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99942 Apophis (provisional designation 2004 MN 4) is a near-Earth asteroid and a potentially hazardous object, 450 metres (1,480 ft) by 170 metres (560 ft) in size, [3] that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 when initial observations indicated a probability of 2.7% that it would hit Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.
A series of later, more accurate observations of 99942 Apophis, combined with the recovery of previously unseen data, revised the odds of a collision in 2036 as being virtually nil, and effectively ruled it out. [52]
A menacing asteroid named Apophis is projected to have a close encounter with Earth in 2029, but scientists have long ruled it out as an impact risk. Asteroids safely fly by Earth all the time ...
Ramses, or Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, is a proposed ESA mission to a near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis.If approved, it is expected to be launched in April 2028, to arrive at Apophis in February 2029, before its closest approach to Earth.
The nominal solution (even using the less detailed 2012-12-29 observation arc) has Apophis passing 0.38AU from Earth on 2036-Mar-23. By 2036-Apr-13 Apophis will be 0.41AU from Earth. Even in 2011 the nominal solution had Apophis passing 0.32AU from Earth on 2036-Mar-26.
David Tholen and Roy Tucker, co-discovers of 99942 Apophis, are both fans of the TV series Stargate SG-1, which influenced the naming of the asteroid. The show's most persistent villain is "Apophis", an alien also named for the Egyptian god. "We considered a number of names, but 'Apophis' kept floating to the top," says Tucker.
This animation shows the distance between the Apophis asteroid and Earth at the time of the asteroid's closest approach. The blue dots are the many man-made satellites that orbit our planet, and the pink represents the International Space Station.
Historically, astronomical observatories consisted generally in a building or group of buildings where observations of astronomical objects such as sunspots, planets, asteroids, comets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies in the visible wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum were conducted. At first, for millennia, astronomical observations have ...