Photo Shows God of Chaos Asteroid Apophis Before It Passes Earth Tonight
On 3/5/21 at 8:51 AM EST
A new photo of the potentially hazardous asteroid Apophis has been released ahead of its pass by the Earth at 8:15 p.m. EST March 5.
The image, taken by the Virtual Telescope Project in Europe, shows Apophis as a distant bright dot against a backdrop of stars.
The photo was taken using a telescope mounted on a robotic arm. The astronomers used a single 300-second exposure shot to capture the image, seen below.
The newest image of Apophis released by the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy. A white arrow highlights the asteroid s location.
Bob Bello, WikiCommons
Hold your breath. A massive asteroid called Apophis after
the ancient Egyptian god of chaos is hurtling towards us and will sneak past us on Friday and Saturday.
According to earthsky.org
this flyby is a precursor to the “tantalizingly close sweep” Apophis will
make in 2029.
Apophis is plummeting towards earth at 4.658 kilometres per second.
But don’t worry too much just yet.
Earthsky.org says while there’s no chance Apophis will strike Earth at this flyby (when
closest, it’ll be about 44 times the moon’s distance), the asteroid will be
within range of earthly telescopes and radar.
By Megan Marples and Ashley Strickland, CNN
Updated 5:33 PM ET, Thu March 4, 2021
The best time to view the Jupiter-Mercury conjunction is early Friday morning in the Southern Hemisphere. (CNN)The solar system s largest and smallest planets will be in alignment this Friday.
In the morning, Mercury and Jupiter will be in conjunction and appear just above the horizon, according to NASA.
A conjunction is when two objects appear close together in the sky, but they can actually be millions of miles apart, according to Thomas Beatty, assistant astronomer at Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
It s similar to a merry-go-round, he said, with certain animals aligning as they circle around the center of the ride.
Asteroid Apophis: God of Chaos asteroid pictured ahead of tonight s flyby | Science | News express.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from express.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.