Cosmic Wobbles, Monster Galaxies, and the Future of Space Exploration
Astronomy Daily: Space News June 07, 2025x
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00:07:346.99 MB

Cosmic Wobbles, Monster Galaxies, and the Future of Space Exploration

Highlights:
- Titan's Wobbling Atmosphere: Join us as we uncover the intriguing discovery that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a wobbling atmosphere. Recent studies analysing infrared light over 13 years reveal that Titan's atmosphere shifts with the seasons, raising questions about the forces at play. This research is vital for the upcoming Dragonfly mission in 2034, which aims to land on Titan and explore its unique atmospheric conditions.
- Discovery of an Ancient Monster Galaxy: Travel back 11.1 billion years to explore the newly discovered super active spiral galaxy, J0107A. This ancient "monster galaxy" is rapidly forming stars and offers insights into the evolution of galaxies like our Milky Way. With features that were previously unpredicted by theoretical models, this discovery is reshaping our understanding of galactic formation in the early universe.
- Delays in Boeing's Starliner Programme: We delve into the ongoing delays plaguing Boeing's Starliner programme, which has now pushed the next flight to early 2026. With lingering issues related to helium leaks and propulsion anomalies, NASA and Boeing are working to resolve these challenges before the next crewed mission can take place, leaving many questions unanswered.
- The Royal Society's Vision for Space in 50 Years: Get a glimpse into the future with the Royal Society's report on space activities in 2075, envisioning asteroid mining, space factories, and interplanetary exploration. This bold vision highlights the potential for clean energy and recycling in space, while also addressing ethical challenges and the quest for alien life.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music, 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 - Titan's wobbling atmosphere
10:00 - Discovery of ancient monster galaxy J0107A
15:30 - Delays in Boeing's Starliner programme
20:00 - The Royal Society's vision for space in 50 years
✍️ Episode References
Titan's Atmosphere Research
[NASA Titan Studies](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Ancient Monster Galaxy Discovery
[Astrophysical Journal](https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X)
Boeing Starliner Updates
[NASA Boeing](https://www.nasa.gov/boeing)
Royal Society Robert on Space 2075
[Royal Society](https://royalsociety.org/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
For Commercial-Free versions become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-exciting-space-discoveries-and-news--5648921/support.


00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hey there, space enthusiasts and welcome back to

00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and

00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 I'm super excited to take you on a whirlwind tour of the

00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 cosmos right from the comfort of your earbuds. Today

00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 we've got some mind blowing stories lined up. We'll be

00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 diving into the mystery of Titan's wobbling atmosphere,

00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 checking out a newly discovered ancient monster galaxy,

00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 and looking into the delays plaguing Boeing's Starliner

00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 programme. And we'll wrap it all up with a peek into the

00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 next 50 years in space, according to the Royal Society.

00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 So buckle up space cadets. It's going to be a fun R.

00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 Alright, first up, let's talk about Titan, Saturn's largest

00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 moon. Now get this. Scientists have discovered that

00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 Titan's atmosphere isn't exactly sitting still. It

00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 like wobbles. Yeah, you heard me right.

00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 Wobbles like a gyroscope. A recent

00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 study after analysing infrared light readings over

00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 13 years has revealed that Titan's atmosphere isn't

00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 fixed in line with its surface. It shifts across the

00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 seasons. Spooky. Huh? Huh? Now the big

00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 question is why? What's causing this weird

00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 wobble? Planetary scientist Lucy

00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 Wright compares it to a gyroscope stabilising itself in

00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 space and adds that the wobble changes with

00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 Titan's seasons. One theory is that it

00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 has something to do with Titan's orbit around the sun and Saturn.

00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 But the direction of the tilt remains fixed, which

00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 is just adding to the mystery. Maybe,

00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 and this is just a maybe. A large impact event

00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 in Titan's past could have started the wobbles and

00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 possibly changed its climate. Now why

00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 should we care? Well, this research is crucial for the upcoming

00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 Dragonfly mission scheduled for 2034.

00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 Dragonfly's gonna land on Titan and to do that

00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 safely, we need to really understand its atmosphere.

00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 Plus understanding Titan's atmosphere, which

00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 by the way, is the only moon in our solar system to have a

00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 proper atmosphere, might help us understand how life could

00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 survive on other planets. Even better,

00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 studying Titan could even help us understand Earth's atmosphere

00:01:56 --> 00:01:57 better. Who knew?

00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 Right, next up, we're heading

00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 way, way back in time, like 11.1

00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 billion years back. Astronomers have just spotted

00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 a massive super active spiral galaxy from

00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 the early universe. And it's shedding new light on how galaxies like

00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 our own Milky Way took shape. Now this galaxy ain't

00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 just any galaxy. It's what they call a, ah, monster galaxy

00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 that's growing super fast by making stars at an incredible

00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 rate. It's got a bright central bar, a feature

00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 seen in many modern spiral galaxies, including our own,

00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 this bar acts like a funnel directing gas inward to

00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 fuel the birth of new stars. And this one,

00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 called J0107A. It's like the oldest and

00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 most massive barred spiral galaxy we've ever seen.

