International Asteroid Day 2017 is nearly upon us. How will you spend it?

Astronomy.com is pleased to host the official live Asteroid Day stream this Friday, June 30, 2017, beginning at 3am Central European Time (10pm Eastern Time on Thursday evening). This years broadcast will be the first ever 24-hour live broadcast focusing on space and, specifically, asteroids. The intention of the broadcast is to spark and foster global conversations about not only asteroids and their effects on Earth, but also current and future missions to asteroids and Earth-based asteroid science projects.

As remnants from the formation of the solar system, asteroids have much to tell us about the solar nebula from which our planets formed, as well as the conditions throughout the early solar system. But because they are so small, they are difficult to see with any great detail from Earth, despite the fact that we can chart their paths relatively easily with small telescopes. There are several asteroid-centric space missions currently operating (including Dawn and OSIRIS-REx), as well as missions currently in the planning stages (Lucy and Psyche). Each mission reveals a little more about these enigmatic yet essential objects, helping us to piece together the puzzle of how our solar system formed and evolved over the past 4.6 billion years.

The Asteroid Day broadcast will include footage from Luxembourg, as well as programming from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). You can tune in here on our website for the live broadcast, or find out more on the official Asteroid Day website.

The 2017 International Asteroid Day broadcast is made possible with support from OHB, SES, BCE, and the Luxembourg Government.

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Astronomy.com will host a live feed on Asteroid Day - Astronomy Magazine