Travelers In The Night: Recent Episodes
Albert D. Grauer
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
Comet 220P/McNaught orbits the Sun once every 5.5 years on a path which is between Mars and Jupiter. At that extreme distance, more than 1.5 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun, it still receives a significant amount of solar radiation. In 2026 Comet 220P/McNaught had an outburst which caused it to brighten 600 times in about 13 hours and then to continue to brighten to about 8,000 times brighter than in was in its pre-outburst state.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was observing, in the constellation Lynx, with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona , when within the space of only 35 minutes, he discovered two small space rocks well before they made very close approaches to Earth. 79 hours after Carson discovered the first, 2018 CB, this approximately 70 foot diameter space rock passed about 1/5 of the Moon's distance from us. Turns out that the second of Carson's duo, an approximately 50 foot diameter space rock got near us first, when 62 hours after Carson discovered 2018 CC, it came to less than 1/2 of the Moon's distance from the surface of planet Earth. Since we didn't have a large enough, properly equipped telescope to measure the pattern of colors each of Carson's discoveries reflects from the Sun we can only estimate their physical sizes and guess at their densities and chemical compositions. In any event, if either of these space rocks were to strike the Earth they would likely explode at an altitude about 100,000 feet above the Earth's surface, releasing the energy of tens of thousands of pounds of TNT, producing a spectacular light show. Both of Carson's discoveries could be similar to the space rock which exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia breaking windows, injuring nearly 1,500 people, and producing numerous fragments which made it to the ground. If either of Carson's discoveries had been on an impact trajectory with Earth, asteroid hunters would have had time to warn people in the effected area to stay away from doors and windows.
In an experiment that will involve all of the residents of planet Earth SpaceX has asked the FCC for permission to launch 1 million satellites into low Earth orbit to create a solar powered data center. Since the agriculture which produces our food is very sensitive to weather and climate it is important to conduct serious research about the effect of a mega constellation of satellites before allowing such a project to produce changes to the environment we don’t understand.
Elon Musk decided not to use a traditional mundane concrete block dummy payload for the first launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to test his rockets lifting capabilities. After orbiting the Earth for 5 hours a third burn by the Falcon second stage placed a 2,750 pound payload consisting of a 2008 Tesla Roadster, Starman mannequin, Hot Wheels toy model roadster, electronic copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels, and plaque etched with the names of more than 6,000 Space X employees into orbit around the Sun. Surrealistic video from a camera mounted ahead of this unusual spacecraft showed the red roadster and its dummy pilot with the Earth in the background. My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard joined with astronomers around the world in tracking starman and his booster rocket. The JPL Horizons Software system used 269 such ground-based optical astrometric observations spanning Feb 8 through 13 of 2018 to determine that Tesla and Starman will cross the orbit of Mars on July 31, 2018 and reach it's furthest distance from the Sun on November 9, 2018 before coming back to it's closest point about the Sun near the Earth's orbit on August 14, 2019. After that Starman and Tesla will continue to orbit the Sun for millions of years to come as a physical testament to human ingenuity and our sense of humor.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammates Josh Hogan and Alessandra Serrano were asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major when they discovered a fast moving point of light in the night sky. My team the Catalina Sky Survey operates 5 telescopes on top of mountains near Tucson, Arizona except for the 3 nights per month when the moon is too bright. Our goal is to detect an impacting object like 2026 JH2 in advance to warn people in the effected area to stay away from doors and windows.
Using our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski was searching for Earth approaching asteroids in the constellation of Virgo when he discovered a moving point of light which had suddenly appeared and was about 40 times brighter than is typical for a near Earth asteroid. 75 hours later, scientists at the Minor Planet Center used data from 17 different observatories around the globe to calculate it's orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size to be 630 feet in diameter, and give it the name 2018 BT6. Three weeks before Richard discovered 2018 BT6, it was very dim with less than 1% of it's illuminated side facing us as it came from the direction of the Sun giving humans little advance notice as it approached us at a speedy 16.4 mi/s. In 2018 this relatively large space rock came to about 18 times the Moon's distance from us. In the future it's orbit can bring it to about 0.6 of the Moon's distance from us. According to the Purdue University and Imperial College of London's impact calculator, one it's size impacts the Earth every 300,000 years or so creating a crater in sedimentary rock 7 miles in diameter and 2,000 feet deep. Fortunately 2018 BT6 will not strike the Earth in the foreseeable future, however, it's discovery presents us with the fact that currently humans would have little advance warning of the impact of a relatively large space rock if it approached us from the direction of our Sun.
Asteroid hunters find asteroids by looking for objects which change their position relative to the stars. If an asteroid happened to match the Earth’s motion it might appear stationary and thus be virtually undetectable until it is right on top of us. The trick is finding potentially dangerous asteroids at some other point in their orbit so we know about them before they have a chance to approach Earth.
Most of the humans on planet Earth have never witnessed that the natural night sky is not dark; but rather it is alive with it's own lights. To see for yourself, pick a dark sky place near you like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary from the International Dark Sky Association's website, darksky.org, and recruit a friend. Do a bit of research on how to achieve and sustain your night vision. Bring a red filtered flashlight, reclining lawn chair, star maps, binoculars, warm clothes, a telescope if you have one, and snacks. Keep on the look out for special events. The American Meteor Society's website will let you know when to expect meteor showers. Most humans have never seen the glowing light pyramid called the Zodiacal light which is produced by ice particles and dust in the solar system. In the northern hemisphere it is prominent in the evening sky in February, March and April. During the same months it lights up the predawn sky in the southern hemisphere. Star clusters scattered around the sky can be enjoyed with binoculars or a small telescope. New Moon's from May through October will provide you opportunities to explore the Milky Way with your naked eye or pair of binoculars. This adventure will fill you with wonder at what might be out there. Last but not least Mars will dominate the night sky during much of 2018 as it and the Earth come near to each other. For a time in late July of 2018 Mars will even outshine the giant planet Jupiter in the night sky.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Josh Hogan was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major with our small but mighty Schmidt telescope when he spotted a fast moving point of light in a set of his images and posted his observations on the Near Earth Object Confirmation Page or NEOCP for short. The NASA Sentry software system automatically scans the NEOCP and from the initial observations of Josh’s discovery predicted there was a tiny minuscule but non zero chance that it could impact our home planet in the next 100 years. Asteroid hunters were able to show that 2026 GB is not a threat only after they had accumulated enough data to accurately determine its orbit which demonstrates that planetary defense is by necessity an international effort.
On December 25, 2017, while searching for Earth approaching asteroids in the constellation of Virgo, the Universe gave my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard a Christmas present in the form of a comet which now bears his name. Comet P/2017 Y3 (Leonard) orbits the Sun once every 31 years on a highly elliptical path which takes it from between the orbits of Earth and Mars out to almost the planet Uranus's average distance from the Sun. Since it has been observed for only a very short piece of it's path about the Sun, it is not possible to accurately predict Comet Leonard's location very far into the future. In 2017 and 2018 it appeared as a faint fuzzy point of light in the night sky and never came came closer than about 150 million miles from Earth. Comet Leonard's next visit to our neighborhood will be in 2033 or 2034. At some point in the future it's orbit could bring much closer to Earth as it comes into the inner solar system about twice every human lifetime. Greg's comet is classified as a Halley family comet and although it is difficult to predict how a comet will brighten as it approaches the Sun, it is unlikely that it will ever become as bright as it's famous cousin. That situation could change when Comet Leonard comes near the giant planet Jupiter. In the past Jupiter has sent Comets in our direction or ejected them from the solar system. Only time will tell.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
The visually stunning Lunar Crater Pierazzo, named for the late Planetary Scientist Elizabeth “Betty” Pierazzo was observed by the Artemis II Crew as they passed over the Moon’s far side. It is a 5.9 mile diameter crater with white streaks or rays which extend more than 50 miles in all directions.
Most asteroids are located in the lonely space between Mars and Jupiter where the average distance between two asteroids is about 600,000 miles. Even though there is a tremendous space between asteroids they occasionally collide and pieces of them become Earth approaching objects. Most of them remain close to the plane of the solar system, however, a few are sent on paths which take them into the extremely lonely space high above and far below the orbits of the planets about the Sun. In 2017, my team, the Catalina Sky Survey, discovered 13 of these loneliest asteroids whose paths are tilted more than 45 degrees to the plane of the solar system. They have an average diameter about 4 times larger than that of the 987 asteroids we discovered in 2017. Even though 13 is a small sample it is interesting to speculate what this size difference could mean. In 2013, astronomers used the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to discover that main belt asteroids with orbits which are highly inclined to the plane of the solar system tend to be larger and made of stronger materials than those asteroids which reside in the plane of the solar system. They attribute these differences to the collisions which must have occurred to send asteroids into highly inclined orbits about the Sun. If this result applies to the lonely near Earth asteroids we discovered then perhaps they are made of very strong materials and could be of particular interest to asteroid miners.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Josh Hogan has discovered a 2 football field diameter asteroid that was placed on NASA’s Sentry list because it has a tiny minuscule but non-zero chance of impacting our home planet. With this motivation my team the Catalina Sky Survey, the Pan STARRS group in Hawaii, the ATLAS group with telescopes Hawaii, Chile, and South Africa , the Vera C. Rubin telescope in Chile, will be soon joined NASA’s NEO Surveyor and groups world wide in a planet wide defense network.
Asteroids appear as moving points of light in an asteroid hunter's images so that when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Alex Gibbs spotted a fuzzy moving object he immediately suspected it to be a comet. The data obtained by astronomers over the next 8 days enabled scientists at the Minor Planet Center to verify Alex's 31st comet discovery and give it the name C/2018 A6 (Gibbs). In January of 2018 it was in the constellation of Leo traveling from the vast empty space above the Sun's north pole toward the plane of the solar system which contains all of the planets and most of the asteroids. In March of 2018 Comet C/2018 A6 (Gibbs) will cross the plane of the solar system a bit farther from the Sun than the giant planet Jupiter's orbit. After that it will continue on a wide arcing parabolic path, pass under the Sun's south pole in the summer of 2019, and once again cross the plane of the solar system in February of 2021. After that it will continue into the vast empty space above the Sun's north pole from whence it came. How a comet brightens as it approaches the Sun is difficult to predict. With luck humans will be able to spot Comet C/2018 A6 (Gibbs) with their naked eye, binoculars, or a small telescope as it pays a rare visit to our planet's neighborhood.
On St. Patrick’s day 2026 a fireball meteor brighter than the full moon streaked across the daytime sky. The American Meteor Society received 223 eyewitness reports from observers in 15 states, the District of Columbia, and Ontario Canada as well as 5 videos and 6 photos. NASA reported that the incoming object was approximately 6 feet in diameter, weighed about 7 tons, released the energy of 250 tons of TNT, created a sonic boom heard over a wide area , and rained bits of itself onto the ground in Medina county Ohio.
Most small asteroids are likely to be rubble piles of small rocks and dust loosely held together by their weak force of gravity while others may be made of ices of various substances. A few are solid objects which may contain metals like iron and nickel as well as gold, silver, and platinum. As they whiz by us it is hard to tell much about them from their overall brightness and distance from us. In 2017 my team the Catalina Sky Survey found 21 asteroids having an average diameter of 750 feet which pass closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury. They must be made of very tough rocky material since they regularly receive more solar energy than heats the surface of Mercury to 800F. Over the centuries this repeated baking has likely removed all of their water and other volatile materials leaving only rocky metallic minerals. The largest of this group of tough guys is the half mile in diameter asteroid 2017 VV14 which orbits the Sun once every 3.4 years and can come to about 20 times the Moon's distance from us. The smallest is the 30 foot diameter tiny asteroid 2017 RQ17 which orbits the Sun once every 214 days on a path that brings it close to Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Our Moon. Based on known terrestrial deposits many of the key elements required for modern industry and food production such as phosphorus, antimony, silver, gold, and copper could be exhausted on Earth in the next 50 to 60 years. Perhaps in the future humans will mine tough asteroids for the materials they need.
My team the Catalina Sky Survey has pioneered searching for asteroids coming from the direction of the dark side of the moon.
The beautiful star cluster the Pleiades in the constellation of Tauris is about 100 million years old making it one of the youngest objects that you can see in the natural night sky. Data obtained by observing Oumuamua (“Oh-moo-ah-moo-ah”), the first object humans have identified which is definitely from outside of our solar system suggests that it is an icy body with a red, rock appearing shell, of carbon rich organic material. By tracing Omuamua's path for millions of years into the past, Dr. Fabo Feng of the University of Hertfordshire , found that it's slow speed in the vicinity of 5 stars in the Pleiades suggests that it was ejected from one of them. Check out the Pleiades with your unaided eye, binoculars or a small telescope and contemplate the messengers it might be sending our way.
A start up company Reflect Orbital is proposing to launch 50,000 satellite mirrors by 2035 to illuminate solar panels on Earth all night long. This would be devastating for human sleep cycles, birds, insects, plants and many of the biological systems of organisms on which we all depend.
The mysterious Earth approaching object Phaethon (FAY-eh-thon) does not fit neatly into our definition of either an asteroid or a comet. Further it appears to be like the Peanuts character Pigpen in that it leaves a trail of dust and other fine debris in it's wake which in the case of Phaethon produces the Geminid Meteor Shower to delight us every year around Christmas time. Phaethon is amazing in that every 524 days it makes a death defying flight to a point less than one of half of the planet Mercury's distance from the Sun, where it's surface temperature reaches a mind boggling 1,200 Fahrenheit. During one of these events the NASA Stereo Spacecraft A discovered that Phaethon had rock dust tail.
However, according to a recent research project, the Rubin Observatory will discover but not give an adequate warning time for objects destined to hit the Earth. To provide time to take action to deflect an incoming object we will need to rely on ground based telescopes used by my Catalina Sky Survey teammates and other asteroid hunting groups as well as NASA’s NEO Surveyor satellite when it is launched.
Often observers report hearing a percussive sound, like a sonic boom from an aircraft, minutes after viewing a bright meteor fireball. In addition, in a fewer number of instances, there are many reliable reports of observers hearing popping, hissing, and rustling sounds at the same time they are observing a very bright meteor traveling though the night sky. Professional astronomers have long dismissed these reports saying that what these people hear simultaneously with their visual observations cannot be due to to sound traveling from the meteors path since sound travels 800,000 times slower than light and would take 1.5 to 4 minutes to traverse the distance that the light does in a tiny fraction of a second. Recent scientific studies have begun to shed light on the interesting mystery of how the small number of what we now call electrophonic meteors produce simultaneous light and sound. One theory is that the flickering bright light produced in the meteor's path is absorbed by by hair or other material near the observer's ears producing acoustic sound waves. An alternate hypothesis is that as the meteor streaks through our atmosphere it ionizes air molecules whose motion in the Earth's magnetic field generates radio waves which travel to objects near to the observer causing them to vibrate and thus produce sound. Either way observers with large amounts of hair or those near metallic objects like barbed wire fences are the most likely to hear these strange unusual sounds. If you are lucky you could hear a meteor's dying whispers and could even be the first person to record these sounds on your cell phone. For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
© 2026. A. D. Grauer
Some of the 635,000 impact craters found on Mars are the result of such violent impacts that pieces of Mars are ejected, travel around the solar system, and a few become one of the several hundred Martian meteorites which have been discovered here on Earth. An experiment is described which does not prove we are descendants of martian bacteria however it does improve our ability to protect our planet and understand where life may be possible elsewhere in the universe.
389E-426-Rose Rules Again Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny discovered 8 new Earth approaching object candidates on a single night with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. One of them, 2017 YO is a mile and a half diameter, main belt asteroid, while the other 7 are interesting Earth approaching objects. Another one of Rose's single night discoveries is 2017 YM1. When Rose first spotted it this space rock was moving rapidly north, at 6.9 miles per second, away from the Earth in the constellation of Ursae Major. About 5 days earlier it had passed near both the Earth and Our Moon at which time it was too far south to be seen from Arizona. This space rock is about 92 feet in diameter, orbits the Sun once every 2.25 years, and can come to less than a tenth of the Moon's distance from us. 2017 YM1 is about 1.5 times larger than the Chelyabinsk (Shell ya binsk) meteor which in 2013 broke many thousands of windows and injured 1,200 people. According to Perdue University's impact calculator, a space rock like 2017 YM1 enters the Earth's atmosphere once every hundred years or so with an energy of 250 kilotons of TNT, explodes into a cloud of fragments at about 73,000 feet, rains pieces onto the ground, and produces a sonic boom that would get your attention as it breaks a lot of windows. Asteroid hunter's goal is to discover any such impactor days before it enters the Earth's atmosphere so that people can be warned to stay away from doors and windows. For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
© 2026 A. D. Grauer
Asteroids could provide a solution for the serious problem of how to protect astronauts from harmful solar and cosmic radiation during long duration space flights and thus eliminate the need for the spacecraft itself to have heavy shielding material. The idea is for the spacecraft to spend most of the journey inside the asteroid.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was searching for Earth approaching objects with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered an interesting new comet moving through the constellation of Leo. After Greg posted his discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Confirmation Page it was observed over the next 3 weeks by 10 different observatories around the world. These data were used to calculate the details of the new object's 51 year path around the Sun and give it the name Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard) . Greg's newly discovered comet's orbital plane is almost at a right angle to paths of the planets and most of the asteroids so that it spends most of it's time in the lonely space high above or far below the rest of the members of our solar system. Riding with Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard) would bring a space traveler into the inner solar system about once per human lifetime. Greg's comet receives only mild solar heating since at it's closest it is about 3 times further from the Sun than we are making it unlikely to ever be bright for human observers. At it's furthest from the Sun, Comet Leonard is in a very cold region, receives less than 1% solar energy than we do, and and likely to have a surface temperature of about -300 degrees Fahrenheit. Greg's comet is likely to remain as it is for eons since it spends so much of it's time far from the Sun and the gravitational tugs of most of the rest of the members of our solar system.
© 2026. A. D. Grauer
Looking into a star filled sky at a place like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary in New Mexico inspires a person to wonder if our home planet is unique in the Universe. To begin to answer this question, NASA launched the small satellite Pandora on January 11, 2026 . It is on at least a one year long mission to study the chemical composition of more than 20 planets orbiting nearby stars in the Milky Way.The Pandora satellite’s results will hopefully include a list of potentially habitable planets to be observed the James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories in the search for life elsewhere in the Universe.
Winter nights can be exhausting, productive, as well as sometimes frustrating for asteroid hunters. At the Sixty Inch Telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, near winter solstice, the night's observing starts at 6:30 PM and continues till after 6 AM which combined with start up and end tasks makes the asteroid hunter's work "day" more than 13 hours long. On such a recent long winter work night, my Catalina Sky Survey Teammate, Carson Fuls discovered an impressing total of 18 new Earth approaching objects. On the other hand on the next 3 night shift, I was treated to one night which was clear followed by two nights which were dominated by the first big snow storm of the season. The best nights are clear, cold, and calm with asteroid images which are small intense points of light. Such a night is said to have good seeing. Nights which are clear but have bad seeing with fuzzy star and asteroid images due to atmospheric turbulence and high winds makes the discovery of faint objects virtually impossible. High winds can and do shake the telescope producing double images of every object. Nights which consist of sporadic clear holes in the clouds also yield few new discoveries. Fishing what we call "sucker holes" in the clouds is very frustrating since it is hard to verify a new discovery under such conditions. Then there are the nights which are perfectly clear but we have to keep the dome closed because of the snow on it. Then there are those nights which are clear with good seeing from start to finish on which the asteroid hunter makes new discoveries while being treated to views of millions of stars, gas clouds, and galaxies which inspire a child like sense of wonder. For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
© 2026 A. D. Grauer
In 2007 a small icy object moving in the constellation of Ursa Minor crossed the orbit of Pluto at a speed of approximately 4.2 mi/s starting its journey towards the inner solar system. It was between the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter traveling at some 9 mi/s towards the Sun, when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Dr. Kacper Wierzchoś discovered it on March 3, 2024, while asteroid hunting, in the constellation of Draco, with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. Kacper studies comets passionately was thus excited to observe that it has a coma and a tail.On its way out of the solar system, in 2045, Kacper's COMET C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) will cross the orbit of Pluto heading in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major and is destined to wander between stars in the Milky Way till the end of time.
Oumuamua (“Oh-moo-ah-moo-ah”) is the asteroid that zipped by the Earth on a trajectory that started beyond our solar system in truly deep space. After rounding our Sun at 97,000 mi/hr this unusual space rock will continue onward into deep interstellar space. The fact that this reddish object's brightness changes by a factor of 10 every 7.3 hours has been interpreted as being due to an elongated rocket or cigar shape which reflects different amounts of sun light in our direction as it tumbles through space. This strange space rock appears to be about 730 feet long and about 100 feet wide. Oumuamua's interstellar path and unusual shape prompted Breakthrough Listen Scientists to use the 300 foot diameter, 8,000 ton, Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope to see if Oumuamua is emitting radio signals which could indicate that it is some type of artifact or spacecraft which passed through our solar system to check it out. Preliminary analysis of several hours of data with a cluster super computers do not reveal any signals of artificial origin even though this instrument could detect a cell phone at the space rock's distance in about a minute. Care is being taken to to reject signals which could be of human origin as well as those which are not consistent with Oumuamua's speed and location. The hypothesis that this interstellar space rock is an alien probe is pretty farfetched, however, how it came to have it's current shape is almost equally hard to imagine.For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer. © 2026 A. D. Grauer
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he came across an unknown moving point of light in the night sky. After Greg reported his observations to the Minor Planet Center his discovery was tracked by telescopes in California, Romania, Germany, New Mexico, Arizona, Bavaria, and Japan. Astronomers used these data to calculate that Greg’s discovery orbits the sun between Venus and Earth , estimate its size to be approximately twice the length of a football field, and give it the name 2026 BX4. NASA classifies it to be a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, however, since it doesn’t cross the Earth’s orbit it is not an immediate impact threat. In fact it will not come as close to us as it can on its current path until February 17, 2075 when it will pass less than 6 times the moon’s distance from us. Because 2026 BX4’s orbit is entirely within the Earth’s path about the Sun it is classified to be an Atira asteroid. These space rocks are difficult to discover and track because they are always near the Sun in the sky. 2026 BX4 could become an impact threat by gravitational interactions with Earth, Venus or another asteroid. There are also Aten asteroids which spend most of their time inside the Earth’s orbit but cross it and are more of a threat than an Atira asteroid like 2026 BX4. Currently the most dangerous Aten asteroid is Apophis which will safely pass closer to us than the communication satellites on Friday February 13, 2029. Asteroid hunters will continue to discover and track both Atira and Aten asteroids to make sure none of them sneak up on our home planet from the direction of the Sun.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Carson Fuls and Greg Lenoard discovered an Aten asteroid which orbits the Sun once every 272 days and on a path that crosses the orbits of Venus and Earth a number of times each year. Atens account for only about 6% of the Earth approaching asteroids that asteroid hunters discover. They are relatively dim and difficult to discover because they spend most of their time inside the Earth's orbit with their sunlit side facing away from us. For example Carson and Greg's newly discovered asteroid, 2017 WJ16, is bright enough for asteroid hunters to track for only about 50 nights every couple of years. It is about 150 feet in diameter and travels on an orbit which can bring it to a bit more than three times the Moon's distance from Earth. When 2017 WJ16 is closer to the Sun than Earth it travels faster then we do allowing it to catch and just barely cross our orbit as we both travel about the Sun. In 2020, 2017 WJ16 will make one of it's closer approaches to us when it comes to about less than 5 times the Moon's distance from our home planet. At that time it will be traveling at 2.9 miles/second relative to us which is well within reach of our current rocket technology. I suspect that in the future if the pattern of colors which 2017 WJ16 reflects, reveals a high metal or water content humans will mine it to construct and operate their colonies in space.
According to NASA an average of one catalogued piece of space junk per day has come down to Earth over the past 50 years. Research is described which can track space junk in the atmosphere and provide the starting location and altitude for tracking clouds of environmentally problematic toxic chemical and/or nuclear contaminants released by the disintegration of reentering spacecraft.
The NASA Curiosity Rover has shown us evidence of ancient rivers and bodies of liquid water on the martian surface. Given it's thin cold atmosphere, seeps of liquid water, presently on the surface of Mars which are capable of hosting microbial life appear to be unlikely. Scientists were thus surprised when high resolution imaging of the red planet's surface revealed thousands of intriguing dark streaks called RSL on hundreds of rocky slope areas. These fascinating features slowly extend down hill and grow during the martian warm season, fade during the colder season, and reappear during the next martian warm period. On Earth features like these are produced by seeps of liquid water. However, on Mars a careful study of 151 RSL features at ten different sites using the high resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that they occur almost entirely on slopes which are greater than 27 degrees. This new research published in Nature Geoscience suggests that RSL are composed of solid particles in dry granular flows which unlike water seeps appear to end on many of the dunes when it's slope falls below a critical value. What makes RSL tick remains a mystery and likely involves small amounts of water trapped from the atmosphere. Currently surface conditions are hostile to life as we know it, however, the possibility of finding evidence of ancient life or perhaps even still existing microbe colonies in deep sub surface pockets of water are reasons to continue to explore our next door neighbor without contaminating it.
On a recent night my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal found 4 Earth approaching space rocks with our small but mighty Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. These Earth approaching asteroids are all small with an average diameter about the width of tennis court. On their current paths none of them come closer than about 4 lunar distances from our home planet.
In 2012 as it crossed the orbit of Neptune heading towards the Sun a small space rock was 250 times fainter than can be detected by the Hubble Space Telescope. Five years later, after it had rounded the Sun, it became visible in asteroid hunter's telescopes for about 16 days, as it streaked across our planet's orbit at 37 miles per second, as it continued to move away from the Sun. During that brief period of time it was discovered by the PanSTARRS group in Hawaii, tracked by telescopes around the world, and given the name Oumuamua (“Oh-moo-ah-moo-ah”). Turns out that previous to the discovery observations, sightings too sparse to report, were obtained by my team using the Catalina Sky Survey's Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. In 2024 this unusual space rock will cross Pluto's average distance from the Sun traveling on a path which will take it into deep interstellar space. Since we don't know how Oumuamua could obtained it's current trajectory from processes in our solar system, it is safe to presume that it originated in truly deep space. The mystery of Oumuamua deepened when astronomers measured it's brightness to change regularly by nearly 10 times over a 7.3 hour period of time. If these brightness variations are due to it's shape, and thus the amount of sun light reflected as it rotates, Oumuamua looks like a cigar. Even though Elon Musk's SpaceX Mars rocket could catch Oumuamua, it is more cost effective is to simply wait to discover another one of the several interstellar asteroids which pass by us each year.
Artificial light at night also known as light pollution is degrading human safety and health as well as damaging the natural environment on which we all depend. The loss of the connection with the natural night sky has happened over the past 100 years. Restoring the natural night sky is relatively simple and can even save money. Before restoration can effectively begin it is essential to make night sky brightness measurements in both natural night sky and urban locations.
Recently there were four fireball meteors, brighter than the planet Venus, which exploded over Germany, France, Ohio, and Arizona within the space of only 10 hours. A total of 1320 individuals were treated to light shows and reported their observations to the American Meteor Society. The one which exploded over Arizona was probably several feet in diameter and entered the Earth's atmosphere over Flagstaff. This event was observed in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. It was recorded by numerous electronic security and dashboard cameras and was visible for from 3 to 7 seconds. This meteor also produced a booming sound which was reported by about a dozen different observers. The fireball was last seen over Happy Jack, Arizona and is likely to have produced meteorite fragments which are scattered along Interstate 17 somewhere in the rugged country between Phoenix and Flagstaff. There are likely to be on the order of 1,000 fireball events over the Earth every day. Most of them occur over the oceans or during the day and pass unobserved by humans. During the first 10 months of 2017 the most energetic fireball event occurred when a meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere at 8.5 miles/second above the ocean between Australia and Antartica. If you record a fireball with your dash cam or security camera report it to the American Meteor Society. Your data will be very important in finding out where it came from in the solar system as well as to indicate where it might be possible to find pieces of it on the ground.
Humans can mitigate the damage done by the impact of an asteroid given a sufficient lead time. In 1998, the US Congress mandated NASA to detect and track 90% of the 1 km sized asteroids capable of effecting local mass destruction as well as global disruption of agriculture and other human activities. This goal has been accomplished. In 2005 Congress extended the mandate to require NASA to detect and track 90% of the 140-m asteroids capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.
Astronomers continue to be delighted when they discover an Earth sized planet. Scientists were thus very disappointed when the red dwarf star hosting the nearest such planet, Proxima b some 4.2 light years away, turns out to have the nasty habit of emitting bursts of radiation which are likely to sterilize and/or remove the atmospheres of it's family of planets. Recently, hope of finding a nearby Earth was rekindled when scientists at the European Southern observatory in Chile discovered a small planet circling what appears to be a quiet well behaved red dwarf star 11 light years from us. Astronomers are not yet sure that this newly discovered Earth sized planet lies within it's stars habitable zone where liquid water could exist on it's surface. Jumping the gun, ET enthusiasts have beamed a friendly message in the direction of another nearby red dwarf planet system. Their target the super Earth planet, GJ 273b is located some 12.4 light years away near the bright star Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major. At this distance a civilization on GJ 273b could have already received a picture of humanity by deciphering 'I love Lucy' and other TV signals it has been picking up for 50 years or so. The next generation of very large telescopes will allow astronomers to search for the presence of oxygen and other molecules which indicate the presence of life in the atmospheres of nearby worlds. In the mean time we have more reasons to be thankful for what we have here on planet Earth. For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer. Go to travelersinthenight.org program 417 for more information.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Tracie Beuden was observing with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona in the constellation of Persus when she found the first asteroid of 2026. Asteroid hunters are trying to like Tracie's discovery with our number on it far enough in advance so humans could give it a tiny nudge and make it miss Earth.
The orbits of the planets are closely aligned with the extension of the Sun's equator into space and are contained within the flattened disk of material which forms the plane solar system. Most asteroids have orbits with inclinations or tilts to the solar system's plane which are less than 20 degrees. Thus, when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny discovered a small space rock which soars into the lonely space high above and below our solar system's plane, it got our attention. As with all of our asteroid discoveries, Rose had no idea of what kind of object she had discovered with our Schmidt Telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona until it had been tracked by observers around the world. The Minor Planet Center used the data from 14 different telescopes to calculate an orbit, estimate a size, and give the new object the name, 2017 TF4. Rose's odd ball near Earth Apollo asteroid discovery , 2017 TF4, has an orbit which is tilted by 60 degrees to the plane of our solar system. It's inclination or tilt is greater than 99.5% of the other 8,000 known Earth approaching Apollo asteroids. 2017 TF4, Rose's 260 foot diameter discovery orbits the Sun at about the same distance as the Earth once every 414 days. Perhaps as asteroid hunters discover additional small objects with orbits similar to Rose's discovery we will be able to trace them back to when they were created by a catastrophic collision long ago.
Astronomers using the 8.1 m Gemini South Telescope in Chile were excited by the fact that 467P (LINEAR-Grauer)’s Centaur like orbit had been changed as the nucleus emitted rocket like bursts of gases as it was warmed by the Sun. Inert inactive asteroids orbit the Sun following the law of gravity whereas active asteroids can emit little rocket like bursts of gas which can change their path about the Sun in interesting ways. It is important to study objects like 467P (LINEAR-Grauer) to make sure their path about the Sun doesn’t change to make them a threat to our home planet.
Once every 1,435 days , a 780 foot diameter space rock that my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered makes an annihilation defying close approach to our star. At it's nearest point to the Sun, Carson's well done space rock is traveling at an amazing 93 miles per second and receives 26 times the amount of solar radiation that heats the surface of the planet Mercury to 800F. After Carson first discovered his heat resistant space rock traveling towards it's next hot date with the Sun, it was observed by telescopes in New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, and England. These data allowed scientists at the Minor Planet Center to calculate it's orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size, and give it the name 2017 TC1. 2017 TC1 crosses the orbits of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury and can come relatively close to Jupiter on it's extremely elliptical orbit about the Sun. It is possible that in the very distant past the giant planet Jupiter's pull on 2017 TC1 sent it on it's current path around the Sun. In September of 2021, 2017 TC1 will once again be bright enough for asteroid hunters to track as it makes another close approach to our Sun. At this time astronomers with be able to measure the pattern of colors that 2017 TC1 reflects which will reveal it's surface chemical composition. Until then we are left to wonder how it is possible for a space rock to survive on such a harrowing path.
In 1892 the world’s largest telescope, the Lick Observatory’s 36 inch refracting telescope made the news when E.E. Barnard discovered, Amalthea, the 5th moon of Jupiter. In 2025 this historic telescope made the news again when on Christmas morning winds of 114 mph blew off a 3 ton piece of the shutter on its dome.The adaptive optics research pioneered at Lick Observatory helped in the creation of the twin giant 10 meter telescopes that sit atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Without additional data, the true nature of the rapidly northward moving point of light my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls had just discovered would have remained a mystery. Fortunately, this new object was tracked by telescopes in both Arizona and New Mexico. These data were used to calculate it's orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size, and give it the name 2017 UX5. When Carson first spotted this enormous 1,200 foot diameter space rock it was more than 30 million miles away traveling in our direction at 10.7 mi/s. It's orbit and that of the Earth's nearly intersect and at the closest point they are about two and one half times the Moon's distance from us apart. An asteroid the size of 2017 UX5 impacts the Earth every 76,000 years or so. According to the impact calculator developed at Purdue University and the Imperial College of London if 2017 UK5 is made of porous rock and came in at an angle of 45 degrees, it would start to break into pieces at an altitude of 41 miles and upon reaching the surface would create a crater 2.2 miles in diameter and 5/8 of a mile deep in sedimentary rock. The results 20 miles away from impact would be that of a 6.4 Richter Scale magnitude Earth quake followed by 176 mph air wind blast which would blow down 90% of the trees and collapse wood frame buildings. Fortunately asteroid hunters have not discovered any object like Carson's discovery with our number on it.
On Earth living things are everywhere from the deepest ocean depths to the highest mountain tops. On our home planet RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) is a complex essential molecule involved in the process of translating genetic information into the working components of living cells. In a recent paper in the peer reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Dr. Yuta Hirakawa and his team of two coauthors report on their experiments to produce RNA under conditions similar to those which may have occurred in the early history of Earth and Mars.
To get an idea of the energy involved in a rocket launch, the NASA Saturn V, moon rocket, fully fueled on the launch pad contained the chemical energy of 2,000 pounds of TNT. This old technology could carry us to Mars and back on missions that would last years. To cut the mission time, the risks, and the mass of supplies required for such a prolonged space mission NASA is looking at alternative means of rocket propulsion. Back in the 1950s NASA's project Orion was a study to investigate propelling a rocket by a series of atomic bomb explosions behind the vehicle. Now a safer and more gentle way of propelling a space craft with nuclear fission is being studied as the result of a NASA grant to BWX Technologies. The concept is to heat liquid hydrogen using a high temperature fission reactor furnace which would expel the gas at a high velocity producing the rocket's thrust. The process would be about twice as efficient in terms of thrust per pound of fuel when compared to burning a hydrogen and oxygen mixture. Since it is unacceptable to release trace amounts of radioactivity in the rocket's exhaust, engineers are investigating a technique developed by NASA in which the hydrogen exhaust is burned with oxygen to produce water which can be caught and decontaminated. Don't expect to buy a round trip ticket on a high speed fission powered rocket any time soon. However, in the long run nuclear technology could revolutionize the exploration and colonization of our solar system.
In April 2029 on one of the luckiest Friday the 13th in human history the 1500 ft by 500 ft asteroid Apophis will pass within 23,600 miles of the Earth’s surface traveling at some 4.6 mi/s. This is extremely fortunate since an Apophis impact would release the energy of scores of nuclear weapons and cause wide spread devastation. NASA's OSIRIS-APEX will become the companion of the potentially hazardous asteroid Apophis on 5 June 2029,
Eighteen hours before my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny first spotted a small space rock with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona it had passed less than the Earth's diameter from the surface of our planet. Rose was able to discover this Smart Car sized space rock after it moved out of the Sun's glare. At this point it was about the Moon's distance from her and was traveling away at 3.4 mi/s. After Rose posted her discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation page, for the next 24 hours it was tracked by telescopes in Spain, Illinois, and Arizona. Scientists at the Minor Planet Center used these data to calculate it's orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size and give it the name 2017 UJ2. This small asteroid had come near the Earth in 1978 but was invisible to the technology which astronomers had available at the time. 2017 UJ2 will not come close enough for us to detect in the foreseeable future, however, there are likely to be tens of millions of others like it which can come close to Earth. A small asteroid the size of Rose's discovery is likely to enter our atmosphere at least once a year and explodes at about 4 times higher than airliners fly. If such an event happened at night and you were lucky enough to see it you would be treated to a fantastic light show. If you are as lucky as a power ball winner you might even be able to find a piece of it on the ground.
The Earth’s atmosphere does a good job of protecting humanity from space weather, however, occasionally a major event does break through our shield and gets our attention. Tree rings and ice cores have recorded past space weather events thousands of time larger than which have occurred in the modern age. investing in research seems wise.
In an area which is about 1/400th of the entire sky, the NASA Kepler spacecraft has discovered 30 Earth like planets which are likely to have liquid water on their surfaces orbiting distant stars. These planets are likely to represent a tiny sample of the habitable planets which exist in the Milky Way. In spite of our efforts to find them, the question remains where are the alien civilizations? In a recent talk given at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting Dr. Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute suggests that perhaps the majority of worlds with biology and intelligent civilizations exist on interior water ocean worlds where their existence is hidden by the thick layers of rock and ice which separate them from the hostile vacuum of space. We know that in our solar system alone the moon of Jupiter Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, and perhaps several other small worlds are likely to have oceans of nutrient rich liquid water covered by a thick layer of rock and ice. We also know that Whales and Dolphins have larger brains than humans, communicate with each other, and exhibit other forms of intelligence. Advanced civilizations existing in ice covered seas may know little of the greater Universe, may find it difficult to consider transporting enough water to travel beyond their worlds, and may not think that it is possible to communicate with others of their kind who are similarly hidden under miles and miles of radiation absorbing ice and rock.
