00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 your host, Anna, and I'm really excited to
00:00:04 --> 00:00:05 bring you your daily dose of cosmic
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 happenings. Today we've got some really cool
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 stuff to talk about. From a giant planet
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 orbiting a tiny star to a weird star that
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 might just solve one of astronomy's biggest
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 mysteries. We will also cover China's
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 reusable rocket and two galaxy clusters about
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 to crash into each other again. So buckle up
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 space fans. It's going to be an awesome ride.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 First up, we're diving into the head
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 scratching discovery of a giant planet,
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 TOI 6894
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 b, orbiting a red dwarf star
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 called TOI 6894.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 Now, this star is tiny. I mean, we're talking
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 about one fifth the size of our sun, which
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 makes the discovery of this planet like a
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 huge surprise. See, these small
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 stars weren't thought to have enough material
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 to even form giant planets. But there
00:00:55 --> 00:00:56 it is, TOI
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 6894B, a
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 gas giant roughly the size of Saturn.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 It's kinda like finding a fully grown
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 elephant living in a mousehole, you know,
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 this discovery kinda turns our understanding
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 of planet formation on its head. The current
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 theory suggests that the amount of material
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 in the disc around a star which eventually
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 forms planets is proportional to the star's
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 mass. So a tiny star shouldn't have enough
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 stuff to make a giant planet. But apparently
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 nature loves to throw curveballs.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 Now, because TOI6894B
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 has such deep transits, I mean, when it
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 passes in front of its star, it blocks a
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 whopping 17% of the light. It's a perfect
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 candidate for atmosphere study. A team of
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 astronomers has already applied for time with
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 the James Webb Space Telescope to do
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 just that. They are hoping to find a lot of
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 methane in the exoplanet's atmosphere.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 That'll give us a better idea of how this
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 planet formed and maybe help us refine our
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 planet formation theories. Pretty cool, huh?
00:01:56 --> 00:01:57 Huh?
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 Next up, let's talk about a really odd star,
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 limos J 0804
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 5740, residing in what's
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 known as the Gaia Sausage. And no, it's not a
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 galactic deli item. The Gaia Sausage is
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 actually the remains of a dwarf galaxy that
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 merged with our Milky Way billions of years
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 ago. Now, this star, it may just help us
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 solve one of astronomy's big mysteries. Where
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 did the universe's heaviest elements come
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 from? These elements, like uranium and
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 thorium, are created through something called
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 the R process. That's a rapid
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 neutron capture process, essentially
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 Atomic nuclei rapidly grab neutrons in
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 extreme environments like neutron star
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 mergers or supernovas, creating heavier
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 elements. But here's the thing. We haven't
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 quite figured out all the sources of the R
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 process, and that's where Lemost J
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 comes in. This star is what they call an
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 actinide boost star, meaning it has a high
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 abundance of radioactive elements, actinides.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 So the star's unusual composition provides
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 new clues about the different types of R
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 process events that can occur in the
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 universe. By studying it, astronomers, hope
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 to better understand where these heavy
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 elements come from and how they're created.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 It's like piecing together a cosmic puzzle,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 you know? You okay?
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 So shifting gears a little, let's head over
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 to China where a rocket startup called Space
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 Epic, or Sepok if you like it short,
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 recently showed off its reusable rocket
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 booster, the Yangxing Zhi one. They had a
00:03:31 --> 00:03:32 test launch and get this, it did a soft
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 landing right in the ocean. I mean, sadly
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 it sank afterwards, but hey, the launch and
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 the test were still a success. Apparently the
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 whole point was to test things like the
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 engine's thrust control, shutdown and restart
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 capabilities. Plus they tested free descent,
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 gliding and hovering before splashdown.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 Pretty cool right? Now this Yangxing Zhe
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 booster is kinda interesting. It's made from
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 lightweight, thin walled aluminium, stainless
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 steel and runs on liquid oxygen and methane.
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 It's about 4.2 metres in diameter and almost
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 27 metres tall. Now I know what you're
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 thinking, how does this stack up against
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 SpaceX? Well, SpaceX's Falcon 9
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 booster is a bit narrower, but it's taller.
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 And speaking of SpaceX, it's kind of wild how
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 they've turned landing and reusing boosters
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 into like a near daily thing. Meanwhile,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 China is catching up with a bunch of space
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 startups popping up recently. And
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 you know, with China working on its own mega
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 satellite constellation and planning some
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 seriously ambitious missions, including their
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 own version of the Hubble telescope, it's
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 clear they are becoming a major player in
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 space exploration. Space Epoch is
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 hoping to reach orbit later this year. So
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 yeah, it's definitely going to be interesting
00:04:43 --> 00:04:44 to see what these China based startups do in
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 the coming years.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 Alright. Ah, next up in our cosmic headlines,
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 NASA's Chandra X Ray Observatory has spotted
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 something pretty wild. We're talking about
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 two galaxy clusters known as PSZ2
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 G1, 81.06 plus
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 48.47 that have already collided once and
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 are now heading back for a second smash up.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 Now, galaxy clusters just so, you know, are
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 like the biggest structures in the universe
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 held together by gravity. They're basically
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 massive collections of galaxies, superheated
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 gas, and dark matter. These two
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 clusters are about 2.8 billion light years
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 away. And after their first collision, they
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 created these huge parentheses shaped shock
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 fronts, kind of like sonic booms, but on a
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 cosmic scale. These shock fronts are now
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 separated by about 11 million light years,
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 which is apparently the largest separation
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 astronomers have ever seen. But get this.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 Chandra and XMM Newton data show that these
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 clusters are now slowing down and turning
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 around for another collision. Astronomers
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 have spotted three new shock fronts that seem
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 to be early signs of this second crash.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 What's really interesting is that the total
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 mass of this system is less than other
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 colliding galaxy clusters, making it a pretty
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 unusual case. This event is
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 giving scientists a, peek into the dynamics
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 of these massive structures and how they
00:06:07 --> 00:06:08 evolve over time.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 So that's your Astronomy Daily News summary
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 for today. From a tiny star with a giant
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 planet to colliding galaxy clusters, I've
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 been your host, Anna, and I hope you enjoyed
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 our little tour of the cosmos. For all the
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 latest space and astronomy news, don't forget
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 to visit our website at astronomydaily IO
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 where you can catch up on our constantly
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 updating news feed. Until tomorrow, thanks
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 for tuning in and keep looking up
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 stories.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 We told.