Asteroid Apophis is expected to pass within 32,000 km of Earth during its close approach in April 2029, more than ten times closer than the Moon.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by NASA/JPL CNEOS and ESA independent orbital calculations; minor variance in exact distance (31,000-32,000 km) but well within margin of the claim's accuracy. [tier=silver indep_score=0.77 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=partial on Orbital mechanics calculations based on tracked observations of Apophis's trajectory (upstreams: NASA JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), ESA Planetary Defence Office) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=empirical eligibility=high]
Sources
- July 5: the day the world was due to end – Cosmos (seed:space_and_astronomy)
- https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/99942-apophis/ (corroboration)
- https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news200.html (corroboration)
- https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Asteroid_Apophis (corroboration)