00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna. And
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 today we'll start with the exciting news of a
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 new interstellar visitor. Only the third ever
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 confirmed to be zooming through our solar
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 system. Then we'll explore NASA's
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 SphereX mission which is creating an all sky
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 map of the universe, making its data
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 publicly accessible. Next,
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 prepare for a mind bending story about a self
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 destructive exoplanet. An astonishing
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 discovery. We'll also dive into the latest
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 revelations from the James Webb Space
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 Telescope, which continues to reshape our
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 view of cosmic history. And finally, we'll
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 uncover a surprising twist how Earth's
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 very own weather satellites are now helping
00:00:40 --> 00:00:41 us study Venus.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 Let's get started. Our first
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 stop today is an exciting new celestial
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 visitor. Astronomers have just confirmed the
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 discovery of an interstellar object, space
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 speeding through our solar system. This marks
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 only the third time humanity has detected an
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 object that originated beyond our own stellar
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 neighbourhood. The Visitor, officially
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 named 3i Atlas by the International
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre, has
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 been classified as a comet. Its
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 fuzziness, as described by astronomer
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, suggests
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 it's primarily made of ice rather than rock.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 While its exact size is still being refined,
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 current estimates place it at roughly 10 to
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 20 kilometres wide, which would make it the
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 largest interstellar interloper ever
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 detected. However, if it's truly made of ice,
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 it could be smaller since ice reflects more
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 light, making it appear larger.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 Regardless of its precise dimensions, it
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 poses absolutely no threat to Earth.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 Richard Moisel, head of Planetary defence at
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 the European Space Agency, assures us it will
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 fly deep through our solar system, passing
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 just inside the orbit of Mars without any
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 collision risk. What makes 3i
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 Atlas so fascinating is its incredible speed.
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 Zooming along at more than 60 kilometres per
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 second, or about 37 miles per second,
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 this phenomenal velocity means it isn't
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 gravitationally bound by the sun. Unlike
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 comets and asteroids that originate from
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 within our solar system, its trajectory
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 clearly indicates it's from interstellar
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 space and will continue on its journey back
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 out into the galaxy once it passes us.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 Astronomers theorise that these icy wanderers
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 form around other star systems. As another
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 star passes nearby, its gravitational tug can
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 free these ice balls, sending them rogue into
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 the galaxy. This newly discovered comet is
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 simply one that happens to be passing through
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 our cosmic backyard. The object
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 was initially spotted by the NASA funded
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 ATLAS survey in Hawaii. Professional and
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 amateur astronomers worldwide then joined
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 forces, digging through past telescope data
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 to trace its path back to at least mid June.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 It's expected to get brighter and closer to
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 the sun until late October and will remain
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 observable by telescope into next year.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 To put this discovery into perspective, the
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 first interstellar object, Oumuamua,
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 was detected in 2017 and was so
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 peculiar it even led some scientists to
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 speculate about alien origins, though this
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 theory has since been largely dismissed. Our
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 second visitor, 2i Borisov, was
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 observed in 2019. Mark Norris, an
00:03:20 --> 00:03:21 astronomer at the University of Central
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 Lancashire in the UK, notes that 3i
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 Atlas appears to be moving considerably
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 faster than its two predecessors. While it's
00:03:29 --> 00:03:30 currently roughly the distance of Jupiter
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 away from Earth and primarily visible in the
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 southern hemisphere, its presence is
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 incredibly significant. Scientists
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 estimate that as many as 10 interstellar
00:03:41 --> 00:03:42 objects might be drifting through our solar
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 system at any given time, though most are
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 likely much smaller. This new detection
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 suggests that observatories like the newly
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 online Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 could soon be finding these dim interstellar
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 visitors on a monthly basis.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 Unfortunately, sending a mission to intercept
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 3i Atlas isn't feasible due to its speed and
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 trajectory. However, these rare
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 visitors offer scientists an unparalleled
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 opportunity to study material from outside
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 our solar system. Imagine if we could detect
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 precursors of life like, um, amino acids on
