Solar Sentinel Reaches L1, Challenger's 40-Year Legacy, and AI's Hubble Discoveries

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for

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the latest space and astronomy news. I'm

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Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. Today is Wednesday, January

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28, 2026, and we've got a

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fantastic lineup of storeys for you.

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Anna: We certainly do. We'll be covering

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NOAA's new solar observatory reaching its

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destination, looking back at how weather

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played a tragic role in the Talinger disaster

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40 years ago, and discovering how

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AI is uncovering hidden cosmic

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treasures in Hubble's AR Plus,

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Venus might be.

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Avery: In for a spectacular meteor shower this July.

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We'll explore stellar fireworks at the heart

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of our galaxy. And NASA is giving us a live

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view of the Artemis 2 moon rocket on the

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launch pad.

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Anna: Let's dive right in.

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Avery: Our top storey today takes us about a million

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miles from Earth, where NOAA's Space Weather

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Follow on Lagrange 1 Observatory has just

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arrived at its permanent home. Anna, uh, this

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is a pretty significant milestone for space

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weather monitoring, isn't it?

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Anna: Absolutely, Avery. This observatory reached

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Lagrange Point 1, or L1, on

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January 21, after launching back in

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June 2024. Now, uh, for our listeners

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who might not be familiar, L1 is this

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special gravitational sweet spot between

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Earth and the sun, about 1.5

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million kilometres from our planet.

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Avery: And what makes this location so ideal for

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watching the Sun?

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Anna: Well, at L1, the observatory maintains a

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constant view of the sun while orbiting in

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sync with Earth. It's like having a cosmic

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early warning system. The satellite can

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detect solar storms and coronal mass

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ejections headed our way, giving us that

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crucial advance notice, typically about

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15 to 60 minutes before these events

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impact Earth.

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Avery: That advance warning time is critical, isn't

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it? I mean, we're talking about protecting

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everything from power grids to satellites.

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Anna: Exactly right. And here's what's really

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exciting. It's not just one observatory,

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it's a constellation. NOAA is planning

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four more satellites for L1, plus

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additional ones at, uh, Lagrange point five.

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Together, they'll create this comprehensive

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solar monitoring network. The second

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satellite is already scheduled to launch in

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2027.

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Avery: So we're looking at a much more robust space

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weather forecasting capability in the near

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future.

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Anna: Precisely. And given how dependent our, uh,

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modern infrastructure is on satellites and

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power grids, this kind of monitoring becomes

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more important every year. The observatory

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is now beginning what NOAA calls an extended

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checkout period before it becomes fully

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operational.

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Avery: Moving to a More sombre note, January

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28th marks 40 years since the space Shuttle

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Challenger disaster. Anna, uh, there's been

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renewed focus on how weather and engineering

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decisions played into that tragedy.

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Anna: Yes. And it's a powerful reminder of how

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critical environmental factors are in

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spaceflight. You know, Avery, the night

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before that launch, temperatures at Kennedy

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Space Centre dropped to just 28 degrees

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Fahrenheit. That's minus 2 Celsius

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for Florida. That was exceptionally cold.

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Avery: And, um, those cold temperatures were at the

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heart of the problem, weren't they?

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Anna: They were. Engineers from Morton Thykol,

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the company that built the solid rocket

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boosters, were deeply concerned about the O

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rings, these critical rubber seals in the

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boost joints. They'd never been tested below

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53 degrees Fahrenheit, and the engineers

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warned that the cold could make them too

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stiff to seal properly.

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Avery: But the launch went ahead anyway.

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Anna: It did. Despite the engineering concerns,

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there was enormous pressure to maintain the

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launch schedule. NASA had already postponed

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the mission several times, and there was this

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institutional momentum to proceed.

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73 seconds after liftoff, hot

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gases escaped through a failed O ring

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seal, leading to the catastrophic breakup of

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Challenger.

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Avery: It's heartbreaking. Seven crew members lost,

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including Christa McAuliffe, who would have

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been the first teacher in space.

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Anna: The tragedy fundamentally changed how

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NASA approached decision making. The Rogers

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Commission investigation that followed was

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incredibly thorough, and it led to major

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reforms in safety, culture and communication.

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One of the key findings was that engineering

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concerns need to override schedule

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pressures. Always.

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Avery: And those lessons still resonate today, don't

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they? I mean, we see NASA taking extra time

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with Artemis missions being very methodical.

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Anna: Absolutely. The Challenger disaster taught

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us that in spaceflight, there's no such thing

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as a routine launch. Every mission

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requires the same level of scrutiny and

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respect for engineering limits. It's a

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lesson paid for with seven lives and one

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we must never forget.

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Avery: On a brighter note, let's talk about some

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exciting discoveries from the Hubble Space

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Telescope. Anna? Uh, artificial

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intelligence has just helped astronomers

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uncover hundreds of previously

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undetected cosmic objects in Hubble's

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vast archives.

