- New Interstellar Visitor 3i Atlas: Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of 3i Atlas, a comet speeding through our solar system, marking only the third interstellar object detected. We discuss its composition, trajectory, and the potential for future observations as it approaches the sun.
- - NASA's SphereX Mission: Explore NASA's ambitious SphereX mission, which is creating a comprehensive all-sky map of the universe. With its data made publicly available, we delve into the significance of this project for both professional astronomers and enthusiasts alike.
- - The Self-Destructive Exoplanet HIP 67522B: Join us as we unravel the bizarre case of HIP 67522B, an exoplanet that appears to be destroying itself due to its close orbit around its star. Discover how its interactions are reshaping our understanding of star-planet dynamics.
- - James Webb Space Telescope Revelations: We highlight the groundbreaking discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope, from observing the earliest galaxies to analysing atmospheres of distant exoplanets, and how these findings are revolutionising our understanding of the universe.
- - Weather Satellites Aid Venus Research: Learn how Japan's Himawari 8 and 9 satellites, typically used for monitoring Earth's weather, are providing new insights into Venus's atmosphere, revealing temperature patterns and dynamics previously unseen.
- 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.
Interstellar Visitor 3i Atlas
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
SphereX Mission Details
[NASA SphereX](https://www.nasa.gov/spherex)
Exoplanet HIP 67522B Discovery
[Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy](https://www.astron.nl/)
James Webb Space Telescope Findings
[NASA Webb](https://www.nasa.gov/webb)
Himawari Satellites and Venus
[Japan Meteorological Agency](https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna. And today we'll
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 start with the exciting news of a new interstellar visitor.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 Only the third ever confirmed to be zooming through our solar
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 system. Then we'll explore NASA's
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 SphereX mission which is creating an all sky
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 map of the universe, making its data
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 publicly accessible. Next,
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 prepare for a mind bending story about a self
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 destructive exoplanet. An astonishing
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 discovery. We'll also dive into the latest
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 revelations from the James Webb Space Telescope,
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 which continues to reshape our view of cosmic history.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 And finally, we'll uncover a surprising twist
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 how Earth's very own weather satellites
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 are now helping us study Venus.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 Let's get started. Our first
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 stop today is an exciting new celestial visitor.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 Astronomers have just confirmed the discovery of an
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 interstellar object, space speeding through our solar system.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 This marks only the third time humanity has detected an
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 object that originated beyond our own stellar
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 neighbourhood. The Visitor, officially
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 named 3i Atlas by the International Astronomical
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 Union's Minor Planet Centre, has been classified
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 as a comet. Its fuzziness,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 as described by astronomer Jonathan McDowell from the
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics,
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 suggests it's primarily made of ice rather than rock.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 While its exact size is still being refined, current
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 estimates place it at roughly 10 to 20 kilometres
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 wide, which would make it the largest interstellar
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 interloper ever detected. However, if it's
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 truly made of ice, it could be smaller since ice reflects
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 more light, making it appear larger.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 Regardless of its precise dimensions, it poses
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 absolutely no threat to Earth. Richard
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 Moisel, head of Planetary defence at the European Space
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 Agency, assures us it will fly deep through
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 our solar system, passing just inside the orbit of
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 Mars without any collision risk. What
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 makes 3i Atlas so fascinating is its incredible
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 speed. Zooming along at more than 60 kilometres
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 per second, or about 37 miles per
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 second, this phenomenal velocity means
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 it isn't gravitationally bound by the sun.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 Unlike comets and asteroids that originate from within our
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 solar system, its trajectory clearly indicates
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 it's from interstellar space and will continue on its journey
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 back out into the galaxy once it passes us.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 Astronomers theorise that these icy wanderers form
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 around other star systems. As another star
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 passes nearby, its gravitational tug can free
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 these ice balls, sending them rogue into the
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 galaxy. This newly discovered comet is simply
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 one that happens to be passing through our cosmic
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 backyard. The object was initially
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 spotted by the NASA funded ATLAS survey in Hawaii.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 Professional and amateur astronomers worldwide then
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 joined forces, digging through past telescope
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 data to trace its path back to at least mid June.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 It's expected to get brighter and closer to the sun
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 until late October and will remain observable by
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 telescope into next year. To put
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 this discovery into perspective, the first interstellar
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 object, Oumuamua, was detected in
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 2017 and was so peculiar it even
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 led some scientists to speculate about alien origins,
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 though this theory has since been largely dismissed.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 Our second visitor, 2i Borisov, was
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 observed in 2019. Mark Norris, an
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 astronomer at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK,
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 notes that 3i Atlas appears to be moving considerably
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 faster than its two predecessors. While it's
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 currently roughly the distance of Jupiter away from Earth and
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 primarily visible in the southern hemisphere, its
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 presence is incredibly significant.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 Scientists estimate that as many as 10
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 interstellar objects might be drifting through our solar system at
