Asteroid 2003 QQ47 | Universe Today

Written by Jerry Coffey

Asteroid 2003 qq47 has a diameter of approximately 1.24 km, and a mass of approximately 2.0×10¹²kg.. If it were to hit the Earth, it would be a major impact event, with an energy of approximately 350,000 megatons. That is enough to cause global damage. The damage would not be limited to the impact zone, either. Tsunamis would devastate coastal areas if the asteroid hit near an ocean. Earthquakes and fires would ravage many areas if the impactor were to hit near a fault line.

The asteroid 2003 qq47 has received considerable media attention because it had a small chance of colliding with the Earth in the year 2014. As with many newly discovered asteroids it was given a 1 on the Torino Scale until further observation was able to eliminate it as a possible Earth impact asteroid. The asteroids chances of hitting the Earth peaked at 1 chance in 250,000. Honestly, that small a chance never should have made it into the news. It is awesome stuff for astronomers, but it really only causes havoc in the private sector.

The asteroid 2003 qq47 is not a major Earth impact threat. As a matter of fact, the chances of it hitting the Earth have been eliminated for the rest of this century. NASA will continue to monitor its trajectory just in case it hits a gravitational keyhole and something in the objects' orbit changes. As with nearly every other asteroid that has been intially found to be on a collision course, the asteroid 2003 qq47 has been found to be a false alarm.

Wikipedia has a very interesting article on the asteroid 2003 qq47. The Universe Today archives has a good piece on the topic, also. Astronomy Cast has a nice article on death from the skies that is related to this article

Filed under: Astronomy