NASA Issues Warning: “Asteroid Apophis Is Heading Towards Earth!"

the possibility that asteroid apus May strike Earth has kept many astrophysicists up at night but when NASA declared the asteroids trajectory was safe in 2021 everyone breathed a sigh of relief however as the date of its flyby approaches scientists fear that a collision with even one of the 1.2 million asteroids and comets that reside in our solar system could change apothesis trajectory and lead to our ultimate Doom why can't astronomers not stop watching apus what are the chances of life-threatening Collision let's find out asteroids are a common part of our solar system Left Behind from its formation around 4.6 billion years ago most asteroids come from the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter and orbit the Sun in highly flattened or elliptical circles often rotating erratically tumbling and falling through space there are more than 1 million asteroids in our solar system most of them located near Jupiter the massive gravitational force around the gas giant ensures these asteroids continue to hurdle through space in random directions although asteroids have played a major part in shaping our planet through the centuries it wasn't until 2013 that scientists really took notice of the massive implications of an asteroid Collision it all started when a meteor exploded over the eural mountains in Russia in 2013 the footage of the event was enough to terrify everyone the light from the meteor was so bright that viewers swore it was brighter than even the Sun and was was visible as far as 100 Cal away but other than the light show eyewitnesses reported feeling an intense wave of heat from the fireball that hurdled from the sky the meteor exploded in an air burst over chelin oblast at a height of about 29.7 kilm creating a hot cloud of dust and gas that penetrated 26.2 K While most of the meteor's energy was absorbed by the atmosphere the explosion created an enormous shock wave that hundreds of people in the area felt the shock wave affected around 7 to 200 buildings in six cities across the region leaving them scrambling for major repairs here's a quick comparison to give you a better idea of the damage that could have happened the asteroid that exploded in Russia had a total kinetic energy equivalent to the blast yield of 400 to 500 kilotons of TNT that is 26 to 33 times more energy compared to the atomic bomb that was detonated in Hiroshima the meteor explosion in Russia was the first time modern humans witnessed the r of a space Rock now let's Circle back to the peanut-shaped asteroid still looming in Space apus the Russian meteor was 59 ft in diameter and weighed around 9100 tons while apus is 1,10 Ft wide can you imagine the kinetic energy of a space rock that size you can bet ap's collision with Earth will be catastrophic apus was first discovered by astronomers Roy a Tucker David J tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi on June 19th 2004 while working at the kit Peak National observatory in Arizona initially identified as 2004 mn4 the asteroid later earned a new name when scientists realized how dangerous it could be for Earth there was considerable excitement among the scientific community on discovering a new asteroid but that turned into shock when the astronomers calculated just how close the asteroid's orbit would bring it to earth based on the visual observations of 2004 they deduced that there was a 2.7% chance that the object would hit Earth in 2029 that's when they started calling it apus The God of chaos however by 2006 astronomers were able to rule out the possibility of apus striking the Earth in 2029 thanks to careful observations and additional calculations but scientists were still wary about the asteroids close flyby in 2068 also aphesis path after 2029 depended on how Earth's gravity would change its orbit therefore a lot of data was up to speculation between 2015 and 2019 apus became impossible to track as it got too close to the Sun but when it finally reappeared on the radar scientists got to work and came back with good news they confirmed that Earth was safe from a collision with apus for the next 100 years that sure was a sigh of relief but why is apus back in the Limelight again it's because even though scientists are confident the space Rock will not change its trajectory until its close flyby in 2029 there's always a chance chance that one of the 1.2 million asteroids and comets flying around in our solar system might collide with apus and change its orbit Paul weager an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in Canada said fortunately no such collisions are anticipated even now that we know it's on course to miss us by a safe margin astronomers remain Vigilant it's the asteroid we just can't stop watching wigard and his colleague Ben hayatt of the University of waterl in Canada analyzed all the asteroids and comets in our solar system to find out if any of them would come in contact with apus before April 2029 they studied two independent databases one maintained by NASA's jet propulsion laboratory and the other by the European Space Agency the idea was to identify the asteroids and comets in our solar system whose orbits come within 0.1 Au of apus the researchers came up with 376 objects from the JPL catalog and 396 from esa's catalog and interestingly 300 of these objects appeared in both databases they then ran simulations of the chosen orbits only to reveal that none of the asteroids or comets will directly hit apus before its April 2029 fly past Earth this means the chance of apus is orbit changing due to a space Rock Collision is negligible but they found something else too something that could change the fate of apus and ultimately Earth are you ready for it when researchers were looking for asteroids and comets that might collide with apus they came across an asteroid named 4544 zanthus this asteroid will pass apus at a distance of a little over 310,000 miles in December 2026 although the two will not Collide 4544 zanthus will pass the Duo's intersection point just 4 hours after apus and the problem with that is the encounter will be close enough for material accompanying zanthus to strike apus if that happens ap' Future Path might be affected increasing its impact probability with Earth can you imagine what would happen if the asteroid ended up striking Earth it will hit the earth 13 years later it will hit the Earth 500 Miles sorry 500 kilm Due West of Santa Monica so it doesn't matter where it goes through that Keyhole now that's if it goes through the center if it goes through other places within that Keyhole then the contact Point shifts further into the Pacific or closer towards North America yes according to Neil degrass Tyson the asteroid impact will create a massive tsunami that will wash away the west coast of the United States He fears that the asteroid could do a trillion dollars worth of damage and the planet would suffer from its after effects for several years one calculation has the asteroid striking ground just off the coast of Southern California if that were to happen the asteroid would dive into the Pacific Ocean triggering a series of tsunamis suppose the calculations prove accurate and apus Strikes Southern California in that case we can expect water from the tsunami to only make about a/4 mile Inland along the west coast which should not cause too many casualties however astronomers have cleared Earth from apes' Impact for the next Century so Southern California is safe for now but what happens after zanthus comes dangerously close to apus in 2026 no one knows the good news is that scientists are more prepared for an asteroid impact than they were in 2013 when the meteorite exploded above the Ural Mountains in Russia they are confident that our current technology will allow us to deflect the trajectory of a comet or asteroid and prevent it from striking Earth one idea is to hit an incoming asteroid with enough Force to change its orbit around the Sun and change its trajectory in our favor another technique is to use a gravity tractor asteroid deflection method where a robotic probe would travel with a space Rock for several years altering its orbit through the probe's gravitational pull but these techniques haven't been tested so we don't know whether or not they will work for apus interestingly NASA has different and better plans for the god of chaos the Osiris Rex Mission which set out to collect samples from the asteroid benu in 20120 is now going to study apus the probe which is now called Osiris Apex will gather valuable insights about the asteroid before and after its flyby on April 13th 2029 scientists are hopeful its observations will reveal what the asteroids interior is made of and help quantify in real time how planetary Tides affect asteroids what do you think are the chances of aus striking Earth will it continue on its orbit or will zanthus create new problems for our planet tell us your opinions in the comments below 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