The 365 Days of Astronomy Travelers in the Night Eps. 343E & 344E: 3 Explorers & Future Impactor
Oct 26, 2025
Join Dr. Al Grauer as he shares exciting discoveries from asteroid hunting with his grandsons. They spotlight 2017 KJ32, a tiny asteroid just 16 feet across that could get closer to Earth than satellites. Meanwhile, the curious case of 2017 LD emerges, with a 1.1% chance of impacting our planet between 2045 and 2116. Al also explores the possibility of KJ32 being lunar ejecta and discusses how small asteroids frequently enter our atmosphere, reminding us of their fascinating yet unpredictable nature.
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Grandsons Join Telescope Team
- Al Grauer recounts his grandsons Dane and Hank joining the Catalina Sky Survey team at the Mt. Lemmon 60-inch telescope.
- Their discovery, 2017 KJ32, is a 16-foot object that once passed closer than communications satellites and then moved away quickly.
Tiny Asteroid With Lunar Ejecta Possibility
- 2017 KJ32 orbits the Sun every 315 days and can come closer to Earth than some satellites.
- Its speed and orbit suggest it might be lunar ejecta, similar to known lunar meteorites found on Earth.
Discovery Of A Potential Future Impactor
- Carson Fuls discovered 2017 LD, a 33-foot asteroid with a small but nonzero impact probability later this century.
- The object appears on NASA's Sentry impact-monitoring list with a roughly 1.1% cumulative chance across many future encounters.