September 8, 2025 • 23 mins
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In this episode of SpaceTime, we uncover groundbreaking discoveries in planetary science and solar physics, including the remnants of ancient asteroids on Mars, the recovery of the Mother's Day meteorite, and new insights into solar energetic particles.
Asteroid Remnants Found in Martian Mantle
A new study reveals that fragments from ancient asteroids, which significantly impacted Mars around 4.5 billion years ago, are now trapped within the planet's mantle. Data from NASA's Mars Insight lander has provided unprecedented insights into the Martian interior, showing that these remnants, some up to four kilometres wide, offer a unique glimpse into Mars' geological history. The findings suggest a sluggish evolution of the Martian mantle, contrasting sharply with Earth's dynamic tectonic processes.
Mother's Day Meteorite Discovery
In an exciting expedition, scientists from Curtin University have successfully recovered a meteorite that lit up the skies over Western Australia on Mother's Day. Using the Desert Fireball Network, researchers pinpointed the meteor's landing site and undertook a challenging journey to retrieve samples. Preliminary analysis indicates that the meteorite is an ordinary chondrite, providing valuable insights into its origins and the solar system's history.
Tracing Super Fast Electrons from the Sun
Astronomers have identified two distinct origins for energetic particles emitted by the Sun, thanks to observations from the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter mission. The research highlights the difference between solar energetic electrons linked to solar flares and those associated with coronal mass ejections. Understanding these two types of solar energetic particles is crucial for predicting space weather and protecting satellites and astronauts from radiation hazards.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/
Curtin University
https://www.curtin.edu.au/
European Space Agency
https://www.esa.int/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
This episode of SpaceTime is brought to you with the support of Insta360. Capture your adventures with their latest game-changer, the GOUltra. For a special SpaceTime listener offer, visit store.insta360.com and use the promo code SPACETIME at checkout. Help support SpaceTime and get a great deal. Win/win!
In this episode of SpaceTime, we uncover groundbreaking discoveries in planetary science and solar physics, including the remnants of ancient asteroids on Mars, the recovery of the Mother's Day meteorite, and new insights into solar energetic particles.
Asteroid Remnants Found in Martian Mantle
A new study reveals that fragments from ancient asteroids, which significantly impacted Mars around 4.5 billion years ago, are now trapped within the planet's mantle. Data from NASA's Mars Insight lander has provided unprecedented insights into the Martian interior, showing that these remnants, some up to four kilometres wide, offer a unique glimpse into Mars' geological history. The findings suggest a sluggish evolution of the Martian mantle, contrasting sharply with Earth's dynamic tectonic processes.
Mother's Day Meteorite Discovery
In an exciting expedition, scientists from Curtin University have successfully recovered a meteorite that lit up the skies over Western Australia on Mother's Day. Using the Desert Fireball Network, researchers pinpointed the meteor's landing site and undertook a challenging journey to retrieve samples. Preliminary analysis indicates that the meteorite is an ordinary chondrite, providing valuable insights into its origins and the solar system's history.
Tracing Super Fast Electrons from the Sun
Astronomers have identified two distinct origins for energetic particles emitted by the Sun, thanks to observations from the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter mission. The research highlights the difference between solar energetic electrons linked to solar flares and those associated with coronal mass ejections. Understanding these two types of solar energetic particles is crucial for predicting space weather and protecting satellites and astronauts from radiation hazards.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/
Curtin University
https://www.curtin.edu.au/
European Space Agency
https://www.esa.int/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and eight,
for broadcast on the eighth of September twenty twenty five.
Coming up on Spacetime the discovery of asteroid remnants trapped
in the Martian interior, finding the Mother's Day meteorite, and
astronomers trace super fast electrons back to the Sun. All
that and more coming up on Spacetime.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
A new study has concluded that asteroids which impacted Mars
early in its history now lies scattered in giant lumps
in the red planet's mantle. The findings, reported in the
journal Science, are offering astronomer's new clues about the Martian
interior and its ancient past to say what Appeeddy fragments
from the aftermath of massive impacts on Mars some four
(01:04):
and a half billion years ago have been detected deep
below the red planet's surface. The discovery was made thanks
to data from that is now retired Mars Insite Lander,
which recorded the findings before the mission came to an
end in twenty twenty two. These ancient impacts released enough
energy to melt continent sized chunks of the early Martian
(01:24):
crust and mantle into vast magnaosians, simultaneously injecting both impact
of fragments and Martian debris deep into the planet's interior.
There's no way of knowing exactly what struck Mars. Astronomers
do know that the early Solar System was filled with
a range of different rocky objects it could have impacted
the red planet, including some so large they were effectively protoplanets.
(01:47):
After all, it was a Mars sized protoplanet which slammed
into the early proto Earth, eventually giving us the Moon.
