ALBAWABA - Asteroid named 'Apophis,' which is the size of an Empire State Building, was discovered in 2004 and it is moving towards the Earth raising growing fears that it will destroy the whole planet.
NASA revealed that 'Asteroid 99942 Apophis' is a near-Earth object (NEO) which is likely to be about 335 meters across. It is expected to be the closest to Earth by 2029.
The asteroid is almost double the size of other asteroids and it orbits the sun every 324 days and comes close to Earth around every 10 years.
NASA revealed that the asteroid was given the nickname 'Apophis,' which is the Egyptian god of chaos. In addition, scientists said the asteroid would be on a collision course with Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2068.
Is asteroid Apophis crashing Earth in 2029?
Highlighting that asteroid Apophis will be the closest to our planet in 2029, astronomers believe that it will not hit the Earth on its "current trajectory."
Experts clarified that on April 13, 2029, asteroid Apophis will be as close as 31,200 kilometers to Earth, which they say the closest approach of an asteroid of this big within the orbits of Earth’s geostationary satellites.
Despite being this close and with this size, astronomers think that there is a small chance it will hit the Earth in 2029.
"With the support of recent optical observations and additional radar observations, the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit has collapsed from hundreds of kilometers to just a handful of kilometers when projected to 2029. This greatly improved knowledge of its position in 2029 provides more certainty of its future motion, so we can now remove Apophis from the risk list," Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) said.
