- New Insights into Mars' Habitability: We delve into a groundbreaking study from NASA's Curiosity rover that challenges the notion of Mars as a once habitable planet. Discover why scientists believe Mars may have always been destined to be a cold, lifeless desert, despite evidence of ancient water and warmth.
- - The Mysteries of Massive Stars: Explore the dramatic lives of massive stars that, before collapsing into black holes, expel vast amounts of matter through powerful stellar winds. Learn how these cosmic giants influence the formation of elements essential for life and contribute to the creation of gravitational waves.
- - A Richie Planet Unveiled: Join us as we uncover the exciting discovery of a potential rogue planet, using decades-old Hubble images to trace its elusive path. This remarkable find highlights the value of archival data in modern astronomy and sheds light on the mysterious worlds drifting through space.
- - The Strangest Objects in Orbit: From human pee crystals to a Tesla Roadster floating through space, we take a whimsical look at some of the oddest man-made objects in Earth's orbit. Discover the stories behind these items and the implications of space debris on future exploration.
- For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Mars Habitability Study
[NASA Curiosity](https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/)
Massive Stars Research
[Institute for Advanced Study](https://www.ias.edu/)
Richie Planet Discovery
[Hubble Space Telescope](https://hubblesite.org/)
Space Debris Information
[European Space Agency](https://www.esa.int/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to podcast for
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 all the latest and most intriguing news from the cosmos.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 I'm your host, Anna. Get ready to explore the
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 mysteries of Mars. As new data from the
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 Curiosity rover sheds light on whether the red planet was
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 ever truly destined for life, we'll also
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 peer into the lives of cosmic giants, those
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 incredibly massive stars that vomit vast
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 amounts of matter before collapsing into black holes.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 A process far more dramatic than we previously imagined.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 And speaking of drama, we'll uncover how decades old
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 Hubble images helped astronomers track down an
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 elusive rogue planet wandering through space.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 Finally, prepare to be amused and amazed as we count
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 down some of the strangest man made objects floating around in
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 Earth's orbit. From glittering pea crystals to a
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 Tesla Roadster with a dummy driver. So
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 buckle up and let's journey through the wonders of
00:00:52 --> 00:00:53 astronomy in space.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 Now let's turn our attention to our dusty red neighbour,
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 Mars. For years, scientists have pondered
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 whether the red planet could have once harboured life, with
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 evidence like ancient lake beds and rivers hinting at a
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 much warmer, wetter past. But a
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 fascinating new study, drawing on data from NASA's
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 incredibly resilient Curiosity rover
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 suggests a more sombre truth. Mars might
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 have always been destined to be the cold, lifeless
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 desert we see today. It's a huge
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 unanswered question, and as Edwin Kite, an
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 associate professor at the University of Chicago and the
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 lead author of this study, puts it, why has
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 Earth managed to keep its habitability while Mars
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 lost it? His team's models propose that those
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 periods of warmth and wetness on Mars were actually the
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 exception rather than the rule.
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 Essentially, Mars seems to self
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 regulate itself as a desert planet. M
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 We're truly in a golden age of Mars science right now,
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 with multiple rovers on the surface and a fleet of orbiters giving us
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 unprecedented insights into its history.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 So what's the secret to maintaining a habitable world over
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 billions of years? It's not enough for a
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 planet to just start off warm and wet. You need
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 robust mechanisms to stabilise those conditions.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 Responding to environmental changes on
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 Earth, we have this incredible system of carbon
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 cycling. Carbon dioxide, or
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 CO2, in our atmosphere leads to
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 a rise in temperature. But this warming effect
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 then speeds up chemical reactions that lock that
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 CO2 away into rocks, preventing
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 runaway global warming. Then, through volcanic
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 eruptions, that carbon slowly leaks back into the
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 atmosphere, restarting the cycle and maintaining a
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 stable climate. Mars, however, lacks
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 this crucial balancing act. Unlike, um, Earth, where
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 volcanoes are almost always erupting somewhere,
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 Mars is currently volcanically dormant. The
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 rate at which volcanic gases, including CO2,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 escape into the Martian atmosphere is incredibly slow.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 This M means that any CO2 that got locked up in
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 Martian rocks during those brief wet periods didn't get
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 recycled back into the atmosphere. If there was even
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 a little liquid water, it would continually draw down
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 atmospheric carbon dioxide through the formation of
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 carbonates, like the siderate material that
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 Curiosity actually found. Without
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 volcanoes to replenish it, the atmosphere would
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 thin, temperatures would plummet, and the planet would dry
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 out. Kyte's team used sophisticated
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 computer models directly informed by data from the
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 Curiosity rover, including that crucial discovery
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 of side rate. Their simulations paint a picture
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 of Mars having short, fleeting, warm, wet periods.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 But these were consistently followed by vast stretches.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 We're talking 100 million years of intensely
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 dry desert conditions. Not exactly ideal for life
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 to truly take hold and flourish, is it? It seems Mars
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 was indeed, in a way, doomed from the start
00:03:48 --> 00:03:49 from the mysteries of Mars.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 Let's rocket off to the other end of the cosmic scale and talk
