In this episode, we dive into a myriad of exciting developments in the space industry and cosmology. We kick things off with a major shake-up as Blue Origin hires Tory Bruno, the former president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, to lead their new national security group. This strategic move signals Blue Origin's serious intent to compete for lucrative national security launch contracts, especially with their upcoming Glenn Heavy Lift rocket. Next, we explore a new and intriguing theory regarding dark matter, proposing that it may be composed of giant, star-sized objects, referred to as exotic astrophysical dark objects (IADs). Researchers are optimistic about detecting these objects through gravitational lensing, potentially using data from the Gaia Space Telescope. Shifting our focus, we discuss the upcoming close encounter of Asteroid Apophis with Earth in 2029, where the European Space Agency and JAXA will collaborate on the Ramses mission to study the asteroid's behavior under Earth's gravity. Understanding these interactions is crucial for future planetary defense strategies. We also tackle the mystery of missing normal matter in the universe. A recent study utilizing fast radio bursts has confirmed that a significant portion of this matter resides in the cosmic web, providing a monumental victory for cosmology by completing the census of normal matter. As we move closer to home, we highlight a groundbreaking dataset released by researchers at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, mapping one million stable trajectories in the cis-lunar space. This open-source resource will aid future lunar missions and infrastructure planning. Finally, we preview the astronomical events of 2026, including a total solar eclipse, a total lunar eclipse, and exciting meteor showers, all set against a backdrop of high solar activity promising stunning auroras. Join us as we unravel these captivating stories and more in this episode of Astronomy Daily!00:00 – **Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that brings you the universe
00:16 – **Blue Origin has hired Tory Bruno to head up its national security group
01:07 – **New theory suggests dark matter could be made of giant star sized objects
02:21 – **Asteroid Apophis will pass by Earth in 2029
03:18 – **Big Bang theory predicts a certain amount of normal matter in the universe
04:48 – **Researchers at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory have created a roadmap for lunar navigation
05:52 – **Total solar eclipse in 2026 is expected to be spectacular### Sources & Further Reading1. Blue Origin (https://www.blueorigin.com/) 2. NASA (https://www.nasa.gov/) 3. European Space Agency (https://www.esa.int/) 4. JAXA (https://www.jaxa.jp/) 5. Space.com (https://www.space.com/) ### Follow & ContactX/Twitter: @AstroDailyPod
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 that brings you the universe, one story
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 at a time. I'm Avery.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 >> And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 We've got a packed episode today. From
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 major moves in the space industry to a
00:00:13 --> 00:00:14 potential solution for one of the
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 biggest mysteries in cosmology.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 >> Let's start with that industry news.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 It's a big one. Blue Origin has just
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 hired Tori Bruno, the former president
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 and CEO of United Launch Alliance, or
00:00:26 --> 00:00:27 ULA.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 >> That's a major headline. Bruno is a
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 giant in the industry. He's going to be
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 heading up Blue Origin's new national
00:00:33 --> 00:00:34 security group.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 >> Exactly. And it makes so much sense when
00:00:37 --> 00:00:38 you think about it. Bruno was
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 instrumental in transitioning ULA to its
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 new Vulcan rocket. And what engines does
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 the Vulcan rocket use? Blue Origin's BE4
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 engines. It's all connected. This move
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 signals that Blue Origin is getting very
00:00:52 --> 00:00:53 serious about competing for those
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 lucrative national security launch
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 contracts, especially with their new
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 Glenn Heavy lift rocket on the horizon.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 >> It's a strategic chess move. Bringing in
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 someone with Bruno's experience and
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 connections is a clear sign of their
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 ambition in that sector.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 >> Speaking of ambitions, let's shift from
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 the business of space to one of its
00:01:11 --> 00:01:15 greatest mysteries, dark matter. A new
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 study is proposing a fascinating, if
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 somewhat exotic, idea.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 >> I'm always ready for a new dark matter
00:01:21 --> 00:01:22 theory. What's this one?
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 >> Well, instead of tiny, undiscovered
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 particles, this theory suggests dark
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 matter could be made of giant star-sized
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 objects that don't emit light. They're
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 calling them exotic astrophysical dark
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 objects or eads.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 >> EADs. I like it. So, what would these
00:01:39 --> 00:01:40 objects be?
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 >> Things like Bzon stars or Q balls. very
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 dense theoretical objects. The really
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 cool part is how we might find them. If
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 one of these yads passes in front of a
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 distant star, its immense gravity would
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 bend the starlight in a very specific
00:01:56 --> 00:01:56 way.
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 >> Right. Gravitational lensing.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 >> Exactly. But a very specific kind.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 Instead of just brightening, the stars
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 apparent position in the sky would seem
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 to jump suddenly. It's a unique signal.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 And researchers think they can hunt for
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 these jumps in the massive data set from
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 the Gaia Space Telescope. It's a long
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 shot, but it's a testable hypothesis.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 >> From hunting for invisible objects to
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 tracking a very visible one, let's talk
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 about asteroid Apous.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 >> Ah, yes. Everyone's favorite God of
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 Chaos asteroid. It's making a very close
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 pass by Earth in 2029.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 >> An incredibly close pass, just 32 km
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 away, which is closer than some of our
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 satellites. And to take advantage of
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 this rare opportunity, the European
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 Space Agency and Japan's JAXA are
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 teaming up for a new mission called
00:02:45 --> 00:02:46 Ramssey's.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 >> So, what's the goal of Ramsy's?
