Sept. 24, 2026
Comet 3I ATLAS: Unveiling the Secrets of an Ancient Interstellar Wanderer
SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 115 A comet older than the Sun Astronomers have found new clues about the origin of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS suggesting it’s more than twice as old as the Sun and solar system. The nearby “Super Earth” that might be a candidate for life Astronomers have taken a closer look at a nearby exoplanet finding it may be more Earth-like than previously thought. A new way to study the birth of the universe Scientists have discovered a new way to create quark gluon plasma – the first matter in the universe. The Science Report The number of women testing positive for gonorrhoea doubles over the past decade. New study shows people taking medicinal marijuana are far worse drivers. The growing problem of human pollution now present over the entire planet. The discovery of a half-billion-year-old fossil has rewritten the origin story of starfish Skeptics guide to the four flavours of aliens Our Guest This Week Professor Bill Collins from Curtin University Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ
The Astronomy, Space, Technology & Science News Podcast.
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Stuart Gary: This is space time series 29 episode
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115 full broadcast on 25
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September 2026 coming up on
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Space, a comet older than the
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sun, the nearby super Earth planet
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that might be a candidate for life, and a
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new way to study the birth of the universe.
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All that and more coming up on, uh, Space
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Time. Welcome to
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Space Time with Stuart G.
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Astronomers have found new clues about the
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origin of interstellar comet 3I ATLAS,
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suggesting it may be more than twice as old
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as our sun and solar system. The
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findings, reported in the journal Nature
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Astronomy, are based on observations by the
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European Southern Observatory's Very Large
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Telescope in Chile, which studied the
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composition of the alien visitor, which is
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now considered to be the brightest
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interstellar object ever seen in detail.
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By measuring specific chemical fingerprints,
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the first observations of this kind for a
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comet formed outside our solar system, the
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authors found that 3i Atlas likely
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originated in the outskirts of an older star
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system. One of the study's authors,
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Cyril Opitum from the University of
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Edinburgh, says the findings are shining new
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light on the formation history of this comet.
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Interstellar comets are icy objects formed
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around stars other than the sun that have
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occasionally wandered into our solar system.
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Opidib says. They're sort of fossils from a
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planetary formation process that happen far
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away but, uh, which give scientists a chance
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to study them up close. Three Eye Atlas is
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the third interstellar object ever
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discovered. It follows One Eye Omau Maua back
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in 2017 and two I Borisov in
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2019. It was found as it was approaching
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the sun, spending enough time in our solar
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system for astronomers to study it in some
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detail. While it was difficult to measure the
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composition of the first two interstellar
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objects, with no gas detected from A MAU Maua
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and Borisov being too faint, this was not the
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case for 3i Atlas. Thanks to the object's
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unprecedented brightness, the authors were
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able to measure the comet's isotopic ratios,
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the relative amounts of different forms of
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the same element. They measured the ratios of
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carbon and nitrogen isotopes in cyanide
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molecules present in the gas around the
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comet. These ratios are a good indicator of a
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comet's origin, as they're sensitive to the
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physical conditions in the formation
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environment and not expected to change much
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as the comet travels through space. Unlike
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comets from our solar system, three EYE Atlas
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was found to carry unusually high carbon and
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nitrogen isotopic ratios.
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A similar study led by Martin Cordinna from
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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in
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Greenbelt, Maryland, which was published in
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last month's Nature, found a similar isotopic
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ratio for carbon, as well as elevated levels
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of deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen.
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That study used data from NASA's Webb Space
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Telescope. Overall, the findings by
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OPITIM's team indicate that the comet likely
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formed in the outer regions of an old low
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metallicity star. Low metallicity
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stars are ones with compositions containing
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few elements heavier than hydrogen and
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helium. These types of stars are thought to
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have formed when the universe was much
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younger and less chemically rich than what it
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is now. Therefore, the authors suspect Thria
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ATLAS originated around a star much older
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than our sun and may be more than twice as
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old as the solar system. This
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interstellar traveller was first detected by
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NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert
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System back on July 1,
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2025. David Finossia from
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
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California says It was about 670 million
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kilometres the sun within the orbit of
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Jupiter when it was first discovered.
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David Finacia: 3i Atlas was discovered on July 1st by the
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NASA funded Atlas Survey. Uh, it was
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discovered using their uh, telescope at Rio
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Hurtado in Chile and it was first detected as
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a speckled light moving relative to
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background stars. We collected a good amount
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of data, more than 100 observations. We know
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its trajectory fairly well. We know it came
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from outside the solar system. Uh, from
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images we also saw that this object is
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active. We, which means that around the
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nucleus there is some coma, which is an
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indication that this object is in fact a
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comet. Right now it's hard to say how big
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this object is because being active, the
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brightness that we see is partially due to
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the size of the object, but also, uh, is
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partially due to the activity. And so we
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cannot really pinpoint the nucleus, uh, size
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directly. We have to better understand how
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active this object is and then uh, we can
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refine the size estimate and get a good idea.
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It's moving at a velocity of about
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135,000 miles per hour. So it's going
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really fast for that distance from the sun.
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This is really exceptional. You have to be an
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interstellar object to be going that fast at
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that distance from the sun. The more data we
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get, the better we can measure the position
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of this object as it travels through the
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solar system and it moves out of it. But
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we also want to collect physical
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characterization data. For instance, we would
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like to understand better what the size of
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this object could the levels of activity.
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We're just bracing ourselves to get as much
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information as possible. We're really excited
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about these objects. So far we've discovered
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three interstellar objects. The first one was
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Oumuamua, um, in 2017, the second one
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Borisov in 2019 and now we have the third
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one, 3i Atlas. So it's a rare
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opportunity and uh, as a scientific community
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we want to collect as many data as possible
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to uh, characterise this object and learn as
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much as we can.
