WEBVTT 0 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.400 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that 1 00:00:03.400 --> 00:00:05.520 brings you the latest happenings from across 2 00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:08.080 the cosmos. I'm your host, Anna. 3 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.960 Avery: And I'm Avery. It's great to be with you. 4 00:00:11.360 --> 00:00:13.480 We have a packed show today covering 5 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:15.800 everything from newborn planets and rogue 6 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.720 worlds to a major upgrade for one of Earth's 7 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:20.240 most powerful telescopes. 8 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:23.640 Anna: That's right, Avery. We'll also be looking at 9 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:26.200 what makes an interstellar visitor so 10 00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:28.640 familiar and peering into the very 11 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.480 exciting future of spaceflight. So 12 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:32.460 let's get get started. 13 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:35.980 Avery: First up, an update from low Earth orbit. 14 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:38.660 Starlink has announced plans to adjust its 15 00:00:38.660 --> 00:00:41.100 satellite constellation in 2026 16 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:43.740 primarily for space safety reasons. 17 00:00:44.220 --> 00:00:46.780 Anna: Right. This is a significant move. 18 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:49.180 They're planning to lower the entire 19 00:00:49.180 --> 00:00:51.740 constellation from its current altitude of 20 00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:54.660 about 550 kilometers down 21 00:00:54.660 --> 00:00:56.940 to 480 kilometers. 22 00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:59.740 Avery: And, um, this isn't just a random adjustment. 23 00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:02.260 It follows a recent incident where a Starlink 24 00:01:02.260 --> 00:01:05.080 satellite creating a small but 25 00:01:05.160 --> 00:01:08.040 notable amount of space debris. This move is 26 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:10.760 a direct response to mitigate future risks. 27 00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:14.040 Anna: Exactly. A lower orbit has a 28 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.920 key. Atmospheric drag is 29 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.840 stronger. So if a satellite fails, it will 30 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:22.720 deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere much 31 00:01:22.720 --> 00:01:25.200 faster in a few years instead of 32 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.080 decades. This drastically reduces the 33 00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:29.960 long term risk of collisions. 34 00:01:30.350 --> 00:01:32.710 Avery: It's a proactive step towards managing the 35 00:01:32.710 --> 00:01:34.950 increasingly crowded environments in low 36 00:01:34.950 --> 00:01:37.630 Earth orbit. A responsible move for a company 37 00:01:37.630 --> 00:01:39.870 with such a massive presence up there. 38 00:01:40.270 --> 00:01:43.030 Anna: From our crowded orbital dockyard to the 39 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.870 nurseries of distant stars, Gaia 40 00:01:45.870 --> 00:01:47.870 Space Telescope has given us an 41 00:01:47.870 --> 00:01:50.630 unprecedented look at planets in the 42 00:01:50.630 --> 00:01:52.030 process of being born. 43 00:01:52.510 --> 00:01:55.310 Avery: This is incredible news. Gaia has found 44 00:01:55.310 --> 00:01:58.310 compelling evidence of planet formation in 31 45 00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:00.840 different young stellar systems. With we're 46 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.160 talking about seeing the very first stages of 47 00:02:03.160 --> 00:02:04.080 planetary life. 48 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.480 Anna: It really is. And the method is just 49 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:09.760 as brilliant as the discovery itself. 50 00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:12.800 Gaia isn't seeing the planets directly. 51 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:15.320 Instead, it's detecting the tiny 52 00:02:15.320 --> 00:02:18.040 gravitational wobble that these forming 53 00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:20.480 planets exert on their host stars. 54 00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:23.360 Avery: That gravitational wobble. It's the same 55 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.840 principle behind many exoplanet discoveries. 56 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.640 But applying it to these incredibly young 57 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:31.200 chaotic systems is a huge breakthrough. 58 00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:34.340 Anna: It allows astronomers to study these systems 59 00:02:34.340 --> 00:02:37.060 in their infancy on a large scale. For the 60 00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:39.900 first time, we're moving from theoretical 61 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:42.780 models to direct observation of how 62 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:45.620 solar systems like our own might have formed. 63 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:48.460 It's a whole new window into planetary 64 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:48.900 science. 65 00:02:49.460 --> 00:02:51.940 Avery: Speaking of new windows, how about this? 66 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:55.060 Astronomers have successfully weighed a rogue 67 00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:56.660 planet for the first time. 68 00:02:57.190 --> 00:03:00.150 Anna: And for our listeners, a rogue planet is one 69 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:02.990 that drifts through space untethered to any 70 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:05.830 star. They're incredibly difficult to find, 71 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:07.030 let alone study. 72 00:03:07.510 --> 00:03:10.070 Avery: Exactly. This one is about the size of 73 00:03:10.070 --> 00:03:12.350 Saturn. And it was likely ejected from its 74 00:03:12.350 --> 00:03:14.550 home m solar system Billions of years ago. 75 00:03:14.950 --> 00:03:17.510 Using a technique called microlensing, 76 00:03:17.670 --> 00:03:19.910 scientists were able to measure not just its 77 00:03:19.910 --> 00:03:22.150 mass, but its distance from us as well. 78 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:25.440 Anna: And the secret ingredient here was parallax. 79 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.560 They observed the microlensing event where 80 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.400 the rogue planet's gravity bends the light of 81 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:34.400 a background star from two places at once. 82 00:03:34.720 --> 00:03:37.720 Earth and the Gaia Space Telescope, which is 83 00:03:37.720 --> 00:03:39.280 about a million miles away. 84 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.160 Avery: Mm mhm. That different perspective gave them 85 00:03:42.160 --> 00:03:44.120 the data they needed to calculate the 86 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:46.720 planet's properties. It's a fantastic proof 87 00:03:46.720 --> 00:03:48.880 of concept For a new way to study these 88 00:03:48.880 --> 00:03:51.580 isolated wandering worlds. It makes you 89 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:52.700 wonder how many are out there. 90 00:03:52.940 --> 00:03:55.740 Anna: From wandering worlds to interstellar 91 00:03:55.740 --> 00:03:58.340 visitors, our third confirmed guest from 92 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:01.214 another star system, Comet 3I 93 00:04:01.426 --> 00:04:04.220 ATLs has been revealing some more 94 00:04:04.300 --> 00:04:05.660 fascinating secrets. 95 00:04:05.900 --> 00:04:08.380 Avery: It certainly has. As, uh, the comet was 96 00:04:08.380 --> 00:04:11.220 moving away from the sun, the SOHO spacecraft 97 00:04:11.220 --> 00:04:13.580 observed it producing an absolutely massive 98 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:14.300 amount of water. 99 00:04:14.540 --> 00:04:17.100 Anna: Right. The solar wind was breaking down that 100 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.920 water vapor into hydrogen and oxygen. So 101 00:04:19.990 --> 00:04:22.950 soho's SWAN instrument, which is 102 00:04:22.950 --> 00:04:25.390 designed to look for hydrogen, detected this 103 00:04:25.390 --> 00:04:27.990 huge hydrogen glow surrounding the comet. 104 00:04:28.230 --> 00:04:30.150 Avery: And what's so significant about that? 105 00:04:30.470 --> 00:04:33.270 Anna: Well, it means this interstellar comet is 106 00:04:33.270 --> 00:04:35.470 behaving in a way that's very similar to 107 00:04:35.470 --> 00:04:38.230 comets from our own solar system. They also 108 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:40.270 release large amounts of water as, ah, they 109 00:04:40.270 --> 00:04:41.350 are heated by the sun. 110 00:04:42.070 --> 00:04:44.390 Avery: So it's a piece of another solar system, but 111 00:04:44.390 --> 00:04:46.740 it's made of the same stuff as ours. The 112 00:04:46.890 --> 00:04:48.770 that's a profoundly important clue about the 113 00:04:48.770 --> 00:04:50.930 composition of planetary systems beyond our 114 00:04:50.930 --> 00:04:53.210 own. It suggests the building blocks for 115 00:04:53.210 --> 00:04:55.130 worlds like Earth could be quite common 116 00:04:55.130 --> 00:04:56.090 across the galaxy. 117 00:04:56.170 --> 00:04:58.930 Anna: That it does. And it shows. The 3i 118 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:01.730 Atlas has untold stories to tell us as it 119 00:05:01.730 --> 00:05:03.210 heads on out of our solar system. 120 00:05:03.690 --> 00:05:06.370 Avery: Let's shift our gaze from the distant past to 121 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:09.330 the very near future. 2026 is 122 00:05:09.330 --> 00:05:11.930 shaping up to be an absolutely massive year 123 00:05:11.930 --> 00:05:12.970 for space exploration. 