world asteroid day 2020: meaning, importance, history

world asteroid day 2020

asteroid day every year observed on 30 June since 2016 by the united nation for raising public awareness over the globe.

So, through the general assembly of the United Nation, asteroid day was declared in the resolution of 2016. which is observed each year at the international level and also the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908.

The holiday was organised after the 2014 release of the film 51 Degrees North, which explores what would happen if an asteroid were to strike London or any place of the earth. The film’s creative team (most of them are scientists) wanted to raise more awareness about the threat of asteroids to earth, and how we can help protect ourselves.

What Is an Asteroid?

Asteroids are rocky leftovers from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They revolve around the Sun and are sometimes called planetoids or minor planets.

According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NEO's are comets and asteroids that have been "nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth's neighbourhood."

Asteroids are mainly composed of minerals and rocks, while comets are made of dust and ice.
There are over one million asteroids in space that could potentially strike the earth, but modern scientists have only discovered about one per cent of them.

IMPORTANCE AND AWARENESS

Asteroid Day intends to raise awareness about asteroids and what can be done to guard the Earth, its families, communities, and future generations from a catastrophic event.

“Asteroid Day was created to encourage the public and governments to learn more about asteroids,  the origin of our Solar System, and to support the resources necessary to find and deflect asteroids ” explains Dr Brian May.  Through the Luxembourg Space Agency, which leads the SpaceResources.lu initiative that has been instrumental in the expansion of Asteroid Day, Marc Serres, CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency states “Luxembourg is proud to be the global headquarters for Asteroid Day and to aid in inspiring countries around the world to participate in this United Nations Day of education and awareness. ( from asteroid day )

The Asteroid Day's working group created a 100X Declaration, which attracts to all scientists and technologists who are defending the idea of saving the earth from asteroids, but not only specialists are asked to sign, anyone can sign this declaration. Today, the 100X Declaration has been signed by more than 22,000 private citizens.

More than 1M asteroids have the potential to impact Earth and through all the available telescopes worldwide, we have discovered only about one per cent. The 100X Declaration calls for increasing the asteroid discovery rate to 100,000 (or 100x) per year within the next 10 years. “The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it became that the human race has been living on borrowed time,” remarked Brian May. “Asteroid Day and the 100X Declaration are ways for the public to contribute to an awareness of the Earth’s vulnerability and the realization that Asteroids hit Earth all the time.” Asteroid Day would the vehicle to garner public support to increase our knowledge of when asteroids might strike and how we can protect ourselves.” ( FROM WIKIPEDIA)

International Asteroid Day is a great way to fight the lack of awareness about the issue. In the event that an asteroid does strike the earth, the holiday, the campaign and the movement can make a major difference in preparing people to protect themselves.

History

On 15 February 2013, a large fireball (technically, called a "superbolide"), travelling at a velocity of 18.6 kilometres per second, entered the atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk. According to NASA, the approximate effective diameter of the asteroid was estimated at 18 meters and its mass at 11,000 tons. The approximate total impact energy of the Chelyabinsk Fireball, in kilotons of TNT explosives (the energy parameter usually quoted for a fireball), was 440 kilotons. The Chelyabinsk event was an extraordinarily large fireball, the most energetic impact event recognized since the 1908 Tunguska blast in Russian Siberia. ( from united nations)

Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr Brian May of the rock group QUEEN; Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart; Filmmaker Grig Richters; and B612 President Danica Remy, to promote awareness and provide knowledge to the general public about the importance of asteroids in our solar system history, and the role they play in our solar system today. Events are scheduled leading up to 30 June, the date of the largest asteroid impact of Earth in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event. In 2016, with the support and leadership of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the United Nations declared Asteroid Day to be a global day of education to raise awareness and promote knowledge in the general public about asteroids. Major events in past years have taken place in London, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Tanzania, Milan and Rimini, Italy, Garching, Germany, Santiago, Chile, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in addition to thousands of events worldwide. ( text from asteroid day )

Watch 51 Degrees North Movie

Check out the film that began it all, but be prepared to experience haste of emotions. The movie is fictional, but it’s an examination of a potential real-world scenario, and it gives you a lot to think about. It’s a great motivator to learn more about asteroids and how to stay safe in the event of a dangerous impact.