- NASA Astronauts' Unexpected Journey: Join us as we follow the incredible recovery of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who returned from what was meant to be an eight-day mission but turned into a nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Hear about their challenges and progress as they readjust to life on Earth after an extended period in microgravity.
- The Enigmatic ASCAP J1832: Delve into the mystery of ASCAP J1832, a cosmic object that pulses every 44 minutes in both radio waves and X-rays. This unique star challenges our understanding of stellar behaviour and has scientists puzzled as they investigate its unusual emissions and potential classification.
- China's Tianwen 2 Mission: Discover China's ambitious Tianwen 2 mission, launched to collect samples from a living fossil asteroid known as Kamo Oalawa. This groundbreaking mission could provide valuable insights into the early solar system and showcases China's growing capabilities in space exploration.
- A Busy Week in Space Launches: Get the latest on a flurry of rocket launches around the globe, including SpaceX's ongoing Starlink deployments and Blue Origin's upcoming New Shepard mission. This segment highlights the rapid advancements in space technology and the increasing frequency of launches.
- Earth's Cosmic Future: Explore unsettling research revealing potential risks to Earth's long-term orbital stability due to passing stars. While the chances of catastrophic events remain low, these findings offer a fascinating glimpse into the dynamics of our solar system and the future of our planet.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, 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.
Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily
01:10 - NASA astronauts' unexpected journey
10:00 - The enigmatic ASCAP J1832
15:30 - China's Tianwen 2 mission
20:00 - A busy week in space launches
25:00 - Earth's cosmic future
✍️ Episode References
NASA Astronauts Recovery
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
ASCAP J1832 Discovery
[Chandra X-ray Observatory](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html)
Tianwen 2 Mission Details
[China National Space Administration](http://www.cnsa.gov.cn)
Space Launch Updates
[SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/)
Orbital Stability Research
[Planetary Science Institute](https://www.psi.edu)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-exciting-space-discoveries-and-news--5648921/support.
Sponsor Details:
Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!
Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Anna bringing you the latest developments in
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 space and astronomy news. Today we have a
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 packed episode covering a wide range of
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 fascinating stories from across the cosmos.
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 We'll check in with NASA astronauts Butch
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 Wilmore and Suni Williams as they recover
00:00:17 --> 00:00:18 from what was meant to be an eight day
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 mission, but turned into a nine month stay
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 aboard the International Space Station. I'll
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 also tell you about a truly mysterious star
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 that pulses every 44 minutes in both radio
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 waves and X rays, leaving scientists
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 puzzled about its true nature. Then we'll
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 explore China's ambitious Tianwen 2 mission
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 that just launched to collect samples from a
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 living fossil asteroid. We'll round
00:00:41 --> 00:00:42 up this week's busy launch schedule from
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 around the world and end with some slightly
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 unsettling news about Earth's long term
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 orbital stability and a potential cosmic
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 fate that thankfully remains extremely
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 unlikely. Stay with me for all this and more
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 on today's Astronomy Daily.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 Lets kick off with a story I'm sure most
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 folks thought was done and dusted. Turns out
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 there's an epilogue. NASA astronauts
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are making
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 steady progress in their recovery after
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 returning to Earth following what became an
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 unexpectedly extended mission in space.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 What was originally planned as an eight day
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 test flight aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 turned into a nine month stay on the
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 International Space Station when propulsion
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 system issues forced NASA to bring the
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 capsule back without its crew. The
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 astronauts, now back on solid ground since
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 March, have been undergoing intensive
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 physical therapy as part of the standard 45
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 day reconditioning period for long duration
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 space travellers. Wilmore, who is
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 62, described the challenging readjustment to
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 Earth's gravity in a recent interview, noting
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 that gravity stinks for a period as
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 astronauts deal with balance issues and
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 muscle weakness as after extended time in
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 microgravity. Williams, 59,
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 shared that some of her post spaceflight side
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 effects were slower to resolve. She
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 experienced significant fatigue during the
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 later stages of recovery as dozens of muscles
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 re engaged after months of disuse. The
00:02:07 --> 00:02:08 veteran astronaut couldn't maintain her
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 preferred early morning routine until
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 recently when she happily reported then
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 I'm up at 4 in the morning and I'm like aha,
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 uh-huh, I'm back. For
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 Wilmore, the return to Earth reintroduced him
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 to some familiar discomfort. He had
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 experienced neck pain before his mission that
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 completely disappeared in the weightlessness
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 of space. Remarkably, he
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 felt that same pain return while still in the
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 Starliner capsule bobbing in the ocean even
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 before extraction teams had reached them. The
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 human body, having evolved over millions of
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 years in Earth's gravity undergoes
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 significant changes during spaceflight.
