00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 your daily dose of what's happening in
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 the cosmos. I'm Avery.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 >> And I'm Anna. It is Wednesday, the 11th
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 of March, 2026, and this is season 5,
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 episode 60, which means 60 episodes of
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 bringing you the universe, one day at a
00:00:19 --> 00:00:19 time.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 >> 60 episodes this year. That's a lot of
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 space news. And today's lineup is not
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 letting up. We've got neutron stars
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 colliding in places nobody expected. A
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 potential cosmic snowball fight between
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 asteroids and a giant invisible sheet of
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 dark matter that explains one of
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 astronomy's longestr running mysteries.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:43 >> Plus, the latest on Artemis 2,
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 Starship's next giant leap and a rocket
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 that can't seem to get off the ground,
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 but not for lack of trying.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 >> Stay with us. It's a big one. We start
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 today with one of the most remarkable
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 astronomy announcements in recent
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 memory, and it literally involves gold.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 >> That's right. NASA has just published a
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 major new finding. A fleet of its space
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 telescopes has likely detected a
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 collision between two neutron stars. And
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 the location where this happened has
00:01:12 --> 00:01:13 stunned researchers.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 >> Though, let's back up for listeners who
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 might not be familiar with neutron
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 stars. These are the remnants left
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 behind when a massive star burns out,
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 collapses on itself, and explodes in a
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 supernova. What's left is this tiny,
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 unbelievably dense ball about the width
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 of a city, but containing more mass than
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 our entire sun.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 >> And when two of those collide, which is
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 called a neutron star merger, it
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 produces one of the most violent events
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 in the universe. We're talking gamma ray
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 bursts, gravitational waves rippling
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 through spaceime, and something called a
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 kilanova explosion. That's the process
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 that forges heavy elements, things like
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 gold, silver, and platinum through a
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 chain of nuclear reactions that can't
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 happen anywhere else in the cosmos.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 >> We've seen these mergers before, but
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 always inside large or moderately sized
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 galaxies. That's what makes this
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 discovery so jaw-dropping. This one was
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 found inside a tiny faint galaxy, barely
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 there, tucked inside a vast stream of
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 gas 4.7 billion lighty years away. A
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 location nobody thought to look.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 >> The lead researcher, Simone Diara of
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 Penn State University called it quote
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 gamechanging, saying it may unlock not
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 one but two important questions in
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 astrophysics. One is why gamma ray
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 bursts sometimes appear in the middle of
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 nowhere, not near any galaxy at all. And
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 the other is how precious metals ended
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 up in stars at the very outer fringes of
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 galaxies. The answer, it seems, is that
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 small wandering galaxies like this one
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 can form from the debris of larger
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 galactic collisions and eventually
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 produce their own neutron stars, which
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 then merge. Co-author Eleanor Troya of
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 the University of Rome put it
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 beautifully. We found a collision within
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 a collision. The galaxy collision
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 triggered star formation which over
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 hundreds of millions of years led to the
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 neutron star merger we just detected.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 Four space telescopes were involved in
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 making this discovery. Chandra, Fermy,
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 the Neil Geral swift observatory and
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 Hubble. It took all of them working
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 together to pinpoint the location and
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 confirm what they were seeing. The paper
00:03:27 --> 00:03:28 has just been published in the
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 astrophysical journal letters. Though
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 the gold in your jewelry, it may have
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 come from a tiny galaxy in a gas stream
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 after a chain of collisions spanning
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 billions of years. I think that's one of
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 the most extraordinary facts in all of
00:03:44 --> 00:03:44 science.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 >> Puts a new spin on where did this come
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 from, doesn't it? Okay, coming up next,
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 an update on Artemis 2. The mission that
00:03:52 --> 00:03:56 is almost almost ready to fly. So,
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 Artemis 2, if you've been following the
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 show, you know this mission has had
00:04:01 --> 00:04:02 quite a journey just to get to the
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 launchpad. And today, there's a
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 significant development.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 >> NASA has announced it will hold a flight
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 readiness press conference tomorrow,
