Western University’s Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX), in collaboration with the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Earth Sciences, is hosting a special Asteroid Day event on Thursday, June 30.
Asteroid Day is an annual global awareness campaign when people from around the world connect to learn about asteroids and what we can do to protect our planet from impact events. Held each year on June 30th, Asteroid Day marks the anniversary of the largest impact in recent history – the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia.
The Western event is scheduled from 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 30 at the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory.
Public talks include:
“The Tunguska Event and the Hazard of Asteroid Impacts,” presented by Peter Brown, Western University
“Fire from the Sky: How Rocks from Space Fall to Earth,” presented by Paul Wiegert, Western University
“Killer Asteroids,” presented by Mikael Granvik, University of Helsinki
“Meteorites: Messengers from Asteroids and Planets,” presented by Audrey Bouvier, Western University
Visitors are also encouraged to bring rocks believed to be meteorites or impactites (rocks created by the impact of a meteorite) for on-site expert analysis.
Weather permitting, solar observations may also be available.
For a full schedule of events, please visit https://uwo.ca/projects/cpsx/outreach/public_events/asteroid_day.html
For more information, please contact CPSX Education & Outreach Coordinator Parshati Patel at cpsxoutreach@uwo.ca
MEDIA CONTACT: Jeff Renaud, Senior Media Relations Officer, 519-661-2111, ext. 85165, jrenaud9@uwo.ca, @jeffrenaud99
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