Countdown to Apophis

Where will you be on April 13, 2029

Asteroid Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004. In 2029, Apophis will travel 19,400 miles from the surface of the earth, 11 times closer to us than our moon in what is called a “close flyby”. This is closer to earth than the distance of earth’s geosynchronous satellites.

As described by NASA, the April 13, 2029 flyby of asteroid Apophis will be one for the record books, because of the proximity and the large size of asteroid Apophis. Here are the next 5 asteroids, passing within 4.6 million miles of Earth in 2019. We will be able to see it (from the Eastern Hemisphere) without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.

Asteroid Apophis is 370 meters in width. (The Eiffel Tower is 324 meters in height.) after a series of studies, NASA and astronomers no longer predict an asteroid impact in 2029. But, they note that Apophis has a small chance of hitting Earth sometime in 2068. The possibility of an impact by Apophis will depend on gravitational keyholes, regions in space that are heavily affected by the gravitational pull of nearby planets. Here are images of Asteroid Apophis:

Following a series of studies, astronomers do not think there will be an asteroid impact in 2029. Instead, they noted that Apophis 99942 has a one in 150,000 chance of impacting earth in 2068. According to the astronomers, the possibility of an impact would depend on keyholes in space, which are regions that are heavily affected by the gravitational pull of nearby planets.