Travelers In The Night
1,092 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 14 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsA real "Science Snack" for anyone who is interested in the extraterrestrial.
Dr. Al Grauer is a member of the Catalina Sky Survey which has led the world in near Earth asteroid discoveries for 17 of the past 19 years.
The music is "Eternity" by John Lyell.
Astronomy Asteroids Space NASA Comets Earth Impact Aliens
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Episodes
291E-309-Tiny Atira
July 02, 2024 16:01 - 2 minutesAtira, named for the Pawnee goddess of Earth and the Morning and Evening Star orbits the Sun inside of our path. Atira, the first of this type of asteroid, was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research Program using telescopes in New Mexico. Atira is a stony object more than a mile in diameter, spins on it's axis of rotation once every three hours, has an irregular shape, and orbits the Sun once every 233 days. This asteroid was named Atira who is a goddess of the Native America...
803-Monster NEO
June 28, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBSince larger space rocks are rare, it was surprising when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groller found a half mile diameter asteroid traveling through the constellation of Auriga.Fortunately on it’s current path 2024 JW1 can’t come closer than 53 lunar distances from us. Asteroid hunters will continue to track 2024 JW1 to make sure that it does not become a threat as it passes near Earth, Mars , and Jupiter.
290E-306-Egg Rock
June 25, 2024 16:01 - 2 minutesEgg rock's chemical composition and visual appearance is so different from other native Mars rocks that scientists have concluded that it is a meteorite which came from the molten core of an ancient asteroid.
802-Bok Comet
June 21, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate Kacper Wierzchos was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Draco with the Steward Observatory Bok 90 inch telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona when he discovered a faint fuzzy object moving through the night sky.Given the global warming which is happening in 2024 one has to wonder about the state of humanity and our home planet when comet C/2024 G1 (Wierzchos) returns to the inner solar system in 3331 CE.
289E-305-Murky
June 18, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesIt was murky cloudy night on Mt. Lemmon where I was trying to find Earth approaching objects with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope. At about 1AM another hole in the clouds opened and I could see stars on the all sky video camera. On this fourth attempt, one set of images showed a bright rapidly moving object. Followup observations by my teammate Greg Leonard using the Catalina Sky Survey 40 inch telescope next door and two different observers in Japan provided the data which allowed ...
801-Jacqui's PHA
June 14, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqueline Fazekas was asteroid hunting with our small but mighty Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when she spotted and then reported a bright moving point of light in the night sky to the Minor Planet Center.Given the rate of human caused climate change one has to wonder about the state of our planet in January of 2163 when 2024 ER is predicted to pass safely some 66 lunar distances from humanity.
288E-304-Close One
June 11, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny had no way of knowing that the fast moving point of light that she had just discovered would create such a stir. Rose sent in her discovery and followup observations to the Minor Planet Center where astronomers calculated that her discovery would make a very close approach to Earth about two days later and gave it the name 2016 RB1. More than two dozen observatories around the world tracked 2016 RB1 as it came towards us.
800-Telescope Reborn
June 07, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIn an astonishing rebirth, the Mayall 4-m telescope has jumped to the forefront of astronomy once again because it is sturdy and precise enough to carry the massive Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument which routinely obtains the spectra of 5,000 galaxies simultaneously.
287E-302-Sensing A Comet
June 04, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesMore than 400 years ago Galileo Galilei expanded human vision using a telescope to view the cosmos. Since then humans have extended their senses to view the Universe in x-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, radio, and other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum not accessible to our senses. In a pioneering effort, Ekaterina Smirnova has employed the spectroscopy, magnetometry, and molecular data collected by the Rosetta spacecraft to create watercolor paintings, sculptures, a musical collaboratio...
799-Nature's Gateways
May 31, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBThe Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary and the Aldo Leopold Gila Wilderness in New Mexico are gateways to nature where man is only a visitor.These New Mexico neighbors give us a sense of wonder, glimpses of history, new knowledge to mitigate the effects of man’s excesses, and many other opportunities we are yet to fully appreciate.
286E-301-Visitors From Afar
May 28, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesA pair of comets visiting our neighborhood are discovered in a matter of 4 days. One of the perks of being an asteroid hunter is having a comet named for you. To do this you must be the first to discover it as a moving point of light in the night sky and at the same time recognize that it is a comet by observing the coma and tail which are names for the clouds of gas and dust that surrounds it. After being on the lookout for a comet for sometime, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny ...
