Asteroid's Near-Miss May Be Home Run for Scientists (Asteroid 99942 Apophis)

http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/Aug05/r081605c

Look out: Asteroid's near-miss may be home run for scientists
University of Michigan
August 16, 2005

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A University of Michigan-led research team has
discovered that for the first time in history, scientists will be able
to observe how the Earth's gravity will disrupt a massive asteroid's
spin.

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029. An asteroid flies this close to the planet only once every
1,300 years. The chance to study it will help scientists deal with the
object should it threaten collision with Earth.

Only about three Earth diameters will separate Apophis and Earth when
the 400-meter asteroid hurtles by Earth's gravity, which will twist the
object into a complex wobbling rotation. Such an occurrence has never
been witnessed but could yield important clues to the interior of the
sphere, according to a paper entitled, "Abrupt alteration of the spin
state of asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) during its 2029 Earth
flyby,"
accepted for publication in the journal Icarus.

The team of scientists is led by U-M's Daniel Scheeres, associate
professor of aerospace engineering, and includes U-M's Peter
Washabaugh,
associate professor of aerospace engineering.

Apophis is one of more than 600 known potentially hazardous asteroids
and one of several that scientists hope to study more closely. In
Apophis' case, additional measurements are necessary because the 2029
flyby could be followed by frequent close approaches thereafter, or
even
a collision.

Scheeres said not only is it the closest asteroid flyby ever predicted
in advance, but it could provide a birds-eye view of the asteroid's
"belly."

"In some sense it's like a space science mission 'for free' in that
something scientifically interesting will happen, it will be observable
from Earth, and it can be predicted far in advance," Scheeres said.

If NASA places measuring equipment on the asteroid's surface,
scientists
could for the first time study an asteroid's interior, similar to how
geologists study earthquakes to gain understanding of the Earth's core,
Scheeres said. Because the torque caused by the Earth's gravitational
pull will cause surface and interior disruption to Apophis, scientists
have a unique opportunity to observe its otherwise inaccessible
mechanical properties, Scheeres said. Throwing the asteroid off balance
could also affect its orbit and how close it comes to Earth in future
years.

"Monitoring of this event telescopically and with devices placed on the
asteroid's surface could reveal the nature of its interior, and provide
us insight into how to deal with it should it ever threaten collision,"
Scheeres said.

The asteroid will be visible in the night sky of Europe, Africa and
Western Asia.

The asteroid was discovered late last year and initially scientists
gave
it a 1-in-300 chance of hitting the Earth on April 13, 2029. Subsequent
analysis of new and archived pre-discovery images showed that Apophis
won't collide with Earth that day, but that later in 2035, 2036, and
2037 there remains a 1-in-6,250 chance that the asteroid could hit
Earth, Scheeres said. Conversely, that's a 99.98 percent chance that
the
asteroid will miss Earth.

The asteroid is relatively small, about the length of three football
fields. If it hit it wouldn't create wide-scale damage to the Earth,
but
would cause major damage at the impact site, Scheeres said.

The team of scientists also includes Lance Benner and Steve Ostro of
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Alessandro Rossi of ISTI-CNR, Italy,
and Francesco Marzari of the University of Padova, Italy.

The University of Michigan College of Engineering is ranked among the
top engineering schools in the country. It boasts one of the largest
engineering research budgets of any public university, at $135 million
for 2004. Michigan Engineering has 11 departments and two NSF
Engineering Research Centers. Within those departments and centers,
there is a special emphasis on research in three emerging areas:
nanotechnology and integrated microsystems; cellular and molecular
biotechnology; and information technology. Michigan Engineering is
seeking to raise $110 million for capital building projects and program
support in these areas to further research discovery. Its goal is to
advance academic scholarship and market cutting edge research to
improve
public health and well being. For more information, see the Michigan
Engineering home page: http://www.engin.umich.edu .

Contact: Laura Bailey
Phone: (734) 647-7087 or (734) 647-1848

In message .com,
writes
http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/Aug05/r081605c

Look out: Asteroid's near-miss may be home run for scientists
University of Michigan
August 16, 2005

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A University of Michigan-led research team has
discovered that for the first time in history, scientists will be able
to observe how the Earth's gravity will disrupt a massive asteroid's
spin.

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)
--
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.

In message ,
writes
Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.


Love it! But I think it's a terrible choice of name. The kooks are going
to have fun when they realise the Destroyer is coming. After all, they
will have forgotten that the world was supposed to end in 2012.

Dickless Davie wrote:
Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.

The fag division. Soap droppers section.

Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.

Love it! But I think it's a terrible choice of name.

Why? Apophis was the Egyptian god of evil and destruction.

The kooks are going
to have fun when they realise the Destroyer is coming.

They already had fun claiming that the Twelfth Planet was going to
cause a massive pole shift in 2003. They already had fun with the
Face on Mars. Following the tradition of naming Aten-type asteroids
after Egyptian gods isn't going to prevent anyone from having fun in
a similar way.

