In this episode of Astronomy Daily, host Anna takes us on an exhilarating journey through the latest cosmic discoveries and developments that highlight the ever-evolving nature of our universe. Prepare to be captivated by this week’s stellar lineup of stories that push the boundaries of our understanding of space.
Highlights:
- NASA's SphereX Space Telescope: Join us as we dive into the ambitious mission of NASA's SphereX space telescope, which has just begun mapping the entire sky in unprecedented detail. Discover how this innovative observatory captures 3,600 unique images daily in 102 different infrared wavelengths, aiming to unravel the mysteries of the universe's origins and the building blocks of life.
- The Lunar Trailblazer Orbiter: Learn about the ongoing efforts to revive NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, which went silent shortly after its launch. With cautious optimism, mission controllers are hoping for a window of opportunity to reestablish contact and guide the orbiter into its intended lunar orbit.
- The Enigmatic Big Ring Structure: Explore the discovery of a colossal ring of galaxies, dubbed the Big Ring, that challenges existing cosmological models. This astonishing structure measures 1.3 billion light years in diameter and raises intriguing questions about the distribution of matter in the universe.
- Cosmos 482's Unplanned Return: Track the unexpected return of Cosmos 482, a Soviet-era Venus probe that has been orbiting Earth for over five decades. As it prepares for reentry, experts speculate on the possibility of its survival and the implications of this historical spacecraft's descent.
- The Search for Planet Nine: Delve into the compelling evidence for the elusive Planet Nine, uncovered through archival data from two space telescopes. Researchers are excited about the potential discovery of this massive planet, which could reshape our understanding of the solar system's outer reaches.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io (http://www.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.
00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily
01:10 - NASA's SphereX mission begins
10:15 - Update on Lunar Trailblazer Orbiter
15:30 - Discovery of the Big Ring structure
20:45 - Cosmos 482's return to Earth
25:00 - Evidence for Planet Nine
✍️ Episode References
NASA's SphereX Space Telescope
[NASA SphereX]( https://www.nasa.gov/spherex (https://www.nasa.gov/spherex) )
Lunar Trailblazer Mission
[NASA Lunar Trailblazer]( https://www.nasa.gov/lunartrailblazer (https://www.nasa.gov/lunartrailblazer) )
Big Ring Structure Discovery
[American Astronomical Society]( https://aas.org/ (https://aas.org/) )
Cosmos 482 Reentry
[Harvard Smithsonian Center]( https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/ (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/) )
Planet Nine Evidence
[National Tsinghua University]( https://www.nthu.edu.tw/en/ (https://www.nthu.edu.tw/en/) )
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily]( http://www.astronomydaily.io/ (http://www.astronomydaily.io/) )
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/26912952?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your cosmic
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 connection to the latest happenings
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 beyond our atmosphere. I'm Anna, and
00:00:07 --> 00:00:08 today we're exploring a fascinating
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 array of space discoveries and
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 developments that remind us just how
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 dynamic our universe truly is. In
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 today's stellar lineup, we'll dive into
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 NASA's Spherex Space Telescope, which
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 has just begun its ambitious mission to
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 map the entire sky in unprecedented
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 detail. We'll also check in on the
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 ongoing efforts to revive the silent
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 lunar trailblazer orbiter that went
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 quiet shortly after launch. Then we'll
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 explore a truly mind-bending discovery,
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 an enormous ring of galaxies that's
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 challenging our fundamental
00:00:38 --> 00:00:39 understanding of the universe's
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 structure. If that wasn't enough cosmic
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 intrigue, we'll track a piece of space
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 history as a Soviet era Venus probe from
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 the 1970s makes an unplanned return to
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 Earth after more than 5 decades in
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 orbit.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 And finally, we might be getting closer
00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 to answering one of our solar systems
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 biggest mysteries. Is there a ninth
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 planet lurking in the distant reaches
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 beyond Neptune? Researchers have
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 uncovered compelling evidence in decades
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 old data that could point to this
00:01:06 --> 00:01:10 elusive world. So, strap in for a
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 journey across the cosmos as we explore
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 these fascinating developments together.