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Anna: This is fascinating stuff, Avery. So

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researchers have developed this AI algorithm

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that can sift through decades of Hubble

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observations. And it's finding things that

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human astronomers missed.

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Avery: Exactly. The algorithm focuses on

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something called gravitational lensing. When

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a massive object like a galaxy cluster

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bends light from more distant objects behind

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it. Einstein predicted this effect. And it's

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like having a natural cosmic magnifier.

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Anna: And these lensed objects can tell us a lot

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about the early universe, right?

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Avery: They can. The AI has identified

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hundreds of gravitational lens candidates,

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including some exceptionally distant galaxies

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from when the universe was very young. What's

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really clever about this approach is that the

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algorithm was trained on existing verified

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gravitational lenses. So it knows what to

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look for.

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Anna: So it's not just finding more of the same,

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it's finding rare and unusual examples

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too.

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Avery: That's what makes this so exciting. The AI is

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uncovering exotic lensing configurations that

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would be extremely time consuming for humans

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to find manually. We're talking about complex

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multi image systems arc like structures,

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even Einstein rings where the background

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object is perfectly aligned.

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Anna: And Hubble has been collecting data for over

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30 years now. So there's this enormous

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archive to mine.

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Avery: Right. It's like having a treasure trove that

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we're only now learning how to properly

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search. These discoveries will help us

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understand dark matter distribution in galaxy

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clusters, study extremely distant galaxies

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that would otherwise be too faint to detect

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and refine our models of cosmic evolution.

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Anna: It really shows how AI and human

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astronomers can work together. The AI does

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the heavy lifting of searching through

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millions of images and then human experts

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verify and study the most interesting

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candidates.

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Avery: Exactly. It's not replacing

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astronomers, it's amplifying what they can

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achieve. And as these AI tools get more

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sophisticated, who knows what other cosmic

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secrets might be hiding in plain sight in our

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archives.

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Anna: Now for something you don't hear every

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Venus might be getting a meteor shower.

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Avery, tell us about this cosmic event coming

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this July.

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Avery: This is a really cool storey, Anna. Uh,

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astronomers had determined that Venus could

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experience a significant meteor shower in

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July 2026. And it uh, all traces

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back to an asteroid breakup that happened

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long ago. We're talking about debris from

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asteroid 2002

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VT37.

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Anna: Though an asteroid broke apart and now its

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debris is going to hit Venus?

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Avery: Essentially, yes. When asteroids

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collide or break apart, they create streams

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of debris that continue orbiting the Sun.

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Earth regularly passes through these debris

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streams. That's what causes our meteor

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showers like the Perseids or the Geminites.

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Anna: But we don't usually think about other

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planets having meteor showers.

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Avery: We don't, and that's partly because we can't

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observe them as easily. But

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mathematical modelling shows that Venus's

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orbit will take it through this particular

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debris stream in July. The timing and

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geometry appear to line up for a genuine

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meteor shower event.

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Anna: What would that look like? I mean, Venus has

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that incredibly thick atmosphere, right?

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Avery: It does. Venus's atmosphere is about 90

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times denser than Earth's and is mostly

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carbon dioxide. Any meteors entering that

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atmosphere would experience tremendous

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heating and friction. They'd likely burn up

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at, uh, much higher altitudes than meteors do

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on Earth, creating bright streaks across the

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Venusian sky.

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Anna: Though I suppose nobody's going to be on the

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surface watching this Light show?

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Avery: No. Surface conditions on Venus are pretty

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inhospitable. We're talking temperatures hot

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enough to melt lead and crushing

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atmospheric pressure. But spacecraft in orbit

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around Venus, or even Earth based

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observations with certain wavelength might be

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able to detect evidence of the meteor shower.

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Anna: Could this tell us anything scientifically

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valuable?

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Avery: Absolutely. Studying how meteor

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showers interact with Venus's unique

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atmosphere could give us insights into

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atmosphere chemistry and dynamics.

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Plus it helps us understand the distribution

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of debris throughout the inner solar system.

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And it's just a reminder that these dramatic

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cosmic events aren't exclusive to Earth.

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Anna: Speaking of dramatic cosmic events, let's

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head to the centre of our own galaxy. Avery.

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Astronomers have been observing what they're

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calling stellar fireworks at the heart of the

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Milky Way.

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Avery: The galactic centre is such a wild place,

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isn't it? I mean, we've got that supermassive

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black hole, Sagittarius A, and

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all sorts of extreme phys going on there.

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Anna: It really is cosmic chaos in the best way

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possible. The region around Sagittarius A

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is incredibly dense with stars, gas and

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dust. And what astronomers are seeing is a

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spectacular display of stellar activity.

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Massive stars being born, living out their

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brief but brilliant lives and dying in

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supernova explosions.

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Avery: And all of this is happening in a, uh,

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relatively small region of space, right?

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Anna: Exactly. The galactic centre is an incredibly

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compact environment. You've got stellar

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densities that are millions of times higher

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than what we see in our solar neighbourhood.