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 such an object. It would give us immense
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 confidence that the conditions for life exist
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 in other star systems across the universe.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 Moving from interstellar visitors to an
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 ambitious new mission let's talk about NASA's
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 Sphere X telescope. Launched in March
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 and now comfortably settled into low Earth
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 orbit, this new Astrophysics space telescope
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 has embarked on an incredible to create a
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 comprehensive all sky map of the universe.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 What's truly revolutionary is that SphereX,
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 which stands for Spectro Photometer for the
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 History of the Universe, Epoch of
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 Reionization and ICES Explorer has already
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 begun delivering its sky survey data to a
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 public archive on a weekly basis. This
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 means anyone from professional astronomers to
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 curious enthusiasts can access and use this
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 data to unravel the universe's secrets.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 As Rachel Akcsson, the lead for the SphereX
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 Science Data Centre, puts it, because we're
00:05:09 --> 00:05:10 looking at everything in the whole sky,
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 almost every area of astronomy can be
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 addressed by SphereX data. While other
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 missions like NASA's retired WISE telescope,
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 also mapped the entire sky, Sphere X
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 significantly builds on that legacy. It
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 observes in an astounding 102 infrared
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 wavelengths, a massive leap compared to
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 WISE's four wavelength bands. This extensive
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 range allows scientists to use a technique
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 called spectroscopy to identify the unique
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 signatures of specific molecules. The
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 mission's science team will harness this
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 capability to study the distribution of
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 frozen water and organic molecules, often
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 referred to as the building blocks of life.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:48 According to across our own Milky Way galaxy
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 beyond our cosmic neighbourhood. Sphere X
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53 data will be crucial for understanding the
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 physics that drove the universe's rapid
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 expansion after the Big Bang. It will also
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 measure the amount of light emitted by all
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 galaxies over cosmic time. The decision
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 to make this data publicly available so
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 quickly, within 60 days of collection is a
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 testament to NASA's commitment to open
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 science, transparency and efficiency. It
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 empowers the entire astronomy community to
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 explore and make discoveries that the Sphere
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 X team alone couldn't possibly achieve.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 During its two year primary mission, SphereX
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 will survey the entire sky twice a year,
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 ultimately compiling four complete all sky
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 maps. After the one year mark, a full map
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 covering all 102 wavelengths will be
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 released. The impact of SPHEREx extends
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 even further as its data can be combined with
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 observations from other groundbreaking
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 missions. Imagine refining
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 exoplanet parameters collected by NASA's
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 Tess, identifying fascinating new targets for
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 the James Webb Space Telescope, or studying
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 the properties of dark matter and dark energy
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 alongside the European Space Agency's Euclid
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 mission and NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 Telescope. The possibilities are truly
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 boundless. As Vandana Desai, RSS
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Science Lead, wisely states, people are going
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 to use the data in all kinds of ways that we
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 can't imagine. It's an exciting time when the
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 universe is becoming more accessible than
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 ever, thanks to missions like SphereX, paving
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 the way for unprecedented discoveries
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 from the vast universe to individual
00:07:21 --> 00:07:22 planetary systems.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 Our next story takes us to a truly bizarre
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 discovery, an exoplanet that seems to be
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 actively contributing to its own demise.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 Astronomers have found a doomed planet
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 officially named HIP67
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 522B, which is clinging so tightly
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 to its parent star that it's triggering
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 explosive outbursts and in turn destroying
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 itself. This is a completely new phenomenon
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 in our understanding of celestial bodies. HIP
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 67522B is a young
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 extrasolar planet orbiting an equally young
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 star, hip 67522, which
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 is only about 17 million years old. To put
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 that into perspective, our sun is a middle
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 aged 4.6 billion years old. The
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 exoplanet's orbit is incredibly tight,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 completing a full year in just one Earth
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 week. Since the first exoplanets were
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 discovered in the mid-1990s, scientists have
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 wondered if a planet could orbit close enough
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 to impact its star's magnetic fields. With
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 over 5 exoplanet discoveries since then,
