Solar Storms, Stellar Family Trees, and Our Interstellar Visitor

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Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

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that brings the cosmos down to Earth. I'm

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avery. Give us 10 minutes and we'll give you

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the universe.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. And in the show today, Avery,

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we've got everything from missions to Mars

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facing off with solar storms to a, uh,

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historic first glimpse of space weather on

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a distant star.

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Avery: It's going to be a journey. We'll also be

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updating you on our interstellar visitor and

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uncovering the hidden family history. One of

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the most famous star clusters in our night

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sky. So let's get right into it.

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First up, Blue Origin's big day at the launch

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pad has been eventful.

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Anna: That's one way to put it. They're trying to

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get their new Glenn rocket off the ground.

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Carrying a pretty important payload for NASA.

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Avery: Exactly. This isn't just any launch. It's

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carrying the two Escapade mission satellites

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which are headed to Mars to study its

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magnetosphere. This is a huge deal for Blue

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Origin. It's their first major science

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mission for a paying customer. And that

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customer is NASA.

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Anna: No small amount of pressure, then?

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Avery: None at all. But the universe had other

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plans. First, they were delayed by cloudy

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skies, which is pretty standard. But then

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they got hit by the fallout from that recent

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really severe geomagnetic storm.

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Anna: Right. And that storm was a story in itself.

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It was responsible for those incredible

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auroras that were seen as far south as Texas

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and Florida. A beautiful but powerful remote

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reminder of the sun's influence.

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Avery: It really was. And there's a certain irony

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in a mission designed to study space weather

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on, uh, Mars being delayed by space weather

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here on Earth.

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Anna: There absolutely is. Once they get there,

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though, the Escapade satellites have a

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fascinating job. They're going to orbit Mars

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and study how solar particles, the solar

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wind, interact with what's left of Mars's

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magnetic field. The goal is to better

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understand how Mars lost most of its

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atmosphere over billions of years.

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Avery: Mm mhm. A planetary autopsy of sorts.

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So we're wishing them clear skies and calm

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space weather for their next attempt.

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But speaking of that geomagnetic storm,

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it was caused by some seriously intense

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activity from our star.

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Anna: That's our next big story. Just recently,

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the sun unleashed the most powerful solar

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flare we've seen. In 2025, it was

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categorized as an X 5.1 class

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flare. Wow.

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Avery: For our listeners, X class flares are the

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biggest category, and X 5.1 is

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a monster. That's the most intense flare

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since back in October 2024.

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Anna: It is. And it had immediate effects here on

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Earth. The Blast of radiation caused

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significant radio blackouts across Africa and

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Europe on the sun facing side of the planet.

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Avery: So that affects things like high frequency

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radio communications used by airlines and

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mariners, right?

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Anna: Precisely. The bigger concern now is whether

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a coronal mass ejection or cme

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was associated with the flare and is heading

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our way. NOAA is keeping a close watch.

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If a significant CME does impact Earth,

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they might issue a, ah, G4 geomagnetic storm

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watch.

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Avery: And the G4 is serious business. We're not

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just talking about pretty auroras then that

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can cause widespread problems with electrical

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grids and communication satellites.

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Anna: Exactly. It's a powerful reminder that we

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live in the atmosphere of a very active star.

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But what's really amazing is that we're now

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able to see this kind of weather happening on

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other stars too.

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Avery: That's right. So while on the subject of

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cmes, it's not just here in our

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backyard.

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This next story is a groundbreaking one.

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For the very first time, astronomers have

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directly observed a coronal mass

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ejection from a star that isn't our Sun.

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Anna: It's just incredible. We've theorized it

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happens, but do to actually see it is a huge

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leap. So what did they see?

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Avery: They were looking at a red dwarf star, which

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is about 40 light years away. They used two

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different observatories, the XMM M M Newton

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Space Observatory to watch for the initial

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flare in X rays, and then the LOFAR

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radio telescope to detect the blob of ejected

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material.

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Anna: Mhm. So they caught the flash and

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then the cannonball, so to speak.

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Avery: That's a great way to describe it. And this

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isn't just a cool astronomical first.

