Astrophysicist Brian May is famous for being the lead guitarist, song writer, composer…etc in the band, Queen. He talks to The Guardian’s Stuart Clark about his earlier passion, Astrophysics and the role of Asteroids in the health of our planet.
Asteroid day aims to protect the planet and humans from disaster, that could be in store one day, if a large piece of space rock should hit earth in the near future.
The event could wipe out a whole continent or species and is waiting to happen sometime in the future. A large enough asteroid could end life on earth as we know it from a human perspective. Smaller asteroids could wipe out cities or continents. Even smaller ones could cause serious damage to modern life on the planet.
Brian May hopes to alert governments to the risks, and create an early warning system to detect, and one day to be able to do something about the floating space rocks, that are a serious incoming threat to earth from outer space.
The Guardian reports:
He has held a life-long fascination with space and is now devoting more time promoting the study of the cosmos to others. He is a key figure behind Asteroid Day, a series of almost 100 events around the world.
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Stuart Clark interviews Brian May about Asteroid Day.
“The aim is to ramp up public awareness and the awareness of governments to the fact that we are under threat from a meteor strike,” May told me during a visit, “It’s been made light of, and we’ve seen some great films, like Bruce Willis saving the day, but it is a very serious threat.”
A key aim of Asteroid Day is to lobby for a 100-fold increase in the detection rate of Near Earth Objects.
“This is a catastrophe that could be averted,” he said.
Asteroid Day trailer, featuring Queen’s We Will Rock You
Asteroid Day YouTube video:
Queen – We Will Rock You (Official Video)
Queen Official YouTube video:
