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A 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...
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A 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
show less
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
Travelers In The Night
Travelers In The Night
807-Moon Orbit Crossers
26 JUL 2024 · During a recent 60 day period of time 23 space rocks came closer to Earth than our Moon
294E-312-200 Yards Of Trouble
23 JUL 2024 · Dangerous Asteroids Are Still Out There Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered a rapidly moving point of light in the night sky. Subsequent observations made by telescopes in Arizona, Romania, Illinois, the Czech Republic, Australia, and France revealed it to be a close approaching Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. The Minor Planet Center named it 2016 WJ1. This asteroid is about 200 yards in diameter, orbits the Sun once every 567 days, and currently can come to within about 26,000 miles of the Earth's surface. 2016 WJ1's orbit eventually will bring it near Mars, Earth, our Moon, and Venus. Any of these encounters have the potential to change it's path around the Sun.
806-Distant PHA
19 JUL 2024 · It is hard to obtain time on the 8m Gemini South Observatory telescope on Cerro Pachon in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope with its twin 8m mirrors on Mt. Graham, Arizona since they are among the largest telescopes in the world. My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Kacper Wierzchos wrote a scientifically competitive proposal to obtain the time to track the potentially hazardous asteroid 2016 PR38 on both of these telescopes when it was near its furthest point from our Sun and thus much too faint for the telescopes asteroid hunters routinely use
293E-311-Bright and Bald
16 JUL 2024 · My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered 2015 TC25 as a rapidly moving point of light in the night sky. Followup observations using data from four different telescopes has enabled a team of astronomers led by Dr. Vishnu Reddy of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory to determine that this small asteroid reflects four times more of the sunlight than do most other Earth approaching asteroids. Dr. Reddy points out that large asteroids are covered by a blanket of dust but that "Small asteroids might be bald and dust free." This team of researchers found the surface of Carson's discovery to be similar to a small meteorite which fell to Earth in France in 1836.
805-Very Close Miss
12 JUL 2024 · During a recent 60 day period asteroid hunters observed 23 asteroids which came closer to us than our Moon. Six of them passed closer to the Earth’s surface than 22,236 miles which is the distance to our communication satellites.
292E-310-Ethics and Mars
9 JUL 2024 · Should martian microbes be sacrificed to human space exploration?
It is unlikely that any living organism could survive being blasted from the surface of a planet, travel through interstellar space on a meteoroid, survive a fiery entry through another planet's atmosphere, and be viable when it reaches the surface. However, humans are breaching this interplanetary barrier. We have robots operating and are planning to land colonists on the red planet. This situation has prompted doctoral student Daniel Helman of Prescott College to ask the question "If Martian microbial life is discovered, is it ethical for humans to colonize Mars even if that means spoiling the environment of the microbes?" .
804-Tracie's Solo
5 JUL 2024 · After months of training Tracie came full circle during her first solo 3 night observing run on the 60 inch telescope as she hosted groups of visitors as the observer instead of the tour guide.
291E-309-Tiny Atira
2 JUL 2024 · Atira, 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 American Pawnee tribe. She is the wife of the creator god, Tirawa [Tire a wa]. She is the goddess of Earth and the Morning and Evening star.
803-Monster NEO
28 JUN 2024 · Since 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
25 JUN 2024 · Egg 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.Â
A 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...
show more
A 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
show less
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
Information
| Author | Dr. Al Grauer |
| Organization | Dr. Al Grauer |
| Categories | Astronomy |
| Website | travelersinthenight.org |
| nmcanopus@gmail.com |
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