WEBVTT 0 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.400 Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily. Your 1 00:00:02.400 --> 00:00:04.320 cosmic connection to the stars and beyond. 2 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:07.360 I'm Anna, and today we're exploring some 3 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:09.720 truly mind bending stories from across the 4 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.600 universe. Coming up on today's show, we'll 5 00:00:12.600 --> 00:00:15.160 witness a celestial joust between two massive 6 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:17.680 galaxies on a collision course, with one 7 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:19.680 firing a beam of radiation through the other 8 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:22.560 like a knight's lance. We'll also discover 9 00:00:22.560 --> 00:00:24.760 that Jupiter, the architect of our solar 10 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:27.320 system, was once twice its current size, with 11 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.160 a magnetic field 50 times stronger than it 12 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.140 is today. Then we'll 13 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:35.500 examine the often overlooked challenges 14 00:00:35.900 --> 00:00:38.820 of interstellar travel. Not the rockets 15 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:41.660 and propulsion systems, but the microscopic 16 00:00:41.660 --> 00:00:43.380 passengers that would need to make the 17 00:00:43.380 --> 00:00:46.340 journey with us. Plus, we'll explore one 18 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:48.300 of the strangest planetary systems ever 19 00:00:48.300 --> 00:00:50.300 discovered, featuring a planet that orbits 20 00:00:50.300 --> 00:00:52.100 perpendicular to everything we thought we 21 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:55.060 knew about orbital mechanics. And finally, 22 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:57.020 we'll check in on Tom Cruise's ambitious 23 00:00:57.020 --> 00:00:59.140 plans to become the first actor to film a 24 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.640 movie in actual outer space. It's a packed 25 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:03.760 episode exploring the biggest and smallest 26 00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:06.040 wonders of our universe. So let's dive right 27 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:07.600 in to today's Astronomy Daily. 28 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:10.200 Astronomers have recently observed what 29 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.400 they're describing as a cosmic joust. 30 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:15.640 Two massive galaxies hurtling toward each 31 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:18.320 other in deep space. This remarkable 32 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:20.360 celestial event gives us a glimpse of a 33 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:23.120 galactic merger as it was happening 11.4 34 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:25.600 billion years ago, when the universe was just 35 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:28.420 about one fifth of its current age. The 36 00:01:28.420 --> 00:01:30.620 observation, made using two powerful 37 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:33.020 telescopes in Chile, the Atacama Large 38 00:01:33.020 --> 00:01:35.500 Millimeter Submillimeter Array and the 39 00:01:35.500 --> 00:01:37.580 European Southern Observatory's Very Large 40 00:01:37.580 --> 00:01:40.460 Telescope, reveals two galaxies, each 41 00:01:40.460 --> 00:01:42.540 containing roughly the same number of stars 42 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:45.740 as our own Milky Way. But what makes this 43 00:01:45.740 --> 00:01:48.300 encounter particularly fascinating is what's 44 00:01:48.300 --> 00:01:49.820 happening at the heart of one of these 45 00:01:49.820 --> 00:01:52.580 galaxies. One of the galaxies contains a 46 00:01:52.580 --> 00:01:55.190 quasar, an extraordinarily luminous 47 00:01:55.190 --> 00:01:57.910 object powered by a supermassive black hole. 48 00:01:58.390 --> 00:02:01.190 As gas and other material fall into this 49 00:02:01.190 --> 00:02:03.990 cosmic monster, it heats up due to friction, 50 00:02:04.070 --> 00:02:06.470 creating a disk that emits extremely powerful 51 00:02:06.470 --> 00:02:08.630 radiation in two opposite directions. 52 00:02:09.269 --> 00:02:11.790 These are called biconical beams, and one of 53 00:02:11.790 --> 00:02:13.550 them is directly piercing through the 54 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:16.270 companion galaxy. The researchers have 55 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:18.350 likened this interaction to medieval knights 56 00:02:18.350 --> 00:02:20.850 charging toward each other in a joust. As 57 00:02:20.850 --> 00:02:23.730 astrophysicist Sergei Balashev from the IofA 58 00:02:23.730 --> 00:02:26.250 Institute in St. Petersburg puts it. One of 59 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:29.050 them, the quasar host, emits a powerful beam 60 00:02:29.050 --> 00:02:31.010 of radiation that pierces the companion 61 00:02:31.010 --> 00:02:33.570 galaxy like a lance. This 62 00:02:33.570 --> 00:02:36.289 radiation lance is actually disrupting the 63 00:02:36.289 --> 00:02:38.970 molecular clouds in the companion galaxy, the 64 00:02:38.970 --> 00:02:40.970 very clouds that would normally give rise to 65 00:02:40.970 --> 00:02:43.650 new stars. Instead of forming stars, these 66 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:45.970 clouds are being transformed into tiny Dense 67 00:02:45.970 --> 00:02:48.950 cloudlets that are too small to create 68 00:02:49.030 --> 00:02:51.790 stellar nurseries. It's effectively wounding 69 00:02:51.790 --> 00:02:53.870 its opponent by disrupting the gas structure 70 00:02:53.870 --> 00:02:56.590 necessary for star formation. The 71 00:02:56.590 --> 00:02:58.830 supermassive black hole powering this cosmic 72 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:01.590 joust is estimated to be about 200 million 73 00:03:01.590 --> 00:03:04.110 times the mass of our sun, far larger than 74 00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:05.990 the one at the center of our own Milky Way, 75 00:03:06.070 --> 00:03:08.550 which is only about 4 million solar masses. 76 00:03:09.510 --> 00:03:11.550 What makes this observation particularly 77 00:03:11.550 --> 00:03:14.060 special is that it's the first time 78 00:03:14.220 --> 00:03:15.940 scientists have witnessed this kind of 79 00:03:15.940 --> 00:03:18.610 phenomenon, a, quasar's radiation directly 80 00:03:18.610 --> 00:03:20.690 affecting the molecular clouds in another 81 00:03:20.690 --> 00:03:23.530 galaxy. The unique alignment of these 82 00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:25.490 galaxies from our perspective on Earth 83 00:03:25.490 --> 00:03:27.650 allowed researchers to observe the radiation 84 00:03:27.650 --> 00:03:29.570 passing directly through the companion 85 00:03:29.570 --> 00:03:32.450 galaxy. According to astronomer Pasquier 86 00:03:32.450 --> 00:03:34.130 Notre Dame of the Paris Institute of 87 00:03:34.130 --> 00:03:36.410 Astrophysics, these two galaxies will 88 00:03:36.410 --> 00:03:38.370 eventually coalesce Into a single, larger 89 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:40.330 galaxy as their gravitational interaction 90 00:03:40.330 --> 00:03:42.820 continues to. The quasar will gradually fade 91 00:03:42.820 --> 00:03:45.580 as it exhausts its available fuel. Most 92 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:47.580 galactic mergers observed by astronomers 93 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:49.420 Occurred later in the universe's history, 94 00:03:49.740 --> 00:03:51.740 making this early cosmic collision 95 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:53.980 particularly valuable for understanding how 96 00:03:53.980 --> 00:03:56.900 galaxies evolved in the young universe. It's 97 00:03:56.900 --> 00:03:59.260 a dramatic snapshot of the violent processes 98 00:03:59.260 --> 00:04:01.500 that have shaped the cosmos since its 99 00:04:01.500 --> 00:04:04.220 earliest days, a cosmic joust that will 100 00:04:04.220 --> 00:04:06.820 ultimately end in union rather than victory 101 00:04:06.820 --> 00:04:07.980 for either contestant. 102 00:04:09.630 --> 00:04:11.830 Next, let's take a new look at one of our 103 00:04:11.830 --> 00:04:14.830 cosmic neighbors. Jupiter, the largest 104 00:04:14.830 --> 00:04:17.310 planet in our solar system, Was once even 105 00:04:17.310 --> 00:04:19.630 more massive and magnetically powerful than 106 00:04:19.630 --> 00:04:22.190 it is today. According to a groundbreaking 107 00:04:22.190 --> 00:04:24.189 new study published in the journal Nature 108 00:04:24.189 --> 00:04:27.150 Astronomy, Researchers from Caltech 109 00:04:27.150 --> 00:04:29.110 and the University of Michigan have 110 00:04:29.110 --> 00:04:31.750 determined that approximately 3.8 million 111 00:04:31.750 --> 00:04:33.990 years after the formation of the solar 112 00:04:33.990 --> 00:04:36.960 system's first solids, Jupiter was about 113 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:39.010 twice its current size, with, a magnetic 114 00:04:39.010 --> 00:04:41.730 field 50 times stronger than what we observe 115 00:04:41.730 --> 00:04:44.610 now. This revelation comes from an ingenious 116 00:04:44.610 --> 00:04:46.570 approach that bypasses traditional 117 00:04:46.570 --> 00:04:49.010 uncertainties in planetary formation models. 118 00:04:49.650 --> 00:04:52.050 Rather than relying on assumptions about gas 119 00:04:52.050 --> 00:04:54.770 opacity or accretion rates, the researchers 120 00:04:54.770 --> 00:04:56.970 focused on something more concrete. The 121 00:04:56.970 --> 00:04:59.170 orbital dynamics of Jupiter's tiny moons 122 00:04:59.410 --> 00:05:02.290 Amalthea and Thebe. These small 123 00:05:02.290 --> 00:05:04.450 moons, which orbit even closer to Jupiter 124 00:05:04.450 --> 00:05:07.170 Than the Galilean moon IO, have slightly 125 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:10.050 tilted orbits. By analyzing these orbital 126 00:05:10.050 --> 00:05:12.650 discrepancies, Constantine Batygin, 127 00:05:12.890 --> 00:05:15.290 professor of planetary science at Caltech, 128 00:05:15.370 --> 00:05:18.370 and Fred C. Adams, professor of physics and 129 00:05:18.370 --> 00:05:21.010 astronomy at the University of Michigan, were 130 00:05:21.010 --> 00:05:22.810 able to calculate Jupiter's original 131 00:05:22.810 --> 00:05:25.530 dimensions. Their findings paint a picture of 132 00:05:25.530 --> 00:05:28.400 a truly enormous early Jupiter, with a volume 133 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:31.200 equivalent to over 2000 Earths. This isn't 134 00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:33.520 just an interesting factoid. It provides 135 00:05:33.520 --> 00:05:35.360 critical information about a pivotal moment 136 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.840 in our solar system's development. The 137 00:05:37.840 --> 00:05:40.080 Research establishes a clear snapshot of 138 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:41.920 Jupiter at the precise moment when the 139 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:43.919 surrounding solar nebula evaporated, 140 00:05:43.919 --> 00:05:45.680 effectively locking in the primordial 141 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:48.440 architecture of our solar system. Our 142 00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:50.600 ultimate goal is to understand where we come 143 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.120 from, and pinning down the early phases of 144 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:55.200 planet formation is essential to solving the 145 00:05:55.200 --> 00:05:58.140 puzzle, explains Batygin. This brings 146 00:05:58.140 --> 00:05:59.980 us closer to understanding how not only 147 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:02.340 Jupiter but the entire solar system took 148 00:06:02.340 --> 00:06:04.660 shape. What makes this research 149 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:07.260 particularly valuable is that it provides 150 00:06:07.260 --> 00:06:09.300 independent verification of long standing 151 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:11.819 planet formation theories, which suggest that 152 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:14.100 Jupiter and other giant planets formed via 153 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:16.860 core accretion, a process where a rocky and 154 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:19.660 icy core rapidly gathers gas. These 155 00:06:19.660 --> 00:06:21.620 theories have been developed over decades by 156 00:06:21.620 --> 00:06:23.740 many researchers, including Caltech's Dave 157 00:06:23.740 --> 00:06:26.520 Stevenson. And this new study adds crucial 158 00:06:26.520 --> 00:06:28.240 specificity to our understanding. 