#observer: system redux

[sweeetestcurse]

Scenery in Observer: System Redux 02/??

[ridragon]

thought of a brand new sentence (to me) while playing Observer

"Man, I sure wish this apartment building would stop moaning."

[invisiblestation]

[themishening]

Loved the original so it was time I got the remaster

[human-antithesis]

Hermit's Lair - Human Antithesis https://t.me/Human_Antithesis

Observer: System Redux Original Soundtrack composed by Arkadiusz Reikowski

Observer: System Redux (2020) developed by Bloober Team and Anshar Studios and published by Aspyr

Tracklist:

The Year is 2084 - 01:57

The City View - 01:04

Your Not in Control - 03:10

I Am What They Fear - 01:22

Lockdown - 01:43

Altered Brain - 02:29

The Church - 01:45

Mirror Me - Mother Queen - 07:30

Wolfman - 03:50

Into Your Dreams - 01:59

Whatever It Takes - 04:14

End Titles - 03:59

Mirror Me - Observe Who (Bonus Track) - 05:11

Braindive (Bonus Track) - 01:52

[batnerdy22]

So...many...damn...pigeons....

[ghastlyarachnid]

breaking into your house just to observe you 👁️

🕷️OBSERVER: System redux 🕸️7PM EEST (UTC+3)

[linuxgamenews]

Humble Cyberpunk Playground delves deep into Steam Play

Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle games has support for Proton on Linux via Windows PC. A shout-out to the imaginative team at Humble Bundle. Available as a pay what you want deal while you support charity. Here you are cruising through a future where mega-corporations dictate the rules, and the only light comes from neon signs. That's the captivating universe you'll be immersed in with this incredible collection. And with the Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle, you decide how much you want to shell out for it. The first piece of this Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle puzzle is ANNO: Mutationem. Coming together in a pixel art style; this isn't your average 8-bit experience. You'll be working through an incredibly detailed city that's brimming with surprises. And there's a supernatural element that'll keep you on sharp. Think of it as a combo of an action-packed blockbuster and a mystery novel, but you're the hero. Next in the Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle, we have 'Ghostrunner,' which has received countless accolades and it's easy to see why. Since you're living in a society where every day is a struggle for survival. So the only way to make it is to rely on your lightning-quick reflexes. It's all about fast-paced action that'll where you have to keep moving in this adrenaline-pumping game. Then, Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle offers 'Cloudpunk.' Here, you'll step into the shoes of a courier in a massive, cold city where secrets are a currency. It's your job to dig up what lies beneath the surface of this mechanical jungle. It's a unique game, where every turn seems to uncover a new secret.

Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle Tiers

$7 USD

Cloudpunk (with Proton)

Voltage High Society (no Proton, but built in Unity 3D)

$10 USD

Ghostrunner (with Proton)

Severed Steel (with Proton)

COUPON 40% OFF Ghostrunner - Project_Hel

$15 USD

ANNO: Mutationem (with Proton)

Observer: System Redux (with Proton)

Gungrave G.O.R.E (with Proton)

These Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle adventures are normally valued at $194 USD, but the beauty of this deal is that you call the shots on what you pay. However, the more you decide to contribute, the more you get in return! It's like leveling up in an RPG - except the rewards are these epic games. All these Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle experiences can be activated on Steam for Windows. So you can jump right in, get your hands dirty, and immerse yourself in these stunning worlds on Linux, via Proton. Your Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle purchase also supports a good cause! The funds go not only to the creators of these adventures but also to 'buildOn,' a charity dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty. Plus, you can even choose another charity to support. So, you're not just purchasing these exciting story, but also making a real-world difference. And if you've enjoyed the experience, you can even leave a Humble Tip to show your appreciation! That's the whole package. So gear up, set your price as a pay what you want deal, and get ready to lose yourself in the Humble Cyberpunk Playground Bundle neon-lit adventures. Offering Linux players Gold to Platinum support on Linux via Proton.

[philipkindreddickhead]

Should I make another attempt at playing Observer System Redux?

[foxsdaybook]

Fun Fact: this phenomenon is described by an energy load diagram know as the Duck Curve, as observed on the Californian energy grid.

(image credit Energy.gov)

This curve describes power loading on the electrical grid during a high-solar-energy, low-solar-power day (a typical day in California for example). As seen, the load reaches its lowest point at approximately 1-2 PM, which is peek solar hours - at this point certain electrical providers will actually drop their price per kilowatt hour to encourage people to use power less their infrastructure be damaged. then at approximately 5-8 PM the energy consumption MASSIVELY increases - this is when people go home for the day, turn on their AC, stove, and whatnot, just as solar power is waning, causing the large overloading ramp.

