Fans watching the night sky must arm themselves with telescopes this week, since January 9, you can observe the convergence of the asteroid "Apophis" with the Earth.

The full name of the asteroid (99942) Apophis. Previously, he was designated 2004 MN4, as was discovered on 19 June 2004 with the help of telescopes Kitt Peak in Arizona. In 2005 he got a proper name and became known as the "Apophis" dedicated to the ancient Egyptian God of APOP, whose name in the original language is pronounced "Apophis".

Official discoverers of this asteroid considered Roy Hey Tucker, David J. Tholen, Fabrizio Bernardi.

The diameter of astroid is 270 meters. According to the researchers, the average temperature of its surface is equal to "-3" degrees Celsius. Weight astroid is that, when confronted with our planet will allocate an amount of energy equivalent to the energy of explosion of 400 megatons. The effect of the explosion when the collision may vary depending on the composition of the asteroid, and the location and angle of impact. In any case, the explosion will cause tremendous damage to thousands of square kilometers, but will not create long-term global effects, like "asteroid winter".

The asteroid belongs to the group of Aten. He must approach our planet at a distance of 14.5 million kilometers.

But in 2029, according to scientists, the asteroid will approach the Earth at a minimum distance - 36-37 thousand kilometers.

After the radar observations, astronomers have come to the conclusion that the probability of collision of an asteroid "Apophis" with the earth in 2029 excluded, however, due to inaccurate initial data there exists a probability of collision of this object with our planet in 2036 and subsequent years.