159 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:31.480 Understanding Jupiter's early evolution has 160 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:33.640 broader implications for our solar system's 161 00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:36.600 development. Jupiter's gravity has often been 162 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:38.560 called the architect of our solar system, 163 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:40.839 playing a critical role in shaping the 164 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.440 orbital paths of other planets and sculpting 165 00:06:43.440 --> 00:06:45.520 the disk of gas and dust from which they 166 00:06:45.520 --> 00:06:48.400 formed. As Fred Adams notes, it's 167 00:06:48.400 --> 00:06:50.920 astonishing that even after 4.5 billion 168 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:53.890 years, enough clues remain to let us 169 00:06:53.890 --> 00:06:56.290 reconstruct Jupiter's physical state at the 170 00:06:56.290 --> 00:06:59.250 dawn of its existence. While Jupiter's very 171 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:01.610 first moments remain obscured, this research 172 00:07:01.690 --> 00:07:04.490 establishes what Batygin calls a valuable 173 00:07:04.490 --> 00:07:07.010 benchmark, a point from which scientists can 174 00:07:07.010 --> 00:07:09.250 more confidently reconstruct the evolution of 175 00:07:09.250 --> 00:07:11.610 our solar system, bringing us closer to 176 00:07:11.610 --> 00:07:13.610 answering fundamental questions about our 177 00:07:13.610 --> 00:07:16.370 cosmic origins and the processes that made 178 00:07:16.370 --> 00:07:18.490 our planetary neighborhood what it is today. 179 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:22.080 Our next story today features a subject I 180 00:07:22.080 --> 00:07:24.120 know many of us wonder about. When we think 181 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:26.320 about interstellar travel, our minds 182 00:07:26.320 --> 00:07:28.400 typically gravitate toward the technological 183 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:30.560 challenges of propulsion systems and 184 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.200 spacecraft design. But according to physicist 185 00:07:33.200 --> 00:07:35.680 and author Paul Davies, we're overlooking 186 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:38.000 perhaps the most critical obstacle to human 187 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.520 space exploration beyond our solar system. 188 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:43.200 The complex biological requirements for 189 00:07:43.200 --> 00:07:46.020 creating a sustainable ecosystem. In 190 00:07:46.020 --> 00:07:48.820 Davies's analysis, traveling between stars 191 00:07:48.820 --> 00:07:51.820 will inevitably be a one way journey. Even 192 00:07:51.820 --> 00:07:54.220 with the most optimistic technological 193 00:07:54.220 --> 00:07:56.820 advances. This means any mission would 194 00:07:56.820 --> 00:07:59.140 require creating a completely self sustaining 195 00:07:59.140 --> 00:08:01.940 ecological environment. It's not simply about 196 00:08:01.940 --> 00:08:03.990 growing enough, food and generating oxygen. 197 00:08:04.230 --> 00:08:06.430 It's about replicating Earth's intricate web 198 00:08:06.430 --> 00:08:08.750 of life on a cosmic scale. The true 199 00:08:08.750 --> 00:08:11.350 complexity lies in the microbial realm. As 200 00:08:11.350 --> 00:08:13.670 Davies points out, almost all terrestrial 201 00:08:13.670 --> 00:08:15.870 species are microbes, bacteria, 202 00:08:16.030 --> 00:08:18.670 archaea and unicellular eukaryotes. 203 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:21.070 And they form the foundation of Earth's 204 00:08:21.070 --> 00:08:23.830 biosphere. These microorganisms aren't 205 00:08:23.830 --> 00:08:25.990 merely passengers on our planet. They're 206 00:08:25.990 --> 00:08:27.630 essential components of our life support 207 00:08:27.630 --> 00:08:29.990 system. Recycling materials and exchanging 208 00:08:29.990 --> 00:08:31.550 genetic Components in ways we're only 209 00:08:31.550 --> 00:08:34.390 beginning to understand. Even within our 210 00:08:34.390 --> 00:08:36.910 own bodies, microbes play a crucial role. 211 00:08:37.420 --> 00:08:39.780 Your personal microbiome, the microbial 212 00:08:39.780 --> 00:08:41.620 inhabitants of your gut, lungs and other 213 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:44.060 organs outnumber your own cells. 214 00:08:44.300 --> 00:08:46.820 Without them, you would die. So 215 00:08:46.820 --> 00:08:48.660 astronauts cannot journey to the stars 216 00:08:48.660 --> 00:08:51.340 without, at minimum, their own microbiomes. 