The Dark God is approaching. It can only crash by changing its current trajectory, which is pretty clear so far. Scared scientists can’t predict our future.
This year marks the anniversary – 20 years ago, astronomers from the National Observatory in Arizona (Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona) discovered asteroid 99942 or 2004NM – they noticed its almost 400-meter shape among the stars on June 19, 2004.
Since then, the asteroid has not given scientists peace.
Take this test:
Initial trajectory calculations gave an unprecedentedly high chance of an asteroid colliding with Earth – 1 in 300. In line with the threat, it was quickly named Apophis – after the ancient Egyptian god of chaos. Or darkness.
On January 9, 2013, Apophis was very close to us – less than 15 million kilometers away. NASA astronomers, having received data from the radar for the first time, recalculated the trajectory of this asteroid
. And mathematicians calculated the nearest “critical dates” and assessed the risk of a collision with the Earth.
They scare themselves
Apophis periodically approaches the Earth. For now, it’s just passing by. It can only crash by changing its current trajectory, which is pretty clear so far. However, such a risk exists, as Canadian astronomers Paul Wiegert of Western University and Ben Hiatt of the University of Waterloo fear.
“Apophis could be deflected by a collision with another asteroid, which prompted us to explore such a scenario, however unlikely it may seem,” the authors write in the Planetary Science Journal.
Read more: Zodiac signs whose life will change for the better and become wonderful from March 15, 2024
In short, the scientists found out if their fears were justified. To this end, they modeled the trajectories of more than 1.3 million known and noteworthy asteroids within the solar system.
And came to the conclusion: in the near future, only one asteroid Cantuss 4544 (Xanthus), which has a diameter of 1.3 kilometers, poses a threat. However, he will also fly by – in December 2026, he will cross the Earth’s trajectory at a distance of approximately 10 thousand kilometers.
However, that’s not all..
Read more on the next page
2024-03-10 16:09:14
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