Apophis

Apophis — asteroid, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

Apophis will pass safely close to Earth in April 2029. Its irregular body is reconstructed from radar echoes, not spacecraft photographs. The model preserves the published shape and scale; the orientation and neutral surface material are illustrative.

Shape

Preliminary radar reconstruction · Brozović et al. 2018

Model extent

410 × 349 × 318 m · original physical scale

Surface

Neutral material; no resolved global photographic map

Attitude

Illustrative · Apophis tumbles

Trajectory

JPL Horizons · 2020–2040

Encounter

Safe close Earth flyby · 13 April 2029

Credit

Lawrence & Benner 2026 · NASA PDS

Seeing Apophis in real time

Cosmoscope puts Apophis at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Apophis is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Apophis where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.