In just under half a decade, a 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) asteroid named after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction, Apophis, will pass within 30,000 miles (48,300 kilometers) of Earth. Scientists don’t intend to allow the rare close passage of a space rock of this size to go to waste. On April 13, 2029 — a […]
Tag: Apophis
Asteroid Apophis will swing past Earth in 2029 — could a space rock collision make it hit us?
The asteroid Apophis, infamous because it’s headed to brush past Earth in 2029, most likely isn’t something to worry about, a new study finds. This space rock, scientists calculated, will not collide with other space rocks that could worryingly alter its orbit and redirect it toward Earth — at least until the day it swings […]
NASA can’t wait for its OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft to meet ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis in 2029
NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft OSRIS-APEX will have an exciting new mission in 2029, when it will watch an exciting asteroid encounter like no other in recorded human history. The craft, formerly known as OSIRIS-REx, will bear witness as the asteroid Apophis— named after the ancient Egyptian god of chaos— comes so close to our planet that it […]