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Stars are packed so tightly that

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gravitational interactions are common and the

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radiation environment is intense.

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Avery: What kind of observations are revealing these

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fireworks?

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Anna: Astronomers are using multiple wavelengths,

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infrared x ray and radio observations

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to peer through the thick dust that obscures,

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um, the galactic centre in visible light.

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What they're seeing are energetic outbursts,

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shock waves from supernova remnants, and

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evidence of stars being torn apart by intense

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tidal forces near the black hole.

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Avery: That sounds pretty dramatic, stars

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being torn apart.

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Anna: Yes. There's this phenomenon called tidal

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disruption, where a star that ventures too

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close to Sagittarius A gets stretched by

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gravitational forces, sort of like cosmic

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spaghettification. The star literally gets

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pulled apart and some of that material falls

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into the black hole while the rest is ejected

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at tremendous speeds.

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Avery: And, um, we're also seeing new stars forming

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in this extreme environment.

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Anna: You're. Despite the harsh conditions, or

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perhaps because of them, there are regions of

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intense star formation. The gravitational

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compression from all that mass can trigger

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the collapse of gas clouds, leading to new

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stellar births. These tend to be very

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massive, hot stars that burn bright and

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die young.

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Avery: It's almost like the galactic centre is this

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constant cycle of creation and destruction.

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Anna: That's a perfect way to describe it. And

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study in this region helps us understand how

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galaxies evolve, how supermassive black holes

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influence their surroundings, and what

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conditions were like in the early universe

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when star formation was much more vigorous

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everywhere.

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Avery: For our final storey, let's come back closer

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to home. NASA has launched a 24

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hour livestream showing the Artemis II moon

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rocket on the launch pad at Kennedy Space

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Centre.

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Anna: This is pretty exciting for space

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enthusiasts. Avery. The Space Launch System

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rocket with the Orion spacecraft is now

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stacked and standing on launch pad, um, 39B.

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And anyone can watch it live whenever they

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want.

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Avery: This is the mission that will send astronauts

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around the moon, right? The first crewed

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lunar mission since Apollo 17.

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Anna: That's right. Artemis II will carry four

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astronauts, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman,

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Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA

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astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a journey around

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the moon. They won't land, but they'll

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perform a lunar flyby before returning to

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Earth.

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Avery: And having the rocket on the pad now. That

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means we're getting close to launch.

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Anna: Well, the current target is no earlier than

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April 2026. Though space missions

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often face schedule adjustments, right now

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the rocket is on the pad for integrated

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testing, making sure all the systems work

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together properly before committing to a

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launch attempt.

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Avery: What kind of testing are they doing?

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Anna: They're running through what's called a wet

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dress rehearsal, which involves loading the

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rocket with propellants and going through the

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countdown sequence, stopping just short of

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ignition. It's essentially a, ah, full launch

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simulation to verify that all systems,

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ground, equipment and procedures work as

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planned.

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Avery: And the livestream lets us watch all this

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happening in real time?

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Anna: Exactly. It's a continuous feed, so you can

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cheque in at any time, day or night, and

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see the rockets standing there on the pad.

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Sometimes you'll catch technicians working,

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other times you might see weather rolling

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through. It's a unique behind the scenes look

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at the preparation for this historic mission.

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Avery: I have to say there's something awe inspiring

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about seeing that massive rocket just

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standing there, ready to take humans beyond

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Earth orbit for the first time in over 50

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years.

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Anna: There really is, and it represents years

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of work by thousands of people. After

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Artemis 2's lunar flyby, Artemis 3 will

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attempt the first crewed lunar landing since

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1972, including landing the

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first woman and first person of colour on the

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moon.

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Avery: It's a new chapter in lunar exploration and

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we're watching it unfold in real time,

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literally. We'll put a link in the show notes

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if you'd like to cheque it out.

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Anna: And that wraps up today's episode of

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Astronomy Daily.

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From solar observatories reaching their

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cosmic outposts to remembering hard learned

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lessons from AI discoveries in telescope

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archives to potential meteor showers on

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Venus, stellar fireworks at our galactic

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centre, and moon rockets on the launch pad,

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it's been quite a journey through the cosmos

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today.

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Avery: It certainly has. If you want to stay up to

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date with all the latest space and astronomy

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news, make sure you're subscribed to

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00:15:11.650 --> 00:15:14.010
Astronomy Daily. You can find us on your

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favourite podcast platform.

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00:15:15.890 --> 00:15:17.810
Anna: And don't forget to visit our website at

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astronomydaily IO for additional

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00:15:20.610 --> 00:15:22.890
content, show notes and links to all the

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storeys we covered today.

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Avery: You can also connect with us on social media

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00:15:26.610 --> 00:15:29.090
astrodaily Pod across all major

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00:15:29.090 --> 00:15:29.810
platforms.

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Anna: Until next time, keep looking up Clear

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skies, everyone.