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Asteroid Day
"The Moon is a ball of left-over debris from a cosmic collision that took place more than four billion years ago. A Mars-sized asteroid - one of the countless planetesimals that were frantically churning our solar system into existence - hit the infant Earth, bequeathing it a very large natural satellite."
~ Seth Shostak, American Astronomer
Or is it?
Ka-boom! Asteroid Day commemorates the morning of June 30, 1908, when a tremendous explosion occurred over the remote Tunguska region of Siberia near the Stony Tunguska River. Generally attributed to the airburst of a stony meteoroid about 100 meters (330 feet) across, the blast remains one of the largest impact events in recorded history.
Curiously, although it is classified as an impact event, no crater has ever been found. Instead, the explosion flattened more than 830 square miles (2,150 km²) of forest, leaving millions of trees lying like matchsticks.
This asteroid and moon-coloured tartan with its illuminated greys and dark shadows was designed to celebrate robotic and human exploration, along with the scientific discoveries and educational outreach associated with the Moon and other airless worlds, including asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects, and beyond.
The asteroid Vesta, named for the Roman goddess of the hearth, home, and sacred fire, is shown below. Discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers in 1807, it is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt and is occasionally bright enough to be seen with the naked eye!
Once named exclusively after female mythological figures, asteroids are now named for an astonishing variety of people, places, scientific achievements, works of art, and fictional characters. Among them are Arthur Conan Doyle's famous creations—5048 Moriarty, 5049 Sherlock, and 5050 Doctorwatson—as well as every member of the legendary British comedy troupe, Monty Python! Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more! 🤍 🖤 🤍 🌑 🌔 🌓 🌖 🌕 🔭 ☄️ ☄️ ☄️
This tartan was designed on behalf of Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh to celebrate robotic and human science, exploration and outreach activities associated with the Moon or other airless bodies including asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects or other objects.
The tartan colours represent the following: The grey background represents the minerals and rocks on airless bodies. The bold white line represents ice or salt deposits on some bodies, for example, icy comets or ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the Moon. The black line represents organic materials on comets, in lunar polar craters and other bodies. The green line represents life eventually established on these bodies in the form of human exploration and settlement. The silver line represents the future technological transformation of some of these bodies by human settlement and industry.
Many features of the moon are named after famous individuals. Amongst others, several craters of the moon are named after Scottish scientists:
The Neper crater is named after the Scottish mathematician, physicist, astronomer and astrologer John Napier.
The Mee crater is named after the 19th-century Scottish astronomer Arthur Butler Phillips Mee.
The Brewster crater is named after the Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster.
The Maxwell crater is named after the Scottish mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
For a full list of craters named after people, click asteroid Vesta!