2003 QQ47
2003 QQ47 is an
asteroid which became famous briefly upon its discovery in late August
2003 when media outlets played up a preliminary report that it had 1 chance in 250,000 of colliding with
Earth on
March 21,
2014.
A NASA spokesman said,
- "Newly discovered asteroid 2003 QQ47 has received considerable media attention over the last few days because it had a small chance of colliding with the Earth in the year 2014 and was rated a "1" on the Torino impact hazard scale, which goes from 0 to 10. The odds of collision in 2014, as estimated by JPL's Sentry impact monitoring system, peaked at 1 chance in 250,000, a result which was posted on our Impact Risk Page on Saturday, August 30. Impact events at the Torino Scale 1 level certainly merit careful monitoring by astronomers, but these events do not warrant public concern. In fact, each year several newly discovered asteroids reach Torino Scale 1 for a brief period after discovery; 2003 QQ47 is the fourth such case this year."
- "On September 2, new measurements of QQ47's position allowed us to narrow our prediction of its path in 2014, and thus we could rule out any Earth impact possibilities for 2014." [1]
2003 QQ47 has a diameter of approximately 1.24
km, and a
mass of approximately 2.6×10
12 kg. If it were to hit the Earth, it would be a
major event, with an energy of approximately 350,000
megatons, enough to cause global damage.
Dr. Sara Russell, a meteorite researcher at London's Natural History Museum, told the BBC that she was not worried that 2003 QQ47 would be a danger.
- "The odds are very, very low... We have to keep some kind of perspective," she said.
See the article on
risk for more on the perception of risk.
As a result of the press coverage of asteroids such as 2003 QQ47, astronomers are now planning to re-word the Torino scale, or to phase it out completely in favour of a scale which is less likely to generate false alarms which may reduce public confidence in genuine alerts.
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