Blue Origin's Latest Milestone, Sharper Black Hole Images, and Titan's Dragonfly Mission

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Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to

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podcast for the latest discoveries and developments in the

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cosmos. I'm your host, Anna, and we've got a great

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lineup of space news for you today. Coming up, we'll

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blast off with details of Blue Origin's latest achievement,

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then prepare to have your mind blown as we

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dive into groundbreaking black hole images that

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are the sharpest ever captured from Earth. We'll

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also explore the spectacular aurora

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displays that lit up skies across North America and

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beyond. And finally, we'll journey to

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the mysterious world of Titan as we look ahead

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to NASA's fascinating Dragonfly mission.

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So strap in and prepare for liftoff as we

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explore today's top stories from across the universe.

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Blue Origin has once again reached for the stars with their

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New Shepard vehicle successfully completing

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their 12th crewed suborbital mission. The

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spacecraft carried a full complement of space tourists to the

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edge of our atmosphere, where they experienced the

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breathtaking views of our planet and the

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unforgettable sensation of weightlessness.

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This latest flight represents another milestone for Jeff

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Bezos's space company as they continue to

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establish themselves as leaders in the commercial space

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tourism industry. The New Shepard vehicle,

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named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard,

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follows a fully autonomous flight profile,

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carrying passengers in a capsule that detaches from its

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booster rocket before both components return separately to

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Earth. The reusable nature of New

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Shepard continues to demonstrate Blue Origin's commitment to

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more sustainable space travel, with the booster making a

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controlled, powered landing while the passenger capsule

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gently descends under parachutes. This

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mission further cements Blue Origin's growing track

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record of reliable suborbital flights,

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providing more civilians the rare opportunity to experience

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the overview effect, that profound shift in

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perspective that astronauts describe when seeing Earth

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from space for the first time.

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Now, this next story is pretty cool. In a major

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breakthrough for astronomy, scientists using the Event

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Horizon Telescope have captured the sharpest images ever

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of distant black holes from Earth. These remarkable

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new observations employed light at a frequency of

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345 gigahertz, allowing

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researchers to peer deeper into the regions surrounding black

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holes with unprecedented clarity. This

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achievement represents a significant leap forward from their

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previous work at 230 GHz,

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with the shorter wavelength providing approximately

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50% sharper resolution around

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14 microarc seconds. To put

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this in perspective, that's like being able to see a donut

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on the surface of the Moon from Earth. The

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Event Horizon Telescope isn't a single instrument, but

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rather a global network of radio telescopes working in

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perfect synchronisation using a

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powerful technique called very long baseline

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interferometry scientists effectively

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created a virtual telescope the size of our planet.

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By combining signals from observatories scattered across

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Earth, they've achieved imaging capabilities far beyond

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what any single telescope could accomplish.

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Among the most studied targets are the supermassive black

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hole at the centre of Galaxy M, M87 and

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Sagittarius A, the black hole at the heart of our

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own Milky Way. With this enhanced resolution,

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researchers can now observe how light bends near these

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cosmic giants with remarkable detail,

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potentially revealing subtle behaviours that were previously

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invisible. The technical challenges involved

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were immense. At 345

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GHz, atmospheric water vapour

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heavily absorbs radio waves, significantly

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weakening signals from distant black holes. To overcome

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this, the EHT team expanded their bandwidth and

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carefully selected high altitude observation sites like the

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Atacama Large Millimetre Submillimeter Array in

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Chile and the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii, where

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atmospheric interference is minimised.

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This advancement opens exciting new possibilities.

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Scientists can now study polarised light around black

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holes with greater precision, providing insights

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into their magnetic environments. The reduced effects

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of Faraday rotation, a phenomenon that alters

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light's electric field orientation, allows for

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clearer observations of magnetic field structures.

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Perhaps most thrilling is the potential to create time lapse

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movies of black hole environments showing

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material moving around the event horizon in near real

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time. For Sagittarius a star, which

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has a dynamic timescale of about 200 seconds,

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simultaneous observations at multiple wavelengths

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could soon allow scientists to watch the cosmic dance of

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matter as it spirals toward the point of no return.

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This groundbreaking advancement in black hole imaging technology

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is set to revolutionise our understanding of these

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cosmic giants. With m, the successful

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345 GHz observations,

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scientists are now on the cusp of creating something

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truly remarkable. Time lapse

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movies of black hole environments that would show us the

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dynamic nature of these extreme regions in

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unprecedented detail. For Matey 7's

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black hole, which evolves over a longer period of about

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three days, researchers could combine images

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collected over consecutive observation sessions

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to construct detailed visualisations of its

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active surroundings. These time lapse sequences

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would reveal how matter behaves as it approaches the event

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horizon, potentially showing the formation and evolution

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of jets that extend thousands of light years into

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space. Beyond the well known black holes

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at M, M87 and Sagittarius A, the

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improved resolution enables detailed studies of active

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galactic nuclei jets with unprecedented precision.

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Researchers can now investigate phenomena like limb

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brightening, where jets appear brighter near their edges,

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and study how these massive energy beams form and

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accelerate across vast cosmic distances.

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Perhaps most exciting is the potential for Multi Frequency

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Synthesis, a technique that combines data from different

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frequencies to map black hole environments

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in exquisite detail over time. For our

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galaxy's central black hole, this could provide real

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time glimpses into its turbulent surroundings,

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capturing moment by moment changes near the event

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horizon.