On Mars, the remains of these impacts still exist in
the form of lumps up to four kilometers wide, which
is scattered throughout the Martian mantle. They offer a preserved
record only on worlds like Mars, whose lack of tectonic
plates has kept their interior from being churned up the
(02:09):
way Earth's mantle has through convection. The stadi's lead author,
wrich Tatos Calambos from Imperial College London, says scientists have
never seen the inside of a planet in such fine
detail and clarity before It's showing a mantle studded with
ancient fragments. Their survival to this day till scientists that
the Martian mantle has evolved sluggishly over the last four
(02:31):
and a half billion years. On Earth, features like these
have been a raised through plate tectonics. Maas Is Mars
inside Lander placed its first seismometer on the red planet's
surface twenty eighteen. The extremely sensitive instrument recorded some oney
three hundred and nineteen mass quakes before the lander's mission
came to an end in twenty twenty two as Martian
(02:52):
dust storms blanketed the spacecraft's solar panels, preventing it from
recharging its batteries. Quakes, be they Earth, Mars or anywhere
for that matter, produce seismic waves that change as they
pass through different kinds of material, and that provides scientists
with a way to study the interiors of planetary bodies.
The Insight team we're able to use these readings to
(03:12):
measure the size, depth, and composition not just of the
Martian crust and matal, but even the planet's core. The
latest discovery regarding the metals composition suggests just how much
is still waiting to be discovered within inst stata. Scientists
knew that Mars was the sort of time capsule bearing
records of its early formation, but they didn't anticipate just
(03:34):
how clearly they'd be able to see that through the
insite data. It's all because Mars lacks the tectonic plates
that produce the tremblers many people is seismically active areas
are familiar with, but there are two different types of
quakes on Earth that also occur on Mars, those caused
by rocks cracking under heat and pressure, and those cause
by meteoroid impacts. Meteoroid impacts on mass produce high frequency
(03:56):
seismic waves, waves that travel from the crust deep into
the planet's mantle, located beneath the planet's hard crust. The
Martian mantle can be as much as one thousand, five
hundred and fifty kilometers thick, and it's made up of
solid rock that can reach temperatures as high as fifteen
hundred degrees celsius. The new research identified eight mass quakes
whose seismic waves contained strong, high frequency energy that reached
(04:20):
deep into the mantle, where their seismic waves were distinctly altered.
When scientists first saw this in the quake data, they
thought the slow downs were happening because of the Martian crust.
But then they noticed that the further seismic waves traveled
through the mantle, the more these high frequency signals were
being delayed. Using planet wide computer simulations, the authors saw
(04:40):
that the slowing down and scrambling happened only when the
signals were passing through small, localized regions within the mantle.
They also determined that these regions p to b lumps
of material with a different composition to that in the
surrounding mantle. With one riddle solved, the authors then focused
on another, exactly how the lumps could have gotten there.
Turning back the clock, they concluded the lumps likely arrived
(05:03):
as giant asteroids or other rocky material that struck Mars
during the early Solar system's formation, generating oceans of magma
as they drove deep into the mantle and bringing with
them fragments of the Marsian crust and mantle. The authors
liken the patterns to shattered glass, a few large chards
with many smaller fragments, and the pattern is consistent with
(05:24):
a large release of energy that scattered many fragments of
material throughout the mantle. It also fits in well with
current thinking that in the early Solar System, asteroids and
other planets. Your bodies regularly bombarded young planets. It's all
part of the accretion theory of how planets are formed.
On Earth, the crust and uppermost part of the mantle
is continuously being recycled by plate tectonics, pushing a plate's
(05:47):
edge into the hot interior, where through convection, hotter or
less dense material rises and cooler, denser material sinks. Mass
by contrast, lacks plate tectonics, so its interior would circulate
farm sluggishly. The authors say, the very fact that such
fine structures are still visible today shows that Mars hasn't
undergone the vigorous churning that would have smoothed out these lumps,
(06:09):
and in that way, Mars could be pointing to what
may be lurking beneath the surface of other rocky planets
that lack plate tectonics, planets like Venus and Mercury. This
space time still to come. Discovering the Mother's Day meteorite
and astronomers trace super fast electrons back to the Sun.
All that and more still to come on space time,
(06:47):
scientists have recovered samples of a dazzling meteor which lit
up the western Australian skies on Mother's Day. Researchers from
Curtain University use the Desert Fireball Network, together with weather modeling,
to pinpoint where the space rock would have landed and
determined what direction it may have originated from. They track
them it here to the Western Australian wheat built and
(07:08):
to the remote salt flats of Lake Hope, some five
hundred and thirty kilomets east of Perth. So scientists organized
an expedition to search for remnants of the meteor. The
journey included hundreds of kilomet is behind the wheel, hours
of off road four wheel driving and a night spent
camping under stars. A final seven kilometer trek by foot
(07:29):
across Lake Hope finally brought the researchers to the impact site.
