The Dome is so big it can only be seen from space - as in the image here (false colour highlighting the features). Come
to our Vredefort Dome information centre to learn all about the mightiest
asteroid impact of them all. The Unesco World Heritage Site draws tourists,
school and student groups, scientists and adventurers. We are 2km from the town
of Parys, on the Vaal River in central South Africa. Get hold of us to arrange
your visit and plan a tour to suit your interests - from geology to
battlefields, from driving and hiking to cycling and rafting.Asteroid Apophis won’t hit Earth in 2036: NASA
This isn’t recent news but as everyone who comes on our Dome Tours learns, Apophis was rated as high risk. The NASA statement is reassuring.
Washington, Jan 15 (IANS) NASA scientists have ruled out the possibility of asteroid Apophis hitting the earth in 2036, based on information obtained by its telescopes in 2011 and 2012 and other new data.
Data discovered during a search of old astronomical images provided additional information required to rule out the 2029 impact scenario, but a remote possibility of one in 2036 remained, according to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) statement.
Discovered in 2004, the asteroid – as big as three-and-a-half soccer fields – caught the immediate attention of space scientists and the media when initial calculations of its orbit indicated a 2.7 percent possibility of an earth impact during a close flyby in 2029.“With new data provided by the Magdalena Ridge (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology) and the Pan-STARRS (University of Hawaii) optical observatories along with very recent data from the Goldstone Solar System Radar, we have effectively ruled out the possibility of an earth impact by Apophis in 2036,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.
On April 13, 2036, a flyby of Apophis will become the closest flyby of an asteroid of its size when it comes no closer than 31,300 km to the earth’s surface.
“With new telescopes coming online, the upgrade of existing telescopes and the continued refinement of our orbital determination process, there’s never a dull moment working on near-earth objects,” added Yeomans.
NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to earth using ground and space-based telescopes.
Updated Date: Jan 15, 2013 23:30 PM