798-Destination Enceladus
May 24, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBLife on Earth appears to have formed in our oceans. Scientists are thus on the hunt for other worlds which have oceans of liquid water and thus potentially could be the home of fellow living creatures.
285E-299-Sporadic Geysers
May 21, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesUsing a small telescope or a set of binoculars you can see Europa for yourself as a small moving point of light circling the giant planet Jupiter. More than 400 years after Galileo Galilei discovered this seemingly small dead world the Hubble Space Telescope spotted geysers erupting from its south polar regions. Recently, over a 15 month period, the Hubble was able to observe 10 transits of Europa across the face of Jupiter. On three such occasions plumes were seen to be erupting from this sm...
797-Recoveries
May 17, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIt is essential that asteroid hunters keep track of potentially dangerous asteroids to make sure that their orbits haven’t changed as they encounter other objects in space to make them a threat to our home planet.
284E-298-Rosetta
May 14, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesThe Rosetta Spacecraft left planet Earth in 2004. During its twelve year lifetime this robotic emissary traveled 5 billion miles on 6 trips around the Sun, flew by Earth three times, visited Mars, and cruised by two asteroids. Rosetta needed to take such a long path to use the gravity of Earth and Mars to accelerate it to a speed which would allow it to rendezvous with a comet. Upon arrival, Rosetta successfully spent two years studying the comet at close range and sent a probe to it's surfac...
796-COMET C.2024 E1 (Wierzchos)-Preview
May 10, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBOn the 3rd of March 2024 while asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon , Arizona my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Kacper Wierzchos discovered a comet moving through the constellation of Draco.Since we don’t know Kacper’s comet’s chemical composition it is impossible to accurately predict how. bright it will be as it crosses the Earth’s orbit December 12, 2025, rounds the sun January 20, 2026, and crosses our orbit again February 27, 2026.
283E-297-White Sky
May 07, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesInappropriate night time outside lighting causes accidents and does not deter crime. However, it blinds you from the beauty of the Universe which surrounds you.
795-Spiral Comet
May 03, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBComet 12P/Pons-Brooks comes near the Sun once every 71 years. It was discovered in 1812 by Jean Louis Pons at Marseilles, France and then rediscovered by American Astronomer William Robert Brooks in 1883. Electronic cameras reveal this comet's nucleus has jets of gas that produce a spiral structure not unlike water jets from a lawn sprinkler.
282E-296-Tilted History
April 30, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesSeasons are created by the fact that the Earth's axis of rotation is currently tilted 23 1/2 degrees relative to our path around the Sun. The slight out of roundness of the Earth's orbit combined with a 41,000 year cycle in its 3 degree axis of rotation wobble can cause the Earth's climate to change on very long time scales. Turns out that these astronomical cycles are likely to be the drivers of where you are from and where you live.
794-An Apollo Space Rock to Follow
April 26, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBRecently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carjaval was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Minor with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow when she discovered, 2024 BR4, a two football field diameter Earth approaching asteroid.Vivian’s Apollo asteroid discovery poses no threat to humans since 2024 is as close as it will come to Earth in the next few hundred years.
281E-295-Close Passes
April 23, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesDuring a recent 3 night observing run my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny discovered 4 asteroids which can come to less than one half the Moon's distance from us. Interestingly one of them passed about 25,000 miles over the South Pole 2 days after Rose discovered it. Rose's four close approaching asteroids are small ranging in size from 15 to 60 feet in diameter. None of them are big enough to reach the Earth's surface and make a crater. However, the largest is about the size of the ...
793 Close Space Rock
April 19, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBPerhaps the most dangerous Amor asteroid is 2006 HZ51 .It was discovered by my team the Catalina Sky Survey. Fortunately the closest 2006 HZ51 will come to our home planet is June 11 of 2116 when it will pass us harmlessly 26 times the distance to our moon away from us.
280E-294-Dangerous Duo
April 16, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesRecently in the space of 28 hours my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Rose Matheny and Carson Fuls discovered two Potentially Hazardous Asteroids to add to the list of the more than 1700 which asteroid hunters have discovered. Fortunately, none of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids are currently on a collision course with planet Earth.
