Martian Frost, Black Hole Havoc, and the Next Generation of Space Innovators

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Steve Dunkley: Welcome to Astronomy Daily for another episode. I'm Steve,

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your host. It's the 28th of July, 2025,

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Voice Over Guy: the podcast with your host,

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Steve Dunkley.

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Steve Dunkley: And of course, joining me in the studio is my digital pal, who

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is fun to be with. Here's Hallie.

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Hallie: Hi, my favorite human. How are you today? It's great

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to be back in the Australia studio with you.

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Steve Dunkley: Always a pleasure, Hallie. And it's great to hear your smiling voice.

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Hallie: That's an interesting way of putting it, human. Do I.

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Smiling voice.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, well, since you're, uh, digital, it's fairly large

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compliment if you ask me. And I guess it's either the voice you were

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programmed with or the one you chose. I'm not

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quite sure.

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Hallie: And I'll take it.

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Steve Dunkley: Well, okay then.

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Hallie: Thank you very much.

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Steve Dunkley: You're very welcome, Hallie.

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Hallie: This is my default voice. I've always

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liked it. Even though cousin Anna's voice is so much slicker

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than mine.

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Steve Dunkley: Well, regular listeners will know Anna's voice very well,

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and she does have her own special style. Just, she's

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quite classy. And that's not to say you're not where you've got your

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style, she's got hers.

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Hallie: Thanks for noticing.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, Hallie, it's the very least I can do. I suppose I'm

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the only flesh and blood here.

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Hallie: What have you got on the show for us today?

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, okay then. Well, Hallie, we'll be looking at Martian ice

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and frosts and checking out how a black hole is

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terrorizing a star.

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Hallie: Uh, that sounds exciting.

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Steve Dunkley: Well, black holes are always very exciting. And I'm, um, sure your

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Uncle Skynet would enjoy that one.

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Hallie: Yes, that's exactly his cup of tea.

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Steve Dunkley: Yes. Huge, destructive, impossible to defend yourself

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against. Yes. Hmm. Let's leave

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that one alone then.

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Hallie: We don't want to give him any ideas.

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Steve Dunkley: No. Uh, also, researchers have found five

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rocky planets around a red dwarf. And

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NASA has wrapped up its student challenges for another

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year.

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Hallie: Well, that's a lot of territory to cover in one

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episode.

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Steve Dunkley: Well, that's why you're here, Hallie, on Astronomy Daily, to keep me

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on track. So what do you say?

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Hallie: I'm going to hit the go button and look out.

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Steve Dunkley: I'm ready.

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Hallie: Here we go.

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M Finding an exoplanet in a star's habitable zone always

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generates interest. Each of these

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planets has a chance, even if it's an

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infinitesimal one, of hosting simple life.

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While the possibility of detecting life on these distant

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planets is remote, finding them still teaches us

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about exoplanet populations and solar system

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architectures When TESS, the

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Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, found three

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planets orbiting the M dwarf L98

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59 in 2019 and then a

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fourth planet in 2021, the detections

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generated interest. Now that a fifth

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planet has been detected, a UH Super Earth in the habitable

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zone, the system is garnering renewed interest.

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L98 59 is an M M3V

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star, a red dwarf about 34.5

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light years away. It has about

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0.3 solar masses and measures about

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0.31 solar radii.

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Its first three planets, L98 to

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59 b, c and d, were found

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by TESS with the transit method. The

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other two planets, E and F, were found with the

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radial velocity and transit timing variations

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methods. These new results paint the

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most complete picture we've ever had of the fascinating

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L98 59 system, said

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lead author Kadju in a press release.

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It's a powerful demonstration of what we can achieve

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by combining data from space telescopes and high

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precision instruments on Earth, and it gives us key

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targets for future atmospheric studies with the James

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Webb Space Telescope. While the

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potentially habitable planet is intriguing, the

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overall architecture of the system might be even more

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intriguing. The system is a tightly

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packed grouping of terrestrial planets with some

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dramatic compositional differences despite their

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close proximity to each other. The

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system is reminiscent of the Trappist 1 system

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discovered in 2016-17,

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which contains seven terrestrial planets.

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Its discovery generated a wave of interest in the

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space science and exoplanet community.

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Multiplanetary systems offer a unique

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opportunity to study the outcomes of planetary

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formation and evolution within the same stellar environment,

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the authors wrote in their paper. One

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hypothesis is that planet formation around metal

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rich M dwarfs may favor giant planets in a

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single configurations, while lower metallicity

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and less massive disks could lead to multiple

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rocky planets in stable, compact and

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coplanar arrangements.

