[ad_1]
NASA is preparing for the arrival of a giant asteroid named after the "God of Chaos" of ancient Egypt, which will move uncomfortably close to Earth in less than a decade.
The asteroid, known as 99942 Apophis, is 340 meters wide – which corresponds to the height of the Eiffel Tower – and will move at nearly 30,000 km / h (25,000 mph) when It will go beyond the Earth.
It will be located less than 31 000 km from the surface of the Earth – inside the ring of satellites and spacecraft on our planet.
Scientists have spotted small asteroids, of the order of 5 to 10 meters, flying a similar distance from the Earth, but it is rare that an asteroid of this size passes near the Earth.
NASA claims that Apophis will pass so close that it could be affected by the gravity of the Earth.
"We already know that the close encounter with Earth will change the orbit of Apophis," said Davide Farnocchia, an astronomer at JPL's Center for Near-Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS).
"But our models also show that the near approach could change the way this asteroid rotates, and it's possible that there are surface changes, like small avalanches."
Apophis is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), and current calculations show that it has a 1 in 100,000 chance of impacting the Earth.
However, future measures of its position should rule out any possible impact, according to NASA.
The asteroid will be visible from Earth to the naked eye, appearing as a grain of light lining the sky, becoming brighter and faster as it goes away. .
At one point, it will travel more than a full moon width in one minute and will become as bright as the stars of the Little Dipper.
Although the close approach of Apophis is still ten years from now, the international asteroid research community is already planning scientific observations and opportunities for the celestial event.
They hope that this will allow them to acquire important scientific knowledge about the size, shape, composition and perhaps even inside of Apophis, which might one day be used for defense planetary.
"The close approach of Apophis in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science," said Marina Brozović, a radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"We will observe the asteroid with optical and radar telescopes, and with radar observations we may be able to see details of the surface a few meters away."
The asteroid will first be visible to the naked eye in the night sky over the southern hemisphere, flying over the Earth from the east coast to the west coast of the US. Australia.
He will then cross the Indian Ocean and continue his move westward, over Africa.
Apophis will be over the Atlantic Ocean at the closest approach, just before 22:00 (Paris time). She will move so fast that she will cross the Atlantic in just one hour.
At 2300 GMT, the asteroid will have crossed the United States.
[ad_2]
Source link