2036 Asteroid

The 2036 asteroid is another name for the passage of the asteroid Apophis in the year 2036. Apophis is most famous for the stir it caused in 2004. The asteroid was discovered on its way towards the Earth and was predicted to have a 2.7% chance of impacting the Earth. That in and of itself is not significant. Objects impact the Earth on a yearly basis. The size of Apophis was the major concern. Even a small chance that an asteroid the size of a small town hitting the Earth rightly caused a large commotion.

The 2036 asteroid, also known as 2036 Apophis, actually set a few records in the astronomy game. It achieved the highest score ever on the Torino scale and it stayed on an elevated level for longer than any other asteroid ever has. It was eventually studied enough to know that it would not hit the Earth in 2004. The asteroid will pass again in 2029. Scientists predict that it will not hit the Earth, but it may pass through a gravitational keyhole that could alter its orbit enough that it could impact in 2036. The chances are slight, but real. Even if it doesn’t hit a keyhole in 2029 it will return every seven years and may pose a serious threat the next time in 2036. Scientists have proposed that Apophis be nudged out of its present orbit into an orbit that takes it further from the keyhole. NASA scientist David Morrison says, “After 2029, the deflection would have to be vigorous enough to miss not just a tiny keyhole but the much larger target of the Earth itself. And such a deflection is far beyond present technology for an asteroid this large.”.

The key question is “What can we do about an impending impact from the 2036 asteroid?”. NASA’a JPL has completed a study of a “gravity tractor”. An initial spacecraft would be crashed into Apophis to alter its course, then a second spacecraft would hover about 150 m from the 2036 asteroid to exert a slight, but steady course change. It would only slow the asteroid .22 micrometers per second per day. It is believed that the small change will be enough to cause Apophis to miss the keyhole.

The 2036 asteroid has caused a lot of science to be created to deal with its possibility of impacting the Earth. It has been estimated that an impact by the 2036 asteroid would cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of injuries. Hopefully, science will have a lot more answers before the year 2036.

NASA has some good information on the 2036 asteroid and Wikipedia has a good article on the gravitational keyhole phenomenon. There are several good articles on Apophis and asteroids here on Universe Today.

Reference:
NASA Near Earth Object Program

Tagged as: 2036 asteroid, asteroid Apophis, asteroid impact, near earth asteroid