This curve tells us a few things:

Prime time to consume power in high-solar areas is at peak solar, avoid consuming power later on if possible (an individual person won't contribute overmuch to this, but the load increase has been proven to come from the residential power sector as a whole).

Practical energy storage solutions must be implemented alongside solar generation else this effect will only get worse and worse - the average Californian grid engineer is a nervous wreak over this since its only a matter of time before the whole grid goes down because of it. Practical methods include pumped hydro (not great in drought areas, but an effective bulk storage method), flywheel storage, and MAYBE batteries (specifically redux-flow batteries - shipping-container sized batteries that may not store a lot of energy, but they are safer more ecologically viable than lithium ion)

Failing energy storage solutions, other forms of power need to be implemented alongside solar - solar is what is known as a non-dispatchable energy source - meaning that its power output can't (generally) be user-adjusted - so however much power it creates is put on the grid (other forms of non-dispatchable power include wind and some wave energy). To "smooth" the duck curve, solar installations could be replaced with either dispatchable power (hydropower, any steam-turbine based reactor, geothermal, etc) or dispatchable power that operates at different peak hours.

A final option is to implement variable loads - mass loads that turn on during solar peak hours and are off at other times. This is less than ideal since it doesn't really solve the issue, just hides it, but it does mean more consistent loading that hopefully the CAISO (California independent system operator) will interpret as greater demand for more redundant lines. Practical uses for this energy include desalinization plants, electrolysis for hydrogen fuel production, or a big siren that blares "California is experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by"

No one in California knows what a Duck looks like, considering this term dates back to 2012, and that grey line ain't look nothing like a duck.

[sweeetestcurse]

Scenery in Observer: System Redux 04/??

[jenna12381]

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting the finale

Listen to Toad Town - Green Streamer Removal while reading this, and Title Screen (Origami King) when you get to the epilogue.

Episode 5: Here

Back to Episode 0: Here

I already talked at length about how the final episode goes in a few previous posts. I'm going to go ahead and do it again anyway. Because why not?

Penelope has been found out. The boys (Sly, Bentley, and Murray) are rightfully furious with her. There's even talk of her expulsion going on. Oh, and Le Paradox is now king of the world. Crap.

Let's not forget how Carmelita got herself kidnapped by our main villain.

Fortunately for our heroine, she's not going to be expelled right away. The boys believe she must have had a change of heart at some point during their journey across time. Helps that she isn't defending herself.

The boys have also observed that Penelope had several chances over the course of this adventure to truly turn her back on them... and yet she never took a single one.

She could have teamed up with that guard when Bentley's back was turned, but she wasn't going to let anyone touch that turtle except her. (Episode 0)

She could have ditched Sly back in Feudal Japan when she was attempting to go rogue, but turned herself around to help him defeat El Jefe. (Episode 1)

She could have left Sly hanging when he was fighting Toothpick, but saved the former's skin instead. She also could have defected after the boys got themselves arrested, but stayed to bust them out of jail. (Episode 2)

She could have turned on Murray (and by extension, everyone else) when The Grizz tried to out her, but chose not to. (Episode 3)

She could have crushed Sly under the weight of the Black Knight's armor, but instead turned the tables on Raleigh. She also could have joined forces with her impostor, but instead chose an alliance with her knight in a shining wheelchair. (Episode 4)

She could have joined Le Paradox and Miss Decibel when she was outed as their mole, but her newfound loyalty to her friends was too strong. (Episode 5)

The boys have decided to give Penelope one final chance to redeem herself. If she can put an end to what she started, they'll forget about her upcoming expulsion. All will be forgiven. All she has to do is behave herself during the next mission.

Our heroes' next mission? Invade Le Paradox's blimp, save Carmelita, and get back the ancestors' canes.

Penelope has reason to believe she will be expelled if her performance is less than perfect, so she does the boys one better and volunteers herself as mission leader on the grounds that she knows the most about how Le Paradox's blimp works.

Of course, this leads to our heroine nearly cracking under all the pressure. One wrong move or miscalculation, and she'll lose more than just her friends.

Penelope proceeds to unveil her plan to everyone, including Sly’s ancestors, but leaves out a single detail: She will be the one who fights Le Paradox.

