From Danish Moonshots to Vanishing Planets: Your Daily Space Update

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to spot

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for the latest in space and astronomy news.

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I'm Anna, here with my co host and good

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friend Avery. Hey Avery. Happy January 3rd.

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Hope everyone's recovering from the New Year

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festivities.

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

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there in the cosmos. Absolutely.

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2026 is off to a flying start,

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literally with some launches and sky events

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already. We've got six great, great storeys

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today from lunar missions to vanishing

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planets. And some good news up on the iss.

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Let's dive right in, shall we?

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Anna: Starting with something exciting for our

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European friends. Denmark just got the

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green light from esa, uh, for its very first

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mission to the moon. The mission's called

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Mani, named after the Norse

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personification of the moon.

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Avery: Yeah, this is huge. It's the largest Danish

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satellite mission ever and the first time

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Denmark is leading an ESA mission. The

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spacecraft is built by SpaceInventor, a

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company based in Aalborg. With a budget of

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about 130 million Danish kroners,

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or around 17 million euros. The

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goal is high resolution mapping of the lunar

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surface to help identify the best spots for

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future crewed landings and even habitats for

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long term human presence.

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Anna: It's part of ESA's push for small cost

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effective lunar missions capped at 50

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million euros development cost and ready to

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launch within four and a half years. This one

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got selected after a competitive process that

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started back in 2023. Launch

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is eyed for 2029 led by the

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University of Copenhagen. Jens

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Freidenbang, the mission leader said it's

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about to get exciting now that the journey

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truly begins.

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Avery: Totally. It's awesome to see m more countries

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getting involved in lunar exploration. This

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kind of scouting data will be invaluable for

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Artemis and beyond.

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Anna: Speaking of launches, SpaceX kicked off

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2026 with a bang, literally their

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first mission of the year. On January 2

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they launched an Italian Earth observing

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satellite called Cosmoskymet, second

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generation from Vandenberg Space Force

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Base in California.

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Avery: Launch was at 9:09pm Eastern Time on a

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Falcon 9 deploying the satellite into low

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Earth orbit just 4.5 minutes later.

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This bird uses synthetic aperture radar to

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image or night in any weather from

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about 385 miles up. It's

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for everything from emergency prevention and

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risk management to defence, maritime

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surveillance, agriculture, you name it.

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Anna: It's operated by the Italian Space

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Agency and Ministry of Defence and this

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is now the third in the second generation

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Constellation. The mission went smoothly with

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the booster landing as expected. Coming off

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SpaceX's record 165 launches

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in 2025, it's a strong start

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year.

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Avery: Always impressive how reliable these Falcon

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9s have become. Earth observation tech like

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this is crucial for monitoring our planet in

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real time.

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Anna: Shifting to exoplanets now a bit of a

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mystery solved. Remember Fomalhaut B?

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This candidate planet around the star

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Fomalhaut, about 25 light years away

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that was spotted by Hubble back in 2008.

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Avery: Yeah, it was hailed as one of the first

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directly imaged exoplanets. But new Hubble

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images from 2023 show its light field fading

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and then completely disappearing. Turns out

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it wasn't a planet at all. It was an

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expanding cloud of debris. From a massive

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collision between two asteroid sized bodies.

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Anna: Exactly. These collisions are rare.

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Maybe once every a hundred thousand years or

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more. And the dust cloud was glowing and

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reflecting light, mimicking a planet.

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There's even a second bright object now

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called CS2 from the same event.

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Four independent analyses confirmed this.

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It's a reminder of how dynamic

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protoplanetary systems can be.

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Avery: And a cautionary tale for exoplanet

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debris. Clouds can fake planet signals in

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reflected light. JWST's Nircam M

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will take a closer look at CS2 for

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composition, temperature, maybe even signs

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of ice or water. This reshapes how we think

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about planetary formation around young stars.

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Anna: Next up, uh, some deep insights into our own

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galaxy's history, thanks to the James Webb

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Space Telescope. A team of Canadian

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astronomers led by Dr. Vivian Tan from

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York University used JWST

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data to piece together the Milky Way's

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turbulent past.

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Avery: They studied 877 distant

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galaxies that are twins to what the Milky Way

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would have looked like billions of years ago,

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when the Universe was between 1.5 and 10

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billion years old. Combining

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JWST's near infrared views with

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Hubble's visible light, they map stars and

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star formation rates across these

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evolutionary stages.

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Anna: The early progenitors were chaotic, full

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of mergers, asymmetric shapes and

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intense starbursts triggered by collisions.

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Then around 3 to 4 billion years after

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the Big Bang, they started growing inside

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out dense cores first, then building

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extended discs and spirals through more

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mergers and accretions.

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Avery: It's wild. Our galaxy had a much more violent

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youth than some models predicted. Simulations

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match some of this, but struggle with the

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rapid outer growth or super central early

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phases. This is tightening up theories on

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feedback processes, merger rates and how

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discs stabilise.

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Anna: Future JWST work with gravitational

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lensing could push this back even further to

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when the Milky Way was just 3% of its current

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age. Love how we're using the Universe as.

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Avery: A time machine like this, absolutely

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mind blowing. And for something you can see

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right now. No telescope needed, though

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binoculars help. Jupiter is putting on its

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brightest show of the year this January.

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Anna: Opposition hits on the night of January

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10th, when Earth is right between the sun and

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Jupiter, making it shine big and bright

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all night long. It's up from dusk to dawn

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throughout the month, glowing steadily, easy

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to spot even in cities.

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Avery: On January 4th, it's in conjunction with the

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Full Moon super close in the sky. Look high

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up near Gemini, surrounded by winter

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favourites like Orion, Taurus with the

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Pleiades and Aldebaran. Binoculars will show

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the four big moons, IO, Europa,

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Ganymede and Callisto.

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Anna: The Quadrantids meteor shower is peaking

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around now too. Up to 10 or even

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more streaks per hour. Though the Full Moon

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might wash some out, some still watch for

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bright fireballsperfect month for getting

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outside and stargazing.

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Avery: Definitely grab a blanket, look up and enjoy

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the show. Jupiter's at its best. No

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excuses.

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Anna: Finally, some relief for the International

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Space Station crew. After years of dealing

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with a persistent leak in the Russian

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segment, it's finally stopped.

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Avery: The leak was in the PRK transfer compartment

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attached to the Zesta module. Microscopic

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cracks that started showing up in 2019 and

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worsens over time, even doubling at rate

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in 2024.

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Anna: Russian cosmonauts have been methodically

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sealing cracks with a special sealant called

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Girmetal 1, closing hatches to

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isolate and monitor pressure. After

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repeated inspections and applications over

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half a decade, the pressure is now holding

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steady.

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Avery: NASA confirmed it, calling it a, uh, stable

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configuration, though they'll keep watching

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for any changes. It was a high risk issue for

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both agencies, so this is genuinely good news

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for ongoing ISS operations.

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Anna: Whew. Yeah. Maintaining a spacecraft in

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orbit for decades isn't easy. Glad they've

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plugged it. Literally.

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Avery: What a roundup today. New missions,

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launches, cosmic mysteries, galactic history,

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skywatching tips, and station fixes. The

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universe keeps delivering.

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Anna: It really does. Thanks so much for joining us

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on Astronomy Daily. If you're enjoying the

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show, tell a friend or leave us a review. It

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helps us reach more space.

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Avery: Fans Will be back Monday with more

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fresh news. Until then, clear

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skies and keep wondering.

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Anna: And keep looking up. Bye for now.