217 00:08:51.660 --> 00:08:54.260 But it gets even more complicated. Microbes 218 00:08:54.260 --> 00:08:56.620 don't exist in isolation. They form vast 219 00:08:56.620 --> 00:08:58.740 networks of biological interactions that 220 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:01.380 remain poorly understood. There's horizontal 221 00:09:01.380 --> 00:09:03.740 gene transfer, cell to cell signaling, 222 00:09:04.150 --> 00:09:06.110 viral interactions, and collective 223 00:09:06.110 --> 00:09:08.710 organization that creates an ecological web 224 00:09:08.710 --> 00:09:11.630 of staggering complexity. Scientists have 225 00:09:11.630 --> 00:09:14.070 barely begun to map this intricate planetary 226 00:09:14.070 --> 00:09:16.590 scale information flow. This raises what 227 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:19.150 Davies calls a Noah's Ark conundrum with a 228 00:09:19.150 --> 00:09:21.710 vengeance. Which species get chosen for the 229 00:09:21.710 --> 00:09:24.550 journey? What is the minimum complexity of an 230 00:09:24.550 --> 00:09:26.510 ecosystem necessary for long term 231 00:09:26.510 --> 00:09:29.110 sustainability? At what point does removing 232 00:09:29.110 --> 00:09:31.230 certain microbes cause the entire system to 233 00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:34.150 collapse? The problem is that we simply 234 00:09:34.150 --> 00:09:36.230 don't know. We haven't identified the 235 00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:38.470 smallest self sustaining, purely microbial 236 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:40.790 ecosystem, let alone which microbes are 237 00:09:40.790 --> 00:09:42.590 crucial for human survival in space. 238 00:09:43.310 --> 00:09:45.310 Imagine compiling a list of plants and 239 00:09:45.310 --> 00:09:47.550 animals to accompany humans on a one way 240 00:09:48.110 --> 00:09:51.070 cows, pigs, vegetables. But then consider 241 00:09:51.150 --> 00:09:53.550 how many and which microbial species these 242 00:09:53.550 --> 00:09:56.390 organisms depend on and which other microbes 243 00:09:56.390 --> 00:09:59.220 those microbes depend on. Space conditions 244 00:09:59.220 --> 00:10:01.700 add another layer of complexity. Research 245 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:03.820 shows that bacteria can change their gene 246 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:06.420 expression in zero gravity. Michelle 247 00:10:06.420 --> 00:10:08.620 Levin's experiments with planaria worms that 248 00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:11.180 had flown on the space station revealed that 249 00:10:11.180 --> 00:10:13.340 some returned with two heads instead of the 250 00:10:13.340 --> 00:10:16.060 normal one. How might other organisms change 251 00:10:16.060 --> 00:10:19.060 in the harsh environment of space? Davies 252 00:10:19.060 --> 00:10:21.100 suggests our best hope may lie not in 253 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:23.580 cataloging genes, but in discovering the 254 00:10:23.580 --> 00:10:25.700 underlying principles governing the flow and 255 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:27.620 organization of information in living 256 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:30.580 systems, what he calls the software of 257 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:33.500 life. If we can identify universal 258 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:35.980 informational patterns in biology, we might 259 00:10:35.980 --> 00:10:38.260 create a transplantable ecosystem robust 260 00:10:38.260 --> 00:10:40.940 enough to withstand space conditions. Without 261 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:42.780 solving these fundamental biological 262 00:10:42.780 --> 00:10:45.060 challenges, our dreams of establishing 263 00:10:45.060 --> 00:10:47.140 permanent human settlements beyond our solar 264 00:10:47.140 --> 00:10:49.500 system may remain just dreams. 265 00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:52.180 The tiniest organisms may pose the biggest 266 00:10:52.180 --> 00:10:53.900 obstacles to our cosmic ambitions. 267 00:10:55.680 --> 00:10:58.040 Next up. Today, will the cosmos ever stop 268 00:10:58.040 --> 00:11:00.920 surprising us? I hope not. In what 269 00:11:00.920 --> 00:11:02.680 might be the most unusual planetary 270 00:11:02.680 --> 00:11:05.320 arrangement ever discovered, astronomers have 271 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.560 recently identified a system that defies our 272 00:11:07.560 --> 00:11:09.640 conventional understanding of how planets 273 00:11:09.640 --> 00:11:12.160 form and orbit. The system, 274 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:15.440 informally known as 2M M1510, 275 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.360 features what appears to be a planet tracing 276 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:20.800 