After all, they
will have forgotten that the world was supposed to end in 2012.

Or 2003 May.

Jonathan Silverlight wrote:
In message ,
writes
Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.


Love it! But I think it's a terrible choice of name. The kooks are going
to have fun when they realise the Destroyer is coming. After all, they
will have forgotten that the world was supposed to end in 2012.

Here is more information

http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/news_detail.cfm?ID=161

RL

In message . com,
Michael Baldwin Bruce writes
Dickless Davie whined:
Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.

Love it! But I think it's a terrible choice of name.

Why? Apophis was the Egyptian god of evil and destruction.

You've been watch too much Stargate, Dickless.

Do some more reading, stupid. I am well aware Apophis is the chief nasty
in Stargate - that's why I posted the comment - but he's also one of the
really nasty characters in the "real" ancient Egyptian pantheon.


The kooks are going
to have fun when they realise the Destroyer is coming.

They already had fun claiming that the Twelfth Planet was going to
cause a massive pole shift in 2003. They already had fun with the
Face on Mars. Following the tradition of naming Aten-type asteroids
after Egyptian gods isn't going to prevent anyone from having fun in
a similar way.

What 12th planet, Dickless?

The one kooks like Zechariah Sitchin write about. Note that no-one here
is taking this too seriously :-)


After all, they
will have forgotten that the world was supposed to end in 2012.

Or 2003 May.


Or 1999. Hey, I'm dead. Twice. "You only live thrice"?

Non sequitur.

So long, you offensive little troll.
Plonk.
How did comp.os.os2.advocacy get into the newsgroup list? Trimmed as off
topic :-)

Jonathan Silverlight writes:

Michael Baldwin Bruce writes

Jonathan Silverlight writes:

writes

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029.

Was it named by a Stargate SG-1 fan? :-)

It was named by members of the Spaceguard SG-1 team.

Love it! But I think it's a terrible choice of name.

Why? Apophis was the Egyptian god of evil and destruction.

You've been watch too much Stargate, Dickless.

Do some more reading, stupid. I am well aware Apophis is the chief nasty
in Stargate - that's why I posted the comment - but he's also one of the
really nasty characters in the "real" ancient Egyptian pantheon.

Perhaps Michael Baldwin Bruce thinks that the entire Egyptian mythology
originated with the Stargate movie and subsequent television series.
Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes.

The kooks are going
to have fun when they realise the Destroyer is coming.

They already had fun claiming that the Twelfth Planet was going to
cause a massive pole shift in 2003. They already had fun with the
Face on Mars. Following the tradition of naming Aten-type asteroids
after Egyptian gods isn't going to prevent anyone from having fun in
a similar way.

What 12th planet, Dickless?

The one kooks like Zechariah Sitchin write about. Note that no-one here
is taking this too seriously :-)

Nancy Lieder did; even had her puppy put to sleep. Though one could
argue that she's not "here" anymore.

After all, they
will have forgotten that the world was supposed to end in 2012.

Or 2003 May.

Or 1999. Hey, I'm dead. Twice. "You only live thrice"?

Non sequitur.

So long, you offensive little troll.
Plonk.
How did comp.os.os2.advocacy get into the newsgroup list? Trimmed as off
topic :-)

Michael Baldwin Bruce added it, along with two other newsgroups. He
has no concept of what is on-topic. He simply adds as many newsgroups
to the distribution as Google will allow. He enjoys being a pest.

(99942) Apophis asteroid
(= 2004 MN4)

Physical data:

Orbital Type: AT
Diameter: 430 - 970 m
H: 19.20
G: 0.15
Rotation Period: 30.5376 hr
Quality: 2!
Lightcurve Amplitude: 1.0 mag
Radar Observations: Y

Reference:
http://earn.dlr.de/nea/99942.htm

Orbital simulation figures available:

Reference:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=99942

(99942) Apophis - impactor table


Object: 99942

date MJD sigma sigimp dist +/- width stretch
p_RE exp. en. PS

YYYY/MM (RE) (RE) RE/sig
MT

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2036/04/13.371 64796.371 0.540 0.000 1.14 +/- 0.003 4.64E+03
2.71E-04 2.37E-01 -1.19

2042/04/13.724 66987.724 0.519 0.000 1.63 +/- 0.000 1.71E+06
6.51E-07 5.69E-04 -3.88

2044/04/13.296 67718.296 0.571 0.000 2.08 +/- 0.000 8.78E+05
4.20E-07 3.67E-04 -4.09

2068/04/12.632 76483.632 2.601 0.000 0.27 +/- 0.130 4.33E+05
1.34E-07 1.17E-04 -4.80

2072/10/15.333 78130.333 -0.680 0.000 0.50 +/- 0.000 8.40E+06
1.61E-07 1.41E-04 -4.75


Based on 952 optical observations (of which 5 are rejected as
outliers)
from 2004/03/15.108 to 2005/07/11.176, and also on six radar data
points
on 2005/01/27, 2005/01/29, 2005/01/31 and 2005/08/07.

