So I have to say, i was a little depressed when I learned this. Asteroid Apophis is going to pass so close to the earth on 4/13/29 that it was feared when first discovered it would impact. Now it only has a 1 in 45,000 chance of hitting us on it\'s next pass, 4/13/36. Nothing would have made a better 50th birthday present than the total destruction of the earth, but sadly now I\'ll have to wait for a chance of it being destroyed on my 57th birthday. Oh well, can\'t win them all.

When it passes it will be closer to the earth than most of our man-made satellites and will be visable with the naked eye. It will probably destroy a good deal of the satellites, but that is nothing compaired to total annihilation of the human race and the planet. The bend in the trajectory is due to the earths gravitational pull on the asteroid. Uncertainty in its close-approach distance is represented by the short white bar below:



Don\'t forget your towel.