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The massive, 1,100-foot-wide asteroid Apophis is currently hurtling toward Earth at an astonishing 19 miles per second, setting the stage for a historically close cosmic encounter in 2029. Our latest planetary defense documentary breaks down exactly why this near-Earth object once terrified astronomers with a potential direct impact scenario and how its trajectory will actually bring it closer to us than our own geostationary communication satellites. We dive deep into NASA's brilliant mitigation strategies, exploring how the groundbreaking success of the DART mission proves we finally have the kinetic impactor technology to reliably deflect doomsday space rocks. Let's discover the thrilling scientific reality behind how brilliant aerospace engineers are actively safeguarding our fragile planet from the universe's deadliest projectiles! Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00If an asteroid like Apophis hits Earth, we will be destroyed.
00:06Massive earthquakes will strike.
00:09And tsunamis will flood everything.
00:13Apophis is a billion-year-old celestial body that has been in the solar system since its inception.
00:19So you might be thinking, well, how likely is it that this giant space stone will collide with our planet
00:25in 2029?
00:27Well, let's find out, shall we?
00:30Apophis is a big, bad asteroid discovered in 2004 by the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
00:38Since then, it has proudly held the title of one of the most dangerous asteroids ever located.
00:44It's around 1,100 feet wide, which is a bit bigger than the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower.
00:51Because of how scary it is, it was named Apophis, like the Egyptian immortal creature
00:56that was considered to bring eternal darkness and destruction to Earth.
01:00Oh, boy.
01:02In 2021, researchers had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study this floating rock when it passed near our
01:09planet.
01:09And we'll come back to that in a minute.
01:12Now, some scientists say that there is a small chance of Apophis hitting the Earth on Friday, April 13th, 2029.
01:21The Yarkovsky effect is to blame for this, since it can slightly nudge this space rock towards Earth.
01:28This effect originates from the uneven emission of thermal photons from a rotating celestial object,
01:34resulting in a fascinating force exerted upon it in space.
01:38These emitted photons possess momentum and play a pivotal role in shaping the dynamics of the body.
01:45The asteroid has two sides, light and dark, just like the Moon.
01:49The light side faces the Sun and is warmer than the dark side.
01:53But the thing also turns, so the sides constantly change direction and temperature.
01:58This change could be detrimental because it slightly pushes Apophis toward Earth.
02:05Unfortunately, nobody knows how the Yarkovsky effect will influence the asteroid's path.
02:11On the other hand, on the asteroid's last flyby of Earth in 2021,
02:16astronomers used radar to take accurate measurements of its trajectory
02:20and confidently concluded Apophis will safely miss Earth in 2029 by about 20,000 miles
02:27and won't bother us again for at least 100 years.
02:31Now, generally speaking, every 8,000 years, our planet is hit by a falling star
02:37that has similar dimensions to those of Apophis.
02:40The last time we were hit by a slightly smaller meteor was in 2013.
02:48A new spacecraft developed by NASA called the Osiris Rex
02:52was launched in 2016 to collect samples from another,
02:55slightly less terrifying celestial body called Bennu.
02:59Four years later, it finally arrived at the thing,
03:02got some samples,
03:04quickly said goodbye to Bennu,
03:06and started traveling back towards Earth.
03:08The samples were safely stored in a capsule dropped in Utah.
03:13So far, this has been the most significant sample ever taken from an asteroid.
03:18After the delivery,
03:19the spacecraft didn't waste any time and started chasing Apophis.
03:24Now, Osiris Rex has been renamed to Osiris Apex
03:28and is currently playing tag with Apophis.
03:32With some luck, on the 2nd of April, 2029,
03:36when the asteroid zips close by Earth,
03:38the spacecraft will reach Apophis and land on it.
03:42It will stay on Apophis for 18 months,
03:45collecting valuable information and taking thousands of pictures.
03:49The asteroid will be monitored with the help of powerful telescopes.
03:53At some point, Apophis will get too close to the Sun,
03:57and then all the monitoring work will be on Osiris' apex back.
04:02If you live in Europe, West Asia, or Africa,
04:05you're one of those lucky people
04:07who will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
04:10to see Apophis with the unaided eye.
04:12It will be visible in the sky in these regions in 2029,
04:16and those who have telescopes
04:18will be able to spot it once again in 2036.
04:23Osiris' apex will experience some problems
04:26because the asteroid has a thick crust,
04:28and the spacecraft won't be able to collect data
04:30as easily as it did with Bennu.
04:32Osiris' apex has a unique thruster
04:35that will blow all the dust from Apophis while landing.
04:39This will be a perfect chance
04:40to analyze the surface of the asteroid
04:42to see what it's made of.
04:44The craft will spend one-and-a-half years
04:47mapping the asteroid,
04:48trying to detect changes in its shape.
