a large asteroid discovered in 2004 that will pass extremely close to Earth in 2029 and could potentially be a threat in future centuries.
Named after Apophis (also Apep), the ancient Egyptian god of chaos and darkness who was depicted as a serpent enemy of the sun god Ra. Scientists chose a mythologically ominous name for this potentially dangerous space object.
Apophis will pass closer to Earth than some of our satellites in 2029—so close that if it hit us, it would release energy equal to 200 million tons of TNT—but scientists named it after a chaos god, which seems like tempting fate!
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