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It has major implications, implications for

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the search for extraterrestrial life.

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Anna: Because red dwarfs are the most common type

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of star, and we've found many

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exoplanets orbiting them, um, in the

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habitable zone.

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Avery: Exactly. But red dwarfs are also known for

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being extremely volatile, especially when

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they're young. If they are constantly

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blasting their orbiting planets with these

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powerful CMEs, it could strip away their

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atmospheres and make them completely

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uninhabitable, even if they're at the right

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temperature for liquid water.

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Anna: So finding life might be less about the

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address and more about how stormy the

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neighborhood is. It really refines our

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search.

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Avery: It certainly does. And it's not just

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energy reaching us from other star systems.

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Sometimes we get physical visitors.

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Anna: Let's talk about our latest interstelli

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guest, Comet 3I Atlas.

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A new image has come in, and it's looking

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more spectacular than ever.

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Avery: This is only the Third confirmed interstellar

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object we've ever detected. Right after the

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mysterious Oumuamua and the more

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comet like Borisov.

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Anna: That's right. And this new image shows that

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its ion tail has grown significantly

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longer and has much more defined structure.

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It's really starting to put on a show.

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Avery: And that, uh, growing tail means it's

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becoming more active.

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Anna: Exactly. As it gets closer to our sun,

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it's heating up. This causes volatile

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materials on its surface, things like frozen

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carbon dioxide to sublimate, turning

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directly from a solid ice into a gas.

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That gas and dust is what creates the tail we

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see, which gives us.

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Avery: A chance to study its composition.

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Anna: Mhm. By analyzing the light from that tail,

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we can figure out what it's made of. This is

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an incredibly rare opportunity. It's like

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getting a sample delivered directly from a

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distant, unknown planetary system,

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telling us about the conditions where it

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formed millions or billions of years ago.

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A, uh, true cosmic time capsule.

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Avery: From a single visitor from afar to a

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massive family reunion right in our own

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backyard.

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Our last story today completely reframes

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one of the most recognizable patterns in the

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night sky.

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Anna: You're talking about the Pleiades. The seven

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Sisters?

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Avery: I am. But it turns out that famous,

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tightly packed little cluster is just the

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bright, shiny core of something immensely

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bigger. Researchers have discovered what

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they're calling the Greater Pleiades Complex.

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Anna: That sounds impressive. How much greater are

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we talking?

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Avery: It's staggering. This stellar network

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stretches 2,000 light years across.

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It contains thousands of stars that were all

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born from the same stellar Nursery about

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120 million years ago, along

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with the main Pleiades cluster.

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Anna: So how did they find them? These sibling

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stars are scattered all across the sky.

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Avery: Now, it was some brilliant detective work.

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They combined massive Data sets from three

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sources. NASA's Tess, ESA's

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Gaia, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

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Gaia tracked stellar motion with incredible

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precision so they could find stars moving in

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the same general direction.

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Anna: Okay, so they're traveling together.

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Avery: Right. Then they used test data to measure

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the star's rotation periods. The speed

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a star spins is a really good indicator of

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its age. Younger stars spin faster.

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This allowed them to find stars that were the

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same age as the Pleiades. And

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finally, they confirmed it by checking their

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chemical composition. Siblings have the

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same stellar DNA, so to speak.

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Anna: That is fascinating. So when we look up at

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the sky, we're not just seeing random points

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of light. We're looking at these vast,

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dispersed families drifting through the

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galaxy.

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Avery: That's the takeaway. It completely changes

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our map of the night sky. And this new

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method could be used to trace the origins of

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other star families. Perhaps one day

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we could find the lost siblings of our own

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sun. Um.

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Anna: What a thought to end on. From solar

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flares affecting us right here to finding

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the Sun's family tree. That's all the time

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we have for today's Astronomy Daily.

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Avery: We covered a lot of ground and a lot of

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space. We hope you enjoyed the journey. Join

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us next time as we continue to explore the

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latest news from across the universe. I'm

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Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. Thanks for listening, Clear

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skies. And of course, keep looking

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up.