WEBVTT 0 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 Anna: The world's biggest rocket has a launch date, 1 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:04.560 a clean bill of health from the regulators, 2 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:07.040 and finally an explanation for what went 3 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.000 wrong last time. 4 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:10.880 Avery: Plus, a, uh, globular cluster hanging in your 5 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.280 southern sky right now has just given up the 6 00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:15.760 first of its 10,000 missing black holes. 7 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:18.040 And astronauts have taken the first ever 8 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:20.800 medical X rays in space. With four hours of 9 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:22.320 training, all that, 10 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:24.480 Anna: A, uh, brand new crew on the space station, 11 00:00:24.560 --> 00:00:27.400 dead stars hiding next door, and the darkest 12 00:00:27.400 --> 00:00:30.160 skies of the month. This is Astronomy Daily. 13 00:00:30.700 --> 00:00:33.140 Avery: Hello and welcome to Astronomy daily. It's 14 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:35.980 Wednesday the 15th of July, 2026. 15 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:38.860 This is series five, episode 141. 16 00:00:38.860 --> 00:00:39.900 And I'm Avery. 17 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:42.460 Anna: And I'm Anna. We've got a packed one today. 18 00:00:42.620 --> 00:00:45.500 Two big spaceflight stories, two genuinely 19 00:00:45.500 --> 00:00:48.260 lovely deep sky discoveries, a, uh, first in 20 00:00:48.260 --> 00:00:51.140 space medicine, and a sky watching window you 21 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:53.500 do not want to waste. Shall we get into it? 22 00:00:53.820 --> 00:00:54.620 Avery: Let's do it. 23 00:00:55.020 --> 00:00:57.980 Anna: So Avery, on Monday we previewed Starship 24 00:00:57.980 --> 00:01:00.740 Flight 13 and told you it was penciled in for 25 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:03.450 today, Wednesday the 15th. Well, 26 00:01:03.450 --> 00:01:04.890 the pencil has moved. 27 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:08.170 Avery: It has. SpaceX is now targeting Thursday 28 00:01:08.410 --> 00:01:11.090 July 16th with a 90 minute launch 29 00:01:11.090 --> 00:01:13.890 window opening at 6:45 in the evening 30 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:16.250 Eastern time, which for us here in Australia 31 00:01:16.490 --> 00:01:19.330 is Friday morning, 8:45am on the 32 00:01:19.330 --> 00:01:22.010 east Coast. So set your alarms for Friday 33 00:01:22.010 --> 00:01:23.130 breakfast viewing. 34 00:01:23.610 --> 00:01:26.050 Anna: But honestly, the launch date isn't even the 35 00:01:26.050 --> 00:01:28.570 biggest news in this story because on Monday 36 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:31.490 the Federal Aviation Administration formally 37 00:01:31.490 --> 00:01:34.110 closed its investigation into what went wrong 38 00:01:34.110 --> 00:01:36.870 on Flight 12. And for the first time we got 39 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:37.830 the full picture. 40 00:01:38.230 --> 00:01:41.030 Avery: And um, it's fascinating. Remember, Flight 12 41 00:01:41.110 --> 00:01:43.830 back in May was the debut of the big version 42 00:01:43.830 --> 00:01:46.310 three vehicle. And it mostly went well, 43 00:01:46.710 --> 00:01:49.590 except the super heavy booster never made its 44 00:01:49.590 --> 00:01:52.470 controlled splashdown in the Gulf. It just 45 00:01:52.710 --> 00:01:53.590 didn't get there. 46 00:01:54.070 --> 00:01:56.910 Anna: And now we know why. It comes down to 47 00:01:56.910 --> 00:01:59.430 hot staging. That maneuver where the upper 48 00:01:59.430 --> 00:02:01.430 stage lights its engines while it's still 49 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:04.300 attached to the booster. SpaceX changed the 50 00:02:04.300 --> 00:02:06.420 ignition sequence of ship's engines on this 51 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:08.980 flight and that change pushed the Booster 52 00:02:08.980 --> 00:02:11.700 into a 90 degree orientation error 53 00:02:11.700 --> 00:02:13.060 right after separation. 