Hidden Wonders: Discovering the Mysterious Garo 04 Star Cluster

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Stuart Gary: This is Space Time series 29 episode 121

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full broadcast on 9 October

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2026 coming up on Space Time,

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a mysterious star cluster discovered hidden

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deep inside the Milky Way's disc, the

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truth about Nazi Germany's infamous nuclear

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bomb project, and the chronic need for

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dark skies all. Ah, that and more

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coming up on, uh, Space Time.

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Welcome to Space Time with Stuart

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G.

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Astronomers have discovered a mysterious star

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cluster hidden in the crowded galactic disc

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of the Milky way galaxy, some

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32,800 light years away.

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A report on the Pre press physics website

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arXiv.org claims the object, which has been

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named Garo 04, was first identified

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identified as an unusual collection of stars

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in observations by the Vista variables

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Navia Lakta and its extension or Triple

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VX survey. The inner regions of the Milky

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Way Galaxy, especially around the galactic

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plane and bulge, are crowded with stars,

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dense gas and dust lanes all rich in star

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forming activity. And the stars in these

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regions are traces of the Milky Way's

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chemical history and evolution. So examining

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these regions can reveal a lot about our

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galaxy's past mergers. The problem is

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dust blocks out optical wavelengths, so

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astronomers need to switch to infrared

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observations in order to peer through this

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thick cloak of dust. Near infrared surveys,

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uh, like the vvvx have revealed

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numerous previously hidden open and globular

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star clusters in these dust lanes.

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The study's lead author Lisa Garra from the

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European Southern Observatory in Chile says

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the Garo four star cluster was detected by

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visually spotting a prominent clump of red

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giant stars in the VVVX infrared. Im

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further analysis using multiple survey

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databases, including the third guide data

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release provided precise positions and

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motions of these stars, and the two mass

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survey provided supplementary infrared

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photometry. Cluster member

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stars all moved together through space in a

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similar directional speed, so the authors

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used this shared proper motion to

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statistically separate members of the cluster

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from unrelated foreground and background

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stars that left just 613,

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or around 29% of the original

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2,145 stars in the field

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as likely members of the cluster.

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Garrow and colleagues estimate the cluster is

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around 5 billion years old with lower

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metallicity than our Sun. Astronomers refer

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to all elements other than hydrogen and

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helium as being metals. The cluster

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moves on a nearly circular low tilt orbit

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around the galactic centre, staying close to

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the galactic disc at all times, thereby

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confirming that it is a disc cluster rather

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than a halo or bulge object.

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Garo04 is too old to be a typical young

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open cluster, but at the same time it's not

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old or metal poor enough to be a classic

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globular cluster. And there's the weirdness.

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It joins a small but growing list of similar

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puzzling in between clusters which have been

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found in other surveys in recent times.

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Garris says the next step will be to

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undertake a more detailed chemical analysis

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and better disentangle the real nature of the

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cluster, classifying it as either a globular

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cluster, an open cluster, or some sort of

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in between intermediate class object.

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This is space time.

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Still to come, the truth about Nazi

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Germany's infamous nuclear bomb project

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and our chronic need for dark skies.

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It's more than just astronomy. All that and

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more coming up on, uh, space time.

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The Manhattan Project was not just a question

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quest to build a nuclear bomb. It was a quest

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to build a nuclear bomb before Nazi Germany

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completed theirs. One route to

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building an atomic bomb is to build a nuclear

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reactor to produce fissile material. But

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it's always been unclear how close the Nazis

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were to creating their own reactor. Their

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final attempted reactor, the B8 pile, used

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heavy water as a neutron moderator. Uh, the

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only source of heavy water at the time was

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the Norsk Hydro plant in Vermont, Norway,

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which was controlled by the Nazis from April

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1940 until its destruction by Allied

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saboteurs and bombing in November

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1944. The Nazi

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nuclear bomb project led by Werner

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Heisenberg, claimed that the B8 pile was just

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short of criticality when American forces

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found and dismantled it in 1945.

