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Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source
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for the latest space and astronomy news.
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Thanks for joining us on this Saturday, January 24th, 2026.
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We've got some fantastic stories lined up for you today.
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From rocket development milestones
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to prehistoric lunar discoveries,
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today's episode is packed with celestial intrigue.
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Let's dive right in with our top story.
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Rocket Labs ambitious neutron rocket
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has hit a significant milestone,
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even though it came with a bit of a bump in the road.
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Anna, what's the latest from Wallops Island?
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Well, Avery, it's a story of both triumph and setback.
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The good news first.
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Rocket Labs' innovative, hungry hippo fairings
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have successfully arrived at Wallops Island, Virginia.
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After a month-long sea journey from New Zealand,
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aboard the vessel North Star Integrity.
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These aren't your typical payload fairings.
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They're part of neutron's groundbreaking reusable system.
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Right, and what makes these hungry hippos so special?
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Unlike traditional fairings that are jettisoned
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and lost during flight,
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these clamshell-like structures actually stay attached
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to the first stage as it returns home.
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They open to release the second stage and payload,
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then close back up for the ride home.
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It's a clever design that should help drive down
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launch costs through rapid reuse.
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That's fascinating engineering, but you mentioned a setback.
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While the fairings were making their journey,
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Rocket Lab experienced a tank rupture
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during qualification trials
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at their Middle River Maryland facility.
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A first-stage carbon composite tank
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failed during hydrostatic pressure testing.
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That's where they fill the structure with water
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and gradually increase pressure
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to verify it can handle operational loads.
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Ouch, how significant is that?
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Well, Rocket Lab was quick to emphasize
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that testing failures like this while disappointing
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are actually part of the rigorous development process
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for high-performance rockets.
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They deliberately stress hardware to its limits
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and beyond to ensure reliability.
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The tank was found collapsed into a pile of debris,
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but the company maintains this is exactly why they test
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to find these issues on the ground
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rather than during flight.
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Silver lining thinking and the program moves forward.
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With the hungry hippo fairings now at Wallops,
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engineers can proceed with integration testing,
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fit checks, electrical interfaces,
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and eventually static fire preparations.
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The launch mount is already in place with the test stand
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ready for major testing with the rocket's second stage.
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Exciting times for commercial spaceflight.
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Now, speaking of major missions,
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NASA has some news about tracking
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the upcoming Artemis 2 mission, right?
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NASA has selected 34 global volunteers
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from 14 different countries to track the Orion spacecraft
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during its journey around the moon.
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This is a significant expansion from the Artemis 1 mission,
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which had only 10 volunteers.
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So what exactly will these volunteers be doing?
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They'll be using their own equipment,
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everything from established commercial service providers
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to university research facilities,
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to individual amateur radio enthusiasts
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to passively track radio waves transmitted by Orion
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during its approximately 10-day mission.
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We're talking about 47 ground assets spanning the globe.
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That's impressive international cooperation.
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The list is quite diverse.
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Government agencies like the Canadian Space Agency
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and Germany's DLR are participating.
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Commercial companies include Goon Hilli Earth Station in the UK,
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Kongsburg satellite services in Norway
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and Intuitive Machines in Houston,
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universities like UC Berkeley,
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the University of Pittsburgh,
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and even more head-state university in Kentucky are involved.
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What about amateur radio operators?
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Oh, yes, they're well-represented.
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We've got individuals like Chris Swire from South Dakota
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and Dan Slater from California.
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Amateur radio organizations from Argentina, Germany,
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the Netherlands, and France are also participating.
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It's truly a global effort.
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And this data they collect, what's NASA doing with it?
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The volunteers will submit their tracking data
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to NASA for analysis.
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This helps the agency assess the broader aerospace communities
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tracking capabilities and identify ways
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to augment future moon and Mars mission support.
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Kevin Coggins, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator
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for Space Communications and Navigation
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called it a real step toward scans commercial first vision.
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Building that public-private ecosystem
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for deep space exploration.
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Now, let's shift gears to some groundbreaking lunar research.
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Scientists analyzing samples from China's Changa 6 mission
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have made a discovery that helps explain
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one of the moon's most puzzling features.
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The asymmetry between the near and far sides?
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You know how the near side of the moon has all those dark maria,
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those vast volcanic planes that formed the man
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in the moon pattern we're all familiar with?
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The far side has barely any.
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I've always found that fascinating.
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What did they discover?
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Changa 6 brought back samples from the South Pole 8 Kin Basin,
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which is one of the largest impact features
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in the entire solar system, about 1,600 miles wide,
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and between 4.2 and 4.3 billion years old.
