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.

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

The asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, has a 2.3% chance of colliding with Earth on Dec. 22, 2032, according to a NASA update on Feb. 7. This probability of impact has increased since Jan. 29 when NASA observed that the asteroid had a little over 1% chance of impacting Earth.