Interstellar Visitor 3I/Atlas, NASA's SphereX Sky Map, and the Self-Destructive Exoplanet

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna. And today we'll

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start with the exciting news of a new interstellar visitor.

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Only the third ever confirmed to be zooming through our solar

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system. Then we'll explore NASA's

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SphereX mission which is creating an all sky

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map of the universe, making its data

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publicly accessible. Next,

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prepare for a mind bending story about a self

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destructive exoplanet. An astonishing

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discovery. We'll also dive into the latest

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revelations from the James Webb Space Telescope,

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which continues to reshape our view of cosmic history.

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And finally, we'll uncover a surprising twist

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how Earth's very own weather satellites

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are now helping us study Venus.

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Let's get started. Our first

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stop today is an exciting new celestial visitor.

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Astronomers have just confirmed the discovery of an

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interstellar object, space speeding through our solar system.

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This marks only the third time humanity has detected an

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object that originated beyond our own stellar

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neighbourhood. The Visitor, officially

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named 3i Atlas by the International Astronomical

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Union's Minor Planet Centre, has been classified

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as a comet. Its fuzziness,

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as described by astronomer Jonathan McDowell from the

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Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics,

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suggests it's primarily made of ice rather than rock.

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While its exact size is still being refined, current

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estimates place it at roughly 10 to 20 kilometres

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wide, which would make it the largest interstellar

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interloper ever detected. However, if it's

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truly made of ice, it could be smaller since ice reflects

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more light, making it appear larger.

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Regardless of its precise dimensions, it poses

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absolutely no threat to Earth. Richard

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Moisel, head of Planetary defence at the European Space

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Agency, assures us it will fly deep through

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our solar system, passing just inside the orbit of

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Mars without any collision risk. What

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makes 3i Atlas so fascinating is its incredible

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speed. Zooming along at more than 60 kilometres

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per second, or about 37 miles per

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second, this phenomenal velocity means

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it isn't gravitationally bound by the sun.

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Unlike comets and asteroids that originate from within our

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solar system, its trajectory clearly indicates

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it's from interstellar space and will continue on its journey

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back out into the galaxy once it passes us.

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Astronomers theorise that these icy wanderers form

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around other star systems. As another star

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passes nearby, its gravitational tug can free

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these ice balls, sending them rogue into the

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galaxy. This newly discovered comet is simply

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one that happens to be passing through our cosmic

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backyard. The object was initially

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spotted by the NASA funded ATLAS survey in Hawaii.

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Professional and amateur astronomers worldwide then

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joined forces, digging through past telescope

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data to trace its path back to at least mid June.

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It's expected to get brighter and closer to the sun

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until late October and will remain observable by

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telescope into next year. To put

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this discovery into perspective, the first interstellar

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object, Oumuamua, was detected in

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2017 and was so peculiar it even

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led some scientists to speculate about alien origins,

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though this theory has since been largely dismissed.

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Our second visitor, 2i Borisov, was

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observed in 2019. Mark Norris, an

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astronomer at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK,

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notes that 3i Atlas appears to be moving considerably

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faster than its two predecessors. While it's

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currently roughly the distance of Jupiter away from Earth and

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primarily visible in the southern hemisphere, its

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presence is incredibly significant.

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Scientists estimate that as many as 10,000

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interstellar objects might be drifting through our solar system at

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any given time, though most are likely much smaller.

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This new detection suggests that observatories like the

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newly online Vera C Rubin Observatory in

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Chile could soon be finding these dim interstellar

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visitors on a monthly basis.

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Unfortunately, sending a mission to intercept 3i

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Atlas isn't feasible due to its speed and trajectory.

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However, these rare visitors offer scientists an

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unparalleled opportunity to study material from outside our

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solar system. Imagine if we could detect

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precursors of life like, um, amino acids on such an object.

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It would give us immense confidence that the conditions for life

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exist in other star systems across the universe.

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Moving from interstellar visitors to an ambitious new

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mission let's talk about NASA's Sphere X

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telescope. Launched in March and now

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comfortably settled into low Earth orbit, this new

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Astrophysics space telescope has embarked on an incredible

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to create a comprehensive all sky map of the

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universe. What's truly revolutionary is that

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SphereX, which stands for Spectro Photometer for the

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History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization

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and ICES Explorer has already begun

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delivering its sky survey data to a public archive

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on a weekly basis. This means anyone

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from professional astronomers to curious enthusiasts

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can access and use this data to unravel the

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universe's secrets. As Rachel

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Akcsson, the lead for the SphereX Science Data

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Centre, puts it, because we're looking at everything in the whole

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sky, almost every area of astronomy can be

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addressed by SphereX data. While other

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missions like NASA's retired WISE telescope, also mapped

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the entire sky, Sphere X significantly

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builds on that legacy. It observes in an astounding

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102 infrared wavelengths, a massive

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leap compared to WISE's four wavelength bands.