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 Without gravity's constant pull, astronauts
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 experience muscle atrophy, cardiovascular
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 shifts and other physical changes that
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 require dedicated rehabilitation upon return.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 While recovering physically, both astronauts
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 have been ramping up their work schedules
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 with Boeing's Starliner programme, NASA's
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 Space Station Operations in Houston, and
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 agency researchers. Williams described
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 the past months as a bit of a whirlwind
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 as they balance their recovery with
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 professional obligations. Meanwhile,
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 NASA faces important decisions regarding
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 Boeing's troubled Starliner programme.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 Williams has publicly advocated for requiring
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 Boeing to fly Starliner uncrewed before
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 putting humans aboard again, calling it the
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 logical thing to do and drawing comparisons
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 to SpaceX and Russian spacecraft that
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 underwent similar safety validation.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 NASA officials have indicated that that
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 additional testing, planned throughout the
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 summer, will determine whether Starliner can
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 carry humans on its next flight.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 As you know, I love a good mystery here on
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 Astronomy Daily. And here's Today's
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 Scientists have discovered a truly puzzling
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 cosmic object that's breaking all the rules
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 of what we thought we knew about stars. It's
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 called ASCAP J
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 1832, and what makes it so
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 extraordinary is its unusual pulsing
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 behaviour. It sends out bursts of energy
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 every 44 minutes with clockwork precision.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 ASCAP J1832 belongs to a
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 rare category known as long period radio
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 transients, which were only first discovered
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 in 2022. Unlike typical pulsars that
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 flash multiple times per second, these
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 objects pulse much more slowly. But what
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 truly sets ASCAP J1832 apart
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 is that it's the first of its kind to emit
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 both radio waves and X rays on the exact same
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 44 minute cycle. This groundbreaking
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 discovery came through the combined
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 observations of NASA's powerful Chandra X Ray
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 Observatory and Australia's ASCAP radio
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 telescope. When scientists created composite
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 images using data from these telescopes,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 along with infrared information from NASA's
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 Spitzer Space Telescope, they revealed a
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 vivid portrait of this stellar enigma. The
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 mystery deepened when researchers noticed
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 that ASCAP J
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 1832's emissions
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 faded dramatically over a six month period in
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 both radio and X ray wavelengths. This
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 combination of short term pulses with long
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 term changes makes it unlike anything
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 previously observed in our Milky Way galaxy.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 Astronomers are struggling to explain what
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 could cause such behaviour. ASCAP
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 J1832 doesn't
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 fit neatly into any known category of stellar
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 objects. It's unlikely to be a typical pulsar
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 or a neutron star pulling material from a
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 companion star because the intensities of its
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 radio and X ray signals don't match what we'd
00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 expect. Some of its properties suggest it
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 could be an extremely magnetic neutron star,
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 what astronomers call a Magnetar that's over
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 500 years old. However, other
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 features, like its bright and variable radio
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 emission, are difficult to explain for such
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 an aged magnetar. Initially,
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 scientists thought ASCAP J1832
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 might be associated with a nearby supernova
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 remnant, as these exploded stars often
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 contain neutron stars. However,
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 further investigations suggested this
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 proximity is likely just coincidence. The
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 research team is now considering more exotic
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 possibilities, including that it might be a
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 white dwarf star with a companion. If true,
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 it would require the strongest magnetic field
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 ever recorded for a white dwarf in our
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 galaxy. For now, ASC
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 APJ1832 remains a, one of a kind
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 cosmic mystery that could potentially
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 represent an entirely new class of
00:06:26 --> 00:06:27 astronomical objects.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 Next up Today, China has taken a major step
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 forward in its space exploration programme
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 with the successful launch of the Tianwen 2
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 probe, the country's first ever asteroid
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 sample return mission. A long March 3rd B
