From Paraplegic Astronauts to a Lemon-Shaped World: Your Daily Space Update

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Avery: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the

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podcast that brings you the universe one

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story at a time. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.

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Today we've got a great lineup, from a

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historic first for accessibility in space

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to a bizarre lemon shaped planet orbiting

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a dead star.

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Avery: Plus, we'll be looking at how NASA is getting

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an unprecedented new view of the sun and how

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future astronauts might build landing pads on

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the moon itself. It's a packed show.

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Anna: It certainly is. Let's get right to it.

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First up, a truly inspiring story of

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breaking barriers. German engineer Michaela

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Benthaus just became the first paraplegic

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person and the first wheelchair user to fly

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to space. Wow.

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Avery: That's incredible. This was with Blue Origin,

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right?

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Anna: That's right. On their New Shepard rocket for

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a 10 minute suborbital flight. What's really

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fascinating is how few adjustments were

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needed. The capsule was apparently designed

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with a high degree of accessibility from the

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start.

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Avery: That's the key, isn't it? Proactive design

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rather than reactive accommodation. It, shows

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that space doesn't have to be the exclusive

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domain of a select few.

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Anna: Exactly. Benthaus herself said she

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wants to be a role model, showing that

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physical limitations shouldn't prevent people

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from pursuing their dreams. It's a huge step

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forward for making space truly for everyone.

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Avery: Absolutely. A fantastic piece of good news to

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start the day.

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Alright, from human spaceflight, let's turn

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our attention to our own star. NASA's Punch

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mission is giving us a view of the sun

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that's. Well, it's completely new

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punch, that stands.

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Anna: For polarimeter, to unify the corona and

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heliosphere. And what it's doing is pretty

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revolutionary.

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Avery: It is, instead of just looking at the corona,

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PUNCH is watching the solar wind, the stream

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of particles flowing out from the sun as it

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expands and fills the solar system. It's

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using a constellation of four small

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spacecraft.

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Anna: Mm, like a wide angle lens for the solar

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system.

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Avery: Exactly. They fly in formation and

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together their cameras capture this

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continuous panoramic view of the material as

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it flows past Earth. For the first time, we

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can see the entire process from the corona

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to a full astronomical unit away, which is

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Earth's distance from the sun.

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Anna: And this is crucial for understanding space

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weather. Things like coronal mass ejections

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or CMEs, are massive eruptions of

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plasma that can disrupt satellites and grids

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here on Earth.

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Avery: Right before punch, we'd see a CME

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leave the sun and then we'd have to wait for

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it to hit a satellite near Earth to know its

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structure. Now we can track its entire

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journey.

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Anna: So it gives us a much better ability to

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forecast the impact of space weather. It's

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moving from seeing the cannon fire to

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actually tracking the cannonball through the

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air.

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Avery: That's a perfect analogy. It's a game changer

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for protecting our technology Both in orbit

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and on the ground.

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Anna: And the way it achieves this is so

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CLE4 satellites are essentially imaging

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polarized light. The sunlight scatters off

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the electrons in the solar wind. And by

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measuring the polarization, they can build a

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3D picture of its structure and density.

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Avery: It's like giving us 3D glasses to see the

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invisible solar wind. And because the four

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satellites are in different positions, they

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can combine their views to get a truly global

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perspective that a single spacecraft just

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couldn't achieve.

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Anna: Exactly. It's a leap from a single snapshot

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To a continuous system wide movie.

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This kind of data will be invaluable not just

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for earth, but for planning future robotic

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and crewed missions throughout the solar

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system, Protecting them from solar outbursts.

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Speaking of ambitious missions, Our next

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story takes us to the moon, where engineers

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are tackling a very dusty how to

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build a launch pad that can be used over and

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over again.

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Avery: Right. Because rocket exhaust is

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incredibly powerful, and on the moon, with

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its lower gravity and lack of atmosphere, it

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would just blast lunar dust or regolith

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everywhere at high speeds.

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Anna: Exactly. That dust is sharp and

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abrasive, and it could damage the lander

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itself or any nearby habitats or equipment.

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So a new paper is looking at how to solve

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this using the regolith.

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Avery: Itself, Using the local materials. In

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situ resource utilization. That's the holy

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grail for sustainable space exploration.

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Anna: It is. The idea is to essentially

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melt the regolith Into a solid, durable

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surface, A process called sintering. They're

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thinking of using microwaves or lasers

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Delivered by robotic builders to create these

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launch pads.

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Avery: So you send robots ahead to pave a landing

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zone for you. That sounds very sci fi.

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Anna: It does, but it's a very practical challenge.

