Apophis Asteroid ?
What's the latest on the killer asteroid named Apophis that supposedly is heading toward earth?
What's the latest on the killer asteroid named Apophis that supposedly is heading toward earth?
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Earth and Apophis share an orbital lane, as it were, so we pass each other again and again, at various distances. Sometimes it's a long way off, and sometimes it's up close. 2029 is supposed be a very close pass.
When we first detected Apophis, in 2004, early analysis of its orbit led us to think it we might actually collide with it, but additional data revised that. This time (2029) we'll miss by almost 20 thousand miles (32 thousand km).
Still, considering that the Moon is 250,000 miles away, 20 thousand is pretty close. At that distance, it will graze the outer edge of our artificial satellite belt. After passing Earth, it will also have a close encounter with the Moon on its departure.
Will the two bodies EVER collide? It would be folly to suggest that all collisions that could ever happen have already happened - so it can't be ruled out. Orbits change, so predictions are really no good more than a few decades out. But for the foreseeable future, Apophis is not likely to come any closer to Earth than, say, Venus does.
If it DID someday collide with Earth, it wouldn't be an extinction-level event, but it'd be a very bad afternoon. It would leave a crater about four miles across. Picture about a thousand nukes going off at once, in the same place.
ReductioAdAstronomicus
The latest is that it will miss completely.
I suggest you forget space and consider overpopulation and resource depletion as likely sources of doom and destruction.
quantumclaustrophobe
It's going to pass us by.
Iridflare
Still not a killer! Latest data show that the risk of a collision this century is reducing.
Amy
We went past it a few weeks ago.
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=99942;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb