Latest / Space News Today / Tonight the Moon Turns Red — Plus Five More Space Stories You Need to Hear

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Tonight the Moon Turns Red — Plus Five More Space Stories You Need to Hear · Space News Today

0:00
Hey stargazers, quick question. Are you
0:02
near a window right now? Because if
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you're in North America, Australia, New
0:07
Zealand, or across Asia, tonight the
0:10
moon is about to do something
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extraordinary. We're talking full blood
0:15
red total lunar eclipse. And it peaks in
0:18
the early hours of March 3rd. We'll have
0:21
everything you need to know to catch it.
0:23
Tonight on Astronomy Daily, season 5,
0:26
episode 52. Blood moons, cosmic
0:29
detectives, ancient magnetic mysteries,
0:32
and a heist story that will make you
0:34
question whether some space fans have
0:36
gone just a little bit too far.
0:39
>> I'm already intrigued and slightly
0:41
nervous.
0:42
>> You should be. Stay with us. Welcome to
0:45
Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of
0:47
everything happening in space and across
0:49
the universe. I'm Anna.
0:51
>> And I'm Avery. Great to have you with us
0:53
on this Monday, March 2nd. And what a
0:56
show we have lined up today.
0:58
>> We really do. Six stories today covering
1:01
everything from what's happening in
1:02
tonight's sky to a telescope that
1:05
generated almost a million alerts in a
1:07
single night to some genuinely wild new
1:10
science about Saturn, our planet's
1:13
magnetic poles. And I promise you, the
1:15
last story is going to make you laugh.
1:18
>> It really is. But let's kick things off
1:20
with the story that's literally
1:21
happening right now as our listeners are
1:24
tuning in. The blood moon.
1:26
>> Let's get into it then.
1:28
>> So tonight, or rather in the very early
1:30
hours of tomorrow morning, depending on
1:32
where you are, the moon is going to turn
1:35
a deep dramatic red. This is a total
1:38
lunar eclipse and it's one of the most
1:40
visually spectacular events in astronomy
1:43
that requires absolutely zero equipment
1:46
to enjoy. And the timing is remarkable
1:48
for our listeners in Australia and New
1:51
Zealand. You're actually in one of the
1:53
best seats on Earth for this one. The
1:55
eclipse is visible in its entirety from
1:57
the western part of North America right
2:00
across the Pacific through Oceanania and
2:02
then across Asia. For our friends in the
2:05
eastern US and Europe, you'll catch part
2:08
of it, but the moon will be low on the
2:10
horizon or setting as totality peaks.
2:12
So, get to a good vantage point.
2:15
>> Right. So, here are the key times to
2:17
know. The partial phase begins at 4:50
2:20
Eastern time. That's 1:50 Pacific.
2:23
Totality, the moment the moon is fully
2:25
in Earth's shadow and turns that deep,
2:28
dramatic red, begins at 6:04 Eastern.
2:32
And totality lasts for 59 minutes,
2:34
almost a full hour of blood moon.
2:37
>> Now, why red? It's such a beautiful
2:40
phenomenon. During a total lunar
2:42
eclipse, the moon passes completely into
2:45
Earth's shadow, but Earth's atmosphere
2:47
acts like a giant lens, bending and
2:50
filtering sunlight around the edges of
2:52
our planet and casting it onto the
2:54
moon's surface. The atmosphere strips
2:56
out the blue wavelengths and lets the
2:58
reds and oranges through, which is the
3:01
same reason our sunrises and sunsets
3:03
look the way they do. So, in a very
3:05
poetic sense, what you're seeing on the
3:08
moon is the light of every sunrise and
3:10
every sunset on Earth all at once.
3:13
>> That is genuinely beautiful. And there's
3:16
a rare atmospheric bonus tonight. For a
3:19
brief window, some lucky observers on
3:21
the east coast of North America and
3:23
parts of Europe may witness what's
3:25
called a selenon. That's where the
3:28
totally eclipse red moon and the rising
3:31
sun are both above the horizon at the
3:33
same time, which geometrically shouldn't
3:36
really be possible, but atmospheric
3:38
refraction bends both the sun and moon's
3:41
light just enough to make it happen.
3:43
It's been called seeing the impossible.
