There are millions of asteroids lurking in the solar system. About 66 million years ago, a 10km wide asteroid struck the Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. This caused the Cretaceous- Paleogene extinction. This was the 5th and latest mass extinction event in the history of the earth. Since these rocky objects can cause disasters on our planet their tracing is an important thing to do. Many of them hit the Earth in the past and more are expected to arrive in the future.
Scientists have been tracking a 1000 feet wide asteroid named 99942Apophis. Like near-earth asteroids, it has been rattling around the inner solar system for millennia. And now it is coming to visit our planet on March 5, 2021. Statistically, Apophis will be closest to the Earth this year on March 5 at 8:15 pm EST. It’s a 1000 feet wide body, shaped like a peanut and is composed of a mix of rock and metal. It was discovered by Ray.A.Tucker, David J Tholen and Fabrzio Bernard on June 19, 2004, at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Credits: UH/IA
On December 21,2004, Apophis passed 0.0963AU(14.41 Million kilometres) from Earth. Apophis is the Greek name of Apep, the enemy of the Ancient Egyptian Sun-God Ra. Also, it’s the name of the villain in the television series Stargate SG-1. In the fiction, Apophis is a threat to the existence of civilisation on Earth.
The initial observations had indicated that Apophis would hit Earth or the moon on April 13, 2029, and 2036. The closest approach of Apophis will be on April 13, 2029, where the asteroid will reach a distance of 31000 kilometres from the Earth’s surface. According to calculations, the probability for such an impact to occur is 2.7% and the highest probability of impact is on April 12, 2068.
Animation of 99942 Apophis’s orbit – Close approach in 2029
The result of the studies was a narrow corridor, a few kilometres wide called the “path of risk” extending across countries like Columbia, Venezuela, Russia and Africa. It impacts in deep-water like Pacific or Atlantic oceans would produce an incoherent short-range tsunami with a potential radius of roughly 1000 kilometre for most of North America, Brazil, Africa and Japan. But deflection strategies could protect us from these disasters.
Since its discovery, optical and radio telescopes have been tracking Apophis as it is orbiting the sun. In its 2029 flyby, the asteroid will come within 19,8000 miles of the Earth. In 2021, Apophis will be more than 40 times as distant as the moon is from the Earth. To capture the rock’s sharpest echoes, scientists are relying on two of the best telescopes. The first is the Golden Deep Space Communications Complex in California. The second one is the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The data obtained will eventually set up the stage to deal with the 2029 flyby. So Apophis’s March 2021 flyby is definitely something worth looking up to!
Here is an article you may Like to Read –
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References:
1) https://www.planetary.org/articles/will-apophis-hit-earth
2) NASA
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