Bill Nye Explains How To Stop a Killer Asteroid!

I’ve always enjoyed Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He makes science fun and funny, so you learn while you laugh.

Bill Nye stars in an AsapSCIENCE video that explains the dangers of colliding with an asteroid, but also reveals the cool ideas scientists have about how to prevent such a collision.

You may have heard about how dinosaurs were most likely wiped out by a giant asteroid 65 million years ago. While that made room for mammals to dominate Earth, we certainly don’t want the same thing to happen to us!

In the video, Bill Nye—in his usual nutty style and with the help of simple animations—takes us on a journey through space and explains:

• What happens when different-sized asteroids encounter Earth
• What kind of asteroid detectors we need to give us advance warning
• How little a change it would take to move a killer asteroid off course to avoid a collision
• A variety of ideas on how to make that “little change” happen

Watch the video to learn all about it:

[embedvideo id=”Agdvt9M3NJA?rel=0″ website=”youtube”]

And if you want to learn more, the always-handy “Dig Deeper” section of TED Ed has links to learn more on this topic:

• NASA has a great resource that features current missions exploring asteroids and tracking near-Earth objects.
• The Killer Asteroids Project has a tool to see what might happen if an asteroid hit nearby. It also has a game comparing the risks of a killer asteroid to other health risks.

So, while we have great ideas to stop an asteroid, we need more kids to study this important topic, get into the field, and be part of the generation that prevents a killer asteroid!