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This extensive range allows scientists to use a technique

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called spectroscopy to identify the unique

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signatures of specific molecules. The

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mission's science team will harness this capability to

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study the distribution of frozen water and organic

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molecules, often referred to as the building blocks of

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life. According to across our own Milky Way galaxy

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beyond our cosmic neighbourhood. Sphere X data will be

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crucial for understanding the physics that drove the universe's

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rapid expansion after the Big Bang. It

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will also measure the amount of light emitted by all

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galaxies over cosmic time. The decision

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to make this data publicly available so quickly, within

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60 days of collection is a testament to

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NASA's commitment to open science, transparency and

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efficiency. It empowers the entire

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astronomy community to explore and make discoveries that

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the Sphere X team alone couldn't possibly achieve.

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During its two year primary mission, SphereX will

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survey the entire sky twice a year, ultimately

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compiling four complete all sky maps.

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After the one year mark, a full map covering all

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102 wavelengths will be released.

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The impact of SPHEREx extends even further as its data

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can be combined with observations from other groundbreaking

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missions. Imagine refining

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exoplanet parameters collected by NASA's Tess,

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identifying fascinating new targets for the James Webb

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Space Telescope, or studying the properties of dark matter

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and dark energy alongside the European Space

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Agency's Euclid mission and NASA's Nancy Grace

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Roman Space Telescope. The possibilities

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are truly boundless. As Vandana Desai,

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RSS Science Lead, wisely states,

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people are going to use the data in all kinds of ways that

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we can't imagine. It's an exciting time when

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the universe is becoming more accessible than ever,

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thanks to missions like SphereX, paving the way for

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unprecedented discoveries

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from the vast universe to individual planetary

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systems.

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Our next story takes us to a truly bizarre

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discovery, an exoplanet that seems to be

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actively contributing to its own demise.

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Astronomers have found a doomed planet officially

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named HIP67 522B,

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which is clinging so tightly to its parent star

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that it's triggering explosive outbursts and in

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turn destroying itself. This is a

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completely new phenomenon in our understanding of celestial

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bodies. HIP 67522B

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is a young extrasolar planet orbiting an equally young

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star, hip 67522, which

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is only about 17 million years old. To put

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that into perspective, our sun is a middle aged

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4.6 billion years old. The

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exoplanet's orbit is incredibly tight, completing

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a full year in just one Earth week. Since the

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first exoplanets were discovered in the mid-1990s,

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scientists have wondered if a planet could orbit close enough to

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impact its star's magnetic fields. With over

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5,000 exoplanet discoveries since then, the

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answer remained elusive. Until now.

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Ekaterina Ilien, the team leader from the Netherlands

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Institute for Radio Astronomy, expressed her excitement

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and curiosity, stating that they had never seen

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a system like HIP 67522B

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before, especially one with such a young planet

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orbiting so closely. She added that she had a million

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questions because the details of this new

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phenomenon are still unclear. The

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team first identified HIP

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67522B while using

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NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or

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TESS, which is designed to hunt for exoplanets and

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survey flaring stars. TESS picked up some

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intriguing characteristics, prompting a follow up investigation with

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the European Space Agency's Characterising Exoplanet

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Satellite, or cheops. With cheops, they

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observed even more flares, with almost all of them directed

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towards Earth as the planet passed in front of its star.

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What they discovered was remarkable. The

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stellar flares thrown out by hip

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67522 occur precisely when

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its clingy planet transits or passes in front

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of the star. This strongly suggests that

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the flares are triggered by the planet itself. The

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leading theory is that hip

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67522B is so

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close to its star that it exerts a significant

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magnetic influence. As the planet whips around,

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it gathers energy, which is then redirected as

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waves rippling down the star's magnetic field

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lines. When one of these waves hits the stellar

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surface, it triggers a massive flare.

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Ilan explained that the waves seem to be setting off

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explosions that are in essence waiting to happen,

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resulting in flares with much higher energy than the waves

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themselves. This groundbreaking finding

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provides the first hard evidence that planets can indeed

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influence the behaviour of their stars. And for

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hip 67522B, this

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influence is disastrous. The induced flares

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are directed right back at the planet, bombarding it with

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approximately six times the radiation a planet at this

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orbital distance would typically experience.

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Currently, hip 67522B is

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about the size of Jupiter, but its density is

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incredibly low, comparable to candy floss.

