Galactic Influences and Supermoons: Exploring Earth's Crust and Taikonaut Trials

(00:00:00) Galactic Influences and Supermoons: Exploring Earth's Crust and Taikonaut Trials
(00:00:42) Earth's geology written in the stars
(00:10:30) Taikonauts stranded in space following space junk impact
(00:12:38) Biggest Supermoon of the year
(00:14:59) The Science Report
(00:17:20) Skeptics guide to jogging big foots

In this episode of SpaceTime, we delve into fascinating intersections of geology and astronomy that could reshape our understanding of Earth's history and the cosmos.
Earth's Geology Written in the Stars
A groundbreaking study reveals a compelling connection between the structure of our Milky Way galaxy and the evolution of Earth's crust. Researchers from Curtin University have found that meteorite impacts, influenced by the solar system's journey through the galaxy, have played a significant role in shaping our planet's geology. The episode explores how ancient zircon crystals are providing a unique archive of Earth's interactions with the galaxy, suggesting that astrophysical processes may have directly influenced the continents beneath our feet and the conditions that made life possible.
Taikonaut Stranded in Space
In a dramatic turn of events, three Chinese taikonauts are stranded in orbit after their Shenzhou 20 spacecraft was struck by suspected space junk just hours before their scheduled return to Earth. This segment discusses the implications of the impact, the ongoing assessments by mission managers, and the potential need for a replacement capsule to ensure the crew's safe return. The episode also reflects on past incidents involving space debris and the measures taken to protect the Tiangong Space Station.
The Biggest Supermoon of the Year
Skywatchers around the globe were treated to the biggest supermoon of the year, appearing 7% larger and 30% brighter than a typical full moon. This segment explains the science behind the phenomenon, including the moon's elliptical orbit and its impact on tides. We also discuss how the term "supermoon" became popularised and the frequency of such lunar events, with several more supermoons on the horizon.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Physical Review
https://journals.aps.org/pr/
Nature
https://www.nature.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
Earth's Geology Written in the Stars
Taikonaut Stranded in Space
The Biggest Supermoon of the Year
Earth's Geology Written in the StarsTaikonaut Stranded in SpaceThe Biggest Supermoon of the Year

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, Episode one hundred and
thirty two, for broadcast on the tenth of November twenty
twenty five. Coming up on Spacetime, Planet Earth's Geology, Written
in the Stars, Tigernaughts Stranded in Space, following Space Junk Impact,
and the Biggest Superman of the Year. All that and

(00:20):
more coming up on Spacetime.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
A new study has uncovered a striking link between the
structure of our Milky Way galaxy and the evolution of
planet Earth's crust. The findings, reported in the journal Physical
Review Research shows that crustal development were shaped not just
by internal geological processes, but also by the impact of
meteorites during Earth's journey through our galaxy. The Sun and

(01:07):
its Solar System are currently located in the Milky Way's
Orion arm, about twenty seven thousand light is from the
galactic center. The Solar System orbits around the center of
the Milky Way roughly every two hundred and thirty million years,
traveling at an average speed of around eight hundred and
twenty eight thousand kilometis per hour. But the Solar System's

(01:27):
path through the galaxy isn't a perfect circle, and also
it oscillates up and down through the galactic plane. The
newest search shows that the chemistry of tiny ancient crystals
in Earth's crust may be capturing the rhythm of meteorite
impacts during the Solar System's passage through the Milky Way's
vast spiral arms. The studi's lead author, Chris Kirkland from

(01:49):
Curtain University, says the work provides new evidence linking Earth's
ancient geological record with a large scale structure of the galaxy.
Kirkland says tiny durable minerals called zircon crystals are providing
a unique archive of Earth's interaction with the galaxy. By
looking at chemical changes in these circon crystals and then

(02:09):
comparing them with maps of gas in the Milky Way,
Kirklin colleagues so that the changes lined up with times
when the Solar System passed through the galaxy's different spiral arms,
which i densely packed with stars and gas. Extra gravitational
forces in these crowded regions may have disturbed icy comets
at the edge of our Solar system, knocking summat paths

(02:30):
that eventually sent them crashing into Earth. The resulting impacts
have released enormous energy, melting parts of the planet's surface
and producing more complex magmas, especially when interacting with water
rich environments. Kirkland says the findings opened the door to
a new frontier, one where geology can be directly connected
with discoveries in astronomy. The research reveals that Earth's geological

