Gaia's Final Scan, Milky Way's Hidden Flares, and Unveiling New Planetary Mysteries: S28E10

Versus Spacetime Series twenty eight, Episode ten, for broadcast on the twenty second of January twenty twenty five. Coming up on space Time, Gaya, one of the most important astronomical missions ever undertaken, finally completes at sky scanning phase. The first ever detection of a mid infrared flair from the Milky Way supermassive black hole, and discovery of a strange new type of planet unlike anything in our Solar System. All that and more coming up on Spacetime. Welcome to space Time with Stuart gary. Well. It was one of the most important scientific missions ever undertaken. The European Space Agency's Milky Way map A Geya spacecraft has finally completed the sky scanning phase of its journey, in the process changing our understanding of our galaxy. The two thousand kilogram probe has wrapped up more than three trillion observations of about two billion stars and other objects over its past decade of operations. In the process, its revolutionized sciences understanding of our home galaxy and its cosmic neighborhood. Launched back in December twenty thirteen, Geier is now almost out of fuel. It uses about a dozen grams of cold gas per day in order to keep it spinning with pinpoint accuracy. That spinning allows it to be stable, allowing it to focus on its primary mission. Technology tests in our scheduled for the next few weeks before Gyre has moved into a sort of retirement orbit where a future missions will be mapped out. In the meantime, two massive data releases from GEIA have already been tabled, one for next year and another for the end of the decade. The treasure trobe of data collected by GEIA has given astronomer's unique insights into the origins and evolution of our Milky Way galaxy. See guys been mapping the positions, distances, movements, brightness, changes, composition, and numerous other characteristics of billions of stars, repeatedly monitoring them with its three instruments over the course of its mission. This is a neighborhood Guy to deliver on its primary role, building the largest and most precise map of the Milky Way, showing a home galaxy like no other mission has ever done before. In fact, it's given us the best reconstructed view of how our galaxy might look to an outside observer. This new impression of the Milky Way incorporates sky data from a multitude of papers over the past decade, and it contains major changes from previous models. Even basic ideas have been revised, such as the rotation of our galaxy central bar, the warp in the galaxy's disc, the detailed structure of our spiral arms, and interstellar dust near the Sun. Guys repeated measurements of stellar distances, motions, and characteristics are key to performing galactic archaeology on our Milky Way galaxy. In the process, revealing missing links in our galaxy's complex history, helping scientists better understand its origins, from detecting the ghosts of other galaxies that have been cannibalized by the Milky Way, and multiple streams of ancient stars that merged with the Milky Way early in its history, defining evidence for an ongoing collision with a Sagittary's dwarf galaxy. Today, Guya is rewriting the Milky Way's history and making predictions about its future. In the process of scanning the stars in our own galaxy, GUYS also spotted other objects ranging from asteroids in our solar system to galaxies and quasars. The bright and active centers of galaxies powered by monstrous, super massive black holes outside our Milky Way. For example, guys provided pinpoint precision all but more than one hundred and fifty thousand asteroids, and it's had such high quality measurements it's even been able to uncover possible moons around hundreds of these asteroids. It's also created the largest three dimensional map of about one point three million quasars, with the furthest shining bright when our universe was just one point five billion years old. Guys also discovered a new breed of black holes, including one with a mass of nearly thirty three times that of our Sun, hiding the confillation at Quilla, less than two thousand light years from Earth. It's the first time a black hole of stellar origins this big has been spotted within the Milky Way. We've already had three data releases from GEYA, and they've changed our understanding of the galaxy. Data Release four is expected to contain some five hundred terabytes of information covering the first five and a half years of the spacecraft's operations. Data Release four will also expand it's binary star catalog, the largest such catalog to date. That's because GUY has the unique ability to tease out tiny motions in pairs of celestial objects orbening close to each other, but it's already spotted previously hidden companions around bright stars. Guya's exoplanet discoveries are also set to increase with the forthcoming data sets. That's thanks to the longer frame time of observations, making it a lot easier for GUY to spot wabbling stars, the stars that are gently being tagged by the gravitational perturbations of orbening planets. It's been a fascinating mission so far, and although the data collection is now coming to an end, the astronomer is sifting through the data for the next two releases will and deadly make discoveries that will revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos. This report from ACTV what does. The Milky Way look like from the outside. No spacecraft can travel beyond our galaxy, so we can't take a selfie. But during its lifetime, Gaya made three trillion observations of two billion stars and other objects, giving us the best insight yet of what our home galaxy looks like. Gaia shows that our galaxy's disc is warped and wobbles, possibly caused by a collision with another smaller galaxy moving further out. Gaya also studied other galaxies around the Milky Way, such as the large and small Magellanic Clouds and forty other companions. Gaya revealed our galaxy's turbulent history by tracking the movements of streams of stars. Gaya gives a unique view of our Milky Way, scanning our galaxy from the inside out, building a more detailed map than ever before, fundamentally changing what we thought we knew about our home galaxy, where our Sun is embedded among billions of stars. This is space time still to calm. The first EVI detection of a mid infrared flare from the Milky Way, super messy black hole, and discovery of a strange new type of planet and like anything ever seen in our Solar system. All that and more still to calm on space time. Astronomers have made the first ever detection of a mid infrared flare emanating from Sagittarius, a star the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole. The