- New Insights into Mars' Habitability: We delve into a groundbreaking study from NASA's Curiosity rover that challenges the notion of Mars as a once habitable planet. Discover why scientists believe Mars may have always been destined to be a cold, lifeless desert, despite evidence of ancient water and warmth.
- - The Mysteries of Massive Stars: Explore the dramatic lives of massive stars that, before collapsing into black holes, expel vast amounts of matter through powerful stellar winds. Learn how these cosmic giants influence the formation of elements essential for life and contribute to the creation of gravitational waves.
- - A Richie Planet Unveiled: Join us as we uncover the exciting discovery of a potential rogue planet, using decades-old Hubble images to trace its elusive path. This remarkable find highlights the value of archival data in modern astronomy and sheds light on the mysterious worlds drifting through space.
- - The Strangest Objects in Orbit: From human pee crystals to a Tesla Roadster floating through space, we take a whimsical look at some of the oddest man-made objects in Earth's orbit. Discover the stories behind these items and the implications of space debris on future exploration.
- 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.
Mars Habitability Study
[NASA Curiosity](https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/)
Massive Stars Research
[Institute for Advanced Study](https://www.ias.edu/)
Richie Planet Discovery
[Hubble Space Telescope](https://hubblesite.org/)
Space Debris Information
[European Space Agency](https://www.esa.int/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 podcast for all the latest and most
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 intriguing news from the cosmos. I'm your
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 host, Anna. Get ready to explore the
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 mysteries of Mars. As new data from the
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 Curiosity rover sheds light on whether the
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 red planet was ever truly destined for life,
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 we'll also peer into the lives of cosmic
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 giants, those incredibly massive stars that
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 vomit vast amounts of matter before
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 collapsing into black holes. A process far
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 more dramatic than we previously imagined.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 And speaking of drama, we'll uncover how
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 decades old Hubble images helped astronomers
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 track down an elusive rogue planet wandering
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 through space. Finally, prepare to be
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 amused and amazed as we count down some of
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 the strangest man made objects floating
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 around in Earth's orbit. From glittering pea
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 crystals to a Tesla Roadster with a dummy
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 driver. So buckle up and let's journey
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 through the wonders of astronomy in space.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 Now let's turn our attention to our dusty red
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 neighbour, Mars. For years, scientists have
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 pondered whether the red planet could have
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 once harboured life, with evidence like
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 ancient lake beds and rivers hinting at a
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 much warmer, wetter past. But a
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 fascinating new study, drawing on data from
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 NASA's incredibly resilient Curiosity rover
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 suggests a more sombre truth. Mars might
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 have always been destined to be the cold,
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 lifeless desert we see today. It's
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 a huge unanswered question, and as Edwin
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Kite, an associate professor at the
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 University of Chicago and the lead author of
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 this study, puts it, why has Earth managed to
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 keep its habitability while Mars lost it?
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 His team's models propose that those periods
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 of warmth and wetness on Mars were actually
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 the exception rather than the rule.
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 Essentially, Mars seems to self
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 regulate itself as a desert planet. M
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 We're truly in a golden age of Mars science
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 right now, with multiple rovers on the
00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 surface and a fleet of orbiters giving us
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 unprecedented insights into its history.
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 So what's the secret to maintaining a
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 habitable world over billions of years?
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 It's not enough for a planet to just start
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 off warm and wet. You need robust
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 mechanisms to stabilise those conditions.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 Responding to environmental changes on
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 Earth, we have this incredible system of
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 carbon cycling. Carbon dioxide, or
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 CO2, in our atmosphere leads to
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 a rise in temperature. But this warming
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 effect then speeds up chemical reactions that
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 lock that CO2 away into rocks,
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 preventing runaway global warming. Then,
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 through volcanic eruptions, that carbon
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 slowly leaks back into the atmosphere,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 restarting the cycle and maintaining a stable
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 climate. Mars, however, lacks this
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 crucial balancing act. Unlike, um, Earth,
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 where volcanoes are almost always erupting
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 somewhere, Mars is currently volcanically
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 dormant. The rate at which volcanic gases,
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 including CO2, escape into the Martian
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 atmosphere is incredibly slow. This M means
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 that any CO2 that got locked up in Martian
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 rocks during those brief wet periods didn't
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 get recycled back into the atmosphere. If
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 there was even a little liquid water, it
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 would continually draw down atmospheric
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 carbon dioxide through the formation of
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 carbonates, like the siderate material that
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 Curiosity actually found. Without
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 volcanoes to replenish it, the atmosphere
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 would thin, temperatures would plummet, and
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 the planet would dry out. Kyte's team used
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 sophisticated computer models directly
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 informed by data from the Curiosity rover,
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 including that crucial discovery of side
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 rate. Their simulations paint a picture of
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 Mars having short, fleeting, warm, wet
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 periods. But these were consistently followed
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 by vast stretches. We're talking 100 million
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 years of intensely dry desert conditions.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Not exactly ideal for life to truly take hold
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 and flourish, is it? It seems Mars was
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 indeed, in a way, doomed from the start
00:03:48 --> 00:03:49 from the mysteries of Mars.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 Let's rocket off to the other end of the
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 cosmic scale and talk about some truly
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 colossal objects. Very massive stars.