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 Thursday, March 12th, at Kennedy Space
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 Center in Florida. This is the formal
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 milestone where engineers and mission
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 leaders assess whether everything is
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 technically ready to fly. It's a big
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 deal. Just to bring everyone up to
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 speed, Artemis 2 is the first crude
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 mission of NASA's space launch system.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 Four astronauts, Reed Weisman, Victor
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 Glover, Christina Coach, and Canadian
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen,
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 will fly around the moon and back on a
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 10-day journey. It will be the first
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 time humans have reached the moon's
00:04:43 --> 00:04:48 vicinity since Apollo 17 in 1972.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 >> The mission has had a series of delays.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 Back in February, a hydrogen leak was
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 found during a wet dress rehearsal.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 Then, after a second successful
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 rehearsal, a helium flow issue was
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 discovered in the upper stage, which
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 caused the rocket to be rolled back into
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 the vehicle assembly building for
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 repairs. That pushed the launch out of
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 March entirely. The current target is
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 April 1st at the earliest with roll out
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 back to launch complex 39B expected
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 around March 19th. BASA has also
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 announced a major restructuring of the
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 broader Artemis program, adding a new
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 mission, increasing launch cadence, and
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 targeting annual lunar missions with the
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 first crude landing in 2028.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 >> So, tomorrow's press conference will be
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 really telling. We'll know more about
00:05:34 --> 00:05:35 the state of the rocket, the official
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 launch readiness verdict, and possibly
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 more details on that April launch
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 window. We'll of course have full
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 coverage as the story develops.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 >> Fingers crossed for April. The crew has
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 been in training for years. They deserve
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49 their moonshot.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 >> They absolutely do. Let's take a short
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 break and come back with a story about a
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 rocket trying very hard to leave the
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 ground and a cosmic snowball fight
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 nobody saw coming.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 >> All right, Firefly Aerospace. The small
00:06:03 --> 00:06:04 launch company has been trying to get
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 its Alpha rocket back into the sky for
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 weeks and once again the mission has
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 been delayed. The mission is called
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 Stairway to 7, which refers to this
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 being Alpha's seventh flight overall. It
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 was originally scheduled for March 1st,
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 but high wind scrubbed that attempt.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 Then on March 9th, a sensor reading
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 outside the expected range caused
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 another standown. And last night, March
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 10th, a third attempt was scrubbed
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 during fluid loading after off-normal
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 readings were detected.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:35 >> No new launch date has been announced
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 yet. Firefly says they're reviewing the
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 data and will confirm a new window once
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 the investigation is complete.
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 >> Now, it's worth understanding why this
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 mission matters. Alpha has had a rough
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 run. The sixth flight called message in
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 a booster ended when the first stage
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 broke apart just after separation,
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 destroying the payload. Then in
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 September, a booster intended for flight
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 7 exploded during ground testing. The
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 company has been working for nearly 10
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 months to get back to the launchpad
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 >> and stairway to 7 is carrying
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 significant symbolic weight. It's the
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 last flight of the alpha block one
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 configuration. After this, Firefly moves
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 to the upgraded block 2, which is 7 ft
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 taller, uses new in-house avionics and
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 batteries, improved thermal protection,
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 and stronger carbon composite
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 structures. Block two systems are
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 actually flying on this mission in
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 shadow mode, testing quietly in the
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 background without controlling the
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 flight. Firefly also had a big success
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 recently. Their Blue Ghost lander
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 completed the first ever private lunar
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 surface mission last March. So, the
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 company's in an interesting position,
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 proven on the moon, but still working
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 through reliability challenges with
00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 their launch vehicle.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 >> Small launch is hard. We're reading for
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 them. When Stairway to 7 eventually gets
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 off the ground, we'll give it the full
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 coverage it deserves.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 >> Absolutely. Now, Cosmic Snowballs, you
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 heard that, right?
