Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum To Hold “Asteroid Day” Event June 30

The National Air and Space Museum will host “Asteroid Day: Defending Planet Earth” June 30 at the museum in Washington, D.C., and online. A panel of asteroid experts will discuss the threats asteroids pose and how to protect the Earth from the danger they may cause. This is part of the global “Asteroid Day” event, marking the 110th anniversary of the largest impact-related incident in modern history when, June 30, 1908, an asteroid caused a massive air blast that flattened thousands of square miles in Siberia.

“Asteroid Day: Defending Planet Earth” will feature Jim Zimbelman, geologist in the museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, who will speak on the importance of impacts throughout the solar system. NASA astronaut Tom Jones will discuss the asteroid hazard from a scientist-astronaut’s perspective, and NASA scientists Lindley Johnson and Kelly Fast will speak about NASA’s planetary-defense activities. The panel will be moderated by Cheryl Reed, who works on the asteroid-deflection demonstration mission at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.

The live discussion will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery and will be broadcast live online on the Asteroid Day website.

This program is in recognition of Asteroid Day, a U.N.-sanctioned global awareness campaign.

For all the museum’s resources and articles on asteroids, visit the asteroid webpage.

The National Air and Space Museum is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. It is open daily with extended summer hours from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free.

Note: Summer hours for the National Mall building are in effect until Sept. 9, unless otherwise noted: 10 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Check the museum’s website for the most up-to-date times.

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