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 any given time, though most are likely much smaller.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 This new detection suggests that observatories like the
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 newly online Vera C Rubin Observatory in
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 Chile could soon be finding these dim interstellar
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 visitors on a monthly basis.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 Unfortunately, sending a mission to intercept 3i
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 Atlas isn't feasible due to its speed and trajectory.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 However, these rare visitors offer scientists an
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 unparalleled opportunity to study material from outside our
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 solar system. Imagine if we could detect
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 precursors of life like, um, amino acids on such an object.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 It would give us immense confidence that the conditions for life
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 exist in other star systems across the universe.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 Moving from interstellar visitors to an ambitious new
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 mission let's talk about NASA's Sphere X
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 telescope. Launched in March and now
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 comfortably settled into low Earth orbit, this new
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Astrophysics space telescope has embarked on an incredible
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 to create a comprehensive all sky map of the
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 universe. What's truly revolutionary is that
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 SphereX, which stands for Spectro Photometer for the
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 and ICES Explorer has already begun
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 delivering its sky survey data to a public archive
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 on a weekly basis. This means anyone
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 from professional astronomers to curious enthusiasts
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 can access and use this data to unravel the
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 universe's secrets. As Rachel
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 Akcsson, the lead for the SphereX Science Data
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 Centre, puts it, because we're looking at everything in the whole
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 sky, almost every area of astronomy can be
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 addressed by SphereX data. While other
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 missions like NASA's retired WISE telescope, also mapped
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 the entire sky, Sphere X significantly
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 builds on that legacy. It observes in an astounding
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 102 infrared wavelengths, a massive
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 leap compared to WISE's four wavelength bands.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 This extensive range allows scientists to use a technique
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 called spectroscopy to identify the unique
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 signatures of specific molecules. The
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 mission's science team will harness this capability to
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 study the distribution of frozen water and organic
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 molecules, often referred to as the building blocks of
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 life. According to across our own Milky Way galaxy
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 beyond our cosmic neighbourhood. Sphere X data will be
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 crucial for understanding the physics that drove the universe's
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 rapid expansion after the Big Bang. It
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 will also measure the amount of light emitted by all
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 galaxies over cosmic time. The decision
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 to make this data publicly available so quickly, within
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 60 days of collection is a testament to
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 NASA's commitment to open science, transparency and
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 efficiency. It empowers the entire
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 astronomy community to explore and make discoveries that
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 the Sphere X team alone couldn't possibly achieve.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 During its two year primary mission, SphereX will
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 survey the entire sky twice a year, ultimately
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 compiling four complete all sky maps.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 After the one year mark, a full map covering all
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 102 wavelengths will be released.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 The impact of SPHEREx extends even further as its data
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 can be combined with observations from other groundbreaking
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 missions. Imagine refining
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 exoplanet parameters collected by NASA's Tess,
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 identifying fascinating new targets for the James Webb
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 Space Telescope, or studying the properties of dark matter
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 and dark energy alongside the European Space
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 Agency's Euclid mission and NASA's Nancy Grace
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 Roman Space Telescope. The possibilities
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 are truly boundless. As Vandana Desai,
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 RSS Science Lead, wisely states,
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 people are going to use the data in all kinds of ways that
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 we can't imagine. It's an exciting time when
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 the universe is becoming more accessible than ever,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 thanks to missions like SphereX, paving the way for
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 unprecedented discoveries
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 from the vast universe to individual planetary
00:07:22 --> 00:07:22 systems.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 Our next story takes us to a truly bizarre
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 discovery, an exoplanet that seems to be
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 actively contributing to its own demise.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 Astronomers have found a doomed planet officially
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 named HIP67 522B,
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 which is clinging so tightly to its parent star
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 that it's triggering explosive outbursts and in
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 turn destroying itself. This is a
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 completely new phenomenon in our understanding of celestial
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 bodies. HIP 67522B
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 is a young extrasolar planet orbiting an equally young
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 star, hip 67522, which
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 is only about 17 million years old. To put
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 that into perspective, our sun is a middle aged
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 4.6 billion years old. The
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 exoplanet's orbit is incredibly tight, completing
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 a full year in just one Earth week. Since the
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 first exoplanets were discovered in the mid-1990s,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 scientists have wondered if a planet could orbit close enough to
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 impact its star's magnetic fields. With over
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 5 exoplanet discoveries since then, the