04:50All this research will show
04:52how the celestial body is likely to move
04:54so we can better design plans
04:56to protect Earth from such things.
04:59In 2025, NASA is also going to launch
05:02the mission Apophis Pathfinder,
05:04and it will be the first spaceship
05:06to ever touch this asteroid.
05:08It will land approximately a year after its launch.
05:11Also, NASA has proposed
05:13sending a swarm of tiny craft into space
05:16to help humanity develop effective protective tactics
05:19against asteroid strikes.
05:21We know that Apophis originated
05:24in the primary asteroid belt
05:26between Mars and Jupiter.
05:27In the past million years,
05:29this celestial body has changed its path
05:32because of the considerable influence
05:34of Jupiter's gravitation.
05:36Now, it seems like it favors the Sun more,
05:38meaning this asteroid will come very close to Earth.
05:41That's why it's classified
05:43as a near-Earth celestial body.
05:45A lot of tests and research have been done
05:47to find a way to deal with asteroids.
05:50Some solutions include drilling it,
05:52detonating the space body from inside,
05:54or testing new technologies,
05:56like attaching rockets to it
05:58and trying to steer it away from Earth.
06:01We can also hit it with something moving at high speeds
06:04to make it change its course.
06:07Apophis is an S-type asteroid
06:09made of rocks and minerals like iron and nickel
06:12and is shaped like a peanut.
06:14It can tell us a lot about the past
06:16and possibly the future.
06:19Sampling this space object
06:20could reveal how life on Earth began
06:22and how plants appeared.
06:25There are many theories that suggest
06:27that water arrived on our planet
06:28on an asteroid or a comet.
06:32Asteroids are like priceless time capsules.
06:34Unlike rocks on Earth,
06:36which have undergone thousands of changes,
06:38like erosion,
06:39most celestial bodies are still intact
06:41and much easier to study.
06:43When meteors fall on Earth,
06:45they get covered in debris
06:46that's impossible to clean.
06:48That's why studying Apophis
06:50while it's still in space is so important.
06:53Also, some asteroids are made
06:55of precious metals like platinum.
06:58Right now, we have a high demand
07:00for metals that we use in production,
07:02and mining metals on Earth is quite tricky.
07:05Just one large meteor might have
07:07iron, nickel, gold, and platinum
07:09that could last us millions of years.
07:12If Apophis has this amount of metals,
07:15well, we'd want to break it down
07:16and bring it back to Earth.
07:18One space rock could be worth
07:19quadrillions of dollars,
07:21making space mining highly profitable.
07:24And still, it would cost us more
07:26to get it back to Earth
07:28than to dig up these materials here.
07:30As technology progresses
07:32and new kinds of rockets are developed,
07:35this might become possible at some point.
07:39So, even though we're safe
07:40for the next hundred years from Apophis,
07:42you probably still want to see
07:44what would happen
07:45if something like it did impact.
07:47Come on, sure you do.
07:50Well, first let me tell you,
07:51you'll hear the sound of the collision
07:53and know what's happened
07:54even if you're miles away.
07:56You should leave your house
07:57or apartment immediately.
07:59Shortly after the impact,
08:01massive earthquakes will strike,
08:03and many tall buildings will fall.
08:05So, staying away from cities
08:07might be your best option
08:08if you have a choice.
08:10But, don't escape by car.
08:13There will be massive traffic jams,
08:15and everyone will panic.
08:17Going on foot or by bike
08:19is your best option in this scenario.
08:21A prime way of transportation
08:23will be traveling by plane,
08:25so if you've always wanted
08:27to get that pilot license,
08:28now you've got a good excuse.
08:31If you have time,
08:32take along extra snacks and water
08:34and an extra pair of socks.
08:37It's nice to live by the ocean or the sea,
08:40but in this scenario,
08:41it's the worst place to be
08:43because giant tsunami waves
08:45will hit coastlines after the impact.
08:48If you live far away from the impact area,
08:50the tsunami might take 30 hours to arrive.
08:53You'll have a bit of time to prepare.
08:59So, we just spotted an asteroid so massive,
09:02it could wipe out an entire continent
09:04if it ever hit Earth.
09:06And it's moving insanely fast,
09:09almost record speed.
09:10But, what makes it really scary
09:12is how it's basically playing
09:14hide-and-seek with us.
09:16It can slip right into the sun's glare
09:18and vanish completely.
09:20And yeah, it just did it again.
09:23It disappeared.
09:23So, when we finally spot it again,
09:27will we have enough time to prepare?
09:29Or could it already be too late for humanity?
09:32Do I have your attention now?
09:34Ah, thanks.
09:36So, meet 2025 SC79.
09:40That's a mouthful,
09:42so I'll just nickname it Scooby.
