Astronomers have revealed that a large asteroid named 'Apophis' is predicted to pass extremely close or may hit the earth in 2068
SciTech News: If you thought 2020 is bad, watch for the year 2068 when a large asteroid could potentially wipe all of humanity! Yes, astronomers have revealed that an asteroid named 'Apophis' is predicted to pass extremely close or may hit the earth in 2068 because of a phenomenon called Yarkovsky effect. Interestingly, the asteroid is known as after The Egyptian god of Chaos and Evil.
Researchers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have announced the detection of Yarkovsky acceleration on the near-Earth asteroid Apophis. This acceleration arises from a very weak force on an object due to non-uniform thermal radiation.
Discovered in 2004, asteroid Apophis could be a 1,120-foot-wide (340-meter-wide) asteroid, about the dimensions of three-and-a-half football fields, NASA said.
Earlier, it had been believed that the asteroid would pass by leaving the earth unscathed, but astronomers are no longer certain now. The detection of the Yarkovsky effect acting on Apophis means the 2068 impact scenario is still a possibility.
This force is especially important for the asteroid Apophis, because it affects the probability of an Earth impact in 2068, the astronomers said."
"All asteroids need to reradiate as heat the energy they absorb from sunlight in order to maintain thermal equilibrium, a process that slightly changes the orbit of the asteroid," they wrote.
Apophis is noteworthy due to its extremely close approach to the world on April 13, 2029, when the 300 metre-sized asteroid will come into sight to the unaided eye because it passes within the belt of communications satellites orbiting the world .
Earlier, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had also predicted that massive asteroid Apophis will eventually hit humanity and there'll be no solution.
Great name! Wouldn’t worry about this particular one, but a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defense. https://t.co/XhY8uoNNax
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2019
"Great name! Wouldn't worry about this particular one, but a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defence," he wrote on the social media platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment