Apophis asteroid, which scientists believe it has a tiny chance to collide with the Earth during this century, is 20% higher than previously thought. The discovery was announced by representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA).
ESA revealed that in recent days Herschel telescope scanned the space rock called 99942 Apophis which passes by Earth on the night of Wednesday, January 9 to Thursday, January 10 [scroll down for Slooh Space Camera which live streams Apophis passage].
Data from the telescope revealed that the diameter of the asteroid is not 250 meters as initially thought (with a measurement error of 60 meters) but 325 meters, with a maximum measurement error of 15 meters.
“According to our estimation, this increase in diameter by 20%, from 270 to 325 meters, means a volume or a mass 75% larger than previously thought,” said Thomas Mueller from Max Planck Institute.
Apophis was first spotted in 2004 and its detection triggered a serious scare as early calculations unveiled a 2.7 % probability of collision in 2029, however the risk was quickly downgraded after ongoing observations unveiled that the rock will fly by at (only) 30,000 km.
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Today’s encounter makes Terra and Apophis be 14.5 million kilometers apart. Thanks to this passing, scientists will be able to better calculate asteroid’s trajectory before its subsequent visits in 2029 and 2036.
Furthermore scientists used thermal sensors to discover that Apophis is somehow darker than previously thought. Only 23% of the light falling on the asteroid is reflected and the rest is absorbed. This finding is important as it allows scientists to calculate the Yarkovsky effect, which causes acceleration of the asteroid.
Apophis’s visit can be seen live today, January 10, 2013, starting midnight 00:00 GMT using SLOOH cameras.
Next month on 15 Feb., a 57-meter asteroid named 2012 DA14, will pass by near Earth at only 34,500 kilometres (21,600 miles) and that’s the closest flyby so far of any detected space rock.