IMAP Launch Countdown, BION's Space Ark, and Hubble's Cosmic Oddities

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Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,

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the podcast that brings you the latest news

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from across the cosmos. I'm your host,

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Anna.

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Avery: And I'm, um, Avery. It's great to be with

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you. We have a packed show today covering

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everything from an important upcoming launch

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and the Biological Space Lab's return

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to groundbreaking new plans for lunar

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missions and astonishing discoveries from the

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Hubble Telescope.

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Anna: Let's start with the action at Cape

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canaveral. NASA and SpaceX are

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counting down to a major launch from Florida

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this Wednesday morning. The primary payload

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is the agency's Interstellar Mapping and

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Acceleration Probe, better known as

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imap.

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Avery: It's a really ambitious mission. IMAP is

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designed to journey about a million miles

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from Earth To Lagrange point 1, a

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gravitationally stable spot between us and

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the Sun. From there, it will study the

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boundary of the heliosphere, which is the

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giant magnetic bubble our sun creates around

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the solar system. It's essentially our

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protective shield against harsh galactic

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cosmic radiation.

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Anna: Understanding that boundary is crucial not

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just for pure science, but for protecting

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future astronauts on long duration missions

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to the Moon or Mars. But as you mentioned

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earlier, IMAP isn't flying solo on

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its Falcon 9 rocket launchers.

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Avery: Exactly. This is a ride share

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mission. Joining IMAP is

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NOAA's Space Weather Follow on

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SFWO L1 satellite. This

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will be a critical tool for monitoring solar,

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wind and coronal mass ejections, which can

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disrupt our power grids and communications

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satellites here on Earth. There's also a

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third payload, the Carruthers Geo Corona

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Observatory, which will study Earth extended

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Atmosphere. Liftoff is scheduled for

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Wednesday at 7:30am Eastern Time.

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That's 11:30 UTC. So it's an early

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start for a triple header of important

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science from a.

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Anna: Mission just beginning to one that has just

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concluded. A Russian biological research

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satellite, BION m M number two,

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successfully touched down on September

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19th in the steppes of the Orenburg region.

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After spending a full month in Earth.

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Avery: Orbit, this mission has been nicknamed a

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Noah's Ark in space. And when you look at the

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passenger list, you can see why. The descent

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module carried an incredible variety of life.

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75 mice, over 1500

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fruit flies, as well as various cell

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cultures, microorganisms, and, um, even

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plant seeds.

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Anna: It's a continuation of a long series

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of studies into how living organisms

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respond to the space environment. The

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primary challenges, of course, are

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microgravity and increased radiation

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exposure. Scientists will be looking closely

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at the specimens to see the effects on

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everything from bone density and muscle mass

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in the mice to genetic changes in the flies

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and microorganisms. The data gathered

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is vital. It helps us understand the

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fundamental risks of long term space travel

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for humans and develop countermeasures.

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It's a floating laboratory that provides

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insights we simply can't get on the ground.

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Speaking of human spaceflight, NASA is

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forging ahead with its Artemis program.

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Agency officials provided an exciting update

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this week saying that the Artemis 2 mission

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could take flight as early as February of

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2026. This marks the very

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first time humans will venture beyond low

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Earth orbit in more than 50 years.

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Avery: It's a hugely significant step. This will be

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the very first crewed flight for both the

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powerful Space Launch System rocket and the

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Orion crew capsule. The four person

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crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman,

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Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along

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with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy

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Hansen, won't be landing on the moon just

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yet. Instead, they will fly a challenging

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10 day mission on a free return

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trajectory that will loop them around the far

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side of the moon.

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Anna: The goal is to test all of Orion's life

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support systems, navigation and

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communication capabilities in deep space.

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It's essentially the final dress rehearsal

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for the Artemis 3 mission that aims to

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land astronauts including the first woman

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on the lunar surface. It's truly the

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spiritual successor to the Apollo 8 mission

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that first orbited the moon in

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1968. Pushing the launch to

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early 2026 gives teams the

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time they need to address technical

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challenges like those with the capsule's heat

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shield. Ensuring the crew's safety is the

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top priority.

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Avery: Absolutely. It's a methodical, step by

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step approach to a very complex

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endeavor. But the excitement is

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palpable. Seeing that crew launch on a

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path around the moon will be a historic

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moment for a new generation. And it's not

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just government agencies planning ambitious

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flights. We're seeing more and more

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academic institutions getting directly

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involved. Purdue University just announced

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it will send a team of researchers, students

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and alumni to suborbital

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space aboard a Virgin galactic flight in

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2027.

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Anna: This is fantastic news. The mission,

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called Purdue One, really highlights the

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democratization of space access. The

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flight will carry five passengers from the

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university community. Two have already been

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named. Steven Collicot, a professor of

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aerospace engineering, and Abigail Mizzy,

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a UH graduate student.