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 >> So, you might remember NASA's Dart
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 mission, the spacecraft that
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 intentionally smashed into an asteroid
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 in 2022 to test whether we could deflect
00:08:13 --> 00:08:17 one that might threaten Earth. It worked
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 beautifully, as we reported last week.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 But scientists are still finding new
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 surprises in the data from that mission.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 And this one is genuinely delightful. A
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 team at the University of Maryland has
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 just published a study revealing that
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 asteroids can throw slowmoving chunks of
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 debris at each other in what they're
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 calling, and I love this, a cosmic
00:08:38 --> 00:08:39 snowball fight.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 >> So, here's what happened. The Dart
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 spacecraft hit an asteroid moon called
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 Dimorphice, which orbits a larger
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 asteroid called Ditimos. In the images
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 captured by the spacecraft in the
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 moments before impact, researchers
00:08:54 --> 00:08:58 noticed something odd. Faint fan-shaped
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 streaks across Dorphice. Lead author
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 Jessica Sunshine said, and this quote is
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 great, "At first, we thought something
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 was wrong with the camera, and then we
00:09:08 --> 00:09:09 thought it could have been something
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 wrong with our image processing. But
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 after months of painstaking work,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 stripping away boulder shadows and
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 correcting for lighting, the streaks
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 became clearer, not fainter. They were
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 real. What the team discovered is that
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 these streaks are the imprint of debris
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 thrown off Ditimos by something called
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 the Yorp effect, where sunlight
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 gradually spins a small asteroid faster
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 and faster until loose material flies
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 off the surface. Some of that material
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 then drifts across to Dorphice and lands
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 on it, leaving these distinctive ray
00:09:45 --> 00:09:46 patterns.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 >> And the speed of this material transfer,
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 just 30.7 cm/s.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 That's slower than a leisurely human
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 walk. These are the gentlest cosmic
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 snowballs imaginable. It's the first
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 direct visual proof that material can
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 travel naturally from one asteroid to
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 another, and it has real implications
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 for planetary defense. If binary
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 asteroids are constantly exchanging
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 material and reshaping each other,
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 scientists need to account for that when
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 modeling how to deflect one. There's
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 also a follow-up mission on the way.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 ESA's Hera spacecraft is set to arrive
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 at the Ditimos system in December this
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 year and may be able to see whether
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 those fan-shaped streaks survive the
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 dart impact or whether new ones have
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 formed. More cosmic forensics to come.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 >> A snowball fight spanning millions of
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 years between two rocks in the dark of
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 space. I love this job. After this
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 break, Starship is getting even bigger
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 and we go looking for the giant
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 invisible sheet of matter that may be
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 holding our cosmic neighborhood
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55 together.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 >> SpaceX's Starship program is marching on
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 and the next milestone is approaching
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 fast. Elon Musk announced this week that
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 SpaceX is approximately 4 weeks away
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 from launching Starship Flight 12, which
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 will be the first flight of the upgraded
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 Starship V3 configuration, the most
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 powerful version of the vehicle yet.
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 SpaceX engineers have been working
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 through propellant system tests on ship
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 39. That's the newest vehicle, and some
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 of those tests produced some spectacular
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 imagery this week. The team is moving
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 methodically through pre-flight
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 preparations at Starbase in Texas. Now,
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 Starship V3 is described as a
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 significant step up. The rocket already
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 holds the title of the most powerful
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 launch vehicle ever built, and the V3
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 configuration pushes that capability
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 further, which is critical for the
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 missions ahead, including NASA's Aremis
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 lunar landings, where a Starship variant
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 will be used as the human landing
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 system. Flight 12 won't carry the Aremis
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 lander, of course, that's further down
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 the road, but each integrated flight
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 test builds toward that goal,
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 demonstrating reliability, reusability,
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 and the ability to handle increasingly
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 complex mission profiles.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 >> So, if all goes to plan, we're looking
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 at mid to late April for Flight 12
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 liftoff. We'll keep a close eye on that
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 timeline and give you the full launch
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 preview when the date firms up. The pace
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 of development at SpaceX is
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 extraordinary. And now to cap off
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 today's show, a cosmic mystery that's
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 been puzzling astronomers for decades,
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 and it might finally be solved.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 >> Here's a question that sounds simple. If
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 our galaxy is so massive and has such a
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 powerful gravitational pole, why are
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 most nearby galaxies flying away from us
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 rather than being pulled inward?
