Friday 13 April, 2029; Easter Day 2036 - Apophis Unlikely to Hit Anything, Except the Headlines.

The future for Apophis on Friday, April 13 of 2029 includes an approach to Earth no closer than 29,470 km (18,300 miles, or 5.6 Earth radii from the center, or 4.6 Earth-radii from the surface) over the mid-Atlantic, appearing to the naked eye as a moderately bright point of light moving rapidly across the sky. Depending on its mechanical nature, it could experience shape or spin-state alteration due to tidal forces caused by Earth's gravity field. NASA

This is within the distance of Earth's geosynchronous satellites. However, because Apophis will pass interior to the positions of these satellites at closest approach, in a plane inclined at 40 degrees to the Earth's equator and passing outside the equatorial geosynchronous zone when crossing the equatorial plane, it does not threaten the satellites in that heavily populated region.

Using criteria developed in this research, new measurements possible in 2013 (if not 2011) will likely confirm that in 2036 Apophis will quietly pass more than 49 million km (30.5 million miles; 0.32 AU) from Earth on Easter Sunday of that year (April 13).

Read full story from neo.jpl.nasa.gov

[abhineet kumar]

I WOULD LIKE CONVEY A MESSAGE TO ALL THE ASTROLOGERS THAT..WHY THEY ARE MAKING A CHAOS OF ALL THIS BECAUSE IT SIMPLY CAUSES A CHAOS AMONG THE CITIZENS WHO ARE LIVING THRE LIFE FRUITFULLY MAY GET DISSAPOINTED..AND BUDDIES LIKE WHO OF AGE 10-20 MAY GET DISTRACTED AS WELL.
SO MY OPINIONS TO ALL THE SCIENTISTS AROUND THIS WORK MUST KEEP THEM THIS INFORMATION WITH THEM ONLY..
YOURS SINCERELY
ABHINEET KUMAR

[FitzpatrickGF]

I agree with Kumar, Astrologers just want to contiue to be paid to talk the talk. When I was around 10 years of age, my grandfather explained to me that the sun will end its life in 5 billion years. Just those words alone broke my heart. People do not need these distractions from false astrologers. That's why I have faith in God. Other's should too. God will determine our world's destiny and the astrologers should stop playing God and predicting the end of the world. God will let us know when it's time and it won't be as bad as it seems. Only Satan wants us to think the end will be devistating during sinful times and yes, sadly to say that the sucide rate will probably increase during those dates. If the astrologers can keep the false information to themselves, the world can be a much happier place. They need to learn how to enjoy life and not worry so much about the end of the world. We have pleny of time, trust me!

[FitzpatrickGF]

One more note: In GOD we trust!

[Carlos uk]

First of all - ASTROLOGERS know nothing about Apophis.
ASTRONOMERS, on the other hand, have studied it in depth.

There's a HUGE difference between ASTRONOMY and ASTROLOGY.
Astronomy is the study of the skies - Astrology is the misguided belief that the positions of certain objects can have a bearing on our everyday lives
It is a HUGE insult, to call and astronomer 'astrologer'

Secondly - Astronomers have NEVER said that Apophis was likely to strike Earth - they did identify that there WAS a small chance of a collision, but ALWAYS maintained that it wa olnly a VERY small possibility.

It is the MEDIA who latched onto the story, and blew it out of proportions, into a scare-story - NOT astronomers.

As time goes on - astronomers are getting a more and more accurate 'fix' on the trajectory od Apophis, and the chances of a collision get even smaller with every subsequent, more accurate neasurement.

Don't blame astronomers for the scare - and most certainly, DO NOT call them astrologers

[Carlos uk]

One more note: GOD - Hahaha!

Organised religion is an even bigger source of mis-information than astrOLOGY

[Tiffany]

Cool. Confusing, But cool.

[KeV_23_HoNg_Kevi n-]

well im a 10 yr old kid who is studying APOPHIS.and well i think that if it hits earth the human race will be extinct and i dunno if new life will happen in earth but i think that Apophis is well 50-50 chance of hittin earth . wen apophis orbits the sun it comes really close 2 earth? ok well im just ten and im gonna study more about apophis .
cheers!

[Tiffany]

KeV_23_HoNg_Kevin- wrote:

well im a 10 yr old kid who is studying APOPHIS.and well i think that if it hits earth the human race will be extinct and i dunno if new life will happen in earth but i think that Apophis is well 50-50 chance of hittin earth . wen apophis orbits the sun it comes really close 2 earth? ok well im just ten and im gonna study more about apophis .
cheers!

Cool kid, you gave me more insight into what sounded confusing. Hopefully the earth doesnt come to that.

[Softail]

Kevin,

Don't worry about life on the planet Earth. It will survive as it has for millions of years. Humans just might not be one of them. But "life" will continue on.

If it happens...it happens. Life comes with No Guarantee, no rules and no promises. Life is what you make it. So do something that you enjoy everyday...and when it is your turn to pass be satisfied that you have lived everyday to the fullest. ;-)

Live Free, Play Hard, Leave Happy.

Softail

[astronaut]

Astrology is the sin of divination - and anything like it is forbidden in the Bible. Astronomy is SCIENCE!

[Donnie]

Carpe Diem

[Anthony]

Astrology was the first science, for those ignorant of its noble origins. And it is now a branch of metaphysics that is at least interested in accounting for the mysteries of the human psyche, something conveniently brushed aside by today's "heroes" of materialism.

As Isaac Newton, the originator of modern science, so aptly put it - "Sir, I have studied the subject. You have not"

[Carlos uk]

Anthony wrote:

I have studied the subject.

