NASA announces date ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid will fly close to planet Earth | Science | News
NASA has confirmed the exact date when a rare asteroid will pass by Earth, coming closer to our planet than any other celestial body of this size in recorded human history.
The asteroid known as Apophis, which seems forebodingly named after the ancient Egyptian god of evil and destruction, will pass exceptionally close to our planet in the not-too-distant future.
This week, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — or NASA, as it is more commonly known — confirmed that the asteroid will safely bypass Earth in 2029. It will be visible to the naked eye in the night sky on what superstition regards as one of the most unfortunate days imaginable: Friday, April 13, 2029.
It will pass within 20,000 miles of our planet’s surface; This is closer than the orbital distance of many satellites. To put this plainly, that’s almost 12 times closer than the Moon’s average distance from Earth. When this Near-Earth asteroid was first identified in 2004, initial calculations suggested that Apophis could potentially collide with Earth in 2029, 2036, or 2068.
Since then, astronomers have followed Apophis closely using optical telescopes and ground-based radar, providing a much better understanding of its orbital path. Based on this data, NASA now believes that there is no risk of Apophis hitting Earth for at least 100 years.
NASA initially pegged the chance of this massive space rock causing catastrophic damage to our planet at 2.7%, but following new radar observations in 2021, the entire threat has been eliminated.
But what this means is that an asteroid of this size passing so close to Earth is an extremely rare event that will give scientists around the world the chance to study the God of Chaos at close range.
NASA stated the following in 2021 regarding the flyby in 2029: “This will be the closest approach of something this large currently known. Apophis will be visible to the naked eye for several hours, and Earth’s tides will likely change its rotation state.”
Early observations of Apophis’s shape suggest that it resembles a peanut. The God of Chaos is approximately 1,230 feet wide, marginally taller than the Eiffel Tower, which is 383 feet tall.
NASA is currently tracking nearly 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects that may pass near Earth. The vast majority of asteroids never come into contact with Earth’s atmosphere, but in rare cases these massive space rocks can affect weather systems. Earth hasn’t encountered an asteroid of apocalyptic proportions since the space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