Around the world those who value the natural night sky are evaluating the effects of light pollution. In addition to impairing astronomy and star gazing the past 100 years of increasing light pollution is proving to be harmful to human health and the natural world upon which we all depend. The purpose of the Dark Sky Network is monitor and facilitate the mitigation of the harmful effects of light pollution.
On it's gravitational leash, Earth's pet space rock, 2016 HO3, accompanies us at a distance of between 38 and 100 times the Moon's distance from Earth as we both travel about the Sun. As this tiny asteroid orbits the Sun it spends about half of it's time inside the Earth's orbit where it moves faster and passes ahead of us and the other half of it's yearly path outside of our orbit which causes it to lag behind our home planet. Since it's discovery little has been known about Earth's pet space rock leaving some to speculate that perhaps it is an old rocket booster or other piece of space junk. To answer this question, Dr. Vishnu Reddy of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory headed up a team of astronomers who used the University of Arizona's Large Binocular Telescope and the Discovery Channel's Telescope to determine some of it's properties. This team of researchers found that 2016 HO3 is indeed a natural object about 100 to 300 feet in diameter, rotates about once every 28 minutes, and is made of material similar to meteorites which have landed on Earth. Our pet space rock, 2016 HO3, has apparently been in it's present relationship to Earth for a hundred years and is likely to remain so for hundreds of years to come. Even though 2016 HO3 is not gravitationally bound to the Earth, the combination of the Sun's and Earth's gravitational pulls keeps it relatively near making it easy to reach and thus is an ideal candidate for visits by human or robotic spacecraft.
Since in its early history the Earth’s surface was hot and lifeless it is likely that asteroids formed in the same era as Bennu delivered the raw materials for life when they impacted our home planet long ago
On Earth, human life is enabled by plants which provide us with calories, vitamins, fuel, medicines, and oxygen to breathe. In addition, recent scientific studies indicate that plant cultivation reduces anxiety and depression and has a positive influence on diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and longevity. Perhaps this is the reason that 80% of the cultivated plant species on planet Earth are not used for any food related purpose. On long duration space missions astronauts live in close quarters isolated from the natural world where the basic activities like eating, sleeping, and attending to bodily functions are difficult and stress producing. Recent research conducted on the International Space Station suggests that space gardening helps astronauts to cope with the sterile space craft interior, allows them to combat boredom, as well as some of the other negative psychological effects of their long period of confinement. Specific examples of International Space Station gardens include astronaut Scott Kelly's first zinnia to bloom in space and astronaut Peggy Whitson's small crop of space soybeans. For many thousands of years people making long journeys have taken plants for food and recreation with them. It is likely that when humans travel to Mars they will continue this practice. The plants that Mars explorers take with them will provide a source of fresh fruits and vegetables , fresh air to breathe, and perhaps a psychological benefit that is crucial to the success of their mission.
In the distant past things in our solar system were very much more wild and violent than they are today. 4.5 billion years ago a Mars sized object called Theia impacted Earth producing our Moon. Scientists are able research this event using the current chemical compositions of the Earth and Moon.
In less than 24 hours, while observing with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona , I discovered two 25 foot diameter space rocks that theoretically can pass less than a quarter of the Moon's distance from us. After I posted my discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation page one of them received immediate attention, as an incoming object, and was tracked by observers at 14 different observatories around the world. Scientists at the Minor Planet Center used these data to calculate it's 926 day orbital path around the Sun, estimate it's size, and give it the name 2017 TH5. 36 hours after I first spotted 2017 TH5 streaking through the night sky it came to less than 60,000 miles from the surface of our planet traveling at 7.6 miles per second. 8 hours and 49 minutes later it passed less than half a lunar distance from the surface of our moon. If 2017 TH5 would have been on an impact trajectory with Earth humans would have had time to prepare for a spectacular light show. Approximately once every 5 years a tiny asteroid like 2017 TH5 enters our atmosphere exploding at an altitude about 3 times higher than airliners fly releasing the energy of about 5,000 tons of TNT. Asteroid hunters are well on our way towards being able to issue a warning to stay away from doors and windows should a small space rock be discovered to be on an impact trajectory with planet Earth.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the evening twilight with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon Arizona when he spotted an unknown object in the constellation of Lyra. The largest telescopes on Earth will likely track David's discovery until it becomes too faint to observe in 2027 and catch it again when it again becomes bright enough to track in 2050. Fortunately it is extremely unlikely that it will strike Earth when it again comes close to our home planet in 2052.
New Zealand's 4.5 million people are concentrated in three major population centers which to various degrees suffer from the modern plague of light pollution. However, most of New Zealand's large rural areas and land reserves, covering an area as large as the UK, have unpolluted natural night skies. A completely unique place to experience New Zealand's natural night sky is the Aotea [ Ah - yoh - tee - ah]-Great Barrier Island International Dark Sky Sanctuary. It encompasses New Zealand's, 110 square mile, sixth largest island, which is located about 62 miles from central Auckland. It is easily accessible by boat or a short airline flight. The island's 1000 residents are employed by agriculture and tourism. They value the natural night sky and function without externally generated electricity or street lights and fully support the preservation of their prestine night sky. In the daytime Great Barrier Island offers wonderful beaches and hikes. When the sun sets the night sky becomes alive with its own natural lights. Night sky measurements by Auckland Astronomer Nalayini [ Na - laa - i - ni] Davies and her collaborators have proved that the Great Barrier Island's natural night skies are second to none on planet Earth. Using the unaided eye, a set of binoculars, or a small telescope an observer on the Great Barrier Island is treated to spectacular views of the center of the Milky Way, the clouds of Magellan the nearest galaxies to us, the nearest stars, as well as numerous star clusters, meteors, comets, and other wonders of the natural night sky. Perhaps this unique spot deserves a place on your bucket list.
It is possible the object creating the Tunguska event in Russia 1908 which knocked down 80 million trees over an area about twice the size of New York City was a fragment of a comet or asteroid. The International Asteroid Warning Network 2025 campaign to track Comet 3L/Atlas prepares the worlds observatories for the eventual time when a comet fragment has our number on it.
In November of 2006, University of Arizona's Spacewatch astronomers on Kitt Peak discovered a faint moving point of light in the night sky which appeared to be a garden variety main belt asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The Minor Planet Center calculated it's orbit and gave it the name 2006 VW139. Five years later when it again moved closest to the Sun the Pan-STARRS group in Hawaii discovered that 2006 VW139 is surrounded by a gas cloud like a comet and it was given a comet designation, 288P. My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Steve Larson is a member of the team of astronomers who use the Hubble Space Telescope to observe asteroids which have comet like burps. Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope between August 2016 and January 2017 clearly show 288P to be two similar, mile diameter, asteroids orbiting each other about 60 miles apart, surrounded by a gas cloud, as they move about the Sun. The Hubble team estimates that about 5,000 years ago this strange object was formed when a rapidly rotating comet nucleus came apart into two large pieces. It's gas cloud is likely to come from volatile ices like carbon dioxide and water vapor which were liberated by solar heating. Objects like this one are very interesting since they may have had a role in bringing water to a bone dry Earth in the early days of our solar system.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the evening twilight with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon Arizona when he spotted an unknown object in the constellation of Lyra. The largest telescopes on Earth will likely track David's discovery until it becomes too faint to observe in 2027 and catch it again when it again becomes bright enough to track in 2050. Fortunately it is extremely unlikely that it will strike Earth when it again comes close to our home planet in 2052.
Many people in our modern world rarely if ever experience night vision. To achieve this interesting state of sensory awareness you cannot look at your cell phone or any other source of bright light for 30 to 45 minutes. Your night vision comes about over time because the rod sensors in the retina of your eye undergo a chemical change when they are placed in total darkness. The process starts immediately but takes 20 to 30 minutes to get 80% of maximum sensitivity. The night vision process can be reversed in seconds by exposure to a bright light. In it's most sensitive state your eye can function with a billion times less light than is present in strong sunlight enabling you to see a candle flame from 1.6 miles away.
It is possible the object creating the Tunguska event in Russia 1908 which knocked down 80 million trees over an area about twice the size of New York City was a fragment of a comet or asteroid. The International Asteroid Warning Network 2025 campaign to track Comet 3L/Atlas prepares the worlds observatories for the eventual time when a comet fragment has our number on it.
Venus and Earth are similar in size, composition, density, and mass. Unfortunately, our sister planet Venus is an example of a place where green house gases have created an extreme situation. Venus's thick carbon dioxide atmosphere has a surface pressure 90 times that of Earth. It would crush a submarine. Additionally, the thick atmospheric blanket holds in the heat causing Venus's surface temperature to be 864 F, hot enough to melt lead.
Just before noon on September 1st of 1859 Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson were making sketches of clusters of sunspots when they were nearly blinded by an intense solar flare. 17.6 hours later a geomagnetic storm thought to be caused by a solar coronal mass ejection traveling at some 1,500 miles per second slammed into the magnetic field surrounding our home planet. We missed being hit with a such large coronal mass ejection by only 9 days in July of 2012. Next time we might not be that lucky.
Dr Lance Benner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory headed up a team of scientists who used the 70 meter antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex to bounce RADAR beams off of the asteroid Florence as it made a close approach to Earth in September of 2017. The RADAR images these researchers obtained reveal that Florence consists of a 2.8 mile diameter primary asteroid which is orbited by two small moons. Florence's two satellites appear to be between three hundred and a thousand feet in diameter and orbit the main asteroid in about 8 and 24 hours respectively. Florence is rare since there are only two other triple asteroid systems among the 16,000 Earth approaching asteroids which asteroid hunters have discovered. We would know more about Florence if Hurricane Irma had not prevented astronomers from using the giant Arecibo RADAR Dish in Puerto Rico to study it. Our curiosity will have to wait since Florence will not come very close again until September 2, 2057.
The Dark Energy Camera on the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter telescope on Cerro Tololo in Chile is taking near Sun twilight images to search for asteroids, hidden in the glare of our Sun, sneaking up on home planet.
At about 2AM on July 18, 2011 several people in near Tata, Morocco saw a bright fireball which was described by one of them to be initially yellow, then turned green, and finally exploded into several pieces producing two sonic booms. In October of 2011 desert wandering nomads began finding very fresh looking dark fusion-crusted stones which were radioactively dated by Dr. John Duke of the University of Alberta to be less than 5 years old. In total 15-24 lbs of meteorites consistent with a very recent fall were found in a strewn field, were whisk away to receive high prices from collectors, and named after the town of Tissint [tee.seent] about 30 miles from their discovery location.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Eridanus with the 90 inch, University of Arizona’s Bok telescope on Kitt Peak when she was treated to an amazing sight. Comet COMET 240P/NEAT with a small version of itself cruising along beside it.It is virtually impossible to predict if Vivian’s fragment 240P-B will survive to make another approach to the Sun in 2033 or so.
Meteors, shooting stars, or falling stars are different names for the streaks of light in the night sky which are in reality the dying embers of tiny asteroids. These small interplanetary travelers were speeding along at between 7 and 44 miles per second when they entered the Earth's atmosphere. In space, they are called meteoroids and typically ranged in size from that of a grain of sand to perhaps ones as big as of a piece of driveway gravel. Large space pebbles can produce fireballs which are brighter than the planet Venus. Most meteors burn up 50-70 miles above you, however, a very few of them produce fragments which fall to the Earth's surface. In rare occasions meteor observers are able to walk up to such a fallen space rock which is called a fall. The best time to view meteors is generally after midnight on a clear, moonless night. You will see many more meteors in a rural area than under city lights. On nights not during a meteor shower, you may expect to view sporadic meteors at the rate of between 2 and 16 per hour. Some meteor showers produce more than 100 events per hour. Rarely you will have a chance to view a meteor storm which will give you the feeling that you are seeing the Earth move through space. In 1966 one of these storms produced a WOW inspiring 40 meteors per second. During the year, there are a dozen major meteor showers. Check out the International Meteor Organization Calendar for a complete listing of the dates of meteor showers as well as how bright the moon will be on those dates. Happy viewing.
On a busy night of asteroid hunting with the 90 inch, University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Bok telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal discovered 13 new Earth approaching objects. One of them now known as 2025 TF immediately got her attention as it streaked through the constellation of Pegasus. Another space rock 2020 VT4 came about 30 miles closer to the surface of our home planet giving 2025 TF second place as a grazing non impactor.
Jupiter has been observed throughout human history and is so bright that you can even spot it under the artificial light dome of one of our cities. Even so it is less than 40 years ago that we were first able to view Jupiter in detail as the Voyagers streaked by it. Jupiter contains more than twice the mass of all of the other planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets in our solar system combined. Eons ago, our solar systems very own giant planet, Jupiter, appears to have cleared out the inner solar system leaving enough rocky debris to form Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Without Jupiter's action our solar system is likely to have turned out like the more than half of the planetary systems which we have found which consist of non-inhabitable super Earth sized planets orbiting closely about their host stars. In terms of the defense of planet Earth from impacting objects, Jupiter is a mixed blessing. It apparently deflects some of the long period comets out of Earth impacting orbits while sending other asteroids and comets our way. In 1770 a small comet came in from the outer solar system and passed near Jupiter. This encounter sent it straight towards Earth. Fortunately this celestial visitor missed humanity by about a million miles. After two orbits of the Sun this small comet once again passed near Jupiter and was ejected from the solar system. Look up where to find Jupiter on the internet and observe it. Jupiter is an awesome sight in binoculars or a small telescope. As you view this gas giant think about the fact that it is likely the reason you have a place to stand and air to breathe.
In a recent 60 day period asteroid hunters tracked 24 space rocks which came closer than our Moon. My team the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey operates 5 telescopes in the mountains around Tucson, Arizona. Our goal is to find objects like 2025 RM1 which are on an impact trajectory with our home planet in advance so that people in the effected area can be warned to stay away from doors and windows.
Throughout history small close approaching space rocks have been a part of our environment. Now, thanks to improved telescopes and cameras, asteroid hunters are routinely discovering these small asteroids as they pass closer than the Moon is to us. Since these tiny asteroids are only bright enough to detect for a few days out of their long, many month duration paths about the Sun, astronomers have had difficulty in determining how many of these small space rocks may exist in near Earth space. This effort received more emphasis when a house sized space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013 releasing about 10 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Although this asteroid was tiny compared to the one that ended the dinosaurs rule of the planet, the air blast the Chelyabinsk bolide produced caused nearly 1,500 human injuries and damaged more than 7,000 buildings. In a 2017 paper in the Astronomical Journal, Dr. David Trilling of Northern Arizona University and his group of researchers present data from the Blanco 4 meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile which they use to estimate that there are approximately 3.2 million Earth approaching asteroids similar in size to the Chelyabinsk impactor. My team the Catalina Sky Survey uses 4 telescopes, 24 nights per month, in the mountains north of Tucson, Arizona with the goal to provide warnings for people to stay away from doors and windows should a Chelyabinsk sized space rock be on an impact trajectory with planet Earth.
Dr Uisdean Nicholson from Heriot-Watt University and his team of 9 co-authors analyze 3D seismic imaging and drill cuttings from a 1980s oil well to make a convincing case that the Silverpit crater was produced by a the impact of a 1.5 football field diameter asteroid approximately 45 million years ago.
Humans have a long history of partnerships with a variety of micro organisms. Although the proportions vary widely with individuals, recent scientific estimates suggest that a typical human being has approximately the same number of bacteria and other microbes as they do actual human cells. Now it appears that a partnership with yeast and algae will enable spacefaring humans to use their waste products to produce food and plastics during long duration space flights. Dr. Mark Blenner of Clemson University leads a research group developing strains of yeast which obtain their nitrogen from untreated urine and their carbon dioxide from exhaled breath or the Martian atmosphere which has been converted into yeast food by algae. One of Blenner's yeast strains produces omega-3 fatty acids which are essential for heart, eye, and brain health while another strain of yeast has been engineered to produce polyester polymers which could be used by 3D printers to produce plastic tools and other useful devices. In the future research Blenner's team will focus on increasing the output of these tiny beasts to the point that they will generate useful amounts of nutrients and plastics from astronaut's waste products. This new research when added to the fact that on the International Space Station space travelers now routinely drink recycled water from their urine, sweat, and showers moves us closer to the day when space travelers literally use and reuse every atom that they lift from the Earth's surface enabling journeys that may last for years. The flip side of our partnership with microorganisms is that it is extremely difficult to protect the worlds we explore from a microorganism invasion which would threaten their home grown biology.
On a recent clear night my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groller was asteroid hunting with the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona when he discovered 8 natural visitors to our neighborhood. Telescopes around the world began to track and determine the natures these asteroids. Six of Hannes’s discoveries are classified as Near Earth Objects while the other two are more distant Mars crossing asteroids
The moon cycle from new moon through full moon and back to new moon again was used by many nations to regulate their activities and forms the basis of the Islamic lunar calendar. A calendar based on the first visibility of the lunar crescent is difficult to predict in advance since this observation depends on the clarity of the atmosphere and other local conditions. The interesting observational problem of when it is possible to spot the new moon has been analyzed in the scientific literature as an aid to historians who are seeking to interpret the writings of ancient civilizations.
Scientists are using many approaches to understanding the nature and history of 3I/Atlas the third known interstellar traveler in the night. At a hyperbolic velocity of 130,000 mph it is the fastest interstellar visitor ever measured.
Finding a meteorite that has traveled billions of miles through space to reach it's present location is exciting. It might even be worth real money.
Obtaining accurate data on the Earth’s climate and how it is changing is vital to inform agriculture , insurance risks, business planning, disaster preparedness, financial investments, wild fire mitigation, and national security. The USA should not be flying blind and relying on Europe and China for the data we need.
Friday the 13th appears to continue to be a lucky day for the human race. When astronomers first discovered Apophis in 2004 it appeared possible that this 3 million ton, 1,200 foot diameter asteroid traveling at 8 mi/s could impact our planet creating a crater a several miles diameter and more than a half mile deep. Additional observations over the years have eliminated this possibility as Apophis streaks by closer than the communications satellites on that lucky Friday the 13th. Further, current calculations have reduced the chances of Apophis colliding with Earth in the next 100 years to about one in 100,000. However, over the millennia Apophis is likely to strike the Earth as does one it's size once every 100,000 years or so.
The Lagrange point L4 is 60° ahead of Mars whereas L5 is 60° behind Mars on the red planet’s orbital path about the Sun. An object placed at either of these locations is trapped gravitationally and is likely to remain there indefinitely. The Mars L4 and L5 locations could provide a permanent place for staging and resupply missions to Mars and would give humans a different view of space weather and its effects on our home planet.
To reach the vicinity of the nearest star, 24 trillion miles away, in less than 20 years, an interstellar space probe would have to travel at a substantial fraction of the speed of light. Newton's laws of motion, published 300 years ago, predict that the greater the mass of an object the greater is the force required to increase it's velocity. In order to alleviate the need for the virtually unaffordable amount of energy required to accelerate a normal sized spacecraft to a speed of 20% of the speed of light, the Breakthrough Starshot program has funded the creation of 'Sprite' , the world's smallest spacecraft. About the size of a saltine cracker and having a mass of less than 2 dimes, the single-board Sprite spacecraft has all the essentials; solar panels, computing electronics, thermometers, gyroscopes, radio communication equipment and more. Working prototypes have been launched into Earth orbit by the Indian Space Research Organization attached to the Italian Max Valier and Latvian Ventra satellites. One of them has sent back signals which have been received by Cornell University's ground station. Dr. Zac Manchester who started the Sprite Spacecraft program while earning a PhD at Cornell University envisions using tiny spacecraft to explore near Earth Space as well as asteroids and moons in our solar system. In the future, fleets of the decedents of Sprite could be sent to explore intriguing planets in nearby alien solar systems. These tiny explorers will be propelled by high power Earth bound lasers directed at their solar sails and could reach and explore distant planets in a reasonable amount of time.
50 years ago scientists found that Chlorofluorocarbons or CFC chemicals in widespread use in refrigeration, air conditioning , and hair spray were beginning to damage the ozone layer in the Earth’s stratosphere which blocks harmful Solar UVB radiation from reaching the surface. The world wide response was the Montreal Protocol banning these chemicals from being released into the atmosphere. It saved millions of humans from dying of skin cancer. Satellite ashes are a new threat to the protective ozone layer.
Looking at the stars on a clear dark night, far from the artificial air glow humanity creates, have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel in truly deep interstellar space? 40 years after their launches in 1977, your representatives, the twin Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft are in the vast space between the stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Aboard each Voyager is a Golden Record time capsule which expected to last billions of years. This message from all of humanity is inscribed with greetings from Earth as well as sounds, images, and a decoding key which will enable any intelligent aliens which find a Voyager to discover who made it and where it came from.
The planets, millions of asteroids, tens of thousands of comets, distant icy worlds, and countless other bits and pieces of material orbit the Sun. A group of such co-orbiting objects is called the Taurid complex or swarm. It consists of Comet 2P/Enke, a number of near Earth asteroids, and the meteor stream which produces the Taurid meteor shower every October and November.
When the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa [Hi ya Boo sa] visited the near Earth asteroid Itokawa in 2005 it found this 2000 foot by 800 foot elliptical world to have a variety of surface features. Instead of being a solid object like some asteroids, Itokawa is a rubble pile of boulders and pebbles held together by it's tiny gravity. The total volume of pebbles seems to be comparable to the volume of large rocks and boulders which make up Itokawa , however, the depths of the pebbles or their concentration in the center remains unknown. Given this uncertainty, this asteroid appears to be made up of a million times more small particles than larger ones.
Astronomers have discovered some 1.4 million asteroids. Approximately 35,000 of these space rocks come near Earth. Less than 40 of them are classified as being Atira asteroids whose orbits lie entirely within the Earth’s orbit about the Sun. Only one of these, asteroid number 594913 named 'Ayló'chaxnim (eye-LAW-chax-nim ) has an orbit which is entirely within the orbit of the planet Venus.
The lunar roving, battery powered, 4 wheel drive "Moon Buggy" allowed astronauts on Apollo 15, 16, and 17 to travel 8 mph on the lunar surface with a maximum range of approximately 4.7 mi. Some of the rocks that these space travelers brought back, from the tiny area they were able to visit on the Moon, contained volcanic glass beads with trace amounts of trapped water inside of them.
Dr. Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office reports that on June 26, 2025 shortly after noon a beachball sized meteoroid traveling at approximately 30,000 miles per hour broke up about 27 miles above the town of West Forrest, Georgia.
Martian Trojan asteroids have stable orbits around the Sun, leading and trailing the red planet by 60 degrees, where the Sun's and Mars's gravity are balanced. For some time astronomers have considered it unlikely that these asteroids wandered in from the asteroid belt. Recently, Dr. David Polishook of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel led a group of researchers who published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy which sets forth evidence that a group of 7 Martian Trojan Asteroids were blasted from the Martian surface when a large asteroid impacted the red planet early in the history of the solar system. The impact more than 4 billion years or so ago which blasted loose a mile diameter chunk of Mars and gave it a speed of the more than the 3 mi/s required to escape the red planet gives us an insight into the level of violence which occurred before our solar system came into it's present relatively calm state.
Amazingly, nature occasionally sends an interstellar traveler through our solar system for us to observe. The third such object that astronomers have discovered coming into our solar system from truly deep space is 3I/ATLAS. It was discovered as it streaked towards the inner solar system at 130,000 miles per hour by the ATLAS team’s 20 inch telescope in Chile and was quickly tracked by telescope around the world.
The Sun is our very own well behaved star. It rises and sets in our sky every day and powers and makes possible all life forms on planet Earth. A new appreciation for our Sun is growing as we learn more about other suns and their families of planets. The Trappist-1 system of 7 planets orbits a dim M type red dwarf star about 40 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius.Recently, Dr. Manasvi Lingam and Dr. Abraham Loeb of Harvard University have calculated the likelihood that planets orbiting red dwarf stars are able to possess an atmosphere conducive to life. They report, in a recently published a paper in the International Journal of Astrobiology that the planet Trappist 1-e is more than 100 times less likely to be habitable than is the Earth. Another group from Harvard and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, headed up by Dr. Cecilia Garraffo also find the Trappist-1 planets to be a tough place to live. These researchers add that the close proximity of these planets to their host star put them at risk of having their atmospheres stripped off by high stellar winds and their surfaces bombarded with high energy particles and electromagnetic radiation. Go outside today and enjoy some gentle sunshine from our well behaved star.
On a a short June night my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was observing with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona in the constellation of Ursa Major when a relatively bright fast moving point of light appeared in a set of his images. Even though on its current path Greg's discovery, 2025 MM89, has virtually no chance of impacting our home planet asteroid hunters will continue to track it to make sure it doesn’t become a threat as it passes other objects in space.
75% of asteroid hunter's discoveries are called C type asteroids. They are dark, have a high abundance of carbon, consist of clay and silicate rocks, and may have a composition which is up to 22% water. Recently Dr. Phillip A. Bland of Curtin University in Australia and Dr. Bryan Travis of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona published an article in the on line journal Science Advances describing their numerical simulations of the evolution of the progenitors of the C type asteroids. These researchers find that these common asteroids are likely to have started out as giant convecting mud balls which could still exist at the center of large asteroids like Ceres. The C type asteroids are particularly significant in that they are likely to have been one of the ingredients which came together under gravity to form Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Their impacts upon a young Earth are likely to be the source of the water in our oceans. Of more immediate interest is that the type C asteroids could be a handy source of water and raw materials for space colonists either as they are currently flying through space or found buried in impact craters on the Moon.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 will not hit the Earth in 2032, has a 4% chance of hitting the moon, and most likely will pass within 900 miles of the lunar surface. If 2024 YR4 were to impact the Moon it could send about the mass of several small cargo ships into space with lunar escape velocity and could pose a threat to our satellites.
When it was first spotted by astronomers at Space Watch on Kitt Peak, 2008 GO98 appeared to be one of many outer main belt asteroids moving through the night sky. 9 years later when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard observed it with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon it had a coma and a tail like a comet. Active asteroids like 2008 GO98 have asteroid orbits but sometimes show cometary activity which could be caused by a collision with another object and/or by thermal fracturing and ice sublimation caused by the slight warming they obtain from sunlight.
In a recent study Dr. Lynnane George and her co-authors investigate Space Elevator technology to remove materials from Ceres and deliver them to orbital depots around the solar system. The tiny gravity of Ceres, nano-fiber technology, and different water propulsion systems are utilized by Dr. George and her team to construct theoretically possible systems which would extract raw materials from Ceres and deliver them to low Earth orbit and other locations within the solar system. These researchers estimate such a transport system could reduce fuel costs by up to 60% compared to transport from the Earth’s surface.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski discovered a 0.4 mile diameter asteroid with the Catalina Sky Survey Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, AZ. Two hours and 11 minutes later it came into a set images I obtained with the 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ. After I reported it, the new object was tracked by telescopes in Arizona, New Zealand, Slovenia, Kansas, Australia, Hungary, France, and Brazil. The Minor Planet Center used these data to calculate it's 1,353 day long orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size, and give it the name 2017 MB1. Fortunately it will not impact the Earth in the foreseeable future. An object the size of 2017 MB1 strikes the Earth every 200,000 years or so releasing the energy of about 300 large hydrogen bombs. It's impact onto a land area could produce a crater 6 miles in diameter, a fire storm that would ignite vegetation, clouds of toxic dust, acid rain, and produce other ill effects. If 2017 MB1 landed in the middle of the ocean it would make a splash that would send up billions of tons of water into the atmosphere and create waves 1,200 feet high which would quickly dissipate and would be no threat to land many miles away.
Recently, using data from the Japanese infrared telescope AKARI, Dr. Amos Y.A. Chen and his collaborators published a paper in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia which predicts the approximate positions of two massive Planet 9 candidates. To arrive at their conclusions this team carefully searched the AKARI observations for objects which over the course of months change their positions relative to distant stars and galaxies. Further observations are required to determine if either of these move like a Planet 9 or if instead they are some other type of distant astronomical object.
The Trappist-1 planetary system located about 40 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius consists of a small red dwarf star and 7 Earth sized planets. By carefully studying changes in the planet's transit timings and the shape of the dip in the host star's brightness as each planet transits across it, astronomers have been able to measure the orbital period, radius, and approximate mass for each of the 7 planets. Dr Billy Quarles of the University Oklahoma and his team used thousands of numerical simulations on super computers to investigate the range in each planet's parameters which would cause it to have a stable orbit and would thus produce the Trappist-1 solar system which we see today. Their results, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests that 6 of Trappist-1's planets have rocky composition like the Earth the remaining one may be composed of 25 % water by mass compared to 0.02% water by mass for Earth. The next step will be to use the James Web Space Telescope equipped with the latest scientific instruments to study the atmospheres of these distant worlds.
Big Bear Solar Observatory is a unique facility operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Its 1.6 meter Goode Solar Telescope is located on the north side of Big Bear Lake at an elevation of 6,760 feet above sea level in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Being surrounded by cold water at high altitude provides the site with exceptional atmospheric stability and thus the possibility of extremely high quality solar images. It is hard to predict the value of basic research, however, work like this will eventually enable scientists to better understand how solar flares and other activity in the Sun’s atmosphere effect astronauts, communications systems, auroras, radio blackouts, geomagnetic storms, satellites, power grids, and more on our home planet
Humans are moving towards a day when there are space colonies in orbit, on the Moon, and the planet Mars, places where the force of gravity ranges between zero and 38% of what we experience every day. What effect will such different environments have on the regeneration of liver, skin, and other human body organs? To discover how the remarkable ability of Planaria flat worms to regenerate amputated body parts functions in a weightless environment researchers at Tufts University compared a group of whole and amputated flat worms which had lived for 5 weeks on the International Space Station with control groups which remained behind on planet Earth. The space faring flatworms were found to have undergone metabolic and other body function changes which persisted after they returned to Earth. Strangely one of the amputated worm fragments sent into space developed into an extremely rare double headed worm. Researchers were astonished since they had not seen this happen once during 5 years of observations of 15,000 worms. Further when both heads were removed from the space traveling double headed worm's middle section it grew 2 heads indicating that its body modification plan was permanent. The implications of these experiments for humans in space, if any, remain to be determined. Bottom line is we just don't know enough about how human reproduction and development will work off the Earth to plan on having permanent sustainable colonies elsewhere.
The US National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is the worlds largest solar telescope. It is perched 10,000 feet above sea level on the top of Haleakalā on the Hawaiian island Maui. Its location and 4 meter mirror enables the Inouye to see details in the solar atmosphere as small in diameter as the island of Manhattan. 3D maps of the solar atmosphere produced by the Inouye’s new Visible Tunable Filter will enable humans to put their equipment into a safe mode when necessary
24 hours a day, 16,600 feet above sea level in the high dry desert of northern Chile, the 66 antennas of 1.4 billion dollar Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array or ALMA receives signals located between the infrared and radio portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The waves that ALMA receives have a length which is about the same as the thickness of a dime. The pattern of present and missing wavelengths in these signals contains the characteristic spectral signatures of the complex molecules that form the basis of living organisms.
After the Earth the Sun is the most important object for human beings in the Universe. It is the energy source which produces our food and is the source for all of the energy and motion around us except for geothermal and nuclear energy sources. The Sun is normally well behaved the exception being solar storms which can dump incredible amounts of energy onto the Earth. Scientists are working hard to understand solar super storms to enable humans to mitigate the trillions of dollars damage one could cause to our modern electronic technology
The energy required to lift water, food, and construction materials from the Earth's surface is very expensive. Asteroids come relatively close to Earth and could provide space colonists with metals, carbon, water, and the other important ingredients of modern life. Most space rocks like most terrestrial rocks may be pretty and interesting but they are not a practical source of the materials humans use and need.
Sadly humans seem to be in the process of creating a cosmic land fill which will blot out much of the cosmos.
When Asteroid hunters discover a new object it is given a score ranging from 0 which means it is likely to be a distant main belt asteroid up to 100 which means that it is likely to come near to us. Each newly discovered asteroid which receives a score of 65 or greater is posted on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation Page so that telescopes around the world can track it to estimate it's size as well as to refine our knowledge of it's orbit around the Sun. NASA feeds data on each new discovery into its Scout software system. Scout is designed to identify those objects which are most likely to make a close approach to Earth in the very near future. It's alert allows astronomers to access the new object's risk of impact as well as to study it before it fades into the distance. Fortunately, asteroid hunters have not found any dangerous impacting asteroids, however, Scout's rapid alert has enabled astronomers to measure the size, chemical composition, and rate of rotation for a number of close approaching asteroids. These data are extremely important to plan an effective response should an object be found to be on a collision course with planet Earth. For the vast majority of Earth approaching objects that asteroid hunters discover, additional observations make it less and less likely that an object will impact or even make a very close to approach to our home planet. Those few space rocks which have a tiny remote chance of coming very near to us are passed into NASA Sentry system which makes and keeps astronomers aware of nearby objects so that we do not lose track of them.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Dr. Hannes Gröller and I traveled to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to install two night sky meters which will enable this wonderful national treasure to become an international dark sky park. Surrounded by vast tracts of unoccupied public land and having an abundance of clear weather the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary both in New Mexico are among the best places in the world to view the natural night sky.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered a 33 foot diameter asteroid which has about a 1.1% chance of impacting the Earth on 569 encounters with our planet between 2045 and 2116. Its name is 2017 LD. It is on the list of the most likely objects to strike the Earth in the next hundred years as reported on NASA's Sentry Earth Impact Monitoring table. Even so, given our current data, there is a 98.9% chance that 2017 LD will not enter our atmosphere on any of its close approaches to Earth in the next 100 years.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Cepheus with our small but mighty Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when she discovered 2025 JB1.Fortunately on its current path there is zero probability that 2025 JB1 will impact our home planet in the foreseeable future. Further asteroid hunters continue to search for any other large asteroids which might impact Earth so that mitigation efforts would be effective.
Recently, my Grandsons, Dane and Hank joined our asteroid hunting team at the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon. The most interesting of our discoveries, 2017 KJ32 is only 16 feet in diameter, orbits the Sun once every 315 days, and can come closer to us than the communications satellites. 4 days and 16 hours before Dane, Hank, and I spotted it, 2017 KJ32 passed about 41,000 miles from the surface of Earth traveling at a relatively slow speed for an Earth approaching asteroid of 1.6 mi/sec. By the time 2017 KJ32 came into one of our images it was already 768,000 miles from Earth and was traveling away from us at 1.5 miles per second. A few weeks later it was too faint to be detected by our most powerful telescopes.
In 2016 NASA created the Planetary Defense Coordination Office to manage the mission of finding, tracking, and studying asteroids and comets which could pose an impact threat to our home planet.The NASA documentary “Planetary Defenders” provides an excellent over view and can be streamed on the internet.
The mystery of Tabby's star began to unfold when in 2015 Dr. Tabetha S. Boyajian [boy-AA-jee-uhn] of Louisiana State University and her team published a paper describing the irregular dips in the light output of what otherwise would seem to be a garden variety star over the period 2009 to 2013. Subsequently a list of proposed explanations include swarms of comets, large asteroids, a debris disk, and even a massive alien megastructure.
Data are consistent with the hypothesis that the planet K2-18b is a Hycean planet with a warm liquid water ocean teaming with life and a thin hydrogen rich atmosphere containing methane and other molecules containing carbon. Scientists in an opposing camp point out what we might be observing is a rocky world with a hot life killing atmosphere.
When we find a planet which appears to have the chemical signs of living organisms in its atmosphere, the desire to take a close up look at it will be hard to contain. In a Scientific American article, Lee Billings describes Yuri Milner's 100 million dollar project "Breakthrough Starshot" which has been created to leap frog our current rocket technology's extremely long travel times to nearby planets. The plan is to put ultra light space probes on paths which will enable them to collect data as they streak by nearby potentially habitable planets. Our current iPhone technology is being used to envision a tiny robotic space probe which features cameras, life detecting sensors, maneuvering rockets, computers, and communications gear and yet has a mass of about that of a dime. Photons from 100 gigawatt pulses from a ground based laser array are then envisioned to reflect off the tiny spacecrafts solar sail where they transfer momentum to the space craft accelerating it to 20% of the speed of light. Numbers of these tiny robotic investigators could be launched together into Earth orbit and perhaps one a day could be sent towards a nearby star accelerated by laser pulses each of which contains the energy required to send a space shuttle into orbit. In a few decades closeup views and data from nearby worlds would begin streaming back towards the residents of our planet. The cost of investigating our planetary life hosting neighbors is likely to be less than what the US is planning to spend upgrading its nuclear weapons.
In the search for life on Mars, Europa, Titan, and elsewhere in the universe astro-biologists are scouring the Earth for creatures tough enough to flourish under really difficult conditions. So far the leading species are the Tardigrades commonly known as water bears or moss piglets.
The good news is a Mars landing by human colonists and their equipment seems technically feasible given a large budget of cash and grit.
Recently Dr. Yossi Shvartzvald led a team which published their discovery of an Earth sized planet using microlensing in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The newly discovered planet OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb orbits a small dim object about 13,000 light years from us. With only 7.8% of the Sun's mass the new planet's star may be a brown dwarf and not a star at all. At about the same distance from its star as we are from the Sun this new planet is likely to be an ice ball world colder than Pluto.
In a recent paper published in Nature Astronomy entitled “Surveys of the scientific community on the existence of extraterrestrial life” Dr. Peter Vickers and his team of 10 co-authors report the results of their survey of the lead authors for the past 10 years in the top three astro-biological journals. These researchers sought to measure if their sample group of scientists thought it likely that 1) simple life, and/or 2 ) life more complex than terrestrial bacteria, and/or 3) Intelligent life comparable or superior to human beings exists outside of Earth.
When I discovered 2014 JO25 with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on May 5, 2014, it appeared as a single point of light as it moved past us. As 2014 JO25 approached the Earth from the direction of the Sun in 2017, no-one had any idea that it is really a double asteroid system nearly a mile in diameter.
