Near Miss and Cosmic Spectacles: Asteroids, Comets, and Space Junk in Earth's Orbit

(00:00:00) Near Miss and Cosmic Spectacles: Asteroids, Comets, and Space Junk in Earth's Orbit
(00:00:46) Planet Earth experiences as asteroid near miss
(00:02:58) Two green comets lighting up the night skies
(00:07:31) Chinese space junk smashes into Western Australia
(00:09:09) The Science Report
(00:12:07) Skeptics guide to the magic healing Biomet
(00:15:15) Show Wrap-up

In this episode of SpaceTime, we dive into a series of astonishing astronomical events that recently unfolded, including a near-miss asteroid and mesmerizing comets lighting up our night skies.
Asteroid 2025 TF: A Close Encounter
An undetected asteroid, now designated 2025 TF, made a startling pass just 428 kilometers above Earth, equivalent to the altitude of the International Space Station. Detected by astronomers from Kitt Peak National Observatory six hours post-approach, this 3-meter space rock serves as a reminder of the many near misses that may go unnoticed. This episode discusses the implications of such encounters and the ongoing efforts to enhance planetary defense against potential threats.
Green Comets Illuminate the Night Sky
Skywatchers have been treated to the rare sight of two vibrant green comets, C 2025 R2 Swann and C 2025 A6 Lemon, both originating from the Oort Cloud. As they approach the sun, these comets are heating up and releasing gases, creating their characteristic tails. This segment explores their trajectories, visibility, and the exciting opportunity they present for amateur astronomers, particularly as they coincide with the annual Orionid meteor shower.
Chinese Space Junk Crash in Australia
In a dramatic turn of events, debris from the Chinese Jielong 3 rocket has been discovered smoldering in Western Australia's outback. This segment details the recovery of the wreckage and the ongoing investigation by the Australian Space Agency. The incident raises concerns over space debris management, especially in light of previous accidents involving Chinese spacecraft.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Astronomy and Astrophysics
https://www.aanda.org/
Geophysical Research Letters
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19448007
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
Asteroid 2025 TF: A Close Encounter
Green Comets Illuminate the Night Sky
Chinese Space Junk Crash in Australia

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and
twenty six, for broadcast on the twenty seventh of October
twenty twenty five. Coming up on Spacetime, Planet Earth experiences
an asteroidy miss and we didn't even know about it
until it was too late, a pair of green comets
lighting up the night skies, and Chinese space junk slams

(00:21):
into Western Australia. All that and more coming up on
space Time.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
You want to know what keeps astronomers up late at
nights other than observing time. Of course, its scenario is
like the one which happened earlier this month, when an
undetected asteroid was suddenly seen swooping past Earth just four
hundred two twenty eight kilomet is above the ground, and
to put that in perspective, that's about the same altitude
as the orbit of the International Space Station. The asteroid,

(01:09):
now known as twenty twenty five TF, was up to
three meters in size, and it's sped across the sky.
It's above Antarctica. Even scarier. Astronomers only found out about
it after it had already met its closest approach. Astronomers
from the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona were the
first to detect the asteroid, some six hours after it

(01:29):
swept by. Additional observations were then undertaken by the Catalina
Sky Survey and the European Space Agency's Punetary Defense Office
using the Las Cambudos telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory
near Kunabara Brandt in far western New South Wales. Twenty
twenty five TF marks the second closest approach of any
known asteroid, behind only twenty twenty VT four, a slightly

(01:53):
larger meteor estimated to have been up to ten meters
in size. It passed above the Pacific Ocean back in
November twenty twenty at an altitude of three hundred and
eighty six kilometers. Any space rock flying lower than that
usually ends up hitting the Earth, and like twenty twenty
five TF, twenty twenty VT four was only detected after

(02:14):
its closest approach in that event, some fifteen hours later.
And you've got to wonder there are asteroids out there
that we don't see until it's too late. How many
near misses are out there that we never see? This
space time still to come to bright green comets lighting
up our night skies, and a smoldering chunk of Chinese

(02:36):
space junk slams into the Western Australia out back. All
that and more still to come on space time. Over

(02:59):
the past month, sky watchers have been enjoying the rare
spectacle of two bright green comets streaking across the night skies.
Both are thought of have originated in the Oort Cloud,
a region of comets I see debris and frozen worlds
gravitationally bound to the Sun at and beyond the very
limit of our Solar System. Comets are frozen leftovers from

(03:21):
the Solar System's formation four point six billion years ago.
They heat up as they approach the Sun, degasing volatiles
into space, which form a coma around the comet's nucleus
and generate their characteristic streaming tails. The comets look green
because of the gases streaming off their surfaces. The appearance
of both these comets go insides with the annual Rinded

(03:44):
meteor shower, which is visible from October two through until
November seventh. Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through
debris trails left behind by comets as they orbit around
the Sun. As a meteor from this debris field enters
ears atmosphere at high speed, friction generated as they fly
through the air causes them to heat up dramatically, resulting

(04:05):
in a characteristic bright streak of light, often erroneously referred
to as a shooting star. The orionids are generated by
the dusk stream left behind by Comet Halley, which swings
around the Earth once every seventy five to seventy six
years and is due to make its next appearance in
twenty sixty one. As for our current cometary visitors, Comet C.

