Torino Scale
Sign in to saveAlso known as Torino Impact Hazard Scale
measure of hazard posed by near-Earth objects
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, Torino Scale is referenced by 173 other articles, and connects out to NASA, Earth and United Nations.
It sits within the topics 1999 introductions, Alert measurement systems and American inventions.
Its subject is documented across 33 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Named after
- Turin
- Image
- Torino scale multilingual.svg
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Torino Scale
- discoverer or inventor
- Richard P. Binzel
- inception
- 1996-00-00
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Graphical representation of the Torino scale. The sizes are approximate. Energy is in TNT equivalent. The Torino scale is a method for categorizing the impact hazard associated with near-Earth objects (NEOs) such as asteroids and comets. It is intended as a communication tool for astronomers and the public to assess the seriousness of collision predictions, by combining probability statistics and known kinetic damage potentials into a single threat value. The Palermo scale is a similar, but more complex scale.
Near-Earth objects with a Torino scale of 1 are discovered several times a year, and may last a few weeks until they have a longer observation arc that eliminates any possibility of a collision. The only objects on the Torino scale that have ever ranked higher are asteroids 99942 Apophis, which had a rating of 4 for four days in late 2004, the highest recorded rating; (144898) 2004 VD17, with a historical rating of 2 from February to May 2006; and 2024 YR4, with a rating of 3 from January 27, 2025 to February 20, 2025.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Torino Scale” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.