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Stuart Gary: That's David Fanasia from NASA's Jet
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Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
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California. And this is space
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time still to come, the nearby
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super Earth planet that may be a candidate
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for life and a new way to study the birth of
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the universe. All that and more still to come
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on, um, space time.
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Astronomers have taken a closer look at a
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nearby exoplanet, finding it may be more
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Earth like than previously thought. The
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planet, catalogued as GJ
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3378b, orbits a small
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spectral type M red dwarf star 25 light years
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away in the direction of the northern
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constellation Camilla Padalis. A report in
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the Astrophysical Journal claims the planet
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orbits within the star's habitable zone.
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That's the region where temperatures could
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allow liquid water to exist on a planet's
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surface, thereby making this planet a
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candidate to host life. The
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study's lead author, Paul Robertson from the
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University of California, Irvine, says the
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mantra is follow the water. It's the one
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thing every known living thing on Earth
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needs. So that's the first thing astronomers
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look for when trying to find environments
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that could sustain life, at least life as we
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know it. So Robertson and colleagues took
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a closer look and found that it may be more
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Earth like than they previously thought. Red
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dwarfs are the smallest, coolest group of
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stars. They have surface temperatures of
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around 2,400 to 3,900 degrees
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degrees that compares to the sun's 6,000
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degrees. They're also much smaller and dimmer
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than our sun and often appear reddish, hence
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their name. But red dwarfs are the most
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common type of star in the galaxy, making up
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some 70% of the entire galactic stellar
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population. However, the problem with red
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dwarfs is they tend to launch stellar flares
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far more often than sun like stars. And this
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intense stellar flare activity can erode a
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planet's atmosphere, irradiating its surface
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and any life that may be on that surface.
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Also, because these stars are so dim and
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Earth like planets are so small, they can be
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very difficult to detect and require
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specialised instrumentation. So to Learn
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more about JG3378B, the
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authors used the Habitable Zone Planet Finder
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instrument on the Hobby Eberley telescope at
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the McDonald Observatory in order to study
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its host star. As the planet orbits
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the star, its gravitational force tugs on the
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star. This creates a slight wobble, a
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Doppler shift, which is visible on the host
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star. And that Doppler shift can be used to
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calculate a planet's mass and orbit. The
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habitable zone Planet Finder is optimised to
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use infrared light. As a star gets smaller
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and they get cooler, most of their energy
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comes out in infrared wavelengths. So
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astronomers put an infrared spectrometer on
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the 10 metre telescope, giving them more raw
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light collecting power to observe these faint
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stars. GJ
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3378b is described as a super
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earth that is a terrestrial or rocky planet,
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larger than the Earth, but not so big as to
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hold onto a thick atmosphere that would crush
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any life on its surface. When the planet was
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first discovered in 2024, it was thought to
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be about five times the mass of the Earth.
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But this new analysis shows it's closer to
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around 2.3 times Earth's mass. And that
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change increases the likelihood that the
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planet doesn't hold a smothering atmosphere.
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The authors also refined the planet's orbit
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down from 25 Earth days to 21.
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Uh, even though both of these are tiny orbits
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compared to, in comparison, the Earth has a
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365 day orbit with a host star roughly a
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third the size of our sun. That proximity is
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necessary to place the planet within that
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star's habitable zone. Now, that said,
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its smaller orbit also subjects the planet to
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intense radiation which could evaporate any
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atmosphere present. So more
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observations will be needed for astronomers
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to be sure. This, uh, is space time
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still to come. A new way to study the birth
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of the universe. And later in the Science
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report, the discovery of a half billion year
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old fossil which has rewritten the origin
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storey of starfish. All that and more still
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to come on, um, space time.
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Scientists have discovered a new way to
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create a glide gluon plasma, the first matter
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to form in our universe. The findings,
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reported in the journal Physical Review
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Letters, opens a new window on the first
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microseconds after the big bang, 13.8
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billion years ago. What happened in those
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first moments of the universe, before the
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building blocks of life and the world as we
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know it came into existence? Physicists at
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cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear
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Research, are trying to answer this question
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by recreating some of the extreme conditions
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that prevailed in the universe at the very
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beginning of time. Now, researchers from the
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Niels Bohr Institute, together with
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colleagues from the alice collaboration at
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CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the world's
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biggest atom smasher have come one step
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closer to understanding those conditions.
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At CERN, uh, physicists collide atomic nuclei
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at some 99.9999%
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the speed of light, in the process creating
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the tiny droplets of primordial matter that
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filled the universe during its first
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millionth of a second of creation. This
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substance is known as quark gluon plasma, and
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it's thought to have been the earliest form
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of matter in our universe. For many
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years, scientists have assumed that creating
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this plasma required collisions between very
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heavy atomic nuclei, such as leading.
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But physicists from the Niels Bohr Institute
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have now succeeded in creating this
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primordial matter by smashing much smaller
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nuclei of oxygen 16 and neon 20
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together. The study's lead author, uh Xiao
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Xu from the Niels Bohr Institute and the
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University of Copenhagen, says they've pushed
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the boundaries for how small the atomic
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nuclei can be while still recreating this
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quark gluon plasma. The discovery
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means scientists now know more about the
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fundamental conditions required required for
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matter to transition into this extreme state.
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This in turn will help researchers better
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understand how plasma behaved during the
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first moments of the universe and how it
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later evolved into the forms of matter that
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everything we see around us today is made of.
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When the atomic nuclei collide, their
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constituents, ah, are transformed into tiny
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droplets of quark gluon plasma that exist for
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just a fraction of a second. This droplet of
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extremely hot matter then expands.
