CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid and potentially hazardous asteroid with a diameter of 370 metres (1, 210 feet) that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 when initial observations indicated a probability up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029.

Detailed explanation-2: -One of them, 2022 AP7, is roughly a mile long, and its orbit crosses Earth’s path around the sun, getting as near as 4.4 million miles to Earth itself - uncomfortably close by cosmic standards (although far more distant than Earth’s moon).

Detailed explanation-3: -With a diameter of about 1.1 km to 2.3 km, the asteroid, named 2022 AP7, is the largest object potentially hazardous to Earth to have been discovered in the last eight years, said the team. It is also likely to be in the top 5 per cent of the largest potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) known.

Detailed explanation-4: -It was first estimated to measure between 65 and 100 feet broad, based on radar readings. Despite its modest size, the asteroid became the 1000th near-earth object to pass the globe, according to history books. JPL picked up the 1001st item as it approached Earth seven days later.

Detailed explanation-5: -"Planet killer” asteroids are space rocks that are big enough to cause a global mass extinction event, through the chucking up of dust into the upper atmosphere and the blotting out of the sun’s light, if they were to smash into Earth.