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 We'll kick things off with a story
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 update. After weeks of preparation and
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 testing, NASA's Spherex Space Telescope
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 has officially begun its scientific
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 mission, marking an exciting new chapter
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 in our exploration of the
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 cosmos. Launched on March 11th, the
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 observatory has spent the last 6 weeks
00:01:32 --> 00:01:33 undergoing rigorous checkouts and
00:01:34 --> 00:01:35 calibrations to ensure everything is
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 functioning properly. Now, it's ready to
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 create something truly remarkable, a
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 complete map of the entire sky. What
00:01:44 --> 00:01:45 makes Spherex special isn't just that
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 it's mapping the sky. Other telescopes
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 have done that before, but rather how
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 it's doing it. The observatory is
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 capturing roughly
00:01:54 --> 00:01:58 3 unique images every single day,
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 observing in 102 different wavelengths
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 or colors of infrared light that are
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 invisible to the human eye. This
00:02:04 --> 00:02:05 spectroscopic approach will give
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 astronomers unprecedented insights into
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 the universe around us. From its orbit
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 around Earth, Spherex looks outward into
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 space, constantly shifting its view. The
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 spacecraft completes more than 14 orbits
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 per day, passing over the poles in a
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 north to south pattern. Each day, it
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 photographs one circular strip of the
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 sky. As Earth moves around the sun over
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 the course of 6 months, Spherex's field
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 of view gradually shifts until it has
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 observed in every direction. The
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 mission's primary goal is ambitious to
00:02:36 --> 00:02:37 help answer fundamental questions about
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 the origins of our universe. By mapping
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 the positions of hundreds of millions of
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 galaxies in three dimensions, Spherex
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 will search for clues about cosmic
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 inflation, that mindbending moment in
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 the first fraction of a second after the
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 big bang when the universe expanded a
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 trillion trillionfold.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 Jim Fansen, the mission's project
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 Laboratory, noted the beautiful symmetry
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 in this approach, saying, "We're going
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 to study what happened on the smallest
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 size scales in the universe's earliest
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 moments by looking at the modern
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 universe on the largest
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 scales." The telescope doesn't use
00:03:16 --> 00:03:17 moving mirrors or detectors like some
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 other observatories. Instead, the entire
00:03:21 --> 00:03:22 spacecraft shifts position using
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 reaction wheels that spin inside it to
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 control its orientation. When it takes a
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 picture, the light is captured by six
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 detectors, each producing a unique image
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 at different wavelengths. These groups
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 of six images are called an exposure.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 And Spherex takes about 600 exposures
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 daily. Over its 2-year primary mission,
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 the telescope will create four complete
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 maps of the sky. But Spherex isn't just
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 looking for clues about the universe's
00:03:47 --> 00:03:48 beginnings. It's also searching for the
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 building blocks of life. The observatory
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 will examine interstellar clouds within
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 our own galaxy, making over 9 million
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 observations to map water and other key
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 ingredients for life. This could help
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 scientists understand how compounds
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 essential to life on Earth formed and
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 evolved throughout the cosmos. Jaime
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 Bach, the mission's principal
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 investigator, expressed excitement about
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 the telescope's performance, saying,
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 "The performance of the instrument is as
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 good as we hoped." That means we're
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 going to be able to do all the amazing
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 science we planned on and perhaps even
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 get some unexpected
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 discoveries. After 12 years of planning
00:04:26 --> 00:04:27 and development, Spherex is now
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 operational and beginning to unravel
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 some of our universe's greatest
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 mysteries, one infrared image at a
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 time. Next, let's pay a visit to NASA's
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 Never Say Die department. I made that
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 up. However, NASA is still holding out
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 hope for its lunar trailblazer
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 spacecraft, which went silent just one
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 day after its February 26th launch
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Despite
00:04:52 --> 00:04:53 more than 2 months of silence, mission
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 controllers haven't given up on the 94
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 million dollar lunar orbiter. The
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 situation became concerning shortly
00:05:00 --> 00:05:01 after launch when the mission team
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 determined that the 440lb spacecraft was
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 spinning slowly and running dangerously
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 low on power. The probe couldn't
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 properly orient itself to harvest enough
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 sunlight with its solar panels,
00:05:13 --> 00:05:14 preventing it from charging its
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 batteries as planned. Now, engineers see
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 a potential window of opportunity.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 According to NASA's latest update,
00:05:22 --> 00:05:23 modeling indicates that lighting
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 conditions from May through mid June
00:05:26 --> 00:05:27 could be favorable enough to provide
