343E-366-3 Explorers

343E-366-3 Explorers

Author: Albert D. Grauer July 1, 2025 Duration: 2:01
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.

Each episode of Travelers In The Night feels like a quiet, personal conversation under a dark sky. Hosted by astronomer Dr. Albert D. Grauer, this podcast brings the distant cosmos into sharp, intimate focus. Dr. Grauer isn't just an observer; he's an active participant in the hunt, working with the Catalina Sky Survey team that has consistently discovered near-Earth asteroids for years. In these brief and engaging segments, you'll hear firsthand accounts of what it's like to track these ancient celestial travelers-the asteroids and comets that silently pass by our world. The discussions move beyond simple facts to explore the real-world implications of these discoveries, from planetary defense to the sheer wonder of our dynamic solar system. Accompanied by the contemplative music of John Lyell's "Eternity," each installment offers a moment of calm reflection on humanity's place in the universe. It’s a perfect blend of grounded science and cosmic curiosity, making complex astronomical concepts accessible and deeply fascinating. For anyone who has ever looked up and wondered what's out there moving in the dark, this podcast provides a direct line to the front lines of discovery.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 1000

Travelers In The Night
Podcast Episodes
317E-336-Meteorite Mystery [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
829-Space Weather and National Security [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
316E-335-DART [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
828-Alive With Light [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 loca…
315E-334-Last 19 Hours [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
827-Meteor Parents [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
314E-333-Whoppers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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. Er…
826-Ants and Asteroids [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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, flo…
313E-332-Greg's Destination [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 Le…
825-Backyard Asteroid Discovery [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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. Du…