This plan of hers is very similar to what happened in vanilla, BTW. Penelope does reveal, however, that the blimp is rigged to severely malfunction in the event Sly's cane enters its system.

This means that Sly will have to act as bait. He's seemingly fine with this, as he was already going up to the blimp to save Carmelita anyway.

As I stated in earlier posts, our heroine believes she must fight Le Paradox (and defeat him) if she wants to truly redeem herself. She also believes she has to do it alone. If she doesn't, her attempt to atone won't count. After all, this is her mess. She has to clean it up.

Don't worry. The boys fully intend to keep their word and let Penelope stay if she does well. They never said she had to fight Le Paradox. She made that decision on her own.

The time finally comes for our heroes to raid Le Paradox's blimp, save Carmelita, and shut down a certain skunk's evil plot to rule the world.

First, we have some callbacks to the tutorial...

"You boys remember the plan, right?"

"You don't need to worry about that, Sis, for my mind is like a steel... uh..."

"Trap, Murray."

"You remember our deal?"

"Of course. *quietly to herself* No messing up allowed."

Our four heroes take Sly's ancestors to the blimp, but first... Sly has to act as bait.

Le Paradox captures Sly, completely unaware of the trap lying in wait for him.

Our other heroes then work to reclaim the ancestors' canes and prepare the blimp for its upcoming demise.

Sly and Carmelita are freed, and the canes are returned to their rightful owners... but Le Paradox takes Sly's cane.

Now that Sly's cane has been introduced, a hidden countdown begins. When it hits 0, the blimp will explode. Our heroes have 1 hour to evacuate. Le Paradox has no clue, and thinks he's won.

Rather than join the others in evacuating... Penelope begins pursuing Le Paradox. After all, if she doesn't take him down, her attempt to atone won't count.

Bentley tries to convince her not to go, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. She kisses him farewell before running off in tears.

Penelope catches up to Le Paradox and challenges him to a duel for control of the blimp. Le Paradox, still unaware that he's going to lose his blimp no matter what, agrees to duel her.

This, of course, leads to Penelope starting the final boss fight instead of Sly.

I'm going to have Penelope go much more on the offensive than she might normally. You see, she's putting herself under a lot of pressure right now. She also manages to outmatch Le Paradox... at first.

As the duel progresses, Le Paradox says that even if Penelope wins and survives, there's no guarantee the boys will ever forgive her. The more he talks, the more she doubts herself.

The villain tries to re-recruit our heroine, but she very quickly refuses.

Harboring a renewed duty to her true family, Penelope says she'd rather die a hero than live long enough to betray her friends again.

She fights valiantly, but is eventually disarmed and knocked down. She stops fighting back, thinking she deserves to die here.

The skunk is about to finish her off when Sly jumps in from seemingly nowhere and saves her.

Penelope and Sly double team the villain.

After some time, Sly is followed by Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and the ancestors in that order.

The boys, Carmelita, and the ancestors voice their support for their fearless (and perhaps reckless) mission leader: Penelope. They also silently recognize her need to finish Le Paradox by herself.

Penelope restarts her duel with Le Paradox... and comes out victorious, complete with a speech on what she learned about friendship.

Our ten heroes escape the blimp in one piece. Le Paradox also survives, and is arrested, his evil plot foiled not only by a traitor in his ranks, but also by the thieves she ultimately sided with.

As the timeline mends itself, and the ancestors are returned home, Penelope... can't bear to face her friends anymore. She starts to leave and never come back... only for the boys to stop her.

As far as the boys are concerned, Penelope not only redeemed herself, but exceeded their expectations. True to their word, they allow her to stay on with them forever. After a bit of convincing, she agrees, and promises to never betray them again.

Spoiler alert: Penelope stays true to her word. I will say that for the next year or so, she will find it incredibly difficult to forgive herself.

She and Bentley soon end up engaged.

Sly and Carmelita? Sly has given up on her. Carmelita goes away to work on a big case seemingly unrelated to Sly, but intends to make up with him as soon as it's over.

Murray is just happy his younger sister won't be leaving.

All of the villains have the same fates as they did in canon. Raleigh, though, escapes from prison. He's now hard at work on his next project: a Robo-Cooper Gang.

As for what happens next... I might elaborate on that if I ever manage to finish my full rewrite.

Thank you so much for your support, readers and friends.

Isn't this ending so much better than whatever vanilla was?