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 sufficient sunlight on the spacecraft's
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 solar panels. This might recharge the
00:05:32 --> 00:05:33 batteries to operational levels and
00:05:34 --> 00:05:35 potentially allow ground controllers to
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 regain command of the vehicle.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 There's cautious optimism that if
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 contact can be reestablished, the
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 mission might still be salvageable. NASA
00:05:44 --> 00:05:45 officials stated that if they can
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 command the spacecraft again, and if the
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 propulsion system remains functional
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 after thawing and the scientific
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 instruments are still operable, they may
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 be able to guide Lunar Trailblazer into
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 its intended elliptical orbit around the
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 moon. The mission team has been able to
00:06:01 --> 00:06:02 track lunar trailblazers precise
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 position using groundbased equipment,
00:06:05 --> 00:06:06 which has been crucial in planning
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 recovery efforts. If they do reestablish
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 contact, NASA will conduct a thorough
00:06:12 --> 00:06:13 review to determine whether the mission
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 can proceed or should be terminated.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 However, if no signal is received by the
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 end of this favorable period in mid
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 June, the agency will begin procedures
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 to officially close out the mission.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 Lunar Trailblazer was designed with an
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 important scientific purpose, mapping
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 the moon's water stores from lunar
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 orbit. This information is considered
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 vital for NASA's Aremis program, which
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 aims to establish one or more bases near
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 the moon's south pole, an area believed
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 to contain significant deposits of water
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 ice. Understanding the distribution and
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 accessibility of these water resources
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 could prove crucial for sustained human
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 presence on the lunar surface.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 Interestingly, Lunar Trailblazer wasn't
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 the only spacecraft on that February
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 launch to encounter difficulties. It
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 shared its ride to space with Athena,
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 the second moon lander built by
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 Houston-based company Intuitive
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 Machines. While Athena did successfully
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 reach the lunar surface on March 6th, it
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 toppled over shortly after touchdown
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 near the moon's south pole, cutting
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 short its planned 10-day mission. The
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 coming weeks will be critical for Lunar
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 Trailblazer as engineers watch closely
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 for any signs of life from the silent
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 spacecraft, hoping that the changing
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 solar conditions might just provide
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 enough power to bring it back from the
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 brink. Next on today's story rundown, a
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34 startling discovery in the depths of
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 space is challenging our fundamental
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 understanding of the universe.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 Astronomers have identified a colossal
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 structure dubbed the Big Ring. An almost
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 perfect ring of galaxies measuring an
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 astonishing 1.3 billion lightyear in
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 diameter. This enormous cosmic formation
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 appears in light that has traveled 6.9
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 billion years to reach our telescopes,
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 meaning we're seeing it as it existed
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 when the universe was roughly half its
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 current age. What makes this discovery
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 so remarkable is that it simply
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 shouldn't exist according to our current
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 cosmological models. The standard model
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 of cosmology is built upon what's called
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 the cosmological principle. The idea
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 that on a large enough scale, matter
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 should be evenly distributed throughout
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 the universe. Theoretical calculations
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 suggest structures shouldn't exceed
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 about 1.2 billion lightyear in size.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 Yet, the big ring dramatically exceeds
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 this limit. The discovery was led by
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 astronomer Alexia Lopez of the
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 University of Central Lancaster and
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 presented at a recent American
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 Astronomical Society meeting. Even more
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 intriguing is that this isn't the first
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 mega structure Lopez and her team have
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 found in this region. In 2021, they
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 announced the discovery of the giant ark
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 in the same area of sky and at the same
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 cosmic distance. That structure was
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 nearly three times larger than the
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 theoretical size limit. Neither of these
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 two ultra-large structures is easy to
00:09:01 --> 00:09:02 explain in our current understanding of
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 the universe, Lopez explained. And their
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 ultra-large sizes, distinctive shapes,
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 and cosmological proximity must surely
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 be telling us something
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 important. Upon closer inspection,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 researchers determined that the big ring
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 isn't actually a perfect circle, but
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 more of a corkcrew shape that appears
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 ring-like from our vantage point. This
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 rules out the possibility that it's a
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 baron acoustic oscillation. circular
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 arrangements of galaxies formed by
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 acoustic waves in the early universe