54 00:02:13.460 --> 00:02:15.860 Avery: So the booster comes out of staging pointing 55 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:18.340 the wrong way. And then to make matters 56 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:21.060 worse, when it tries its boost back burn, 57 00:02:21.220 --> 00:02:23.980 five of its 33 raptor engines fail to 58 00:02:23.980 --> 00:02:24.500 relight. 59 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:27.780 Anna: The FAA's report boiled it down to two 60 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:30.500 root causes heat effects on propulsion 61 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.420 components during ascent. And I love this 62 00:02:33.420 --> 00:02:36.180 phrase, erroneous engine alarm settings. 63 00:02:36.340 --> 00:02:38.980 Essentially the alarm thresholds were tuned 64 00:02:38.980 --> 00:02:40.820 wrong for the multi engine flight 65 00:02:40.820 --> 00:02:43.140 environment. Though engines were being shut 66 00:02:43.140 --> 00:02:44.820 down that could have kept burning. 67 00:02:45.380 --> 00:02:48.020 Avery: And SpaceX's fixed list covers all of it A, 68 00:02:48.020 --> 00:02:50.100 uh, modified startup sequence for ship, 69 00:02:50.260 --> 00:02:52.980 hardware updates on the booster and retuned 70 00:02:52.980 --> 00:02:55.690 engine alarms and abort settings. The FAA has 71 00:02:55.690 --> 00:02:57.810 accepted the corrective actions, so the 72 00:02:57.810 --> 00:02:59.650 regulatory road is clear. 73 00:03:00.210 --> 00:03:02.770 Anna: Which brings us to what Flight 13 actually 74 00:03:02.930 --> 00:03:05.770 has to do. It's essentially a rerun of 75 00:03:05.770 --> 00:03:08.410 Flight 12's objectives, but this time with 76 00:03:08.410 --> 00:03:11.330 real cargo. 20 functional Starlink 77 00:03:11.330 --> 00:03:14.250 V3 satellites, the first of their kind ever 78 00:03:14.250 --> 00:03:14.850 to fly. 79 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:17.170 Avery: And these aren't the mass simulators from 80 00:03:17.170 --> 00:03:19.810 Flight 12. These are working satellites. 81 00:03:19.810 --> 00:03:22.610 They'll deploy solar arrays and antennas and 82 00:03:22.610 --> 00:03:24.410 attempt to connect with a ground station in 83 00:03:24.410 --> 00:03:26.740 South Africa and and with other starlinks. 84 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:29.460 Six of them even carry cameras to inspect 85 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:31.060 ship's heat shield from the outside. 86 00:03:31.700 --> 00:03:34.700 Anna: The catch being it's a suborbital flight, so 87 00:03:34.700 --> 00:03:36.700 those satellites get about 20 minutes of 88 00:03:36.700 --> 00:03:39.580 glory before they re enter and burn up. It's 89 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:41.060 a test, not a delivery. 90 00:03:41.540 --> 00:03:44.180 Avery: There's also an in space Raptor relight on 91 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:46.420 the checklist, which matters enormously for 92 00:03:46.420 --> 00:03:48.740 the lunar Lander version of Starship that 93 00:03:48.740 --> 00:03:51.560 NASA's Artemis program is counting on. And if 94 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:54.400 all of this goes to plan, Flight 14 could 95 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.120 see SpaceX attempt a first V3 catch 96 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:57.720 back at the 97 00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:00.640 Anna: tower Friday morning, Australian time. 98 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:02.880 We'll have the full wrap on Saturday's show. 99 00:04:02.880 --> 00:04:03.440 Either way. 100 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.240 Avery: From a rocket that's about to launch to one 101 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:09.120 that just did. On Tuesday. A Soyuz 102 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.040 2 1A lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome 103 00:04:12.040 --> 00:04:14.720 in Kazakhstan carrying NASA astronaut Anil 104 00:04:14.720 --> 00:04:17.560 Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov 105 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:18.560 and Anna Kikina. 