In the current very political context we would almost have forgotten it. Tomorrow, Sunday June 30, marks World Asteroid Day. At the very moment when one of them will pass close to the earth this June 29. Explanations.
Their mere mention is often frightening, but the risks of the end of the world due to the collision of an asteroid with the earth are very slim.
Asteroids tell a story of the solar system,
Patrick Michel is an astrophysicist at the Nice Observatory.
A reaction that makes Patrick Michel smile. This astrophysicist and researcher at the CNRS, the National Center for Scientific Research and director of research at the Nice Observatory. Because the question is always the same from us laymen: “At this moment, there is no threat identified for at least the next century. We do calculations, we are able to predict up to a century, a bit like the weather.”
- By the way, what is an asteroid?
As for the date of this anniversary day, it was not chosen by chance, explains the scientist to France 3 Côte d’Azur, “It is the anniversary of an explosion in the atmosphere on June 30, 1908, in Siberia which reduced an entire forest to ashes.”
Regularly, asteroids, most often small in size, come to hit the Earth, but the impacts are weak. However, we know that in 2029 one of them will come to visit us, so to speak: “It measures 340 meters in diameter,” explains the researcher, “we can see it with the naked eye, 2 billion people will be able to see it. A mission from the European Space Agency will study it.”
Research that should not be underestimated, because it is what allows us to better understand the solar system and the creation of the planets. The discovery of the first asteroid dates back to 1801. It was an astronomer from Palermo who discovered through research a body 1,000 km in diameter.
A subject that fascinates people in the United States in particular. In fact, entire pages on X, formerly Twitter, discuss asteroids.
This anniversary coincides with the distant passage of an asteroid, 290,000 kilometers from Earth, on June 29.
This is what the European Space Agency mentions. It still measures between 120 and 260 meters in diameter. But without danger, assures the scientific community. Phew!
