Earth's upcoming close encounter with an asteroid could cause an 'asteroidquake'

Earth’s upcoming close encounter with an asteroid could cause an “asteroidquake” to occur.

While most people are completely oblivious to it, our planet often has close encounters with massive asteroids large enough to destroy entire cities.

Most will pass Earth and cause no trouble to us. But, in 2029, we will pass the hazardous asteroid 99942 Apophis so closely that it could reshape the asteroid’s surface.

Experts predict that by passing through our planet’s gravitational well, the asteroid itself could experience some pretty severe short and long-term effects.

Apophis is named after the Egyptian god of destruction because scientists feared there was a chance it could hit Earth within the next century when it was first discovered.

Although it is smaller than a tenth of the diameter of the asteroid that all but wiped out the dinosaurs, it could wipe out millions of people if it were to strike our planet and cause long-term issues with food production for the survivors.

But it is Apophis itself that experts believe will face some serious damage when it comes close in 2029, experiencing what would be called an earthquake on our planet.

It’s thought the force of our gravity will cause Apophis to shake so violently that rocks and dust may fly off its surface. Due to the conditions, this rubble will likely form a pile that will eventually rejoin with the main asteroid, but some of it may detach and be lost entirely.

The 2029 encounter is predicted to be as close as 5 Earth radii. There is some debate, but it’s thought that anywhere between 3-16 Earth radii distance is enough for an “asteroidquake” to occur.

There are also some longer-term effects that might take place, like a change in the asteroid’s axes of rotation. Apophis is not spherical and rotates at different rates on two different axes.

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