Astronomical Adventures: From China's Mini Satellites to Chiron's Retrograde

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Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,

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your essential guide to the latest news from

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across the cosmos. I'm, um, your host, Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. It's fantastic to have you with us

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for another episode. We have a very diverse lineup

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of stories for you today, spanning from low Earth orbit

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to the depths of the asteroid belt.

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Anna: That's right, Avery. We'll be starting with a, uh,

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brilliant display of international partnership

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as a Chinese rocket successfully launches a,

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uh, payload, including some very special

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satellite designed and built in Mexico.

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Avery: Then we'll delve into a bit of mystery. The U.S.

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space Force's secretive X37B

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spaceplane is about to embark on its seventh mission.

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We'll talk about what we know and what we don't,

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including a groundbreaking NASA experiment it's carrying

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that could change the future of deep space

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navigation.

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Anna: From there, we'll turn our eyes to a celestial

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object you may have heard about online recently.

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Chiron is in retrograde. We're going to

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break down what Chiron actually is.

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It's a fascinatingly weird little world and

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explain the astronomical reality behind

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retrograde motion.

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Avery: And for our final story, we're visiting an old

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friend, the dwarf planet Siris.

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Exciting new research suggests that it may have once possessed

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all the necessary ingredients to fuel life,

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offering a tantalising glimpse into its ancient past.

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It's a packed show, so let's get right to it.

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Anna: Let's kick things off with that story of international

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collaboration. On Tuesday afternoon,

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Chinese commercial launch provider CAS Space

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successfully conducted the eighth flight of its

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Kinetica 1 rocket, lifting off from the

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Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the

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Gobi Desert.

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Avery: It was a full ride, carrying seven different satellites into

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orbit. The payload included things like a Synthetic

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Aperture Radar satellite and an Earth Observation

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Satellite. But the real headline grabbers were

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two tiny spacecraft designed and built in

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Mexico by the private firm Thumbset.

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Anna: And when we say tiny, we mean it. These

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are Pico satellites, each weighing about

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100 grammes. It really goes to show how

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miniaturisation is democratising access

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to space. But, Avery, these

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thumbsats have some pretty unconventional

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missions, don't they?

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Avery: They really do. According to the company,

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thumbsat one is carrying what they call a selfie

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payload. Its goal is to capture a mirror

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selfie of itself in orbit, which is just

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fantastic. Meanwhile, Thumbsat 2

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features an artistic payload aiming to blend

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science with creativity. I just love this approach.

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It's a powerful statement that space exploration is a

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human endeavour about expression as much as it is about

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data collection.

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Anna: It's a beautiful sentiment. The collaboration

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extended to the hardware as well. Cast

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Space reported that they used a custom built

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satellite deployer designed through close

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cooperation between their engineers and the team

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from thumbsat. This wasn't just a

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taxi service, it was a true partnership.

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Avery: And the engagement doesn't stop once the satellites are

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in orbit. Thumbsat is planning to install ground

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receiving stations across Mexico. This will

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allow students, hobbyists and enthusiasts to track the

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from orbit using free antennas and software.

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It's an incredible STEM outreach initiative baked right into the

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mission.

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Anna: Cast Space is rightfully describing this as

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a landmark in Sino Mexican space

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cooperation. And it's a significant

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milestone for China's commercial space sector,

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giving them a foothold in the North American market.

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The Kinetica 1 rocket is proving to be a

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highly reliable and sought after vehicle.

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Avery: No kidding. With this flight, it's now deployed

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70 satellites weighing a total of more than

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seven metric tonnes. For the space nerds out

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there, the rocket is 30 metres long, weighs

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135 tonnes at liftoff and can carry

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up to 1.5 tonnes to a 500

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kilometre Sun Synchronous orbit. It's a real

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workhorse, alright, From a very public

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and collaborative mission to one that is

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famously secretive.

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Our next story focuses on the US Space Force's

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X37B orbital test vehicle.

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This uncrewed, reusable spaceplane is set to launch

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on its seventh mission, this time aboard a

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powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy space

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centre.

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Anna: The X37B is an enigma.

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It looks like a miniature,

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unpiloted version of the Space shuttle.

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And its primary purpose is to test and

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deploy new space technologies. But

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the vast majority of its payloads and

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specific mission objectives are, uh, classified.

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What we do know is that it's capable of staying in

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orbit for extraordinary lengths of time.

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Its last mission set a new record.

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Landing after 908 days

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in space.

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Avery: That's incredible. Nearly two and a half

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years. So for this seventh mission, most of

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the manifest is a secret, as usual. However,

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NASA has publicly announced one of its experiments

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that's flying on the X37B's service

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module. And it's a big one. It's called the

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deep Space Atomic Clock 2.

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Anna: This piece of technology, which is about the size

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of a toaster, could be a complete

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game changer for how we navigate in deep

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space. Currently, navigating a

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spacecraft far from Earth requires a two way

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conversation. We send a signal from Earth,

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it's received by the spacecraft, sent back,

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and we measure the round trip time to

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determine its position and velocity.

