I talked about Asteroids! during a filming of Astronomy for Everyone in June of 2015.

Astronomy for Everyone is a TV series produced by members of the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club, airing monthly in a couple communities in southeastern Michigan, and also on YouTube. The program is targeted towards beginner and intermediate audiences, as well as all amateur astronomers and sky observers. My program was the first of the show’s 7th year, and the first to be filmed in HD; it airs in early June – I’ll put up a link to it when it is posted.

We started out discussing what Asteroids were, where they were, and how they were discovered.

Asteroid Belt and NEOs. Image Credit: Scott Manley

We talked about the relationship of meteorites to Asteroids, and some interesting discoveries from the study of meteorites, such as: determining the age of the Earth, organic molecules, and even amino acids.

I discussed the Chelyabinsk Impact Event from 2013, and damage and injuries it caused.

Workers repair a power line near the wall of a local zinc plant which was damaged by a shockwave from a meteor in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, on February 15, 2013. A meteor strike in central Russia that left today hundreds of people injured is the biggest known human toll from a space rock, a British expert said. AFP PHOTO / 74.RU/ Oleg Kargopolov/Getty Images

We then talked about the frequency of Asteroid strikes, and how to defend against them. I discussed the pitfalls of  using nukes or impactors against a low-density or porous asteroids (or comets), and covered some other deflection methods – such as the Planetary Society’s Laser Bees project, and the Gravity Tractor concept.

I mentioned that you have to find Asteroids before you can deflect them, and that as of this time, no government on the planet has assigned the task of Planetary Defense to any of its agencies. Because of this, private individuals and foundations are having to take up the mantle; I described the B612 Foundation’s privately-funded, asteroid-hunting Sentinel Mission:

I mentioned the formation of IWAN, the International Asteroid Warning Network, and went over the #AsteroidDay declaration, its impressive list of signatories, and the numerous global awareness events happening on June 30th:

All of this in 20 minutes, with a short break in the middle. It was quite the experience, and I hope to be back in the future!