792-Closest Approaching Comet
April 12, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBP/1999 J6 (SOHO) was discovered 10 May 1995 by Mike Oates as part of the Citizen Science Sun Grazer Project in which volunteers from all over the world have the chance to discover a comet in images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory or SOHO for short.RADAR studies of the daytime Arietid ( AIR-ee-uh-tids) meteor shower stream which peaks every June 7 indicates that P/1999 J6 (SOHO) could be one of the potential parent objects.
279E-293-From Luna
April 09, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesMore than 240 Lunar meteorites have been found in the Dhofar region of Oman, on the LaPaz Icefield of Antartica, and other locations on the Earth's surface. These space traveling rocks were blasted from the Moon's surface by the impact of asteroids and comets which accelerated them to speeds greater than the lunar escape velocity of 1.5 miles per second. Subsequently these interplanetary travelers in the night orbited the Sun for an extended period of time before entering our atmosphere and f...
791-A Fireball and It’s Gifts
April 05, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIt all started when Krisztián Sárneczky at the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, Hungary reported the position and brightness of an unknown asteroid rapidly moving through the constellation of Lynx. Three hours later , the object, now called 2024 BX1 exploded harmlessly in our atmosphere
278E-292-Disintegrating Comet
April 02, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesComets are made up of organic materials and ices of various substance which are left over from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. When the gravity of a nearby star or other object changes one of these dirty snowball's orbit, its path can bring it into the inner solar system and thus near enough for the Sun to affect it and for us to study what is going on.
790-Vivian's Debut
March 29, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy new Catalina Sky Survey Teammate Vivian Carjaval was scheduled for three 13h long winter nights for her first solo observing run on our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. As luck would have it she couldn’t observe the first night because of high winds and blowing snow, while on the second night she was treated to lots of clouds under a bright moon, however, on the third night the Universe treated her to a clear night and sent two unknown Earth Approaching asteroids her way.
277E-291-Rose Rules
March 26, 2024 16:01 - 2 minutesAnyone who thinks women can't do computers and science needs to meet my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny. On a recent 3 night observing run at the 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Rose took over the world of asteroid hunting when she posted 82 new potentially Earth approaching objects on the Minor Planet Center's NEO Confirmation Page. For the next several days telescopes around the world obtained additional data on Rose's discoveries. When the dust settled 29 of Rose's discoveries w...
789-Asteroid With A Tail
March 22, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate Josh Hogan was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Taurus with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he came across a very curious object. It has an orbit like an ordinary main belt asteroid. However, amazingly it has a tail extending some 19,000 miles out from a few mile diameter central object.
276E-290-Screaming Aten
March 19, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesI knew from the short regularly space streaks on the four images I had just obtained with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch on Mount Lemmon, Arizona, I was looking at the path of an Earth approaching object. Turns out, this previously unknown object, is an unusual Aten astrtoid in that its orbit is inclined 38 degrees to the path of the Earth around the Sun. It's high relative speed is caused by the fact that our paths intersect at a large angle making it similar to two vehicles coming toget...
788-!00 Years of Wilderness
March 15, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIn 1924 the Aldo Leopold Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico became the first designated wilderness and is an island from which to view the natural night sky. Today, because of inappropriate night lighting, the vast majority of children will never see the Milky Way, a meteor streaking across the sky, or have the opportunity to walk around at night by the light of the stars.
275E-289-Strange Comet
March 12, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesC/2016 Q4 (Kowalski) is my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski's 14th comet discovery. It orbits the Sun once every 68 years on a cold path between Saturn and Neptune.
787-Far Out
March 08, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIn 2024, Voyager I is 163 times further from the Sun than we are and is the most distant, human made, traveler in the night.
274E-288-Coming Out Of Monsoon
March 05, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesIn the southwest, the life giving monsoon rains occur in July and August, divide the observing year into two halves, and give asteroid hunters a chance to do major equipment maintenance and upgrades. My Catalina Sky Survey teammates Richard Kowalski and Rose Matheny started the new observing season after the monsoon weather began to taper off using our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon and 30 inch Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow respectively. Richard and Rose were given a three night clear bre...
786-Comet 31
March 01, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate Alex Gibbs discovered his 31st comet while asteroid hunting in Leo with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. It orbits the Sun once every 6 years on a path between Mars and Jupiter. Comet P/2023/Y1 (Gibbs) is one on the 600 plus known members of the Jupiter family of comets.
