Asteroid Apophis will flyby Earth on April 13, 2029: Here’s why NASA is already preparing for it
A giant asteroid called 99942 Apophis will pass Earth on April 13, 2029, which is nearly a decade ahead, but NASA scientists are already preparing for this important celestial event. Here's why.
A giant asteroid named 99942 Apophis will pass Earth on April 13, 2029, which is nearly a decade in waiting, but scientists are already preparing for this important celestial event which is being seen as a major scientific opportunity. According to NASA scientists, this asteroid is a representative of about 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) or those that could collide with Earth and cause damage.
99942 Apophis will cruise harmlessly by Earth, according to NASA, but it will come very close to our planet at around 19,000 miles or 31,000 km above the surface. This is the distance at which some of the spacecraft are orbiting Earth, explains NASA. The asteroid will travel “the width of the full Moon within a minute and it will get as bright as the stars in the Little Dipper,” explains NASA.
The asteroid is 340-meter-wide and it is being seen as an opportunity for science since asteroids of this size rarely pass by Earth at such a close distance.
“The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science,” said Marina Brozović, a radar scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who works on radar observations of near-Earth objects (NEOs) in a press statement.