Curious Kid Podcast

Curious About Asteroids

March 20, 2022 Olivia Season 7 Episode 181
Curious Kid Podcast
Curious About Asteroids
Show Notes Transcript

In episode 181, we get curious about asteroids and the universe for Leif from California, Elliot from Scotland, and Arla and Juniper from New Zealand.  We learn what asteroids are and how they were discovered.  A very special guest, astrophysicist Sean Raymond, joins us to explain the difference between asteroids, meteors, and comets and to help us understand how big the universe is.  Join us for this other-worldly adventure!

Check Out Sean Raymond's Book "Black Holes, Stars, Earth & Mars - https://www.amazon.com/Black-Holes-Stars-Earth-Mars/dp/B08LFZZWGZ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Sean+raymond&qid=1629247651&sr=8-1
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PODCAST 181: CURIOUS ABOUT ASTEROIDS

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 20TH, 2022


D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  OLIVIA AND I LOVE LEARNING, AND IF YOU’RE A BIG FAN OF THE PODCAST, YOU MUST LOVE LEARNING TOO.  WELL, THERE AREN’T MANY THINGS I LOVE LEARNING ABOUT MORE THAN ASTRONOMY.  WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT THE MOON, PLANETS, STARS, THE SUN, AND OF COURSE EARTH.  TODAY, WE HAVE ANOTHER ASTRONOMICAL TOPIC TO LEARN ABOUT, AND I HAVE A GREAT FEELING THAT THIS EPISODE IS GOING TO BE OUT OF THIS WORLD.


O:  TRIPLE-MAILBAG!


D:  WHAT!  TRIPLE-MAILBAG!


“DEAR JACOB AND OLIVIA,

MY NAME IS ANN, AND I AM WRITING TO YOU WITH MY 8 YEAR OLD SON, LEIF (“LIFE”).  WE LOVE YOUR PODCAST AND ENJOY LISTENING TO IT TOGETHER.  LEIF IS HOPING THAT YOU WILL GET CURIOUS ABOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM!  HE IS INTERESTED IN EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM, AND ESPECIALLY THE ASTEROID BELT.  HE ALSO LIKES JOKES, AND IS HOPING YOU WILL GET CURIOUS ABOUT JOKES ON YOUR PODCAST!  THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR GREAT WORK.  


SENDING YOU OUR BEST WISHES FROM CALIFORNIA, ANN AND LEIF”


THIS NEXT MAILBAG IS A 5 STAR REVIEW.  IT SAYS “BEST PODCAST IN THE UNIVERSE!  THANKS FOR THE GREAT PODCAST!  I LISTEN TO IT EVERY NIGHT AND IT TEACHES ME A LOT OF NEW THINGS AND STUFF THAT I CAN SHARE WITH MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS.  PLEASE CAN YOU GET CURIOUS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE?  ONE THING I’M CUROUS ABOUT IS HOW BIG IS THE UNIVERSE?  FROM ELLIOT OF SCOTLAND”


“HI OLIVIA AND JACOB, MY GIRLS ARLA AND JUNIPER LISTEN TO YOUR PODCASTS ALL THE TIME AND REALLY ENJOY THEM IN GISBORNE, NEW ZEALAND.  THEY ASK “COULD YOU PLEASE GET CURIOUS ABOUT THE SUN OR ASTEROIDS?  THANKS AND KEEP UP THE FUN EPISODES.”


O:  WOW, THAT WAS AN UNBELIEVABLE INTERNATIONAL MAILBAG.  LEIF FROM THE UNITED STATES SENT US AN E-MAIL, ELLIOT FROM SCOTLAND LEFT A REVIEW, AND ARLA AND JUNIPER FROM NEW ZEALAND SENT US A MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK.  WE ARE GETTING CURIOUS ABOUT ASTEROIDS AND THE UNIVERSE FOR ALL OUR CURIOUS LISTENERS.  


D:  WE ARE TOTALLY GOING TO LEARN A LOT ABOUT ASTEROIDS IN THIS EPISODE, BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.  STICK AROUND UNTIL THE END OF THE EPISODE FOR A FANTASTIC GUEST INTERVIEW.  WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE AN ASTROPHYSICIST ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK TO ANSWER A FEW OF OUR QUESTIONS, INCLUDING THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.


O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ASTEROID, A COMET, AND A METEOR?


