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00:00:00
This is space time series 26 episode 96 for broadcast on the
00:00:05
11th of August 2023. Coming up on space time, a new tool in the
00:00:10
hunt for dangerous Earth threatening asteroids has its
00:00:13
first success. Why some asteroids are able to generate
00:00:17
magnetic fields. And that mysterious piece of space junk
00:00:21
that washed up on a Western Australian beach. Well, turns
00:00:24
out it was Indian all that and more coming up on space time.
00:00:30
Welcome to space time with Stuart Garry.
00:00:50
A new asteroid discovery algorithm has identified its
00:00:53
first potentially hazardous asteroid that is a space rock
00:00:56
orbiting close enough to the Earth to be a concern. The 200 m
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wide asteroid designated 2022 SF 289 was discovered during a test
00:01:05
drive of the algorithm which is designed to uncover near Earth
00:01:08
asteroids for the Vera Sea Ruben Observatory's upcoming 10 year
00:01:12
survey of the night sky.
00:01:14
Virii Ruben will be looking for thousands of as yet unknown near
00:01:18
Earth asteroids. Finding 2022 SF 289 confirms that the next
00:01:23
generation algorithm known as Helio Link 3D can identify near
00:01:27
Earth asteroids with fewer more dispersed observations than
00:01:30
required by today's methods.
00:01:32
Ribbon scientist Ari Hats from the University Of Washington who
00:01:36
developed the algorithm and in future may well have wound up
00:01:39
saving the Earth says that by demonstrating the real world
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effectiveness of the software, there is C ribbon will make us
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all safer.
00:01:47
The solar system is home to tens of millions of rocky bodies.
00:01:51
They range in size from small meteoroids, the size of pebbles
00:01:55
or even grains of sand up to dwarf planets. The size of our
00:01:59
moon, most of these bodies are distant pose no threat but there
00:02:03
are a number which orbit close enough to Earth to be a worry.
00:02:06
And these are known as Neos or near Earth objects. The closest
00:02:10
of these are those whose trajectory takes them close
00:02:13
enough to Earth's orbit to warrant special attention.
00:02:16
Scientists search for potentially hazardous asteroids
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using very specialized telescope systems like the Atlas survey
00:02:23
run by the team at the University Of Hawaii.
00:02:26
They do so by taking images of different parts of the sky at
00:02:29
least four times every night. A discovery is made when they
00:02:33
notice a point of light moving unambiguously in a straight line
00:02:37
over the series of images so far. Astronomers have discovered
00:02:41
some 2350 potentially hazardous asteroids using this method, but
00:02:45
they estimate there will be at least as many more waiting to be
00:02:48
discovered.
00:02:49
And from its peak in the Chilean Andes, the Viri Sea Reuben
00:02:53
Observatory is set to join the hunt for these objects. In early
00:02:56
2025 Ruben's observations will dramatically increase the
00:03:01
discovery rate of potentially hazardous asteroids by scanning
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the skies unprecedentedly quickly.
00:03:07
With its 8.4 m mirror and massive 3200 megapixel camera
00:03:12
visiting spotss on the sky twice every night rather than the four
00:03:16
times needed by present telescopes. But with this novel
00:03:19
observing cadence, researchers need a new type of discovery
00:03:22
algorithms to reliably spot space rocks.
00:03:25
So Reuben's solar systems software team at the University
00:03:29
Of Washington have been working to develop the codes working
00:03:32
with Smithsonian senior astrophysicist and Harvard
00:03:35
university lecturer, Matthew Holman, who in 2018, pioneered a
00:03:39
new class of heliocentric asteroid search algorithms.
00:03:42
Heinz together with Sigfried Eggle from the University Of
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Illinois developed Helio Link 3D, a code that could find
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asteroids in Reuben's data set with Ruben still under
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construction. Heinzen Eggle wanted to test the Helio Link 3D
00:03:57
to see if he could discover a new asteroid in existing data.
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One with too few observations to be discovered by today's
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conventional algorithms.
