Editing Asteroid impact avoidance (section)

=== ''Deep Impact'' ===

Research published in the March 26, 2009 issue of the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', describes how scientists were able to identify an asteroid in space before it entered Earth's atmosphere, enabling computers to determine its area of origin in the Solar System as well as predict the arrival time and location on Earth of its shattered surviving parts. The four-meter-diameter asteroid, called [[2008 TC3|2008 TC<sub>3</sub>]], was initially sighted by the automated [[Catalina Sky Survey]] telescope, on October 6, 2008. Computations correctly predicted that it would impact 19 hours after discovery and in the [[Nubian Desert]] of northern Sudan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newswise.com/articles/we-saw-it-coming-asteroid-monitored-from-outer-space-to-ground-impact |title=We Saw It Coming: Asteroid Monitored from Outer Space to Ground Impact |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201008/http://newswise.com/articles/view/550468/ |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=live |work=Newswise |access-date=March 26, 2009}}</ref>

A number of potential threats have been identified, such as [[99942 Apophis]] (previously known by its [[provisional designation]] {{mp|2004&nbsp;MN|4}}), which in 2004 temporarily had an impact probability of about 3% for the year 2029. Additional observations revised this probability down to zero.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027032753/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-10-27 |title=99942 Apophis (2004 MN4): Predicting Apophis' Earth Encounters in 2029 and 2036}}</ref>