00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hey there, space enthusiasts and welcome back
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 I'm super excited to take you on a whirlwind
00:00:08 --> 00:00:09 tour of the cosmos right from the comfort of
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 your earbuds. Today we've got some mind
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 blowing stories lined up. We'll be diving
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 into the mystery of Titan's wobbling
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 atmosphere, checking out a newly discovered
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 ancient monster galaxy, and looking into the
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 delays plaguing Boeing's Starliner programme.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 And we'll wrap it all up with a peek into the
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 next 50 years in space, according to the
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 Royal Society. So buckle up space cadets.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:31 It's going to be a fun R.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:34 Alright, first up, let's talk about Titan,
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 Saturn's largest moon. Now get this.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 Scientists have discovered that Titan's
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 atmosphere isn't exactly sitting still. It
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 like wobbles. Yeah, you heard me right.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 Wobbles like a gyroscope. A recent
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 study after analysing infrared light readings
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 over 13 years has revealed that Titan's
00:00:52 --> 00:00:53 atmosphere isn't fixed in line with its
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 surface. It shifts across the seasons.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 Spooky. Huh? Huh? Now the big question is
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 why? What's causing this weird wobble?
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 Planetary scientist Lucy Wright compares it
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 to a gyroscope stabilising itself in space
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 and adds that the wobble changes with Titan's
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 seasons. One theory is that it has something
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 to do with Titan's orbit around the sun and
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 Saturn. But the direction of the tilt remains
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 fixed, which is just adding to the mystery.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 Maybe, and this is just a maybe. A large
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 impact event in Titan's past could have
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 started the wobbles and possibly changed its
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 climate. Now why should we care? Well, this
00:01:31 --> 00:01:32 research is crucial for the upcoming
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 Dragonfly mission scheduled for 2034.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Dragonfly's gonna land on Titan and to do
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 that safely, we need to really understand its
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 atmosphere. Plus understanding
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Titan's atmosphere, which by the way, is the
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 only moon in our solar system to have a
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 proper atmosphere, might help us understand
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 how life could survive on other planets. Even
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 better, studying Titan could even help us
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 understand Earth's atmosphere better. Who
00:01:57 --> 00:01:57 knew?
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 Right, next up, we're heading
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 way, way back in time, like 11.1
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 billion years back. Astronomers have just
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 spotted a massive super active spiral galaxy
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 from the early universe. And it's shedding
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 new light on how galaxies like our own Milky
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 Way took shape. Now this galaxy ain't just
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 any galaxy. It's what they call a, ah,
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 monster galaxy that's growing super fast by
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 making stars at an incredible rate. It's got
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 a bright central bar, a feature seen in many
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 modern spiral galaxies, including our own,
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 this bar acts like a funnel directing gas
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 inward to fuel the birth of new stars.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 And this one, called J0107A. It's like
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 the oldest and most massive barred spiral
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 galaxy we've ever seen. Think of it as a time
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 capsule, giving us a peek into how these
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 galactic structures formed and evolved way
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 back in the early universe. What's really
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 cool is that the team found that the gas in
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 J0107A is distributed
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 and moves in a way that's similar to modern
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 galaxies. But get this, the
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 concentrations of gas are way higher and the
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 speed of the gas flow is much faster.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 Astronomers think this massive influx of gas
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 to the centre of the galaxy will cause even
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 more star formation, driving its evolution.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:12 This is the first time these features have
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 been observed. And turns out they weren't
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 predicted by any of the theoretical models.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 How about that, huh? Huh?
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 Alright, let's turn our attention back to
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 Earth, or at least to Earth's space
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 programmes. Remember Boeing's Starliner?
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 Well, a year ago it was docking with the
00:03:28 --> 00:03:29 International Space Station for its crew
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 flight test with NASA astronauts Sunita
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 Williams and Barry Wilmore. But, a year
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 later, the future of the Starliner programme
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 is, well, still up in the air.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 NASA just announced that the next flight has
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 been delayed again. This time from late
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 2025 to early 2026
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 at the soonest. And get this, they're still
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 deciding whether or not the next flight will
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 even have astronauts on board. Seriously,
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 Sunita Williams even told readers that flying
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 an uncrewed Starliner flight next would be
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 the logical thing to do. Makes you wonder
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 what's going on, doesn't it? So after its
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 first mission with a crew last June,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 lingering issues with helium leaks and
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 propulsion system anomalies caused the
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 spacecraft to, you know, return to Earth
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 without its crew. Ouch. Now
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 NASA and Boeing are trying to figure out how
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 to fix these issues. They're doing tests at
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 the White Sands Test Facility, firing up key
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 thrusters to validate their thermal models
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 and look at potential upgrades. And about
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 those astronauts, who's going to be on the
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 first crewed mission whenever that happens?
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 Well, even NASA and the Canadian Space
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 Agency are being kind of cagey about it.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 They're not confirming who's assigned to the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 mission. Back in 2018, they announced the
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 cruise, then people got reassigned and things
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 got complicated. It's all a bit of a mess
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 really. But hey, at least astronaut Butch
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 Wilmore said he'd ride on Starliner again,
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 cuz he's confident they're Gonna fix all the
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 issues. Gotta admire that kind of optimism
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 right now.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 Let's jump into the future, like, way into
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 the future. The Royal society in the UK
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 just dropped a report called Speaker Space
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 2075. And it's wild.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 We're talking asteroid mining, space
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 factories, and even the big question, are we
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 alone? The report envisions a new
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 era of space activities that could totally
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 reshape the world. Imagine clean energy
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 beamed down to Earth from space. Robots
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 recycling dead satellites and products
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 labelled Made in space. Sounds like sci fi,
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 right? But the report warns that the UK needs
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 a clear plan to keep up, otherwise
00:05:35 --> 00:05:36 they might miss out on all these
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 opportunities. They're saying this is as big
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 as the Industrial Revolution. Think about it.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 Factories in microgravity making stuff we
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 can't even make on Earth. Interplanetary
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 space stations and even industries moving
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 into orbit. Power hungry data farms could
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 benefit from all that solar energy and free
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 cooling up there. And get this, they're even
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 talking about recycling space junk to reduce
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 collision risks and prevent pollution. Makes
00:06:03 --> 00:06:04 sense, right? But it's not all sunshine and
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 roses. The report also warns about potential
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 conflicts in space over prime spots on
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 planets, valuable orbits and radio
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 frequencies. It's like the Wild west, but in
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 space, ethical challenges are also on the
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 horizon. What if we engineer bugs to make
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 living tools on Mars, but they end up wiping
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 out native microbes? And what happens when
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 humans start being born on Mars? Deep stuff.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 Huh? Huh? Oh, and of course, the big one,
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 alien life. The report says if there are
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 aliens nearby, we'll probably know in the
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 next 50 years. Let's hope it brings us
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 together, not tears us apart. Fingers
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 crossed. So
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 that's your Astronomy Daily News for today.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 We looked at Titan's wobbly atmosphere, a,
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 mega ancient galaxy, starliner's ongoing
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 delays, and the Royal Society's peek into the
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 future. Thanks for tuning in. I've been your
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 host, Anna. And don't forget to visit our
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 website@astronomydaily.IO for like all
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 things Astronomy Daily News, updates, back
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 episodes and how to get in touch until next
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 time. Keep looking up. I'm Anna, signing off
00:07:08 --> 00:07:09 for today.