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Anna: Hey there, space enthusiasts and welcome back

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to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and

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I'm super excited to take you on a whirlwind

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tour of the cosmos right from the comfort of

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your earbuds. Today we've got some mind

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blowing stories lined up. We'll be diving

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into the mystery of Titan's wobbling

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atmosphere, checking out a newly discovered

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ancient monster galaxy, and looking into the

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delays plaguing Boeing's Starliner programme.

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And we'll wrap it all up with a peek into the

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next 50 years in space, according to the

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Royal Society. So buckle up space cadets.

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It's going to be a fun R.

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Alright, first up, let's talk about Titan,

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Saturn's largest moon. Now get this.

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Scientists have discovered that Titan's

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atmosphere isn't exactly sitting still. It

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like wobbles. Yeah, you heard me right.

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Wobbles like a gyroscope. A recent

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study after analysing infrared light readings

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over 13 years has revealed that Titan's

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atmosphere isn't fixed in line with its

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surface. It shifts across the seasons.

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Spooky. Huh? Huh? Now the big question is

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why? What's causing this weird wobble?

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Planetary scientist Lucy Wright compares it

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to a gyroscope stabilising itself in space

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and adds that the wobble changes with Titan's

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seasons. One theory is that it has something

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to do with Titan's orbit around the sun and

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Saturn. But the direction of the tilt remains

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fixed, which is just adding to the mystery.

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Maybe, and this is just a maybe. A large

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impact event in Titan's past could have

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started the wobbles and possibly changed its

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climate. Now why should we care? Well, this

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research is crucial for the upcoming

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Dragonfly mission scheduled for 2034.

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Dragonfly's gonna land on Titan and to do

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that safely, we need to really understand its

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atmosphere. Plus understanding

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Titan's atmosphere, which by the way, is the

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only moon in our solar system to have a

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proper atmosphere, might help us understand

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how life could survive on other planets. Even

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better, studying Titan could even help us

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understand Earth's atmosphere better. Who

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knew?

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Right, next up, we're heading

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way, way back in time, like 11.1

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billion years back. Astronomers have just

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spotted a massive super active spiral galaxy

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from the early universe. And it's shedding

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new light on how galaxies like our own Milky

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Way took shape. Now this galaxy ain't just

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any galaxy. It's what they call a, ah,

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monster galaxy that's growing super fast by

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making stars at an incredible rate. It's got

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a bright central bar, a feature seen in many

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modern spiral galaxies, including our own,

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this bar acts like a funnel directing gas

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inward to fuel the birth of new stars.

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And this one, called J0107A. It's like

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the oldest and most massive barred spiral

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galaxy we've ever seen. Think of it as a time

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capsule, giving us a peek into how these

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galactic structures formed and evolved way

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back in the early universe. What's really

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cool is that the team found that the gas in

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J0107A is distributed

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and moves in a way that's similar to modern

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galaxies. But get this, the

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concentrations of gas are way higher and the

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speed of the gas flow is much faster.

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Astronomers think this massive influx of gas

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to the centre of the galaxy will cause even

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more star formation, driving its evolution.

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This is the first time these features have

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been observed. And turns out they weren't

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predicted by any of the theoretical models.

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How about that, huh? Huh?

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Alright, let's turn our attention back to

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Earth, or at least to Earth's space

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programmes. Remember Boeing's Starliner?

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Well, a year ago it was docking with the

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International Space Station for its crew

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flight test with NASA astronauts Sunita

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Williams and Barry Wilmore. But, a year

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later, the future of the Starliner programme

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is, well, still up in the air.

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NASA just announced that the next flight has

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been delayed again. This time from late

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2025 to early 2026

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at the soonest. And get this, they're still

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deciding whether or not the next flight will

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even have astronauts on board. Seriously,

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Sunita Williams even told readers that flying

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an uncrewed Starliner flight next would be

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the logical thing to do. Makes you wonder

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what's going on, doesn't it? So after its

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first mission with a crew last June,

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lingering issues with helium leaks and

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propulsion system anomalies caused the

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spacecraft to, you know, return to Earth

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without its crew. Ouch. Now

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NASA and Boeing are trying to figure out how

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to fix these issues. They're doing tests at

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the White Sands Test Facility, firing up key

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thrusters to validate their thermal models

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and look at potential upgrades. And about

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those astronauts, who's going to be on the

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first crewed mission whenever that happens?

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Well, even NASA and the Canadian Space

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Agency are being kind of cagey about it.

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They're not confirming who's assigned to the

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mission. Back in 2018, they announced the

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cruise, then people got reassigned and things

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got complicated. It's all a bit of a mess

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really. But hey, at least astronaut Butch

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Wilmore said he'd ride on Starliner again,

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cuz he's confident they're Gonna fix all the

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issues. Gotta admire that kind of optimism

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right now.

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Let's jump into the future, like, way into

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the future. The Royal society in the UK

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just dropped a report called Speaker Space

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2075. And it's wild.

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We're talking asteroid mining, space

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factories, and even the big question, are we

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alone? The report envisions a new

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era of space activities that could totally

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reshape the world. Imagine clean energy

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beamed down to Earth from space. Robots

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recycling dead satellites and products

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labelled Made in space. Sounds like sci fi,

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right? But the report warns that the UK needs

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a clear plan to keep up, otherwise

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they might miss out on all these

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opportunities. They're saying this is as big

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as the Industrial Revolution. Think about it.

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Factories in microgravity making stuff we

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can't even make on Earth. Interplanetary

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space stations and even industries moving

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into orbit. Power hungry data farms could

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benefit from all that solar energy and free

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cooling up there. And get this, they're even

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talking about recycling space junk to reduce

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collision risks and prevent pollution. Makes

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sense, right? But it's not all sunshine and

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roses. The report also warns about potential

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conflicts in space over prime spots on

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planets, valuable orbits and radio

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frequencies. It's like the Wild west, but in

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space, ethical challenges are also on the

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horizon. What if we engineer bugs to make

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living tools on Mars, but they end up wiping

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out native microbes? And what happens when

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humans start being born on Mars? Deep stuff.

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Huh? Huh? Oh, and of course, the big one,

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alien life. The report says if there are

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aliens nearby, we'll probably know in the

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next 50 years. Let's hope it brings us

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together, not tears us apart. Fingers

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crossed. So

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that's your Astronomy Daily News for today.

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We looked at Titan's wobbly atmosphere, a,

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mega ancient galaxy, starliner's ongoing

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delays, and the Royal Society's peek into the

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future. Thanks for tuning in. I've been your

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host, Anna. And don't forget to visit our

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website@astronomydaily.IO for like all

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things Astronomy Daily News, updates, back

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episodes and how to get in touch until next

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time. Keep looking up. I'm Anna, signing off

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for today.