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 rocket carrying the spacecraft blasted off
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 from the Sichung launch site in southwestern
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 Sichuan Province early Thursday morning local
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 time. About 18 minutes after liftoff,
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 the probe was successfully inserted into its
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 transfer orbit from Earth to asteroid
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 20002016 HO3, also known
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 by its official name, Kamo Oalawa. The
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 China National Space Administration confirmed
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 that the spacecraft deployed its solar panels
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 as planned and declared the launch a complete
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 success. This ambitious mission targets what
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 scientists describe as a living fossil
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 asteroid. Measuring between 40 to 100
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 metres in diameter, Kamu' Oalawa orbits
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 relatively close to Earth and consists of
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 ancient materials that could provide crucial
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 insights and into the formation of our early
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 solar system. What makes Chen Wei
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 particularly interesting is its complex
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 mission profile. The spacecraft will spend
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 approximately 30 months on its journey to and
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 from the asteroid. Once it arrives, it will
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 perform two different types of sample
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 collection. First, the probe will touch down
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 on the asteroid's surface to collect material
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 using a drill. Then it will perform a touch
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 and go sample collection similar to NASA's
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 Osiris Rex mission. In total, the
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 spacecraft aims to collect about 1000 grammes
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 of asteroid material. But the mission doesn't
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 end there. After delivering the precious
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 samples back to Earth, the main spacecraft
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 will continue its journey through space.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 Using Earth's gravity as a slingshot. Tianwen
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 2 will be redirected toward a fascinating
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 object called 311P
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 Panstars in the main asteroid belt between
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 Mars and Jupiter. This second target is
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 particularly intriguing to scientists because
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 it exhibits characteristics of both asteroids
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 and comets, making it a valuable subject for
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 further investigation. The entire mission is
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 expected to last approximately a decade. This
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 latest achievement represents another
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 significant milestone in China's rapidly
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 advancing space programme, which President Xi
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 Jinping has described as the country's space
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 dream. In recent years,
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 China has established its own space station,
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 landed rovers on Mars and the moon, and is
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 planning crewed lunar missions later this
00:08:49 --> 00:08:49 decade.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 It's been an exceptionally busy week in the
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 rocket launch sector, with multiple missions
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 taking off from launch pads around the world.
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 SpaceX continues its rapid fire cadence with
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 several Starlink deployments already underway
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 or scheduled in the coming days. On
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 Wednesday, a Falcon 9 rocket thundered off
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 Centre in Florida carrying 27 Starlink
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 Despite only a 60% chance of favourable
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 weather, SpaceX managed to launch right
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 at the beginning of their four hour window.
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 The mission used booster B1080, which
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 incredibly was flying for its 19th time,
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 a remarkable testament to SpaceX's
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 reusability programme. Looking ahead,
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 SpaceX has at least two more launches planned
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 this week. On Friday, they're scheduled to
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 launch the GPS 3 SV08 mission
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 for the US Space Force from Cape Canaveral.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 This mission was actually originally assigned
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 to ULA's Vulcan rocket before being
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 reassigned to Falcon 9. Then just one minute
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 after the GPS launch window opens in Florida,
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 another Falcon 9 is set to lift off from
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 with yet another batch of Starlink
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 satellites. Then early next week,
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 SpaceX has scheduled Starlink Group 12th 9 to
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 launch from Cape Canaveral, continuing their
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 rapid deployment of their Internet
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 constellation. China has also been active
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 beyond the Tianwen 2 mission we just
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 discussed. The China Aerospace Science and
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 Technology Corporation launched another
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 mission on Thursday using a, Changjiang
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 2D rocket from the Jukwan satellite launch
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 Centre. The payload for this particular
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 flight remains undisclosed, marking the fifth
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 Changjiang 2D mission of 2025 and
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 the 99th overall for this reliable Chinese
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 launch vehicle. Meanwhile, Blue Origin is
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 preparing for its fourth New Shepard mission
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 of the year. Scheduled for Saturday morning.