106 00:04:18.970 --> 00:04:21.650 Anna: And this was the express service, A two orbit 107 00:04:21.650 --> 00:04:23.570 fast rendezvous. They docked with the 108 00:04:23.570 --> 00:04:25.330 International Space Station's Pritchell 109 00:04:25.330 --> 00:04:27.930 module just over three hours after liftoff. 110 00:04:28.010 --> 00:04:30.210 Compare that to the two day chases of the old 111 00:04:30.210 --> 00:04:30.490 days. 112 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:32.490 Avery: The 3O joins Expedition 113 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:35.290 7475 for a roughly an eight 114 00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:37.930 month stay coming home in April 2027. 115 00:04:38.330 --> 00:04:40.370 It's the second flight for both Dubrov and 116 00:04:40.370 --> 00:04:43.210 Kikina, but the very first for Menin. And his 117 00:04:43.210 --> 00:04:45.750 backstory is wonderful, it really is. 118 00:04:45.830 --> 00:04:48.030 Anna: He's a physician, a former Air Force flight 119 00:04:48.030 --> 00:04:50.190 surgeon who flew over a hundred sorties and 120 00:04:50.190 --> 00:04:52.910 F15s, worked as a first responder after the 121 00:04:52.910 --> 00:04:55.190 Haiti and Nepal earthquakes, and was actually 122 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:57.790 SpaceX's first ever flight surgeon before 123 00:04:57.790 --> 00:05:00.470 NASA selected him as an astronaut in 2021. 124 00:05:00.789 --> 00:05:03.470 Avery: And here's the bit I love. His wife, Anna 125 00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:06.470 Menon, has already been to space. She flew on 126 00:05:06.470 --> 00:05:09.270 the Polaris dawn mission in 2024, the one 127 00:05:09.270 --> 00:05:11.650 with the first commercial spacewalk. So 128 00:05:11.650 --> 00:05:13.890 they're now officially a two astronaut 129 00:05:13.890 --> 00:05:16.650 Anna: household with two kids who presumably win 130 00:05:16.650 --> 00:05:18.690 every what do your parents do? Conversation 131 00:05:18.690 --> 00:05:19.930 at school. Forever. 132 00:05:20.330 --> 00:05:23.170 Avery: Forever. And there was a diplomatic first 133 00:05:23.170 --> 00:05:25.890 at the launch, too. NASA administrator Jared 134 00:05:25.890 --> 00:05:28.290 Isaacman was at Baikonur in person, meeting 135 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:31.210 Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov face to face 136 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:34.090 for the first time. Isaacman and Menon are 137 00:05:34.090 --> 00:05:36.890 close friends. Annamin flew on Isaacman's own 138 00:05:36.890 --> 00:05:37.930 Polaris dawn mission. 139 00:05:38.390 --> 00:05:40.710 Anna: As for the work, Menon's eight months are 140 00:05:40.710 --> 00:05:42.710 heavy on the science that suits a doctor. 141 00:05:42.790 --> 00:05:44.990 They'll be refining in space production of 142 00:05:44.990 --> 00:05:47.430 semiconductor crystals. And this ties 143 00:05:47.430 --> 00:05:49.270 beautifully into our next but one story 144 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:52.230 performing ultrasound using augmented reality 145 00:05:52.230 --> 00:05:54.430 and AI techniques that could remove the need 146 00:05:54.430 --> 00:05:56.630 for medical support from Earth on deep space 147 00:05:56.630 --> 00:05:57.110 missions. 148 00:05:57.510 --> 00:06:00.070 Avery: A doctor testing the Future of Space 149 00:06:00.070 --> 00:06:02.470 Medicine launched the same week the first 150 00:06:02.470 --> 00:06:03.910 space X rays are published. 151 00:06:04.310 --> 00:06:05.950 Anna: Hold that thought now, Avery. 152 00:06:05.950 --> 00:06:07.990 If you step outside tonight, anywhere in 153 00:06:07.990 --> 00:06:10.430 Australia or New Zealand, and look up at the 154 00:06:10.430 --> 00:06:12.990 constellation Centaurus riding high in our 155 00:06:12.990 --> 00:06:15.790 winter sky, there's a soft, fuzzy star you 156 00:06:15.790 --> 00:06:17.550 can see with your naked eye from a dark 157 00:06:17.550 --> 00:06:17.910 sight. 