(04:25):
Twenty twenty five are to Swan was spotted in September
by an amateur astronomer. It's just past the Earth and
is now heading back to the outer reaches the Solar System.
As Swan leaves the warming embrace of the Sun, it'll
grow dimmer as the days pass. New all Comet C.
Twenty twenty five A six lemon, has just made its

(04:45):
closest approach to the Earth and will achieve perihelion, its
closest orbital position of the Sun, on November fourth. It too,
will then also head back to the outer reaches the
Solar System and won't be back for another thirteen hundred years.
Lemon was first discovered back in January by telescope scaring
the night skies Finnereth objects. Doctor Robert Massey, the Deputy

(05:09):
Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society, says Comet Lemon
is a spectacular site at the moment, especially for Northern
Hemisphere skywatchers, looking like a fairly bright, fuzzy object near
the start of Terrorists before heading further round towards the
southwest beneath the stars of the Summer Triangle.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Common Lemon is pretty much at its best at visibility
right now. It's close to the sun around the fourth November,
so really this is pretty much the best time to
be looking for this object. The best place to look
now is in the evening sky, so you need to
be looking as it gets dark obviously after the sunset,
when the sun's above the rising me much too bright.

(05:47):
As the sky darkens, the comet will first of all
be moving over a matter of days past the bright
star Arcturists, and then it'll be further round towards the
southwest beneath the stars of the Summer triangle. You're going
to need some kind of act or find a chart
to help you locate it, you know. But with a
peripinocia sweeping around the sky, it stammed out as a

(06:09):
fairly bright, fuzzy object. If we're very lucky and you've
got a very dark sky, it might be possible to
see it with the naked eye as well, despite the
fact that comets like lemon have tails and this big
coma of gas around them. Actually, the new fists in
the very center is probably quite small, probably only a
couple of kilometers across, so hill or mountain size. It's
remarkable that we see them so well. It isn't going

(06:31):
to be like say hail Bot was for those who
remember it back in the late nineteen nineties or even
near wise in twenty twenty. It's going to be a
little tough to see with the eye. But that said,
it's a reasonably bright comet as they go. The fact
that you can see easily with binoculars makes it fairly unusual,
and I think it's really for that reason alone. There's
something to go and enjoy. Particularly you've never seen a

(06:53):
comment before.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Let's doctor Robert Massey, Deputy Executive Director of the Royal
E'stenomical Society, and this is space time still to come.
Smoldering chunks of Chinese space junks slam into Western Australia's outback,
and later in the science report, global carbon dioxide levels
hit a new record high. All that and more still

(07:14):
to come on space time. A smoldering chunk of black
and space junk has been discovered lying in the middle

(07:37):
of a remote access mining road in the Pilber region
of outback Western Australia. Mine workers found the still burning
wreckage some thirty kilometers east of the town of Newman.
The debris appears to be part of a composite carbon
fiber pressure vessel from the fourth stage of the Chinese
Geelong three rocket. The Geelong three was launched last month,

(07:58):
deploying twelve satellite into low Earth orbit. Its upper stage
was on the right trajectory at the time, a ninety
seven point six degree inclined polar orbit, which would have
put it directly above the impact point at toward forty
local time earlier that same day. Australian Space Agency ASA
is now examining the object. Beijing has long been criticized

(08:20):
by other Nations for its inability to safely control the
orbit of its spent spacecraft. Back in April twenty twenty two,
parts of the Chinese third stage rocket booster crashed back
to Earth near a house in the Indian village of Ldori,
startling the residents who were preparing a meal at the time.
Of course, Western Australia's outback is no stranger to space junk.

(08:41):
When this is Skylab space station, its most famous contributor,
crashing back to Earth and scattering debris over a wide
area between Esperance and Balladonia in nineteen seventy nine, this
is space time, and time that to take a brief

(09:10):
look at some of the other stories making news in
science this week with a Science Report, A new study
is found that twenty twenty four so come to oxide
levels in the world's atmosphere hit a new record high
of four hundred and twenty three point nine parts per million.
The findings by the World Meteorological Organization a detail in
its latest annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The new record high

(09:34):
reading represents an increase of three point five parts per
million above twenty twenty three levels, and that is the
largest recorded annual increase since modern measurements began in nineteen
fifty seven. The likely reason for this record surge was
extensive emissions from wildfires, while record warm temperatures also hampered
the ability of forests and oceans to capture and store carbon.

