World Asteroid Day 2020: the day is celebrated each year on June 30
Asteroids have always sparked our imagination and aroused the curiosity of the world scientific community for years. World Asteroid Day is celebrated on June 30 of each year. It’s one of the days designated by the United Nations to raise awareness and educate people about asteroids. Today is the fourth edition of World Asteroid Day.
In December 2016, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution in order “to observe each year, at the international level, the anniversary of the impact of Tunguska on Siberia, on June 30, 1908, and to raise public awareness danger of asteroids impact. ” Tunguska is the largest asteroid, recorded in history, to have an impact on the earth.
Asteroid Day: the founders
An interesting variety of people co-founded World Asteroid Day; among them, scientist Stephen Hawking, filmmaker Grigorij Richters, president of the B612 Foundation, Danica Remy, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and Brian May, guitarist from the rock group Queen and astrophysicist.
What is an asteroid?
Asteroids are small rocky objects orbiting the sun. There are many asteroids in our solar system and most of them are found in the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, known to be a solitary area.
Asteroids and the Earth
Many lakes around the world have been created as a result of asteroids impacting the earth’s surface and creating craters. In India, Lake Lonar in Maharashtra, which recently hit the headlines for “turning pink” overnight, is a crater lake created by an asteroid impact. NASA Landsat 8 has captured the “pink” lake.
#Lonar Lake Maharashtra was created by an asteroid from the Pleistocene era. It is one of the four known impact craters at high speed in basalt rock everywhere on Earth. Something strange happened in a few days here. The water has turned pink. Captured by Landsat 8 from @NASApic.twitter.com/v9wHj1EYPV
– Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) June 24, 2020
Space agencies from most countries like ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency), Roscosmos (Russia), ISRO (India) and NASA (United States) organize events this day. Scientists and astronomers around the world seek to educate ordinary people about the role of asteroids and meteors, because there are several myths surrounding these cosmic bodies.
