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Preparations underway as 'planet killer' asteroid, the size of cruise ship, nears Earth

If it struck land, the clump of rocks, about 350m-wide, could destroy an area the size of a country and trigger devastating tsunamis.

Jamie Seidel

Updated 28 July 2024

It’s astronomy’s most notorious asteroid. It’s big. It’s solid. And, in less than five years, Apophis - the “God of Chaos” - will come especially close to Earth.

It won’t hit.

It didn’t always seem that way, though.

When first discovered in 2004, initial orbital calculations for asteroid 99942 Apophis put Earth in a collision “danger zone” during its 2029 and 2036 passes.

Apophis is a clump of rocks about 350 metres across. That is about the size of a modern luxury cruise liner, or one of America’s enormous nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

If it struck land, it could destroy an area the size of a country. A sea impact would unleash devastating tsunamis.

But additional observations and radar ranging have since considerably refined its orbital projections.

We now know that, on April 13, 2029, it will miss Earth by 32,000 kilometres.

And the math is good enough to rule out any risk for a further 100 years.

But the satellites that power the GPS on your mobile phone are at 20,000km. And the Moon is 384,400km distant.

So, cosmically speaking, Apophis is still going to be a very close call.

Which is why the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to take a good look as it catapults by.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/preparations-underway-as-planet-killer-asteroid-the-size-of-cruise-ship-nears-earth-233328582.html