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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: From the farthest reaches of the galaxy to
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 the red dust of Mars. You're tuned in to
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 Astronomy Daily, your daily briefing on, um,
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 the universe. I'm Anna.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 Avery: And I'm Avery. Today on the show, an
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 interstellar comet has just revealed it's
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 older than our sun by billions of years.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 Perseverance scores its most impressive
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 organic detection yet on Mars. And
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 Europe's dark matter detective turns its gaze
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 to the heart of our own galaxy and delivers
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 the most stunning portrait ever made.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 Anna: We've also got a controversial plan to dump
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 the world's largest space station into the
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 Pacific Ocean, raising some very pointed
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 questions. Plus, an asteroid that killed the
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 dinosaurs may have kept underground life
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 burning for 8 million years. And
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 astronomers have just found that a, uh,
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 famous nebula has a long lost twin
00:00:51 --> 00:00:52 sibling.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 Avery: It's Thursday, the 26th of June,
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 2026, and this is Astronomy
00:00:57 --> 00:00:58 Daily.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 Anna: We start today with one of the most
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 remarkable findings in the short but
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 extraordinary history of interstellar
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 astronomy. The comet known as 3i
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 Atlas, which swept through our solar system
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 last year and captured the imagination of
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 scientists worldwide, has now revealed
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 something almost impossible to wrap your head
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 around. This comet is older than our Sun.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 Avery: Much older, potentially. Two new papers
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 published in the journal Nature this week,
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 using data from NASA's James Webb Space
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 Telescope, report that 3i
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 Atlas carries a chemical fingerprint unlike
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 anything found in our own solar system. And
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 that fingerprint points to an origin between
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 10 and 12 billion years ago.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Anna: To put that in perspective, our sun is about
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 4 1/2 billion years old. So this
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 comet may have been drifting through the
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 galaxy for more than twice the lifetime of
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 our entire Sol solar system before it
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 happened to pass through our neighborhood.
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 Avery: The key evidence comes from isotopes,
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 specifically the ratio of two forms of carbon
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 and a type of water molecule called semi
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 heavy water, in which some of the hydrogen
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 atoms carry an extra neutron.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 Astronomers using Webb's near infrared
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 Spectroscope found that 3i Atlas
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 has far less carbon 13 relative to
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 carbon 12 than anything in our solar system.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 And carbon 13 builds up in the universe over
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 time as successive generations of stars are
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 born, live, and explode. Less carbon
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 13 means an older origin, one from
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 a time before many stars had even had the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:37 chance to die.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 Anna: The semi heavy water signature is equally
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 telling. That kind of water tends to form in
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 high radiation environments, cold,
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 massive star forming regions that were far
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 more common in the early universe. And taken
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 together, the Webb team concludes this comet
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 formed during what astronomers call cosmic
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 noon, when star formation across the universe
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 was at its absolute peak.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 Avery: Lead researcher Martin Cordiner of NASA's
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 Goddard Space Flight center described it as a
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 unique opportunity to study an ancient object
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 from the distant galaxy, probably predating
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 our sun and solar system. His words. On
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 one hand, we get direct insight into that
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 distant time and place, and on the other, we
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 learned something about how our own solar
00:03:23 --> 00:03:24 system may be.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 Anna: A companion study from the European Southern
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 Observatory's Very Large Telescope found
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 complementary evidence in the comet's carbon
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 and nitrogen isotope ratios, further
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 cementing the picture of an ancient, cold,
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 alien origin. 3i
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Atlas, it seems, is a genuine relic from
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 another era of the universe
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 Avery: entirely, and it's on its way out. The
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 comet is now departing our solar system,
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 never to return. But the data it's left
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 behind will be studied for years, perhaps
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 decades.
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 Anna: We stay in the realm of ancient chemistry,
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 but this time a little closer to home, just
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 40 to 250 million km
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 away, depending on where Mars and Earth
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 happen to be in their orbits. NASA's
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 Perseverance rover has just delivered what
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 scientists are calling the most robust
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 organic detection made in Jezero Crater.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 A new study published in Science Advances
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 reports that the rover's SHERLOCK instrument,
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 a laser based spectrometer on the end of the
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 robotic arm, has detected complex
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 macromolecular carbon in two mudstone
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 rocks at a site called Bright angel in an
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 ancient river valley called Neretva
00:04:38 --> 00:04:38 Vallis.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 Avery: The paper's own summary describes it as, and
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 I'm quoting, the most robust organic
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 detection in Jezero Crater. That thus far
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 and the only detection of macromolecular
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 carbon on a natural rock surface on Mars.