D:  I CAN’T WAIT TO FIND OUT THE ANSWER.  LET’S HELP YOU OUT A BIT BY TELLING YOU WHAT AN ASTEROID IS.


O:  AN ASTEROID IS A ROCKY OBJECT THAT ORBITS, OR REVOLVES AROUND, THE SUN.  ASTEROIDS COME IN DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES, BUT ARE TOO SMALL TO BE CALLED PLANETS.  


D:  ASTEROIDS WERE FIRST DISCOVERED ON NEW YEARS DAY IN 1801.  AT THE TIME, THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT PUZZLED SCIENTISTS.  THEY WONDERED WHY THERE WAS SO MUCH SPACE IN BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER.  SO, THERE IS ABOUT 31 MILLION MILES BETWEEN MERCURY AND VENUS AND ABOUT 26 MILLION MILES BETWEEN VENUS AND EARTH.  THE DISTANCE BETWEEN EARTH AND MARS AVERAGES LESS THAN 50 MILLION MILES.  BUT THEN, BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER, THERE IS OVER 340 MILLION MILES OF SPACE.        

 

O:  SCIENTISTS COULDN’T UNDERSTAND WHY THERE WAS SO MUCH SPACE IN BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER, MUCH MORE SPACE THAN YOU CAN FIND IN BETWEEN ANY OF THE PLANETS CLOSEST TO THE SUN.  


D:  SO THEY STUDIED THAT SPACE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER PLANET.  ON JANUARY 1ST OF 1801, AN ITALIAN ASTRONOMER NAMED GIUSEPPI PIAZZI SAW SOMETHING IN THE SPACE BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER.  HE SAW A LIGHT MOVING BETWEEN THE PLANETS, AND AT FIRST, THE OBJECT HE SAW WAS CONSIDERED A PLANET.  HE NAMED THE OBJECT CERES AFTER ROMAN GODDESS OF HARVESTS, CERES.  INTERESTING FACT:  THE WORD CEREAL ALSO COMES FROM THE ROMAN GODDESS OF HARVESTS, CERES.    


O:  WELL, THE FOLLOWING YEAR IN 1802, A SIMILAR OBJECT WAS FOUND.  AFTER THAT, ANOTHER WAS FOUND AND THEN ANOTHER.  WITHIN 7 YEARS THERE WERE 4 OBJECTS FOUND IN THE SPACE BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER THAT HAD A LOT IN COMMON, AND WERE DEFINITELY NOT PLANETS.


D:  THEY WERE GIVEN THE NAME ASTEROIDS, WHICH TRANSLATES TO STAR-LIKE.  WITHIN 200 YEARS OF THE DISCOVERY OF CERES, ALMOST 500 OTHER ASTEROIDS WERE DISCOVERED BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER.  SINCE THE YEAR 2000, THEY’VE BEEN GETTING DISCOVERED EVEN MORE FREQUENTLY.  


O:  FAST FORWARD TO TODAY, AND OVER ONE MILLION ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND ASTEROIDS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED, AND IT’S POSSIBLE THAT THERE COULD BE BILLIONS OF ASTEROIDS OUT THERE.   


D:  ASTEROIDS CAN BE FOUND IN MANY PLACES WITHIN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AS THEY ORBIT THE SUN, BUT MOST OF THEM ARE LOCATED IN THE SPACE BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER WHERE CERES WAS FIRST DISCOVERED.  THAT REGION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS CALLED THE ASTEROID BELT.  


O:  CERES MUST HAVE BEEN PRETTY BUMMED OUT WHEN IT WENT FROM BEING CONSIDERED A PLANET TO JUST BEING AN ASTEROID.


D:  WELL, PROBABLY NOT BECAUSE CERES DOESN’T HAVE FEELINGS.  BUT IF IT DID, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY HAPPY BACK IN 2006 WHEN IT WOULD RECEIVE SOME GREAT NEWS.  IN 2006, SCIENTISTS CLASSIFIED CERES AS A DWARF PLANET.  


O:  IT IS NOW CONSIDERED A DWARF PLANET BECAUSE IT IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN THE OTHER ASTEROIDS IN THE ASTEROID BELT AND ALSO BECAUSE IT IS ROUND.


