New object, current 1-in-625 chance of impact, impact could cause local death and damage, more observational data will refine the trajectory estimations.
I can't really tell how news-like this is. Mostly, my question would be: this object is called 2023 DW, does it mean we went 2023 AA, AB, ..., DA, DB, ... DW? If so it's interesting that only ~100 new asteroids are observed and labeled so far this year. Maybe the categorization is somehow different than I understand.
"2023 DW" is a provisional minor-planet designation [0]. The "D" indicates that it was discovered in the second half of February (Feb. 16-28), and the "W" indicates that it was the 22nd minor planet discovered in that time frame.
The last time an asteroid reached a 1 on the Torino scale was late January. That asteroid is 2023 AJ1. It was downgraded to 0 on the scale in early February, after further observations decreased the estimated chance it will hit the earth.
Overall, objects reach a 1 on the Torino scale 3-4 times a year. No objects have reached level 2 or above since 2006.
- "Due to exaggerated press coverage of Level 1 asteroids, a rewording of the Torino Scale was published in 2005, adding more details and renaming the categories: in particular, Level 1 was changed from "Events meriting careful monitoring" to "Normal".
I can't really tell how news-like this is. Mostly, my question would be: this object is called 2023 DW, does it mean we went 2023 AA, AB, ..., DA, DB, ... DW? If so it's interesting that only ~100 new asteroids are observed and labeled so far this year. Maybe the categorization is somehow different than I understand.