Rockets Across Continents, A Black Hole's Jet Unveiled, and Rain of Rubies on Distant World
Astronomy Daily: Space News UpdatesJune 17, 2026x
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Rockets Across Continents, A Black Hole's Jet Unveiled, and Rain of Rubies on Distant World

A launch-packed Wednesday kicks off with two rocket milestones — SpaceX's BlueBird 8-10 direct-to-cell satellite launch and Ariane 6's record-breaking Amazon Leo flight — followed by a splashdown update for the science-laden Dragon CRS-34. Then a Chandra double-header delivers the most detailed X-ray view ever of M87's famous black hole jet, plus the discovery of possible supernova wreckage at the very heart of the Milky Way. We close with JWST's extraordinary weather portrait of WASP-121b — a planet where the rain is made of rubies and sapphires. Story Summaries & Key Facts Story 1 — SpaceX BlueBird 8-10 Launch • Launched: 2:39 a.m. EDT, 17 June 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (SLC-40) • Vehicle: SpaceX Falcon 9 (booster B1077, 29th flight) • Booster recovery: drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas', Atlantic Ocean • Payload: AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 8, 9 & 10 (Block 2 next-generation satellites) • Antenna array: ~2,400 sq ft each — largest commercial phased arrays in LEO • Peak data speed: 120 Mbps per coverage cell (nearly double Block 1) • Processing bandwidth: 10 GHz per satellite • Goal: space-based cellular broadband direct to standard smartphones • AST network partners: 50+ MNOs including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone (~3 billion subscribers) Story 2 — Ariane 6 Record Payload • Mission: VA269 / LE-03 (Amazon Leo 3rd Ariane 6 flight; 8th Ariane 6 overall; 3rd of 2026) • Launch site: Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana • Payload: 36 Amazon Leo broadband satellites — heaviest Ariane payload ever (~20,820 kg) • First flight of upgraded P160C solid rocket boosters (debut; replaces P120C) • P160C improvement: +1 metre longer, carries 156 tonnes propellant each (+10% performance) • Ariane 64 LEO capacity with P160C: ~22 tonnes • Previous flights each carried 32 satellites; today's adds 4 more • Arianespace milestone: 100 Amazon Leo satellites launched in under 5 months • Next Ariane 6 launch: 28 August (2-booster configuration; likely Meteosat-14) Story 3 — Dragon CRS-34 Splashdown (Update) • UPDATE on yesterday's S05E116 story (undocking reported 16 June 2026) • Dragon CRS-34 splashed down off Southern California coast, 17 June 2026 (~5:08 a.m. PDT) • Capsule: Cargo Dragon 2 (C209, 6th flight); undocked ~12:25 p.m. EDT 16 June • Science returned: bioprinted organ/cartilage tissue; DNA-inspired cancer treatment materials • Also returned: blood-forming stem cells; cryogenic propellant storage experiment data • Dragon is the ONLY ISS cargo vehicle capable of returning cargo to Earth intact • Time-sensitive samples flown by helicopter from recovery ship to Kennedy Space Center • CRS-34 launched 15 May 2026; delivered ~6,500 lbs cargo to Expedition 74 crew Story 4 — Chandra / M87 Jet (Double-Header Part 1) • Published: 15 June 2026; presented at 248th AAS Meeting, Pasadena, CA • Lead researcher: Camille Poitras (PhD student, Laval University, Canada) • M87* mass: 6.5 billion solar masses; distance: ~55 million light-years • M87* was the first black hole ever directly imaged (Event Horizon Telescope, 2019) • Data span: Chandra observations 2012–2025, processed with advanced deconvolution • Key finding 1: Two distinct components revealed in feature HST-1 (previously blended) • Key finding 2: Global X-ray emission decrease of up to 84% — consistent with synchrotron cooling • Key finding 3: Jet features show both quasi-stationary and superluminal apparent motion • Multi-wavelength: Chandra + JWST + Hubble + VLA + ALMA combined • Significance: most detailed evolving picture of any black hole jet ever produced Story 5 — Chandra / Galactic Centre Supernova (Double-Header Part 2) • Published: Astrophysical Journal, released 14–15 June 2026 • Lead: Zhenlin Zhu et al. (UCLA); data from Chandra + ESA XMM-Newton + MeerKAT + Pan-STARRS • Location: Sagittarius C complex, ~26,000 light-years from Earth • Finding: possible supernova remnant (diffuse X-ray emission) near Sgr A* • If confirmed: closest supernova remnant ever found to Sagittarius A* • Estimated age of explosion: ~1,700 years ago (approx. 3rd–4th century CE) • Ejection speed: ~2 million mph; brightens region ~10x vs nearby star clusters • Galactic centre context: extreme region of massive stars, magnetic threads, fast-orbiting gas • Importance: SNRs supply iron, oxygen, silicon — key ingredients for planet/life formation Story 6 — JWST / WASP-121b • Published: June 2026 (JWST new observational results); story filed 16 June 2026 • Planet: WASP-121b — ultra-hot Jupiter, ~855 light-years away, constellation Puppis • Size: ~1.75–2× Jupiter; tidally locked (one side always faces its star) • Orbital period: just 30.5 hours (one of the shortest known) • Dayside temperature: ~3,000°C (hot enough to vaporise metals including iron, aluminium) • Wind speed: ~18,000 km/h, carrying vaporised metals from dayside to nightside • Ruby/sapphire rain: aluminium + oxygen → corundum (Al₂O₃) → with impurities = ruby/sapphire • JWST delivered: most detailed 3D atmospheric weather portrait of any exoplanet to date • Broader context: marks shift from 2D snapshots to full 3D atmospheric modelling of exoplanets