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 That's macromolecular, meaning large,
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 complex carbon based molecules, the kind that
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 on Earth are associated with biology. But we
00:05:01 --> 00:05:02 need to be careful here.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 Anna: Absolutely. The researchers are very clear
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 that detecting organic carbon on Mars
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 does not mean life. The SHERLOCK instrument
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 cannot distinguish between carbon produced by
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 biology and carbon produced by geology
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 or delivered by meteorites. What it can
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 do is show that the chemical ingredients were
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 there, and in this case, they were there in
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 abundance. Hundreds of individual
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 detections across just two rocks.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 Avery: What makes this particularly compelling is
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 the location these mudstones are at. Bright
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 angel connected to Naret Va Vallis, the
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 ancient river channel that fed Jezero
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 Crater's western delta billions of years ago.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 This was a water rich environment, exactly
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 the kind of place where on Earth you would
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 expect to find microbial sheltering in
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 sediment.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 Anna: One of the two rocks examined is the now
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 famous Chayava Falls, the very rock
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 that caused such excitement last year with
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 its distinctive leopard spot markings.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 Finding complex macromolecular carbon in
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 it adds yet another Intriguing layer to the
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 mystery. The other rock showed organic
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 carbon associated with carbonate and sulfate
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 minerals, both of which can be connected to
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 biological processes.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 Avery: The researchers also note this is the first
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 detection of this type of complex carbon in a
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 mudstone on Mars outside of Gale Crater,
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 where the Curiosity rover operates more than
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 three and a half thousand kilometers away.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 That suggests the conditions that allowed
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 organics to form and survive may have been
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 widespread across Mars, not just in one
00:06:39 --> 00:06:40 localized area.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 Anna: The samples Perseverance has collected are
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 still sealed in its sample tubes, waiting for
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 a future Mars sample return mission to bring
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 them back to Earth. When they arrive in a
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 laboratory, scientists will be able to run
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 tests orders of magnitude more
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 sophisticated than anything a rover
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 instrument can perform. That's when the real
00:07:01 --> 00:07:02 detective work begins.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 Avery: Microlensing works by detecting the tiny
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 brightening of a background star when a
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 foreground star and any orbiting planets pass
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 in front of it. Acting as a gravitational
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 lens. It's a powerful technique for finding
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 cold, distant planets that are otherwise
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 invisible. And to do it, you need an
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 incredibly crowded starfield, which, as it
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 turns out, is exactly what the galactic bulge
00:07:26 --> 00:07:26 provides.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 Anna: The Euclid Image already contains
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 51 known planetary systems.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 Scientists expect it will also help confirm
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 and measure the masses of around 60
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 previously detected but poorly characterized
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 exoplanets. And when Roman comes online
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 and begins repeatedly monitoring the same
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 field, the two data sets together will give
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 us the most complete picture yet. Yet of how
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 many planets exist throughout the galaxy.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 Avery: For Australian and Southern Hemisphere
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 listeners, you're in an ideal position to see
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 the galactic center in the night sky. Right
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 now, it's high in the winter sky in the
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 constellation Sagittarius. And under dark
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 skies, away from city lights, you can see the
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 glow of the bulge. With your naked eye,
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 you're looking at the very region Euclid just
00:08:12 --> 00:08:13 photographed.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 Now, a story about endings and the
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 complications that come with them. The
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 International Space Station has been
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 continuously inhabited for more than 24
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 years. It's hosted astronauts from 22
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 countries, conducted thousands of
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 experiments, and served as humanity's
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 permanent foothold in low Earth orbit. But
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 its time is running out, and NASA's plan for
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 how to retire it is now under scrutiny from
00:08:38 --> 00:08:39 some unexpected quarters.
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 Anna: The plan, in brief, is
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 starting in 2028, the ISS will
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 begin a, uh, gradual orbital lowering.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 In mid-2029, NASA will launch
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 a SpaceX built in deorbit
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 vehicle and attach it to the station.
