Rockets Across Continents, A Black Hole's Jet Unveiled, and Rain of Rubies on Distant World

WEBVTT

0
00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:03.200
Anna: Rockets on two continents, the

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:05.920
most detailed look ever at a jet

2
00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.560
screaming out of the first black hole

3
00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.520
humanity ever photographed, and a

4
00:00:11.520 --> 00:00:14.240
planet where the rain is made of rubies

5
00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.720
and sapphires. It is Wednesday

6
00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:18.885
17th June

7
00:00:19.088 --> 00:00:21.880
2026 and this is Astronomy

8
00:00:21.880 --> 00:00:22.560
M Daily.

9
00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:23.920
Avery: I'm Avery.

10
00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.650
Anna: And I'm Anna. We have got a

11
00:00:26.650 --> 00:00:29.290
packed show for you today, including a

12
00:00:29.290 --> 00:00:31.770
Chandra double header that we are very

13
00:00:31.770 --> 00:00:32.570
excited about.

14
00:00:33.050 --> 00:00:35.730
Avery: Plus a quick but important update on a

15
00:00:35.730 --> 00:00:37.570
Dragon capsule that splashed down this

16
00:00:37.570 --> 00:00:40.050
morning carrying some genuinely remarkable

17
00:00:40.050 --> 00:00:42.090
science from the International Space Station.

18
00:00:42.490 --> 00:00:43.530
Anna: Let's get into it.

19
00:00:44.010 --> 00:00:46.250
Avery: Our first story comes from Cape Canaveral,

20
00:00:46.250 --> 00:00:48.970
where SpaceX kicked off today very early this

21
00:00:48.970 --> 00:00:51.410
morning by launching three of the biggest

22
00:00:51.410 --> 00:00:54.090
commercial communications satellites ever put

23
00:00:54.090 --> 00:00:55.530
into low Earth orbit.

24
00:00:55.970 --> 00:00:58.730
Anna: These are AST Space Mobile's

25
00:00:58.730 --> 00:01:01.690
Bluebird 8, 9 and 10, the

26
00:01:01.690 --> 00:01:03.970
latest additions to what the company is

27
00:01:03.970 --> 00:01:06.770
calling the first and only space based

28
00:01:06.850 --> 00:01:09.650
cellular broadband network that connects

29
00:01:09.650 --> 00:01:12.570
directly to ordinary smartphones. No

30
00:01:12.570 --> 00:01:15.170
special hardware, no satellite phone,

31
00:01:15.330 --> 00:01:17.890
just the device already in your pocket.

32
00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:20.610
Avery: The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch

33
00:01:20.610 --> 00:01:23.290
Complex 40 at uh, Cape Canaveral Space Force

34
00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:26.010
Station at 2:39 in the morning Eastern

35
00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:27.170
Time. The BO

36
00:01:27.710 --> 00:01:30.670
B1007 on its 29th flight

37
00:01:30.910 --> 00:01:33.550
came back down on the drone ship, a shortfall

38
00:01:33.550 --> 00:01:36.230
of gravitas in the Atlantic about eight and a

39
00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:38.750
half minutes later. Business as usual for

40
00:01:38.750 --> 00:01:39.310
SpaceX.

41
00:01:39.630 --> 00:01:42.270
Anna: But the satellites themselves are anything

42
00:01:42.270 --> 00:01:44.790
but routine. These block 2

43
00:01:44.790 --> 00:01:47.510
bluebirds are a major leap over the first

44
00:01:47.510 --> 00:01:50.310
generation. Each one carries a phased

45
00:01:50.310 --> 00:01:52.750
array spanning nearly 2,400

46
00:01:52.990 --> 00:01:55.510
square feet, making them the largest

47
00:01:55.510 --> 00:01:58.350
commercial phased arrays ever deployed in

48
00:01:58.350 --> 00:02:01.170
low earth orb. For comparison, the

49
00:02:01.170 --> 00:02:03.770
first generation bluebirds had a raise of

50
00:02:03.770 --> 00:02:06.610
around 693 square feet. So

51
00:02:06.610 --> 00:02:08.650
we're talking about a uh, three and a half

52
00:02:08.650 --> 00:02:10.330
times increase in size

53
00:02:10.810 --> 00:02:13.370
Avery: and that size translates directly to

54
00:02:13.370 --> 00:02:16.210
capability. Each satellite supports 10

55
00:02:16.210 --> 00:02:18.730
gigahertz of processing bandwidth and peak

56
00:02:18.730 --> 00:02:21.410
speeds of 120 megabits per

57
00:02:21.410 --> 00:02:24.290
second per coverage cell. AST Space

58
00:02:24.290 --> 00:02:26.530
Mobile says that's nearly double what the

59
00:02:26.530 --> 00:02:28.090
Block 1 satellites could deliver.