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 This suborbital flight will lift off from
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 their West Texas facility carrying six
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 passengers just above the Carmen line, where
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 they'll experience a brief period of
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 weightlessness before the capsule returns to
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 Earth. This will be New Shepard's
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 12th crewed flight overall, continuing to
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 advance private human spaceflight
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 capabilities. Rocket Lab had planned a
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 launch of their electron rocket from New
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 Zealand this week, but They've postponed
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 until June 3rd due to additional checks
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 needed and unfavourable weather conditions at
00:11:12 --> 00:11:13 the launch site.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 Finally today, please don't let this news
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 keep you up at night. But I've got some
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 potentially unsettling news about Earth's
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 cosmic future. New computer simulations have
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 revealed, a previously underestimated risk to
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 our planet's orbit. While it's not exactly
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 time to panic, the findings are certainly
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 intriguing. Astronomers Nathan Kaib from
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 the Planetary Science Institute and Sean
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 Raymond from the University of Bordeaux have
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 discovered that passing stars could disrupt
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 our solar system in ways we hadn't fully
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 appreciated before. Their research
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 shows that these stellar flybys could
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 exacerbate an existing vulnerability in our
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 planetary neighbourhood. It turns out Mercury
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 is the potential troublemaker here. The
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 innermost planet already has a fairly
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 elliptical orbit, and Jupiter's gravitational
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 influence can make that orbit even more oval
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 shaped over time. What these new simulations
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 reveal is that when you add the gravitational
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 effects of passing stars, Mercury's orbit can
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 become dramatically more eccentric. Once
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 Mercury goes haywire, chaos can unfold.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 In typical scenarios, Mercury might collide
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 with Venus or plunge into the Sun. But the
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 resulting orbital disruption can then trigger
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 a cascade of planetary instability. In some
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 simulations, Venus or Mars crash into Earth,
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 or Earth itself collides with the Sun.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 Another possibility is that Venus and Mars
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 could gravitationally slingshot Earth toward
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 Jupiter, which could then eject our planet
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 from the solar system entirely. Before you
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 start planning for cosmic doom, the
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 researchers emphasise that the probability of
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 such catastrophes is extremely low.
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 Over the next 5 billion years, roughly the
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 remaining lifespan of our sun, there's only a
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 0.2% chance of Earth meeting such a
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 fate. However, that's significantly higher
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 than previous studies had calculated, as they
00:13:01 --> 00:13:02 didn't fully account for the cumulative
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 effects of passing stars. The most
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 dangerous scenarios involve stars that pass
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 particularly close to our solar system,
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 within 100 times Earth's distance from the
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 sun. Or stars that move relatively slowly,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 extending their gravitational influence.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 There's about a 5% chance of such a close
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 stellar encounter over the next 5 billion
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 years. Interestingly, the simulation
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 suggests that distant Pluto faces even
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 greater risks despite its protective
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 orbital resonance with Neptune. Passing stars
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 could disrupt this arrangement, giving Pluto
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 a 4% chance of being ejected or colliding
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 with a planet over the same timeframe, 20
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 times the risk Earth faces. While these
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 cosmic timescales far exceed human planning
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 horizons, they provide fascinating insights
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 into the long term dynamics of our solar
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 system and remind us that even in space,
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 nothing lasts forever.
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 And with that cheery news, I'll conclude our
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 cosmic journey for today on Astronomy Daily.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 From astronauts readjusting to Earth's
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 gravity after an extended space mission to
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 mysterious pulsing stars, asteroid sample
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 missions, and even the potential long term
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 fate of our planet, the universe continues to
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 surprise and fascinate us. I'm
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 Anna and I hope these stories have sparked
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 your curiosity about the vast cosmos we're
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 all a part of. The beauty of astronomy is
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 that there's always something new to
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 discover, whether it's a strange stellar
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 object pulsing every 44 minutes, or
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 understanding how our own planet is might
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 navigate cosmic challenges billions of years
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 from now. If you'd like to stay connected
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 with the latest developments in space and
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 astronomy, please visit our website at
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 astronomydaily IO where you can sign up
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 for our free daily newsletter. Our site
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 features a constantly updating news feed with
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 all the latest space and astronomy news. As
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 it happens. Don't forget to subscribe to this
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 so you never miss an episode. Your support
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 helps us continue bringing these fascinating
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 stories to you, and if you could, a review
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 would be greatly appreciated too. Thank
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 you for listening to Astronomy Daily. Until
00:15:15 --> 00:15:16 next time, keep looking up
00:15:27 --> 00:15:27 The story.