3:46
Both the eclipse and the sunrise
3:48
simultaneously. And one more thing worth
3:50
noting for our long-term listeners, this
3:53
is the last total lunar eclipse until
3:55
late 2028. So if you have any chance at
3:59
all of getting outside tonight, set that
4:01
alarm. This is not one to sleep through.
4:04
We'll have links in the show notes to
4:06
exact times for your location.
4:08
>> As they say in the trades, not to be
4:10
missed.
4:11
>> Okay, story two. And this is a genuinely
4:15
landmark moment in the history of
4:17
astronomy. The Vera Rubin Observatory in
4:20
Chile, which we've been eagerly waiting
4:22
for, has just made its opening statement
4:25
to the universe, and it is
4:28
extraordinary.
4:29
>> 800,000
4:31
alerts in a single night.
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>> 800,000.
4:36
On February 24th, the Vera Rubin
4:39
Observatory, which houses the largest
4:41
digital camera ever built, a
4:43
jaw-dropping 3.2 2 gigapixels issued
4:48
800,000
4:49
alerts to astronomers worldwide in just
4:52
one night of observation. These are
4:55
realtime notifications about everything
4:58
changing in the sky. Stars brightening
5:00
or dimming, objects moving, flashes of
5:04
light from supernova, asteroids on the
5:06
move.
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>> And to be clear, this is just the
5:09
beginning. At full operating capacity,
5:11
Reuben is expected to produce up to 7
5:14
million alerts every single night. 7
5:18
million. The scale of this is almost
5:20
incomprehensible.
5:22
What makes this so revolutionary is the
5:24
speed. Reuben captures a new region of
5:27
the sky every 40 seconds, then
5:30
immediately sends that data to a
5:32
processing facility in California, where
5:34
an automated system compares it to
5:37
previous images of the same region. Any
5:39
change, any change at all triggers an
5:42
alert that goes out to astronomers
5:44
worldwide who can then point other
5:47
telescopes at the event before it fades.
5:50
Scientists say this could be
5:52
transformative for catching supernova
5:54
before they reach their peak brightness.
5:56
Spotting asteroids that could be a
5:57
threat to Earth. And here's a fun one.
6:00
Finding many more interstellar visitors
6:02
like comet 3i ATLS as they enter our
6:05
solar system. Because with Reuben
6:07
watching the whole sky every 40 seconds,
6:10
there's nowhere to hide.
6:12
>> One of the team described it perfectly.
6:14
They said the scale and speed of the
6:16
alerts are unprecedented. After years of
6:19
building and testing, they can now say
6:22
within minutes of each image, "Here's
6:24
everything. Go." Astronomy has entered a
6:27
new era of realtime discovery. And we
6:31
are here for it.
6:32
>> Story three, and this one completely
6:34
rewrites the origin story of two of the
6:37
most iconic things in our solar system,
6:39
Saturn's rings and its largest moon,
6:41
Titan. I love this story because it's
6:44
one of those discoveries where
6:46
scientists basically went, "Wait, what
6:49
if these two mysteries have the same
6:51
answer?"
6:52
>> Exactly. For years, astronomers have had
6:55
two nagging questions. One, how did
6:58
Saturn's rings form? They're remarkably
7:00
young, much younger than Saturn itself,
7:02
which has always been puzzling. Two, how
7:05
did Titan end up so different from all
7:08
of Saturn's other moons? It's enormous.
7:10
It has a thick atmosphere. It has liquid
7:13
methane lakes. It's basically a world
7:15
unto itself.
7:17
>> And now, new research suggests both
7:19
mysteries have the same catastrophic
7:22
answer. Around hundreds of millions of
7:24
years ago, two of Saturn's older moons
7:27
smashed into each other in a colossal
7:30
collision. The force of that impact was
7:32
so extreme that it didn't just destroy
7:35
those moons. It created something new.
7:38
The debris from the collision coalesed
7:40
to form Titan. And the material flung
7:43
outward by the blast, the icy fragments
7:46
scattered into Saturn's orbit became the
7:48
rings.
7:49
>> One cataclysmic event, two of the most
7:52
fascinating structures in the solar
7:54
system. It's the cosmic equivalent of a
7:56
car crash that somehow produces both a
7:59
city and a motorway.