That's where Desit Fiball Network team member Maya Walker made
the big discovery, the impact clearly visible on the stark
white flats of the Salt Lake. Meteorites such as this
are valuable for scientists because it allows them to match
the rock type to its origins in the Solar System
(07:49):
by calculating the impacting orbit. They are only about sixty
meteorites globally that scientists have orbital information on and this
is just a tenth in Australia to be tracked and
recovered by the Desert Fireball Network. The team are now
analyzing the samples to determine their composition. Preliminary indications from
the measurements made by Monash University indicate the rock is
(08:10):
an L L ordinary chondrite and that's similar to the
children the Blinks medior that's the one which air burst
over the Southern Urals in Russia back in February twenty thirteen,
generating a shockwave that caused more than fifty million dollars
in damage and also let the rest of the world
know just how many Russians use dash cams. The Desert
Fireball Network is supported by the Curtain University Node of
(08:32):
the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research. It uses an
array of cameras spread across the country search for meteors
entering its atmosphere and then allows scientists to triangulate where
they landed and where to search for meteorites. Nick tim
Is from Curtain University says the Mother's Day meteorite was
a spectacular discovery.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So as part of the Desert Fireball network, which has
cameras stationed out across the Southern Australian region in the desert.
They captured a fireball which streaked across the sky in
the Wheat Belt of West Australia on Mother's Day and
the team identified a search region where we think the
(09:13):
fireball ended up eventually dropping a meteorite or a bunch
of meteorites, and so the team went out to explore
to see if they can find these meteorites via first
via airplane, and had looked because of the region had
lots of salt lakes and it's easy to spot something
that's splashed into a salt lake recently because it makes
a mark that you can see from the air. Otherwise
(09:35):
it's searching via the bush. And so the team went
out and because they'd published the search area, there was
an amateur collector who was also out on the same
day who was walking towards a big splash in the
salt lake and he saw him basically collect a meteorite
from the salt lake, and he saw them flying around
looking for marks on the salt lake too. So it
(09:56):
was a really good kind of public collaboration and out
each to find this fireball. Sorry find the meteorite that
was dropped by the fireball, and since then we've been
analyzing that in the lab and pieces of it have
been sent for basically X ray tomography, so we can
see what's inside the meteorite before even putting it up,
and then fragments have been sent to different labs to
(10:17):
test around the world, so we can figure out exactly
how long it's set spent in space and how much
exposure it had to cosmic rays, to figure out what
kind of meteorite it is and what its history is,
how we can fingerprint exactly the type based on geochemistry
and isotopes, and also see how it's been affected over
the time by things like impacts or alteration as well.
(10:41):
So the team actually collected many, many fragments of this
meteorite that were dropped on the salt lakes and work
is in progress. So watch this space and I'm sure
we'll be able to tell you what some of the
results are in the near future. Landing on the salt lake,
it's incredibly voracious in terms of the chemical environment, it's
very reactive. Meteorites react to water specifically quite readily. So
(11:04):
the idea is to collect the rocks before they can
be altered by the earth, hydrosphere or atmosphere or sitting
on the ground too long, and they were able to
collect the samples in this particular case within It must
have been on the timeframe of a week, right from
calculating from the fireball where it dropped to getting people
out on the ground searching, so it was really short timeframe,
(11:26):
so we were able to collect things really quickly. Unfortunately,
the salt hadn't really reacted and water hadn't reacted with
a meteorite much at all, so we got it while
it's fresh, and so can we don't have to interpret
through any alteration that's gone on in the meteorite while
it's been on the ground.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That expedition coincided with a meteorite conference being heard at
KUT and tell us about it.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah. Absolutely. Just a month or so after the meteorite landed,
we were already in line to host one of the
largest conferences in the world, an international conference for meteorite experts,
and we were able to show some really early results
to the academics around the world in terms of meteorites,
and everyone was very excited to see how we can
(12:11):
go from sea fireball streaking across the sky to getting
some really good results from the laboratory really quickly. So
they were very intrigued to see some of the new
results that we haven't released of the public yet, but
all will be revealed in time.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Let's Associate Professor Nick Tims from Curtain University, and this
is space time still to come. Astronomers trace super fast
electrons back to the Sun, and later in the science report,
meteorologists say there's now a fifty five percent chance of
the Earth being subjected to another La Nina climate event
sometime between now and November. All that and more still
(12:48):
to come on space time, Astronomers have uncovered two separate
origins for energetic particles being flung into space from the Sun.