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 the answer remained elusive. Until now.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 Ekaterina Ilien, the team leader from the
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy,
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 expressed her excitement and curiosity,
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 stating that they had never seen a system
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 like HIP 67522B before,
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 especially one with such a young planet
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 orbiting so closely. She added that she had a
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 million questions because the details of this
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 new phenomenon are still unclear.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 The team first identified HIP
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 67522B while using
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite,
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 or TESS, which is designed to hunt for
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 exoplanets and survey flaring stars.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:01 TESS picked up some intriguing
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 characteristics, prompting a follow up
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 investigation with the European Space
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 Agency's Characterising Exoplanet Satellite,
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 or cheops. With cheops, they observed even
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 more flares, with almost all of them directed
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 towards Earth as the planet passed in front
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 of its star. What they discovered was
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 remarkable. The stellar flares thrown out by
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 hip 67522 occur
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 precisely when its clingy planet transits or
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 passes in front of the star. This
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 strongly suggests that the flares are
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 triggered by the planet itself. The leading
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 theory is that hip
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 67522B is so
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 close to its star that it exerts a
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 significant magnetic influence. As the planet
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 whips around, it gathers energy, which is
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 then redirected as waves rippling down the
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 star's magnetic field lines. When one of
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 these waves hits the stellar surface, it
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 triggers a massive flare. Ilan
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 explained that the waves seem to be setting
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 off explosions that are in essence waiting to
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 happen, resulting in flares with much higher
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 energy than the waves themselves. This
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 groundbreaking finding provides the first
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 hard evidence that planets can indeed
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 influence the behaviour of their stars. And
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 for hip 67522B, this
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 influence is disastrous. The induced flares
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 are directed right back at the planet,
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 bombarding it with approximately six times
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 the radiation a planet at this orbital
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 distance would typically experience.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 Currently, hip 67522B is
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 about the size of Jupiter, but its density is
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 incredibly low, comparable to candy floss.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 This intense radiation bombardment is
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 stripping away the planet's wispy outer
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 layers, causing it to lose what little mass
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 it possesses over the next hundred million
00:10:43 --> 00:10:44 years. Circumstances scientists predict that
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 hip 67522B could shrink from
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 its current Jupiter like size to something
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 closer to Neptune. The full extent of the
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 damage from these self inflicted flares is
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 still uncertain. But this bizarre celestial
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 dance is opening up entirely new avenues for
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 understanding star planet interactions and
00:11:02 --> 00:11:03 planetary evolution.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:06 Next up, let's take a look at an anniversary
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 of sorts. Since July 2022,
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 diligently focused on unlocking the
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 universe's secrets. And it has absolutely
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 delivered with its unparalleled ability to
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 detect and analyse invisible infrared light.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 Webb has made observations once thought
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 impossible, profoundly changing our view of
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 the cosmos from the most distant galaxies
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 to the familiar corners of our own solar
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 system. Webb was built with the promise of
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 revolutionising astronomy and rewriting the
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 textbooks. And by any measure, it has far
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 exceeded those lofty expectations. In
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 just three years of science operations, Webb
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 has completed more than 860 scientific
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 programmes, collecting nearly 550
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 terabytes of data and leading to over
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 1600 research papers. The
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 sheer volume of intriguing results and new
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 questions it has raised is truly astonishing.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 One of Webb's primary missions was to observe
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 cosmic dawn, the period during the universe's
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 first billion years when the earliest stars
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 and galaxies were forming. What scientists
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 expected to see were a few faint, nascent
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 galaxies, mere hints of what would eventually
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 become the grand structures we see today.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 Instead, Webb revealed surprisingly bright
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 and mature galaxies that developed within a,
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 uh, mere 300 million years of the Big Bang.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 It also found galaxies with black holes that
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 seemed far too massive for their age, and