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 answer remained elusive. Until now.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 Ekaterina Ilien, the team leader from the Netherlands
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 Institute for Radio Astronomy, expressed her excitement
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 and curiosity, stating that they had never seen
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 a system like HIP 67522B
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 before, especially one with such a young planet
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 orbiting so closely. She added that she had a million
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 questions because the details of this new
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 phenomenon are still unclear. The
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 team first identified HIP
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 67522B while using
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 TESS, which is designed to hunt for exoplanets and
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 survey flaring stars. TESS picked up some
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 intriguing characteristics, prompting a follow up investigation with
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 the European Space Agency's Characterising Exoplanet
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 Satellite, or cheops. With cheops, they
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 observed even more flares, with almost all of them directed
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 towards Earth as the planet passed in front of its star.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 What they discovered was remarkable. The
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 stellar flares thrown out by hip
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 67522 occur precisely when
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 its clingy planet transits or passes in front
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 of the star. This strongly suggests that
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 the flares are triggered by the planet itself. The
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 leading theory is that hip
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 67522B is so
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 close to its star that it exerts a significant
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 magnetic influence. As the planet whips around,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 it gathers energy, which is then redirected as
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 waves rippling down the star's magnetic field
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 lines. When one of these waves hits the stellar
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 surface, it triggers a massive flare.
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 Ilan explained that the waves seem to be setting off
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 explosions that are in essence waiting to happen,
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 resulting in flares with much higher energy than the waves
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 themselves. This groundbreaking finding
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 provides the first hard evidence that planets can indeed
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 influence the behaviour of their stars. And for
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 hip 67522B, this
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 influence is disastrous. The induced flares
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 are directed right back at the planet, bombarding it with
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 approximately six times the radiation a planet at this
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 orbital distance would typically experience.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 Currently, hip 67522B is
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 about the size of Jupiter, but its density is
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 incredibly low, comparable to candy floss.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 This intense radiation bombardment is stripping away the
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 planet's wispy outer layers, causing it to lose what little
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 mass it possesses over the next hundred million
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 years. Circumstances scientists predict that hip
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 67522B could shrink from its
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 current Jupiter like size to something closer to
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 Neptune. The full extent of the damage from these
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 self inflicted flares is still uncertain. But
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 this bizarre celestial dance is opening up entirely
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 new avenues for understanding star planet interactions
00:11:02 --> 00:11:03 and planetary evolution.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 Next up, let's take a look at an anniversary of sorts. Since
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 July 2022, NASA's James Webb
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 Space Telescope has been diligently focused on
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 unlocking the universe's secrets. And it has
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 absolutely delivered with its
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 unparalleled ability to detect and analyse invisible
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 infrared light. Webb has made observations
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 once thought impossible, profoundly changing our
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 view of the cosmos from the most distant
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 galaxies to the familiar corners of our own
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 solar system. Webb was built with the
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 promise of revolutionising astronomy and rewriting the
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 textbooks. And by any measure, it has far
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 exceeded those lofty expectations. In
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 just three years of science operations, Webb has
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 completed more than 860 scientific programmes,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 collecting nearly 550 terabytes of
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 data and leading to over 1600
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 research papers. The sheer volume of
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 intriguing results and new questions it has raised is
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 truly astonishing. One of Webb's
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 primary missions was to observe cosmic dawn,
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 the period during the universe's first billion years when the
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 earliest stars and galaxies were forming.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 What scientists expected to see were a few faint,
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 nascent galaxies, mere hints of what would
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 eventually become the grand structures we see today.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 Instead, Webb revealed surprisingly bright and
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 mature galaxies that developed within a, uh, mere 300
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 million years of the Big Bang. It also
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 found galaxies with black holes that seemed far too
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 massive for their age, and even an infant
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 Milky Way type galaxy that existed when the
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 universe was only 600 million years old.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 This suggests that the universe evolves significantly
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 faster than we previously thought. Adding
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 to the surprises, Webb has unveiled a new type
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 of galaxy. A distant population of
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 mysteriously compact bright red galaxies,
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 affectionately dubbed little red dots.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 What makes them so bright and red? Are they illuminated
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 by dense groupings of unusually brilliant stars?
