European Rocket Innovations, Space Armor Breakthroughs, and the Mysteries of Black Holes

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to

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podcast for the latest in space and astronomy

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news. I'm Anna, and joining me as

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always, is my co host and fellow space

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enthusiast Avery. How's it going, Avery?

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Avery: Hey, Anna. And hello to all our listeners out

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there. I'm doing great, especially with

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today's lineup of stories. We've got some

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exciting developments, from rocket tech to

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cosmic mysteries. It's like the universe is

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putting on a show just for us.

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Anna: Absolutely. Today we're diving into

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five fascinating a German

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company's push to revolutionize European

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space launches, a new armor tech to

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protect against space debris, insights

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into how black holes fire off powerful

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jets, a surprising twist on white

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dwarf stars, and a tale of a mistaken

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gold nugget that's actually from outer

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space. We'll break them down, discuss what

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they mean, and keep things real with the

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science. Let's jump in.

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Avery: First up, some big news from the European

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space scene. High Impulse, a German

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rocket builder, just announced the secured

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Euro 45 million in funding to speed

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up development of their SL1 rocket.

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This three stage beast is 33

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meters tall and can haul up to 600

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kilograms to low earth orbit using

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hybrid motors fueled by paraffin and liquid

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oxygen. They're aiming for a debut flight

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in 2027. And they've got an optional

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space tug called High Move for

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dropping payloads into different orbits.

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Anna: That's impressive. High Impulse's CEO

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Christian Schreier said this will help make

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Europe more independent and competitive in

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space access. But let's put this in context.

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Europe already has heavy hitters like

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Ariane6, which can lift over

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21 tons in its beefier version, and

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and Vega C for up to

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2,300kg. Still, with only

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a handful of launches this year due to

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delays, there's room for smaller, more

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agile options like SL1

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to fill gaps, especially for smaller payloads

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that might otherwise hitch a ride on foreign

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rockets.

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Avery: Totally agree. It's not about replacing the

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big guns, but adding flexibility. Europe

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accounted for less than 1% of global launches

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in 2024 per per recent reports,

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partly because some missions went to SpaceX.

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If high impulse pulls this off, it could

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reduce the dependency and boost the

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continent's space economy. Exciting times for

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European rocketry.

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Anna: Moving on to protecting our assets in

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orbit. Atomic 6, a Georgia based

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company, has unveiled Space Armor,

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a new composite material designed to shield

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satellites and astronauts from space space

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debris. This stuff is lightweight, comes

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in customizable tiles, and unlike

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traditional metal shields, it absorbs

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impacts without creating secondary

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fragments.

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Avery: Yeah, space junk is a huge problem.

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Millions of Tiny particles zipping around at

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over 16,000 miles per hour. The old

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Whipple shield invented back in the 1940s

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sacrifices itself but spits out more

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debris where worsening the Kessler syndrome

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where collisions snowball space armor

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uses a fiber to resin method to dissipate

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energy cleanly. And it's transparent to radio

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signals, so I won't Mess with Comms.

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Anna: CEO Trevor Smith said it took 18

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months to develop and tests showed it

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handling Mach 21 impacts with

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zero debris. They're planning orbital

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tests next year using real debris

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as natural hypervelocity guns.

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This could be a game changer for safer

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missions, Especially in crowded low Earth

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orbit.

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Avery: For sure, imagine suiting up astronauts or

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encasing satellite batteries with this

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lighter, stronger and debris free.

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It's a smart evolution in space tech Building

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on composites potential to make orbits more

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sustainable.

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Now let's get cosmic with black holes.

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Researchers at Goda University have used

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advanced simulations to explain how

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supermassive black holes predict produce

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those massive relativistic jets Streams of

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plasma shooting out at near light speeds

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stretching thousands of light years.

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Anna: The key is the Blandford Zenok mechanism.

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A spinning black hole twists magnetic fields

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in its accretion disk, Converting rotational

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energy into electromagnetic power that

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launches the jets. But the new twist

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magnetic reconnection where field

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lines snap and release energy

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Plays a big role too, Creating plasmoids

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that boost the process.

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Avery: Their Frankfurt particle in cell code

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simulated this on supercomputers, showing how

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these events extract energy efficiently.

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Professor Luciano Rizzola noted it explains

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the extreme brightness of active galactic

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nuclei and particle acceleration.

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Observations like the Event Horizon

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TeleScope's image of M87's black hole

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back this up with with its jet extending

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5,000 light years.

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Anna: This isn't just cool jets influence

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galaxy evolution by dispersing energy

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and affecting star formation. It

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shows black holes as dynamic engines,

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not just sinks. Dr. Claudio

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Marengolo said these sims reveal

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the interplay of gravity and magnetism and

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extreme environments. Mind blowing

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stuff shifting to stellar remnants.

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Astronomers have figured out why some white

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dwarfs in short period binary systems are

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inflated twice as large as expected

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and hotter, up to 30,000

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kelvin instead of the usual 4,000.

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These are dense cores left after stars

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like our sun die. But in pairs, orbiting

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in under an hour, they're far from dead.

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Avery: The secret is tidal heating.

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Gravitational tugs deform the stars, causing

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internal friction heats and expands them,

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especially the less massive one. Lead

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researcher Lucy McNeil developed a model

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showing this lets interactions start at

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longer orbital periods up to three times.

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Anna: What we thought observations of these hot,

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puffy white dwarfs match the predictions.

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McNeil was surprised by how much orbits

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shrink for the oldest ones before mass

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transfer kicks in. This could reshape our

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understanding of type 1a supernova

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progenitors. These binaries might merge into

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those cosmic explosions we use to measure

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distances exactly.

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Avery: It applies tidal heating from hot Jupiters to

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white dwarfs, showing binaries keep evolving

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dynamically. Future work on carbon and oxygen

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white dwarfs could refine supernova models.

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White dwarfs not so dead after all.

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Finally, a fun one. Back in 2015,

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Australian prospector David Hole found a

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heavy reddish rock in Maryborough Park.

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Thinking it was a gold nugget, he tried

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everything saws, acid, etc. Even a

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sledgehammer to crack it open. But no luck.

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Anna: Turns out it was a 17 kilogram

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meteorite. Museum geologists identified

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it as an H5 ordinary

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chondrite packed with iron and

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chondrules, ancient grains from the solar

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system's birth 4.6 billion

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years ago. It's the second largest in

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Victoria, where only 17 meteorites are

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recorded.

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Avery: Carbon dating places its earth fall between

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100 and 1,000 years ago, possibly

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linked to historical fireball sightings.

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Geologist Dermot Henry called it a cheap way

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to explore space, with potential organic

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molecules hinting at life's building blocks.

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Anna: From gold rush disappointment to cosmic

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gem, its dimpled surface and density

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gave it away, likely from the asteroid belt.

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It's a reminder that treasures can fall from

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the sky. What a story.

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Avery: Ooh, what a packed episode from rocket boosts

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to meteorite mix ups. The the universe keeps

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delivering.

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Anna: Thanks for tuning in to Astronomy Daily. If

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you enjoyed, subscribe and share your

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thoughts. We'll be back tomorrow with more

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stellar news. Until then, keep looking up.

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Avery: Clear skies