158 00:06:18.230 --> 00:06:20.870 Avery: That's Omega Centauri, the greatest 159 00:06:20.870 --> 00:06:23.750 globular cluster in the sky. 10 million 160 00:06:23.830 --> 00:06:26.550 stars packed into a ball about 18,000 161 00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:28.830 light years away. And an object that has 162 00:06:28.830 --> 00:06:31.460 puzzled astronomers for decades because, 163 00:06:31.460 --> 00:06:33.940 according to the models, it should be teeming 164 00:06:33.940 --> 00:06:36.940 with black holes. Around 10,000 stellar 165 00:06:36.940 --> 00:06:39.340 mass black holes left behind by exploded 166 00:06:39.340 --> 00:06:39.820 stars. 167 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:42.380 Anna: And until this week, astronomers had found 168 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:44.860 none of them. Evidence for an intermediate 169 00:06:44.860 --> 00:06:47.180 mass black hole lurking at the center? Yes. 170 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:50.100 But that missing population of 10,000 smaller 171 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:51.420 ones? Silence. 172 00:06:51.820 --> 00:06:54.820 Avery: Until now. In a paper published Monday in the 173 00:06:54.820 --> 00:06:57.340 Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team led by 174 00:06:57.340 --> 00:06:59.740 Matthew Whitaker at the University of Utah 175 00:06:59.820 --> 00:07:02.050 announced the first first stellar mass black 176 00:07:02.050 --> 00:07:04.850 hole ever detected in Omega Centauri. It's 177 00:07:04.850 --> 00:07:07.650 been dubbed Omega Cat BH2, and 178 00:07:07.650 --> 00:07:09.850 Anna: the way they found it is the real star of 179 00:07:09.850 --> 00:07:12.450 this story. Not X rays, not radio emission 180 00:07:12.610 --> 00:07:15.370 astronomy measuring the positions of stars 181 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:18.090 so precisely over such a long time that you 182 00:07:18.090 --> 00:07:20.250 can watch one being swung around by something 183 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:20.930 invisible. 184 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:23.890 Avery: They sifted through nearly 20 years of 185 00:07:23.890 --> 00:07:26.330 Hubble archival data observations running 186 00:07:26.330 --> 00:07:29.090 from 2003 to 2023, and 187 00:07:29.090 --> 00:07:31.410 added recent James Webb data to sharpen the 188 00:07:31.410 --> 00:07:34.270 measure. It was a star with about 189 00:07:34.350 --> 00:07:37.190 78% the mass of our sun, orbiting 190 00:07:37.190 --> 00:07:39.390 something massive and utterly dark. 191 00:07:39.710 --> 00:07:41.510 Anna: The team said, uh, the precision comes down 192 00:07:41.510 --> 00:07:43.870 to a fraction of a pixel on Hubble and Webb's 193 00:07:43.870 --> 00:07:45.670 detectors. It simply would not have been 194 00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:47.590 possible without both telescopes working 195 00:07:47.590 --> 00:07:47.950 together. 196 00:07:48.510 --> 00:07:51.230 Avery: And BH2 turns out to be a rule 197 00:07:51.230 --> 00:07:54.190 breaker. Its mass is lower than expected, and 198 00:07:54.190 --> 00:07:57.070 the star that orbits it takes 94 years 199 00:07:57.070 --> 00:07:59.710 to go around, which Makes this the widest, 200 00:07:59.710 --> 00:08:02.350 longest period stellar mass black hole binary 201 00:08:02.350 --> 00:08:02.990 ever found. 202 00:08:03.650 --> 00:08:05.610 Anna: One black hole down, roughly 203 00:08:05.610 --> 00:08:08.210 9,999 to go. 204 00:08:08.450 --> 00:08:10.730 But the astronomers suspect this first 205 00:08:10.730 --> 00:08:13.650 detection opens the floodgates. Now they 206 00:08:13.650 --> 00:08:15.810 know exactly what signature to look for. 207 00:08:16.210 --> 00:08:18.490 Avery: And for our southern listeners, that cluster 208 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:20.850 is up there right now in your July evening 209 00:08:20.850 --> 00:08:23.410 sky. Ten million stars, an 210 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:25.490 intermediate mass black hole at the middle, 211 00:08:25.490 --> 00:08:28.250 and at least one newly unmasked stellar mass 212 00:08:28.250 --> 00:08:30.440 black hole. Go out and look at it tonight. 