Interstellar Comet Secrets, Enceladus' Organic Treasure, and a Lunar Surprise

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Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the

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podcast that brings you the latest news from

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across the cosmos. I'm your host,

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Avery.

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

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And today we'll be covering everything from

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our mysterious interstellar visitor to

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groundbreaking discoveries in our own cosmic

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backyard.

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Avery: That's right, Anna. On today's episode, we'll

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be looking at new images of a comet from

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another star system, uncovering

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organic compounds on one of Saturn's moons,

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and detailing a daring private rescue mission

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for a NASA space telescope.

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Anna: And there's more. We'll also be examining a

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brand new tiny crater on the moon and

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peering back to the dawn of time with the

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James Webb Telescope to investigate a cosmic

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mystery that's challenging everything we

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thought we knew about black holes.

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So let's get started.

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Avery: First up, our current visitor from deep

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space. NASA has just released a trove

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of new images and data about

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interstellar comet space 3i atlas.

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This is a pretty big deal.

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Anna: It really is. This is only the third

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interstellar object we've ever confirmed

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entering our solar system, of course, after

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Oumuamua and Borisov. And this time,

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we were ready for it. A whole fleet of

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spacecraft got a look, including the James

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Webb Telescope and even the Mars

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Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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Avery: Right, and the big takeaway? It's

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definitely a comet. There was a lot of

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speculation, especially after Oumuamua,

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about Alie spaceships. But

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scientists have confirmed that 3i Atlas

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looks and behaves just like a comet from

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our own solar system. Complete with a tail

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and a coma.

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Anna: Exactly. No alien technology here.

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But what they did find is scientifically

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fascinating. The data shows it's rich in

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carbon dioxide and water ice. But what's

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interesting is the ratio. There's more

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frozen carbon dioxide than. Than water ice.

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Avery: Mhm. That's unusual compared to comets

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from our own Oort Cloud. It suggests

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it formed in a very different, likely very

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cold environment around its parent star.

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Its trajectory is also unique, coming in at

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a steep angle relative to the planets.

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Anna: And that's the real prize here, because it

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came from outside our solar system. It's a

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pristine sample of ancient material from a

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completely different solar system. It's. It's

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like getting a geological sample delivered to

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our doorstep from an alien world. A, uh,

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truly incredible opportunity to study the

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building blocks of another solar system.

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Avery: From the outer reaches of the solar system to

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one of its most intriguing moons.

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Let's talk about Enceladus. New

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analysis of old data from NASA's

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Cassini mission has turned up something

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exciting in the Plumes erupting from this icy

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moon of Saturn.

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Anna: That Cassini mission just keeps on giving,

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doesn't it? These plumes are essentially

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geysers of water, ice and gas

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shooting out from cracks in the moon's

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surface, originating from a vast liquid water

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ocean we know is hidden beneath the ice.

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Avery: It really does. And during one of its final

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daring flybys, Cassini flew just

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13 miles from the surface, right through one

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of these plumes, collecting samples.

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Scientists have been digging through that

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data and found evidence of previously

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undetected organic compounds.

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Anna: And these aren't just simple molecules.

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The new findings suggest a greater diversity

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of organic compounds than we knew about. And

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some of them are the types of molecules that

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can act as precursors for amino, um,

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acids, the building blocks of proteins which

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are essential for life as we know it.

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Avery: That's the key. This fresh material, straight

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from the subsurface ocean, suggests that some

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really complex organic chemistry could be

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happening in the dark, warm waters of

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Enceladus. It strengthens the case for it

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being one of the most promising places in our

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solar system to search for extraterrestrial

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life.

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Anna: It doesn't mean we've found life, but it adds

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another crucial piece to the puzzle,

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suggesting that the necessary ingredients are

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there. And it's an incredibly tantalizing

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discovery.

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Avery: Now let's turn our attention closer to home

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to a story about saving a crucial piece of

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our space infrastructure. We're talking about

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NASA's Neil Girls Swift Observatory.

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Anna: Swift has been a, uh, workhorse for nearly

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two decades, studying the most powerful

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explosions in the universe, gamma ray bursts.

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But its gyroscopes are failing, and it's

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in a, uh, slowly decaying orbit. The

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projections weren't good. It was expected to

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make an uncontrolled re entry and crash back

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to Earth as early as 2026.