60
00:02:28.760 --> 00:02:31.160
Anna: The company has been racing to build out this

61
00:02:31.160 --> 00:02:34.120
constellation after a setback earlier this

62
00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:36.640
year when a Blue Origin New Glenn

63
00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:39.560
rocket carrying another Bluebird satellite

64
00:02:39.640 --> 00:02:42.200
exploded during a static fire test.

65
00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:45.280
Today's successful launch puts them firmly

66
00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:46.120
back on track.

67
00:02:46.600 --> 00:02:49.240
Avery: AST Space Mobile already has agreements with

68
00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:52.120
over 50 mobile network operators globally,

69
00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:55.200
including AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone,

70
00:02:55.590 --> 00:02:58.510
covering nearly 3 billion subscribers. The

71
00:02:58.510 --> 00:03:00.550
vision is global broadband coverage,

72
00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:02.510
especially for the billions of people in

73
00:03:02.510 --> 00:03:04.630
areas where terrestrial mobile networks

74
00:03:04.630 --> 00:03:05.590
simply don't reach.

75
00:03:06.150 --> 00:03:08.870
Anna: A big morning for space based connectivity

76
00:03:08.870 --> 00:03:11.630
and a reminder of just how fast this

77
00:03:11.630 --> 00:03:12.630
sector is moving.

78
00:03:13.190 --> 00:03:16.150
Story two, and we are staying with launches

79
00:03:16.230 --> 00:03:18.590
because if one rocket spectacular wasn't

80
00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:20.710
enough for a Wednesday morning, Europe

81
00:03:20.790 --> 00:03:22.230
decided to join the party.

82
00:03:22.860 --> 00:03:25.500
Avery: Orion Space launched its Ariane 6 rocket from

83
00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:27.620
the Guiana Space center in Kourou, French

84
00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:29.340
guiana today, carrying

85
00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:31.820
36Amazon Leo broadband

86
00:03:31.820 --> 00:03:34.300
satellites to low Earth orbit. That is the

87
00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:36.820
heaviest payload ever launched by any

88
00:03:36.820 --> 00:03:39.380
Ariane rocket in the entire history of the

89
00:03:39.380 --> 00:03:39.660
program.

90
00:03:40.140 --> 00:03:42.940
Anna: To give that some Context, the previous two

91
00:03:42.940 --> 00:03:45.660
Ariane 6Amazon LEO flights

92
00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:48.220
each carried 32 satellites.

93
00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:49.980
Today's mission, designated

94
00:03:49.980 --> 00:03:52.940
VA269, carried four

95
00:03:52.940 --> 00:03:55.400
more. And payload mass is

96
00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:56.680
estimated to be around

97
00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:59.480
45,900 pounds,

98
00:03:59.720 --> 00:04:01.720
roughly 21 metric tons.

99
00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:03.720
Avery: But here's what makes this launch

100
00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:06.200
particularly noteworthy beyond just a record

101
00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:09.160
payload. Today was the debut flight of the

102
00:04:09.160 --> 00:04:11.880
upgraded P160C solid

103
00:04:11.880 --> 00:04:14.880
rocket boosters. Orion 6 flew today with

104
00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:17.520
four of these new strap on boosters and they

105
00:04:17.520 --> 00:04:19.560
are a significant improvement over the

106
00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.240
P120C boosters that have powered

107
00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:24.130
all previous Orion 6 flights.

