- SpaceX's Ninth Starship Test Flight: Join us as we explore the rollercoaster journey of SpaceX's ninth Starship test flight. Witness the impressive achievements of the Super Heavy booster, the first to be reused, and the challenges faced during the mission, including the dramatic loss of the second stage during its descent.
- A Major Discovery in the Outer Solar System: Exciting news for planetary scientists as a newly confirmed dwarf planet, 2017 of 201, is revealed. This significant find, measuring approximately 700 kilometres across, challenges existing theories about the outer solar system and hints at more undiscovered celestial bodies lurking in the shadows.
- The Future of Europa: Delve into the intriguing possibilities for Europa as our sun evolves. In about 12 billion years, this icy moon could develop a tenuous water vapour atmosphere, potentially creating a brief window for habitability as it shifts into the habitable zone.
- Rare Binary Star System Discovery: Discover the remarkable findings from Chinese astronomers who identified a rare binary star system featuring a pulsar whose radiation is intermittently blocked by its companion star. This observation sheds light on stellar evolution and the dynamics of binary systems.
- Expanding the Search for Life to Exomoons: A new study suggests that moons orbiting giant planets could be more common sites for habitability than previously thought. Researchers model how large exomoons might form and thrive, expanding our understanding of where to look for extraterrestrial life.
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 - SpaceX's ninth Starship test flight
10:00 - A major discovery in the outer solar system
15:30 - The future of Europa
20:00 - Rare binary star system discovery
25:00 - Expanding the search for life to exomoons
✍️ Episode References
SpaceX Updates
[SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/)
Dwarf Planet Discovery
[Institute for Advanced Study](https://www.ias.edu/)
Europa Research
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Binary Star System Findings
[National Astronomical Observatories of China](http://www.naoc.cas.cn/)
Exomoon Study
[Astronomy and Astrophysics](https://www.aanda.org/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 your host, Anna, bringing you the latest and
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 most fascinating developments from across the
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 cosmos. Today we've got a great lineup of
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 stories that showcase both human ingenuity
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 and the wonders of our universe. We'll
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 dive into SpaceX's ninth Starship test
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 flight, a mission with impressive successes,
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 but also some dramatic setbacks along the
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 way. Then we'll explore a significant new
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 discovery in our own solar system. A a dwarf
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 planet that's been hiding in plain sight for
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 years and represents the largest such find in
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 over a decade. We'll also journey to
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 Europa and examine its potential future
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 habitability, peek at a bizarre star within a
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 star system and investigate new research
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 suggesting habitable moons might be more
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 common than we thought. So get comfortable
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 and join me for a journey through the latest
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 astronomical discoveries that continue to
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 expand our understanding of the universe we
00:00:55 --> 00:00:56 call home.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 First up today, SpaceX's Starship
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 Super Rocket completed its ninth flight test
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 recently and it was quite the rollercoaster
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 of achievements and challenges. The launch
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 began impressively at SpaceX's starbase in
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 Texas, with the massive 400 foot tall
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 rocket lifting off as planned. The first
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 stage booster, known as Super Heavy,
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 performed Beautifully with all 33 methane
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 fueled engines firing perfectly, generating
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 an astonishing 16.7 million pounds
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 of thrust, more than twice the power of the
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 Saturn 5 rockets from the Apollo era.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 What made this launch particularly notable
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 was that this marked the first time SpaceX
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 reused a Super heavy booster, as this
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 same first stage had previously flown during
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 January's seventh test flight. The successful
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 reuse represents a significant milestone in
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 SpaceX's quest for rapid reusability of its
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 rocket components. However, the mission
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 encountered several significant challenges.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 Once the second stage, known as ship,
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 separated from the booster, the planned
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 deployment of eight Starlink satellite
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 simulators had to be scrubbed when SHIP
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 couldn't open its payload doors. This would
00:02:07 --> 00:02:08 have been Starship's first ever payload
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 deployment, making the failure particularly
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 disappointing. Things went from bad to worse
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 as SHIP continued its journey. As it headed
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 toward a scheduled splashdown in the Indian
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 Ocean, it began spinning uncontrollably.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 SpaceX commentators reported that the second
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 stage had lost attitude control, apparently
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 due to propellant leaks. The spacecraft
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 ultimately broke up during its uncontrolled
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 descent over a cleared area of ocean. Despite
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 these setbacks, the test flight wasn't
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 without its successes. The super heavy
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 booster executed several challenging
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 manoeuvres after stage separation, including
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 a directional flip over and maintaining a
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 heightened angle of attack. Both techniques
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 aimed at improving fuel efficiency for future
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 missions. The booster also demonstrated its
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 ability to maintain controlled descent even
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 when simulating a single engine failure.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remained
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 characteristically optimistic, noting on
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 social media that Starship made it to the
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 scheduled engine cutoff point, which
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 represented a significant improvement over
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 previous flights. He also highlighted that
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 there was no significant loss of heat shield
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 tiles during ascent, another important
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 achievement. Looking ahead, Musk
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 indicated that SpaceX plans to accelerate its
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 launch cadence for the next three Starship
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 flights, aiming for approximately one launch
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 every three to four weeks. This aggressive
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 schedule reflects SpaceX's determination to
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 rapidly iterate and improve the Starship
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 system. This persistence is crucial
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 given Starship's central role in NASA's
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 Artemis programme, where a version of the
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 spacecraft is slated to serve as the landing
