From Europa's Stillness to Artemis' Historic Launch: Your Daily Space Update

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Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy

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Daily, your daily dose of space and

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astronomy news. I'm Anna, and

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sitting across from me virtually of course,

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is my co host, Avery. Hey, Avery.

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Happy January 7th. We are already a

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week into 2026 and the stories

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just keep coming.

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Avery: Hey, Anna. And hi everyone out there gazing

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at the stars with us. Absolutely. It's been a

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whirlwind start to the year. Today we've got

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a mix of sobering science about one of

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Jupiter' moons. Exciting updates on the next

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human trip to the moon, a surprising

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JWST discovery, gorgeous

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views from Mars, a sky watching heads

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up, and some bittersweet news from NASA

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History. Six great stories.

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Anna: Let's dive into it, starting with a bit of a

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downer for astrobiology fans.

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New research suggests that Europa's

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vast subsurface ocean might be too

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quiet to support life as we know it today.

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Avery: Yeah, this comes from a study just published

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in Nature Communications. Europa, that

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cracked ice moon of Jupiter, has this global

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ocean deeper than anything on Earth.

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Maybe 100 kilometers deep under a

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15 to 25 kilometer thick ice shell.

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More water than all our oceans combined. But

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the key question is energy. Life needs not

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just water and organics, but a source of

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chemical energy.

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Anna: Exactly. On Earth, a lot of that comes

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from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor.

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Hot mineral rich fluids fueling

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ecosystems. But the models here, based

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on Europa's size, composition and

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tidal heating from Jupiter, show the

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seafloor is likely inactive. No

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tectonic plates moving, no fresh

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fractures, no active volcanoes or hot

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plumes. The rocky core cooled billions

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of years ago. And tidal forces aren't strong

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enough to keep things churn like they do on

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IO.

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Avery: Lead researcher Paul Byrne put it bluntly,

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the energy just doesn't seem to be there to

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support life. At least today. If we sent

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a submersible down there, we'd probably see a

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still, quiet bottom. Nothing geologically

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exciting. It's a reminder that habitability

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needs that dynamic interplay, not just the

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big ocean.

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Anna: Still, it's today. Maybe early

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Europa was more active. And missions like

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Europa, uh, Clipper launching soon will give

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us better data on plan plumes and surface

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chemistry. Fingers crossed for some

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surprises.

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Avery: Definitely. Europa keeps us hooked.

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Anna: Shifting to human exploration, the

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historic Artemis 2 mission, the first

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crewed flight around the moon in over 50

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years, could be just a month away now.

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Avery: As of early January, NASA is eyeing

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February 6, 2026 for launch,

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though nothing's locked in yet. The SLS

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rocket and Orion capsule are stacked in the

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vehicle assembly building at Kennedy Space

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center with rollout to the pad expected in

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the next couple weeks. Then comes final

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checks, integration and the wet dress

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rehearsal.

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Anna: The crew is awesome. NASA astronauts

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Reid Wiseman as commander Victor Glover,

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pilot Christina Koch, mission specialist

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and Jeremy Hansen from Canada. They'll do

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a free return trajectory around the moon,

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testing life support, navigation, everything

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from deep space with humans aboard. Since

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Apollo 17, delays came from

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heat.

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Avery: Shield issues on Artemis 1, but NASA's fixed

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staff for crew safety. It's thrilling. We're

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so close to seeing humans back in lunar

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space. And it sets up the whole Artemis

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program for landings and bases.

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Anna: I can't wait to watch that launch livestream.

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Goosebumps.

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Already thinking about it next.

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Avery: The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted

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something unexpected in a galaxy that's like

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a window into the early universe.

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Anna: This is Sextance A a dwarf

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galaxy with super low metallicity. Just

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3 to 7% of the sun's heavy

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elements. It's an analog for galaxies

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shortly after the Big Bang when everything

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was mostly hydrogen and helium.

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Avery: Normally we'd expect almost no dust there.

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Dust needs those heavier elements like

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silicon or magnesium to form silicates.

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But JWST found two rare

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types metallic iron dust grains and

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silicon carbide. Stars, especially

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aging asymptotic giant branch ones, are

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forging peas via alternative chemistry

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pathways, even with scarce ingredients.

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Anna: They also detected polycyclic

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aromatic hydrocarbons, complex

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carbon molecules in tiny dense

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pockets. That's the lowest metallicity

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place we've seen. Pahs it

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means early galaxies were dustier and more

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inventive than models predicted. Building

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planet forming materials way sooner.

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Avery: Huge implications. Dust helps cool gas

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for star formation, absorbs light and

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seeds rocky planets. This reshapes how we

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think high redshift galaxies evolved, maybe

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more building blocks for world like ours

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earlier than thought.

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Anna: JWST just keeps rewriting the

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textbooks.

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Avery: From deep space to Mars, Curiosity rover

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has sent back a stunning new panorama from

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high up on Mount Sharp.

