- Interstellar Comet 3I Atlas Update: An exciting update on the interstellar comet 3I Atlas reveals it is brightening much faster than anticipated as it approaches the Sun. With its distinct blue color, astronomers believe it is venting ancient frozen materials, offering a rare glimpse into the chemical composition of an object from another star system. Amateur astronomers can now spot this cosmic visitor with their telescopes!
- NASA vs. Celebrity Misinformation: A recent claim by Kim Kardashian questioning the authenticity of the 1969 Moon landing prompted NASA to respond publicly. Acting Administrator Sean Duffy reiterated the overwhelming evidence supporting the Moon landings, including lunar rocks and retroreflectors, and extended an invitation to Kardashian to witness the upcoming Artemis mission launch.
- Ancient White Dwarf Star Discovery: Astronomers have discovered a 3 billion-year-old white dwarf star that is still consuming the remains of its own planet, challenging existing models of stellar evolution. This unique observation suggests that planetary systems can remain active long after their stars have died, providing insights into the future of our own solar system.
- Debunking the Full Moon Effect: Investigating the long-held belief that the full Moon influences sleep and behavior, a neurologist found minimal evidence for its effects. While people may sleep about 20 minutes less during a full Moon due to increased brightness, claims linking lunar phases to erratic behavior are largely unfounded, attributed instead to psychological patterns of perception.
- 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 and Avery signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and exploring the wonders of our universe.
Interstellar Comet 3I Atlas
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
NASA's Response to Misinformation
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Ancient White Dwarf Star Study
[Nature Astronomy](https://www.nature.com/natastronomy/)
Full Moon Effect Research
[Journal of Sleep Research](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652869)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm avery. Give
00:00:03 --> 00:00:04 us 10 minutes and we'll give you the
00:00:04 --> 00:00:05 universe.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 We've got a fascinating lineup today, from
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 an, um, update on our interstellar visitor
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 to a cosmic myth that just won't fade.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 Avery: That's right. We'll also be touching on a
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 very public debate about our history on the
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 Moon and a discovery that challenges what we
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 thought we knew about the end of a star's
00:00:27 --> 00:00:28 life.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 So let's get started. First up, something for
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 all you stargazers out there. Our lead
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 story is an update about a visitor from
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 beyond our solar system, an interstellar
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 comet named 3i Atlas. Which is
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 putting on quite a show, right?
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 Anna: This isn't just any comet. It's
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 brightening much, much faster than anyone
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 predicted. As it gets closer to the sun, it's
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 becoming a real point of interest for both
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 professional and amateur astronomers.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 Avery: Exactly. And it's not just its brightness. It
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 has this distinct blue color. What does that
00:01:02 --> 00:01:03 tell us, Ann?
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 Anna: That color is a big clue about its
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 composition. The blue hue strongly
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 suggests significant gas emissions, likely
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 from volatile compounds like cyanogen and
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 ammonia ice sublimating, turning
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 directly from solid to gas as the Sun's
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 heat hits them. It's like the comet is
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 venting its ancient frozen materials into
00:01:24 --> 00:01:24 space.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 Avery: Fascinating. So we're essentially seeing the
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 chemical makeup of an object from another
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 star system. And we have some amazing
00:01:33 --> 00:01:34 tools pointed at it, right?
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Anna: Mm mhm. A whole fleet of solar monitoring
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 satellites are tracking it. We're talking
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 about stereo, A, SoHo, and even
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 the new GOES 19 weather satellite. They're
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 all being used to get different perspectives
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 and data on how the comet is behaving as it
00:01:50 --> 00:01:50 heats up.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 Avery: And the best part for our listeners who might
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 have a telescope sitting in their garage, is
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 that 3i Atlas is now bright enough to be
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 spotted with amateur equipment. So if you
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 know where to look, you can see an object
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 from another star with your own eyes.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 Anna: And these different perspectives are crucial,
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 aren't they? Because this comet is on a
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 hyperbolic trajectory, meaning it's moving
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 too fast to be captured by our Sun's gravity.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 It's a one time visitor zipping through our
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 neighborhood before heading back out into the
00:02:20 --> 00:02:21 vastness of interstellar space.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 Avery: That's what makes every piece of data so
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 precious. Unlike, uh, comets from our own
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 Oort cloud, which we can study again and
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 again, this is our only chance to
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 analyze the building blocks of another star
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 system up, uh, close. It's like a cosmic
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 probe sent to us from a distant unknown star.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 Anna: It's a really exciting opportunity. These
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 interstellar visitors are rare, and one that
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 puts on a show like this is even rarer. A
00:02:47 --> 00:02:48 great reason to dust off that telescope.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:50 Avery: Speaking of things capturing public
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 attention, our next story shifts from the
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 outer reaches of the solar system to a debate
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 happening right here on Earth, centered on
00:02:58 --> 00:02:59 our own moon.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 Anna: This is a strange one. NASA recently had to
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 publicly respond to a claim made by Kim
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 Kardashian on her show. She stated that she
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 believes the 1969 moon landing was
00:03:09 --> 00:03:10 fake.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 Avery: It's a conspiracy theory that's been around
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 for decades, but it's always surprising when
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 it gets a platform of that size. What was her
00:03:17 --> 00:03:18 reasoning?
