Apophis, once known as the ancient Egyptian spirit of evil and darkness, is the name of the asteroid expected to impact earth in the year 2036. This isn't the plot to an upcoming disaster movie or a prediction the Mayans made thousands of years ago, but this is a possible apocalyptic-like event announced by NASA. The asteroid was discovered in 2004, but little has been said or done about the matter.
The asteroid is approximately the size of the rose bowl stadium, which is not as big as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs but is still big enough to destroy the entire west coast of the United States. In the year 2029 on April 13th, Apophis is going to be the largest thing humans have ever observed coming into Earth's orbit by passing under our orbiting satellites.
There is good news and there is bad news that comes from this. The good news is that the Aphopis is NOT going to make impact that year, but the bad news is there is a potential keyhole that if the asteroid goes through it will come back again 7 years later, hitting the middle of the Pacific ocean. You might be thinking "Oh it's hitting the ocean, no worries", well it's actually a big worry, according to renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Neil has explained many times in his lectures that once the asteroid hits the Pacific it will dive three miles down until it explodes. The ocean is going to keep crashing into itself trying to fill the gap of water creating massive waves until a first tsunami is sent to California, where it will go only a quarter mile inland. The following tsunami wave is going to need more water, so it'll suck back the first wave with all it's debris it caused, creating a super wave this world has never seen and will leave the west coast obliterated. We should all listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson, he is a literal genius, and if he says we should be concerned we should be.
Astrophysicists and other leading scientist observing Apophis have determined that the keyhole in which it has to pass through in 2029 for it to hit earth 7 years later is very small, but governments hear "small chance of impact" and they forgot about the issue all together. So when the news arrives that Apophis went through the unlikely keyhole and is heading straight for the planet, all we can possibly do is wait for the end. Let's prove we are smarter than the dinosaurs by using our combined intelligence and technology to prevent the end of the world. Even if Apophis doesn't hit Earth and we were prepared to stop it, we will have the plan to administer for any future asteroids. So in conclusion, let's all listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson and not end up like the dinosaurs.
