Posted on 07/06/2018 1:50:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Astronomers have calculated the Apophis asteroid will speed past Earth on April 13, 2029, at just 18,600 miles away -- a hair's width in astronomical terms. To put that into perspective, the moon is 238,900 miles away...
If the 27 billion kg asteroid were to hit Earth, scientists calculate that it would leave a crater over a mile wide and a staggering 518 metres deep.
However, most worryingly, the impact would be equivalent to 880 million tons of TNT being detonated -- some 65,000 times as powerful as the nuclear bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima.
The next time the asteroid is set to pass Earth after 2029 is 2036...
However, Alan Harris, a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), says Apophis has a negative "Palermo Scale" -- a negative Palermo Scale indicates less of an impact risk with asteroids.
There are Millions of Asteroids in the solar system, usually found in the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, however those in that pass the Earth are called Near-Earth objects
Mr Harris said: "Apophis has a Palermo Scale rating of about minus three, so while we cannot rule out an impact in the future, it is about 1,000 times less likely than a random impact in the same interval of time.
"Due to a close but non-impacting pass by the Earth, there are numerous possible impact trajectories beyond that, but all are of very low probability."
(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...
Here’s the first topic, from back in the good old days.
Scientist: Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2029
Yahoo/AP | 12/23/04 | JOHN ANTCZAK
Posted on 12/23/2004 8:24:16 PM PST by hole_n_one
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1307719/posts
a couple of others.
German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA’s asteroid figures
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2002114/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2002317/posts
That was back in November 2016, and we had plenty of help from the rest of America. :^)
LOL!
Yup, it puts things into perspective. A bolide a mile across would hit with more energy than the entire nuclear arsenal of the Earth put into one pile and set off.
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