108
00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:27.640
Anna: The P160C boosters are

109
00:04:27.640 --> 00:04:30.640
1 meter longer inside and can carry

110
00:04:30.640 --> 00:04:33.480
up to 156 tons of

111
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:35.960
propellant each, a, uh, 10%

112
00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:38.400
increase in performance over the

113
00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:40.920
P120C. That

114
00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:43.920
upgrade pushes Ariane 64's

115
00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.200
total payload capacity to

116
00:04:46.200 --> 00:04:49.000
approximately 22 tons in low

117
00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:49.800
Earth orbit.

118
00:04:50.420 --> 00:04:53.140
Avery: Ariane says this is all part of Ariane 6

119
00:04:53.140 --> 00:04:55.940
ramping up rapidly. Less than two years after

120
00:04:55.940 --> 00:04:58.500
its inaugural flight, the rocket is already

121
00:04:58.500 --> 00:05:00.420
undergoing its first major performance

122
00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:03.260
upgrade. And with 18 Ariane six

123
00:05:03.260 --> 00:05:05.700
launches contracted for the Amazon LEO

124
00:05:05.700 --> 00:05:08.340
Constellation alone, the European launch

125
00:05:08.340 --> 00:05:10.420
business looks very healthy indeed.

126
00:05:10.980 --> 00:05:13.500
Anna: This was the eighth Ariane 6 launch

127
00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:15.580
overall, and the third of

128
00:05:15.580 --> 00:05:18.430
2026. And with the successful

129
00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:21.190
deployment of these 36 satellites,

130
00:05:21.270 --> 00:05:23.630
Arianespace has now placed

131
00:05:23.630 --> 00:05:26.350
100Amazon LEO satellites into

132
00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:28.630
orbit in just five months.

133
00:05:29.110 --> 00:05:30.710
That is quite apace.

134
00:05:31.190 --> 00:05:33.110
Avery: A uh, quick but important update now

135
00:05:33.350 --> 00:05:35.270
following on from the story we brought you

136
00:05:35.270 --> 00:05:37.710
yesterday about SpaceX's Dragon

137
00:05:37.710 --> 00:05:40.310
CRS 34 cargo capsule

138
00:05:40.310 --> 00:05:42.230
undocking from the International Space

139
00:05:42.230 --> 00:05:42.630
Station.

140
00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:46.230
Anna: As we told you, the Dragon undocked from the

141
00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:48.990
Harmony Module's forward port at around

142
00:05:49.150 --> 00:05:52.030
12:25 Eastern Time yesterday

143
00:05:52.030 --> 00:05:54.750
afternoon while the station was flying

144
00:05:54.750 --> 00:05:57.630
about 418 km

145
00:05:57.790 --> 00:06:00.790
above the northern Pacific Ocean. And

146
00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:03.230
this morning, right on schedule, it

147
00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:06.030
splashed down off the coast of California,

148
00:06:06.270 --> 00:06:09.150
completing a roughly 17 hour return

149
00:06:09.230 --> 00:06:09.790
journey.

150
00:06:10.350 --> 00:06:12.350
Avery: And um, this is the part that makes this more

151
00:06:12.350 --> 00:06:15.310
than just a logistics story. Dragon CRS

152
00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:17.710
34 is bringing back some of the most

153
00:06:17.790 --> 00:06:20.350
medically significant science payloads the

154
00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:22.790
station has assembled for return in some

155
00:06:22.790 --> 00:06:23.150
time.

156
00:06:23.630 --> 00:06:26.510
Anna: The cargo includes bioprinted organ

157
00:06:26.510 --> 00:06:29.190
and cartilage tissue work that could

158
00:06:29.190 --> 00:06:31.630
eventually transform how we approach

159
00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:34.430
joint repair and transplant medicine.

160
00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:37.350
There are also materials developed for

161
00:06:37.350 --> 00:06:40.300
DNA inspired cancer treatments, but

162
00:06:40.450 --> 00:06:43.250
blood forming stem cells and data from

163
00:06:43.250 --> 00:06:45.890
experiments on improving cryogenic

164
00:06:45.890 --> 00:06:48.610
fuel storage for future deep space

165
00:06:48.690 --> 00:06:49.170
missions.

166
00:06:49.730 --> 00:06:51.930
Avery: It's worth remembering that Dragon is the

167
00:06:51.930 --> 00:06:54.370
only cargo vehicle currently serving the ISS

168
00:06:54.690 --> 00:06:56.770
that can return to Earth intact.