(02:55):
evolution cannot be understood in isolation from the broader galactic environment.
He says, it suggests that extrophysical processes on the galactic
scale may have directly influenced the continent's beneath our feet
and even the conditions that made life possible in the process,
ashering in a new era of astra geological science.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
We have been obviously very fortunate in West Australia to
do a lot of analyzes of rocks and specifically the
crystals are put and we've created huge data sets and
those data sets have got patterns within them that tell
us about the magmas within Earth and the diversity of
magmats through times. And with those huge data sets, we're
kind of interested in that pattern and we discovered that

(03:38):
that pattern actually matches a aftrophysical pattern and that the
pattern that we see from the Solar system passing through
the spiral arms of the Milky Way, and that pattern
is defined by hydrogen gas, which creates a radio astronomy signal,
and that radio astronomy signal seems to map quite closely
into this geological signal, and that's really interesting. We can

(04:00):
think about potentially the reasons why there might be a
connection between those two signals.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
So what you're talking about is the galactic year. It
happens as the Sun and Solar system travel through the
spiral arms, because we're in the orion arm now, but
we're not just stuck in the Orion arm. The Sun
and Solar system move through the various spiral arms.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So at the distance we are
out from the central black Hole within our Milky Way
with its spiral arms, the solar systems going around at
about two hundred and forty kilometers a second, but the
density wave of themselves at that distance routate more slowly
at about two hundred to two hundred and ten cometers second.

(04:38):
So that means that with given enough time, our solar
system will migrate through those density way of arms, and
that obviously then changes the galactic environment our solar system
has seen, and then from that we might think about
our solar system passing through regions of higher dust density
and gas density, and the knock on implications of that

(04:59):
maybe in Earth's geology, which I think is really fascinating
to think.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's almost like a core sample of the galaxy, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, that's why it's so I think exciting, right, because
astrophysics is great with these radio waves. It's how we
understand our fire arms of our galaxy. But we can't
see through our central black hole, and we're within the
galaxy itself. So making these maps of our galaxy, everyone's
seeing the art is rendering. We can't send a satellite
art far enough to take a photograph back, so we
use radio waves to create our understanding of the spiral

(05:30):
arms of the galaxy. But we can't see through the
central black hole. But we look far enough back in time,
and we could actually potentially use Earth's geology to help
us understand what's on the far side of the central
black hole.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
And this is where Zegon crystals came in.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, the geologist's best friend. They basically are this deep
time archive of our planet, they crystallize, and when they
crystallize they trap a little bit of uranium, and that's
important because there were time that uranium changes the lead,
So that means we've thought this the stop watching this
in the clock in our zerk On crystal. But not
only that, you know, the Zirkon crystals also contain other chemistry,
other chemical information on other isotopes we can use to

(06:06):
tell us about a process, so that gives us information
about time, but also our process, so then that gives
us this really rich data set we can actually use
to understand lots of things about our planet. And one
of the beautiful example of that is the Zirkon crystals.
Oxygen isotopes tell us that we had oceans on our
planet from very early on. But the auction isotopes also
can tell us about where magmas are forming. Are they

(06:29):
form deep within Earth's crust or early forming near the surface.
And what we find during these spiral arm periods is
that there is more variability in our oin isotopes signals,
so telling us that magmas are forming in more wider
range of places deeper in the crust, but also shell
are in the crust when we're passing through the fire arms,
and then we can think about, well, why is there
a connection?

Speaker 1 (06:48):
That's my next question.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, so I think we have to start thinking about
impact playing a role. So that's the obvious reason to
explain why there seems to be this correlation between galactic
spiral arms and the diversity of magnets on our planets.
So one way of doing that is when we're entering
the spiral arm regions, we're maybe dislodging more material from

(07:11):
the distant icy regions of our Solar System that's known
as the cloud. So we might be disturbing material from
there and sending in shars of comets and meteorites periodically
into the inner Solar System, and that's probably what's being
or at least it's a good explanation to explain why
we're finding more diversity and crust forming processes during these

(07:32):
periods of time. So I think it's beautiful that we're
potentially seeing our connection between our planet and it's the
wider cosmos. When geologists frequently think about internal processes, and
undubtedly internal processes are important and our planet external processes
are also probably really important for our planet over its
extreme duration of time. As unfrequently reminded, correlation is not causation,

(07:54):
which is true. But with larger data set, we start
to see patterns that we need to develop models to explain.
And what I think is interesting thinking about ways of
testing this further. So you would predict that we should
start to see similar patterns in lunar geology and Martian
geology in terms of periods of impacting. So if that
means more creators or a greater variety of geological processes

(08:17):
during those time periods we're seeing and enhance the bombardment
rate or impact flax is the technical terms. Basically, it
just means more impacts during the periods that we're passing
through the spiral arms of our galaxy.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
And also places like Mass and the Moon don't have
the plate tectonics that we have here on Earth, so
that mixing doesn't go on.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So the record on Earth tends
to self reraise because of plate tectonics and ocean cross
being subducted. So that's why zircon crystals are so important
because they give us this deep time archive of our planet.
But you're right, we look at the Moon without plate tectonics,
maybe it's of a complementary and supporting records. Of course,

(08:56):
one of the issues with the Moon is that the
impacts themselves, the creator's self areas that your older creators
are more likely to have been eroded by other creators
coming over the top of them. So that's why the
crystal record is actually really important because it preserves with
quite a lot of detail these processes that can be
lost from other records.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well, would you like to say this go next?

