The risk that an increasingly ominous asteroid dubbed 2024 YR4 will crash into Earth in seven years now exceeds the the threat once posed by Apophis.

Scientists are projecting a small but significant chance that an asteroid could strike the Earth on Dec. 22, 2032.  Asteroids — the rocky remnants left from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago — rarely approach Earth.

On Tuesday, astronomers reported that 2024 YR4’s probability of colliding with Earth increased to approximately 3%, which is unusual for a small asteroid that is only 130 to 300 feet wide. By Wednesday, that impact assessment dropped to 1.5%.