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 which typically measure around 1 billion
00:09:32 --> 00:09:33 lightyears
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 across. The presence of these enormous
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 structures raises fascinating
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 possibilities. Some astronomers suggest
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41 they could be evidence supporting
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 alternative cosmological theories such
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 as Roger Penrose's conformal cyclic
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 cosmology which proposes the universe
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 goes through endless big bang expansion
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 cycles. Another possibility is that they
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 represent cosmic strings, theoretical
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 defects in the fabric of spaceime that
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 formed as the universe expanded in its
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 earliest moments. Finding multiple
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 ultra-large structures in close
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 proximity also presents a statistical
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 anomaly. As Lopez noted, we could expect
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 maybe one exceedingly large structure in
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 all our observable universe. Yet, the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 big ring and the giant ark are two huge
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 structures and are even cosmological
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19 neighbors.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 This discovery adds to a growing list of
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 observations that don't neatly fit
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 within our current understanding of the
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 universe. The best path forward may
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 involve finding more such arrangements
00:10:30 --> 00:10:31 scattered throughout the cosmos,
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 potentially hiding in plain sight in our
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 astronomical data. Whatever the big ring
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 ultimately proves to be, it serves as a
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 humbling reminder that the universe
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 remains full of mysteries, even in its
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 largest and most fundamental structures.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 A relic from the space race era is about
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 to make an unexpected return to Earth.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 Cosmos
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 482, a Soviet spacecraft originally
00:10:56 --> 00:11:00 designed to explore Venus back in 1972,
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 is now on track for an uncontrolled
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 re-entry into Earth's atmosphere around
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 May 10th. This half-tonon piece of space
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 history never fulfilled its intended
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 mission due to a rocket malfunction that
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 left it stranded in Earth orbit instead
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 of heading toward our neighboring
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 planet. For over five decades, 53 years
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 to be precise, this abandoned spacecraft
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 has been silently circling our world in
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 a highly elliptical orbit that has
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 gradually degraded over time. Dutch
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 scientist Marco Langbrook, who's been
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 tracking the object, predicts it will
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 come plummeting down at approximately
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 150 mph if it remains intact during
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 re-entry. What makes the situation
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 particularly interesting is the
00:11:41 --> 00:11:45 spacecraft's specialized design. Cosmos
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 482 was built to withstand the
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 incredibly harsh conditions of Venus's
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 atmosphere, which is much thicker than
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 Earth's and filled with carbon dioxide.
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 This robust construction means there's a
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 significant possibility that the
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 spacecraft could survive its fiery
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 descent through our atmosphere rather
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 than burning up as most space debris
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 does. The surviving component is
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 believed to be the landing capsule
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 itself, a spherical object roughly 3 ft
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 in diameter, weighing about 1 lb or
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 nearly 500 kg. Although experts doubt
00:12:18 --> 00:12:19 that its parachute system would still
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 function after so many years in the
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 harsh environment of space, the heat
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 shield might remain effective enough to
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 protect the craft during re-entry.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 Jonathan McDow from the Harvard
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 noted that it would actually be better
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 if the heat shield fails, causing the
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 spacecraft to burn up during its
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 atmospheric dive. Otherwise, we could
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 have a halfton metal object falling from
00:12:43 --> 00:12:44 the
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 sky. While this sounds alarming,
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 Langbrook emphasizes that the risk to
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 people on Earth is relatively small,
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 comparable to that of a random meteorite
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 fall, several of which occur each year.
00:12:56 --> 00:12:57 The spacecraft could potentially
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 re-enter anywhere between 51.7 degrees
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 north and south latitude, encompassing a
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 vast area from as far north as London
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 and Edmonton down to near South
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 America's Cape Horn. Given that most of
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 our planet is covered by water, the odds
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 favor an ocean splashdown rather than
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 landfall. However, the exact location
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 remains unpredictable at this time. This
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 event adds to a growing list of
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 uncontrolled re-entries in recent years,
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 including a Chinese booster rocket in
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 2022 and the Tiangong 1 space station in
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 2018, both of which fortunately ended
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 without
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 incident. And to wrap up today's
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 stories, could we be about to solve a
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 major space mystery? In what could be
00:13:40 --> 00:13:41 the most significant development in our
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 solar systems outer reaches in decades?
