Space Economy Booms, Interstellar Water Wonders, and the Enigma of Saturn's Moon

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast where

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we unpack the universe one headline at a

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time. I'm Anna, your guide through the

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cosmos.

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Avery: And I'm Avery, here to geek out over the

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latest in space and astronomy with my

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favorite stargazing Buddy. Today is October

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11, 2025, and, folks, we've

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got a stellar lineup. From shiny new

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satellite factory in Italy to record breaking

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investments lighting up the space economy. A,

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uh, geyser like interstellar comet, the

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first ever snapshot of dueling.

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And the sneaky ocean hiding under Saturn's

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weirdest moon. Anna, it's like the universe

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decided to drop a care package of wonders on

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our doorstep.

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Anna: Absolutely, Avery. It's days like this

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that remind me why we do this. Pure

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unfiltered awe backed by solid

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science. We'll dive into each story, chat

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about what it means, and maybe speculate a

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little on where it's all headed. Grab your

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coffee. Or your star chart. Let's launch

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right in.

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Kicking things off with some earthbound

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excitement in the space industry. Thales

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Alenia Space, that powerhouse joint venture

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between Thales and Leonardo, just

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inaugurated a brand new 100 million

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euro satellite factory in Rome. It

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happened on October 7th. And it's part of

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Italy's bigger Space Factory 4.0

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push led by the Italian Space Agency.

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Avery: Yeah, I love how this ties into their

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national recovery and resilience plan. Post

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Covid funding funneled into high tech like

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this. The factory's geared for micro and

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smallsats with a capacity over a hundred per

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year, and it's scalable if demand spikes.

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They're kicking off with a Cycro 3 satellite

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for Italy's Defense Ministry. A, uh, secure

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comms bird that's been in the works since a

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$159 million contract back in

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2021.

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Anna: It's the third piece of this interconnected

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network. Argotex Microsatellite park opened

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last year. Saitel's propulsion facility in

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March, and Cira's Lab coming in

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2026. Imagine a whole

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ecosystem of smart factories talking to each

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other, cranking out sats efficiently. For

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Europe, this means ramping up competitiveness

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in a market that's exploding with small SAT

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needs. From defense to climate monitoring.

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Avery: Totally. And that PNRR funding

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49% of the program's investment shows

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governments getting serious about space as an

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economic driver. It's not just Italy. This

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could inspire similar hubs elsewhere. What do

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you think, Anna? Uh, will we see more nations

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betting big on domestic manufacturing to cut

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reliance on, say, US Or Chinese

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launches?

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Anna: I do. It's A hedge against supply chain

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hiccups. And with small sats getting cheaper

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and more versatile, localized production

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makes sense. Fingers crossed it boosts jobs

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too. Space tech employs some brilliant

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minds. Alright, shifting gears to the

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money flowing into all this.

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Speaking of betting, big global space

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investment just smashed records.

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$3.5 billion poured in during

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Q3 2025 alone. That's

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nearly double last year's haul, per Seraphim

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Space's report. And it's not just the usual

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suspects. It's spreading across startups from

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rocket builders to LEO constellations, fueled

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by AI synergies and defense bugs.

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Avery: Wild, right? Seraphim's Lucas Bishop nailed

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it. What we're seeing now is a far more

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diverse set of invest, signaling that

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space has evolved into a broader, more mature

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market. No longer SpaceX and OneWeb

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hogging the spotlight. Take China. Galactic

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Energy snagged $336 million

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in September for reusable launchers like the

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palace series and Series two solid rockets,

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plus facilities. That's industrial

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mobilization on steroids, as uh, Space

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Capital's Chad Anderson put it. And over here

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in the US, Apex just raised $200 million

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at a $1 billion valuation for national

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security sats and commercial FL fleets tied

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to the Pentagon's Golden Dome initiative for

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hardened space Systems. Satellite

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manufacturing's hot 60% of funding rounds in

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the last 15 years happened since 2021.

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Launch sectors pulled in $52.4 billion

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total since 2009, edging out SATs at

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$47.7 billion. Public companies

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are soaring, too. Rocket Lab and Planet Labs

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doubled AST. Space Mobile tripled after their

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satophone demos.

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Anna: It's the dual use magic tech for

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defense and civilians, like

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Starshield or OneWeb. With governments

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in the US, China and Europe pushing

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domestic industries, this momentum could

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carry into 2026. But Avery,

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does this maturing market worry you

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like? Will it dilute the wild innovation

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we saw in the early days?

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Avery: A bit. But I think diversity breeds

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resilience. More players mean more ideas.

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And with AI optimizing orbits and payloads,

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we're in for efficient, scalable wins. It's

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exciting. Space isn't niche anymore. It's the

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next tech frontier.

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Okay, enough with the ballers. Let's get

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interstellar.

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Anna: Oh, man. This next one is straight out of

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sci fi, but very real Science.

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Interstellar Comet 3I

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Atlas, our third visitor from another star,

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is is venting water like a fire hose on

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full blast. NASA's Swift observatory

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caught it in July and August when the comet

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was 2.9 times farther from the sun than

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Earth. Lead researcher Zexi Zing from

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Auburn University and team detected

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hydroxyl oh, the UV

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fingerprint of water labor losing about

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40 kilograms per second.

