WeWow on the Weekend

Gladness?

Reggie, now, not basketball tournament stuff. March Gladness tournaments stuff.

“Yeah, exactly. March Gladness is where I think of all the things that made me the Gladness”

this month, and then I put him head to head and a tournament style bracket. Oh, so you do know what I'm talking about. Well, then as you know, the winner of my much Gladness tournament was my new haircut. Do you love it? What do you mean? Don't worry, it'll grow back. Whatever, Wowsers fans, you too can fill out your very own March Gladness

bracket by going to ticercast.com/march. There, you can print your very own free March Gladness

bracket, then fill it out to see what made you the Gladness this month. Put your favorite

“things head to head in a tournament of Gladness. One more time, that's tinkercast.com/march.”

Hit now, let's get on with the show. We were on the weekend, we were on the weekend, 'cause this is what we do on the weekend. Talking, laughing, me and Reggie comes in, laughing, and then we go, wait, no, I said laughing twice. Whatever, we were on the weekend, 'cause this is what we do on the weekend. Hello and welcome to We Were on the weekend. I'm your host Dennis. And that's my co-host, Reggie, the giant pigeon. This is the show where

we hang out and chit chat and listen to episodes of tinkercast podcasts. Hey Reggie, check out what I got. What do you mean, what is it? It's slime. Yeah, it's so gooey and cool. And I can squish it and stretch it. When you say Reggie, what's that? Oh, I got some slime in my hair. Oh, thanks for looking out. I'll just grab it with my hands. Oops, got a little more slime in my hair. No problem. I'll just, oops, now there's even more. No, no, it's fine.

It's fine. Maybe I can just pull it out. Oh no, it won't come out. Reggie, what do I do?

“Okay, there's only one thing to do here. No, not shave it off, Reggie. No, the only thing”

to do is a brand new hair styling segment. Yes, Reggie, it's called Dennis and Slon. I'm having seated in the chair, but gonna start at Dennis' salon. Hey, me, me. Hello, and welcome

to Dennis' salon. The first client I'll be styling is me, Dennis. Wait, hang on, I need

a hair stylist persona. Um, Dennis, darling, what can I do for you? Oh, Dennis, it's terrible. My hair is covered in slime. Oh, don't worry, darling. I'll fix you right up. Thank you, Dennis. Thank you. Okay, first things first, my shampoo, pigeon Reggie, will give your hair a quick wash. Reggie, dear. Please wash, Dennis' hair in the salon sink thingy. Ah, right, we don't have one of those salon sink thingies. Um, here. Miss Dennis' hair with this water

bottle. Reggie, I said, "Missed Dennis' hair. Missed it." That's better. Now, what were you thinking today, Dennis? I have a variety of slime styles to choose from. We could do spikes or unicorn horn. Oh, yes, thank you, Reggie. That's right. We could also make your hair stand straight up like you just got an off of roller coaster. Oh, that one. Roll the coaster one. Reg, choice darling. Reggie, come please. Now we'll just comb all

your hair up to the sky. Tee, that tickles. And there you go. Don't you look fabulous. Wow, I love it. At least I think I love it. I don't have a mirror. Does it look good, Reggie?

Dennis' salon. Okay, moving right along. Next is a segment I like to call. Inside,

“ticker castodios. Inside, ticker castodios. This is the part where we listen to an episode”

of one of my favorite Tinkercast podcasts. And today we're listening to season two episode 36 of wow in the world called an intergalactic interloper. Oh, I don't know what an interloper is. Maybe it's like a gazelle? Right, right. I'm thinking of an antelope. Per. When interloper is someone who's somewhere, they're not supposed to be. Like when I shop to Guy Ross' house uninvited. And then I stay late even when he tells me it's time for him to go to bed. And

then I say let's just stay up and have a sleepover and stay up all night and tell spooky

stories and tell the sun rises. Okay, yeah, that sounds like I'm a cantaloper or whatever

it is. Okay, there we go. And play. We will be right back. Grown ups. This message is for you. Hey, grown ups. Spring is right around the corner. And as schedules fill up with activities and travel, let IXL help you stay on top of your child's learning. IXL is an award winning online learning platform that fits seamlessly into homeschooling. It offers interactive practice in math, language arts, science, and social studies for grades pre-K through 12th.

IXL offers personalized learning for every child and gives parents clear insight into their progress. At Tinkercast, making learning fun is our bread and butter. So we love that IXL

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on your child's learning. Get IXL now. And wow in the world listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com/wow. Visit ixl.com/wow to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

“Hello! Is anyone home? Hey, come on up here. Mindy, what are you doing up on the roof?”