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 system for the Artemis 3 mission, which would
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 mark humanity's return to the lunar surface.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 Beyond moon missions, SpaceX has even
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 more ambitious plans, with Musk suggesting
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 that starship flights to Mars could begin as
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 early as 2024. While that timeline
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 seems extraordinarily ambitious, the
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 company's approach of testing, failing,
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 learning, and rapidly improving continues to
00:04:07 --> 00:04:08 push the boundaries of what's possible in
00:04:08 --> 00:04:09 space exploration.
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 Now let's turn our attention to discovery. In
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 exciting news for planetary scientists, a
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 newly discovered object in the outer solar
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 system has been confirmed as a dwarf planet,
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 the largest such discovery in more than a
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 decade. Currently bearing the
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 preliminary designation 2017 of
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 201, this celestial body measures
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 approximately 700 kilometres, about 400
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 miles across, and follows an extremely
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 elliptical orbit around our sun.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 What makes this orbit particularly remarkable
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 is its lengthy duration, taking an
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 estimated 25 years to complete a single
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 circuit around the sun. This places
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 2017 of 201 in the
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 exclusive category of dwarf planets,
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 alongside more familiar objects like Pluto,
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 the asteroid Ceres, and a handful of other
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 similar bodies in the outer solar system.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 The discovery story is almost as fascinating
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 as the object itself is. The dwarf planet was
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 hiding in plain sight, buried within
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 terabytes of publicly available astronomical
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 data, some of which was collected more than a
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 decade ago. Finding this celestial needle in
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 a haystack required months of computational
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 work to distinguish it from the countless
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 background stars and noise. The
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 detection came through painstaking analysis
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 of data originally collected for the Dark
00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 Energy Survey, or ds. While
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 that project primarily focuses on studying
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 gravitational lensing in distant galaxies,
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 the survey's ability to detect extremely
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 faint objects made it inadvertently perfect
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 for hunting distant solar system objects.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 Sihao Cheng from the Institute for Advanced
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 Study led the discovery team, noting that
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 while in principle anyone could have made
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 this discovery using the public data, the
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 process was extraordinarily demanding.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 Developing the algorithm alone took several
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 months, followed by additional months of
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 computation. And as they scanned through
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 roughly 200 terabytes of data using hundreds
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 of processors, what made the search
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 particularly challenging was the widely
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 separated observation dates. Unlike
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 targeted asteroid searches that typically
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 take successive exposures separated by hours
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 or days, these images were often separated
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 by months or even years, containing numerous
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 points of light from unrelated objects that
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 needed to be filtered out. After identifying
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 the object in DES data, the team confirmed
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 its existence by locating it in another
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 public data set from the Canada France
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 Hawaii Telescope. In total, they
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 found 19 observations of the object spanning
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 from 2011 to 2017, all
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 showing it exactly where their orbital
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 calculations predicted. The extreme
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 elongation of 2017 of
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 201's orbit means it's only visible over a
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 tiny fraction of its journey around the sun,
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 too faint to detect for more than 99% of its
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 orbit. This suggests there could be many
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 more similar objects lurking undetected at
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 the edges of our solar system. M
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 Interestingly, this discovery has
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 implications for the hypothesised Planet X
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 or Planet nine. Some astronomers have
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 suggested this unknown planet's gravitational
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 influence explains the clustered orbits of
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 certain trans neptunian objects. However,
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 2017 of 201's
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 orbit doesn't fit this pattern, potentially
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 challenging the Planet X hypothesis, though
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 debate continues among experts about what
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 this new discovery actually tells us about
00:07:36 --> 00:07:37 our outer solar system.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 Next on the story list today. While Europa is
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 currently an icy world with a subsurface
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 ocean, its distant future might hold
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 something remarkable. In about 12 billion
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 years, when our sun exhausts its hydrogen
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 fuel and enters the red giant phase of its
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 evolution, the habitable zone of our solar
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 system will dramatically shift outward from
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 its current position. This cosmic
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 relocation of real estate suitable for liquid
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 water will eventually encompass Jupiter and
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 its moons, potentially transforming Europa in
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 fascinating ways. Researchers estimate that
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 as the expanding sun grows more luminous,
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 Europa could develop and maintain a tenuous
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 water vapour atmosphere for several hundred
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 thousand years. The process begins with the
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 Sun's inevitable evolution. After spending
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 billions of years as a stable main sequence
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 star, our sun will eventually deplete its
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 core hydrogen fuel. This triggers the fusion
