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Anna: Last week, a rocket exploded on its launch

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pad in Cape Canaveral. The fireball could be

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seen from miles. This week, the CEO

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of Blue Origin looked at the wreckage and

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said, five, we will fly again

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this year. That story, plus magnetic

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fields discovered on distant worlds. A, uh,

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space telescope moments from launch, and

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the definitive answer to one of astronomy's

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oldest questions. This is

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Astronomy Daily.

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Avery: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

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daily guide to the universe and everything in

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it. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. It is Wednesday the 4th of

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June, 2026, and we have an

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exceptional episode lined up.

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Avery: Today we do six stories

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ranging from a dramatic comeback story in the

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world of commercial spaceflight to a

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scientific first that reshapes what we know

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about planets beyond our solar system.

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If you've been listening this week, you'll

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know Blue Origin had a very bad Thursday.

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We'll have a full update on what comes next,

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but let's get into it.

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Anna: Last Thursday night at Cape Canaveral, Blue

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Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded on its

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launch pad during a routine pre launch hot

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fire test. The fireball engulfed Launch

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Complex 36. Debris was found up

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to half a mile away. It was the biggest and

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most public failure in the company's history,

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and many observers feared the road back could

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take years.

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Avery: But as of this week, Blue Origin CEO

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Dave Limp is pushing back hard on that

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narrative. He's saying the damage is far less

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catastrophic than it looked.

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Anna: Limp posted a, uh, detailed update on X in

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which he said that now that teams have gained

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full access to the pad, there's actually some

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good news. The propellant storage

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infrastructure, the oxygen tanks, the liquid

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hydrogen storage, and the cryogenic methane

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tanks all came through the blast in good

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shape. He called that extremely fortunate

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because those are very long lead items to

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replace.

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Avery: The water tower also survived. The main

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support gantry is damaged, but crucially,

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Limp says it can be repaired in place. It

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doesn't need to be torn down and rebuilt from

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scratch.

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Anna: Perhaps most importantly, there are spare

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assets. The previously flown New Glenn

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Booster, nicknamed Never Tell Me the Odds,

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along with three upper stages stored in a

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neighboring integration facility, all appear

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undamaged.

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Avery: As for the cause of the explosion, there's

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still no official word. The test was not

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within the scope of FAA license activities,

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so the FAA won't be leading the

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investigation. Blue Origin is conducting its

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own assessment.

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Anna: Limp also used the moment to announce a

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strategic pivot the company had already been

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working on, eliminating the need for a

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transporter erector, the massive structure

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used to move and stand the rocket upright. He

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said Blue Origin will now skip straight to an

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alternative vertical launch concept, which

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means they don't need to build a replacement

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for the one destroyed during the explosion.

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Avery: And he closed his statement with Blue

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Origin's motto, gradatum ferociter,

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which means step by step,

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ferociously, and the declaration we

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will fly again before the end of this year.

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Anna: That's an aggressive timeline by any measure,

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but it's the kind of defiant pledge

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investors, customers and the broader space

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industry needed to hear. Patrick Space Force

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Base has cleared Blue Origin to begin its

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full damage assessment of Launch Complex 36,

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though the formal rebuilding process is now

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underway.

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Avery: We will of course, keep tracking this story

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as it develops.

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Anna: Now let's move from the dramatic to the

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extraordinary. Scientists have just published

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what they're calling the first direct

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evidence that planets beyond our solar system

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possess magnetic fields. And they found it

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by studying the wind.

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Avery: This is a remarkable piece of science. A team

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of astronomers used two of the world's most

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powerful ground based telescopes, the ESO's

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Very Large Telescope in Chile and the Gemini

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North Telescope in Hawaii, to measure wind

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speeds on seven so called hot Jupiter

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exoplanets.