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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Rockets on two continents, the

00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 most detailed look ever at a jet

00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 screaming out of the first black hole

00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 humanity ever photographed, and a

00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 planet where the rain is made of rubies

00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 and sapphires. It is Wednesday

00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 17th June

00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 2026 and this is Astronomy

00:00:21 --> 00:00:22 M Daily.

00:00:23 --> 00:00:23 Avery: I'm Avery.

00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 Anna: And I'm Anna. We have got a

00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 packed show for you today, including a

00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 Chandra double header that we are very

00:00:31 --> 00:00:32 excited about.

00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 Avery: Plus a quick but important update on a

00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 Dragon capsule that splashed down this

00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 morning carrying some genuinely remarkable

00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 science from the International Space Station.

00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 Anna: Let's get into it.

00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 Avery: Our first story comes from Cape Canaveral,

00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 where SpaceX kicked off today very early this

00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 morning by launching three of the biggest

00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 commercial communications satellites ever put

00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 into low Earth orbit.

00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 Anna: These are AST Space Mobile's

00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 Bluebird 8, 9 and 10, the

00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 latest additions to what the company is

00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 calling the first and only space based

00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 cellular broadband network that connects

00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 directly to ordinary smartphones. No

00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 special hardware, no satellite phone,

00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 just the device already in your pocket.

00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 Avery: The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch

00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 Complex 40 at uh, Cape Canaveral Space Force

00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 Station at 2:39 in the morning Eastern

00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 Time. The BO

00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 B1007 on its 29th flight

00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 came back down on the drone ship, a shortfall

00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 of gravitas in the Atlantic about eight and a

00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 half minutes later. Business as usual for

00:01:38 --> 00:01:39 SpaceX.

00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 Anna: But the satellites themselves are anything

00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 but routine. These block 2

00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 bluebirds are a major leap over the first

00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 generation. Each one carries a phased

00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 array spanning nearly 2

00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 square feet, making them the largest

00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 commercial phased arrays ever deployed in

00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 low earth orb. For comparison, the

00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 first generation bluebirds had a raise of

00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 around 693 square feet. So

00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 we're talking about a uh, three and a half

00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 times increase in size

00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 Avery: and that size translates directly to

00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 capability. Each satellite supports 10

00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 gigahertz of processing bandwidth and peak

00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 speeds of 120 megabits per

00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 second per coverage cell. AST Space

00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 Mobile says that's nearly double what the

00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 Block 1 satellites could deliver.

00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 Anna: The company has been racing to build out this

00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 constellation after a setback earlier this

00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 year when a Blue Origin New Glenn

00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 rocket carrying another Bluebird satellite

00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 exploded during a static fire test.

00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 Today's successful launch puts them firmly

00:02:45 --> 00:02:46 back on track.

00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 Avery: AST Space Mobile already has agreements with

00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 over 50 mobile network operators globally,

00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 including AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone,

00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 covering nearly 3 billion subscribers. The

00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 vision is global broadband coverage,

00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 especially for the billions of people in

00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 areas where terrestrial mobile networks

00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 simply don't reach.