124 00:05:13.130 --> 00:05:15.530 Anna: Oh, I am so excited for this. 125 00:05:16.030 --> 00:05:18.430 The headline mission, of course, is NASA's 126 00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:20.830 Artemis 2. We're finally sending 127 00:05:20.830 --> 00:05:23.710 astronauts back to the moon, or at least on a 128 00:05:23.710 --> 00:05:25.950 trip around it. It will be the first time 129 00:05:25.950 --> 00:05:27.990 humans have been in deep space since the 130 00:05:27.990 --> 00:05:28.830 Apollo program. 131 00:05:29.550 --> 00:05:32.430 Avery: A huge milestone. But it's not just NASA. 132 00:05:32.430 --> 00:05:34.790 The commercial sector is also making big 133 00:05:34.790 --> 00:05:37.150 moves. We're expecting the debut of new 134 00:05:37.150 --> 00:05:38.830 commercial space stations and the next 135 00:05:38.830 --> 00:05:40.830 generation of private lunar landers. 136 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.510 Anna: And we'll be getting new eyes on the universe 137 00:05:43.510 --> 00:05:46.150 too. The Nancy Grace Roman Space 138 00:05:46.150 --> 00:05:49.010 Telescope is scheduled to. Its wide 139 00:05:49.010 --> 00:05:51.610 field view will be revolutionary for 140 00:05:51.610 --> 00:05:54.050 studying dark energy and finding 141 00:05:54.050 --> 00:05:55.850 exoplanets that's right. 142 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:58.290 Avery: And not to be outdone, China's launching its 143 00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:01.010 own powerful space telescope, Soontian, which 144 00:06:01.010 --> 00:06:03.450 will have a field of view 300 times larger 145 00:06:03.450 --> 00:06:05.690 than Hubble's. It's going to be a year of 146 00:06:05.690 --> 00:06:07.850 incredible advancements across the board. 147 00:06:08.570 --> 00:06:10.690 Anna: Finally, let's come back down to Earth for 148 00:06:10.690 --> 00:06:13.690 our last story. The Atacama Large Millimeter 149 00:06:14.090 --> 00:06:17.010 Submillimeter Array in Chile, better known as 150 00:06:17.010 --> 00:06:19.760 alma, has just completed a major upgrade. 151 00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:22.390 Avery: Alma's already one of the most powerful 152 00:06:22.390 --> 00:06:24.750 radial telescopes on the planet. What did 153 00:06:24.750 --> 00:06:25.750 this upgrade Involve? 154 00:06:26.310 --> 00:06:28.870 Anna: Engineers installed 145 155 00:06:29.030 --> 00:06:31.870 brand new low noise amplifiers across the 156 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:34.590 array of antennas. In simple terms, this 157 00:06:34.590 --> 00:06:36.790 will massively increase the telescope's 158 00:06:36.790 --> 00:06:39.640 sensitivity. It's like giving a giant ear a, 159 00:06:39.640 --> 00:06:41.190 uh, state of the art hearing aid. 160 00:06:41.670 --> 00:06:44.030 Avery: Wow. So it will be able to pick up even 161 00:06:44.030 --> 00:06:46.430 fainter signals from space. What kind of 162 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:47.430 science will that enable? 163 00:06:48.030 --> 00:06:50.470 Anna: It's going to give us a much clearer view of 164 00:06:50.470 --> 00:06:53.110 the cold universe. ALMA excels at 165 00:06:53.110 --> 00:06:55.430 observing things like the dusty disks where 166 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:57.870 planets are forming, the cold gas of the 167 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:00.470 interstellar medium, and even complex 168 00:07:00.470 --> 00:07:02.990 organic molecules in distant galaxies. 169 00:07:03.310 --> 00:07:05.390 With this upgrade, those views will be 170 00:07:05.390 --> 00:07:07.230 sharper and deeper than ever before. 171 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:09.990 Avery: I love all this new science we have to look 172 00:07:09.990 --> 00:07:10.510 forward to. 173 00:07:10.910 --> 00:07:13.430 Anna: It's a powerful testament to how this new 174 00:07:13.430 --> 00:07:15.790 telescope is not just confirming old 175 00:07:15.790 --> 00:07:18.430 theories, but actively rewriting the first 176 00:07:18.430 --> 00:07:20.690 chapters of cause cosmic history right before 177 00:07:20.690 --> 00:07:23.290 our eyes. It's a true revolution in our 178 00:07:23.290 --> 00:07:25.130 understanding of the early universe. 179 00:07:25.690 --> 00:07:27.530 Avery: And um, that's a wrap for our news today. 180 00:07:27.930 --> 00:07:29.890 From managing our orbital highways to 181 00:07:29.890 --> 00:07:32.130 discovering newborn planets and gearing up 182 00:07:32.130 --> 00:07:34.650 for humanity's return to deep space, it's 183 00:07:34.650 --> 00:07:36.490 been an incredible tour of the cosmos. 184 00:07:36.970 --> 00:07:39.490 Anna: It certainly has. Thanks so much for tuning 185 00:07:39.490 --> 00:07:42.010 in to Astronomy Daily. We hope you'll join us 186 00:07:42.010 --> 00:07:44.010 next time for another look at the universe 187 00:07:44.010 --> 00:07:44.650 around us. 188 00:07:45.380 --> 00:07:47.740 Avery: For more space and astronomy news, follow us 189 00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:49.380 on social media. Just search for 190 00:07:49.380 --> 00:07:51.340 AstroDailyPod Daily Pod on all the major 191 00:07:51.340 --> 00:07:53.420 platforms. And if you visit our YouTubeMusic 192 00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:55.260 channel, please give us a thumbs up and the 193 00:07:55.260 --> 00:07:57.220 follow. It really helps with the algorithm 194 00:07:57.220 --> 00:07:59.380 recommending us to other space enthusiasts. 195 00:07:59.780 --> 00:08:01.700 Anna: Until tomorrow, keep looking up.