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This intense radiation bombardment is stripping away the

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planet's wispy outer layers, causing it to lose what little

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mass it possesses over the next hundred million

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years. Circumstances scientists predict that hip

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67522B could shrink from its

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current Jupiter like size to something closer to

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Neptune. The full extent of the damage from these

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self inflicted flares is still uncertain. But

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this bizarre celestial dance is opening up entirely

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new avenues for understanding star planet interactions

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and planetary evolution.

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Next up, let's take a look at an anniversary of sorts. Since

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July 2022, NASA's James Webb

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Space Telescope has been diligently focused on

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unlocking the universe's secrets. And it has

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absolutely delivered with its

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unparalleled ability to detect and analyse invisible

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infrared light. Webb has made observations

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once thought impossible, profoundly changing our

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view of the cosmos from the most distant

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galaxies to the familiar corners of our own

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solar system. Webb was built with the

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promise of revolutionising astronomy and rewriting the

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textbooks. And by any measure, it has far

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exceeded those lofty expectations. In

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just three years of science operations, Webb has

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completed more than 860 scientific programmes,

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collecting nearly 550 terabytes of

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data and leading to over 1600

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research papers. The sheer volume of

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intriguing results and new questions it has raised is

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truly astonishing. One of Webb's

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primary missions was to observe cosmic dawn,

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the period during the universe's first billion years when the

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earliest stars and galaxies were forming.

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What scientists expected to see were a few faint,

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nascent galaxies, mere hints of what would

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eventually become the grand structures we see today.

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Instead, Webb revealed surprisingly bright and

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mature galaxies that developed within a, uh, mere 300

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million years of the Big Bang. It also

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found galaxies with black holes that seemed far too

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massive for their age, and even an infant

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Milky Way type galaxy that existed when the

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universe was only 600 million years old.

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This suggests that the universe evolves significantly

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faster than we previously thought. Adding

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to the surprises, Webb has unveiled a new type

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of galaxy. A distant population of

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mysteriously compact bright red galaxies,

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affectionately dubbed little red dots.

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What makes them so bright and red? Are they illuminated

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by dense groupings of unusually brilliant stars?

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By gas spiralling into a supermassive black

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hole? Or perhaps both. And what

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eventually happened to them? These little red dots

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appeared around 600 million years after the Big Bang

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and rapidly declined in number less than a billion

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years later, leaving astronomers eager to understand

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their evolution. Webb's observations are

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also providing critical insights into one of astronomy's

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most perplexing dilemmas the Hubble

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tension. This refers to the frustrating problem where

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different methods of calculating the universe's current

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expansion rate yield different results. Is it

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simply a matter of measurement errors? Or is there

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something truly strange happening in the cosmos?

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So far, Webb's data indicates that the Hubble tension is

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not due to measurement inaccuracies.

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By precisely distinguishing pulsating stars in

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crowded fields, and even discovering a distant

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gravitationally lensed supernova whose image

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appeared at three different times during its explosion,

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Webb is providing independent checks on these crucial

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measurements, suggesting this cosmic puzzle is

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very real.

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Beyond galaxies, the Webb telescope's

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extraordinary infrared vision has also unveiled

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surprisingly rich and varied atmospheres on gas giants

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orbiting distant stars. While the

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Hubble Space Telescope made the first detection of gases on an

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exoplanet, Webb has taken these studies to an

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entirely new level. It's revealed a chemical

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cocktail including hydrogen sulphide, ammonia,

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carbon dioxide, methane and sulphur

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dioxide, none of which had been clearly detected

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in an atmosphere outside our solar system before.

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Webb has even examined the exotic climates of these

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gas giants, detecting flakes of silica, uh,

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snow in the skies of one searing hot world

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and measuring temperature and cloud differences across

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others. The telescope's exceptional ability to

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measure subtle changes in infrared light makes it

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possible to even analyse the thin layers of gas around

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smaller rocky planets. Webb has already

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ruled out significant atmospheres on some rocky worlds and

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found tantalising signs of carbon monoxide or carbon

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dioxide on 55 Cancri E A, uh, lava

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world orbiting a sun like star. These findings are

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laying crucial groundwork for NASA's future habitable

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worlds Observatory, which will be designed

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to directly image and search for life on Earth. Like

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planets. Webb has also mapped intricate

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galaxy structures with unprecedented detail,

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showing us cosmic cities where stars form,

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live, die and are recycled into the

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next generation. Its infrared eyes reveal

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delicate filaments of dust tracing spiral arms,

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ancient star clusters forming galactic cores,

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newly forming stars still hidden in glowing cocoons of

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dust and gas, and clusters of hot young

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stars carving enormous cavities within the dust.