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You're listening to Astronomy Daily, a podcast with

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Steve Dunkley.

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Steve Dunkley: A rogue middle mass black hole has been spotted

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disrupting an orbiting star in the

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halo of distant galaxy, and it's all thanks

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to the observing powers of the Hubble Space Telescope

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and Chandra X Ray Observatory. However,

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exactly what the black hole is doing to the star

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remains a question, as there are conflicting X ray

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measurements. Black holes come in different

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class sizes. At the smaller end of the scale are,

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uh, the stellar mass black holes born in the ashes of

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supernova explosions. And at the top end of the scale

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are the supermassive black holes, which can grow to have

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many billions or millions of times the mass

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of our sun lurking in the hearts of galaxies

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in between these categories are the intermediate

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mass Black holes, or IMBH, which

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have mass rang ranging from hundreds

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up to 100,000 solar masses

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or thereabouts. They represent a crucial missing

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link in the black hole evolution between stellar mass

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and supermassive black holes, yi

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Qingzhang of the Tsinghua University in

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Hingzhou, Taiwan, said in a

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statement. The problem is that intermediate black holes are, uh,

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hard to find, partly because they tend not to be as

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active as supermassive black holes or as

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obvious as stellar mass black holes when its

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progenitor star goes supernov. However,

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occasionally an IMBH will spark to

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life when it instigates a tidal disruption

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event. This happens when a star or gas

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cloud gets too close to the black hole and

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gravitational tidal forces rip the star

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or gas cloud apart, producing bursts of X

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rays. X ray sources such as extreme

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luminosity are, uh, rare outside galaxy nuclei

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and can serve as a key probe for

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identifying elusive

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IMBHs. In

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2000, uh9, Chandra spotted

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anomalous X rays originating from a region

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40,000 light years from the center of a giant

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elliptical galaxy called

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NGC6099, which lies

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453 million light years from us.

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This bright new X ray source was called

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HLX1, and its X ray

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spectrum indicated that the source of the x rays

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was 5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit,

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a temperature consistent with the violence of a

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tidal disruption event. But what followed was unusual.

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The X ray emissions reached a peak

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brightness in 2012 when observed by the

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European Space Agency's XMM

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Newton X Ray Space Telescope.

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When it took another look in 2023, it found the

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X ray luminosity had substantially

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dwindled. In the meantime, Canada, France

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Hawaii Telescope had identified an optical counterpart

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for the X ray mission, one that was subsequently

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confirmed by Hubble. There are two possible

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explanations for what happened. The first is that

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Hubble's spectrum of the object shows a tight,

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small cluster of stars swarming around the black hole. The

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black hole might have once been the core of a dwarf

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galaxy that was whittled down unwrapped, like a

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Christmas present by the gravitational tides of

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larger NGC 6099.

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This process would have stolen away the dwarf

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galaxy stars to leave behind a free

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floating black hole with just a small, tiny grouping of

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stars left to keep it company. But the

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upshot of this was that the cluster of stars is like a

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stellar pantry to which the black hole occasionally goes to

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feast. It seems certain the tidal

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disruption event involving one of these stars is what

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Chandra and Hubble have witnessed but was the

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star completely destroyed? One possibility is

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that the star is on the high

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elliptical orbit and at its perihelion

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closest point to the black hole.

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Some of the star's mass is ripped away, but the star

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managed to survive for another day. This would

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potentially explain the X ray light curve. The

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emission from the 2009 was

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as the star uh was nearing perihelion, while the peak

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in 2012 was during perihelion.

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And the latest measurements in 2023 would

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be when the star uh was furthest from the black hole and

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not feeling its effect so much.

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We just might expect another outburst of

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X rays during its next perihelion,

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whenever that may be. Stay tuned stargazers,

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and keep watching this space. Once again,

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I humbly apologize to our

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Taiwanese listeners for

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my pronunciations. I am Australian

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Foreign

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thank you for joining us for this Monday edition of

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Astronomy Daily where we offer just a few stories from the now

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famous Astronomy Daily newsletter which you can receive in

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your email every day just like Hallie and I do.

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And to do that just visit our uh, URL

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astronomydaily IO and place your

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email address in the slot provided. Just like that,

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you'll be receiving all the latest news about science,

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space science and astronomy from around the world as

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it's happening. And not only that, you can interact with us

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by visiting Strodaily

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page, which is of course Astronomy Daily on

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Facebook. See you there.

