Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for
the latest space and astronomy news. I'm
Anna.
Avery: And I'm, um, avery. It's Saturday, January
17, 2026, and we've got an
absolutely packed episode for you today.
Anna: We really do. And we're leading with some
bittersweet news from Mars. NASA's making
what might be their final attempt to contact
the Maven Orbiter, which has been silent for
over a month now. It's looking increasingly
unlikely that they'll be able to recover the
spacecra.
Avery: That's tough news, but we've also got some
incredible human achievements to celebrate.
The SpaceX crew, 11 astronauts have
safely returned to Houston following the
first ever medical evacuation from the
International Space Station. We'll get into
the details of how that historic operation
unfolded.
Anna: Europe's stepping up its launch game too.
Arianespace has announced they'll be
launching the first Ariane 6.4 Rocket on
February 12th. That's the more powerful 4
booster version. This is a big deal for
European space capabilities.
Avery: We're also diving into some fascinating
research today. Scientists have been using
CERN's particle accelerators to simulate
asteroid impacts. And what they discovered
about iron rich space rocks could change how
we approach planetary defense.
Anna: Then we've got something that sounds like
science fiction, but is very real. China has
released the world's first practical software
for keeping time on the Moon. Yes,
lunar timekeeping is now a thing and it's
more important than you might think.
Avery: And we'll wrap up with some stunning new
images from from Hubble. Even after 35 years
in orbit, it's still showing us where planets
are born in protoplanetary disks around young
stars.
Anna: Lots to cover. So let's get started.
Avery: Let's start with that Mars story. Anna.
NASA's Maven orbiter has been one of our most
valuable assets at Mars for over a decade.
What's the latest on the recovery efforts?
Anna: Well, it's not looking good, I'm afraid.
Maven, that's the Mars Atmosphere and
Volatile Evolution Orbiter went silent on
December 6, 2025, and NASA has
unable to re establish contact ever since.
The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since
2014, providing invaluable data
about the Martian atmosphere and serving as a
critical communications relay for the
Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
Avery: So what exactly happened? I mean,
communications blackouts aren't completely
unusual for Mars missions, right?
Anna: You're right, they're not. In this case,
Maven passed behind Mars, which
temporarily blocks communication. That's a
routine occurrence. But when it should have
emerged on the other side, NASA's Deep Space
Network couldn't regain contact. What makes
it worse is that this happened right before a
solar conjunction.
Avery: That's when the sun sits directly between
Earth and Mars, correct?
Anna: Exactly. During solar conjunction, which
occurs roughly every two years, solar
particles interfere with radio signals.
NASA, uh, temporarily halts all
communications with Mars missions during this
period to avoid sending corrupted commands
or receiving incomplete data that could
damage spacecraft. Though the conjunction
basically meant NASA had to wait before they
could even try to recover Maven.
Avery: And, um, that conjunction period just ended.
Anna: Right? NASA said they wouldn't have contact
with any Mars missions until Friday, January
16th. So as of today, they're making
renewed attempts to contact Maven. But here's
the concerning part. Louise Proctor, the
director of NASA's Planetary Science
Division, said on January 13, and
I quote, we'll start looking again, but
at this point, it's looking very unlikely
that we are going to be able to recover the
spacecraft.
Avery: That's pretty pessimistic language from NASA.
Do we know what might have caused the initial
failure?
Anna: The leading theory is that Maven started
rotating unexpectedly after passing behind
Mars. This would have shifted the spacecraft
out of its planned orbit and potentially
moved its antenna away from Earth. But
here's where it gets more complicated. Maven
has had aging hardware issues for years now.
Avery: What kind of issues are we talking about?
Anna: The spacecraft has had problems with its
onboard inertial measurement units, or
IMUs, which are essential for
orientation in space. Back in
2022, Maven spent about three months
in safe mode. Because of IMU problems,
the mission team had to rely on backup
systems that have experienced accelerated
wear and tear. They even developed an
alternative all stellar navigation mode that
uses stars for orientation instead of relying
on the imus.
Avery: So it sounds like Maven has been living on
borrowed time for a while now.
Anna: In some ways, yes. The spacecraft's
inability to fully recover from those 2022
outages led to missed observations of
significant solar flares and disrupted its
communications relay role. That said,
Maven still has enough fuel to remain in
orbit until at least 2030. So the
hardware could theoretically keep working if
they can just re establish contact.