8:01
>> What I love about this is that it also
8:03
explains Titan's composition. Because if
8:06
Titan formed from the collision of two
8:08
older moons, it would have absorbed a
8:10
complex mix of materials, which could
8:13
explain its extraordinarily rich
8:15
chemistry and possibly even its
8:18
potential to harbor the building blocks
8:20
of life in those methane seas.
8:22
>> Saturn still full of surprises even
8:24
after all this time.
8:26
>> Okay, story four. This one involves
8:29
ancient seafloor sediments, a decadesl
8:32
long scientific mystery, and the
8:34
uncomfortable possibility that our
8:36
magnetic shield can fail for far longer
8:39
than we thought.
8:41
>> Oh, good. I love a comfortable Monday.
8:45
>> So, here's the background. Earth's
8:47
magnetic field, the invisible force
8:50
field that protects us from harmful
8:52
solar radiation and cosmic rays, isn't
8:55
permanent. Roughly every few hundred,000
8:58
years it weakens, becomes chaotic, and
9:00
eventually reverses direction entirely.
9:04
North becomes south, south becomes
9:06
north. Scientists call this a
9:08
geomagnetic reversal. And until now, the
9:12
assumption was that these reversals
9:14
happen relatively quickly in geological
9:16
terms, within about 10,000 years.
9:20
>> But new research has just blown that
9:22
assumption out of the water. Scientists
9:24
analyzing deep sea sediment cores
9:27
drilled from the North Atlantic,
9:28
sediments laid down during the Eocosene
9:30
epic around 40 million years ago, have
9:34
found evidence of a geomagnetic reversal
9:36
that took not 10,000 years, but
9:39
approximately 70,000 years, 7 times
9:42
longer than the accepted benchmark.
9:45
During that entire stretch, Earth's
9:47
magnetic field was significantly
9:49
weakened. And the implications of that
9:51
are significant, right? Because a
9:53
weakened magnetic field means more
9:55
cosmic radiation reaching the surface.
9:58
>> Exactly. The lead researcher described
10:00
it clearly. When the magnetic field
10:03
weakens, more solar radiation reaches
10:05
the planet, which can affect organisms
10:08
ability to navigate, potentially drive
10:10
higher rates of genetic mutation, and
10:12
could even cause measurable atmospheric
10:15
erosion for 70,000 years. That's long
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enough to have real evolutionary
10:21
consequences.
10:22
>> Though, it's worth saying these
10:24
reversals happen over geological time
10:26
scales. There's no imminent reversal on
10:28
the horizon in any human time frame. But
10:31
what this research does is force us to
10:33
rethink what we thought we knew about
10:35
one of Earth's most fundamental systems.
10:37
The magnetic field isn't as predictable
10:40
or as consistent as we assumed.
10:42
>> The beautiful detail is how they found
10:44
it. Those tiny magnetic minerals
10:47
preserved in slowly accumulating deep
10:50
sea sediments, essentially recording the
10:52
direction of Earth's field like a
10:54
billion-year magnetic diary. Geology is
10:57
endlessly fascinating.
10:59
>> Story five, and we're back to some
11:01
extraordinary telescope science. This
11:04
time, the James Web telescope has done
11:06
something genuinely unprecedented with
11:09
our most mysterious planet, Uranus. Core
11:12
Uranus, always the overlooked one.
11:15
>> Not anymore. An international team of
11:18
astronomers have used Web's near
11:20
infrared spectrometer to map the upper
11:22
atmosphere of Uranus in three
11:24
dimensions. The first time this has ever
11:27
been done for the planet. And what they
11:29
found is extraordinary.
11:31
>> So Uranus is already a deeply strange
11:34
world. It orbits on its side with an
11:36
axial tilt of almost 98°,
11:39
meaning its poles point roughly towards
11:42
the sun. That extreme tilt gives it the
11:45
most dramatic seasons of any planet in
11:47
the solar system. And now, web has given
11:50
us the first detailed vertical map of
11:52
its ionosphere, its uppermost layer of
11:55
its atmosphere, revealing its structure
11:57
in unprecedented detail.
12:00
>> And the auroras are remarkable. Unlike
12:02
Earth's auroras, which form in rings
12:04
around the poles, Uranus's auroras are
12:07
far more complex and widespread, a
12:09
reflection of its unusual magnetic
12:11
field, which is tilted at a completely
12:13
different angle to its rotation axis.
