On Friday, 13, 2029, Earth will have a fascinating and intimidating visitor in the form of the "God of Destruction" asteroid Apophis. The asteroid — named after the Egyptian serpent god of chaos and destruction Apep — is so large and will pass within 19,000 miles (30,600 kilometers) of Earth, so close to our planet that it could be visible to the naked eye.
New research has suggested that if other much smaller space rocks hit Apophis, the asteroid, which is almost as wide as the Empire State Building is tall, could be redirected, and Earth might not be narrowly missed by it during subsequent passages or in extreme circumstances, even during the 2029 passage. But don't panic just yet.
