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Astronomers Upset About Asteroid Panic

Posted by simoniker on from the construct-identical-trashteroid dept.

DrMorpheus writes "According to the New Scientist, astronomers are horrified by press scares over asteroids - including the recent furore over QQ47 - which briefly had a one-in-a-million chance of crashing into our planet in 2014. So much so that they are toning down the scale they use to rate the threat posed by asteroids in an attempt to discourage journalists from covering potential collisions. Some even want the way asteroids are assessed to be completely overhauled."

2 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. On space.com too by snake_dad · · Score: 5, Informative

    Space.com had a nice piece about this too.

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  2. Re:We should get rid of the torino scale regardles by Vihai · · Score: 5, Informative


    Multiply probability of impact by consequences of collision and you get a meaningful weighed probability of disaster.

    Low probability * Low damage = Low danger
    High probability * Low damage = Medium Danger
    Low probability * High damage = Medium Danger
    High probability * High damage = High Danger

    Seems reasonable to me