Artemis II Preparations, Jellyfish Galaxy, and Mars' Celestial Dance

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Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

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source for all the latest news from across the vast

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universe. I'm your host, Anna, and

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I'm so excited to dive into today's cosmic

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happenings. We've got a busy show for you today.

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We'll be looking at how NASA and the Department of Defence

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are Preparing for Artemis 2. We've got

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a quick update from the ISS. We'll be checking

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out a jellyfish galaxy. Plus, we'll guide you

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on how to spot Mars this month.

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So buckle up space fans, it's time for liftoff.

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NASA and the Department of Defence recently teamed up to

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practise emergency procedures for the Artemis

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2 mission, which is set to send four astronauts

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around the moon next year. These simulations

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are super important because, you know, safety first.

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The teams rehearsed what they would do to rescue the crew if

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there was an emergency during the launch of the Orion

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spacecraft. This included scenarios where

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they had to abort the launch while the rocket was still on the

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pad, as well as during the ascent into space.

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To make it as realistic as possible, they used test mannequins

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and a version of Orion called the crew Module Test

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article. During the pad abort simulation,

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the launch team went through a normal countdown before declaring

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an abort just before the simulated launch. In

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a real emergency, Orion's launch abort system would

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kick in, propelling the capsule and its crew to

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safety before parachuting down off the coast of

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Florida for the test. They placed the test

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Orion in the water and then two navy

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helicopters carrying Air Force

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pararescuers swooped in to retrieve the

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mannequin crew just like they would in a real

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situation. The next day they

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practised an ascent, abort scenario. The

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rescue team set up another simulation at sea and

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after receiving the simulated abort call, they sprang

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into action using a C17 aircraft and

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more Air Force pararescuers. These

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procedures are similar to those used in previous tests,

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making sure everyone is prepared for anything that might happen.

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It's all part of NASA's commitment to keeping the Artemis

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II crew safe as they venture to the moon and back.

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Next up, a quick update to our story from yesterday

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about Postponements to the AXE 4 mission.

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Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Friday

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that a leak on the Russian segment of the International Space

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Station had been repaired, that the Interfax news agency

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reported. Good news indeed. No reports yet

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on how this will affect prospective launch date, though.

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NASA had on Thursday indefinitely delayed a four

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person cruise mission to the ISS over an

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escalating probe into air leaks aboard the orbiting

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laboratory's Russian segment.

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Okay, next up in our cosmic tour, astronomers

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have spotted a galaxy that looks like a jellyfish with

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bunny ears. I know it sounds like something out of a

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sci fi cartoon, but it's real. This

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galaxy called NGC 4858

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is way out there in the Coma cluster, over

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300 million light years away. Now, galaxy

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clusters are these huge collections of galaxies, often

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containing thousands of them, along with hot gas

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and what astronomers suspect, a whole lot of dark

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matter. What makes NGC4858 so

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interesting is what's happening to it inside this cluster.

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It's experiencing extreme pressure, kind of like a wind, which is

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stripping gas away from the galaxy. This process

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stretches the galaxy, giving it that jellyfish

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shape, with long trails of gas and young stars

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that resemble, you guessed it, jellyfish

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tentacles. But here's where the bunny ears come in.

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The Images of NGC 4858

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revealed these distorted spiral arms that

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astronomers are calling bunny ears.

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Apparently this is likely caused by a combination of the

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environmental wind pushing on the gas and the

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rotation of the galaxy itself.

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And there's more. Scientists have also found evidence of a

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phenomenon called fallback. This is when gas gets

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stripped away from a galaxy, but doesn't quite escape, so

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it falls back toward the galactic disc. It's like a galactic

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fountain, with the gas often concentrating in

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distorted spiral arms on one side of the inner

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tail. Because NGC

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4858 is face on, it's a

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prime target for further studies on how pressure and

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rotation affect galaxies in extreme conditions.

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M alright, let's turn our gaze to the Red planet. If

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you've been keeping an eye on Mars since the beginning of the year,

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you've probably noticed how much its brightness has changed

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and how it's been interacting with the Moon, bright stars

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and other celestial objects. Now, even

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though 2025 isn't exactly a banner year for

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Mars, it's still putting on a pretty good show.

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Remember, it reached opposition. That's when it

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appears directly opposite the sun in the sky back

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in January. Well, even though it's been receding

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from us ever since, it's still making some eye catching

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appearances this month. First up, on

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June 17, Mars will be cozying up to

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Regulus. That's a bright star in the constellation Leo

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the Lion. If you're in the Americas, keep an eye out.

