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Episode Summary In this episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six major space and astronomy stories: the James Webb Space Telescope's historic first direct study of a rocky exoplanet's surface; a dramatic upward revision of Io's volcanic heat output; the release of the FLAMINGO cosmological simulation dataset; a new technique for finding planets in binary star systems; the discovery of a novel state of matter inside ice giants; and how to watch tonight's Eta Aquarid meteor shower live online. Story Links & References Story 1 — JWST Exoplanet Surface Study Nature Astronomy: LHS 3844 b thermal emission spectrum — doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02860-3 Space.com coverage: space.com/astronomy/james-webb-space-telescope/james-webb-space-telescope-directly-studies-an-exoplanets-surface-for-the-1st-time Story 2 — Io Volcanic Power Revised arXiv pre-print: arxiv.org/abs/2605.00100 | Phys.org: phys.org/news/2026-05-massively-underestimated-io-thermal-output.html Story 3 — FLAMINGO Dataset Release Durham University: durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2026/04/astronomers-release-gigantic-cosmological-simulation-dataset Leiden University: universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2026/04/astronomers-release-massive-set-of-virtual-universes-for-global-research Story 4 — TESS Binary Star Planets NASA Science: science.nasa.gov/missions/tess/for-nasas-tess-stellar-eclipses-shed-light-on-possible-new-worlds Story 5 — New State of Matter in Ice Giants Nature Communications: Carnegie Institution quasi-1D superionic phase study Universe Today: universetoday.com (April 30, 2026) Story 6 — Eta Aquarid Livestreams Livestream guide: space.com/stargazing/meteor-showers/watch-the-eta-aquarid-meteor-shower-online-with-these-free-livestreams ALMA Observatory livestream available via the above link. Peak: pre-dawn May 6 AEST.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/33107937?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 your daily guide to the universe and
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 everything in it. I'm Anna.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 >> And I'm Avery. It's Tuesday, the 6th of
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 May, 2026, and we are coming at you with
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 six incredible stories today. From a
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 robotic telescope that just read the
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 geology of a world 50 lighty years away
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 to a meteor shower you can watch live
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 online right now.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 >> That's right. And we have a stunning mix
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 of planetary science, exoplanet
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 discovery, cosmological simulation, and
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 some very welcome skywatching news for
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 our Southern Hemisphere listeners.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 >> Let's get straight into it. Story one is
00:00:40 --> 00:00:41 genuinely historic.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 >> For years, when astronomers pointed the
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 James Webb Space Telescope at a distant
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 rocky world, they were really studying
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 its atmosphere, the thin shell of gas
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 around a planet. Today we're talking
00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 about something different, something
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 that has never been done before.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 >> That's right. Astronomers have now used
00:01:00 --> 00:01:04 JWST to directly analyze the actual
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 surface of a planet beyond our solar
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 system, not its atmosphere, its surface,
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 the rock itself. And what they found is
00:01:12 --> 00:01:13 remarkable.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 >> The planet in question is called LHS
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 3844b.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 It's a so-called super Earth about 30%
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 larger than our own planet and it sits
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 roughly 48 12 light years away orbiting
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 a small cool red dwarf star.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 >> Now this planet is an extreme situation.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 It orbits its star so closely that it
00:01:35 --> 00:01:39 completes a full year in just 11 hours.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 11 hours Anna that's your entire working
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 day and then some. And because of that
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 extreme proximity, it's tidily locked,
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 meaning one face permanently points
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 toward the star, baking in intense heat,
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 while the other side sits in permanent
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 darkness. The dayside reaches
00:01:57 --> 00:02:01 temperatures of around 725°
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 C. That is hot enough to melt lead with
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 room to spare. The research team led by
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 Laura Kriedberg at the Max Plank
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 Institute for Astronomy in Germany used
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 JWST's mid infrared instrument known as
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 MIRI to measure the thermal emission
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 radiating directly from the planet's
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 blazing hot dayside. They observe three
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 secondary eclipses moments when the
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 planet slipped behind its star and use
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 those measurements to build a picture of
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 what the surface is made of.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 >> And the result, Dr. Kriedberg described
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 it directly. We see a dark, hot, barren
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 rock devoid of any atmosphere. The
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 surface appears to be composed of dark
00:02:41 --> 00:02:45 low silica material, probably basaltt or
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 other olivine rich rock. Think volcanic
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 planes like those you'd find on the moon
00:02:50 --> 00:02:51 or on Mercury.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 >> Importantly, the team was able to rule
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 out a number of things. There's no
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 earthlike silicar crust, the kind that
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 forms through waterdriven geological
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 processes and play tectonics. There's no
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 evidence of accumulated volcanic gases,
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 no carbon dioxide, no sulfur dioxide.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 This is a geologically quiet, airless
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 ancient world. And while that might
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 sound a bit bleak, the significance here
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 is huge. The published paper in Nature
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 Astronomy calls this the next step in
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 unveiling the nature of distant planets.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 We're no longer just detecting
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 exoplanets or guessing at their
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 atmospheres. We're starting to read
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 their geology.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 >> Think about what that means for the
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 future. With more observations like
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 this, we'll be able to build up a
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 geological census of rocky worlds across
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 the galaxy. That knowledge feeds
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 directly into our understanding of which
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 worlds might be capable of supporting
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 life and which are simply very
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 impressive, very hot pieces of rock.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 >> A dark, hot, barren rock. But a dark,
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 hot, barren rock that just made
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 scientific history. Sticking with the
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 theme of worlds that are frankly hostile
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 to life, let's talk about Io,
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 >> Jupiter's extraordinary moon, the most
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 volcanically active body in the entire
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 solar system. A world being continuously
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 needed by the gravitational tugofwar
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 between Jupiter and its larger sibling
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 moons, Ganymede and Europa.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 >> Io has over 400 volcanic features called
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 pater. essentially giant depressions
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 filled with lava leaks. Scientists have
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 been measuring the heat output of these
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 features for decades. And a new study
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 released just yesterday suggests we've
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 been getting it dramatically wrong.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 >> The paper now available as a preprint on
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 archive uses data from Juno's infrared
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 instrument, the gyram, to look at Io's
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 pater in a completely new way. And it
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 turns out previous measurements were
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 only seeing part of the picture.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 >> For a long time, scientists measured
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 Io's volcanic heat output using what's
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 called the Mband of infrared. And the
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 Mband is excellent at picking up the
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 really hot bright spots at the active
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 edges of lava lakes where fresh uncooled
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 magma is churning. What it misses is the
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 vast cooler, older crust that forms
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 across the rest of the lava lake
00:05:15 --> 00:05:16 surface.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 >> And that crust, it turns out, is
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 enormous. It's much much more massive
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 than those hot peripheral rings. So
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 while it's cooler in temperature, its
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 sheer scale means it contributes a
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 staggering amount of total thermal
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 output. The team used Gyram's updated
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 data which can detect those lower
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 temperatures to build a revised picture.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 For one wellstudied patera alone, known
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 simply as P63, the old estimate was
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 around 7 GW of thermal output. Some
00:05:46 --> 00:05:50 models put it at 20. The new gym data 80
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 gawatt from a single lava lake.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 >> To put that in perspective, the entire
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 output of the UK's electricity grid is
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 around 40 gaw. One volcanic depression
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 on Io is putting out double that.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 >> And that's just one of the 400 pere. The
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 study only looked at 32 of them. The
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 implications for Io's total heat budget
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 are significant. We may have been
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 underestimating this moon's thermal fury
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 by an order of magnitude. And the study
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 also found something intriguing about
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 the crust itself. Using thermal cooling
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 models, the team estimated that a crust
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 at 200 Kelvin would be roughly 13 years
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 old, meaning these lakes resurface on
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 time scales of about a decade. So the
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 geology of Io is incredibly dynamic,
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 constantly renewing itself.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 >> Io never stopped surprising us. And now,
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 thanks to Juno, we're starting to truly
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 understand just how powerful this
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 extraordinary little moon is.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 >> Now, we're going to zoom out, way, way
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 out, from one single moon to, well, the
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 entire universe.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 >> An international team of astrophysicists
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 led by researchers at Durham University
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 in the UK and Leiden University in the
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 Netherlands has just released one of the
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 largest cosmological data sets ever
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 assembled. We're talking about 2 and 12
00:07:11 --> 00:07:12 pabytes of data.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 >> 2 and 12 pabytes. That is equivalent to
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 roughly half a million highde movies.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 All now freely available to researchers
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 anywhere in the world.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 >> This is the Flamingo Project, a suite of
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 largecale computer simulations that
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 model how matter has evolved across the
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 universe, right from the Big Bang
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 through to the present day. The
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 simulations were run on the Cosma 8
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 supercomputer at Durham, which is part
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 of the D-Rack National Higherformance
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 Computing Facility in the UK. And what
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 makes Flamingo special is its scope.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 Many detailed simulations focus on small
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 regions of space. You get great detail
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 on individual galaxy formation, but you
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 can't see the big picture. Other
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 simulations capture vast cosmic volumes,
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 but lose resolution at the small scale.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 Flamingo does both. Its simulations
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 stretch across billions of light years,
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 allowing researchers to study rare,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 massive structures like galaxy clusters
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 while still capturing the physics of
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 individual galaxy formation. The cosmic
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 web, that vast network of filaments and
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 nodes along which galaxies are
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 distributed is reproduced across these
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 volumes in extraordinary detail. The
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 data includes 22 full hydrodnamical
00:08:27 --> 00:08:31 simulations, galaxy and halo cataloges,
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 all sky maps, and particle data. Because
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 the data set is so vast, the Flamingo
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 team also built a custom web-based
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 system so researchers can access just
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 the data they need without having to
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 download the entire archive.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 >> Matushaler of Leen University summed up
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 the ambition well. Open access to data
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 sets of this scale can significantly
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 accelerate scientific progress. Since
00:08:56 --> 00:08:57 flamingo simulations were first
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 introduced in 2023, they've already been
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 used in dozens of studies. Now the full
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 data set is public. The scientific
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 community can do so much more.
