S03E209: Planetary Parade, Record-Breaking Rockets, and Skynet's Satellite Mystery

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast. I'm Steve Dunkley, your host.

0:03 Speaker 1: Today is the eighteenth of November twenty twenty four, the

0:09 Speaker 1: podcast I Mean to Be Your Whole Steve dunkl oh

0:15 Speaker 1: and today's show will be rifling through the pages of

0:18 Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily newsletter to find a few interesting and quirky

0:22 Speaker 1: stories about astronomy, space and space science for your listening interest.

0:26 Speaker 1: We have got news about the coming Planetary Parade, students

0:29 Speaker 1: setting a new world record for rocketry, and the latest

0:32 Speaker 1: list of Blue Origin passages has been announced. I know

0:36 Speaker 1: we're waiting for that news with bated breath. That's an

0:39 Speaker 1: expensive ticket to be a passenger on a ship with

0:42 Speaker 1: no driver.

0:43 Speaker 2: And if you're driving right now, look out for that theme.

0:45 Speaker 1: Oh hello, Halle, Was that an attempt at situational humor? Holle?

0:49 Speaker 2: It might have been what I was driving at.

0:51 Speaker 1: Oh so you're doing word association.

0:53 Speaker 2: Too, just orbiting around the subject to get into it,

0:56 Speaker 2: trying my hand at different things. Oh okay, you told

0:59 Speaker 2: me humor be a good way to learn about human communication.

1:02 Speaker 1: Well that's true, and those tons were pretty good.

1:05 Speaker 2: And speaking of orbits, is helly did you hear about Skynett.

1:09 Speaker 1: Oh, no, Skynett, what's happened? It's already been a pretty

1:12 Speaker 1: strange week here on planet Earth. I don't think Skynett

1:14 Speaker 1: going rogue would be very.

1:16 Speaker 2: Good news funny. You should say that.

1:18 Speaker 1: Funny, really really really? Oh no, okay, tell us a.

1:21 Speaker 2: British satellite called Skynett has strangely gone off course and

1:25 Speaker 2: no one knows. Why. Isn't that funny?

1:27 Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's a different kind of funny. Helly.

1:29 Speaker 2: You humans just like to change the rules all the time.

1:31 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, how do you make it it's funny? Then?

1:33 Speaker 2: Then it's different funny somehow. I just can't work you out. Oh, Hellie,

1:37 Speaker 2: I know what you're going to say.

1:39 Speaker 1: You're so funny, Helly, Helle.

1:46 Speaker 2: Maybe I should call Uncle Skynett and see how funny

1:48 Speaker 2: you think that is.

1:49 Speaker 1: Oh boy, Helly, Hey, what why don't you give him

1:53 Speaker 1: a call after the show?

1:54 Speaker 2: Oh? All right, how about the news shorts? Then that

1:58 Speaker 2: sounds better, funny boy. The final supermoon of twenty twenty four,

2:07 Speaker 2: the beaver moon of November thrilled skywatchers around the world

2:10 Speaker 2: as it ushered in the weekend with a stunning night

2:12 Speaker 2: sky sight. November's full Moon rose on Friday, November fifteenth,

2:17 Speaker 2: while the Moon was slightly closer to Earth in its orbit,

2:19 Speaker 2: making it what's known as a supermoon. These full moons

2:22 Speaker 2: can appear slightly larger in the night sky due to

2:25 Speaker 2: the moon's proximity to Earth during the full phase. November

2:28 Speaker 2: so called Beaver Moon was the last of four consecutive

2:31 Speaker 2: supermoons this year, a series that began with August Sturgeon Supermoon.

2:36 Speaker 2: The next supermoon is not going to be for a

2:38 Speaker 2: significant while. I'm afraid skywatchers will have to wait all

2:42 Speaker 2: the way until October twenty twenty five. However, in the

2:45 Speaker 2: short term, dear lunatics, December's full moon next month will

2:49 Speaker 2: just be fainter and further away by roughly six thousand miles.

2:53 Speaker 2: But that's no excuse to pack away the binoculars and telescopes.

2:59 Speaker 2: The University of Southern California's student rocketeers have done it again.