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Anna: Hot Jupiters are gas giants roughly the

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size of Jupiter but orbiting extremely

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close to their host stars, far closer than

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Mercury is to our sun because they're

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tidally locked, always showing the same face

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to their star. One side is perpetually

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scorching hot and the other is freezing

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cold. That temperature difference creates

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powerful winds that howl from the day side to

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the night side.

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Avery: The researchers measured those wind speeds

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and found something totally counterintuitive.

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On the hotter planets, the winds were

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actually slower, and that is the opposite of

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what standard physics would predict.

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Anna: If you have more thermal energy, you'd expect

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stronger winds. But these planets are pumping

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the brakes. And the best explanation, the one

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that actually fits the data, is magnetic

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fields.

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Avery: A magnetic field can interact with the

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electrically charged gas in a planet's upper

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atmosphere and slow those winds down. The

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stronger the magnetic field, the greater the

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braking effect. The team inferred magnetic

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field strengths ranging up to four times that

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of Saturn and up to about half the strength

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of Jupiter's field.

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Anna: The wind speeds themselves were

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extraordinary. They ranged from around

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7,000 km per hour up to more

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than 25,000 km per hour.

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For context, the fastest winds measured on

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Jupiter reach about 1,500

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kilometers per hour. These are winds on a

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scale we simply don't see in our own solar

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system.

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Avery: The results were published in the journal

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nature astronomy on June 2, and the

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implications go well beyond just knowing that

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Other planets have magnetic fields. Magnetic

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fields are thought to play a critical role in

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protecting planetary atmospheres from being

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stripped away by stellar radiation, which is

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one of the key factors in whether a planet

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could over billions of years, be potentially

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remain habitable.

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Anna: As the lead researcher put it, this is a key

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step toward ultimately understanding which

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planets can stay alive, keep their water,

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and perhaps even one day host life

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as we know it.

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Avery: A genuinely landmark result.

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Anna: Our next story takes us to NASA's Goddard

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Space Flight center in Greenbelt, Maryland,

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where engineers have completed what they

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describe as the last look humanity

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will ever take on a critical piece of

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hardware before it becomes the eyes of

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humanity on the universe.

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Avery: We're talking about the Nancy Grace Roman

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Space Telescope and specifically its primary

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mirror, a 2.4 meter

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reflector that will be the heart of the

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instrument once it launches into space.

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Anna: On May 20th and 21st,

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engineers performed a meticulous final

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inspection. They tilted the entire

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observatory onto its side, deployed the

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protective hood that will be stowed during

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launch, and used a high resolution camera

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with a powerful zoom lens to do a thorough

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multipurpose check, looking for any particles

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that may have settled on the mirror surface

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during testing and confirming that the

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optical alignment hadn't

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Avery: shifted it pass with flying colors.

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No specs, no misalignment. The

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mirror's silver coating, which is just

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400nm thick, hundreds

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of times thinner than a human hair, is

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perfect.

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Anna: The Roman telescope manager at Goddard, J.

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Scott Smith, marked the moment beautifully.

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He said the Roman engineering team laid

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eyes on the telescope for the final time

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before it in turn becomes the eyes of

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humanity, revealing the wonders of the

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cosmos. That's a sentence worth sitting with.

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Avery: With this milestone complete, Roman will now

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be shipped to Kennedy Space center in Florida

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in preparation for its planned launch,

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currently scheduled for as early as, ah,

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September 2026.

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Anna: Once in space, Roman will travel to the sun,

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earth, Lagrange point 2, known as

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L2, the same orbital neighborhood where the

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James Webb Space Telescope operates. It will

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join the most exclusive telescope real estate

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in the solar system.

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Avery: And Roman's scientific ambitions are

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extraordinary. It will have a field of view

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at least 100 times larger than the Hubble

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Space Telescope, potentially measuring light

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from a billion galaxies over its lifetime.

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It will also be capable of directly imaging

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exoplanets by blocking out starlight

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and conducting a comprehensive statistical

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census of planetary systems across our

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galaxy.

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Anna: We are getting very close to launch.

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September can't come soon enough.