Avery: What's the impact going to be if they can't
recover it? I imagine the rovers depend on
these orbiters for communications.
Anna: That's a great point. Maven has been, uh, a
key communications relay for the Curiosity
and Perseverance rovers. With Maven
offline, NASA has had to shift more of that
burden to other orbiters, specifically Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.
This puts increased pressure on those
Spacecraft to maintain communications and
support surface science.
Avery: Activities and scientifically, what are we
losing?
Anna: Maven's scientific contributions have been
enormous. It's helped us understand how
Mars lost its once thick atmosphere and
became the cold dry world it is today.
The data it collected on Martian weather
patterns, dust storms and auroras
provided insights into the planet's climate
system and potential habitability. Without
Maven, we'd have critical gaps in our
ongoing atmospheric studies of Mars.
Avery: So fingers crossed that these new contact
attempts work out. When um, will we know
more?
Anna: NASA should have results from their latest
attempts very soon, but given the
pessimistic tone from their leadership, I
think we need to prepare for the possibility
that Maven's remarkable decade long mission
may have come to an end. It would be a sad
conclusion to such a successful spacecraft,
but it's given us more than 10 years of
groundbreaking science.
Avery: Absolutely. And that's well beyond its
original design life, right?
Anna: Oh, definitely. Like so many NASA
missions, it far exceeded expectations.
Let's hope there's one more surprise left in
it. Here's hoping. Moving from Mars back
to closer to home.
Let's talk about that historic ISS medical
evacuation. Avery, this was really
unprecedented.
Avery: It absolutely was. The four astronauts of
SpaceX's Crew 11 mission are now safely
back in Houston after splashing down off the
coast of Long Beach, California early
Thursday morning. This marked the very first
medical evacuation from the International
Space Station in its more than 25 year
history.
Anna: Who were the crew members involved?
Avery: The crew consisted of NASA astronauts Zena
Cardman and Mike Finke, Kimiya Yui from
Japan's Aerospace Agency, and cosmonaut
Oleg Platanov from Roscosmos.
They launched back in early August for what
was supposed to be a standard six month stay
aboard the station.
Anna: So they came home about five weeks early,
correct?
Avery: That's right. One of the four crew members
experienced a medical issue in orbit last
week and NASA made the decision to bring the
entire crew home ahead of schedule.
Now NASA has been very protective of medical
privacy, which is absolutely appropriate. So
they haven't disclosed which crew member had
the issue or what the specific medical
problem was.
Anna: What do we know about how they're doing now?
Avery: According to NASA's latest update from Friday
afternoon, all four crew members are stable
and undergoing standard post flight
reconditioning and evaluations at uh, Johnson
Space Center. After splashing down, they
spent about a day and night at a local
medical facility in California before flying
to Houston.
Anna: I have to say the fact that they described
them as stable and that they're doing
Standard post flight evaluations
suggests this wasn't a dire emergency
situation.
Avery: That's my read on it too. And NASA officials
have been pretty clear about describing this
as a deliberate, carefully planned operation
rather than a panic situation. In fact, one
NASA representative said, and um, I'm, um,
paraphrasing here. This is NASA at its
finest, referring to how smoothly the
evacuation and splashdown went.
Anna: Can you walk us through what a medical
evacuation from the ISS actually involves?
This seems incredibly complex.
Avery: It is. First, you have to understand that the
ISS has medical capabilities on board.
There's medical equipment supplies, and the
crew receives training to handle various
medical situations. They can consult with
flight surgeons on the ground in real time.
But sometimes ground based medical care is
simply necessary, either for more advanced
diagnostic equipment or for treatment options
that aren't available in orbit.
Anna: So, uh, the decision to bring someone home is
never made lightly.
Avery: Exactly. In this case, the medical issue
required evaluation and potential treatment
that couldn't be done on the station. Once
that call was made, they had to prepare the
crew Dragon spacecraft, the same one they
arrived in, named Endeavour, for an early
departure. This involves checking all
systems, planning the undocking and reentry
trajectory, coordinating with recovery teams,
and making sure weather conditions would be
suitable for splashdown.
Anna: And they successfully executed all of that in
just a few days.
Avery: They did. The crew undocked from the ISS on
January 14, completed their deorbit
burn and splashed down safely early on
January 15th. Recovery teams were standing by
and quickly retrieved the capsule and crew.