00:04:05
The Atlas astronomers then offered their data set to test
00:04:09
and the Reuben team let loose Helio 3D quickly spotting their
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first potential hazardous asteroid 2022 SF 289 which was
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initially imaged by Atlas at a distance of 21 million
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kilometers from Earth. Now, in retrospect, Atlas had observed
00:04:25
2022 SF 289 3 times on four separate nights, but never the
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requisite four times on a single night needed to be identified as
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a new neo.
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Other surveys had also missed 22 SF 289 because it was passing in
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front of the ritz star fields of the milky way. Now, by knowing
00:04:44
where to look, additional observations could be made using
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the pan stars and Catalina Sky surveys which quickly confirm
00:04:50
the discovery.
00:04:52
So what do we really know about this dangerous space rock? Well,
00:04:56
22 SF 289 is classified as an Apollo type Neo or near Earth
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object. That's one whose orbit does cross that of the Earth.
00:05:05
Its 200 m diameter is large enough to be classified as
00:05:08
potentially hazardous.
00:05:10
Its closest approach brings it to within 226 kilometers of
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Earth's orbit that's closer than the moon. But despite its
00:05:18
proximity projections indicate it poses no real danger of
00:05:22
hitting the Earth. At least not in the foreseeable future. This
00:05:25
report from the National Science Foundation.
00:05:28
Birthplace of every human who's ever lived. All our heroes, all
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our villains, all our homes dwarfed by the space through
00:05:37
which it flies, vulnerable and precious. Our neighbors. Mars
00:05:41
and Venus remain tens of millions of miles away even at
00:05:44
closest approach.
00:05:46
But the trajectory that of an asteroid called 2022 SF 289
00:05:50
comes much closer. This isn't an impact. It misses Earth's orbit
00:05:55
by 140 miles over half the distance to the moon. That's a
00:05:59
good thing at roughly 600 ft in diameter 2022 SF 289 could cause
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an explosion big enough to destroy several cities.
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If it struck a populated region, it won't impact the Earth in the
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foreseeable future. It's just one of hundreds of potentially
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hazardous asteroids whose orbits are carefully calculated as part
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of NASA's effort to defend the Earth. The remarkable story here
00:06:21
is how this asteroid was discovered amid the beautiful
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desolation of the Chilean Andes.
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The Vera Rubin Observatory is being built to perform humanity
00:06:31
's most ambitious survey yet of the night sky starting in 2025
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Ruben will precisely measure billions of stars and Galaxies
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and protect our planet by discovering thousands of near
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Earth asteroids.
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Smaller telescopes can't detect to scan the widest possible
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areas of sky. Ruben. Asteroid discovery relies on a new
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algorithm called Helio Link 3D, which can combine data for
00:06:55
multiple nights and find new asteroids with just two images
00:06:58
per night where current surveys need four.
00:07:01
Hoping to confirm this plan works in real life, ran the new
00:07:05
software on weeks of data from NASA'S asteroid Terrestrial
00:07:08
impact last alert system, Atlas.
00:07:11
It took a long time. Existing software is very efficient and
00:07:15
doesn't miss much. But the discovery of 2022 SF 289.
00:07:19
The very first neo ever discovered using Helio Link 3D
00:07:23
is the proof that new software can help the ongoing surveys
00:07:26
discover even more additional analysis identified further
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initially unrecognized detections of 2022 SF 289 from
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other surveys, Helio Link 3D will enable Rubin to fulfill its
00:07:39
promise of discovering and tracking thousands of new
00:07:42
potentially hazardous asteroids by validating the ongoing global
00:07:46
effort to defend our planetary home.
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The discovery of 2022 SF 289 should make us all feel safer.
00:07:55
This is space time still to come why some asteroids are able to
00:08:00
generate magnetic fields. And scientists identify a mystery
00:08:04
piece of space junk that washed up on a Western Australian
00:08:07
beach. All that and more still to come on space time.
00:08:24
A new study suggests that heat generated by collisions between
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accreting asteroid fragments could be enough to produce
00:08:31
magnetic field traces in some metallic asteroids. The findings
00:08:35
reported in the Journal proceedings of the National
00:08:37
Academy Of Sciences PNAS may have solved a long standing
00:08:41
puzzle and even shed light on the formation of magnetic
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geodynamo in the course of planets.