(09:58):
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a a fifteen hundred
year old synagogue in the Golan Heights. The ancient shul
was uncovered at a dig site in the Hoodi and
Nature Reserve by scientists from the Israel Nature and Parks
Authority and the University of Haifa. During their excavations, scientists
found the base of a column, a stone floor, and
the southern wall of the temple with three entrance ways

(10:20):
and different architectural elements. So far, more than one hundred
and fifty items are being documented across the ruins, including
a stone engraved with a Jewish candelabra called a menora,
a large rectangular stone tablet with dovetail handles, and several
stone benches. The archaeologists are now looking for the temple's
northern wall that determine its overall size. They estimate the

(10:43):
building could be at least seventeen meters long. The synagogue
was constructed in the Basilica style, featuring a rectangular structure
with two rows of columns and benches along the walls,
a common layout in ancient shules in Israel. The buildings
very similar to other synagogues in the area, which date
mainly from the late third to the seventh and eighth centuries.

(11:05):
So far, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of more than
one hundred and thirty ancient synagogues in the Land of Israel,
demonstrating a continuous Jewish presence from the Hemosean period in
the second century BCE right up until the late Byzantine
and the early Islamic periods of the six to eight centuries.
In a shocking revelation, a national survey marking Global hand

(11:27):
Washing Day is found that twenty eight percent of Australian
men and eighteen percent of women surveyed say they didn't
always wash their hands after urinating. Of even more concern,
thirteen percent of men and eleven percent of women admitted
not always washing their hands after evacuating their bowels. The
findings are highly concerning as toilets and bathrooms are one

(11:49):
of the favored locations for harmful bacteria and fecal matter
often contains bacteria, viruses, and parasites, all of which spread
the risk of diseases. The survey also found that forty
three percent of men and forty nine percent of women
admitted they didn't always wash their hands before handling food. Well,
it seems shysters have come up with a new way

(12:10):
to grab your money in marketing a new healing biomat,
a rug which they claim offers detox, pain relief and
mood boosts using the quantum effects of crystals, negative ions
and infrared heat. Timendum from Australian Skeptics says a study
of the matt by McGill University concluded that it was
a textbook case of clever marketing dressed up in scientific jargon,

(12:33):
with very little evidence to back up any of the claims.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
This is a match with a little really a little
umpy pattern to it that you rely on. It's a
healing thing, be kind of class. You posted two thousand
US dollars and it's got all these claims about it
that it's a detoxing, pain relief boost, moves infrared heat.
The description I would said it looks like it was
written by a rogue AI with a phosaurus and a
minor head injury, which is very cruel because the description,

(12:57):
I would say is and this is on the company's
own website. Part symergy of quantum energetics from deep penetrating
heat are far infrared rays, negative ion therapy for cellular activation,
and the healing properties of amethysts. At the nice conglomoration
of things.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
If they say the word quantum, you know it's garbage.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, that's the red flavor pops up straight
away and say, anyone who quotes quantum probably doesn't know
anything about quantum science or anything, but it sounds good.
Far infrared rays.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Exist, but humans shine brightest in infrared radiation. What we
see in visible light, that's nothing. Humans shine in infrared radiation.
So if you lie on this matt, you've got to
heat it up, it's going to have infrared.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
Oh, I don't know. You were saying that you actually
hate the mat up and the mat doesn't hate you.
There's also the negative ions. Of course, who says that
you know the density of negative virons. They do exist,
but it's not a effectiveness about having measurable effects on you.
And the course pimbers about in the eighties or something,
there was a big thing about negative rome with negative
iron generators and all sorts of things. So you know,
we supposedly would improve the air clean the area.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
We had one at the radio station I was working
at the time. It made the air smell like it
had been raining. I don't did any good or not.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
It's supposedly the effect of being near a waterfall that
means about being raining, et cetera. But as far as
healing powers and healing all sorts of illnessis and things, no,
there's no evidence of that at all anyway. And as
far as crystals go, yeah, thank you by that's the
next red flag that crops up here saying quantum is
the first red flag. The healing property of the crystals
is the next red flag. And I would suspect and

(14:24):
what McGill seems to put forward as well as that
you've just spent two thousand dollars on a bit of
rubber or whatever it's made out of the biomac that
you're sort of lying on will probably not do anything.
They describe it. Finally, the gill as the pseudo science
gift rap in scientific gibberish sold with the confidence of
a man in a trench coat offering roll exes in

(14:44):
a back alley, which is yes, I don't think they lovely,
isn't it. And that's why I like McGill University. That
come in with a lot of good stuff. Actually they
suggest alternatively, grab yourself a little heating pad, one of
the things you squeeze and it puts that he and
a cup of tea and you'll say, have a lot
of money.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
That's timendum from Australian Skeptics, and that's the show for now.

(15:21):
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(15:42):
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(16:05):
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Speaker 2 (16:13):
You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Garry. This
has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com