Decisive minutes

Is the asteroid “Aphophis” a danger?

The asteroid "Apophis" is a potential danger to the Earth; an impact would have fatal consequences. However, we are still safe for the next few decades.(Bild: Josh)

The name "Apophis" comes from the Egyptian universe of the gods and is a figure with negative connotations, responsible for natural disasters. It is also the name of an asteroid - and for good reason, as "Krone" science expert Dr. Christian Mähr explains.

The Egyptian god Apophis is the constant adversary of the goddess Maat, a threat to "cosmic stability" - and a fitting name for an asteroid that was only discovered in 2004 and which, according to initial orbital predictions, should hit the Earth on April 13, 2029, at a speed of 31,000 km/h. The impact would be equivalent to an atomic bomb. The effect would be equivalent to a nuclear bomb of 700 megatons of TNT explosive, which is 47,000 times the explosive effect of the Hiroshima bomb "Little Boy" and still 14 times more than the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated, called "Tsar", which was tested over the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya in 1961. The zone of "total destruction" had a diameter of 70 kilometers, but no one was harmed and the island is uninhabited.