Apophis Faces 2029 Debris Collision Risk During 1 Close Earth Pass
Updated
Updated · medianews.az · Aug 5
Apophis Faces 2029 Debris Collision Risk During 1 Close Earth Pass
3 articles · Updated · medianews.az · Aug 5
Summary
April 2029 will bring asteroid 99942 Apophis extremely close to Earth, and Italian researchers say it could strike human-made debris in geostationary orbit during the flyby.
CNR modeling found no danger to Earth: any impact would not alter Apophis's orbit, but could gouge a small crater and kick up a dust cloud.
ESA's RAMSES and NASA's OSIRIS-APEX plan to observe how Earth's gravity affects the asteroid, including surface sliding and possible seismic activity.
Those observations could be harder to interpret if debris hits Apophis, adding human-made contamination to a rare natural encounter scientists want to study closely.