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Avery: That's at least 8% of its surface active

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way higher than the 3 to 5% in our solar

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system's comets. But get this it's not the

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nucleus sublimating directly. It's icy chunks

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in the coma acting like mini steam vents

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under sunlight. Gemini south and NASA's

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Infrared Telescope Facility spotted those ice

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bits. Published September 30th in

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Astrophysical Journal Letters, it's our first

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chemical peek at, uh, water from an

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interstellar wanderer.

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Anna: Dennis Bodewitz, Zing's co author,

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said it best when we detect water from an

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interstellar comet, we're reading a note from

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another planetary system. It tells us that

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the ingredients for life's chemistry are not

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unique to our own. Compare that to

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Oumuamua, which was bone dry, or

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borosot loaded with carbon monoxide.

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Atlas is rewriting the playbook on how these

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objects form around other stars, and.

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Avery: It'S not done yet. ESA's Mars Orbiter spotted

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at 30 million kilometers from the Red Planet

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in early October. JUICE will track it post

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perihelion in November with Data back in

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February 2026. Peak activity

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incoming implications Water as a

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yardstick for comet behavior helps us model

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planet formation galaxy wide. And, uh, if

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these chunks are venting so wildly, does that

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hint at more volatiles out there than we

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thought?

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Anna: Definitely. It underscores diversity

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in interstellar chemistry. Not every system's

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comets are alike. Makes you wonder about the

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oceans or atmospheres they fed in their home

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stars. Thrilling stuff Keeps the

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are we alone? Question bubbling.

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Now for something even heavier.

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Avery: Black holes Heavy indeed.

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Astronomers just nabbed the world's first

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radio image of two supermassive black

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holes orbiting each other in quasar

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OJ287, 5 billion light

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years away in cancer. It's been predicted for

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decades, but this is visual proof. A

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pair locked in a 12 year dance jets

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twisting like a garden hose.

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Anna: Lead author Mauri Valtinen from the

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University of Turku in Finland's team

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used Earth telescopes plus Russia's

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radio astron satellite rip. It retired in

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2019 for resolution 100,000

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times sharper than optical. The black holes

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themselves are invisible, but we see bright

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radio spots from their particle jets and

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glowing gas. Published October 9th in the

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Astrophysical Journal Valtanen noted the

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black holes themselves are perfectly black,

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but they can be detected by these particle

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jets or by the glowing gas surrounding the

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hole.

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Avery: OJ287 has been watched since the

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1800s. Amateurs can spot it in

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1982 IMO Silaampa UM clocked that

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brightness cycle hinting at binaries Hundreds

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of eyes on it sense. But only now do we

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resolve the duo. Sharing a galactic core. The

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smaller one's jet wags like a tail over the

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orbit. Real time evolution we can track Huge.

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Anna: For validating binary formation models and

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quasars, we've imaged singles like

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Sagittarius A or M87s,

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but pairs only indirect gravitational

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waves before this tests general

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relativity and extreme gravity, refines

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merger predictions and boosts sims of galaxy

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evolution. Avery, that jet

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wagging, does it scream accretion disk drama

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to you all day?

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Avery: It's like watching a cosmic tango that heats

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up. The quasar could explain variability

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we've puzzled over for a century. Plus

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it paves the way for more hi res radio

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hunts event um horizon telescope. Eat your

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heart out.

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One more moon tale before we wrap.

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Anna: Wrapping with Saturn's oddball moon

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Mimas, the death star for that massive

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crater Cassini data is pointing to a

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young subsurface ocean 12 to 19

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miles under the ice. Not ancient,

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it formed 10 to 15 million years ago

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from an eccentric orbit shift causing tidal

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heating.

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Avery: Scientists Alyssa Roden and Adine uh Denton

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from Southwest Research Institute modeled it.

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Presented at last month's EPSC dps.

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Denton's paper fresh in Earth and Planetary

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Science Letters. No surface cracks like

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Enceladus or Europa. But libration

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wobbles scream Liquid inside

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the orbit got wonky. Maybe from Saturn's

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system tugs melting ice fast without

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resurfacing everything.

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Anna: Roden's heat flow maps show uneven

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thinning prime spots for future orbiters

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to probe with. IR and Herschel Crater

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simulations say it hit when Mimas was on

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the tipping point. Warm but solid ice

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forming that peak. Denton

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Mimas needs to be right on the tipping point.

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It can stay on that tipping point for

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millions of years. Expands the ocean's

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age window to 10 million years

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geologically. Blink of an eye.

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Avery: Roden added. When we look at Mimas, we

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don't see any of the things that we're

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accustomed to seeing in an ocean world. But

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the data's building a coherent narrative.

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Implications Redefines icy moon

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timelines. Subtle orbits can brew oceans.

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Quick habitability hints.

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Maybe if we send a probe to sniff for

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biosignatures. Anna, uh, Mimas over

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Enceladus for a mission. Underdog charm?

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Anna: Totally. It's the sleeper hit. Proves

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oceans aren't just for the flashy ones. Guide

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Saturn explorers on where to look. What a day

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in the field.

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Avery: That's our cosmic roundup for October 11th.

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Huge thanks to our listeners. You're the

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stars that keep us orbiting. If these stories

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sparked your curiosity, drop us a line on X

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or wherever you stream us.

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Anna: Absolutely. Tune in next time for more

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Astronomy Daily. Clear skies. Stay

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curious, Keep looking up. And remember, the

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universe is vast, but we're all in this

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together. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. Good night, good morning or

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good day, depending on where you're hearing

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us Space

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Fam.