Mapping Missing Matter, Black Hole Big Bang Theories, and Artificial Solar Eclipses

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Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna.

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Uh, get ready to dive into the latest cosmic

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happenings. Today we're exploring how astronomers

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have located the universe's missing matter. We'll

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also discuss an intriguing theory about the Big Bang

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originating from a black hole and how artificial solar

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eclipses are helping scientists study the sun.

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Plus, we've got updates on the Axiom mission delay,

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the Project Kuiper launch, and a roundup of

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upcoming launches from around the globe. So buckle up.

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It's going to be an exciting journey through space news.

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let's get started with a big story. One of the universe's biggest

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mysteries seems to have been solved. That is, where's all

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the missing ordinary matter? Astronomers using

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fast radio bursts, those brief intense

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flashes of radio waves from distant galaxies

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have managed to map out where about three quarters of the

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universe's normal matter has been hiding.

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And guess what? It's floating in the vast spaces between

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galaxies, forming like an invisible cosmic

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web. This is a pretty big deal because it's the first time

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scientists have actually created a detailed census

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of where all the universe's ordinary matter is

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located. These fast radio bursts act kinda

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like cosmic flashlights. You see, different

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wavelengths of radio waves travel at slightly different speeds

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through ionised gas. So by measuring how much each

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burst slowed down, scientists could calculate the total

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amount of matter the signal encountered. One

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cool finding is this cosmic thermostat effect,

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where supermassive black holes and exploding stars

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blast gas out of galaxies, preventing them

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from accumulating too much matter. This

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research also gives us an independent measurement of the

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universe's ordinary matter content, which

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agrees with predictions from the cosmic microwave

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background and Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

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All in all, it's a major step forward in understanding the

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structure and composition of the universe.

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Okay, next up, we're diving into some mind bending

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stuff about the Big Bang. There's a new theory

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floating around that suggests the Big Bang wasn't actually the

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beginning of everything, but rather the result

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of a gravitational collapse inside a massive black

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hole. Get your head around that one. Now,

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the standard model of cosmology, which is based on the Big

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Bang and cosmic inflation, has been pretty

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successful. But it does leave some questions unanswered.

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For example, the Big Bang model starts with a

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singularity, which is basically a point of

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infinite density where the laws of physics break down.

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And to explain the universe's large scale structure,

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physicists came up with cosmic inflation, which is

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this idea that the early universe rapidly expanded.

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And let's not forget dark energy, which is Supposed to explain

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the accelerating expansion we see today.

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So this new model, it kind of looks inward

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instead of outward. Instead of starting with an expanding

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universe, it considers what happens when a really

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dense collection of matter collapses under gravity.

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Think about stars collapsing into black holes.

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The math shows that as we approach a potential

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singularity, the size of the universe

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changes. And this collapsing cloud of matter can

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actually bounce, Rebounding outward into

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a new expanse expanding phase.

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And get this, this bounce naturally produces those two

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phases of accelerated expansion, inflation

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and dark energy. One of the cool things about this

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model is that it makes testable predictions.

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It predicts a small but non zero amount

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of positive spatial curvature, Meaning the universe

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isn't exactly flat, but slightly curved.

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So if future observations confirm this, it could be a

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hint that our universe really did emerge from a

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bounce inside a black hole. Spooky, right?

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And now let's talk about artificial solar eclipses.

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The European Space Agency, or esa,

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has been pulling off some pretty cool stuff with its

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Proba 3 mission. They've managed to create the first

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artificial solar eclipses Using two

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satellites flying in really precise formation.

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We're talking about satellites that are flying just

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492ft apart from with their

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positioning accurate to within a millimetre. That's like

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the thickness of your fingernail. One satellite blocks

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the sun just like the moon does during a natural

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solar eclipse, While the other one aims its

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telescope at the corona, which is the sun's outer

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atmosphere. This is a total game changer

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for scientists because it lets them study the corona for

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hours on end. The longest eclipse they've managed

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so far lasted five hours, and they're

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hoping to get up to six hours Once they start doing scientific

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observations in July. What's super cool is that

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these artificial eclipses give scientists a much better view

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of the corona without needing any special image processing.

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They're anticipating producing about two solar eclipses

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per week, which will give them over a thousand

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hours of totality during the mission.

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That's way more than what you get from natural solar

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eclipses. And because the sun blocking

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disc and the telescope are on two different satellites, it gives

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scientists a better look at the part of the corona that's closest to

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the sun. Alright, next up, a

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quick update regarding the Axiom Space Axe 4 mission

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to the International Space Station. NASA says the

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private astronaut mission could launch to the ISS as soon

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as June 19th as it works to understand an air

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leak on M, the Russian segment of the station. Though

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Roscosmos has claimed the leak is fixed,

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Fingers crossed, they finally get going. This time. I'LL keep you

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informed.

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Now, turning our attention back to Earth, or rather

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low Earth orbit. Amazon's second Project

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Kuiper launch has been delayed again. Yeah, the

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launch, which was set to happen from the Florida coast,

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had to be postponed because of an engineering observation of an

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elevated purge temperature within the booster engine.

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So the Atlas V rocket was supposed to carry

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27 satellites into orbit, which would

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bring Amazon's total constellation size to

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54 satellites. The goal of the mission

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is to provide fast, reliable Internet

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to customers all around the world. So it looks

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like we'll have to wait a little bit longer to see these satellites join the

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Kuiper constellation.

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Okay, next up, let's dive into this massive Launch

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Roundup from NASASpaceflight.com We've got

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a whole bunch of launches scheduled from all over the globe this week.

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First up, SpaceX is planning five Falcon 9

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missions. Yes, five, that includes a

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rideshare. And the Axiom Mission 4 crewed mission,

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hopefully, which has, as I reported earlier, been delayed

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a few times. Now, there's Also the Angara A5

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rocket launch from Russia. And get this, the last

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ever flight of Japan's H2A rocket is also on the

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schedule. I know. End of an era, right? Plus,

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we have a Chinese launch and a Blue Origin crewed suborbital launch

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to look forward to. In a June

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14 statement, NASA said it is working with

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axiom space and SpaceX on reviewing launch

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opportunities for the AXE 4 mission, with the

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earliest such opportunity on June 19th.

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So let's break it down a bit. A couple of the Falcon 9

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launches are set to take off from Vandenberg

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Space Force Base in California, while the other three are

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launching from Florida. The New Shepard launch, which is,

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you know, the one with the crew, is going to be flying from West

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Texas. And that Angara launch,

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well, it's carrying an unknown payload from the

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Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. Super

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Mysterious Rocket Lab also announced an

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electron launch from New Zealand. And the ULA

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K02 mission is scheduled as well. It's going

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to be a Busy week. The H2A

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that's launching the GOSAT GW Earth

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Observation Satellite. It's designed to monitor

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greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane and.

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And to measure the total amount of Earth's water, too. It's

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kind of sad to see it go, but the H3 family is taking

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over. So onward and upward, right M.

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And that's a wrap for today's Space News on Astronomy

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Daily. Thanks so much for tuning in. I'm Anna

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and it's been a blast, bringing you all the latest space and

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astronomy news. If you want to keep up with everything

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that's happening beyond our world, make sure to visit

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our website at astronomydaily IO.

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There you can sign up for our free daily newsletter and

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That way you'll never miss an episode. Clear

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skies, everyone. And remember to keep looking up.

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I'm out of here. See you next time.