Oh, I'm just trying to clean my gingerbread mansion. From the outside? Yep, start nip the top and work in my way to the bottom. Watch out! Mindy! Hold you to watch out! Mindy, is this lemon frosting? Yeah, clitting out my drains. Well, what are I give you a hand on the inside Mindy? Organizing messy spaces is one of my favorite things to...

Wait, guys, don't open that door! I told you not to open that door! Mindy, I know you said that your house... Gingerbread mansion? Oh, sorry. I know that you said your gingerbread mansion was a bit messy, but this is worse than that time you tried a 3D printed giant pancake pancake pancake. Boy, there's pancake batter in it.

“You know, we never did get that pancake.”

So, Mindy, why is your place such a mess now? Well, it's not my fault, Guy Ross. Uh-huh, sure, it isn't your fault. I mean it, this isn't my garbage. Well, then who's this? It's Reggie's friend from out of town, Maggie.

Maggie, the Magpie? That's the one. What's she doing in town? I thought it was besting season. Well, she came for Reggie's piano recital, and I said she could park her keyster here stir while she's in town. Right? Between you and me, Guy Ross? She's a little...

Um, messy? Uh, yeah. Hey, Maggie, Magpie, Magpie, Magster. What? For me? Oh, that's so nice! It's a... A Tim can.

Thanks! Oh, there's more? Oh, that's a lot of paper class. Oh, man, you know, Mindy, guests overstaying their welcome,

It's not?

No, the guest I'm talking about is an intergalactic visitor that's been hanging around our solar system for billions of years.

“Oh, man, so where exactly is this inner stellar interloper?”

Right there. Oh, in that cloud? No, not in the cloud, beyond that, in space. Yeah, it's just kind of hard to see space without one cloud in the way. Mindy, our galactic guest makes its home in a little part of our solar system called the asteroid belt.

Fun fact, grandma Geforce actually won the asteroid belt when she took on the mast margin in a wrestling match in 1953. Uh, that's not, anyway. The asteroid belt I'm talking about is made up of the bits of space rock that float around our sun and sit between Mars and Jupiter. Oh, that asteroid belt, why don't you say so? I know all about that asteroid belt.

I know that it's about two and a half times as far away from the sun as we hear on Earth. And I know that it's made up of billions, maybe even trillions of space rocks ranging from the size of a teeny-tiny pebble to boulders the size of New York City. You know what, Mindy? I just had a crazy idea.

That we should put pop rocks in a pop tart and then put that inside the top of a regular tart and have ourselves a pop rock, pop tart tart top.

What? No, no, Mindy. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt.

“I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt.”

I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt.

I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt.

I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I was just thinking, we should go visit the asteroid belt. I don't hear you walking, guys. Here we are, open the garage door. Mindy, you might have to open the door the old fashioned way.

What's the point of owning a gingerbread mansion if you can't even kick in your own garage door? Mindy. Mindy. You like it?

Do I? Your favorite color, right? Yeah, I can't believe it. You painted the whole wow machine bright red. Just for me, that's so thoughtful of you.

Oh, well, what? I also painted it red because red is the fastest color. Well, technically speaking, Mindy, red light does travel faster on the visible light spectrum than most other. Mindy, where'd you go?

Oh, I'm a beer guy, Ross. I put the door on the roof. Come on, get inside. We got asteroids to dodge. All right, let me just get up here, Anne.

Here we go. Wow, machines, sweet wow machine. Well, let's not waste any time, Mindy. Just put in the coordinates for the asteroid belt. And do Captain Guy Ross.

Our set of cars for yield, outer solar system first made Mindy.

Mom, what are you doing? Oh, sorry, it's just that we were doing... Damn, just kidding, Guy Ross. I'm pulling your pig land. Okay, well, let's get to it no time to waste.

Okay, outer solar system, asteroid belt? Uh, just checking Mindy.

“You're not going to put us right in the middle of it, are you?”

Because I don't want to be ducking and diving. Big chunks of space rock in this thing. No, Guy Ross, of course, I'm going to drop us in the middle of it. Mindy, I really don't think that's a great... Morning incoming asteroid.

I told you not to put us right in the middle of the asteroid belt. Yeah, well, you also told me not to use your tooth brush on my eyebrows. Tell me, you didn't do that in that, didn't you? Nine. Take a face of maneuvers.

Six, five. Wait, what just happened? Where's the asteroid? That was it, Guy Ross. But, but Mindy, that was just a pebble.

Hold on, let me just open up the blinds here.

No problem string. Well, I can't see a single other asteroid anywhere. Are you sure we're in the right place? Well, it says right here on the dashboard. Asteroid belt.

But...

“But, there aren't any crazy asteroids to dip in dive under?”

Yeah, like in the movies. Well, things out here are a lot different in reality, Guy Ross. What do you mean? So, the asteroid belt is a really, really big place. And even though there are trillions of these little space rocks floating around the sun,

the area in which they float is so big that all the rocks are pretty spaced out.