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The launch pad needs to withstand incredible

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temperature swings and the stress of repeated

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launches. The engineers are planning tests to

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see how the sintered regolith holds up under

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simulated rocket plume conditions.

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Avery: And I imagine maintenance is a big issue too.

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If a pad gets cracked, you can't just send

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out a construction crew easily.

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Anna: That's a huge part of it. The plan would have

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to include robotic systems, not just for

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building the pads, but for inspecting and

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repairing them as well. It's a foundational

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piece of the puzzle For a permanent human

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presence on the moon.

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Avery: It's fascinating to think about the

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logistics. Are we talking about paving an

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entire spaceport or just a small landing

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circle?

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Anna: Initially, just a hardened pad about 50

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meters in diameter to mitigate the dust

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problem. But the research paper suggests that

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this technology is scalable. If you can build

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one pad, you can link them together over time

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to create taxiways and larger operational

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areas.

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Avery: and what about the energy source? Sensoring

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regolith with lasers or microwaves Sounds

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incredibly power intensive. That's a major

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challenge. On the Moon, it is.

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Anna: The leading concepts involve leveraging solar

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power with large deployable arrays,

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potentially charging batteries during the

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long lunar day to power construction

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activities. It's a classic chicken and egg

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problem. You need infrastructure to build

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infrastructure. This is step one.

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Avery: Well, from building on our moon to exploring

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truly bizarre worlds far beyond it,

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Astronomers using the James Webb Space

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Telescope have found something that. Well, it

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looks like it belongs in a different

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universe.

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Anna: I think I know which one you're talking

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about. Is this the LEMMON shaped planet?

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Avery: The one and only. Its Official name is PSR

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J2322

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2652B. But lemon

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shaped planet is much easier to remember. And

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the name is literal. It's being

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distorted into an oblong shape by the immense

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gravity of the star it orbits.

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Anna: And that star isn't a normal star. Right.

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It's a pulsar. A super dense, rapidly

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spinning remnant of a massive star that went

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supernova.

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Avery: Precisely. The gravity is so intense,

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it's literally stretching the planet. But

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that's not even the weirdest part. Its

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atmosphere is unlike anything we've seen.

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It's extremely rich in carbon.

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Anna: So not a water world, but a carbon world.

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What does that even mean for its appearance?

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Avery: The model suggests it could have clouds of

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soot and an atmosphere thick with

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hydrocarbons. It's a completely alien

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environment. That really challenges our

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understanding of how planets can form and

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what they can be made of, Especially around

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such an extreme object like a pulsar.

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Anna: It really is. And it raises the question of

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how it even survived. The supernova that

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created the pulsar should have completely

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obliterated any nearby planets.

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Avery: There are a couple of theories. One is that

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it's a second generation planet formed from

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the debris disk left over after the

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supernova. The carbon rich composition might

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support that idea.

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Anna: Or it could have been a captured rogue planet

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that wandered too close to the pulsar long

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after the explosion. But getting into

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such a tight orbit without being torn apart

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is a tricky gravitational dance.

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Avery: Either way, it's a testament to the

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universe's. Ability to create stability in

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the most chaotic of environments. A warped,

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sooty, lemon shaped world calmly orbiting

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one of the most violent objects we know of.

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It's poetic in a strange way.

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Anna: Incredible. Every time we think we have a

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handle on the types of planets out there,

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JWST finds another one to break all

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the rules.

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Okay, let's bring it back to our own solar

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system for our last big story today, over to

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the Red Planet. NASA's Perseverance

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rover has been getting an up close look at

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some fascinating features on the Martian

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surface. Megaripples.

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Avery: These aren't like the little ripples you see

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in, sand at the beach, are they?

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Anna: Not at all. These are huge, up to

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2 meters tall. They're formed by wind,

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just like dunes on Earth. But their size and

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shape give us vital clues about Mars's more

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recent climate history and wind patterns.

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Avery: So by studying them, we can learn about the

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Martian weather today and in the not so

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distant past.

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Anna: That's the idea. The rover has been examining

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a field of them, nicknamed Honeyguide. By

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analyzing the grain size and structure,

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scientists can figure out the wind speeds

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needed to build them. It helps paint a

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picture of Mars as a dynamic, active world,

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not just a static one.

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Avery: It's amazing how much geology can tell us

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about a planet's atmosphere, right?

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Anna: But for now, from accessible spaceflight

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to alien worlds, it's been quite a day in

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astronomy.

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Avery: It certainly has. And that's all the time we

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have for this episode of Astronomy Daily. We

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hope you've enjoyed this tour of the latest

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cosmic happenings.

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Anna: We always appreciate you joining us.

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Avery: Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your

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podcasts so you don't miss an episode. Until

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next time. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Ana. keep looking up.

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Avery: The

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toe.