Travelers in the Night Eps. 893 & 894: DarkSky Oregon & Discovery Night at the Schmidt

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org

From April 2026.

Today's 2 topics:

- Artificial light at night also known as light pollution is degrading human safety and health as well as damaging the natural environment on which we all depend. The loss of the connection with the natural night sky has happened over the past 100 years. Restoring the natural night sky is relatively simple and can even save money. Before restoration can effectively begin it is essential to make night sky brightness measurements in both natural night sky and urban locations.

 

- On a recent night my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal found 4 Earth approaching space rocks with our small but mighty Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona. These Earth approaching asteroids are all small with an average diameter about the width of tennis court. On their current paths none of them come closer than about 4 lunar distances from our home planet.

 

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. 

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! 

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. 

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.