Three years from now...

I suppose it's a fact of life that when we get a string of very busy news days, the next slow news days seem even slower, even harder to adapt to. So here's just an interesting look at April 13, 2029 - three years from now, but a Friday not a Monday, that we will get the closest known flyby of an asteroid in history, and of the biggest body to ever approach Earth. 

A rare naked-eye asteroid will light up the night sky on April 13, 2029, when the near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis makes an extraordinarily close flyby of Earth. For skywatchers, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event — and one worth traveling for.  

This will be one of the closest approaches ever recorded for an object of its size. The night sky will tell a story billions of years in the making. 

At its nearest point — 5:45 p.m. EDT (2145 GMT) on April 13, 2029 — it will pass closer than Earth's geosynchronous satellites, at a distance of roughly 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers). Just over an hour earlier, at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2035 GMT), it will reach peak brightness, with a magnitude of around 3.1. That's bright enough to be seen with the naked eye from dark locations — but only some locations.

For observers in Europe, Africa and western Asia, Apophis will appear for one night only. An asteroid this big, getting this close to Earth, happens only once every few thousand years, making it truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a celestial encounter both dramatic and deeply humbling.

To be honest, maybe I'm spoiled, but I don't think a magnitude 3.1 object is going to stand out in the sky. I suppose if we sit outside adapting our vision to the dark, it will be better than if we were to just walk outside from well-lit house in the suburbs but magnitude 3 just isn't going to grab your eyes. If its motion is visible, that will help.

If you poke around, you'll find that Apophis gets talked about pretty often. When it was first discovered, early calculations of its trajectory said that it might hit Earth. Interestingly, that's how it got its name. Apophis, was the Ancient Egyptian God of chaos. As observations improved, the calculated trajectory improved and now Apophis is not predicted to hit, but is still classified as a "potentially hazardous asteroid," not because the current predictions show impact, but because of its size (approximately 1230 feet long) and how close it's going to get. At some point, these predictions have to factor in that we don't know 100% of what's out there that could tweak its trajectory and move it slightly. Especially if it hit Apophis.

Remember our OSIRIS-REx satellite? This is the one that took samples of asteroid Bennu, bringing them back to Earth in September of 2023. If you do recall that, you'll probably also remember that OSIRIS-REx was reassigned to rendezvous with Apophis, getting renamed as OSIRIS-APEX (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer).

The European Space Agency's proposed Ramses mission aims to launch in 2028 to observe the asteroid up close before and during its flyby, while NASA's OSIRIS-APEX is scheduled to orbit Apophis in June 2029 to see how the close encounter with Earth affected it. ... ExLabs also intends to launch a commercial mission, called Apophis EX, to rendezvous with the asteroid.

A rare stargazing spectacle will unfold on Friday, April 13, 2029, as the asteroid Apophis passes closer than satellites over Europe and Africa in a true once-in-a-lifetime event. (Image credit: Apophis: ESA-Science Office, Earth added in Canva Pro.)