57: Ancient Stardust and Gaia Sausage

In 1969, a chunk of space rock blasted through the skies above Victoria, Australia, before making in a small, smoking crater near the town of Murchison. Keen-eyed locals grabbed as many bits of the Murchison Meteorite as they could, and it has been an object of great scientific interest ever since. Even now, 50 years later, we're still finding surprises inside — like a couple of dozen tiny grains of dust, more ancient than the entire solar system! A suggested topic from a listener (hi, mum!).

Want to help us make Syzygy even better?
Tell your friends and give us a review,
or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod

Huge thanks to our patrons, listed over on the
Cosmic Great Wall of Gratitude

Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod

Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.

On the web: syzygy.fm | Twitter: @syzygypod

Things we talked about in this episode:

Gravitational Waves near Betelgeuse

The Murchison Meteorite

Original paper on the pre-solar grains in the Murchison Meteorite

Video of Russian dash cam meteor

The Tunguska Event of 1908

The Gaia mission

Gaia Sausage