But further calculations showed this was unlikely to happen. Huge Asteroid Apophis Flies By Earth on Friday the 13th in 2029. The 6.5 foot asteroid poses no threat to Earth and its puny stature would be no match for our atmosphere even if it had an impact trajectory with earth. Looking into the future, its more difficult to predict the space rocks trajectory due to the potential of Earths gravity to alter its course. We will be able to see it (from the Eastern Hemisphere) without the aid of a telescope or binoculars. Apophis is shaped like a peanut shell, a form astronomers call a contact binary. The hunk of nickel, iron and silicate is a relic from the earliest days of the solar system, a byproduct of the massive cloud of gas and dust that formed 4.6 billion years ago and eventually led to us. As suitably apocalyptic as that sounds, though, that may not be the main inspiration behind the name. NY 10036. To arrive at the Apophis calculations in 2021, astronomers used the 70-meter (230-foot) radio antenna at the Deep Space Networks Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, to precisely track Apophis motion. "But there is no argument, it's all one and the same.". https://astronomy.com/news/2005/08/asteroid-apophis-set-for-a-makeover (opens in new tab), in depth: Osiris-rex. Those proposed investigations bridge the two disciplines, asking questions applicable both to humanity's self-interest and to our greater understanding of the solar system we live in. Due to proximity, size and speed (with it orbiting around 30.73 kilometers per second and completing an orbit around the Sun in about 0.9 Earth years), many worried that it would have struck the planet. But even from the beginning, the risk was never that high, and the odds seemed firmly in place that such an impact wouldn't occur. The asteroid seemed almost stubbornly determined to live up to its apocalyptic name. That asteroid, called Apophis, stretches about 1,100 feet (340 meters) across and will pass within 19,000 miles (31,000 kilometers) of Earth's surface. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/in-depth (opens in new tab). It is for this reason that astronomers around the world, including at NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), work to monitor all nearby asteroids and calculate their trajectory to see if any of them pose a threat to the planet. OSIRIS-REx, a spacecraft currently ferrying home samples from the surface of an asteroid called Bennu, will rendezvous with Apophis in 2029. In a year that seemingly keeps on giving, perhaps its not so surprising that NASAs newly discovered asteroid called 2020 SW will give earth a not so socially distant pass. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Pieces of all those missions showed up in discussions about what scientists could send to Apophis. If we ever did have to deflect an incoming asteroid, thats how wed do it: not with a grand, Death Star-style explosion but with a speedy projectile strong enough to knock it ever-so-slightly off course. Farnocchia was referring to the Sentry Impact Risk Table. Meghan is a senior writer at Space.com and has more than five years' experience as a science journalist based in New York City. Scientists are already planning Later estimates put it at much shorter, with scientists ultimately estimating it around 370 meters. (n.d.). Editor's Note: This article was corrected to include James Bell's affiliation of Arizona State University. That is very serious and, actually, a very unexpected and rare event..
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