an orbit that carries it directly over the 277 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:23.210 poles of two brown dwarfs and that are 278 00:11:23.210 --> 00:11:25.970 orbiting each other. If you're having trouble 279 00:11:25.970 --> 00:11:28.690 visualizing this, imagine two spinning 280 00:11:28.690 --> 00:11:31.530 tops circling each other on a table while a 281 00:11:31.530 --> 00:11:33.810 marble rolls around them in a path that goes 282 00:11:33.810 --> 00:11:36.170 over and under the table. It's a 283 00:11:36.170 --> 00:11:38.929 configuration that until now, existed only in 284 00:11:38.929 --> 00:11:41.770 theoretical models. In typical planetary 285 00:11:41.770 --> 00:11:44.770 systems like our own solar system, Planets 286 00:11:44.770 --> 00:11:47.040 orbit their stars in, a relatively flat plane 287 00:11:47.040 --> 00:11:49.610 that aligns with the star's equator. This 288 00:11:49.610 --> 00:11:51.490 makes sense because planets form from the 289 00:11:51.490 --> 00:11:54.210 same rotating disk of material that formed 290 00:11:54.210 --> 00:11:56.730 the star. Everything stays nice and orderly, 291 00:11:56.730 --> 00:11:59.290 Moving in roughly the same plane. But 292 00:11:59.290 --> 00:12:02.250 candidate planet 2m M1510B breaks all 293 00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:04.810 these rules. Its orbital plane appears to be 294 00:12:04.810 --> 00:12:07.810 perpendicular at a 90 degree angle to the 295 00:12:07.810 --> 00:12:10.250 plane in which its two host brown dwarfs 296 00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:13.170 orbit each other. Brown dwarfs themselves are 297 00:12:13.170 --> 00:12:15.500 fascinating objects, Too massive to be 298 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:17.500 considered planets, but not massive enough to 299 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:20.500 sustain the nuclear fusion that powers stars. 300 00:12:20.820 --> 00:12:23.100 They're cosmic in betweeners, and this system 301 00:12:23.100 --> 00:12:25.660 has two of them at its center, With a third 302 00:12:25.660 --> 00:12:27.940 brown dwarf orbiting at an extreme distance. 303 00:12:28.420 --> 00:12:30.579 The detection method for this perpendicular 304 00:12:30.579 --> 00:12:32.980 planet Is itself remarkable. Most 305 00:12:32.980 --> 00:12:35.340 exoplanets today are found using the transit 306 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:37.820 method, where we detect tiny dips in 307 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:40.180 starlight as planets cross in front of their 308 00:12:40.180 --> 00:12:42.870 stars. But that wouldn't work in this unusual 309 00:12:42.870 --> 00:12:45.070 orbital arrangement. Instead, 310 00:12:45.390 --> 00:12:47.830 researchers used what's called the radial 311 00:12:47.830 --> 00:12:50.390 velocity method, Measuring subtle shifts in 312 00:12:50.390 --> 00:12:52.950 the brown dwarf's light spectrum Caused by 313 00:12:52.950 --> 00:12:54.950 the gravitational pull of the orbiting 314 00:12:54.950 --> 00:12:57.710 planet. More specifically, they 315 00:12:57.710 --> 00:13:00.670 detected how the planet subtly alters the 21 316 00:13:00.670 --> 00:13:03.230 day mutual orbit of the brown dwarf pair. 317 00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:06.270 After extensive analysis, the research team 318 00:13:06.270 --> 00:13:08.630 concluded that only a polar orbiting planet 319 00:13:08.630 --> 00:13:11.000 could explain these perturbations. This 320 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.160 discovery is significant because circumbinary 321 00:13:13.160 --> 00:13:15.720 planets, those orbiting two stars at once, 322 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.880 Are already quite rare. Of the more than 323 00:13:18.880 --> 00:13:21.680 5,800 confirmed exoplanets, only 324 00:13:21.760 --> 00:13:24.440 16 are known to orbit binary systems, with 325 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:26.960 Most discovered by NASA's now retired Kepler 326 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.720 space telescope. A circumbinary planet in a 327 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:31.560 polar orbit Takes this rarity to another 328 00:13:31.560 --> 00:13:34.120 level entirely. Scientists have previously 329 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:36.200 observed debris disks and protoplanetary 330 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:38.650 disks in polar orbits, which led to 331 00:13:38.650 --> 00:13:40.730 speculation that polar orbiting planets might 332 00:13:40.730 --> 00:13:42.934 exist. 