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After the war, Heisenberg and colleagues like

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Carl Friedrich von Wiesensacker claimed they

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had understood the physics of an atomic bomb,

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but deliberately steered the Uranium club

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project towards a uranium machine reactor

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rather than an atomic weapon. They claimed

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they had kept the effort under scientific

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control, avoiding the push for a massive

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industrial programme that could have produced

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an atomic bomb for Hitler and in some

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accounts implied passive resistance or

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reluctance rooted in moral scruples. But

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that claim has been largely dismissed as a

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post war rationalisation. There's virtually

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no real supporting evidence and mainstream

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historical consensus attributes the German

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nuclear programme's failure mainly to

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scientific incompetence and misjudgments by

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Heisenberg. There are also resource

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constraints, organisational problems and

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luckily a low priority from the regime rather

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than any real moral resistance from

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Heisenberg or his cohorts. The simple

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fact is Heisenberg and colleagues made

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significant errors in their calculations on

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the critical mass and practical requirements.

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The evidence shows the programme was a, uh,

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genuine weapons related effort that simply

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stalled due to shortcomings, not sabotage.

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Now, Timothy Kearth and colleagues from the

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University of Maryland have analysed two

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cubes of natural uranium from that project,

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as well as historical records, technical

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reports, correspondence and other archival

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material. Using all these resources,

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they've concluded beyond doubt that to go

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critical, the B8 pile would have required

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twice as much uranium as they had and twice

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as much heavy water as was produced by the

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Nursk's hydro plant during the entire war.

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The graphite available in German controlled

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areas would simply not have been suitable for

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a substitute moderator. According to the

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authors, given the design that the Germans

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were using, they simply did not have the

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materials needed to build a working atomic

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bomb. The slowing of Germany's nuclear

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bomb project wasn't because of resistance by

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Heisenberg, but incompetence. This

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is space time.

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Still to come, the chronic need for dark

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skies. And later in the Science Report,

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a new study confirms that kids exposed to

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adversities in childhood face worse outcomes

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in life when reaching adulthood. All that and

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more still to come on, uh, space time.

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The Royal Astronomical Society is demanding

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urgent action to address the damage light

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pollution is doing to astronomy, to human

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health, to biodiversity of the planet and to

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the natural environment. It follows an

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influential conference on the issue, hosted

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by the Society, where compelling evidence was

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presented about the significant impacts of

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artificial light at night. Exposure

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to light pollution and the lack of natural

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sunlight can lead to poor metabolism and the

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development of diseases such as type 2

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diabetes, obesity, obesity, dementia,

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Parkinson's and retinal problems. There's

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also evidence to suggest it directly impacts

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on a person's mood and increases the

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prevalence of both depression and anxiety.

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And it's not just humans who are affected.

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The impact of artificial light on the natural

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environment is also highly significant.

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It can alter habitats, fragment

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ecosystems and accelerate biodiversity

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loss, especially among the many nocturnal

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species which rely on natural darkness to

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survive. Caterpillar populations have

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declined by 52% in areas exposed to

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street lighting. And evidence shows around a

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third of insects drawn to artificial light

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sources die due to exhaustion, predation

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or disorientation. They also point

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out that marine biodiversity suffered as

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well. Light pollution also reduces plant

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pollinator interactions by up to 62%,

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significantly impairing pollination and plant

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reproduction. Of course, artificial light and

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light pollution also compromises the view of

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the night sky for both astronomers and the

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general public. And, uh, to counter this, the

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Royal Society is calling for artificial light

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at night to be legally recognised as a

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pollutant. The Society believes

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nighttime should be recognised as an integral

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part of the natural environment, requiring

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protection on par with daytime activities. In

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order to strengthen conservation efforts,

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they want to See nighttime lighting used only

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as needed and when it is needed, using

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warmer coloured lighting.

