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In December 2004, which devastated many countries in the same month in the Indian Ocean tsunamis of a new asteroid was discovered by scientists. Most asteroids are given a number and a letter and it never will further provide the imagination of a few scientists or astronomers. But the asteroid is now known as "Apophis". The name comes from the ancient Egyptian god of darkness and evil. Not only does it have a catchy name and know he has gained some recent notoriety as you will readbelow.
Why the sudden public interest, you may ask? There is a real chance of this asteroid could impact our planet and cause enough destruction beyond imagination. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been the attraction of nearby planets into orbits that they can be met on Earth neighborhood. Most of the rocky asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Billions of comets were formedin the colder outer solar system. Likewise, today asteroids from the initial formation of the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are on the left.
Asteroid strikes are almost incomprehensible to the people with their extreme damage and violence. No one in the living history has seen a major strike, but we know they happen. Apophis will be great to over 1500 meters. A mile is about 5280 meters, making it almost a mile in size. That's bad for the earth. For a good comparison,it is much larger than the Rose Bowl in California.
It comes so close to Earth on Friday 13 April 2029 that it happen in the orbits of many of our communications satellites. That's only 22,000 miles out. If you are in the right place, you can go look outside and see Apophis with the naked eye. All calculations are much, that to miss some of those nearby. So you might think: "Wow, is now close." if you think we are out of the woods, well, thinkagain. Once Apophis makes this spectacular pass within the orbit of the Earth, maybe take a few of our satellites in the process, the scientists be able to immediately humanity of our destiny. Well know, maybe not our final destiny, but we will see what the future has in 7 years.
This "near miss" by Apophis in 2029 is not the end of the story. It is a place for our planet called a "key hole". If Apophis this little window comes to our planet, it is"Trapped" by the force of gravity. If this happens, it is too late to do anything about it. We will be easy prey.
When it enters this keyhole, it will circle the earth for 7 years. Then to 13 April 2036, Apophis, an asteroid bigger than the Rose Bowl and around a mile in size, of this planet in the Mid-Pacific, north of the equator to smash.
In the best case, affected as much as the human race and many other species, is on the impact of the country. But it will not strike land.The exact location has been calculated. Since Apophis was discovered scientists have used the super computer to calculate all possibilities. The shot has not changed, nor has the date.
Current Ads for Apophis:
The following link is a video of PBS that was broadcast on Tuesday 3 October 2006, the program "Nova Science Now". Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Rusty Schweickart (Apollo astronaut) discuss Apophis. It is only 15 minutes and worth your time.Click the player of your choice on the left side below the asteroid image. Dr. Tyson is a famous astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium, part of the Museum of Natural History in New York City.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3313/01.html
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