00:08:47
Planetary magnetism is key to understanding both the internal
00:08:51
structure and evolution of many celestial bodies, the cause of
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the Earth mercury and two of Jupiter's moons ganymede and AA,
00:08:59
for example, all generate detectable magnetic fields.
00:09:03
And there are also traces of ancient magnetism found on Mars
00:09:06
and the Earth's moon as well. But there are also meteorites,
00:09:10
small space rocks that have fallen to Earth that also
00:09:13
contain hints of magnetism and that's always been a bit of a
00:09:16
mystery.
00:09:17
Scientists say there are some iron meteorites which bear the
00:09:20
remnants of an internally generated magnetic field and
00:09:23
that shouldn't be possible. Although iron meteorites are
00:09:26
thought to represent the metallic cause of asteroids.
00:09:29
These cores are not expected to have the highly specific
00:09:32
internal characteristics necessary to simultaneously
00:09:35
generate and record magnetism.
00:09:37
But a new study suggests that under the right conditions,
00:09:40
collisions between asteroids can lead to the formation of
00:09:43
metallic asteroids that can generate a magnetic field and
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record that magnetism by their own materials.
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Yale University scientist Z Tian Chan and David Bercovici claim
00:09:54
that small fragments of these asteroids with traces of
00:09:57
magnetism in them could fall to Earth as meteorites.
00:10:01
The authors were conducting research on what are known as
00:10:03
rubble pile asteroids which are created when gravitational
00:10:07
forces caused the fragments from an asteroid collision to reform
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into new combinations that work inspired Jag and Bercovici to
00:10:15
consider the question of whether the rubble pile phenomenon might
00:10:18
be relevant to the generation of magnetic field.
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The author's modeling suggests that after an asteroid
00:10:24
collision, it is possible for a new iron heavy asteroid to form
00:10:28
with a cold rubble pile in a core surrounded by a warmer
00:10:32
liquid outer layer when the cold dec core begins to draw heat
00:10:36
from the outer layer and lighter elements such as sulfur are
00:10:39
released which initiates convection. This in turn could
00:10:42
create a magnetic field.
00:10:44
Now, according to their model, this sort of dynamic could
00:10:47
generate a magnetic field for several million years, which
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would be long enough for its presence to be embedded in iron
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meteorites, which could then be detected by scientists when they
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fall to Earth.
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Billions of years later, Bercovici admits the idea of
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rubble piled core is a bit like dropping ice cubes into molten
00:11:04
metal. They can't be too big or too small, but there is this
00:11:08
ideal size that is just small enough to cool in space but also
00:11:12
sink fast enough into the melted metal and pile up in the center
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to make an inter core like the Earth at least for a little
00:11:18
while this is space time still to come.
00:11:23
Scientists have finally solved the mystery of a piece of space
00:11:26
junk that washed up on a Western Australian beach. And later in
00:11:30
the science report, archaeologists discovered the
00:11:33
remnants of what could be the world's earliest curry, all that
00:11:37
and more still to come on space time.
00:11:56
A mysterious object that washed up on a Western Australian beach
00:11:59
last month has finally been confirmed as a piece of space
00:12:02
junk from a spent Indian rocket. The barnacle encrusted pressure
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tank washed up on a beach near Durian Bay, a remote coastal
00:12:10
region two hours north of Perth.
00:12:12
Now, the legacy media quickly speculated that this must be
00:12:16
part of Malaysian Airlines flight. 370. That's the plane
00:12:20
that disappeared back on March the 8th 2014 while on a flight
00:12:24
from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
00:12:26
But astronomers and space scientists quickly identified
00:12:29
the 3 m tall 2.5 m wide tank as rocket debris, either a liquid
00:12:34
oxygen or propellant fuel tank. Now, ASA the Australian Space
00:12:38
Agency has confirmed this debris was part of the expended third
00:12:42
stage of an Indian Polar satellite launch vehicle.