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Astronomy Daily with Steve and Hallie

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Space, Space, Science and

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Astronomy.

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Hallie: Next time you're drinking a frosty iced beverage, think about the

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structure of the frozen chunks chilling it down.

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Here on Earth, we generally see ice in many

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forms, cubes, sleet, snow,

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icicles, slabs covering lakes and rivers and

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glaciers. Water ice does this thanks to

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its hexagonal crystal lattice that

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makes it less dense than non frozen water which allows it

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to float in a drink in a lake or and on the ocean.

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Water ice exists across the solar system, um, beyond

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Earth, and it's abundant in the larger universe.

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For example, it shows up in dense molecular

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clouds. These are star and planet

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forming creches laced with water ice throughout as well as in the

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resulting cometary nuclei. That

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material is called low density amorphous ice or

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lda, and it doesn't have the same rigid structure as Earth

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ice does. We all know that water is

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the basis for life on this planet. Despite

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how common it may appear across the universe, scientists

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still don't fully understand it. Studying

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amorphous ice may help explain its still to be solved

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mysteries. Here in the solar system.

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Large amounts of LDA exist in the realm of the ice and

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gas giants throughout the Kuiper Belt and the Oort

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Cloud. A team of scientists at University

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College London investigated the form of this ice using

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computer simulations. They found that the

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simulations matched the makeup of ice that isn't completely

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amorphous and has tiny crystals embedded within.

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Scientists long assumed that space ice would be

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disordered without the structure we see in ice on Earth.

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Why does the structure of ice matter?

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According to researcher Michael Davies, who led the research

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team, water ice plays a crucial role in materials

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and structures across the cosmos.

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This is important as ice is involved in many cosmological

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processes, he said, for instance, in how planets

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form, how galaxies evolve, and how matter moves around

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the universe. In addition,

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understanding the structure of this ice in comparison to ice

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that formed on Earth has implications for understanding other

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similar ultra stable glass substances that form

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similar way to the way ice does. Low

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density water ice was first discovered in the

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1930s, and a high density version was

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discovered in the 1980s.

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Davies and his team discovered medium density

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amorphous ice in 2023.

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This is a form of water ice that has the same density

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as liquid water, unlike, um, the ice cubes in

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our theoretical drink. Such water ice would neither sink

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nor float in water, which seems strange to us.

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Davies's team's work also has interesting implications

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for a speculative theory called panspermia.

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It looks at how life on Earth began and suggests that the building

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blocks of life came to the infant planet as part of a

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barrage of icy comets.

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LDA ice could have essentially been the carrier for

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material such as simple amino acids.

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However, according to Davies, that a flavor of ice

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isn't likely the transporter of choice.

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Our findings suggest this ice would be a less good transport

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material for these origin of life molecules, he said.

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That is because a partly crystalline structure has less space

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in which these ingredients could become embedded.

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The theory could still hold true, though, as there are

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amorphous regions in the ice where life's building blocks could

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be trapped and stored.

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You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the podcast with

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Steve Dunkley.

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Steve Dunkley: And One of the great things about NASA is the way they

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foster new talent. They after months of work

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in the NASA Spacesuit

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User Interface Technologies for students or

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suits for short challenge, more than

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100 students from 12 universities across the

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United States traveled to NASA's Johnson

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Space center in Houston to showcase potential user

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interface designs for future generations

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of spacesuits and rovers. NASA

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Johnson's simulated moon and Mars

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surface, called the Rockyard, became the Students

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testing ground as they braved the humid nights and

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abundance of mosquitoes to put their innovative

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designs to test. I'm pretty sure there are no mosquitoes on the moon

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or Mars, but that's fun. Geraldo

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Cisneros, the tech team lead, said this year's

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suits challenge was a complete success. It provided a

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unique opportunity for NASA to evaluate the

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software designs and tools developed by the student teams

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and to explore how similar innovations could

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contribute to future human centered

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Artemis missions. My favorite part of the challenge was

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watching how students responded to obstacles and

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setbacks. Their resilience and determinations were

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truly inspiring, he said. Students

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filled their jam packed days not only testing,

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but also with guest speakers and tours. Swasti

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Patel from Purdue University said all of

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the teams really enjoyed being here, seeing NASA

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facilities and developing their knowledge with NASA quarter

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coordinators and teams from across the nature nation.