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Researchers can't observe the plasma
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directly, but they can measure the particles
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that this matter turns into shortly
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afterwards. And the movement pattern of these
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particles reveals the shape of the atomic
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nucleus. Collisions between two oxygen
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nuclei produce a more rounded pattern, While
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collisions involving neon produce a more
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boiling pin shaped pattern. The particles
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from the primordial matter are, uh, directly
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governed by the geometric shape of their
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atomic nucleus. So if two atomic
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nuclei being smashed together are spherical,
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they'll produce one pattern. And if they're
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shaped like bowling pins, they'll produce
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another. By studying how the particles move
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after the collision, scientists can gain
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fresh insights into atomic nuclei that would
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otherwise be difficult to obtain. The authors
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describe it as being like shining a light on
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an object and seeing its shadow. You can't
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see the object directly, but its shadow
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reveals its shape. In the same way, the
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movement of these particles reveals reveals
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the geometric shape of the atomic nuclei
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present at the beginning of the collision.
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The shape of an atomic nucleus is not merely
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a matter of geometry. It reveals how
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protons and neutrons are organised and
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provides important information about the
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strong nuclear force, One of nature's four
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fundamental forces which scientists are still
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trying to fully understand. The others being
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the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic
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force and gravity. That assumes, of course,
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that gravity really is a force, which it's
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probably not. Until now,
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physicists have primarily investigated
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nuclear structure at low energies by studying
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things like the rotation and vibration of
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atomic nuclei. Zhao says the precise
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understanding of nuclear structure helps
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scientists understand the strong nuclear
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force. But instead of carefully investigating
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nuclei at low energies, they've smashed
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together at the highest energies, allowing
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scientists to read their shape from the
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imprint they leave behind. Researchers still
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don't know the exact boundary when a quark,
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gluon, um, plasma can be created. So the next
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step will be to try experiments with even
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lighter nuclei, such as helium 4. The
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experiment will allow scientists to both
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learn about the structure of atomic nuclei
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and to gain a better understanding of what
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happened during the birth of the universe.
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And it turns out these two things may be much
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more closely connected than previously
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thought.
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This is space, time.
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And time outta. Take another brief look at
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some of the other storeys making news in
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Science this week with the Science Report.
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A major sexual health clinic in Melbourne has
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seen an almost doubling over the past decade
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of women testing positive for gonorrhoea.
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The authors analysed data from the clinic
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between 2015 and 2024, looking for the
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characteristics of women contracting
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gonorrhoea amid a rise in sexually
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transmitted diseases among women in Melbourne
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in recent years. The findings reported in the
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journal Sexual Health Cher gonorrhoea cases
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increased from 1.3% in 2015 to
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2.3% in 2024. The
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authors say the women diagnosed were
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predominantly young, had multiple casual male
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partners and used condoms in contemporary
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Consistently oral gonorrhoea saw the largest
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increase in cases during the study. Most of
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these cases are asymptomatic and can only be
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picked up through regular screening.
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The New South Wales State government has just
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passed new legislation allowing people to
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drive when under the influence of medicinal
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cannabis. The passing of this bill comes as
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Canadian researchers have analysed 40 regular
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edible cannabis users testing their driving
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skills in a simulator before and after eating
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THC gummies. The findings reported
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in the Journal of the American Medical
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association show that higher doses of
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THC led to poorer lane control, slower
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reaction times and less consistent speeds.
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And um, that's despite the participants blood
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tests showed they remained below the legal
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thresholds for driving with cannabis in
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Canada, New Zealand and now New South Wales.
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That legal limit is 5 nanograms per
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millilitre. Human
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pollution affects our entire planet,
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destroying environments wherever people go
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Now a report in the journal PLOS ONE
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describes how researchers have found plastic
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litter on more than half of their remotely
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operated dives to the bottom of the Mardel
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Plata canyon near Argentina, three kilometres
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below the sea surface. After 17
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dives in 2025, scientists analysed
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approximately 240 hours of video footage,
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finding some stationary creatures like
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starfish and corals had attached to the trash
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dumped by humans, including packets of fried
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noodles, plastic cups and even old boots.
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A few months earlier, expeditions found cans
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and plastic bags on the bottom of the Mariana
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Trench, the planet's deepest fissure in the
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western Pacific Ocean.
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The discovery of a half billion year old
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fossil has rewritten the origin history of
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starfish. Palaeontologists uncovered the
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518 million year old remains in southwestern
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China. It comes from a period of rapid
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evolutionary development known as the
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Cambrian Explosion, when most major animal
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groups first appeared in the fossil record.
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The new find, named Eugenia glunitotinica,
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uh, are thought to be closely related to the
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last common ancestor of Ambula clarians, the
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modern group that includes starfish, sea
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00:17:28.069 --> 00:17:30.269
stars, sea urchins and acorn worms.
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A report in the journal Current Biology shows
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the new discovery ate their food using
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tentacles and not passively using their gills
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as previously thought. A,
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uh, pseudoscience and UFO researcher says
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he's uncovered evidence that four different
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types of extraterrestrial alien species have
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visited our planet. Hal Putoff, a
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former Advanced Aerospace Weapons System
430
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Applications programme advisor and CIA funded
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researcher, uh, claims bodies of four
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different species have been recovered from
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various UFO crashes by the US government.
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But as the sceptics Timms Mendham points out,
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uh, he's provided no evidence to support his
436
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claims.
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Tim Mendham: They all look a bit humanoid, which is, I
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don't know, to me, surprising. I don't know
439
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why aliens always have to look like humans.
440
00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.900
Now to our octopus people. No, no, no
441
00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:16.060
sentient bacteria or anything like that.
