Travelers in the Night Eps. 349E & 350E: Trappist-1 Planets & Brute

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 August 2025.


Today's 2 topics:


- The Trappist-1 planetary system located about 40 light years
away in the constellation of Aquarius consists of a small red
dwarf star and 7 Earth sized planets. By carefully studying
changes in the planet's transit timings and the shape of the dip
in the host star's brightness as each planet transits across it,
astronomers have been able to measure the orbital period, radius,
and approximate mass for each of the 7 planets.


 


- Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski
discovered 2017 MB1, a 0.4 mile diameter asteroid with the
Catalina Sky Survey Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, AZ. Two
hours and 11 minutes later it came into a set images I obtained
with the 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, AZ. After I reported
it, the new object was tracked by telescopes in Arizona, New
Zealand, Slovenia, Kansas, Australia, Hungary, France, and
Brazil.


 


We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to
support editing, hosting, and production costs. 


Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate
as much as you can!


Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to
them too! 


Every bit helps! Thank you!


------------------------------------


Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for
cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and
other awesomeness!


http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through
your donations. 


Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)


------------------------------------


The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary
Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu


Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at
info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.