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 of heavier elements like helium, causing the
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 Sun's outer envelope to expand dramatically.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 During this red giant phase, the sun will
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 grow hundreds of times larger than its
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 current size, engulfing Mercury and Venus
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 entirely while rendering Earth unless
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 uninhabitable. However, for the
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 outer planets, this stellar evolution creates
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 new possibilities. Computer models suggest
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 that Jupiter's system will enter the red
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 giant branch habitable zone in about 12
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 billion years when it's approximately 2
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 astronomical units from the expanding sun,
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 less than half its current distance, Jupiter
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 itself will likely develop bright water
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 clouds in its upper atmosphere as it
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 experiences the increased solar radiation.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 More intriguingly, Europa's surface ices will
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 begin to sublimate under the influence of
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 both the brighter Jupiter and the expanded
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 Sun. Much like dry ice sizzling away
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 in sunlight, Europa's frozen surface will
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 transform directly from solid to vapour.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 While most of this sublimated ice will escape
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 to space, simulations suggest some
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 water vapour will remain bound to Europa for
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 approximately 200 years before being
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 completely lost. During this brief
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 cosmic window, Europa might actually be
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 considered habitable. Though whether this
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 timespan is sufficient for life to emerge and
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 thrive remains an open question.
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 This scenario offers valuable insights for
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 astronomers studying exoplanetary systems
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 around sun like stars. As we identify more
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 exoplanets and potentially exomoons,
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 understanding how these worlds evolve
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 alongside their ageing stars becomes
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 increasingly important. The fate of Europa
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 serves as a model for what might happen to
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 similar icy worlds in distant star systems.
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 Now for something pretty rare. In a
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 remarkable discovery, Chinese astronomers
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 have identified an extremely rare type of
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 binary star system that gives us a glimpse
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 into a fleeting phase of stellar evolution.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 Using the 500 metre aperture spherical radio
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 Telescope, also known as the China Sky Eye,
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 researchers led by Han Jin Lin from the
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 National Astronomical Observatories of China
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 detected a unique pulsar designated
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 PSRJ 1928 1815.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 Located about 455 light years away,
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 this system features something astronomers
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 have long theorised but rarely observed a
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 pulsar whose radiation pulses are
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 occasionally blocked by its companion star
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 every few hours. What makes this
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 discovery particularly special is that the
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 two stars are actually orbiting inside a
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 common envelope of hydrogen gas. Pulsars
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 themselves aren't uncommon. Scientists have
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 identified nearly 3 in our galaxy
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 alone. These dense stellar remnants form
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 after massive stars explode as supernovae.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 As they rotate, they emit beams of
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 electromagnetic radiation from their magnetic
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 poles that sweep across space like lighthouse
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 beams. When one of these beams crosses Earth,
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 we detect it as a regular pulse of radio
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 waves. But the PSR
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 J1928 1815 system
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 captures a critical moment in binary star
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 evolution. In these systems, the heavier star
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 ages faster and eventually collapses into a
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 neutron star, or pulsar. Meanwhile, the
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 smaller companion star loses material to its
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 dense partner, causing them to share a common
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 envelope of hydrogen gas for a relatively
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 short period. Astronomically speaking, the
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 two stars orbit within this shared envelope.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 Over approximately 1 years, the neutron
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 star gradually clears away this envelope,
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 eventually leaving behind a hot helium
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 burning star orbiting the neutron star. This
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 observation provides compelling evidence
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 supporting long standing theories about how
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 stars in binary systems exchange mass,
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 shrink their orbits and eject shared gas
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 envelopes. Understanding these processes
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 helps astronomers piece together the complex
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 puzzle of stellar evolution, neutron star
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 behaviour, and how such pairs eventually
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 merge to produce gravitational waves. The
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 discovery is particularly significant because
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 binary systems are extremely common in our
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 galaxy. More than half of all stars
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 exist as part of binary or multiple star
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 systems, their gravitational dance shaping
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 their evolution in dramatic ways. In some
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 cases, one star's gravity can drag material
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 from its companion, leading to explosive
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 events like novae or even supernovae.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 With increasingly powerful telescopes like
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 fast, astronomers hope to find more of these
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 rare cosmic pairs, further illuminating the
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 processes that shape stars throughout their
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 lifetimes and after their deaths.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 Finally today, while we've focused much
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 of our search for extraterrestrial life on
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 Earth like exoplanets, a fascinating new
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 study suggests we should broaden our horizons
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 to include moons orbiting giant planets.