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Anna: This composite was taken in November

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2025 from a ridge in Gale

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Crater, combining shots from afternoon and

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morning. Mars. Time to capture changing

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light. It looks north across this

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intricate boxwork formation. Networks of

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mineral ridges hardened by ancient

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groundwater billions of years ago. Now

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exposed by wind.

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Avery: You can see the rover's wheel track snaking

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behind a drill site called Valley de la

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Luna. The slopes dropping to the crater floor

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and the rim 25 miles away. On the horizon,

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Mount Sharp itself towers three miles high.

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Curiosity's been climbing it since 2012,

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layer by layer, reading Mars's climate

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history.

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Anna: These veins and sediments tell of wetter

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times, possible habitability, then

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drying out. Recent drills, like at

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Nevado Sahama are analyzing chemistry

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to piece together water flow. Plus, the

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rover's using Smarter Autonomy now for

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multitasking. Thirteen years in and

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still going strong.

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Avery: Those views never get old. Makes you feel

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like you're there on the red dust.

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Anna: For sky watchers, there's some intriguing

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buzz about a truly rare astronomical event

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coming up in 2026, though

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unfortunately, it's highly likely astronomers

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won't be able to watch it in real time, even

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though they know it's coming.

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Avery: Yeah, this one's a bit different from the

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usual planetary parades in our solar system.

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The story is about a predicted

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exosity that's a syzygy,

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or alignment of three bodies. But in an

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extrasolar system specifically,

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two known exoplanets in a distant system

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are expected to simultaneously transit across

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the face of their host star as seen from

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Earth.

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Anna: The event is forecasted for around April

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1, 2026, based on orbital models

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refined from past data. It's only the second

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such double exoplanet transit ever predicted.

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The first One, back in 2010, was actually

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discovered retrospectively in archival data

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NASA's Kepler mission. That one was missed in

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real time, and sadly, this 2026

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event might suffer.

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Avery: The same fate Exactly. Lead

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researcher Teriyuki Hirano has noted that

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while calculations suggest a good chance

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it'll happen, it depends on factors like the

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planet's exact masses, gravitational

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interactions, and whether there's an unseen

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outer planet tugging on the system. But the

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bigger issue is observation time. Major

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telescopes and space missions have tightly

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scheduled queues, and without pre allocated

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slots, astronomers likely won't get the

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continuous coverage needed to watch the

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transits unfold live.

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Anna: As Hirano put it, I hope to observe, but

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I am not sure that I can get an observing

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time with an appropriate telescope for the

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whole event. Real time data would be gold.

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It could reveal transit timing variations

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showing how the planets gravitationally

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influence each other, or even hint at

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additional unseen worlds.

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Avery: Scientifically, these rare double transits

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are huge for understanding multiplanet

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systems, refining orbits, measuring masses

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more precisely, and probing dynamics similar

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to how Jupiter and Saturn interact here.

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But since the host star is faint and far

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away, it's strictly professional telescope

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territory, no naked eye or amateur viewing

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possible.

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Anna: So while it's an exciting milestone for

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exoplanet science, it's a reminder of how

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telescope time is one of the most precious

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resources in astronomy. We'll have to wait

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for the data analysis afterward to learn what

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happened. In the meantime, there are plenty

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of visible solar system alignments to enjoy

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throughout 2026. Like that tight trio of

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Mercury, Mars and Saturn on April 20th in the

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morning sky, or the brighter conjunctions

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with Venus and Jupiter later in the year.

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Avery: Definitely keep an eye on those for some

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great naked eye or binocular views. The

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universe has events for every level of

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observer. Finally, a, uh, touch of nostalgia.

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NASA's preparing to demolish three historic

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test facilities at Marshall Space Flight

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center in Alabama.

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Anna: These are real icons. The Neutral

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Buoyancy Simulator, a massive pool from the

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1960s for weightless training used for

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Hubble repairs and shuttle hardware. The

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Propulsion and Structural Test Facility, or t

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Tower from 1957 tested

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Redstone, Saturn and shuttle boosters.

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And the Dynamic Test Facility, tallest in

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north Alabama when built in 1964

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shook.

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Avery: Saturn V and shuttle elements,

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all national landmarks since 1985.

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Key to Apollo, Skylab and Shuttle,

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but they're inactive, unsafe and costly to

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maintain. Demolition starts with implosions,

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possibly as soon as January 10th. Part of

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clearing 25 old structures to modernize for

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Artemis.

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Anna: Bittersweet, but NASA's preserving the

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legacy. High res digital models,

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artifacts to museums, virtual tours.

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End of an era making way for the next.

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Avery: Yeah, progress often means saying goodbye to

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the past.

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Anna: What a thoughtful mix today. Quiet oceans,

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upcoming moonshots, dusty early

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galaxies, Martian vistas, sky

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events.

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Avery: And honoring history, the cosmos and

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our exploration of it. Always evolving.

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Thanks for spending your time with us on

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Astronomy Daily.

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Anna: We love bringing these stories to you.

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Subscribe if you haven't, share with a friend

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and we'll be back tomorrow.

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Avery: Until then, keep wondering and looking up.

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Anna: Clear skies, everyone.