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 >> This is open science at its most
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 ambitious. Virtual universes freely
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 given to the world
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 >> and hopefully the world will receive it
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 in the spirit it is given. Now, before
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 we move on to our next story, I'd like
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 to quickly remind you of our sponsor,
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 NordVPN. As I keep saying, when you're
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 ready to secure your online life, make
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 sure you get NordVPN. It's the one we
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 use and swear by, and we can help you
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 save a heap of money along with a 30-day
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 money back guarantee, which means
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 there's nothing to lose. When you're
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 ready to check it out, make sure you use
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 our special link, which you'll find in
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 the show notes. From the very large to
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 the very precise, our next story is
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 about a clever new technique that's
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 unlocking a whole new population of
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 planets that we've been struggling to
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 find. This one has a lovely Australian
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 connection which we always enjoy. The
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 study was led by Margot Thornton, a
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 doctoral candidate at UNSW, the
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 University of New South Wales in Sydney,
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 and it tackles a real challenge in
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 exoplanet science.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 >> So, here's the problem. NASA's test
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 satellite finds planets by detecting
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 tiny dips in starlight as a planet
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 passes in front of its star. It's
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 brilliant and it's found hundreds of
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 confirmed planets. But there's a class
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 of systems it really struggles with.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 Binary stars.
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 >> Binary stars are pairs of stars in orbit
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 around each other and they're very
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 common. A huge fraction of stars in our
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 galaxy have a companion. The
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 complication is that when you have two
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 stars doing their own thing, it becomes
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 very hard to tease out the much smaller
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 signal of a planet passing in front of
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 one of them. But this new approach uses
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 a different approach entirely. Instead
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 of looking for the planet's shadow, it
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 looks for the planet's gravitational
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 fingerprint. As a planet orbits in a
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 binary system, its gravity gently tugs
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 on the stars and that changes the
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 precise timing of when the two stars
00:11:08 --> 00:11:09 eclipse each other.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 >> It's a beautiful idea. You're not
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 watching the planet at all. You're
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 watching the stars dance and noticing
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 when something is slightly out of step.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 >> And it works. The team applied this
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 eclipse timing technique to test data
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 and uncovered more than 25 new exoplanet
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 candidates orbiting in binary star
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 systems. Systems where traditional
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 transit detection methods simply
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 couldn't find them. Before this study,
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 only 18 such circumbinary planets had
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 ever been confirmed across all
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 telescopes combined. 16 from NASA's
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 retired Kepler mission, plus two found
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 by TESS itself. This new method has the
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 potential to dramatically expand that
00:11:52 --> 00:11:53 number.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:54 >> It's a reminder that the way we look for
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 things matters as much as what we're
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 looking for. Great work from the UNSW
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 team showing that Australia is very much
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 at the frontier of exoplanet discovery.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 >> Our penultimate story takes us to the
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 outer solar system to those mysterious
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 underexplored giants Uranus and Neptune.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 >> We often call them the ice giants, but
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 that's a bit of a misnomer. Their
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 interiors are not cold at all. They're
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 subjected to temperatures in thousands
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 of degrees and pressures millions of
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 times greater than anything at Earth's
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 sea level. It's an environment we simply
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 cannot recreate in a lab. And because of
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 that, the physics of what happens to
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 materials under those conditions has
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 long been the subject of theoretical
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 modeling. Now, a new paper published in
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 Nature Communications from researchers
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 at the Carnegie Institution has added a
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 striking new entry to that catalog.