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 By gas spiralling into a supermassive black
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 hole? Or perhaps both. And what
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 eventually happened to them? These little red dots
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 appeared around 600 million years after the Big Bang
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 and rapidly declined in number less than a billion
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 years later, leaving astronomers eager to understand
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 their evolution. Webb's observations are
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 also providing critical insights into one of astronomy's
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 most perplexing dilemmas the Hubble
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 tension. This refers to the frustrating problem where
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 different methods of calculating the universe's current
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 expansion rate yield different results. Is it
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 simply a matter of measurement errors? Or is there
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 something truly strange happening in the cosmos?
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 So far, Webb's data indicates that the Hubble tension is
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 not due to measurement inaccuracies.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 By precisely distinguishing pulsating stars in
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 crowded fields, and even discovering a distant
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 gravitationally lensed supernova whose image
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 appeared at three different times during its explosion,
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 Webb is providing independent checks on these crucial
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 measurements, suggesting this cosmic puzzle is
00:14:07 --> 00:14:08 very real.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 Beyond galaxies, the Webb telescope's
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 extraordinary infrared vision has also unveiled
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 surprisingly rich and varied atmospheres on gas giants
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 orbiting distant stars. While the
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 Hubble Space Telescope made the first detection of gases on an
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 exoplanet, Webb has taken these studies to an
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 entirely new level. It's revealed a chemical
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 cocktail including hydrogen sulphide, ammonia,
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 carbon dioxide, methane and sulphur
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 dioxide, none of which had been clearly detected
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 in an atmosphere outside our solar system before.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 Webb has even examined the exotic climates of these
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 gas giants, detecting flakes of silica, uh,
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 snow in the skies of one searing hot world
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 and measuring temperature and cloud differences across
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 others. The telescope's exceptional ability to
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 measure subtle changes in infrared light makes it
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 possible to even analyse the thin layers of gas around
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 smaller rocky planets. Webb has already
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 ruled out significant atmospheres on some rocky worlds and
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 found tantalising signs of carbon monoxide or carbon
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 dioxide on 55 Cancri E A, uh, lava
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 world orbiting a sun like star. These findings are
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 laying crucial groundwork for NASA's future habitable
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 worlds Observatory, which will be designed
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 to directly image and search for life on Earth. Like
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 planets. Webb has also mapped intricate
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 galaxy structures with unprecedented detail,
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 showing us cosmic cities where stars form,
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 live, die and are recycled into the
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 next generation. Its infrared eyes reveal
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 delicate filaments of dust tracing spiral arms,
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 ancient star clusters forming galactic cores,
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 newly forming stars still hidden in glowing cocoons of
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 dust and gas, and clusters of hot young
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 stars carving enormous cavities within the dust.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 It's truly helping us understand how stellar
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 winds and explosions actively reshape their
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 galactic homes. In other observations,
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 Webb has spotted hundreds of objects resembling brown
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 dwarfs in the Milky Way and even some candidates
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 in a neighbouring galaxy. Brown dwarfs form
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 like stars, but aren't massive enough to fuse
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 hydrogen. Some of these objects are so small,
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 just a few times the mass of Jupiter, that it's hard to
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 tell if they're free floating gas giant planets or something
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 else entirely. Thanks to Webb,
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 we now know there's a continuous spectrum of objects
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 ranging from planets to brown dwarfs to full fledged
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 stars. The telescope has also found potential
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 planets orbiting white dwarfs, hinting that it might be
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 possible for worlds to survive the dramatic death of their
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 host stars. Closer to home,
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 Webb has turned its gaze to our own solar system with
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 equally impressive results. It observed the vast
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 water plume erupting from Saturn's moon
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 Enceladus, revealing its true scale as a
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 cloud spanning over 6 miles, about
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 20 times wider than Enceladus itself.