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 Researchers from Hungary and the Netherlands
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 have published compelling findings about the
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 potential habitability of exomoons in the
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 Their study, titled Grand Theft
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 Formation of Habitable Moons Around Giant
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 Planets, used complex simulations to
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 investigate how moons form around giant
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 exoplanets and whether these moons could
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 support life. The team, led by
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 Zoltan Denks from the Hun Ren Research Centre
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, focused
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 specifically on the formation of large moons
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 in circumplanetary discs, the rotating
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 collections of material that remain after a
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 planet forms. The researchers
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 examined 461 known giant
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 exoplanets, modelling how lunar embryos might
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 grow through collisions within these discs.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 Their simulations revealed that moons with
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 masses between Mars and Earth could form
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 around planets roughly 10 times the size of
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 Jupiter, with many potentially habitable.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 Perhaps most interestingly, the study found
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 that the optimal distance for habitable
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 exomoons is between 1 and 2
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 astronomical units from their stars.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 Beyond this range, tidal heating rather than
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 stellar radiation becomes the primary heat
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 source for these moons. This is similar to
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 what we see in our own solar system, where
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 moons like Europa and Enceladus likely
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 harbour subsurface oceans warmed by tidal
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 flexing rather than direct sunlight. The
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 simulations also showed that as distance from
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 the star increases, more moons tend to form,
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 but their masses become too small to maintain
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 habitability. Meanwhile, closer to the star,
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 fewer but more massive moons form, with more
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 being lost to stellar theft, where the star's
00:15:08 --> 00:15:09 gravity pulls them away from their host
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 planet. While astronomers haven't
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 definitively confirmed the existence of any
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 exomoons yet several candidates have been
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 identified. The James Webb Space Telescope is
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 currently examining potential exomoon
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 candidates. And the European Space Agency's
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 upcoming PLATO mission may also be capable
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 of detecting these distant moons.
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 This research effectively expands our
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 definition of the habitable zone to include
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 moons orbiting giant planets. As one
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 researcher put it, the circumstellar
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 habitable zone can be extended to moons
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 around giant planets, potentially multiplying
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 the number of worlds where we might someday
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 find evidence of life.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 Well, that's all for today's episode of
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 Astronomy Daily. What an incredible journey
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 through space we've taken from watching
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 SpaceX push the boundaries of rocket
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 technology despite setbacks to discovering
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 a massive new dwarf planet that was
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 hiding in plain sight within existing data.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 We've peered into the distant future where
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 Europa might briefly become habitable as our
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 sun expands, and witnessed the bizarre
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 spectacle of a pulsar orbiting inside another
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 star. Perhaps most tantalising is the
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 possibility that habitable moons may be far
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 more common than we once thought, potentially
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 expanding our search for life beyond
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 traditional Earth like planets. Each
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 of these stories reminds us that the universe
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 remains full of surprises, constantly
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 challenging our assumptions about what's
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 possible as our tools and techniques for
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 observation continue to improve. From
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 powerful radio telescopes like FAST to the
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 upcoming PLATO mission, we stand on the
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 threshold of even more remarkable
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 discoveries. The cosmos is vast and
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 ancient, yet we're learning new things about
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 it every day. Thank you for joining me on
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna, and I'll see
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 you again tomorrow as we continue to explore
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 the wonders of our universe together. In the
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 meantime, keep looking up in wonder.