🌎 LIVE Asteroid Apophis Near Earth Countdown ☄️ NASA Eyes - YouTube - WorldCam - solar system studies

It all began late one night in June 2004 with a small dot swimming into view through the optics of NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Arizona mountains.Astronomer Fabrizio Bernardi and two colleagues flagged the dot as a possible newly discovered asteroid and confirmed its space rock status in short order.9942 Apophis was intriguing but unremarkble-an object the width of a few hundred meters (now estimated at 340 m/1000 ft across) about 770 million km/478,455,818 mi from Earth.Calculations in recent years have proven the asteroid will safely glide past Earth in 2029 and 2036.In 2029,9942 Apophis should pass Earth at a nominal distance of 31,000,000 km/19,662,000 mi from Earth.*According to NASA,asteroids are small space rocks that orbit the Sun.They are remanants from the early formation of the solar system.They are classified as C-type (carbonaceous);M-type (metallic);or S-type (silicaceous).Asteroids are found primarily between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt.They are rocky bodies with no atmosphere.*Notes by WorldCam and edited and augmented by Andrew Taylor