D:  OBJECTS THAT ARE ROUND LIKE CERES, AND LIKE EARTH, ARE ROUND BECAUSE THEY ARE BIG ENOUGH TO BE ROUNDED BY THEIR OWN GRAVITY.       


O:  EVEN THOUGH CERES IS BIG COMPARED TO THE ASTEROIDS, IT’S STILL VERY SMALL COMPARED TO EARTH.  IF THE EARTH WAS THE SIZE OF A NICKEL, THEN CERES WOULD BE THE SIZE OF A SINGLE POPPY SEED.   


D:  CERES IS ROUND, BUT OTHER ASTEROIDS HAVE AN IRREGULAR SHAPE.  IF YOU ASK ME, MANY OF THEM LOOK LIKE HUMUNGOUS BAKED POTATOES.  THEY ARE MADE UP OF ROCK AND METAL.  ABOUT 75% OF THEM ARE CARBON BASED, SO THEY GO BY THE AWESOME NAME CARBONACEOUS ASTEROIDS.  THEY ARE MOSTLY GRAY AND THEY LIKE TO HANG OUT IN THE OUTER REGIONS OF THE ASTEROID BELT.  ANOTHER 17% OF ASTEROIDS CONTAIN SILICON MATERIALS AND GO BY THE SPECTACULAR NAME SILICACEOUS ASTEROIDS.  THEY ARE GREEN TO RED AND THEY ENJOY SPENDING TIME IN THE INNER ASTEROID BELT.  FINALLY, THERE ARE METALLIC ASTEROIDS, WHICH ARE MADE OF IRON, NICKEL, AND OTHER METALS.  THEY SPEND THEIR TIME IN THE MIDDLE REGION OF THE ASTEROID BELT.  


O:  ASTEROIDS CAN BE VERY BIG, LIKE CERES, WHICH IS 940 KILOMETERS, OR ALMOST 600 MILES ACROSS.  ASTEROIDS CAN ALSO BE PRETTY SMALL, AS SMALL AS ABOUT 6 FEET WIDE.  


D:  EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE LOTS OF ASTEROIDS IN THE ASTEROID BELT, THERE IS LOTS OF SPACE BETWEEN THEM.  IF YOU WERE STANDING ON AN ASTEROID, CHANCES ARE YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO SEE THE NEXT NEAREST ASTEROID.  MANY ASTEROIDS HAVE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MILES BETWEEN THEM.  


O:  SOME ASTEROIDS EVEN HAVE THEIR OWN MOONS.  MORE THAN 150 ASTEROIDS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED THAT HAVE ONE, OR EVEN TWO, MOONS.  THE FIRST ASTEROID MOON WASN’T DISCOVERED UNTIL 1993.  


D:  NOT ONLY THAT, BUT ASTEROIDS CAN ALSO HAVE THEIR OWN RINGS, ALTHOUGH AN ASTEROIDS RINGS ARE USUALLY NOT AS MAGNIFICENT AS SATURN’S RINGS.  


THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN ABOUT ASTEROIDS, BUT WHY LEARN IT FROM ME OR OLIVIA WHEN WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL GUEST WHO HAS A KNOWLEDGE OF ASTEROIDS THAT IS TRULY OUT OF THIS WORLD.  HIS NAME IS SEAN RAYMOND AND HE IS AN ASTROPHYSICIST.  


O:  AN ASTROPHYSICIST IS SOMEONE THAT STUDIES THE UNIVERSE AND ALL IT’S CONTENTS, INCLUDING PLANETS, STARS, GALAXIES, AND MORE.  


D:  AS IF BEING AN ASTROPHYSICIST ISN’T ENOUGH, SEAN RAYMOND  WAS INVOLVED IN THE DISCOVERY OF SEVERAL ROUGHLY EARTH-SIZED PLANETS WITH EARTH-LIKE TEMPERATURES ORBITING OTHER STARS.  HE ALSO HELPED PUT A NEW WORD IN THE DICTIONARY.  HE WROTE A PAPER YEARS AGO THAT ASKED THE QUESTION “CAN MOONS HAVE THEIR OWN MOONS?”  HIS PAPER ATTRACTED LOTS OF ATTENTION, AND AS A RESULT, THE WORD “MOONMOON” WAS ADDED TO THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.  SEAN RAYMOND EVEN PLAYS ULTIMATE FRISBEE, PROFESSIONALLY, FOR THE FRENCH NATIONAL TEAM, AND HIS TEAM WON THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS BACK IN 2019.  HOW AWESOME IS THAT?    


