Watch scientists discuss the latest research on killer asteroids

Astronomers, astronauts and other experts on near-Earth objects from around the world gather next week in Luxembourg to talk about asteroids. If you tune in to the Asteroid Foundation live event on International Asteroid Day (which is June 30) you can hear about the latest space rock research. The four-hour event will consist of panel discussions on future missions, advances in technology, how scientists track and detect asteroids, and what resources can be gathered from asteroids. It will be moderated by Gianluca Massi of the virtual telescope project, astronomer Phil Plate, Asteroid Day editor-in-chief Stuart Clark and Patrick Michel, director of research at CNRS at the Cote d’Azur Observatory.

“Asteroid Day reminds the world how important these celestial objects are. They hold the keys to understanding the formation of the solar system, provide steps that we will use to explore our solar system, and sometimes they hit our planet, “said Dr. Dorin Prunariu, vice president of the Asteroid Foundation in press release. The Asteroid Day event will also include pre-recorded interviews from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which is currently on its to Earth after collecting samples from the asteroid Benu.

The discovery of asteroids is a difficult science and scientists are still succeeding which are potentially dangerous. NASA has discovered nearly 16,000 near-Earth objects that are within approximately 45 million kilometers of our planet’s orbit. Like notes that while extinction-level asteroids are very rare, smaller space rocks such as the one that hit Tunguska, Siberia in 1908, or the 10,000-ton space rock that hit the Russian city of Chelyabinsk can also cause damage. And there were very close gaps. scientists that in 2029, a 1,120-foot asteroid known as Apophis would miss Earth by just 29,000 miles.

You can stream the Asteroid Day program on June 30 at 11:00 CET (or 5:00 EDT) on Asteroid Day’s TwitchTV or YouTube.