09:44This newly found asteroid is a sneaky one,
09:47the kind that loves hiding in the sun's glare.
09:50Think of it as trying to spot a firefly
09:53next to a stadium light.
09:54The brightness hits your eyes
09:56and outshines anything faint nearby.
09:58So, yeah, you won't see that firefly.
10:02Now, asteroids hide in the same frustrating way.
10:05When they end up close to the sun
10:07from our point of view on Earth,
10:09the glare overwhelms our telescopes,
10:11and the asteroid's dim,
10:13reflected light gets lost in it.
10:15That's why some asteroids can cruise along
10:17in the sun's direction
10:18and stay basically invisible to us.
10:22And scientists say the most dangerous asteroids,
10:25the ones that could wipe out a whole city,
10:27are the hardest to detect.
10:29That's why astronomers need to somehow
10:31dodge the sun's glare.
10:34One way they do it
10:35is by observing the sky
10:36during the short window of twilight.
10:38I mean, right before sunrise
10:40or just after sunset.
10:42And that timing is a big deal,
10:44because it's the only way
10:45to catch some risky asteroid
10:47before it sneaks up on Earth.
10:49Scientists say that
10:51if one of these so-called twilight asteroids
10:53ever gets close to Earth,
10:55it could be a serious impact threat.
10:58And it was during one of these
11:00twilight observing sessions
11:01that scientists finally spotted
11:03this huge asteroid.
11:05It was September 27, 2025.
11:08Scott Shepard, an astronomer
11:10at a Washington-based institute,
11:12was scanning the sky,
11:14hunting for anything unusual
11:15in our solar system.
11:17And he had an incredible tool in his hands,
11:19the Dark Energy Camera,
11:21or DECAM,
11:23one of the most powerful
11:24sky survey cameras on Earth,
11:26built to spot faint objects
11:28across huge areas of the universe.
11:32At one point,
11:33he spotted a faint dot
11:35moving across the image.
11:36So he quickly aimed
11:38the high-tech camera at it,
11:39and things got more interesting.
11:42Its movement matched
11:43what astronomers expect
11:44from asteroids
11:45that orbit very close to the Sun.
11:48Then, follow-up observations
11:50with the Gemini and Magellan telescopes
11:52confirmed the discovery.
11:54Yes, this really was an asteroid.
11:57And there are two
11:58particularly curious things about it.
12:01First, it's fast.
12:03Like, really fast.
12:04In fact, it is the second fastest
12:07known asteroid orbit
12:08in the solar system.
12:09It loops around the Sun
12:11once every 128 days.
12:14For comparison,
12:15Mercury,
12:15the closest planet to the Sun,
12:17takes 88 days to go around once.
12:20Second, its orbit is super rare.
12:23This is only the second known object
12:26that stays completely
12:27inside Venus's orbit.
12:29That also puts it
12:30in one of the rarest
12:31asteroid groups out there,
12:33the Ateris.
12:34These are asteroids
12:35whose orbits
12:36sit entirely inside Earth's orbit.
12:39Astronomers have found
12:40only a few of them so far,
12:42and Scooby is the 39th one
12:44in the list.
12:45The team of scientists
12:47also figured out
12:48that this asteroid is pretty big,
12:50measuring about 2,300 feet across.
12:54That's roughly the size
12:55of Merdeka 118,
12:57the second tallest building on Earth.
13:00If an asteroid this size
13:02ever slammed into Earth,
13:03it wouldn't just be bad.
13:05It would be catastrophic.
13:07We're talking about damage
13:09on a continental scale.
13:10It would blast a huge crater
13:12into the ground,
13:13then throw out a shockwave
13:15powerful enough
13:16to wipe out forests
13:17and wreck cities.
13:19Seismic waves
13:19would ripple
13:20through the crust,
13:21triggering widespread earthquakes
13:23around magnitude 7.4,
13:25and people could still feel them
13:27about 300 miles away
13:29from the strike.
13:30And that's not all.
13:31A brutal air pressure blast
13:33would race outward,
13:34shattering windows
13:35more than 1,000 miles away.
13:37Then comes the aftermath.
13:41Dust and debris
13:42from the impact
13:42could shoot up
13:43into the atmosphere,
13:45block some sunlight,
13:46and mess with our climate.
13:48I know,
13:48you might feel scared right now,
13:50but don't worry about it.
13:53Thankfully,
13:54Scooby isn't going
13:55to do anything like that,
13:56because it's not
13:57on a collision course
13:58with Earth.
13:59Right now,
14:00the math shows
14:01it won't be making
14:01any close passes
14:03by our planet,
14:04at least not anytime soon.
14:06Still,
14:07there's a lot more
14:08to learn about this asteroid,
14:09but any further studies
14:11will have to wait.
14:12For now,
14:13it has disappeared
14:14behind the Sun
14:15and is out of sight.
