‘Apophis’ is one of the largest near-Earth asteroids and was first discovered in 2004. The asteroid number is 99942, and it has been revolving around the sun, and its orbit will cross the earth.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA stated on March 27 that it can now be confirmed that this asteroid will not pose a threat to the Earth in the next 100 years. The asteroid “Apophis” is about 338 meters in diameter.
According to previous predictions, it may be very close to the Earth in 2029 and 2036. On March 5, the asteroid was 10 million miles away from Earth, the most recent time in recent years.
Although this asteroid is very far away from the Earth, NASA has utilized a new type of radar, which can still be observed very well. The latest research ruled out the risk of it hitting the Earth in 2068.
The orbit accuracy of “Apophis” is currently several hundred kilometers, and NASA is expected to increase the observation accuracy to several kilometers in 2029 in order to better predict the orbit of asteroids.
NASA predicts that when the asteroid approaches the Earth again in 2029, the distance can be as close as 32,200 kilometers, even lower than the orbit of some artificial satellites. At this time, people in the eastern hemisphere can even observe it with the naked eye.
(Via)