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Tanya Hill, a senior curator of astronomy at

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the Melbourne Planetarium, says light

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pollution is a growing problem globally. We

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need more dark sky areas.

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Katarina Miljkovic : It breaks my heart. I grew up in Liverpool

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and western Sydney and I remember my dad

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showing me the Magellanic Clouds and the

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Milky Way from my backyard. That was one of

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the things I would go out and you could just

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see that. I remember spending time up in the

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Blue Mountains in my car, cousins just lying

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on the trampoline, absolutely lost in the

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gorgeous skies. And yeah, that light

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pollution is just encroaching on us more and

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more. And I think the scary thing, kids

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growing up today who just don't have that

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access to the sky, I mean we're told that

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more than a third of the Earth's, uh,

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population can't see the Milky Way from

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their home and about 80% of the Earth's

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population don't have access to dark skies.

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Those figures are just alarming. And

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it's more the fact that if you've never seen

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it, you don't know what you're missing. And

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that's what really concerns me.

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Stuart Gary: I'm um, told that when there's a blackout in

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the United States, emergency services get

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phone calls from people saying there are

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lights in the sky.

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Katarina Miljkovic : Oh no. Oh no. There are those stars, those

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beautiful stars that you see. Although that

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does also make me think because we can talk

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about light pollution and the fact that we're

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causing this glow that is fading out the

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gorgeous light of the stars. But then there's

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also another type of pollution which we're

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doing with all the satellites that are up

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there. I've had quite a few of my colleagues

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who have gone away recently with the holidays

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and all of them have said they've gone out to

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look at the stars and they were amazed by

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the number of satellites that they're now

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seeing. It has just grown so much.

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Stuart Gary: The trains of Starlink satellites is

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quite ridiculous. There are so many of them.

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It's not just Starlink now we've got Blue

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Origin starting their network. There are

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others out there as well. Yes, there are just

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so many.

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Katarina Miljkovic : Absolutely.

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So I, uh, just recent count is that there's

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about 15,000 satellites in orbit and

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10,000 of those are uh, the Starlink SpaceX

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satellite. That just is mind boggling to

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me that what we're doing up there for our

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skies and what that also means. I remember

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hearing last year there was a great

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indigenous panel at Melbourne Museum that was

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speaking about indigenous space futures. And

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Professor Dean Sanders, he was saying how he

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was out on country, waiting with an elder who

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was going to share a story with him, being

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the stars. And he started the story and a

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satellite went by and it was like, oh, that

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was fine. They stopped for a moment, let the

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satellite pass. The elders started to repeat

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their story and there was another satellite

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and another satellite. And I think that's the

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issue. It seems that we always tend to take

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things to extreme, don't we? If it was just

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the odd satellite and you waited for a

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moment, but the fact that there were just

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more and more coming and the story, the

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knowledge couldn't be shared, and it just

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brought them both to tears.

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Stuart Gary: There are some things we can do about this.

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Uh, we can change the way our street.

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That's starting to happen, but not nearly

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fast enough. And it won't do enough either,

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because you'll have tall buildings with lots

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of fluoros and neons and LEDs. But

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there's also areas that are set aside that

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are now reserved, aren't they?

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Katarina Miljkovic : Yeah, absolutely. And look, this is the thing

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about light pollution. We actually know how

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to fix this. You know, other types of

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pollution are much harder to fix. This one,

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all we need to do is turn off the light. So

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it can be. There's just a few simple things

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you can do. You can use warm, redder light

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rather than the bright white blue light,

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which affects our eyes so much more. I know

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starting out in astronomy, one of the first

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things that, as a hobby and an amateur

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astronomer, where I began, uh, the first

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thing you learn is you cover your torch with

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red cellophane to keep your night vision. So,

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yeah, you can change the colour of the light

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you use. You use motion sensors, so to make

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sure that the light is only there when it's

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needed, direct light for where it's needed,

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and shield it so it isn't creating this glow

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going up in our skies. I was actually just

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trying to. Look, I know a few years back,

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Melbourne put forward a policy based

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on what they're doing in France, which.