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 even an infant Milky Way type galaxy that
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 existed when the universe was only 600
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 million years old. This
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 suggests that the universe evolves
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 significantly faster than we previously
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 thought. Adding to the surprises,
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 Webb has unveiled a new type of galaxy. A
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 distant population of mysteriously compact
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 bright red galaxies, affectionately dubbed
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 little red dots. What makes them so bright
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 and red? Are they illuminated by dense
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 groupings of unusually brilliant stars? By
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 gas spiralling into a supermassive black
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 hole? Or perhaps both. And what
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 eventually happened to them? These little red
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 dots appeared around 600 million years after
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 the Big Bang and rapidly declined in number
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 less than a billion years later, leaving
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 astronomers eager to understand their
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 evolution. Webb's observations are also
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 providing critical insights into one of
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 astronomy's most perplexing dilemmas the
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 Hubble tension. This refers to the
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 frustrating problem where different methods
00:13:34 --> 00:13:35 of calculating the universe's current
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 expansion rate yield different results. Is it
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 simply a matter of measurement errors? Or is
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 there something truly strange happening in
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 the cosmos? So far, Webb's data
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 indicates that the Hubble tension is not due
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 to measurement inaccuracies. By
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 precisely distinguishing pulsating stars in
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 crowded fields, and even discovering a
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 distant gravitationally lensed supernova
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 whose image appeared at three different times
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 during its explosion, Webb is providing
00:14:03 --> 00:14:04 independent checks on these crucial
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 measurements, suggesting this cosmic puzzle
00:14:07 --> 00:14:08 is very real.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 Beyond galaxies, the Webb telescope's
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 extraordinary infrared vision has also
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 unveiled surprisingly rich and varied
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 atmospheres on gas giants orbiting distant
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 stars. While the Hubble Space Telescope
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 made the first detection of gases on an
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 exoplanet, Webb has taken these studies to an
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 entirely new level. It's revealed a chemical
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 cocktail including hydrogen sulphide,
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 and sulphur dioxide, none of which had been
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 clearly detected in an atmosphere outside our
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 solar system before. Webb has even examined
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 the exotic climates of these gas giants,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 detecting flakes of silica, uh, snow in the
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 skies of one searing hot world and measuring
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 temperature and cloud differences across
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 others. The telescope's exceptional ability
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 to measure subtle changes in infrared light
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 makes it possible to even analyse the thin
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 layers of gas around smaller rocky planets.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 Webb has already ruled out significant
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 atmospheres on some rocky worlds and found
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 tantalising signs of carbon monoxide or
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 carbon dioxide on 55 Cancri E A, uh,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 lava world orbiting a sun like star. These
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 findings are laying crucial groundwork for
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 NASA's future habitable worlds Observatory,
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 which will be designed to directly image and
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 search for life on Earth. Like planets.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 Webb has also mapped intricate galaxy
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 structures with unprecedented detail, showing
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 us cosmic cities where stars form, live,
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 die and are recycled into the next
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 generation. Its infrared eyes reveal
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 delicate filaments of dust tracing spiral
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 arms, ancient star clusters forming galactic
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 cores, newly forming stars still hidden in
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 glowing cocoons of dust and gas, and clusters
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 of hot young stars carving enormous cavities
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 within the dust. It's truly helping us
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 understand how stellar winds and explosions
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 actively reshape their galactic homes.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 In other observations, Webb has spotted
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 hundreds of objects resembling brown dwarfs
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 in the Milky Way and even some candidates in
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 a neighbouring galaxy. Brown dwarfs form like
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 stars, but aren't massive enough to fuse
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 hydrogen. Some of these objects are so small,
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 just a few times the mass of Jupiter, that
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 it's hard to tell if they're free floating
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 gas giant planets or something else entirely.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 Thanks to Webb, we now know there's a
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 continuous spectrum of objects ranging from
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 planets to brown dwarfs to full fledged
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 stars. The telescope has also found potential
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 planets orbiting white dwarfs, hinting that
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 it might be possible for worlds to survive
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 the dramatic death of their host stars.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 Closer to home, Webb has turned its gaze to
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 our own solar system with equally impressive