Since there is a world wide market for meteorites some of which can be sold for millions of dollars, on line, the question of ownership becomes important.
When a fleet of interstellar spaceships leaves our solar system for a planet circling a nearby star the most important of all of the riches that human explorers will carry with them will be libraries of our planet's DNA and the seeds of plants. They are the connection between past life, the inorganic world, and future life.
NASA’s Europa Clipper was launched October 14, 2024 on a mission to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter’s Moon Europa. The space craft will travel some 1.8 billion miles and should reach Jupiter in April 2030. This mission will begin to tell us if life as we know it can occur relatively close to home.
The NASA Kepler Spacecraft has discovered more than 2,000 planets which have been confirmed to be orbiting distant stars. It performs this remarkable feat by imaging more than 145,000 stars simultaneously to observe and measure the tiny dips in light which occur as a planet passes in front of its star. Astronomers have long known that many of the solar systems in the Milky Way have more than one star. To investigate the possibilities for life in a double star system, Dr Max Popp a scholar at Princeton University and Dr. Siegfried Eggl of Germany's Max Plank Institute substituted the real giant planet orbiting the stellar pair Kepler 35A and B with an Earth sized one orbiting the Kepler AB pair with periods between 341 and 380 days. Their detailed analysis is published in the journal Nature Communications.
On March 3, 2024 my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Kacper Wierzchos was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he spotted a fuzzy object in the constellation of Draco. After Kacper reported his discovery to the Minor Planet Center, observers in Arizona, New Mexico, and Tenerife confirmed it to be a comet and it was given the name C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos). Kacper’s discovery has a hyperbolic orbit indicating that after coming slightly closer to the Sun than the planet Venus on January 21, 2026 it will be ejected from the solar system never to return.
On May 5, 2014 when I discovered 2014 JO25 with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona it was the brightest, fastest asteroid I had ever seen. In April of 2017, 2014 JO25 returned to come within 1.1 million miles of us at 21 mi/s. This rare, very close approach by an asteroid, of 2014 JO25's size allowed scientists at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California and the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to obtain radar images of it. Amazingly these images showed that what we had observed as a solitary moving point of light and had assumed to be a single asteroid is actually two asteroids in contact with each other. This tight pair rotates about a common center of gravity about every 5 hours which in turn orbits the Sun in about three years. 41 days before its encounter with Earth, this tight pair was closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Gröller was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major with the University of Arizona 90 inch Bok telescope on Kitt Peak when he discovered a faint moving object surrounded by a tiny gas and dust cloud called a coma. May 19, 2028 comet C/2025 D1 (Groeller) reaches its closest point to the Sun some 14.1 times the Earth-Sun distance and thus sets the record for the comet which stays furtherest from the Sun.After rounding the Sun comet C/2025 D1 (Groeller) will head back into truly deep space perhaps never to return.
Using the University of Arizona's Large Binocular Telescope atop Mt. Graham in southern Arizona, Dr. Paul Wiegert of Western University in Canada, led a team of astronomers who have determined that a 2 mile diameter object bucks the solar system traffic by traveling in a direction backwards to all of the planets. In their March 30, 2017 article in the journal Nature, these astronomers confirm that 2015 BZ509, travels about Jupiter on a path in a direction opposite to nearly every other member of our solar system. Amazingly it has avoided a collision with Jupiter by using the giant planet's gravity to maintain a path that has been stable for a million years or so. This astounding trick is performed as 2015 BZ509 passes once inside and once outside of Jupiter's orbit as they both travel about the Sun. The resulting effect of Jupiter's timely gravitational pulls on this small asteroid are exactly right to keep it from having a collision or from being ejected from the solar system.
One little known and infrequently observed phenomenon in the natural night sky are “bright nights” during which observers have reported being able to read a book when both the Sun and Moon are both well below the horizon.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was observing with our team's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona when he discovered a relatively large space rock, 2017 FD157, which can theoretically come closer to the Earth's surface than the communications satellites. We don't have enough data to predict when it will make a very close approach to us. What we do know is that 2017 FD157's orbit and that of the Earth nearly intersect coming to about Earth diameter of each other. For 2017 FD157 to make a very close approach to our planet, both of them would need to be at the position on their respective paths which are closest to each other. If history is a guide, it is likely that additional observations will reveal that 2017 FD157 will never impact the Earth. About once every 11,000 years one of its size impacts the Earth with an atmospheric impact energy of several of large hydrogen bombs creating a crater a mile in diameter. If in an extremely unlikely turn of events, 2017 FD157, appears likely to impact our planet in the far distant future, humanity would be well served to mount a space mission to deflect it from it's deadly course. If humans have enough time they may be able to paint it so that over time sunlight pressure would change its path otherwise a nuclear detonation or some other more aggressive move would be necessary.
On a single February night my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqui Fazekas reported the discovery of 5 Earth approaching objects using our small but mighty Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona.Rest assured that on any given night there are asteroid hunters on the look out for seriously dangerous space rocks.
Asteroid hunters have become aware of the many small space rocks which come near Earth because of improvements made to telescopes, cameras, and computer analysis software. Recently, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny used her skills and a new camera to discover the second small space rock in 32 days which came between the communications satellites and the Earth's surface. Rose spotted her 10 to 12 foot diameter space rock as it approached the Earth more than a million miles away with its little full moon face pointing towards us. 31 hours later, her discovery, 2017 GM, came to within 10,100 miles of Earth as it streaked by at about 11 mi/s on its way towards an encounter with Venus five and a half weeks later. It it had been on an impact trajectory with our planet, Rose's early detection would have allowed asteroid hunters to alert humans to prepare for a spectacular light show as it exploded in our atmosphere.
As the Earth travels in its orbit around the Sun it collides with objects called meteoroids traveling through space. These tiny members of the solar system range in size from dust grains to objects a meter in diameter.By becoming part of the GMN’s network , your data will help to discover and document meteor showers, aid in identifying the parent cometary objects, and in some cases help to identify locations to search for meteorites.
In 2013 a 56 foot diameter space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia releasing the energy of 450 kt of TNT and filled local hospitals with some of the 1,500 people who were injured. Fortunately no one died. In 1908 a 200 ft diameter meteor exploded over a largely unpopulated region at Tunguska, Siberia knocking down trees over a 750 square mile area. If it had hit over a populated area it could have caused a million casualties. The approximately 250 people in the USA that NASA has working on asteroid detection and ways of mitigating the effects of an asteroid impact have plenty to do. We still have to locate and track about a hundred very large asteroids which could produce global climate change. Further, there are approximately 14,500 undiscovered slightly smaller ones which could cause a hurricane sized footprint damage areas to land areas on our planet. Fortunately it is extremely unlikely that any but one of the smallest space rocks will hit the Earth in the next 100 years.
On 27 December 2024 the Atlas group in Chile discovered an object now known as 2024 YR4 which appeared to have a significant chance of impacting Earth 22 December of 2032. The most recent data indicates the chance that 2024 YR4 impact Earth is about 1 in 25,000. These data indicate our moon has about a 1 in 700 chance to be impacted by this space rock. Even so astronomers are preparing for 2028 when 2024 YR4 willagain come within the range of our instruments. Current data indicates 2024 YR4 will miss the Moon by less than 1000 miles on 2032 December 22 giving astronauts there a Merry Christmas.
I was observing with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt Lemmon, Arizona when a fast moving object appeared on a set of four images of the same area of the night sky. After I sent the discovery observations to the Minor Planet Center this new object was observed by telescopes in Arizona, Germany , South Bohemia in the Czech Republic , Chile, Pennsylvania , Italy, Hungary, and France. 2017 FE101's unusual path about our Sun is inclined by 53 degrees to the plane where the planets and most of the rest of the asteroids are located. In September of 2016 it was not observed by humans as it streaked by at an amazing 22 miles per second. Once every 125,000 years or so a 5 football field sized asteroid like 2017 FE101 collides with our planet producing a crater 4 or 5 miles in diameter, inflicts damage over a hurricane sized foot print on the Earth's surface, and in some cases throws up enough debris into the atmosphere to produce global climate change. Since on its current path, 2017 FE101 can't come closer than about 21 times the moon's distance from us , this very large space rock is not currently classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Rest assured that my team the Catalina Sky Survey and asteroid hunters world wide will keep track of 2017 FE101 as it comes near to Mars and Earth to make sure that its path does not change to make it a threat to our home planet.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Hydra with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when a fast moving unknown point of light passed through a set of his images.
After Greg reported his observations to the Minor Planet Center for the next 10 days it was tracked by observatories in Arizona, Italy, Hawaii, Australia, and Argentina. Citizen scientist H. A. Güler analyzed these data. The Minor Planet Center published the discovery of the near Earth asteroid 2018 CN41. The discovery was deleted when the object turned out to be a Falcon Heavy Rocket Upper stage with a Tesla roadster attached.
A clear night with excellent pinpoint star images allowed me to discover 16 near Earth approaching asteroid candidates with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt Lemmon, Arizona. This 9 hr period of time provides us with a snap shot of the kinds of objects which constantly zip past our home planet. Thirteen of the candidates turned out to fit the definition of an Earth approaching object, two were lost because of a lack of additional observations, and the other one is an inner main belt asteroid which for a time imitated an Earth approaching object The thirteen close approachers travel about the Sun with orbital periods ranging from 3.6 years to only 248 days. The largest is more than a quarter of a mile in diameter while the smallest is about the size of a small U-Haul truck. Most of them stay relatively far from Earth with the closest approacher having the possibility of coming to within three quarters of the Moon's distance from our home planet. One of the more interesting members of the group is 2017 FU90, a 100 foot diameter space rock which makes frequent visits to the vicinities of Mercury, Venus, Our Moon and Earth. It must be made out of pretty tough stuff since it doesn't melt or evaporate when once every 248 days it is closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury. If it is composed largely of iron, nickel, and other metals it could be a target for space mining. Astronomers will need to obtain a spectrum of the patterns of colors sunlight it reflects to get an idea of its chemical composition.
Astronomers have yet to discover any long lasting natural object, beside our Moon, which orbits the Earth, however, occasionally, a small space rock enters into a temporary dance with our home planet.
If you are luckier than a hundred million dollar power ball winner you will see your space rock as a meteor streaking across the sky, fall to the ground, and land in a place where can you walk over and pick it up. On the other hand, with more persistence than luck you can find a space rock where it has been waiting for you on the surface of planet Earth . First you need a place to look. Dry lake beds have few surface rocks and can be a great place to find meteorites. There are strewn fields from known celestial falls that you can check out. On private land will you need the owner's permission. If you live near BLM land you can collect up to 10 lbs of meteorites a year without a special permit. Train your eye by looking at photos of meteorites and/or make a visit to a museum to view the real thing. A dark fusion crust is a clue. Thumbprint like surface features is another. A powerful magnet will tell you if your candidate has a high iron content consistent with meteorites An exciting new way to find freshly fallen space rocks involves the use of Doppler weather RADAR to track pieces of an exploding fireball on their way to Earth. There are web sites which can alert you to places to travel to and search.
NASA has decided to make the lunar south pole the focus for human space exploration. It is a rough area consisting of high mountains, valleys, and craters.One serious problem is that the highest possible elevation of the Sun in the target landing areas is 7° making it akin to driving your car into the west at sunset. Such lighting conditions provide serious challenges to piloting landers, operating rovers, walking, operating tools, and just generally getting around.
Eliminating NASA's climate research programs is a bit like someone who has a CT scan which reveals a health problem demanding that the CT scan machine be destroyed instead of looking for a cure for themselves. On March 7, 2017 the Arctic Sea ice reached a record low wintertime maximum extent. The maximum Arctic ice cover in 2017 was about a half million square miles smaller than the average for 1981 to 2010. From the first satellite observations in 1979 till 2017 the Arctic sea ice cover has continued to get smaller and thinner making it more easily disrupted by ocean currents, winds, and warmer temperatures than ever before. Even so it appears that it will be a while before ships begin to make the long sought northwest passage from Europe to Asia. At the opposite end of the Earth on March 3, 2017, the end of summer sea ice around Antarctica was at the lowest extent ever observed by satellites. This surprising result followed several decades of moderate sea ice growth. It will take a few more years of data to determine if there has been a significant change in the trend of Antarctic ice sheet growth. Cutting funding for NASA's observations and analysis of the changes happening on Earth will not stop human activity from warming our planet's atmosphere. Get ready, changing the ocean surface from ice to open water is likely to have a significant, complex, and hard to predict impact on weather and climate.
Recently , for the first time, the sight and sound of a meteor impact was recorded by a doorbell camera on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Fortunately the event occurred a few minutes after Joe Velaidum the home’s owner had been standing at the impact point on the way out to walk his dogs. Joe himself considers it to be a near death experience.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was using the University of Arizona's 60 inch telescope atop Mt. Lemmon when he discovered a 50 foot diameter asteroid with an orbital period around the Sun of 364.4 days. After the discovery observations were posted this small asteroid was observed by telescopes in Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, England, New Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, France, and Australia. Greg's new space rock, 2017 FZ2, follows a path which crosses Earth's orbit twice a year as it moves from near the planet Venus's orbit to halfway to the path of Mars around the Sun. Most of the time it is so far away and dim that asteroid hunters are unable to track it.
Using high powered graphics processing units, a team of 21 astronomers led by Dr. Artem Y. Burdanov of MIT used 93 hours of data from the James Webb Space Telescope or JWST for short to serendipitously search for asteroids which happened to be present in images taken in the of study planets circling distant stars. JWST and the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory will help to fill in asteroid hunters current blind spots. Better asteroid impact prediction will allow asteroid hunters to warn people to stay away from doors and windows and take shelter in the event of an Earth bound space rock much as weather forecasters do currently with tornados and hurricanes.
Near Earth Asteroids or NEAs which are accessible are those objects whose orbits bring them close to Earth at speeds which are reachable by our rockets. They are potential space mission targets for science as well as for asteroid mining to obtain the raw materials necessary for humans to colonize space.
We will continue to search for life as we know it by studying the chemistry of the atmospheres of extraterrestrial planets and trying to detect signals from alien civilizations while being aware that alien life could be so weird that it is unrecognizable
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqueline Fazekas was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when she spotted a glowing patch of light moving through the constellation of Cancer.By discovering her first comet Jacqui became the 483 person to discover a comet since 1758 when Charles Messier created a catalogue of diffuse objects to help fellow comet enthusiasts not be fooled by gas clouds and galaxies in their search for a new comet.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered an asteroid, 2017 EA, which is so tiny that it could pass under a basketball hoop. It missed exploding in our atmosphere by only about 9,000 miles as it streaked between the communications satellites and the surface of our planet high above the eastern pacific ocean. After Greg discovered it, this small celestial visitor was tracked by telescopes in Arizona, New Zealand, and New Mexico before it disappeared into the Earth's shadow. When this tiny space rock emerged from our planet's shadow it was too close to the Sun for further observations by ground based telescopes. However, our observations pinned down it's orbit around the Sun well enough, for astronomers to conclude that it will not come this close to us again during the next six encounters with Earth from 2019 to 2126.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Aries with the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona when she spotted a fast moving point of light in a set of her images. Nearly 10 hours later it entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Eastern Siberia north of Olekminsk
To travel to the edge of space you can strap yourself into a capsule and ride atop of a carefully controlled explosion or you can enter a crew capsule and be gently lifted by a balloon into the stratosphere. Unlike a suborbital rocket flight lasting for a few minutes a ride under a balloon can give you several hours to enjoy the wonders of the Earth and its curvature against the back drop of space. Tucson based World View Enterprises is on track to take you on such a balloon ride to the edge of space for the price of a $75,000 ticket. This innovative company is getting started with an unmanned balloon borne capsule called the Stratollite.
From our vantage point on planet Earth asteroids appear as moving points of light which strictly follow the law of gravity as they orbit the Sun. On the other hand comets appear as gas clouds which sometimes deviate from their gravitational orbits when they burp bursts of gases as they are warmed by the Sun. Dark comets appear as points of light like asteroids but move through space as though they are influenced by small rocket like bursts of volatile materials in cometary fashion.
My team was excited when our Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered his first comet, C/2017 D1 (Fuls), when it was traveling between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter about 257 million miles from Earth. It is classified as a Jupiter Family Comet and orbits the Sun once every ten and a half years on a path that keeps it hundreds of million miles from both the Earth and Sun. It is likely that Carson's comet originally had an orbit out in the Kuiper belt far beyond Pluto.Comet Fuls was directed into our vicinity when its original path was changed by a collision with another object or perhaps because of the gravitational tug of passing star. A Jupiter family comet like Carson's orbit is unstable due to the gravitational pulls of the planets especially the giant Jupiter
In the journal Planetary and Space Science Dr. Kevin Cannon and his two coauthors analyze the potential of asteroid mining as a source of metals for manufacturing here on Earth as well as a repository of raw materials for space colonists.These authors find there are less precious metals in iron meteorites than was previous estimated. However there are a small number of precious metals whose concentration in asteroids is higher than any ores found on Earth. In the future Earthlings may be wearing jewelry made from asteroidal metals.
The company Planet's, Dove satellites may not be spot you looking up, smiling, and waving when you are in the great outdoors but they could detect a car in your driveway.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin has discovered 13 comets using our team’s professional telescopes. Recently he discovered a 14th comet as an amateur using a small, 11 inch telescope in his backyard Saguaro Observatory in Tucson, AZ.
When the material came together to form our home planet, gravity was strong enough to pull the heavy materials like iron to the center, giving our planet an iron core. The vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of known asteroids and comets orbiting our Sun are made of mixtures of rocks and ices of various substances. They do not have enough gravity to cause heavy materials to move to their centers. From scientific measurements the asteroid Psyche appears to be composed almost entirely of iron, nickel, and possibly other valuable metals. Perhaps the Massachusetts sized, 130 mile diameter, asteroid Psyche is the core of a Mars sized planet whose outer layers were blown away by collisions early in the history of the solar system. Although NASA has no plans to bring back material for earthlings to use, space mining enthusiasts are interested in Psyche since the metal in this asteroid may be worth 10,000 quadrillion dollars on today's market. The Psyche spacecraft is scheduled for launch in 2023. It will get a boost in speed from the Earth's gravity in 2024, fly by Mars in 2025, arrive at the asteroid in 2030, and then orbit this strange world for at least 6 months taking scientific data. Since we can not visit our home planet's core a trip to Psyche will enable us to explore the unknown nature of what is below our feet and provide clues about the exotic mixtures of metals and minerals which may be hiding there.
Meteor shower data can provide an additional warning time for a potentially dangerous comet of from 1 to 12 years giving humans extra time to determine and carry out mitigation strategies.
Jupiter's Trojan asteroids lead and follow the giant planet around the Sun occupying stable locations where Jupiter and the Sun's gravity balance each other. Humans have discovered only a tiny fraction of the million of them larger than one kilometer or about 3,300 feet in diameter that are suspected to exist. Upon NASA's selection of the Lucy mission, Dr. Harold Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado commented “Because the Trojans are remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, they hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system. Lucy, like the human fossil for which it is named, will revolutionize the understanding of our origins.”
Through out history humans have dreamed about living creatures on planets orbiting distant stars. As technology has improved and our robotic missions have begun exploring our solar system in some detail the aspiration to learn about alien solar systems continues to build. At the focal point of the solar gravitational lens it is theoretically possible to image a planet orbiting a distant star to show its details as small as 20 miles in diameter. Such images could reveal oceans, land masses, clouds, and provide evidence that life is possible on an alien world.
A research expedition to near the south pole is developing to investigate a meteorite mystery. Meteorites landing on the Antarctica ice sheet are slowly transported along by ice flows until they are dumped into the ocean or up against a mountain range. The concentration of meteorites into stranding zones on the lower slopes of mountain ranges has allowed humans to collect 2/3 of the meteorites discovered on Earth in Antartica. The fact that the percentage of iron meteorites found in these places in Antartica is 1/8 what are found elsewhere on Earth is puzzling.
The Sun emits a solar wind of charged particles reaching speeds of more than a million miles per hour, bursts of energetic ultraviolet photons, huge blobs of ionized gas called coronal mass ejections and other phenomena which effect the near Earth environment. A team of scientists present a comprehensive network of ground based instruments and analysis tools called the Chinese Meridian Project. This research project has been established to provide stereoscopic, comprehensive, monitoring of space weather from the Sun to the near Earth environment. Although the authors state its results will be shared with the international community such knowledge will provide a powerful advantage to the nation operating it.
A stony asteroid 130m or about 430 feet in diameter has a mass of 3 billion Kg or 6.5 billion pounds. Such an object is likely to strike the Earth every 11,000 years or so creating a crater a mile in diameter crater and inflicting damage over a hurricane sized footprint on the surface of our planet. If one like this were found to be heading straight for us deflecting it would take some ingenuity. The key is early discovery so that perhaps a gentle nudge would do the trick. How do do we test such an idea before we are in a situation where the test occurs on an incoming impactor where failure is not a good option?
Most humans live in cities under a dome of light pollution. They have never witnessed that the natural night sky is not dark; but rather it is alive with it's own lights.To see for yourself, pick a natural night sky location near you like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary in New Mexico and recruit a friend.
2008 TC3 was discovered by my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski on October 6, 2008. It is the first of only 9 asteroids which humans have tracked traveling through space, have seen exploding in our atmosphere, and have been able walk up to pieces on the Earth's surface.
One of the joys of visiting a natural night sky location on a clear dark of the Moon night is to observe meteors streaking across the sky. It took more than 2,000 years for humans to figure out at meteors and comets are related.
Recently, my Catalina Team Captain Eric Christensen discovered a potentially hazardous 3,000 foot diameter asteroid, 2017 CH1. Asteroid hunters are discovering less than one asteroid of this size or greater per month. Eric's discovery, 2017 CH1, has an orbit which can bring it to about twice the Moon's distance from planet Earth. Although it will not come anywhere near Earth in the foreseeable future, asteroid hunters will continue to monitor 2017 CH1's orbit to make sure that it remains no threat to planet Earth.
About 66 million years ago a 6 to 9 mile diameter asteroid traveling at approximately 12 miles per second slammed into the Gulf of Mexico off of the modern coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Ants survived, flourished, and developed agriculture while other species went extinct.
A winter storm hit Mt. Lemmon, Arizona closing access to the observatory by blowing over trees and producing large snow drifts. After the Mountain Operations Crew cleared the road, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was able to make his way to the top and discover an asteroid which could be visited by human astronauts. Greg's new 120 foot diameter space rock , named 2017 BV93, spends most of its time between Earth and Venus as it orbits the Sun once every 346 days.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin’s regular job is asteroid hunting at the telescope and creating software to improve detection as well as to better keep track of space rocks that come near our home planet. During his time off, in his backyard in Tucson, Arizona, David has built and operates equipment to track meteors, a seismograph to detect Earthquakes, and a small observatory to discover asteroids.
If Lunar and Martian colonists are to have chips and salsa they will need grow their own tomatoes. To test methods to do this German Aerospace Center or DLR has developed the EU:CROPIS satellite which will be launched by a Space-X Falcon 9 rocket into low Earth orbit sometime in 2017. Once in orbit the satellite will be programmed to rotate at two different speeds on its own axis to produce Lunar gravity for 6 months and then Martian gravity for the next 6 months. Inside the satellite tomato seeds will germinate and grow under the watchful eyes of 16 onboard cameras. A trickle filter containing the Euglena [U gleen a] microbes will use synthetic urine to produce fertilizer for the tomato plants. The half plant half animal Euglena microorganisms will produce oxygen on the satellite and protect the plants against excessive ammonia build up. LED lights will provide the day night cycle required by both the plants and the Euglena microbes. The separate Lunar and Martian space green houses will operate in a pressure tank to simulate Earth's atmosphere. These experiments will be carefully controlled and monitored by humans on the ground.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Kacper Wierzchos was asteroid hunting with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered and reported a fuzzy looking unknown object in a set of his images. There is no chance of an impact from Kacper's discovery, P/2019 Y3 (Catalina), in the foreseeable future.
Comet C2/2015 V2 Johnson was discovered by my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jess Johnson on November 3, 2015. It travels on a hyperbolic path around the Sun which is highly inclined to the plane where the planets and most of the asteroids travel. Jess's comet's path takes it from deep space into the inner solar system slightly further from the Sun than the planet Mars. Although it will not get closer to the Earth than about 75 million miles it may out gas enough material to make it visible to the naked eye. Observers in the northern hemisphere will have their best chance to view Comet Johnson in April and May of 2017 while those south of the equator will be able to observe it until early 2018. Jess's Comet will come closest to the Sun in June of 2017 and then be slung into deep space by the Sun's Gravity. In February of 2037 Jess's comet will be further than Pluto's average distance to the Sun and be invisible to human telescopes as it moves in the direction a star 417 light years away in the constellation of Eridanus. It will take more than 12 million years to get to the vicinity of that distant star.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqueline Fazekas was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Aquarius with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon Arizona when she discovered a tiny asteroid which would impact the Earth in about 10 hours.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was using the new hundred million pixel camera on our team's Schmidt telescope located on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, when he discovered 2017 AG13. It passes near the Earth's orbit twice a year on its own 345 day path around the Sun. When Carson spotted it, 9 lunar distances from him it was heading in our direction at about nine and a half miles per second. Three days later it came to less than two times the distance the Moon's distance from us. Carson's new space rock, 2017 AG13's orbit, can bring it to less than 2,000 miles from the surface of our planet. It will not come near the Earth again until 2091 and will not strike the Earth in the foreseeable future. 2017 AG13 is slightly larger than the small asteroid which exploded over Chelyabinsk Russia, creating a sonic boom that injured nearly 1,500 people in February of 2013. If it had been on an impact trajectory, Carson's early discovery, would have given humans the time to calculate where it would hit and thus be able to put out a warning for people in the affected area to stay away from doors and windows. Less than three weeks later Carson was using the same equipment when he discovered another small space rock, 2017 BH30, which came to a bit more than an Earth's circumference from our home planet.
In a recent paper published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, a philosopher Dr. Vojin Rakić (voyin rack itch) reviews some 50 or so proposed solutions to Fermi’s paradox, including, that human life is so exceptional that it happened only once in the universe, that perhaps other civilizations destroy themselves like we are trying to do, civilizations broadcast radio and TV signals only for a relatively brief period of time, alien intelligent life maybe incomprehensible to our species, and that maybe the energy requirements and distances in the Milky way are too great allow us to discover others of our kind and many more ideas. After sorting through all of these concepts, Dr. Rakić (rack itch) suggests that alien life might be unobservable to the senses evolution has given humans and/or perhaps alien beings live in part of the wider universe we don't know of or cannot yet detect and observe.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published an extensive data based review, analysis, and summary of the Earth's Climate. 2016 was hotter than 2015 which was hotter than 2014. 2016 is the warmest year the Earth has been in the more than 180 years of record keeping. Overall in 2016 the whole Earth was 1.8 F above the 1951-1980 average. The Arctic in 2016 was 7.2F higher than it was the pre-industrial age.
Scientific results are consistent with the hypothesis that the dinosaur killing, K-T layer forming Chicxulub impactor came from well beyond Jupiter while the other 5 impactors in the past 541 million years as well as most meteorites found on Earth came from asteroids formed between Mars and Jupiter. All of this prompts us to marvel that we are here at all and puzzle over how to prepare for what the future might hold. In particular asteroid hunters should take seriously the possibility of an impactor from deep space with our number on it.
An example that a relatively large space rock can approach the Earth suddenly started with what appeared as a bright star moving across the images that I had just obtained with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. It was about 100 times brighter than most of Earth approaching objects asteroid hunters discover. Over the next 64 hours it was tracked by 45 different observatories around the globe. This previously unknown space rock, now named 2017 AG5, is approximately 370 feet in diameter and can come closer than the Moon's distance to us.
4015 Wilson-Harrington (1979 VA) was discovered as a comet by Wilson and Harrington in 1949, lost to astronomers for 30 years, and rediscovered in 1979 as an asteroid named 1979 VA. In 1992 with more data it was determined that comet Wilson-Harrington and asteroid 1979 VA are the same object.
2016 was another record year for asteroid hunters during which we discovered 1,894 new Earth approaching objects. My team, the NASA funded, Catalina Sky Survey, led the pack with 931 Near Earth Asteroid discoveries.
Binary asteroids are important since they enable astronomers to study how objects interact in space and in some cases the data can even yield their sizes and shapes.
A location 9,000 feet above sea level in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco is ideal for an asteroid hunter since the weather is often clear and the skies are dark. It was thus intriguing for me to see that a new asteroid discovery was posted from J43 which is the Morocco Oukaïmeden [pronounced Oukaï-meden] Sky Survey or (MOSS) located near Marrakech , a name I had not encountered except in the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song "Marrakech Express". The MOSS observatory has team members in Morocco, France, and Switzerland, call themselves amateurs, and produces professional quality results.
Approximately once every 45 million years a long period comet strikes the Earth with catastrophic results. Astronomers have identified and calculated orbits for more than 25 comets which have passed less than 40 times the Moon’s distance from us prior to the year 1900. There is the possibility of a Leonid meteor storm in mid November from 2021 to 2031 as the Earth passes through the debris left behind from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Find a natural night sky location like the Cosmic Campground in New Mexico and check it out for yourself.
The ALMA radio telescope located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile is able to see the faint millimeter wave length glow emitted by gas molecules and dust particles in the disk of material surrounding the very young star named HD 163296. This solar system in formation is located about 400 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. HD 162396's age compared to our Sun is like that of a 3 day old human baby compared to a 65 year old adult.
As astronomers learned to measure the distance to the stars and how the laws of Physics works with rockets, it seemed that travel between the stars would take so much energy and time to get there that interstellar travel is a remote possibility at best. On the other hand, objects have been discovered being ejected from our solar system by a close encounter with Jupiter.Recently a team of researchers identified a region of our solar system where interstellar comets, asteroids, and even rouge planets might permanently reside after being captured by the Sun’s gravity.
To discover what would happen if an asteroid were to strike a large body of water, Dr. Galen Gisler led a team of scientists who used high performance computing facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory to calculate and visualize a 3-D model of an asteroid entering the Earth's atmosphere over one of the world's oceans. These efforts won them the Best Visualization and Data Analytics Showcase award at Supercomputing 2016. Reality is that what happens depends upon the mass, size, speed, angle of approach, and composition of the impacting object. Galen's group of scientists documented the hunch that since an asteroid strikes the water at a single point, it only effects the immediate region around the impact point, whereas to create a tsunami, you need something like an under water landslide which disturbs an entire water column from the ocean floor to the surface.
My Catalina Sky Survey Teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Pegasus with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ when he spotted a faint fuzzy object moving through a set of his images.David’s discovery is classified to be one of the more than 30 Encke type comets. This family small solar system objects have orbital periods about the Sun similar to their namesake comet 2P/Encke’s orbital period of 3.3 years
Collect your own beautiful micro-meteorite sample.
It is estimated that several hundred thousand pounds of left over particles from the formation of our solar system enters the Earth's atmosphere every day with perhaps 10% of the of the total reaching the surface of our home planet. The individual grains of cosmic dust or micro-meteorites as they are also called range in size from the diameter of a human hair to twice the thickness of a dime.
RADAR is very powerful tool since it can precisely measure an asteroid’s position and velocity as well as in some cases yield information about its size, shape, and other characteristics.
Protection against a comet strike is worth considering. Every year, if we are lucky, several comets can come close enough for the Sun to warm and us to see the beautiful changing dust and gas clouds around them with binoculars or our unaided eyes. So far asteroids have gotten most of the attention as dangerous celestial neighbors, however, Dr. Joseph Nuth, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland recently pointed out "Comets can also deliver a heaping helping of calamity to Earth, and scientists and policymakers alike should start taking measures to combat the threat".
Solar storms on our home planet occur when bursts of visible, ultraviolet and other photons hit our atmosphere and/or streams of energetic particles in the solar wind interact with Earth’s magnetic field. Mild solar storms produce beautiful aurora while the most intense ones have the potential to do trillions of dollars in damage to power grids, pipelines, rail networks, aviation, mobile phones, banking, credit card users, GPS, satellite communications, spacecraft, and more.
It's a good thing this one will miss Earth.
Riding the surface of the asteroid that my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski recently discovered would be an incredible experience.
Astronomers measure an asteroid’s position on the sky using a two dimensional system similar to the latitude and longitude coordinates we obtain with our GPS. For the vast majority of asteroids, we cannot measure the third dimension, the distance to the asteroid directly.
When asteroid hunters follow an object in the night sky for a few hours or a couple of days they are only able to observe a snippet or tracklet of the object's hundreds to thousands of days long path around the Sun. If we only have a short sample of an orbit we loose precision to locate the object as the length of time since the last observation increases. It is thus possible to lose the knowledge of where to find a particular asteroid.
A recent scientific paper characterizes the 123 grams of the regolith or surface material from the asteroid Bennu which NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft brought back to Earth after a successful 7 year sample and return mission.Determining the chemical composition of asteroids like Bennu is essential to planning asteroid mining missions as well how to best mitigate the damage which would result from the impact of a large asteroid with our number on it.
Presently the surface of Mars is very dry and any liquid water that reaches it quickly boils away since the martian atmospheric pressure is what you could experience in your space suit 30 to 50 miles above the Earth's surface. However, since the martian gravity is about 1/3 that of the Earth, it's crust is less dense and more porous than what we find on our home planet. This situation leads Dr. Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory to state “I consider it likely that there are deep pockets of water in the martian crust not yet detected”. Letting our imaginations run wild, if there are deposits of liquid water miles underground perhaps there might be subterranean lakes fed by volcanic tubes. Lava tube environments could be warmed by geothermal sources, have trapped, enclosed, pockets of liquid water, and be replenished by water flows up from the martian mantle. Even today these deep martian caves are theoretically likely to contain warm mineral rich liquid water in contact with a thermal energy source. It is intriguing to consider that deep inside Mars all of the necessary ingredients for life may be present together. On Earth we find this type of environment near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor to have rich biological diversity of living organisms. Perhaps there are martian organisms in deep underground aquifers that migrated there from the surface as conditions changed or maybe that has always been their home. The only way to know if any parts of this fantasy are true is to find and explore the deep caves of Mars.
Perhaps someday humans will travel to Mars, walk the surface of the red planet, and collect meteorites. Recent studies suggest Mars to be an exciting place to find ancient relics of our solar system
The asteroid Psyche may be one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the solar system. It is a small world about 116 miles in diameter and is composed of almost pure nickel-iron metal. It is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists find evidence that Psyche may be the exposed core of a planet which was destroyed by collisions as it was trying to form long ago.
The James Webb Space Telescope or JWST for short is a superb scientific instrument which is revolutionizing our understanding of the structure of the universe and is providing a tool to help us to explore the possibility of life outside of Earth. It is also a testament to what humans can accomplish by working together.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski was surprised to find a moving point of light on some his images which was more than 50 times brighter than a typical Earth approaching object he observes . He was even more amazed when it was not cataloged as a known object and he reported his observations to the Minor Planet Center. A couple of hours before Richard spotted it, scientists using the Space Surveillance Telescope in New Mexico had picked up this unknown object on some of their images but did not immediately report their observations. For the next 67 hours the new object was tracked by telescopes at 24 different observatories around the world. These observations allowed the Minor Planet Center to calculate an orbit, give it the name 2016 WM48, and classify it as a Centaur. Centaurs are named after the mythical beasts which were half human and half horse perhaps because they have characteristics of both asteroids and comets. Richard's object, 2016 WM48, is about a mile in diameter. We don't know if it has rings, tiny moons, or a gas cloud surrounding it as some other Centaurs do. 2016 WM48 must have had a catastrophic collision in the past few million years which put it on a very elliptical path which is tipped at 60 degrees or so to the solar system's plane. Centaurs do not have stable orbits. Their paths are changed as they come near to the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. A Centaur's fate is to likely collide with the Sun or a planet or perhaps even be ejected from the solar system
The Earth Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance or Earth MOID for short is the closest an asteroid can come to our home planet on it's current orbit.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered, 2016 WJ1, a relatively large asteroid which can come close but will not hit the Earth. The extremely unlikely scenario of an impactor with our number on it would start the with the report of a fast moving point of light in the night sky. After a few days of data the Minor Planet Center would give it a name. Tracking the new asteroid, asteroid hunters would be alarmed as the chances that this object will impact the Earth starts to rise. Large telescopes would then be trained on it to obtain the pattern of colors in the light it reflects and use this information to determine its size, mass, and chemical composition. Hopefully this fictional impact would be far enough in the future so that humans could mount a space mission to intercept it and deflect it so that it would miss Earth. Even when a collision with this mythical object is certain, scientists would not be able to accurately predict its point of impact on the surface without additional tracking data. To be prepared civil defense organizations around the world would begin to think about the possibility of mass evacuations. Chances are that this would be a small object which would have a negligible effect on humanity. Much much much less likely is that this fictional impactor would be a once in every million years or so event which would cause global climate change disrupting human agriculture and plunge our society into a real crisis. The story you have just heard is a complete fantasy, however, there is a extremely tiny remote possibility that a real version of it could start tonight.
When the Earth enters a stream of high speed protons and other charged particles in the solar wind or our home planet is impacted by a solar coronal mass ejection the Earth’s strong magnetic field acts a a shield. Mars on the other hand lacks an Earth-like magnetic field and thus has little protection from solar storms.
Water for Martian Colonists
Martian colonists will need to create mini environments with air to breathe and water to drink. Energy will be required to keep warm, power the settlement, and enable vehicles to move around the planet.
During a recent 60 day period of time 23 space rocks came closer to Earth than our Moon
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.
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
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.
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.
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?" .
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.
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.
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.
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.
My 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.
It 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 the Minor Planet Center to calculate an orbit, estimate a size, predict its path in the sky, and give it the name 2016 VA. Twenty hours after I discovered it, Dr. Gianluca Masi using the Virtual Telescope Project facility 56 miles south of Rome, Italy, repeatedly imaged 2016 VA as it made an 11 minute passage through the Earth's shadow. He used these images to make a remarkable video of this tiny asteroid as it passed through the Earth's umbra. It was the fastest asteroid that he had ever tracked. Fortunately a bit after this video, 2016 VA missed the Earth by about 59,000 miles while traveling at a speed of 13 miles per second relative to us. In 2024 it will once again come near to both the Earth and our Moon.
My 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.
My 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.
In 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.
More 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 collaboration, and an augmented reality project to create new art forms. She has also taken Rosetta data obtained from it's close up observations of comet 67P to create interactive art which uses a smart phone app to experience scientific results in a completely new way.
The 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.
A 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 discovered two of them within a 4 day period of time. Both of them C/2016 T1 (Matheny) and C/2016 T2 (Matheny) are likely to be first time visitors to the inner solar system. These two comets have quite different paths which are both inclined at large angles to the paths of the planets about the Sun. In addition, both of them are traveling at very close to the escape velocity from our solar system and have uncertain orbital periods around the Sun which are likely to be thousands of times the age of the Universe.
Life 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.
Using 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 small moon.
It 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.
The 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 surface. It's life ended when its human masters put it on a collision course with Comet 67P's nucleus.
On 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.
Inappropriate night time outside lighting causes accidents and does not deter crime. However, it blinds you from the beauty of the Universe which surrounds you.
Comet 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.
Seasons 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.
Recently 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.
During 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 one whose air blast shock wave injured nearly 1500 people when it exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013 .
Perhaps 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.
Recently 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.
P/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.
More 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 falling to Earth. We know these meteorites are from the Moon because they contain mixtures of atoms which are found on the Moon but not in Earthly rocks.
It 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
Comets 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.
My 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.
Anyone 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 were proved to be Earth approaching objects, 32 are other asteroids which don't come near enough our home planet to be interesting, and the rest need more data to figure out what they are.
My 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.
I 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 together on intersecting highways.
In 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.
C/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.
In 2024, Voyager I is 163 times further from the Sun than we are and is the most distant, human made, traveler in the night.
In 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 break in the weather during which they were able to discover a dozen new Earth approaching asteroids.
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.
Astronomers 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.
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.
In 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.
So 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.
A 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.
Centaurs have long puzzled astronomers since they have traits in common with both asteroids and comets.
The 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.
In 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.
We 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 atmospheric night airglow.Your visit to a dark sky location like the Coismic Campground IDSS in New Mexico will allow you to experience the age old sense of wonder which happens when a human looks into deep space and thinks about what might be out there.
My 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.
Scientists 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.
My 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.
The 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 industry. Alaska has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the country and has witnessed sea ice retreating, glaciers receding, and permafrost melting.
A 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.
This is the story of the big one that got away. It illustrates the problem that there are a number of possible orbits which may fit a short arc of an object in the night sky. There may be scores of kilometer sized objects out there but 2016 NA39 is not one of them.
Matching his wife’s discovery of two comets on the same observing run seven years previously my Catalina Sky Survey team caption Carson Fuls discovered two comets on consecutive nights. They have very different origins and ultimater fates.
Imagine a telescope old enough for Senior Citizen discounts, which has traveled between mountains, and started life with a metal mirror measuring one thing at time being equipped with a camera with 100 million pixels. This is the story of the "old girl", the 60 inch Catalina Sky Survey telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona.
The NASA Psyche Spacecraft will use a multispectral imager, gamma and neutron spectrometers, and other instruments to map, measure, and characterize an unknown weird world.
During a 6 night observing run with the 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered three new Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. They range in size from 600 to 1500 feet in diameter. Fortunately, none of them comes closer than about 14 times the Moon's distance from us.
Historically explorers in many fields of human endeavor have been granted the privilege to name their discovery. If you find a new comet and it receives enough followup observations it will carry your last name. Every year a significant number of comets and asteroids are discovered by amateur astronomers with modest equipment.Their reward is satisfaction and the right to name their discovery.
Robotic spacecraft from Earth have been traveling around the solar system for decades. What they have found is that there may be a few places on which the toughest terrestrial life forms could exist but nowhere that you could survive without a space suit. A striking by product of these missions are the photographs of our home planet that these robots have sent back to Earth.
During a six hour period three small space rocks passed through the Earth-Moon system. At discovery 2023 TO4 was in Pegasus, 2023 TD7 was in Aries , and 2023 TQ3 was in Eradanus.If 2023 TD7 had been an impactor David’s early discovery would have given some of us a chance to view a spectacular event as well as to provide a place for meteorite hunters to look for fragments. For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer. Stay Tuned.
The NASA New Horizons spacecraft obtained intriguing images and data during it's trip through the Pluto system which will keep planetary scientists busy for years to come. Now the New Horizons has it's sights set on an object, a billion miles past Pluto, which is called 2014 MU69. It is too faint for all but the most powerful telescopes which is why the Hubble Space Telescope was systematically used to discover it.
The Catalina Sky Survey searchs the sky as rapidly as possible in search of Earth approaching objects that could pose a threat to our home planet. The Vera Rubin Observatory will obtain 200,000 images per year to discover things that move or change brightness down to a very faint magnitude.
Evidence continues to mount that there is an unseen body, Planet 9, orbiting far from our Sun. Ideas of where to look for it are being guided by it's gravitational influence on objects in the distant region of our solar system called the Kuiper Belt.
New observations linked with discovery observations 10 years earlier provide a significant improvement in the precision of our knowledge of 2013 TG6’s orbital elements and thus its position on the sky well into the future.It is important for asteroid hunters to keep track of small asteroids like this one to make sure sure that their path doesn’t change to make them a threat as they pass other objects in space.
Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner, and Yann Sainty’s image of our neighboring galaxy, M31, in Andromeda won the 10,000 British pound Astronomer Photographer of the year award for 2023. Amazingly their image revealed a huge, previously unknown arc of hot doubly ionized Oxygen gas.
On a mountain top in the foothills of the Andes in northern Chile a new kind telescope, the LSST, is under construction. It's unique design allows it to image an area of the sky 40 times the size of the full moon and thus record the entire sky twice a week. In 30 seconds the LSST can spot objects 10 million times fainter than we can see with our eyes. It will discover objects which change in brightness and position to enable astronomers to study dark energy, weird stars, Earth approaching objects, and other fascinating time dependent events in the Universe.
The red planet may soon need air traffic control. In the next few years China, Europe, India, Japan, United Arab Emirates, United States, and SpaceX are all operating Martian spacecraft or planning to send robotic explorers to Mars.
NASA classifies 2023 SZ1 as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid since it is larger than 140m in diameter and on its current path can come to about 6 times the Moon’s distance from us.Fortunately on its current path 2023 SZ1 will not come any closer than 42 times the Moon’s distance from us until after 2171.
Opal, the national gemstone of Australia, is silica, the most common ingredient of sand, with a number of water molecules attached to it. On Earth Opal forms when water evaporates from a slurry of sand and water which is deposited repeatedly in a crack or fissure in a rock over a long period of time. The resulting opal may contain from 3 to 21% water by weight.
Professor Hilary Downes of Birkbeck College London headed up a team which discovered Opal in a meteorite which was found in Antartica. Previous to their work the only known extra-terrestrial Opal consisted of a few crystals which were found in a meteorite from Mars.
The Antarctic meteorite that Professor Downes and her team studied, EET 83309, is made up of thousands of small pieces of rocks and minerals. This space rock was created by collisions between objects from various parts of our solar system. Some of them are likely to have been carrying large amounts of water ice. The Downes team found solid evidence that the opal was formed before their sample left the surface of the parent asteroid, traveled through space, and was recovered by humans on the Antarctic ice sheet.
Professor Downes concludes "This is more evidence that meteorites and asteroids can carry large amounts of water ice. Although we rightly worry about the consequences of the impact of large asteroids, billions of years ago they may have brought the water to the Earth and helped it become the world teeming with life that we live in today."
Hycean Worlds, with masses between Earth and Neptune which have thin hydrogen rich atmospheres above a liquid water ocean may be very common in our neighborhood of the Milky Way. They could be an abode of life.
If you woke up tomorrow with gamma ray eyes things would look very different. Geology would come to life as you peered into the Earth and became aware of the various minerals it contains. Gamma rays coming from stars, supernovae, pulsars, and black holes would create a fog extending over all of the sky.
Given the effects of climate change today who can predict what planet Earth will be like when C/2023 P1(Nishimura) comes back near our home planet in approximately 2455 AD.
Before you pack your bags for a trip to Mars you will want to check out the weather data that NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover has recorded over the past two Martian years.There is no getting around the fact that you will need a space suit and long woolies to survive on Mars.
In 2023 T. Maroti of the Capricornus Observatory, Csokako, Hungary discovered two Earth approaching asteroids which were passing through the night sky unnoticed by other observers. His equipment is an 11 inch telescope, electronic camera, and computer.
The Catalina Sky Survey and the Korean teams of asteroid hunters will discover and track Earth approaching objects making the residents of our home planet safer
Bright fireball meteors sometimes rain pieces of themselves onto the ground for meteorite hunters to discover.
Collisions between planets, planetesimals, asteroids, and comets have produced the place where we live and breathe.Today scientists are replacing myths with solid evidence that violent impacts between planets, planetesimals, asteroids, and comets are very common in our galaxy. They play a vital role in the formation of solar systems which contain habitable planets.
The natural night sky is alive with its own lights. In addition to celestial sources often there is natural night sky airglow powered by space weather from above and/or tropospheric activity from below. It is not the Aurora Borealis. Amazing images show green airglow waves which are brighter than the Milky Way.The theory behind these beautiful images remains a mystery
The Moon is the Earth's long time dancing partner. This unequal pair revolve about a teeter totter type balance point which in turn orbits the Sun every 365 and a quarter days. A small asteroid has become a third partner in the Earth-Moon dance.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Josh Hogan was asteroid hunting in the constellation Sextans with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered the largest asteroid in nearly a decade
An object like 2023 MN5 impacts Earth once every 90,000 years or so creating a crater 5 miles in diameter an 1800 feet deep in sedimentary rock. 50 miles from the impact of such an object observers would feel the effects of a 7.1 Richter scale Earth. Rest assured that asteroid hunters will continue to track 2023 MN5 as it passes near Earth and Jupiter to make sure that its orbit does not change to make it a threat to humanity.
Students and teachers are doing real science by measuring the shadows cast by distant objects in our solar system.
For years humans knew Pluto, the first Trans-Neptunian object to be discovered, only as a moving point of light in the night sky. It wasn't until 58 years after it's discovery that astronomers were able to observe a star as Pluto passed in front of it. These data gave an accurate diameter and also proved that Pluto has an atmosphere. There are estimated to be 100,000 Trans-Neptunian bodies larger than 60 miles or so in diameter. They have stories to tell about the beginning of the solar system. Additionally, sometimes, a passing star changes one of their orbits sending it into the inner solar system and perhaps near to us.
In less than two hours my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Allesandra Serrano discovered two small fast moving space rocks. Both of them passed through the Earth-Moon system unimpeded. Other space rocks are not so lucky.
Carson Fuls, one of my Catalina Sky Survey teammates, is leading the effort that will allow you to join our NASA funded adventure in asteroid hunting and discovery. You will learn how to scan our nightly archival images to discover new small solar system worlds.Happy asteroid hunting.
Recently Dr. Michael Gillon of the University of Liege in Belgium and a team of astronomers hypothesized since that approximately 2/3 of the stars in our neighborhood are red dwarf stars some of them might host inhabitable planets. To test this idea the researchers began to carefully monitor some nearby red dwarfs with a robotic telescope in Chile to see if any of them the have regular dips in brightness which indicate the presence of planets orbiting them.
This team of astronomers were delighted when a faint star in an infrared star catalogue showed regular dips in brightness indicating the presence of three planets. Followup observations by the European Southern Observatories' 8 meter telescope in Chile confirmed the presence of three Earth sized planets orbiting a star now known as TRAPPIST-1. This extremely faint red star is only slightly larger than the planet Jupiter and puts out 0.05% of the energy of our Sun. Two of its Earth sized planets orbit every 1.5 and 2.4 days receiving four and two times the radiation the Earth receives from our Sun. They are probably two hot to be habitable. The third Earth sized planet orbits farther away and thus might have life permitting temperatures on its surface.
The discovery of three Earth sized planets orbiting the extremely, cool, faint red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 suggests the possibility of the presence of many more relatively nearby Earth like planets. The next generation of ground and space based telescopes will tell us about their surface conditions.
Hungarian astronomer and geography teacher Krisztián Sárneczky was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Lynx with 0.6m (24 inch) telescope at the Piszkéstető station in the Mátra Mountains when an unknown object streaked through a set of his images. It is the 7th such object to be tracked in outer space and then observed to enter our atmosphere. A tiny asteroid the size of 2023 CX1 enters the Earth’s atmosphere about once a month and gives asteroid hunters a chance to practice for a big one.
About 20 years ago Dr. Elizabeth Austin began to investigate Polar Vortex winds during the long winter nights near the poles. One of its components, the stratospheric polar night jet, can create 300 mph winds which in turn can project atmospheric mountain waves as high as 130,000 feet into the stratosphere.
The Airbus Perlan II is an engineless glider designed to surf stratospheric mountain waves in our atmosphere to the edge of space. Cruising at 400 mph at an altitude of 90,000 feet this glider with a wing span of 85 feet will become the highest level flying winged vehicle in history and will be able to travel above 98% of the Earth's atmosphere. The cabin of Perlan II is pressurized and is occupied by a crew of two who make their high altitude flights from a base in Argentina.
The Perlan II will carry a package of scientific instruments which will enable it to study the atmosphere without the presence of a polluting engine to bias the measurements. The results will provide important information about our atmosphere which will help humans to adapt to the climate change we have created.
At the highest point of its flight Perlan II will be flying in an atmosphere similar to what exists on the planet Mars.
In the future high flying commercial aircraft in our atmosphere as well as vehicles which will enable us to explore our neighbor Mars will benefit from the data obtained by the Airbus Perlan II.
An extremely wide field of view camera, the Zwicky Transient Facility, operated by Caltech on Palomar Mountain in California is able to take images of the entire northern sky every couple of days. This capability has enabled to astronomers to find nearly 8,000, Type IA supernova. A recent discovery SN Zwicky is unique.
During the course of a single night our telescopes can find more than 10,000 moving objects. Fortunately our software geniuses are able to sort through this pile to allow us to focus on unknown objects which require additional observations. Most of the time asteroid hunters are able to decide if an unknown moving object is an Earth approaching asteroid by observing it for a few nights to determine it's path around the Sun. However, recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Alex Gibbs, Greg Leonard, Carson Fuls, and Richard Kowalski as well as observers in Hawaii, New Mexico, Australia, and Kitt Peak in Arizona had to follow an unknown object for nearly a month to determine its nature.
The new object they discovered is now called 2016 EJ203. It is about 3000 feet in diameter and takes 504 years to orbit the Sun on a path which goes from between Mars and Jupiter out to 3 times Pluto's distance from the Sun. In 2016 humans were able to spot 2016 EJ203 during the two weeks every 500 years that it is bright enough for us to detect. The Minor planet Center has classified 2016 EJ203 as a Trans-Neptunian object. Our catalog of these distant places now has several hundred entries ranging in size from Pluto and 4 other large dwarf planets to small objects like 2016 EJ203.
This object may be the nucleus of a burned out comet or a fragment left over from the formation of the solar system.
Project Breakthrough Listen is spending $100 million over 10 years so that radio telescopes can search for signals which may indicate extraterrestrial intelligence.In a recent article in the Astronomical Journal a team of astronomers published a paper entitled “A 4–8 GHz Galactic Center Search for Periodic Technosignatures”. The teams first effort yielded a null result, however, they plan to continue to search for rotating beacons which could be used by extraterrestrials to communicate with far flung regions of the Milky Way.
Recently Dr. Adam Frank of the University of Rochester and Dr Woodruff Sullivan of the University of Washington published a paper in which they addressed the question "What are the odds that humans are the only technological species that has ever arisen in a given volume of space"? Humans continue to look into the night sky and wonder what is out there. The immense distances and the uncertain lifetime of an advanced civilization make it seem unlikely that we will discover intelligent beings outside of Earth. However, I remain hopeful of one day waking to the news that we have received signals from thinking beings which live elsewhere in the Milky Way.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Cancer with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered a potentially hazardous asteroid, 2023 KM5.Rest assured there is no way, on its current path, that 2023 KM5 will impact the Earth in the foreseeable future, however, asteroid hunters will continue to track it to make sure its orbit does not change to make it a threat.
Most asteroids that we observe have been baked by the Sun for billions of years. As a result, any ices or frozen gases that they may have once possessed are long gone. Comets on the other hand have spent so much time far from the Sun that they still contain volatile materials. As a typical comet approaches the Sun, the frozen gases and ices it contains evaporate to form a beautiful coma and a long tail.
In 2023 the James Webb Space Telescope spotted a geyser of water vapor extending more than 80% of the Earth’s diameter erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. If life does exist in the salty ocean of Enceladus shielded from the rest of the Universe by a thick layer of ice and rock its nature remains a mystery.
More than 25 years ago Voyager 1 took a picture of the Earth from beyond Pluto's orbit. This image shows our home planet to be an isolated tiny pale blue dot floating in the vastness of space.
Very small fast moving asteroids pass through our solar system.About once a month an object like 2023 KU4 enters our atmosphere, releases the energy of approximately 2.4 tons of TNT, explodes at an altitude of about 280,000 feet, creates a spectacular light show, produces a sonic boom that is barely audible, and rains pieces of itself on the ground for meteorite hunters to discover. Check out the fireball log on the American Meteor Society website for examples.
We will probably never know the details of the collision that put my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls' recent discovery, 2016 HD3, on its current path. What we do know is that Carson's new space rock is about 25 feet in diameter and in the next 100 years will make 53 close approaches to planet Earth and 12 to our sister planet Venus. In 2016 this small object passed to near both the Earth and our Moon. It's 322 day orbit around the Sun can someday bring it to about a quarter of the Moon's distance from where we live.
Very small fast moving asteroids pass through our solar system.About once a month an object like 2023 KU4 enters our atmosphere, releases the energy of approximately 2.4 tons of TNT, explodes at an altitude of about 280,000 feet, creates a spectacular light show, produces a sonic boom that is barely audible, and rains pieces of itself on the ground for meteorite hunters to discover. Check out the fireball log on the American Meteor Society website for examples.
Blinded by inappropriate outdoor night lighting, much of humanity is now unaware of the rich beauty of the Universe which surrounds them. To see sights which have inspired countless generations of lovers, poets, scientists, authors, artists, mathematicians, and dreamers people must travel out of their artificial light domes to one of the few remote locations which offer the opportunity to view the natural night sky.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqueline Fazekas was asteroid hunting , in the evening twilight, with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when she discovered a very large object in an unusual orbit. Rest assured that astronomers will continue to track Jacqueline's discovery to make sure that its orbit does not change to make it a threat as it passes near Jupiter, Earth, and Venus.
Covered by a blanket of lunar soil to protect it from BB sized meteoroids arriving a gunshot speeds, a village is nestled in a large crater on our moon. The individual structures are connected together by tunnels. The site was chosen to access the water and metals which were brought to the site by asteroid impacts.
To the amazement of NASA scientists, when the NASA OSIRIS-Rex touched down on the surface of Bennu to obtain a sample, the sample collecting arm continued to sink into Bennu until rocket thrusters reversed its downward motion and allowing it to escape.
Jupiter protects us as well as directs some objects our way.
Jupiter, the king of our solar system, has provided us with a place to stand and air to breathe.
Humans are slamming projectiles into space rocks. These experiments will give us the know how to deal with a dangerous space rock which has our number on it
The moon is being hit by objects in the present epoch.
Fresh lunar craters tell us about objects which enter the Earth-Moon system.
In 1972 Apollo 16 astronauts took an ultraviolet image of the Earth from the Moon which shows that like the Sun ,the Earth too, has a faint corona of gas surrounding it. Scientists are just beginning to explore how Earth's glow relates to our weather and climate.
Jupiter and Saturn helped to produce where we live.
Our home planet was formed after a period of chaos in the solar system
Today our solar system is a pretty calm place. However, meteorites we find on Earth as well as the cratering we observe on our Moon, Mercury, Mars, and other bodies suggest that our solar system was born wild and stayed that way for a while. There is also the puzzling fact that our sparsely packed inner solar system is very different from the densely packed, close in, planetary systems which have formed about nearby stars.
Traveling an additional billion miles beyond Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft is now sending back data on 2014 MU69, a strange snow man shaped object which orbits the Sun once every 298 years. The New Horizons is spacecraft is likely to continue its lonely odyssey until the end of time.
Rocky metallic asteroid can stand the heat.
A block and a half sized asteroid makes visits to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter.
In our Milky Way Galaxy alone there are probably 25 billion planets located within the habitable zone of its star where there could be air to breathe and liquid water on its surface. The search is on for advanced civilizations .
What happens when an asteroid is heading in our direction.
A close approaching asteroid was observed as it passed between the Earth and our Moon.
Without followup data, many if not most of the Earth approaching objects would be lost as they move away from us leaving us with no idea when they might return to near Earth space or perhaps even strike our home planet.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammates have discovered an asteroid which could be a potential mining target. Mining asteroids may be a much cheaper way to get the raw materials that space colonists need when compared to the cost of lugging supplies up from the surface of our planet. Using the abundant solar energy in space, water ice from asteroids can be turned into hydrogen and oxygen which is ideal rocket fuel. The metals which many asteroids contain can be turned into the items space explorers need.
A small telescope makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the celestial visitors to our neighborhood
By drilling into a crater rim, researchers hope to discover how the Earth and it's life forms recovered from an asteroid impact.
On a recent training night with Teddy Pruyne at the controls of our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, this duo discovered six new Earth Approaching Objects, an inner main belt asteroid, and rediscovered an inner main belt asteroid which had been lost.
You are less likely to be injured by a space rock than you might think
Recently in response to a question from a reader of the "Asteroid Day" blog, my Catalina Sky Survey team captain Eric Christensen, wrote a blog piece entitled "Is It Just Me, Or Are Asteroids More Dangerous They Used To Be?".
On a cold windy night, with clouds frustrating his search, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Alex Gibbs discovered 8 new celestial visitors while observing with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona
A careful study of the Earth's motion in space is a key to understanding past climate change and enables us to predict future patterns of flooding and drought.Wobbles tell all.
A large fireball meteor which exploded over Cuba produced a number of interesting results.
Recently a relatively dim object, Comet P/2016 BA14 flew past Earth at about 9 times the distance to our Moon from us. It was the third closest comet approach in recorded history. This situation allowed NASA scientists to use the Goldstone Solar System Radar located in California to obtain detailed RADAR images. These revealed the nucleus of P/2016 BA14 to be about 3000 feet in diameter. It slowly spins once very 35 to 40 hours as it travels on its 5.26 year orbital path around the Sun. Observations by the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea reveal the nucleus to be as dark as fresh asphalt which means it's surface is about 4 times darker than that of our moon.
My Catalina Sky Survey Teammate Brian Africano discovered his 4th comet while asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. Observers with small telescopes equipped with electronic cameras are able to track Brian's 4th comet as it comes to near the orbit of Mars before it retreats into the cold dark region of our solar system not to return until 3000 AD.
A gentle method of causing an asteroid to miss planet Earth.
Will spray paint save the world?
Recently, NASA scientists using the giant RADAR telescope in Puerto Rico measured changes in the orbit of the asteroid Bennu. They found that a tiny sunlight pressure of 1/2 oz on this 68 million ton object has changed it's orbit about a hundred miles over a 12 year period of time. These NASA astronomers thus measured the Yarkovsky force which was first suggested by a Russian engineer more than a hundred years ago. This Yarkovsky force, named for its proposer, occurs because sunlight absorbed by an object in space is reradiated in a directional way and thus acts like a tiny rocket motor. It is likely that, over the eons, this tiny effect has changed the course of families of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter causing some of them to be sent in our direction.
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART for short will test methods to make a dangerous asteroid miss Earth
A pair of possibly related comets pass unusually close to Earth.
It is hard to have a personal feel for the microgravity of a comet since it is only a few ten thousandths of the pull of gravity we experience on Earth. When a comet comes near Jupiter or perhaps the Earth the tiny gravity which holds it together can be overwhelmed by gravity of the larger object and the comet's structure disrupted.
Astronomers have observed comets breaking up into smaller pieces as they orbit the Sun. In a spectacular example, more than 20 years ago Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 became a beautiful string of comets before it crashed into Jupiter.
Recently on two consecutive days, Comet P/2016 BA14 (PANSTARRS) and Comet 252P (LINEAR) both passed within a few million miles of planet Earth. These two objects have remarkably similar orbits which take them from near Earth out to close to the giant planet Jupiter. This situation suggests that the smaller of the two, P/2016 BA14, could be a fragment of Comet 252P which calved off of the parent object during a previous close encounter with Jupiter, Mars, or the Earth.
Currently, Astronomers are using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Infrared telescope in Hawaii to look for clues as to the nature of these potentially twin objects.
Comet 252P and P/2016 BA14 will not come this close to Earth again for millennia and are not threat to Earth. What makes them unusual is the opportunity given to humans to study these wanderers of the solar system relatively close up and personal.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groller was asteroid hunting with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered his first comet. After the Sun bakes out all of the frozen gasses, Hannes's Comet, will lose its coma and tail and become indistinguishable from one of the millions of main belt asteroids orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
What motivates asteroid hunters?
Large dangerous asteroids are still out there to find.
A tiny space rock passes through the cloud of communications satellites surrounding the Earth.
We may be able to learn about the possibilities of life on Mars by studying land forms on the Tibetan Plateau here on Earth.
I was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Steve Larson sent me an email requesting that I obtain some images of the asteroid 6478 Gault. Several days earlier, using mountain top telescopes in the Hawaiian islands , astronomers working with the ATLAS project reported that the perviously normally appearing asteroid 6478 Gault now has a 250,000 mile long straight tail. I added together four 60 second images which revealed a point of light with a tail which appeared to be similar to a long straight contrail left by a jet airplane high above the Earth. Images taken of 6478 Gault over the past several months suggest that it hit another object in the asteroid belt. If this idea is correct the collision fragments are what are giving this asteroid its long thin tail. Asteroid Gault is approximately 2.3 miles in diameter and thought to be a member of the Phocaea [Pho e ah] Family of main belt asteroids which themselves were formed by a violent collision about 2.2 billion years ago. This swarm of 2,000 space rocks , orbit the Sun once about every 3.5 years, between Mars and Jupiter.The object which the 2.3 mile diameter Gault hit is likely to have been a third of a mile diameter space rock. This celestial crash left Gault with a 250,000 long straight tail.
The Catalina Sky Survey now operates three telescopes, 24 nights per month, in the Catalina mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
The Catalina Sky Survey began with the University of Arizona's 30 inch Schmidt Telescope on Mt. Bigelow. This telescope became the world leader when it was used to discover 148 Earth approaching objects in 2005. It found the most Potentially Hazardous Asteroids for the next three years running. In 2006 the University of Arizona's 60 inch telescope on nearby Mt. Lemmon received a new camera and many upgrades. In spite of the fact that this telescope was old enough for senior citizen discounts it rapidly became the world's leader in the discovery of Earth approaching asteroids. These telescopes began to make so many discoveries that a telescope which could observe newly discovered objects long enough so that their orbits around the Sun could be nailed down became a necessity. To fill this need an old unused 40 inch telescope was overhauled and installed in a new dome next to the 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon.
The plan for the refurbished 40 inch was make it a robot with software designed specifically to track newly discovered Earth approaching asteroids. As might be expected such a software system is easier to think about that it is to implement. Alex Gibbs who is the Catalina Sky Survey's principal engineer took on this herculean task.
The result is a followup telescope which really works well. This has relieved the 60 inch of followup duties which is allowing it to spend more time searching the skies for new objects.
The Catalina Sky Survey now operates three telescopes, 24 nights per month, in the Catalina mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
The extremely remote chance that a dangerous mountain sized space rock has our number on it is what keeps my team going to our four telescopes in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
The asteroid named for Mildred Shapley Matthews was lost in the solar system for 75 years.
In 1916 the 60 inch Hale telescope on Mt. Wilson, California was the largest telescope in the world.
Seth Nicholson and Harlow Shapley used it to discover a 2 mile diameter asteroid. They only observed their new asteroid twice on their discovery night. Shapley named the asteroid Mildred for his one year old daughter. Nicholson and Shapley were able to find asteroid Mildred a couple of times during the month after it's discovery. After that it's 1324 day orbit around the Sun was so poorly defined that astronomers did not know where to point their telescopes to observe it and Mildred was declared "lost". Friends of Mildred Shapley Matthews would always ask her if she was found yet. In fact it was not until she was 76 years old that Dr. Gareth Williams rediscovered "lost" asteroid Mildred. After 3/4 of a century of being lost Mildred was found.
For the first time in history, an asteroid hunting team, the Catalina Sky Survey, has discovered more than 1,000 Earth approaching asteroids in a single year. They are an interesting part of our environment.
Pound for pound Saturn's moon Enceladus is the brightest object in our solar system. It is so shiny that it reflects most of the sunlight that strikes it. Since Enceladus absorbs little sunlight it's surface is 330 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Below its icy exterior the story is very different. It appears that Enceladus has an ocean of liquid water. What Next?
During Comet C/2018 V4 Africano's last visit to the inner solar system humans were erecting the outer ring at Stonehenge. At the rate human's are changing the Earth's climate who can guess what will be happening on Earth when this comet returns in about 6,000 AD.
Millions of years ago two large asteroids collided in the asteroid belt. Pieces were sent flying in all directions. A few of them were put into orbits which rise high above and below the plane of the solar system as they continued to travel around the Sun. A fragment is discovered from a collision long ago as it comes near the Earth. Fortunately this space rock will not strike the Earth anytime soon. It will continue to orbit the Sun in the silent vacuum of space until it has a collision with another asteroid or comet in the far distant future.
Recently, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groller discovered an Earth approaching asteroid which has a speed consistent with it being ejected from the Moon by the impact of an asteroid or comet long ago. 69 hours after Hannes discovered it, this small space rock passed closer than the communication satellites are from us.
There is increasing evidence that Jupiter's moon Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, and other bodies in our solar system have oceans of salty liquid water in contact with warm rock layers. We know that on Earth life abounds under these conditions around volcanic vents. Could such biodiversity be happening elsewhere?
Comets Travel Between Stars. An interstellar traveler visits our neighborhood on its tour of the Milky Way. Comet Lemmon will continue on a hyperbolic path into deep space. In 2043 it will be further than the average distance that Pluto is from our Sun. Eons from now comet C/2018 U1 (Lemmon) may enter another solar system and be tracked by intelligent beings as it continues its tour of the Milky Way.
Asteroids are part of our environment.An SUV sized space rock has spent eons traveling through the silent vacuum of space. In the past 50 years, without humans being aware of its existence, it has made 29 close approaches to planet Earth and 11 visits to the vicinity our sister planet Venus. In the relatively near future asteroid hunters will be able to find more dspace rocks like this one before they impact Earth and thus be able to issue a warning for a space rock which is about to explode over a populated area.
The discovery of a Jupiter family comet whose fate is to become a garden variety main belt asteroid.
On Halloween night while observing with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona I discovered 21 space rocks streaking through the night sky. The most interesting one could be the destination of asteroid miners.
Every year asteroid hunters discover about a hundred objects which are larger than 450 feet in diameter and come closer than 20 times the Moon's distance from us. We call these potentially hazardous asteroids. In 2015 my group the Catalina Sky Survey discovered 21 of them. It was thus exciting news to our team, when, recently, our newest team member Greg Leonard discovered three of them in rapid succession.
As asteroid hunters equipment and skills continue to improve we will be able to find and track some of these tiny impactors and perhaps be able to suggest where to find pieces of one of them on the ground.
In 2013 my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Steve Larson discovered a space rock streaking through the night sky. For the next 3 days this object was observed by telescopes in California, England, Chile, and New Mexico and given the name 2013 TX68. About 10 days after being discovered, this small asteroid became invisible to human telescopes as it moved towards the Sun with increasing amounts of its dark side facing towards us. Hopefully asteroid hunters will come across 2013 TX68 during its 2016 encounter with Earth. The data obtained will allow us to predict when and how close it will approach our to home planet in future years.
Space is not all that far away. If a powerful solar eruption in 2012 had happened a week earlier, the blast of radiation would have caused wide spread power blackouts disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket as well as the water and sewer systems which rely on electric pumps.
On consecutive nights my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski discovered two very close approaching asteroids. One of Richard's discoveries, 2016 BY14 must be made out of pretty tough stuff since when it was closest to the Sun it received more than twice the solar energy which heats the surface of Mercury to 800 F. Asteroid hunter's continue to need to track 2016 BY14 to make sure that its orbit does not change to make it a threat as it passes near the paths of Mercury, Venus, Earth, our Moon, Mars, and Jupiter.
In a dance of unequal partners the Earth and Moon orbit a common center of gravity which itself travels about the Sun. Leading and trailing the moon's twisted path by 60 degrees, are the L4 and L5 Lagrange points, where gravitational forces create a bowl in space time in which an object will remain until it is disturbed.The discovery of two large ghostly neighbors approximately 65,000 by 45,000 miles in size at the L4 and L5 sites approximately 250,000 miles from both the Earth and Moon verifies theoretical predictions.
Humans are searching the Universe to discover life outside of our Planet.
You could wake up any morning to the news that humans have found life beyond our planet. It could be fossils of ancient life on Mars. It could be the discovery of micro organisms in one of the salty oceans on the asteroid Ceres, the moons of Jupiter, Europa and Ganymede, and/or Enceladus the strange little moon of Saturn. It could be the reception of electromagnetic signals from a distant advanced civilization. Lacking hard evidence many of us continue to look into the night sky and wonder what is out there
Since 1900 there have been 11 close approaches by asteroids larger than 300 feet in diameter. One of them, the Tunguska Object was about 400 feet in diameter. It entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded with such force that it blew down trees over an 800 square mile area in 1908. Hopefully that will not happen again anytime soon.
Astronomers are searching the solar system for new planets. Calculations based on the orbits of the distant objects out near Pluto suggest the existence of a 10 Earth mass planet twenty times farther from the Sun than the planet Neptune. At its great distance the hypothetical new "Planet 9" would take 20,000 years or so to make a single orbit about the Sun. The search for "Planet 9" has begun. Until we have images of it moving through the night sky it will continue to be a theoretical curiosity.
My team, the Catalina Sky Survey, would not find a single asteroid without Steward Observatory's Mountain Lemmon Operations, or Mtn Ops for short. Bottom line is that Mtn Ops does whatever it takes to make our Asteroid Hunting facilities continue to function.
The Cosmic Campground is one of the last places where one can experience the natural night sky in the lower 48.
Aten Asteroids are stealthy space rocks which can be dim and hard to detect since for most of their path about the Sun their illuminated side is facing away from us.
My Catalina Sky Survey team mate Greg Leonard finds an interesting potentially hazardous asteroid.Since asteroid hunter's main concern are the large space rocks which we don't know about, my team the Catalina Sky Survey continues to scan the skies 24 nights per month using two telescopes located in the Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona.
Ten hours and 46 minutes after my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered a Toyota RAV4 sized space rock, now named 2018 UA, streaking through the constellation of Pegasus at 8.8 miles/second, this tiny asteroid passed less than 1/2 the distance of the communications satellites to the surface of planet Earth
Aten asteroids spend most of their time inside the Earth's orbit, come close to us, travel at speeds our rockets can match, and may be an economical source of raw materials for space exploration.
Until recently the discovery of very close approaching asteroids was rare, however, due to improvements in telescopes, cameras, and computers asteroid hunters are now finding a significant number of these small celestial visitors to our neighborhood every month
Asteroid hunters are developing the equipment and skills which enable them to predict the impact of tiny space rocks. Thus in the future you may have the opportunity to witness the light show an impactor creates and perhaps even obtain clues which will enable you to find a piece of it on the ground.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Pegasus with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered a 2,000 foot diameter space rock streaking through the night sky. The extremely remote possibility that a big one might have our number on it keeps asteroid hunters going to their telescopes.
To give you an idea of the celestial traffic in our neighborhood, on a recent clear night, using our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groller posted 20 new objects on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation Page. In the future five of these asteroids may become a valuable source of raw materials for Martian colonists.
In the fictional Star Trek series, Vulcan, Spock's home planet was imagined to orbit the A component of the triple star system 40 Eridani [Eri-dani ]. Recently astronomers using the Dharma Planet Survey 50 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona have discovered that there is indeed an actual planet, named HD26965 b, with mass of 8.5 times that of Earth orbiting the star 40 Eridani A once every 42.38 days.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered his third comet, Comet C/2018 R4 (Fuls). It is now on its way back into deep space. Given the climate change Earth is experiencing it is hard to predict the state of our planet and humanity when Comet Fuls returns in 7,500 AD.
Asteroid Hunters keep careful track of nearly 2,000 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids [PHAs] to make sure that they are no threat to humanity. The recent discovery of two new PHAs reminds us that there are many still out there to be discovered and followed.
A small space rock is spotted 4 days before it came very close to the Earth and our Moon.
What asteroid hunters fear is that a small space rock capable of injuring people and damaging buildings is heading our way and that we will not find it in time to give a warning for people in the impact area to seek cover.
The NASA Mars Opportunity Rover, nicked named Oppy by those who operate and love it ,was designed to last 90 days on the Martian surface but has continued to explore the surface of the red planet for 14 years.
Although small space rocks pose no threat to humans, they are an interesting part of our environment, offer a chance for asteroid hunters to develop their tracking skills, and occasionally provide an opportunity for a meteorite hunter to touch an object from outer space.
Asteroid hunters were able to discover a small Earth approaching asteroid after 57 nights of continuous rain and clouds.
Humans have discovered oceans of liquid salty water on four small worlds in our solar system. Could living things be flourishing in these alien environments?
The fireball meteor streaking across the sky the early evening of January 17, 2018, witnessed by 700 observers in 11 States and Canada was also recorded by infrasonic microphones and seismometers. Scientific studies of this event gives researchers the ability to assess the risks presented by the 2,000 large fireball meteor explosions which occur each year world wide and will allow scientists to detect any secret nuclear tests being conducted by rogue individuals or governments.
