Scientists say 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.

Chilling animations depict the apocalyptic impact that “city-killer” asteroid YR4 2024 could have if it did hit Earth — while astronomers warn that the moon could be in the line of fire as well.

Situation is significant enough to warrant global planetary defence community's attention. Astronomers plan to use James Webb Space Telescope to get precise estimate of asteroid's size.

YR4 has a roughly 2 percent chance of hitting Earth in 2032, and “is large enough to cause localized damage,” NASA says.

"An asteroid this size impacts Earth on average every few thousand years and could cause severe damage to a local region," the European Space Agency said.

The odds that asteroid 2024 YR4 could hit Earth in 2032 recently spiked from a little more than 1% to 2.3% as more observations are made.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be utilized by scientists to get a better understanding of asteroid '2024 YR4,' which holds a small chance of impacting Earth in 2032. Olivia Zollino reports. US says will levy tariffs on Mexico,