With less than one week to go before the first official Asteroid Day on June 30, local organizers are making final preparations for more than 50 public events worldwide to increase education and awareness about asteroids and how to better detect them. June 30 is the anniversary of the largest asteroid impact of Earth in recent history, the 1908 Siberian Tunguska asteroid impact. The 100X Declaration, calling for increased detection and tracking of near Earth objects, is open for public signature.

“Our surveillance of near-Earth objects is not good enough, so we are trying to ramp up the rate of detection by 100 times,” said astrophysicist and musician Brian May. “Signing the 100X Declaration is a way for the public to contribute to bringing about an awareness that we can protect humanity now and for future generations.”

More than 36 astronauts and cosmonauts are participating in Asteroid Day. A partial listing includes: Pedro Duque (Spain); Tamara Jernigan (U.S.); Tom Jones (U.S.); Alexei Leonov (Russia); Ed Lu (U.S.); Patrick Michel (France); Dorin Prunariu (Romania); Andres Eloy Martinez Rojas (Mexico); Franz Viehboeck (Austria); Rusty Schweickart (U.S.); and Anousheh Ansari (U.S.), the first woman private space traveler.

….

Read more on Astronomy Magazine