00:12:45
A PSLV and the local town council for the shire of Kro say
00:12:50
they'd like to keep the debris as a tourist attraction. They'd
00:12:53
set it up in a park somewhere. Of course, this isn't the first
00:12:57
time Australia's found itself a landing ground for space junk
00:13:01
almost exactly a year ago, a sheep farmer in New South Wales
00:13:04
found the charred remains of parts of a falcon nine rocket in
00:13:08
one of his paddocks.
00:13:09
And of course Western Australia itself is no stranger to space
00:13:13
junk with the remains of NASA's skylab Space Station crashing
00:13:17
back to Earth in wa a 480 kilometers east of Perth. Back
00:13:21
in 1979 this is space time and time.
00:13:42
Now to take another brief look at some of the other stories
00:13:44
making news in science this week. With the science report, a
00:13:47
new study claims that back to back LA Niña events are likely
00:13:51
to become more frequent under future greenhouse gas emissions
00:13:55
scenarios.
00:13:56
The findings reported in the Journal nature suggest a 33 per
00:14:00
cent increase in back to back LA Niña events predicted under a
00:14:03
high greenhouse gas emissions scenario. The findings reported
00:14:08
in the Journal nature suggest a 33 per cent increase in back to
00:14:11
back LA Niña events can be predicted under a high
00:14:14
greenhouse gas emissions forecast.
00:14:17
The study found that under the high emissions scenario, the
00:14:20
frequency of multi year LA NINAS increased from one event every
00:14:23
12.1 years, which we saw on average between 1919 99 to 1
00:14:29
event every 9.1 years, which is likely to be the regime from the
00:14:33
year 2000 through to 2099.
00:14:35
And that means more rains for eastern Australia. The authors
00:14:39
say their findings of a probable future increase in multi year LA
00:14:43
Niña frequency strengthens calls for an urgent need to reduce
00:14:46
greenhouse gas emissions in order to alleviate the adverse
00:14:50
impacts.
00:14:52
A new study has confirmed that switching to a vegetarian or
00:14:55
vegan diet could help people at high risk of cardiovascular
00:14:59
disease to lower their cholesterol levels, their blood
00:15:02
sugar levels and maybe even drop a few kilos.
00:15:05
The research reported in the Journal of the American Medical
00:15:08
Association pulled together 20 previous clinical trials,
00:15:12
finding benefits from switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet
00:15:16
for six months. The authors say more high quality trials will
00:15:20
further help clarify the effects of healthy plant based diets in
00:15:23
people with cardiovascular disease.
00:15:28
The remnants of what's believed to have been South East Asia's
00:15:31
earliest curry dating back around 2000 years has been found
00:15:35
at an archaeological dig site in Vietnam. The discovery reported
00:15:40
in the Journal science advances changed new light on the trade
00:15:43
network of the time as well as the role of spices in the daily
00:15:47
lives of the ancient people of the day.
00:15:49
The archaeologists found traces of spices on the grinding slab
00:15:53
and other stone tools buried 2 m below the surface which was dug
00:15:57
up in 2018 at the site of an ancient Fun Kingdom trading hub.
00:16:02
The analysis revealed several culinary spices that originated
00:16:05
in different places around the world including turmeric, ginger
00:16:09
finger root sand, ginger galeal, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon.
00:16:16
Well, it's fashion week and if you're not sure what to wear for
00:16:19
your big night out ghost hunting, we have the solution
00:16:22
well known fashion Tim Menne from Australian skeptics has
00:16:26
some important advice about what clothes are to die for. If you
00:16:30
want to be in the spirit of things beyond the grave, you're
00:16:33
laughing.
00:16:34
This is serious stuff. Here. We often talk about ghost hunters
00:16:37
and the equipment they need to carry in order to do their jobs
00:16:40
and an important task that they need to undertake things that go
00:16:43
beep and things that go Boeing. And of course, they also have to
00:16:47
dress in a certain way. So let's tackle this from the top.
00:16:52
I have to wear special black or cam gear because, well, let's
00:16:57
face it. They don't want to be seen.
00:17:01
Let's go through it.
00:17:02
Ok. It's always confused me why they have to wear black or
00:17:05
camouflage outfits because I don't think the ghosts are going
00:17:07
to care. But apparently they do. Apparently ghosts get worried if
00:17:10
you're wearing sort of loud gear or shiny gear or reflective
00:17:14
gear. The ghosts believe it or not get spooked.
