Engaging Events and Special Moments in the 2024 Edition of Asteroid Day. Check Out the Highlights!

Discover how the world increasingly embraces Asteroid Day with each passing edition.

The global community’s dedication to sharing information regarding asteroids and planetary defense played a significant role in the success of Asteroid Day 2024. With numerous events taking place worldwide, here are some highlights:

Asteroid Day exhibition posters everywhere – Our gift available to everyone has become a valuable resource for global organisers. These posters, featuring interactive elements and captivating images of asteroids, enhanced the events and engaged a wide audience in asteroid science.

Nicolinha giving a lecture in Ceará, Brazil (1); a room displaying a giant asteroid model at the “Asteroid Day a Montecopiolo” event organized by StarDust, Italy (2) and a virtual exhibition created by Dost Pagasa from Quezon, Philippines (3). The poster exhibition was in various corners of the world.

An avalanche of events in Brazil – marking the first time since the inception of Asteroid Day that a country surpassed 200 activities. These activities included a variety of formats, from concise explanatory videos to large-scale events designed to engage the public in learning about asteroids.

The effective strategy employed by this country involved promoting warm up events throughout the year and encouraging the production of weekly content to engage audiences via social media. June became a month of significant celebration, culminating on Asteroid Day, with events catering to audiences of all ages in over 50 Brazilian cities.

Some of the many events held in Brazil: the webinar conducted by the discoverer of asteroids and comets Cristóvão Jacques (4), lecture given by scientific popularizer Lorrane Olivlet (5), meteorite exhibition at Campinas University (6), poster exhibition at Genival Leite Lima Observatory in Maceió (7), an asteroid floating with helium gas made by students in Nova Iguaçu by S do Saber Institute (8)and a girl interacting with posters about asteroids at an event organized by Mulheres de Estrelas in Rio Paranaíba (9).

South America – Thousands of people participated in the third edition of the great event in Pueblito de las Vizcachas, Chile. The same happened in the fourth edition held in the Pigúen N´Onaxá Cultural Natural Reserve in Campo del Cielo, Argentina. These two remarkable events have become global references, providing a large audience with a series of workshops, lectures, and cultural presentations involving asteroids and planetary defense.

Online, Astrocuentos Bien Conta2 from Medellín, Colombia, conducted a series of demonstrations on assembling games, models, and other asteroid themed objects using cost effective materials.

 

Other events in South America: the dedicated team responsible for organizing the event in Pueblito de las Vizcachas, Chile (10); big audience at one of the presentations held at the event in Campo del Cielo, Argentina (11); asteroid race game (12), asteroid B612 model with the Little Prince (13) and a bookmark asteroid (14) made with low-cost material by the Astrocuentos Bien Conta2 team, Colombia.

Central America and the Caribbean –Asteroid Day has been observed in Barbados, organised by the Harry Bayley Observatory and the Barbados Astronomical Society. In Nicaragua, the Astrociência team hosted a successful event for students at Una Cita Con Dios school in Managua, featuring a lecture and an exhibition of creative models. In Costa Rica, the San José planetarium offered its audience a series of conferences, workshops, and a meteorite exhibition.

Conference held at the San José Planetarium, Costa Rica (15), and one of the creative models made by students from the Una Cita Con Dios school in Managua (16).

North America – Planetariums and museums in Canada and Mexico engaged their audiences through talks, lectures, and demonstrations focused on asteroids. In the United States, the public had the opportunity to partake in special events nationwide. This edition marked the highest number of events hosted in museums and science centers across the USA.

Asteroid Day is being celebrated across the USA! Notable events will take place at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (17); Chabot Space & Science Center (18); U.S. Space & Rocket Center (19); Meteor Crater & Barringer Space Museum (20); Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology (21); NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (22); Orlando Science Center (23); Kaleideum Science Center (24); and the Museum of Science & History in Jacksonville (25).

Europe – Once again, numerous astronomy clubs, museums, science centers, and planetariums hosted events in several cities across Spain, France, Italy, and Romania. A notable highlight was the increase in events held in Portugal, marking the largest participation since the inaugural Asteroid Day. Could this surge in interest have been inspired by the spectacular fireball that traversed its skies last May?

Highlights from recent events held in Portugal include the Centro Ciência Viva do Algarve in Faro (26), UC Exploratório in Coimbra (27), and Santana Astronomical Observatory in the Azores (28).

Africa – Asteroids were part of the 12th edition of the Astronomy Festival of Ifrane in Morocco. In Madagascar, the Haikintana team held lectures and a workshop at the Médiathèque de l’AF in Antananarivo. Other events took place in Senegal, South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria.

Children had the opportunity to touch meteorites at the Astronomy Festival of Ifrane in Morocco (29). This was followed by a workshop held at the Médiathèque de l’AF in Madagascar (30).

Middle East – At an event organised by AstroFinders and various organisations in Israel, students earned the title of “Planetary Defender” as a result of their participation in a citizen science program. The Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences hosted a webinar lasting over 3 hours, with presentations by astronomers and scientists from several countries in that region.

Students being certified as planetary defenders at an event held in Israel (31) and one of the presentations made at the webinar organized by the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences (32)

Asia – A significant number of students gathered at various science centers in India to participate in Asteroid Day activities. The engagement was lively, with students from multiple schools and universities coming together for conferences, workshops, and demonstrations focused on planetary defense regarding asteroids. Additionally, schools across the country commemorated Asteroid Day with speeches, lectures, workshops, and films related to the topic.

Asteroid Day was highly engaging in India, where many students from various regions came together to learn about asteroids. Notable events took place at the Regional Science Center & Planetarium in Calicut, the Regional Science Centre in Bhopal, the Shrikrishna Science Centre in Patna, and the AstroCarnival hosted at the Mumbai City Museum.

We invite you to share your experiences from this year. Please send us any images from your event, and you will have the opportunity to receive a customized article about your organization featured on our website. We aim to showcase your contributions and educate the public about asteroids.