The whole operation went remarkably smoothly.
Anna: What about the ISS itself? How is it
operating with a reduced crew?
Avery: That's a great question. Right now the
station is operating with what they're
calling a skeleton crew of just three people.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kuts
Vertskov and Sergei Mikayev. That's less
than half the normal complement of seven crew
members.
Anna: Can three people effectively run the iss?
Avery: They can maintain it and keep critical
systems running, but it definitely limits
what science can be done. The station won't
return to its full operational capacity until
SpaceX's Crew 12 mission arrives. That's
currently scheduled for February 15, though
NASA and SpaceX are looking at whether they
can move that timeline up a bit.
Anna: I imagine this whole situation must have been
quite stressful for everyone involved.
Avery: No doubt, but what strikes me is how calmly
and professionally it was handled. In one of
the final communications before undocking,
Crew 11 Commander Mike Finke said it was
bittersweet to be leaving early. He handed
over command of the ISS to Chris Williams,
and you could hear in his voice that he would
have preferred to complete the flight full
mission, but he also understood the necessity
of coming home.
Anna: It really speaks to the incredible planning
and preparation that goes into human
spaceflight. Even in an off nominal
situation like this. The systems and
procedures worked exactly as designed.
Avery: And I think it's worth noting that this won't
affect other upcoming missions. NASA
Administrator Jared Isaacman specifically
stated that this ISS evacuation shouldn't
interfere with the upcoming Artemis 2 moon
mission, which is still on track for a
possible launch as early as February 6th.
Anna: That's good to hear. Well, here's hoping for
a full recovery for whichever crew member
needed the medical attention. And kudos to
everyone involved in executing such a complex
operation so flawlessly.
Avery: Agreed. It really was NASA at its
finest.
Anna: Switching gears now to European spaceflight.
Avery. Europe is about to debut a
significantly more powerful version of its
new rocket, right?
Avery: That's right, Anna. Arianespace has announced
that the first flight of the Ariane 64 will
launch on February 12 from the Guyana Space
center in French Guiana. This is the four
booster configuration of the Ariane 6, and it
represents a major step up in capability for
European launch services.
Anna: Let's back up a second for anyone who might
not be familiar with the Ariane 6. Can you
give us the background?
Avery: Sure. Huh? The Ariane 6 is Europe's newest
heavy lift rocket, designed to replace the
Ariane 5, which served for nearly three
decades. The inaugural flight was back in
July 2024. And throughout 2025,
Arianespace flew four more missions, all
carrying payloads for organizations like ESA,
Umetsat and Sinas. The French Space
Agency.
Anna: And all of those flights used the Ariane
62 configuration?
Avery: Exactly. The Ariane 62 uses
two P120C solid fuel boosters
strapped to the side of the rocket's core
stage. Each of those boosters produces
roughly 4,500 kilonewtons of thrust.
It's been doing great for medium lift
missions with a capacity to deliver about
10.3 tons to low Earth orbit.
Anna: So the Ariane 64 just adds two
more boosters, right?
Avery: It uses four of those P120C boosters
instead of two. And that makes a dramatic
difference in capability. The Ariane 64
can deliver up to 21.6 tons to
low Earth orbit, more than double what the
Ariane 62 can handle. That puts it in the
heavy lift category, competing with rockets
like SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.
Anna: That's a significant jump. What's driving the
need for this more powerful version.
Avery: Well, this first mission actually gives us a
perfect example. The Ariane 6 4's first
flight will be launching satellites for
Amazon's Project Cooper Broadband Internet
Constellation. Arianespace has an 18
flight contract with Amazon, and this first
mission, designated LE01, which
stands LEO Europe 01, will
deploy 32 Cooper satellites.
Anna: Amazon's competing with SpaceX's
Starlink, right?
Avery: That's right. Amazon already has about
180 satellites in orbit, and they're
rapidly building out the Constellation.
Having access to the more powerful Ariane
64 means they can launch more satellites at
once, which speeds up the deployment schedule
and reduces the total number of launches
needed.
Anna: Is there anything else notable about this
particular flight?
Avery: Yes, actually. This will be the first Ariane
6 mission to use the rocket's larger 20 meter
long fairing. All previous flights used a
shorter 14 meter fairing. The longer fairing
provides more volume for larger payloads, or
in this case, for fitting more satellites
into the payload stack.
Anna: How long will the mission last?