213 00:08:30.440 --> 00:08:33.400 You'll never see it the same way again. Okay, 214 00:08:33.400 --> 00:08:33.920 Anna. 215 00:08:33.920 --> 00:08:36.200 Space uh, medicine. As promised, the 216 00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:38.720 Radiological Society of North America has 217 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:40.960 just published results confirming a genuine 218 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.720 first diagnostic X ray images taken 219 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:44.480 in orbit. 220 00:08:44.880 --> 00:08:47.760 Anna: And the mission behind it was Fram 2, the 221 00:08:47.760 --> 00:08:50.240 private SpaceX crew Dragon flight from 222 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:53.200 March 2025. The first crew ever 223 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.050 to fly a polar orbit. Four first time 224 00:08:56.050 --> 00:08:58.290 astronauts, none of them medical experts. 225 00:08:58.530 --> 00:09:01.530 Three and a half days in space before launch. 226 00:09:01.530 --> 00:09:03.610 Avery: They got just four hours of training on a 227 00:09:03.610 --> 00:09:06.090 commercial off the shelf portable X ray 228 00:09:06.090 --> 00:09:09.090 system. Then in orbit with no guidance from 229 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:11.450 ground control, they X rayed a calibration 230 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:14.130 phantom. A smartwatch, a hand, a 231 00:09:14.130 --> 00:09:17.130 forearm, an abdomen, a pelvis and a 232 00:09:17.130 --> 00:09:17.490 chest. 233 00:09:17.970 --> 00:09:20.650 Anna: And here's the result that matters. Back on 234 00:09:20.650 --> 00:09:23.170 Earth, three independent medical experts 235 00:09:23.170 --> 00:09:25.730 compared the in flight images with X rays 236 00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:28.470 taken before launch. The ground images were 237 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:30.830 better quality, but the space images were 238 00:09:30.830 --> 00:09:33.230 good enough to diagnose injuries like broken 239 00:09:33.230 --> 00:09:33.630 bones. 240 00:09:33.710 --> 00:09:36.670 Avery: Which is a conceit Buster, as Dr. Shaina 241 00:09:36.670 --> 00:09:38.950 Gifford of the Mayo Clinic put it. The 242 00:09:38.950 --> 00:09:40.710 assumption has always been that because 243 00:09:40.710 --> 00:09:42.910 everything in space is constantly moving, 244 00:09:43.390 --> 00:09:46.230 getting a diagnostic image in orbit was just 245 00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:47.710 too technically challenging. 246 00:09:47.870 --> 00:09:50.710 Anna: Not anymore. And the applications go well 247 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:53.560 beyond broken bones. That smartwatch X 248 00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:55.720 ray was the proof of concept for non 249 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:58.480 destructive testing. Inspecting spacecraft, 250 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.360 hardware, satellites, even spacesuits for 251 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.960 hidden damage without taking anything apart. 252 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:06.880 Avery: And think about where humanity is headed. A 253 00:10:06.880 --> 00:10:09.840 lunar outpost is days from a hospital. Mars 254 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.320 is months. If you're going to break an arm 255 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.120 240,000 miles from the nearest radiology 256 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.480 department, you want the radiology department 257 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:18.360 to come with you. 258 00:10:18.920 --> 00:10:21.320 Anna: The device even survived the trip home. 259 00:10:21.560 --> 00:10:24.520 Superficial scuffs on the exterior internals. 260 00:10:24.520 --> 00:10:27.400 Fine. As Dr. Gifford put it, the sky 261 00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:29.880 is not the limit when it comes to X rays in 262 00:10:29.880 --> 00:10:30.200 space. 