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 about some truly colossal objects. Very
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 massive stars. These aren't your average stellar
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 bodies. They're like the rock stars of the universe
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 powerful, living fast and dying young.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 And surprising. New research reveals that these cosmic
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 giants, before they collapse into black holes,
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 might vomit out much more material than we ever thought
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 through incredibly powerful stellar winds.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 Imagine winds so strong that they're less like a gentle
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 breeze and more like a cosmic hurricane blowing
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 the outer layers of these monstrous stars into space.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 While our sun is expected to live for about 10 billion
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 years, these very massive stars burn
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 through their nuclear fuel at an astonishing, astonishing rate.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 Sometimes living for only a few million or even a few
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 hundred thousand years. Their lives may be short,
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 but their impact on their environments is profound.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 These m strong winds, along with their eventual
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 supernova explosions, eject newly formed
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 elements into the vastness of space. Many of
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 these elements go on to form the building blocks of new
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 stars. And crucially, others, like carbon and
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 oxygen, are the fundamental ingredients for life
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 itself. Plus, these stellar
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 behemoths are the progenitors of black holes,
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 including the binary black holes that eventually
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 merge and send out those ripples in spacetime we
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 call gravitational waves, which we can detect here on
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 Earth. For a long time, the behaviour of
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 these incredibly rare, massive stars has
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 puzzled astronomers. Observational
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 constraints were few and far between. But thanks
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 to recent direct observations from space and ground based
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 telescopes, especially in the Tarantula
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 Nebula of the Large Magellanic Cloud,
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 scientists have finally been able to study stars with
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 masses over a hundred times that of our Sun.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 These studies revealed that the most massive stars in the
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 Tarantula Nebula are a Specific type of
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 hot, bright Wolf Rayet star at the end of their
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 hydrogen burning phase. What was odd was
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 that these stars were found to be extremely hot,
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 sometimes up to 50 degrees Celsius,
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 which contrasted with standard models that predicted they should
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 expand and cool down as they age.
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 So how do you make the observations and the theory match up?
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 The research team led by Kendall Shepard from the Institute for
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 Advanced Study in Italy worked a new mass
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 loss recipe into their stellar evolution
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 code. Their new models featuring these much stronger
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 stellar winds could finally match the observations.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 The powerful winds strip away so much of the star's
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 outer layers, preventing it from cooling down
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 while maintaining the surface composition that matches what was
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 observed. The star stays more compact and hot for
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 longer, exactly reproducing what telescopes have shown
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 us. M this new understanding even sheds
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 light on the origins of the most massive star ever
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 seen, R136A1, which
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 is found in the same Tarantula Nebula and boasts
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 up to 230 times the mass of our Sun.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 The model suggests it could have been born as a single
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 truly ginormous star, or perhaps
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 formed from a dramatic stellar merger.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 This could even hint at a revision to what we thought was the
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 upper limit for how massive a star can be in our
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 local universe. But the implications
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 don't stop there. These stronger stellar
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 winds and the rapid mass loss they cause also
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 have a significant impact on the masses of black holes
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 formed when these stars finally collapse.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 Because hm the stronger winds strip away so much of the
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 star's mass during its lifetime, and these stars end
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 up forming smaller black holes at the end of their lives.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 This helps reconcile models with what's actually observed in
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 nature, as it means fewer of those elusive
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 intermediate mass black holes are produced.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 Objects that have proved notoriously difficult for
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 astronomers to find. M Even more exciting
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 when the team looked at binary black holes in their
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 simulations, the new models with stronger winds were
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 able to produce systems where both black holes were very
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 massive. This is a crucial breakthrough because
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 such massive binary black holes have been observed by
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 gravitational wave detectors. But previous models
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 with weaker winds struggled to explain their formation.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 The stronger winds actually push the two stars in a
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 binary system further apart, preventing them from
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 merging too early and allowing them to survive as a pair of
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 black holes that can then slowly spiral in and
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 eventually merge, sending out those detectable
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 gravitational waves. This research,
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 though focused on a specific environment with a unique
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 chemical composition, opens the door to a much
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 broader understanding. The next step for
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 scientists will be to extend this study to a range of different
