An asteroid the size of New York’s Empire State Building is going to pass very close to planet Earth and the name it receives is proof of its size: Apophis, which is the name of the Egyptian god of chaos.
As reported by the Live Sciencescientists at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory believe that when 99942 Apophis (its full name) becomes just 30,000 kilometers from EarthThe gravitational pull of our planet will cause the bolide to shake violently.
The theoretical shaking could occur due to gravitational tidal forceswhich are the stretching or pulling effect on an object caused by the unequal gravitational attraction of another massive body.
The scientists identified two physical processes that could occur: one would make rocks and dust fly off the surface and the other would trigger landslides that would occur gradually over tens of thousands of years.
Both would ultimately change the structure of the asteroid’s surface, which has 4 billion years old.
Apophis, which is scheduled to pass close to the Earth on April 13, 2029, is the size of the Empire State Building in New York. If it were to hit the Earth directly, its impact would be equivalent to detonating tens to hundreds of nuclear bombs, according to The Planetary Society.
Scientists have paid close attention to the trajectory of this asteroid since it was first discovered in 2004. Initially, the odds of a possible impact in 2029 were relatively high at 2.7%. But more recent studies have found the odds to be closer to one in two billion.