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 Astronomers have uncovered compelling
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 evidence for the long hypothesized
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 planet 9 by examining infrared surveys
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 conducted 23 years apart. This potential
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 new member of our planetary family has
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 been hiding in plain sight, buried
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 within archival data from two different
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 space telescopes. The detective work was
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 led by astronomer Terry Longfan of
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 Taiwan's National Sing Hua University
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 who devised an ingenious method to hunt
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 for the elusive planet. The team
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 compared infrared images from NASA's
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 IRAS satellite, which operated in 1983,
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 with those from JAX's Accari spacecraft,
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 which collected data between 2006 and
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 2011. They were searching for objects
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 that appeared in one position in the
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 1983 data and had moved by the time
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 Accari looked at the same region of sky.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 What makes this discovery particularly
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 credible is that they found an object
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 that moved exactly the distance that
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 would be expected for a large planet in
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 a distant orbit over that time period.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 The object appears in the IRAS imagery
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 and then shows up again in Aari's data
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 approximately 47.4 arc minutes away,
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 consistent with the slow movement of an
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 extremely distant planet. To rule out
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 false positives, fans team carefully
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 accounted for parallax effects caused by
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 Earth's movement around the sun and
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 eliminated fastmoving nearby objects by
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 examining hourly changes in
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 position. Their meticulous approach has
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 yielded what appears to be the most
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 promising Planet 9 candidate to date.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 Based on the object's brightness in both
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 infrared surveys, researchers estimate
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 it would be more massive than
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 Neptune, significantly larger than the
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 super Earth-sized body they initially
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 expected to find. This came as a
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 surprise as previous surveys had already
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 ruled out the possibility of Jupiter or
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 Saturnized planets at these distances.
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 If confirmed, this object would
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 currently be located approximately 700
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 astronomical units from the sun. That's
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 700 times farther than Earth's distance
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 from our star or about 65 billion miles
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 away. Its orbit appears highly
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 eccentric, potentially bringing it as
00:15:55 --> 00:16:00 close as 280 AU and as far as 1 AU
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 from the sun. The mystery of how such a
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 massive planet ended up in this remote
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 region remains. Fans suggest two
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 possibilities. Either it formed closer
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 to the sun near where our known giant
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 planets developed and was later
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 gravitationally scattered outward, or it
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 was a rogue planet captured by our sun's
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 gravity during the early days of the
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 solar system. While this isn't the first
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 potential planet 9 candidate astronomer
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 Michael Rowan Robinson found a different
00:16:26 --> 00:16:30 object in the IRAS data in 2021, fans
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 discovery holds more weight because it
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 appears in two separate data sets taken
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 decades apart. Definitive confirmation
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 will require detecting the object in
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 current observations. With advanced
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 instruments like the soon-to-launch
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 Vera C. Ruben Observatory, and the
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 already operational dark energy camera,
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 astronomers now have a specific target
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 to investigate. After years of
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 theoretical debate about Planet 9's
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 existence, we may finally be on the
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 verge of officially welcoming the newest
00:16:59 --> 00:17:03 member of our solar system family.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 That wraps up today's journey through
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 our fascinating cosmos. From NASA's
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 Spherex telescope beginning its
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 ambitious all sky mapping mission to the
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 potential discovery of the elusive
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 planet 9 hiding in decades old data, the
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 universe continues to surprise and
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 challenge us. We've explored the
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 mysterious big ring structure that
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 defies our cosmological models, NASA's
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 ongoing efforts to revive the silent
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 lunar trailblazer, and even tracked a
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 Soviet era Venus probe making its way
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 back to Earth after 53 years in orbit.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 I'm your host, Anna, and I want to thank
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 you for spending time with me today
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 exploring these cosmic wonders. The
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 universe is vast and full of mysteries
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 waiting to be unraveled, and we'll
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 continue bringing them to you right here
00:17:46 --> 00:17:50 on Astronomy Daily. Visit our website at
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 astronomydaily.io where you can catch up
00:17:52 --> 00:17:53 on all the latest space and astronomy
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 news with our constantly updating news
00:17:56 --> 00:17:57 feed and listen to all our back
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 episodes. You can also find us on social
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 media by searching for Astro Daily Pod
00:18:02 --> 00:18:06 on Facebook X YouTube, YouTube Music,
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 Tumblr, Instagram, and Tik Tok. Remember
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 that the same curiosity that drives
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 astronomers to search the cosmos is
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 within all of us. So until our next
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 cosmic conversation, keep wondering,
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 keep questioning, and most importantly,
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 keep looking up.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 Day stories told.
00:18:26 --> 00:18:41 [Music]