Avery: Ariane Stace hasn't published a complete
mission breakdown yet, but they've stated the
entire flight will last one hour and 54
minutes. That presumably includes deploying
all 32 satellites and then deorbiting the
rocket's upper stage in a controlled manner,
which is important for reducing space debris.
Anna: What does this mean for Arianespace's launch
cadence going forward?
Avery: They're being pretty ambitious. Arianespace
is aiming to double the number of Ariane 6
launches this year compared to 2025.
That would mean as many as eight Ariane 6
flights over the next 12 months. Given that
they're still ramping up operations with what
is still a fairly new rocket, that's a
challenging goal, but it shows their
confidence.
Anna: Are there any other upgrades in the works?
Avery: Actually, yes. The company is developing an
upgraded version of the solid fuel booster
called the P160C. It carries
an additional 14 tons of solid propellant
compared to the current P120C.
That upgrade has already been fully qualified
for use on Both the Ariane 62 for medium
lift missions, the Ariane 644 for heavy
lift, the Vega C for smaller payloads and
these future upgrades. Europe is positioning
itself to be very competitive in the
commercial launch market. And that's crucial,
especially as we see increasing competition
from SpaceX, China and other emerging launch
providers.
Anna: Will the, uh, February 12 launch be publicly
viewable?
Avery: Arianespace typically provides live coverage
of their launches, so I'd expect we'll be
able to watch this historic first flight of
the Ariane 6 4. It should be quite a
sight. Those four boosters firing together
should make for an impressive liftoff.
Anna: I'll definitely be watching. It's great to
see Europe maintaining and expanding its
independent access to space.
Avery: Anna.
Uh, let's talk about planetary defense.
Scientists have been conducting some
fascinating experiments using particle
accelerators to understand how asteroids
might respond to deflection attempts.
Anna: This is really cool work, Avery. An
international research team used CERN's High
Radiation to Materials facility, that's
HIRADMAT, to simulate what happens when
high energy impacts strike iron rich
asteroids. And what they found could
significantly change our approach to
planetary defense.
Avery: Before we get into the results, can you set
up the context? Uh, why is this research
important?
Anna: Sure. We know There are around
37,000 known near Earth
asteroids and 120 short period
comets whose orbits bring them close to
Earth. While scientists are confident that
none of the known potentially hazardous
objects will strike Earth within the next
century, we know that eventually planetary
defense measures will be needed.
Avery: And NASA's DART mission demonstrated one
approach. The kinetic impactor.
Anna: Exactly. In 2022, Dart
successfully struck the asteroid Dimorphos
and altered its orbit. But to do this
reliably and develop effective defense
strategies, we need to understand how
different types of asteroids respond to
impacts. And that's where this new research
comes in.
Avery: So they focus specifically on iron rich
asteroids.
Anna: Right? What astronomers call M M type
asteroids. These are thought to be exposed
metallic cores of ancient protoplanets
that were shattered in collisions billions of
years ago. They're made primarily of iron and
nickel, unlike the more common rocky
asteroids or icy comets.
Avery: How did they simulate an asteroid impact? In
the lab?
Anna: This is where it gets really clever. They
used a sample of the Campo del CIO iron
meteorite, which is a well studied iron
meteorite from Argentina. They subjected it
to extremely energetic 440
GeV proton beams at CERN's
high RadMat facility. At CERN, that's an
incredibly high energy level.
Avery: And how did they measure what happened to the
sample?
Anna: They used a technique, uh, called Doppler
vibrometry, which can detect tiny surface
vibrations. This allowed them to capture real
time data on how the material responded to
rapidly increasing stress, all without
destroying the sample. They could see exactly
how iron behaved under extreme conditions.
Avery: What did they discover?
Anna: This is where it gets really interesting. The
results showed that M M type asteroids can
absorb significantly more energy without
fragmenting than conventional models
predicted. But even more surprisingly, the
meteorite actually got tougher as it was
subjected to increasing stress.
Avery: Wait, it got stronger under stress?
Anna: Yes. The researchers found that the iron
dissipated more energy as stress
increased, suggesting that the internal
structure of asteroids can redistribute and
amplify stress in unexpected ways,
Similar to what we see in complex composite
materials.
Avery: That seems counterintuitive. You'd expect
materials to weaken under extreme stress, not
strengthen.
