Just when you thought life was getting to be same ol’ same ol’, here’s a day that might spark your interest! Near Miss Day! It is a good day to learn things in science. Near Miss Day is on March 23rd because on March 23rd, 26 years ago today, a huge steroid almost missed hitting the earth. An asteroid is a small planet that usually stays in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some asteroids move more freely through space. On March 23, 1989, an asteroid the size of a mountain, came so close to the Earth that it almost hit. Even though it came within 500,000 miles of hitting Earth, in interstellar terms, “it was a near miss.” If it had hit the Earth, it would have left a huge crater, or hole, the size of Washington, D.C. It’s affect on the planet would have been very bad. Since then, there have been other near misses.
Near misses don’t happen very often. Here are some other asteroid near misses:
