Nasa has given Earth everything about the chances that an asteroid called Apophis will hit our planet sometime in the next century, after worrying about space scientists for more than 1 year. 15 years.
The 340-meter (1,100-foot) space rock cluster hit the headlines in 2004 after it was discovered that there were disturbing predictions about orbit. He became a “poster child for dangerous asteroids”, according to one Nasa expert.
He was supposed to approach terribly in 2029 and again in 2036. Nasa was not denying any opportunity to strike during those two close approaches a short time ago, but there was a 2068 catastrophe that could still be there.
But new telescope ideas mean it was knocked out and Apophis was officially removed from the US space agency’s asteroid “threat list”.
Davide Farnocchia of the Nasa center for the study of near-Earth objects, said in a statement: “The impact of 2068 is no longer in the capacity scenario, and our calculations show no risk of impact for at least the next 100 years. ”
Scientists were able to orbit Apophis around the sun thanks to radar observations earlier this month, when the asteroid passed within 17m km (10.6m miles).
Apophis will come within 32,000km (20,000 miles) of the Earth on Friday 13 April 2029, giving astronauts a good view. That’s about one-tenth of the distance to the moon and closer to the communications satellites orbiting the Earth at 36,000km.
“When I started working with asteroids after college, Apophis was the poster child for dangerous asteroids,” Farnocchia said. “We’re pleased to see him removed from the risk list.”
Although most asteroids are found in the space belt between Mars and Jupiter, not all of them live there. Apophis belongs to a group called the Aten family. These do not belong to the asteroid belt and spend most of their time within the Earth’s orbit, placing them between our planet and the sun.
That makes them particularly dangerous because they spend most of their orbit close to the sun, with the glow above them sending them to telescopes on Earth – like a fighter from the second world war. coming out of the sun.
The Associated Press