Me too
When you do a 'Physics with Astronomy' degree (Mphys - 4 yrs study) a working knowledge of the beginnings of astronomy is required study.
(Astronomy began as astrology, until we learned better)

I know how astrology is SUPPOSED to work, unfortunately it has no basis in reality, and there is no real evidence to support it's validity.

I have no doubt that many people BELIEVE it works, but then, there are also huge groups of people believeing in different 'unique' Gods.
No matter how strongly they believe, nor how much evidence they seem to THINK they have - all but one of those groups MUST be wrong

[TL0Z]

After doing much research on this, the chance of this hitting Earth are about 10-20/100
1 out of 45,000. In bars that should be about.[||]
Chance of hitting Earth, thats a big bar.
No one should worry about it until they give us many warnings on TV. We would also see this coming long beforehand. If this hits Earth the explosion will be much bigger than Alaska,(Im 90% sure on that) Thats a big state.(Note that i said much and not MUCH) As I said before, there would be many warnings long beforehand. Nasa also plans sending out a satellight onto Apophis to track its position. The world will NOT end if this hits us, 50-50 neither the human race. Sad thing is, there are going to be some suicides around that time, since nobody knows how death by meteor is. Also, there is a 1 out of over a million chance of hitting 2037, and then a 1 out of over 4 million chance of hitting in 2040's. From then on we wont see any Apophis for another century or so, unless another planet gets it first. I just dont understand something that small can kill off so much. What is there, a bomb in it? If someone could tell me if would become more clear and I could provide more information.
If we could, push Apophis out of the Solar System, without destroying it, that would be great. Destroying it could only cause still damage. Since it would be near us and if all of that can do that much damage, with all these "End of the World" theorys. Then think of how much that smaller piece of it can still do. The whole Apophis isnt even the size of a school. So for now just keep living life happy, when the time comes. We will all know and look for a safe place. Peace.

[TL0Z]

I'm sorry, the bar didn't come out right. Here is the real bar:

[||-------

[astronaut]

abhineet kumar wrote:

I WOULD LIKE CONVEY A MESSAGE TO ALL THE ASTROLOGERS THAT..WHY THEY ARE MAKING A CHAOS OF ALL THIS BECAUSE IT SIMPLY CAUSES A CHAOS AMONG THE CITIZENS WHO ARE LIVING THRE LIFE FRUITFULLY MAY GET DISSAPOINTED..AND BUDDIES LIKE WHO OF AGE 10-20 MAY GET DISTRACTED AS WELL.
SO MY OPINIONS TO ALL THE SCIENTISTS AROUND THIS WORK MUST KEEP THEM THIS INFORMATION WITH THEM ONLY..
YOURS SINCERELY
ABHINEET KUMAR

Yes, I fully agree: astrologers all talk a load of rubbish and the world would be a better place without them.

Astronomers, on the other hand, are another matter. Dr Buzz Aldrin has pointed out that near Earth objects have, and will, strike the Earth and that one reason for space exploration is to counter this threat.

However, there are those who cause alarm and public distress with their ill-informed and badly timed pronouncements of imminent doom - for example the foolish UK Member of Parliament Lembit Opik, who announced in Parliament that the Earth would be struck by Apophis and actually gave a date. People like him are an embarrassment to the scientific community - the only thing Lembit Opik is likely to be hit by is tv weather presenter Sian Lloyd, whom he jilted in favour of one of the Cheeky Girls, a rather unsavoury looking duo of Eurotrash pop singers.

Yes, people who scare the public like that are a nuisance, but they are not proper astronomers.

[astronaut]

p.s. from a table at

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/

I can see that we had a narrow squeak on July 29 -

"2008 OT7" passed about half a lunar distance from the Earth.

[astronaut]

Apophis has a 1 in 43,000 chance of hitting the Earth. If you thought Apophis was dangerous, you're going to love this:

On Dec 18 2035,'2004 XB45'is currently predicted to miss the Earth by only about 831 miles.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2004xb45.html

But NASA say it has only a 1 in 62,500,000 chance of Earth impact.

There are very many other examples of very close asteroids and comets. The trouble is that many are 'not recently observed'. The one we don't see coming might be the most dangerous one.

The manned Altair lander has a proposed mission to land on an asteroid, I believe.

[israr]

FitzpatrickGF wrote:

I agree with Kumar, Astrologers just want to contiue to be paid to talk the talk. When I was around 10 years of age, my grandfather explained to me that the sun will end its life in 5 billion years. Just those words alone broke my heart. People do not need these distractions from false astrologers. That's why I have faith in God. Other's should too. God will determine our world's destiny and the astrologers should stop playing God and predicting the end of the world. God will let us know when it's time and it won't be as bad as it seems. Only Satan wants us to think the end will be devistating during sinful times and yes, sadly to say that the sucide rate will probably increase during those dates. If the astrologers can keep the false information to themselves, the world can be a much happier place. They need to learn how to enjoy life and not worry so much about the end of the world. We have pleny of time, trust me!

yup i totally agree with you man we only belive in allah and he will end this world becaues he made it i don't belive these stupid astrlogers. they should keep thier false information to their self's. iam muslim . and inshalla 2004 mn4 won't happen on friday 13 2029 . k bye

[israr]

these are all lies! don't trust in those stupid liers they just want to get paid. if god want's to end the world he can even end it today right now right this moment. he has the ability to do so and he can do it when ever he wants . just don't worry trust me these are all lies. just belive in god and you will be fine.