Asteroid Day

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Asteroid Day
Asteroid Day Logo HQ.png
Begins June 30, 2015 (2015-06-30)
Frequency Annual
Location(s) Worldwide
Inaugurated December 3, 2014 (2014-12-03)
Website
asteroidday.org

Asteroid Day is an annual global awareness movement that brings people from around the world together to learn about asteroids and what we can do to protect our planet, our families, communities, and future generations. Asteroid Day is held on the anniversary of the June 30, 1908 Siberian Tunguska event, the largest asteroid impact on Earth in recent history.[1][2]

It was co-founded by filmmaker Grigorij Richters and Dr. Brian May, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist.[3] Over 100 astronauts, scientists, technologists and artists, including Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, Peter Gabriel, Jim Lovell, Alexei Leonov, Bill Anders, Kip Thorne, Lord Martin Rees, Chris Hadfield, Rusty Schweickart and Brian Cox co-signed the Asteroid Day Declaration.[4][5][6] Asteroid Day was officially launched on December 3, 2014.[7]

History

In February 2014, Brian May, astrophysicist and guitarist for the rock band Queen, began working with Grigorij Richters, director of the film 51 Degrees North, the story of a fictional asteroid impact on London and the human condition resulting from such an event. May composed the music for the film.[8][9][10] After screening the film at the 2014 Starmus Festival, Richters and May co-founded Asteroid Day in October of 2014 which they officially announced during a press conference with Lord Martin Rees, Rusty Schweickart, Ed Lu, Thomas Jones, Ryan Watt and Bill Nye. The event was live streamed from the Science Museum in London, the California Academy of Sciences, New York and São Paulo.[2]

Asteroid Day declaration

The workgroup of Asteroid Day created a signatory called "100X Declaration", which appeals to all scientists and technologists who are supporting the idea of saving the earth from asteroids, but not only specialists are asked to sign, everyone can sign this declaration.[6][11][12]

The main three goals are:

1. Employ available technology to detect and track Near-Earth Asteroids that threaten human populations via governments and private and philanthropic organisations.

2. A rapid hundred-fold acceleration of the discovery and tracking of Near-Earth Asteroids to 100,000 per year within the next ten years.

3. Global adoption of Asteroid Day, heightening awareness of the asteroid hazard and our efforts to prevent impacts, on June 30, 2015.

Asteroid Day 2015

Self-organised events

According to the AsteroidDay.org website, over 90 events participated in global activities on June 30.[13] 36 astronauts and cosmonauts participated in activities on the day.[14] The general goal was to raise awareness about the threat posed by asteroid impacts. Institutions such as the Natural History Museum in Vienna,[15] the American Natural History Museum,[16] the California Academy of Sciences,[17] the Science Museum in London,[18] the SETI institute,[19] the European Space Agency,[20] the UK Space Agency,[21] among others participated in educational activities, marking the first official Asteroid Day, June 30, 2015.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Sample, Ian. "Asteroid strike warnings build towards campaigners’ big day of rock" The Guardian Dec. 3, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/03/asteroid-strike-warning-campaigners-day-of-rock-awareness-day
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Blitzer, Jonathan. "The Age of Asteroids" The New Yorker Dec. 10, 2014. http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/age-asteroids
  3. ↑ Clark, Dr. Stuart. "Second anniversary of Chelyabinsk meteorite strike" The Guardian Feb. 15, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2015/feb/15/second-anniversary-of-chelyabinsk-meteorite-strike
  4. ↑ Wall, Mike. "'Asteroid Day' to Raise Awareness of Space Rock Threat" Space.com Dec. 3, 2014. http://www.space.com/27921-asteroid-day-dangerous-near-earth-objects.html
  5. ↑ O'Callaghan, Jonathan. "'The time to tackle killer asteroids is NOW, warn scientists: Leading experts call for urgent action to save the human race" Mail Online Dec. 3, 2014. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2859618/The-time-tackle-killer-asteroids-warn-scientists-Leading-experts-call-urgent-action-save-human-race.html
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Asteroid Day List of Signatories
  7. ↑ Knapton, Sarah. "Asteroids could wipe out humanity, warn Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox" The Telegraph Dec. 4, 2014. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11272393/Asteroids-could-wipe-out-humanity-warn-Richard-Dawkins-and-Brian-Cox.html
  8. ↑ "Our story" AsteroidDay.org http://www.asteroidday.org/our-story
  9. ↑ Clark, Stuart. " Brian May warns of catastrophic threat to Earth from asteroids – video" The Guardian VIDEO June 30, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2015/jun/30/brian-may-warns-catastrophic-threat-earth-asteroid-video
  10. ↑ Rajan, Nitya. "Brian May Talks Armageddon And Why The 'Bruce Willis Solution' Won't Work" Huffington Post July 8, 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/07/08/queen-brian-may-asteroid-day-armageddon_n_7750550.html
  11. ↑ Rao, Nathan. "Scores of GIANT asteroids on course to hurtle past Earth within the month, NASA reveals" Express Jan. 1, 2015. http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/549722/Giant-asteroids-close-Earth-month-February-Nasa
  12. ↑ Highfield, Roger. "Asteroid Day Declaration at Science Museum" The Science Museum, Blog Dec. 4, 2014. http://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/insight/2014/12/04/asteroid-day-declaration-at-science-museum
  13. ↑ "AsteroidDay.org Events page" Asteroidday.org http://www.asteroidday.org/events
  14. ↑ "Get set for Asteroid Day" Astronomy Magazine June 24, 2015. http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/06/get-set-for-asteroid-day
  15. ↑ "Der erste Internationale ASTEROID DAY" NHM Vienna June 30, 2015. http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/veranstaltungsprogramm/1_internationaler_asteroid_day
  16. ↑ Johnson, Billy. "Happy Asteroid Day: We Are Woefully Unprepared!" Newsweek, June 30, 2015. http://www.newsweek.com/happy-asteroid-awareness-day-were-all-going-die-348887
  17. ↑ "Asteroid Day San Francisco" SpaceRef, June 30, 2015. http://spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=8757
  18. ↑ Highfield, Roger. "Why is Asteroid Day important?" Inside the Science Museum, blog, June 11, 2015. http://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/insight/2015/06/11/why-is-asteroid-day-important/
  19. ↑ "Asteroid Day Special Event - Michael Busch and Peter Jenniskens (SETI Talks)" SETI Institute June 30, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1DkX639kUk
  20. ↑ "ASTEROID DAY - ESA EXPERTS EXPLAIN THE NATURE AND THREAT OF ASTEROIDS" ESA Space videos, June 30, 2015. http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2015/06/Asteroid_Day_-_ESA_experts_explain_the_nature_and_threat_of_asteroids
  21. ↑ "It's #AsteroidDay! @51degreesmovie premiers tonight @sciencemuseum, raising awareness of asteroid threats from space" UK Space Agency Twitter account, June 30, 2015. https://twitter.com/spacegovuk/status/615809854800670721
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