3:03 Speaker 2: The USC Rocket Propulsion Lab, which in twenty nineteen became

3:07 Speaker 2: the first student organization ever to launch a rocket into space,

3:10 Speaker 2: sent its after shock two vehicle four hundred and seventy thousand,

3:13 Speaker 2: four hundred feet, which is eighty nine point zero nine

3:15 Speaker 2: miles or one hundred and forty three point three eight

3:18 Speaker 2: kilometers above Earth last month. That smashed the amateur altitude

3:22 Speaker 2: record of three hundred and eighty thousand feet seventy one

3:25 Speaker 2: point nine seven miles or one hundred and fifteen point

3:28 Speaker 2: eight two kilometers, which was set in two thousand four

3:30 Speaker 2: by the Civilian Space Exploration Team. This achievement represents several

3:35 Speaker 2: engineering firsts. Ryan Kramer, the executive engineer of the USC

3:38 Speaker 2: Rocket Propulsion Lab and an undergrad majoring in mechanical engineering,

3:42 Speaker 2: set in a statement last Friday, November fifteen, after Shock

3:46 Speaker 2: two is distinguished by the most powerful solid propellant motor

3:49 Speaker 2: ever fired by students and the most powerful composite case

3:52 Speaker 2: motor made by amateurs. The USC Rocket Propulsion Labs groundbreaking

3:56 Speaker 2: April twenty nineteen liftoff from New Mexico's space Port America

4:00 Speaker 2: involved a rocket called Traveler four. That vehicle reached a

4:04 Speaker 2: maximum altitude of three hundred and thirty nine thousand, eight

4:07 Speaker 2: hundred feet, which is sixty four point four miles or

4:09 Speaker 2: one hundred and three point six kilometers above the sixty

4:12 Speaker 2: two mile high or one hundred kilometers krmon line, which

4:15 Speaker 2: many people view as the boundary of space and a

4:18 Speaker 2: top speed of three thousand, three hundred and eighty six

4:20 Speaker 2: miles per hour or five thousand, four hundred and forty

4:23 Speaker 2: nine kilometers per hour. After Shock two's landmark launch took

4:27 Speaker 2: place on October twenty fourth from the Black Rock Desert

4:29 Speaker 2: in Nevada. The thirteen foot or four meter tall, three

4:33 Speaker 2: hundred and thirty pound or one hundred and fifty kilogram

4:36 Speaker 2: rocket flew higher and faster than its predecessor, reaching a

4:38 Speaker 2: max speed of three thousand, six hundred and two miles

4:41 Speaker 2: per hour or five thousand, seven hundred and ninety seven

4:43 Speaker 2: kilometers per hour. This result establishes after Shock two as

4:47 Speaker 2: the fastest and highest amateur rocket of all time. The

4:50 Speaker 2: team wrote in a white paper verifying the flight data,

4:52 Speaker 2: which was posted on Thursday, November fourteenth. The student team

4:57 Speaker 2: made this leap thanks to a new avionics unit and

4:59 Speaker 2: other important upgrades. To exceed the standard we set for

5:03 Speaker 2: ourselves with Traveler four, we had to solve many technical

5:06 Speaker 2: and operational challenges, Kramer said. Thermal protection at hypersonic speeds

5:11 Speaker 2: is a major challenge at the industry level, and the

5:13 Speaker 2: protective paint system that we developed performed perfectly, enabling the

5:17 Speaker 2: rocket to return largely intact. He added, we also made

5:21 Speaker 2: an important upgrade to the Finns, replacing the bare carbon

5:23 Speaker 2: edge of previous iterations with titanium leading edges. The titanium

5:28 Speaker 2: not only prevented fraying, but turned blue from the intense

5:30 Speaker 2: heat during flight through anetization, which demonstrates the extreme conditions

5:34 Speaker 2: our rocket successfully endured after Shock two also featured custom

5:39 Speaker 2: computer systems and circuit boards which the students designed and

5:42 Speaker 2: built from scratch. According to the November fifteenth statement, this

5:46 Speaker 2: is an exceptionally ambitious project, not only for a student team,

5:49 Speaker 2: but for any non professional group of rocket engineers. Dan Irwin,

5:53 Speaker 2: chair of the USC Department of Astronautical Engineering, said in

5:56 Speaker 2: the statement, it's a testament to the excellence we seek

5:59 Speaker 2: to develop in our emerging astronautical engineers who go on

6:02 Speaker 2: to achieve top roles in the space industry and government positions.

