The lethal asteroid Apophis is safely passing by Earth today , more than 9 million miles ( 14.5 million klick ) from our home base planet . Next fourth dimension we wo n’t be so lucky . On April 13 , 2029 , Apophis will come so close that it may destroy satellite in orbit .
The European Space Agency ’s Herschel place lookout station has acquired novel image of the asteroid and their new data is conclusive .
First , it ’s much giving than NASA ’s previous estimation . allot to the new images , this rocky beast has a diamater of 1,066 foot ( 325 meters ) , with a border of error of ±49 feet ( ±15 meters ) . harmonize to team loss leader Thomas Müller of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching , Germany , “ the 20 % increase in diam , from 270 to 325 m , translates into a 75 % increase in our estimation of the asteroid ’s book or muckle . ”
What that means is if it hits Earth , its destructive power will be much high than what scientist originally expected . ground on previous data , NASA figure an impingement of 510 megaton for Apophis . That ’s more than two times the vigor released by the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 , an event that changed Earth ’s global climate for five years .
While scientist have not liberate a new estimate , the 75 percent masses increase may bring its powerfulness closer to NASA ’s earlier estimations of 880 megatons — about 17 Tsars , the liberal nuclear bomb ever created .
The upright news show ( ! ) is that Apophis is still small enough not to kill us all , but it can disrupt lifespan on the planet for a few decades ( snap here to watchNeil DeGrasse peach about the effects of an Apophis wallop in California ) . For compare , the Chicxulub asteroid released about 100,000,000 megatons when it spark off the mass extinction event that purportedly pass over out the dinosaurs .
https://gizmodo.com/how-asteroid-apophis-could-destroy-the-us-west-coast-in-5130226
RELATED READING : see this picture to see what will happenif a truly mammoth asteroid hit Earth .
https://gizmodo.com/badass-asteroid-destroys-earth-in-high-definition-5118876
The 2029 pass
In 2029 we ’ll be safe from Apophis mayhem too . The asteroid will not hit Earth then , say astronomers , but it “ will pass within 36,000 kilometers of Earth ’s open , nigher even than the celestial orbit of geostationary artificial satellite . ”
This have in mind that , while ourpale blue dotwould be spared , our extremely populated configuration of satellites may brook some casualties . Which will be bad if it pass off , but not as bad as NASA ’s initial estimation of 2.7 % luck of wallop .
https://gizmodo.com/the-world-would-be-better-if-everyone-watched-this-vide-5513783
Nobody knows exactly if a planet collision may pass . Space is frightfully big , but there are raft of satellites out there . Enough that it ’s not crazy to think that some of them may be wiped out as we watch Apophis marching through the night sky .
What may happen in 2036
Scientists ca n’t tell what will happen in the following base on balls , in 2036 . According to the latest analytic thinking , there is a 1 in 250,000 probability of shock . It ’s extremely low , but still higher than the odds of being hit by lightning . That ’s whythe Russians are consider a mission to head off it — with Bruce Willis ’ character played by Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius . [ ESA ]
https://gizmodo.com/russia-considering-mission-to-deflect-apophis-5437259
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