No asteroid has gained as much notoriety among both professional astronomers and amateurs as Apophis.

If you know about Apophis, you probably recall its alarming reputation since its discovery two decades ago as a potentially hazardous rock racing towards Earth. Initially, it was thought that it could one day endanger our planet.

That possibility, however, is at least a century away, according to astronomers. Even when Apophis comes closest to Earth in 2029, it will not pose a threat – this will be the nearest known approach of an asteroid of its size.

Ongoing observations have proved that there is no risk of impact in 2029, as Apophis will pass about 10 times closer to Earth than the moon, based on NASA calculations. Furthermore, it will not collide with Earth during a subsequent flyby in 2036.

While current and future generations can rest easy about Apophis, scientists see a prime opportunity to study the asteroid during its flyby, allowing them to gain insights into other space rocks that may actually threaten Earth.

Here’s what you should know about Apophis and the strategies space agencies are implementing to protect our planet from asteroids of its ilk.

Apophis’s 2029 Approach to Earth

On April 13, 2029, Apophis is expected to pass within 20,000 miles of Earth’s surface.

For those who believe in superstitions, it’s worth noting that this day falls on a Friday.

During this close encounter, Apophis will be nearer than the geostationary satellites orbiting our planet, as indicated by the ESA.

This celestial event will be visible from the Eastern hemisphere, including regions in Europe, Africa, and western Asia, appearing as a bright star moving across the sky.

As Apophis approaches, the gravitational pull from Earth will shape and distort the asteroid, pulling one side towards our planet. While no effects will be felt on Earth, the asteroid may experience some tremors and even landslides, according to the ESA.

Is there a chance Apophis will strike Earth?

The short answer is no, at least not during our lifetimes.

Although Apophis is listed as a near-Earth asteroid because its orbit brings it within 30 million miles of our planet, there’s minimal reason for concern.

Initially classified among the most hazardous asteroids following its discovery in 2004, this assessment changed as astronomers monitored its path and gathered more data.

The likelihood of an impact during its 2029 flyby once climbed to 2.7%, but it has since been removed from NASA’s Sentry Impact Risk Table. This is due to a radar observation campaign in March 2021 that, coupled with precise orbit analysis, indicated that the asteroid poses no impact risk for at least the next century.

What is the size of Apophis?

Apophis is roughly a quarter of a mile long, which is comparable to the size of a cruise ship. Its dimensions are equivalent to about five football fields, and it is taller than New York City’s Empire State Building.

Scientists are still unsure exactly how Apophis looks because they have no direct images of it yet. However, radar studies suggest it has a shape akin to that of a peanut, which is a common configuration among near-Earth asteroids larger than 660 feet, according to NASA.

It is believed that Apophis consists of stony material, made up of silicate (or rocky) substances, along with a mix of metallic nickel and iron.

What would be the consequences if Apophis impacted Earth?

While it wouldn’t be as large or devastating as the asteroid thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, Apophis would still result in extensive destruction, affecting areas hundreds of kilometers from the impact zone.

The energy it would release could equal over 1,000 megatons of TNT, comparable to dozens or even hundreds of nuclear warheads, according to the Planetary Society, a nonprofit focused on space exploration.

What does the name ‘Apophis’ signify?

Apophis, like many other asteroids, is a remnant from the early days of our solar system’s formation around 4.6 billion years ago. It originated in the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter and has spent millions of years influenced by the gravitational forces of larger planets such as Jupiter, according to NASA.

Today, Apophis’s orbit brings it alarmingly close to Earth.

Its proximity and the catastrophic potential of its impact led astronomers to name this asteroid after an ancient Egyptian deity associated with chaos and disorder.

Specifically, Apophis is named after a demon serpent symbolizing evil and chaos.

ESA and NASA’s Plans to Study Apophis

Space organizations and scientific institutions globally are preparing to take advantage of a rare flyby to investigate Apophis from Earth using telescopes and spacecraft.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which collected and returned a sample from asteroid Bennu last September, has been renamed OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer (OSIRIS-APEX). It is now on a course to intersect with the asteroid in 2029. Once it reaches Apophis in June 2029, OSIRIS-APEX will spend a year and a half mapping the surface and analyzing the asteroid’s chemical properties, according to NASA.

Ground-based telescopes will also monitor Apophis; however, their capability to gather data will be limited compared to what the spacecraft will achieve when the asteroid approaches the sun, NASA noted. Unlike the Bennu mission, OSIRIS-APEX will not gather any samples from Apophis.

The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch its own spacecraft named Ramses for this mission.

The Ramses spacecraft needs to be prepared for launch a year in advance, and it will rendezvous with Apophis before it travels past Earth, following it on its trajectory out of our orbit. This mission aims to observe the changes to Apophis’s surface when it is in close proximity to Earth, as stated by the European Space Agency in July.

NASA’s Initiatives on Hazardous Asteroids

This mission is part of NASA and other space agencies’ ongoing efforts to protect humanity from potential threats posed by asteroids and other space objects like comets.

In September 2022, NASA purposely crashed a spacecraft into the smaller asteroid Dimorphos at around 14,000 mph.

Even though Dimorphos did not pose a threat to Earth, the mission demonstrated NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) for the first time. The DART technique could be vital for altering the trajectory of an asteroid that might be heading towards Earth in the future, according to the space agency.

To assess readiness for defending Earth against space objects, NASA has conducted several exercises, the most recent occurring in April, with results released in June. This marked the first exercise that included around 100 international government representatives collaborating on a fictional scenario involving an incoming asteroid.

The exercise was managed by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to monitor near-Earth objects that could impact our planet.

In addition, NASA is developing an asteroid detection telescope called the NEO Surveyor. Scheduled to launch no sooner than June 2028, this telescope aims to identify 90% of asteroids and comets over 460 feet in size that orbit within 30 million miles of Earth.