Speaker 3 (09:18):
I think we've been talking about it. I would love
to have as rich deep time data set from Mars
and the Moon to test this, and it's fundamentally important.
What we're actually talking about is making a connection between
our planet and how the crust of our planet came
to be, which is important for life, and where we
sit within the Milky Ways. So it's really going from

(09:38):
sitting on an analytical instrument firing laser beams and looking
at voltages and electrons, making correlations from that all the
way up to the size of a crosson you know,
and Earth cross, but then going right out to the
huge scale of our Solar system and then even bigger
into spiral arms of our Milky Way. And that's kind
of profound to be able to think across those different
scale that's.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Professor Kirklin from Curtain University, and this is space time
still to come. Taiker notts stranded in orbit following space
junk impact and the biggest Superman of the year. All
that and more still to come on space time. Three

(10:31):
Chinese taiker knots are stranded in orbit after suspected space
junk hit their Shenzu twenty spacecraft just hours before it
was slated to undock from China's Tiangong space station for
the return journey to Earth. Mission managers are still assessing
the damage in order to try and determine if it's
safe for re entry. If not, the trio will need
to wait for either a replacement Shenzu caps were to

(10:53):
be launched or take over the Shenhu twenty one spacecraft,
which arrived on the space station on Halloween within new
station crew. The problem is that would leave the new
crew without an escape mechanism if something else goes wrong.
Apparently Beijing does keep a space and zoo on standby
for emergencies, but as to how long it would take
to get that prepared for a spaceflight and have a

(11:15):
rocket ready to launch it on is yet to be explained.
The Shenzu twenty crew arrived on station on April the
twenty fourth. Like the Russian Soyuz space craft on which
it was originally based, the Shenzu's composed of three detachable sections,
a power and propulsion service module, crew living quarters, and
a re entry in landing module, which is fitted with

(11:36):
parachutes for the return to Earth. If any of these
modules are deemed unsafe due to impact damage, mission managers
would elect to deorbit the shen Zu un manned. It's
not the first time China's Tiangong space station has been
impacted by space junk. Back in twenty twenty three, one
of the orbiting our post solar panels was sit triggering
a partial power shortage on station. China has since in

(12:00):
stored additional shielding to sections of the space station's exterior
following that event. This is space time still to come
the biggest supermoon of the year, and later in the
Science report, a new study warns that up to fifty
nine percent of Antarctic ice shelves are at risk of
disappearing by the year twenty three hundred. All that and

(12:20):
more still to come on space time. Skywatchers around the
world have enjoyed a spectacular perogy full moon, the biggest

(12:43):
so called supermoon of the year, appeared to be seven
percent larger and thirty percent brighter than the average full moon.
The dazzling lunar show happened because the Moon's orbit around
the Earth isn't circular but elliptical. The Moon orbits the
Earth in twenty nine and a half day is what's
known as a synodic month. The moon cycles from a

(13:04):
new moon to full moon and back again, always keeping
the same face turned towards the Earth. The lunar orbit
ranges from an apergee, the moon's most distant orbital position
from Earth four hundred and five thousand kilometers, down to
a perogy, its nearest orbital position to the Earth of
three hundred and fifty six thousand kilometers, and this latest
perogy Moon was thirty thousand kilometers closer to Earth than

(13:27):
the average Earth Moon distance. And so when perogy occurs
during a full moon, our lunar neighbor appears to be
bigger and brighter than usual. Now in reality, you probably
wouldn't have noticed the difference unless it was pointed out
to you and just to burst another bubble. These so
called supermoons really aren't all that uncommon. In fact, there

(13:48):
were eight this year, five new moons earlier in the year,
and three full moons at its end, the first back
on October the seventh, then that just occurred November fifth event,
and another next month on the December, and another supermoon
that's a perogy full moon will take place in January.
One major effect of perigy moons is their impact on

(14:10):
Earth's tides. When the Moon is closer to Earth, its
gravitational pull is slightly stronger, producing perogy in spring tides,
which are a few centimeters higher than normal, a modest
but measurable effect. As for the name supermoon, well, that
dates back to the nineteen seventies and it wasn't invented
by an astronomer, but an astrologer promoting his fantasies. Still,