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 results. It observed the vast water plume
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus,
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 revealing its true scale as a cloud spanning
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 over 6 miles, about 20 times wider
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 than Enceladus itself. This water then
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 spreads out into a donut shaped torus
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 encircling Saturn, even raining down onto the
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 planet. The these unique observations of
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 rings, auroras, clouds, winds,
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 ices and gases are helping us better
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 understand what our cosmic neighbourhood is
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 made of and how it has changed over time.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 Finally, Webb has also played a crucial role
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 in Supporting asteroid defence missions. In
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 2024, when an asteroid was discovered with a
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 preliminary chance of hitting Earth, Webb was
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 uniquely able to measure the object, which
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 turned out to be the size of a 15 story
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 building, helping assess the hazard. While
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 that particular asteroid is no longer a
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 threat, the study demonstrated Webb's
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 capabilities. The telescope also provided
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 vital support for NASA's Double Asteroid
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 Redirection Test, or DART, mission, which
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 deliberately impacted the Didymos binary
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 asteroid system. Both Webb and Hubble
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 observed the impact, confirming that the
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 composition of these asteroids is typical of
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 those that could threaten Earth. In just
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 three years, Webb has brought the distant
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 universe into sharp focus, revealed
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 unexpectedly bright and numerous galaxies,
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 unveiled new stars in their dusty cocoons,
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 and studied weather on exoplanets. This is
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 only the beginning. As engineers estimate
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 Webb has enough fuel to continue observing
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 for at least 20 more years, promising many
00:18:17 --> 00:18:18 more cosmic surprises to come.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 Finally, today, in a truly unexpected turn of
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 events, Japanese meteorological satellites,
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 the Himawari 8 and 9, which are typically
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 used for monitoring Earth's global weather
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 patterns, are now providing incredibly
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 valuable insights into Venus's atmosphere.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 These satellites, launched in 2014
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 and 2016 by the Japan
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 Meteorological Agency, are equipped with
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 multispectral advanced Himawari imagers.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 In a recent study led by the University of
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 Tokyo in infrared, images from these
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 satellites captured changes in Venus's
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 atmosphere, revealing previously unseen
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 temperature patterns in its cloud tops. This
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 is a significant development because
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 meteorological satellites can complement
00:19:01 --> 00:19:04 observations of Venus's atmosphere, which
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 usually come from robotic missions and ground
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 based telescopes. Scientists have been
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 studying Venus's atmosphere for decades to
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 understand the dynamics of our solar system's
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 hottest planet. However, many
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 mysteries persist, such as its thermal tides
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 and planetary scale waves. Dedicated
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 robotic probes have often been limited to
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 single band imagery or short observation
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 periods. That's where the Himawari satellites
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 come in. Because these satellites are
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 scheduled to remain operational for more than
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 a decade, they offer an unprecedented
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 opportunity for long term multi band
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 monitoring. Their instruments provide
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 infrared coverage that measures Venus's
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 temperature across different bands, showing
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 temporal variations. When these geostationary
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 satellites align with Earth and Venus, they
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 can obtain images of Venus's turbulent
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 atmosphere, helping to fill crucial
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 observational gaps. The team behind the
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 study used hundreds of images from Himawari 8
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 and 9 to map the temporal dynamics and track
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 temperature variations in Venus's cloud tops
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 over time. Their analysis confirmed that both
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 the thermal tides and planetary waves in
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 Venus's atmosphere are subject to changes in
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 amplitude over time, which decrease with
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 altitude. This novel approach opens
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 new avenues for long term and multiband
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 monitoring of other solar system bodies,
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 including the Moon and Mercury. By
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 providing continuous data that dedicated
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 missions might miss due to their shorter
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 lifespans, these Earth focused satellites are
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 unexpectedly contributing to our broader
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 understanding of planetary evolution.
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 That's all for this episode of Astronomy
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 Daily. I'm Anna and I hope you enjoyed our
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 journey through the latest in space and
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 astronomy news. Thank you for tuning in. If
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