2m, 333 00:13:43.166 --> 00:13:46.050 um1510 appears to be the first confirmed case 334 00:13:46.450 --> 00:13:48.530 Validating these theoretical predictions. 335 00:13:49.490 --> 00:13:51.850 The international research team led by Thomas 336 00:13:51.850 --> 00:13:54.210 A. Baycroft from the University of Birmingham 337 00:13:54.530 --> 00:13:56.210 Published their findings in the journal 338 00:13:56.210 --> 00:13:58.850 Science Advances in April. With the planet 339 00:13:58.850 --> 00:14:01.210 officially entered into NASA's exoplanet 340 00:14:01.210 --> 00:14:04.210 archive on May 1st of this year. This 341 00:14:04.210 --> 00:14:06.570 bizarre system challenges our understanding 342 00:14:06.570 --> 00:14:09.490 of planetary formation and orbital dynamics, 343 00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:11.930 Suggesting that the universe has many more 344 00:14:11.930 --> 00:14:14.690 surprises in store. As we continue to explore 345 00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:17.650 the cosmos, it reminds us that nature often 346 00:14:17.730 --> 00:14:19.930 finds ways to create arrangements Far more 347 00:14:19.930 --> 00:14:21.490 exotic than what we might imagine. 348 00:14:23.090 --> 00:14:25.770 Finally, today, this news will horrify some 349 00:14:25.770 --> 00:14:28.330 and delight others in the realm of space 350 00:14:28.330 --> 00:14:31.250 exploration, One unlikely pioneer may soon 351 00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:33.530 make the transition from movie star to actual 352 00:14:33.530 --> 00:14:36.250 astronaut Tom Cruise, known for performing 353 00:14:36.250 --> 00:14:38.650 his own death defying stunts in the Mission 354 00:14:38.810 --> 00:14:41.810 Impossible franchise, appears to be inching 355 00:14:41.810 --> 00:14:44.170 closer to perhaps his most ambitious project 356 00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:47.250 yet, filming a movie in actual outer 357 00:14:47.250 --> 00:14:50.090 space. According to Cruise's IMDb 358 00:14:50.090 --> 00:14:52.890 page, an untitled Tom Cruise SpaceX 359 00:14:52.890 --> 00:14:55.090 project is currently listed in pre 360 00:14:55.090 --> 00:14:57.700 production. The tantalizing description 361 00:14:57.700 --> 00:15:00.020 states that Cruise and director Doug Liman 362 00:15:00.180 --> 00:15:03.060 plan to travel far beyond Earth to film 363 00:15:03.060 --> 00:15:05.580 the first ever Hollywood motion picture in 364 00:15:05.580 --> 00:15:08.540 outer space. While no official launch date 365 00:15:08.540 --> 00:15:10.860 has been announced, this development suggests 366 00:15:10.860 --> 00:15:12.980 the long rumored space movie may indeed be 367 00:15:12.980 --> 00:15:15.900 moving forward. The concept first gained 368 00:15:15.900 --> 00:15:18.900 traction back in 2020 and 2021 following 369 00:15:18.900 --> 00:15:21.500 a successful SpaceX NASA rocket launch from 370 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:24.430 Cape Canaveral. NASA confirmed at the time 371 00:15:24.430 --> 00:15:26.190 that they were in discussions with crews 372 00:15:26.190 --> 00:15:27.710 about filming a movie aboard the 373 00:15:27.710 --> 00:15:29.990 International Space Station, though updates 374 00:15:29.990 --> 00:15:32.070 about this potential collaboration have been 375 00:15:32.070 --> 00:15:34.830 scarce since then. Interestingly, 376 00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:37.310 during SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission in 377 00:15:37.310 --> 00:15:39.830 September 2021, the four person 378 00:15:39.830 --> 00:15:42.350 civilian crew, which included Jared Isaacman 379 00:15:42.350 --> 00:15:44.390 Mann, who would later become President 380 00:15:44.390 --> 00:15:47.350 Trump's pick to lead NASA, actually spoke 381 00:15:47.350 --> 00:15:49.350 with Cruise via a zoom call during their 382 00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:52.020 orbital flight. At that time, 383 00:15:52.180 --> 00:15:54.820 reports suggested Cruise was set to fly on a 384 00:15:54.820 --> 00:15:57.060 different crew Dragon Mission to film scenes 385 00:15:57.060 --> 00:16:00.020 for an upcoming movie. While Cruise would be 386 00:16:00.020 --> 00:16:01.860 the first Hollywood actor to film in space, 387 00:16:02.260 --> 00:16:04.020 he wouldn't be the first to shoot a feature 388 00:16:04.020 --> 00:16:06.700 film there. That distinction belongs to 389 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:09.260 Russian actress Yulia Peresild and director 390 00:16:09.260 --> 00:16:11.580 Klim Sippenko, who traveled to the 391 00:16:11.580 --> 00:16:14.180 International space station in October 2021 392 00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:17.130 to film scenes for the Challenge, a drama 393 00:16:17.130 --> 00:16:19.090 about a surgeon sent to space to save a 394 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:20.890 cosmonaut suffering from a heart attack. 