National Near Miss Day
Celebrate this close call on #NationalNearMissDay
23 March is annually celebrated as National Near Miss Day, and commemorates the day the asteroid 4581 Asclepius nearly hit Earth in 1989.
The mountain-sized asteroid came within 500 000 miles of colliding with the Earth on 22 and 23 March 1989, and Doctor Henry Holt said, “On the cosmic scale of things, that was a close call.”
The asteroid was discovered on 31 March 1989, nine days after its closest approach to Earth. According to geophysicists, a collision with Asclepius would have released energy comparable to that of a 600-megaton atomic bomb. A collision would have had a catastrophic affect on our planet.
But, this was not the only near miss that occurred, there have been other similar events that have happened on an infrequent basis.
Use #NationalNearMissDay to post on social media.
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