International Asteroid Day, why is it celebrated on June 30th?

On December 6, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution declaring June 30 as International Day of Asteroids . The purpose of the date is to celebrate the anniversary of the Tunguska event that occurred on [30juin1945] [30juin1945].

In addition, the date is intended to increase the public and international awareness of the

The event Tunguska – also called "Toviuska bolide & # 39; – was an air explosion with power similar to that of l . of a thermonuclear weapon, which took place near the river Podkamennaya, at Tunguska -Siberia, Russia- at 07:17 30 June 1908. [19659002] The event Tunguska gave rise to dozens of assumptions and theories about what had happened there. The detonation – which did not reach the surface and therefore did not produce a crater – was attributed to a comet or asteroid . Because no fragment was found, the strongest theory is that a comet made up of ice was processed

On its website, On United Nations ( UN ) stresses that the International Asteroid Day will allow the public to be made aware of the risks of the impact of asteroids [19659004] and inform about crisis communication measures that would be adopted worldwide if there was a credible threat of impact of an object close to the Earth.

The decision of the General Assembly was adopted following a proposal by the Space Explorers Association available in English, approved by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of outer space.

side, the page official of the Asteroid Day tells a different story: in February 2014, Brian May – the famous guitarist Queen, who is Astrophysicist – I worked with Grigorij Richters on the music of a documentary about the hypothetical fall of an asteroid in London and the results of that in human life. This film was shown at an event called Starmus, which was attended by scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins.

That day, the discussions gave rise to the idea of ​​an ] International Day of Asteroids same as May led to the B612 Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection of our planet through the detection of asteroids and that it was founded by former astronauts, who proposed the 39 idea to planetary defense specialists and world authorities.

The founders of Asteroid Day – Brian May Danica Remy, Grigorij Richters and Rusty Schweickart-, as well as other specialists signed the declaration Asteroid 100X signed by scientists, world leaders, Nobel laureates, global defense experts and artists of Peter Gabriel's stature. It was the gateway to the date indicated by UN on [30juin1945] [30juin1945]

Here is a video that explains the story behind Asteroid Day ]:

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