Cosmic Telescopes, Orbital Challenges, and the Secrets of Venus

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Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that

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brings you the universe one story at a time.

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I'm Avery.

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

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today. We've got stories that range from

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NASA's next great observatory to a stunning

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new image from the James Webb Space

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Telescope. We'll also be looking at some

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trouble on a Kazakhstani launch pad and why

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Earth is so geologically unique.

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Avery: Let's not wait. Anna, why don't you start us

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off with our first story?

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It sounds like there's a new powerhouse

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telescope getting ready for the cosmic st.

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That's right, Avery.

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Anna: NASA has just completed the assembly of the

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Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

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Technicians at, ah, the Goddard Space Flight

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center join the inner and outer portions of

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the spacecraft, which is a major milestone.

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Avery: So it's fully built now. When do we get to

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see it in action?

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Anna: After some final testing, it's slated to

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launch by May 2027. Although the team

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says they're on track for a potential launch

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as early as fall 2026. A

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy will carry it to its

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destination. A million miles.

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Avery: A million miles. Same neighborhood as the

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Webb Telescope. Then what's the mission for

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Roman? What mysteries is it designed to

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solve?

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Anna: Its scope is just immense. The primary

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Instrument is a 288 megapixel

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wide field camera. To put that in

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perspective, Roman is expected to gather data

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hundreds of times faster than the Hubble

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Space Telescope.

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Avery: Wow. Hundreds of times faster.

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Anna: Exactly. In its first five years alone, the

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mission is projected to unveil more than

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100,000 new exoplane, hundreds of

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millions of stars, and billions of galaxies.

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It's also testing a new technology called a

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coronagraph instrument. This is designed to

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block out the overwhelming light from a star,

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allowing astronomers to directly image the

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much fainter planets orbiting it. It's a huge

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leap forward in our ability to survey the

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cosmos.

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Avery: That's incredible. From one powerful machine

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to another.

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Our next story is a bit more down to Earth,

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and unfortunately it involves some damage.

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Anna: Damage is the polite way of putting it.

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Though it's not as catastrophic as some would

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have you believe.

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Avery: On November 27, a Russian

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Soyuz rocket successfully launched three

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astronauts to the International Space Station

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from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch

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itself went off without a hitch.

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Anna: Okay, so what's the problem?

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Avery: The issue was discovered during routine

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post launch inspections. Officials from

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Roscosmos, Russia space agency

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reported finding damage to several launch

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pad components.

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Anna: That doesn't sound good. Do they know what

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caused it? Roscosmos is still assessing the

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situation, but they've said all the necessary

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spare parts are available for a quick repair.

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However, one expert, Brian Harvey, has

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suggested a possible cause. He believes a

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combination of the intense vibration and heat

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from the launch, along with some improperly

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installed roller pins, may have caused a

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service tower to topple over after the rocket

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had cleared the pad. Right. A service tower

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falling over would certainly count as damage.

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What does this mean for future launches?

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Avery: Harvey, uh, estimates it could take about

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three months to repair, likely scavenging

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parts from other launch pads. The good news

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is that the next crew handover at the ISS

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isn't scheduled until July, and the next

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astronaut mission from US soil is a

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SpaceX flight in February, so no

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astronauts are stranded. However, the next

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Russian Progress supply ship delivery to the

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spaceship will be delayed. We'll be keeping

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an eye on how quickly those repairs progress,

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but please note, there is no panic. And it

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isn't the end of the Russian space program.

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As has been reported in some of the more

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sensationalist media, it will be repaired

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and back in business.

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Anna: From problems on the ground to problems

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in orbit. Avery, we often talk about light

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pollution for ground based telescopes, but a,

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uh, new forecast reveals that even our eyes

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in space are not safe.

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Avery: You're talking about satellite mega

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constellations, right? I've seen some

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startling images of bright streaks ruining

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astronomical photos.

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Anna: Exactly, and it's getting worse. If the

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current industry proposals for about half a

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million new satellites become a reality,

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the problem will escalate dramatically.

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Projections show that by the2030s,

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1/3 of all images from the Hubble

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Space Telescope will be contamina with

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satellite trails.

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Avery: One third? That's a massive loss of data

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and time. For one of our most important

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scientific instruments, it is.

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Anna: And for some newer telescopes, it's even

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more dire. The Chinese space station

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telescope Sentient is projected to be

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the worst affected. Some studies predict

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contamination and more than 96%

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of its observations. With an average of

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92 satellite trails per exposure.

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Avery: 96%. At that point, the

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telescope is almost unusable for its intended

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purpose, it seems unsustainable.

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Are there any solutions being discussed?

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Anna: There are. Mitigation strategies are

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actively being developed. They include better

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orbital tracking to help astronomers avoid

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pointing at satellites, international

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coordination on satellite brightness

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standards, and perhaps most importantly,

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restricting the altitudes of these large

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constellations to below

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kilometers, which would reduce their

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visibility. It's a critical issue for the

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future of astronomy.