(13:12):
The new findings, reported in the journal Astronomy in Astrophysics,
helps solve a longstanding mystery. The results are based on
observations by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbit Emission. The
Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System,
and it's constantly flinging high energy particles including protons, electrons, helium, nuclei,
(13:33):
and magnetic field at nearly the speed of light out
into the Solar system. This solar wind, as it's called,
constantly streams out of the Sun and it bombards the Earth. Occasionally,
powerful eruptions on the Sun increase the flux of these flows,
flooding space with so called solar energetic electrons, and researchers
(13:54):
have now used the solar orbit of spacecraft to pinpoint
the source of these energetic electrons and trace them back
to what's actually happening on the Sun itself. They found
there are actually two kinds of solar energetic electrons. They
each have very distinct origins. One group are connected with
intense solar flare activity. Solar flares, or energetic explosions on
(14:15):
the Sun's surface was by the twisting and snapping of
magnetic field lines which extend from deep below the Sun's
surface out into space through sunspots. The other group are
generated by larger eruptions of solar plasma known as chronal
mass ejections, which themselves are triggered by solar flares. The
stadi's lead author, Alexander Walmouth from the Labnitz Institute of
(14:35):
Astrophysics in Potchdam, Germany, is the data shows a clear
split between impulsive particle events, where these energetic electrons speed
off the Sun's surface in bursts through solar flares, and
more gradual ones associated with more extended chronal mass ejections,
which release a broader swell of particles over a much
longer period of time. While astronomers had a pretty good
(14:56):
inkling that two types of solar energetic particle events exist,
Solar Orbiter was able to measure a large number of
events and look far closer to the Sun than other
missions in order to reveal how they form and leave
the surface of our local star. Warmuth says astronomers were
only able to identify and understand these two groups by
observing hundreds of events at different distances from the Sun
(15:18):
with notible measurements, something only Solar Orbiter can do. By
going so close to the Sun, astronomers could measure the
particles in a pristine early state and thus accurately determined
the time and place they started their journey from. The
authors detected the solar energetic electron events at different distances
from the Sun. This let them study how the electrons
(15:39):
behave as they travel through the Solar system, answering a
lingering question about these energetic particles. See when they spot
a solar flare chronal mass ejection, there's often an apparent
lag between what's scene taking place at the Sun and
the release of energetic electrons in space. In extreme cases,
the particle seem to take hours to escape, which raises
(15:59):
the interesting question why. Well, it turns out that this
is at least partly related to how the electrons are
traveling through space. See as they're flung out, they encounter turbulence,
they get scattered in different directions and so are not
detected immediately. These effects build up as you move further
and further from the Sun. So you need to remember
(16:20):
the space between the Sun and the planets and the
Solar system isn't empty. The solar wind of charged particles
streams up from the Sun consistently dragging the Sun's magnetic
field with it, and it influences how the energetic electrons
are traveling. Instead of morving in straight lines, they're confined,
they're scattered, and they're disturbed by the solar wind and
its magnetism. The study displays an important goal of solar
(16:42):
orbiter that is to continuously monitor the Sun and its
surroundings to trace ejected particles back to their source. These
findings are important for sciences understanding of space weather, where
accurate forecasting is essential to keep spacecraft safe. Of the
two kinds of solar energetic electrons, once associated with chronal
mass ejections, are more important for space weather forecasting because
(17:05):
they tend to hold more high energy particles and so
threaten far more damage. So being able to distinguish between
the two types of energetic electrons is highly relevant for
space where the forecasting and that helps with keeping satellites operational,
maintaining communications and navigation systems, keeping astronauts safe in space
from high doses of radiation, and helping to prepare for
(17:27):
blackouts which could be caused by geomagnetic storms. This is
space time, and time now to take a brief look
(17:50):
at some of the other stories making use in science
this week. With a science report, the word Meteorological Organization
says there's a fifty five percent chance of a lear
Nina climate at the event developing sometime between now and November.
Much of the Pacific Ocean oscillates between Li Ninia and
El Ninia, climatic patterns bringing cool wetter or alternatively hot
(18:11):
or dry conditions to much of Australia. Since March, conditions
have remained fairly neutral, and the World Meteorological Organization says
this a forty five percent chance they'll remain that way
for at least the next three months. It also means
there's very little chance of an El Ninia developing. Of course,
Linina and El Nino are just two of the many
climatic patterns that influence temperatures. However, it's likely temperatures will
(18:34):
remain above average for much of the world even if
another Linina does develop. A new STUDI is warning that
global methane emissions are continuing to increase steadily, with no
signs of slowing down. The findings reported in the General
Nature Communications indicate Asia and the developing Pacific region have
now emerged as the largest contributors to global methane emissions.
(18:57):
That's important because methanees actually contribute about thirty percent to
global warming since pre industrial times. To reach their conclusions,
the authors looked at emissions across one hundred and sixty
four countries and one hundred and twenty sectors between nineteen
ninety and twenty twenty three. It's important to remember that
methane has global warming potential eighty times greater than that
of carbon dioxide, but the authors point out that methane
(19:20):
also has a fairly short atmospheric lifespan that means reductions
today can have an immediate impact. Between nineteen ninety eight
and twenty twenty three, global average methane emission coefficients dropped
by nearly sixty seven percent, reflecting significant technological progress. A
new study has found a link between scrolling while sitting
(19:42):
on the toilet and an increased risk of developing hemorrhoids.
The findings are reported in the General plus one surveyed
one hundred and twenty five adults spending. Those who take
their phone into the DUNI spend significantly more time there
and also just happened to be forty six percent more
likely have hemorrhoids, and that habit may be more more
widespread than you realize. Some two thirds of the survey
(20:04):
admitted to being loose scrollers. There are fresh warnings today
after it was discovered that Amazon are selling a range
of pseudo scientific books promoting bleach as a treatment for autism.