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 >> They've identified a previously
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 unrecognized state of matter that may
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 exist in these extreme environments. A
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 phase they call quasi one-dimensional
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 superionic. It's a mouthful, so let's
00:13:02 --> 00:13:03 break that down.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 >> Super ionic materials are already
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 fascinating. In a normal solid, both the
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 ions and electrons are locked in place.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 In a normal liquid, both flow freely. A
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 super ionic state is something in
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 between. The ion lice is solid, but some
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 particles flow through it like a liquid.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 We actually believe a super ionic phase
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 exists deep inside Uranus and Neptune
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 already. But this new phase is
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 different. The quasi one-dimensional
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 part refers to the fact that in this
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 newly identified phase, the flowing
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 particles don't move freely in all
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 directions. They're constrained to flow
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 along narrow one-dimensional channels
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 within the material structure. It's like
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 water moving through a network of pipes
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 rather than flooding a room. This is
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 significant because the behavior of
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 materials in ice giant interiors governs
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 everything from their magnetic field
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 generation to their heat flow to their
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 atmospheric dynamics. If we've been
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 missing an entire phase of matter that
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 exists in these conditions, our models
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 of how Uranus and Neptune actually work
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 may need revision. With new missions to
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 the ice giants being seriously discussed
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 by both NASA and issa for the coming
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 decades, this kind of foundational
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 physics work is exactly what's needed to
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 ensure we know what questions to ask
00:14:25 --> 00:14:26 when we get there.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 >> A new state of matter hidden inside two
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 worlds just a few billion km away.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 Sometimes the most exotic physics
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 doesn't require going to another galaxy,
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 just the outer edge of our own solar
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 system. And finally, something you can
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 do something about tonight, or more
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 precisely, in the pre-dawn hours of
00:14:46 --> 00:14:47 tomorrow morning.
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 >> The Eta Aquaria meteor shower is at its
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 peak right now. And for our southern
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 hemisphere listeners, particularly our
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 Australian and New Zealand friends, this
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 is one of the best meteor events of the
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 year. The Edeto Aquariads are the debris
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 of Hal's comet, the legendary comet that
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 last swept through the inner solar
00:15:06 --> 00:15:10 system in 1986 and won't return until
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 2061. Every year in early May, Earth
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 plows through the trail of dust and rock
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 particles Halley has left behind across
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 its 76-year orbit. And those particles
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 burn up in our upper atmosphere as
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 spectacular shooting stars. What makes
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 the Eta Aquar special for the southern
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 hemisphere is geometry. The radiant, the
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 point in the sky the meteors appear to
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 stream from in the constellation
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 Aquarius, rises high in the sky before
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 dawn. From Australia and New Zealand, it
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 reaches a really favorable altitude,
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 meaning you can expect to see up to 50
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 meteors per hour under ideal conditions.
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 >> There is a caveat this year. A waning
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 gibbus moon is hanging around in the sky
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 and it will wash out some of the fainter
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 meteors, but the brighter ones, the
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 proper fireballs, should punch through
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 just fine. Your best window is in the
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 hours before dawn, away from the moon,
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 lying back on a blanket and looking up.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 >> And if clouds are in the way, or you're
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 deep in the city, or you simply can't
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 face a 4:00 a.m. alarm, there's good
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 news. There are free live streams of the
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 shower available online. One
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 particularly impressive option comes
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 from the Alma Observatory in Chile's
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 Atakama Desert, one of the driest,
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 clearest places on Earth and one of the
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 premier sites in world astronomy. You'll
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 find links in our show notes.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 >> So whether you're watching from a dark
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 paddock under the Milky Way or from your
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 lounge with a coffee at sunrise, you can
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 join millions of people tonight in
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 witnessing the cosmic legacy of Hal's
00:16:43 --> 00:16:47 comet. Juding stars. Every single one a
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 tiny piece of one of the most famous
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 objects in the history of human sky
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 watching. That never gets old. And
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 that's a wrap on today's Astronomy
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 Daily. We've read the geology of an
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 alien world. We've discovered Io is even
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 more powerful than we thought. We've
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 opened two and a half pabytes of virtual
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 universe to the world. We found new
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 planets around binary stars. We've
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 discovered new states of matter inside
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 ice giants. And we've told you exactly
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 where to watch a meteor shower tonight.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 Not a bad day's work for a Tuesday. If
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 you enjoyed today's show, please
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 subscribe, leave a review, and share us
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 with a friend who loves space as much as
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 we do. You can find us at
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 astronomydaily.io
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 and on socials at astroaily pod. We're
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 part of the byes.com podcast network.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 Until tomorrow, keep looking up.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 >> This is Anna
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 >> and Avery.
00:17:46 --> 00:17:59 >> Clear skies, everyone.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:03 Stories told.