99942 Apophis

(99942) Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that worried people for a short time in December 2004. This was because observations seemed to show that it would hit the Earth in 2029. Other observations had more accurate, or better, ideas. During 2029, Apophis would go through a "gravitational keyhole", an area in space no more than about 400 meters across. This would make it hit the Earth on April 13, 2029. This danger made the asteroid Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006.

More watching showed scientists that the "keyhole" would be missed. On August 5, 2006, Apophis was lowered to a Level 0 on the Torino Scale. As of October 19 2006 the probability that Apophis will hit the Earth on April 13, 2029 is something around 1 in 45,000. It may also hit in 2038, but however the probability for that encounter, or meeting, is 1 in 12.3 million.

There is some use, of a symbol (16px)) for the asteroid Apophis.

 More reading 
Cooke, Bill. (2006) Fatal attraction. Astronomy, May 2006, pp. 46-51.

 Related pages 
OSIRIS-APEX

 Other websites 
 Risk assessment 
These sources are updated as new orbital data becomes available:
 http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/a99942.html  (NASA JPL)
  page and  impactor table from NEODyS.

 NASA 
 http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news146.html  (JPL)
 http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news148.html  (JPL)
 http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news149.html  (JPL)

 Other articles 
 Closest Flyby of Large Asteroid to be Naked-Eye Visible (2029 approach)
 http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1458_1.asp  (Sky and Telescope)
 An asteroid, headed our way (Christian Science Monitor, on efforts to deflect the asteroid if needed)

Category:Asteroids