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 These aren't your average stellar bodies.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 They're like the rock stars of the universe
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 powerful, living fast and dying young.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 And surprising. New research reveals that
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 these cosmic giants, before they collapse
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 into black holes, might vomit out much more
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 material than we ever thought through
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 incredibly powerful stellar winds.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 Imagine winds so strong that they're less
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 like a gentle breeze and more like a cosmic
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 hurricane blowing the outer layers of these
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 monstrous stars into space. While our sun
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 is expected to live for about 10 billion
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 years, these very massive stars burn
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 through their nuclear fuel at an astonishing,
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 astonishing rate. Sometimes living for only a
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 few million or even a few hundred thousand
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 years. Their lives may be short, but their
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 impact on their environments is profound.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 These m strong winds, along with their
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 eventual supernova explosions, eject newly
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 formed elements into the vastness of space.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 Many of these elements go on to form the
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 building blocks of new stars. And crucially,
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 others, like carbon and oxygen, are the
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 fundamental ingredients for life itself.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 Plus, these stellar behemoths are the
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 progenitors of black holes, including the
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 binary black holes that eventually merge
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 and send out those ripples in spacetime we
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 call gravitational waves, which we can detect
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 here on Earth. For a long time, the
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 behaviour of these incredibly rare, massive
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 stars has puzzled astronomers.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 Observational constraints were few and far
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 between. But thanks to recent direct
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 observations from space and ground based
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 telescopes, especially in the Tarantula
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 Nebula of the Large Magellanic Cloud,
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 scientists have finally been able to study
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 stars with masses over a hundred times that
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 of our Sun. These studies revealed that the
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 most massive stars in the Tarantula Nebula
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 are a Specific type of hot, bright Wolf
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 Rayet star at the end of their hydrogen
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 burning phase. What was odd was that these
00:05:50 --> 00:05:51 stars were found to be extremely hot,
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 sometimes up to 50 degrees Celsius,
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 which contrasted with standard models that
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 predicted they should expand and cool down as
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 they age. So how do you make the
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 observations and the theory match up? The
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 research team led by Kendall Shepard from the
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 Institute for Advanced Study in Italy worked
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 a new mass loss recipe into their stellar
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 evolution code. Their new models featuring
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 these much stronger stellar winds could
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 finally match the observations. The powerful
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 winds strip away so much of the star's outer
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 layers, preventing it from cooling down while
00:06:25 --> 00:06:26 maintaining the surface composition that
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 matches what was observed. The star stays
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 more compact and hot for longer, exactly
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 reproducing what telescopes have shown us. M
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 this new understanding even sheds light on
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 the origins of the most massive star ever
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 seen, R136A1, which
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 is found in the same Tarantula Nebula and
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 boasts up to 230 times the mass of our Sun.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 The model suggests it could have been born as
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 a single truly ginormous star, or
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 perhaps formed from a dramatic stellar
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 merger. This could even hint at a revision to
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 what we thought was the upper limit for how
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 massive a star can be in our local universe.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 But the implications don't stop there.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 These stronger stellar winds and the rapid
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 mass loss they cause also have a significant
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 impact on the masses of black holes formed
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 when these stars finally collapse. Because hm
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 the stronger winds strip away so much of the
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 star's mass during its lifetime, and these
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 stars end up forming smaller black holes at
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 the end of their lives. This helps reconcile
00:07:27 --> 00:07:28 models with what's actually observed in
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 nature, as it means fewer of those elusive
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 intermediate mass black holes are produced.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 Objects that have proved notoriously
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 difficult for astronomers to find. M
00:07:39 --> 00:07:40 Even more exciting when the team looked at
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 binary black holes in their simulations, the
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 new models with stronger winds were able to
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 produce systems where both black holes were
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 very massive. This is a crucial breakthrough
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 because such massive binary black holes have
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 been observed by gravitational wave
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 detectors. But previous models with weaker
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 winds struggled to explain their formation.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 The stronger winds actually push the two
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 stars in a binary system further apart,
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 preventing them from merging too early and
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 allowing them to survive as a pair of black
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 holes that can then slowly spiral in and
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 eventually merge, sending out those
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 detectable gravitational waves. This
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 research, though focused on a specific
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 environment with a unique chemical
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 composition, opens the door to a much broader
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 understanding. The next step for scientists
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 will be to extend this study to a range of
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 different initial compositions, modelling
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 various environments across the Universe. It