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 Anna: She cited some heavily edited videos of
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 astronaut Buzz Aldrin where his words were
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 taken out of context to make it sound like he
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 was admitting it didn't happen. It's a
00:03:29 --> 00:03:30 classic case of misinformation,
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 unfortunately. Mhm.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 Avery: So how did NASA handle it? You don't often
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 see a government science agency getting into
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 a back and forth with a reality TV star.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Anna: They handled it with a lot of grace, I think.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 The acting administrator, Sean Duffy, issued
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 a very clear statement. He didn't just
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 dismiss the claim, but reiterated the fact
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 that NASA has successfully landed humans on
00:03:52 --> 00:03:53 the moon six times.
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 Avery: He also pointed to the mountains of physical
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 evidence. We have hundreds of kilograms
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 of lunar rocks that have been studied by
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 scientists worldwide. Their composition
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 is entirely different from Earth rocks.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 Plus there are retroreflectors left on the
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 moon's surface by the Apollo missions that
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 observatories still use today to measure the
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 exact distance to the moon.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 Anna: And he extended an invitation,
00:04:20 --> 00:04:20 right?
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 Avery: He did. He invited Kardashian to the Kennedy
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 Space center to witness the launch of the
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 upcoming Artemis mission, which will be
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 sending astronauts back to the Moon. A sort
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 of come see for yourself gesture. It
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 was a firm but very classy way to counter the
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 misinformation. And turned it into a
00:04:38 --> 00:04:39 teachable moment.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 Anna: Exactly. And let's not forget the
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 independent verification. The Soviet Union,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 America's chief rival in the space race,
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 was monitoring the Apollo missions. If the
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 landings were faked, they would have had
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 every incentive to expose it, and they
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 never did. The evidence is simply
00:04:58 --> 00:04:59 overwhelming.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Avery: Absolutely. A good reminder of how important
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 it is to rely on primary sources and
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 scientific consensus. From celebrities
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 looking at the moon to scientists looking at
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 distant dying stars.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 Our next story is a real head scratcher.
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 Anna: This one comes from the field of stellar
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 evolution. Astronomers have found something
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 that really shouldn't exist according to our
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 current models. It's an ancient White dwarf
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 star about 3 billion years old that's
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 still actively consuming the remains of its
00:05:29 --> 00:05:30 own planet.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 Avery: That's incredible. A white dwarf is a
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 dense core left over after a star like our
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 sun dies. The con thinking is that
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 any planetary cleanup process should be over
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 much, much sooner than 3 billion years.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 Anna: Precisely. The star is called
00:05:46 --> 00:05:47 LSPM J
00:05:47 --> 00:05:51 M02073331,
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 and it's surrounded by a debris disk made of
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 shredded planetary material. This disk
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 is the oldest and most metal rich ever
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 observed around a star of this type. It's
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 like finding a dinosaur that's still alive
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 and eating.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 Avery: So what's the theory? How is this still
00:06:08 --> 00:06:09 happening after so long?
