A group of researchers led by Ronald-Louis Ballouz from Johns Hopkins has made calculations that show that Asteroid Apophis will pass a dangerously small distance from our planet-only 19,000 miles.
This phenomenon could cause the so-called “astrocutremure”.
The results of the study were published in the Planetary Science Journal. The researchers emphasize that, at such an approach, the asteroid may suffer rock and dust powder, as well as other geological changes.
Apophis is a rocky block with an irregular shape, with a diameter of about 400 meters and a weight of about 27 million tons.
The asteroid will pass near April 2029, and then again in 2036 and 2068.
The initial calculations indicated a probability of 3% for Apophis to collide with our planet, but the estimates were revised, and the result is more optimistic: the probability of impact is now one to one million.
However, the calculations made in collaboration of experts from several countries show that the asteroid will pass between the land and the month, at a distance of 38,000 kilometers from our planet. This is an extremely small distance, and Apophis could destroy a few geostationist satellites. Therefore, chaos could become real …
