Highlights:
- Cosmic Jousting of Galaxies: Witness an incredible celestial event as two massive galaxies engage in a dramatic collision, with one galaxy's quasar firing a beam of radiation through its companion like a knight's lance. This unique observation sheds light on galactic mergers in the early universe, providing a snapshot of cosmic evolution 11.4 billion years ago.
- Jupiter's Massive Past: Discover groundbreaking research revealing that Jupiter was once twice its current size, with a magnetic field 50 times stronger. This study offers critical insights into the formation of our solar system and the pivotal role Jupiter played in shaping its architecture.
- Interstellar Travel Challenges: Explore the often-overlooked biological complexities of interstellar travel. Physicist Paul Davies discusses the necessity of replicating Earth's intricate ecosystems, focusing on the essential role of microorganisms in sustaining life during long journeys beyond our solar system.
- Unusual Planetary System Discovery: Delve into the peculiar findings surrounding the 2M M1510 system, where a planet orbits perpendicularly to its brown dwarf hosts. This discovery challenges existing theories of planetary formation and highlights the universe's capacity for surprising configurations.
- Tom Cruise's Space Movie Ambitions: Get the latest scoop on Tom Cruise's plans to become the first actor to film a movie in outer space. As his project with SpaceX progresses, the boundaries of filmmaking are set to be pushed further than ever before.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily
01:10 - Cosmic jousting of galaxies
10:00 - Jupiter's massive past
15:30 - Interstellar travel challenges
20:00 - Unusual planetary system discovery
25:00 - Tom Cruise's space movie ambitions
✍️ Episode References
Galactic Merger Research
[Nature Astronomy](https://www.nature.com/natureastronomy/)
Jupiter's Formation Study
[Caltech](https://www.caltech.edu/)
Interstellar Ecosystem Analysis
[Paul Davies](https://www.pauldavies.com/)
Planetary System Discovery
[Science Advances](https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily. Your
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 cosmic connection to the stars and beyond.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 I'm Anna, and today we're exploring some
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 truly mind bending stories from across the
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 universe. Coming up on today's show, we'll
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 witness a celestial joust between two massive
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 galaxies on a collision course, with one
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 firing a beam of radiation through the other
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 like a knight's lance. We'll also discover
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 that Jupiter, the architect of our solar
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 system, was once twice its current size, with
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 a magnetic field 50 times stronger than it
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 is today. Then we'll
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 examine the often overlooked challenges
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 of interstellar travel. Not the rockets
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 and propulsion systems, but the microscopic
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 passengers that would need to make the
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 journey with us. Plus, we'll explore one
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 of the strangest planetary systems ever
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 discovered, featuring a planet that orbits
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 perpendicular to everything we thought we
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 knew about orbital mechanics. And finally,
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 we'll check in on Tom Cruise's ambitious
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 plans to become the first actor to film a
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 movie in actual outer space. It's a packed
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 episode exploring the biggest and smallest
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 wonders of our universe. So let's dive right
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 in to today's Astronomy Daily.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 Astronomers have recently observed what
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 they're describing as a cosmic joust.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 Two massive galaxies hurtling toward each
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 other in deep space. This remarkable
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 celestial event gives us a glimpse of a
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 galactic merger as it was happening 11.4
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 billion years ago, when the universe was just
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 about one fifth of its current age. The
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 observation, made using two powerful
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 telescopes in Chile, the Atacama Large
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 Millimeter Submillimeter Array and the
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 European Southern Observatory's Very Large
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 Telescope, reveals two galaxies, each
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 containing roughly the same number of stars
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 as our own Milky Way. But what makes this
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 encounter particularly fascinating is what's
00:01:48 --> 00:01:49 happening at the heart of one of these
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 galaxies. One of the galaxies contains a
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 quasar, an extraordinarily luminous
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 object powered by a supermassive black hole.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 As gas and other material fall into this
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 cosmic monster, it heats up due to friction,
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 creating a disk that emits extremely powerful
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 radiation in two opposite directions.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 These are called biconical beams, and one of
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 them is directly piercing through the
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 companion galaxy. The researchers have
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 likened this interaction to medieval knights
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 charging toward each other in a joust. As
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 astrophysicist Sergei Balashev from the IofA
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 Institute in St. Petersburg puts it. One of
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 them, the quasar host, emits a powerful beam
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 of radiation that pierces the companion
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 galaxy like a lance. This
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 radiation lance is actually disrupting the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 molecular clouds in the companion galaxy, the
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 very clouds that would normally give rise to
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 new stars. Instead of forming stars, these
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 clouds are being transformed into tiny Dense
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 cloudlets that are too small to create
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 stellar nurseries. It's effectively wounding
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 its opponent by disrupting the gas structure
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 necessary for star formation. The
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 supermassive black hole powering this cosmic