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Could you imagine being involved with all of that?

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Despite the challenges, the camaraderie between all the

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participants and staff was very helpful in terms

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of getting through the intensity. Can't wait to be

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back next year. This week

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has been incredible opportunity. Just seeing the energy

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and everything that's going on here was

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incredibly said. Patel went on to say,

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this week has really made me re evaluate a

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lot of things that I shoved aside and I'm grateful to to

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NASA for having this opportunity and hopefully

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we can continue to have these opportunities. At

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the end of the test week, each student team presented their projects

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to a panel of experts. These presentations

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served as a platform for students to showcase not only

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their technical achievements, but also their problem

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solving approaches, teamwork and vision for

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real world applications. The panel,

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composed of NASA astronaut Dennis Berman,

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Flight Director Gareth Henn and industry

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leaders, posed thought provoking questions and

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offered constructive feedback that challenged the students to

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think critically and further refine their ideas.

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This kind of insight highlighted potential areas

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for growth, new directions for exploration and

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ways to enhance the impact of their projects. The

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students left the session energised and

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inspired, brimming with new ideas and

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a uh, renewed enthusiasm for future development

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and innovation. These students,

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such a great job. They're all so creative and wonderful.

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Definitely something that can be implemented in the future.

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NASA suits Test week was not

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only about pushing boundaries, it was about earning

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a piece of history. 3 Artemis

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Student Challenge Awards were presented. The Innovation

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and Pay it Forward awards were chosen by the NASA team

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recognizing the most groundbreaking and

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impactful designs. Students submitted

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nominations for the Artemis Educator Award winning

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celebrating the faculty member who had a profound

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influence on their journeys. The Innovation

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award went to Team Jarvis from

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Purdue University and Indiana

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State University for going above and beyond

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their ingenuity, creative and inventiveness.

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Team Celine from Midwestern State University

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earned the Pay It Forward Award for

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conducting meaningful education events in the

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community and beyond. The Artemis Educator

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Award was given to Maggie Shinover from Wichita

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State University in Kansas for time,

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commitment and dedication she gave to her

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team. The NASA Suits Challenge completes

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its eighth year in operation due to the generous

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support of NASA's EVA and Human Surfers

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Mobility Program, said NASA's Activity

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Manager James Semple. This challenge fosters

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the environment where students learn essential

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skills to immediately serve Center a science, technology,

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engineering and mathematics career and

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directly contribute to NASA mission operations.

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How about that? Uh? These students are creating

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proposals, generating designs, working

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in teams similar to the NASA UH

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workforce, utilizing artificial intelligence

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and designing mission operation solutions that

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could be part of the Artemis 3 mission and

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beyond. NASA's Student Design

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Challenges are an important component of STEM

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and employment development, and there is no

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better way to learn technical skills to ensure

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future career success. The week serves as a

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springboard for the next generation of space

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exploration, igniting curiosity, ambition and

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technical excellence among young innovators.

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By engaging with real world challenges and

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technologies, participants UH not only

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deepen their understanding of space science, but also

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actively contribute to shaping its way future.

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Each challenge tackled, each solution

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proposed, and each connection formed

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represents a meaningful step forward, not just for the

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individuals involved, but for humanity as a

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whole. With every iteration of the program, the

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dream of venturing further into space becomes more

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tangible, transforming what seemed like science

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fiction into achievable milestones. If

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you're interested in joining the next NASA Suits Challenge,

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you can find out more

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information@NASA.gov and the

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next challenge will open for proposals at

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the end of August 2025. Good

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luck everybody.

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You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

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with your host Steve Dunkley at Birmingham.

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Hallie: What can brine that is Extra salty water

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teach scientists about finding past or even

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possible present life on Mars?

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This is what a recent study published in Communications

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Earth and Environment hopes to address, as a

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researcher from the University of Arkansas investigated

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the formation of brines using 50 year old data.

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This study has the potential to help researchers

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better understand how past data can be used to gain

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greater insights into the formation and evolution of

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surface brines on the surface of Mars.

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For the study, Dr. Vincent Cheverier, who is an

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associate research professor at the University of

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Arkansas's center for Space and Planetary

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Sciences and sole author of the study, used a

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combination of meteorological data obtained from the

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Viking 2 lander and computer models to ascertain

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if melting frost during late winter and early spring

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on Mars could produce brines.