Despite the clear danages of such a practice, Amazon have
once again put profits ahead of public safety only taking
one of the books off the shelves to mendum from
(20:25):
the strand skeptics says petition's now been launched to try
and pressure Amazon to act more responsibly.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
There is no cure for autism. Is a mental condition
and its prevalent in various levels of strength through most
of the population. To suggest it is one, it is
a condition that needs treating, that needs curing, upsets a
lot of the autistic people. And to say that bleach
and we're talking about sort of industrial bleaches hit used
as an enema or an oil solution to treat and
perhaps purge autism out of the body, despite the fact
(20:53):
that it's dangerous, is also a serious issue. It's a
product being sold as miracle mineral solution, which is after
that star. It was actually being sold by a few
sort of fringe religious groups at one state. It probably
still is. It's been condemned by health authorities because it
can cause severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life threatening low blood
pressure from the hydration, and acute liver failure. It is
(21:14):
not something you put inside your body, and it's certainly
not something you put inside your body to cure something
that can't cure it. But Amazon is selling a lot
of books on this stuff release. It's got a lot
of books in its catalog and over about thirty of
them a claiming to cure autism in one way or another.
So there's a campaign to get these books removed after Amazon,
and I think they've had one of them removed so far.
But the Amazon is seeing it as sort as a
don't sell anything. It doesn't matter how awful it is.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Jeff Bezos needs to pay for his wedding, doesn't he.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's right, Yeah, we need the money fail yet to
pay for for the Venice venue. Big deal. But I
mean he's making money out of this. I don't know
how well these books sell. From early days of COVID
when it was also being promoted to cure or treat
COVID and the health people said no, don't and obleaque
industry said no don't. Right, it can cull you.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
That's timendum from Austria and skeptics and that's the show
for now. Spacetime is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday
(22:19):
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(22:44):
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(23:06):
for full details.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Garry.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
This has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and eight,
for broadcast on the eighth of September twenty twenty five.
Coming up on Spacetime the discovery of asteroid remnants trapped
in the Martian interior, finding the Mother's Day meteorite, and
astronomers trace super fast electrons back to the Sun. All
that and more coming up on Spacetime.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
A new study has concluded that asteroids which impacted Mars
early in its history now lies scattered in giant lumps
in the red planet's mantle. The findings, reported in the
journal Science, are offering astronomer's new clues about the Martian
interior and its ancient past to say what Appeeddy fragments
from the aftermath of massive impacts on Mars some four
(01:04):
and a half billion years ago have been detected deep
below the red planet's surface. The discovery was made thanks
to data from that is now retired Mars Insite Lander,
which recorded the findings before the mission came to an
end in twenty twenty two. These ancient impacts released enough
energy to melt continent sized chunks of the early Martian
(01:24):
crust and mantle into vast magnaosians, simultaneously injecting both impact
of fragments and Martian debris deep into the planet's interior.
There's no way of knowing exactly what struck Mars. Astronomers
do know that the early Solar System was filled with
a range of different rocky objects it could have impacted
the red planet, including some so large they were effectively protoplanets.
(01:47):
After all, it was a Mars sized protoplanet which slammed
into the early proto Earth, eventually giving us the Moon.
On Mars, the remains of these impacts still exist in
the form of lumps up to four kilometers wide, which
is scattered throughout the Martian mantle. They offer a preserved
record only on worlds like Mars, whose lack of tectonic
plates has kept their interior from being churned up the
(02:09):
way Earth's mantle has through convection. The stadi's lead author,
wrich Tatos Calambos from Imperial College London, says scientists have
never seen the inside of a planet in such fine
detail and clarity before It's showing a mantle studded with
ancient fragments. Their survival to this day till scientists that
the Martian mantle has evolved sluggishly over the last four
(02:31):
and a half billion years. On Earth, features like these
have been a raised through plate tectonics. Maas Is Mars
inside Lander placed its first seismometer on the red planet's
surface twenty eighteen. The extremely sensitive instrument recorded some oney
three hundred and nineteen mass quakes before the lander's mission
came to an end in twenty twenty two as Martian
(02:52):
dust storms blanketed the spacecraft's solar panels, preventing it from
recharging its batteries. Quakes, be they Earth, Mars or anywhere
for that matter, produce seismic waves that change as they
pass through different kinds of material, and that provides scientists
with a way to study the interiors of planetary bodies.
The Insight team we're able to use these readings to
(03:12):
measure the size, depth, and composition not just of the
Martian crust and matal, but even the planet's core. The
latest discovery regarding the metals composition suggests just how much
is still waiting to be discovered within inst stata. Scientists
knew that Mars was the sort of time capsule bearing
records of its early formation, but they didn't anticipate just
(03:34):
how clearly they'd be able to see that through the
insite data. It's all because Mars lacks the tectonic plates
that produce the tremblers many people is seismically active areas
are familiar with, but there are two different types of
quakes on Earth that also occur on Mars, those caused
by rocks cracking under heat and pressure, and those cause
by meteoroid impacts. Meteoroid impacts on mass produce high frequency
(03:56):
seismic waves, waves that travel from the crust deep into
the planet's mantle, located beneath the planet's hard crust. The
Martian mantle can be as much as one thousand, five
hundred and fifty kilometers thick, and it's made up of
solid rock that can reach temperatures as high as fifteen
hundred degrees celsius. The new research identified eight mass quakes
whose seismic waves contained strong, high frequency energy that reached
(04:20):
deep into the mantle, where their seismic waves were distinctly altered.
