LDEO Launches Flags of Science CCL Exhibition on International Asteroid Day

International Asteroid Day is celebrated annually on June 30th to raise public awareness about asteroid impact hazards and inform the public about crisis communication and planetary defense actions. It was officially proclaimed by the United Nations in December 2016.

The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the Tunguska event in Siberia, Russia, on June 30, 1908. This is considered the largest and most destructive recorded asteroid impact in modern history, which flattened more than 2,000 square kilometers of forest.

The day was co-founded in 2014 by astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Dr. Brian May, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters, and B612 Foundation President Danica Remy.  It aims to educate the public about the importance of asteroids in the formation of our solar system, their potential threat to Earth, and the global defense and detection programs actively tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs).

Around the world, scientific institutions like Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (LDEO), planetariums, and space agencies (like NASA and the European Space Agency) host educational events, panel discussions, exhibitions, and stargazing sessions.  You can explore global and regional events on the official Asteroid Day Event Directory, which includes  LDEO’s Flags of Science exhibition by Selva Ozelli, which launches on this day.

Created in honor of America’s 250th anniversary and the groundbreaking research of LDEO scientists, the space solar flag CCL celebrates the contributions of Professor Steven L. Goldstein, a Higgins Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, the interim Director, and a leading researcher at the LDEO who focuses his research on the formation and evolution of the early Earth, deep Earth dynamics, and planetary origins. Through global data synthesis (using databases like GEOROC), Goldstein's work demonstrated that the deep Earth mantle has continually moved and mixed throughout geologic time. And Dr. Kerstin Lehnert, who co-developed the global relational database structure that powers the GEOROC database.

Originally designed alongside the PetDB system, this shared structure has made GEOROC one of the largest geochemical databases worldwide. Along with NASA, Dr. Lehnert also built and operates the Astromaterials Data System (AstroMat), which is NASA's designated digital data infrastructure and archive for laboratory analytical data acquired on extraterrestrial samples—such as asteroids, meteorites, cosmic dust, and mission-returned materials like those from the Apollo and OSIRIS-REx programs.

Drawing inspiration from science, I connect these discoveries through my oil on wood, space solar flag CCL, created as part of my acclaimed Flag CCL series. The project links outer space exploration with space solar energy initiatives including power beaming,  space solar systems and orbital data systems, drawing heavily from my earlier digital solo art show, "Art in the Time of Corona 8 – Space Solar Recovery Roses," which advocated for space-based solar power (SBSP) as a tool to achieve net-zero carbon emissions that became a reality at the end of last year. I am authoring a new series on this topic.

Miriam Cinquegrana, who oversees the Art Meets Science initiative at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said,

The Flags of Science exhibition, featuring four flags created by Selva Ozelli, honors America's 250th anniversary and the groundbreaking research of Lamont scientists. Visitors can also experience Anna Hyatt Huntington's Equestrian Lincoln outside Lamont Hall, a 14-foot bronze sculpture depicting a contemplative young President Abraham Lincoln reading while his horse grazes. Together, these works invite reflection on discovery, creativity, and the enduring pursuit of knowledge."