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 >> The mission will get up close to the 375
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 m wide asteroid to study how Earth's
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 gravity affects it during the flyby. We
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 expect our planet's gravity to cause
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 changes in Apothesis spin, maybe even
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 trigger some landslides or quakes on its
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 surface. And understanding those
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 gravitational effects is crucial for
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 planetary defense. If we ever need to
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 nudge an asteroid out of the way, we
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 need to know precisely how it will
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 behave. This kind of international
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 cooperation is exactly what we need for
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 ensuring space safety.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:19 >> That's right. And speaking of
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 understanding the cosmos on a grand
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 scale, let's talk about all the stuff
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 that isn't in asteroids or even
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 galaxies. I'm talking about normal
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 matter, the stuff that makes up you, me,
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 and the stars. It turns out we've been
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 missing most of it.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 >> This is one of my favorite cosmological
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 problems. The Big Bang theory predicts a
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 certain amount of normal matter in the
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 universe, but when we add up all the
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 stars and galaxies we can see, we only
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 find about 10% of it. So where is the
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 other 90%. For a long time, the theory
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 has been that it's hiding in the vast
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 spaces between galaxies in a hot, thin
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 soup of gas called the intergalactic
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 medium. It's often called the cosmic
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 web, but it's so diffused that it's been
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 nearly impossible to detect directly
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 >> until now. Right. This is where fast
00:04:08 --> 00:04:09 radio bursts come in.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 >> Precisely. A new study used these
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 powerful millisecond long blasts of
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 radio waves from distant galaxies as
00:04:16 --> 00:04:20 probes. As an FRB signal travels across
00:04:20 --> 00:04:21 billions of light years, it gets
00:04:22 --> 00:04:23 slightly dispersed by the gas it passes
00:04:24 --> 00:04:25 through. By measuring how much the
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 signal is smeared out, astronomers can
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 calculate how much matter it
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 encountered.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 >> And the results confirmed the theory.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 >> They did. The numbers match perfectly.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 The missing matter was in the cosmic web
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 all along. It's a huge victory for
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 cosmology. We finally completed the
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 census of normal matter in the universe.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 >> That is incredible. From the cosmic web,
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 let's zoom back in much closer to home.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 the chaotic space between the Earth and
00:04:54 --> 00:04:55 the Moon.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 >> It's an area that's about to get a lot
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 busier with programs like Aremis and the
00:05:00 --> 00:05:01 lunar gateway,
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 >> right? And navigating that space is
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 notoriously difficult because of the
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 complex shifting gravitational poles of
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 the Earth, Moon, and Sun. It's the
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 classic threebody problem. So, to help
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 future missions, researchers at Lawrence
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 Liverour Laboratory have done something
00:05:17 --> 00:05:18 amazing.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 >> What's that? They've created and
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 released an open-source data set mapping
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 1 million different stable trajectories
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 in that cis lunar space. It's being
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 called a gold standard map that
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 companies and space agencies can use to
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 validate their navigation software.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 >> So, it's essentially a comprehensive
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 road map for the Earth moon system.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 That's invaluable. It helps identify
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 stable regions like the Lrangee points
00:05:43 --> 00:05:44 where we could place future
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 infrastructure like the lunar gateway.
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 It's a foundational piece of work for
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 the next era of lunar exploration.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 >> Absolutely. And before we go today,
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 let's take a brief look at some of the
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 major astronomical events to look out
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 for in 2026, which is just around the
00:06:00 --> 00:06:00 corner.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 >> I love these previews. What's the
00:06:02 --> 00:06:03 biggest highlight?
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 >> Without a doubt, the total solar eclipse
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 on August 12th. The path of totality
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 will cross over Greenland, Iceland, and
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 parts of Spain. It's going to be a major
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 event for sky watchers in Europe. And
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 for those of us in North America, we get
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 a treat a few months earlier. A total
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 lunar eclipse on March 3rd, 2026.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 >> There's more, too. Jupiter's moons will
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 enter a mutual eclipse season, meaning
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 we can watch them pass in front of and
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 behind one another. And both the Percied
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 and Gemini meteor showers are expected
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 to have excellent viewing conditions
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 with no bright moon to wash them out.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 Plus, solar activity will still be high
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 as we come down from the peak of solar
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 cycle 25. So, there's a good chance for
00:06:46 --> 00:06:50 more impressive aurora displays. 2026 is
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 shaping up to be a fantastic year for
00:06:52 --> 00:06:53 astronomy.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 >> It certainly is. And that's all the time
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 we have for today. We've gone from
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 corporate boardrooms to the edge of the
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 visible universe and back to our own
00:07:01 --> 00:07:02 lunar backyard.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 >> Thanks for joining us on Astronomy
00:07:04 --> 00:07:05 Daily. If you'd like even more space
00:07:06 --> 00:07:07 news, just visit our website at
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 astronomydaily.io. io or look out for us
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 on social media. Just search for Astro
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 Daily Pod on all the major platforms.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:15 I'm Avery
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 >> and I'm Anna. Join us next time as we
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 continue to explore the cosmos. Clear
00:07:20 --> 00:07:32 skies.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:36 Stories told.