A giant asteroid that is on its path towards Earth is reportedly gaining speed and could hit our planet in the near future.
Named after the God of Chaos, Apophis is a 1,000 feet (300 meters) wide asteroid that was first detected by Kitt Peak National Observatory researchers back in June 2004.
At the time of its discovery, the asteroid, which orbits the sun, was given a 2.7% chance to slam into the Earth in 2029.
While the current data confirms that the massive stony-type asteroid, which is made primarily of silicate materials, nickel, and iron, will pass Earth at a safe distance of nearly 20,000 miles in 2029, the same interstellar object could hit Earth in 2068.
As the University of Hawai’i astronomers explained, the asteroid has gained speed due to the Yarkovsky effect, a force that can affect asteroids’ trajectory by influencing their orbital motion.
After meteoroids and asteroids orbiting the Sun absorb enough heat, they re-radiate the harnessed energy away as heat, resulting in a tiny thrust that alters the course of the object.
According to astronomers, the current chances of asteroid Apophis slamming into the Earth in 2068 are about 1 in 150,000. However, as one of the astronomers explained, the odds should be closer to 1 in 530,000 if the Yarkovsky effect is added into the calculations.
“The new observations we obtained with the Subaru telescope earlier this year were good enough to reveal the Yarkovsky acceleration of Apophis, and they show that the asteroid is drifting away from a purely gravitational orbit by about 170 meters per year, which is enough to keep the 2068 impact scenario in play,” astronomer Dave Tholen explained.point 437 | 1
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