Watch Live: Defending Earth from Asteroids



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We know that hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbit the Sun, and a very few have a high risk of striking Earth. There are also asteroids that haven’t been discovered yet that can surprise us, as evidenced by the explosion over Chelyabinsk, Russia, last February. This event was confirmation that an asteroid strike is a risk we do face. But also, how do scientists counter the pseudo-scientific claims and fears that asteroids seem to generate? And what opportunities do asteroids provide for mining useful resources?

Watch live today (Friday, October 25, 2013) at 15:00 UTC (11 am EDT) as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronauts Rusty Schweickart, Tom Jones, Ed Lu, Soichi Noguchi and others discuss the research and the steps that are being taken to avoid these potential natural disasters. With current space technology, scientists know how to deflect the majority of hazardous near-Earth objects, but these technologies have not yet been tested in space, and prevention is only possible if nations work together on detection and deflection.

This webcast is sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. You can see their webpage about this event here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

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