RIGHT ABOUT NOW, wed, jan 9, 2013, this very moment, a big chunk of rock is buzzing past the earth at a good speed. The asteroid named Apophis is about nine million miles away, which sounds like a lot, but truly isn't, in astronomical terms.
Apophis is eight hundred thirty six miles in diameter, orbits the sun about once a year, and comes close to earth every few years. Some people have even predicited that in the year two thousand twenty nine it will come closer still, and in the year two thousand thirty six apophis will actually collide with earth.
IN actuality, the mathematics is so complicated that we're not exactlly sure what will happen on those two dates, but we do know that earth and apophis will indeed be close, and scientists are all agreed that it is a good idea to go ahead and find out for certain what will happen, no matter how complicated the math. stay tuned.
If they need help, maybe they should ask a fourth grader; that's what i do everytime i mess up on my computer, and need help. Watching apophis seems like a good idea, for all of us, to do something together, the human race, as a team, dealing with a real issue and a potential threat simultaneously.
People at NASA and other scientists are starting to become very interested in apophis because the idea of sending ships to asteroids and mining the valuable metals they contain is a potential big money maker.
Some day one of these asteroids is going to hit earth, of course, and wipe out all life, unless we do something to stop it, such as spotting the incoming projectile well in advance, and putting a charge into it, and changing its path just enough to miss earth.
at least once before in the history of earth nearly all life, including the dinosaurs, was wiped out by asteroid impact, rocks hit earth every day in large numbers, many of them rather large; so, its just a matter of time. chances are we'll be ready for it, and will stop it, when the "big one" arrives. gotta be optimistic, right?
and what a great project for all humanity to join together; defending us against the forces of nature, and, i might, a force of nature that can be controlled; we can indeed control a moving asteroid, and most natural phenomena we have no control over.
let us bring us all together to clean up this planet, and save it from destruction, and to avoid destroying each other
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