Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (99942) Apophis: an image – 03 Mar. 2021
Here it is (99942) Apophis again, showing relatively bright. We are ready to share it live with you: join us, online, from the comfort of your home.
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (99942) Apophis: 03 Mar. 2021.
The image above comes from a single, 300-seconds exposure, remotely taken with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at Virtual Telescope. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of the asteroid, this is why stars show as short trails, while the asteroid looks like a bright and sharp dot of light in the center of the image, marked by an arrow.
“Apophis” is, by far, the most famous potentially hazardous asteroid. Please check our previous post to learn more about it.
At the imaging time, (99942) Apophis was at 16,9 millions of km from the Earth. On 6 March 2021 it will be at its minimum distance from us, that is about 15 millions of km, quite a lot, so there are no risk at all for us.
The Virtual Telescope Project will show (99942) Apophis live, online, so you can spy it in real-time, from the comfort of your home.
Support The Virtual Telescope Project!
Support us! Please, donate and receive an EXCLUSIVE image of the stunning COMET C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS and much more, specifically made for supporters like you!
(you can adjust the amount later)
