The asteroid Apophis, with a diameter of about 350 meters, will be visible to the naked eye from the Russian Far East in 2029. According to Leonid Elenin, a researcher at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the best viewing conditions will be there, while in the rest of Russia, binoculars will be required.
On April 13, 2029, the celestial body will pass within 32,000 km of Earth – a record-low distance for an object of this size. The phenomenon is causing excitement among scientists worldwide. NASA's OSIRIS-APEX mission, which previously studied asteroid Bennu, is already en route to Apophis, and the European Space Agency is preparing to launch the RAMSES spacecraft.
Russia is also developing its own mission. Eduard Boos, Director of the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, told TASS that the scientific center is considering sending a small satellite or lander to photograph and collect soil samples from the surface of Apophis. This rare close approach presents an opportunity for planetary defense and fundamental science.