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Avery: We'll be right back after this short break

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for a word from our sponsors.

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Anna: Stay with us and we're back three more

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stories to go and they are all fascinating.

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Avery: Space Force Has Made a Very large Investment

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in SpaceX On May 29, the US

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Space Force announced it had awarded Elon

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Musk's company a $4.16

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billion contract for a program called the

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Space Based Airborne Moving Target

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Indicator, or SBAMTI M.

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Anna: In plain language, the goal is to build a

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constellation of satellites that can track

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and target airborne threats from orbit,

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things like aircraft, cruise missiles and

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other fast moving threats anywhere on Earth

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at any time.

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Avery: The satellites are designed to fill a gap

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that currently exists in military

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surveillance. Traditionally, the US

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Military uses aircraft, particularly AWOKS

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planes, to track airborne targets. But

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satellites can reach areas where it's too

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dangerous to fly and they can maintain

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persistent coverage that aircraft simply

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can't match.

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Anna: The contract is part of the Trump

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administration's broader Golden Dome Missile

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Defense Initiative, which aims to build a

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layered national defense system including

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ground based interceptors, enhanced radar

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networks, and now this space based tracking

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layer.

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Avery: SpaceX isn't the only company involved. Space

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Force confirmed there are nine companies in

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the SBA MTI vendor pool, though the

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identities of the other eight have not been

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made public for national security reasons.

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More contracts are expected to be issued over

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the coming year.

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Anna: The goal is to have an initial operational

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constellation of these satellites in place by

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2028. This contract was also

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accompanied by a separate $2.29

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billion Space Force award to SpaceX

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earlier in the week for a Space Data Network

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backbone, a secure high speed military

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communication system.

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Avery: In total, SpaceX received over six and a half

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billion dollars in Space Force contracts in a

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single week. For a company that is also

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preparing for what could be the largest IPO

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in stock market history, it's been quite a

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week in Hawthorne, California.

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Anna: Now an update about a visitor that has

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already left, but whose influence is still

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being felt across the astronomy community.

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Avery: 3i ATLAS, the third

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interstellar object ever confirmed to pass

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through our solar system. Discovered on July

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1, 2025 by the Atlas Telescope Network in

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Chile, it is now heading back out into the

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deep Galaxy, never to return.

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Anna: But the scientific conversation it sparked is

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very much alive. A new analysis published

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this week explores the way that 3i

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atlas has prompted astronomers to

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fundamentally update what they understand

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not just about foreign solar systems, but

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about our own.

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Avery: Let's do a quick recap for listeners who may

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have joined us since the main 3i Atlas

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coverage last year. This was an extraordinary

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object. It was only the third interstellar

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visitor ever confirmed after 1i

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Oumuamua, um, in 2017 and

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2i Borisov in 2019.

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But unlike those, 2 3i Atlas

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was clearly an active comet, releasing dust

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and gas with multiple tails and a nucleus

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estimated at somewhere between a few hundred

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meters and several kilometers across.

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Anna: It passed closest to the sun in late October

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2025, then flew by Mars, then

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Jupiter, in March 2026, and is now

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departing. But even as it fades, the data it

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generated continues to be analyzed.

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Avery: One of the most striking findings came from a

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University of Michigan study that examined

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the water ice in 3i atlas

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and found it contained an extraordinarily

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high concentration of deuterium heavy

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isotope of hydrogen that is far less common

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in comets from our own solar system.

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Anna: That suggests three I ATLAS

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formed in an environment that was

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dramatically colder and more isolated than

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the conditions that shaped our solar system's

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comets. Researchers have since traced its

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likely origin to a cold, dark corner of the

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Milky Way that had not yet fully assembled

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into a planetary system when this object

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formed, potentially making it up to 11

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billion years old, more than twice the age of

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our Sun.