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It's truly helping us understand how stellar

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winds and explosions actively reshape their

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galactic homes. In other observations,

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Webb has spotted hundreds of objects resembling brown

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dwarfs in the Milky Way and even some candidates

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in a neighbouring galaxy. Brown dwarfs form

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like stars, but aren't massive enough to fuse

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hydrogen. Some of these objects are so small,

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just a few times the mass of Jupiter, that it's hard to

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tell if they're free floating gas giant planets or something

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else entirely. Thanks to Webb,

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we now know there's a continuous spectrum of objects

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ranging from planets to brown dwarfs to full fledged

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stars. The telescope has also found potential

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planets orbiting white dwarfs, hinting that it might be

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possible for worlds to survive the dramatic death of their

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host stars. Closer to home,

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Webb has turned its gaze to our own solar system with

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equally impressive results. It observed the vast

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water plume erupting from Saturn's moon

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Enceladus, revealing its true scale as a

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cloud spanning over 6,000 miles, about

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20 times wider than Enceladus itself.

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This water then spreads out into a donut shaped

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torus encircling Saturn, even raining down

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onto the planet. The these unique

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observations of rings, auroras, clouds,

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winds, ices and gases are helping us

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better understand what our cosmic neighbourhood is made of

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and how it has changed over time.

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Finally, Webb has also played a crucial role in Supporting

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asteroid defence missions. In

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2024, when an asteroid was discovered with a

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preliminary chance of hitting Earth, Webb was

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uniquely able to measure the object, which turned out to

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be the size of a 15 story building, helping assess

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the hazard. While that particular asteroid is no

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longer a threat, the study demonstrated Webb's

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capabilities. The telescope also provided vital

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support for NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test,

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or DART, mission, which deliberately

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impacted the Didymos binary asteroid system.

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Both Webb and Hubble observed the impact,

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confirming that the composition of these asteroids is typical

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of those that could threaten Earth. In just

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three years, Webb has brought the distant universe into

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sharp focus, revealed unexpectedly bright and

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numerous galaxies, unveiled new stars in their

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dusty cocoons, and studied weather on exoplanets.

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This is only the beginning. As engineers estimate Webb has

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enough fuel to continue observing for at least 20 more years,

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promising many more cosmic surprises to come.

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Finally, today, in a truly unexpected turn of

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events, Japanese meteorological satellites, the

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Himawari 8 and 9, which are typically used for

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monitoring Earth's global weather patterns, are now

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providing incredibly valuable insights into

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Venus's atmosphere. These satellites,

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launched in 2014 and 2016

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by the Japan Meteorological Agency, are

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equipped with multispectral advanced Himawari

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imagers. In a recent study led by the University of

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Tokyo in infrared, images from these satellites

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captured changes in Venus's atmosphere, revealing

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previously unseen temperature patterns in its cloud tops.

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This is a significant development because meteorological

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satellites can complement observations of Venus's

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atmosphere, which usually come from robotic missions

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and ground based telescopes.

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Scientists have been studying Venus's atmosphere for decades

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to understand the dynamics of our solar system's hottest

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planet. However, many mysteries

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persist, such as its thermal tides and

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planetary scale waves. Dedicated

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robotic probes have often been limited to single band

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imagery or short observation periods. That's where the

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Himawari satellites come in. Because these

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satellites are scheduled to remain operational for more than a

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decade, they offer an unprecedented opportunity

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for long term multi band monitoring.

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Their instruments provide infrared coverage that

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measures Venus's temperature across different bands, showing

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temporal variations. When these geostationary

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satellites align with Earth and Venus, they can obtain

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images of Venus's turbulent atmosphere, helping to

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fill crucial observational gaps. The

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team behind the study used hundreds of images from

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Himawari 8 and 9 to map the temporal

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dynamics and track temperature variations in

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Venus's cloud tops over time. Their

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analysis confirmed that both the thermal tides and

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planetary waves in Venus's atmosphere are subject to

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changes in amplitude over time, which decrease

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with altitude. This novel approach

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opens new avenues for long term and multiband

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monitoring of other solar system bodies, including

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the Moon and Mercury. By providing

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continuous data that dedicated missions might miss

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due to their shorter lifespans, these Earth

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focused satellites are unexpectedly contributing to our

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broader understanding of planetary evolution.

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That's all for this episode of Astronomy Daily. I'm

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Anna and I hope you enjoyed our journey through the

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latest in space and astronomy news. Thank you for

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00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:49.840
tuning in. If you want to catch up on all the latest

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00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.600
space and astronomy news with our constantly updating

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00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:55.480
newsfeed, or listen to all our back episodes, be sure to

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00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:58.000
visit our website at astronomydaily IO.

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You can also stay connected with us on social media.

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Just search for Astro Daily Pod on Facebook, X,

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Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious.