QQ47 was discovered August 24 by the automated LINEAR detection system in New Mexico. A few points in its orbit were recorded and the information was posted on the Jet Propulsion Lab Sentry website and that of an Italian asteroid-hunting counterpart. Based on the early, sketchy calculations of the asteroids orbit, both groups gave QQ47 a modest Torino rating of one. Torino ratings, so called because they were adopted at a Near Earth Object (NEO) meeting in Turin, Italy, range from zero (no likely consequences) to ten (certain collision). The rating of one, originally assigned to QQ47, meant that it merited careful monitoring.
Ordinarily, the press might not have paid much attention to the LINEAR discovery. But the British governments NEO Information Center issued a press release on the findings that was immediately picked up by the Reuters news agency and spread around the world. While the press release and the Reuters story mentioned the early, calculated odds of a collision as only one in 909,000 and that the Torino rating was likely to drop after further observations, David Morrison, a NASA Senior Scientist, charges that they still treated this as a serious warning of a threat to Earth. Many astronomers agreed, fearing that the subtleties would be lost on many journalists and the public. Turns out they were right.
In CCNet, a highly regarded Web site moderated by Benny Peiser, a British anthropologist and NEO analyst, Peiser himself lashed out at the NEO Information Centers decision to issue its press release. It would appear from that all the lessons learned from five years of our PR blunders, media gaffes and errors of judgment have been forgotten. Crying wolf becomes official policy. By mid-week, further observations of QQ47s orbit led astronomers to drop its Torino rating to zero.
The Great (and short-lived) Asteroid Scare of 2003 was over, and QQ47 is not an asteroid with the Earths name on it. But in the interest of full disclosure, there is an asteroid out there with my name on it. Its called Jaroff 7829, its five to six miles across and can be found in the general vicinity of the orbit of Mars. And like me, it presents no immediate threat to anyone