Anna: That's exactly why this is such an important
finding. It contradicts what conventional
models have suggested. One of the study's co
authors, Professor Gianluca Grigori from the
University of Oxford, said this is the first
time they've been able to observe in real
time. How an actual meteorite sample
deforms, strengthens, and adapts under
extreme conditions without destroying it.
Avery: So what does this mean for planetary defense
strategies?
Anna: A couple of things. First, it means that iron
rich asteroids might be harder to deflect
than we thought. Because they can absorb more
energy without breaking apart. But it also
suggests that we could potentially deliver
energy deep inside an asteroid without
fragmenting it.
Avery: That could be useful if you want to push an
asteroid rather than shatter it.
Anna: Exactly. The research also helps explain
a long standing puzzle in planetary defense.
Why there's often a discrepancy between what
we infer from meteorite breakup in Earth's
atmosphere. And actual laboratory
measurements of meteorite strength. This
study shows that internal stress
redistribution. Within the heterogeneous
structure of meteorites can explain that
difference.
Avery: This sounds like it could inform new
deflection methods.
Anna: That's the hope. The data could help develop
redirection techniques. That push asteroids
more effectively while keeping them intact.
After all, the last thing you want when
deflecting an asteroid. Is to break it into
multiple pieces that might still pose a
threat.
Avery: Have they tested this with other types of
asteroid materials?
Anna: This particular study focused on iron
meteorites. But the methodology could be
applied to other types of asteroids. Rocky
asteroids, carbonaceous asteroids, and so on.
Each type would likely behave differently
under extreme stress. And understanding those
differences is crucial for developing a, uh,
comprehensive planetary defense toolkit.
Avery: I think what's particularly valuable here is
that they've developed a technique. That can
test actual meteorite samples non
destructively. That means we can build up a
library of data on how different asteroid
materials behave. Without having to rely
solely on computer simulations or destroying
precious samples.
Anna: And as we continue to study asteroids with
missions like Osiris x and
Hayabusa2, we'll have more samples to
test.
Avery: Exactly. The combination of sample return
missions, laboratory testing like this, and
missions like DART that demonstrate actual
deflection techniques. It's all building
toward a real capability to protect Earth
from asteroid impacts.
Anna: It's reassuring to know that even though we
don't face an immediate threat, we're doing
the groundwork now, so we'll be prepared when
we need to be.
Avery: Absolutely. And this research was just
published in Nature communications, so it's
getting a lot of attention from the planetary
defense community.
Anna: Avery.
Our next story sounds like something out of
science fiction, but it's very much real
and increasingly necessary. China
has released the world's first practical
software for keeping time on the moon.
Avery: Lunar timekeeping software. When you say
it out loud, it really drives home how much
space exploration has advanced. Why do we
need to keep time differently on the moon?
Anna: It all comes down to Einstein's theory of
general relativity. Time doesn't pass at, uh,
the same rate everywhere. It's affected by
both gravity and velocity. The moon's
gravity is weaker than Earth's, which means
time actually passes slightly faster on the
moon than it does on Earth.
Avery: How much faster are we talking about?
Anna: About 5, 6 millionths of a second
per day. Now, that might not sound like much,
but it adds up over time, and it can
seriously disrupt navigation systems,
Especially when you're trying to do precision
work on the lunar surface.
Avery: So this is a precision navigation issue.
Anna: Exactly. Think about gps. On Earth,
the satellites constantly have to correct for
relativistic effects caused by gravity and
motion. Those corrections are, uh, what allow
your phone to pinpoint your location within
just a few meters without accounting for
relativity. GPS would be useless within
minutes.
Avery: And the moon is about to have a similar need
for precision navigation.
Anna: Right. In the past, this wasn't really a
problem because lunar missions were rare,
short, and mostly isolated. Engineers
could just use Earth time and apply mission
specific fixes when needed. But that's
changing rapidly because we're about.
Avery: To have multiple spacecraft and eventually
humans operating on the moon simultaneously.
Anna: Exactly. Under those conditions, relying on
custom fixes for each mission becomes risky
and inefficient. You need a
standardized lunar time reference that
everyone can use.
Avery: So what exactly did the Chinese team create?
Anna: Researchers from the Purple Mountain
Observatory in Nanjing developed detailed
software called LTE 440.
That stands for lunar time ephemeris.
It's based on modern planetary data and
tracks how lunar time drifts relative to
Earth time. The software automates
calculations that once required deep
expertise in relativity and celestial
mechanics.
