The Apophis asteroid can hit the Earth. It deviates from its orbit

Apophis is a 300-meter-long asteroid that will come close to Earth twice in the coming decades. The first time it will be on Friday, April 13, 2029. Then it will be visible even with the naked eye, as it will exceed the orbit of telecommunications satellites. Previous calculations exclude its collision with the Earth.

The next rapprochement with the planet, which is to take place in 2068, was similarly said.

A force is created that influences the asteroid’s path

However, researchers from the University of Hawaii and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently announced that the risk of a collision cannot be ruled out at the second encounter with Earth.

They came to such conclusions after detecting the so-called the Jarkowski effect. Scientists say that due to the uneven radiation of heat by the cosmic object, a very weak force is generated, which, however, affects its flight path.

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– For some time we thought that a hitting Earth was not possible during the 2029 rapprochement – emphasized Dr. Dave Tholen, author of the discovery.

However, he explained that the new observations made earlier this year with the Subaru telescope were accurate enough to reveal the Jarkowski effect on the Apophis asteroid.

– They show that the asteroid strays about 170 meters per year from gravity’s orbit. This is enough for the 2068 crash scenario to come into play, he added.

Scientists will conduct further research

The study was presented at a virtual conference organized by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.

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Further observations and analyzes are also carried out to confirm or contradict the new conclusions. According to scientists, the possible risk of a collision will be well understood long before 2068.

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