Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to
podcast for all things space and astronomy
news. I'm Anna.
Avery: And I'm Avery. We're so glad you're joining
us today for another exciting dive into the
cosmos.
Anna: Today we'll be talking about a new record
in detecting incredibly distant signals
from the early universe.
Avery: Plus, we'll check in on a fascinating
planetary mission that just completed a
crucial test near Mars, giving us a
sneak peek at its capabilities. And get ready
to hear about a mysterious visitor from
beyond our solar system, captured for the
first time by none other than the Hubble
Space Telescope. To top it all off, we'll
give you a rundown of a very busy week ahead
in space launches featuring everything from
Vulcan and Ariane 6 to multiple
Starlink missions. Let's get started.
Anna: Alright, let's kick things off with a truly
groundbreaking discovery that's pushing the
boundaries of our understanding of the early
universe. Astronomers have traced a
fast radio burst, or frb, to
a record breaking distance across the cosmos.
This new FRB, designated
FRB
20240304B,
was initially detected on March 4,
2024 by the MeerKAT Radio Telescope
Array in South Africa. But what makes this
one so special is its incredible distance.
Avery: That's right, it has a redshift of
2.148, which means we're looking at
light that traveled for over 11 billion years
to reach Earth. To put that in perspective,
this burst originated just 3 billion years
after the Big Bang, pushing our
observational boundary of FRBs much
further back into cosmic time. Previous
detections only reached about halfway through
cosmic history.
Anna: That's right, finding the exact source of
this signal was a real piece of detective
work. Initially, ground based observatories
and archival data couldn't pinpoint its host
galaxy. But a follow up with the James Webb
Space Telescope's NIRCAM and NIRSPEC
instruments did the trick, revealing the
FRB's host galaxy and getting a
spectroscopic redshift. The burst's radio
waves dispersed at a rate of about
2,330 parsecs per
cubic centimeter, acting like a cosmic
fingerprint that confirmed its extremely
distant origin. This measurement tells
us how much the signal was stretched and
delayed by free electrons as it journeyed
through space. The host galaxy itself is
quite revealing. It's described as a low
mass clumpy galaxy that's still
relatively young and actively forming stars.
The presence of an FRB in such a galaxy
strongly supports the theory that these
mysterious bursts originate from young
magnetars, which are highly magnet Magnetized
neutron stars. This suggests an origin
that can occur over relatively short
timescales, Rather than processes that take
billions of years to develop.
Avery: This discovery Effectively doubles the
redshift reach of localized FRBs,
allowing us to probe ionized baryons across
about 80% of the universe's history.
It also establishes FRB activity
During what astronomers call cosmic noon,
which was the peak period of star formation
in the universe's history.
Anna: It's fascinating how these millisecond long
bursts can encode so much information about
the plasma Permeating our universe, Giving us
insights into magnetic fields and gas
distributions. The observations also
reveal Complex magnetic field structures
Spanning gigaparsec scales along the
burst's sightline as it passed through
various cosmic structures.
Avery: As next generation telescopes come online,
discoveries like FRB2024
0304B are trul
exciting. They show us how these fleeting
signals can act as messengers from the
universe's distant past, Helping us piece
together how it evolved from its chaotic
youth into the structured cosmos we see
today. It's just incredible.
Anna: From exploring the distant past with FRBs,
let's now turn our attention to an upcoming
mission that's preparing to unlock the
secrets of one of Jupiter's most intriguing
moons. NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which
began its long journey to Europa on October
14, 2024, recently had
a crucial pit stop. On March 1, the
probe reached Mars not just for a gravity
assist maneuver, but also to perform a
vital test While orbiting the Red
planet. Mission controllers on Earth Seized
the opportunity to test the probe's ReSight
instrument. ReSight stands for
Radar for Europa Assessment and
Sounding Ocean to Near surface.
Avery: This radar instrument Is absolutely critical
for the mission's primary goal to probe
beneath Europa's icy sheet and search for
pockets of water that could potentially
harbor life. It's also designed to give
scientists A, uh, glimpse Of Europa's
interior ocean and shed light on how
material Might be transferred from the
interior to the surface.
Anna: The test was a complete success, Producing
a radargram that showed the outline Of Mars
topography. This gave the team A
fantastic preview of what the probe Will see
When it arrives at Europa. REASON relies
on two pairs of antennas that extend
from the spacecraft's massive solar arrays,
measuring an impressive
17.6 meters from tip to
tip.
Avery: Testing this instrument in space Was crucial,
Because certain aspects, like the echo test,
where the radar signals bounce back, Simply
couldn't be performed on earth Once the
actual hardware was built. Dom Blankenship,
the principal investigator for the radar
instrument, said, we got everything out of
the flyby that we dreamed the goal was
to determine the radar's readiness for the
Europa mission. And it worked. Every part of
the instrument proved itself to do exactly
what we intended.
Anna: During the test, Reason sent and received
radio waves for about 40 minutes while
the spacecraft flew about 5,000
kilometers above Mars surface,
gradually lowering to 884
kilometers. For comparison, once it's
at Europa, REASON will operate when the
Clipper is as close as 25km
to the moon's surface.
Avery: The instrument team collected a staggering 60
gigabytes of rich data, which they started
transmitting back to Earth in mid May.
Scientists have been poring over this data,
and it has confirmed that REASON is in
perfect working order. Trina Ray,
Europa Clipper's deputy science manager,
shared the excitement, saying that all of us
who had worked so hard to make this test
happen and the scientists seeing the data for
the first time were ecstatic, saying,
oh, look at this. Oh, look at that.
Anna: This Martian test has given the science team
a head start on learning how to process the
data and understand the instrument's
behavior. Exercising those muscles just
like they will out at Europa. The Europa
Clipper's total journey to the icy Moon will
be about 2.9 billion
kilometers. And it includes one more
gravity assist using Earth in
2026. Currently, the
spacecraft is about 450 million
kilometers from Earth, steadily making its
way to Jupiter.
Avery: That's an incredible level of preparation for
the Europa Clipper.
Speaking of unique opportunities to study
distant objects, let's pivot to something
truly rare. An interstellar visitor to our
solar system.
Anna: Yes. Astronomers using the Hubble Space
Telescope have captured stunning
observations of 3I
atlas for the first time. This
is only the third confirmed object from
outside our solar system ever known to
visit our cosmic neighborhood. Following
Oumuamua in 2017 and
Borisov in 2019.
Each of these objects offers a unique
window into planetary systems around
other stars.
Avery: What makes 3i Atlas particularly fascinating
is its behavior. Even at 3.8
astronomical units from the sun, almost four
times farther than Earth is from the sun,
it's already showing significant activity.
Unlike asteroids, which typically remain
largely unchanged, 3i Atlas is
behaving more like a comet.
Anna: That's right. As solar radiation heats its
surface, the object is releasing streams
of dust particles, forming a distinctive
tail pointing away from the Sun. This
comet like activity provides
astronomers with a rare opportunity to study
material that originated in an entirely
different star system.
Avery: Using Hubble's exceptional resolution, the
research team led by David Jewett from
UCLA was able to have its first close
look and estimate how much material 3i atlas
is losing, they calculated the mass loss
rate in dust to be between 6-60
kg per second. To put that into
perspective, that's roughly equivalent to
losing the mass of a small car every few
minutes, which is a significant amount for
such a distant and relatively small object.
Anna: The team also worked to determine the size of
3i ATLS's nucleus, though this was
challenging since they could only see the
glowing cloud of dust, not the solid core,
directly. By analyzing the brightness
distribution of the surrounding coma, they
estimated the nucleus has an effective radius
of less than 2.8 kilometers, assuming
it reflects only about 4% of the light that
hits it, similar to charcoal.
Avery: This size constraint is crucial for
understanding its composition and history.
For instance, if its activity is driven by
carbon monoxide turning from solid to gas,
the the nucleus cannot be smaller than 0.16
km in radius. Different materials
require different amounts of solar heating to
begin sublimating. So observing how and
when 3i ATLS becomes active
helps scientists make educated guesses about
what it's made of.
Anna: These first Hubble observations of three I
ATLAS represent a significant step forward
in our ability to study these cosmic
messengers. They offer insights not only
into the object itself, but also into the
distant stellar system that sent it on its
incredible journey through the galaxy. It's
like getting a postcard from another star
system carrying chemical signatures and
physical characteristics shaped by alien
environments billions of kilometers away.
From ancient light to interstellar visitors.
We've covered some truly mind bending topics
today.
But let's shift gears and look at the more
immediate future because it's shaping up to
be a very busy week for launches.
Avery: You're not kidding, Anna. Uh, we've got a
packed schedule coming up with several
significant missions. First up,
ULA's Vulcan rocket is scheduled for its
first launch of 2025 on Tuesday, August
12th. This mission, designated
USF106, will carry a
technology demonstration navigation satellite
and NTS3 and a classified payload
for the US Space Force into geosynchronous
orbit.
Anna: And just a day later, on Wednesday, August
13, Europe's newest launch system,
the Ariane 6, will have its second
flight of 2025. This mission
will carry the Metop SGA1
weather satellite for Umetsat, which is
crucial for monitoring weather, climate and
the environment from space. It even
includes the Sentinel 5 instrument for
global air quality monitoring.
Avery: On the same day, a Chinese Chenzang 5B
rocket is expected to launch carrying a batch
of communications satellites, likely part of
China's ambitious Satnet constellation.
Beyond these, we also have four SpaceX Falcon
9 Starlink missions planned throughout the
week, deploying hundreds of Internet
satellites into orbit. It's an exciting time
to be watching the skies.
Anna: What a week it's shaping up to be for space
enthusiasts. From record breaking distant
signals, to critical tests for our missions
to the outer solar system, and even a visit
from another star system, it's been a
truly captivating episode.
Avery: M. Absolutely, Anna. Uh, and let's not
forget that jam packed launch schedule coming
up with new rockets and dozens of satellites
heading to orbit. It just goes to show how
dynamic and exciting the world of astronomy
and space exploration. Truly.
Anna: We hope you enjoyed diving into these
fascinating stories with us. Thank you for
tuning in to Astronomy Daily. And remember to
visit our website@astronomydaily.IO
for even more from the Astronomy Daily team.
Avery: Keep looking up, stay curious and we'll catch
you tomorrow. For more news from across the
cosmos.