NASA has confirmed the precise date on which a rare asteroid will shoot past Earth, drawing nearer to our planet than any other celestial body of its magnitude in recorded human history.
The asteroid – known as Apophis, which feels like a foreboding name given it was christened after the ancient Egyptian God of evil and destruction – will pass extraordinarily close to our planet in the not too distant future.
This week, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – or, as it is more widely known, NASA – confirmed the asteroid is on course to safely bypass Earth in 2029. It will be visible to the naked eye in the night sky on what the superstitious regard as one of the most ill-fated days conceivable: Friday, 13th April 2029.
It will pass within 20,000 miles of our planet’s surface – nearer than the orbital distance of many satellites. To put that into plain terms, that is nearly 12 times closer than the moon’s average distance from Earth. When this Near-Earth asteroid was first identified in 2004, initial calculations suggested Apophis could potentially collide with Earth in either 2029, 2036, or 2068.
Since then, astronomers have kept a close watch on Apophis using optical telescopes and ground-based radar, enabling its orbital path to be far better understood. Based on this data, NASA now believes there is no risk of Apophis striking Earth for at least 100 years.
NASA originally assigned the enormous space rock a 2.7% chance of causing catastrophic damage to our planet, though all threat was eliminated following fresh radar observations in 2021.
What this does mean, however, is that an asteroid of this magnitude passing so close to Earth is an exceptionally rare occurrence that will afford scientists across the globe the chance to study the God of Chaos at close quarters.
NASA stated in 2021 regarding the 2029 fly-by: “This will be the closest approach by something this large currently known. Apophis will be visible to the naked eye for several hours, and Earth tides will probably change its spin state.”
Early observations of Apophis’ shape suggest it bears a resemblance to a peanut. The God of Chaos measures approximately 1,230 feet across, marginally taller than the Eiffel Tower, which stands at 1,083-feet.
NASA is currently monitoring around 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects that could pass in close proximity to Earth. The vast majority of asteroids never make contact with Earth’s atmosphere, though on rare occasions these enormous space rocks can affect weather systems. Earth has not encountered an asteroid of apocalyptic proportions since the space rock that obliterated the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.