00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 brings you the latest happenings from across
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 the cosmos. I'm your host, Anna.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 Avery: And I'm Avery. It's great to be with you.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 We have a packed show today covering
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 everything from newborn planets and rogue
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 worlds to a major upgrade for one of Earth's
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 most powerful telescopes.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 Anna: That's right, Avery. We'll also be looking at
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 what makes an interstellar visitor so
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 familiar and peering into the very
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 exciting future of spaceflight. So
00:00:31 --> 00:00:32 let's get get started.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 Avery: First up, an update from low Earth orbit.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 Starlink has announced plans to adjust its
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 satellite constellation in 2026
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 primarily for space safety reasons.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 Anna: Right. This is a significant move.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 They're planning to lower the entire
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 constellation from its current altitude of
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 about 550 kilometers down
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 to 480 kilometers.
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 Avery: And, um, this isn't just a random adjustment.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 It follows a recent incident where a Starlink
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 satellite creating a small but
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 notable amount of space debris. This move is
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 a direct response to mitigate future risks.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 Anna: Exactly. A lower orbit has a
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 key. Atmospheric drag is
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 stronger. So if a satellite fails, it will
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere much
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 faster in a few years instead of
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 decades. This drastically reduces the
00:01:28 --> 00:01:29 long term risk of collisions.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 Avery: It's a proactive step towards managing the
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 increasingly crowded environments in low
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 Earth orbit. A responsible move for a company
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 with such a massive presence up there.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 Anna: From our crowded orbital dockyard to the
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 nurseries of distant stars, Gaia
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 Space Telescope has given us an
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 unprecedented look at planets in the
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 process of being born.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 Avery: This is incredible news. Gaia has found
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 compelling evidence of planet formation in 31
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 different young stellar systems. With we're
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 talking about seeing the very first stages of
00:02:03 --> 00:02:04 planetary life.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 Anna: It really is. And the method is just
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 as brilliant as the discovery itself.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 Gaia isn't seeing the planets directly.
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 Instead, it's detecting the tiny
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 gravitational wobble that these forming
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 planets exert on their host stars.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 Avery: That gravitational wobble. It's the same
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 principle behind many exoplanet discoveries.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 But applying it to these incredibly young
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 chaotic systems is a huge breakthrough.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 Anna: It allows astronomers to study these systems
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 in their infancy on a large scale. For the
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 first time, we're moving from theoretical
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 models to direct observation of how
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 solar systems like our own might have formed.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 It's a whole new window into planetary
00:02:48 --> 00:02:48 science.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 Avery: Speaking of new windows, how about this?
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 Astronomers have successfully weighed a rogue
00:02:55 --> 00:02:56 planet for the first time.
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 Anna: And for our listeners, a rogue planet is one
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 that drifts through space untethered to any
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 star. They're incredibly difficult to find,
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 let alone study.
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 Avery: Exactly. This one is about the size of
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 Saturn. And it was likely ejected from its
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 home m solar system Billions of years ago.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 Using a technique called microlensing,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 scientists were able to measure not just its
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 mass, but its distance from us as well.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 Anna: And the secret ingredient here was parallax.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 They observed the microlensing event where
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 the rogue planet's gravity bends the light of
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 a background star from two places at once.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 Earth and the Gaia Space Telescope, which is
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 about a million miles away.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 Avery: Mm mhm. That different perspective gave them
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 the data they needed to calculate the
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 planet's properties. It's a fantastic proof
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 of concept For a new way to study these
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 isolated wandering worlds. It makes you
00:03:51 --> 00:03:52 wonder how many are out there.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 Anna: From wandering worlds to interstellar
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 visitors, our third confirmed guest from
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 another star system, Comet 3I
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 ATLs has been revealing some more
00:04:04 --> 00:04:05 fascinating secrets.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 Avery: It certainly has. As, uh, the comet was
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 moving away from the sun, the SOHO spacecraft
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 observed it producing an absolutely massive
00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 amount of water.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 Anna: Right. The solar wind was breaking down that
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 water vapor into hydrogen and oxygen. So
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 soho's SWAN instrument, which is
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 designed to look for hydrogen, detected this
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 huge hydrogen glow surrounding the comet.
