Cosmic Queries – Asteroid Hunters with Marina Brozovic

About This Episode

Neil has his own asteroid?! On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Marcia Belsky answer fan questions about different types of asteroids with Marina Brozovic, orbital dynamicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

How do we know the precise location of asteroids? Learn about radio telescopes, the origin of the word asteroid, and the DART mission. How solid is an asteroid? Does it have to be one rock or can it be many? Can asteroids have their own moons? Are asteroids always grey? Find out about the color of asteroids and more.

If the definition of a planet is that it clears its orbit, what about the asteroids in Jupiter’s orbit? Discover the Trojan and Greek asteroids as well as the asteroid belt. You will learn about Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker and David Levy and their work cataloging asteroids. Discover Neil’s own asteroid, 13123 Tyson. If Neil’s asteroid ever got knocked out of place and headed towards Earth, would it be an extinction event? How many asteroids are binary or have their own moonlet? Can a moon have a moon? Is everything a moon?

We discuss asteroid apocalypse movies like Don’t Look Up and Armageddon. Would launching nuclear weapons at an Earth-bound asteroid be feasible or even useful? We learn about the difference between deflection and disruption. Discover Shoemaker-Levy 9 and its impact with Jupiter in 1994. What was it like to see? All that, plus, we ponder geopolitical questions on asteroid deflection.

Thanks to our Patrons Deborah Carson Weekly, Kesha Nevins, Heather Peartree, Mikolas82, and Kayla Nickel for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

About the prints that flank Neil in this video:
“Black Swan” & “White Swan” limited edition serigraph prints by Coast Salish artist Jane Kwatleematt Marston. For more information about this artist and her work, visit Inuit Gallery of Vancouver.