(14:34):
NASA thought it was catchy and adopted it to try
and get more people interested in astronomy. The good news
is it worked. This is Space Time and time out

(14:59):
to take a brief look at some of the other
stories making us in science this week with a Science
Report New researchers shown for the first time that Australian
marsupials are highly contaminated with synthetic forever chemicals, which have
already been linked to significant health impacts in humans and
other animals. Are reporting the journal Science of the Total
Environment measured the concentrations of man made per and polyfluor

(15:23):
alkali substances in possums from the Greater Melbourne region. They
found that all the possums they examined had been exposed
to these forever chemicals, with forty five different types in
their livers. In fact, the problems so bad the average
levels were among the highest ever recorded for any small
terrestrial mammal anywhere in the world. A new study warns

(15:44):
that aging populations across Europe are set to fuel increased
rates of antibiotic resistant bloodstream infections over the coming decades.
The findings, reported in the General plus Medicine, used data
for more than twelve million surveillance blood tests across Europe
to track the changing rates of eight drug resistant bacteria
from twenty fifteen to twenty nineteen. They use that data

(16:07):
to project future rates, with the rate of spread different
depending on aid, sex and country. The authors say drug
resistant infections are projected to increase more in men than
women in the coming decades, and it will also increase
dramatically among those over the age of seventy four, while
stabilizing or even declining in younger people. A new study

(16:28):
warns that the world's carbon emissions remain high, with up
to fifty nine percent of addactic ice shelves at risk
of disappearing by the year twenty three hundred. The findings,
reported in the journal Nature, claim existing predictions of how
much warming the ice shells can take focuses on the
temperature of the atmosphere without fully factoring in the impact
of warm Erosian temperatures. Simulating the structural integrity of sixty

(16:53):
four Addarctic ice shells under the atmosphere and ocean warming
of different emission scenarios, the authors found that only one
eye shall remain non viable if warming's kept to below
two degrees celsius by the year twenty three hundred. However,
if emissions remained high and warming escalated to twelve degrees
celsius above pre industrial levels, thirty eight of the ice

(17:13):
shells studied and at Arctica will collapse, contributing to ten
meters of additional sea level rise. For all those finding
bigfoot fans out there, there's a new story doing the
news rounds, apparently showing what's supposed to be a sasquatch
going for an afternoon jog. Timendum from Australian skeptic says
a mysterious figure was captured on video jogging in the

(17:35):
Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, And of course that means
it must have been a sasquatch. Who doesn't like a
good sasquatch story.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Who doesn't like a good sasquatch story? Everyone does? I
love them what they're monsters. Yeah, he's in Australia. All
these things they're fun.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
The fun to be real, but you know, I love.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Them to be it means to be so tramatic and
romantic and all this sort of stuff. But unfortunately the
evidence is not good and the recent case was probably
one of the least bits of evidence. Our video was
released filmed by someone named Bill who has had film
coming in May in Coyote Ridge, California. It's south of
where you normally get your big foot sightings and things
that that's okay, And he was watching his dogs playing

(18:17):
in the snow or something like that, filming them and
send somebody. There's this shape in the distance between the
trees and behind the tree for about a second and
a half. And if you look at the video, which
you can do online, it was jogging. He was jogging,
rather bigfoot south quats jogging, or it was someone jogging.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
We've never seen footage before of bigfoot jogging. They usually
come out at night rather than daytime jogging in the
middle of the day.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's I've seen them ambling, but I wouldn't call that.
I feel in videos ambling and those they tend to
it's fake.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
But shadows, aren't they There's so many dark figures on.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
The normally in forest and that sort of thing, you
don't get a very good view. And as a haze,
this one's not too bad. As far as focuses.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
They're usually called squatch blobs.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Are they right because they're just the shape? Yes? Yeah,
I mean it's with this one. I mean you can
see someone moving, someone moving through the tree. Do you
make it a.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Rule determination of scale or no?

Speaker 3 (19:08):
No?

Speaker 2 (19:09):
And with the speed and the movement looks like jogging.
And I would suggest to you with maybe it's someone
out there having a jog in Coyote Ridge, California. You
can't really see the shape properly, you can't really see
it get an idea of what it is. A certainly
human like yet not the best bit of evidence, not
the worst bit of evidence, I should ask, but certainly
not the best and basically, like all evidence of bigfoot sasquatch, lockness, monsters,

(19:32):
you name it, not very convincing. Unfortunately, unfortunately I'd love
it to be true, but so far deep sid No.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
That's timendum from Australian Skeptics, and that's the show for now.

(20:00):
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(20:42):
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Speaker 2 (20:44):
You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Gary. This
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