Republished from the press release of the Latvian Astronomical Society Nr. 58, 27 June 2018.

From Luxembourg to Tanzania, Australia to China, and throughout Latin America, Europe and US – more than 2000 events planned for 28-30 June

ESA Director General to attend in Luxembourg

LUXEMBOURG, SILICON VALLEY — Asteroid Day, the official United Nations’ day of global awareness and education about asteroids, has announced worldwide events for the week of 25-30 June. Co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr. Brian May of the rock group Queen, Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Filmmaker Grig Richters, and B612 President Danica Remy, Asteroid Day began with two major events in 2015, and has grown to more than 2000 self-organized events worldwide.

Asteroid Day events will address science as well as government and private-sector initiatives to study asteroids, and particularly advanced efforts to develop greater detection, tracking and deflection techniques. Recent news, including the asteroid impact in Botswana, spotted only hours before impact this month, and the discovery last October of ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to pass through the Solar System, has renewed the focus on asteroid missions, such as ESA’s AIM/Hera, and NASA’s NEOCam. Additionally, results from a recent Pew Research Center independent survey showed the American public favors greater funding for planetary science.

‘Oumuamua interstellar object (left) and asteroid Bennu (right), which is being studied by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx for a sample-return mission. Image credits: ‘Oumuamua: ESO/M. Kornmesser; Bennu: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

Asteroid Day events are independently produced by space agencies, universities, science centers, planetariums, observatories, museums, schools, theaters, libraries, local governments and other civic organizations. Most events are aimed at citizens of all ages, and are free of charge; selected events can be viewed on the Asteroid Day website.

As in previous years, the European Space Agency (ESA) is strongly supporting Asteroid Day events in 2018. On Friday, 29 June, ESA senior managers, including Director General Jan Wörner, asteroid mission experts and ESA Astronaut Matthias Maurer, will participate in Asteroid Day LIVE from Luxembourg. On 30 June, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and ESA are teaming up to produce a live webcast from the new ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre in Garching, near Munich, Germany, packed with expert interviews, news and updates and some of the most recent asteroid science results, starting at 13:00 (1:00 PM) CEST. Watch live via http://www.esa.int/asteroidday.

ASTEROID DAY LIVE FROM LUXEMBOURG

29 June-1 July: 48-hour global broadcast. Ask your questions on Twitter, live during the broadcast at: #AsteroidDayLIVE

Learn more about the broadcast and participants at: https://asteroidday.org/live/

In 2017, the Asteroid Foundation debuted the first ever 24-hour live conversation about asteroids, broadcast from the Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) studio at RTL City in Luxembourg. Asteroid Day LIVE returns in 2018, with 48 hours of content and commentary from experts around the world, hosted by Prof. Brian Cox, British physicist, author and BBC commentator. Prof. Cox will host astronauts, scientists, physicists, government officials from numerous countries, and special guests who serve as Asteroid Day ambassadors and asteroid experts.

Asteroid Day LIVE from Luxembourg will be distributed via a dedicated satellite, available on local channels subscribing to the SES satellite network, and via the Asteroid Day website. Media outlets can download the feed directly from the satellite via CDN (instructions here), or request information by contacting PR@AsteroidDay.org

Expert Press Briefing: Update on Asteroid Missions – 28 June: 16:00 CEST; 10:00 AM EDT

Asteroid Day will host a global press conference for reporters on 28 June,  featuring asteroid experts, live in Luxembourg and live-streamed around the world. A media invitation will be issued on 26 June with details on how to participate.

2018 ASTEROID DAY EVENTS

Full listing can be accessed at: http://www.AsteroidDay.org

ANO Asteroid Day events in Latvia will be organized in Riga at the Little Meteorite Museum (Nīcgales Street 3a) on June 30th from: 12 AM – 10 PM. The program offers popular science lectures and discussions on asteroids, their threats to Earth and meteorite.
This year, we will also pay special attention to the largest asteroid Vesta, which is currently in opposition and is able to be seen even with the naked eye in good observation conditions.
The event’s visitors will be able to see the bronze medal for the asteroid by artist Janis Strupulis, named after V.Visockis. The museum is constantly displaying another medal made by him to the natural scientist Teodor Grothus, who once carried out the first studies of the Līksna meteorite that fell in Latvia.

At 8 PM a demonstration in English will take place in the documentary reality style of G.Rihter’s film “51 Degrees North” (the number of places to watch the movie is limited).

Asteroid Day event in Riga at the Little Meteorite Museum will be attended by Latvian astronomers and science advocates – Dr. Ilgonis Vilks, Dr. Martins Gills, Kārlis Bērziņš, etc. Additional information on the website Meteoriti.LV.
Asteroids Day, the Asteroid Daily TV is scheduled to connect to Latvia from Luxembourg.

About Asteroid Day

Asteroid Day was co-founded in 2014, by Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist for the rock band Queen, Danica Remy, B612 President, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and filmmaker Grig Richters. Asteroid Day is held on 30 June each year to mark the date of Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event, which devastated over 2,000 km2 of forest in 1908. In 2016, the United Nations declared Asteroid Day to be a global day of education to raise awareness about asteroids. Major sponsors of Asteroid Day include the Government of Luxembourg, B612 Foundation, Broadcasting Centre Europe (BCE), SES, and Tomorrow Street, a joint venture of Vodaphone and Technoport. Asteroid Day is a program of the Asteroid Foundation, a Luxembourg-based nonprofit organization.

Join in the Asteroid Day conversation on Social Media!

• Website: AsteroidDay.org
• Twitter: @asteroidday #AsteroidDay2018, #AsteroidDayLive;
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/AsteroidDay #AsteroidDay2018, #AsteroidDayLive
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/asteroidday
• 

A Media Kit, including press releases, media alerts, quotes photos, video, and BROLL, is available in the Asteroid Day Newsroom.

Media Contact: Diane Murphy, pr@asteroidday.org