00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 Anna: A big morning for space based connectivity

00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 and a reminder of just how fast this

00:03:11 --> 00:03:12 sector is moving.

00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 Story two, and we are staying with launches

00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 because if one rocket spectacular wasn't

00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 enough for a Wednesday morning, Europe

00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 decided to join the party.

00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 Avery: Orion Space launched its Ariane 6 rocket from

00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 the Guiana Space center in Kourou, French

00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 guiana today, carrying

00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 36Amazon Leo broadband

00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 satellites to low Earth orbit. That is the

00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 heaviest payload ever launched by any

00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 Ariane rocket in the entire history of the

00:03:39 --> 00:03:39 program.

00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Anna: To give that some Context, the previous two

00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 Ariane 6Amazon LEO flights

00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 each carried 32 satellites.

00:03:48 --> 00:03:49 Today's mission, designated

00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 VA269, carried four

00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 more. And payload mass is

00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 estimated to be around

00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 45 pounds,

00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 roughly 21 metric tons.

00:04:02 --> 00:04:03 Avery: But here's what makes this launch

00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 particularly noteworthy beyond just a record

00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 payload. Today was the debut flight of the

00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 upgraded P160C solid

00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 rocket boosters. Orion 6 flew today with

00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 four of these new strap on boosters and they

00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 are a significant improvement over the

00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 P120C boosters that have powered

00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 all previous Orion 6 flights.

00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 Anna: The P160C boosters are

00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 1 meter longer inside and can carry

00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 up to 156 tons of

00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 propellant each, a, uh, 10%

00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 increase in performance over the

00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 P120C. That

00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 upgrade pushes Ariane 64's

00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 total payload capacity to

00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 approximately 22 tons in low

00:04:49 --> 00:04:49 Earth orbit.

00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 Avery: Ariane says this is all part of Ariane 6

00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 ramping up rapidly. Less than two years after

00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 its inaugural flight, the rocket is already

00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 undergoing its first major performance

00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 upgrade. And with 18 Ariane six

00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 launches contracted for the Amazon LEO

00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 Constellation alone, the European launch

00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 business looks very healthy indeed.

00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 Anna: This was the eighth Ariane 6 launch

00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 overall, and the third of

00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 2026. And with the successful

00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 deployment of these 36 satellites,

00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 Arianespace has now placed

00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 100Amazon LEO satellites into

00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 orbit in just five months.

00:05:29 --> 00:05:30 That is quite apace.

00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 Avery: A uh, quick but important update now

00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 following on from the story we brought you

00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 yesterday about SpaceX's Dragon

00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 CRS 34 cargo capsule

00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 undocking from the International Space

00:05:42 --> 00:05:42 Station.

00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 Anna: As we told you, the Dragon undocked from the

00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 Harmony Module's forward port at around

00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 12:25 Eastern Time yesterday

00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 afternoon while the station was flying

00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 about 418 km

00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 above the northern Pacific Ocean. And

00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 this morning, right on schedule, it

00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 splashed down off the coast of California,

00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 completing a roughly 17 hour return

00:06:09 --> 00:06:09 journey.

00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 Avery: And um, this is the part that makes this more

00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 than just a logistics story. Dragon CRS

00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 34 is bringing back some of the most

00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 medically significant science payloads the

00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 station has assembled for return in some

00:06:22 --> 00:06:23 time.

00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 Anna: The cargo includes bioprinted organ

00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 and cartilage tissue work that could

00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 eventually transform how we approach

00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 joint repair and transplant medicine.

00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 There are also materials developed for

00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 DNA inspired cancer treatments, but

00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 blood forming stem cells and data from

00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 experiments on improving cryogenic

00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 fuel storage for future deep space

00:06:48 --> 00:06:49 missions.

00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 Avery: It's worth remembering that Dragon is the

00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 only cargo vehicle currently serving the ISS

00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 that can return to Earth intact.

00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 Russia's Progress capsules and Northrop

00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft both burn up on

00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 re entry, taking whatever they carry with

00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 them. Dragon's ability to bring science

00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 home is genuinely irreplaceable right now.

00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 Anna: Time sensitive samples like living cell

00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 cultures are flown by helicopter from the

00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 recovery ship to Kennedy Space center, where

00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 research teams are standing by a, uh,

00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 reminder that space science doesn't pause at

00:07:24 --> 00:07:24 splashdown.