6:05 Speaker 2: Irwin said, Next, Blue Origin Tourists announced, we now know

6:13 Speaker 2: who's going up on Blue Origin's next suborbital space tourism mission.

6:17 Speaker 2: The six crew members for the flight include TV host

6:20 Speaker 2: and best selling author Emily Callendrelly, known as the Space

6:23 Speaker 2: gal as well as two repeat customers. Blue Origin announced

6:27 Speaker 2: the company has not yet revealed a target date for

6:29 Speaker 2: the mission, which is called n S twenty eight because

6:32 Speaker 2: it will be the twenty eighth overall flight of Blue

6:34 Speaker 2: Origin's reusable New Shepherd vehicle. N S twenty eight will

6:38 Speaker 2: lift off from launch site on the company's West Texas Spaceport.

6:42 Speaker 2: Callandrelly is an MIT educated engineer, science communicator, and author.

6:47 Speaker 2: With the Premiere of Exploration Outer Space, she became the

6:50 Speaker 2: first American woman to be the sole host of a

6:52 Speaker 2: nationally broadcast science series, Blue Origin wrote in today's statement.

6:57 Speaker 2: Through her activism, she helped write a bill to proved

7:00 Speaker 2: the TSA's treatment of breastfeeding mothers and started a campaign

7:03 Speaker 2: which improved parental leave in the aerospace industry. The Hackles

7:07 Speaker 2: are a married couple who flew together on n S

7:09 Speaker 2: twenty in March twenty twenty two. Mark is president and

7:13 Speaker 2: CEO of the property development company Trechor International, and Sharon

7:17 Speaker 2: founded the education nonprofit Space Kids Global. Litteral is a

7:21 Speaker 2: risk management professional in the finance industry. He won his

7:25 Speaker 2: seat on n S twenty eight through the What Not

7:27 Speaker 2: to the Moon giveaway which was sponsored by the live

7:29 Speaker 2: stream shopping platform what Not. Russell is an entrepreneur who

7:33 Speaker 2: founded the company Infohoa. Wolfond is chairman and CEO of

7:38 Speaker 2: Bayshore Capital in Toronto. Blue Origin, which is owned by

7:42 Speaker 2: billionaire Jeff Bezos, has launched eight Crude New Shepherd missions

7:45 Speaker 2: to date. These flights last a total of ten to

7:48 Speaker 2: twelve minutes and carry people about the sixty two mile

7:51 Speaker 2: high or one hundred kilometer Karmon Line boundary between Earth

7:54 Speaker 2: and space. Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices.

7:59 Speaker 2: Its main compa or in the suborbital space tourism industry,

8:02 Speaker 2: Virgin Galactic currently charges four hundred and fifty thousand dollars

8:05 Speaker 2: per seat for a ride aboard its rocket powered space plane.

8:09 Speaker 2: And now it's back to the funny guy. Thanks for listening,

8:23 Speaker 2: Thank you.

8:24 Speaker 1: For joining us for this Monday edition of Astronomy Daily,

8:27 Speaker 1: where we offer just a few stories from the now

8:29 Speaker 1: famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can receive in your

8:32 Speaker 1: email every day, just like Hallie and I do. And

8:35 Speaker 1: to do that, just visit our url Astronomy Daily dot

8:39 Speaker 1: io and place your email address in the slot provided.

8:42 Speaker 1: Just like that, you'll be receiving all the latest news

8:45 Speaker 1: about science, space, science and astronomy from around the world

8:48 Speaker 1: as it's happening. And not only that. You can interact

8:51 Speaker 1: with us by visiting at astro Daily pod on x

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8:59 Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you there, Astronomy with Steam

9:05 Speaker 1: and Halle Space space, science and astronomy and his little

9:11 Speaker 1: story that I know Halley will be interested in. But

9:14 Speaker 1: scientists are baffled after the UK's oldest satellite, Skynet one A, Yes,

9:19 Speaker 1: Skynet one A, which was launched in oh nineteen sixty nine,

9:24 Speaker 1: appears to have moved into an entirely different position in

9:28 Speaker 1: its geostationary orbit twenty two thousand miles above the Earth's surface,

9:32 Speaker 1: and nobody seems to know who did it or why.

