The Apophis Asteroid To Fly Close To Earth In Five Years

Asteroid (99942) Apophis will pass less than 32,000 kilometers from the Earth’s surface on April 13, 2029, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

For a short time, Apophis will be closer to Earth than telecommunications satellites in geostationary orbit. Observers from most of Europe, Africa and Asia will be able to see it in the night sky with the naked eye.

Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004 by astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the United States. It was soon declared one of the most potentially dangerous asteroids known to mankind. Initial calculations predicted the asteroid’s collision with the Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2068, so it was named after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction. The probability of a collision in 2029 was estimated at 2.7%, as a result of which Apophis achieved the highest ever rating on the Turin Scale.

Space agencies will also take advantage of Apophis’s approach to the Earth. ESA plans to send small probes to it that will monitor the state of the asteroid as it passes near our planet. It must deform, changing its rotation. And soon after approaching Apophis, the NASA OSIRIS-APEX probe will arrive – this is the name given to the OSIRIS-REx mission, which delivered soil samples from the asteroid Bennu to Earth. After completing this task, the device was repurposed and sent along a trajectory that would lead it to a meeting with Apophis.