A Hard Rain's a-gonna Fall

Throughout the entire history of life on Earth, we have been at the mercy of the deadly impacts by rocks from space. Just ask the dinosaurs! On multiple occasions, devastating impacts from Near Earth Objects (NEOs) have probably wiped out life on Earth, requiring life here to start over again. However, these events are not relegated to Earth's distant past. Each year, Earth experiences multiple near misses by asteroids and, as in the case of the Chelyabinsk event of 2013, sometimes takes a direct hit. But now, for the first time in the entire history of life on Earth, we have the capability of doing something about it. In this talk, we will examine the threats posed to us by NEOs, explore strategies and technologies to mitigate these threats, and look at ways in which the amateur astronomy community can help save the world.

Speaker: Brian Day