KEY TAKEAWYS
• The countdown has quietly begun.
• The assumptions we rely on are thinner than we admit.
• The next close approach will be visible to the naked eye—and unforgiving of error.
What an interstellar visitor taught us may determine how ready we are for April 2029.
[USA HERALD] – In April 2029, asteroid Apophis will pass so close to Earth that it will be visible to the naked eye across large portions of the planet. For a brief window, a mountain-sized object will glide through the sky closer than many geostationary satellites, moving fast enough to visibly shift position over the course of minutes. Nothing like it has ever been witnessed by modern civilization.
Apophis is often described as “well understood,” “non-threatening,” or “fully modeled.” Those reassurances are technically accurate—but incomplete. As with any legal case built on probabilities rather than certainties, what matters most is not what we believe today, but how resilient those beliefs are when confronted with new evidence.
