376E-412-Tiny Space Rock

376E-412-Tiny Space Rock

Author: Albert D. Grauer February 17, 2026 Duration: 2:01
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.

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
343E-366-3 Explorers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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 th…
855-Planetary Defense [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 “Plan…
342E-365-Tabby's Star [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 oth…
854-Weird Planet Exotic Life? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 car…
341E-364-Laser Surfing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 descr…
853-Tardigrade [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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 ar…
852-Landing On Mars [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
The good news is a Mars landing by human colonists and their equipment seems technically feasible given a large budget of cash and grit.
339E-359-Ice World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
851-Scientists Views Odds of Aliens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…
338E-357-Double Trouble [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01
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…