395 00:16:21.610 --> 00:16:24.410 Released in 2023, it became the first 396 00:16:24.410 --> 00:16:26.490 feature length film with professional actors 397 00:16:26.490 --> 00:16:29.370 shot in space. For Cruise, who turned 398 00:16:29.370 --> 00:16:32.170 63 this year and is fresh off the success of 399 00:16:32.970 --> 00:16:35.770 Impossible, the Final Reckoning, a journey to 400 00:16:35.770 --> 00:16:37.850 space would represent the ultimate frontier 401 00:16:37.850 --> 00:16:40.410 in his career of pushing physical boundaries. 402 00:16:40.970 --> 00:16:43.290 The actor has already hung from airplanes, 403 00:16:43.630 --> 00:16:45.910 scaled the world's tallest building, and 404 00:16:45.910 --> 00:16:48.670 performed halo jumps from extreme altitudes, 405 00:16:49.150 --> 00:16:52.030 space would certainly be the next logical, if 406 00:16:52.110 --> 00:16:55.030 extraordinarily ambitious step. Whether 407 00:16:55.030 --> 00:16:57.470 this project ultimately launches remains to 408 00:16:57.470 --> 00:17:00.190 be seen, but one thing seems certain. If 409 00:17:00.190 --> 00:17:02.390 anyone in Hollywood has the determination and 410 00:17:02.390 --> 00:17:04.910 influence to make filming in space a reality, 411 00:17:05.150 --> 00:17:06.270 it's Tom Cruise. 412 00:17:08.190 --> 00:17:10.510 And that wraps up another incredible journey 413 00:17:10.510 --> 00:17:12.630 through the cosmos on today's episode of 414 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:15.559 Astronomy Daily. From those two galaxies 415 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:17.879 engaged in a cosmic joust billions of years 416 00:17:17.879 --> 00:17:20.839 ago, to Jupiter's surprisingly massive past, 417 00:17:21.239 --> 00:17:23.479 to the complex microbial challenges of 418 00:17:23.479 --> 00:17:26.119 interstellar travel, the universe continues 419 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:28.679 to amaze and humble us with its mysteries. 420 00:17:29.399 --> 00:17:31.319 We also explored that fascinating 421 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:33.359 perpendicular planetary orbit in the 422 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.999 2M1510 system, a 423 00:17:35.999 --> 00:17:38.399 configuration astronomers had only theorized 424 00:17:38.399 --> 00:17:41.010 until now. And of course, Tom 425 00:17:41.010 --> 00:17:43.050 Cruise's potential journey to become the 426 00:17:43.050 --> 00:17:45.410 first Hollywood actor to film in actual space 427 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:47.850 certainly pushes the boundaries of what's 428 00:17:47.850 --> 00:17:50.610 possible when human ingenuity meets cosmic 429 00:17:50.610 --> 00:17:53.330 ambition. The universe is vast, 430 00:17:53.650 --> 00:17:56.250 mysterious, and full of stories waiting to be 431 00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:58.810 told. If you want to stay on top of all the 432 00:17:58.810 --> 00:18:00.890 latest developments in space and astronomy, I 433 00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:01.890 encourage you to visit our 434 00:18:01.890 --> 00:18:04.810 website@astronomydaily.IO where you can 435 00:18:04.810 --> 00:18:07.520 sign up for our free daily newsletter. Our 436 00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:10.000 site features a constantly updating newsfeed 437 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.080 with the latest discoveries and breakthroughs 438 00:18:12.080 --> 00:18:14.520 in cosmic exploration. Don't forget to 439 00:18:14.520 --> 00:18:16.960 subscribe to Astronomy Daily on Apple 440 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:19.880 Podcasts, Spotify, YouTubeMusic, or 441 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:22.400 wherever you get your podcasts. To ensure 442 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.160 you never miss an episode, this has been 443 00:18:25.160 --> 00:18:27.960 Anna, your guide to the Cosmos, and I'll be 444 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:29.760 back tomorrow with more fascinating stories 445 00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:32.690 from the final frontier. Until then, keep 446 00:18:32.690 --> 00:18:33.210 looking up.