Aussie Satellite Snapshots, Space Command's Close Encounter, and the Truth About Water Worlds

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast.

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Avery: Bringing you the latest in space and

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astronomy news. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. Today we've got a busy

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show. We'll be talking about an Australian

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satellite that's taking selfies in orbit.

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Avery: A close encounter between US and UK military

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satellites, and a busy week for rocket

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launches around the globe.

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Anna: Plus we'll dive into some fascinating new

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research that questions the existence of

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so called water worlds.

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Avery: And we'll have headlines including a, uh,

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potential signal from a wormhole.

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Let's get started.

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Anna: First up, let's head down under.

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Australia's Spirit nanosatellite has

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just wrapped up its first mission phase after

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an impressive run.

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Avery: Impressive is right. It's been in orbit for

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over 600 days, circling the Earth more than

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9,000 times since it launched on a

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SpaceX Falcon 9.

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Anna: For a satellite that's only about 11.5

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kilograms, that's quite a journey. The

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initial phase about checking its systems,

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making sure everything was working correctly,

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and.

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Avery: They did this in the coolest way possible. It

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has a selfie stick to take a photo of itself

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against a backdrop of Earth. I love that it

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confirms everything is deployed and

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operational.

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Anna: It's not just for show though. Spirit's main

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job is pretty serious. It carries an

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instrument from the Italian Space Agency

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designed to detect gamma ray bursts.

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Avery: And this is where it gets really clever.

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Spirit also has a built in autonomous

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repointing system. So when it detects a

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gamma ray burst, it can automatically and

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very quickly turn itself to face the source

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of the explosion. This allows it to gather

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more detailed data in the crucial first

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moments.

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Anna: That's a critical capability. Often the

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most interesting information from these

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events fades very quickly. By

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reacting instantly, without waiting for

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commands from the ground, Spirit can catch

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details other telescopes might miss.

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It's a great example of how AI and automation

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are, uh, transforming space science.

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Avery: And for our listeners, gamma ray bursts, or

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GRBs, are some of the most powerful

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explosions in the universe. They come from

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incredible cosmic events. Like two neutron

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stars colliding.

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Anna: Exactly. The idea is that Spirit is a

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pathfinder, a, uh, prototype for a future

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constellation of satellites. This network

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will be able to quickly spot these gamma ray

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bursts and alert astronomers on the ground so

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they can point their telescopes at the source

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almost immediately.

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Avery: It's a fantastic example of international

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collaboration and a big step for the

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Australian space industry. A tiny satellite

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with a huge mission.

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Next, we're moving from scientific

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collaboration to a major display of military

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partnership in or. The US Space Command just

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did something for the first time ever with

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the.

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Anna: Uk, they performed what's called a

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rendezvous Proximity operation

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or rpo. In simple terms

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they flew one of their spacecraft very close

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to a UK military satellite to

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inspect it.

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Avery: And this wasn't in low earth orbit. This

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happened 22,000 miles up in

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geostationary orbit where many critical

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communications satellites live. The US

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spacecraft approached the UK's Skynet

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5A communications satellite.

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Anna: The official line is that this was a peaceful

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inspection, a demonstration of trust and

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cooperation between allies. It shows they

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can help each other out, say if a friendly

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satellite is malfunctioning and they need a

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closer look.

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Avery: But there's another layer to this, isn't

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there? It also sends a very clear message to

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other nations. It demonstrates, uh, a

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capability to get extremely close to any

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satellite in that orbit.

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Anna: Friendly or that's the subtext,

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yes. US Space Command's General Stephen

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Whiting didn't mince words. He called it a

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demonstration of the war fighting advantage

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their coalition provides. It's a powerful

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statement about their capabilities in what's

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becoming an increasingly contested domain.

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Avery: So a friendly checkup, but with a very strong

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geopolitical message attached.

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Anna: Speaking of people in space, we should

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mention that NASA just introduced its newest

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class of astronauts.

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Avery: That's right, the 24th class. It's a

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diverse group and one interesting name on the

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list is a former SpaceX crew member

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who was part of the all civilian Inspiration4

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mission. It's great to see that pipeline from

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commercial spaceflight into the official NASA

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corps.

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Anna: It's been a very busy week for launches.

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Let's do a quick roundup.

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Avery: Let's start with the usual suspect, SpaceX.

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On Monday they launched another 22

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Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral.

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What's amazing here is the booster used for

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this Falcon 9 flight. It was its 15th

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trip to space and back.

