Researchers have claimed that an asteroid, three times the size of a football field is hurtling towards Earth and can possibly make an impact in 2068!
The asteroid Apophis, named after the Egyptian deity of chaos, is speeding up due the Yarkovsky effect which scientists claim increases the possibility of an impact with Earth, an event previously thought “impossible.”
Photo via WAtoday
According to Khaleej Times, the asteroid is now being pushed around by sunlight and is accelerating due to the Yarkovsky effect which comes into play when thermal radiation is no longer uniform, researchers at the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy added.
Astronomer, Dave Tholen, who has been tracking the motion of Apophis since he and his team discovered it in 2004, said: “The asteroid is drifting away from a purely gravitational orbit by about 170 metres per year, which is enough to keep the 2068 impact scenario in play.”
The Apophis is 1,213 feet wide and could cause an explosion as big as 880 million tonnes of TNT, will make an “extremely close” approach to the Earth on Friday, April 13th, 2029 and will be visible to the naked eye.
In July this year, NASA spotted a pyramid-sized asteroid, big enough to destroy a city, three weeks before it’s fly-by.
Photo via Interesting Engineering
Alamak, scary nya!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
