Apophis, the Egyptian god of chaos and darkness is in the neighborhood again. Actually, it's just a giant asteroid named after the ancient demonic snake deity, and it's making a close approach of our planet.
A 3 percent chance of impact might sound like pretty good odds, but when it comes to asteroids and other near-Earth objects, especially one as large as Apophis, that's a terrifyingly high probability. For some context, Apophis could be about 10 times the size of the meteor that exploded in the atmosphere over Russia in 2013, sending out shock waves that shattered thousands of windows on the ground, injuring hundreds.
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Is it an asteroid? Is it a comet?
The object's brightness varied to such a degree as it tumbled through space that it had to be shaped either like a cigar or a pancake. Even more puzzling was the way it seemed to defy gravity, suddenly deviating from its trajectory round the sun to accelerate in a straight line, as if propelled by some force.
It was the first "interstellar" object ever recorded as it passed through our solar system. Was it an unusual comet or an asteroid? Was it a
Largest Asteroid To Fly Past Earth in 2021 Is Moving 100 Times Faster Than Sound
In March, an enormous asteroid will fly past the Earth at a velocity one hundred times greater than the speed of sound.
The gigantic space rock, dubbed 2001 FO32, is the largest known asteroid scheduled to make a close approach to our planet this year. In addition, it is also the fastest, data from NASA 's Center for Near Earth Studies (CNEOS) shows.
Based on its brightness, the CNEOS estimates that the asteroid measures between 2,526 feet (0.47 miles) and 5,577 feet (1.05 miles) across.
Largest asteroid to fly past Earth this year is coming soon — and it's huge
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The largest asteroid known to be passing near Earth this year will also be one of the fastest rocks to cruise past our planet, and it's all happening March 21.
Before you panic, just know this: though it's been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid -- because of its size and frequency of passing near Earth -- but there's no risk of impact, according to EarthSky .
Asteroid 2001 FO32, which is approximately .6 miles in diameter, has been compared to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, although it's not quite as long.
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How To Spot The Massive Asteroid That Will Be Passing Earth This March, 2021 | Tatler Hong Kong
According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the asteroid known as 2001 FO32 is considered to be “potentially hazardous” due to its sheer size and the speed at which it will be whizzing past the Earth.
That being said, according to a Travel + Leisure report, there’s no need to worry about the asteroid causing damage to the planet this time around—it’ll be about 1.3 million miles from the Earth, or about five times further than the moon. In fact, the closest asteroid that has ever passed Earth did so much closer at 1,830 miles from the planet, in August of last year.
This Day In History, February 12th, 2021 - "Shoemaker Lands On An Asteroid" | Signals AZ
It was just 20 years ago today, February 12, 2001 when NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) – Shoemaker robotic space probe touched down on an asteroid. This was the first spacecraft to ever achieve such a monumental feat. The Shoemaker name was used to honor planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, who had passed away in 1997. A large asteroid named Eros was the target for touch down, which happened without incident on this date at 3:01 p.m. EST.
Asteroid warning: Bill Nye urges President Joe Biden to take asteroid threat seriously | Science
The Planetary Society said: "Take active steps to protect the planet from dangerous asteroids and comets."
The organisation has called for a $50m annual increase to NASA's Planetary Defense Program in order to “better support the detection, tracking, and characterisation of threats by supporting a permanent flight program in addition to ground-based observation efforts.”
NASA has made great strides in discovering near-Earth objects that are over one kilometre in size, with 90 percent now accounted for.
Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids Offer Surprises Even Before NASA's Lucy Mission has a Chance
A new study out this month suggests that Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids may be more peculiar than previously thought. The Trojan asteroids are rocky objects which orbit the Sun just ahead of and just behind the gas giant, in gravitational sweet spots known as Lagrange points .
The research team, using data from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) based in Hawaii, has discovered unexpected variations in the shape of the Trojans. This new study suggests that objects in the L4 population are actually more elongated than those in the L5 population, on average.
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