442
00:18:16.060 --> 00:18:17.740
There's the lizard people who look like
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lizards have tails. Uh, there's the Nordic
444
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who look very sort of glamour Norwegian
445
00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:23.640
looking people. There's the insect people who
446
00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:25.400
are a bit scary, look like praying mantises,
447
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um, and of course there's the greys, the
448
00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.040
cliched modern looking little people, big
449
00:18:30.040 --> 00:18:31.840
heads, big eyes, that sort of thing. They all
450
00:18:31.840 --> 00:18:34.720
have sort of hands, fingers, five, obviously
451
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scary in some cases, some cases benign. You
452
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got to look at the people who are promoting
453
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this stuff. I mean, obviously there's no
454
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evidence for it at all. There's just
455
00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:43.600
conjecture, made up, cliches, memes,
456
00:18:43.600 --> 00:18:45.160
whatever. Some of the people promoting it,
457
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one in particular recently is Dr. Hal
458
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Puthoff, who was a former
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Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems
460
00:18:52.600 --> 00:18:54.920
Application programme revisor for it. He was
461
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also involved in a place called the Stanford
462
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Research Institute back in the 70s with a uh,
463
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Harold Targ partner, uh, who were
464
00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:02.640
investigating Uri Geller. And they came out
465
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very much in favour of Uri Geller, saying he
466
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had definite spoon bending talents and all
467
00:19:06.840 --> 00:19:08.600
sorts of psychic powers and things. The
468
00:19:08.600 --> 00:19:10.600
protocols that they used in their laboratory
469
00:19:10.600 --> 00:19:12.160
testing were very dodgy or at least
470
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questionable, let's put it that way. And
471
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certainly someone as sceptic is noted as
472
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James Randi. The late James Randi described
473
00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:19.490
them as the Laurel and Hardy of uh,
474
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parapsychology research. But he has come out
475
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recently and said that there is definitely
476
00:19:23.620 --> 00:19:26.420
these four types of UFO occupants. He
477
00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:28.340
hasn't seen them of course, but he's heard of
478
00:19:28.340 --> 00:19:31.020
them. He said testimony from members of
479
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supposed crash retrieval programmes who tend
480
00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:35.500
not to come forward to actually talk about
481
00:19:35.500 --> 00:19:37.260
their work because they fear for their lives.
482
00:19:37.260 --> 00:19:38.980
It's annoying that all these people with
483
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evidence don't come forward with it. So
484
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therefore you have to say, well what evidence
485
00:19:42.020 --> 00:19:43.700
do they have? I could say the, the moon is
486
00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:45.100
made of cheese. And people say where's the
487
00:19:45.100 --> 00:19:46.740
evidence? Well I can't give it to you because
488
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it's secret, you know. And you say right,
489
00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:50.300
okay, I'm supposed to believe that. So all
490
00:19:50.300 --> 00:19:52.300
these people who are claiming UFOs and they
491
00:19:52.300 --> 00:19:54.380
know of someone who know of someone who knows
492
00:19:54.380 --> 00:19:56.980
of someone who has seen these occupants of
493
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interplanetary uh, craft, there's no evidence
494
00:19:59.180 --> 00:19:59.500
for it.
495
00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:01.580
And you get people like Al Puthoff who might
496
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be going through attention deficit disorder.
497
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He wants to sort of put his hand up again
498
00:20:05.780 --> 00:20:07.820
even in his aged years or something because
499
00:20:07.820 --> 00:20:09.340
he has been around a long time, since the
500
00:20:09.340 --> 00:20:12.220
early 70s. His record is not crash shot. So
501
00:20:12.220 --> 00:20:14.220
as a source of information, despite the fact
502
00:20:14.220 --> 00:20:16.100
he supposedly has this sort of research
503
00:20:16.100 --> 00:20:18.220
background, it's not necessarily as exciting
504
00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:20.180
as it might sound to be. Not necessarily as
505
00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:22.040
respectable, uh, or reliable as it might
506
00:20:22.040 --> 00:20:24.560
sound to be. Saying I worked with the CIA on
507
00:20:24.790 --> 00:20:26.600
uh, projects in the 70s is nothing
508
00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:28.520
particularly exciting. So you see I was
509
00:20:28.520 --> 00:20:30.280
funding anything going and came out with
510
00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:32.360
nothing at the end. But anyway, Hal put off
511
00:20:32.360 --> 00:20:33.800
you're saying there's four, um, different
512
00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:36.240
types of aliens, all of whom look humanish.
513
00:20:36.320 --> 00:20:38.880
And uh, none of them any evidence for them at
514
00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:40.480
all. There was a documentary made about
515
00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:42.400
disclosure things. This is before the.
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Stuart Gary: Let's call it a mockumentary.
517
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:45.680
Tim Mendham: It's a, it's a mockumentary with nothing new.
518
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:48.440
It's Age of Disclosure had a lot of puffery
519
00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.560
before it came out and people have seen it
520
00:20:50.560 --> 00:20:52.040
say there's nothing new there. It's all the
521
00:20:52.040 --> 00:20:54.020
same old same old, same characters who keep
522
00:20:54.020 --> 00:20:55.500
appearing and being interviewed. Of course
523
00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.500
it's going to it's a preamble to the film,
524
00:20:57.500 --> 00:20:59.620
Spielberg film called Disclosure talks about
525
00:20:59.620 --> 00:21:01.940
alien interaction with people, etc. All sorts
526
00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:03.500
of, you know, they walk among us type things.
527
00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:05.700
No real evidence and a lot of claims but no
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00:21:05.700 --> 00:21:07.940
evidence. And that goes on has been going on
529
00:21:07.940 --> 00:21:10.900
since the 1940s and every researcher of UFOs
530
00:21:10.900 --> 00:21:12.740
has always said any day now is going to be
531
00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:15.220
the great reveal. And that day has never
532
00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:17.940
arisen. So we're waiting. They've never
533
00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:20.260
presented, never presented any irrefutable
534
00:21:20.260 --> 00:21:22.260
anything close to irrefutable evidence. Just
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00:21:22.260 --> 00:21:22.660
claims.
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00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:24.990
Stuart Gary: That's the sceptics. Timms Mendham and this
537
00:21:24.990 --> 00:21:25.830
is Space Time.
538
00:21:41.350 --> 00:21:44.230
And that's the show for now. Space Time
539
00:21:44.230 --> 00:21:46.310
is available every Monday, Wednesday and
540
00:21:46.310 --> 00:21:49.190
Friday through bytes.com soundcloud,
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spacetime is also broadcast through the
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details. You've been listening to Space Time
558
00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:31.940
with Stuart Gary. This has been another
559
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quality podcast production from bytes.com.
