Asteroid Threatens Earth

A Russian scientific source has stated that the asteroid "Apophis" will come very close to Earth in the spring of 2029, reaching the orbits of geostationary satellites. A source from the Federal Center for Science and High Technologies, under the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, mentioned that the diameter of this asteroid, which poses a severe threat, is about 400 meters and weighs around 30 tons. According to the institute's forecasts, this close approach will occur on April 13, 2029, just one day after the celebration of Cosmonaut Day in Russia. Experts indicate that the energy released in the event of a potential collision with Earth could reach 1717 megatons, which is 30 times more energy than that released during the explosion of the world's strongest thermonuclear bomb tested by the Soviet Union in 1961. The source added, "The earthquake intensity within a radius of 10 kilometers from the impact site could reach 6.5 on the Richter scale, and wind speeds could exceed at least 790 meters per second," according to Russia Today. It should be noted that large space bodies include asteroids with diameters greater than one kilometer. There are about 120 large meteorite craters known on Earth, the largest of which is the Popigai crater in the Siberian Plateau in Russia.