The article discusses the likelihood that an astroid will collide with the Earth. Crashes were all over the news around the time of my train trip, because a hunk of matter some 400 meters across had suddenly become a solar system media star: the likelihood that an asteroid dubbed 2004 MN4 would cause a really bad day in the year 2029 was briefly rated an unprecedented 4 (out of 10) on the Torino scale. The scale in fact describes the level of threat from space stuff smashing into Earth. Richard P. Binzel, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the inventor of the Torino scale, has a strong affection for Pluto, amateur astronomers and the Italian city of Torino, where he first proposed the impact scale at a conference in 1999.
© 2001-2024 Fundación Dialnet · Todos los derechos reservados