photo and content credit to space.com
After its discovery in 2004, astronomers gave the asteroid
Apophis a 2.4 percent chance of hitting the earth during its close flyby on
April 13, 2029. If the 1,066-foot (325
meters) asteroid were to strike our planet, the blast could equal hundreds of
megatons.
Fortunately, further analysis showed that Apophis will miss
the Earth by 19,400 miles (31,300 kilometers) in 2029. Extrapolating further
into the future, another approach in 2036 is an even bigger miss. Apophis has
only a one in a million chance of hitting Earth on that pass.
An asteroid that approaches Earth closely is called a Near
Earth Object, or NEO. Astronomers track these objects carefully to provide
early warning if one is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth.
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