When scientists first saw this in the quake data, they
thought the slow downs were happening because of the Martian crust.
But then they noticed that the further seismic waves traveled
through the mantle, the more these high frequency signals were
being delayed. Using planet wide computer simulations, the authors saw
(04:40):
that the slowing down and scrambling happened only when the
signals were passing through small, localized regions within the mantle.
They also determined that these regions p to b lumps
of material with a different composition to that in the
surrounding mantle. With one riddle solved, the authors then focused
on another, exactly how the lumps could have gotten there.
Turning back the clock, they concluded the lumps likely arrived
(05:03):
as giant asteroids or other rocky material that struck Mars
during the early Solar system's formation, generating oceans of magma
as they drove deep into the mantle and bringing with
them fragments of the Marsian crust and mantle. The authors
liken the patterns to shattered glass, a few large chards
with many smaller fragments, and the pattern is consistent with
(05:24):
a large release of energy that scattered many fragments of
material throughout the mantle. It also fits in well with
current thinking that in the early Solar System, asteroids and
other planets. Your bodies regularly bombarded young planets. It's all
part of the accretion theory of how planets are formed.
On Earth, the crust and uppermost part of the mantle
is continuously being recycled by plate tectonics, pushing a plate's
(05:47):
edge into the hot interior, where through convection, hotter or
less dense material rises and cooler, denser material sinks. Mass
by contrast, lacks plate tectonics, so its interior would circulate
farm sluggishly. The authors say, the very fact that such
fine structures are still visible today shows that Mars hasn't
undergone the vigorous churning that would have smoothed out these lumps,
(06:09):
and in that way, Mars could be pointing to what
may be lurking beneath the surface of other rocky planets
that lack plate tectonics, planets like Venus and Mercury. This
space time still to come. Discovering the Mother's Day meteorite
and astronomers trace super fast electrons back to the Sun.
All that and more still to come on space time,
(06:47):
scientists have recovered samples of a dazzling meteor which lit
up the western Australian skies on Mother's Day. Researchers from
Curtain University use the Desert Fireball Network, together with weather modeling,
to pinpoint where the space rock would have landed and
determined what direction it may have originated from. They track
them it here to the Western Australian wheat built and
(07:08):
to the remote salt flats of Lake Hope, some five
hundred and thirty kilomets east of Perth. So scientists organized
an expedition to search for remnants of the meteor. The
journey included hundreds of kilomet is behind the wheel, hours
of off road four wheel driving and a night spent
camping under stars. A final seven kilometer trek by foot
(07:29):
across Lake Hope finally brought the researchers to the impact site.
That's where Desit Fiball Network team member Maya Walker made
the big discovery, the impact clearly visible on the stark
white flats of the Salt Lake. Meteorites such as this
are valuable for scientists because it allows them to match
the rock type to its origins in the Solar System
(07:49):
by calculating the impacting orbit. They are only about sixty
meteorites globally that scientists have orbital information on and this
is just a tenth in Australia to be tracked and
recovered by the Desert Fireball Network. The team are now
analyzing the samples to determine their composition. Preliminary indications from
the measurements made by Monash University indicate the rock is
(08:10):
an L L ordinary chondrite and that's similar to the
children the Blinks medior that's the one which air burst
over the Southern Urals in Russia back in February twenty thirteen,
generating a shockwave that caused more than fifty million dollars
in damage and also let the rest of the world
know just how many Russians use dash cams. The Desert
Fireball Network is supported by the Curtain University Node of
(08:32):
the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research. It uses an
array of cameras spread across the country search for meteors
entering its atmosphere and then allows scientists to triangulate where
they landed and where to search for meteorites. Nick tim
Is from Curtain University says the Mother's Day meteorite was
a spectacular discovery.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So as part of the Desert Fireball network, which has
cameras stationed out across the Southern Australian region in the desert.
They captured a fireball which streaked across the sky in
the Wheat Belt of West Australia on Mother's Day and
the team identified a search region where we think the
(09:13):
fireball ended up eventually dropping a meteorite or a bunch
of meteorites, and so the team went out to explore
to see if they can find these meteorites via first
via airplane, and had looked because of the region had
lots of salt lakes and it's easy to spot something
that's splashed into a salt lake recently because it makes
a mark that you can see from the air. Otherwise
(09:35):
it's searching via the bush. And so the team went
out and because they'd published the search area, there was
an amateur collector who was also out on the same
day who was walking towards a big splash in the
salt lake and he saw him basically collect a meteorite
from the salt lake, and he saw them flying around
looking for marks on the salt lake too. So it
(09:56):
was a really good kind of public collaboration and out
each to find this fireball. Sorry find the meteorite that
was dropped by the fireball, and since then we've been
analyzing that in the lab and pieces of it have
been sent for basically X ray tomography, so we can
see what's inside the meteorite before even putting it up,
and then fragments have been sent to different labs to
(10:17):
test around the world, so we can figure out exactly
how long it's set spent in space and how much
exposure it had to cosmic rays, to figure out what
kind of meteorite it is and what its history is,
how we can fingerprint exactly the type based on geochemistry
and isotopes, and also see how it's been affected over
the time by things like impacts or alteration as well.