Avery: How accurate is it?
Anna: Remarkably accurate. The researchers found
their method stays accurate to within a few
tens of nanoseconds, Even when projected over
a thousand years. And to keep daily
differences within about 10 nanoseconds,
the calculations need to be accurate to parts
in 10 trillion. Their tests show
LTE 440 meets that standard.
Avery: Why such extreme precision?
Anna: Well, navigation is one driver, but there's
also science. The Moon offers unique
conditions for astronomy. No atmosphere,
minimal interference. One promising idea
is Earth Moon, very long baseline
interferometry, where you link radio
telescopes on Earth and the Moon to create
sharper images of distant objects.
Avery: Um, and that requires extremely precise
timing.
Anna: Right. Signals recorded on both bodies need
to be timestamped to better than a
microsecond to allow for instrument noise.
The underlying time model needs to be even
more accurate. Hence the extreme precision
requirements.
Avery: How does the software actually work?
Anna: Instead of using long equations, they used a
numerical approach based on a planetary model
called DE440, which tracks
the positions and velocities of solar system
bodies with high precision. From that data,
they computed how time near the Moon differs
from a solar system reference time. The
software stores these results in compact
files that can be quickly interpolated.
Avery: What affects lunar time most?
Anna: The Moon's motion and the Sun's gravity
dominate the effect. But Earth, Jupiter,
and even distant objects in the Kuiper Belt
add smaller effects. There are monthly and
yearly patterns that range from milliseconds
down to microseconds.
Avery: I'm curious about the international response
to this. Is China the only one working on
this?
Anna: That's a great question. Jonathan McDowell,
an astronomer at Harvard, told reporters that
similar efforts are underway in the United
States, but he's not aware of another openly
available tool like this. He emphasized that
this shows China is serious about lunar
exploration and is being quite open about
sharing its lunar related research.
Avery: That's actually encouraging from an
international cooperation standpoint.
Anna: I think so, too. And it's worth noting that
in 2024, the International Astronomical
Union adopted a, uh, framework calling for
the Moon to have its own time reference. So
this software really builds on that
international consensus.
Avery: What are the practical implications for
upcoming.
Anna: Missions as lunar activity
increases? And we're talking about
NASA's Artemis program, China's
own lunar base plans, commercial lunar
landers, and more reliable
timekeeping will support safer landings,
smoother navigation, and better coordination
between missions. Eventually, we'll likely
see lunar GPS style systems
that depend on this kind of precise
timekeeping.
Avery: It really is laying the groundwork for
sustained human presence on the Moon.
Anna: Absolutely. And the Researchers emphasize
that LTE 440 is just an
early step. Future versions will need to
support real time navigation and networks
of lunar clocks. But the release marks
a shift from abstract planning to
practical infrastructure.
Avery: It's one of those things that sounds mundane
time software, but is actually fundamental to
making lunar operations work.
Anna: Exactly. You can have the fanciest rockets
and landers in the world. But if your
spacecraft can't agree on what time it is,
you're going to have problems. This is the
kind of unsexy but essential infrastructure
work that makes the exciting stuff possible.
Avery: For our final story today, let's talk about
the Hubble Space Telescope. After 35 years in
orbit, it's still delivering incredible
science.
Anna: It really is remarkable. NASA just
released a new gallery of Hubble images
showing protoplanetary disks around young
stars, essentially the birthplaces of
planets. And these images beautifully
illustrate one of Hubble's original mission
understanding how planets form.
Avery: Can you walk us through what we're seeing in
these images?
Anna: Sure. When stars form, they're surrounded
by gas and dust left over from the formation
process. In the early stages, this is called
a circumstellar disk. But once planets
start forming in the disk, we call it a
protoplanetary disk. These disks are
where planetary systems like our own solar
system come from.
Avery: What makes these particular images special?
Anna: Hubble captured them using two different
approaches. The visible light images taken
with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys,
show four plutoplanetary disks where you
can actually see polar jets of gas
shooting out from the young stars. You can
also see brightly lit nebulae, and
there's this cool effect where the dark band
around each star is actually a shadow
cast onto the nebula by the disk itself.
Avery: That's wild. So we're seeing the shadow of
the planet forming disk.