169
00:06:57.170 --> 00:06:59.450
Russia's Progress capsules and Northrop

170
00:06:59.450 --> 00:07:02.370
Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft both burn up on

171
00:07:02.370 --> 00:07:04.690
re entry, taking whatever they carry with

172
00:07:04.690 --> 00:07:07.410
them. Dragon's ability to bring science

173
00:07:07.410 --> 00:07:09.970
home is genuinely irreplaceable right now.

174
00:07:10.530 --> 00:07:13.090
Anna: Time sensitive samples like living cell

175
00:07:13.090 --> 00:07:15.690
cultures are flown by helicopter from the

176
00:07:15.690 --> 00:07:18.650
recovery ship to Kennedy Space center, where

177
00:07:18.650 --> 00:07:21.160
research teams are standing by a, uh,

178
00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:24.130
reminder that space science doesn't pause at

179
00:07:24.130 --> 00:07:24.850
splashdown.

180
00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:28.010
Avery: Story four and the start of our Chandra

181
00:07:28.010 --> 00:07:30.530
double header and what a place to begin with

182
00:07:30.530 --> 00:07:33.090
the most famous black hole in the universe.

183
00:07:33.570 --> 00:07:36.450
Anna: If the name Messier87 rings

184
00:07:36.450 --> 00:07:39.170
a bell, that's because in 2019

185
00:07:39.570 --> 00:07:42.190
it became the first black HOL that

186
00:07:42.190 --> 00:07:45.070
humanity ever directly imaged. The

187
00:07:45.070 --> 00:07:47.990
Event Horizon Telescope captured that

188
00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:50.790
now iconic picture of a glowing ring

189
00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:53.550
of superheated gas surrounding a

190
00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:56.430
dark central shadow. That shadow

191
00:07:56.430 --> 00:07:59.150
is M M87 star, a

192
00:07:59.150 --> 00:08:01.550
supermassive black hole weighing

193
00:08:01.550 --> 00:08:04.510
6.5 billion times the mass of

194
00:08:04.510 --> 00:08:07.310
our sun, located about 55

195
00:08:07.470 --> 00:08:08.990
million light years away.

196
00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:11.840
Avery: And shooting out from that black hole is one

197
00:08:11.840 --> 00:08:14.520
of nature's most extraordinary phenomena,

198
00:08:14.760 --> 00:08:17.640
a jet of particles being blasted into space

199
00:08:17.640 --> 00:08:20.160
at nearly the speed of light, stretching

200
00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.520
thousands of light years. We've known about

201
00:08:22.520 --> 00:08:24.960
this jet for a century, but we've never seen

202
00:08:24.960 --> 00:08:27.000
it in quite this level of detail before.

203
00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:30.400
Anna: An international team led by Camille

204
00:08:30.400 --> 00:08:33.110
Poitras, a PhD student at UH

205
00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.800
Laval University in Canada, has

206
00:08:35.800 --> 00:08:38.480
produced the most detailed X ray

207
00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:41.280
view ever obtained of that jet by

208
00:08:41.280 --> 00:08:43.840
combining Chandra Observations taken

209
00:08:43.920 --> 00:08:46.800
between 2012 and 2025

210
00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:49.840
with advanced image processing techniques.

211
00:08:50.160 --> 00:08:53.080
The results were presented this week at the

212
00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:55.920
248th meeting of the American

213
00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.080
Astronomical Society in Pasadena,

214
00:08:59.080 --> 00:08:59.760
California.

215
00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.880
Avery: What the team found is genuinely striking.

216
00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:05.640
The deconvolved images reveal structures

217
00:09:05.640 --> 00:09:07.720
within the jet that were previously too

218
00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:10.080
blended together to distinguish, including

219
00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.560
two separate components in a feature called

220
00:09:12.940 --> 00:09:15.660
HST1 and complex morphology

221
00:09:15.660 --> 00:09:18.620
in downstream knots. They also measured a

222
00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:21.100
global decrease in the jet's X ray emission

223
00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:24.020
of up to 84% over the observation

224
00:09:24.020 --> 00:09:26.300
period, which is consistent with a process

225
00:09:26.380 --> 00:09:28.220
called synchrotron cooling.