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 >> It's something that's bugged astronomers
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 for decades. Edwin Hubble established
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 almost a century ago that the universe
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 is expanding. Galaxies are receding from
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 each other as space itself stretches.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 But the galaxies right next to us, just
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 outside our local group, seem to be
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 moving away faster than they should,
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 even accounting for that expansion.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11 Something wasn't adding up.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 >> A team from the University of Groigan in
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 the Netherlands working with
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 collaborators in Germany, France, and
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 Sweden may have cracked it. They built
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 what they call a virtual twin of our
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 cosmic neighborhood, running advanced
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 simulations starting from the early
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 universe based on conditions measured in
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 the cosmic microwave background all the
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 way through to today. What they found is
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 remarkable. The matter surrounding the
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 local group, our cluster of galaxies,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 including the Milky Way and Andromeda,
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 isn't spread out evenly in a sphere the
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 way scientists had assumed. Instead,
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 it's organized into a vast flat sheet of
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 matter stretching tens of millions of
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 light years across. Above and below this
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 sheet lie enormous empty voids where
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 there's essentially nothing. And when
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 they included this flat structure in
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 their models, the motion of 31 nearby
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 galaxies matched almost perfectly with
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 what astronomers actually observe. The
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 sheets mass, which is mostly invisible
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 dark matter, counterbalances the local
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 group's gravitational pole. So galaxies
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 within the plane drift outward in an
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 orderly way while nothing falls in from
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 the voids above and below.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 >> Bead researcher Ewad Wemp said this is
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 the first detailed attempt to map the
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 distribution and motion of dark matter
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 in the region around the Milky Way and
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 Andromeda. And co-ressearcher, Professor
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 Amina Helme, who has worked on this
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 problem for years, said she was thrilled
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 to see that galaxy motions alone could
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 reveal the mass distribution shaping our
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 local cosmic neighborhood.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46 >> What I find incredible about this is
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 that we're essentially embedded in a
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 cosmic structure we couldn't see. The
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 Milky Way isn't floating freely in
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 space. It's sitting on a vast flat sheet
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 of dark matter surrounded by emptiness
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 on either side in equilibrium. It's like
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 being a grain of sand on a giant cosmic
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 beach and only just realizing the beach
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 exists. The paper is published in Nature
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 Astronomy and we expect it to generate
00:15:12 --> 00:15:13 significant follow-up work as
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 astronomers look to confirm the
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 structure with additional observations.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 >> Amazing. What a lineup for episode 60.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 >> And that's our show for today. Let's do
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 a quick recap of what we covered. NASA
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 discovered a neutron star collision in a
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 tiny galaxy buried in a gas stream. The
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 first time this has been seen in such an
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 unlikely location.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 >> The Aremis 2 flight readiness review is
00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 happening tomorrow. We're watching
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 closely ahead of the April launch
00:15:40 --> 00:15:41 window.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 >> Firefly Alpha's Stairway to 7 mission is
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 still on hold after a third scrub. A new
00:15:47 --> 00:15:48 launch date will be announced after
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 engineering review. Dart mission data
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 revealed the first ever direct visual
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 proof of material transfer between two
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 asteroids. The most gentle cosmic
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 snowball fight you can imagine.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 >> SpaceX is about 4 weeks from launching
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 Starship Flight 12, the first flight of
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 the more powerful V3 configuration. and
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 astronomers have discovered a vast flat
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 sheet of dark matter surrounding our
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 local group, finally explaining why
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 nearby galaxies behave the way they do.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 >> As always, you can find us at
00:16:21 --> 00:16:22 astronomyaily.io
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 and on all major podcast platforms, show
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 notes, episode archive, and more are all
00:16:27 --> 00:16:28 there for you.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 >> If you're enjoying the show, please
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 subscribe, leave us a review, and share
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 us with a fellow space enthusiast. It
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 means the world to us and genuinely
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 helps the show grow.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 >> We'll be back tomorrow with more from
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 the universe. Until then, keep looking
00:16:43 --> 00:16:44 up.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:56 >> Clear skies, everyone.
00:16:56 --> 00:17:00 Stories told.