Asteroid Mining Is Possible. It might be possible to catch an asteroid, place it into Earth orbit, and thus provide a ready source of precious metals and water for space colonists to use.
In 2018, July and August were cloudy and rainy in both Arizona and Hawaii sidelining the worlds two most productive asteroid hunting surveys. A cost effective way to make the Earth's planetary defense system more weather proof is to put a network of asteroid hunting telescopes around the world to discover and track potentially dangerous nearby neighbors.
My team the Catalina Sky Survey discovers 89 new Earth approaching objects in 24 nights.
Even though humans have been aware of the planet Saturn from from the dawn of history this beautiful object still offers mysteries for us to explore.
From the time 3 million years ago that our ancestor Lucy walked in what is now Ethiopia until the widespread use of electric lighting began in the 1880s the changing panorama and awe inspiring beauty of the natural night sky was available to most human beings.
The NASA NEOWISE satellite has discovered a family of dark, stealthy asteroids some of which make close approaches to planet Earth.
Fuzzy, spread out, asteroid images due to atmospheric and or equipment produced distortions can cause important objects to slip through an asteroid hunter's discovery images undetected. A careful monitoring of the temperature at a number of different locations in the observatory environment and using fans and other techniques to minimize temperature differences restores the power of a telescope so that it can detect possible asteroid threats to planet Earth.
An asteroid small enough to fit under a basketball hoop makes frequent approaches to Earth, our Moon, and Mars
There are likely to be hundreds smaller than softball sized and perhaps several dozen football to beachball sized, natural Earth mini moons, which are so small and fast moving that they are able to slip through asteroid hunters images without being detected.
An asteroid hunter wishes for a birthday comet but instead the Universe gave her an asteroid.
Exciting new research indicates that there could be a lake of liquid water beneath the south Martian polar cap. Further research will be required to determine if this briny pool could be the home of martian creatures.
A rare very large Earth approaching object is discovered in an unusual place in the sky.
It has been 20 years since the world woke up to the news that a half mile diameter asteroid, 1997 XF11, discovered by Space Watch on Kitt Peak, had a slight chance of impacting the Earth in 2028. The NASA and JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies or CNEOS (see-neos) for short maps space rocks orbits, predicts when they will come close to us, and reliably determines each one's chance of impacting Earth.
Humans must be very careful not to introduce any of Earth's organisms into the Martian environment.]
Imagine a spacecraft traveling at a speed that would take it from New York to Tokyo in less than a minute, a mere 4 million miles from the surface of our Sun, where it would be exposed to about 500 times the solar radiation we receive here on Earth. Not science fiction but science fact for the NASA Parker Solar Probe on one of its final laps around our star.
A small asteroid about the size of a U-Haul moving truck makes frequent visits to our part of the solar system.
In a few weeks ,as Earth and Mars moved closer together, a dust storm engulfed most of the red planet making it impossible to see its surface features.
A huge Earth approaching asteroid is discovered right before the 2018 monsoon rains settled into the American Southwest. This weather imposed break from observing provides the opportunity for asteroid hunters to make major equipment upgrades and perform routine maintenance.
A space boomerang meets its fate in a collision with the Earth about 60 miles off of the coast of Sri Lanka producing a bright, but harmless light show in the noon sky.
Most Astronomers find it hard to believe that given perhaps a trillion planets in the Milky Way alone that our Earth is the only one which hosts living organisms. It is both exciting and terrifying to realize we have no concept of what living forms may exist outside Earth in the Milky Way.
Our Moon is the nearest and most likely place for humans to colonize in the near future. It has a hostile environment where air and liquid water as we know them on Earth are not to be found. In the past astronomers hypothesized that comets are the source of water on the Earth and Moon. However, calculations by Svetsov and Shuvalov published in Planetary and Space Science indicate that when a comet impacts the Moon it is likely that 99% of its water evaporates into space and is lost. On the other hand their work indicates that asteroids have been hauling water to our Moon and depositing it in places which are very handy for future human colonists. Specifically it appears probable that 2 to 4.5 % of lunar craters are likely to contain substantial amounts of water in the form of hydrated minerals. These asteroid impact craters are a convenient source of water and solar energy for lunar bases and are likely to be the home of human lunar colonists.
Asteroid hunters have discovered a strange asteroid pair. How they came to be together and what humans would do if such a large double trouble object is heading for us remains a mystery.
During his last official observing run before retiring, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate, Rik Hill knocked two out of the park. On successive nights he discovered two new potentially hazardous asteroids 2015 TD323 and 2015 TK238. Not to worry, neither of these asteroids are a threat to Earth in the foreseeable future. However, they are large enough and can come close enough to prompt asteroid hunters to keep careful track of them.
An object is tracked in outer space, seen to explode in our atmosphere, and had a fragment of it discovered on the ground. Its analysis will help humans to prepare for and defend against a much larger object with our number on it.
The Great Galaxy in Andromeda or M31 as it is also known is one of the furtherest objects that can be seen with the unaided human eye. It is about two and a half million light years away. More than a thousand years ago the a Persian astronomer named Al-Sufi described the Great Galaxy in Andromeda as a "small cloud" in his Book of Fixed Stars. Now there are few places on planet Earth like the Cosmic Campground where one can see it with the naked eye due to inappropriate night time lighting.
Statistically, asteroid hunters are thought to have discovered 90% of our potentially dangerous celestial neighbors greater than 1 KM in diameter. Thus my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was surprised to discover an unknown very large asteroid moving through the constellation of Persus.
In spite of the shape of the Earth's shadow on the Moon, sailing ships disappearing below the horizon, satellite photographs, orbiting objects, and a mountain of other information about the size and shape of the Earth there are still people who belong a flat Earth Society and even have websites. The number of believers has diminished from 3,500 twenty years ago to less than a few hundred today. Not to worry the Flat Earth Society is being replaced by the Climate Change Deniers.
Comet C/2018 M1 (Catalina) is eternal in the sense that it will likely wander the vast space between the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy until the end of time.
From the dawn of history, humans have longed to wander amongst the stars. Now we know that comets are able to make such a voyage giving us paths to follow.NASA scientists have suggested that the first interstellar robotic spacecraft could be propelled by a solar sail as large as the state of Texas. Such a mission, perhaps two or three hundred years into the future could follow a comet's path. In this flight of fantasy the spaceship would be inclosed in a reflective spherical heat shield, placed into a Sun grazing orbit, and flung by the Sun's gravity onto a path which will cause it to be ejected from the solar system. After getting to a safe distance from the Sun the robotic spacecraft would deploy its solar sail and use light pressure to accelerate towards its destination. It could be further helped along using a powerful laser projected from the far side of the Moon. In a few decades or maybe even a few centuries it would arrive in a nearby solar system. After that it would be on its own to try to make sense of what is there and to beam information back to its human creators.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard knew he had bagged his third comet when he spotted an unknown fuzzy object with a broad tail moving through the constellation of Pisces. Eventually when it looses its volatile materials Comet Leonard will become one of the countless millions of main belt asteroids circling our Sun.
Thirty six hours before my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rik Hill discovered it, a space rock about size of a Toyota Prius passed about 14,000 miles above the Earth's surface. When Rik first spotted it this small asteroid was about a million miles from us and was moving away from the Earth at 12.6 miles per second. Its orbit had been changed by a narrow escape from the Earth's gravity and it was on a new path around the Sun This small space rock was subsequently observed by telescopes in Russia and Arizona. The Minor Planet Center used these observations to calculate an orbit and give it the name 2015 SK7.2015 SK7 survived it's 2015 encounter with planet Earth. It may not be so lucky the next time.
A 2000 foot diameter space rock has stories to tell about violent events long ago. Asteroid hunters are eager to track this huge collision fragment and look for members of its family as it passes near Earth in 2026.
When the NASA WISE spacecraft ran out of frozen hydrogen, its detectors warmed up, and it was no longer able to conduct its primary mission. It was placed in a hibernation mode and left to orbit the Earth in silence. A couple of years ago NASA engineers figured out that the spacecraft, even with warm detectors, could find some interesting asteroids and decided to wake it up. The WISE spacecraft in turn has produced data on more than15,000 solar system objects including more than 350 Earth approaching asteroids and 60 comets.
A 100 foot diameter asteroid is spotted on one of its regular trips between the orbits of Venus and Earth. Its ultimate fate is to collide with one of these planets producing a spectacular light show.
Two quite different Earth approaching asteroids were discovered in a clear hole in the sky between storms.
For a week or so after its discovery by the 3.5 meter Space Surveillance Telescope, 2015 PU228 was thought to be the asteroid most likely to collide with Earth in this century. Calculations based on limited data indicated that this asteroid had a one in 23,000 chance of colliding with our planet in January of 2081. As the length of 2015 PU228's observed path in the sky grew its chances of a collision with Earth decreased. More than a month's observations has made us sure that it will completely miss planet the Earth in 2081.
A small space rock with a diameter less than the height of an NBA basketball player had just crossed the orbit of our Moon on a collision course with Earth when it was spotted streaking through the constellation of Scorpius by my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski. 8 hours and 37 minutes after Richard's discovery observations, the space rock now known as 2018 LA was seen by security cameras to explode over Botswana in southern Africa just as NASA's scout system predicted.
Gennadii Borisov has done it again. In a stretch of less than six weeks this talented observer and telescope maker discovered two interesting Earth approaching objects. In this age of big science it is gratifying to see that an individual with relatively modest equipment can make scientific discoveries. In this case Borisov beat my team the Catalina Sky Survey and the Pan-STARRS group in Hawaii with our large telescopes and powerful computer systems to the discovery of a significant object.
The life of an asteroid hunter on Mars will be interesting and exciting. The double planet, our Earth and Moon, in the Martian night sky will be an unforgettable sight and well worth the trip.
There is a mind blowing potential for life in the Universe. Humanity's ignorance of any life forms beyond Earth has prompted the Breakthrough Prize Foundation at the Royal Society in London to create a program to award 100 million dollars in grants to fund projects to search for signals from intelligent life.
After being lost for ten years, the asteroid 2010 WC9 was re-discovered about a week before it came very close to Earth.
You can spot Ganymede orbiting the planet Jupiter with any backyard telescope. It is the largest of the four bright moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. In your telescope Ganymede will be the third farthest moon from Jupiter. This tiny point of light is really a small world composed of ice, water, and rock.
The recent discovery of an asteroid, whose orbit lies completely within that of the Earth, reminds asteroid hunters to continue to search near the Sun so that a large dangerous object does not sneak up undetected on the residents of planet Earth.
Hunting asteroids by poking around in clear holes between cloud layers can be very tiresome, however, sometimes it has its rewards. A break in the monsoon weather pattern over southern Arizona allowed my Catalina Sky Survey Teammate, Richard Kowalski, to discover four new Earth approaching objects during the part of a night it was clear.
An asteroid is exiled to the outer regions of the solar system during Jupiter's rampaging tack away from the Sun long ago. During that process enough material was left in Jupiter's wake to form Venus, Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt as we know them today.
The number of possible places in a galaxy for life as we know it to develop depends on the number of stars which have planets, the presence of necessary elements such as iron, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, and the freedom from nearby supernova which could sterilize an otherwise habitable planet. The good news, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in New Mexico has reported the discovery more than 150,000 galaxies which are rich with the three life enabling properties. The bad news is we will get monologues and not dialogs since it will take 9 million years for radio waves from the closest one to reach us and another 9 million years for our answer to make the trip back.
Modern technology provides us with stunning views of objects in the Universe in wavelengths invisible to our eyes, however, nothing is as moving and thought provoking as looking into deep space with your very own eyes.
A number of blogs and postings on the web have been spreading the false rumor that there is an asteroid which is about to strike the Earth producing catastrophic damage. There are also recurrent false rumors that the government or governments are hiding the fact that a catastrophe is about to occur. Neither of these has a shred of evidence to back them up.
To find planets close to home NASA has launched TESS the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite which will monitor more than 200,000 nearby, stars over the entire sky to detect the tiny dips in light caused when a planet passes in front of it's star. The TESS era will be a most exciting time as humans discover and are able determine the properties of relatively nearby habitatable worlds and dream about what might be living in our neighborhood of the Milky Way.
Recently the 3.5 meter Space Surveillance Telescope located at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico found an an asteroid which has been named 2015 PU228. It is currently the asteroid which is most likely to collide with planet Earth in this century. Don't worry, its closest approach to our home planet will not be untill January 15, 2081. If there is an ideal close approaching asteroid, 2015 PU228 is it. Humans have discovered this object long before it comes near to our home giving plenty of time to deflect it if that becomes necessary. Serious scientific and engineering studies are currently underway to investigate various asteroid impact mitigation strategies. These range from using a solar sail to give the problem asteroid a gentle push to setting off a buried nuclear weapon to create a rocket type thrust which will cause the potential impactor to miss planet Earth.
n the early evening of January 17, 2018 six hundred and seventy four observers in 11 States and Canada reported a fireball meteor streaking across the sky to the American Meteor Society. To find freshly fallen meteorites visit the American Meteor Society's website but do not hunt for meteorites on private land without permission.
If Earth had a mountain about four times higher than Mt. Everest this hypothetical mountain's summit would have the thin atmosphere, UV radiation from the Sun, and the temperature extremes approaching the hostile environment to be found on the planet Mars.
So far asteroid hunters have discovered about 8,000 of the 25,000, large, potentially hazardous asteroids, suspected to exist, leaving 17,000 more to be found. For this reason, NASA has designed and proposed the NEOCam spacecraft to give us the ability to find them before they find us.
The relentless pull of the Earth's gravity on the Moon causes it to always point the same side towards us. The Moon's slight wobble has allowed us to catch glimpses of a small sliver of the Moon's far side. In 1968 the first humans to see the far side with their own eyes were the astronauts of Apollo 8. Perhaps someday humans will put a base on the far side of the Moon where powerful telescopes would be unaffected by light and electronic noise from Earth.
If you set your mind to it, you can find and hold a sample of an asteroid, called a meteorite, which has landed on the Earth's surface. On the other hand, watching major meteor showers will allow you to see but not touch comet dust as it enters and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski found a faint moving point of light in the night sky. After his discovery observations were posted on the Minor Planet Center's website it was observed by 10 other telescopes around the world and given the name 2013 US10. It has taken additional observations to reveal that Kowalski's object is not an asteroid but rather a comet which came closest to the Sun on November 15, 2015. After that its speed will be so great that it will leave our solar system never to return. Its path is not in the direction of any known star making it likely that it will continue its cold lonely journey till the end of time.
When Asteroid Hunters find a relatively large asteroid on a collision course with planet Earth, the challenge is to change its path to make it miss our home planet.
"I do not know how I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy, playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself, in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things"
These are only two of the quotes attributed to Sir Isaac Newton.
Greg's comet comes into our neighborhood once per human lifetime and spends most of it's time in the lonely space high above or far below the rest of the members of our solar system.
Imagine a monster telescope that can collect 37 million times more light than can enter your eye. A huge telescope with this capability, planned by the European scientific community, will sit atop a 10,000 foot high mountain in the high dry desert of northern Chile.
Fireballs are meteors which become brighter than the planet Venus and can sometimes be seen in the daytime. If you are lucky to see a fireball send in your report to the American Meteor Society and become a citizen scientist.
For 16 years, since its discovery at Lowell Observatory, humans knew 1999 JD6 only as a strange, spinning, moving point of light in the night sky. It orbits the Sun once every 303 days on a path that brings it relatively close to Mercury, Venus, and Earth. In the far distant future this small world is likely to collide with one of these planets, or the Sun, or be ejected completely from the solar system. A RADAR movie made with a radio telescope reveals 1999 JD6 to be two asteroids in contact with each other giving the object a peanut shape. Strangely enough 1 in 6 Earth approaching objects are like 1999 JD6 in that they are really two separate objects whose tiny forces of gravity keep them in contact as they orbit the Sun.
To give you an idea of the asteroid traffic in our neighborhood, on a mostly cloudy night, through holes in the clouds, in a space of less than 2 hours, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski posted 7 new close approaching asteroid discoveries on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation Page.
Our everyday world is in the thin web of life that surrounds our planet. We see living organisms made possible by solar energy, water, air, and nutrients from the Earth. Maybe all living creatures are not in an environment similar to ours. When looking for life in other places in the Universe we can take some clues from living systems in extreme environments on our own planet.
Tonight, even though the chances are extremely slim, an asteroid hunter could find a sizable asteroid on a collision course with planet Earth. If we have decades warning, the potential impactor's arrival time could be changed by impacting the dangerous object with a high velocity mass or if we have less time we will need to nuke it which will either blow it to bits or give it a rocket like push.
Currently the majority of the Earth Approaching objects are found by my team, the Catalina Sky Survey or the Pan STARRs group in Hawaii. Both employ large telescopes, very expensive electronic cameras, and high powered computer systems. However, an expert observer with a small 12 inch telescope and an electronic detector can still make interesting discoveries.
In the future one can envision a space mining family boarding a descendent of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Vehicle for a trip into low Earth orbit. A few hundred miles above the Earth's surface they would rendezvous with their asteroid mining spacecraft which will be their home for the next five years or so.
You can spot Europa with almost any small telescope as a moving point of light orbiting the planet Jupiter just like Galileo Galilei did 400 years ago. Of the 4 moons which you will see Europa is the one second closest to Jupiter.
On December 25, 2017, while searching for Earth approaching asteroids in the constellation of Virgo, the Universe gave my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard a Christmas present in the form of a comet which now bears his name.
Since the dawn of our race, it is likely that humans have looked into the night sky and wondered if they are alone in the Universe on a unique planet. The NASA Kepler spacecraft has discovered more than a thousand planets orbiting distant stars. A newly discovered planet, Kepler-452b has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star. In the 4.5 billion years of the Earth's history the parade of more than 5 billion species has included single cell organisms, various multi cellular life forms, land plants, dinosaurs, mammals, birds, flowers, and humans to name a few. It is mind blowing to consider what kind of life forms might exist on a planet which is 1.5 billion years older than mother Earth.
Recent scientific studies have begun to shed light on the interesting mystery of how the small number of what we now call electrophonic meteors produce simultaneous light and sound. If you are lucky you could hear a meteor's dying whispers and could even be the first person to record these sounds on your cell phone.
The one thousand six hundred and second potentially hazardous asteroid was discovered by the Pan-STARRS group in Hawaii. Followup observations were made by telescopes in Hawaii, France, Australia, Italy, Germany, and Pennsylvania. The Minor Planet Center used these vital observations to calculate an orbit and gave it the name 2015 OC22.
Long Winter nights with good seeing, from start to finish, are those on which the asteroid hunter makes new discoveries while being treated to views of millions of stars, gas clouds, and galaxies which inspire a child like sense of wonder.
At the few remaining natural night sky viewing locations on Earth the horizon has a faint glow in every direction. Near the magnetic poles, this night glow appears to join with the relatively bright higher altitude aurora which covers larger portions of the sky and exhibits beautiful colors including green and red. Green light is the strongest component of the Earth' airglow and comes from oxygen atoms which have become energized by our Sun.
When we find a planet which appears to have the chemical signs of living organisms in its atmosphere, the desire to take a close up look at it will be hard to contain. Laser propelled ultra light space probes could be sent to explore nearby worlds. The cost of investigating our planetary life hosting neighbors is likely to be less than what the US is planning to spend upgrading its nuclear weapons.
After 9 years, 3 billion miles, and 18 sleeping periods NASA gave a wake up call to the New Horizons when it was 135 million miles from the Pluto system. After more than 8 hours of waiting, NASA engineers were ecstatic to receive a message from the New Horizons stating that "I am fine and ready to go forward with an encounter with Pluto".
When a fleet of interstellar spaceships leaves our solar system for a planet circling a nearby star the most important of all of the riches that human explorers will carry with them will be libraries of our planet's DNA and the seeds of plants. They are the connection between past life, the inorganic world, and future life.
Confronted with the deluge of new possible planets, in 2006, The International Astronomical Union voted to categorize Pluto as a Dwarf Planet and not the 9th planet in our solar system as most school children had learned.
Intriguing features which change with the Martian seasons mimic flows of liquid water on the Earth's surface.
In 1933 Fritz Zwicky suggested that the high speeds of galaxies in the relatively distant Coma Cluster are indicative of some type of invisible material which is pulling on them. In the 1970's Dr. Vera Rubin began to measure the speeds of stars in galaxies using the Doppler shift. She expected stars orbiting at different distances from the centers of spiral galaxies to behave like the planets in our solar system since for these giant star systems the luminous mass that we observe is concentrated towards their centers. To her amazement the stars near the edge of the great galaxy in Andromeda and many other spiral galaxies are moving at speeds which indicate that these galaxies contain ten times the amount of mass that emits radiation which is visible to us. It was at this point that Dr. Rubin realized that she had discovered compelling evidence to support Zwicky's dark matter hypothesis.
The first alien object to observed visiting our solar system arrives from truly deep space and leaves us with the mystery of what it is and how it got that way.
Being night sky friendly means that you only use outdoor lighting fixtures which direct light onto the ground where humans need it and not up into the sky where it obscures the natural wonders of the Universe. Currently more than 2/3 of the US population and more than 1/2 of the those people living in Europe cannot see the Milky Way or a meteor streaking through the night sky because of inappropriate outdoor lighting. Amazingly enough being night sky friendly saves money and is good for business.
Earth like planets are being discovered circling the most common type of star in our neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy.
Did you know that asteroids can bring diamonds to Earth and that asteroids sometimes create diamonds when they collide with our planet?
A small asteroid soars into the lonely space high above and below the plane of our solar system.
About 35 million years ago the Earth was impacted by two large asteroids creating the more than 50 mile diameter Popigai [pop a gay i] Crater in Russia and a similar crater in Chesapeake Bay in the USA. Analysis of fragments indicate that the impacting objects were not made of the same material. This finding has led scientists to speculate that there may be an astronomical process which changes conditions in the inner asteroid belt and causes the Earth's orbit to change slightly. This combination could have triggered the ice age which caused the first significant ice sheet in Antarctica to form and led to the last major extinction event in the Earth's history.
Perhaps the reason that we have not detected alien civilizations on distant worlds is because they exist in oceans covered by miles of radiation absorbing ice and rocks.
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. 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.
A rock from another solar system is likely to have streaked by Earth before heading back into interstellar space.
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.
On it's gravitational leash, Earth's pet space rock, 2016 HO3, accompanies us at a distance of between 38 and 100 times the Moon's distance from Earth as we both travel about the Sun.
For 43 years after its discovery in 1949, the Earth approaching asteroid Icarus, was known as the object which passes closest to our Sun. It is named for a boy in Greek mythology whose wings of feathers and wax melted when he ignored his father's advice and flew too close to the Sun.
To survive on Venus where the temperature is 864F and the surface air pressure is 90 times that of Earth, NASA and JPL engineers are exploring the concept of avoiding the use of modern temperature sensitive electronics by creating a fully mechanical rover.
Using the long arm of the internet, astronomers in Russia are observing with a telescope located near Mayhill, New Mexico to discover solar system objects. The New Mexico Skies Observatory, near the village of Mayhill, is located 7,300 feet above sea level and has world class, clear dark skies, ideal for astronomical viewing. In addition to discovering new objects the ISON-NM telescope is being used to determine the size and shape of asteroids by carefully measuring the light they reflect as they spin on their axis of rotation and move about the Sun. The size, shape, and rate of spin of an asteroid is the kind of information which humans need to prepare for the unlikely situation that a small body is found to be on a collision course with planet Earth.
Juno was found by German astronomer Karl L. Harding in 1804 who noticed that to the human eye it appeared to be a star like moving point of light in the night sky. The light that Juno reflects suggests that it could be the source of stony meteorites called chondrites that we find on Earth.
Martian Trojan asteroids have stable orbits around the Sun, leading and trailing the red planet by 60 degrees, where the Sun's and Mars's gravity are balanced. The impact more than 4 billion years or so ago which blasted loose the Trojan asteroids and gave them the 3mi/s required to escape the red planet gives us an insight into the level of violence which occurred before our solar system came into it's present relatively calm state.
Recently my NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered an approaching asteroid about the same size as the one whose high altitude disintegration injured nearly 1500 people in Chelyabinsk Russia in February of 2013. Fortunately this new one missed planet Earth. There is more good news. Carson spotted this small space rock about 40 hours before its closest approach to planet Earth. This means that if it had been on a collision path with our home planet we would have had time to warn people to seek shelter before it created a potentially destructive sonic boom in our atmosphere.
Recently there were four fireball meteors, brighter than the planet Venus, which exploded over Germany, France, Ohio, and Arizona within the space of only 10 hours. There are likely to be on the order of 1,000 fireball events over the Earth every day.
On Earth, human life is enabled by plants which provide us with calories, vitamins, fuel, medicines, and oxygen to breathe. In addition, recent scientific studies indicate that plant cultivation reduces anxiety and depression and has a positive influence on diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and longevity. It is likely that when humans travel to Mars they will continue this practice. The plants that Mars explorers take with them will provide a source of fresh fruits and vegetables , fresh air to breathe, and perhaps a psychological benefit that is crucial to the success of their mission.
An asteroid hunter literally has to sort through millions of objects to find an unknown Earth approaching asteroid.
In the space of less than ten nights, my Catalina Sky Survey teammates discovered 8 new Earth approaching objects. One of them can pass closer to us than our communication satellites.
Finding a meteorite that has traveled billions of miles through space to reach it's present location is exciting. It might even be worth real money.
For some people the full Moon is for howling. For asteroid hunters it is time to regroup and make improvements in the process of finding Earth approaching objects.
Soon it will be possible to study changes in the Universe which have occurred over the past 100 years.
Photo: By Harvard College Observatory - Harvard College Observatory, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5280391
The most likely alien invaders are viruses or other bits of living materials that humans have exported from or imported to Earth's biosphere. Currently there are international efforts, like the outer space treaty and the Committee on Space Research, to keep the human exploration of space from spreading Earth's life forms to other places or to contaminate our own biosphere with extraterrestrial organisms if they exist.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered, 2016 WJ1, a relatively large asteroid which can come close but will not hit the Earth. Once in every million years or so an asteroid impact by an object of this size could cause global climate change disrupting human agriculture and plunge our society into a real crisis.
n the space of a couple of days the Catalina Sky Survey found 3 potentially dangerous asteroids.
Jupiter has been observed throughout human history and is so bright that you can even spot it under the artificial light dome of one of our cities. Even so it is less than 40 years ago that we were first able to view Jupiter in detail as the Voyagers streaked by it. Jupiter contains more than twice the mass of all of the other planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets in our solar system combined.
Asteroids are moving points of light in the night sky, which shine by reflected Sun light. The asteroid hunting community determines a new object's orbit around the Sun by continuing to measure its changing position in the sky. The next time you hear someone state the size of an asteroid it is a safe bet that it based on Dr. Landolt's Standard Star measurements.
During a recent 30 day period asteroid hunters spotted 88 small space rocks passing through our neighborhood. Their diameters ranged from the length of a Uhaul Van to one that would occupy the majority of a city block. None of them pose a threat to Earth in the foreseeable Future.
About a month before my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rik Hill spotted it, a 5 football field diameter asteroid had been almost as near to the Sun as the planet Venus. His discovery images showed it about to cross the Earth's orbit at a speed of 21 miles per second coming towards us. Additional observations by telescopes in Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona showed that its 7.6 year path around the Sun will take it out to well past the planet Jupiter. This object's orbit is highly elliptical and inclined so that it moves above and below the plane where the planets and nearly all of the other solar system objects exist. It had crossed the Earth's orbital path moving towards the Sun about 6 weeks before it was discovered but nobody noticed it since it was faint and far away from Earth.
Until recently smoky nights at the observatory were rare. Now they have become more common place as wild fires continue to devastate portions of the western United States. The consequences of expanded fire prone areas goes far beyond missing a few nights data at the telescope. Potentially millions of people will be at increased risk of respiratory aliments. Further the burn scars left behind will adversely affect the quality and quantity of the precious water these high altitude areas provide to a a dry and thirsty west.
If you woke up tomorrow morning with radio eyes your surroundings would look very different. Invisible to us, are the radio waves occupying a vast region of other wavelengths.These invisible radio waves are produced by a number of very interesting physical processes in the Universe. In fact how things look would depend on the part of the radio spectrum that you could see.
A break in the weather provides the opportunity to discover an Earth approaching object.
Francesco Manca of the Sormano Astronomical Observatory is doing some of the important work of keeping track of the asteroids which can make close approaches to our Earth, our Moon, and other objects in space. He has compiled the fact that the asteroid hunting community has found more than 2000 small asteroids, of less than several football fields in diameter, which can make close approaches to us. Nearly 700 have orbits which allow them to come closer to the Earth than our Moon. So far more than 250 of these small asteroids have come or are predicted to come less a lunar distance from our home planet.
Relatively recent volcanic activity observed on Mars suggests that where subsurface martian magma and frozen water meet is where microbial life could flourish in the current era.
Evidence from comets and meteorites has brought many scientists to believe that the basic building blocks of life were brought to Earth by small bodies which impacted our home planet early in its history. When and where did the substances, including water and organic materials required for life as we know it, appear in our solar system?
As a result of human caused increases in green house gases the troposphere is expanding and the stratosphere is shrinking. Between 1980 and 2018 the stratosphere has become a quarter of a mile thinner and is projected to contract in total by nearly a mile by 2080 if the present human increases in green house gases continues. Find out why buckle up for safety has more than one meaning in the era of climate change we are moving into.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate, Rose Matheny discovered a tiny asteroid that passed 115,000 miles from Earth and 104,000 miles from our Moon. Rose's discovery demonstrates the fact that the asteroid hunting community is beginning to have the ability to discover small space rocks before they make their closest approach to Earth.
A team of astronomers find that as many as 14 comets which came to less than 4 times the Moon's distance from us as long as 4,000 years ago are detectable as meteor showers in the present era. These results make us aware of potentially hazardous comets from the past which could come into our space again in the future.
Recently I was observing with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon when the computer identified a faint fast moving object in the night sky. Not being sure it was real I scheduled followup observations. About an hour later the second set of observations showed that it is a real object. On the next two nights this small space rock was observed by telescopes near Westfield, Illinois and on Kitt Peak in Arizona. These observations allowed the Minor Planet Center to determine an orbit and a tentative size. It was given the name 2015 GB.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rik Hill discovered an asteroid about the size of a luxury sedan which cruises about the inner solar system.
An impacting object hit the asteroid Vesta making a 10 mile diameter crater and in the process blasted loose fragments which have been orbiting the Sun for 22 million years or so. In June of 2018 my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski discovered one of them streaking towards Earth with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon , AZ. This small space rock crashed into Earth raining fragments upon the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana.
Recently people from all over the world met in Italy to discuss ways that humans can prepare for the unlikely, but not impossible, situation that an object is on an impact trajectory with planet Earth. They were were presented with a hypothetical asteroid threat. A month after its discovery the hypothetical asteroid comes about 18 million miles from us . It continues to be observed for another month with every new observation making it appear to have a greater chance of colliding with mother Earth about 7 years hence. This is where the participants are left. At this point they don't know its exact size, chemical composition, if it will collide with us or not, and if it does the spot of impact on Earth. They are then charged with the task of obtaining needed observations and to develop a strategy to deal with the potential impact.
In March and April every year amateur astronomers, around the world, in Messier Marathons, attempt to view all of 110 objects in the Messier catalogue in a single night. In a more leisurely approach you can visit a dark sky location like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky and view spectacular Messier Objects with your naked eye, binoculars, or a small telescope.
The first human use of the wind to power boats most likely occurred in about 3,000 BC. This was a major improvement in travel over walking and animal drawn carts. Three or four hundred years from now humans may send a robotic space probe to a nearby star using a light sail as big as the state of Texas. Ideally it would deploy its giant solar sail near the Sun perhaps as close to it as the planet Mercury. This would give it maximum initial thrust. After it gets far from the Sun it could be pushed along by a powerful pinpoint laser beam. Theoretically it is possible to achieve a fraction of the speed of light through this means.
Asteroid hunters have discovered a curious object. It appears likely to be either a rock ejected from the Moon or a piece of space junk from a human designed mission to the Moon. Observations which reveal how this tiny object is effected by Sun light could tells us if it is a natural or man made object.
The vast majority of asteroids orbiting the Sun do so on a path that is pretty much
in the same plane as the planets. There is a lot of empty space in the solar system,
however, we see asteroids with craters on them so we know collisions have occurred.
It seems likely that an asteroid whose path is highly inclined to the plane of the
solar system was involved in a collision with another object causing a radical change
in its orbit.
During a recent 60 day period asteroid hunters discovered 29 space rocks as they passed closer to us than the Moon. These small asteroids averaged 30 feet in diameter and ranged in size from one that could fit under a basketball hoop to one the would fill the whole basketball court. Several times every year a small space rock bursts into fragments some of which strike human structures.
A trip to our Moon is one of the great human adventures of all time. However,
such a voyage is but a small step of about 30 Earth diameters into the vastness of space.
NASA is proposing the next step on the path to Mars to be a mission to an asteroid or a
boulder taken from the surface of an asteroid.
Recently an inter-planetary visitor made a close approach to planet Earth. It is about the same size as the object which entered our atmosphere in February of 2013 injuring nearly 1500 people in Chelyabinsk, Russia. It can come to within 20,000 miles of us which is closer than our communications satellites.
After sunset in the spring and before sunrise in the fall, at a natural night sky location like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary in New Mexico, you will see a triangle of faint glow of light that extends from its broad base on the horizon to a point almost overhead. New scientific evidence suggests that this phenomenon is caused by sunlight reflecting from a Mars produced dust cloud between Earth and Jupiter.
Looking at the Universe from the Earth's surface is a bit like a scuba diver viewing our world from the bottom of a swimming pool. Don't get me wrong. I love our atmosphere. It gives us air to breath, keeps our body's fluids liquid, protects us from cosmic rays as well as space rocks, and performs many other functions which make life on our planet possible. That being said the blanket of air which surrounds us makes it difficult to view objects in the Universe.
On Kitt Peak in Arizona, the Steward Observatory's Bok telescope's 90 inch light collecting mirror enables the discovery, study, and tracking of space rocks 3 or 4 times fainter then possible with any of our other telescopes. Over all our team, the Catalina Sky Survey, has used the 90 inch Bok telescope to discover 36 Earth approaching asteroids.
Ganymede was discovered by Galileo Galilei using his new telescope in 1610. He observed it to be a faint point of light orbiting the planet Jupiter. This discovery along with 3 of Jupiter's moons was the first instance of objects being observed to be orbiting another planet. Now that we know that Ganymede has a substantial salty ocean one has to wonder if some type of microbes might be living there.
We are lucky to be alive in an age when anyone with an internet connection can participate in the exploration of Mars. Your unique brain-eye combination may very well enable you to notice a previously unknown meteorite on the surface of Mars. Give it a try.
Recently, three asteroids were discovered which have very slight probabilities of impact with planet Earth between 2065 and 2117. My team, the Catalina Sky Survey found two of them and the Pan-STARRS group in Hawaii found the other one. These three asteroids are some of the most recent objects to be listed on the NASA Sentry Risk Table. So far so good.
Maybe against the most incredible odds a small asteroid has our number on it.
Maybe we will find it tonight.
On 28 February 2021 at 9:54PM a large slow moving fireball meteor was observed over England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. The Wichcombe meteorite which this meteor produced is particularly valuable since it was found less than 12 hours after it fell leaving its interior untouched by contamination from its terrestrial surroundings.
In the early days of space exploration when a flight component failed the mission was over. In recent history, there have been a few times when astronauts have repaired satellites and a number of instances of Earth bound engineers reprogramming malfunctioning spacecraft so that they could continue their scientific work. Since the cost of developing and launching spacecraft far exceeds the cost of operating them for extended periods of time, our ability to recover from malfunctions allows scientists to make the best use of available funds.
The situation that asteroid hunters both train for and dread is the discovery of a large space rock on a collision course with planet Earth. Recently we got a chance to practice on a small harmless space rock named 2020 XK1 that eventually zipped past us. About once a month a small space rock like 2020 XK1 enters the Earth's atmosphere, creates a super fireball meteor, bursts into a cloud of fragments at 135,000 feet, and rains fragments of itself onto the ground for meteorite hunters to discover.
Slightly more than a day apart, my NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey teammates Richard Kowalski and Carson Fuls found two small asteroids. Both of them can travel to much closer than the distance to our Moon from planet Earth. It is possible that either of these tiny asteroids could enter the Earth's atmosphere in the distant future and release the energy of a small nuclear weapon. We might expect such an event every 27 years or so. There are likely to be several million space rocks of this size which come close to planet Earth. We now know more about two of them.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski is the first person in our group and perhaps the first person in the world to discover a potentially hazardous asteroid while sitting on his living room couch.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski has an instinct for discovering interesting objects. Recently he spotted a fuzzy looking moving faint light in the night sky. It was then observed by telescopes in Italy, New Mexico, and Texas and given the name C/2015 D5 (Kowalski). When Kowalski first spotted this comet it was traveling about 12 miles per second away from the Sun and was about 344 million miles from planet Earth. Comet C/2015 D5 (Kowalski) is likely to continue its cold lonely journey between stars till the end of time.
My Catalina Survey Teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he spotted a fuzzy object with a short tail moving through the constellation Canes Venatici. That Greg spotted his comet discovery some 472 million miles from the Sun leads us to believe that it may brighten to the point that C2021 A1 (Leonard) will be visible in binoculars and perhaps even to the naked eye.
More than 50 years of searching for signals from other civilizations in the Universe has produced a deafening silence. There is no evidence that aliens have visited the Earth or exist anywhere. There are many hints that life might exist in other places but there is no conclusive proof that it does.