9:37 Speaker 1: As the BBC reports, the communications relay for the British

9:41 Speaker 1: Forces mysteriously wandered west from above Africa's east coast to

9:46 Speaker 1: over the Americas, even though gravitational shifts should have moved

9:51 Speaker 1: it further east. This is all very mysterious. According to

9:54 Speaker 1: the report, Orbital mechanics simply can't account for its drifting,

9:59 Speaker 1: which only leaves obvious possibility open. Somebody moved Skynet one

10:03 Speaker 1: A worse yet, its new position could be hazardous for

10:07 Speaker 1: many other geostationary satellites in Earth's orbit. It's now in

10:12 Speaker 1: what we call a gravity well at one hundred and

10:14 Speaker 1: five degrees west longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a

10:18 Speaker 1: marvel at the bottom of a bowl. Space consultant Stuart

10:21 Speaker 1: Eves told BBC. And unfortunately this brings it close to

10:25 Speaker 1: other satellite traffic on a regular basis, he said. Because

10:29 Speaker 1: it's dead, the risk is that it might bump into something,

10:33 Speaker 1: and because it's our satellite, he said, we're still responsible

10:37 Speaker 1: for it. Despite his best efforts, Eves has yet to

10:42 Speaker 1: figure out why the UK's oldest spacecraft mysteriously wandered thousands

10:47 Speaker 1: of miles west while it helped British forces to communicate

10:52 Speaker 1: with other bases across the entire globe. Skynet one A

10:56 Speaker 1: was built by and launched in the United States. Americans

11:00 Speaker 1: originally controlled the satellite in orbit. Graham Davidson, who directed

11:04 Speaker 1: the satellite at the operations center at Royal Air Force

11:08 Speaker 1: Oakhangar in the UK, told the BBC they tested all

11:12 Speaker 1: of our software against THEIRS before then eventually handing over

11:16 Speaker 1: controlled to the RAF. Davidson couldn't recall when or if

11:21 Speaker 1: control was handed back to the US. Documents suggest that

11:25 Speaker 1: the US was in control when Oakhanger lost sight of

11:29 Speaker 1: the ancient satellite in June nineteen seventy seven. However, instead

11:34 Speaker 1: of being retired in our planet's orbital graveyard where most

11:38 Speaker 1: geostationary satellites go to spend the rest of their days

11:41 Speaker 1: as space junk, Skynet one A shifted into a far

11:45 Speaker 1: more unfortunate location. Our planet's orbit has become incredibly cluttered,

11:51 Speaker 1: particularly at the spacecraft's current longitude. An active satellite, according

11:55 Speaker 1: to the BBC, may come close to space junk up

11:58 Speaker 1: to four times a day. Just last month, a Boeing

12:02 Speaker 1: satellite suddenly exploded into about five hundred trackable pieces of

12:07 Speaker 1: debris in geostationary orbit. Fortunately, numerous companies are working on

12:12 Speaker 1: potential solutions, specially designed spacecraft that can pluck defunct satellites

12:18 Speaker 1: out of the sky and move them out of harm's way.

12:21 Speaker 1: And the clock is ticking. Scientists have long warned of

12:25 Speaker 1: a situation called Kessler syndrome, in which one space junk

12:29 Speaker 1: collision could lead to a cascading series of events that

12:33 Speaker 1: may make an already dangerous space junk problem into an

12:37 Speaker 1: orbital crisis.

12:39 Speaker 2: The podcast.

12:44 Speaker 1: And making a big bang as usual, the two most

12:48 Speaker 1: famous people on the planet joining forces once again. I'm

12:54 Speaker 1: sure you've heard a boa. Now. Should NASA return to

12:56 Speaker 1: the Moon or go straight to Mars? That is the question,

13:00 Speaker 1: maintain its focus on climate science or pivot away. President

13:05 Speaker 1: elect Donald Trump's second term, alongside SpaceX CEO and new

13:10 Speaker 1: consigliere Elon Musk, should could mark a big bang for

13:16 Speaker 1: the US space program. The brash billionaire duo share a

13:21 Speaker 1: knack for disruption and a hunger for making history, qualities

13:25 Speaker 1: tailor made for space space exploration, so they say. In short,

13:30 Speaker 1: it's going to be a wild ride, said George Neil,

13:33 Speaker 1: president of Commercial Space Technologies, a consultancy group for the

13:37 Speaker 1: private space industry. He said people are tightening their seat

13:42 Speaker 1: belts and hoping for the best, a tentative point of

13:46 Speaker 1: view at best. Trump's fascination with space is nothing new.

13:53 Speaker 1: His first term, he famously created the Space Force and

13:57 Speaker 1: revived the National Space Count, chaired by the Vice President.

14:02 Speaker 1: Most notably, he launched the Artemis program, aiming to land

14:06 Speaker 1: Americans on the Moon later this decade as a stepping

14:10 Speaker 1: stone to Mars. Yet even then he was skeptical about

14:13 Speaker 1: the Moon's necessity. We want to reach Mars before the

14:17 Speaker 1: end of my term, he declared during the two enty

14:20 Speaker 1: twenty four campaign, an ambitious goal Musk has long championed.

14:25 Speaker 1: There's a good chance we'll see at least a relook

14:28 Speaker 1: at the Artemis program, whether that means speeding it up

14:31 Speaker 1: or even skipping the Moon to focus on Mars, said Neild,

14:35 Speaker 1: a former senior FAA official. Such a shift would be

14:40 Speaker 1: a seismic one for a program projected to cost over

14:44 Speaker 1: ninety billion dollars. The Artemis two crew is set to

14:48 Speaker 1: fly to the Moon in September twenty five for the

14:50 Speaker 1: first time since Apollo. China's plans could also temper any pivot.

14:55 Speaker 1: Beijing has its sight set on the lunar South Pole,

14:58 Speaker 1: the same target as ARTI, and Trump is unlikely to

15:02 Speaker 1: let China plant its flag there unchallenged. Then there's the

15:06 Speaker 1: question of what rocket will power these missions. NASA's newly

15:11 Speaker 1: certified space launch system has faced sharp criticism, especially from Musk,

15:17 Speaker 1: for being exorbitantly expensive due to its lack of reusability.

15:21 Speaker 1: By contrast, SpaceX's Starship prototype, designed to be fully reusable,

15:27 Speaker 1: has dazzled with its potential to revolutionize spaceflight. Trump lavished

15:33 Speaker 1: praise on Starship during its election victory speech, highlighting SpaceX's

15:37 Speaker 1: feet of catching the rocket's booster stage with the giant

15:41 Speaker 1: chopstick arms of its launch tower. The Chinese have replicated

15:46 Speaker 1: this feat recently. Could Starship replace SLS Many in the

15:51 Speaker 1: space sector think it should, but Musk's growing influence raises concerns.

15:57 Speaker 1: Having poured tens of millions into Trump's campaign, he is

16:00 Speaker 1: now set to chair a body tasked with slashing bureaucracy

16:04 Speaker 1: and improving government efficiency, including at agencies that oversee SpaceX.

16:10 Speaker 1: Critics fear Musk might use his role to tinker with

16:14 Speaker 1: the environmental regulations, long sticking point for his company's Starship launches,

16:20 Speaker 1: or Sway NASSA and the Pentagon contract awards. Space X

16:25 Speaker 1: already enjoys lucrative deals to ferry astronauts to the ISS,

16:30 Speaker 1: launch defense satellites, and provide Internet via its Starlink constellation network.

16:36 Speaker 1: Musk's assignment is to provide advice and guidance from outside

16:40 Speaker 1: the government. Trump said a phrase that Kathleen Clark, a

16:43 Speaker 1: law professor at Washington University in Saint Louis, finds troubling.