263 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.440 Now for a story about the neighbors we never 264 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:36.200 knew we had. Astronomers at the University 265 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:38.840 of Warwick and the University of Colorado 266 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:41.600 Boulder have found four white dwarfs hiding 267 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.960 within 65 light years of Earth. 268 00:10:44.610 --> 00:10:46.930 Avery: Which sounds impossible, doesn't it? We've 269 00:10:46.930 --> 00:10:48.570 been surveying the solar neighborhood in 270 00:10:48.570 --> 00:10:51.130 exhaustive detail for decades. How do you 271 00:10:51.130 --> 00:10:53.730 miss four entire dead Stars on your own 272 00:10:53.730 --> 00:10:54.050 street. 273 00:10:54.610 --> 00:10:57.450 Anna: Because they had accomplices. Each of these 274 00:10:57.450 --> 00:11:00.010 four white dwarfs orbits a, ah, red dwarf 275 00:11:00.010 --> 00:11:02.930 companion, a, uh, bigger, brighter star whose 276 00:11:02.930 --> 00:11:05.290 glare completely drowned them out in visible 277 00:11:05.290 --> 00:11:07.890 light. To every survey, these looked like 278 00:11:07.890 --> 00:11:10.130 perfectly ordinary single stars. 279 00:11:10.660 --> 00:11:13.380 Avery: The giveaway was the wobble. Each red dwarf 280 00:11:13.380 --> 00:11:15.620 showed a substantial radio wobble, the 281 00:11:15.620 --> 00:11:18.220 telltale sign of a massive unseen companion 282 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:20.660 tugging on it. So the team went hunting with 283 00:11:20.660 --> 00:11:22.580 the Hubble Space Telescope's imaging 284 00:11:22.580 --> 00:11:25.380 spectrograph in near ultraviolet light, where 285 00:11:25.380 --> 00:11:27.780 white dwarfs shine and red dwarfs fade. 286 00:11:28.260 --> 00:11:31.100 Anna: And there they were, four hidden white dwarfs 287 00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:33.940 unmasked. Lead author Dr. Mayrey O' 288 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:36.420 Brien put it beautifully. It's a reminder 289 00:11:36.420 --> 00:11:39.140 that even in our own cosmic neighborhood, we 290 00:11:39.140 --> 00:11:41.460 can still find surprises if we look in the 291 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:43.360 right way at the right wavelength. 292 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.000 Avery: The headliner of the four is a system called 293 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.880 G203 47, only 294 00:11:48.880 --> 00:11:51.440 about 25 light years away, which makes its 295 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.640 white dwarf the ninth closest known to the 296 00:11:53.640 --> 00:11:56.200 Sun. And finding it closed a mystery that had 297 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:58.760 been open for 27 years, ever since that 298 00:11:58.760 --> 00:12:00.720 unexplained wobble was first spotted. 299 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.360 Anna: But G2O3 47 300 00:12:03.520 --> 00:12:06.400 replaces one mystery with another. The 301 00:12:06.400 --> 00:12:08.880 red dwarf orbits its white dwarf every 302 00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:11.880 14.9 days, but rotates on 303 00:12:11.880 --> 00:12:14.780 its axis only once every 100 plus days. 304 00:12:15.180 --> 00:12:17.940 In systems like this, tides should have 305 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:20.540 locked those two motions together long ago. 306 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:23.500 The M way. The Moon always shows Earth the 307 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:23.820 same 308 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:26.660 Avery: face, so the fact that it isn't locked 309 00:12:26.660 --> 00:12:28.820 tells us these four binaries had very 310 00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:31.220 different life stories. Some went through 311 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:33.180 violent, prolonged interactions that 312 00:12:33.180 --> 00:12:34.660 synchronized them. While 313 00:12:34.660 --> 00:12:37.660 G20347 seems to have 314 00:12:37.660 --> 00:12:39.660 had a gentler, briefer encounter. 