My money is on the concept that there are many planets which host living organisms. Recent discoveries indicate that there may be as many as 40 billion habitable planets in the Milky way alone. On some of them civilizations like are ours are likely to be emerging. The physics of the Universe requires large allocations of energy and resources to become spacefaring. Humans have so far dabbled in a few baby steps beyond our planet and made some attempts to listen for other beings. What else is out there remains to be discovered.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Hercules when he spotted a fast moving point of light streaking through the night sky 159 million miles from Earth. David's discovery is only one of three Earth approaching asteroids discovered in 2020 which is larger than 1 km in diameter. NASA is especially interested in these very large asteroids since the impact of a 1 km or greater diameter asteroid is likely to produce global climate change.
Objects in the Universe that brighten rapidly grab our attention. One of the most spectacular examples is Kepler's supernova. In 1604 this star was bright enough to be seen with the naked eye in the daytime for over three weeks. Another occurred in 1843 when a comet became almost as bright as the limb of the Sun. Over the centuries there have been many suddenly appearing objects in both the day and night sky. Possibly as the result of this history, most of the surveys which look for time variable objects in the sky are set to trigger on increases in brightness. On the other hand perhaps solar systems in formation dim instead of brighten. Stay tuned.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Canes Venatici with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ when he found our teams loneliest asteroid of 2020. The possibility of a tough lonely unknown asteroid with our number on it keeps asteroid hunters scanning the sky.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Carson Fuls and Jess Johnson discovered an asteroid which comes close enough and is large enough be be classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. It was subsequently observed by telescopes in New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and given the name 2015 DH155. Fortunately, its orbit never brings it closer than about 16 times the Moon's distance from planet Earth.
In 2020 my team the Catalina Sky Survey discovered 171 asteroids which can occasionally come closer to us than our Moon. In fact 21 of them, averaging 25 feet in diameter can come close enough to our home planet to pass through the cloud of communications satellites which surround Earth.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Carson Fuls and Jess Johnson discovered a rapidly moving point of light in the sky. It was subsequently observed by telescopes in Italy, Arizona, New Zealand, and Australia. Twenty six hours before humans spotted it, this 10 foot diameter space rock came within two and a half Earth diameters of our planets surface and was traveling at 8 miles per second. At that point it was bright enough to be seen in a small telescope had anyone been looking. In the future its orbit allows it to come to about 2,000 miles of the Earth's surface.
In 2020, my team the Catalina Sky Survey discovered 14 extremely tough asteroids which regularly travel closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury. They are likely to contain at least as much iron, nickel, platinum, gold, and other valuable metals as a stony meteorite and may be worth billions of dollars on the used metal markets. In the future they may become an important source of raw materials for future asteroid mining space colonists
The appearance of a naked eye comet is one of natures most impressive displays. Humans have regarded these suddenly appearing objects as everything from a sign of an upcoming disaster, to the bringers of water and organic materials to Earth. Not all comets are discovered with large telescopes and sophisticated electronic cameras. They sometimes sneak up on our planet by brightening suddenly. David Levy discovered 8 comets visually with small backyard telescopes. Perhaps, with persistence you too could discover a comet.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne was observing in the constellation of Pisces with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ when he discovered a small space rock on a path which takes it near the moon on its 2.3 year long orbit about the Sun. On this trip Teddy's small space rock missed the Moon. Other tiny asteroids are not so lucky. Imagine the excitement which will occur when scientists are able invite the people to go outside to witness the impact of a small boulder on the Moon.
Carl Sagan said that "The Universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space". It is hard to look into the sky on a clear dark night and not share this feeling.
In 2020 the asteroid hunting community discovered 2,946 Earth approaching space rocks orbiting our Sun. My team, the Catalina Sky Survey, led the pack with 1,542 to our credit. Fortunately we have yet to find an asteroid large enough to do damage that is on a collision course with our home planet.
Asteroid 2004 BL86 was discovered more than 10 years ago by the LINEAR program in New Mexico.Until recently, we knew asteroid 2004 BL86 only as a faint moving point of light in the night sky. Early in 2015 it came close to planet Earth. RADAR images obtained with the 230 foot wide NASA Deep Space Network show that it is about 1100 feet in diameter and has a small moon about 230 feet across.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he spotted a moving point of light streaking at 6.9 mi/sec through the constellation of Canis Minor. Greg's discovery will not impact Earth in the foreseeable future, however, rest assured that asteroid hunters will continue to track it as it passes near Earth and Mars to make sure that 2020 XU6's path does not change to put it on a collision course with Earth.
On the first night an Earth approaching asteroid candidate is discovered, one is lucky to obtain observations for a few hours along its path in the sky. Since a typical near Earth asteroid takes from a few hundred days to several years to complete a trip around the Sun, it takes more than a few hours of data to be able to predict where it will go. Peter Birtwhistle of the Great Shefford Observatory in England is one of unsung heroes of the asteroid hunting community. On a recent observing run he helped to determine the orbits of several objects which I discovered with the NASA funded, Catalina Sky Survey, 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon. Without his efforts they would have likely been lost. These are only the most recent results of his work. Over the years, his data have helped to establish the orbits of more than 4000 Earth approaching objects
The National Science Foundation has announced that it will close and decommission the giant RADAR telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Whip lashing cables during an unpredictable catastrophic collapse of the entire structure make it life threatening for crews to try to shore up the support structure. We all will miss this scientific treasure.
I was observing with the NASA funded, Catalina Sky Survey, 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, when I found an interesting moving point of light in the night sky. It appeared to be on the path of an Earth approaching asteroid. I submitted my observations to the Minor Planet Center. Telescopes in Germany, New Mexico, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and England observed it. The Minor Planet Center used these data to calculate an orbit. This orbit revealed the asteroid to be large enough and close enough to classify it as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. It was given the name 2015 BY310. A few days later the Minor Planet Center connected the observations of the object that they had been calling 2015 BY310 with an asteroid 2000 BK19. It had been discovered 15 years previously by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research Program in New Mexico. These new data confirm that it is is an Earth approaching asteroid but that it is slightly smaller than is required to give it the potentially hazardous label.
On some nights an asteroid hunter searches for Earth approaching objects near the ecliptic plane where the planets and most of the asteroids are located. During these busy times the telescope takes images of many interesting moving objects. On other long lonely nights the search takes the telescope to the far north portion of the sky where it is rare to spot any moving objects traveling through fields of millions of unblinking stars. The reward is when you find a moving object it will be interesting.
Unlike Halley's [h AE - l ee ] comet which returns to our neighborhood once about every 76 years, Comet C2013 US10/Catalina will pass this way once never to return. In 2028 Kowalski's comet will pass Pluto's average distance from the Sun. After that it will continue to move away from the Sun, become an interstellar traveler in the night, and perhaps some day a countless number of human lifetimes from now become a comet in another solar system.
Although the orbit of an Aten asteroid crosses our path in space on its travel about the Sun it stays mostly inside the Earth's orbit making it difficult to discover. Since the Aten asteroid 2020 VZ5 is likely to eventually collide with Earth, Venus, or our Moon asteroid hunters will continue to observe it to make sure its path does not change and become a threat to our home planet.
Within a time span of one and a half hours, the two telescopes of the NASA funded, University of Arizona, Catalina Sky Survey, discovered three asteroids whose orbits are similar enough to grab one's attention. However, they different enough to keep us from jumping to the conclusion that they are part of an asteroid collision fragment family. There has been some speculation about the possibility of killer asteroid swarms which threaten the Earth. There is no evidence to support these ideas.
For millennia humans have gazed into the night sky and have dreamed of traveling to the stars. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that one of the objects astronomers discover passing through our solar system was created and is operated by an advanced technological life form in the Milky Way. Until then we can look into a natural night sky such as one can find at the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary in New Mexico and wonder what is out there.
Unfortunately, after spending many years of my life observing the sky at night I have not observed any alien spacecraft. I too have been waiting for Scotty to beam me up.
Currently scientists, governments, and private citizens are preparing to mitigate a disaster caused by a large incoming space rock. To test techniques for characterizing a newly discovered potentially threatening asteroid, scientists are planning to treat Apophis as an unknown object when it becomes detectable to Earth bound telescopes in 2020-2021.
Indisputable proof that life existed or currently exists on the planet Mars has yet to be found. However, tantalizing pieces to this mystery continue to be discovered. It appears that conditions on Mars, 3.8 billion years ago, were similar to those on Earth at the time when we know that life developed here. The mystery of life continues to pull us towards the red planet.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin searched for asteroids, as close to the Sun as possible with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. His efforts were rewarded when he discovered 2020 UP3, illuminated like a thin crescent moon, trying to sneak by asteroid hunters in the evening twilight. This was a tremendous find since 2020 UP3 is more than 1 Km in diameter and is thus large enough to create significant damage if it entered our atmosphere.
In the distant future, an asteroid, with the diameter of the height of the One Worldwide Plaza skyscraper building in New York City, will likely make a close approach to planet Earth. This asteroid, 2014 XL7 makes close approaches to Venus, Earth, and Mars. Each such encounter can cause its orbit to change. It has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid which means that the asteroid hunting community will be keeping special track of it.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne was observing in the constellation Lacerta with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he spotted an unknown point of light streaking through the night sky. With only 5 days of data its path remains uncertain. Typically as asteroid hunters continue to track an object the chances it will strike the Earth decrease to essentially zero. Teddy's object is no threat now and will be monitored as it travels between Venus and Mars to make sure it continues to pose no danger to humanity.
I was observing with the Catalina Sky Survey, NASA funded, University of Arizona, 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon when a bright fast moving point of light caught my attention. It seemed much too bright not to be known, but when I checked with the Minor Planet Center, it was not in any of their catalogues. It was was subsequently observed by more than a dozen telescopes scattered around the world and given the name 2014 YE42. The asteroid hunting community will be keeping track of 2014 YE42,in the extremely unlikely event that its path is changed, to make it a threat, as it passes other objects in space.
In western Australia, rock samples and maps of the local geology obtained while exploring for gold show evidence of a 3 mile diameter meteor crater which features a small central pucker like protrusion.
In less than three and one half hours, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate, Rose Matheny, discovered three Potentially Hazardous Asteroids with the NASA funded, University of Arizona, Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow. As far as I know, this string of catches should go into the Asteroid Hunting Guinness book of records.
A large solar coronal mass ejection could put astronauts, airline passengers, power grids, electronic devices, and satellites at risk. Participants in the Solar Stormwatch citizen science project estimate the size and shape of coronal mass ejections using pictures taken by the NASA STEREO Spacecraft. So far in addition to having the thrill of discovery these citizen scientists have contributed to 7 scientific papers. To learn how to do this exciting research and become a member of a world wide community of solar storm watchers go to the Solar Stormwatch II website.
Spacecraft destined for Mars have so far used the Hohmann transfer to achieve an orbit about the red planet. This approach requires the launch from Earth orbit to be in a small window in time which becomes possible every 26 months. When the spacecraft gets near Mars retro rockets, which require hundreds of pounds of fuel, must be fired to slow it so that the spacecraft so that it does not exceed orbital speed. To make the trip to Mars orbit cheaper and more reliable a new technique has been theorized and then tested on Moon flights. It is called ballistic capture.
The Atira class of Earth approaching asteroids are ones whose orbit is entirely within that of the Earth's path about the Sun. Less than 3 dozen of the approximately 24,000 known near Earth asteroids fall into this category of near Sun objects. The largest one, Atira itself, is actually two asteroids orbiting each other once every 15.5 hours. One is about 3 miles in diameter and the other is perhaps 1/6th its size.
Rose Matheny's third solo night of asteroid hunting, using the University of Arizona Schmidt telescope, on Mt. Bigelow, was one of the longest of the year. She had prepared for this night over the past several months by mastering the unique set of observing skills required of an asteroid hunter with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey. After searching the night sky for about 6 hours a bright fast moving object caught Rose's attention. She gave it the unofficial name of "zippy", Over the next 20 hours this new object was observed by telescopes in Arizona, Japan, and France. These data were used to calculate this small asteroid's orbit around the Sun and it was given the name 2014 YW14.
Recently, in the journal Nature Astronomy, a team of astronomers led by Dr. Faustine Cantalloube of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy released data from their study of the effects of climate change on the future of astronomical research. Climate change will continue degrade human's ability to learn from the Universe.
The dwarf planet Ceres may be a place in our solar system where life could have developed. At 590 miles in diameter it is the largest asteroid and only dwarf planet orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres appears to have rocky core surrounded by a thick mantle of water ice which accounts for up to 40% of its volume. How much of Ceres's water, if any, is in liquid form remains to be seen. The mystery of Ceres has deepened by the recent discovery of water emissions coming from this small world.
Most life on Earth is synchronized to the regular cycles of day and night. Until about a hundred years ago, the natural night sky was familiar to all humans. Most people could identify a few constellations and had experienced walking by starlight. Now all but a few are denied the privilege of seeing the Milky Way or a meteor streaking across the sky. To gaze into a star filled sky and wonder about other life which may exist in the Universe is worth preserving for future generations.
The goal of the NASA Near Earth Object Program is to discover any objects on a collision course with planet Earth. We now know of more than 90% of objects whose impact could cause global climate change. None of them is a current threat. A more likely problem are the millions of small space rocks which come near to us. We are working on creating the ability to give a tornado like warning for people to stay away from doors and windows should one of them be about to enter our atmosphere.
Recently, my wife and I saw a beautiful, bright, green, meteor fireball streaking across the western New Mexico night sky. Such sightings by some UFO enthusiasts , have been advanced as the best observations of alien spacecraft. Other observers have explained this phenomena as being sightings of secret American or Russian spy devices.
Auroral displays have been observed and reported on throughout human history. Data from NASA's 5 Themis (Themm us) satellites analyzed by powerful supercomputers is giving us new insight into how our magnetic shield protects us from the harsh radiation of space and blobs of material ejected from the Sun as well as to how to protect the GPS satellites we have learned to rely upon.
Atmospheric gravity waves can be powerful. In September of 2018 two glider pilots surfed an atmospheric gravity wave created by high speed polar winds as they encounter the Andes mountains. Amazingly their unpowered aircraft reached an altitude of more than 76,000 feet on a wave which itself can travel to more than 100,000 feet above sea level . By studying atmospheric gravity waves generated by tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis scientists hope we may be able to mitigate the disasters that these events can cause.
So far humans have discovered about 100 asteroids which could be visited by astronauts with current rocket capability. My group, the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona has discovered 65% of these Earth approaching space rocks.
Statistically asteroid hunters have found more than 90% of the asteroids whose impact could cause global climate change. However, recently, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was observing in the constellation of Pegasus with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he spotted a large, unknown, fast moving asteriod in the night sky.
The NASA, New Horizons spacecraft woke up from its 18th sleeping period in the last 9 years. Its long space naps have lasted an average 104 days each. It has traveled 9 years from Earth and has crossed the orbit of Neptune. Even though the New Horizons has journeyed nearly 3 billion miles it finds itself more than one and a half times further from its destination, the Pluto system, than the Earth is from the Sun.
Recently amateur astronomer, Worachate Boonplod discovered the 4049th comet recorded in the imaging data produced by SOHO, the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. To discover your very own comet visit the NASA Sungrazer Project website for the data and tips on how to proceed.
The goal of the NASA Near Earth Object Program is to provide an early warning should an asteroid be found to be on a path bringing it close to planet Earth. Look at the Near Earth Object websites and you will know about any close approaches as soon the calculations are made.
Nearly every day during the monsoon rainy season in the American southwest, afternoon thunderstorms require putting mountain top telescopes and cameras into a lightning safe mode. Through holes in the clouds asteroid hunters continue to search the sky for Earth approaching objects.
Science fiction writers have long imagined human space colonies which use the resources they find.It will take major, risky investments over many years to develop the capability to use asteroids to enable humans to explore our neighborhood in space. Asteroid mining may seem far fetched, however, many of the things that we are doing today were science fiction a few years back.
Approximately 100 million metric tons of mostly sand grained sized space dust enters the Earth's atmosphere every day. Occasionally, larger pieces become fireball meteors which can even be seen in the daytime as they streak across the sky. Sometimes one explodes and showers the ground with meteorites. Finding one of them can be fun and rarely a meteorite can be worth more than its weight in gold.
Computers are extremely efficient at processing numbers while humans excel at visualization. NASA and JPL have developed a computer environment, based on game software architecture, which allows you explore the solar system and beyond using real scientific data. It is called Eyes on The Solar System.
Every year the Monsoon summer rains come to the American southwest in July and August. After the threat of wild fires has been rained out, monsoon time continues to be difficult for asteroid hunters. Even so this season is used to find interesting objects and to prepare our equipment for the clear skies we hope for in the fall.
The first unmanned test flight of the new NASA Orion Spacecraft went perfectly. It made two orbits of the Earth traveling as far as 3600 miles above the surface of our planet. Its path took it nearly 15 times higher than the international space station. This is further than any spacecraft designed for humans has flown since the Apollo era.
There may be as many as a trillion small icy objects in the Oort cloud near the outer edge of our solar system. Very rarely one of these frozen ice balls is jostled by the gravity of a nearby star causing its distant path about our Sun to be transformed into one which takes it near the planets we know. Most of these small comets pass unnoticed by humans although occasionally one can become bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
Humans know of approximately half million main belt asteroids orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. We have also found approximately 11,000 Earth approaching asteroids. Members of these two groups can be recognized by briefly observing their motion since their paths about the Sun are very different. Jupiter Trojans, on the other hand, occupy a point either 60 degrees in front or behind Jupiter as it moves about the Sun. Their orbit around the Sun takes about 5 and a half years so short pieces of one of their orbits can mimic the path of an Earth approaching object. When Jupiter Trojans are opposite to the Sun, their little full moon faces are pointing towards Earth. When they are in this position in the sky we have to sort through a number of them so we can separate them from real near Earth objects.
Our star is only one among hundreds of billions in the Milky Way galaxy which itself is only one of a hundred billion or more galaxies in the known universe. How can it be that humans are the only creatures to look at the night sky and wonder about who else is out there? Perhaps taking a close look at the human race is a way to find extraterrestrials.
Four days after it made its closest approach to Earth, I found a 10 foot diameter asteroid with the NASA funded University of Arizona 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon. At that point it was 838,000 miles from us and was moving away at about 3 miles/second. Previously, It had been about half the distance to the Moon from planet Earth. This small asteroid orbits the Sun every 349 days on a path which crosses our orbit twice a year. Calculations by the NASA - JPL group indicate that it can come within 2 Earth diameters of us.
Some stars can have flares which can cause them to more than double in brightness in a few minutes. Fortunately our Sun does not do that and the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field protect humans from the smaller flares which do occur on our star. In 2020 the Sun is beginning a new solar cycle and by 2024 we should be seeing solar flares with increased frequency. It will be important to put our electronics into a safe mode should a major solar flare occur.
2014 US7 is called an Aten [Ah tin] type of asteroid. The first of its type was discovered by Dr. Eleanor Key Francis "Glo" Helin in 1976. She was an American astronomer who discovered more than 800 asteroids and several comets. During her long career she made the transition from glass plates to the latest electronic detectors. She was a leader in the establishment of the Near-Earth Tracking Project which discovered more than 36,000 asteroids.
Phaethon (Faith on) is a strange, 4 mile diameter, blueish asteroid. It travels on an orbit which comes so close to the Sun that its exterior is heated to 1,500 F. When you go out to view the Geminids in December you might consider what this space rock has to tell you.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groeller was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Pegasus with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid . Rest assured that astronomers will continue to track Hannes' discovery to make sure that it does not become a threat to humanity as it crosses the orbits of Earth and Mars.
Marie Curie's discovery of radioactivity started humans on a path which so far has skirted annihilation and has led to cures for cancer and the exploration of the distant regions of our solar system.If you want to get an idea about what our knowledge of the solar system would be like without Radioisotope Power Systems, go to a used bookstore or the library and find an Astronomy text book from the mid 1970's and well as a current one. Look up the planets in both.
The human thirst for knowledge about our mysterious next door neighbor is about to receive more than a sip from robotic emissaries launched in 2020. Recently a group of scientists point out that by having astronauts fly by Venus on their way to Mars and/or on their way back to Earth would save fuel, weight, and cost and allow humans to return home after only a month long stay on the red planet. Additionally when the crew is near Venus they would be able to pilot drones in the Venusian atmosphere and to study a world where global warming has fundamentally changed our sister planet.
It appears that the human population is at more at risk from smaller rather than larger Earth impacting asteroids.During the past 20 years more than 550 small asteroids ranging in size from 3 to 60 feet in diameter have entered the Earth's atmosphere. They had impact energies ranging from 5 to 500,000 tons of TNT. Newly released data show that most of them exploded high above the ground doing little or no damage at the surface.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groeller was observing in the constellation of Boötes with our 60 telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered a potentially hazardous asteroid which had evaded being spotted by the asteroid hunting community on four previous occasions.
Every month we discover small asteroids which come closer than the Moon. There are probably 20 million asteroids in this size range which come near the Earth. A few of these may eventually impact our planet. Those that do are likely to explode high in the atmosphere producing a supersonic boom. We are not more likely to be hit by a small asteroid than we have in the past. However, we are becoming more likely to be able to provide a tornado like warning for people in the affected area to stay away from doors and windows.
If we don't place some new space weather observing satellites into orbit it is possible that you will wake up one day to no electricity, no cell phone, no way to pump gas, and no way to pay for things with a credit card.
Recently my, University of Arizona, Catalina Sky Survey, teammate, Jess Johnson, was searching for Earth Approaching asteroids when he discovered a faint slow moving object in the night sky. Six nights of followup observations revealed that this new object's path is out near the planet Neptune. It takes approximately 173 years for it to travel once about the Sun so it will take observations over the next few years to pin down its orbit. With a diameter of approximately 43 miles it is much larger than the Earth approaching objects we normally encounter.
If the current trend in 11 year solar cycles for the past 50 years continues, we can expect lower than average solar activity and the Earth will continue to receive less than average amounts of solar energy over the next decade. Don't expect lower levels of solar radiation to save us from global temperature increases caused by humans dumping vast amount of carbon dioxide and other green house gases into our atmosphere.
Many scientists have been started on their career paths by an interest in astronomy and the mysteries of space. As technology has developed it has become more difficult for students to be involved in hands-on scientific research. Target Asteroids provides an opportunity for students to participate in real scientific research and to have a chance to discover and name an asteroid.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Pegasus with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered an unusually bright new comet. Since astronomers have observed this comet for less than two months it is not possible to know if it will come back in thousands years or continue its lonely journey till the end of time.
Comet Blanpain was discovered in 1819 and was described as having a small confused nucleus. It was lost a few months after its discovery and pronounced dead. It 1956 a meteor outburst was observed by the crew of a Japanese expedition ship on its way to the Antarctic. This intense meteor shower seemed to be unrelated to any other and became known as the phantom meteor shower. More than a decade ago, Catalina Sky Survey observers discovered what appeared to be an unknown Earth approaching asteroid, 2003 WY25. Recently these seemingly unconnected observations have been shown in all likelihood to be manifestations of the same object.
Asteroid hunters have discovered that the Earth encounters many tiny asteroids as it zips around the Sun at 67,000 miles per hour. Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Growler discovered an approximately 15 foot diameter space rock, now named 2020 JJ, about 6 hours before it came to within 4,400 miles of the Earth's surface over the Pacific Ocean.
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.
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.
Due to thoughtless outdoor night lighting on the surface and satellites in space the natural night sky is becoming a vanishing treasure. From climate change to saving our natural night sky we must join together to prevent the thoughtless use of technology from damaging our environment.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski has discovered an Earth approaching comet that comes within 18 million miles of our home planet. It orbits the Sun every 5 and a half years on a path that takes it from a point between the Earth and Mars out to near the planet Jupiter. Even though it is unlikely to become a bright naked eye comet or a threat to us, its discovery alerts us to the fact that there are objects like this out there.
One of the perks of being an asteroid hunter is to discover a comet and have it carry your name. Teddy's first comet discovery is a member of a group of approximately 200 such small comets which circle the Sun with orbital periods of less than 20 years and whose paths are ruled by the largest planet in our solar system
Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Its not Superman, its a meteoroid. Yes, a volleyball sized stoney meteoroid, which is typically traveling 15 to 60 times faster than a high powered rifle bullet, has 8 times the kinetic energy of a passenger diesel electric locomotive traveling at 100 miles per hour.
See Climate Change! Noctilucent Clouds exist at more than 50 miles above the Earth's surface or about 4 times higher than the tops of the most intense tropical thunder storms. Climate change has caused these once very rare clouds to become a common occurrence.
Recently I was observing with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when I discovered a 200 foot diameter asteroid, 2014 SC324. It is in an orbit around the Sun which takes it from inside our planet's path to 60% of the way to Jupiter. This is an unusual Earth approaching space rock in that it gets bright enough to be imaged with a small telescope equipped with an electronic camera.
The International Asteroid Warning Network, or IWAN (Eye-Whan) for short has been established to link scientists who are discovering, monitoring, and physically characterizing potentially dangerous asteroids. In the future the coordinated efforts of IWAN members will indicate where to search for meteorites giving you a chance to hold a 3 to 5 billion year old traveler in the night.
Recently I discovered a small asteroid with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon. This space rock is about 200 feet in diameter and will never get closer than 1/4 of the distance to the Moon. A friend asked what it would be like to witness the impact of such an object.
From 1663 to 2011, seven comets had close encounters with Jupiter and two had close encounters with Saturn. In May of 1936, Comet P/2020 F1 Leonard had a close encounter with Saturn. In the distant past, Comet Leonard was captured by Jupiter and is now part of the giant planet's family of comets.
Asteroid 2008 TC3 is the only asteroid which was observed to be hurtling between planets, flying through our atmosphere, and pieces of it found to be lying on the Earth's Surface. NASA funded, Catalina Sky Survey team member, Richard Kowalski discovered it 20 hours before it hit. Airline pilots spotted it flying through the sky. Eventually, searchers were rewarded with pieces of it on the sands of the Sudanese desert.
Images of the quiet Sun during a solar minimum make it look like a relatively static peaceful place. Occasionally during solar minimum, at the Cosmic Campground, in New Mexico, on a clear moonless night, you can easily see to walk around without a flashlight and with a DSLR camera photograph the sky which to the camera appears to be covered with orange and green cirrus clouds through which you can see the Milky Way.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission or MOM has made the 10 month journey from Earth to Mars. India joins the United States, Russia, and the European Space Agency in the exploration of the red planet by placing its Mangalyann [Mangle Yarn] spacecraft into orbit around Mars.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was observing in the constellation of Ursae Major with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he spotted a rare fast moving point of light far north of the area in the sky which contains the planets and most of the asteroids.
Recently a semi-trailer trailer truck sized asteroid passed only 20,800 miles above the Earth's surface. It reached its closest distance to us about 6 days after it was discovered by team member, Richard Kowalski, of the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey. Fortunately it did not enter our atmosphere.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammates Kacper Wierzchos and Teddy Pruyne were asteroid hunting in the constellation of Virgo with our 60 inch telescope when they spotted a second natural Moon. Scientists predict there are hundreds smaller than softball sized and perhaps several dozen football to beachball sized, natural Earth mini moons, which have so far evaded detection. Stay tuned.
Imagine a world where people are never able to see the Milky Way or a meteor streaking like a falling star in the night sky. For most of the people living in the Earth's cities this has already happened. In the United States most people live in artificial light domes and in 10 years there will only a few places left at which to experience the natural wonders of the night sky.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Virgo when he spotted a fuzzy ball with a tail moving through the night sky. The small possibility that such frozen gas ball could come near Earth at a speed of more than 30 miles per second producing a bright naked eye comet gives us a sense of wonder as to what else could literally pop up out of nowhere .
Recently, Dr. Stephanie C. Werner of the University of Oslo in Norway and her colleagues have discovered the source of some of the Martian meteorites found on Earth. It is the 34 mile diameter Mojave Crater on Mars. The debris ejected from this impact event about 5 million years ago, orbited the Sun until one of the pieces fell to Earth and was discovered by humans in Antarctica.
Elizabeth William graduated from MIT in 1903 as one of the top students in physics and mathematics. As the head "human computer" at Lowell Observatory She used the motions of Uranus and Neptune to predict the location of Planet X. Elizabeth Williams died penniless at the age of 102 years. In 2020 a graduate student at Lowell Observatory, Catherine A. Clark, is finally giving Elizabeth Williams some of the recognition she deserves.
The NASA funded, University of Arizona, Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, AZ was used to discover two close approaching space rocks on the same night.Rest assured that the asteroid hunting community will keep track of these two new space rocks to make sure that neither of them become on a collision course with planet Earth as they pass other objects in space.
Asteroids which approach Earth from inside of our orbit about the Sun are often difficult to discover and may represent a unique threat to our home planet. My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered one of these stealthy asteroids with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow AZ as it streaked through the constellation of Libra at 13 miles/second. Fortunately it will not strike the Earth in the foreseeable future.
In the cold deserts of Antarctica nature collects meteorites as ice sheets carrying space rocks are pushed up against mountains. High speed winds remove the ice leaving dozens to hundreds of meteorites stranded in an area often as small as a football field.
The hunt is on for Earth like planets which are close enough for us to study in detail. The NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS for short, is observing nearby stars looking for planet revealing dips in brightness, which occurs when a planet passes between its star and our line of sight. Recently TESS discovered a planet, now named TOI 700 d , orbiting a red dwarf star in the constellation of Dorado about 100 light years away. What is it like?
Before artificial lighting many people knew the night sky the way humans of today know their favorite TV channels. There are still places where you can view the naturally appearing sky. There is a new accessible night sky viewing area in the Gila National Forest about 75 miles north and west of Silver City, New Mexico. It is called the Cosmic Campground. Check it out at cosmiccampground.org. It is one of the best places in the world to view the night sky in all of its beauty with the naked eye, a pair of binoculars or a telescope.
On his first night of solo observing with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Kacper Wierzchos discovered 8 new Earth approaching objects. Theoretically Kacper's smallest discovery, a 20 foot diameter space rock, can pass close enough to Earth that it might enter our atmosphere producing a light show in the night sky and perhaps a few fragments for meteorite hunters to discover.
The history of our part of the Universe is written with a fine point in the space rocks which orbit our Sun. Some of them carry small grains of material from the cloud of gas and dust from which our solar system formed. They also carry clocks. Naturally occurring radio active potassium in space rocks decays into argon gas atoms which are trapped until the rock becomes molten. By measuring the potassium to argon ratio, Dr. Tim Swindle of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is able to determine the length of time since meteorites have solidified after an impact event.
SpaceX's new rockets fuel the dream of visiting some of the planet Mars' unique and spectacular wonders. Today you can visit the NASA Mars Curiosity Rover and/or the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter website and participate in the exploration of our next door neighbor. You could amaze yourself by discovering something new on one of the images of the surface of Mars. It happens.
About one out of a thousand meteorites that you find on Earth started out on the Moon. They were given escape velocity from the Moon as a result of the impact of an asteroid or comet. These lunar space rocks orbit the Sun or Earth and most of them eventually end on our planet.
Assuming the first potentially hazardous asteroid of 2020 has a chemical composition similar to the stony meteorites we find on Earth, it could contain about a million metric tons of metals like iron, nickel, platinum, gold, and other rare minerals and be worth 2.6 billion dollars on the terrestrial metals market.
From the dawn of recorded history, comets have been viewed as the bringers of everything from gloom and doom to water and life. In reality, comets are a sample of material which was present in the cloud of gas and dust which condensed to form our Sun and its planetary system. Until recently a comet's nucleus has remained a mystery enveloped in a veil of gas and dust.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Leo when he spotted a faint fuzzy looking object with a tail moving through the night sky. A recent scientific study suggests that in the next few thousand years, the process creating Carson's discovery could produce a comet 10 to 100 times more active than Halley's comet and be visible, to the humans who survive global warming, every 10 years or so.
Radar beams that are reflected from your car as you travel down a highway reveal your speed and direction. In a similar way, scientists using a telescope in Chile have discovered two planets orbiting a nearby reddish star by measuring the tiny motions they produce in their Sun as they orbit it.
A recently discovered asteroid spends most of its time high above the plane of the solar system far from our Sun. Unknown asteroids on such a path worry asteroid hunters since one could appear from out of nowhere and be on a collision path with planet Earth. Fortunately the odds that this will occur are vanishingly small. The prospect of a suddenly appearing dangerous celestial visitor keeps my team the Catalina Sky Survey going to our telescopes in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Az.
What would your day be like if you woke up and there were no functioning artificial Earth satellites? All of us have become used to finding our way with GPS satellites, watching satellite TV, obtaining up to date satellite weather information, and buying gas with a credit card which is processed with a satellite transaction. The geomagnetic disturbance from a mega solar flare could produce electronic equipment all over the world to fail. If the Carrington event (1859) occurred today, it would probably disable artificial satellites and disrupt power grids.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne, discovered a potentially dangerous and perhaps valuable asteroid with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ as it streaked through the constellation of Leo. Though Teddy's discovery is unlikely to ever strike the Earth, someday, 2019 LZ1 may become a valuable source of raw materials for space colonists.
When a distant planet passes in front of its star some of the star's radiation goes through the planet's atmosphere. The pattern of colors or wavelengths which are present and missing tells us what is in the planet's atmosphere. The NASA Kepler Spacecraft has discovered more than a half dozen Earth like planets which pass between their star and the Earth. It appears likely that a way to discover pseudo intelligent life in the Universe is to search for pollution in their planet's atmosphere.
In 2019, asteroid hunters set a new record by discovering 2,433 Earth approaching objects including 85 which could potentially become a threat to planet Earth. Fortunately, none of these 2,433 nearby celestial neighbors, having an average diameter of 300 feet, is on a collision course with humanity.
Suppose that a space alien were so far from us that our Sun appears as a tiny point of light in it's night sky. What would the space alien receive if it pointed it's radio antennas at our Sun?
Over the past 50 years, in the interior of Australian meteorites, scientists have discovered a large variety of extraterrestrial organic substances. These include amino acids, sugars, alcohols, and a variety of aromatic hydrocarbons. Other meteorites have been found to contain vitamin B3 and even sugars leading to speculation that meteor bombardments could have brought life's ingredients to a sterile Earth.
In the 50 years that human made Travelers In The Night have been visiting the planet Mars we have discovered a wealth of interesting information about our neighbor in space. Mars has a surface which about the size of the land areas on Earth. It has has a climate which has changed dramatically over the eons. We have literally just begun to scratch its surface. NASA has begun planning for the Mars 2020 Rover which will based on the successful Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rovers.
Recently, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate David Rankin's backyard all sky camera in Tucson, Arizona recorded a brilliant fireball meteor which took a leisurely 15 seconds to cross the entire sky. It was last seen by a trucker on Interstate 10 near Wilcox, Arizona as it headed in the direction of southwestern New Mexico.
If a space alien were to peer around the edge of the Moon from its base on the far side it could see our lights at night and perhaps even the smoke from our factories during the day. It could also pick up radio and TV signals created by humans. An interesting question is could a space alien detect planet Earth and learn something about it if it were so far away that our Sun were only a tiny point of light in its night sky?
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groeller was asteroid hunting, in the constellation of Hydra, with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered a rather distant comet. On its current path it cannot get closer than four times the distance to our Sun from us, making it a very faint fuzzy ball with a tail in our night sky. This situation could change when 2019 V2 Groeller comes near to the giant planet Jupiter. Stay Tuned.
Currently, women are exploring the planet Mars. Dr. Joy Crisp is the Deputy Project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory. Nicole Spanovich is the Curiosity Mars Rover Science Operations Team Chief. There is also a whole team of women who have constructed a Mars like garden park in Pasadena California to exercise the rovers so that we know how to operate them on Mars. There are unnamed dozens of other women who are Professors, Graduate Students, Engineers, Computer Programmers, and Managers who are making the exploration of Mars a reality.
Recently a group of high inclination asteroids hiding in Jupiter's shadow have been identified. Encounters with the giant planet's gravity could cause some of them to experience orbital changes making them a threat to Earth. Stay tuned
Robert McNaught discovered a comet as it was traveling northward from under the plane of the Earth's orbit. He was observing at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales Australia. This object was tracked by telescopes all around the world and named Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring). It attracted attention as soon as it was realized that it would pass very close to the planet Mars in October of 2014. We have more to worry about a comets close approach today than humans did in 1910 when the Earth passed through the tail of Halley's comet.
Recent findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggests that there is more water locked in the minerals of nearby asteroids, which are easier to reach than the Moon, than could be found in ice deposits near the lunar poles. This asteroidal water combined with solar energy could provide space colonists with water to drink, air to breathe, and hydrogen and oxygen to fuel their rockets.
SpaceShipTwo will carry 6 passengers and two pilots and be launched from the 18,000 acre SpacePort America in New Mexico
At its closest point, a small space rock comes to only 1/3 of Mercury's average distance from the solar surface and receives 9 times the amount of solar energy which heats the planet Mercury to 800F. If it has the chemical composition of a stony meteorite it could contain a sizable amount of iron and in the future could be of interest to space colonists as a valuable source raw materials.
Water is essential to life on our planet. Recently, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was used to study 3 planets orbiting stars similar to our Sun. Astronomers divided the infrared light from these planets into its component colors to see which are present and which are missing. These data provide direct evidence of the amount of water which is present on each planet.
Nine hours after it was discovered a tiny, 4 foot in diameter, space rock streaked less than 4,000 miles above southern Africa as it passed through the cloud of communications satellites which surround our planet. If you are fortunate to witness such an event you would be treated to a spectacular light show and perhaps of a new sense of appreciation for Earth's atmosphere as it protects us from the dangers of space.
NASA's Deep Space Network is celebrating its 50th birthday. Australia, Spain, and California host its three sites. These facilities are spaced nearly evenly around the world to provide continuous communication with any spacecraft.
October of 2019 was a record breaking month for my team the Catalina Sky Survey during which we discovered 240 Earth approaching asteroids. This diverse collection of space rocks ranged in size from one that would fit into the bed of a small pickup truck to one which is more than 1/2 mile in diameter. Three of them can come closer to us than the communication satellites.
The Opportunity Rover has been joined by, a car sized robot, named Curiosity. So far it has found that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. You can follow its journey on the NASA Curiosity website. What will it find next?
