William Atkins
Thursday, 08 October 2009 19:59
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
In 2036, the asteroid is expected to come as close as 20,270 miles (32,700 kilometers) to Earth.
The new estimates for the asteroid was collected by NEO scientists Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas, both from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California.
The pair will present their findings on Thursday, October 8, 2009, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in Puerto Rico.
Apophis is about 250 yards (225 meters) in width (about two-and-one-half American football fields) and has a mass of about 25 million tons.
If it did hit Earth, it would most likely cause devastation in the region of the world closest to the strike, but not a global disaster.
Dr. Chesley stated,
“Apophis has been one of those celestial bodies that has captured the public's interest since it was discovered in 2004. Updated computational techniques and newly available data indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million." [Space.com: “
Big Asteroid Less Likely to Hit Earth.”]
However, astronomers are still interested in the asteroid. In 2029, Apophis is expected to come within 18,300 miles (30,000 kilometers) of Earth’s surface.
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