This year’s Asteroid Day has events planned, including one at the Skyland Lodge Conference Center in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park on Sunday at 9 p.m.
June 30, 2015 marked the first “Asteroid Day” — a “global awareness movement where people from around the world come together to learn about asteroids and what we can do to protect our planet” from asteroid and comet impacts.
This year’s Asteroid Day features events planned around the world and online, including mine: “The Sky IS Falling: Space Rocks and You,” at the Skyland Lodge Conference Center in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park on Sunday, June 30 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
There is an excellent web page with information about Asteroid Day created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, packed with teachable moments, student activities, and teacher guides on asteroids and comets.
An important date in Earth’s history
On this date in 1908, a “stony (not icy) body between 164 and 262 feet in diameter entered the atmosphere at a velocity of about 54,000 miles per hour, where the 10 to 30 megaton explosion occurred, equivalent to the mountain’s blast energy of 1980. The eruption of St. Helens, at an altitude of 10 to 15 kilometers, occurred over Tunguska, Russia, according to a 2019 NASA update on the ‘Tunguska Event’.
The Tunguska event destroyed 830 square miles and 80 million trees in the largest event in modern times. That’s why Asteroid Day is observed every year on June 30, as a reminder to the world that planetary defense against asteroids and comets matters.
In 2013 we had the impact near Chelyabinsk. It was historic because of the number of injuries and the damage to buildings that occurred. It was the highest number ever recorded due to an asteroid/meteorite impact.
The Chelyabinsk event was the most well-documented asteroid explosion and meteorite impact ever, due to the number of videos, audio recordings, photographs, witness accounts and the meticulous recovery process of the associated meteorites.
Chelyabinsk has also improved our knowledge of the threat from asteroids smaller than a kilometer. The smaller asteroids like Chelyabinsk pose a greater risk of damage than previously thought.
In December 2018, an event occurred over the Bering Sea that released 40% of Chelyabinsk’s energy. This confirmed that such events occur more often than we would like.
Efforts by the United Nations, NASA, ESA and the B612 Foundation are working to develop a defensive capability and improved detection of the millions of asteroids.
Direct connection from the DC area to Asteroid Day
The B612 Foundation announced Friday that a local researcher has won the first-ever Planetary Defense Award, called the Schweickart Prize, launched in 2023 in honor of Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart.
The award was presented to Joe DeMartini, an astronomy Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, for his outstanding campaign proposal for twilight observing on Saturday. Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart presented the prestigious award during a special ceremony that included NASA astronauts Steve Smith and Nicole Stott, as well as YouTuber Scott Manley.
Below are key highlights in the field of planetary defense that have significantly improved or will significantly improve our protection against an approaching asteroid through detection and deflection:
- NASA has established a Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
- Interagency exercises such as the “Fifth Biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise” held in Maryland are conducted regularly to test real-world scenarios and responses.
- In 2021, we finally got a space telescope mission approved, NEO Surveyor, specifically designed to find large and small space rocks, like Chelyabinsk. This mission will significantly improve our ability to detect space rocks, especially those that are close to the Sun (such as Chelyabinsk) and therefore cannot easily be seen by telescopes on Earth. In an email, NEO Surveyor principal investigator Dr. Amy Mainzer: “We are excited to ramp up work on the Starship Bus starting this fall in preparation for launch in September 2028.”
- NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission changed the orbit of an asteroid in September 2022.
- A global community of citizen astronomers, in collaboration with the SETI Institute, actively participates in planetary defense by making real-time observations using Unistellar telescopes. I purchased one of their telescopes to participate in their citizen science projects.
One final point to think about: “The dinosaurs are dead because they didn’t have telescopes or a space program.” I use this phrase of mine to emphasize to my audience what we need to do to avoid going the way of the dinosaurs that died in an impact on the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago.
The cosmic clock is ticking. Asteroid Day became part of the movement.
Follow Greg Redfern on Facebook, X and his daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration.
Sign up here and receive the latest news and daily headlines in your email box.
© 2024 WTOP. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.