00:17:16
Something very funny about the idea of a ghost getting.
00:17:18
Spooked and they might not come out. So they're saying there's
00:17:22
one suggestion of this website which normally has a pretty good
00:17:25
tongue in cheek approach to a lot of this stuff that says if
00:17:27
you must wear reflective clothing, cover it up with a
00:17:30
dark cardigan or blazer. So what 's the purpose of the reflective
00:17:35
day glow gear?
00:17:36
No tray outfits that you just come off the building site with
00:17:38
the same goes with jewelry and accessories. You don't want to
00:17:41
have dangly earrings, dingle, dangle bracelets or noisy
00:17:44
necklaces, et cetera. All these things are going to scare a
00:17:47
ghost. So apparently the ghosts are scared of everything else.
00:17:49
So why do they come out? Yeah, somebody's very practical
00:17:52
because often you go ghost hunting at night again. I don't
00:17:54
know why. If you're going into a dark house, you can go in there
00:17:57
in daylight and there should be a ghost as Well, I don't know
00:17:59
why a ghost only comes out at night.
00:18:01
The daylight, you'd see what, when you come out and you see
00:18:04
what it was, if it was in daylight and if you see at night
00:18:06
time, everything is so vague anyway, and that is when you
00:18:08
start to believe in ghosts, that 's when your evidence is sort of
00:18:11
a bit shonk. But anyway, in the night time it gets cold,
00:18:14
especially if you're out in a cemetery or something like that,
00:18:16
you're probably going to get pretty cold.
00:18:17
So they're suggesting one, you've got to wear layers of
00:18:19
clothing. That's very nice of them. That's a good idea. You
00:18:21
should use the right footwear, sensible shoes, et cetera, you
00:18:24
know, walking shoes, hiking shoes, that sort of thing
00:18:27
because you might trip over a tombstone or something like
00:18:29
that.
00:18:29
You got to wear protective gear, they recommend gloves, et cetera
00:18:32
and masks because you go into an old house and full of dust and
00:18:35
all sorts of fungi and all sorts of awful things that you might
00:18:39
actually get sick from being in there.
00:18:40
So, you know, gloves and masks and probably we have to say
00:18:43
appropriate a tie, meaning non reflective and that sort of
00:18:46
stuff don't wear white gloves. One thing they say avoid wearing
00:18:48
any red items, but I'm not quite sure why they don't wear red
00:18:52
items when ghost hunting in an old graveyard. I don't know if
00:18:55
that's a religious thing or what?
00:18:56
But it's a strange bit of advice and they say bring a change of
00:18:58
clothes because you might get spooked actually because you
00:19:01
might get wet. And I think they mean falling over in mud come
00:19:06
from, but we won't get, I don't think they mean soiling
00:19:08
yourself. Right.
00:19:09
But I mean, maybe they do, maybe go are just really fashion
00:19:12
conscious for accessories that's going to be warm, etcetera, but
00:19:16
don't get carried away. So there are some dress restrictions that
00:19:19
you should obey when going ghost hunting. There's no mention of
00:19:22
camouflage gear in this thing. So I'm not sure if they put in
00:19:24
and out, but basically.
00:19:26
Close with the ghosts, don't you?
00:19:28
Well, the interesting thing is that all these paranormal teams
00:19:31
all wear the same clothes, you see, they've got this uniform
00:19:33
and they often have a little logo on their shirt, et cetera,
00:19:36
which is very impressive. Frano Town paranormal hunters.
00:19:40
They all wear the same stuff and whether it's a black outfit or
00:19:42
whether it's a camouflage gear, it's a semi sort of paramilitary
00:19:46
approach in some of these cases. But most of this advice what to
00:19:48
wear when ghost hunting is just the same as stuff you'd say what
00:19:50
to wear when going out in the cold night. So they are, these
00:19:53
ghost hunters are very practical.
00:19:54
That's Tim Men from Australian Skips and that's the show for
00:20:14
now. SpaceTime is available every Monday, Wednesday and
00:20:18
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