Travelers In The Night – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Travelers In The Night

Albert D. Grauer

Science

Frequency: 1 episode/3d. Total Eps: 1000

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

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Apple

Data updated on 04/07/2026

Recent rankings

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Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - Astronomy
03/10/2026
#54
🇬🇧 Great Britain - Astronomy
03/10/2026
#93
🇺🇸 USA - Astronomy
03/10/2026
#76
🇨🇦 Canada - Astronomy
02/10/2026
#49
🇬🇧 Great Britain - Astronomy
02/10/2026
#91
🇺🇸 USA - Astronomy
02/10/2026
#80
🇨🇦 Canada - Astronomy
01/10/2026
#38
🇬🇧 Great Britain - Astronomy
01/10/2026
#85
🇺🇸 USA - Astronomy
01/10/2026
#67
🇨🇦 Canada - Astronomy
30/09/2026
#69

Spotify

No recent rankings available

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5280391
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RSS feed quality and score

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RSS feed quality

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Score global : 49%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

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Latest published episodes

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812-The Benu Files I

Friday, August 30, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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299E-318-Caves of Mars

Tuesday, August 27, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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811-Martian Meteroite Hunters

Friday, August 23, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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

298E-317-Psyche Water

Tuesday, August 20, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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810-Humans Can

Friday, August 16, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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297E-316-Weird Centaur

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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

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809- How Close Can An Asteroid Approach

Friday, August 9, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

296E-314-Our Number

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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808-Global Auroras on Mars

Friday, August 2, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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295E-313-Martian Motherlode

Tuesday, July 30, 2024 • Duration 02:01

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.

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Travelers In The Night – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Travelers In The Night – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other1

Apple Podcasts

Spotify