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 will be fascinating to see how much the
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 predicted black hole populations change with
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 these differing cosmic ingredients.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 Now, from the immense power of collapsing
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 stars, let's turn our attention to something
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 much smaller, yet equally a rogue
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 planet. Astronomers have recently achieved a
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 ah, significant first in exoplanet hunting.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 Using decades old images from the venerable
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 Hubble Space Telescope to investigate a
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 mysterious event that could very well reveal
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 the existence of a rogue planet. A world
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 drifting through space without a host star.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 This fascinating discovery centres on a brief
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 astronomical phenomenon detected in May
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 2023 by ground based telescopes
00:09:14 --> 00:09:15 known by the catchy name
00:09:15 --> 00:09:19 OGLE2023BLG0524.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 The event lasted a mere 8 hours and was
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 caused by gravitational microlensing. If
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 you remember, this is an effect predicted by
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 Einstein, where a massive object acts like a
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 cosmic magnifying glass, briefly brightening
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 the light from a more distant object as it
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 passes directly in front of it. What
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 makes this particular case extraordinary is a
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 stroke of pure astronomical luck.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 Astronomers realised that the same patch of
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 sky had actually been photographed by Hubble
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 way back in 1997. It was purely
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 by chance during observations of a completely
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 different micro lensing event. This
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 incredible coincidence created a 25 year
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 baseline between the original images and the
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 recent planetary detection. A timeframe
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 far longer than any previous study of its
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 kind. The short duration of the 2023
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 event strongly suggested it was caused by a
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 free floating planet, also known as a rogue
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 planet. These are worlds that have been
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 ejected from their original solar systems,
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 now wandering through the galaxy, unattached
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 to any star. They can be kicked out through
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 various gravitational interactions, perhaps
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 with other planets, encounters in crowded
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 star clusters, or even the violent death of
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 their host star. Rogue planets are
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 incredibly difficult to detect because they
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 generally emit no light of their own.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 Gravitational microlensing offers one of the
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 very few ways to find them. But
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 distinguishing between a true rogue planet
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 and a regular planet orbiting very far from
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 its star requires additional evidence. This
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 is precisely where those archival Hubble
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 images became absolutely crucial.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 The research team led by Mateusz Kapusta from
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 the University of Warsaw used the 1997
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 Hubble images to search for any companion
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 star that might be hosting the planet. If the
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 lensing object were actually a planet in a
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 wide orbit around a star, that star
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 should theoretically be visible in Hubble's
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 high resolution data. Even from 25 years
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 earlier, their analysis found no evidence of
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 a stellar companion, significantly
00:11:29 --> 00:11:30 strengthening the case that OGLE
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 2023 Bl
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 G0524 is indeed a rogue world.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 The team estimates its mass to be somewhere
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 between that of Earth and Saturn, depending
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 on its location in our galaxy. This
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 study powerfully demonstrates the immense
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 scientific value of archival telescope data.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 The 1997 Hubble observations, though
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 high resolution, were relatively shallow with
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 short exposure times. This meant the team
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 could only rule out stellar companions
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 brighter than a certain magnitude, leaving
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 the possibility that dimmer red dwarf stars
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 could still be lurking undetected in the
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 data. However, this work also points the way
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 toward even more powerful future studies.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 Next generation telescopes like the James
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 Webb Space Telescope, with its enhanced
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 infrared capabilities and sensitivity, should
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 be able to detect much fainter potential host
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 stars and provide more definitive answers
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 about the nature of these lensing events.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 Looking further ahead, the Nancy Grace Roman
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 2027, will conduct an extensive
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 microlensing survey and is expected to
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 discover thousands of new rogue planets.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 Coordinated with archival observations from
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 other space telescopes, these missions could
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 finally reveal the true population of these
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 mysterious rogue worlds wandering our galaxy
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 from naturally occurring rogue planets to
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 something distinctly man made, let's embark
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 on a fascinating journey through some of the
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 strangest objects our species has
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 intentionally or accidentally sent into
00:13:02 --> 00:13:02 the void.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 back
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 in 1957, it marked the beginning of
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 humanity's presence beyond Earth. But in the
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 decades since, we've done more than just
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 launch satellites and scientific instruments
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 into orbit. We've sent art, ashes,
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 accidents, and some truly outright oddities.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 Let's start with something surprisingly human
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 pee crystals. Yes, astronauts pee.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 And for decades, urine produced aboard
