99942 Apophis

[Christopher K.]

Astronomers discovered Apophis in 2004. The first calculations showed a 2.7% possibility of the object (which is about meters wide) striking the Earth in 2029. New information rules out that scenario, although there is still a tiny chance Apophis will hit Earth in 2036.

More information:
April 2013 Sky & Telescope, p. 10
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aster ... 0110.html#

[KristaBleez]

The article on inhabiting caves is a great read in that issue also.

[Christopher K.]

Astronomy's 60 Greatest Mysteries (a 2016 publication) had sixty mysteries divided into six sections. The first section was Earth, and the second Earth mystery was whether impacts explain all of Earth's mass extinctions. Infamously, the Chicxulub Impact about sixty-five million years ago killed out almost all Earth life.

David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute stated that the jury was still out. The main reason: even though the best estimate suggests five horrible events of that destructive level occur every ~500 million years, and there have been five major extinctions in the past 540 million years, geological evidence to confirm all of this isn't readily available. There are over 100 sites showing the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, and a few sites each showing the Triassic-Jurassic transition and the Permian-Triassic transition, there are no sites for the oldest two extinctions.

About David Kring:
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/staff/kring/

[Christopher K.]

In December, a new display will premiere showcasing Apophis. The display will stand for 100 months, until the asteroid's close approach on Friday 13 April 2029; it's magnitude will be approximately 7.1.

[Christopher K.]

The Apophis Display is now set above the water fountain at HRPO. Its lower right section as two interchangeable panels to showcase the display-related highlights of the two upcoming months.

This display, brought to the public by BREC Education Program Specialist Amy Northrop and other personnel, is a tie-in to the long-standing Free the Milky Way Display (located on the other side of the HRPO main floor). The two displays are to draw attention to the large amount of light pollution in the local area, and to alert local skygazers that there is plenty of time to lower that light pollution so that citizens have a good view of the mag 7.1 pass of Apophis in April 2029.

Professionals, of course, are also taking advantage of the event...
http://newton.mines.edu/paul/meetings/d ... pophis.pdf

[steveareno225]

NASA Analysis: Earth Is Safe From Asteroid Apophis for 100-Plus Years https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-a ... plus-years