12:16
Web's infrared vision allowed scientists
12:18
to detect these faint auroral displays
12:20
that have never been seen in this kind
12:22
of detail before. What makes this
12:25
particularly valuable is that Uranus is
12:27
a candidate target for a future
12:29
dedicated NASA mission, the Uranus
12:31
Orbiter and Probe, which has been
12:33
recommended as a top priority by
12:35
planetary scientists. Every new
12:38
discovery like this helps build the
12:40
scientific case for why going there
12:42
would be so worthwhile. And yet another
12:45
example of web completely delivering on
12:47
its promise, seeing the universe and
12:50
even our own solar system in ways that
12:52
simply weren't possible before. And
12:54
finally, our community service
12:57
announcement of the day. Because if
12:59
you've ever browsed eBay late at night
13:01
and thought to yourself, "Ooh, I wonder
13:03
if I could get my hands on some actual
13:06
Apollo moon rock." Please listen
13:09
carefully.
13:10
>> This is a public safety message. It
13:12
really is. So, here's the deal. NASA
13:16
brought back 842
13:18
lbs of lunar material during the six
13:21
Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972.
13:25
Moon rocks, core samples, dust, pebbles,
13:29
all of it is the property of the United
13:31
States federal government, not NASA's
13:34
property, the governments. And it is
13:36
absolutely unambiguously
13:39
completely illegal to buy, sell, trade,
13:43
or privately own any of it. Even the
13:46
astronauts themselves cannot keep a
13:49
single grain,
13:50
>> which you'd think would be enough of a
13:52
deterrent. And yet
13:53
>> and yet in 2002, three NASA interns,
13:58
three decided to attempt one of
14:00
history's most audacious heists using
14:04
tampered cameras, neoprene bodysuits,
14:07
and their own NASA access badges. They
14:10
broke into a safe at Johnson Space
14:12
Center and walked out with 17 pounds of
14:15
moon rocks worth an estimated $21
14:18
million. At which point they presumably
14:20
thought, "Now what?"
14:22
>> Exactly. Because selling stolen moon
14:25
rocks turns out to be surprisingly
14:27
difficult. Their solution, post them on
14:30
the website of the Minology Club of
14:32
Antworp, which understandably caught the
14:36
attention of the FBI, who sent
14:38
undercover agents posing as interested
14:40
buyers. They were arrested at a hotel in
14:43
Orlando with the moon rocks and the ring
14:46
leader received an 8-year prison
14:48
sentence.
14:49
>> The Minology Club of Antworp as a fence
14:52
for stolen moon rocks.
14:53
>> I know, I know. Now, there is one nuance
14:56
worth knowing. Lunar meteorites, rocks
14:59
that have naturally fallen to Earth from
15:01
the moon after being blasted off by
15:03
ancient impacts, are a completely
15:05
different story. Those can be legally
15:08
collected, bought, and sold because they
15:10
arrived here naturally and weren't
15:12
brought back by government astronauts.
15:14
Though, if you want a piece of the moon
15:16
on your shelf, that's actually the
15:18
legitimate route.
15:19
>> And considerably less likely to result
15:22
in a federal prison sentence.
15:24
>> Considerably. The key message, if
15:26
someone offers you Apollo moon rocks,
15:29
walk away very quickly.
15:31
>> What a show today. A blood moon, a
15:34
telescope seeing everything, the violent
15:37
birth of Titan, our magnetic fields,
15:39
ancient secrets, Uranus and glorious 3D,
15:43
and a reminder that the law applies in
15:45
space adjacent context, too.
15:47
>> Thanks so much for spending part of your
15:49
Monday with us. And seriously, if you
15:51
can get outside and look up tonight,
15:54
that blood moon is not going to wait.
15:57
It's the last one until 2028. Links to
16:00
eclipse times for your location are in
16:02
the show notes. You can find us at
16:04
astronomyaily.io
16:06
and on socials at astroailyaily pod. If
16:08
you enjoyed today's episode, a review or
16:10
share goes such a long way. It really
16:13
helps new listeners find us.
16:14
>> We'll be back tomorrow with more from
16:16
the universe. Until then, keep looking
16:19
up.
16:30
Stories told.