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Stuart Gary: This is space time series 29 episode
1
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115 full broadcast on 25
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September 2026 coming up on
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Space, a comet older than the
4
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sun, the nearby super Earth planet
5
00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:16.600
that might be a candidate for life, and a
6
00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:18.880
new way to study the birth of the universe.
7
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All that and more coming up on, uh, Space
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Time. Welcome to
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Space Time with Stuart G.
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Astronomers have found new clues about the
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origin of interstellar comet 3I ATLAS,
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suggesting it may be more than twice as old
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as our sun and solar system. The
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findings, reported in the journal Nature
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Astronomy, are based on observations by the
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European Southern Observatory's Very Large
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00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:01.380
Telescope in Chile, which studied the
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composition of the alien visitor, which is
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now considered to be the brightest
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interstellar object ever seen in detail.
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By measuring specific chemical fingerprints,
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the first observations of this kind for a
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comet formed outside our solar system, the
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authors found that 3i Atlas likely
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originated in the outskirts of an older star
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system. One of the study's authors,
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Cyril Opitum from the University of
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Edinburgh, says the findings are shining new
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light on the formation history of this comet.
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Interstellar comets are icy objects formed
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around stars other than the sun that have
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occasionally wandered into our solar system.
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Opidib says. They're sort of fossils from a
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planetary formation process that happen far
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away but, uh, which give scientists a chance
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to study them up close. Three Eye Atlas is
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the third interstellar object ever
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discovered. It follows One Eye Omau Maua back
39
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in 2017 and two I Borisov in
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2019. It was found as it was approaching
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the sun, spending enough time in our solar
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system for astronomers to study it in some
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detail. While it was difficult to measure the
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composition of the first two interstellar
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objects, with no gas detected from A MAU Maua
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and Borisov being too faint, this was not the
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case for 3i Atlas. Thanks to the object's
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unprecedented brightness, the authors were
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able to measure the comet's isotopic ratios,
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the relative amounts of different forms of
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the same element. They measured the ratios of
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carbon and nitrogen isotopes in cyanide
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molecules present in the gas around the
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comet. These ratios are a good indicator of a
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comet's origin, as they're sensitive to the
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physical conditions in the formation
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environment and not expected to change much
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as the comet travels through space. Unlike
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comets from our solar system, three EYE Atlas
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was found to carry unusually high carbon and
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nitrogen isotopic ratios.
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A similar study led by Martin Cordinna from
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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in
64
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Greenbelt, Maryland, which was published in
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last month's Nature, found a similar isotopic
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ratio for carbon, as well as elevated levels
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of deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen.
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That study used data from NASA's Webb Space
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Telescope. Overall, the findings by
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OPITIM's team indicate that the comet likely
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formed in the outer regions of an old low
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metallicity star. Low metallicity
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stars are ones with compositions containing
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few elements heavier than hydrogen and
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helium. These types of stars are thought to
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have formed when the universe was much
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younger and less chemically rich than what it
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is now. Therefore, the authors suspect Thria
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ATLAS originated around a star much older
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than our sun and may be more than twice as
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old as the solar system. This
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interstellar traveller was first detected by
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NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert
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System back on July 1,
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2025. David Finossia from
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
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California says It was about 670 million
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kilometres the sun within the orbit of
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Jupiter when it was first discovered.
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David Finacia: 3i Atlas was discovered on July 1st by the
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NASA funded Atlas Survey. Uh, it was
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discovered using their uh, telescope at Rio
93
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Hurtado in Chile and it was first detected as
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a speckled light moving relative to
95
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background stars. We collected a good amount
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of data, more than 100 observations. We know
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its trajectory fairly well. We know it came
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from outside the solar system. Uh, from
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images we also saw that this object is
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active. We, which means that around the
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nucleus there is some coma, which is an
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indication that this object is in fact a
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comet. Right now it's hard to say how big
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this object is because being active, the
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brightness that we see is partially due to
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the size of the object, but also, uh, is
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partially due to the activity. And so we
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cannot really pinpoint the nucleus, uh, size
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directly. We have to better understand how
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active this object is and then uh, we can
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refine the size estimate and get a good idea.
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It's moving at a velocity of about
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135,000 miles per hour. So it's going
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really fast for that distance from the sun.
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This is really exceptional. You have to be an
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interstellar object to be going that fast at
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that distance from the sun. The more data we
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get, the better we can measure the position
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of this object as it travels through the
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solar system and it moves out of it. But
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we also want to collect physical
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characterization data. For instance, we would
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like to understand better what the size of
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this object could the levels of activity.
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We're just bracing ourselves to get as much
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information as possible. We're really excited
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about these objects. So far we've discovered
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three interstellar objects. The first one was
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Oumuamua, um, in 2017, the second one
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Borisov in 2019 and now we have the third
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one, 3i Atlas. So it's a rare
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opportunity and uh, as a scientific community
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we want to collect as many data as possible
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to uh, characterise this object and learn as
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much as we can.
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Stuart Gary: That's David Fanasia from NASA's Jet
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Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
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California. And this is space
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time still to come, the nearby
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super Earth planet that may be a candidate
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for life and a new way to study the birth of
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the universe. All that and more still to come
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on, um, space time.
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Astronomers have taken a closer look at a
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nearby exoplanet, finding it may be more
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Earth like than previously thought. The
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planet, catalogued as GJ
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3378b, orbits a small
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spectral type M red dwarf star 25 light years
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away in the direction of the northern
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constellation Camilla Padalis. A report in
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the Astrophysical Journal claims the planet
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orbits within the star's habitable zone.