226
00:09:28.380 --> 00:09:30.860
Anna: In plain English, the particles in the jet

227
00:09:30.860 --> 00:09:33.540
are losing energy as they travel, and we can

228
00:09:33.540 --> 00:09:35.940
now watch that cooling happen in real time

229
00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.060
across more than a decade of observations.

230
00:09:38.540 --> 00:09:40.380
Some features of the jet appear to be

231
00:09:40.380 --> 00:09:42.820
essentially stationary, while others are

232
00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:45.090
moving at what looks like faster than the

233
00:09:45.090 --> 00:09:47.890
speed of light, an effect called superluminal

234
00:09:47.890 --> 00:09:50.410
motion that's caused by the geometry of how

235
00:09:50.410 --> 00:09:52.890
we're viewing the jet. Not a violation of

236
00:09:52.890 --> 00:09:53.370
physics.

237
00:09:53.770 --> 00:09:56.010
Avery: The team combined Chandra data with

238
00:09:56.010 --> 00:09:58.650
observations from jwst, the

239
00:09:58.650 --> 00:10:01.570
Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Array

240
00:10:01.570 --> 00:10:04.250
and alma, giving a truly multi

241
00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:06.410
wavelength picture of this extraordinary

242
00:10:06.410 --> 00:10:09.410
object. As one team member put it, these

243
00:10:09.410 --> 00:10:12.050
results demonstrate how uniquely powerful

244
00:10:12.050 --> 00:10:14.770
Chandra remains for tracking the evolution of

245
00:10:14.770 --> 00:10:17.430
extreme phenomena over long timescales.

246
00:10:17.750 --> 00:10:20.670
Anna: 26 years after launch, Chandra is still

247
00:10:20.670 --> 00:10:23.630
delivering first of its kind science. And we

248
00:10:23.630 --> 00:10:25.990
have another example of exactly that coming

249
00:10:25.990 --> 00:10:26.550
up next.

250
00:10:26.950 --> 00:10:29.390
Avery: The second half of our Chandra double header

251
00:10:29.390 --> 00:10:31.910
takes us from 55 million light years away

252
00:10:32.150 --> 00:10:35.070
to much closer to home, to the very center

253
00:10:35.070 --> 00:10:37.670
of our own Milky way galaxy, about

254
00:10:37.670 --> 00:10:39.830
26,000 light years from Earth.

255
00:10:40.070 --> 00:10:42.830
Anna: Astronomers using data from NASA's Chandra X

256
00:10:42.830 --> 00:10:45.630
Ray Observatory, working alongside ESA's

257
00:10:45.630 --> 00:10:47.710
XM Newton mission, have detected what

258
00:10:47.710 --> 00:10:49.410
appeared appears to be the remnant of a

259
00:10:49.410 --> 00:10:52.370
supernova. A, uh, dead star's explosion in

260
00:10:52.370 --> 00:10:54.930
a remarkable location right near

261
00:10:54.930 --> 00:10:57.730
Sagittarius A, the supermassive

262
00:10:57.730 --> 00:10:59.690
black hole at the heart of the Milky Way

263
00:10:59.690 --> 00:11:00.290
Galaxy.

264
00:11:00.610 --> 00:11:03.010
Avery: If confirmed, this would be the closest

265
00:11:03.010 --> 00:11:05.410
supernova remnant ever discovered to

266
00:11:05.410 --> 00:11:08.370
Sagittarius A. And the neighborhood it was

267
00:11:08.370 --> 00:11:11.210
found in is extraordinary. The galactic

268
00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:13.810
center is an incredibly dense, turbulent

269
00:11:13.810 --> 00:11:16.570
region packed with massive stars, long

270
00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:19.170
threads of magnetic fields and enormous

271
00:11:19.170 --> 00:11:21.950
clouds of gas orbiting the central black hole

272
00:11:21.950 --> 00:11:22.910
at high speed.

273
00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:25.710
Anna: The evidence comes from X ray data from both

274
00:11:25.710 --> 00:11:28.550
Chandra and XM Newton, which showed a

275
00:11:28.550 --> 00:11:30.990
mysterious bright spot in a region called the

276
00:11:30.990 --> 00:11:33.950
Sagittarius C complex. The brightness of this

277
00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:36.430
object is about 10 times greater than other

278
00:11:36.430 --> 00:11:39.070
nearby star clusters, which makes it very

279
00:11:39.070 --> 00:11:41.630
unlikely to simply be a cluster of stars.

