Nikolai Zheleznov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Applied Astronomy (IPA) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, warned that, due to its enormous size, the Apophis asteroid, in the event of a fall, could destroy a territory comparable to the region of the Russian Federation.
The astronomer pointed out that the consequences of the fall would be very serious, but a global catastrophe would not occur. For this to happen, according to the scientist, a body is required, the dimensions of which will be from 1.5 km in diameter. At the same time, Zheleznov drew attention to the fact that “three hundred-meter bodies are guaranteed to reach the surface of the Earth.”
He noted that Apophis is about 10 times larger than the Chelyabinsk fireball in diameter. That is, in the event of its hypothetical collision with our planet, the explosion would be a thousand times more powerful and would amount to tens of megatons. This will be enough to “clear any state or region”.
And the fall of an asteroid into the ocean will cause a powerful tsunami, which will engulf the Earth several times. Its waves can reach up to 1 km and “simply sweep the entire coast.”
The latest calculations of astronomers show that the Apophis asteroid, discovered in 2004, should pass on April 13, 2029 at a distance of 32 thousand km from our planet. At about this distance from the Earth’s surface, geostationary satellites fly.
Vera Sergeeva.
Photo: Pixabay.com