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Avery: But as you get further out, say to Mars,

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that Round trip time m can be 40 minutes

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or more. It's inefficient and not

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practical for complex manoeuvres or eventually for

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crewed missions that need more autonomy. This

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new atomic clock is designed to be far more stable

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and precise than any clock previously flown in

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space.

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Anna: By having such an accurate clock on board, the

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spacecraft can essentially navigate itself.

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It would receive a, uh, one way signal from Earth.

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And by knowing the precise time the signal

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was sent and the time it was received, it

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can calculate its position without having to talk

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back. It's like giving our deep space

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probes their own version of gps.

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Avery: NASA plans to test the clock for a full year, putting it through its

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paces in the harsh radiation environment of space

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to ensure it performs as expected. This

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isn't just an incremental improvement.

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It's a foundational technology that's crucial for

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enabling ambitious future missions, especially

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crewed expeditions to Mars.

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Anna: Okay, from cutting edge hardware to

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a question of celestial mechanics.

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Avery.

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If our listeners spend any time on social

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media, they may have seen a

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peculiar astronomical phrase making the

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rounds lately. Chiron is in

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retrograde. And their first reaction might have

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been, what even is Chiron?

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Avery: It's true, it's not exactly a household name,

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so let's dive in. Um, Chiron is a

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fascinating and somewhat bizarre object in our solar

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system. It's what's known as a centaur,

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a class of small bodies that orbit the sun in the

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chaotic region between Jupiter and Neptune.

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Anna: When it was first discovered in 1977,

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it was classified as an asteroid. But then

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in 1989, astronomers were

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surprised to see it develop a coma, a

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fuzzy cloud of gas and dust, and even a

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faint tail. This is the hallmark of a

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comet.

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Avery: So is it an asteroid or a comet?

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The answer is yes. It's one of

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a few objects that hold this dual classification.

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And the weirdness doesn't stop there. Just

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last year, astronomers confirmed that Chiron

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also has its own system of rings.

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Anna: It really is a special little world.

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So what does it mean for it to be in

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retrograde?

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Avery: This is the key part. What we're seeing is

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apparent retrograde motion. The object

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hasn't actually changed direction at all.

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It's purely a line of sight illusion from our vantage

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point on Earth.

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Anna: Think of it this way. Earth and Chiron

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are both orbiting the sun in the same

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direction. But Earth is on the inside

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lane and moving faster. As we approach

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Chiron in our orbit and then overtake it,

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our faster motion makes Chiron appear

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to slow down, stop, and move backwards

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against the distant stars. For A period of time.

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Avery: It's just like when you're driving on a highway and pass a

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slower car as you go by. That slower car

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briefly looks like it's moving backwards from your perspective.

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That's exactly what's happening. And you can't see it for yourself

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anyway. It's far too faint. Sorry.

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For our final story, we are heading out to the main

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asteroid belt to take another look at one of its most, uh,

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fascinating residents. The dwarf planet

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Ceres.

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Anna: Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid

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belt, so large that its own gravity has

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pulled it into a spherical shape. We got our

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best ever look at it thanks to NASA's dawn mission,

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which orbited it from 2015 until

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2018.

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Avery: Absolutely. Dawn's data confirmed that the famous bright

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spots on Ceres surface are made of salts

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left behind by liquid that came up from a massive

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underground reservoir of brine. So check

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one. Sarah's had liquid water.

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Anna: Cerise also revealed evidence of organic

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material, carbon based molecules on the

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surface. These are the fundamental building

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blocks of life. So check 2.

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Cerise had the right chemical ingredients.

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The but there was a third crucial question.

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Avery: For life to exist, it needs a source of energy to

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power metabolic processes. Essentially,

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it needs food. And that's where this exciting

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new NASA research comes in.

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Anna: Scientists built models to simulate Ceres

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interior over billions of years. Their

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findings suggest that for a long period in its

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ancient past, Ceres likely had a

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steady supply of chemical energy.

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Avery: This energy came from the natural decay of radioactive

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elements within the dwarf planet's rocky core.

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This internal heat would have warmed the subsurface

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ocean, causing hot mineral rich water to

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circulate up from the core, creating a chemical fuel

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source for any potential single celled organisms.

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Anna: The models indicate that the peak period for this

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potential habitability was about

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2.5 to 4 billion years ago.

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It's important to be clear this does not mean that

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life definitely existed on Cerese. It

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means the food was likely available should

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life have ever gotten started there.

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Avery: And the implications of this are huge. It suggests

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that many other water rich icy worlds of a

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similar size could also have had their own periods of

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habitability fueled by this same internal

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engine early in their history. It expands

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a search for where life could have once existed.

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And on that hopeful note, that is all the time we have for

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today's episode of Astronomy Daily.

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Anna: We've covered quite the range from the tangible success

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of an international rocket launch.

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Avery: To the clandestine operations of the

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X37B. We untangled the celestial

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illusion of Chiron's retrograde motion and

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dove deep into the ancient oceans of Cerese.

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Anna: We want to thank you, our listeners, for joining us

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on this journey today.

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Avery: We'll be back tomorrow with more of the latest news from the

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cosmos. Until then, from me, Avery, and

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from.

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Anna: Me, Anna, keep looking up. This has been

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Astronomy Daily.