280
00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:44.070
The research team believes they're looking at

281
00:11:44.070 --> 00:11:46.910
diffuse gas that has been heated to millions

282
00:11:46.910 --> 00:11:49.150
of degrees by the shockwave of a stellar

283
00:11:49.150 --> 00:11:49.790
explosion.

284
00:11:50.300 --> 00:11:52.700
Avery: The team estimates the star that created this

285
00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:55.660
wreckage exploded around 1700 years ago.

286
00:11:55.980 --> 00:11:58.940
So sometime in the 3rd or 4th century CE,

287
00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:01.340
the exploding star would have ejected

288
00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:04.060
material at around 2 million miles per hour.

289
00:12:04.140 --> 00:12:06.620
And the expanding shock wave is what Chandra

290
00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:09.180
is detecting now as a diffused glow of X

291
00:12:09.180 --> 00:12:09.580
rays.

292
00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:11.620
Anna: This finding was published in the

293
00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:14.260
Astrophysical Journal, and it adds another

294
00:12:14.260 --> 00:12:16.700
piece to our picture of the galactic center,

295
00:12:16.780 --> 00:12:19.260
one of the most extreme and least understood

296
00:12:19.260 --> 00:12:21.680
environments in our own galaxy. The

297
00:12:21.680 --> 00:12:24.120
researchers note that supernova remnants like

298
00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:26.920
this one are, uh, critical suppliers of heavy

299
00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:29.080
elements, iron, oxygen,

300
00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:31.920
silicone that are essential for the formation

301
00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:34.600
of new planets and ultimately for life.

302
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:37.800
Avery: Two remarkable stories from one remarkable

303
00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:40.520
observatory, Chandra has had quite a week.

304
00:12:40.920 --> 00:12:43.200
Anna: We're closing today's episode with our most

305
00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.200
visually spectacular story, a world

306
00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:49.080
so extreme it sounds like science fiction.

307
00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:51.160
But everything we're about to tell you is

308
00:12:51.160 --> 00:12:53.700
real. And it's backed by data from the James

309
00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:54.820
Webb Oscilloscope.

310
00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:57.620
Avery: Meet WASP121B.

311
00:12:58.100 --> 00:13:00.780
This is what astronomers call an ultra hot

312
00:13:00.780 --> 00:13:03.780
Jupiter. A gas giant roughly twice

313
00:13:03.780 --> 00:13:06.020
the size of Jupiter, located about

314
00:13:06.180 --> 00:13:08.820
855 light years from Earth.

315
00:13:09.380 --> 00:13:12.340
It orbits its host star at such an impossibly

316
00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:15.100
close distance that a single year on this

317
00:13:15.100 --> 00:13:17.940
planet lasts just 30 hours. And

318
00:13:18.020 --> 00:13:20.820
because it's so close, it's tidally locked,

319
00:13:21.170 --> 00:13:23.810
meaning one side permanently faces the star

320
00:13:23.970 --> 00:13:26.770
and the other side permanently faces cold,

321
00:13:26.770 --> 00:13:27.570
dark space.

322
00:13:28.130 --> 00:13:30.690
Anna: The dayside temperature reaches around

323
00:13:30.850 --> 00:13:33.730
3,000 degrees Celsius. That

324
00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:36.650
is hot enough to vaporize metals. On

325
00:13:36.650 --> 00:13:39.210
that scorching dayside, materials like

326
00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:42.090
iron, magnesium, titanium and

327
00:13:42.090 --> 00:13:44.930
aluminum exist as gases. But

328
00:13:44.930 --> 00:13:47.410
as powerful winds blowing at around

329
00:13:47.490 --> 00:13:49.890
18,000 km per hour

330
00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:52.760
carry those vaporized metals around to the

331
00:13:52.910 --> 00:13:54.750
cooler night side, something

332
00:13:54.990 --> 00:13:56.590
extraordinary happens.

