Podcaster: Dr. Al Grauer
Title: Travelers in the Night Eps. 81E & 82E: Name That Asteroid & You Are Close To Outer Space
Organization: Travelers in The Night
Link : Travelers in the Night ; @Nmcanopus
Description: Today’s 2 topics:
- It has been traditional for an asteroid to be named by its discoverer. The 1990s were the golden age for private individuals as computerized telescopes and electronic cameras became affordable and readily available
- Outer space is not far, it just takes a lot of energy to get there. At an altitude of 12 miles you would need a space suit to stay alive.
Bio: Dr. Al Grauer is currently an observing member of the Catalina Sky Survey Team at the University of Arizona. This group has discovered nearly half of the Earth approaching objects known to exist. He received a PhD in Physics in 1971 and has been an observational Astronomer for 43 years. He retired as a University Professor after 39 years of interacting with students. He has conducted research projects using telescopes in Arizona, Chile, Australia, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Georgia with funding from NSF and NASA.
He is noted as Co-discoverer of comet P/2010 TO20 Linear-Grauer, Discoverer of comet C/2009 U5 Grauer and has asteroid 18871 Grauer named for him.
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Transcript:
81E: Name That Asteroid
It has been traditional for an asteroid to be named by its discoverer. The 1990s were the golden age for private individuals as computerized telescopes and electronic cameras became affordable and readily available. The number of catalogued asteroids increased slowly and by 1999 there were approximately 20,000 of them. During the next 15 years this number has increased nearly 50 times as the large surveys have come into operation. This has made it difficult but not impossible for amateurs and students to discover and name asteroids using their own equipment.
New opportunities for students to discover and name asteroids are being provided by The International Astronomical Search Collaboration. Students are enabled to make original hands-on scientific discoveries. They receive high quality images from professional telescopes which they then search to discover and track new asteroids. So far students and teachers from 7 US states and 4 foreign countries have discovered asteroids which have been tracked for 3-5 years are in the process of being named. Currently, there are 500 schools/year from 80 countries that are participating in International Astronomical Search Collaboration programs. What a wonderful way to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Observers in the asteroid hunting community have the opportunity to propose names for the asteroids which we have discovered. Check out the asteroid I named for my wife, Anniegrauer.
82E: You Are Close To Outer Space
How often do you traveled 5, 10, or more miles on a shopping trip? If instead of traveling on the Earth’s surface you were to travel 6 miles straight up, to the realm of the jet airliner, you would likely need oxygen to stay conscious. At an altitude of 12 miles you would need a space suit to stay alive. Several groups have reached an altitude of 24 miles using cameras attached to unmanned weather balloons with budgets of less than $1,000. At this height their cameras were above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip will soon be taking passengers from Spaceport America to about 62 miles above the Earth’s surface at a cost of $250,000 per ticket. From this altitude you will be able to see the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space.
When you see a meteor streaking across the night sky it is likely to be, 50 and 70 miles above the Earth’s surface. Scientists at the University of Calgary, using rocket borne instruments have found a boundary between the winds in the Earth’s atmosphere and high speed charged particles from space to be 73 miles above our planet’s surface. The International Space Station maintains an altitude between 205 and 270 miles. You have probably traveled further than any of these distances on a automobile trip. At 6000 miles above the Earth’s surface there are a few more gas molecules than there are in interplanetary space.
Outer space is not far, it just takes a lot of energy to get there.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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