observations are reported on the prepress physics website archive dot org, are based on data collected by NASA's Infrared Web Space Telescope, located some twenty seven thousand light years away. Sagittarius a star has about four point three million times the mass of our Sun, and it's the central pivot point around which our entire galaxy rotates. Sagittarius a Star regularly exhibits flares that can be observed in moldible wavelengths. That allows scientists to see different views of the same flare and better understand how it emits light and how those emissions are generated. But despite a long history of successful observations and even imaging the cosmic beast using the Event Horizon telescope in twenty twenty two, one crucial piece of the puzzle, the mid infrared observations, have been missing until now. Infrared radiation has longer wavelengths than visible light, but shorter wavelengths than radio, and mid infrared sits in the middle of the infrared band. It allows astronomers to observe objects like flares, which are often difficult to observe in other wavelengths because of the impenetrable clouds of gas and dust which block out the view from Earth. See Until this study, no one had yet successfully detected Sagittarius A's variability in the mid infrared. That left a gap in science's understanding of what causes these flares, and therefore raises questions about whether the theoretical models of the supermassive black hole are actually complete. One of the studies authors, Joseph mckel from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, says, Sagittaris A's flare evolves and changes quickly in just a matter of hours, and not all these changes can be seen at every wavelength. For over twenty years, astronomers have known what happens in the radio wave band and what happens in the infrared light, but the connection between them the mid infrared was never one hundred percent clear or certain. Because there's these new observations in the mid infrared fills that gap and connects the two. My new scientists still aret one hundred percent sure what causes these flares, so they rely on models and simulations, which they then compare with observations to try and understand where it's all coming from. Now many simulations are suggesting that flares in Sagittaries a star are being caused by the bunching up of magnetic field lines and the supermassive black holes. Turbulent accretion disc a disc of matter surrounding the black hole's event horizon on which material is being crushed and torn apart at the subatomic level before falling beyond the event horizon and into the singularity of the black hole. When two magnetic field lions approach, they can connect to each other and then release a huge amount of energy. Now, the byproduct of this so called magnetic reconnection is synchrotron emissions that occurs when energized electrons travel at speeds close to the speed of light along the magnetic field lines and they can emit the HyG energy photons powering the flare. But because the mid infrared spectral ra sits between the submillimeter and near infrared, it keeps its secrets locked away about the role of electrons, which would need to be cool in order to release energy to power the flares. And new observations are consistent with the existing models and simulations, and that adds another little piece to the puzzle supporting the theory of what lies behind the flares. The research indicates that there may be a connection between the observed variability at millimeter wavelength and the observed mid infrared flare emissions. Simultaneous observations using the submillimeter array telescope, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array New Star, and the Chandra X ray observatory filled in the additional part of the story. Sadly, no flares were detected during the X ray observations, likely because this particular flare simply didn't accelerate electrons to high enough energies. But the team was successful when they turned to the submillimeter array, which detected a millimeter awave flare lagging roughly ten minutes behind the mid infrared flare. It all adds to the puzzle picture. This is space time still to come. Astronomers have discovered a strange new type of planet, unlike anything in our Solar system, and later in the science report, a new study suggest that carrots can improve the treatment of type two diabetes. All that and more still to come on space time. Astronomers have discovered a strange new type of planet, unlike anything ever seen in our Solar system. The findings are reported in the Astrophysical Journal. Letters are based on new observations by NASA's web Space Telescope combined with simulated computer models, the amazing discovery provides another piece to the puzzle of understanding how planets and planetary systems are formed. Now. So far, more than five thousand exoplanets, that is, planets all around other stars, have been confirmed, and many are unlike any of the planets in our Solar system, making it difficult to guess what these strange worlds are like. One of the most common types of exoplanets falls into the size range between the Earth and Neptune. Now, astronomers have been debating whether these planets are earthlike, rocky or terrestrial worlds but with thick, hydrogen rich atmospheres, or whether they're more Neptune like icy worlds surrounded by water ridge atmospheres, the so called water worlds. The problem is previous studies have all been confatted by layers of thick, high clouds, which seem to be a common feature on these types of planets. That makes it difficult to study the atmosphere below the cloud deck, and that's where the Web space telescope comes in. Astronomers used Web's infrared capabilities to peer through the clouds on one of these strange worlds, the planet called GJ TWOL fourteen B is located just forty eight light years away in the direction of the constellation are Fusius, and that makes it relatively nearby and consequently one of the easiest examples of this kind of planet to study. As astronomers looked at the data, they were shocked to find that instead of a hydrogen rich super Earth, or for that matter, a Neptune like water world, the new data revealed concentrations of carbon dioxide comparable to the levels found in the dense CO two atmosphere of Venus. The studies lead author, Everett Shulin from the University of Arizona, says that discovery was a surprise and there are many uncertainties still in the data. The problem is that detected carbon dioxide signal from these observations was only tiny, so careful statistical analysis needed to be carried out to ensure that the signal was even real. The authors used theoretical models to run