[invisiblestation]

[ikan128gopay]

:

🕶️✨ Cyberpunk: Dunia Gelap di Masa Depan — Menyelami Genre Game Futuristik Paling Bergaya

Pendahuluan

Cyberpunk bukan hanya genre dalam film dan sastra, tapi juga telah menjadi salah satu gaya game yang paling memikat di era modern. Menggabungkan dunia futuristik, teknologi canggih, dan sisi gelap masyarakat, game-game bertema cyberpunk mengajak pemain menyelami kota-kota neon yang kacau, penuh kejahatan, konspirasi, dan pilihan moral yang abu-abu.

Artikel ini akan membahas apa itu genre game cyberpunk, apa daya tariknya, dan beberapa judul game cyberpunk terbaik yang pernah dibuat.

🔍 Apa Itu Game Cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk adalah subgenre fiksi ilmiah yang menggambarkan masa depan distopia: teknologi sangat maju, tetapi tatanan sosial dan moralitas justru memburuk. Dalam game, ini diterjemahkan sebagai dunia penuh neon, hacker, cyborg, AI yang lepas kendali, dan mega-korporasi yang menguasai hidup manusia.

Ciri khas game cyberpunk:

Kota futuristik padat dan gelap (biasanya bergaya Asia-Amerika)

Teknologi tinggi seperti augmentasi tubuh (cyberware), drone, dan virtual reality

Isu sosial: kontrol korporasi, kriminalitas, diskriminasi, dan pemberontakan

Cerita nonlinear dan penuh pilihan moral

⚡ Daya Tarik Game Cyberpunk

Dunia yang Imersif dan Penuh Detail Game cyberpunk menawarkan dunia open world dengan arsitektur futuristik, suasana malam penuh cahaya neon, dan masyarakat yang kompleks.

Cerita Dewasa dan Penuh Intrik Konflik dalam game cyberpunk sering melibatkan dilema etika, perlawanan terhadap sistem, atau pencarian identitas di tengah dunia yang kacau.

Teknologi Canggih dan Gameplay Unik Mulai dari hacking, modifikasi tubuh, hingga pertempuran antara manusia dan mesin, gameplay dalam genre ini selalu inovatif.

Gaya Visual Khas Warna neon, hujan abadi, kabut asap, dan desain karakter ala punk futuristik menjadikan game ini sangat stylish.

��� Game Cyberpunk Terbaik dan Terpopuler

1. Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)

RPG open world berlatar kota Night City tahun 2077

Pemain berperan sebagai V, tentara bayaran yang mengejar keabadian melalui chip misterius

Cerita bercabang, sistem augmentasi tubuh, dan penampilan Keanu Reeves sebagai Johnny Silverhand

2. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided / Human Revolution

Game stealth-RPG yang mengeksplorasi diskriminasi terhadap manusia yang dimodifikasi secara teknologi

Dipenuhi tema konspirasi dan pilihan moral kompleks

3. Observer: System Redux

Game horor cyberpunk psikologis, berlatar kota yang dihantui virus digital dan korupsi

Fokus pada investigasi dan dunia yang mencekam

4. The Ascent

Twin-stick shooter dengan visual isometrik menawan

Berlatar kota cyberpunk yang dikuasai mega-korporasi yang ambruk secara tiba-tiba

5. Ghostrunner

Aksi cepat ala ninja-cyber dengan parkour dan pedang katana

Perpaduan intens antara kecepatan, presisi, dan dunia dystopia

6. Ruiner

Game action dengan grafis top-down dan gameplay brutal

Berlatar di tahun 2091, pemain adalah hacker bertopeng yang melawan sistem kejam demi menyelamatkan saudaranya

🧠 Masa Depan Game Cyberpunk

Dengan terus berkembangnya teknologi visual dan cerita interaktif, genre cyberpunk akan semakin kuat di dunia game. Hadirnya VR dan AI generatif di masa depan mungkin akan menjadikan game-game cyberpunk lebih realistis, mengaburkan batas antara dunia maya dan dunia nyata — persis seperti yang digambarkan oleh genre itu sendiri.

Kesimpulan

Game cyberpunk bukan hanya tentang teknologi tinggi, tetapi juga menyuguhkan refleksi tajam tentang masa depan umat manusia. Melalui visual memukau, cerita gelap, dan gameplay yang inovatif, genre ini menawarkan pengalaman yang tak hanya seru tapi juga menggugah pemikiran.

Siapkah kamu menjelajahi lorong neon dan membongkar rahasia di balik megakorporasi dunia masa depan?

[xtruss]

This Asteroid ☄️ May Hit Earth In 2032. Don't Panic—Scientists Have A Plan.

Space Agencies have Systems in Place to Spot, Track, and Forecast the Future Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.

— By Robin George Andrews | February 5, 2025

NASA has a Network of Telescopes used to track Near-Earth Asteroids, like the recently spotted 2024 YR4. Up until August 2024, the WISE spacecraft was one such observatory. The telescope was repurposed for asteroid and comet tracking after its original mission ended. In the next few years, the space agency hopes to launch an infrared space telescope devoted to asteroid detection. Illustration By NASA/JPL-Caltech

Asteroids fly by Earth on a regular basis, and most of them are of no concern whatsoever. But sometimes a space rock gets flagged as a potential threat because there is a slim chance that it may collide with Earth. A newly discovered near-Earth asteroid called 2024 YR4 is one possibly perilous object: It’s a 130 to 300-foot long rock that currently stands a 1 in 53 chance of impacting somewhere on Earth on December 22, 2032.

To be clear, there is no need to hurriedly invest in a hardened bunker. This asteroid is certainly worth watching because it could devastate a city with a direct hit—even on the small side of its size estimate. But as astronomers gather more data on the future orbit of 2024 YR4, the odds of a violent rendezvous with Earth will, most likely, drop precipitously to zero.

The detection shows that the system for defending Earth from lethal space rocks works like a well-oiled global machine. Observatories all over the world contribute to finding near-Earth objects. And both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have developed automated software programs that can, with extreme precision, track every single potentially hazardous asteroid and comet found to date.

One of the key tenets of planetary defense is to find Earthbound asteroids before they find us. Here’s how NASA, ESA and their colleagues pull it off.

Asteroid Scouts And Sentries

Any telescope on the planet can contribute to planetary defense: If an astronomer anywhere on Earth spies an object that looks like an asteroid (or comet), they can report its findings to the planetary defense community. But it’s worth noting that NASA has a network of telescopes around the world dedicated to hunting down undiscovered asteroids and comets. A telescope in Chile—part of one such NASA-funded facility, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS)—discovered 2024 YR4, on December 27 last year.

Once an observatory first spots a previously undiscovered asteroid, astronomers report the find to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a sort of public notice board for astronomers to peruse. Then, interested astronomers can use those initial observations to track it with their own telescopes.

Observatories on Earth like the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex in Australia help track asteroids and refine our understanding of their orbits. Photograph By Jonny Weeks, Guardian/Eyevine/Redux

When a new object is discovered, NASA and ESA’s asteroid and comet-tracking groups jump into action. NASA has the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), while ESA has the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC). As both essentially do the same thing, let’s focus on CNEOS.

Initially, an automated computer program named Scout uses the available crop of observations to plot out the object’s likely future orbits. With just a few data points to go on at first, these orbit forecasts have a high level of uncertainty, but Scout’s job is to calculate if there is any chance whatsoever that this object may impact Earth within the next month or so.

Scout does this math before the object is even confirmed to be an asteroid, rather than an observation error or something artificial like a satellite. It’s designed to be a very early-warning system that may give a country in harm’s way a chance to defend itself or evacuate its imperiled people.

If the object doesn’t pose an immediate impact risk, and it’s a real asteroid, NASA’s Sentry program takes the reins. This automated software calculates if there is a chance, high or low, that the asteroid could impact the planet within the next century, using every new observation of the asteroid to continually update its predictions.

Sentry uses the gravitational pulls of the Sun and the solar system’s planets to work out the possible future orbits of an asteroid. It can also determine how a force called the Yarkovsky effect can gradually change an asteroid’s motion, changing its long-term orbit.

NASA's Deep Space Network Radio Telescopes can ping asteroids with Radio Waves and measure the Radar Waves that bounce back to get a sense of what the space rock's surface might look like. This one in Woomera, Australia, was the first deep space station established outside the United States. It's now been replaced by a facility in Canberra, Australia. Photograph By NASA (Left)

A technician operates a radar dish antenna at California's Goldstone Deep Space Instrumentation Facility in 1963. Goldstone is one of the three communication facilities that now comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. Photograph By NASA/Science Photo Library (Right)

Asteroids often rotate, with their sunward side getting warmed up before spinning out of view. In the shade, they remit this heat, which acts like a miniature thruster, gently shifting the asteroid’s position in space. In the past, astronomers had to take this into account with manual calculations. Sentry’s latest version is smart enough to make those calculations itself.

“Thanks to the Sentry results, we can make sure observers track the asteroids that could pose a risk,” says Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at CNEOS in California. And until an asteroid poses an essentially zero chance of impacting Earth, it remains on the Sentry Risk List.

Right now, 2024 YR4 is at the top of that list.

Anti-Asteroid Reinforcements

Astronomers don’t yet know enough about this particular asteroid to determine whether it will definitely miss the planet. That’s partly because this planetary defense system does have an element of luck to it—and partly because the system is still a work-in-progress.

Asteroids are most easily spotted closest to Earth, when they are reflecting enough sunlight to appear as a bright speck. 2024 YR4 was identified just two days after its closest approach to Earth. “The object was found when it passed by Earth and started getting away from it,” says Juan Luis Cano, an aerospace engineer with ESA’s planetary defense program. It got very faint very quickly, so most ground-based telescopes struggled to track it. That means that some possible orbits have been ruled out, but several possibilities remain—and a very small number of them put the asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

Astronomers can also use ground-based observatories, like the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (the third member of NASA's Deep Space Network), to capture images of asteroids as they pass by earth. Photograph By Hitesh Sawlani

A key issue with reflected sunlight is that it only gives a range of sizes. A larger asteroid with a dark, coal-like surface reflects a similar amount of light to a smaller rock with a shiny, chalk-like surface. Without knowing what 2024 YR4’s surface looks like, astronomers cannot tell if it’s a shiny 130-foot asteroid or a dull 300-foot asteroid with far greater destructive capabilities.

Scientists can improve their understanding of 2024 YR4 in several ways. The first is to gather more observations on this pass. Although the asteroid is rapidly disappearing, larger telescopes will be able to see it until early April.

Additionally, “2024 YR4 will make another close approach with Earth in 2028, at about 20 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon,” says Farnocchia. “Adding two months of tracking will greatly improve the knowledge of its future position in 2032, and it is likely that an impact in 2032 will be ruled out by the end of this observing window.”

“Even better would be finding a ‘precovery’, where someone unknowingly observed it years ago,” says Andy Rivkin, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. Astronomers could have accidentally snapped a photo of 2024 YR4 moving across the sky without realizing. If, say, those images dated back a few years, then “we’d suddenly have years’ worth of data instead of weeks or months,” which Rivkin notes would greatly help narrow down the asteroid’s orbital path.

Finally, if an asteroid zips by especially close to Earth, a small number of observatories can ping the object with radar. This would provide a highly precise measure of an asteroid’s size and trajectory—but even in 2028, during 2024 YR4’s next Earth flyby, it may prove too evasive. “At that distance and for the size of this asteroid, it is not guaranteed that radar would detect it,” says Farnocchia.

NASA's WISE Space Telescope captured this image of more than 100 asteroids. Not all of the asteroids are easy to see, but some stand out as a series of dots. Each dot in a track shows one asteroid, captured at different times as it marched across the sky. Photograph By NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

Infrared Eyes Are On The Horizon

Infrared astronomy could refine such observations even further. In infrared light, asteroid sizes become clear; a larger asteroid, no matter how reflective or dull its surface is, always glows brighter in infrared than a smaller asteroid, meaning this can be used to accurately calculate an asteroid’s dimensions.

NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor—an infrared, space-based observatory solely dedicated to hunting asteroids—will be launched in the next few years, to the excitement of many planetary defenders.

In the meantime, researchers have found that the special infrared filters on the multipurpose James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can also be used to find small asteroids and precisely determine their size. With optical light telescopes starting to struggle as 2024 YR4 fades from view, “it seems like JWST would be a fantastic fit,” says Cristina Thomas, an astronomer and planetary defense researcher at Northern Arizona University.

“Asteroids get much brighter in the infrared than in the visible as they move away from Earth, and they are thus easier to detect or track with infrared facilities—JWST being the biggest of all,” says Julien de Wit, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Astronomers—including Rivkin, Farnocchia, Thomas, and de Wit—quickly put forward a proposal requesting JWST’s use to refine the size of 2024 YR4 and help ensure its monitoring. On February 5, they received a green light, and now, the most expensive space observatory in will soon be used for planetary defense purposes.

The notion that there is even the slightest chance that 2024 YR4 may endanger us may create some anxiety. But thanks to the planetary defenders at NASA, ESA and beyond, the world has never been safer from dangerous asteroids—and with continued investment in their staff and technology, all eight billion of us will remain protected for generations to come.