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Much older than the lunar maria,
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which are around 3.6 billion years old.
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And what did these ancient samples reveal?
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The research team, led by Hang Sea Teon
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from the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
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found something unusual in the basaltic rock samples
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and abnormal ratio of potassium isotopes.
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Specifically, they found more of the heavier potassium 41
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relative to potassium 39 compared to samples from the near side.
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What would cause that?
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After exploring several possibilities,
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cosmic ray irradiation, magma processes,
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mediarrytic contamination,
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they concluded that this isotopic signature
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is a relic of the giant impact
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that formed the South Pole 8 Kin Basin itself.
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So the impact actually changed the Moon's chemistry?
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Not just changed it, it fundamentally altered it.
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The impact was so violent that it heated the Moon's crust
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and mantle intensely,
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causing many volatile elements,
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including potassium,
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to evaporate and escape into space.
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The lighter potassium 39 isotope evaporated more easily
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than the heavier one,
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leaving behind this unusual ratio.
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That's incredible detective work.
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And this explains the lack of mario on the far side.
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The reduction in volatiles
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would have suppressed magma formation,
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limiting volcanism on the far side.
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It shows how deeply that ancient impact
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affected the Moon's interior
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and why isotopic analysis can provide windows
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into the conditions of such catastrophic events.
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This research was published in the proceedings
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of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Now here's something a bit more down to earth.
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Even if it's going to space.
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Anna, tell us about the startup
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that's making space memorials affordable.
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This is a really interesting story, Avery.
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A startup called Space Beyond, founded by Ryan Mitchell,
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is planning to send up to 1000 people's ashes to space
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for as little as $249,
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dramatically cheaper than traditional space memorial services
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that typically cost thousands of dollars.
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That's quite a price difference.
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How are they pulling this off?
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It's all about smart use of existing infrastructure.
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They're using a CubeSat,
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one of those miniature, cube-shaped satellites
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that will launch as a rideshare payload
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on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
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The rideshare model has really democratized access to space.
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And Ryan Mitchell, he's got some serious space credentials, right?
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He worked on NASA's Space Shuttle program
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and spent nearly a decade at Blue Origin.
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The idea actually came to him
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while attending a family member's ash spreading ceremony.
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He thought, how could I do this better?
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And thus, Space Beyond was born.
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But there must be some limitations
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with such an affordable service.
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Customers can only send about one gram of ashes,
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a practical limit due to weight considerations,
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and the need to fit many customers' remains in the CubeSat.
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The satellite will only orbit for about five years
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before burning up an Earth's atmosphere.
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So it's not forever.
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Though that fiery ending has a certain poetic quality to it.
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Bichel certainly thinks so.
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Plus, the CubeSat will be in a sun-synchronous orbit
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at about 550 kilometers altitude,
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meaning it'll fly over the entire globe.
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With modern spacecraft tracking services,
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families should be able to locate it
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and know when it's passing overhead.
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That's actually really touching.
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And importantly, they're not spreading the ashes in space, right?
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Bichel called that an almost nightmare scenario
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because the particles could create a debris cloud
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that could endanger other spacecraft.
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Since customers only send about a gram,
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they can do what they wish with the rest.
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Thoughtful approach to a sensitive service.
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Now, let's talk about something
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that might literally redefine astronomy.
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Anna, tell us about this massive potential exomone.
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This one's mind-bending Avery.
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Astronomers using the gravity instrument
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on the very large telescope in Chile
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have detected what might be an exomone orbiting the gas giant HD206893B
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located 133 light-years from Earth.
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But here's the kicker.
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This moon is so massive that it might force us to rethink
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the word moon even means.
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How massive are we talking?
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They estimate it could be as much as 40% the mass of Jupiter,
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or about nine times the mass of Neptune.
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To put that in perspective, it's thousands of times heavier
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than any moon in our solar system.
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Anamine, Jupiter's largest moon
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and the biggest in our solar system,
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is thousands of times less massive than Neptune.
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Wow, so how did they even detect something like this?
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Through a technique called estrometry,
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which precisely tracks the position
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of celestial bodies over time.
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The team, led by Quentin Crawl from the University of Cambridge,
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observed a measurable wobble in HD206893B's motion,
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a back and forth movement with a period of about nine months.
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And that wobble is the moon's gravitational tug.
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Crawl explained that the wobble has a size comparable
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to the Earth moon distance, which is the exact signature
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you'd expect from an unseen companion.
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The potential moon's orbit is also tilted
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by roughly 60 degrees, suggesting a turbulent history
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of gravitational interactions.
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So at what point does something stop being a moon
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and become a binary companion?