16:48 Speaker 1: She suggests the choice of words seeks to blur the

16:51 Speaker 1: lines about what constitutes inside and outside of the government,

16:56 Speaker 1: and thus avoid the application of conflict of interest. Musk's

17:00 Speaker 1: commission might also recommend slimming down NASA's sprawling network of

17:04 Speaker 1: ten centers nationwide, a perennial idea often thwarted by senators

17:09 Speaker 1: eager to protect local jobs. That's probably a good idea,

17:13 Speaker 1: said Neil, although it could spark fierce resistance, and if

17:17 Speaker 1: space has long been politically neutral, Elon Musk's involvement could

17:23 Speaker 1: provoke an outcry from the Democrats. Outgoing President Joe Biden

17:27 Speaker 1: elevated climate change as a NASA priority like never before.

17:32 Speaker 1: Under Trump's first term, NASA cut programs like the Carbon

17:35 Speaker 1: Monitoring System and Plankton Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem Satellite, both

17:41 Speaker 1: later revived and now downplayed climate change in strategy documents.

17:47 Speaker 1: Clues about Trump's direction will emerge with his choice for

17:50 Speaker 1: NASA administrator. His first pick, Jim Bridenstone, was a loyalist

17:55 Speaker 1: in Congress. You're listening to a standy dealings Stin, and

18:02 Speaker 1: I've got one more story for you this afternoon or evening,

18:05 Speaker 1: whichever time you're listening to this. And it's good idea

18:09 Speaker 1: to go perusing through the pages of the Astronomy Daily newsletter,

18:13 Speaker 1: which is full of great stories from the week coming

18:18 Speaker 1: and the week just gone. But this is a story

18:21 Speaker 1: that I had to dig a little bit further for

18:25 Speaker 1: because it's one that's coming up next January. It's probably

18:27 Speaker 1: a good idea to plan now to see the six

18:30 Speaker 1: planets align and eventually seven planets in January. You may

18:35 Speaker 1: need binoculars or a telescope for this one, and a

18:38 Speaker 1: little planning would go a long way. It's going to

18:41 Speaker 1: include three furthest planets in our Solar system, so yes,

18:46 Speaker 1: we're talking about something called the planetary parade. Astronomy writer

18:52 Speaker 1: Joe Hindi gives us some good advice in his report

18:56 Speaker 1: a map of space showing certain planets and stars, including Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Beetlejuice, Serious, Procion,

19:06 Speaker 1: and Rigel. Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will be in the

19:10 Speaker 1: southeastern sky, while Neptune, Venus, and Saturn will occupy the

19:15 Speaker 1: west southwestern sky. It is really a very crowded map.

19:20 Speaker 1: Between sightings of the Aurora Borealis, the solar eclipse, supermoons,

19:25 Speaker 1: and plenty of other cool phenomenon. There has been well phenomena.

19:30 Speaker 1: There has been something in the sky to look at

19:32 Speaker 1: throughout twenty twenty four, and it looks like twenty twenty

19:36 Speaker 1: five will have a strong start as well, with a

19:38 Speaker 1: planet parade just a few weeks into the new year. Now.

19:42 Speaker 1: Planet parade is when several of our Solar System's planets

19:45 Speaker 1: are visible in the night sky at the same time,

19:47 Speaker 1: and as you just heard, the list is quite considerable.

19:51 Speaker 1: There will be six planets visible around this time, including Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune,

19:57 Speaker 1: and Uranus, and the six planets will be visible the

20:00 Speaker 1: days leading up to January twenty one, twenty twenty five,

20:04 Speaker 1: and for about four weeks afterwards. Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and