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From June 13th through the 20th, you'll see them hanging out

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less than 2 degrees apart. The 15th to

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18th is when they'll be super close, less than 1

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degree apart. On the 17th, Mars

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will be just 3/4 of a 1 degree above Regulus.

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Look for them around 10pm local time, about a quarter

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of the way up in the western sky. Because they're

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so close and similar in brightness, they'll really

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stand out. Plus, the orange gold of

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Mars and blue white of Regulus will look even more

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intense next to each other. And that's not all.

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On June 29, a waxing crescent Moon

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will glide right past Mars in the western sky at dusk.

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Now, North America won't get to see the Moon actually pass in

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front of Mars. That's called an occultation. But

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it'll still be a beautiful sight as Mars appears to glide above the

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Moon. To catch it, you might need binoculars at

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first, but once the sky darkens, Mars should be easy

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to spot. So keep an eye on the western sky at

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dusk. It will be worth a look.

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Now, switching gears a bit, let's talk about the future of space

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exploration. Next week, from June 19

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to 22, space enthusiasts from all over

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the world will be gathering in Orlando, Florida

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for the International Space Development Conference,

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or ISDC 2025.

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This year's theme is Together beyond, and

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it's all about collaboration across different sectors and countries

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as we push further into space. The conference is

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going to be packed with discussions on everything from global

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cooperation in space to developing communities

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out there among the stars. They'll also be talking

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about space health, sustainability and

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making settlements on the moon. Mars and

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beyond a, reality. And of course, they'll be addressing

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the need for planetary defence strategies to protect Earth from

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asteroids. There's going to be some seriously impressive speakers

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there, too. We're talking Pascal Lee,

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a planetary scientist, and Mars exploration

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expert Gretchen Green, the first woman

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physician, commercial astronaut Jared

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Isaac Mann, who commanded the Inspiration4

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mission, and former NASA astronauts Susan

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Kilrain and Robert Hoot Gibson.

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Also speaking is Shauna Pandya, who's set to be the first

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female commercial Canadian astronaut. It

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sounds like an amazing event for anyone interested in the future of

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humanity in space.

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Finally today, let's dive into something a little more mysterious.

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Dark matter. The upcoming Nancy Grace Roman

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Space Telescope, launching in 2026, is

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going to play a huge role in helping us understand this elusive

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stuff. How? Through gravitational

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lensing. Now, gravitational lensing basically

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uses massive galaxy clusters in the foreground, so

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to magnify really distant objects in the background.

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And dark matter, even though we can't see it, makes up

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a massive chunk of these galaxy clusters, like

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85% or even more in some cases. So

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without dark matter, gravitational lensing wouldn't

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be nearly as effective. The M Roman Space

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Telescope is expected to find around 160,000

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of these gravitational lenses. But here's the cool

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part. By using dark matter as a gravitational

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lens, scientists can actually learn more about

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it. The telescope will be on the lookout for what are

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called strong gravitational lenses.

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These happen when the observer, the gravitational lens,

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and the background object are all perfectly

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aligned. These lenses give us a much more

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dramatic magnification. Researchers are

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hoping to find about 500 of these that are

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precise enough to study the structure of dark matter at small

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scales. These observations could help us address

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some of the issues with the lambda cold dark matter theory, which

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is the most widely accepted model of Big Bang cosmology.

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It's great at describing the large scale universe, but it kind of falls

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apart when we look at smaller scales. For

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example, the Lambda CDM model

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predicts that there should be way more dwarf galaxies

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around larger galaxies like the Milky Way than

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we actually see. The Roman telescope's

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strong lenses should be able to detect the small amounts of

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light being bent by the dark matter halos of these

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galaxies. And if they do, then the Lambda

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CDM M model becomes that much stronger.

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Ultimately, scientists are trying to figure out what kind of

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particle makes up dark matter. Is it wimps,

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axions? Or maybe sterile neutrinos? The

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Roman Space Telescope is going to give us some seriously valuable data

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to help us crack the code.

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And that's all the space news we have for you today. I'm

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Anna and it's been a pleasure being your host today.

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Don't forget to visit our website at astronomydaily

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IO where you can where you can catch up on all the latest space

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and astronomy news with our constantly updating news

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feed and listen to all our back episodes. You can

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also find us on social media. Just search for astrodaily,

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pod on Facebook, X, YouTube, and

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TikTok. Until next time, keep looking up and as they

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say, I'll, see you on the flip side. This is Anna signing off.