Celebrate with a crash course on ASU’s NASA missions, meteorite collection and more
Planets get all the attention — just look at the ruckus raised when Pluto was demoted or anytime NASA announces exoplanet discoveries.
But on Friday, asteroids take center stage with their very own Asteroid Day, an annual event started in 2015 to commemorate the Tunguska event (the Tunguska event was a large explosion above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia on June 30, 1908, that flattened nearly 800 square miles of forest; the cause of the explosion is generally thought to have been a meteor that burst midair).
There’s more to these space objects, however, than collisions and explosions. They also offer scientists a glimpse into the history of our solar system and may help us better understand the ground far beneath our feet.
NASA (where “every day is asteroid day,” according to its Facebook page) will be hosting a live chat about how researchers find and study near-Earth objects. It begins at 9 a.m. Arizona time Friday at facebook.com/NASAJPL.
Penny WalkerASU Now
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