So, like, if I had a million ants, and I just spread them out across something like the state of Texas.

There might be a million of them. But... They'd all be spread out really far apart from each other. Exactly, Doritos, lucky for us. We have an almost fully functional, wow machine that can zip us from here to there and no time at all.

So, we can visit different areas of the asteroid belt? You know it. Well, if I just take a peek through the telescope periscope here... Let's see. Oh, I think I see one.

Just off in the distance. Sitting course. Three, two, one. Oh, that was quick. Whoa, Guy Ross.

Take a look at this. Whoa. Mindy, I think I know this asteroid. You do?

Yeah, it's called 216 Cleopatra.

“And the reason I know it is because it's kind of famous because of its unusual shape.”

Yeah, it kind of looks a little like a... Dog biscuit. Weird. Well, many of these asteroids don't actually have enough gravity to crush themselves into nice round balls. Like Earth.

Exactly. So, instead, they clump together in these weird shapes. Wow. And Mindy, this dog bone shaped rock right here is also the perfect example of an M-type asteroid. What?

An M-type asteroid. You see, asteroids are broken up into three categories, are three groups. This one is one of the rare types of asteroids. M-type asteroids, huh? So, what is the M-stand for?

M-type. Metallic.

As in, made out of metal.

Exactly. It's a mix of nickel and iron to be precise. Cool. So, what other types of asteroids are there?

“Well, why don't we go try and find some?”

I like the way your noodles noodles, Guy Ross. You ready? I'm ready. In three, two, one. The radar says that there should be a...

Whoa. 600 mile wide asteroid right next to us. But I don't see anything to you. No. Are you sure the radar isn't acting up again?

No. That's impossible. I broke it with the hammer last week. You what? Well, you know what I'll start at once.

Wait a minute, Mindy. There, there. Where? Right there, Mindy. I don't see anything.

It's very faint, but if you look very closely, you might be able to make out the outline of this sea-type asteroid. Sea-type asteroid. Garaz is still down. I think I see it.

Man, nothing is pitch black. You wouldn't even know it was there. That's because it's carbon, Mindy. The sea stands for carbon in sea-type asteroids. Huh.

Carbon asteroids. Yep. They're almost pitch black. And they make up almost 75% or three out of every four asteroids in the belt. Whoa.

And it's 600 miles wide. This thing must be one of the biggest asteroids around. Not one of Mindy. This is the largest asteroid in the belt. What we're looking at is series.

The 590 mile wide dwarf planet. Luckily, it's not completely pitch black. We would have run straight into it. You're right, Mindy. But series, although being a sea-type asteroid,

isn't completely made of carbon. Huh. So, what else is it made of? Well, it's got a nice crusty layer of ice that covers its surface. Okay.

But Garaz, according to our spacerock-travel bingo card, looks like we still got one category of asteroid to check off. Right. Wait. What's shaking it up?

Okay. Uh. It's lucky 11.

Anybody? Anybody? Little bit. Fine. Hold on.

Take Garaz. Three. Two. One. What?

Got it. Whoa. That is one. Right. Spacerock.

Um, let's put on my shades here.

Ah. Much better. And cooler. Where are my prescription sunglasses? I don't know.

Did you check the cup holder? The cup holder? Why would they be in the... They were in the cup holder? Told ya.

Wow, Mindy. You're right. That is one bright-est type asteroid. And let me guess the S stands for stylish. Because things got player.

Well, actually it stands for silicacious. Uh, silly. What kiss? Silicacious.

They're sort of similar to the metallic asteroids.

We saw before. But instead of just being made out of nickel and iron. These hunks of rock also have lots of other types of metal in them like magnesium silicates. Cool. And are there more of these in the asteroid belt?

Yep. These bright asteroids make up about 17% of the asteroid belt. Huh.

“So then that must make them the second most common type of asteroid?”

Exactly, Mindy. And as far as I can tell, all of these asteroids seem to be traveling in the same direction around the Sun. I think you're right, Mindy. They all seem to be hitting in a counterclockwise direction.

And in the world of astronomy, which is the study of all things space, that's called a Prograde orbit. Huh. A Prograde orbit. I'm pretty sure that means moving forwards and Latin Mindy.

Wow, well look at you, little Sarah Brahmarka. Uh, what? It's Latin for Brainbox. Oh, right. Almost all the planets, moons, and yes, even asteroids have Prograde orbits.

Meaning that? They all move in the same direction. Yep. And not only that, but most of these planets and moons also have Prograde spins, meaning that not only do they all circle the Sun in the same direction, but they all spin in the same

direction too. That's wild, Mindy, so what you're saying is, if we keep following these asteroids in a clockwise direction around the Sun, we should be completely safe, we'll be going with the flow of traffic. Yeah.

