- 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.