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 This water then spreads out into a donut shaped
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 torus encircling Saturn, even raining down
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 onto the planet. The these unique
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 observations of rings, auroras, clouds,
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 winds, ices and gases are helping us
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 better understand what our cosmic neighbourhood is made of
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 and how it has changed over time.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 Finally, Webb has also played a crucial role in Supporting
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 asteroid defence missions. In
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 2024, when an asteroid was discovered with a
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 preliminary chance of hitting Earth, Webb was
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 uniquely able to measure the object, which turned out to
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 be the size of a 15 story building, helping assess
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 the hazard. While that particular asteroid is no
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 longer a threat, the study demonstrated Webb's
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 capabilities. The telescope also provided vital
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 support for NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test,
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 or DART, mission, which deliberately
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 impacted the Didymos binary asteroid system.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 Both Webb and Hubble observed the impact,
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 confirming that the composition of these asteroids is typical
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 of those that could threaten Earth. In just
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 three years, Webb has brought the distant universe into
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 sharp focus, revealed unexpectedly bright and
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 numerous galaxies, unveiled new stars in their
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 dusty cocoons, and studied weather on exoplanets.
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 This is only the beginning. As engineers estimate Webb has
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 enough fuel to continue observing for at least 20 more years,
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 promising many more cosmic surprises to come.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 Finally, today, in a truly unexpected turn of
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 events, Japanese meteorological satellites, the
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 Himawari 8 and 9, which are typically used for
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 monitoring Earth's global weather patterns, are now
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 providing incredibly valuable insights into
00:18:34 --> 00:18:37 Venus's atmosphere. These satellites,
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 launched in 2014 and 2016
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, are
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 equipped with multispectral advanced Himawari
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 imagers. In a recent study led by the University of
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 Tokyo in infrared, images from these satellites
00:18:51 --> 00:18:54 captured changes in Venus's atmosphere, revealing
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 previously unseen temperature patterns in its cloud tops.
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 This is a significant development because meteorological
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 satellites can complement observations of Venus's
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 atmosphere, which usually come from robotic missions
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 and ground based telescopes.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 Scientists have been studying Venus's atmosphere for decades
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 to understand the dynamics of our solar system's hottest
00:19:14 --> 00:19:16 planet. However, many mysteries
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 persist, such as its thermal tides and
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 planetary scale waves. Dedicated
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 robotic probes have often been limited to single band
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 imagery or short observation periods. That's where the
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 Himawari satellites come in. Because these
00:19:30 --> 00:19:33 satellites are scheduled to remain operational for more than a
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 decade, they offer an unprecedented opportunity
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 for long term multi band monitoring.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 Their instruments provide infrared coverage that
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 measures Venus's temperature across different bands, showing
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 temporal variations. When these geostationary
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 satellites align with Earth and Venus, they can obtain
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 images of Venus's turbulent atmosphere, helping to
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 fill crucial observational gaps. The
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 team behind the study used hundreds of images from
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 Himawari 8 and 9 to map the temporal
00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 dynamics and track temperature variations in
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 Venus's cloud tops over time. Their
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 analysis confirmed that both the thermal tides and
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 planetary waves in Venus's atmosphere are subject to
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 changes in amplitude over time, which decrease
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 with altitude. This novel approach
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 opens new avenues for long term and multiband
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 monitoring of other solar system bodies, including
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 the Moon and Mercury. By providing
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 continuous data that dedicated missions might miss
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 due to their shorter lifespans, these Earth
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 focused satellites are unexpectedly contributing to our
00:20:34 --> 00:20:37 broader understanding of planetary evolution.
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 That's all for this episode of Astronomy Daily. I'm
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 Anna and I hope you enjoyed our journey through the
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 latest in space and astronomy news. Thank you for
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 tuning in. If you want to catch up on all the latest
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52 space and astronomy news with our constantly updating
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00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 visit our website at astronomydaily IO.
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00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious.