IF YOU took a holiday last week, you may have missed news of the end of the world and its sudden reprieve. First, headlines warned that a two-kilometre asteroid was hurtling our way, with doomsday writ large for 1 February 2019. A few days later, much to the relief of anyone planning their retirement, we got the all-clear 鈥� in predictably smaller type.
Some astronomers were upset, complaining that the apocalyptic headlines never reflected the true nature of the threat. Worse, some reports made it look as though astronomers had made a mistake, crying wolf before they were sure of the danger. But that鈥檚 how the system鈥檚 supposed to work (see 鈥淎rmageddon postponed鈥ntil 2060鈥�).
At one point, 2002 NT7 held the record for the highest score on astronomy鈥檚 arcane Palermo Scale. That made it the asteroid most likely to devastate the Earth ever observed. Astronomers shouldn鈥檛 have been surprised that reporters spotted that. For headline writers, scientific warnings of doom are just too good to miss.
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After a while, the public will tire of these reports, just as people in Florida have got used to dire warnings about Atlantic storms, which rarely turn into hurricanes. There鈥檒l come a time when journalists only report asteroids confirmed as dangerous. In the meantime, the crashes most likely to ruin that comfortable retirement are still the ones that happen on the stock market.