Manicouagan火山口, 魁北克加拿大 Manicouagan Crater in Québec, Canada (© Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Manicouagan火山口, 魁北克加拿大  Manicouagan Crater in Québec, Canada (© Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

An impactful day

We'll be the ones to drop the news on you: It's Asteroid Day! Today you're invited to explore a realm of science usually encountered only through white-knuckle action flicks: Asteroid impact avoidance, or the study of what the heck we do if we spot a big chunk of space junk hurtling right at Earth. That's right, don't worry: People somewhere are coming up with plans for this.

Good thing, because as our photo shows, asteroid impacts do happen. Manicouagan Crater, aka the 'eye of Québec,' was formed by a 3-mile-wide meteorite that hit Earth about 215 million years ago. Much more recently, an explosive meteoroid leveled 800 square miles of Siberian forest in what's called the Tunguska event. It was 113 years ago today, and Asteroid Day's date was chosen in recognition.

So, if you find yourself casting paranoid glances at the sky today, maybe do a little searching on how scientists are learning to prevent potential impacts. Proposed plans involve everything from altering an asteroid's course via a gravitational field, to delaying its approach by attaching rocket thrusters, to good old-fashioned blowing it up. Yay science!

充实的一天

我们会把这个消息告诉你：今天是小行星日！今天，你被邀请去探索一个科学领域，这个领域通常只能通过白痴般的动作来实现：小行星撞击避免，或者研究如果我们发现一大块太空垃圾正朝地球飞来，我们该怎么办。是的，别担心：某地的人们正在为此制定计划。

好事情，因为正如我们的照片所示，小行星撞击确实发生过。Manicouagan火山口，又名“Qu之眼”é“bec”是由一块3英里宽的陨石形成的，它在大约2.15亿年前撞击地球。最近，在通古斯卡事件中，一个爆炸性流星体将800平方英里的西伯利亚森林夷为平地。那是113年前的今天，小行星日的日期被选为纪念日。

所以，如果你发现自己今天对天空投下了偏执的目光，或许可以做一些探索，看看科学家们是如何学会防止潜在的影响的。拟议中的计划涉及到从通过引力场改变小行星的轨道，到通过安装火箭推进器推迟其接近，再到老式的炸毁小行星的各种方法。耶，科学！