Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that
brings you the latest happenings from across
the cosmos. I'm your host, Anna.
Avery: And I'm Avery. It's great to be with you.
We have a packed show today covering
everything from newborn planets and rogue
worlds to a major upgrade for one of Earth's
most powerful telescopes.
Anna: That's right, Avery. We'll also be looking at
what makes an interstellar visitor so
familiar and peering into the very
exciting future of spaceflight. So
let's get get started.
Avery: First up, an update from low Earth orbit.
Starlink has announced plans to adjust its
satellite constellation in 2026
primarily for space safety reasons.
Anna: Right. This is a significant move.
They're planning to lower the entire
constellation from its current altitude of
about 550 kilometers down
to 480 kilometers.
Avery: And, um, this isn't just a random adjustment.
It follows a recent incident where a Starlink
satellite creating a small but
notable amount of space debris. This move is
a direct response to mitigate future risks.
Anna: Exactly. A lower orbit has a
key. Atmospheric drag is
stronger. So if a satellite fails, it will
deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere much
faster in a few years instead of
decades. This drastically reduces the
long term risk of collisions.
Avery: It's a proactive step towards managing the
increasingly crowded environments in low
Earth orbit. A responsible move for a company
with such a massive presence up there.
Anna: From our crowded orbital dockyard to the
nurseries of distant stars, Gaia
Space Telescope has given us an
unprecedented look at planets in the
process of being born.
Avery: This is incredible news. Gaia has found
compelling evidence of planet formation in 31
different young stellar systems. With we're
talking about seeing the very first stages of
planetary life.
Anna: It really is. And the method is just
as brilliant as the discovery itself.
Gaia isn't seeing the planets directly.
Instead, it's detecting the tiny
gravitational wobble that these forming
planets exert on their host stars.
Avery: That gravitational wobble. It's the same
principle behind many exoplanet discoveries.
But applying it to these incredibly young
chaotic systems is a huge breakthrough.
Anna: It allows astronomers to study these systems
in their infancy on a large scale. For the
first time, we're moving from theoretical
models to direct observation of how
solar systems like our own might have formed.
It's a whole new window into planetary
science.
Avery: Speaking of new windows, how about this?
Astronomers have successfully weighed a rogue
planet for the first time.
Anna: And for our listeners, a rogue planet is one
that drifts through space untethered to any
star. They're incredibly difficult to find,
let alone study.
Avery: Exactly. This one is about the size of
Saturn. And it was likely ejected from its
home m solar system Billions of years ago.
Using a technique called microlensing,
scientists were able to measure not just its
mass, but its distance from us as well.
Anna: And the secret ingredient here was parallax.
They observed the microlensing event where
the rogue planet's gravity bends the light of
a background star from two places at once.
Earth and the Gaia Space Telescope, which is
about a million miles away.
Avery: Mm mhm. That different perspective gave them
the data they needed to calculate the
planet's properties. It's a fantastic proof
of concept For a new way to study these
isolated wandering worlds. It makes you
wonder how many are out there.
Anna: From wandering worlds to interstellar
visitors, our third confirmed guest from
another star system, Comet 3I
ATLs has been revealing some more
fascinating secrets.
Avery: It certainly has. As, uh, the comet was
moving away from the sun, the SOHO spacecraft
observed it producing an absolutely massive
amount of water.
Anna: Right. The solar wind was breaking down that
water vapor into hydrogen and oxygen. So
soho's SWAN instrument, which is
designed to look for hydrogen, detected this
huge hydrogen glow surrounding the comet.
Avery: And what's so significant about that?
Anna: Well, it means this interstellar comet is
behaving in a way that's very similar to
comets from our own solar system. They also
release large amounts of water as, ah, they
are heated by the sun.
Avery: So it's a piece of another solar system, but
it's made of the same stuff as ours. The
that's a profoundly important clue about the
composition of planetary systems beyond our
own. It suggests the building blocks for
worlds like Earth could be quite common
across the galaxy.
Anna: That it does. And it shows. The 3i
Atlas has untold stories to tell us as it
heads on out of our solar system.
Avery: Let's shift our gaze from the distant past to
the very near future. 2026 is
shaping up to be an absolutely massive year
for space exploration.
Anna: Oh, I am so excited for this.
The headline mission, of course, is NASA's
Artemis 2. We're finally sending
astronauts back to the moon, or at least on a
trip around it. It will be the first time
humans have been in deep space since the
Apollo program.
Avery: A huge milestone. But it's not just NASA.
The commercial sector is also making big
moves. We're expecting the debut of new
commercial space stations and the next
generation of private lunar landers.
Anna: And we'll be getting new eyes on the universe
too. The Nancy Grace Roman Space
Telescope is scheduled to. Its wide
field view will be revolutionary for
studying dark energy and finding
exoplanets that's right.
Avery: And not to be outdone, China's launching its
own powerful space telescope, Soontian, which
will have a field of view 300 times larger
than Hubble's. It's going to be a year of
incredible advancements across the board.
Anna: Finally, let's come back down to Earth for
our last story. The Atacama Large Millimeter
Submillimeter Array in Chile, better known as
alma, has just completed a major upgrade.
Avery: Alma's already one of the most powerful
radial telescopes on the planet. What did
this upgrade Involve?
Anna: Engineers installed 145
brand new low noise amplifiers across the
array of antennas. In simple terms, this
will massively increase the telescope's
sensitivity. It's like giving a giant ear a,
uh, state of the art hearing aid.
Avery: Wow. So it will be able to pick up even
fainter signals from space. What kind of
science will that enable?
Anna: It's going to give us a much clearer view of
the cold universe. ALMA excels at
observing things like the dusty disks where
planets are forming, the cold gas of the
interstellar medium, and even complex
organic molecules in distant galaxies.
With this upgrade, those views will be
sharper and deeper than ever before.
Avery: I love all this new science we have to look
forward to.
Anna: It's a powerful testament to how this new
telescope is not just confirming old
theories, but actively rewriting the first
chapters of cause cosmic history right before
our eyes. It's a true revolution in our
understanding of the early universe.
Avery: And um, that's a wrap for our news today.
From managing our orbital highways to
discovering newborn planets and gearing up
for humanity's return to deep space, it's
been an incredible tour of the cosmos.
Anna: It certainly has. Thanks so much for tuning
in to Astronomy Daily. We hope you'll join us
next time for another look at the universe
around us.
Avery: For more space and astronomy news, follow us
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Anna: Until tomorrow, keep looking up.