The United Nations does not fool around, though, and they designated the day to make people aware of the possibility of a huge space rock smashing into an important populated area, or even Cleveland; we do not know.
Actually, they chose June 30, because, as I'm sure you'll remember, it was 6/30/1908 when a big asteroid smashed into Tunguska, Russia and destroyed hundreds of forested acres before the people even had a chance to rake the forest!
The UN wants us to be aware of four (4) gigantic space rocks floating around that could be hurtling earthward at any moment.
Take "1979 XB," for instance. Scientists do not get overly sentimental when naming the 'roids, but this hugger is 900 meters wide, just over half a mile. Pretty impressive, and it's traveling at 44,000 miles per hour IN A 40,000 mph ZONE! Someone has to pull it over and write 1979 XB a ticket, that's all there is to it.
To make XB feel better, scientists have started referring to it as a "minor planet," and how do you think that makes Jupiter feel? Anyone? XB does have a chance of hitting Earth in the middle of this century. Wave to it in 2024, which is the next time its orbit will bring it close to Earth.
The space guys also fret about an asteroid called Apophis (Greek for B.A. Rock) which is the size of four football fields, but is still 124,274,238 miles away, and it hasn't stopped for lunch yet.
So you can prepare: Apophis will be 18,000 miles away when it darts past us in 2029. We could at least put out some chips and Fresca, and make it feel at home.
The other two are known as 2010 RF12 and 2000 SG344, but I feel I've upset you enough already.
Just be sure to wear a helmet when you go outside, is all I'm saying.
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