World Asteroid Day: Celestial phenomena explained to students

Credit: Special Arrangement

School students gathered at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, to commemorate World Asteroid Day.

The event aimed to shed light on the significance and potential dangers of asteroids, as well as understanding impact events, marking the anniversary of the Tunguska impact event in Siberia in 1908, which is considered the largest impact event in the earth's recorded history.

Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, head of the Science Communication, Public Outreach, and Education (SCOPE) Section at IIA, stated that around 60 students attended the event.

He explained, "During the hour-long talk, we focused on the unique astrophysical properties of asteroids, which preserve a chemical composition formed during the formation of the solar system. We also discussed the global efforts to study asteroids, including their trajectories and impact events."

Following the talk, students participated in a hands-on activity to recreate and understand impact craters. They threw pebbles into trays of cornflour and made observations about the resulting impact.