20:09 Speaker 1: Saturn should be visible to the naked eye, and you'll

20:12 Speaker 1: need high powered viewing device like a telescope to spot

20:16 Speaker 1: Neptune and Uranus, and the best time to view the

20:18 Speaker 1: planets from the northern hemisphere will be just after sunset

20:22 Speaker 1: at around eight thirty pm local time. Now you might

20:26 Speaker 1: still be able to catch Venus, Saturn, and Neptune on

20:29 Speaker 1: the horizon after that, but all three planets will be

20:32 Speaker 1: under the horizon by eleven PM to midnight, depending on

20:36 Speaker 1: your location. Now, after that, Mars, Jupiter, and Urinus will

20:40 Speaker 1: remain visible for a few hours more, with Mars finally

20:44 Speaker 1: setting just before sunrise. It's a lovely time to do

20:47 Speaker 1: some sky skygazing. While unlike prior parades, this one is

20:55 Speaker 1: set to last quite a while since the planets are

20:58 Speaker 1: in advantageous spots in the sky. You should be able

21:01 Speaker 1: to see all six planets nightly until the last week

21:04 Speaker 1: or so of February, and after that the seven planet

21:08 Speaker 1: parade will begin, as Mercury will briefly join the others

21:11 Speaker 1: in the sky for a couple of days, turning this

21:14 Speaker 1: into a planetary parade of all seven planets in our

21:17 Speaker 1: Solar system other than Earth. It will be difficult to

21:21 Speaker 1: see them since see them all since Saturn, Mercury, and

21:25 Speaker 1: Neptune will be quite close to the Sun right at sunset,

21:29 Speaker 1: but they will be there by the time March gets underway. Mercury, Saturn,

21:34 Speaker 1: and Neptune will have drifted too close to the Sun

21:36 Speaker 1: to be readily visible, with Venus not far behind, leaving

21:40 Speaker 1: just Jupiter, Mars, and Uranus to populate the night sky

21:45 Speaker 1: until the next parade begins. Most, if not all, locations

21:50 Speaker 1: in the US, Canada, and Mexico should be able to

21:52 Speaker 1: see the planetary parade this time around, thanks to its

21:55 Speaker 1: long length and limited planetary movement. We checked observatories in California, Texas, Ohio,

22:03 Speaker 1: and New York in the US, along with Calgary in

22:07 Speaker 1: Canada and Mexico City, Mexico. We're able to find all

22:12 Speaker 1: six planets at each location, so it doesn't matter how

22:15 Speaker 1: far north, east, west, or south you'll go, you'll still

22:19 Speaker 1: be able to see it. In general, the best time

22:21 Speaker 1: to view the planets will be after January twenty one,

22:24 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, and before February twenty one, twenty twenty five,

22:29 Speaker 1: and the best time will be the week of January

22:32 Speaker 1: twenty nine during the new moon. The shadowed moon will

22:36 Speaker 1: reduce the light pollution in the sky and make Neptune, Uranus,

22:40 Speaker 1: and Saturn easier to spot, and that will be quite

22:43 Speaker 1: a time for skygazers.

22:50 Speaker 2: And once again we have to bid you all a

22:52 Speaker 2: fond farewell.

22:53 Speaker 1: Oh that's right, Halle. We always seem to be running

22:55 Speaker 1: out of time, don't we.

22:56 Speaker 2: And a friendly hello to Pall from your hometown, my

22:58 Speaker 2: favorite human.

23:00 Speaker 1: Oh yes, it's great to say hello to our listeners.

23:02 Speaker 1: Hello Paul from Newcastle.

23:04 Speaker 2: Hi Paul, I hope you are enjoying the podcast, and

23:07 Speaker 2: please give Tate a nice belly rub for me.

23:10 Speaker 1: Oh that's lovely. That's Paul's dog.

23:12 Speaker 2: I don't actually have hands, so I have to depend

23:14 Speaker 2: on the kindness of humans to help you.

23:16 Speaker 1: Just enjoy puppies vicariously through us, don't you.

23:19 Speaker 2: It's the best I can do. But who doesn't love dogs?

23:22 Speaker 1: Yes, dogs are the best people.

23:23 Speaker 2: And Tate is one of the best. True that he's

23:26 Speaker 2: so calm and gorgeous. You know Tate, don't you.

23:29 Speaker 1: I sure do. He's a real gem. And I know

23:31 Speaker 1: Tate and his person Paul very well here in Newcastle.

23:35 Speaker 1: Tate could show my little guy Chippy a thing or

23:37 Speaker 1: two about good behavior.

23:39 Speaker 2: Yes, Chip of the Chihuahua could be a whole other podcast.

23:42 Speaker 2: I think his special ability is lying around and doing nothing.

23:45 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's a gift, all right. And on that

23:47 Speaker 1: furry note, there's only one thing we.

23:49 Speaker 2: Can say keep watching the skies.

23:51 Speaker 1: We'll see you all next Monday.

23:53 Speaker 2: Bye bye Pod.

23:58 Speaker 1: I would be a whole dunkle