(10:41):
So the team actually collected many, many fragments of this
meteorite that were dropped on the salt lakes and work
is in progress. So watch this space and I'm sure
we'll be able to tell you what some of the
results are in the near future. Landing on the salt lake,
it's incredibly voracious in terms of the chemical environment, it's
very reactive. Meteorites react to water specifically quite readily. So
(11:04):
the idea is to collect the rocks before they can
be altered by the earth, hydrosphere or atmosphere or sitting
on the ground too long, and they were able to
collect the samples in this particular case within It must
have been on the timeframe of a week, right from
calculating from the fireball where it dropped to getting people
out on the ground searching, so it was really short timeframe,
(11:26):
so we were able to collect things really quickly. Unfortunately,
the salt hadn't really reacted and water hadn't reacted with
a meteorite much at all, so we got it while
it's fresh, and so can we don't have to interpret
through any alteration that's gone on in the meteorite while
it's been on the ground.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That expedition coincided with a meteorite conference being heard at
KUT and tell us about it.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah. Absolutely. Just a month or so after the meteorite landed,
we were already in line to host one of the
largest conferences in the world, an international conference for meteorite experts,
and we were able to show some really early results
to the academics around the world in terms of meteorites,
and everyone was very excited to see how we can
(12:11):
go from sea fireball streaking across the sky to getting
some really good results from the laboratory really quickly. So
they were very intrigued to see some of the new
results that we haven't released of the public yet, but
all will be revealed in time.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Let's Associate Professor Nick Tims from Curtain University, and this
is space time still to come. Astronomers trace super fast
electrons back to the Sun, and later in the science report,
meteorologists say there's now a fifty five percent chance of
the Earth being subjected to another La Nina climate event
sometime between now and November. All that and more still
(12:48):
to come on space time, Astronomers have uncovered two separate
origins for energetic particles being flung into space from the Sun.
(13:12):
The new findings, reported in the journal Astronomy in Astrophysics,
helps solve a longstanding mystery. The results are based on
observations by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbit Emission. The
Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System,
and it's constantly flinging high energy particles including protons, electrons, helium, nuclei,
(13:33):
and magnetic field at nearly the speed of light out
into the Solar system. This solar wind, as it's called,
constantly streams out of the Sun and it bombards the Earth. Occasionally,
powerful eruptions on the Sun increase the flux of these flows,
flooding space with so called solar energetic electrons, and researchers
(13:54):
have now used the solar orbit of spacecraft to pinpoint
the source of these energetic electrons and trace them back
to what's actually happening on the Sun itself. They found
there are actually two kinds of solar energetic electrons. They
each have very distinct origins. One group are connected with
intense solar flare activity. Solar flares, or energetic explosions on
(14:15):
the Sun's surface was by the twisting and snapping of
magnetic field lines which extend from deep below the Sun's
surface out into space through sunspots. The other group are
generated by larger eruptions of solar plasma known as chronal
mass ejections, which themselves are triggered by solar flares. The
stadi's lead author, Alexander Walmouth from the Labnitz Institute of
(14:35):
Astrophysics in Potchdam, Germany, is the data shows a clear
split between impulsive particle events, where these energetic electrons speed
off the Sun's surface in bursts through solar flares, and
more gradual ones associated with more extended chronal mass ejections,
which release a broader swell of particles over a much
longer period of time. While astronomers had a pretty good
(14:56):
inkling that two types of solar energetic particle events exist,
Solar Orbiter was able to measure a large number of
events and look far closer to the Sun than other
missions in order to reveal how they form and leave
the surface of our local star. Warmuth says astronomers were
only able to identify and understand these two groups by
observing hundreds of events at different distances from the Sun
(15:18):
with notible measurements, something only Solar Orbiter can do. By
going so close to the Sun, astronomers could measure the
particles in a pristine early state and thus accurately determined
the time and place they started their journey from. The
authors detected the solar energetic electron events at different distances
from the Sun. This let them study how the electrons
(15:39):
behave as they travel through the Solar system, answering a
lingering question about these energetic particles. See when they spot
a solar flare chronal mass ejection, there's often an apparent
lag between what's scene taking place at the Sun and
the release of energetic electrons in space. In extreme cases,
the particle seem to take hours to escape, which raises
(15:59):
the interesting question why. Well, it turns out that this
is at least partly related to how the electrons are
traveling through space. See as they're flung out, they encounter turbulence,
they get scattered in different directions and so are not
detected immediately. These effects build up as you move further
and further from the Sun. So you need to remember
(16:20):
the space between the Sun and the planets and the
Solar system isn't empty. The solar wind of charged particles
streams up from the Sun consistently dragging the Sun's magnetic
field with it, and it influences how the energetic electrons
are traveling. Instead of morving in straight lines, they're confined,
they're scattered, and they're disturbed by the solar wind and
its magnetism. The study displays an important goal of solar
(16:42):
orbiter that is to continuously monitor the Sun and its
surroundings to trace ejected particles back to their source. These
findings are important for sciences understanding of space weather, where
accurate forecasting is essential to keep spacecraft safe. Of the
two kinds of solar energetic electrons, once associated with chronal
mass ejections, are more important for space weather forecasting because
(17:05):
they tend to hold more high energy particles and so
threaten far more damage. So being able to distinguish between
the two types of energetic electrons is highly relevant for
space where the forecasting and that helps with keeping satellites operational,
maintaining communications and navigation systems, keeping astronauts safe in space
from high doses of radiation, and helping to prepare for
(17:27):
blackouts which could be caused by geomagnetic storms. This is
space time, and time now to take a brief look
(17:50):
at some of the other stories making use in science
this week. With a science report, the word Meteorological Organization
says there's a fifty five percent chance of a lear
Nina climate at the event developing sometime between now and November.