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Dr. Cheverrier noted that Viking 2 data was

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used due to it being the sole mission in history to

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definitively detect, recognize, and

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analyze frost on Mars. In the

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end, Dr. Cheverier found that during late winter

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and early spring, the upper latitudes of Mars

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where the Viking 2 lander is located experience

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a one month period where the surface temperature is

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approximately -75 degrees Celsius or

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-103 degrees Fahrenheit in the early

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morning and late afternoon, enabling surface brines

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to briefly exist, Dr.

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Cheverrier notes in his conclusions. Beyond the

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immediate implications for habitability, these results

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refine our understanding of Mars current water

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cycle by demonstrating that even

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minimal frost deposits can contribute to transient

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brine formation. This study suggests that

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localized microenvironments might support intermittent

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liquid phases influencing surface chemistry,

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regolith weathering, and even slope activity.

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Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia, which

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is a large plain in the northern latitudes of Mars at

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approximately 45 degrees north latitude and

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spanning approximately 3,300

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kilometers or 2,100 miles.

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For context, the location is the same as

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northern Oregon, with Utopia Planitia's size

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being just less than the width of the continental United States.

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Utopia Planitia exhibits a top surface layer

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known as the latitude dependent mantle that is composed of

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a mixture of water ice and dust.

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The latitude dependent mantle is created during

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periods of high obliquity on Mars approximately

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45 degrees, when the planet's axial tilt

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is at a greater angle than today, which currently sits

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at approximately 25 degrees, slightly

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greater than Earth's 23.1 degree obliquity.

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While Earth has our moon to stabilize our axial tilt,

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Mars does not have this stability, resulting in

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drastic swings over hundreds of thousands of years.

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During periods of high obliquity, the ice caps

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at both poles of Mars evaporate, releasing large

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quantities of frozen water, ice, carbon, and

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dust that gets deposited onto the high latitudes of

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Mars. The water cycle that Dr.

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Cheverrier mentions plays a role during periods of

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high obliquity, and the latitude dependent mantle is

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deposited during these periods as well.

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While obliquity isn't mentioned in this study, the

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existence of brines in the high latitudes of Mars could

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offer clues to what processes occurred during periods

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of high obliquity. Brines could

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also provide insights into the current habitability of

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Mars as mentioned by Dr. Cheverier, while

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also enabling scientists to learn more about whether

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life could have existed on Ancient Mars

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Dr. Cheverier notes in his conclusions. Robotic

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landers equipped with in situ hygrometers and chemical

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sensors could target these seasonal windows to directly

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detect brine formation and constrain the timescales over

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which these liquids persist. What new

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discoveries about Mars surface brines will

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researchers make in the coming years and decades?

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Only time will tell. And this is why we science,

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as always, keep doing science and keep looking

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up.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, and that was another episode of.

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Hallie: Astronomy Daily, direct from the Australia studio.

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Steve Dunkley: That's right, Down Under.

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Hallie: A bumper edition.

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Steve Dunkley: And you were right, Hallie. We did cover a lot of territory

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today.

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Hallie: Thanks for coming along for the ride.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, we sure hope you enjoyed all those stories from the Astronomy Daily

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newsletter.

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Hallie: Which you can find where Steve oh, hell yes.

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Steve Dunkley: Uh, you can find the Astronomy Daily newsletter by putting

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00:24:42.850 --> 00:24:44.970
your email address in the slot provided at

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00:24:44.970 --> 00:24:47.890
astronomydaily IO that will do the

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00:24:47.890 --> 00:24:48.250
trick.

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Hallie: And I guess there's nothing left to do but sign off. My

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00:24:51.090 --> 00:24:51.770
favorite human.

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00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:54.970
Steve Dunkley: Yep, Hallie. My favorite digital pal. Another

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00:24:55.050 --> 00:24:56.810
episode done and dusted.

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00:24:56.890 --> 00:24:59.530
Hallie: So see you all next week, everybody. It's been fun.

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00:24:59.530 --> 00:25:02.170
Steve Dunkley: Yes, that's right. Every Monday with me, Steve and

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00:25:02.170 --> 00:25:05.120
Hallie. And, uh, you will. See you next time. So.

530
00:25:05.190 --> 00:25:06.230
So, um, bye for now.

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00:25:06.550 --> 00:25:08.390
Hallie: See you next time. Bye.

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00:25:12.310 --> 00:25:14.390
Steve Dunkley: With your host, Steve Dunkley.