In ancient times, Aboriginal people in southwestern Australia quarried fine grained rock on an ancient hill called Barlangi Rock to make very sharp tools. Dr. Timmons Erickson, a NASA scientist at the Johnson Space Flight Center, led a team which discovered that the rocks the Aborigines used to make tools were formed by the impact which produced the 46 mile diameter Yarrabubba Crater. Over the course of history asteroid impacts have caused mass extinctions of some species while improving the chances of other living forms like mammals to flourish. It is sobering to realize that human caused global warming is causing more extinctions than any asteroid in history.
The NEOShield project is an international group of scientists and engineers from space faring nations. They are doing the detailed analysis and planning required to provide an effective means of dealing with an asteroid which is on a collision course with planet Earth. They are also studying the ways to protect us from falling man made space debris since it is a greater danger than asteroids.
In the space of less than 13 hours four small space rocks zipped through the Earth-Moon neighborhood. All of them were discovered by my team, the NASA funded, Catalina Sky Survey, before they made close approaches to our home planet.
A unique opportunity occurred in January of 2000, when a large meteoroid exploded and rained down pieces onto the frozen surface of Tagish Lake in British Columbia.Dr. Christopher Herd of the University of Alberta said that the first Tagish Lake samples were quickly collected from the frozen surface. They are the best preserved meteorite in the world. Dr. Michael Callahan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center commented that they are the closest thing in purity to those collected in a space sample and return mission.
On a clear but windy night, near the fall equinox, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was able to discover and verify 23 new Earth approaching objects as they passed through our celestial neighborhood.
Research indicates that Vitamin B3 can form on ice crystals in deep space. From there asteroids and comets can bring it to Earth. How rocks from space play into life as we know it remains a mystery for us to ponder.
An object the size of this huge space rock enters the Earth's atmosphere every 180,000 years with an energy of 5,800 megatons of TNT. The only place to survive would be in an underground bunker.
About 26 weeks after its discovery, astronomers in Australia were the first to notice that an asteroid was beginning to have a fuzzy appearance. Six weeks later, Damian Peach, in England, took a stunning image showing this object is a beautiful comet with a coma and a long tail. This type of frog to prince transformation shows that the distinction between an asteroid and a comet may change depending on the objects distance from the Sun.
During the monsoon rainy season, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate, Hannes Groeller took a vacation in his native Austria. Returning to begin the fall season of observing with our Schmidt Telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, Hannes discovered 7 new Earth approaching asteroids in a single night.
Asteroid Hunters have discovered almost 900 Earth Approaching Asteroids whose impact could trigger global climate change. Fortunately none of them are on a collision course with planet Earth. Statistically we expect that there about another 100 out there. There are many more smaller ones whose impact would cause a hurricane sized area of devastation.
One of the most frustrating situations for an asteroid hunter is a night when the stars are shining bright above the mountain but the humidity is so high that it is impossible to open the telescope's dome without damaging sensitive optics and electronics.
Eric Christensen was observing with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey Telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered a bright fast moving object in the night sky. During the next 25 hours it was observed by telescopes in Arizona and France and given the name 2014 MH6. It orbits the Sun in a bit over 16 months on a path which goes from closer than Venus to out past Mars.2014 MH6 is slightly smaller than the asteroid whose airburst caused more than 1000 flying glass injuries in Russia in February of 2013.
On Earth plants provide us with medicines, food to eat, and oxygen to breathe. In the future, in addition to providing treats like strawberries it turns out that tending to the needs vegetables and watching them grow can help space travelers cope with the psychological stresses produced by the confinement experienced on long space missions.
Travelers In The Night from outer space are closer than you may imagine. If you were to go straight up more than 4 miles you would need supplementary oxygen to stay conscious. At 50 - 70 miles, the realm of meteors, humans require a full space suit to survive.During the year, there are a dozen major meteor showers. Check out the American Meteor Society website for a complete listing.
The race to explore the Moon by robots and eventually human lunar colonists is on. Near the lunar south pole human space colonists could use solar energy to power equipment and keep warm, manufacture needed items, and most importantly have water to drink as well as to use a raw material.
Several years ago the NASA funded Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Program discovered an SUV sized asteroid which comes closer to Earth than about 1/6 of the distance to the Moon. It was2011 MD's mass and size make it a good candidate for NASA's plans to use a robotic space craft to intercept and redirect a small asteroid into an orbit around our Moon.named 2011 MD. It remained a minor curiosity until the Spitzer Space Telescope spotted it again.
In the American southwest we welcome the Monsoon rainy season during which the Earth receives much needed moisture. However, after six weeks of clouds, thunder, rain, hail, and lightning asteroid hunters are glad to be on the sky again.
Imagine holding a rock as old as our solar system that has traveled billions of miles through space to reach its present location. It might even be worth real money. We are talking about a meteorite that you have just discovered.
In a most amazing turn of events, an international team of astronomers have published research in the Journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters which indicates that the a 3.9 Billion year old rock brought back by Apollo 14 astronauts is actually a lunar meteorite which originated on planet Earth.
2014 LJ21 is an asteroid, its brightness suggests that it is about 1 and a quarter miles in diameter. This estimate is based on the assumption that it reflects about 15% of the Sun light which strikes it. The impact of an asteroid this size would likely cause global climate change.
The Phoenicids are a minor meteor shower which was discovered by the first Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition on December 5, 1956. To spot the illusive Phoenicids for yourself plan to observe during their expected peak which occurs around December 5/6 each year.
RADAR observations of asteroids and comets are an important way to measure an objects size, shape, and rate of spin. The precise distance measurements they provide make it possible to predict an object's path far into the future and thus determine if it is a risk to planet Earth.
Imagine how strange and wonderful it would be to witness such an event. When the impacting object hit it produced huge boulders, which held loosely by Phobos's weak gravity, continued to roll around and around this tiny moon, bouncing and leaping over small surface depressions for hours after the impact.
Our Moon is the only other world whose surface can be easily viewed by humans. The 59% of its surface visible from Earth is about 53 times the area of the state of California. It has a fascinating landscape which continues to impress observers.You can use a small telescope or binoculars to view lava flows, mountains, craters, walls, wrinkle ridges, rays, and rills on our Moon.
The Chinese, Chang'e 4 made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon where it is impossible to have direct radio communications with the Earth. Its companion Yutu rover whose name means "Jade Rabbit" is making scientific measurements and sending back spectacular images of the virtually unexplored part of the Moon .In the meantime China is preparing Chang'e 5 which is designed to bring lunar samples back to Earth.
The planet Jupiter is less important to us than the Earth, Sun, and Moon. However, it hold clues about the formation of our solar system and does send some comets towards us while causing others to miss our home planet.
On October 7, 2018 the moonless night sky became 25% brighter and reached the point where it is at a small light polluted city, all without human intervention. A check of the spaceweather.com website shows that from October 7 to 11 the Earth had experienced a geomagnetic storm when a canyon shaped hole in the Sun's atmosphere turned towards Earth projecting a stream of charged particles into our direction.
An unknown, quarter of a mile diameter asteroid, reached its furthest distance from the Sun on June 17, 2012. It brightened 10,000 times as it approached and crossed the Earth's orbit.Fortunately it never gets closer to the Earth than about 18 times the distance to our Moon. We will continue to observe to make sure that it does not become on an impact trajectory with the Earth as it passes other objects in space.
In 2018 there were 15 Meteorite Fall Events for which observers saw a fireball streaking across the sky which then led to the discovery of pieces of the celestial visitor on the ground. Amazingly two of the 2018 space rock fragments, called hammers, struck man made objects or structures. If find one, your reward will be the opportunity to hold a space visitor, older than the Earth, in your very own hand.
On November 12, 2007, Alex Gibbs, using the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey Schmidt telescope, discovered a bright fast moving asteroid. It was then observed by telescopes in Italy, England, Arizona, California, and Australia and given the name 2007 VK184. This asteroid created a considerable amount of interest since, until recently, it posed the most significant threat of Earth impact of any known object for the next 100 years. In March of 2014 Dr. David Tholen used the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii to detect and track 2007 VK184. His observations, the first in more than 5 years, were used to calculate a new orbit. Fortunately, the new path poses no treat to the Earth and indicates that this asteroid will never get closer to us than about 6 times the distance to our Moon.
From the naked eye to the Hubble Space telescope each advance has enabled new astronomical discoveries. We have thus begun to understand our place in the Universe. Perhaps new discoveries will be made from the lunar surface having 1/6 of Earth's gravity making it easier to build giant telescopes, no air to degrade images, and on the far side no artificial signals to obscure faint celestial sources.
As it approached the Earth's orbit , a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid literally came out of nowhere as it brightened 250 times in 15 days. On May 5, 2014, the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ detected it. It was the fastest brightest asteroid I had ever seen. Fortunately, its orbit never brings it closer than about 4 times the distance to our Moon. We will need to keep track of it since the situation may change as it encounters other objects in space.
Recently the Kepler Spacecraft found that a catalogue star HD 139139 now nicknamed the "Random Transiter" had 28 apparently random sharp narrow dips in brightness in only 87 days. What it is remains a mystery.
During a recent 6 night observing run with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, I found 29 Earth Approaching Asteroid candidates. With further observations, sixteen of these turned out to be real asteroids which in fact do not make close approaches to Earth. They range in size from about 5 football fields to nearly a mile in diameter
In our solar system the most exotic body which contains the complex organic molecules necessary for life is Saturn's Moon Titan. NASA's Dragonfly will explore this strange world with a flying drone. What it finds is likely to give us new insights into how life originated on Earth as well as to provide us reasons to value what we have at home.
Asteroid 2014 JO25 is truly an amazing object. It orbits the Sun, every 2.94 years, on a very elongated path that goes closer to the Sun than Mercury and then it travels out to well past Mars. It must be made of hard rocky material since during its close approach to the Sun it was traveling at 84 miles/second. At that point, it was closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury and probably had a surface temperature greater than 800 F. Fortunately this asteroid never gets closer than about 4.4 lunar distances from Earth.
A given piece of ground on Mars receives several times more space rock impacts than a similar sized area on Earth. Perhaps, in the future the Martian tourist industry will bring visitors to view super meteor storms which occur each year when Mars is furtherest from the Sun and to search for meteorites on the red planet's surface.
During a recent 6 night observing run with the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, I found 29 Earth Approaching Asteroid candidates which were posted on the Minor Planet Center website. The largest of this collection of space rocks is 2014 JO25. It orbits the Sun every 3 years and is about 1/2 mile in diameter. Its closet approach to Earth is about 4.4 times the distance to our Moon at which time it is traveling in excess of 20 miles/second. We will continue to observe it, to make sure that it does not become an Earth impactor, as it passes near other objects in space.
49 years after the Lunar Landing Module "Snoopy" was abandoned by Apollo 10 Astronauts, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls may have spotted it while searching for Earth approaching asteroids in the constellation of Cancer with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona.
When you look out in space you are also looking back in time. Objects in space are older than they appear to us; the Moon more than a second , Mars a minute and a half, and the Great Galaxy in Andromeda appears as it was 3 million years ago. This situation is due to the fact that it takes time for light to travel the great distances in the Universe.
Imagine being under a clear natural night sky, with no moon, waiting to see stars down to the horizon, the Milky Way, star clusters, planets, the zodiacal light, comets, and other wonders of the natural night sky. Suddenly, you are shocked to find the night sky crawling with hundreds of artificial satellites bright enough to be seen in a light polluted city like Chicago.
It may surprise you to know that there are more than 180 confirmed impact craters on our planet. It is likely that many more have been erased by the actions of wind and water. An asteroid smashing into a water rich world like Earth or Mars can generate reservoirs of hot water which may be a good place for early life to start. It could also preserve ancient life forms in impact glass. Perhaps impact craters are the places to search for evidence that life has existed on Mars.
Statistically, asteroid hunters are thought to have discovered 90 to 95% of the Earth approaching asteroids larger than about 3,000 feet in diameter. There are thought to be at least 50 more out there. Where are they?
The asteroid Psyche is named for a Greek mythological figure. It was discovered in 1852 as a moving point of light in the night sky. This small world is about 155 miles in diameter and orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter every 5 years. A visit to Psyche would allow us to directly study a naked planet's core and provide clues as to the nature of what is beneath our feet.
In 2018 Asteroid Hunters discovered 1839 previously unknown space rocks as they passed through our celestial neighborhood. The largest and most dangerous can come to a mere 1,000 miles from humanity. Fortunately, it is not likely to do so until after 2,200 AD.
The Kepler Space Craft has found tiny regular dips in light from a star which is about 500 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus. The dips in brightness come about when planets pass between their star and the Earth. This particular star has at least 5 planets. One of them is named Kepler-186f. It is similar to the Earth in size and is located at a distance from its star which may allow life as we know it to exist. This newly discovered cousin to our Earth orbits a M dwarf star which is very much cooler than our Sun. Its year is only 130 days long
An asteroid has been discovered that comes very near to the Sun where it receives 12.6 times the radiation that heats the planet Mercury's surface to 800 F. This hardy space rock has made this trip many times and is likely to be made of extremely tough materials and in the future could prove to be a valuable source of raw materials for human space colonists.
On Earth Day Astronauts Dr. Ed Lu, Tom Jones, and Bill Anders announced that between 2000 and 2013, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization Network detected 26 explosions on Earth ranging in energy from 1-600 kilotons of TNT. None of them were caused by nuclear explosions, but rather by asteroid impacts. Most of these asteroids exploded high in the atmosphere and did no damage on the ground. These data provide a measure of the frequency at which large space rocks enter our atmosphere.
Fortunately, on its current path, the most dangerous asteroid discovered in 2018 cannot come closer than 12.5 times the Moon's distance to humanity. Not to worry. Asteroid Hunters have not found a single space rock on a collision path with planet Earth.
To the human eye the night sky is a source of mystery and wonder. Our ancestors knew it well. There is a connection to the cosmos that is hard to describe which you will achieve by knowing the names of some of the bright stars. As the seasons progress, the feeling of greeting an old friend is generated, when one of the stars you know first appears in the evening sky. Scientifically we know that the Universe is evolving in many ways. Some of these changes are apparent to the naked eye, however, over the course of the human life span there is constancy in the patterns we see in the night sky.
Being a near Earth asteroid is already a lonely existence since the paths of these small space rocks seldom bring them near any other material objects as they travel about the Sun. The loneliest asteroids of all could be of interest to asteroid miners when one of them makes one of its rare visits to our neighborhood.
The asteroid Itokawa [e toe kawa] is as odd as a barbell with a 29 lb weight on one end and and 18 lb weight on the other. It was discovered in 1998 as a moving point of light in the night sky by the LINEAR project in New Mexico. It was named for the Japanese scientist whose rockets put his nations first satellite in orbit in 1970.
During a recent 30 day period, 11 small space rocks passed closer to us than the Moon. If one of them were to enter our atmosphere and you were directly under such an impact you would hear a loud noise as this tiny object exploded 40 to 60,000 feet above you. The blast could break a few windows and would be likely to create objects for meteorite hunters to discover.
Aleksei Dozorov, a motorist in Russia stated “You can get into your car without your pants on, but never get into a car without a dash cam,” . This attitude is caused by poor highway law enforcement. It is why many motorists around the Russian city of Chelyabinsk [Chel ya binsk] were able to capture images of a huge meteor flying through the sky.
Humans are slamming projectiles into space rocks. These experiments will give us the know how to deal with a dangerous space rock which has our number on it.
One million human lifetimes ago an asteroid impact was at least partially responsible for eliminating the dinosaurs. This event has allowed our race to evolve to its present stateThose of us in the asteroid hunting community are also looking for the near Earth asteroids whose impact would leave a hurricane sized foot print on the Earth's surface or produce a mega tsunami if it landed in the Ocean. We are searching the skies to provide the warning time necessary to mitigate the effects of an asteroid impact.
In 1972 Apollo 16 astronauts took an ultraviolet image of the Earth from the Moon which shows that like the Sun ,the Earth too, has a faint corona of gas surrounding it. Scientists are just beginning to explore how Earth's glow relates to our weather and climate.
Imagine a world that is so far from our Sun that it receives less than 1/5000 of the heat and light that makes our life possible. If your were standing on it, you could cover the Sun with the tip of a ball point pen held at arms length.
Traveling an additional billion miles beyond Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft is now sending back data on 2014 MU69, a strange snow man shaped object which orbits the Sun once every 298 years. The New Horizons is spacecraft is likely to continue its lonely odyssey until the end of time.
A human with normal vision standing on Mars would see the Earth and our Moon as a double evening star. An observer on Mars would also see the distance between the Earth and Moon change as they revolve around a common center of gravity. Perhaps one day humans will set up a base on the red planet and will be able to view this beautiful celestial display.
In our Milky Way Galaxy alone there are probably 25 billion planets located within the habitable zone of its star where there could be air to breathe and liquid water on its surface. The search is on for advanced civilizations . The search is on for aliens.
Programs 31-60
Travelers in The Night
Programs
Contents
1 31-A Gentle Breakup Of An Asteroid
2 32-A Peanut Shaped Asteroid with a Moon
3 33-A Busy Month in the Earth's Neighborhood
4 34- Number 5000
5 35-An Asteroid With A Ring
6 36- Earth and Moon as Evening Stars
7 37-Slow Movers At The Edge of Our Solar System
8 38-The Big Ones
9 39-Dash Cams and the Anatomy of An Airburst
10 40-Itokawa A Strange Space Peanut
11 41-Navigating The Night Sky
12 42-Astronauts Reveal Sobering Data On Asteroid Impacts
13 43-First Earth-Size Planet in 'Habitable Zone'
14 44-A Unique Metal World; Asteroid Psyche
15 45-A World Full of Holes
16 46-How Far Is Forever
17 47-Earth Approaching Space Rocks Collected Over 6 Nights
18 48-Large Dangerous Asteroids Still Appear Suddenly Without Warning
19 49-Earth Approaching Wannabees
20 50-Asteroid 2014 JO25: What An Incredible Ride
21 51-Asteroid 2007 VK184 - Eliminated As An Impact Risk to Earth
22 52- Another Large Bright Suddenly Appearing Asteroid
23 53- Where Is Juno
24 54- Tour a Neighbor World
25 55-RADAR Telescopes Pair Up to Image Near-Earth Asteroid
26 56-A Whopper or A Comet
27 57-Hold A Traveler In The Night In Your Hand
28 58-NASA Hunts for A Special Asteroid
29 59-Spotting Travelers In The Night
30 60-A Close Visit With A Message
31-A Gentle Breakup Of An Asteroid
Click to Listen
Published PRX April 3, 2014
Recorded March 21, 2014
remixed July 15, 2014
Newton formulated that the change in motion for an object depends on the amount of force and the length of time it is applied. For this reason a baseball pitcher tries to have a long pull on the ball before releasing it.
Astronomers have a theory, called the Yorp effect, that light from the Sun produces a very tiny torque which increases the rate of spin of an object. The effect is so small that it would take billions of years to be produce a measurable outcome. How can such an idea ever be tested?
In September of 2013, the Pan-STARRS group found a strange moving object in the night sky. The plot thickened when the Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea Hawaii found that instead of being a single body it appeared to be three small objects embedded in a cloud of gas and dust several thousands of miles in diameter. The Hubble Space Telescope was used to see what is going on.
Hubble found that this object changes significantly over a period of months, that it has 6 tails, and that pieces of it continue to emerge from the center and slowly move away at a walking pace.
An asteroid collision is too violent to cause what is seen. The object is too cold for expanding gases to cause it to break up. The best explanation which fits the data is that Sun light has slowly, over billions of years, increased P/2013 P5's rate of spin causing it to gently come apart. Some of the dust and small particles which escape from it will orbit the Sun. When the Earth runs into them we may see them as meteors in our night sky.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
Go to travelersinthenight.org for more information.
© 2014 A. D. Grauer and ℗ 2014 A. D. Grauer
More Information On The Break Up Of An Asteroid
32-A Peanut Shaped Asteroid with a Moon
Click to Listen
Published PRX April 3, 2014
Recorded March 29, 2014
remixed July 15, 2014
It appears that Hektor and its moon were created by a collision between two icy asteroids early in the 4.5 billion year history of our solar system when things were more chaotic. They happened to land in a gravitational dip which has allowed them to remain relatively undisturbed for billions of years.
The asteroid Hektor orbits the Sun at a point where the gravity of the Sun and Jupiter create a stable point 60 degrees in front of the giant planet. In 1907 Hector was discovered as a moving point of light in the night sky. For the next 99 years its true nature remained unknown. In the past few years the Keck Telescope in Hawaii has discovered that the main body is a 230 mile long peanut shaped object. Most recently Keck was used to discover that Hektor has a 7.5 mile diameter moon which has a dense core surrounded by icy layers. This asteroid moon orbits the peanut shaped Hektor in a stable orbit every 3 hours.
Recently, NASA scientists using the Goldstone Radar telescope were taking advantage of a close approach of a potentially hazardous asteroid to obtain radar images. These data show 2006 DP14 is a peanut shaped object about 1300 feet long. It slowly spins with a 6 hour period. Previous data from Goldstone and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico suggests that more than 10 % of near Earth asteroids larger than 650 feet in diameter have a peanut shape. This knowledge will be important if we find one of these strange objects is on a collision course with our planet.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
Go to travelersinthenight.org for more information.
© 2014 A. D. Grauer and ℗ 2014 A. D. Grauer
More Information on This Program
33-A Busy Month in the Earth's Neighborhood
Click to Listen
Published PRX April 10, 2014
Recorded April 10, 2014
remixed July 15, 2014
For us who look for Earth approaching objects, March of 2014 was a busy month. Six asteroids which pass closer than our Moon were discovered and tracked. The smallest of them is the size of an SUV and the largest would fill an NBA basketball court. Fortunately none of them were on a collision course with Planet Earth.
Interest in smaller space rocks has increased since a semitrailer truck sized asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere over Russia in February of 2013. Most of the nearly 1500 injuries could have been avoided if people in the impact area had been warned to stay away from windows.
In January of 2014 a refrigerator sized asteroid was discovered about 20 hours before it exploded over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is estimated that there are a billion near Earth Asteroids of similar size.
It is likely that we have discovered 90% of the approximately one thousand near Earth asteroids whose impact would cause global climate change. There are probably 300,000 smaller Earth approaching asteroids whose impact would devastate thousands of square miles of the Earth's surface. So far we have discovered about 5,000 of them. There are many millions of space rocks which could cause window breaking sonic booms. Happily we have not discovered any of these objects which will impact the Earth any time soon.
An Asteroid impact is a natural disaster whose effect we have the ability to minimize . The NASA Near Earth Object Program's goal is provide the early detection essential to mitigate such an event.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
Go to travelersinthenight.org for more information.
© 2014 A. D. Grauer and ℗ 2014 A. D. Grauer
More On Asteroid Close Approaches to Earth
34- Number 5000
Click to Listen
Published PRX April 10, 2014
Recorded April 10, 2014
remixed July 15, 2014
The 5000th Earth approaching asteroid discovered by the University of Arizona's NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey was found early in 2014. It is approximately 3 times the size of the one which injured 1491 people in Russia in February of 2013. It was discovered by my teammate Jess Johnson. Happily, its closest approach to Earth is slightly farther than our moon.
The other 4999 asteroids discovered since 2003 consist of:
141 that are large enough to cause global climate change,
1892 that are large enough to
devastate thousands of square miles of the Earth's Surface, and
2966 that upon entering our atmosphere would create
window shattering sonic booms.
Fortunately none of these objects will impact the Earth anytime soon.
Our team operates two telescopes, 24 nights per month in the Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. This effort has discovered 47% of the near Earth Asteroids known to exist. We are part of the NASA near Earth Object Program who goal is to provide the early warning time which is essential to mitigate the effects of an asteroid impact.
Fortunately large asteroids which impact the Earth are extremely rare. Small asteroids are the most numerous and thus mostly likely to present a problem. In the future we hope to have the equipment in place to obtain a heads up if a small asteroid is likely to be an impactor. Then people that are in a potentially effected area will be warned to seek shelter in a manner similar to a tornado warning.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer.
Go to travelersinthenight.org for more information.
© 2014 A. D. Grauer and ℗ 2014 A. D. Grauer
More on the 5000th Asteroid
35-An Asteroid With A Ring
Click to Listen
Published PRX April 18, 2014
Recorded April 12, 2014
remixed July 15, 2014
Saturn had a strange appearance in Galileo's telescope. At first he described it as being a composite of three objects. A few years later, better telescopes showed a beautiful ring system surrounding Saturn. For more than 350 years Saturn was the only known planet with rings. Now we are aware that Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune also have ring systems.
Chariklo (“KAReekloe”) is an asteroid which orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus every 63 years. It was discovered in 1997 by James Scotti an astronomer with Spacewatch on Kitt Peak in Arizona.Chariklo (“KAReekloe”) is the first asteroid to show a ring system. Perhaps there are others.
Without followup data, many if not most of the Earth approaching objects would be lost as they move away from us leaving us with no idea when they might return to near Earth space or perhaps even strike our home planet.
The 5000th Earth approaching asteroid discovered by the University of Arizona's NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey is approximately 3 times the size of the one which injured 1491 people in Russia in February of 2013. It was discovered by my teammate Jess Johnson. Happily, its closest approach to Earth is slightly farther than our moon.
A small telescope makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the celestial visitors to our neighborhood.
For us who look for Earth approaching objects, March of 2014 was a busy month. Six asteroids which pass closer than our Moon were discovered and tracked. The smallest of them is the size of an SUV and the largest would fill an NBA basketball court. Fortunately none of them were on a collision course with Planet Earth.
On a recent training night with Teddy Pruyne at the controls of our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, this duo discovered six new Earth Approaching Objects, an inner main belt asteroid, and rediscovered an inner main belt asteroid which had been lost.
It appears that Hektor and its moon were created by a collision between two icy asteroids early in the 4.5 billion year history of our solar system when things were more chaotic. They happened to land in a gravitational dip which has allowed them to remain relatively undisturbed for billions of years.
On a cold windy night, with clouds frustrating his search, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Alex Gibbs discovered 8 new celestial visitors while observing with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona.
An asteroid spins up and comes apart. When the Earth runs into its trail we will be treated to a meteor shower.
A large fireball meteor which exploded over Cuba produced a number of interesting results.
Only 13 out of the more than 10,000 Earth approaching objects have their orbit completely within that of the Earth.
My Catalina Sky Survey Teammate Brian Africano discovered his 4th comet while asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. Observers with small telescopes equipped with electronic cameras are able to track Brian's 4th comet as it comes to near the orbit of Mars before it retreats into the cold dark region of our solar system not to return until 3000 AD.
A prelude of a manned flyby of Venus and Mars could be a manned mission to an asteroid. The search for an appropriate asteroid continues.
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART for short will test methods to make a dangerous asteroid miss Earth.
Friday the 13th of 2029 will be a lucky day for the Human race when the asteroid passes very near the Earth.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groeller was asteroid hunting with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered his first comet. After the Sun bakes out all of the frozen gasses, Hannes's Comet, will lose its coma and tail and become indistinguishable from one of the millions of main belt asteroids orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
Approximately 1 out of 5 large Near-Earth Asteroids are really double or triple systems of objects orbiting a common center of gravity. Such double trouble objects presents a challenge if one of them were found to be heading for Earth.
A tiny space rock passes through the cloud of communications satellites surrounding the Earth.
Occasionally one observes a meteor brighter than the Planet Venus which is called a fireball. Some of them can be bright enough to be seen in the day time.Every year, several thousand fireballs are logged by the American Meteor Society. If you see one your report will be welcomed.
The object which the 2.3 mile diameter Gault hit is likely to have been a third of a mile diameter space rock. This celestial crash left Gault with a 250,000 long straight tail.
The Earth is our home. It provides us with air, food, and water. The Sun powers all life. The role of Jupiter is less clear. Jupiter puts some objects on a collision course with our planet but not so frequently enough to prevent life on Earth from recovering and adapting. Perhaps an asteroid impact is why we are here.
Asteroid 2013 TV135 is a potentially hazardous asteroid which at first appeared to be on a collision course with planet Earth. Subsequent observations refined its orbit and reduced its chances of striking us.
The extremely remote chance that a dangerous mountain sized space rock has our number on it is what keeps my team going to our four telescopes in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
Many stars, galaxies, and other objects seem to be the same year after year giving us the idea that things are static out there. Every once in a while a new object bursts into view producing a, WOW, "what is that" feeling.
For the first time in history, an asteroid hunting team, the Catalina Sky Survey, has discovered more than 1,000 Earth approaching asteroids in a single year. They are an interesting part of our environment.
The Centaur type asteroid, 2013 JD4, is an interesting object. It takes 41.5 years to orbit the Sun on a path that takes it as close to Earth as we are to the Sun.When its orbit is changed as it passes Jupiter and Saturn it may start making closer approaches to the Sun, release gases, and become a comet.
During Comet C/2018 V4 Africano's last visit to the inner solar system humans were erecting the outer ring at Stonehenge. At the rate human's are changing the Earth's climate who can guess what will be happening on Earth when this comet returns in about 6,000 AD.
2008 TC3 is the first of the two of small asteroids which astronomers have been able to find and track into our atmosphere. Samples of these impacting asteroids provide new insights into our solar system.
Recently, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Growler discovered an Earth approaching asteroid which has a speed consistent with it being ejected from the Moon by the impact of an asteroid or comet long ago. 69 hours after Hannes discovered it, this small space rock passed closer than the communication satellites are from us.
An object is discovered that first appeared to be a huge near Earth asteroid. Subsequent observations show it to be a comet making a single trip through our solar system.
The discovery of a Jupiter family comet whose fate is to become a garden variety main belt asteroid.
Over geologic times, the impacts of objects from space have produced significant changes to our planet's biosphere. Earth threatening asteroids present a complicated challenge due to the wide range of compositions, sizes, orbital paths, and warning times that we can encounter.
On Halloween night while observing with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona I discovered 21 space rocks streaking through the night sky. The most interesting one could be the destination of asteroid miners.
The Tunguska [ Tun·gu·ska] event occurred on June 30, 1908. It appears to have been caused by a small asteroid or comet which exploded 3-6 miles above the Earth's surface. It is the largest impact event in recorded history.
As asteroid hunters equipment and skills continue to improve we will be able to find and track some of these tiny impactors and perhaps be able to suggest where to find pieces of one of them on the ground.
Scientific evidence suggests that it was a bad day for non-avian dinosaurs when a large asteroid or a comet crashed into the Earth about 66 million years ago. Some species, including mammals, flourished under the changed conditions after the Chicxulub event. It is interesting to speculate that the rise of the human race may have been enabled by an asteroid impact.
Space is not all that far away. If a powerful solar eruption in 2012 had happened a week earlier, the blast of radiation would have caused wide spread power blackouts disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket as well as the water and sewer systems which rely on electric pumps.
Using 2 telescopes near Tucson Arizona, the NASA funded, Catalina Sky Survey searches for Earth Approaching Objects. The method is to take 4 images of the same part of the sky spaced out over 45 minutes. These images are searched with computer programs to identify moving objects.
The discovery of two large ghostly neighbors approximately 65,000 by 45,000 miles in size at the L4 and L5 sites approximately 250,000 miles from both the Earth and Moon.
Looking into the sky on a clear-dark night, have you wondered what it would be like to travel in deep space?
Since 1900 there have been 11 close approaches by asteroids larger than 300 feet in diameter. One of them, the Tunguska Object was about 400 feet in diameter. It entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded with such force that it blew down trees over an 800 square mile area in 1908. Hopefully that will not happen again anytime soon.
My team, the Catalina Sky Survey, would not find a single asteroid without Steward Observatory's Mountain Lemmon Operations, or Mtn Ops for short. Bottom line is that Mtn Ops does whatever it takes to make our Asteroid Hunting facilities continue to function.
Aten Asteroids are stealthy space rocks which can be dim and hard to detect since for most of their path about the Sun their illuminated side is facing away from us.
Have you wondered what would happen if a rock from space landed near one of our large cities? We got a clue on February 15, 2013 when a large fireball appeared in the sky over Russia.
Ten hours and 46 minutes after my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered a Toyota RAV4 sized space rock, now named 2018 UA, streaking through the constellation of Pegasus at 8.8 miles/second, this tiny asteroid passed less than 1/2 the distance of the communications satellites to the surface of planet Earth.
Until recently the discovery of very close approaching asteroids was rare, however, due to improvements in telescopes, cameras, and computers asteroid hunters are now finding a significant number of these small celestial visitors to our neighborhood every month.
Don't count on the decrease in solar activity to save you from human produced global warming, however something potentially important to you is happening on the Sun.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Pegasus with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered a 2,000 foot diameter space rock streaking through the night sky. The extremely remote possibility that a big one might have our number on it keeps asteroid hunters going to their telescopes.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Pegasus with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when he discovered a 2,000 foot diameter space rock streaking through the night sky. The extremely remote possibility that a big one might have our number on it keeps asteroid hunters going to their telescopes.
To give you an idea of the celestial traffic in our neighborhood, on a recent clear night, using our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Hannes Groller posted 20 new objects on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation Page. In the future five of these asteroids may become a valuable source of raw materials for Martian colonists.
In the fictional Star Trek series, Vulcan, Spock's home planet was imagined to orbit the A component of the triple star system 40 Eridani [Eri-dani ]. Recently astronomers using the Dharma Planet Survey 50 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona have discovered that there is indeed an actual planet, named HD26965 b, with mass of 8.5 times that of Earth orbiting the star 40 Eridani A once every 42.38 days.
Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered his third comet, Comet C/2018 R4 (Fuls). It is now on its way back into deep space. Given the climate change Earth is experiencing it is hard to predict the state of our planet and humanity when Comet Fuls returns in 7,500 AD.
Asteroid Hunters keep careful track of nearly 2,000 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids [PHAs] to make sure that they are no threat to humanity. The recent discovery of two new PHAs reminds us that there are many still out there to be discovered and followed.
A small space rock is spotted 4 days before it came very close to the Earth and our Moon.
What asteroid hunters fear is that a small space rock capable of injuring people and damaging buildings is heading our way and that we will not find it in time to give a warning for people in the impact area to seek cover.
The NASA Mars Opportunity Rover, nicked named Oppy by those who operate and love it ,was designed to last 90 days on the Martian surface but has continued to explore the surface of the red planet for 14 years.
Although small space rocks pose no threat to humans, they are an interesting part of our environment, offer a chance for asteroid hunters to develop their tracking skills, and occasionally provide an opportunity for a meteorite hunter to touch an object from outer space.
Asteroid hunters were able to discover a small Earth approaching asteroid after 57 nights of continuous rain and clouds.
The fireball meteor streaking across the sky the early evening of January 17, 2018, witnessed by 700 observers in 11 States and Canada was also recorded by infrasonic microphones and seismometers. Scientific studies of this event gives researchers the ability to assess the risks presented by the 2,000 large fireball meteor explosions which occur each year world wide and will allow scientists to detect any secret nuclear tests being conducted by rouge individuals or governments.
It might be possible to catch an asteroid, place it into Earth orbit, and thus provide a ready source of precious metals and water for space colonists to use.
In 2018, July and August were cloudy and rainy in both Arizona and Hawaii sidelining the worlds two most productive asteroid hunting surveys. A cost effective way to make the Earth's planetary defense system more weather proof is to put a network of asteroid hunting telescopes around the world to discover and track potentially dangerous nearby neighbors.
Even though humans have been aware of the planet Saturn from from the dawn of history this beautiful object still offers mysteries for us to explore.
From the time 3 million years ago that our ancestor Lucy walked in what is now Ethiopia until the widespread use of electric lighting began in the 1880s the changing panorama and awe inspiring beauty of the natural night sky was available to most human beings.
Fuzzy, spread out, asteroid images due to atmospheric and or equipment produced distortions can cause important objects to slip through an asteroid hunter's discovery images undetected. A careful monitoring of the temperature at a number of different locations in the observatory environment and using fans and other techniques to minimize temperature differences restores the power of a telescope so that it can detect possible asteroid threats to planet Earth.
There are likely to be hundreds smaller than softball sized and perhaps several dozen football to beachball sized, natural Earth mini moons, which are so small and fast moving that they are able to slip through asteroid hunters images without being detected.
Exciting new research indicates that there could be a lake of liquid water beneath the south Martian polar cap. Further research will be required to determine if this briny pool could be the home of martian creatures.
It has been 20 years since the world woke up to the news that a half mile diameter asteroid, 1997 XF11, discovered by Space Watch on Kitt Peak, had a slight chance of impacting the Earth in 2028. The NASA and JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies or CNEOS (see-neos) for short maps space rocks orbits, predicts when they will come close to us, and reliably determines each one's chance of impacting Earth.
Imagine a spacecraft traveling at a speed that would take it from New York to Tokyo in less than a minute, a mere 4 million miles from the surface of our Sun, where it would be exposed to about 500 times the solar radiation we receive here on Earth. Not science fiction but science fact for the NASA Parker Solar Probe on one of it's final laps around our star.
In a few weeks ,as Earth and Mars moved closer together, a dust storm engulfed most of the red planet making it impossible to see its surface features.
A huge Earth approaching asteroid is discovered right before the 2018 monsoon rains settled into the American Southwest. This weather imposed break from observing provides the opportunity for asteroid hunters to make major equipment upgrades and perform routine maintenance.
Most Astronomers find it hard to believe that given perhaps a trillion planets in the Milky Way alone that our Earth is the only one which hosts living organisms. It is both exciting and terrifying to realize we have no concept of what living forms may exist outside Earth in the Milky Way.
Asteroid hunters have discovered a strange asteroid pair. How they came to be together and what humans would do if such a large double trouble object is heading for us remains a mystery.
An object is tracked in outer space, seen to explode in our atmosphere, and had a fragment of it discovered on the ground. Its analysis will help humans to prepare for and defend against a much larger object with our number on it.
On July 8, 2018 a beautiful fireball Meteor was seen streaking across the sky in evening twilight. So far the American Meteor Society has received more than 700 reports of this event , from observers in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Statistically, asteroid hunters are thought to have discovered 90% of our potentially dangerous celestial neighbors greater than 1 KM in diameter. Thus my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was surprised to discover an unknown very large asteroid moving through the constellation of Persus.
