Cosmic Wobbles, Monster Galaxies, and the Future of Space Exploration

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Anna: Hey there, space enthusiasts and welcome back to

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Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and

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I'm super excited to take you on a whirlwind tour of the

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cosmos right from the comfort of your earbuds. Today

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we've got some mind blowing stories lined up. We'll be

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diving into the mystery of Titan's wobbling atmosphere,

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checking out a newly discovered ancient monster galaxy,

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and looking into the delays plaguing Boeing's Starliner

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programme. And we'll wrap it all up with a peek into the

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next 50 years in space, according to the Royal Society.

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So buckle up space cadets. It's going to be a fun R.

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Alright, first up, let's talk about Titan, Saturn's largest

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moon. Now get this. Scientists have discovered that

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Titan's atmosphere isn't exactly sitting still. It

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like wobbles. Yeah, you heard me right.

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Wobbles like a gyroscope. A recent

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study after analysing infrared light readings over

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13 years has revealed that Titan's atmosphere isn't

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fixed in line with its surface. It shifts across the

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seasons. Spooky. Huh? Huh? Now the big

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question is why? What's causing this weird

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wobble? Planetary scientist Lucy

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Wright compares it to a gyroscope stabilising itself in

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space and adds that the wobble changes with

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Titan's seasons. One theory is that it

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has something to do with Titan's orbit around the sun and Saturn.

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But the direction of the tilt remains fixed, which

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is just adding to the mystery. Maybe,

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and this is just a maybe. A large impact event

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in Titan's past could have started the wobbles and

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possibly changed its climate. Now why

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should we care? Well, this research is crucial for the upcoming

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Dragonfly mission scheduled for 2034.

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Dragonfly's gonna land on Titan and to do that

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safely, we need to really understand its atmosphere.

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Plus understanding Titan's atmosphere, which

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by the way, is the only moon in our solar system to have a

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proper atmosphere, might help us understand how life could

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survive on other planets. Even better,

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studying Titan could even help us understand Earth's atmosphere

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better. Who knew?

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Right, next up, we're heading

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way, way back in time, like 11.1

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billion years back. Astronomers have just spotted

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a massive super active spiral galaxy from

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the early universe. And it's shedding new light on how galaxies like

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our own Milky Way took shape. Now this galaxy ain't

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just any galaxy. It's what they call a, ah, monster galaxy

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that's growing super fast by making stars at an incredible

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rate. It's got a bright central bar, a feature

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seen in many modern spiral galaxies, including our own,

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this bar acts like a funnel directing gas inward to

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fuel the birth of new stars. And this one,

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called J0107A. It's like the oldest and

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most massive barred spiral galaxy we've ever seen.

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Think of it as a time capsule, giving us a peek

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into how these galactic structures formed and evolved

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way back in the early universe. What's really

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cool is that the team found that the gas in

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J0107A is distributed

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and moves in a way that's similar to modern galaxies.

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But get this, the concentrations of gas are way

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higher and the speed of the gas flow is much faster.

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Astronomers think this massive influx of gas to the

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centre of the galaxy will cause even more star

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formation, driving its evolution. This is

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the first time these features have been observed. And turns out they

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weren't predicted by any of the theoretical models.

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How about that, huh? Huh?

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Alright, let's turn our attention back to Earth, or at least to

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Earth's space programmes. Remember Boeing's

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Starliner? Well, a year ago it was docking with the

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International Space Station for its crew flight test with NASA

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astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. But,

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a year later, the future of the Starliner programme

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is, well, still up in the air.

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NASA just announced that the next flight has been delayed

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again. This time from late 2025 to

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early 2026 at the soonest.

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And get this, they're still deciding whether or not the next

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flight will even have astronauts on board.

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Seriously, Sunita Williams even told readers that

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flying an uncrewed Starliner flight next would

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be the logical thing to do. Makes you

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wonder what's going on, doesn't it? So after

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its first mission with a crew last June, lingering issues

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with helium leaks and propulsion system

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anomalies caused the spacecraft to, you

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know, return to Earth without its crew. Ouch.

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Now NASA and Boeing are trying to figure out how to fix these

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issues. They're doing tests at the White Sands Test

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Facility, firing up key thrusters to validate their

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thermal models and look at potential upgrades.

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And about those astronauts, who's going to be on the first

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crewed mission whenever that happens?

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Well, even NASA and the Canadian Space

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Agency are being kind of cagey about it. They're not

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confirming who's assigned to the mission. Back in

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2018, they announced the cruise, then people got

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reassigned and things got complicated. It's all a bit of a mess

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really. But hey, at least astronaut Butch

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Wilmore said he'd ride on Starliner again,

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cuz he's confident they're Gonna fix all the issues.

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Gotta admire that kind of optimism right

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now.

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Let's jump into the future, like, way into the future.

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The Royal society in the UK just dropped a report

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called Speaker Space 2075. And

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it's wild. We're talking asteroid

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mining, space factories, and even the big question, are

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we alone? The report envisions a

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new era of space activities that could totally reshape

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the world. Imagine clean energy beamed down to

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Earth from space. Robots recycling dead satellites

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and products labelled Made in space. Sounds like sci fi,

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right? But the report warns that the UK needs

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a clear plan to keep up, otherwise

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they might miss out on all these opportunities. They're

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saying this is as big as the Industrial Revolution.

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Think about it. Factories in microgravity

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making stuff we can't even make on Earth.

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Interplanetary space stations and even

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industries moving into orbit. Power hungry data

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farms could benefit from all that solar energy and free

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cooling up there. And get this, they're even talking

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about recycling space junk to reduce collision

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risks and prevent pollution. Makes sense, right?

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But it's not all sunshine and roses. The report

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also warns about potential conflicts in space over prime

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spots on planets, valuable orbits and

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radio frequencies. It's like the Wild west, but in

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space, ethical challenges are also on the

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horizon. What if we engineer bugs to make living

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tools on Mars, but they end up wiping out native

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microbes? And what happens when humans start being

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born on Mars? Deep stuff. Huh? Huh?

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Oh, and of course, the big one, alien life.

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The report says if there are aliens nearby, we'll probably

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know in the next 50 years. Let's hope it brings us

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together, not tears us apart. Fingers crossed.

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So that's your Astronomy Daily News for today.

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We looked at Titan's wobbly atmosphere, a,

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mega ancient galaxy, starliner's ongoing

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delays, and the Royal Society's peek into the future.

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Thanks for tuning in. I've been your host, Anna.

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And don't forget to visit our

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website@astronomydaily.IO for like all

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things Astronomy Daily News, updates, back episodes and how

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to get in touch until next time. Keep looking up.

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I'm Anna, signing off for today.