Asteroid Apophis, which was expected to pass extremely close to Earth, may now hit the blue planet in 2068 due to a phenomenon called Yarkovsky effect. This effect has eventually accelerated the asteroid's flow and also changed its path.
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Discovered in 2004, Asteroid Apophis, named after the Greek God of Chaos, is a 1,120-foot-wide (340-meter-wide) asteroid. That’s about the size of three-and-a-half football fields, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
According to a recent report, the sun can heat an asteroid in a non-uniform way, causing the space rock to radiate heat energy asymmetrically. This can cause a thrust or a tiny push in a certain direction, sometimes changing the path of the asteroid. This effect is called the Yarkovsky acceleration.
Before the discovery of Yarkovsky effect, the possibility of the collision was impossible. The detection of this effect acting on Apophis means that the 2068 impact scenario is still a possibility.
As per the new calculations by astronomers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, asteroid Apophis, which will also be extremely close to Earth on April 13, 2029, is deviating from its actual orbit and may crash into Earth in 2028.
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