Infamous asteroid Apophis poses no threat to Earth for at least 100 years, NASA says Space.com Space Saturdays April 3, 2021

I saw this announcement last week on Space.com website – Infamous asteroid Apophis poses no threat to Earth for at least 100 years, NASA says: https://www.space.com/apophis-asteroid-no-impact-risk-100-years-nasa. Worth a read if you are into things space-related. Much longer article, but article has photos.

Elizabeth Howell March 26, 2021

The notorious Apophis space rock just shed its hazardous status — for the next 100 years at least — after fresh observations of the near-Earth asteroid. Galaxies are vast cosmic bodies, tens of thousands of light years in size, made up of gas, dust, and stars (like our Sun).

Astronomers have been keeping an eye on Apophis since its discovery in 2004, after initial estimations based on a more preliminary orbit suggested it would come uncomfortably close to our planet in 2029. Apophis’ large size added to this concern, as it stretches  1,100 feet (340 meters) across — about 10 times larger than the object that created Meteor Crater in Arizona.

After refining the initial observations, astronomers found that there was no real risk of impact in 2029. Now, after Apophis safely passed by Earth earlier this month, there’s more good news: the asteroid won’t hit Earth in 2068 either.  The space rock has also been removed from a risk list known as the Sentry Impact Risk Table, which is maintained by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), which is managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

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https://www.space.com/apophis-asteroid-no-impact-risk-100-years-nasa

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