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France is one of the countries that has been

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able to reduce their light pollution. And

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part of that is as simple as dimming or

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turning off unnecessary lighting between

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midnight and sunrise. But as you mentioned,

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there are. We are lucky in Australia. We do

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have large areas in the country that

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have, uh, still have some lovely dark

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skies. And one of the things that, uh, we

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have done is that across the country there

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are eight dark sky places. And

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these are certified by the Dark Sky

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Alliance. It's an international board.

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There's an Australian section that does that.

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And so this varies from there's,

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um, an urban night sky place, which is in

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Palm beach on the edge of Sydney. We're all

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the way up to the Warrumbungal Dark

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sky park, which is out near Coonabarrabaram,

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where our professional telescopes still

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operate. And that is a place that we really

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want to preserve the dark sky, both for the

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visitors, visitors and the people who live

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there, but also for the astronomers to be

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able to still have access to try and work out

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the mysteries that we want to discover about

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the universe.

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Stuart Gary: The sad news is even at Kunabarabran,

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if you look to the east, you can still see

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the glow of Sydney, even though absolutely

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hundreds of miles away.

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Katarina Miljkovic : And it just, it's getting bigger and bigger

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as the city expands out. That's right.

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Stuart Gary: That's Dr. Tanya Hill, the senior curator of

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astronomy at the Melbourne Planetarium at

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Museums Victoria. And this is

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space, time.

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And time. Now to take another brief look at

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some of the other stories making news in

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Science this week with a Science report.

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A new study has shown that kids who are

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00:15:13.900 --> 00:15:16.500
exposed to adversities in childhood face far

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00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:18.340
worse outcomes in life when reaching

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adulthood. The findings, reported in the

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Journal of the American Medical association,

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based on research involving some

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00:15:24.680 --> 00:15:27.640
1,850 participants, showed that

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being exposed to adversities such as

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childhood abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic

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violence, living with drug addicts or

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alcoholics, living with someone with a severe

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mental illness, having parents have split up,

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or having a member of your household

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incarcerated while growing up is linked to

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elevated rates of depression, post traumatic

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stress disorder, suicidal tendencies,

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interpersonal violence, low scores at school,

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and using illicit substances when reaching

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adulthood. The authors found varying grades

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of effects depending on how many adversities

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a person had experienced during childhood,

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with specific types such as emotional abuse,

378
00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:04.820
sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence

379
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and discrimination being more consistently

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linked.

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00:16:09.420 --> 00:16:11.700
A new study has confirmed that the more ultra

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00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:14.020
processed foods you eat, the higher your risk

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of getting chronic diseases like heart

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conditions, diabetes and cancer.

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The findings, reported in the Journal of

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Family Medicine and Community Health, are

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based on an analysis of 51 previous studies

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involving some 9 million people. The

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00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.840
analysis also found that eating more such

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00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:32.840
foods increased your risk of death.

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Ultra processed foods include many packaged

392
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snacks as well as frozen meals. They tend to

393
00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:41.360
be less nutrient but higher in energy, and

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they contain multiple additives that may

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combine to affect health.

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00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:48.680
Marine scientists have discovered that an

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endangered species of sea cucumber can live

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for decades, with some animals living more

399
00:16:53.400 --> 00:16:56.400
than 100 years the findings reported in the

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00:16:56.400 --> 00:16:58.440
journal Science, are based on the first of

401
00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:01.320
its kind genetic mark recapture study. The

402
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.560
authors suggest that black teatfish sea

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00:17:03.560 --> 00:17:05.840
cucumber populations recovered much more

404
00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:08.240
slowly than previously thought, and this had

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00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:10.600
implications for commercial fishery catch

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limits.