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 That vehicle, fitted with 46
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 Draco thrusters, will then push the
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 entire structure out of orbit in a
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 controlled re entry, targeting a
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 splashdown in the remote South Pacific,
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 near a location called Point Nemo.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 Avery: Point Nemo is the most isolated spot on the
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 planet, more than 2 km
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 from the nearest land. It's already known as
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 a spacecraft cemetery. Russia's Mir station
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 ended its days there, along with hundreds of
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 other spacecraft. NASA chose it precisely
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 because it minimizes the risk to any human
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 population. But a leading ocean conservation
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 organization says that calculation misses
00:09:37 --> 00:09:37 something important.
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 Anna: The Ocean foundation based in Washington
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 D.C. says the deorbit plan, and
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 I'm quoting, raises serious concerns for
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 ocean health that the space community has not
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 adequately grappled with. The organization's
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 president Mark Spalding, says there is a
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 quote, troubling structural gap in
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 international law that the ISS de orbit
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 throws into sharp relief.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 Avery: The legal gap he's referring to is this.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 The 1972 Space Liability
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 Convention requires that if a country's space
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 debris falls on another nation's territory or
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 damages another nation's property, the
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 launching country must pay compensation.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 But international waters and the ocean floor
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 beneath them, um, are not a nation's
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 territory. There's no equivalent protection
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27 for the deep sea.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 Anna: And this isn't a small amount of debris.
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 The ISS weighs roughly
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 450 kilograms.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 While much of the structure will burn up
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 during re entry, denser heat resistant
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 components, including pressurized modules,
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 structural beams and hardware are expected
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 to survive and reach the seafloor. The
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 exact quantity and composition of what will
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 sink is, according to critics,
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55 insufficiently studied.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 Avery: The concerns have now drawn the attention of
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 the U.S. government Accountability Office,
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 which has issued a report highlighting the
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 issues. The Ocean foundation is calling for
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 NASA to conduct a full environmental impact
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 assessment before proceeding with the re
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 entry, currently planned for around 2030 to
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 2031. There's still time, but not
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 unlimited time to address these questions.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 Anna: It's a fascinating tension. The very
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 success of the ISS program, the
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 sheer scale of the structure humanity built
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 up there is now what makes disposing of
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 it so complicated. And this case,
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 as legal experts have noted, is likely to
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 set precedents for how we handle the growing
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 number of much larger orbital platforms
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 expected in the coming decades.
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 Moving on to our next story. Today,
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 66 million years ago, a 10
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 kilometer wide asteroid slammed into
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 Mexico with a force equivalent to
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 billions of nuclear weapons. The
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 impact triggered Megatsunami, a uh,
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 global firestorm and a years long
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 impact winter that blotted out the sun
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 and wiped out roughly three quarters of
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 all species on Earth, including
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 every non avian dinosaur. It
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 is the most studied extinction event in
00:12:20 --> 00:12:20 history.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22 Avery: But new research from the University of
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 Glasgow has uncovered a remarkable footnote
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 to that catastrophe. While the surface of the
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 Earth was plunged into darkness and death
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 underground in the shattered rocks beneath
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 the crater, life may have found a way,
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 and not just briefly. The new study suggests
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 it found the way for 8 million years.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 Anna: The Chicxulub crater, the scar left by
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 that asteroid is buried beneath layers of
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 sediment and ocean in the Gulf of Mexico.
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 But it still spans nearly 200
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 km in diameter. When the asteroid
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 hit, the immense heat it generated
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 fractured the bedrock and superheated water
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 trapped in the rock, creating a vast
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 hydrothermal system beneath the crater.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 A network of hot water flowing through
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 porous shattered rock.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 Avery: Hydrothermal systems like this are well known
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 on Earth at, uh, mid ocean ridges and
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 volcanic vents. They host entire ecosystems
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 of organisms that live completely
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 independently of sunlight. Bacteria,
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 tube worms, crabs, and more, all
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 powered by chemical energy from the Earth's
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 interior. The question for scientists has
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 always been, how long did Chicxulub's version
00:13:33 --> 00:13:34 of this system survive?
