb views a type of light we can't see with the naked eye, called infrared. Infrared light is largely heat energy, allowing Webb to observe the heat from distant objects, whether they're planets or distant galaxies.

Humanity's most powerful eye on space will be closely examining asteroid 2024 YR4 in the coming weeks and months.

Astronomers have been granted emergency access to the James Webb Space Telescope to study an asteroid that poses a potential threat to Earth. The space rock, known as 2024 YR4, currently has a 2.3 per cent chance of colliding with our planet in 2032.