Apophis will pass at closest distance to Earth in 2029. This will be an opportunity for astronomers to refine their models.
And beyond the risks of collision, to understand what the consequences might be for an asteroid passing this close to a planet. Numerical simulations give us a glimpse into this passby today.
It is 350 meters long and weighs 27 million tons.
Apophis: Discovered in June 2004. An asteroid about 350 meters and about 27 million tons. And for several weeks, the scientific community has been concerned about a possible impact on our Earth in April 2029.
Only a few weeks lasted these concerns. Because archival data from December 2004 showed that a collision was highly unlikely.
And the new data collected, especially thanks to the passage of Apophis from only 17 million kilometers from our Earth on March 6, 2021, further eliminated the risk.
Does not pose a threat for the next 100 years
New observations of the asteroid Apophis rule out any risk of impact for at least a century. After 17 years of orbital observations and analysis, the asteroid is therefore removed from the list of potential impactors.