14:17Once it reappears,
14:18astronomers will take
14:19a closer look
14:20and try to learn more
14:21about what it's made of.
14:23That part really matters,
14:24because this asteroid
14:26is somehow holding up
14:27while orbiting so close
14:29to the Sun's brutal heat.
14:31You see,
14:32this asteroid
14:33gets very near
14:34to the Sun.
14:35At its closest point,
14:36this asteroid
14:37is blasted
14:38with almost six times
14:39Earth's sunlight.
14:40At that distance,
14:42its surface
14:42could heat up
14:43to about 440 degrees Fahrenheit.
14:46What scientists
14:47don't know yet
14:48is how a rock
14:49this big
14:50can get baked
14:51over and over again
14:52without falling apart.
14:54And there are
14:55two more things
14:56astronomers want to check
14:57once it comes back
14:58into view.
14:59How fast it spins
15:00and how bright it looks.
15:03Now,
15:03by bright,
15:04I mean
15:04how much sunlight
15:05it reflects.
15:07Because asteroids
15:08don't make
15:08their own sunlight.
15:09They're just big,
15:10rocky chunks
15:11that shine
15:12by reflecting
15:13sunlight back at us.
15:15Anyway,
15:16those clues
15:17can tell scientists
15:18what Scooby is made of.
15:20One possibility
15:20is that this asteroid
15:22is loaded
15:22with dense metal.
15:24And that could explain
15:25how it survives
15:26the Sun's brutal heat.
15:27And if that turns out
15:29to be true,
15:30this asteroid
15:30could be a relic
15:31from when the solar system
15:32was just forming.
15:35Or,
15:35maybe it slowly
15:36moved closer
15:37to the Sun
15:38because the gravity
15:39of Venus and Mercury
15:40gently pulled on it
15:41again and again
15:42over millions of years.
15:45Now,
15:45even though
15:46SC-79
15:47isn't a real danger
15:48to us,
15:49and there's still
15:50a lot we don't know
15:51about it,
15:51just finding it
15:52is already
15:53a big deal.
15:54It's a reminder
15:55that big asteroids
15:56can hide from us.
15:58So,
15:58even in our own
15:59cosmic backyard,
16:01there are still
16:01blind spots
16:02where large objects
16:04can stay hidden
16:04until the right moment
16:06of twilight
16:07gives them away.
16:08And as our detection
16:10tech gets better,
16:11we keep finding
16:12more and more asteroids.
16:14By now,
16:14scientists have spotted
16:15over a million
16:16in the solar system.
16:17They come in all sizes,
16:19from monsters
16:20like Vesta
16:21that measure
16:22about 329 miles wide,
16:24all the way down
16:25to rocks
16:26that are smaller
16:27than a house.
16:29Now,
16:29out of all the asteroids
16:31we know,
16:31about 40,000
16:32are what we call
16:33near-Earth asteroids,
16:35or NIAs.
16:36That just means
16:37their orbits
16:38bring them close
16:39to our neighborhood.
16:40Technically,
16:41their closest point
16:41to the sun
16:42is less than
16:431.3 times
16:44the Earth-sun distance.
16:46It's close enough
16:47for planetary defense
16:48systems to keep
16:49a careful eye on them.
16:51And that's exactly
16:52why we can relax.
16:54I mean,
16:55nobody has to lose sleep
16:57imagining an asteroid
16:58slamming into our planet.
17:00Every time scientists
17:01discover a new asteroid
17:03that comes anywhere
17:04near Earth,
17:05they track it
17:06and run the numbers
17:07right away.
17:08And then,
17:09they map out
17:09its path years,
17:10decades,
17:11or even centuries
17:12into the future.
17:13And they don't do it
17:14by guesswork.
17:16NASA's automated systems,
17:17like Sentry,
17:19constantly scan
17:20the asteroid catalog
17:21and calculate
17:22whether any of these objects
17:23has even a small chance
17:25of hitting Earth
17:26over the next 100 years.
17:28If something looks risky,
17:30it jumps to the top
17:32of the watch list
17:32and gets followed up fast.
17:35So yeah,
17:35there are almost
17:362,000 near-Earth asteroids
17:38that technically
17:40have some chance
17:41of hitting us
17:42in the next 100 years.
17:43But don't panic.
17:45Most are small
17:46and harmless.
17:47Hey, like me.
17:48And their odds of impact
17:49are usually
17:50way under 1%.
17:52See why I said
17:53we shouldn't stress
17:54too much?
17:55Cool.
17:56Now, sleep tight.
18:00That's it for today.
18:01So hey,
18:02if you pacified
18:02your curiosity,
18:03then give the video a like
18:05and share it
18:05with your friends.
18:06Or if you want more,
18:07just click on these videos
18:08and stay on the bright side.
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