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That's the million dollar question.
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Crawl noted that at these masses,
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the distinction between a massive moon
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and a low mass companion becomes blurred.
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There's currently no official definition of an exomune.
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So astronomers generally refer to any object orbiting
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a planet as a moon.
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This could force a redefinition?
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Crawl suggested that as observational techniques improve,
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our definitions and understanding
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of what constitutes a moon will almost certainly evolve.
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He also pointed out that we're likely only seeing
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the tip of the iceberg.
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Just as the first exoplanets discovered
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were massive ones close to their stars
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because they were easiest to detect,
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the first exomoons we identify
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will be the most massive and extreme examples.
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Finding exomoons is challenging, I imagine.
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Extremely, the signals they produce are minute,
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often lost in the noise of their parent planet's data.
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The transit method that's revolutionized
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exoplanet discovery is less effective for moons
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because they produce light dips to faint to distinguish.
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But astrometry offers a new path forward,
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especially for detecting companions in far orbits
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where large, stable moons are more likely to exist.
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This research was published in astronomy and astrophysics.
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It's been accepted for publication there
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and it's currently available as a pre-peer-reviewed paper
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If confirmed, this would not only expand
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our catalog of celestial bodies,
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but force astronomers to rethink
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one of the oldest definitions in planetary science.
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And finally, Anna, we have a story
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that might rewrite history
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or at least rename a famous comet.
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New research suggests that Haley's comet
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might be wrongly maimed.
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Turns out, an 11th century English monk
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named Ilmer of Momsbury
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understood the comet's periodic nature centuries
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before the British astronomer Edmund Haley.
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Wait, so Haley wasn't the first to figure this out?
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According to research by Professor Simon Portagee's
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work and colleagues published in the book
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Dora Stad and Everything After,
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Ilmer witnessed Haley's comet twice in 989 CE
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and again in 1066 CE and realized
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it was the same comet returning.
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How do we know this?
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The events are described by the 12th century chronicler,
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William of Momsbury, but this connection
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had gone unnoticed by scholars until now.
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The 1066 appearance is actually depicted
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on the famous Bayou tapestry,
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which illustrates the events of that year,
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including the Norman Conquest of England.
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So Ilmer must have been quite elderly to see it twice?
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Exactly, given that the comet appears roughly 76 years,
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he would have been advanced in age
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when he witnessed it for the second time.
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And here's a fascinating detail,
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as was customary at the time,
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when he saw it in 1066,
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the king was warned of impending disaster.
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The comet appeared during the brief reign
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of King Harold Godwinson,
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who died at the Battle of Hastings that October.
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Medieval people really did see comets as omens, didn't they?
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The research shows that comet appearances around this time
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were consistently associated with the deaths
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of kings, war, or famine in the British Isles.
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The researchers even found what might be historical fake news,
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a comet supposedly seen before the death
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of Archbishop Cydric of Canterbury in 995,
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which wasn't actually recorded in the Chronicles,
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possibly in exaggeration to frighten people.
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So what are the researchers calling for?
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They're arguing that Haley's comet
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should be given a different name since it had been observed
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twice and its periodicity understood centuries
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before Haley's work.
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The Portuguese weren't mentioned that while the research
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was fun to do, it was challenging working
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in such an interdisciplinary project alongside a historian.
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Nevertheless, they planned to carry out further research
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into periodic comet.
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It's amazing how interdisciplinary research
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can uncover these historical oversights.
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It really is, and it shows that scientific discovery
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isn't always about new observations.
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Sometimes it's about looking at old records with fresh eyes.
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Well, that's all the time we have for today's episode.
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What a journey we've been on.
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From rocket fairings to ancient lunar impacts,
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affordable space memorials to massive exomoons
16:49
and historical comet discoveries.
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It never ceases to amaze me how much is happening
16:55
in space and astronomy every single day.
16:58
From cutting edge engineering to billion-year-old mysteries,
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there's always something new to learn.
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Thanks so much for tuning into Astronomy Daily.
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Be sure to visit our website at astronomydaily.io
17:09
for detailed show notes, transcripts,
17:12
and links to all the stories we discussed today.
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And don't forget to follow us on social media.
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We're at AstroDailyPod on X, Facebook, Instagram,
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TikTok, YouTube, and Tumblr.
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Until next time, keep looking up
17:26
and keep exploring the wonders of our universe.
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Glere skies, everyone.
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Astronomy day, the story's the toll.
17:36
The story's the toll.
17:44
The story's the toll.
17:51
The story's the toll.
17:54
Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing.
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Yeah, it's even better with Jamba by my side.
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Race to chumpacaceno.com.
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