By We will rock you.
On Tuesday, three “airplane” sized asteroids will be shooting by the planet, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The first is an 84-foot one that will be 1,130,000 miles away, followed by a 110-foot space rock at a distance of 2,130,000 miles, and then a 140-foot asteroid at 2,440,000 miles.
And, that’s not all: On Saturday, a “building-sized” asteroid of 600 feet will soar by at 3,470,000 miles away.
However, these current events are just rolling out the red carpet for a projectile that’s had the space administration sweating for some time.
Another asteroid could one day impact Earth when it makes an “uncomfortably” tight flyby in 2029 — close enough that people can see it with their own eyes and no telescopic gear.
Asteroid 99942, better known as the 2004 discovered Apophis, was named for an ancient Egyptian mythological “demon serpent who personified evil and chaos.”
NASA described this 1,100-foot-across space devil as a “near-Earth object” — one which amassed “notoriety…when astronomers predicted that it would come uncomfortably close in 2029.”
More recent analysis firmly rules out a collision path, but it will still skim within 20,000 miles of the Earth’s surface in five years.
That distance is closer than orbiting satellites, according to NASA, which noted it is too soon to tell if the asteroid would strike Earth on a return trip over a century from now.
“If it was to encounter a populated area, it could take out a city the size of New York,” NASA lead scientist Daniella DellaGiustina, working on a mission to map Apophis, told The Washington Post.
As for the near and safe future, skygazers should mark April 13, 2029, as their chance to see Apophis.
Those in the eastern hemisphere — most of Europe and Africa plus all of Asia and Australia — will see the asteroid plainly overhead with no need for optical equipment. The Washington Post also noted that Apophis’ visibility will be at a scale ten times the size of the moon.
“It’s also an unprecedented opportunity for astronomers to get a close-up view of a solar system relic that is now just a scientific curiosity and not an immediate hazard to our planet,” noted NASA.
Apophis’ close encounter with Earth may also induce “asteroid quakes” as a result of interactions with the planet’s gravitational pull.
After 2029, the space rock will pass by again in 2036 and much later in 2068.
“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” said Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
As for the future beyond that, the trajectory of Apophis — and its potential to slam into Earth — remains unknown at the time.