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 joust is estimated to be about 200 million
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 times the mass of our sun, far larger than
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 the one at the center of our own Milky Way,
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 which is only about 4 million solar masses.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 What makes this observation particularly
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 special is that it's the first time
00:03:14 --> 00:03:15 scientists have witnessed this kind of
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 phenomenon, a, quasar's radiation directly
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 affecting the molecular clouds in another
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 galaxy. The unique alignment of these
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 galaxies from our perspective on Earth
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 allowed researchers to observe the radiation
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 passing directly through the companion
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 galaxy. According to astronomer Pasquier
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 Notre Dame of the Paris Institute of
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 Astrophysics, these two galaxies will
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 eventually coalesce Into a single, larger
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 galaxy as their gravitational interaction
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 continues to. The quasar will gradually fade
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 as it exhausts its available fuel. Most
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 galactic mergers observed by astronomers
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 Occurred later in the universe's history,
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 making this early cosmic collision
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 particularly valuable for understanding how
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 galaxies evolved in the young universe. It's
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 a dramatic snapshot of the violent processes
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 that have shaped the cosmos since its
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 earliest days, a cosmic joust that will
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 ultimately end in union rather than victory
00:04:06 --> 00:04:07 for either contestant.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 Next, let's take a new look at one of our
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 cosmic neighbors. Jupiter, the largest
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 planet in our solar system, Was once even
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 more massive and magnetically powerful than
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 it is today. According to a groundbreaking
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 new study published in the journal Nature
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 Astronomy, Researchers from Caltech
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 and the University of Michigan have
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 determined that approximately 3.8 million
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 years after the formation of the solar
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 system's first solids, Jupiter was about
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 twice its current size, with, a magnetic
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 field 50 times stronger than what we observe
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 now. This revelation comes from an ingenious
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 approach that bypasses traditional
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 uncertainties in planetary formation models.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 Rather than relying on assumptions about gas
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 opacity or accretion rates, the researchers
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 focused on something more concrete. The
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 orbital dynamics of Jupiter's tiny moons
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Amalthea and Thebe. These small
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 moons, which orbit even closer to Jupiter
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 Than the Galilean moon IO, have slightly
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 tilted orbits. By analyzing these orbital
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 discrepancies, Constantine Batygin,
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 professor of planetary science at Caltech,
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 and Fred C. Adams, professor of physics and
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 astronomy at the University of Michigan, were
00:05:21 --> 00:05:22 able to calculate Jupiter's original
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 dimensions. Their findings paint a picture of
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 a truly enormous early Jupiter, with a volume
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 equivalent to over 2000 Earths. This isn't
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 just an interesting factoid. It provides
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 critical information about a pivotal moment
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 in our solar system's development. The
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 Research establishes a clear snapshot of
00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 Jupiter at the precise moment when the
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 surrounding solar nebula evaporated,
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 effectively locking in the primordial
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 architecture of our solar system. Our
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 ultimate goal is to understand where we come
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 from, and pinning down the early phases of
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 planet formation is essential to solving the
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 puzzle, explains Batygin. This brings
00:05:58 --> 00:05:59 us closer to understanding how not only
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 Jupiter but the entire solar system took
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 shape. What makes this research
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 particularly valuable is that it provides
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 independent verification of long standing
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 planet formation theories, which suggest that
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 Jupiter and other giant planets formed via
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 core accretion, a process where a rocky and
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 icy core rapidly gathers gas. These
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 theories have been developed over decades by
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 many researchers, including Caltech's Dave
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 Stevenson. And this new study adds crucial
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 specificity to our understanding.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 Understanding Jupiter's early evolution has
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 broader implications for our solar system's
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 development. Jupiter's gravity has often been
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 called the architect of our solar system,
00:06:39 --> 00:06:40 playing a critical role in shaping the
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 orbital paths of other planets and sculpting
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 the disk of gas and dust from which they