“Well, that isn't less become a cross and asteroid with a…”

Warning. Incoming asteroid. Retrograde orbit. Retrograde orbit. And if Retrograde means going backwards in Latin does that mean yep.

There's a giant asteroid headed in the opposite direction around the Sun and… What? What? It's headed straight for us. Ah, Mindy, we gotta do something.

We gotta do something. Okay, Guy Ross. I'm gonna need you to take those ants out of your pants because we are going to be just fine. All I need to do is reverse the thrusters. In back to 10.

We don't want this annoying thing. Six, five. Now, just sit back, relax and enjoy ourselves as we watch this Retrograde asteroid flowed on by. Oh, wait a minute, Mindy.

What?

This is the reason why I brought you out here in the first place.

To shut down this artificially intelligent computer that's keeping the wow machine's life support systems going. What? Nothing. No Mindy.

“This is the intergalactic guest I was telling you about before.”

Wait, this is the visitor from another solar system. Yeah. 2015 BZ509 or BZ for short. BZ. Huh. Well, besides the fact that it's traveling the wrong way down a one-way street,

it really doesn't seem all that alien. Well, Mindy, the fact that it's traveling in the wrong direction is actually the reason why scientists think that this piece of space rock might not be from this part of the universe. Not from this part of the universe. What do you mean?

Well, scientists have known about the existence of BZ since 2014. And they've been tracking it as it makes its way around the sun. Making its way around the sun in a retrograde orbit. Exactly. And originally, the scientists thought that BZ might have been knocked by something in the past

as send it spinning back in the wrong direction. Like a batter hitting a baseball? Exactly. But it wasn't until Dr. Fatina Muni from the Observatory in the Code De Jure in France. Ooh, la la.

And Dr. Helena Morey from the University Dad as Staduel in Brazil, showing the forces,

And so, what did they find?

Well, Mindy, these scientists developed a new method of observing the asteroids' current trajectory.

“Trajectory meaning the direction in which the asteroid is going?”

Exactly. So they were able to study the path that this asteroid was on. And by using that information, they were able to predict where the asteroid had been in the past. You mean like hitting a wind on an old DVD player? Pretty much.

They put all of this information into a computer, and they hit rewind to see what part of the solar system this asteroid came from, and why it was traveling in the wrong direction. And? And? They found that even when they re-wound the simulation all the way back to the beginning of our solar system.

Like 4.5 billion years ago?

They found that even back then, BZ was still orbiting around the sun in the wrong direction. Well, what about everything else? Everything else, like the planets, the moons, the asteroids we know and love, were circling around the sun in the other direction around the same time. And it was a giant cloud of dust and gas that would later form our solar system as we know it today. Which means?

Which means that this asteroid couldn't have been created from the same dust and gases that the rest of our solar system was formed from. So? So, it's not from this solar system. Winner, winner, asteroid, slinger!

“Wow! So, this inner stellar visitor has just been hanging out in our solar system for billions of years?”

It sure seems that way, Mindy, and it doesn't look like it's going to be changing its ways anytime soon. Wow! Well, really puts that whole bird that won't fly the coop situation that I've got going on into perspective. Speaking of which, we should probably head back to Earth. I left pancakes in the counter at home and I had them smothered and syrup.

And they're about to get to that critical point of absorption where they're just going to turn into a big mushy gross mess.

What? Buckle up! Oh, okay. Here we go! Ah, manchins, sweet gingerbread mansion.

What in the? What is it, Mindy? It's completely cleaned up. This place is spotless. Baggy, did you do this?

Oh, you felt bad about the mess? Oh, that's so nice! And you made us a fresh batch of pancakes. Oh, perusal pancakes! Oh, Mac, you can stay as long as you want, Missy.

Uh, what? Hey, garage.

“Want to join Maggie and me for a little mid-afternoon pancake party?”

Ah, I'd love to. Wow! That was so cool! I didn't know that there were different types of asteroids. Did you? And what were the types again?

Metal, carbon, and asparagus. Right, right, right, right, still a k-shist. That's good. I don't like asparagus. Well, we better wrap this up. The slime in my hair is hardening and it's starting to make my head inch. [coughing] Thanks to all you listeners out there for tuning into WeWOW on the weekend.

If you have a question for me, call and leave me a message at 1-8-8-7-wow. That's 1-8-8-7-wow. I just might answer your question on WeWOW on the weekend. [coughing] OK, should we do the goodbye song? Alright, let's do it.

[coughing] That's the end of the show. I need to go and watch the slime out of my hair and then go back to the store for more slime because I can't seem to learn my lesson. But I'll do another show tomorrow.

Bye for now, that's the end of the show. Bye! [coughing]