Fast-Tracking to Uranus, Stellar Devastation, and a Cosmic Farewell to Ace Frehley

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Anna: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of

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Astronomy Daily, your go to spot for all

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things space and starts. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. joining you as always.

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Today is October 18, 2025

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and we've got some really cool stories lined

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up. Like from cutting travel time to distant

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planets in half to a black hole,

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basically devouring a star from the inside

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out. Oh, and don't forget the meteor shower

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peaking soon. Perfect for stargazers like us.

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Anna: Totally, Avery. And we'll touch on a massive

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comet waking up way out there. And even a

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cosmic tribute to a rock legend.

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So let's dive right in, starting with some

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exciting news about SpaceX's Starship and

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potential mission to Uranus.

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Avery: Okay, so you know how getting to the outer

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planets takes forever? Like Voyager 2

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took over nine years to reach Uranus back in

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the 80s and, and that was just a flyby.

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Well, according to this article From Universe

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Today, SpaceX's Starship could

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slash that travel time in half for a future

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orbiter mission.

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Anna: Whoa, really?

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Avery: Half?

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Anna: That's huge. so The National

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Academy's 2022 Decadal Survey

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prioritized a Uranus orbiter and probe,

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UOP for short. Because

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Uranus is this weird ice giant we

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barely know anything about. It'

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tilted on its side, has a funky magnetic

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field, and its moons might have underground

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oceans. But traditional plans using

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something like Falcon Heavy would take over

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13 years to get there, relying on

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gravity assists from other planets.

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Avery: Yeah, and that's a drag, you know,

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operationally, financially, all that. But

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starship changes the game with in orbit

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refueling, which they're still testing, but

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fingers crossed it'll be ready by the end of

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the decade. Researchers from MIT

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crunched the numbers and said with refueling

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and even using starship as an aerobraking

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shield in Uranus's atmosphere, you could

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get there in just six and a half years. No

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slingshots needed.

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Anna: Aerobraking shield like the starship would

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tag along the whole way and help slow down

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the probe. That's clever. And it could

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cut costs too, since shorter missions mean

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less time, paying teams and all. But

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NASA's funding for UOP is still up in

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the air, so we gotta hope they seize those

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launch windows in the2030s. Otherwise

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we're waiting till the2040s. That's like 70

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years since Voyager's last look.

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Avery: Exactly. Anna. Uranus deserves more love.

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It's key for understanding exoplanets too,

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since ice giants are common out there. Super

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exciting potential here.

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Anna: Alright, shifting gears to something straight

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out of a sci fi horror flickering,

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astronomers spotted a gamma ray burst

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that might be a black hole tunneling into a

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star and exploding it from the inside out.

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This is from sky and Telescope. And it's

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wild.

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Avery: Oh, man. Tell me about it. So this burst,

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GRB

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250702B,

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was picked up by NASA's Fermi telescope on

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July 2, 2025. But it actually

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happened 8 billion years ago in a distant

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galaxy. It lasted a, whopping seven

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hours with all these flares and fades

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plus soft X rays a day before from the

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Einstein probe.

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Anna: Normally, gamma ray bursts are either short

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from neutron stars smashing together or

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longer from massive stars collapsing into

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black holes. Collapsars, Right, but

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this one's duration and variability don't

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fit. Follow ups with the Very Large

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Telescope, Hubble, JWST and

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more pinpointed it to the edge of a dusty

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asymmetric galaxy.

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Avery: Yeah, and the leading theory, a stellar mass

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black hole merged with a bloated helium star.

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As the star expanded, the black hole started

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gobbling. Material slowed down, produced

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those X rays, then dove into the core and

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shot out jets that blew the star apart.

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Eliza Nates from George Washington University

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and her team think this could be a rare new

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type of GRB interrupt.

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Anna: But is this confirmed? It challenges all

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the models, right? Like, incompatible

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with everything we know.

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Avery: Totally. But the afterglow data shows fast

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jets and shock waves that match this black

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hole star merger. If it's real, it opens up a

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whole new class of these events. Mind blowing

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how violent the universe can be.

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Now for something you can actually see from

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your backyard. The Orionid meteor shower is

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peaking next week, and conditions are prime.

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Space.com has the details.

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Anna: Yes, it runs until October 26,

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but maxes out on the morning of October 21.

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The Moon's new that day, so super dark skies,

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no moonlight messing things up. Expect 15

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to 30 meteors per hour. If you're in a rural

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spot away.

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Avery: From city lights, they're from Halley's

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comets. Debris, you know, Earth plows through

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that stream twice a year. Orionids in fall,

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Eta Aquarids in spring. These guys are fast.

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Like 41 miles per second. So quick

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streaks and bright ones can leave trains or

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even fireballs a few days after peak.

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Anna: To catch em, head out before dawn, say 4 to

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5am local time. Bundle up, lie

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back, let your eyes adjust. Don't stare

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right at the radiant near Betelgeuse in

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orion. Look about 30 degrees away toward the

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zenith. Visible from both hemispheres, too.

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Avery: Perfect timing for us stargazers. If you're

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out there, any predawn meteor has a

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75% chance of being in Orionid.

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Grab a friend, make it a thing.

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Anna: Speaking of comets, the largest known comet

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from the Oort Cloud is already active

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billions of miles out. This is C

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2014 UN 271

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or Bernardinelli Bernstein from

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Daily Galaxy.

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Avery: It's huge, about 85 miles across,

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way bigger than most. Currently

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16.6 AU from the sun past

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Saturn, over 1.5 billion

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miles away. At that distance, water's still

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frozen, but volatiles like carbon monoxide

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are venting out in bursts.

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Anna: Alma telescope in Chile caught these gas jets

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at 230 gigahertz, changing between

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observations. Probably rotating active

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spots facing the Sun. It's got a compact

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coma, low formaldehyde, so the gas is coming

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straight from inside.

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Avery: This challenges what we thought about when

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comets wake up, usually closer in. As

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a pristine Oort Cloud object, it's like a

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time capsule from the solar system's birth.

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Exciting for understanding ancient chemistry.

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Anna: Absolutely. And it's rotating, outgassing

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explosively. Can't wait to see how it evolves

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as it gets closer.

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Avery: Finally, a bit of a lighter but sad note.

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Ace Frehley, the spaceman from KISS,

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passed away at 74. Space.com did a

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cosmic tribute.

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Anna: Oh yeah, he died from a head injury on

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October 16th. Ace was the original

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guitarist for Kiss from 73 to 82,

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then reunited in the 90s. His spaceman

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look was all space themed makeup,

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costumes of stars and lightning,

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and.

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Avery: His solo stuff leaned into it hard. Albums

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like Frehley's Comet, Space Invader with

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tracks about Mars, missions and vortices.

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Spaceman in 2018, even 10,000 volts.

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This year with Walkin on the Moon, he left a

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cosmic mark on rock.

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Anna: Totally tributes from folks like Alex

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Liveson. Rest in peace Space Ace. Your sci

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fi legacy lives on.

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Avery: Whew, that was a packed episode. Anna From

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black holes to rockstars, space never

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disappoints for sure.

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Anna: Thanks for tuning in to Astronomy Daily. And

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remember, if you need more space and

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astronomy news in your life, just visit our

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website at astronomydaily IO

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and check out our continuously updating

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newsfeed and sign up for our free daily

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newsletter. Catch us next time for more

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stellar news. Stay curious. Look up

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Avery: Bye for now