Apophis

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Apophis was discovered on 19 June 2004, by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen, and Fabrizio Bernardi at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Tholen and Tucker, two of the co-discoverers of the asteroid, are reportedly fans of the television series Stargate SG-1. One of the show's persistent villains is an alien named Apophis. He is one of the principal threats to the existence of civilization on Earth through the first few seasons, and may have inspired the naming. Tholen denied reports that the asteroid was named after the TV character, stating that the connection is coincidental. In the fictional world of the show, the alien's backstory was that he had lived on Earth during ancient times and had posed as a god, thereby giving rise to the myth of the Egyptian god of the same name.

In Their Own Story

The mythological creature Apophis is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable (/ˈæpəfɪs/). In contrast, the asteroid's name is generally accented on the second syllable (/əˈpoʊfɪs/, or /əˈpɒfɪs/ as the name was pronounced in the TV series). Symbols were given to the first few asteroids in the 19th century, though this practice faded when it became clear that there were a great number of them: such symbols are now extremely rarely used by astronomers. In 2008, Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer who devised most of the dwarf planet symbols in Unicode, proposed a symbol for Apophis. His symbol is based on ancient Egyptian depictions of Apep. The added star is similar to many of the 19th-century asteroid symbols.

Reader's Guide

The source does not provide a guide for Apophis as a character or entity beyond the naming connection to Stargate SG-1. The asteroid 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid and a potentially hazardous object, 450 metres by 170 metres in size. During a brief period of concern in December 2004, initial observations indicated a probability of 2.7% that the asteroid would hit Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029. Later observations eliminated that possibility of an impact with Earth, and it will pass Earth in 2029 at a distance of about 31,600 km above the surface. During the short time when it had been of greatest concern, Apophis set the record for highest rating ever on the Torino scale by reaching Level 4 on 27 December 2004. It took until 2021 to rule out the possibility that Apophis might hit Earth at some later date in the next century. Observations by Goldstone radar in January 2013 effectively ruled out the possibility of an Earth impact by Apophis in 2036. Radar observations in early 2021 helped refine the orbit, and in March 2021 the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that Apophis has no chance of impacting Earth in the next 100 years.

Did You Know?

• Apophis was discovered on 19 June 2004, by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen, and Fabrizio Bernardi at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
• During a brief period in December 2004, initial observations indicated a 2.7% probability that the asteroid would hit Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.
• Apophis set the record for highest rating ever on the Torino scale by reaching Level 4 on 27 December 2004.
• In March 2021, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that Apophis has no chance of impacting Earth in the next 100 years.
• The asteroid's name was inspired by the Stargate SG-1 villain Apophis, though co-discoverer Tholen denied the connection, calling it coincidental.