World Asteroid Day 2020: Know About The History And Significance Of This Day

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Every year 30 June is observed as the United Nations Asteroid Day to commemorate the Tunguska Event that occurred on 30 June 1908. This was the day when an asteroid made one of the largest impacts on the Earth. The day is also observed to spread awareness about the possible perilous effects of asteroids. To know more about this day, read the article.

History Of Asteroid Day

It was in December 2016, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution named A/RES/71/90. The resolution talked about spreading awareness about the impact of NEO and what measures need to be taken. It was decided that the World Asteroid Day will be observed every year on the 30 June to acknowledge the Tunguska event that took place in Siberia and Russia Federation on 30 June 1908.

Those who don't know asteroids are small bodies made up of rocks that usually circle around Mars and Jupiter. They circle around Mars and Jupiter on Asteroid Belt which is basically a path. These asteroids were formed from the leftovers of our own solar system.

Significance

• The day also aims to spread knowledge about the necessary actions taken across the world in the case of Near-Earth Objects (NEO). The NEO will comprise of asteroids, meteoroids, comets, etc.
• The first-ever asteroid Ceres was discovered in the year 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi.
• The word asteroids means 'star-like' which was first coined by astronomer William Herschel in the year 1802.
• However, according to the current theory, asteroids are planetesimals which means the building block of a planet that could never incorporate themselves as one of the eight planets.
• To date, there are over 600,000 known planets in our solar system.
• According to some theories, asteroids first impacted the earth over 65 million years ago and this led to the extinction of dinosaurs.