Anna: Exactly. And each of these systems has
unique characteristics. One, called
HH390, isn't quite edge
on, so you only see one side of its
nebulosity. Another,
TAU042021,
is seen edge on and is in a later stage
of evolution where the dust grains have
already clumped together into larger grains,
which is part of the planet formation
process.
Avery: What about that third one, HH48?
Anna: Oh, that's particularly interesting.
HH48 is actually a
binary protostar system. And you can see
how the gravitational power from the larger
star is shaping the disk around its less
massive companion. It's a great example of
how stellar environments affect planet
formation.
Avery: And, um, the infrared images show something
different.
Anna: Right. The infrared images taken with
Hubble's Wide Field Camera three show
the bright protostars despite being
surrounded by dust. Dust absorbs
starlight and then re emits it in infrared,
which allows Hubble to see the stars. The
jets aren't visible in these infrared images,
but you get a much better view of the stars
themselves and their dusty disks.
Avery: Where are these protoplanetary disks located?
Anna: Most of them are in well known star forming
regions. Several are in the Orion
Molecular Cloud Complex. That's one of the
most active star forming regions visible from
earth, located about 1500 light years
away. Others are in the Perseus Molecular
Cloud.
Avery: Now we also have the James Webb Space
Telescope observing these kinds of objects.
How do Hubble's observations compare?
Anna: That's a great question. JWST
has been doing incredible work on protostars
and protoplanetary disks too. In fact,
there was research published in 2024 based on
JWST observations showing that
some young protostars have layered structures
of winds and jets, inner jets surrounded
by outer cone shaped jets.
Avery: So the two telescopes are complementary.
Anna: Exactly. Hubble excels in visible and
some infrared wavelengths, while JWST
is optimized for infrared. Together they give
us a much more complete picture. For
instance, Hubble can show us those beautiful
jets and nebulae in visible light, While
JWST can peer through dust to
see the nested structure of winds and jets
using different chemical tracers.
Avery: How much longer can we expect Hubble to keep
operating?
Anna: That's the big question. Hubble was launched
in 1990 with an expected 15 year
lifetime, but it's now lasted more than
35 years thanks to five servicing
missions. However, it is showing its age.
The telescope has been losing gyroscopes,
which means it takes more time to point at
targets. Observations are down by about
12% with a corresponding reduction
in science output.
Avery: But it's still functioning, right?
Anna: Oh, yes. NASA expects Hubble to keep
operating into the 2000 and 30s. And there's
been talk, though it's not confirmed, of a
possible servicing mission that could extend
its life even further.
Avery: Who would conduct that servicing mission?
Anna: That's the interesting part. NASA doesn't
have the Space Shuttle anymore, which was
used for all previous servicing missions. Any
future servicing mission would likely involve
a, uh, commercial spacecraft, possibly
something from SpaceX or another company
developing servicing capabilities.
Avery: It would be amazing if Hubble could keep
going for another decade.
Anna: It really would. And if it does, it'll
continue contributing to our understanding of
star formation, planet formation, and
so many other areas of astronomy. These
protoplanetary disk images are a perfect
example of how Hubble is still answering
fundamental questions about how planetary
systems like ours come to be.
Avery: When you think about it, Hubble has literally
changed our view of the universe from the
Hubble Deep Field to these protoplanetary
disks. From measuring the expansion rate of
the universe to studying exoplanet
atmospheres, it's been an incredible
horsework.
Anna: Absolutely. And the fact that it's still
delivering cutting edge Science More than 30
decades after launch is a testament to the
foresight of designing it to be serviceable
and upgradable. It's a model for how we
should think about building space based
observatories.
Avery: Well, that wraps up today's episode of
Astronomy Daily. We covered a lot of ground,
from the uncertain fate of NASA's MAVEN
orbiter to the historic ISS medical
evacuation, from Europe's expanding launch
capabilities to groundbreaking asteroid
defense research.
Anna: And we learned about lunar timekeeping
software that will enable the next generation
of moon missions. AMB saw how Hubble
continues to reveal the birthplaces of
planets after 35 years in orbit.
Avery: It's been quite a week in space news, and
we've only just scratched the surface.
Anna: Before we go, a quick reminder that you can
find more space and astronomy news at our
website astronomydaily.IO and
don't forget to subscribe so you never miss
an episode.
Avery: You can also follow us on social media for
bonus content and updates throughout the
week.
Anna: Thanks for joining us today, everyone.
Avery: Clear skies and we'll see you on Monday.
Astronomy Day
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