Travelers in the Night Eps. 353E & 354E: Peaceful Star & Martian Debris

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an
observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired
from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006.
travelersinthenight.org


From September 2025.


Today's 2 topics:


- 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.


 


- 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. 


 


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