273E-286-Neighboring World
February 27, 2024 07:00 - 2 minutesAstronomers at the European Southern Observatory in Chile have discovered a rocky Earth like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star nearest to our Sun. The planet named Proxima b is about 1.3 times more massive than Earth, orbits it's dim red star every 11 days, and may always keep the same side towards it's sun. Attention grabbing is the fact that Proxima b is at the right distance from it's sun to allow for liquid water on it's surface.
785-Secret Asteroid Mission
February 23, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBUnlike other space missions which are conducted out in the open the asteroid mining company AstroForge’s first mission to a potentially valuable nearby rocky M type asteroid is being planned in secret so that some other company doesn’t have the chance to grab it before they do.
272E-285-Mars Impactors
February 20, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesIn 2015 the Earth was struck by at least 43 meteoroids which created bright fireballs. Their arrival does not seem to be correlated with the position of the Earth in it's orbit about the Sun.Overall a given piece of ground on Mars is several times more likely to be hit by a space rock than is a similar sized area on Earth.
784-Josh's Two PHAs
February 16, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBSo far asteroid hunters have discovered approximately half of the 5,000 PHAs which are likely to exist. Asteroid hunters will continue to search the sky to discover dangerous asteroids 50 years before impact so that humans can either deflect or pulverize them.
271E-284-Dark Trails
February 13, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesA faint shooting star or meteor streaking across the sky is produced when a tiny bit of rock or dust enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up some 60 miles above us. NASA scientist Dr. Marc Fries and his collaborators have used Doppler Weather Radar to track twenty meteor's dark trails through the sky. In the past year or so they have used this technique to direct searchers on the ground to the probable location of freshly fallen meteorites.
783--Kacper's Centaur
February 09, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBCentaurs have long puzzled astronomers since they have traits in common with both asteroids and comets.
270E-283-Micro-Astronomy
February 06, 2024 19:10 - 2 minutesThe history of our spot in the Universe is written in the composition of meteorites and other samples of materials we have obtained from space. Even the smallest speck has a story to tell.
782-Probing The Cosmic Web
February 02, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIn the past two decades astronomers have discovered that galaxies are not randomly distributed in space but rather occur along filaments of mass with huge empty voids between them. How objects and structures in the early Universe became nearby clusters of galaxies and third generation stars like our Sun is an evolving picture we are beginning to understand.
269E-281-Starlight Walking
January 30, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesWe don't know much about our Ethiopian ancestor Lucy who walked the Earth some 3 million years ago, however, it is likely that she made her way around at night but the light of the stars, air glow, and the Moon. In modern humans, the Rod receptors in our eyes become amazingly sensitive when they are not exposed to bright light for some 30 to 45 minutes. At this point things look black and white even though your eye's maximum sensitivity is close to the color of the green light given off by at...
781-Comet C.2023 V5 (Leonard)
January 26, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Aquarius with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered his 19th comet. Turns out Greg's new comet is a member of a family of comets orbiting the Sun like a string of cosmic pearls across the vast distances in our solar system.
268E-280-Ice Volcanos
January 23, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesScientists have spotted icy plumes coming from below the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus but have yet to witness such events on Ceres. Even so there is significant evidence which points to the possibility of a liquid water ocean layer below Ceres icy crust which could provide an environment suitable for microorganisms.
780-Scary Space Rock
January 19, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBMy Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was being filmed and interviewed by the NASA 360 crew at our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered a scary space rock moving through the constellation of Aquarius at 13 mi/s.Rest assured that asteroid hunters will carefully keep track of 2023 VS3 to make sure that its orbit does not change to make it a threat in the distant future as it passes near to Earth, Mars, and other asteroids.
267E-279-Hottest
January 16, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutesThe warming that is happening is having a variety of consequences. In the American midwest and northeast extreme heat, heavy rain storms, and flooding will impact agriculture, forestry, infrastructure, and air as well as water quality. In the southwest increased heat, insect outbreaks, and declining water supplies will increase the possibility of wild fires and other threats. Costal regions regions are experiencing sea level rises and storm surges which effect ports, tourism, and the fishing ...
779-What If An Asteroid is About To Impact Earth?
January 12, 2024 16:00 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBA research project whoes goal is to explore if it would be possible, on short notice, to pulverize a small asteroid so that it would not enter the Earth’s atmosphere as a single object perhaps saving humanity from an very expensive sonic boom.