Travelers In The Night

Elon Musk decided not to use a traditional mundane concrete block dummy payload for the first launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to test his rockets lifting capabilities. After orbiting the Earth for 5 hours a third burn by the Falcon second stage placed a 2,750 pound payload consisting of a 2008 Tesla Roadster, Starman mannequin, Hot Wheels toy model roadster, electronic copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels, and plaque etched with the names of more than 6,000 Space X employees into orbit around the Sun. Surrealistic video from a camera mounted ahead of this unusual spacecraft showed the red roadster and its dummy pilot with the Earth in the background. My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard joined with astronomers around the world in tracking starman and his booster rocket. The JPL Horizons Software system used 269 such ground-based optical astrometric observations spanning Feb 8 through 13 of 2018 to determine that Tesla and Starman will cross the orbit of Mars on July 31, 2018 and reach it's furthest distance from the Sun on November 9, 2018 before coming back to it's closest point about the Sun near the Earth's orbit on August 14, 2019. After that Starman and Tesla will continue to orbit the Sun for millions of years to come as a physical testament to human ingenuity and our sense of humor.

My Catalina Sky Survey teammates  Josh Hogan and Alessandra Serrano were asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major when they discovered a fast moving point of light in the night sky. My team the Catalina Sky Survey operates 5 telescopes on top of mountains near Tucson, Arizona except for the 3 nights per month when the moon is too bright.  Our goal is to detect an impacting object like 2026 JH2 in advance to warn people in the effected area to stay away from doors and windows.

Using our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski was searching for Earth approaching asteroids in the constellation of Virgo when he discovered a moving point of light which had suddenly appeared and was about 40 times brighter than is typical for a near Earth asteroid. 75 hours later, scientists at the Minor Planet Center used data from 17 different observatories around the globe to calculate it's orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size to be 630 feet in diameter, and give it the name 2018 BT6. Three weeks before Richard discovered 2018 BT6, it was very dim with less than 1% of it's illuminated side facing us as it came from the direction of the Sun giving humans little advance notice as it approached us at a speedy 16.4 mi/s. In 2018 this relatively large space rock came to about 18 times the Moon's distance from us. In the future it's orbit can bring it to about 0.6 of the Moon's distance from us. According to the Purdue University and Imperial College of London's impact calculator, one it's size impacts the Earth every 300,000 years or so creating a crater in sedimentary rock 7 miles in diameter and 2,000 feet deep. Fortunately 2018 BT6 will not strike the Earth in the foreseeable future, however, it's discovery presents us with the fact that currently humans would have little advance warning of the impact of a relatively large space rock if it approached us from the direction of our Sun.

Asteroid hunters find asteroids by looking for objects which change their position relative to the stars.  If an asteroid happened to match the Earth’s motion it might appear stationary and thus be virtually undetectable until it is right on top of us. The trick is finding potentially dangerous asteroids at some other point in their orbit so we know about them before they have a chance to approach Earth.

Most of the humans on planet Earth have never witnessed that the natural night sky is not dark; but rather it is alive with it's own lights. To see for yourself, pick a dark sky place near you like the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary from the International Dark Sky Association's website, darksky.org, and recruit a friend. Do a bit of research on how to achieve and sustain your night vision. Bring a red filtered flashlight, reclining lawn chair, star maps, binoculars, warm clothes, a telescope if you have one, and snacks. Keep on the look out for special events. The American Meteor Society's website will let you know when to expect meteor showers. Most humans have never seen the glowing light pyramid called the Zodiacal light which is produced by ice particles and dust in the solar system. In the northern hemisphere it is prominent in the evening sky in February, March and April. During the same months it lights up the predawn sky in the southern hemisphere. Star clusters scattered around the sky can be enjoyed with binoculars or a small telescope. New Moon's from May through October will provide you opportunities to explore the Milky Way with your naked eye or pair of binoculars. This adventure will fill you with wonder at what might be out there. Last but not least Mars will dominate the night sky during much of 2018 as it and the Earth come near to each other. For a time in late July of 2018 Mars will even outshine the giant planet Jupiter in the night sky.