New Delhi:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has predicted that massive asteroid nicknamed ‘God of Chaos’ will hurtle close to the earth’s surface. The space rock, named after they Egyptian God of Chaos, measures 340 meters across and will pass within just 19,000 miles of Earth’s surface. The NASA has already begun preparations for the arrival of asteroid 99942 Apophis which will skim past the earth in 10 years.
Apophis is one of the largest asteroids to pass so close to the Earth’s surface and a collision with the planet has the potential to be devastating for all life on Earth, reported Cape Business News.
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According to the scientists, the asteroid would leave a crater more than a mile wide and a 518 metres deep.
If hits, the impact of the asteroid Apophis, would be equivalent to 880million tons of TNT being detonated – 65,000 times as powerful as the nuclear bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima. The space rock was first discovered in 2004. NASA had then said that the asteroid may hit Earth in 2029. The US space agency had further noted that there was a 2.7 per cent chance of impacting our planet.
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Importantly, experts across the globe are still worried about a potential impact of on April 12, 2068. Whereas, NASA also believes that Apophis has one in 150,000 chance of colliding in 2068.
In his new book, Bryan Walsh said, “The chance of Apophis hitting Earth over the next century is a microscopic 0.00089 percent as of 2019 – though that is higher than your chance of dying in a plane crash.”
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Bryan Walsh is an author of the new book End Times which analyses the existential threats which humanity faces. In the meantime, Experts at NASA will use the next few flybys to study the asteroid and its flight path in better detail. Radar NASA scientist Marina Brozovic said, “The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science.”