SEAN RAYMOND IS ALSO AN INCREDIBLE POET.  HE WROTE A BOOK OF ASTRONOMY POEMS CALLED “BLACK HOLES, STARS, EARTH, AND MARS”.  YOU CAN FIND A LINK TO HIS BOOK IN THE SHOW NOTES.  IT’S FANTASTIC.  A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, HE EVEN WROTE A POEM FOR INTERNATIONAL ASTEROID DAY CALLED “ASTEROIDS, THE POEM”, AND I’M ABOUT TO READ AN EXCERPT FROM THAT POEM RIGHT NOW:





“OUT BEYOND MARS THERE’S A VAST OPEN PLACE,

THAT’S LITTERED WITH ASTEROIDS TUMBLING IN SPACE,

THE ASTEROID BELT, THOUGH, IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK,

IF OUR SYSTEM’S A KITCHEN, THE BELT IS THE SINK.


THE PLANETS ARE MESSY.  AND WHILE THEY WERE SMALL,

LIKE BABIES, WHO THROW LOTS OF FOOD ON THE WALL,

THE PLANETS TOSSED ROCKS AND ICE THIS WAY AND THAT,

THE ASTEROID “SINK” IS WHERE SOME FELL AND… SPLAT!


CLOSER THAN JUPITER, FARTHER THAN MARS,

SOME ASTEROIDS ARE DRY.  SOME HAVE WATER ON THARS.

THE INNER BELT’S MAINLY JUST BIG CRATERED ROCKS.

THERE’S NOT ENOUGH WATER TO DAMPEN YOUR SOCKS.


THE OUTER BELT’S GOT LOTS OF WATER TO DRINK,

IT CAME FROM THE SAME PLACE AS OURS, WE THINK.

THESE ASTEROIDS STARTED OUT FAR FROM THE SUN,

AND JUPITER KICKED THEM ALL INWARD, EACH ONE.

SOME WERE IMPLANTED WAY DOWN IN THE BELT, 

AND OTHERS WENT PAST IT, TOWARD EARTH (OR TO MELT).”


O:  THAT’S JUST PART OF SEAN’S AMAZING POEM ON ASTEROIDS.  YOU CAN CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE SHOW NOTES TO READ THE WHOLE THING.


D:  OLIVIA’S BEEN SO EAGER TO ASK SEAN A FEW QUESTIONS.  TAKE IT AWAY, OLIVIA.


O:  SEAN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING A GUEST ON CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ASTROPHYSICIST?


S:  ——————————————————————————————.


O:  ELLIOT FROM SCOTLAND WANTS TO KNOW, HOW BIG IS THE UNIVERSE?


S:  ——————————————————————————————.


O:  IS IT POSSIBLE FOR LIFE TO EXIST ON ASTEROIDS?


S:  ——————————————————————————————.


O:  SCIENTISTS THINK THAT AN ASTEROID IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WIPING OUT THE DINOSAURS ABOUT 66 MILLION YEARS AGO.  DO ASTEROIDS HIT EARTH OFTEN?


S:  ———————————————————————————————.


O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ASTEROID, A COMET, AND A METEOR? 


S:  ———————————————————————————————.


D:  WOW, THAT WAS AN AWESOME INTERVIEW.  A BIG, BIG THANKS TO SEAN RAYMOND FOR JOINING US ON THE PODCAST FOR A FEW MINUTES AND SHARING HIS KNOWLEDGE WITH US.  


WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.


O:  181 - ASTEROIDS.


D:  GREAT JOB OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB TO LEIF, ELLIOT, ARLA, AND JUNIPER FOR THE ROCKY TOPIC SUGGESTION.  I NEVER KNEW LEARNING ABOUT A BELT COULD BE SO INTERESTING.  BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE, WE WANT TO THANK ONE OF OUR FANTASTIC LISTENERS.


O:  THANKS TO OUR NEWEST PATREON SUPPORTER, RAINIER P.


D:  THANKS SO MUCH, RAINIER, FOR HELPING TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST.  IT MEANS SO MUCH TO US.  JOIN US NEXT WEEK FOR THE SEASON 7 FINALE.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.