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Avery: It's an incredible opportunity. For a

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few minutes, they'll experience a

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microgravity environment, allowing them to

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conduct hands on research that was once the

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exclusive domain of NASA astronauts.

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The experiments could cover a range of fields

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like fluid dynamics in zero G,

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material science, or even biomedical

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studies.

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Anna: And beyond the specific research, the

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inspirational value is immense.

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Having students and professors become

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astronauts sends a powerful message.

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It Makes a career in space feel more

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attainable and will surely ignite the passion

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of countless future engineers and scientists.

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Let's zoom out now. Way beyond our solar

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system, the Hubble Space Telescope has

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once again captured an image of something

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both beautiful and baffling.

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Its latest picture of the week features a,

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uh, galaxy named NGC

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2775, located

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about 67 million light years away

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in the constellation Cancer that simply

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refuses to be put in a box.

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Avery: It's a genuine cosmic oddity. When

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you look at its center, you see a large,

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smooth central bulge with almost

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no gas or ongoing star formation.

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In that respect, it looks very much like an

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old, settled elliptical galaxy. But

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then your eyes move outward and you see this

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magnificent, intricate ring of gas and

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dust.

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Anna: And that ring is filled with chaotic,

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unevenly distributed clusters of bright,

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young blue stars. This structure

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is more typical of what's called a, uh,

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flocculant spiral galaxy, One where

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the spiral arms are patchy and not well

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defined. It's like two different types of

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galaxies were stitched together.

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Avery: Astronomers are still trying to understand

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the evolutionary path that leads to such a

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hybrid structure. It challenges our models of

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galaxy formation and shows that nature

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is always more creative than we imagine.

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It's a stunning reminder of the vast,

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complex, and often strange universe we live

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in. Now let's bring our focus

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back to our own cosmic backyard.

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Incredible new research on samples returned

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from the asteroid Ryugu Is

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overturning some long held beliefs.

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The analysis from Chaksa's Hayabusa 2

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mission reveals that water flowed through

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the asteroid's parent body for much

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longer than ever thought possible.

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Anna: This is a really big deal. For a long time,

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the consensus was that water activity on

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asteroids, the interaction of water with

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rock, was something that only happened in the

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very earliest moments of the solar system's

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formation, maybe within the first few million

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years M. But.

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Avery: This new data shows evidence of water

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circulation more than 1 billion

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years after the asteroid itself formed.

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This suggests that the interior of these

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ancient bodies could have remained warm

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and wet for an extended geological

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timescale.

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Anna: The implications for our own planet are

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profound. Ryugu is a

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carbonaceous asteroid, A, uh, type

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believed to be rich in water and organic

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compounds. If these asteroids were

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capable of holding liquid water for so

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long, it means they could have delivered

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these essential ingredients for life to the

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early Earth over a much longer period,

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and perhaps in greater quantities than our

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previous models suggested.

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Avery: And while we're exploring our own solar

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system, let's turn to the Red Planet for a

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moment. New findings from NASA's Perseverance

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rover are uh, painting a much more dynamic

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picture of Mars ancient past. It

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appears a river that once flowed into the

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Jezero crater was far more powerful and

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fast moving than scientists previously

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imagined. A torrent of water carving through

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the landscape. The discoveries just keep on

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coming.

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Anna: For our final story today, we have another

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remarkable finding from the Hubble Space

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Telescope. It has observed a

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burned out star, what's known as a

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white dwarf, in the act of consuming

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the fragments of a Pluto like object.

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This cosmic drama is unfolding

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relatively close to us, just

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260 light years away.

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Avery: A white dwarf is the incredibly dense remnant

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core of a star like our sun, after it has

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exhausted its nuclear fuel. The gravity of

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this one is so intense that it's tearing

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apart this small icy body that strayed too

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close. And we're effectively seeing the

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star's atmosphere become polluted with the

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remains of this object, allowing us to study

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its composition. As a material falls into the

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star, its chemical signature is revealed in

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the star's light.

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Anna: And the composition is what makes this so

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exciting. The fragments are loaded with

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volatiles, elements that vaporize at low

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temperatures like nitrogen, carbon,

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sulfur and oxygen. This chemical

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signature strongly indicates the presence.

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Avery: Of a lot of ice, an incredible amount

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in fact. The Hubble data suggests this

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exopluto object is composed of

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64% water ice.

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It's a powerful confirmation that the kind of

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water rich icy worlds we see in the outer

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reaches of our own solar system, like Pluto

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and other Kuiper Belt objects, are likely

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common in other star systems too. It tells us

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that the fundamental building blocks for life

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as we know it are widespread throughout the

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galaxy.

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Anna: That's all the time we have for.

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Avery: This episode and join us next time for more

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news from across the universe.

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Anna: I'm Anna, and on behalf of Avery and

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myself, thank you for listening and we'll see

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you tomorrow with more space and astronomy

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news. In the meantime, keep looking up.