333
00:13:57.070 --> 00:13:59.710
Avery: They condense. And when aluminum

334
00:13:59.710 --> 00:14:02.430
condenses with oxygen, it forms a compound

335
00:14:02.510 --> 00:14:05.070
called corundum. And corundum,

336
00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:07.350
depending on which trace impurities are

337
00:14:07.350 --> 00:14:10.030
present, is the mineral that on Earth, we

338
00:14:10.030 --> 00:14:12.430
call either a sapphire or a ruby.

339
00:14:13.070 --> 00:14:14.670
Anna: So on the night side of

340
00:14:14.670 --> 00:14:17.470
WASP121B, it rains

341
00:14:17.630 --> 00:14:20.310
rubies and sapphires. Not

342
00:14:20.310 --> 00:14:22.710
gemstone quality crystals, but

343
00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:25.030
microscopic droplets of what are

344
00:14:25.030 --> 00:14:28.030
essentially liquid gemstones falling

345
00:14:28.030 --> 00:14:30.750
through the clouds before being swept back to

346
00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:33.550
the dayside by those ferocious winds, where

347
00:14:33.550 --> 00:14:36.350
they vaporize again and the cycle continues.

348
00:14:36.990 --> 00:14:39.790
Avery: New WJST observations have

349
00:14:39.790 --> 00:14:42.110
now given astronomers the most detailed

350
00:14:42.110 --> 00:14:44.310
weather picture ever assembled for this

351
00:14:44.310 --> 00:14:47.030
world, tracking atmospheric dynamics

352
00:14:47.030 --> 00:14:49.950
across both hemispheres in three dimensions.

353
00:14:50.260 --> 00:14:52.450
And researchers describe the planet's

354
00:14:52.450 --> 00:14:55.370
atmosphere as a 3D system, not just

355
00:14:55.370 --> 00:14:57.730
a series of snapshots. And say

356
00:14:57.730 --> 00:15:00.530
WJST gives them the most detailed

357
00:15:00.530 --> 00:15:02.970
glimpses into distant planets ever

358
00:15:02.970 --> 00:15:03.610
obtained.

359
00:15:04.010 --> 00:15:06.450
Anna: To put that in perspective, we are not just

360
00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:08.890
detecting whether a planet has an atmosphere

361
00:15:08.890 --> 00:15:11.410
anymore. We're doing something approaching

362
00:15:11.410 --> 00:15:14.010
weather forecasting for a world nearly

363
00:15:14.010 --> 00:15:15.850
900 light years away.

364
00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:18.790
Avery: And the forecast for tonight on Wasp

365
00:15:18.790 --> 00:15:21.110
121B, winds at

366
00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:23.990
18,000 kilometers per hour, with a chance

367
00:15:23.990 --> 00:15:26.950
of sapphire showers on the night side. I

368
00:15:26.950 --> 00:15:28.950
would leave the umbrella at home. It almost

369
00:15:28.950 --> 00:15:30.030
certainly won't help.

370
00:15:30.510 --> 00:15:32.830
Anna: That is Astronomy daily for Wednesday,

371
00:15:32.990 --> 00:15:35.470
17 June 2026.

372
00:15:35.790 --> 00:15:37.910
Thank you so much for spending part of your

373
00:15:37.910 --> 00:15:38.510
day with us.

374
00:15:38.910 --> 00:15:41.030
Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, please

375
00:15:41.030 --> 00:15:43.430
subscribe, leave us a review and share the

376
00:15:43.430 --> 00:15:46.340
show with someone who loves space. Every new

377
00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:48.420
listener helps us keep doing what we do.

378
00:15:48.900 --> 00:15:51.860
Anna: Find us at astronomydaily IO for

379
00:15:51.860 --> 00:15:54.500
show notes, episode archives, and more. And

380
00:15:54.500 --> 00:15:57.460
you'll find us on social media. Astrodaily

381
00:15:57.460 --> 00:15:58.020
Pod.

382
00:15:58.340 --> 00:16:00.420
Avery: We'll be back tomorrow with more of the

383
00:16:00.420 --> 00:16:03.420
universe's best stories. Until then, keep

384
00:16:03.420 --> 00:16:04.020
looking up.

385
00:16:04.420 --> 00:16:05.540
Anna: Clear skies, everyone.

386
00:16:12.180 --> 00:16:12.420
The.

387
00:16:17.140 --> 00:16:17.540
Story.