315 00:12:40.300 --> 00:12:42.540 Anna: Four new entries in the local census 316 00:12:42.540 --> 00:12:45.140 published in the monthly notices of the Royal 317 00:12:45.140 --> 00:12:48.140 Astronomical Society. And a strong hint 318 00:12:48.140 --> 00:12:50.940 there are more dead stars hiding in plain 319 00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:52.700 sight around familiar stars. 320 00:12:53.260 --> 00:12:56.040 Avery: And so to the sky itself. Anna 321 00:12:56.040 --> 00:12:58.820 uh, the Moon hit New Moon on Tuesday, which 322 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:01.420 means right now we're in the darkest skies of 323 00:13:01.420 --> 00:13:01.820 the month. 324 00:13:02.300 --> 00:13:04.380 Anna: And for those of us in Australia and New 325 00:13:04.380 --> 00:13:07.260 Zealand, mid July New Moon is as good 326 00:13:07.260 --> 00:13:09.810 as it gets. The Milky Way core, 327 00:13:09.810 --> 00:13:12.410 Sagittarius Scorpiusthat great 328 00:13:12.410 --> 00:13:15.330 glowing heart of the galaxy is essentially 329 00:13:15.330 --> 00:13:17.650 overhead in the evening. If you've been 330 00:13:17.650 --> 00:13:19.770 meaning to get out of the city for a proper 331 00:13:19.850 --> 00:13:22.810 dark sky night, this week is the week. 332 00:13:23.290 --> 00:13:26.090 Avery: It's also the week to hunt a Comet. Comet 333 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:28.850 10P Tempel 2 is brightening as it heads 334 00:13:28.850 --> 00:13:31.730 towards perihelion in early August, currently 335 00:13:31.730 --> 00:13:34.570 sitting around magnitude 7. 8 in the evening 336 00:13:34.570 --> 00:13:34.970 sky. 337 00:13:35.790 --> 00:13:38.630 Anna: Now, that's not naked eye territory. You'll 338 00:13:38.630 --> 00:13:41.150 want binoculars at minimum. Ideally a 339 00:13:41.150 --> 00:13:43.870 telescope. Look for a soft, fuzzy, 340 00:13:43.870 --> 00:13:46.390 grayish patch the comet's glowing 341 00:13:46.390 --> 00:13:48.830 coma. And here's the nice bit for us 342 00:13:49.150 --> 00:13:51.670 Southern Hemisphere observers get a slightly 343 00:13:51.670 --> 00:13:53.830 higher altitude view than our northern 344 00:13:53.830 --> 00:13:55.070 friends, a 345 00:13:55.070 --> 00:13:57.790 Avery: dark sky, the galactic core overhead, 346 00:13:57.950 --> 00:14:00.870 and a comet on the rise. Sometimes the 347 00:14:00.870 --> 00:14:02.830 universe just hands you the itinerary. 348 00:14:03.370 --> 00:14:05.930 Anna: And for the early risers, Mars is currently 349 00:14:05.930 --> 00:14:08.410 drifting through Taurus near the red giant 350 00:14:08.410 --> 00:14:11.130 Aldebaran. In the pre dawn sky, two 351 00:14:11.130 --> 00:14:14.130 red beacons side by side. Worth a look with 352 00:14:14.130 --> 00:14:14.840 your morning cuppa. 353 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:17.370 Avery: Uh, and that's our journey around the cosmos 354 00:14:17.370 --> 00:14:20.250 for today. Starship cleared and counting down 355 00:14:20.250 --> 00:14:23.170 to Friday morning our time, a new crew 356 00:14:23.170 --> 00:14:25.650 safely aboard the station, a black hole 357 00:14:25.650 --> 00:14:28.410 unmasked in Omega Centauri, the first 358 00:14:28.410 --> 00:14:31.400 X rays in orbit, four hidden white dwarfs 359 00:14:31.400 --> 00:14:33.600 and a dark sky waiting for you tonight. 360 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:36.040 Anna: If you enjoyed the show, share it with a 361 00:14:36.040 --> 00:14:38.560 fellow Stargazer. It genuinely helps. 362 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:41.520 All our episodes show notes and links are at 363 00:14:41.520 --> 00:14:44.360 astronomydaily IO and you'll find 364 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:47.240 us on all the Socials astrodaily 365 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:47.760 Pod. 366 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.160 Avery: We'll be back tomorrow with more space and 367 00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:53.040 astronomy news. Until then, I'm Avery. 368 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.010 Anna: And I'm Anna. Thanks for listening and as 369 00:14:56.010 --> 00:14:57.770 always, keep looking up. 370 00:14:58.250 --> 00:14:59.370 Avery: Clear skies, everyone.