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 Anna: The leading hypothesis is that the planetary
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 system must have been disturbed relatively
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 recently. Something must have happened.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 Perhaps a gravitational nudge from a
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 surviving outer planet that sent a rocky body
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 spiraling inwards towards the white dwarf,
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 where it got torn apart by the star's immense
00:06:26 --> 00:06:27 gravity.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 Avery: So it suggests that planetary systems can
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 remain dynamically active for billions of
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 years after their star has died. That's a
00:06:35 --> 00:06:36 profound thought.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 Anna: It's a chaotic process, but one that provides
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 a unique window. When this material falls
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 onto the white dwarf, Astronomers can analyze
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 its chemical signature using spectroscopy.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 This tells them exactly what the shredded
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 planets were made of, whether they were rocky
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 like Earth, or rich in other elements.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 It's like performing an autopsy on an
00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 exoplanet.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 Avery: So this discovery isn't just about one
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 strange old star. It gives us a
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 glimpse into the very, very distant future
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 of our own solar system. Billions of years
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 from now, after our sun becomes a white
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 dwarf, the remaining planets might get
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 jostled around, and Earth itself could
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 eventually be torn apart and consumed in a
00:07:19 --> 00:07:20 similar fashion.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 Anna: It really is. It forces us to
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 rethink the timelines for the late stages of
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 stellar evolution. It's a beautiful,
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 chaotic glimpse into the far future of, uh,
00:07:30 --> 00:07:31 systems like our own.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 Avery: That brings us back closer to home. We were
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 just talking about the Moon in a cultural
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 context. But our final story looks at a long
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 standing belief about its direct effect on
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 us, specifically on our sleep and our
00:07:44 --> 00:07:44 behavior.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 Anna: Right. The idea of the full Moon effect.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 Many people swear they sleep worse or that
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 people act strangely during a full moon. We
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 spoke with a neurologist to get the
00:07:55 --> 00:07:56 scientific take on this.
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 Avery: And what's the verdict? Is there any truth to
00:07:58 --> 00:07:59 it?
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 Anna: There's a tiny kernel of truth when it comes
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 to sleep. Studies show that on average,
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 people get about 20 minutes less sleep on the
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 nights surrounding a full moon. But the
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 influence on mental health or behavior has
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 no scientific proof whatsoever.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 Avery: Okay, so why the 20 minutes of lost
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 sleep? Is it gravity or something more
00:08:20 --> 00:08:21 mysterious?
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 Anna: Nothing so mysterious. The most likely
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 culprit is simply light. A full Moon
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 is significantly brighter than any other
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 phase. And that extra light, especially
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 in pre industrial times, could be enough to
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 delay our body's internal clock and suppress
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 the production of the sleep hormone
00:08:41 --> 00:08:41 melatonin.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 Avery: That makes sense. And the behavioral stuff?
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 The idea that emergency rooms are busier
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 or people are more erratic.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 Anna: It's an ancient belief, isn't it? The
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 word lunacy itself comes from luna, the
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 Latin word for Moon. For centuries, people
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 have tried to link human behavior to the
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 lunar cycle without any real evidence.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 Avery: That's likely a psychological phenomenon
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 called illusory correlation. Our brains
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 are wired to find patterns, and we tend to
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 remember events that confirm our beliefs.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 So if something odd happens during a full
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 Moon, we link the two while ignoring
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 all the odd things that happen when the Moon
00:09:21 --> 00:09:22 isn't full.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 Anna: That's right. And another common argument you
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 hear is about the Moon's gravitational pull
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 affecting the water in our bodies, just like
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 it causes ocean tides. But the neurologist
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 we spoke to completely debunked that.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 The gravitational force of the Moon on a
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 person is miniscule, far less than
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 the force exerted by a large building you're
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 standing next to. It's simply not strong
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 enough to have any biological effect.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 Avery: Right. And the neurologist also pointed out
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 that the impact of the Moon's light pales in
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 comparison to the artificial light we're
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 bathed in every night from our phones,
00:09:59 --> 00:10:00 screens and streetlights.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 Anna: Exactly. If you're worried about light
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 disrupting your sleep, the full Moon should
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 be the least of your concerns. It's a
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 fascinating myth, but one that science has
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 largely put to bed.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 Avery: A perfect summary. And that's all the time we
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 have for today's deep dive into the cosmos,
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 from interstellar comets to ancient stars
00:10:20 --> 00:10:21 and lunar myths.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 Anna: Thanks for joining us, uh, on Astronomy
00:10:24 --> 00:10:25 Daily. I'm Anna.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 Avery: And I'm Avery. Join us next time as we
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 continue to explore the universe. Until then,
00:10:30 --> 00:10:31 keep looking up.