(143649) 2003 QQ47

Template:Mp, provisionally designated: Template:Mp, is a kilometer-sized asteroid and synchronous binary system, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It became briefly notable upon its discovery in late August 2003, when media outlets played up a very preliminary report that it had a 1 in 250,000 chance of impacting into Earth on 21 March 2014.<ref name="QQ47"/> The discovery of a companion, approximately Template:Convert in diameter, was announced in September 2021.

Description

Template:Mp was discovered on 24 August 2003.<ref name="MPEC2003-Q46"/> It was added to the Sentry Risk Table on 30 August 2003.<ref name="QQ47"/> By 31 August 2003 (with an observation arc of 7 days) the odds of an impact on 21 March 2014 were already reduced to 1 in 1.7 million.<ref name=Wayback2003-09/> The asteroid was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 14 September 2003, indicating there is no risk of an impact by it in the next 100 years.<ref name="removed"/>

Template:Mp safely passed within Template:Convert of Earth on 26 March 2014.<ref name=jpl-close/><ref name="NEODyS"/> With an observation arc of 10 years and an orbital uncertainty of 0, its orbit and future close approaches are well-determined.<ref name=jpl-close/>

Preliminary reports

On 3 September 2003 a NASA press release wrote, Template:Blockquote

Template:Mp has a diameter of approximately 1.24 km, and a mass of approximately Template:ValTemplate:Citation needed. If it were to hit the Earth, it would be a major event, with an energy of approximately 350,000 megatons of TNT (1.5 ZJ), enough to cause global damage.

Sara Russell, a meteorite researcher at London's Natural History Museum, told the BBC on 2 September 2003 that she was not worried that Template:Mp would be a danger; "The odds are very, very low ... We have to keep some kind of perspective", she said.<ref name="BBC-QQ47"/>

As a result of the press coverage of asteroids such as Template:Mp, astronomers are now planning to re-word the Torino scale, or to phase it out completely in favour of a scale that is less likely to generate false alarms that may reduce public confidence in genuine alerts.

Binary system

A minor-planet moon orbiting Template:Mp was first detected on 29 August 2021, by Petr Pravec, Peter Kušnirák, Kamil Hornoch, and others using photometric data from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.<ref name="johnstonsarchive" /> The discovery was announced on 17 September 2021. The secondary measures a third the size of its primary (D_s/D_p-ratio of 0.33), resulting in a mean-diameter of approximately 310 meters. It is estimated to be tidally locked, orbiting Template:Convert from the primary every 13.065 hours. The primary has a rotation period of Template:Val hours and a derived diameter of Template:Val kilometers, for a resulting effective diameter (system) of Template:Val kilometers.<ref name="johnstonsarchive" />

In fiction

• The asteroid was mentioned in Anonymous Rex (Les Reptilians) (2004) as the asteroid which the dinosaurs were counting on to destroy human civilization.
• The Korean drama My Love from the Star also mentions it as the asteroid that will allow Do Min-joon to travel back to his home planet.

External links

• No, Asteroid 2003 QQ47 is NOT Going to Hit the Earth Next Week (Phil Plait 15 March 2014)
• Template:NeoDys
• Template:ESA-SSA
• Template:JPL small body