Comet C/2018 M1 (Catalina) is eternal in the sense that it will likely wander the vast space between the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy until the end of time.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard knew he had bagged his third comet when he spotted an unknown fuzzy object with a broad tail moving through the constellation of Pieces. Eventually when it looses it's volatile materials Comet Leonard will become one of the countless millions of main belt asteroids circling our Sun.
Recently, my newest Catalina Sky Survey Teammate, Hannes Groeller, had an excellent training night, working with Greg Leonard, on our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona posting 14 new objects on the Near Earth Object Confirmation Page. One of his discoveries could be worth 26 billion dollars on the iron scrap metal market in China.
On July 1, 1770 Comet Lexell passed about 6 times the moon's distance from planet Earth, the closest a comet has ever come to humanity. After that it completely disappeared . After more than 200 years of searching, researchers have identified what may be a piece of long lost Comet Lexell.
A 2000 foot diameter space rock has stories to tell about violent events long ago. Asteroid hunters are eager to track this huge collision fragment and look for members of it's family as it passes near Earth in 2026.
A 100 foot diameter asteroid is spotted on one of it's regular trips between the orbits of Venus and Earth. It's ultimate fate is to collide with one of these planets producing a spectacular light show.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is conducting a six year flight from Earth to a potentially hazardous asteroid, Ryugu, and return a sample of it to Earth for study. Ryugu is likely to have under gone little change since the formation of the solar system and samples of it will provide unique clues about the composition of the small bodies which brought water and the chemicals needed for life to the young Earth.
Two exciting new scientific discoveries have ignited our curiosity and are guiding our search for evidence of past and/or present life on Mars.
A small space rock with a diameter less than the height of an NBA basketball player had just crossed the orbit of our Moon on a collision course with Earth when it was spotted streaking through the constellation of Scorpius by my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski. 8 hours and 37 minutes after Richard's discovery observations, the space rock now known as 2018 LA was seen by security cameras to explode over Botswana in southern Africa just as NASA's scout system predicted.
The life of an asteroid hunter on Mars will be interesting and exciting. The double planet, our Earth and Moon, in the Martian night sky will be an unforgettable sight and well worth the trip.
My birthday present from outer space was the opportunity to use the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Az to discover a tiny sofa couch sized asteroid as it was flying through the constellation of Bootes. Once every 6 months or so, lucky observers will witness a sofa sized space rock similar to 2018 KW1 entering the Earth's atmosphere creating a spectacular light show, and raining pieces to Earth for meteorite hunters to discover.
Looking out into space takes you back in time. To experience time travel go to a natural night sky location like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary or another location on the darksky.org website.
Asteroid hunters have discovered more than 90% of the Earth approaching asteroids whose impact could cause global climate change. It was thus unusual when the Catalina Sky Survey found two, new, such giant space rocks in less than a week.
After being lost for ten years, the asteroid 2010 WC9 was re-discovered about a week before it came very close to Earth.
The recent discovery of an asteroid, whose orbit lies completely within that of the Earth, reminds asteroid hunters to continue to search near the Sun so that a large dangerous object does not sneak up undetected on the residents of planet Earth.
An asteroid is exiled to the outer regions of the solar system during Jupiter's rampaging tack away from the Sun long ago. During that process enough material was left in Jupiter's wake to form Venus, Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt as we know them today.
Modern technology provides us with stunning views of objects in the Universe in wavelengths invisible to our eyes, however, nothing is as moving and thought provoking as looking into deep space with your very own eyes.
Brian Africano's first Potentially Hazardous Asteroid discovery can come near to the Earth and Mars.
To find planets close to home NASA has launched TESS the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite which will monitor more than 200,000 nearby, stars over the entire sky to detect the tiny dips in light caused when a planet passes in front of it's star. The TESS era will be a most exciting time as humans discover and are able determine the properties of relatively nearby habitatable worlds and dream about what might be living in our neighborhood of the Milky Way.
In the early evening of January 17, 2018 six hundred and seventy four observers in 11 States and Canada reported a fireball meteor streaking across the sky to the American Meteor Society. To find freshly fallen meteorites visit the American Meteor Society's website but do not hunt for meteorites on private land without permission.
On June 30, 1908 a celestial object exploded 28,000 feet above the Tunguska river drainage area in Siberia, Russia releasing the energy of 185 Hiroshima sized atomic bombs. Recently a similar sized space rock made a sudden appearance before it passed very close to our Earth and Moon.
Fireballs are meteors which become brighter than the planet Venus and can sometimes be seen in the daytime. If you are lucky to see a fireball send in your report to the American Meteor Society and become a citizen scientist.
In the space of only four days, my Catalina Sky Survey teammates, Brian Africano, Alex Gibbs, and Greg Leonard, discovered three Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Searching for such a large space rock on an impact trajectory with planet Earth is what keeps my team, the Catalina Sky Survey, going to our four telescopes, 24 nights per month, when the moon isn't too bright, in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson Arizona.
So far asteroid hunters have discovered about 8,000 of the 25,000, large, potentially hazardous asteroids, suspected to exist, leaving 17,000 more to be discovered. For this reason, NASA has designed and proposed the NEOCam spacecraft to give us the ability to find them before they find us.
If you set your mind to it, you can find and hold a sample of an asteroid, called a meteorite, which has landed on the Earth's surface. On the other hand, watching major meteor showers will allow you to see but not touch comet dust as it enters and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Theoretically, If an asteroid on a collision course with our planet could be slowed sufficiently it could be made to pass behind our planet as it orbits the Sun. It is not as easy as we would like.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard's discovery of, 2018 FO5, a three football field diameter asteroid that can come closer than our Moon is a reminder that we need to keep searching for the many thousands of Potentially Hazardous asteroids larger than 500 feet in diameter which are likely to exist.
Perhaps C/2018 F3 (Johnson) is an interstellar visiting Comet and is thus a sample of a place currently beyond our reach.
To give you an idea of the asteroid traffic in our neighborhood, on a mostly cloudy night, through holes in the clouds, in a space of less than 2 hours, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski posted 7 new close approaching asteroid discoveries on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation Page.
The large dangerous asteroids that we don't know about are what keep asteroid hunters going to the telescope.
Tonight, even though the chances are extremely slim, an asteroid hunter could find a sizable asteroid on a collision course with planet Earth.
If we have decades warning, the potential impactor's arrival time could be changed by impacting the dangerous object with a high velocity mass or if we have less time we will need to nuke it which will either blow it to bits or give it a rocket like push.
In the future one can envision a space mining family boarding a descendent of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Vehicle for a a trip into low Earth orbit. A few hundred miles above the Earth's surface they would rendezvous with their asteroid mining spacecraft which will be their home for the next five years or so.
A partnership of humans and computers will help to minimize the damage when asteroid hunters find a space rock with our number on it.
Although no comet nucleus impact on the Earth has been conclusively identified, there is some evidence that suggests the 1908 Tunguska event in Russia, which knocked down trees over a 770 square mile area, could have been caused by a fragment of Comet Encke. However there is no doubt that the Earth's collision with dust and small debris left trailing from comets produces some of the meteor showers we enjoy so much.
In 2017 observers in 50 countries at 440 different observatories made nearly 19 million observations of asteroids and comets which enable scientists to calculate where about 800,000 objects will be in the future.
During the only 3 clears hours of his first night solo as an asteroid hunter, my new Catalina Sky Survey teammate Brian Africano discovered two new Earth approaching asteroids with our Schmidt Telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. Since one of Brian's discoveries is almost 300 feet in diameter, astronomers at 18 different observatories around the world stayed on it for more than 68 hours, after Brian posted his discovery observations, to determine a reasonable orbit for it.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was observing, in the constellation Lynx, with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona , when within the space of only 35 minutes, he discovered two small space rocks well before they made very close approaches to Earth.
Starman and Tesla will continue to orbit the Sun for millions of years to come as a physical testament to human ingenuity and our sense of humor.
A large asteroid approached Earth from the direction of the Sun with little advanced warning.
Most of the humans on planet Earth have never witnessed that the natural night sky is not dark; but rather it is alive with it's own lights. See for yourself by visiting a natural night sky location near you.
On December 25, 2017, while searching for Earth approaching asteroids in the constellation of Virgo, the Universe gave my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard a Christmas present in the form of a comet which now bears his name.
The lonely asteroids which travel high above and far below most of the other members of our solar system may be made out of very strong materials and could be of particular interest to asteroid miners.
Asteroid Hunter, Alex Gibbs, discovered a comet on one of it's rare visits to our neighborhood.
The largest Earth approaching space rock, found by the Catalina Sky Survey in 2017, is 3,250 feet in diameter. One like it strikes the Earth every 500,000 years or so with devastating consequences
Asteroid hunters have discovered a 4 foot 6 inch diameter, baby space rock, about 478,000 miles away in the constellation of Pisces traveling in our direction at 4.5 miles per second.
In 2017, my team, the Catalina Sky Survey discovered 17 space rocks that can come closer than the communication satellites to the surface of planet Earth. Fortunately none of them will strike the Earth anytime soon.
Some very tough asteroids regularly pass closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury and may contain valuable materials such as phosphorus, antimony, silver, gold, and copper.
In 2017 my team the Catalina Sky Survey led the world in the discovery of Earth approaching objects by identifying 987 of them as they whizzed by us.
The mysterious Earth approaching object Phaethon does not fit neatly into our definition of either an asteroid or a comet.During it's close approach to Earth in December of 2017 the Arecibo Observatory, having just recovered from hurricane Maria, used the unique combination of it's giant 1,000 foot diameter dish and RADAR transmitting capability to ping Phaethon to obtain images with the RADAR signals it reflected back to us.
Recent scientific studies have begun to shed light on the interesting mystery of how the small number of what we now call electrophonic meteors produce simultaneous light and sound. If you are lucky you could hear a meteor's dying whispers and could even be the first person to record these sounds on your cell phone.
Rose discovers 8 new interesting asteroids in a single night using the Catalina Sky Survey's Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona.
Greg's comet comes into our neighborhood once per human lifetime and spends most of it's time in the lonely space high above or far below the rest of the members of our solar system.
Long Winter nights with good seeing, from start to finish, are those on which the asteroid hunter makes new discoveries while being treated to views of millions of stars, gas clouds, and galaxies which inspire a child like sense of wonder.
The hypothesis that Oumuamua, the interstellar space rock, is an alien probe is pretty farfetched, however, how it came to have it's current shape is almost equally hard to imagine.
A large asteroid barely missies being classified by NASA as potentially hazardous. It may be a good candidate for asteroid miners.
Aten asteroids can make close approaches to Earth. They are difficult to discover because they spend most of their time inside our orbit with their illuminated side facing away from us.
Intriguing features which change with the Martian seasons mimic flows of liquid water on the Earth's surface.
The first alien object to observed visiting our solar system arrives from truly deep space and leaves us with the mystery of what it is and how it got that way.
A thousand meteors brighter than the planet Venus enter the Earth's atmosphere every day. The record of one of them on your dash cam can reveal where it came from and where to find pieces of it on the ground.
Earth like planets are being discovered circling the most common type of star in our neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy.
A small asteroid soars into the lonely space high above and below the plane of our solar system.
The impact of a 1,200 foot diameter asteroid would produce devastating earth quakes and wind blasts over many square miles on the Earth's surface.
To cut the mission time to Mars, the risks, and the mass of supplies required for such a prolonged space mission NASA is looking at alternative means of rocket propulsion.
My team the Catalina Sky Survey set a new single month record by discovering 211 Earth approaching objects in October of 2017. Fortunately none of them are on a collision course with planet Earth, however, they give us a good idea of what whizzes by us every month.
Perhaps the reason that we have not detected alien civilizations on distant worlds is because they exist in oceans covered by miles of radiation absorbing ice and rocks.
A rock from another solar system is likely to have streaked by Earth before heading back into interstellar space.
On it's gravitational leash, Earth's pet space rock, 2016 HO3, accompanies us at a distance of between 38 and 100 times the Moon's distance from Earth as we both travel about the Sun.
The plants that Mars explorers take with them will provide a source of fresh fruits and vegetables , fresh air to breathe, and perhaps a psychological benefit that is crucial to the success of their mission.
In less than 24 hours, while observing with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona , I discovered two 25 foot diameter space rocks that theoretically can pass less than a quarter of the Moon's distance from us.
Most of New Zealand's large rural areas and land reserves, covering an area as large as the UK, have unpolluted natural night skies offering spectacular views of the southern skies.
A strange object consisting of two mile diameter asteroids surrounded by a gas cloud is orbiting our Sun.
The CubeSat industry is making relatively low cost exploration of space possible and is creating heretofore undreamed of opportunities for the human exploration of space.
To Survive on Venus where the temperature is 864F and the surface air pressure is 90 times that of Earth, NASA and JPL engineers are exploring the concept of avoiding the use of modern temperature sensitive electronics by creating a fully mechanical rover.
A visitor from Mars lands near Tata, Morocco on July 11, 2011. Pieces of it are worth 10 times their weight in Gold.
Meteors, shooting stars, or falling stars are different names for the streaks of light in the night sky which are in reality the dying embers of tiny asteroids. Observing a meteor shower can be a WOW inspiring experience.
Jupiter has been observed by humans through out history, shaped our solar system, and made it possible for Earth to form.
There are approximately 3.2 million Earth approaching asteroids similar in size to the Chelyabinsk impactor which injured nearly 1,500 people and damaged more than 7,000 buildings in February of 2013.
A partnership with yeast and algae will enable spacefaring humans to use their waste products to produce food and plastics during long duration space flights.
The moon cycle from new moon through full moon and back to new moon again was used by many nations to regulate their activities and forms the basis of the Islamic lunar calendar. You might try making the interesting observation of the first visibility of the lunar crescent yourself.
The SpaceX 11 Dragon mission is the first time an American spacecraft has visited the space station since the NASA Space Shuttle Program ended in April of 2011.
Finding a meteorite that has traveled billions of miles through space to reach it's present location is exciting. It might even be worth real money.
Additional observations over the years have eliminated the possibility that Apophis will strike the Earth as it streaks by closer than the communications satellites on that lucky Friday the 13th of 2029.
About the size of a saltine cracker and having a mass of less than 2 dimes, the single-board Sprite spacecraft has all the essentials; solar panels, computing electronics, thermometers, gyroscopes, radio communication equipment and more.
Your representatives, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are heading into deep interstellar space.
Cell phone technology will be used to explore our Moon. Lunar tourists will be able to use their smart phones after 2018.
A new appreciation for our Sun is growing as we learn more about other suns and their families of planets. Go outside today and enjoy some gentle sunshine from our well behaved star.
The most common type of asteroids are likely to have started out as giant convecting mud balls which could still exist at the center of large asteroids like Ceres.
Small Earth approaching asteroids are part of our environment. Early Detection Is The Key
The Kepler Space Telescope has discovered more than 50 habitable Earth sized planets orbiting distant stars.
The Trappist-1 solar system consists of a dim red star and 7 Earth sized planets. Humans are beginning to explore this fascinating new potentially habitable destination.
Will Earth evolved Biology allow humans to create sustainable colonies in space, on the Moon, or on Mars?
NASA's Scout and Sentry software systems allow asteroid hunters to study and keep track of potentially dangerous asteroids.
A 33 foot diameter asteroid has about a 1% chance of impacting the Earth in the distant future.
A tiny space rock which can pass closer to us than the communications satellites may have been ejected from our Moon.
Tabby's star varies in brightness suggesting that it swallowed one or more of it's planets in the very recent past. Cannibal Star or Alien Megastructure?
2017 Asteroid day events are being held at more than 500 hundred locations in 72 countries world wide. Participants at Asteroid Day events are encouraged to sign the 100X Declaration which seeks to increase the rate of discovery of potentially damaging space rocks.
Discovering and researching conditions on relatively nearby planets is within our reach.
About 16% of the Earth approaching asteroids larger than 600 feet in diameter have orbiting companions.
How do we defend against such a complex object if one is found to be on a collision course with planet Earth.
What had appeared as a solitary point of light returns to near Earth to reveal that it is two asteroids in a tight dance.
A 2 mile diameter object bucks the solar system traffic by traveling in a direction backwards to all of the planets.
Holding an object older than any other rock on the ground which is billions of years old and has traveled an unimaginable distance to be with you will be your payoff.
Small asteroids swarm about the Earth in its orbit around the Sun like gnats around an outdoor light in the summer time.
A small asteroid, which could pass under a basketball hoop, missed the Earth by about 9,000 miles.
A ride under a balloon can give you several hours to enjoy the wonders of the Earth and its curvature against the back drop of space.
In the distant future, Carson's first comet discovery is likely to impact a planet or be ejected from the solar system.
The company called Planet has 149 satellites orbiting the Earth which are imaging the Earth's entire land area every day.
A spacecraft will be launched to visit a small metal world whose composition is likely to be worth 10,000 quadrillion dollars on today's market.
The Lucy Spacecraft, named after the human fossil Lucy, will revolutionize our knowledge of the origins of our solar system.
If Lunar and Martian Colonists are to have chips and salsa they will need grow their own tomatoes.
Asteroid hunters are able to find small space rocks before they make a close approach to planet Earth.
2016 is the warmest year the Earth has been in the more than 180 years of record keeping.
An observatory near Marrakech, operated remotely from France and Switzerland, is discovering new members of our solar system.
Astronomers are able to view the rare occurrence of planets in formation with the ALMA radio telescope in Chile.
Tiny messengers from outer space enter our atmosphere every day. Collect your own beautiful micro-meteorite sample.
Humanity should be ready in the unlikely but potentially catastrophic situation in which a comet comes out of nowhere and is heading for planet Earth.
A potentially hazardous asteroid crosses the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. It must be made of durable rocky material to survive its close approaches to the Sun.
It is intriguing to consider that deep inside Mars all of the necessary ingredients for life may be present together.
The asteroid Psyche may be one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the solar system.
Centaurs are named after the mythical beasts which were half human and half horse perhaps because they have characteristics of both asteroids and comets.
Using ground the penetrating RADAR on the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists have discovered an ice deposit on Mars the size of New Mexico.
An asteroid which can come to within about an Earth circumference of the surface of our home planet needs watching.
Humans are developing the ability to study an Earth approaching object to prepare for one that is on an impact trajectory with our home planet.
Atira, named for the Pawnee goddess of Earth and the Morning and Evening Star orbits the Sun inside of our path.
Planning for the unlikely event that an asteroid is on a collision course with planet Earth will minimize injury and the loss of life.
Competition gives humans the best chance to find dangerous objects and tax payers get more bang for their buck.
Combining Art and Science gives us a new way to appreciate the wonders of the Universe.
China's new big ear will be the most sensitive receiver to search for signals from alien civilizations.
Inappropriate night time outside lighting causes accidents and does not deter crime. However, it blinds you from the beauty of the Universe which surrounds you.
Where you are from and where you live has been influenced by changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation relative to its orbit around the Sun.
A rock blasted from the Moon by the impact of an asteroid or comet may be on its way to Earth.
Anyone who thinks women can't do computers and science needs to meet my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny.
An interesting object is spotted streaking across the night sky at the rate of 17 full moon diameters per day.
A new comet is likely to have the characteristics of a really weird traveler in the night.
Astronomers have discovered an Earth sized planet orbiting the closest star to our Sun.
A given piece of ground on Mars is more likely to be hit by a space rock than is an equal sized area on planet Earth. Someday Martian tourists may be treated to super meteor storms.
After a meteor is no longer visible to the human eye it leaves a dark trail which can be followed by Doppler Weather RADAR.
Experience the age old sense of wonder which happens when a human looks into deep space and thinks about what might be out there.
Imagine a telescope old enough for Senior Citizen discounts, which has traveled between mountains, and started life with a metal mirror measuring one thing at time being equipped with a camera with 100 million pixels.
Astronomers are finding thousands of planets orbiting distant stars. Your home the Earth is still the only one where you could live without a space suit.
After a successful trip through the Pluto system, the New Horizons Spacecraft is heading towards an even more distant object.
A giant telescope, under construction, will give us a picture of how objects in the Universe change with time.
With gamma ray eyes one half of your sky would be dominated by two huge bubbles coming from the center of the Milky Way.
Prepare yourself for interesting weather. You will need long woolies and a spacesuit to survive on Mars.
Collisions between planets, planetesimals, asteroids, and comets have produced the place where we live and breathe.
Students and teachers are doing real science by measuring the shadows cast by distant objects in our solar system.
The source of the Geminid Meteor shower each December is a strange little asteroid Phaethon.
A rare nearly tailless comet has been discovered. It could be made of the primitive materials which came together to form our Earth.
Jupiter, the king of our solar system, has provided us with a place to stand and air to breathe.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammates have discovered an asteroid which could be a potential mining target.
By drilling into a crater rim, researchers hope to discover how the Earth and it's life forms recovered from an asteroid impact.
A careful study of the Earth's motion in space is a key to understanding past climate change and enables us to predict future patterns of flooding and drought.
The third closest comet approach to planet Earth in recorded history gives us an opportunity to study a celestial wanderer.
We may be able to learn about the possibilities of life on Mars by studying land forms on the Tibetan Plateau here on Earth.
The Catalina Sky Survey now operates three telescopes, 24 nights per month, in the Catalina mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
The asteroid named for Mildred Shapley Matthews was lost in the solar system for 75 years.
Pound for Pound Enceladus is the brightest object in our solar system. Could it be the home of alien life forms?
The Cosmic Campground is one of the last places where one can experience the natural night sky in the lower 48.
My Catalina Sky Survey team mate Greg Leonard finds an interesting potentially hazardous asteroid.
A potentially hazardous asteroid may be a source of raw materials for future space settlers.
In 2015, my team the Catalina Sky Survey discovered a very diverse group of 566 Earth approaching objects.
We humans are writing a record of our activities into the rock layers currently being produced on planet Earth.
A large telescope reveals that Blinky is a small asteroid which spins once every 9 minutes as it travels through space.
Humans have discovered oceans of liquid salty water on four small worlds in our solar system. Could living things be flourishing in these alien environments?
My team the Catalina Sky Survey discovers 89 new Earth approaching objects in 24 nights
Astronomers have discovered a family of stealthy asteroids some of which may have the potential to sneak up on planet Earth.
An asteroid small enough to fit under a basketball hoop makes frequent approaches to Earth, our Moon, and Mars.
An asteroid hunter wishes for a birthday comet but instead the Universe gave her an asteroid.
A rare very large Earth approaching object is discovered in an unusual place in the sky.
Humans must be very careful not to introduce any of Earth's organisms into the Martian environment.
A small asteroid about the size of a U-Haul moving truck makes frequent visits to our part of the solar system.
A space boomerang meets its fate in a collision with the Earth about 60 miles off of the coast of Sri Lanka producing a bright, but harmless light show in the noon sky.
Asteroids have been hauling water to our Moon and depositing it in places which are very handy for future human colonists.
Comets have blazed a path to the stars for humans to follow. Take the time to look at the naked eye comet, C/2013 US10 (Catalina) as it passes through our solar system on its way to the stars.
Two quite different Earth approaching asteroids were discovered in a clear hole in the sky between storms.
Generally the more data one obtains on a Near Earth Object the less likely it is to strike Earth. This is a story of how this process works.
It is gratifying to see that an individual with modest equipment can make scientific discoveries.
Will 100 million dollars in grant funds be enough for humans to discover a tiny needle in the cosmic haystack?
Beneath it's frozen surface, Jupiter's largest moon may have conditions where life could exist.
A break in the monsoon weather pattern enabled the discovery of new Earth approaching objects.
New research has revealed a truly mind boggling number of potentially habitable locations in the Universe.
Asteroid hunters have discovered an object, which with limited data, appears likely to come close to the Earth in 2081.
Reports that soon an asteroid will strike the Earth producing catastrophic damage are false. What is true is that one may come close to our planet in 2081.
Amazingly, a tough organism found in Antartica on planet Earth has adapted to Mars like conditions
Sir Isaac Newton's ideas continue to be relevant to everyday life in situations ranging from the flight of an airplane to the colors of the rainbow.
A huge new telescope is under construction. It's data is likely to revolutionize our view of the Universe.
NASA sent a RADAR beam across the country by reflecting it from a passing asteroid. Scientists used these data to make a movie of this celestial visitor as it spins slowly through space.
Strange life forms at the bottom of Earth's oceans may provide clues about creatures which may exit on other worlds.
Although most Earth approaching objects are discovered by the large funded surveys, an alert observer with relatively inexpensive equipment can still make an important discovery.
Conditions on one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, could be similar to those near hydrothermal vents on the Earth's ocean floor. Could there be living creatures on this distant world?
The NASA Kepler spacecraft has found an Earth like planet which has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star. It is mind blowing to consider what kind of life forms might exist on a planet which is 1.5 billion years older than mother Earth.
After 9 years, 3 billion miles, and 18 sleeping periods the NASA New Horizons spacecraft is discovering wonders in the far reaches of our solar system.
We know there is invisible stuff out there that has gravity. Its nature remains a mystery.
Diamonds are brought to Earth by asteroids. They are also created on our planet by impacting celestial objects.
A damaging asteroid impact on planet Earth is an extremely unlikely but possible event.
Humans have left their trash in space. Space junk threatens our current activities in many ways.
The minor planet Icarus travels the inner solar system and makes close approaches to our Sun as well as to the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Using the long arm of the internet, Russian astronomers are making discoveries using a telescope in New Mexico, USA.
In the space of less than ten nights, my Catalina Sky Survey teammates discovered 8 new Earth approaching objects. One of them can pass closer to us than our communication satellites.
Astronomers now have the ability to detect the faint glow from asteroids and other solar system objects.
Asteroid hunters are starting to discover nearby objects before they make their closest approach to planet Earth.
Discover the American Association of Variable Star Observers and come to know more about a particular star than anyone else on Earth.
An asteroid hunter literally has to sort through millions of objects to find an unknown Earth approaching asteroid.
For some people the full Moon is for howling. For asteroid hunters it is time to regroup and make improvements in the process of finding Earth approaching objects
Soon it will be possible to study changes in the Universe which have occurred over the past 100 years.
The most likely alien invaders are microorganisms which humans may export from or import to Earth's biosphere.
In the space of a couple of days the Catalina Sky Survey found 3 potentially dangerous asteroids.
A potentially hazardous asteroid has been found which travels on a path which is quite different from most other asteroids.
If you woke up tomorrow with eyes sensitive to radio waves, you would be in for some interesting surprises.
The asteroid hunting community has discovered more than 2000 small space rocks which can approach to less than our Moon's distance from planet Earth.
Astronomers, using a powerful radio telescope in Chile, have discovered that the building blocks of life are present in baby solar systems.
This discovery demonstrates the fact that the asteroid hunting community has the ability to detect small objects before they make their closest approach to Earth.
There are millions of small space rocks which come near the Earth. Here is the story of one of them.
A small asteroid has paid numerous visits to the vicinity of the Earth, Mars, and our Moon.
People are seriously preparing for the discovery that an asteroid is on a collision course with planet Earth.
The Planetary Society is testing and deploying a small satellite to explore the use of solar sails in space.
Asteroids which travel outside the plane of our solar system are likely to have been involved in a collision sometime in the past.
Asteroids which travel outside the plane of our solar system are likely to have been involved in a collision sometime in the past.
The Earth's atmosphere make our life possible as well as keeping us from seeing objects in space clearly.
The largest satellite in our solar system, Ganymede, has more liquid water on its surface than is contained in Earth's oceans, rivers, and lakes. What might be in there?
Three small asteroids are discovered which have the possibility of colliding with planet Earth in the far distant future.
A number of malfunctioning spacecraft have been reprogrammed so that they can produce useful results.
Two 50 foot diameter asteroids, which can make very close approaches to planet Earth, were discovered slightly more than a day apart.
More than 50 years of searching for signals from alien civilizations has produced a deafening silence. My money is on the concept that there are many emerging technical societies in our Milky Way Galaxy.
Objects in the Universe which dim instead of brighten have an interesting story to tell.
An asteroid the size of three city blocks was spotted 50 million miles from Earth. Someday it will make a close approach to our planet.
Comets are one of nature's most spectacular displays. They are in most cases named for their discoverer.
When what appeared to be a single moving point of light in the night sky made a close approach to Earth, NASA RADAR found it to be a small asteroid with a moon.
Observations from telescopes around the world are required to determine the path of Earth approaching objects.
A seemingly unknown potentially hazardous asteroid is found to be an asteroid discovered 12 years ago.
A comet will pass our way once and then, perhaps a countless number of human lifetimes from now, become a comet in another solar system.
In less than one and a half hours, three small approaching asteroids with similar orbits are discovered by the telescopes of the Catalina Sky Survey.
A skyscraper sized Potentially Hazardous Asteroid is discovered when it was 50 million miles from us.
A large asteroid is discovered which can come as close as half the distance to the Moon from us.
A new plan for a space trip to Mars will be able to deliver a steady stream of supplies to a human space colony on the red planet.
The newest member of the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey team, Rose Matheny, discovers her first Earth approaching asteroid.
Ceres is a small dwarf planet in our solar system which contains a large proportion of water. NASA is about to begin to explore it.
2014 was a record year for the asteroid hunting community with more than 1,450 new objects being discovered.
Green Meteors which have long been attributed to alien spacecraft or spy devices are in reality beautiful natural events.
Asteroid hunters have discovered nearly 100 small objects which are accessible by astronauts.
The NASA New Horizons Spacecraft is on a voyage of discovery to the distant parts of our solar system.
Mining asteroids may seem farfetched, however, some on our planet are actively pursuing this goal.
NASA/JPL has developed a new computer program, based on software game architecture, which allows you to tour space using real NASA data.
The successful unmanned test of the Orion Spacecraft is the beginning of a new chapter in the human exploration of space.
We are discovering many small asteroids which pass closer to us than the Moon. Very rarely one of them crashes into the Earth or Moon.
The use of Radioisotope Power Systems has brought us a wealth of knowledge about our solar system.
It appears that the human population is at more at risk from smaller rather than larger Earth impacting asteroids.
Students have the opportunity to do original scientific research and to discover and name asteroids.
Observations of what appeared to be different objects, over the time span from 1819 to the present, are likely to be manifestations of the same traveler in the night.
A recently discovered Earth Approaching comet reminds us that there are objects like this out there and how they could influence human activity.
A small meteoroid traveling faster than a rifle bullet has more kinetic energy than a locomotive.
A small asteroid becomes bright enough to be seen with a small telescope and an electronic camera.
What would it be like to witness an asteroid impact similar to what happened at Tunguska, Russia in 1908.
Space rocks have been observed hurtling between planets, flying through our atmosphere, and lying on the surface of planet Earth.
A semi-trailer truck sized, rapidly rotating, asteroid comes almost to the distance of the communication satellites from Earth.
In 10 years there will only be a few places in the United States to see the Milky Way clearly or view a meteor striking across the night sky.
Rocks ejected from Mars by the impact of an asteroid or comet can and do find their way to Earth.
In the past 30 years more than 20,000 meteorites have been found in Antarctica. Some of them originated on the Moon or Mars.
Through out history humans have viewed the night sky and used it as a source of information and sense of wonder. There is a new place to view the night sky in all of its beauty, the Cosmic Campground.
The small asteroid which entered the Earth's atmosphere and injured nearly 1500 people in February of 2013 had a history which can be traced back to the Moon forming event.
Rocks from the Moon can end up on the surface of the Earth and be worth more than diamonds or gold.
The Rosetta Spacecraft's arrival at a comet's nucleus has begun a process of discovery.
Astronomers have discovered a planet, twice as old as the Earth, at the right distance from its Sun to harbor life.
Humans have become used to having artificial Earth satellites. The close passage of a comet or a mega solar flare could disable them.
Strong radio and TV transmissions from Earth will probably fade as human communications switches to satellites and fibers. Perhaps the way to detect humans from afar in the future is by our pollution of the Earth's atmosphere.
NASA is planning a new Mars rover which will be based on the successful Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rovers. It will be able to directly search for signs of ancient life and assess the landing site for possible future human astronauts.
By looking at a star as one of its planets passes in front of it, astronomers are able to learn about its atmosphere.
SpaceShipTwo will carry 6 passengers and two pilots and be launched from the 18,000 acre SpacePort America in New Mexico.
The Hubble Space Telescopes finds a surprising lack of water on three planets outside of our solar system.
The NASA Deep Space Network is celebrating its 50th birthday. It is the way all of our spacecraft phone home.
What was designed to be a 3 month mission has turned out to be a fascinating exploration of our next door neighbor
The NEOShield project is an international group of scientists and engineers who are developing techniques to protect us from Earth impacting objects.
The best preserved meteorite on Earth was analyzed and found to contain the building blocks of life.
The building blocks of life can form in deep space. From there asteroids and comets bring them to Earth.
Asteroid hunters find find 5 large asteroids in our neighborhood. Fortunately none of them is on a collision course with planet Earth.
A small asteroid, capable of causing human injuries, if it entered the Earth's atmosphere, passed between the Earth and Moon. It was detected only after it was moving away from the Earth. Given enough telescopes we could have detected it 6 hours before its closest approach.
The Spitzer Space Telescope has been used to characterize an asteroid suitable for visitation by Astronauts.
A newly discovered near Earth object is either a huge asteroid or a comet. We will just have to wait and see.
Our Moon has many fascinating features which can be observed with a small telescope or binoculars.
The NASA Juno Spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter. It will provide clues to the nature of the largest planet in our solar system.
For the second time in a month, a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid literally comes out of nowhere as it brightens and approaches the Earth's orbit.
Recent observations indicate, that an asteroid which appeared to be the most serious risk of Earth impact, will safely miss the Earth for many years.
A remarkable Potentially Hazardous Asteroid orbits the Sun on a roller coaster type ride.
Asteroids with orbits which are in orbits very different from main belt asteroids may be interesting even if they do not make close approaches to Earth.
A very large Potentially Hazardous Asteroid suddenly appeared by brighting 250 times as it rounded the Sun and crossed the Earth's orbit. It is an amazing object which survived a close approach to the Sun.
The NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope was used to discover 29 potentially Earth Approaching objects.
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope was used to take images of the most distant galaxies ever observed. This view takes us back in time to shortly after the Universe came into being with the big bang.
The Earth has been struck by objects from space many times in the past. Could asteroid impact craters be the place to search for evidence of life on Mars?
A visit to the asteroid Psyche will provide clues as to the nature of the Earth's core.
The Kepler Space Craft has discovered an Earth like planet which may have conditions which may allow life as we know it to exist. Can we imagine what creatures might live there?
On Earth Day, Astronauts revealed that the Earth is struck by small asteroids more often than previously thought. They propose to build and launch the Sentinel Space Telescope to provide a warning of impending asteroid impacts.
Learn to navigate the night sky with your naked eye and find the place where the NASA Kepler Space Craft has found an Earth like planet at the right distance from its star to have life as we know it.
Measurements of its rate of spin and shape reveal that the asteroid Itokawa has a very odd structure.
Data obtained from automobile dash cams has enabled scientists to understand the airburst which occurred when a small asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere on February 15, 2013.
One million human lifetimes ago an asteroid impact was at least partially responsible for eliminating the dinosaurs. The asteroid hunting community has met the US Congressional mandate to find 90% of the 1 Km sized Earth approaching asteroids. Currently the search is progressing to finding football field sized near Earth objects.
Two new objects have been discovered in what was once thought to be an empty region of our Solar System. They are so far from our Sun that they are very cold and take many thousands of years to make one trip around it.
A human standing on Mars would see the Earth and Moon as either a double morning or evening star. Recently the NASA Curiosity Rover took an image of this beautiful scene.
For hundreds of years the Saturn was the only planet known to have rings. Now we know that Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune also have rings. Recently the asteroid Chariklo was found to have a pair of icy rings.
The 5000th near Earth Asteroid found by the NASA funded Catalina Sky Survey was published early in 2014. This group has discovered 47% of the Earth Approaching Objects known to exist.
In March of 2014 six asteroids which pass closer than our Moon to us were discovered. Fortunately none of them will impact the Earth anytime soon.
Astronomers are discovering that many asteroids have a peanut shape and that some have small moons.
An asteroid spins up, develops 6 tails, and breaks apart under the gentle influence of Sun light.
Only 13 out of the more than 10,000 Earth approaching objects have their orbit completely within that of the Earth.
A prelude of a manned flyby of Venus and Mars could be a manned mission to an asteroid. The search for an appropriate asteroid continues.
Friday the 13th of 2029 will be a lucky day for the Human race when the asteroid passes very near the Earth.
Binary asteroids are relatively common and would present a challenge if one of the were heading for Earth.
Jupiter was once thought to provide a shield which has prevented impacts from objects in space. Modern calculations find that Jupiter sends some object our way and deflects others. You may be surprised with the results.
NASA is planning an Asteroid Redirect Mission which will place a small asteroid in orbit about our moon. There it can be visited and studied by human astronauts.
Asteroid 2013 TV135 is a potentially hazardous asteroid which at first appeared to be on a collision course with planet Earth. Subsequent observations refined its orbit and reduced its chances of striking us.
The Kepler Spacecraft has discovered that planets which are apparently similar to Earth exist outside of our solar system.
An object is discovered that first appeared to be a huge near Earth asteroid. Subsequent observations show it to be a comet making a single trip through our solar system.
What are our options when we discover that an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth?
After a tour of the inner solar system, the Rosetta Spacecraft will land on a comet, make measurements, and return data to Earth.
In 1908 a small asteroid or comet entered the Earth's atmosphere over Siberia and killed 80 million trees.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will perform a sample and return mission to the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu.
The first Earth approaching asteroid discovered in 2014 hit our planet 20 hours after its discovery.
A Potentially Hazardous Asteroid and a small asteroid which passed very near the Earth were discovered the same day by the telescopes of the Catalina Sky Survey.
In 2013 the Voyager I spacecraft became the most distant human made Traveler in the Night as it continues its journey into space.
In 2013 the Voyager I spacecraft became the most distant human made Traveler in the Night as it continues its journey into space.
A description of what happened when a large rock in space entered the Earth's atmosphere over Russia on February 15, 2013.