It's Asteroid Day 2017, if you cared

[ZoomBubba]

So I didn’t realize it was already Asteroid Day 2017. That might have something to do with having no idea Asteroid Day existed until just a few minutes ago though.

 

But, I think I have an excuse though. Asteroid Day has only been around two years. It hasn’t made its way into the broad public consciousness yet. I just learned about it by chance myself, when I was looking for interesting news via Google News search.

 

The purpose of Asteroid Day is pretty simple: Bring attention to asteroids. The purpose of this attention is to protect earth through an early prevention mechanism, which has yet to developed.

 

What’s particularly interesting about Asteroid Day is who created: Brian May. May co-founded and played guitar for Queen. He now works as an astrophysicist.

 

In case you didn’t know what asteroids are, the quick definition is this: They’re small rocky bodies, ranging from dust particles to 1,000 miles across, that orbit the sun. Occasionally, their orbits cross paths with Earth, sometimes with disastrous results. Just ask the dinosaurs.

 

So with the dinosaurs in mind, let’s get back to protecting Earth:

 

Every day, Earth is bombarded by tons of dust-size particles that burn up in the atmosphere. According to NASA, an automobile-size asteroid hits Earth’s atmosphere about once a year, burning up before it reaches the ground. A larger object that would be capable of threatening the planet’s civilizations collides with Earth once every few million years, the agency estimates.

 

To prepare for the risk of catastrophe, NASA has developed a Planetary Defense Coordination Office. Other space agencies have developed similar programs. On NASA’s Planetary Defense FAQ, the agency writes that deflecting an asteroid would require changing its velocity by less than an inch per second years in advance of a potential collision. NASA is working to develop a so-called kinetic impactor, which would hit an asteroid slightly with an object to slow it, and a gravity tractor, which would put a large mass near an asteroid whose gravity would tug at it enough to change its path.

 

So, why June 30?

 

Well, it’s the date of the Tunguska event. This event happened on this date in 1908 when 5–10 megaton airburst occurred over Tunguska, Russia. The airburst flattened 800 square miles and 80 million trees, making it the largest impact to occur in modern times.

 

Most recently, and also in Russia, we got a reminder of how dangerous even a small asteroid could be with the Chelyabinsk event, when a car-sized asteroid exploded overhead. Hundreds were injured and the event was caught on camera by several people, giving us spectacular documentation of the event.

 

So, if you want to spend your day getting your space on, then I’d suggest you check out the 24-hour feed going on to mark Asteroid Day. Just to let you know, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s a bunch of guys sitting around a table talking about asteroids.

 

https://zoombubba.com/blog/2017/06/30/asteroid-day-aims-to-raise-awareness-protect-earth/

[mochi]

an asteroid causing human mass extinction would be a welcome surprise at this point so I fully approve of this holiday