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Avery: It's a stark reminder of how crowded our

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orbital space is becoming.

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Okay, from our near space environment to our

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planetary neighbors, let's talk about Venus.

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We often call it Earth's twin. But new

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research is helping us understand one of the

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biggest differences between them. Plate

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tectonics.

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Anna: Plate. Right. Earth has this

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active moving crust, while Venus is often

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described as having a, uh, stagnant single

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plate surface. Why is that?

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Avery: An international team has developed a new

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framework for understanding how planets work

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geologically. Using numerical

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models, they identified six

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distinct regimes for planetary

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tectonics. Earth exists in what they

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call the mobile lid regime, which is

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crucial for our planet's long term

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habitability as it regulates climate by

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cycling carbon.

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Anna: The mobile lid. I like that. So

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what kind of lid does Venus have?

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Avery: The studies suggest Venus operates under

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what's called a plutonic squishy lid

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or an episodic squishy lid regime.

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In this model, the lithosphere, the planet's

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outer shell, is too hot and weak to

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break into distinct plates like Earth's.

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Instead, rising magma from the mantle

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weakens the crust from below.

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Anna: A squishy lid. So it doesn't move

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globally, but it's not totally inactive

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either.

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Avery: Precisely. This leads to regional

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intermittent volcanism rather than the global

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tectonics we see here. And this model

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actually helps explain some other recent

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discoveries. We've seen findings suggesting

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there are active volcanoes on Venus, which

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seemed puzzling without plate tectonics.

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This squishy lid idea provides a mechanism

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for that volcanism to occur.

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Anna: Speaking of spectacular space phenomena,

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let's turn back to the James Webb Space

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Telescope. It has captured another

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breathtaking image, this time of a close

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encounter between two dwarf galaxies.

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Avery: Oh, I saw this one. The image is just

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stunning. It's the pair NGC

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4490 and NGC

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4485. Right.

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Anna: That's them. They're about 24 million

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light years away, and they're in the process

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of colliding. The Webb image

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detailed it reveals a glowing bridge of gas

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and streams of newborn stars

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connecting the two galaxies. The

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gravitational interaction between them has

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spurred a massive burst of new star

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formation.

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Avery: So they're creating new stars as, ah, they

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pull each other apart. That's poetic.

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Can we tell how this interaction unfolded?

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Anna: We can. By analyzing the different

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populations of stars, researchers have been

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able to trace the timeline to. They suggest

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the two galaxies first swept past each

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other about 200 million years ago.

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During that pass, the larger galaxy,

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NGC4490

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began siphoning gas from its smaller

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partner, NGC4485.

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That stolen gas is now fueling the starburst

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we see in that glowing bridge.

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Avery: Incredible. It's like cosmic

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archaeology. A fantastic image with a

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fascinating story behind it.

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Now for our final story, we're coming

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much closer to home, to our very

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own star. In early November,

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astronomers captured some extremely rare

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high definition images of sunspots in

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an active region designated NOAA

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14,274.

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Anna: And what makes these images so special?

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Avery: The timing. The images were taken by

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the Gregor solar telescope in Spain

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just 30 minutes before those same sunspots

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erupted, emitting a powerful

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X1.2 class solar flare.

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Anna: Wow. That's like having a camera pointed at a

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volcano right before it blows. Capturing

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that with a ground based telescope must be

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incredibly difficult.

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Avery: It is. You have to be looking at the

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right spot at the right time, and you need

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clear weather. It's a rare trifecta.

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The images are remarkable. They show what

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are called penumbral fibrils. These are

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the filaments extending from the dark center

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of the sunspot that are strongly curved and

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braided together.

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Anna: And what does that braiding tell us?

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Avery: It's a clear visual indicator of a highly

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stressed and tangled magnetic field. Think

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of it like a tightly wound rubber band.

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That immense stored energy is a direct

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precursor to an explosive release, which

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is exactly what happened 30 minutes later

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with the solar flare. And this is just the

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beginning. Researchers are currently

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processing nearly 40,000 more data sets from

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the telescope, which could revolutionize how

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we predict these powerful solar events.

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Anna: And better prediction is crucial.

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These powerful solar events can disrupt

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satellites, power grids, and even pose a

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risk to astronauts. Understanding their

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warning signs is vital for our technological

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infrastructure. And that brings us to

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the end of our news roundup for today. It's

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been another busy day in the cosmos.

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Avery: It certainly has. Thanks for joining us on

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Astronomy Daily. We'll be back again tomorrow

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with another look at the latest news from

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across the universe. Until then, I'm Avery

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and I'm Anna.

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Anna: Reminding you to keep looking up

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Astronomy Day.

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Avery: The stories we told.

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The stories the to.