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Avery: Right. And losing it would be a huge blow to

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astronomy. But NASA has a plan.

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They've selected a private company, Catalyst

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Space Technologies, to launch a robotic

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rescue mission.

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Anna: This is where it gets really interesting. The

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mission will use a Northrop Grumman Pegasus

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rocket, which, which is a unique system. It's

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not launched from the ground. It's air

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launched from under the wing of a carrier

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aircraft. The mission is scheduled for June

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2026.

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Avery: And it's set to be a historic first. This

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will be the first ever capture of an

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uncrewed US Government satellite by a

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private commercial spacecraft. Catalyst's

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robotic servicing vehicle will rendezvous

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with Swift, dock with it, and then use its

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own thrusters to do the heavy lifting.

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Anna: The goal is to boost Swift back up to its

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original stable altitude. If

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successful, this maneuver could extend the

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observatory's life for another two decades.

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It's a fantastic example of public private

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partnership and a new era of maintaining

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and servicing our assets in space, Rather

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than just letting them become space junk.

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Avery: From saving a satellite to spotting new

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features on the moon. NASA's Lunar

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Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has been

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circling the moon since 2000, and it has

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just discovered something new. A small,

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fresh crater.

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Anna: It's adorable. As far as craters go.

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They've nicknamed it a freckle. It's only

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about 72ft, or 22 meters in

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diameter. The LRO team found it by

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comparing images of the same area Taken at

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different times. They've narrowed it down to

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its formation between 2009 and

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2012.

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Avery: So in cosmic terms, it's brand new. The

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impact was energetic enough to blast bright,

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fresh material from beneath the lunar

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surface, Creating these beautiful rays

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stretching outwards. You can see it really

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clearly in the images.

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Anna: Mm mhm. But that brightness won't last.

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Over millions of years, a process called

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space weathering bombardment by

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micrometeorites and charged particles from

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the sun Will slowly darken that material

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until it blends back in with the surrounding

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terrain.

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Avery: It seems like a small thing, but studying

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these new impacts Is incredibly important. It

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helps scientists understand the current rate

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of impacts on the Moon. And that data is

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crucial for planning safe landing sites and

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habitats for the upcoming Artemis missions.

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When we send astronauts back to the lunar

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surface, we need to know what the risks are.

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Anna: Finally, for our last story, we're going

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deep, Way deep into the early universe.

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Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope,

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Astronomers have been using Webb to study

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objects they've nicknamed little red dots.

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Avery: Right. These aren't just any dots. They are

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extremely distant and therefore very

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young, compact galaxies. Because of

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the expansion of the universe, Their light

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has been stretched or redshifted,

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so they appear red to us. We're essentially

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looking back in time to the cosmic dawn.

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Anna: Exactly. And one of these galaxies in

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particular, named Knucks LRD

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Z8.6, has presented a

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real puzzle. We're seeing it as it was,

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just 570 million years

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after the Big Bang. The universe was still in

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its infancy. And hidden inside this

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tiny young galaxy Is an actively grow

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supermassive black hole.

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Avery: And that is the shocking part. Based on its

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brightness, this black hole is far, far

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more massive than it should be for that point

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in cosmic history. Current theories suggest

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that black holes and their host galaxies grow

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in tandem over billions of years. A, uh,

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seed black hole forms and it slowly

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accretes matter as its galaxy grows around

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it.

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Anna: But this one breaks the mold. This

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black hole seems to have grown much faster

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than its host Galax. Or perhaps

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it started from a much larger seed

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than we thought possible. It's as if we

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found a fully grown oak tree just a

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week after planting an acorn. It

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challenges our fundamental models of how

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the first black holes and galaxies

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form and co evolve.

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Avery: It's a fantastic mystery. It could mean we

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need to rethink how these cosmic giants come

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into being. This is exactly the kind of

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transformative science the JWST was built

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for. Finding the unexpected in forcing us

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to come up with new theories.

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Anna: And that's all the time we have for today.

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From interstellar travelers and

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hidden oceans to space rescues and

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mysteries from the dawn of time, the

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universe never fails to surprise us.

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Avery: It certainly doesn't. Thanks so much for

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joining us from both of us here at Astronomy

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Daily. Keep looking up. See you tomorrow.