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 Anna: Previous estimates based on computer models
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 from the early 2000s suggested about 2
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 million years. The new study, led by Dr. Ann
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 Marie Pickerskill of the Scottish
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 University's Environmental Research center,
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 used advanced argon. Argon dating of
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 potassium rich feldspar crystals collected
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 during a 2016 drilling expedition to the
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 crater's peak ring. The result? The
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 system remained active for at least 8 million
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 years, four times longer than anyone had
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 previously estimated, and the longest impact
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 generated hydrothermal system ever
00:14:09 --> 00:14:09 documented.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 Avery: To be clear, this doesn't mean complex life
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 was thriving underground while the dinosaurs
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 went extinct. Above, we're talking about
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 microbial life, bacteria and other
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 microorganisms sheltering in the warm,
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 chemically rich porous rock, shielded from
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 the radiation and temperature extremes at the
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 surface. But even that is extraordinary,
00:14:30 --> 00:14:30 and the
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 Anna: implications extend beyond Earth.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 Mars has endured countless asteroid impacts
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 over its history and may have once had liquid
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 water. If the same dynamics applied there,
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 and there's no reason to think they wouldn't
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 then. Even as Mars became cold and dry on the
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 surface, underground hydrothermal systems
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 could have kept microbial life viable for
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 millions of years. The Chicxulub finding
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 makes that possibility more credible than
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56 ever.
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 Avery: We close today with a story that's part
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 astronomy, part cosmic detective work.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 And we'll admit it a little bit poetic.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 Somewhere between 4 and 5 light years
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 away, in the constellation Gemini, there's a
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 supernova remnant called
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 IC443.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 Astronomers gave it a more evocative nickname
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 long ago, the Jellyfish Nebula, for its
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 billowing tentacle like filaments of glowing
00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 gas.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 Anna: It's one of the most photographed nebulae in
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 the sky, a favorite of astrophotographers the
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 world over. Its soft, wispy tendrils of
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 light are, uh, the expanding shockwave from a
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 star that died in a spectacular explosion
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 somewhere between 3 and 30 years ago.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 It's beautiful. It's well studied, and
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 astronomers thought they knew it well.
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 Avery: But new research has revealed that the
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 Jellyfish Nebula has been hiding something.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 Lurking right there in the bright glare of
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 the Jellyfish itself, Barely visible against
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 it, is a second supernova remnant connected
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 to IC443 by a bright
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 filament of gas. Astrophysicists are
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 calling this the first. First confirmed pair
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 of sibling supernova remnants ever
00:16:06 --> 00:16:07 identified.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 Anna: Two massive stars, born from the same cloud
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 of gas and dust, lived out their lives in
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 relative proximity, and then both died in
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 supernovae, leaving behind these two glowing,
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 expanding shells of debris. The fact that
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 their remnants are still connected by that
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 filament of gas tells us the two explosions
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 happened close enough in space and time to
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 interact with one another.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 Avery: What makes the discovery particularly
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 striking is not just what was found, but
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 where it was hiding. The second remnant had
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 been there all along, but the Jellyfish
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 Nebula's own brightness had been obscuring
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 it, like trying to see a faint star right
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 next to the Full Moon. It took careful
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 analysis to disentangle the two structures
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 and recognize the second for what it was.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 Anna: It's a reminder that even some of the most
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 familiar objects in the sky can still
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 surprise us. That even after decades of
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 observation, the universe has a habit of
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 tucking secrets away in plain sight,
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 waiting for us to look a little more
00:17:06 --> 00:17:07 carefully.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 Avery: And for observers in Australia and New
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 Zealand, the Jellyfish Nebula is in Gemini,
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 which sits low on the northern horizon in
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 winter evenings. While the nebula itself
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 requires a telescope, it's a wonderful target
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 for astrophotographers. And now, when you
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 photograph it, you can tell people you're
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 looking at two nebulae for the price of one.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 Anna: And that's our universe for today. An
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 ancient interstellar traveler, older than the
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 Sun. The strongest hint yet that Mars once
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 had the chemistry for life. The most detailed
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 portrait ever made of our galaxy's crowded
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 heart. The ISS's complicated
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 farewell. A crater that kept life burning
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 Underground for 8 million years, and a, uh,
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 nebula that turned out to be twins.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 Avery: The universe keeps delivering. Make sure you
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 subscribe so you never miss an episode.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:55 Anna: And subscribe.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 Avery: And if today's show sparked something for
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 you, leave us a review. It genuinely helps
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 the show reach more
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 Anna: listeners, find us at astronomydaily
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 IO Follow us Astrodaily Pod on
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 all your socials, and we'll see you right
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 back here tomorrow.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 Avery: Until then, keep looking up.