Podcaster: Dr. Al Grauer
Title: Travelers in the Night Eps. 151 & 152: Space Junk & Big Threat or Not
Organization: Travelers in The Night
Link : Travelers in the Night ; @Nmcanopus
Description: Today’s 2 topics:
- Rose Matheny appears to have observed the INTEGRAL spacecraft and booster.
- Eric Christensen points out that it will probably be centuries before another Chelyabinsk sized asteroid hits over a populated area.
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.
Today’s sponsor: Big thanks to our Patreon supporters this month: Rob Leeson, David Bowes, Ron Diehl, Brett Duane, Benett Bolek, Mary Ann, Frank Frankovic, Michael Freedman, Kim Hay, Steven Emert, Frank Tippin, Rani Bush, Jako Danar, Joseph J. Biernat, Nik Whitehead, Semyon Torfason, Michael W, Cherry Wood, Steve Nerlich, Steven Kluth, James K Wood, Katrina Ince, Phyllis Foster, Don Swartwout, Barbara Geier, Steven Jansen
Please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Or please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy
Transcript:
151E: Space Junk
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny was observing on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when she found a bright object streaking across the night sky. She submitted her discovery observations to the Minor Planet Center where it was identified as a potential Earth approaching object. It was then observed by telescopes in Arizona, California, England, and New Mexico for more than a month.
Dr. Bill Gray analyzed these observations and came to the conclusion that this object is not a natural Earth approaching asteroid but rather some piece of space debris. His calculations reveal this moving object’s path is a lot like the INTEGRAL spacecraft and booster, however, he was not able to identify it with anything released during this mission. Dr. Gray commented “it’s probably a few meters across and very light, based on how much solar radiation pressure is kicking it around”.
These observations and their analysis reveal one of the complications in the asteroid hunting business. The Integral Spacecraft was launched more than a decade by the European Space Agency to observe gamma rays from celestial objects. It has given us valuable insights into the most violent events in the Universe including gamma-ray bursters and black holes.
There are more than 20,000 pieces of space junk larger than 4 inches in diameter and millions of tiny ones in orbit around the Earth. At orbital speed a flake of paint carries as much energy as a 550 pound object traveling at 60 miles per hour. Eventually all of this stuff will fall back to Earth. So far no injuries or property damage has been confirmed. Heads up.
152E: Big Threat or Not
In February 2013 a space rock about 59 feet in diameter entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia making a fire ball 30 times brighter than our Sun. It came without warning and nearly 1,500 people were injured primarily by flying glass from broken windows.
The Chelyabinsk event has prompted people around the world to come together to learn about asteroids and what can be done to make humans safer from them. They have called their movement Asteroid Day and have held it on the anniversary of the 1908 Tunguska Event when an object impacted Earth in Siberia killing 80 million trees over an 800 square mile area. The Asteroid Day organizers call for humans to spend a billion dollars a year to make us safer from celestial threats. Some of these funds would be used to build a space based asteroid hunting telescope.
My Catalina Sky Survey team leader Eric Christensen points out that it will probably be centuries before another Chelyabinsk sized asteroid hits over a populated area and that a larger like the one the Tunguska object is not likely to impact the Earth for hundreds of years and then its landing spot is most likely to be an ocean. He also states the fact that we can do the asteroid detection work much more cheaply with the right ground based telescopes.
In the end spending a billion dollars a year on asteroid damage prevention is like purchasing expensive insurance for an extremely unlikely event. However, it has a side benefit that it will employ people and may stimulate science and technology.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
=====================
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Planetary Science Institute. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes.
This show is made possible thanks to the generous donations of people like you! Please consider supporting to our show on Patreon.com/365DaysofAstronomy and get access to bonus content.
After 10 years, the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast is entering its second decade of sharing important milestone in space exploration and astronomy discoveries. Join us and share your story. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!