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Anna: That reusability is still mind boggling.

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Over in New Zealand, Rocket Lab is gearing up

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for its 53rd Electron launch. This one

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is for the US Space Force and has a very

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cool mission name. Methane to be

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Max.

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Avery: I like that. So what's it doing?

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Anna: It's deploying a satellite that will try to

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demonstrate producing methane in orbit.

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So this is a key technology for in

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situ resource utilization. The

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idea is to eventually create rocket fuel

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from resources found on the moon or Mars,

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like water ice and the martian atmosphere so

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you wouldn't have to.

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Avery: Carry all your return fuel with you. That's a

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game changer for long duration missions.

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Anna: Absolutely. And finally, not to be left

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out, China also had a successful launch,

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sending up the Yao' Gon 44 reconnaissance

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satellite on a long March 2D rocket

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launch. Uh, a busy week for all the major

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players.

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Avery: Okay, before we get to our last big story,

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I have to bring up this wild theory I read

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about. Remember that strange

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gravitational wave signal from 2019

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GW 1905, 21.

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Anna: Vaguely. It was very short, just

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a blip. Right. And it seemed to come from the

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merger of two unusually massive

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black holes.

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Avery: Exactly. But it was so odd

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that it's opened the door to more exotic

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explanations. A new paper is floating the

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idea that it m might not have been a standard

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black hole merger at all. They suggest it

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could be the echo of a collision that

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happened in another universe and the signal

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traveled to us through a wormhole.

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Anna: Wow. Okay, that is definitely out

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there. I assume the standard black hole

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explanation is still the most likely one,

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right?

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Avery: Oh, absolutely. But the scientists say they

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can't completely rule out this wormhole

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hypothesis based on the data. It's a

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fun thought experiment if nothing else.

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Anna: All ah, right.

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For our final story, let's talk about the

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search for alien oceans. For years

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there's been a really exciting idea about a

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type of exoplanet called a uh, Hycean world.

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Avery: Right. These are sub Neptunes, bigger than

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Earth, but smaller than Neptune that are

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thought to be completely covered in massive

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deep oceans. Quintessential water

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world from science fiction.

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Anna: The theory was that these planets could form

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with a huge amount of ice which would then

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melt into a global ocean. But

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a new study is pouring a little cold water

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on that idea, pun intended. Of course.

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New computer models suggest that it might be

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very difficult for these massive oceans to

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exist on the surface. When these planets

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form, the immense pressure and heat in their

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interiors would cause a chemical reaction.

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Avery: Let me guess, the water doesn't stay on the

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surface.

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Anna: Exactly. The hydrogen and oxygen that

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make up the water would likely get trapped

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deep inside the planet's molten mantle.

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The study concludes that planets with Oceans

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making up 10 to 90% of their

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total mass are very unlikely.

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Avery: So the dream of a planet like Kamino from

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Star wars might be less realistic. This is

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particularly relevant because of the recent

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hype around exoplanet K2

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18b which some had claimed could be one of

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the these hean worlds.

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Anna: This research definitely tempers those

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expectations. But it's not all bad news

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for the search for life. The study also

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suggests that the same process would make it

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easier for planets with more modest Earth

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like amounts of surface water to form.

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Avery: So fewer giant water worlds, but potentially

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more planets that look a little more like

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home. I'll take that trade off. It's a great

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reminder that our assumptions about how

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planets work are constantly being tested and

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refined.

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Anna: And one last quick note for all the

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stargazers out there. A brand new comet has

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been discovered, and it could be a good one.

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Avery: Ooh, tell me more.

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Anna: It's called

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C2025R2

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Swan. It's already quite bright,

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and there's a chance it could become visible

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to the naked eye this October. For now,

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you'll need binoculars to spot it.

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Avery: When's the best time to look?

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Anna: It will make its closest pass to Earth on

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October 21st, so mark your calendars and

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keep an eye on the sky. It's always a treat

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when a new visitor graces our, uh, cosmic

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neighborhood.

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Avery: And that's all the time we have for today on

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Astronomy Daily.

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Anna: It certainly has been a full week to keep up

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with these stories and more. Be sure to visit

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our website.

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Avery: Visit astronomydaily IO for more

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space and astronomy news and to listen to all

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our back episodes.

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Anna: We'll be back tomorrow with more space and

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astronomy news for you. See you then.

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I'm Anna signing off.

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Avery: And I'm Avery saying bye for today. Make sure

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you get outside and look up. You never

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know what you might see.