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00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.639
Ohio's night stalkers Bigfoot research group

408
00:17:15.639 --> 00:17:17.959
claims the Buckeye state is experiencing a

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00:17:17.959 --> 00:17:20.879
population boom of bigfoots. The group

410
00:17:20.879 --> 00:17:23.399
claims Sasquatch is making a comeback after

411
00:17:23.399 --> 00:17:26.279
half a century of silence. Ohians are

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00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:29.079
reporting a huge increase in eerie howls,

413
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.319
screams and hulking footprints scattered

414
00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:33.879
primarily between Akron and Youngstown in the

415
00:17:33.879 --> 00:17:36.119
state's northeast. The sceptics, Timms

416
00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:38.039
Mendham says believers are describing

417
00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:40.979
creatures between 6 and 10ft tall, completely

418
00:17:41.370 --> 00:17:42.330
covered in dark fur.

419
00:17:42.490 --> 00:17:44.330
Tim Mendham: In the list of American states which have

420
00:17:44.330 --> 00:17:46.090
claimed Bigfoot, uh, Ohio is number four,

421
00:17:46.170 --> 00:17:48.130
obviously Washington State, Oregon State are

422
00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:49.810
up there, probably California as well. So,

423
00:17:49.810 --> 00:17:51.490
you know, mainly on the west coast. Ohio

424
00:17:51.490 --> 00:17:53.530
moving a bit inland. It's ranked fourth in

425
00:17:53.530 --> 00:17:55.770
the nation. And recently there has been a bit

426
00:17:55.770 --> 00:17:58.490
of a Bigfoot flat going on, not seen since

427
00:17:58.490 --> 00:18:01.210
1978, uh, apparently, and therefore a lot of

428
00:18:01.210 --> 00:18:03.490
people claiming, I know what I saw, which is

429
00:18:03.490 --> 00:18:05.730
classic positive, confident claim, which gets

430
00:18:05.730 --> 00:18:07.250
knocked down pretty quickly often. And

431
00:18:07.250 --> 00:18:09.810
they're suggesting that Ohio is becoming, or

432
00:18:09.810 --> 00:18:12.010
certain parts of Ohio are becoming sort of

433
00:18:12.010 --> 00:18:14.910
hotbeds of breeding populations. Now, that's

434
00:18:14.910 --> 00:18:16.430
often the thing that's forgotten in a lot of

435
00:18:16.430 --> 00:18:18.630
these cryptid monster claims is that you've

436
00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:20.270
got to have a breeding population for it to

437
00:18:20.270 --> 00:18:22.310
survive. One animal, Loch Ness monster, is

438
00:18:22.310 --> 00:18:24.470
not going to last forever. And you've got to

439
00:18:24.470 --> 00:18:26.310
have a breeding population of a certain size

440
00:18:26.310 --> 00:18:28.080
without being interbreeding within sort of,

441
00:18:28.080 --> 00:18:29.790
uh, the family. You actually have to have

442
00:18:29.790 --> 00:18:31.470
quite a few. The whole bunch of people who've

443
00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:33.270
supposedly seen this family, this group,

444
00:18:33.350 --> 00:18:35.430
individuals, whatever they've seen, heard

445
00:18:35.430 --> 00:18:38.190
noises, eerie howls, as they say, and

446
00:18:38.190 --> 00:18:40.750
footprint about the sign of a human, large

447
00:18:40.750 --> 00:18:42.110
head. And that's obviously, you know,

448
00:18:42.110 --> 00:18:44.030
compulsive evidence that these things exist.

