Travelers in the Night Eps. 381 & 382: Red Dwarf Planets & Fireball II

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 March 2026.

Today's 2 topics:

- Astronomers continue to be delighted when they discover an Earth sized planet. Scientists were thus very disappointed when the red dwarf star hosting the nearest such planet, Proxima Centauri b some 4.2 light years away, turns out to have the nasty habit of emitting bursts of radiation which are likely to sterilize and/or remove the atmospheres of it's family of planets. Recently, hope of finding a nearby Earth was rekindled when scientists at the European Southern Observatory in Chile discovered a small planet circling what appears to be a quiet, well behaved red dwarf star 11 light years from us.

- Recently there were four fireball meteors, brighter than the planet Venus, which exploded over Germany, France, Ohio, and Arizona within the space of only 10 hours. A total of 1,320 individuals were treated to light shows and reported their observations to the American Meteor Society. The one which exploded over Arizona was probably several feet in diameter and entered the Earth's atmosphere over Flagstaff. This event was observed in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. It was recorded by numerous electronic security and dashboard cameras and was visible for from 3 to 7 seconds.

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