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There are a slew of ways that life on Earth could come to an end, but a giant asteroid smashing into the planet, wiping out humanity is one that we can’t do much to stop.
Just last week, there was an asteroid that slammed into Earth’s atmosphere with a giant explosion that no one, not NASA nor the European Space Agency, saw coming until eight hours before it hit. And that was a small, “harmless” space rock.
Even if we do see a giant asteroid coming, like the 2,132 foot diameter, 67.24 million ton Apophis asteroid nicknamed the “Colossal God of Chaos,” we probably couldn’t stop it.
Speaking of the “Colossal God of Chaos” asteroid, previous predictions about the chances of Apophis impacting Earth in the years 2029 or 2036 were apparently off by a little bit.
Apophis is expected to fly within less than 20,000 miles of Earth’s surface on April 13, 2029. (Most satellites in Earth’s orbit are around 22,000 miles away.) NASA even said it will pass by Earth “close enough that terrestrial tides should alter the asteroid’s spin state.”
NASA previously pegged the chances of Apophis hitting our planet in 2029 at 1 in 2.3 million.
According to a report by IFL Science, Apophis is level 4 on the Torino impact hazard scale – “the highest level of any object that has been discovered since NASA first started monitoring potentially hazardous Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).”
Yes, it is still supposed to miss Earth, but a new study threw a bit of a monkey wrench into that prediction.
Should Apophis be struck by a small object in space it “could be enough to push the asteroid into one of the 2029 “keyhole” trajectories around Earth which could put it on course for a later impact. To create an impact in 2029, Apophis would need to collide with an object of around 3.4 meters (11.2 feet).”
On the plus side, Canadian astronomer Paul Wiegert states in the study, “The overall probability of a small impact directing Apophis into a collision with the Earth is less than one in 2 billion” in 2029.
He also calculates the chances of Apophis being struck by a smaller object, putting it on course for a later impact with Earth, at less than 1 in a million (which is higher than previous estimates).
Back in 2019, NASA revealed 10 dates when the “Colossal God Of Chaos” Apophis could hit Earth.
So while we may be safe in 2029 and again in 2036 when the giant space rock passes by Earth, there are still numerous more chances when Apophis could cause the end of the world as we know it.