Astrophyzix Observatory - Latest PHA Asteroid News, Live Tracking, Official Reports - NASA API'S
Astrophyzix Digital Observatory<br>Asteroid News, Research & Analysis
Astrophyzix.com is the publication of the Astrophyzix™ Digital Observatory, offering unpaywalled, evidence‑driven analysis and real‑time monitoring of PHAs and NEOs.<br>Our tracking consoles and reporting systems use and provide access to official NASA CNEOS Scout, JPL CAD, NeoWs, JPL SBDB, Horizons and NOAA observational datasets, peer‑reviewed sources, and high‑precision numerical methods (IEEE‑754 Float64, RKN4).<br>Designed for students, educators, researchers, and the public, every console is uniquely designed and engineered by the Astrophyzix Digital Observatory. Our research notes and papers can be found at Astrophyzix.Academia.Edu
Live Apophis Tracker V5 :: Astrophyzix
Integrating Extended N-Body Trajectory
Loading Live Data
DOPRI5(4) :: tol 1e-9 :: 8 planets (Simon 1994) + Moon + 16 MBAs + GR + Yarkovsky
UTC clock initialising...
Integrator Status
SOLVERDOPRI5(4) :: 7-stage FSAL :: PI step
STEPS- steps
TOLERANCEtol 1e-9
SELF-TEST-
PLANET EPHSimon et al. 1994 A&A 282, 663
Closest Approach Countdown
2029 Apr 13 :: 21:46 UTC
31,600 km above Earth surface :: peak mag 3.1 (naked-eye visible)
Days
Hrs
Min
Sec
Live Position (numerical integration)
HELIO DIST<br>AU
EARTH DIST<br>AU / Mkm
SPEED<br>km / s
VIS MAG<br>apparent V
RA J2000<br>h m s
DEC J2000<br>deg ' "
Orbit Canvas
HELIOCENTRIC ECLIPTIC J2000<br>N-BODY
Time Offset<br>+/-0 d
View
Top-down<br>Side<br>Isometric 3D
Closest 2029<br>31,600 km<br>+/-3.3 km (3-sigma)
Now<br>Jump to 2029 Flyby
Ephemeris :: +/-15 days from current offset
Date (UTC)r (AU)Delta (AU)<br>v (km/s)MagRA<br>DecElong
Estimated Light Curve (H=19.09, G=0.24)
Speed Context
ISS orbital speed
7.7 km/s
Apophis vs Earth (flyby)
7.4 km/s
Apophis at aphelion
25.5 km/s
Earth around Sun
29.8 km/s
Apophis at perihelion
37.7 km/s
Apophis NOW
Live Force Budget (current cached state)
Magnitude of each acceleration term acting on Apophis at the current time offset. Bars are log-scaled (each tick = x10). Sun is the central two-body force; everything else is what makes Kepler propagation drift. MBAs Sum is the vector sum of the Big-16 main-belt asteroid contributions.
Notable Near-Earth Asteroids
ObjectDiameterea (AU)ClassVisited by
99942 Apophis ~340-450 m0.1920.923<br>PHA, AtenOSIRIS-APEX, Ramses
101955 Bennu 490 m0.2041.126<br>PHA, ApolloOSIRIS-REx (sample 2023)<br>65803 Didymos 780 m + 150 m0.3841.644<br>PHA, binaryDART (2022), Hera (2026)<br>162173 Ryugu 900 m0.1901.190<br>Apollo, C-typeHayabusa2 (sample 2020)<br>433 Eros 16.8 km0.2231.458<br>Amor, S-typeNEAR Shoemaker (2001)
Orbital Elements (JPL Horizons :: Soln 2024-Jun-25)
ECCENTRICITY (e)0.19152moderately elliptical
SEMI-MAJOR AXIS (a)0.92251 AUsmaller than Earth orbit
PERIHELION (q)0.74583 AUjust outside Venus orbit
APHELION (Q)1.09919 AUjust outside Earth orbit
INCLINATION (i)3.337 deglow - near ecliptic
ASC NODE (Omega)204.039 deg
ARG PERIHELION126.652 deg
ORBITAL PERIOD (P)0.886 yr (323.6 d)Aten-class NEO
EPOCHJD 2459215.52021-Jan-01.0 TDB
Physical and Derived
DIAMETER~340-450 mpeanut-shaped, ~170 m short axis
ABSOLUTE MAG (H)19.09Sq-class (stony)
ALBEDO0.350moderately reflective
ROTATION30.56 hrnon-principal-axis tumbler
EARTH MOID0.000382 AU~57,200 km - extremely close
YARKOVSKY A2-2.901e-14 AU/d^2Perez-Hernandez and Benet 2022
MEAN MOTION (n)1.1124 deg/day
SPEED PERIHELION37.7 km/svis-viva, heliocentric
SPEED APHELION25.5 km/s
DISCOVERY2004-Jun-19Tucker, Tholen, Bernardi (Kitt Peak)
2029 Flyby :: Once-in-a-Generation Event
CLOSEST APPROACH2029 Apr 13, 21:46 UTCFriday the 13th
DIST FROM SURFACE31,600 km+/-3.3 km (3-sigma)
DIST FROM CENTRE~38,000 km5.9 Earth radii, ~1/10 lunar dist
GEO BELT ALTITUDE35,786 kmApophis passes INSIDE the GEO ring
PEAK MAGNITUDE+3.1naked-eye visible
EARTH-RELATIVE SPEED7.4 km/sat closest approach
ANGULAR SPEEDup to 42 deg/hr~8 lunar diameters per minute
VISIBLE FROMEurope, Africa, W Asiamoves Centaurus to Pisces (205 deg arc)
LUNAR PASS (16h LATER)~95,000 km from Moon
IMPACT PROBABILITY0ruled out for >100 yr (Sentry, 2021)
Mission and Discovery Timeline
2004 Jun 19
Discovery - Tucker, Tholen, Bernardi at Kitt Peak; provisional designation 2004 MN4.
2004 Dec 27
Peak impact scare - 2.7% chance of 2029 impact; reaches Torino Scale level 4 (highest ever).
2005 Jul
Numbered and named - asteroid (99942) Apophis, after the Egyptian god of chaos.
2013 Jan 09
Earth flyby at 0.097 AU - Goldstone and Arecibo radar observations rule out 2036 impact.
2021 Mar 06
0.113 AU flyby - radar observations rule out impact for over 100 years; removed from Sentry table.
2024 Jun
Latest orbit solution - JPL refines trajectory with Yarkovsky effect; 2029 distance uncertainty +/-3.3 km.
2028 Apr
ESA Ramses launch - Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety; arrives Feb 2029.
2029 Apr 13
CLOSE APPROACH - 21:46 UTC; 31,600 km above surface; mag...