Space agency NASA recently announced that there is no chance of asteroid Apophis hitting Earth in 2068.
Apophis, a 1,100-foot (340-meter) space rock was supposed to come dangerously close in 2029 and again in 2036. However, later NASA dismissed any chance of these two collisions. It was announced that Apophis will only come within 32,000 kilometers on April 13, 2029.
However, a potential 2068 collision still loomed. Now, the risk of a collision in 2068 has also been eliminated. Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said in a statement, “A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years.”
Apophis has now been officially removed from NASA’s asteroid “risk list.” Scientists at NASA refined the asteroid's orbit around the sun with the help of radar observations earlier in March, when it passed within 17 million kilometers of earth.
“When I started working with asteroids after college, Apophis was the poster child for hazardous asteroids,” Farnocchia said. “There’s a certain sense of satisfaction to see it removed from the risk list.”
As NASA declared this news on Twitter, science geeks and common folks came together to celebrate this relieving news. However, some are not-so-hopeful while others are reacting to it in a hilarious manner.
Here's how people reacted.