449
00:18:44.030 --> 00:18:45.510
People say, I've never heard a howl like

450
00:18:45.510 --> 00:18:46.870
that. Well, perhaps you haven't heard of how

451
00:18:46.870 --> 00:18:48.190
like that doesn't mean it's a Bigfoot. I've

452
00:18:48.190 --> 00:18:49.830
never seen footprints that big. But I mean,

453
00:18:49.830 --> 00:18:51.790
no one's taken the photo of this huge

454
00:18:51.790 --> 00:18:54.270
population of Bigfoot. There's just been a

455
00:18:54.270 --> 00:18:56.830
flap, which tends to happen when one or two

456
00:18:56.830 --> 00:18:58.950
people start seeing things. Others get in the

457
00:18:58.950 --> 00:19:00.790
mood to see things. Not to say they're faking

458
00:19:00.790 --> 00:19:02.390
anything like that, but they just interpret

459
00:19:02.390 --> 00:19:04.750
any strange thing as, oh, the explanation is

460
00:19:04.750 --> 00:19:07.440
Bigfoot for Loch Ness monster or flying

461
00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.680
saucers. Or whatever. And, uh, in this case,

462
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.160
they seem to be up around northeastern Ohio.

463
00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.400
One of the people who made a claim, a

464
00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.160
scientist who's an investigator of these

465
00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:17.930
things made the curious claim that when, uh,

466
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.240
talking about these eerie noises and screams

467
00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.440
and howls, he said, quote, some of these

468
00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.920
screams pegged higher than a baboon on the

469
00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:27.160
spectrograph. Your listeners will be knowing

470
00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:28.520
that spectrograph is an instrument for

471
00:19:28.520 --> 00:19:29.960
measuring light. So I don't know how you

472
00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:32.320
measure a howl or a scream on an instrument

473
00:19:32.320 --> 00:19:34.080
that measures light, but it sounds good. It

474
00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:36.160
sounds sciency. But you wonder. This is a guy

475
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:38.300
who's a chief researcher, a serious

476
00:19:38.300 --> 00:19:39.620
researcher, has been doing it for years,

477
00:19:39.620 --> 00:19:41.460
saying that sort of thing is just what it

478
00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:42.860
makes you wonder about, the quality of the

479
00:19:42.860 --> 00:19:44.140
people and therefore the quality of the

480
00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:46.180
evidence of these things. And again, no real

481
00:19:46.180 --> 00:19:46.500
evidence.

482
00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:49.220
Stuart Gary: Increases in Bigfoot sightings constantly

483
00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:51.980
correlating almost exactly with increases in

484
00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:53.180
black bear populations.

485
00:19:53.180 --> 00:19:55.980
Tim Mendham: My goodness, you're such a cynic. When

486
00:19:55.980 --> 00:19:57.820
someone takes a photo, definitive photo,

487
00:19:57.820 --> 00:20:00.020
everyone carries a high quality camera in

488
00:20:00.020 --> 00:20:01.980
their pocket, a movie camera in their pocket.

489
00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:03.780
Perhaps these sightings are too fleeting. If

490
00:20:03.780 --> 00:20:05.620
they're fleeting, you can't really trust what

491
00:20:05.620 --> 00:20:06.820
you're seeing with your eyes. Even though

492
00:20:06.820 --> 00:20:08.580
they say, I know what I saw. If they're not

493
00:20:08.580 --> 00:20:10.480
fleeting, get your camera out, get your phone

494
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:12.840
out and take a photo. But no, I'm too scared.

495
00:20:12.840 --> 00:20:14.960
It's such a thing. I watched this thing for

496
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:16.760
minutes and I forgot to take my. Take a

497
00:20:16.760 --> 00:20:17.000
photo.

498
00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:19.960
Stuart Gary: That's the sceptics, Tim Mendham. And this is

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00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:20.760
Space Time.

500
00:20:36.370 --> 00:20:39.290
And that's the show for now. Space Time is

501
00:20:39.290 --> 00:20:41.410
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00:21:24.330 --> 00:21:25.290
with Stuart Gary.

521
00:21:25.770 --> 00:21:27.930
This has been another quality podcast

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00:21:27.930 --> 00:21:29.690
production from bytes.com.