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 formed. As Fred Adams notes, it's
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 astonishing that even after 4.5 billion
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 years, enough clues remain to let us
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 reconstruct Jupiter's physical state at the
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 dawn of its existence. While Jupiter's very
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 first moments remain obscured, this research
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 establishes what Batygin calls a valuable
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 benchmark, a point from which scientists can
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 more confidently reconstruct the evolution of
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 our solar system, bringing us closer to
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 answering fundamental questions about our
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 cosmic origins and the processes that made
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 our planetary neighborhood what it is today.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 Our next story today features a subject I
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 know many of us wonder about. When we think
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 about interstellar travel, our minds
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 typically gravitate toward the technological
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 challenges of propulsion systems and
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 spacecraft design. But according to physicist
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 and author Paul Davies, we're overlooking
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 perhaps the most critical obstacle to human
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 space exploration beyond our solar system.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 The complex biological requirements for
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 creating a sustainable ecosystem. In
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 Davies's analysis, traveling between stars
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 will inevitably be a one way journey. Even
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 with the most optimistic technological
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 advances. This means any mission would
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 require creating a completely self sustaining
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 ecological environment. It's not simply about
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 growing enough, food and generating oxygen.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 It's about replicating Earth's intricate web
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 of life on a cosmic scale. The true
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 complexity lies in the microbial realm. As
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 Davies points out, almost all terrestrial
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 species are microbes, bacteria,
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 archaea and unicellular eukaryotes.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 And they form the foundation of Earth's
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 biosphere. These microorganisms aren't
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 merely passengers on our planet. They're
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 essential components of our life support
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 system. Recycling materials and exchanging
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 genetic Components in ways we're only
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 beginning to understand. Even within our
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 own bodies, microbes play a crucial role.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 Your personal microbiome, the microbial
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 inhabitants of your gut, lungs and other
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 organs outnumber your own cells.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 Without them, you would die. So
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 astronauts cannot journey to the stars
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 without, at minimum, their own microbiomes.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 But it gets even more complicated. Microbes
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 don't exist in isolation. They form vast
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 networks of biological interactions that
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 remain poorly understood. There's horizontal
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 gene transfer, cell to cell signaling,
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 viral interactions, and collective
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 organization that creates an ecological web
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 of staggering complexity. Scientists have
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 barely begun to map this intricate planetary
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 scale information flow. This raises what
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 Davies calls a Noah's Ark conundrum with a
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 vengeance. Which species get chosen for the
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 journey? What is the minimum complexity of an
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 ecosystem necessary for long term
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 sustainability? At what point does removing
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 certain microbes cause the entire system to
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 collapse? The problem is that we simply
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 don't know. We haven't identified the
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 smallest self sustaining, purely microbial
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 ecosystem, let alone which microbes are
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 crucial for human survival in space.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 Imagine compiling a list of plants and
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 animals to accompany humans on a one way
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 cows, pigs, vegetables. But then consider
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 how many and which microbial species these
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 organisms depend on and which other microbes
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 those microbes depend on. Space conditions
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 add another layer of complexity. Research
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 shows that bacteria can change their gene
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 expression in zero gravity. Michelle
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 Levin's experiments with planaria worms that
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 had flown on the space station revealed that
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 some returned with two heads instead of the
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 normal one. How might other organisms change
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 in the harsh environment of space? Davies
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 suggests our best hope may lie not in
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 cataloging genes, but in discovering the
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 underlying principles governing the flow and
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 organization of information in living
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 systems, what he calls the software of
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 life. If we can identify universal
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 informational patterns in biology, we might
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 create a transplantable ecosystem robust
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 enough to withstand space conditions. Without
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 solving these fundamental biological
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 challenges, our dreams of establishing
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 permanent human settlements beyond our solar
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 system may remain just dreams.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 The tiniest organisms may pose the biggest
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 obstacles to our cosmic ambitions.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 Next up. Today, will the cosmos ever stop
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 surprising us? I hope not. In what
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 might be the most unusual planetary
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 arrangement ever discovered, astronomers have
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 recently identified a system that defies our
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 conventional understanding of how planets
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 form and orbit. The system,
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 informally known as 2M M1510,
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 features what appears to be a planet tracing
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 an orbit that carries it directly over the
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 poles of two brown dwarfs and that are
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 orbiting each other. If you're having trouble
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 visualizing this, imagine two spinning
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 tops circling each other on a table while a
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 marble rolls around them in a path that goes
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 over and under the table. It's a
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 configuration that until now, existed only in
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 theoretical models. In typical planetary
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 systems like our own solar system, Planets
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 orbit their stars in, a relatively flat plane
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 that aligns with the star's equator. This
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 makes sense because planets form from the
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 same rotating disk of material that formed
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 the star. Everything stays nice and orderly,
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 Moving in roughly the same plane. But
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 candidate planet 2m M1510B breaks all
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 these rules. Its orbital plane appears to be
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 perpendicular at a 90 degree angle to the
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 plane in which its two host brown dwarfs
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 orbit each other. Brown dwarfs themselves are
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 fascinating objects, Too massive to be
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 considered planets, but not massive enough to
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 sustain the nuclear fusion that powers stars.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 They're cosmic in betweeners, and this system
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 has two of them at its center, With a third
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 brown dwarf orbiting at an extreme distance.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 The detection method for this perpendicular
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 planet Is itself remarkable. Most
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 exoplanets today are found using the transit
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 method, where we detect tiny dips in
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 starlight as planets cross in front of their
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 stars. But that wouldn't work in this unusual
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 orbital arrangement. Instead,
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 researchers used what's called the radial
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 velocity method, Measuring subtle shifts in
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 the brown dwarf's light spectrum Caused by
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 the gravitational pull of the orbiting
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 planet. More specifically, they
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 detected how the planet subtly alters the 21
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 day mutual orbit of the brown dwarf pair.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 After extensive analysis, the research team
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 concluded that only a polar orbiting planet
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 could explain these perturbations. This
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 discovery is significant because circumbinary
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 planets, those orbiting two stars at once,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Are already quite rare. Of the more than
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 5 confirmed exoplanets, only
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 16 are known to orbit binary systems, with
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 Most discovered by NASA's now retired Kepler
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 space telescope. A circumbinary planet in a
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 polar orbit Takes this rarity to another
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 level entirely. Scientists have previously
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 observed debris disks and protoplanetary
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 disks in polar orbits, which led to
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 speculation that polar orbiting planets might
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 exist. 2m,
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 um1510 appears to be the first confirmed case
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 Validating these theoretical predictions.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 The international research team led by Thomas
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 A. Baycroft from the University of Birmingham
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 Published their findings in the journal
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 Science Advances in April. With the planet
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 officially entered into NASA's exoplanet
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 archive on May 1st of this year. This
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 bizarre system challenges our understanding
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 of planetary formation and orbital dynamics,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 Suggesting that the universe has many more
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 surprises in store. As we continue to explore
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 the cosmos, it reminds us that nature often
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 finds ways to create arrangements Far more
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 exotic than what we might imagine.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 Finally, today, this news will horrify some
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 and delight others in the realm of space
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 exploration, One unlikely pioneer may soon
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 make the transition from movie star to actual