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That's the region where temperatures could
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allow liquid water to exist on a planet's
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surface, thereby making this planet a
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candidate to host life. The
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study's lead author, Paul Robertson from the
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University of California, Irvine, says the
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mantra is follow the water. It's the one
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thing every known living thing on Earth
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needs. So that's the first thing astronomers
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look for when trying to find environments
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that could sustain life, at least life as we
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know it. So Robertson and colleagues took
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a closer look and found that it may be more
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Earth like than they previously thought. Red
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dwarfs are the smallest, coolest group of
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stars. They have surface temperatures of
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around 2,400 to 3,900 degrees
171
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degrees that compares to the sun's 6,000
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degrees. They're also much smaller and dimmer
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than our sun and often appear reddish, hence
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their name. But red dwarfs are the most
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common type of star in the galaxy, making up
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some 70% of the entire galactic stellar
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population. However, the problem with red
178
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dwarfs is they tend to launch stellar flares
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far more often than sun like stars. And this
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intense stellar flare activity can erode a
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planet's atmosphere, irradiating its surface
182
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and any life that may be on that surface.
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Also, because these stars are so dim and
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Earth like planets are so small, they can be
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very difficult to detect and require
186
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specialised instrumentation. So to Learn
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00:07:51.820 --> 00:07:54.500
more about JG3378B, the
188
00:07:54.500 --> 00:07:56.820
authors used the Habitable Zone Planet Finder
189
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instrument on the Hobby Eberley telescope at
190
00:07:58.940 --> 00:08:01.140
the McDonald Observatory in order to study
191
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its host star. As the planet orbits
192
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the star, its gravitational force tugs on the
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star. This creates a slight wobble, a
194
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Doppler shift, which is visible on the host
195
00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:14.030
star. And that Doppler shift can be used to
196
00:08:14.030 --> 00:08:16.510
calculate a planet's mass and orbit. The
197
00:08:16.510 --> 00:08:19.030
habitable zone Planet Finder is optimised to
198
00:08:19.030 --> 00:08:22.030
use infrared light. As a star gets smaller
199
00:08:22.030 --> 00:08:23.990
and they get cooler, most of their energy
200
00:08:23.990 --> 00:08:26.630
comes out in infrared wavelengths. So
201
00:08:26.630 --> 00:08:28.750
astronomers put an infrared spectrometer on
202
00:08:28.750 --> 00:08:31.190
the 10 metre telescope, giving them more raw
203
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light collecting power to observe these faint
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stars. GJ
205
00:08:35.670 --> 00:08:38.470
3378b is described as a super
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earth that is a terrestrial or rocky planet,
207
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larger than the Earth, but not so big as to
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hold onto a thick atmosphere that would crush
209
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any life on its surface. When the planet was
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first discovered in 2024, it was thought to
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be about five times the mass of the Earth.
212
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But this new analysis shows it's closer to
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around 2.3 times Earth's mass. And that
214
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change increases the likelihood that the
215
00:08:59.609 --> 00:09:02.129
planet doesn't hold a smothering atmosphere.
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00:09:02.449 --> 00:09:04.609
The authors also refined the planet's orbit
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00:09:04.609 --> 00:09:06.929
down from 25 Earth days to 21.
218
00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.689
Uh, even though both of these are tiny orbits
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00:09:09.689 --> 00:09:10.870
compared to, in comparison, the Earth has a
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365 day orbit with a host star roughly a
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third the size of our sun. That proximity is
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necessary to place the planet within that
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star's habitable zone. Now, that said,
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its smaller orbit also subjects the planet to
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intense radiation which could evaporate any
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atmosphere present. So more
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observations will be needed for astronomers
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to be sure. This, uh, is space time
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still to come. A new way to study the birth
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of the universe. And later in the Science
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report, the discovery of a half billion year
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old fossil which has rewritten the origin
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storey of starfish. All that and more still
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to come on, um, space time.
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Scientists have discovered a new way to
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create a glide gluon plasma, the first matter
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to form in our universe. The findings,
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reported in the journal Physical Review
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Letters, opens a new window on the first
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microseconds after the big bang, 13.8
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billion years ago. What happened in those
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first moments of the universe, before the
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building blocks of life and the world as we
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know it came into existence? Physicists at
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cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear
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Research, are trying to answer this question
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by recreating some of the extreme conditions
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that prevailed in the universe at the very
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beginning of time. Now, researchers from the
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Niels Bohr Institute, together with
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colleagues from the alice collaboration at
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CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the world's
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biggest atom smasher have come one step
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closer to understanding those conditions.
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At CERN, uh, physicists collide atomic nuclei
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at some 99.9999%
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the speed of light, in the process creating
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the tiny droplets of primordial matter that
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filled the universe during its first
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millionth of a second of creation. This
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substance is known as quark gluon plasma, and
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it's thought to have been the earliest form
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of matter in our universe. For many
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years, scientists have assumed that creating
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this plasma required collisions between very
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heavy atomic nuclei, such as leading.
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But physicists from the Niels Bohr Institute
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have now succeeded in creating this
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primordial matter by smashing much smaller
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nuclei of oxygen 16 and neon 20
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together. The study's lead author, uh Xiao
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Xu from the Niels Bohr Institute and the
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University of Copenhagen, says they've pushed
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the boundaries for how small the atomic
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nuclei can be while still recreating this
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quark gluon plasma. The discovery
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means scientists now know more about the
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fundamental conditions required required for
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matter to transition into this extreme state.
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This in turn will help researchers better
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understand how plasma behaved during the
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first moments of the universe and how it
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later evolved into the forms of matter that
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everything we see around us today is made of.
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When the atomic nuclei collide, their
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constituents, ah, are transformed into tiny
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droplets of quark gluon plasma that exist for
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just a fraction of a second. This droplet of
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extremely hot matter then expands.
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Researchers can't observe the plasma
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directly, but they can measure the particles
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that this matter turns into shortly
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afterwards. And the movement pattern of these
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particles reveals the shape of the atomic
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nucleus. Collisions between two oxygen
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nuclei produce a more rounded pattern, While
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collisions involving neon produce a more
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boiling pin shaped pattern. The particles
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from the primordial matter are, uh, directly
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governed by the geometric shape of their
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atomic nucleus. So if two atomic
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nuclei being smashed together are spherical,
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they'll produce one pattern. And if they're
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shaped like bowling pins, they'll produce
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another. By studying how the particles move
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after the collision, scientists can gain
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fresh insights into atomic nuclei that would
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otherwise be difficult to obtain. The authors
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describe it as being like shining a light on
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an object and seeing its shadow. You can't
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see the object directly, but its shadow
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reveals its shape. In the same way, the
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movement of these particles reveals reveals
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the geometric shape of the atomic nuclei
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present at the beginning of the collision.
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The shape of an atomic nucleus is not merely
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a matter of geometry. It reveals how
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protons and neutrons are organised and
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provides important information about the
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strong nuclear force, One of nature's four
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fundamental forces which scientists are still
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trying to fully understand. The others being
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the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic
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force and gravity. That assumes, of course,
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that gravity really is a force, which it's
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probably not. Until now,
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physicists have primarily investigated
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nuclear structure at low energies by studying
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things like the rotation and vibration of
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atomic nuclei. Zhao says the precise
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understanding of nuclear structure helps
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scientists understand the strong nuclear
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force. But instead of carefully investigating
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nuclei at low energies, they've smashed
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together at the highest energies, allowing
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scientists to read their shape from the
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imprint they leave behind. Researchers still
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don't know the exact boundary when a quark,
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gluon, um, plasma can be created. So the next
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step will be to try experiments with even
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lighter nuclei, such as helium 4. The
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experiment will allow scientists to both
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learn about the structure of atomic nuclei
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and to gain a better understanding of what
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happened during the birth of the universe.
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And it turns out these two things may be much
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more closely connected than previously
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thought.
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This is space, time.
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And time outta. Take another brief look at
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some of the other storeys making news in
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Science this week with the Science Report.
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A major sexual health clinic in Melbourne has
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seen an almost doubling over the past decade
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of women testing positive for gonorrhoea.
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The authors analysed data from the clinic
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between 2015 and 2024, looking for the
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characteristics of women contracting
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gonorrhoea amid a rise in sexually
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transmitted diseases among women in Melbourne
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in recent years. The findings reported in the
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journal Sexual Health Cher gonorrhoea cases
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increased from 1.3% in 2015 to
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2.3% in 2024. The
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authors say the women diagnosed were
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predominantly young, had multiple casual male
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partners and used condoms in contemporary
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Consistently oral gonorrhoea saw the largest
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increase in cases during the study. Most of
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these cases are asymptomatic and can only be
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picked up through regular screening.
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The New South Wales State government has just
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passed new legislation allowing people to
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drive when under the influence of medicinal
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cannabis. The passing of this bill comes as
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Canadian researchers have analysed 40 regular
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edible cannabis users testing their driving
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skills in a simulator before and after eating
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THC gummies. The findings reported
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in the Journal of the American Medical
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association show that higher doses of
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THC led to poorer lane control, slower
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reaction times and less consistent speeds.
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And um, that's despite the participants blood
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tests showed they remained below the legal
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thresholds for driving with cannabis in
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Canada, New Zealand and now New South Wales.
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That legal limit is 5 nanograms per
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millilitre. Human
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pollution affects our entire planet,
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destroying environments wherever people go
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Now a report in the journal PLOS ONE
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describes how researchers have found plastic
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litter on more than half of their remotely
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operated dives to the bottom of the Mardel
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Plata canyon near Argentina, three kilometres
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below the sea surface. After 17
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dives in 2025, scientists analysed
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approximately 240 hours of video footage,
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finding some stationary creatures like
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starfish and corals had attached to the trash
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dumped by humans, including packets of fried
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noodles, plastic cups and even old boots.
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A few months earlier, expeditions found cans
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and plastic bags on the bottom of the Mariana
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Trench, the planet's deepest fissure in the
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western Pacific Ocean.
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The discovery of a half billion year old
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fossil has rewritten the origin history of
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starfish. Palaeontologists uncovered the
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518 million year old remains in southwestern
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China. It comes from a period of rapid
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evolutionary development known as the
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Cambrian Explosion, when most major animal
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groups first appeared in the fossil record.
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The new find, named Eugenia glunitotinica,
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uh, are thought to be closely related to the
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last common ancestor of Ambula clarians, the
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modern group that includes starfish, sea
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stars, sea urchins and acorn worms.
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A report in the journal Current Biology shows
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the new discovery ate their food using
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tentacles and not passively using their gills
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as previously thought. A,
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uh, pseudoscience and UFO researcher says
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he's uncovered evidence that four different
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types of extraterrestrial alien species have
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visited our planet. Hal Putoff, a
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former Advanced Aerospace Weapons System
430
00:17:52.540 --> 00:17:55.460
Applications programme advisor and CIA funded
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researcher, uh, claims bodies of four
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different species have been recovered from
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various UFO crashes by the US government.
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But as the sceptics Timms Mendham points out,
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uh, he's provided no evidence to support his
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claims.
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Tim Mendham: They all look a bit humanoid, which is, I
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don't know, to me, surprising. I don't know
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why aliens always have to look like humans.
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Now to our octopus people. No, no, no
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sentient bacteria or anything like that.
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There's the lizard people who look like
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lizards have tails. Uh, there's the Nordic
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who look very sort of glamour Norwegian
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looking people. There's the insect people who
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are a bit scary, look like praying mantises,
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um, and of course there's the greys, the
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cliched modern looking little people, big
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heads, big eyes, that sort of thing. They all
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have sort of hands, fingers, five, obviously
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scary in some cases, some cases benign. You
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got to look at the people who are promoting
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this stuff. I mean, obviously there's no
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evidence for it at all. There's just
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conjecture, made up, cliches, memes,
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whatever. Some of the people promoting it,
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one in particular recently is Dr. Hal
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Puthoff, who was a former
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Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems
460
00:18:52.600 --> 00:18:54.920
Application programme revisor for it. He was
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also involved in a place called the Stanford
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Research Institute back in the 70s with a uh,
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Harold Targ partner, uh, who were
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investigating Uri Geller. And they came out
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very much in favour of Uri Geller, saying he
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had definite spoon bending talents and all
467
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sorts of psychic powers and things. The
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00:19:08.600 --> 00:19:10.600
protocols that they used in their laboratory
469
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testing were very dodgy or at least
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questionable, let's put it that way. And
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certainly someone as sceptic is noted as
472
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James Randi. The late James Randi described
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them as the Laurel and Hardy of uh,
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parapsychology research. But he has come out
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recently and said that there is definitely
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these four types of UFO occupants. He
477
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hasn't seen them of course, but he's heard of
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them. He said testimony from members of
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supposed crash retrieval programmes who tend
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not to come forward to actually talk about
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their work because they fear for their lives.
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It's annoying that all these people with
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evidence don't come forward with it. So
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therefore you have to say, well what evidence
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do they have? I could say the, the moon is
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made of cheese. And people say where's the
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00:19:45.100 --> 00:19:46.740
evidence? Well I can't give it to you because
488
00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:48.220
it's secret, you know. And you say right,
489
00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:50.300
okay, I'm supposed to believe that. So all
490
00:19:50.300 --> 00:19:52.300
these people who are claiming UFOs and they
491
00:19:52.300 --> 00:19:54.380
know of someone who know of someone who knows
492
00:19:54.380 --> 00:19:56.980
of someone who has seen these occupants of
493
00:19:57.060 --> 00:19:59.180
interplanetary uh, craft, there's no evidence
494
00:19:59.180 --> 00:19:59.500
for it.
495
00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:01.580
And you get people like Al Puthoff who might
496
00:20:01.580 --> 00:20:03.660
be going through attention deficit disorder.
497
00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:05.620
He wants to sort of put his hand up again
498
00:20:05.780 --> 00:20:07.820
even in his aged years or something because
499
00:20:07.820 --> 00:20:09.340
he has been around a long time, since the
500
00:20:09.340 --> 00:20:12.220
early 70s. His record is not crash shot. So
501
00:20:12.220 --> 00:20:14.220
as a source of information, despite the fact
502
00:20:14.220 --> 00:20:16.100
he supposedly has this sort of research
503
00:20:16.100 --> 00:20:18.220
background, it's not necessarily as exciting
504
00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:20.180
as it might sound to be. Not necessarily as
505
00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:22.040
respectable, uh, or reliable as it might
506
00:20:22.040 --> 00:20:24.560
sound to be. Saying I worked with the CIA on
507
00:20:24.790 --> 00:20:26.600
uh, projects in the 70s is nothing
508
00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:28.520
particularly exciting. So you see I was
509
00:20:28.520 --> 00:20:30.280
funding anything going and came out with
510
00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:32.360
nothing at the end. But anyway, Hal put off
511
00:20:32.360 --> 00:20:33.800
you're saying there's four, um, different
512
00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:36.240
types of aliens, all of whom look humanish.
513
00:20:36.320 --> 00:20:38.880
And uh, none of them any evidence for them at
514
00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:40.480
all. There was a documentary made about
515
00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:42.400
disclosure things. This is before the.
516
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:43.880
Stuart Gary: Let's call it a mockumentary.
517
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:45.680
Tim Mendham: It's a, it's a mockumentary with nothing new.
518
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:48.440
It's Age of Disclosure had a lot of puffery
519
00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.560
before it came out and people have seen it
520
00:20:50.560 --> 00:20:52.040
say there's nothing new there. It's all the
521
00:20:52.040 --> 00:20:54.020
same old same old, same characters who keep
522
00:20:54.020 --> 00:20:55.500
appearing and being interviewed. Of course
523
00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.500
it's going to it's a preamble to the film,
524
00:20:57.500 --> 00:20:59.620
Spielberg film called Disclosure talks about
525
00:20:59.620 --> 00:21:01.940
alien interaction with people, etc. All sorts
526
00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:03.500
of, you know, they walk among us type things.
527
00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:05.700
No real evidence and a lot of claims but no
528
00:21:05.700 --> 00:21:07.940
evidence. And that goes on has been going on
529
00:21:07.940 --> 00:21:10.900
since the 1940s and every researcher of UFOs
530
00:21:10.900 --> 00:21:12.740
has always said any day now is going to be
531
00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:15.220
the great reveal. And that day has never
532
00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:17.940
arisen. So we're waiting. They've never
533
00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:20.260
presented, never presented any irrefutable
534
00:21:20.260 --> 00:21:22.260
anything close to irrefutable evidence. Just
535
00:21:22.260 --> 00:21:22.660
claims.
536
00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:24.990
Stuart Gary: That's the sceptics. Timms Mendham and this
537
00:21:24.990 --> 00:21:25.830
is Space Time.
538
00:21:41.350 --> 00:21:44.230
And that's the show for now. Space Time
539
00:21:44.230 --> 00:21:46.310
is available every Monday, Wednesday and
540
00:21:46.310 --> 00:21:49.190
Friday through bytes.com soundcloud,
541
00:21:49.190 --> 00:21:51.620
YouTube, your favourite podcast download
542
00:21:51.620 --> 00:21:52.780
provider, and from
543
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spacetimewithstuartgarry.com
544
00:21:55.460 --> 00:21:57.460
spacetime is also broadcast through the
545
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National Science foundation on Science Zone
546
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Radio and on both iHeartradio and
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TuneIn radio. And you can help to support our
548
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spacetimewithstuartgarry.com for full
557
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details. You've been listening to Space Time
558
00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:31.940
with Stuart Gary. This has been another
559
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quality podcast production from bytes.com.
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