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 spacecraft was simply released into space.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 Once expelled, it would instantly freeze into
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 a cloud of tiny, glittering crystals, a
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 twinkling golden mist visible through the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 portholes. Some astronauts have even
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 described the site as beautiful. More
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 recently, the International Space Station
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 installed a, uh, high tech filtration system
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 to recycle urine into drinking water, which
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 is a much more sustainable approach. Then
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 there's Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 Roadster, complete with a spacesuit wearing
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 dummy named Starmen in the driver's seat.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 Launched in 2018 aboard the Maiden voyage of
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 the Falcon Heavy rocket, it overshot its
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 intended Mars orbit and now loops around the
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 sun every 557 days. A
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 cosmic billboard for SpaceX. Not all space
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 toys are left behind by accident. In 2011,
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 NASA's Juno probe launched toward Jupiter,
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 carrying three tiny Lego figurines made
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 from aluminium to withstand the brutal
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 radiation of the gas giant. The
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 minifigs represent Jupiter, his wife Juno,
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 and Galileo Galilei, the first person to
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 observe Jupiter's largest moons, all aimed at
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 inspiring young people in science.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 And finally, hurtling through interstellar
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 space, the twin Voyager spacecraft carry one
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 of humanity's most ambitious attempts at
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 cosmic communication. A pair of gold plated
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 phonograph records. Curated by Carl Sagan
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 and his team. The these iconic golden records
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 include greetings in 55 languages, recordings
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 of a baby crying, a heartbeat, the sound of
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 waves and music from across human history,
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 including Bach, Beethoven and even Chuck
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 Berry's Johnny B. Goode. They're meant for
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 any alien civilizations that might stumble
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 upon them billions of years from now.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 Speaking of iconic figures, it seems only
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 right that Gene Roddenberry, the creator of
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 Star Trek, should find his final resting
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 place up among the stars. While previous
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 attempts to launch his ashes into space
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 either failed or ended in atmospheric re
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 entry, a successful launch finally took place
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 in January 2024. This time, a
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 portion of Roddenberry's ashes made it beyond
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 the Earth moon system and into deep space,
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 where they will now drift forever. But not
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 all space art or oddities are officially
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 sanctioned. Back in 1969, artist
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 Forrest Meyers devised a plan to smuggle art
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 onto the moon aboard Apollo 12. NASA
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 wasn't interested, so Myers covertly handed
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 off a tiny ceramic tile etched with artwork
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 from six famous artists, including Andy
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 Warhol, to an insider working on the lunar
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 lander. This tile, dubbed the Moon
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 Museum, was reportedly installed without
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 NASA's knowledge. Warhol later claimed his
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 contribution was just his initials, but the
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 etching on the tile looks very much like a
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 crude drawing of male genitalia. It's
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 certainly one of the more unusual and cheeky
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 pieces of art in the cosmos.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:20 And while some objects are sent into space
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 with great intention, many more are just
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 junk. We've left a lot of forgotten stuff up
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 there and it's starting to get dangerous.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 Space debris includes everything from dead
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 satellites and spent rocket boosters to tiny
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 flecks of paint and broken antennae.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 Some pieces travel at over 27 kilometres
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 per hour, fast enough to cause catastrophic
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 damage on impact. The problem has grown so
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 severe that experts warn of the potential for
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 Kessler Syndrome, a chain reaction of
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 collisions that could make Earth's orbit
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 unusable for decades. Adding to the
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 bizarre collection are relics from the Cold
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 War. For example, in 1963, the US
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 launched 480 million tiny copper needles
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 into space as part of Project West Ford,
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 intending to create an artificial ionosphere
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 for bouncing radio signals. Most of these
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 needles eventually fell back to Earth and
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 burned up. But not all. Clumps of
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 these tiny metallic slivers still orbit the
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 Earth today. A strange reminder of just how
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 far Cold War paranoia was willing to go.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 And then there's J002E3amysterious
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 60 foot long object that
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 orbits Earth, spinning once every minute.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 First detected in September 2002 by an
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 amateur astronomer, it was initially mistaken
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 for an asteroid, but further analysis
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 revealed it was not natural. It was built by
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 humans. Experts now believe it's likely the
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 long lost third stage of the Apollo 12
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 rocket, which launched to the moon in 1969
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 and was thought to have vanished into deep
00:17:50 --> 00:17:53 space. The cosmos truly is a fascinating, if
00:17:53 --> 00:17:54 sometimes messy place.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 M and that brings us to the end of another
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 fascinating journey through the cosmos here
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 on Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 I hope you enjoyed today's episode as much as
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 I enjoyed bringing it to you. Before you go,
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 remember, you can visit our website at, uh,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 astronomydaily.IO. there you can
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00:18:36 --> 00:18:36 looking up.