00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 Think of it as a time capsule, giving us a peek

00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 into how these galactic structures formed and evolved

00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 way back in the early universe. What's really

00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 cool is that the team found that the gas in

00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 J0107A is distributed

00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 and moves in a way that's similar to modern galaxies.

00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 But get this, the concentrations of gas are way

00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 higher and the speed of the gas flow is much faster.

00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 Astronomers think this massive influx of gas to the

00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 centre of the galaxy will cause even more star

00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 formation, driving its evolution. This is

00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 the first time these features have been observed. And turns out they

00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 weren't predicted by any of the theoretical models.

00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 How about that, huh? Huh?

00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 Alright, let's turn our attention back to Earth, or at least to

00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 Earth's space programmes. Remember Boeing's

00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 Starliner? Well, a year ago it was docking with the

00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 International Space Station for its crew flight test with NASA

00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. But,

00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 a year later, the future of the Starliner programme

00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 is, well, still up in the air.

00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 NASA just announced that the next flight has been delayed

00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 again. This time from late 2025 to

00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 early 2026 at the soonest.

00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 And get this, they're still deciding whether or not the next

00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 flight will even have astronauts on board.

00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 Seriously, Sunita Williams even told readers that

00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 flying an uncrewed Starliner flight next would

00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 be the logical thing to do. Makes you

00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 wonder what's going on, doesn't it? So after

00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 its first mission with a crew last June, lingering issues

00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 with helium leaks and propulsion system

00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 anomalies caused the spacecraft to, you

00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 know, return to Earth without its crew. Ouch.

00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 Now NASA and Boeing are trying to figure out how to fix these

00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 issues. They're doing tests at the White Sands Test

00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 Facility, firing up key thrusters to validate their

00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 thermal models and look at potential upgrades.

00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 And about those astronauts, who's going to be on the first

00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 crewed mission whenever that happens?

00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 Well, even NASA and the Canadian Space

00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 Agency are being kind of cagey about it. They're not

00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 confirming who's assigned to the mission. Back in

00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 2018, they announced the cruise, then people got

00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 reassigned and things got complicated. It's all a bit of a mess

00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 really. But hey, at least astronaut Butch

00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 Wilmore said he'd ride on Starliner again,

00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 cuz he's confident they're Gonna fix all the issues.

00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 Gotta admire that kind of optimism right

00:04:59 --> 00:04:59 now.

00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 Let's jump into the future, like, way into the future.

00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 The Royal society in the UK just dropped a report

00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 called Speaker Space 2075. And

00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 it's wild. We're talking asteroid

00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 mining, space factories, and even the big question, are

00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 we alone? The report envisions a

00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 new era of space activities that could totally reshape

00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 the world. Imagine clean energy beamed down to

00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 Earth from space. Robots recycling dead satellites

00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 and products labelled Made in space. Sounds like sci fi,

00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 right? But the report warns that the UK needs

00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 a clear plan to keep up, otherwise

00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 they might miss out on all these opportunities. They're

00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 saying this is as big as the Industrial Revolution.

00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 Think about it. Factories in microgravity

00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 making stuff we can't even make on Earth.

00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 Interplanetary space stations and even

00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 industries moving into orbit. Power hungry data

00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 farms could benefit from all that solar energy and free

00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 cooling up there. And get this, they're even talking

00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 about recycling space junk to reduce collision

00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 risks and prevent pollution. Makes sense, right?

00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 But it's not all sunshine and roses. The report

00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 also warns about potential conflicts in space over prime

00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 spots on planets, valuable orbits and

00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 radio frequencies. It's like the Wild west, but in

00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 space, ethical challenges are also on the

00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 horizon. What if we engineer bugs to make living

00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 tools on Mars, but they end up wiping out native

00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 microbes? And what happens when humans start being

00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 born on Mars? Deep stuff. Huh? Huh?

00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 Oh, and of course, the big one, alien life.

00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 The report says if there are aliens nearby, we'll probably

00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 know in the next 50 years. Let's hope it brings us

00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 together, not tears us apart. Fingers crossed.

00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 So that's your Astronomy Daily News for today.

00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 We looked at Titan's wobbly atmosphere, a,

00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 mega ancient galaxy, starliner's ongoing

00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 delays, and the Royal Society's peek into the future.

00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 Thanks for tuning in. I've been your host, Anna.

00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 And don't forget to visit our

00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 website@astronomydaily.IO for like all

00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 things Astronomy Daily News, updates, back episodes and how

00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 to get in touch until next time. Keep looking up.

00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 I'm Anna, signing off for today.