ometary ice.

[3] The difference between asteroids and meteoroids is mainly one of size: meteoroids
have a diameter of one meter or less, whereas asteroids have a diameter of greater than one
meter.[4] Finally, meteoroids can be composed of either cometary or asteroidal materials.[5]
Only one asteroid, 4 Vesta, which has a relatively reflective surface, is normally visible to the naked
eye, and this only in very dark skies when it is favorably positioned. Rarely, small asteroids passing
close to Earth may be visible to the naked eye for a short time.[6] As of October 2017, the Minor
Planet Center had data on almost 745,000 objects in the inner and outer Solar System, of which
almost 504,000 had enough information to be given numbered designations.[7]
The United Nations declared 30 June as International Asteroid Day to educate the public about
asteroids. The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska
asteroid impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908.[8][9]
In April 2018, the B612 Foundation reported "It's 100 percent certain we'll be hit [by a devastating
asteroid], but we're not 100 percent sure when."[10][11] Also in 2018, physicist Stephen Hawking, in his
final book Brief Answers to the Big Questions, considered an asteroid collision to be the biggest
threat to the planet.[12][13][14] In June 2018, the US National Science and Technology Council warned
that America is unprepared for an asteroid impact event, and has developed and released
the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy Action Plan" to better
prepare.[15][16][17][18][19] According to expert testimony in the United States Congress in 2013, NASAwould
require at least five years of preparation before a mission to intercept an asteroid could be
launched.[20]