Much of the Pacific Ocean oscillates between Li Ninia and
El Ninia, climatic patterns bringing cool wetter or alternatively hot
(18:11):
or dry conditions to much of Australia. Since March, conditions
have remained fairly neutral, and the World Meteorological Organization says
this a forty five percent chance they'll remain that way
for at least the next three months. It also means
there's very little chance of an El Ninia developing. Of course,
Linina and El Nino are just two of the many
climatic patterns that influence temperatures. However, it's likely temperatures will
(18:34):
remain above average for much of the world even if
another Linina does develop. A new STUDI is warning that
global methane emissions are continuing to increase steadily, with no
signs of slowing down. The findings reported in the General
Nature Communications indicate Asia and the developing Pacific region have
now emerged as the largest contributors to global methane emissions.
(18:57):
That's important because methanees actually contribute about thirty percent to
global warming since pre industrial times. To reach their conclusions,
the authors looked at emissions across one hundred and sixty
four countries and one hundred and twenty sectors between nineteen
ninety and twenty twenty three. It's important to remember that
methane has global warming potential eighty times greater than that
of carbon dioxide, but the authors point out that methane
(19:20):
also has a fairly short atmospheric lifespan that means reductions
today can have an immediate impact. Between nineteen ninety eight
and twenty twenty three, global average methane emission coefficients dropped
by nearly sixty seven percent, reflecting significant technological progress. A
new study has found a link between scrolling while sitting
(19:42):
on the toilet and an increased risk of developing hemorrhoids.
The findings are reported in the General plus one surveyed
one hundred and twenty five adults spending. Those who take
their phone into the DUNI spend significantly more time there
and also just happened to be forty six percent more
likely have hemorrhoids, and that habit may be more more
widespread than you realize. Some two thirds of the survey
(20:04):
admitted to being loose scrollers. There are fresh warnings today
after it was discovered that Amazon are selling a range
of pseudo scientific books promoting bleach as a treatment for autism.
Despite the clear danages of such a practice, Amazon have
once again put profits ahead of public safety only taking
one of the books off the shelves to mendum from
(20:25):
the strand skeptics says petition's now been launched to try
and pressure Amazon to act more responsibly.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
There is no cure for autism. Is a mental condition
and its prevalent in various levels of strength through most
of the population. To suggest it is one, it is
a condition that needs treating, that needs curing, upsets a
lot of the autistic people. And to say that bleach
and we're talking about sort of industrial bleaches hit used
as an enema or an oil solution to treat and
perhaps purge autism out of the body, despite the fact
(20:53):
that it's dangerous, is also a serious issue. It's a
product being sold as miracle mineral solution, which is after
that star. It was actually being sold by a few
sort of fringe religious groups at one state. It probably
still is. It's been condemned by health authorities because it
can cause severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life threatening low blood
pressure from the hydration, and acute liver failure. It is
(21:14):
not something you put inside your body, and it's certainly
not something you put inside your body to cure something
that can't cure it. But Amazon is selling a lot
of books on this stuff release. It's got a lot
of books in its catalog and over about thirty of
them a claiming to cure autism in one way or another.
So there's a campaign to get these books removed after Amazon,
and I think they've had one of them removed so far.
But the Amazon is seeing it as sort as a
don't sell anything. It doesn't matter how awful it is.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Jeff Bezos needs to pay for his wedding, doesn't he.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's right, Yeah, we need the money fail yet to
pay for for the Venice venue. Big deal. But I
mean he's making money out of this. I don't know
how well these books sell. From early days of COVID
when it was also being promoted to cure or treat
COVID and the health people said no, don't and obleaque
industry said no don't. Right, it can cull you.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
That's timendum from Austria and skeptics and that's the show
for now. Spacetime is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday
(22:19):
through Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Google podcast pocker Casts, Spotify, Acast,
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Space Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation, on
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(22:44):
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Just go to space Time with Stewart Gary dot com
(23:06):
for full details.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Garry.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
This has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.
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