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 initial compositions, modelling various
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 environments across the Universe. It will be
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 fascinating to see how much the predicted black hole
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 populations change with these differing cosmic
00:08:39 --> 00:08:40 ingredients.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 Now, from the immense power of collapsing stars, let's
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 turn our attention to something much smaller, yet equally
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 a rogue planet. Astronomers have recently
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 achieved a ah, significant first in exoplanet hunting.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 Using decades old images from the venerable Hubble
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 Space Telescope to investigate a mysterious event that
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 could very well reveal the existence of a rogue planet.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 A world drifting through space without a host star.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 This fascinating discovery centres on a brief
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 astronomical phenomenon detected in May
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 2023 by ground based telescopes
00:09:14 --> 00:09:15 known by the catchy name
00:09:15 --> 00:09:19 OGLE2023BLG0524.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 The event lasted a mere 8 hours and was caused by
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 gravitational microlensing. If you
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 remember, this is an effect predicted by Einstein,
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 where a massive object acts like a cosmic
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 magnifying glass, briefly brightening the light from
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 a more distant object as it passes directly in front of it.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 What makes this particular case extraordinary is a
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 stroke of pure astronomical luck.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 Astronomers realised that the same patch of sky had
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 actually been photographed by Hubble way back in
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 1997. It was purely by chance
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 during observations of a completely different micro
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 lensing event. This incredible coincidence
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 created a 25 year baseline between the original
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 images and the recent planetary detection.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 A timeframe far longer than any previous study of
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 its kind. The short duration of the
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 2023 event strongly suggested it was caused
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 by a free floating planet, also known as a
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 rogue planet. These are worlds that have been
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 ejected from their original solar systems, now
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 wandering through the galaxy, unattached to
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 any star. They can be kicked out through various
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 gravitational interactions, perhaps with other
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 planets, encounters in crowded star clusters,
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 or even the violent death of their host star.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 Rogue planets are incredibly difficult to detect
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 because they generally emit no light of their own.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 Gravitational microlensing offers one of the very few
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 ways to find them. But distinguishing between a
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 true rogue planet and a regular planet orbiting
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 very far from its star requires additional evidence.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 This is precisely where those archival Hubble images became
00:10:55 --> 00:10:56 absolutely crucial.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 The research team led by Mateusz Kapusta from
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 the University of Warsaw used the 1997
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 Hubble images to search for any companion star
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 that might be hosting the planet. If the lensing
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 object were actually a planet in a wide orbit around a
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 star, that star should theoretically be
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 visible in Hubble's high resolution data.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 Even from 25 years earlier, their
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 analysis found no evidence of a stellar companion,
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 significantly strengthening the case that OGLE
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 2023 Bl
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 G0524 is indeed a rogue world.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 The team estimates its mass to be somewhere between that
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 of Earth and Saturn, depending on its location in
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 our galaxy. This study powerfully
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 demonstrates the immense scientific value of archival telescope
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 data. The 1997 Hubble observations,
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 though high resolution, were relatively shallow with
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 short exposure times. This meant the team
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 could only rule out stellar companions brighter than a
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 certain magnitude, leaving the possibility that
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 dimmer red dwarf stars could still be lurking
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 undetected in the data. However, this
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 work also points the way toward even more powerful future
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 studies. Next generation telescopes like the
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 James Webb Space Telescope, with its enhanced
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 infrared capabilities and sensitivity, should be
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 able to detect much fainter potential host stars and provide
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 more definitive answers about the nature of these lensing
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 events. Looking further ahead, the
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 launch in 2027, will conduct an
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 extensive microlensing survey and is expected
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 to discover thousands of new rogue planets.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 Coordinated with archival observations from other space
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 telescopes, these missions could finally reveal the
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 true population of these mysterious rogue worlds
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 wandering our galaxy from
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 naturally occurring rogue planets to something distinctly man
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 made, let's embark on a fascinating journey through some of
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 the strangest objects our species has intentionally
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 or accidentally sent into the void.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 back in
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 1957, it marked the beginning of
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 humanity's presence beyond Earth. But in the
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 decades since, we've done more than just launch
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 satellites and scientific instruments into orbit.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 We've sent art, ashes, accidents, and
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 some truly outright oddities. Let's start with something
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 surprisingly human pee crystals.
