http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/16479_asteroid.html
Asteroid Apophis 500 meters in diameter to ram into Earth in 2029
11/16/2005 20:37
Asteroid MN4 otherwise known as Apophis has been designated the most
dangerous heavenly body of the century
On April 13th, 2029, the asteroid may crush into Earth causing an
explosion 100 times bigger than the blast of the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima in
1945. A large part of Moscow is likely to disappear.
Apophis was discovered by Steve Chesley at NASA in June 2004. He stirred
up a lot a buzz among his colleagues by saying that the thing is definitely
going to ram into Earth. The colleagues rushed to telescopes and checked the
photographs of the celestial sky. They found the asteroid on a photograph taken
back in March.
The diameter of MN4 was initially measured at 500 meters. Researchers
reduced the diameter to 320 meters after conducting a series of additional
calculations. The asteroid rotates once in every 323 days, it crosses Earth's
orbit twice a year. There is a real threat of collision, but it is not so
deadly as previously thought. The asteroid will not be smashing our planet on
April 13th, 2029. But it is expected to cross the sky in a really close
vicinity to Earth. It might as well destroy a communications satellite.
NASA strikes comet: photo gallery
Things may turn for the worse after the near-miss experience. It is not
yet clear what will happen after the dangerous rendezvous. Some astronomers
believe the earth's gravitation is capable of diverting the flight path of the
asteroid. What direction will it take? Specialists are still busy trying to
guesswork the year of a potential disaster: 2035, 2036 or 2037. They release
scary estimates saying that the whole Northern Hemisphere may be under threat.
The end of the world is out of question though densely populated areas would
sustain heavy casualties. An area of 40 square kilometers would lay waste.
What should be done to protect our planet? Specialists consider two
options at the moment. One involves demolition of the asteroid, the other one
is to push it aside. Pushing the monster aside is less dangerous than an
explosion producing thousands of fragments with unpredictable flight patterns.
Where will those fragments fly to?
NASA astronauts Edward Lu and Stanley Love recently came up with an idea
of pushing it aside by using a heavy spaceship. The ship should be heavy
enough, from 20 tons to 30 tons. It would spin around Apophis. The asteroid's
trajectory would be deflected by the ship's gravitational effects.
In the meantime, scientists are going to take a closer look at the
dangerous heavenly bodies. European Space Agency is planning to launch a
spacecraft which expected to land on asteroids to collect necessary data and
images. Astronomers will be able to see the space rocks coming closer to Earth.
Read the original in Russian: (Translated by: Guerman Grachev)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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