00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 Avery: Story four and the start of our Chandra

00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 double header and what a place to begin with

00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 the most famous black hole in the universe.

00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 Anna: If the name Messier87 rings

00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 a bell, that's because in 2019

00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 it became the first black HOL that

00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 humanity ever directly imaged. The

00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 Event Horizon Telescope captured that

00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 now iconic picture of a glowing ring

00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 of superheated gas surrounding a

00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 dark central shadow. That shadow

00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 is M M87 star, a

00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 supermassive black hole weighing

00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 6.5 billion times the mass of

00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 our sun, located about 55

00:08:07 --> 00:08:08 million light years away.

00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 Avery: And shooting out from that black hole is one

00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 of nature's most extraordinary phenomena,

00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 a jet of particles being blasted into space

00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 at nearly the speed of light, stretching

00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 thousands of light years. We've known about

00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 this jet for a century, but we've never seen

00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 it in quite this level of detail before.

00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 Anna: An international team led by Camille

00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 Poitras, a PhD student at UH

00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 Laval University in Canada, has

00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 produced the most detailed X ray

00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 view ever obtained of that jet by

00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 combining Chandra Observations taken

00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 between 2012 and 2025

00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 with advanced image processing techniques.

00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 The results were presented this week at the

00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 248th meeting of the American

00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 Astronomical Society in Pasadena,

00:08:59 --> 00:08:59 California.

00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 Avery: What the team found is genuinely striking.

00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 The deconvolved images reveal structures

00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 within the jet that were previously too

00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 blended together to distinguish, including

00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 two separate components in a feature called

00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 HST1 and complex morphology

00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 in downstream knots. They also measured a

00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 global decrease in the jet's X ray emission

00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 of up to 84% over the observation

00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 period, which is consistent with a process

00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 called synchrotron cooling.

00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 Anna: In plain English, the particles in the jet

00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 are losing energy as they travel, and we can

00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 now watch that cooling happen in real time

00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 across more than a decade of observations.

00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 Some features of the jet appear to be

00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 essentially stationary, while others are

00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 moving at what looks like faster than the

00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 speed of light, an effect called superluminal

00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 motion that's caused by the geometry of how

00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 we're viewing the jet. Not a violation of

00:09:52 --> 00:09:53 physics.

00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 Avery: The team combined Chandra data with

00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 observations from jwst, the

00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Array

00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 and alma, giving a truly multi

00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 wavelength picture of this extraordinary

00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 object. As one team member put it, these

00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 results demonstrate how uniquely powerful

00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 Chandra remains for tracking the evolution of

00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 extreme phenomena over long timescales.

00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 Anna: 26 years after launch, Chandra is still

00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 delivering first of its kind science. And we

00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 have another example of exactly that coming

00:10:25 --> 00:10:26 up next.

00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 Avery: The second half of our Chandra double header

00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 takes us from 55 million light years away

00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 to much closer to home, to the very center

00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 of our own Milky way galaxy, about

00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 26 light years from Earth.

00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 Anna: Astronomers using data from NASA's Chandra X

00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 Ray Observatory, working alongside ESA's

00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 XM Newton mission, have detected what

00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 appeared appears to be the remnant of a

00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 supernova. A, uh, dead star's explosion in

00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 a remarkable location right near

00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 Sagittarius A, the supermassive

00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 black hole at the heart of the Milky Way

00:10:59 --> 00:11:00 Galaxy.

00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 Avery: If confirmed, this would be the closest

00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 supernova remnant ever discovered to

00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 Sagittarius A. And the neighborhood it was

00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 found in is extraordinary. The galactic

00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 center is an incredibly dense, turbulent

00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 region packed with massive stars, long

00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 threads of magnetic fields and enormous

00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 clouds of gas orbiting the central black hole

00:11:21 --> 00:11:22 at high speed.

00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 Anna: The evidence comes from X ray data from both

00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 Chandra and XM Newton, which showed a

00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 mysterious bright spot in a region called the

00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 Sagittarius C complex. The brightness of this

00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 object is about 10 times greater than other

00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 nearby star clusters, which makes it very

00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 unlikely to simply be a cluster of stars.

00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 The research team believes they're looking at

00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 diffuse gas that has been heated to millions

00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 of degrees by the shockwave of a stellar

00:11:49 --> 00:11:49 explosion.

