999 42 Apophis Calling!

Every week it seems the end of the world will be upon us soon. The latest fear mongering reports are wonderfully synchromystic in their intent.

The near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004, by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.

When first discovered, the object received the provisional designation 2004 MN4, and news and scientific articles referred to it by that name.

When its orbit was sufficiently well calculated, it received the permanent number 99942 (on June 24, 2005). Receiving a permanent number made it eligible for naming. It received the name "Apophis" on July 19, 2005.

The Serpent is killed

Apophis is the Greek name of an enemy of the Ancient Egyptian sun-god Ra: Apep, the Uncreator, an evil serpent that dwells in the eternal darkness of the Duat and tries to swallow Ra during his nightly passage. Apep is held at bay by Set, the Ancient Egyptian god of storms and the desert. David J. Tholen and Tucker—two of the co-discoverers of the asteroid—are reportedly fans of the TV series Stargate SG-1. One of the show's persistent villains is an alien named Apophis. (wikipedia)

Apep or Apophis was an evil god in ancient Egyptian religion, the deification of darkness and chaos, and thus opponent of light and Ma’at (order/truth).

In Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, we read that the Egyptian god of destruction Apophis, like Seth, was associated with various frightening natural events such as unexplained darkness from a solar eclipse, storms, and earthquakes.

Way-to-go guys – great name!

From Sky News: Astronomers following the so-called "doomsday" asteroid Apophis which could collide with Earth have discovered it is 20% bigger than previously thought. Previous estimates put the asteroid's average diameter at 270 metres (877 feet) representing a mass that would equal the energy release of a 506-megatonne bomb, according to Nasa figures.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said its Herschel telescope had scanned the space rock as it headed towards its closest fly-by with the planet in years on Wednesday. In a two-hour observation, Herschel returned a diameter of 325 metres (1,056 feet), with a range of 15 metres (48.75 feet) either way, the ESA said.

"The 20% increase in diameter, from 270m to 325m translates into a 75% increase in our estimates of the asteroid's volume or mass," said Thomas Mueller, of the Max Planck Institute for Extra-terrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, who led the data analysis.

Apophis sparked a scare when it was first detected in 2004. Early calculations suggested a 2.7% chance of the space rock hitting Earth in 2029 - the highest ever for an asteroid, but the risk was swiftly downgraded after further observations. It is expected to pass even closer to the planet on April 13, 2036, according to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

The object is being tracked by astronomers to help them fine tune the 2029 and 2036 risks of a collision. Herschel, using thermal sensors, also found that Apophis is darker than previously thought, the ESA added. Only 23% of light that falls on it is reflected, and the rest is absorbed by the asteroid. Previous estimates of this reflectivity, known as albedo, were put at around 33%.

This discovery is important because asteroids experience something called the Yarkovsky effect, or an increase in thrust that comes from alternate heating and cooling as the rock slowly turns in space. Over time, this momentum can change the body's trajectory as it moves through the Solar System.

On 15th February there will be another close fly-by of an asteroid but nothing to worry about, that one doesn’t have a name, just a number: 2012 DA14

NASA Superstars

Allison from OnlinePsychologyDegree.net sent me this amusing graphic looking at the many failed apocalyptic events throughout history... check it out below.