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Did you happen to see this? Earth has been putting on quite a

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show lately. A powerful coronal mass ejection

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struck our planet head on in the early hours of June 1,

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triggering one of the most spectacular aurora displays in

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recent memory. The CME originated from an M

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M8.2 class solar flare that erupted

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on May 30 and raced toward Earth at a staggering

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speed of nearly 1,938

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kilometres per second. That's about 4.3 million

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miles per hour. When this massive burst

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of solar energy collided with Earth's magnetic field, it,

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it triggered what scientists classify as a severe

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G4 geomagnetic storm.

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This intense disturbance in our planet's

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magnetosphere created breathtaking

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auroras that were visible much farther south than

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usual, delighting skygazers across North

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America. The severity of this particular

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storm meant that aurora chasers were treated to

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spectacular displays, even in regions where

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such sightings are extremely rare.

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Terry Gryphon captured beautiful aurora pillars in St.

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George, Kansas, noting that the white pillars were

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strikingly visible to the naked eye. In

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Cheyenne, Wyoming, skywatchers reported brilliant

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curtains of green and purple light dancing across

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the night sky. Perhaps most remarkable

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were the sightings from places like Farmington, New Mexico,

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where photographer Derek Wilson captured a, stunning

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timelapse of the northern lights.

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Wilson explained that visible auroras this far south

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are such a rare occurrence that he knew he had to

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get far from city lights when he saw the solar storm data.

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Most astonishingly, the light show was confirmed as visible

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on webcams as far south as San Diego,

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California, an extremely unusual occurrence that

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highlights just how powerful this G force storm truly was.

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The Southern hemisphere wasn't left out of this extraordinary

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light show. Sky watchers in New Zealand were treated to

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spectacular displays of the Aurora Australis

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with vibrant red and pink hues illuminating night

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skies. The crimson and magenta hues that

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dominated many Southern Hemisphere sightings

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created an almost otherworldly atmosphere,

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distinctly different from the predominantly green

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curtains often seen in the north.

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In Australia, the Aurora Australis made a

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dramatic appearance over Victoria. The aurora

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was particularly impressive over Tasmania, with observers

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in Queenstown reporting some of the most vibrant displays.

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The rugged landscape provided a striking

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foreground to the cosmic light show, with red

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and pink aurora reflections visible in

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the still waters of lakes and bays across the region.

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What makes these sightings especially remarkable is

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their rarity. While northern lights are

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occasionally visible in the northern United States,

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seeing auroras from places like San Diego or central

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Australia is extraordinarily uncommon,

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requiring exceptionally powerful

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geomagnetic storms, like this G4

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event.

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Now let's turn our attention to a mission that will take us to

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one of the most fascinating worlds in our solar system.

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NASA is preparing to launch the Dragonfly mission to

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Saturn's moon Titan in July 2028,

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using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to send

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this revolutionary spacecraft on its six year journey.

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Titan is unlike any world we've explored before.

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It's the only moon in our solar system with a thick

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atmosphere and its surface is dotted with methane

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rivers, lakes and seas. This methane

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rich environment has scientists excited because they

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believe Titan resembles what Earth may have looked like

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billions of years ago, before life transformed

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our planet's chemistry. What makes Dragonfly

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truly revolutionary is its design. Rather than

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a traditional rover, NASA has created a nuclear

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powered rotorcraft, essentially a science drone

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that can fly from location to location across Titan's

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surface. This mobility will allow it to cover

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hundreds of kilometres during its mission, exploring

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diverse landscapes that would be impossible to reach

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with a wheeled vehicle. The principal

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investigator, Zibby Turtle from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics

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Laboratory, explains that Dragonfly isn't

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searching for current life on Titan. Instead,

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it's investigating the chemical processes that might have

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preceded life on Earth. Since Titan is so

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cold, about 144 degrees Celsius below

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zero, any chemical reactions occur much more

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slowly than they would on Earth, effectively preserving

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evidence of prebiotic chemistry. One of

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Dragonfly's prime destinations is Selk Crater, a,

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massive 90 kilometre wide impact site.

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Scientists believe this ancient asteroid impact may have

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temporarily melted Titan's icy crust, creating

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a warm pool of liquid water mixed with organic

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compounds, essentially a, prebiotic soup,

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similar to what might have spawned life on early Earth.

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By studying Titan, scientists hope to answer

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fundamental questions about how life begins.

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Is the path from chemistry to biology universal?

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Following the same pattern everywhere? Or was

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Earth's development of life a cosmic coincidence?

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It's essentially a long running chemical experiment,

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explains Sarah Horst, a Dragonfly co

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investigator. That's why Titan is exciting.

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It's a natural version of our origin of life experiments.

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Except it's been running much longer and on a planetary

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scale.

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Well, what an incredible journey around our cosmic

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neighbourhood. We've taken today from witnessing blue

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origin's continued progress in commercial spaceflight

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to marvelling at the sharpest black hole images ever captured

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from Earth. This has been Anna hosting

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Astronomy Daily if you'd like to keep up with all the latest

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space and astronomy news, visit our

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website@astronomydaily.IO, where our

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newsfeed updates constantly. You can also follow

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