Podcaster: Dr. Al Grauer
Title: Travelers in the Night Eps. 785 & 786: Secret Asteroid Mission & Comet 31
Organization: Travelers in The Night
Link : Travelers in the Night ; @Nmcanopus
Description: Today’s two stories:
- Unlike 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.
- My 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.
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:
Ep. 785 — Secret Asteroid Mission
The NASA mission to the 157-mile-diameter M-type asteroid Psyche is driven by evidence it may have a chemical composition similar to the Earth’s unexplored core. It doesn’t hurt that it could contain metals worth more than $10,000 billion for every woman, child, and man on our home planet. Psyche never comes closer than about 1.5 times our distance from the Sun. However, much, much smaller, metal- and water-rich space rocks are being discovered by asteroid hunters as they occasionally zip by Earth. Unlike other space missions which are conducted out in the open, the asteroid mining company Astroforge’s first mission to a potentially valuable nearby M-type asteroid is being planned in secret so that some other company doesn’t have the chance to grab it before they do. Astroforge states their target is approximately 330 feet in diameter and is reachable within about a year.
Currently, evidence suggests that some asteroids are metal-rich and others may contain water which by using electricity generated by solar panels could be used to power rockets for deep space exploration. In addition to iron and nickel, an M-type asteroid may contain cobalt, platinum, iridium, and other very rare materials useful in electronics and medicine. The problem is, we simply don’t accurately know the composition of potential space mining targets.
Scientists have obtained some clues from the light and radar Psyche Reflex as well as its surface features, but we really won’t know much until NASA’s spacecraft begins to orbit this weird world in 2029.
For Travelers in the Night, this is Dr. Al Grauer, stay tuned.
Ep. 786 — Comet 31
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate, Alex Gibbs, discovered his 31st comet while asteroid-hunting in Leo with our 60-inch telescope on Mount Lemmon, Arizona.
Additional observations by telescopes in Arizona, Hawaii, Austria, and Tecan allowed astronomers at the Minor Planet Center to calculate a preliminary orbit and give it the name P2023Y1 Gibbs. This several-mile diameter object is surrounded by a gas cloud whose physical size at discovery was approximately twice the diameter of our moon and has a gas tail extending about nine times the moon’s diameter from it. It orbits the sun once every six years on a path between Mars and Jupiter.
Comet P2023Y1 Gibbs is one of the 600-plus known members of the Jupiter family of comets. Comet Encke is a famous member of this group. It is the progenitor of the Taurid meteor showers in November, in late June, and early July.
Further, a 180-foot diameter fragment of Comet Encke may have caused the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia, which knocked down trees over an 830-square-mile area and produced an air blast detected in Europe. Jupiter family comets likely originated in the outer regions of our solar system or perhaps even in a distant solar system. They were captured as they passed near Jupiter.
Jupiter family comets are in a relatively unstable orbit and over the next few million years could ultimately collide with Jupiter, the sun, or another planet, or they may even be ejected from our solar system and be sent into truly deep space to wander between the stars in the Milky Way till the end of time. For Travelers in the Night, this is Dr. Al Grauer. Stay tuned.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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