NOTE: The Virtual Impactor in 2036/04/13.371 in the table above is
rated as Torino Scale 1.

Coordinates are given on the Target Plane
Unit is one Earth radius, but impact cross section
has radius between 2.15 and 2.16 Earth radii

(Remark: lines have been too long, this is why form of lines as above)

Reference:
http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/ne...s:Apophis;risk

(99942) Apophis:

Reference:
http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/ne...s:Apophis;main

(99942) Apophis - Proper elements and encounter condtions:

Reference:
http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/ne...s;properel;gif

(99942) Apophis - Stationary points:

Reference:
http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/ne...is;statpts;gif

Couple other references:

Figure about orbit deflection near Earth (13 April 2029):

http://star.arm.ac.uk/~dja/mn4.html

Watch movie about form of the object:

http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/Aug05/r081605c

Please take a look references.

I think that this asteroid could be real danger to the Earth !!!

Hannu


wrote:
http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/Aug05/r081605c

Look out: Asteroid's near-miss may be home run for scientists
University of Michigan
August 16, 2005

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A University of Michigan-led research team has
discovered that for the first time in history, scientists will be able
to observe how the Earth's gravity will disrupt a massive asteroid's
spin.

Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth
in 2029. An asteroid flies this close to the planet only once every
1,300 years. The chance to study it will help scientists deal with the
object should it threaten collision with Earth.

Only about three Earth diameters will separate Apophis and Earth when
the 400-meter asteroid hurtles by Earth's gravity, which will twist the
object into a complex wobbling rotation. Such an occurrence has never
been witnessed but could yield important clues to the interior of the
sphere, according to a paper entitled, "Abrupt alteration of the spin
state of asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) during its 2029 Earth
flyby,"
accepted for publication in the journal Icarus.

The team of scientists is led by U-M's Daniel Scheeres, associate
professor of aerospace engineering, and includes U-M's Peter
Washabaugh,
associate professor of aerospace engineering.

Apophis is one of more than 600 known potentially hazardous asteroids
and one of several that scientists hope to study more closely. In
Apophis' case, additional measurements are necessary because the 2029
flyby could be followed by frequent close approaches thereafter, or
even
a collision.

Scheeres said not only is it the closest asteroid flyby ever predicted
in advance, but it could provide a birds-eye view of the asteroid's
"belly."

"In some sense it's like a space science mission 'for free' in that
something scientifically interesting will happen, it will be observable
from Earth, and it can be predicted far in advance," Scheeres said.

If NASA places measuring equipment on the asteroid's surface,
scientists
could for the first time study an asteroid's interior, similar to how
geologists study earthquakes to gain understanding of the Earth's core,
Scheeres said. Because the torque caused by the Earth's gravitational
pull will cause surface and interior disruption to Apophis, scientists
have a unique opportunity to observe its otherwise inaccessible
mechanical properties, Scheeres said. Throwing the asteroid off balance
could also affect its orbit and how close it comes to Earth in future
years.

"Monitoring of this event telescopically and with devices placed on the
asteroid's surface could reveal the nature of its interior, and provide
us insight into how to deal with it should it ever threaten collision,"
Scheeres said.

The asteroid will be visible in the night sky of Europe, Africa and
Western Asia.

The asteroid was discovered late last year and initially scientists
gave
it a 1-in-300 chance of hitting the Earth on April 13, 2029. Subsequent
analysis of new and archived pre-discovery images showed that Apophis
won't collide with Earth that day, but that later in 2035, 2036, and
2037 there remains a 1-in-6,250 chance that the asteroid could hit
Earth, Scheeres said. Conversely, that's a 99.98 percent chance that
the
asteroid will miss Earth.

The asteroid is relatively small, about the length of three football
fields. If it hit it wouldn't create wide-scale damage to the Earth,
but
would cause major damage at the impact site, Scheeres said.

The team of scientists also includes Lance Benner and Steve Ostro of
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Alessandro Rossi of ISTI-CNR, Italy,
and Francesco Marzari of the University of Padova, Italy.

The University of Michigan College of Engineering is ranked among the
top engineering schools in the country. It boasts one of the largest
engineering research budgets of any public university, at $135 million
for 2004. Michigan Engineering has 11 departments and two NSF
Engineering Research Centers. Within those departments and centers,
there is a special emphasis on research in three emerging areas:
nanotechnology and integrated microsystems; cellular and molecular
biotechnology; and information technology. Michigan Engineering is
seeking to raise $110 million for capital building projects and program
support in these areas to further research discovery. Its goal is to
advance academic scholarship and market cutting edge research to
improve
public health and well being. For more information, see the Michigan
Engineering home page: http://www.engin.umich.edu .

Contact: Laura Bailey
Phone: (734) 647-7087 or (734) 647-1848