Cosmic Filaments, Earth 2.0, and Mayonnaise in Space

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Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the

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podcast that brings you the latest news from

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across the cosmos. I'm your host, Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.

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We've got a busy show today. From the largest

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rotating structure ever observed to. Man is

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in space.

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Avery: That's right. We'll also be looking at

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China's ambitious plans to find Earth

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2.0, checking in on a commander

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swap at the International Space Station, and

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celebrating an Emmy win for NASA. So

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let's get started.

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Anna: First up, an incredible discovery that's

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being compared to a cosmic teacup ride.

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Astronomers have found a string of 14

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galaxies that are all spinning in the same

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direction as the massive structure they

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belong to.

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Avery: And this isn't just any structure. It's a

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cosmic filament. A gigantic thread

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like formation made of dark matter, galaxies

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and gas. They're the biggest things in the

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universe, forming a kind of cosmic web.

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Anna: Exactly. This particular filament is about

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50 million light years long and is rotating

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at a staggering velocity of 110

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kilometers per second.

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Avery: Wow, 110 kilometers per

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second. And the galaxies within it are

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spinning along with it.

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Anna: That's the amazing part. Researchers looked

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at a section of this filament about 140

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million light years away. They found these 14

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galaxies, all rich in hydrogen gas,

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moving in a way that suggests the whole

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structure is rotating. And more

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surprisingly, many of the galaxies themselves

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are spinning in the same direction as the

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filament.

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Avery: Right. The lead researcher, Lila Zhang,

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used a great analogy. She said it's like the

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teacups ride at a theme park.

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Anna: Mhm. Each galaxy is a spinning teacup

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and the whole platform, the cosmic filament,

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is rotating too. This dual motion

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gives us a rare insight into how galaxies get

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their spin from the cosmic web they inhabit.

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It suggests these larger structures have a

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much stronger influence than we previously

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thought.

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Avery: A truly mind bending discovery.

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Now let's shift our focus a bit closer to

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home and look at the future of space

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exploration. The China National Space

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Agency, or cnsa, has

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outlined some very ambitious plans.

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Anna: That's right. In a video titled Earth 2.0.

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Um, China's plan to find New Earth. They

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detailed four major upcoming missions

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scheduled for their 15th five year plan

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between 2026 and 2030.

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Avery: And these missions cover a huge range of

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objectives. They're planning a radio

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astronomy experiment for the far side of the

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moon, a solar observatory to study space

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weather, duts.

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Anna: A space telescope to monitor black holes and

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neutron stars, and of course, the

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exoplanet hunting satellite that will search

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for Those Earth like planets.

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Avery: It's a clear statement of intent. China is

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positioning itself to be at, uh, the absolute

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forefront of space science and exploration in

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the coming decade.

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Anna: Absolutely.

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Now for a couple of updates from the

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International Space Station, where it's been

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a busy few days. First up, a change of

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leadership.

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Avery: Yes, Expedition 73 is handing the reins

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over to Expedition 74. On

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Sunday, veteran Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey

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Rysakov will pass the symbolic stat key

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to four time NASA astronaut Mike Finke.

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Anna: And that handover marks the beginning of the

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end of the mission for three crew members.

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Risakov, along with flight engineers Alexei

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Zubritsky and NASA's Johnny Kim, are packing

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up for their return trip to Earth inside the

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Soyuz MS.27 spacecraft.

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Avery: Safe travels to them. But while the crew is

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changing, the science never stops. And our

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next story from the ISS is a fascinating one.

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Anna, uh, why are scientists studying

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mayonnaise in space?

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Anna: It sounds strange, but it's all about

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understanding something called soft matter.

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This includes things like gels, foams,

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colloids, and mayonnaise. These

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substances have internal structures that

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reorganize very slowly over time.

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Think about how sunscreen can change in the

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cabinet or how a cream loses effectiveness.

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Avery: Okay, that makes sense. And studying this

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process on Earth is complicated by gravity,

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right?

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Anna: Exactly. So researchers developed an

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experiment called Colis, which is now

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operating on the space station. It uses

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sophisticated optical techniques to look

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inside these materials without disturbing

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them in a microgravity environment.

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Avery: And are there any results yet?

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Anna: There are, and they're already surprising.

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Early data shows that gravity affects the

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structure of soft matter much more

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dramatically than anyone expected. This could

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have huge implications for everything from

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food production to pharmaceuticals right here

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on Earth.

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Avery: Incredible. What we can learn from looking at

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everyday items in an extraordinary place.

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Next, let's talk comets. NASA's Punch mission

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has released an incredible 40 day timelapse

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of Comet Swann.

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Anna: This might be the longest, most frequent

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observation of a comet ever recorded. The

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Spacecraft imaged Comet C 2025

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R2, also known as Swann, every

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four minutes from late August to early

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October.

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Avery: The video is just stunning. You can see the

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comet gliding through space with its bluish

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green coma and glowing tail. Clear visible.

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That glow is from the sun's heat vaporizing

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the comet's ices, a process called

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sublimation. Mhm.

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Anna: And there was an unexpected guest star in the

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video. The comet happened to be sharing the

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same patch of sky with the famous

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Interstellar Visitor 3i Atlas,

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which you can just glimpse in the footage. A

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true cosmic photobomb Fantastic.

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Avery: And for our final story today, we're

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switching from scientific observation to

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television production. NASA has won another

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Emmy award.

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Anna: They have. This time it's for their broadcast

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of the total solar eclipse back on April 8,

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2024. The Academy of Television Arts and

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Sciences recognized them for excellence in

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production technology.

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Avery: And it was a massive undertaking. The agency

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called it the most complex life project

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they've ever produced. The broadcast was

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three hours long, covered seven American

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states in two countries, and had hosts and

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correspondents all over the path of totality.

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Anna: The effort definitely paid off. The broadcast

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pulled in nearly 40 million views across all

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of NASA's channels, including their streaming

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service, NASA. From watch parties in

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libraries to Times Square, people all over

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the world tuned in.

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Avery: A well deserved win for a truly spectacular

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production that brought a celestial wonder to

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millions. And that, unfortunately, is all the

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time we have for today.

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Anna: Thanks for joining us on Astronomy Daily. If

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you'd like to stay on top of all the latest

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space news or listen to our back episodes,

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join us just visit our

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website@astronomydaily.IO.

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it's constantly updating, so there's always

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something new to check out.

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Avery: And that's it for today. See uh you Monday

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when we do it all over again. Until then,

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clear skies and keep looking up.

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Sam.