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 Avery: And what's so significant about that?
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 Anna: Well, it means this interstellar comet is
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 behaving in a way that's very similar to
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 comets from our own solar system. They also
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 release large amounts of water as, ah, they
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 are heated by the sun.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 Avery: So it's a piece of another solar system, but
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 it's made of the same stuff as ours. The
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 that's a profoundly important clue about the
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 composition of planetary systems beyond our
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 own. It suggests the building blocks for
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 worlds like Earth could be quite common
00:04:55 --> 00:04:56 across the galaxy.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 Anna: That it does. And it shows. The 3i
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 Atlas has untold stories to tell us as it
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 heads on out of our solar system.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 Avery: Let's shift our gaze from the distant past to
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 the very near future. 2026 is
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 shaping up to be an absolutely massive year
00:05:11 --> 00:05:12 for space exploration.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 Anna: Oh, I am so excited for this.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 The headline mission, of course, is NASA's
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 Artemis 2. We're finally sending
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 astronauts back to the moon, or at least on a
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 trip around it. It will be the first time
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 humans have been in deep space since the
00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 Apollo program.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 Avery: A huge milestone. But it's not just NASA.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 The commercial sector is also making big
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 moves. We're expecting the debut of new
00:05:37 --> 00:05:38 commercial space stations and the next
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 generation of private lunar landers.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 Anna: And we'll be getting new eyes on the universe
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 too. The Nancy Grace Roman Space
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 Telescope is scheduled to. Its wide
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 field view will be revolutionary for
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 studying dark energy and finding
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 exoplanets that's right.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 Avery: And not to be outdone, China's launching its
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 own powerful space telescope, Soontian, which
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 will have a field of view 300 times larger
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 than Hubble's. It's going to be a year of
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 incredible advancements across the board.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 Anna: Finally, let's come back down to Earth for
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 our last story. The Atacama Large Millimeter
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 Submillimeter Array in Chile, better known as
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 alma, has just completed a major upgrade.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 Avery: Alma's already one of the most powerful
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 radial telescopes on the planet. What did
00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 this upgrade Involve?
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 Anna: Engineers installed 145
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 brand new low noise amplifiers across the
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 array of antennas. In simple terms, this
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 will massively increase the telescope's
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 sensitivity. It's like giving a giant ear a,
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 uh, state of the art hearing aid.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 Avery: Wow. So it will be able to pick up even
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 fainter signals from space. What kind of
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 science will that enable?
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 Anna: It's going to give us a much clearer view of
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 the cold universe. ALMA excels at
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 observing things like the dusty disks where
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 planets are forming, the cold gas of the
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 interstellar medium, and even complex
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 organic molecules in distant galaxies.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 With this upgrade, those views will be
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 sharper and deeper than ever before.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 Avery: I love all this new science we have to look
00:07:09 --> 00:07:10 forward to.
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 Anna: It's a powerful testament to how this new
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 telescope is not just confirming old
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 theories, but actively rewriting the first
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 chapters of cause cosmic history right before
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 our eyes. It's a true revolution in our
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 understanding of the early universe.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 Avery: And um, that's a wrap for our news today.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 From managing our orbital highways to
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 discovering newborn planets and gearing up
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 for humanity's return to deep space, it's
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 been an incredible tour of the cosmos.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 Anna: It certainly has. Thanks so much for tuning
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 in to Astronomy Daily. We hope you'll join us
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 next time for another look at the universe
00:07:44 --> 00:07:44 around us.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 Avery: For more space and astronomy news, follow us
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 on social media. Just search for
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00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 platforms. And if you visit our YouTubeMusic
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00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 follow. It really helps with the algorithm
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 recommending us to other space enthusiasts.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 Anna: Until tomorrow, keep looking up.