World Asteroid Day

World Asteroid Day

3 mins
182


Dots the Giraffe, Boo the Monkey, Trunky the Elephant and Stripes the Zebra was looking through the telescope with their science teacher Brownie the Bear.


It was night time and the moon and stars were shining bright in the sky.

“Do you know what day it is today?”, asked Brownie looking at his students.


All of them scratched their heads looking here and there.


“Ok let me ask you another question”, said Brownie.

“Can you tell me what is the belt of stones between the planets Mars and Jupiter?”, asked Brownie hoping someone would answer this time.


“Oh, I know, is it the asteroid belt you are talking about?”, said Dots the giraffe.

“Yes”, said Brownie, very pleased that one of his students know.


Looking through the telescope Brownie explained, “An asteroid is a chunk of rock or metal that orbits around the sun”.

“Are they like planets?”, asked Boo wondering that this new thing in space was.

“Well not really, they are much smaller in size although one of them called Ceres is now called a dwarf planet”, said Brownie.


“What are they made up of?”, asked Stripes.

“Asteroids could be made up of carbon or they could be made up of rock and so-called stony asteroids or they could be made up of metals like iron and nickel and called metallic asteroids”, explained Brownie.


 “Can you see that potato-shaped lump there which is spinning and tumbling”, pointed Brownie as his students took turns in looking through the telescope.


“Yes, there are so many of them together looking like they are forming one giant belt”, said Trunky excitedly.

“That’s the asteroid belt”, explained Brownie.

“I saw in a movie once that an asteroid collided with the earth”, said Dots.


“You are right Dots, asteroids have banged into the earth. Some scientists even say that the dinosaurs went extinct because of an asteroid collision”, said Brownie.


“Really!”, exclaimed Boo his tongue hanging out in surprise.

“So, asteroid and day. Is today world asteroid day?” asked Stripes finally putting two and two together.


“Yes, it is! 30th June is World Asteroid Day”, said Brownie.

“But why do we need a day for asteroids?”, asked Boo confused.


“Well, it is to create awareness about what asteroids are and if they orbit close to the earth and collide with the earth then what could happen”, said Brownie.


“When was the last time an asteroid collided into the earth?”, asked Dots.

“It was in 1908 in near river Tunguska in Siberia, Russia and is hence, remembered as the Tunguska event”, said Brownie.

“What happened?”, asked all of them together.


“On a morning in 1908 a few farmers in the far off Siberian village woke up to see a column of blue light as bright as the sun move across the sky”, explained Brownie.


“Then there was a huge explosion 1000 more than that of an atomic bomb which flattened 80 million trees in that area. Till today no trees grow there”, said Brownie.


“The villagers' sheds were burnt and animals and the forests were burned. The asteroid did not hit the earth but disintegrated before it hit the earth”, said Brownie.


“Oh, my how scary. But you said asteroids are in the belt between Mars and Jupiter then why did they come to earth?”, asked Trunky confused.


“Good question. These are near earth asteroids as they have orbits which cross the earth. These asteroids usually explode when they hit the Earth's atmosphere and cause little damage to the Earth's surface.”


“Who discovered asteroids?”, asked Stripes.

“It was the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid, Ceres, in 1801”, said Brownie.


“But what are the called asteroids”, asked Trunky.

“The word asteroid is a Greek word meaning star-shaped”, explained Brownie.


“What’s the difference between comets and asteroids”, asked Dots.

“Well asteroids are similar to comets but don’t have a fuzzy tail as comets do”, explained Brownie.


“Thank you Brownie for our space lesson”, said all the animals.

Did you enjoy learning about asteroids with your friends? What do you think would happen if an asteroid collided with the earth?


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