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 Yes, astronauts pee. And for decades,
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 urine produced aboard spacecraft was simply released into
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 space. Once expelled, it would instantly
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 freeze into a cloud of tiny, glittering crystals,
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 a twinkling golden mist visible through the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 portholes. Some astronauts have even described the
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 site as beautiful. More recently, the
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 International Space Station installed a, uh, high tech filtration
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 system to recycle urine into drinking water, which
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 is a much more sustainable approach. Then
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 there's Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 Roadster, complete with a spacesuit wearing dummy named
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 Starmen in the driver's seat. Launched
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 in 2018 aboard the Maiden voyage of the Falcon
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 Heavy rocket, it overshot its intended Mars
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 orbit and now loops around the sun every
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 557 days. A cosmic billboard for
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 SpaceX. Not all space toys are left behind by
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 accident. In 2011, NASA's
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 Juno probe launched toward Jupiter, carrying three
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 tiny Lego figurines made from aluminium
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 to withstand the brutal radiation of the gas giant.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 The minifigs represent Jupiter, his wife
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 Juno, and Galileo Galilei, the first person
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 to observe Jupiter's largest moons, all aimed
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 at inspiring young people in science.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 And finally, hurtling through interstellar space,
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 the twin Voyager spacecraft carry one of humanity's
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 most ambitious attempts at cosmic communication.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 A pair of gold plated phonograph records.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 Curated by Carl Sagan and his team. The these
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 iconic golden records include greetings in 55
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 languages, recordings of a baby crying, a
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 heartbeat, the sound of waves and music from across human
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 history, including Bach, Beethoven and even
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode. They're
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 meant for any alien civilizations that might stumble upon them
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 billions of years from now.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 Speaking of iconic figures, it seems only right that
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, should
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 find his final resting place up among the stars.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 While previous attempts to launch his ashes into space either
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 failed or ended in atmospheric re entry, a
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 successful launch finally took place in January
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 2024. This time, a portion of
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 Roddenberry's ashes made it beyond the Earth moon system
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 and into deep space, where they will now
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 drift forever. But not all space art
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 or oddities are officially sanctioned. Back in
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 1969, artist Forrest Meyers devised a plan
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 to smuggle art onto the moon aboard Apollo 12.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 NASA wasn't interested, so Myers covertly handed off a
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 tiny ceramic tile etched with artwork from six
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 famous artists, including Andy Warhol,
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 to an insider working on the lunar lander.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 This tile, dubbed the Moon Museum, was
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 reportedly installed without NASA's knowledge.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 Warhol later claimed his contribution was just his initials,
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 but the etching on the tile looks very much like a crude drawing of
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 male genitalia. It's certainly one of the more
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 unusual and cheeky pieces of art in the cosmos.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 And while some objects are sent into space with great intention,
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 many more are just junk. We've left
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 a lot of forgotten stuff up there and it's starting to get dangerous.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 Space debris includes everything from dead satellites and
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 spent rocket boosters to tiny flecks of paint
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 and broken antennae. Some pieces travel
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 at over 27 kilometres per hour,
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 fast enough to cause catastrophic damage on impact.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 The problem has grown so severe that experts warn of the
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 potential for Kessler Syndrome, a chain reaction of
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 collisions that could make Earth's orbit unusable for
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 decades. Adding to the bizarre collection are
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 relics from the Cold War. For example, in
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 1963, the US launched 480 million
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 tiny copper needles into space as part of Project
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 West Ford, intending to create an artificial
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 ionosphere for bouncing radio signals. Most
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 of these needles eventually fell back to Earth and burned up.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 But not all. Clumps of these tiny metallic
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 slivers still orbit the Earth today. A strange
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 reminder of just how far Cold War paranoia was
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 willing to go. And then there's
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 J002E3amysterious
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 60 foot long object that
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 orbits Earth, spinning once every minute.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 First detected in September 2002 by an amateur
00:17:34 --> 00:17:37 astronomer, it was initially mistaken for an asteroid,
00:17:37 --> 00:17:40 but further analysis revealed it was not natural. It was
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 built by humans. Experts now believe it's
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 likely the long lost third stage of the Apollo 12
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 rocket, which launched to the moon in 1969
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 and was thought to have vanished into deep space.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 The cosmos truly is a fascinating, if sometimes messy
00:17:54 --> 00:17:54 place.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 M and that brings us to the end of another
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 fascinating journey through the cosmos here on
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and I hope
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 you enjoyed today's episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 Before you go, remember, you can visit our website at, uh,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 astronomydaily.IO. there you can
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 sign up for our free daily newsletter to get all the latest
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 space and astronomy news delivered straight to your
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 inbox. You can also catch up on all our past
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 episodes and dive deeper into the topics we discuss.
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 And of course, don't forget to subscribe to Astronomy Daily on
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 wherever you get your podcasts, so you never miss a moment
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 of content. Cosmic wonder until next time,
00:18:35 --> 00:18:36 keep looking up.