Technology
Huge 1,000-foot God of Chaos asteroid that could one day hit Earth will ‘pass by’ this week
A GIANT asteroid nicknamed the God of Chaos will rip past Earth during a close flyby of our planet this week.
The peanut-shaped space rock Apophis will be visible at around 1:15am GMT on Friday (8:15pm ET on Thursday), according to Nasa.
A huge ‘Doomsday’ asteroid will zip past Earth this week, according to Nasa[/caption]
Apophis, which is named after the Ancient Egyptian God of darkness and chaos, put space scientists on high alert following its discovery in 2004.
They calculated that the 1,200ft asteroid had a nearly 1-in-30 chance of hitting Earth in 2029, followed by a less likely chance of impact in 2036.
Both were later ruled out but Nasa has closely tracked the rock’s trajectory ever since.
According to the US space agency’s CNEOS asteroid-tracking database, Friday’s flyby will see Apophis pass within 10million miles of Earth.
Asteroid Apophis (circled above) is named after the Ancient Egyptian God of chaos[/caption]
The Near-Earth Object (NEO), which is made of rock and metal, will then continue on a path around the sun.
Spectators can watch the close approach through their telescopes or via a free livestream operated by the European Virtual Telescope Project.
Apophis has been labelled a “Doomsday” asteroid as it is on a potential collision course with our planet in 2068.
While the chances of impact are small, the asteroid will come close enough that Nasa is keeping a watchful eye on it for the foreseeable future.
Just a slight change to its trajectory could send it hurtling into our planet, spelling doom for anyone near the impact zone.
Based on its size and speed, Nasa calculates the force of impact would be equivalent to 1,200,000 kilotons of kinetic energy.
For comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 exploded with the force of 15 kilotons of TNT.
Apophis pictured in 2012[/caption]
It’s thought that an Apophis strike would decimate an area of thousands of square miles, leaving behind a 3.2-mile-wide crater.
Nasa spots and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes.
The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, also known as “Spaceguard,” discovers these objects and plots their orbits to determine if they pose a threat to our planet.
According to the space agency, Apophis weighs an astonishing 67million tons and is travelling at over 3.5 miles per second.
During its various orbits of the Sun, the rogue space rock is expected to make ten close passes to Earth between now and 2103.
Recently, Russian scientists warned that Apophis, full name Apophis 99942, could smash into Earth at speeds of 15,000mph.
They said the doomsday rock’s path around the Sun meant there were “100 possible collisions between Apophis and the Earth, the most dangerous of them in 2068”.
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)
However, Nasa remains unconvinced.
“Current calculations show that Apophis still has a small chance of impacting Earth, less than 1 in 100,000 many decades from now,” said Nasa’s Dwayne Brown.
“Future measurements of its position can be expected to rule out any possible impacts.”
In 2019, then-Nasa boss Jim Bridenstine called for a global study to be launched into the threat posed by large asteroids.
The Nasa administrator called for world powers to begin preparations for the impact of meteor events right away.
Mr Bridenstine said: “We have to make sure that people understand that this is not about Hollywood, it’s not about the movies.
“This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know, right now, to host life and that is the planet Earth”
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In other news, a giant meteor flashed over UK rooftops “like a firework” this week.
A stunning image showing ultra-rare lightning has been revealed by astronomy researchers.
And, Nasa has announced that it is accepting applications for wannabe space explorers who wish to fire their name to the Red Planet.
Are you worried about asteroid strikes? Let us know in the comments!
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