a plethora of what if scenarios about the likely atmosphere of the planet in order to match the web observations, and out of all these models, the ones which best fit the data suggest a carbon dominated atmosphere very much like Planet Venus, this Space Time and Time out to Tech. Another brief look at some of the other stories making us in science this week. With the Science Report, scientists have calculated at around four hundred and sixty five thousand tons of methane were emitted from the nord Stream subsea pipeline when it was sabotaged and damaged in twenty twenty. The findings were reported in the journal Nature and Nature Communications are based on three separate studies. This is the largest recorded amount of methane released from a single transient event. Disturbingly, however, it only represents zero point one percent of anthropogenic methane emissions for twenty twenty two. In the Nature paper, the authors found around four hundred and sixty five thousand tons of methane were emitted in the atmosphere, equivalent to about one point two percent of all emissions from natural gas and zero point three percent of methane emissions from agriculture and accompanying Nature Communication paper suggests that some fourteen percent of the Baltic Sea experience dissolved methane concentrations five times greater than average natural levels. In fact, it may have impacted up to twenty three marine protected areas. A second Nature Communications paper looked at the secondary release of methane in the atmosphere after being dissolved in the sea water, and it looked at the distribution of that methane which escaped from the pipelines. A new study suggests that eating carrots can improve the treatment of type two diabetes. You see, carrots enhance the body's ability to regulate blood sugars, and they positively influence the composition of gut bacteria. Type two diabetes treatment typically involves dietary changes in medication, though many people experience side effects from the pharmaceuticals are reporting. The journal Clinical and Transitional Science found that carrots could offer a natural, potentially side effect freeway to complement existing treatments. The authors studied the effects of character over sixteen weeks on two groups fed a calorie matched diet. One group were given diet supplements which included ten percent freeze dride carrot powder, and the results showed that the group receiving the carrot powder exhibited improved blood sugar regulation as measured by glucose tolerance tests. The studies showed that carrots altered the composition of the gut microbiome, a billions of microorganisms living in the gut at play a crucial role in digestion and health. Carrots contain bioactive compounds that enhance the sool's ability to absorb sugar, thereby aiding in blood sugar regulation. These bioactive substances, derived from unsaturated fatty acids, are also present in other vegetables from the carrot family, including parsley, celery and parsnips. While it might not be easy to insert it into your ear, scientists that meta claimed that your smartphone could soon be the equivalent of the fabled babelfish from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy see in Hitchhiker or The Babelfish was a small fish capable of real time language translations. While most existing machine learning translation systems are text oriented or they involve modible steps off and translating speech into text and then converting it into speech in another language, the new model, called seamless M four T does immediate speech to speech translations covering one hundred and one languages. A report of the journal Nature claims the new artificial intelligence model is capable of filtering out background noise and adjusting to speech variations with twenty three percent more translation accuracy than other translators. Australia's largest telecommunications company, Telstra, has just signed on to SpaceX's Starlic broadband Internet satellite service. With the details, we joined by technology editor Alex Saharov right from tech Advice Start Live Yeah Now. Late last year, the New Zealand company one end z announced that it was launching satellite connectivity for regular mobile phones, in this case the Galaxy Flip six, the Fold six, the Galaxy SPNY four Ultra and the Oppo find x eight. Funnily enough, no mention of the iPhone there that had emergency satellite capabilities for the last couple of years with the iPhone fourteen onwards. The Tester's announced that it is bringing what is known as a director handset or satellite to mobile text messaging to customers in Australia. And this is going to be for those people who don't have mobile coverage. It's not launched yet, it's launching later this year. The boiler plate textas that any LTE or which is a four G phone or above can do this, but given the New Zealand has only specified a certain number of phones where yet to see what Telstra is going to be offering, But satellite connectivity is going to eventually also extend to data that this won't stop the four G five Gen sixty networks being rolled out. You get much faster connectivity pin times, but it'll fill in all the black spots. And twenty twenty five and onwards is the year that the tyranny of distance is yet once again smashed into ever greater irrelevancy. Is this just with Starlink or is it with other satellite providers as well well? So far it's only with Starlink, but Amazon is launching a whole bunch of satellite, and mean China's launching satellite. Eventually there'll be other constellations that can do the same thing as well. But Elin Musk has been launching after Rocker on space and Stalin has been launching version two satellites that can do much more in terms of bandwidth and data and speeds and latency. So Eli my Stalink is first that others will undoubtedly follow. That's Alex saharav Royt from Tech Advice Dot Live and that's the show for now. Spacetime is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Google podcast pocket Casts, Spotify a Cast, Amazon Music, Bites dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation, on Science Own Radio and on both iHeartRadio and tune In Radio. And you can help to support our show by visiting the Spacetime Store for a range of promotional merchandising goodies, or by becoming a Spacetime Patron, which gives you access to triple episode commercial free versions of the show, as well as lots of burnus audio content which doesn't go to weir, access to our exclusive Facebook group, and other rewards. Just go to space Time with Stewart Gary dot com for full details. You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Gary. This has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.