AstroTalk Episode March 22, 2018

Star Grazes Our Solar System 70,000 years Ago, Lithium in Comes or Asteroids? A Cosmic Tug of War

2:04pm - 3:00pm

Lithium is becoming a hot commodity on Earth. In less than 100 years, so will every other metal. The solution to this coming mineral crunch? Mine minerals on comets or asteroids, or mine the moon. We will have to soon go out in our solar system to survive. Top 10 Star Mysteries. A tug of war is also going on between 2 dwarf galaxies that orbit our Milky Way. the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the Small Magellanic Cloud, are waging a pulling match. Scientists have determined the Large Cloud is pulling material off the small cloud. The stream of gas, known as the Leading Arm, is then feeding its way into the Milky Way, and making i9ts way across our galaxy. This gas will, in the future, most likely feed star birth in the Milky Way, when new stars are being born. Now, let's talk about TESS. What is TESS? TESS stands for, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. TESS is scheduled to launch April 16, and when in orbit, it will search out for the existence of exo-planets. The James Webb Telescope will then analyze the atmospheres and compositions of these exoplanets.