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Avery: What does all of this teach us? Quite a lot,

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as it turns out. It tells us that the

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chemical signatures of comets vary

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dramatically across the galaxy, meaning the

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building blocks of planetary systems,

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including the water and organics that may

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seed life differ significantly from one

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stellar neighborhood to another.

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Anna: It also demonstrates how much we can learn

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from fleeting cosmic visitors, and if we have

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the tools to observe them quickly. The

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Veracruz Rubin Observatory in Chile, which

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released its first images in June, is

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expected to dramatically increase the rate at

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which we detect future interstellar objects,

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which could let astronomers determine whether

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three I Atlas unusual

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properties are rare or commonplace.

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Avery: A visitor that has left the building but

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whose lessons will be with us for years to

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come.

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Anna: Our final story today answers a question that

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astrophysicists have been wrestling with for

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at what exact mass does a neutron star

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collapse into a black hole?

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Avery: This is one of those wonderfully fundamental

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questions in physics. We know that when a

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massive star dies, it can leave behind either

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a neutron star or a black hole, depending on

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how massive the original star was. But the

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precise boundary between those two fates has

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never been defeated definitively pinned down

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until now.

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Anna: Researchers at the Hun Ren Wigner Research

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center for Physics in Hungary have published

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what they describe as a definitive answer.

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The boundary falls between 2.2 and

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2.3 solar masses.

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Avery: To unpack that a neutron star is one of

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the most extreme objects in the universe,

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imagine taking the mass of two suns and

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compressing it into a sphere about the size

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of a city. A teaspoon of its material would

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weigh billions of tons. These are

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objects so dense that the neutrons themselves

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are packed together like one giant atomic

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nucleus.

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Anna: But there's a limit to how much mass a

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neutron star can hold before gravity wins

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and the whole thing collapses inward to form

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a black hole. That limit, the Tolman,

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Oppenheimer, Volkov limit, has previously

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been estimated to be somewhere between two

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and three solar masses. Depending on the

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assumptions used, this new

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Avery: work narrows that window considerably,

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placing the critical threshold between 2.2

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and 2.3 solar masses.

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Beyond that, a neutron star simply cannot

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support itself against gravity, and the black

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hole is born.

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Anna: Why does this matter? Because it gives

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astronomers a clearer tool to classify

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compact objects they observe. When we detect

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something via, uh, gravitational waves or X

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ray observations, knowing the precise mass

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boundary between neutron stars and black

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holes helps us identify what we're actually

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looking at.

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Avery: It also feeds into our understanding of what

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happens in neutron star m mergers, the

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cataclysmic collisions that produce

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gravitational wave signals, and some of the

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most energetic explosions in the universe.

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Anna: A beautifully precise answer to one of the

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universe's most extreme questions.

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Avery: Before we go, a quick look at the June sky

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for our listeners in Australia, New Zealand,

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and across the Southern hemisphere.

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Anna: June is a wonderful month for southern

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observers. We're heading toward the winter

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solstice on June 21, which means longer

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nights, prime time for stargazing.

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Jupiter and Venus are currently visible in

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the western sky after sunset, and on June

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9, they'll appear at their closest to each

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other, a spectacular conjunction worth

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getting outside for.

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Avery: The Milky Way core is also rising in the

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evening sky from the Southern hemisphere

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right now, beautifully positioned for

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photography and naked eye observation in dark

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sky locations away from city lights.

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Anna: That is all from us for today. Six stories,

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and every one of them a reminder that the

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universe is never standing still.

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Avery: From blue origin's defiant pledge to rise

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from the ashes to magnetic fields discovered

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on distant worlds, it has been a remarkable

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day to cover space.

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Anna: If you enjoyed today's episode, please

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subscribe, leave us a review, and tell a

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fellow space lover about the show. Find us on

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Instagram, Facebook, and x@, uh,

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astrodaily pod

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and@astronomydaily.IO.

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Avery: i'm Avery.

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Anna: And, uh, I'm Anna. We'll see you tomorrow.

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And until then, keep looking up.

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Avery: Sam.