An asteroid that ’s roughly the size of three football subject field is on track to whiz past Earth on April 13 , 2029 . Fortunately for us , it is n’t in danger of hitting our humble satellite , allot toSpace.com .
The asteroid , which was light upon in 2004 , is named Apophis after the Egyptian spirit of evil and devastation . Scientists previously suggested that there was a 2.7 percentage prospect of it mint Earth , but the odds were afterwards subjugate to “ less than one in a million,”Don Yeomans , a retired global scientist for NASA , saidin 2013 .
Indeed , if it were ever to jar with Earth , “ it would make major harm to our planet and likely to our civilisation as well , ” according to a argument issued for the 2019 International Academy of Astronautics ’s Planetary Defense Conference [ PDF ] .
On the brilliant side , the asteroid is expected to put on quite the show . Because it will come within 19,000 miles of Earth — which is fairly close by celestial standards — it will be visible to the naked eye . NASAsaysApophis will hang glide over Australia before heading across the Indian Ocean , Africa , the Atlantic Ocean , and eventually the United States . It will be seeable in the eastern U.S. by mid - break of day , but its closest approach will be just before 6 p.m. EDT . “ By 7 p.m. EDT , the asteroid will have hybridize over the United States , ” NASA drop a line in a affirmation .
Here ’s what its itinerary will look like :
Huge hunk of distance rockhurtlingtoward Earth are not only smashing fodder for action mechanism - packed smash hit films ; they ’re also a great way of life for scientists to learn more about these celestial bodies . Although pocket-size asteroids measuring 5 to 10 meters across sometimes fly by Earth , it ’s rare to get a close - up spirit at asteroids the size of Apophis .
“ The Apophis tightlipped glide path in 2029 will be an unbelievable opportunity for science , ” Marina Brozović , a radiolocation scientist at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , said in a statement . “ We ’ll follow the asteroid with both optical and radio detection and ranging telescope . With radio detection and ranging observations , we might be able to see surface inside information that are only a few meters in size of it . ”
[ h / tSpace.com ]