00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 Avery: The team estimates the star that created this

00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 wreckage exploded around 1700 years ago.

00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 So sometime in the 3rd or 4th century CE,

00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 the exploding star would have ejected

00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 material at around 2 million miles per hour.

00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 And the expanding shock wave is what Chandra

00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 is detecting now as a diffused glow of X

00:12:09 --> 00:12:09 rays.

00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 Anna: This finding was published in the

00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 Astrophysical Journal, and it adds another

00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 piece to our picture of the galactic center,

00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 one of the most extreme and least understood

00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 environments in our own galaxy. The

00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 researchers note that supernova remnants like

00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 this one are, uh, critical suppliers of heavy

00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 elements, iron, oxygen,

00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 silicone that are essential for the formation

00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 of new planets and ultimately for life.

00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 Avery: Two remarkable stories from one remarkable

00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 observatory, Chandra has had quite a week.

00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 Anna: We're closing today's episode with our most

00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 visually spectacular story, a world

00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 so extreme it sounds like science fiction.

00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 But everything we're about to tell you is

00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 real. And it's backed by data from the James

00:12:53 --> 00:12:54 Webb Oscilloscope.

00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 Avery: Meet WASP121B.

00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 This is what astronomers call an ultra hot

00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 Jupiter. A gas giant roughly twice

00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 the size of Jupiter, located about

00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 855 light years from Earth.

00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 It orbits its host star at such an impossibly

00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 close distance that a single year on this

00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 planet lasts just 30 hours. And

00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 because it's so close, it's tidally locked,

00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 meaning one side permanently faces the star

00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 and the other side permanently faces cold,

00:13:26 --> 00:13:27 dark space.

00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 Anna: The dayside temperature reaches around

00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 3 degrees Celsius. That

00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 is hot enough to vaporize metals. On

00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 that scorching dayside, materials like

00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 iron, magnesium, titanium and

00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 aluminum exist as gases. But

00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 as powerful winds blowing at around

00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 18 km per hour

00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 carry those vaporized metals around to the

00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 cooler night side, something

00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 extraordinary happens.

00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 Avery: They condense. And when aluminum

00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 condenses with oxygen, it forms a compound

00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 called corundum. And corundum,

00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 depending on which trace impurities are

00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 present, is the mineral that on Earth, we

00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 call either a sapphire or a ruby.

00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 Anna: So on the night side of

00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 WASP121B, it rains

00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 rubies and sapphires. Not

00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 gemstone quality crystals, but

00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 microscopic droplets of what are

00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 essentially liquid gemstones falling

00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 through the clouds before being swept back to

00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 the dayside by those ferocious winds, where

00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 they vaporize again and the cycle continues.

00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 Avery: New WJST observations have

00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 now given astronomers the most detailed

00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 weather picture ever assembled for this

00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 world, tracking atmospheric dynamics

00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 across both hemispheres in three dimensions.

00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 And researchers describe the planet's

00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 atmosphere as a 3D system, not just

00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 a series of snapshots. And say

00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 WJST gives them the most detailed

00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 glimpses into distant planets ever

00:15:02 --> 00:15:03 obtained.

00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 Anna: To put that in perspective, we are not just

00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 detecting whether a planet has an atmosphere

00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 anymore. We're doing something approaching

00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 weather forecasting for a world nearly

00:15:14 --> 00:15:15 900 light years away.

00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 Avery: And the forecast for tonight on Wasp

00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 121B, winds at

00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 18 kilometers per hour, with a chance

00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 of sapphire showers on the night side. I

00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 would leave the umbrella at home. It almost

00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 certainly won't help.

00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 Anna: That is Astronomy daily for Wednesday,

00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 17 June 2026.

00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 Thank you so much for spending part of your

00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 day with us.

00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, please

00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 subscribe, leave us a review and share the

00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 show with someone who loves space. Every new

00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 listener helps us keep doing what we do.

00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 Anna: Find us at astronomydaily IO for

00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 show notes, episode archives, and more. And

00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 you'll find us on social media. Astrodaily

00:15:57 --> 00:15:58 Pod.

00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 Avery: We'll be back tomorrow with more of the

00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 universe's best stories. Until then, keep

00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 looking up.

00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 Anna: Clear skies, everyone.

00:16:12 --> 00:16:12 The.

00:16:17 --> 00:16:17 Story.