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 astronaut Tom Cruise, known for performing
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 his own death defying stunts in the Mission
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 Impossible franchise, appears to be inching
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 closer to perhaps his most ambitious project
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 yet, filming a movie in actual outer
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 space. According to Cruise's IMDb
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 page, an untitled Tom Cruise SpaceX
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 project is currently listed in pre
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 production. The tantalizing description
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 states that Cruise and director Doug Liman
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 plan to travel far beyond Earth to film
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 the first ever Hollywood motion picture in
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 outer space. While no official launch date
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 has been announced, this development suggests
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 the long rumored space movie may indeed be
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 moving forward. The concept first gained
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 traction back in 2020 and 2021 following
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 a successful SpaceX NASA rocket launch from
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 Cape Canaveral. NASA confirmed at the time
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 that they were in discussions with crews
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 about filming a movie aboard the
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 International Space Station, though updates
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 about this potential collaboration have been
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 scarce since then. Interestingly,
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 during SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission in
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 September 2021, the four person
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 civilian crew, which included Jared Isaacman
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 Mann, who would later become President
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 Trump's pick to lead NASA, actually spoke
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 with Cruise via a zoom call during their
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 orbital flight. At that time,
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 reports suggested Cruise was set to fly on a
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 different crew Dragon Mission to film scenes
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 for an upcoming movie. While Cruise would be
00:16:00 --> 00:16:01 the first Hollywood actor to film in space,
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 he wouldn't be the first to shoot a feature
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 film there. That distinction belongs to
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 Russian actress Yulia Peresild and director
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 Klim Sippenko, who traveled to the
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 International space station in October 2021
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 to film scenes for the Challenge, a drama
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 about a surgeon sent to space to save a
00:16:19 --> 00:16:20 cosmonaut suffering from a heart attack.
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 Released in 2023, it became the first
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 feature length film with professional actors
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 shot in space. For Cruise, who turned
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 63 this year and is fresh off the success of
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 Impossible, the Final Reckoning, a journey to
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 space would represent the ultimate frontier
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 in his career of pushing physical boundaries.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 The actor has already hung from airplanes,
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 scaled the world's tallest building, and
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 performed halo jumps from extreme altitudes,
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 space would certainly be the next logical, if
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 extraordinarily ambitious step. Whether
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 this project ultimately launches remains to
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 be seen, but one thing seems certain. If
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 anyone in Hollywood has the determination and
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 influence to make filming in space a reality,
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 it's Tom Cruise.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 And that wraps up another incredible journey
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 through the cosmos on today's episode of
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 Astronomy Daily. From those two galaxies
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 engaged in a cosmic joust billions of years
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 ago, to Jupiter's surprisingly massive past,
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 to the complex microbial challenges of
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 interstellar travel, the universe continues
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 to amaze and humble us with its mysteries.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 We also explored that fascinating
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 perpendicular planetary orbit in the
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 2M1510 system, a
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 configuration astronomers had only theorized
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 until now. And of course, Tom
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 Cruise's potential journey to become the
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 first Hollywood actor to film in actual space
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 certainly pushes the boundaries of what's
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 possible when human ingenuity meets cosmic
00:17:50 --> 00:17:53 ambition. The universe is vast,
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 mysterious, and full of stories waiting to be
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 told. If you want to stay on top of all the
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 latest developments in space and astronomy, I
00:18:00 --> 00:18:01 encourage you to visit our
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 website@astronomydaily.IO where you can
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 sign up for our free daily newsletter. Our
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 site features a constantly updating newsfeed
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 with the latest discoveries and breakthroughs
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 in cosmic exploration. Don't forget to
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 subscribe to Astronomy Daily on Apple
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 Podcasts, Spotify, YouTubeMusic, or
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 wherever you get your podcasts. To ensure
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 you never miss an episode, this has been
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 Anna, your guide to the Cosmos, and I'll be
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 back tomorrow with more fascinating stories
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 from the final frontier. Until then, keep
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33 looking up.