Space Missions on Hold, Evolving Galaxies, and Searching for Extraterrestrial Life

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna and

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I'm so glad you could join us. For today's episode, we've

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got a jam packed show for you covering some really

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fascinating developments from across the universe and

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right here on Earth too. First up,

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we'll dive into the latest on space missions,

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including an update on the Axiom mission 4 and

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that unexpected anomaly that's caused a bit of

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a setback for SpaceX's Starship program.

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Then we'll turn our attention back in time to

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uncover how ancient life on Earth might have survived some

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truly brutal snowball Earth periods.

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After that, we're zooming out to the cosmos to talk about

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galaxy evolution and how scientists are getting

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closer to understanding the very birth of galaxies

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similar to our Milky Way. And speaking of

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searching, we'll explore how the hunt for alien life and

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advanced civilizations is now going real time,

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which is super exciting. Finally,

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we'll tackle one of those enduring planetary

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mysteries. Why giant planets often end up in

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the far reaches of their solar systems. It's a bit like a

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cosmic game of pinball, apparently. So stick around,

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it's going to be a really interesting ride.

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Alright, let's kick things off with some news from the International Space

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Station, or ISS. The launch of Axiom

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Mission 4, which was originally set for Sunday, June 22,

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has actually been put on hold again. NASA, Axiom

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Space and SpaceX are still reviewing new launch opportunities,

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so we'll have to wait and see when it's rescheduled.

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Now, why the delay? Well, NASA needs a

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little more time, it seems, to evaluate the ISS

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operations after some recent repair work on the

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Zvezda service modules aft segment. You

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see, the space station's systems are all really interconnected,

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so they want to make absolutely sure everything is totally ready

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for additional crew members. They're taking all the

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necessary time to review the data and make sure it's safe.

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The crew is currently in quarantine in Florida, but they're ready to

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go as soon as the station gives the green light.

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Meanwhile, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and

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Dragon spacecraft are reportedly in great shape,

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just waiting on the launch pad at Launch Complex

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39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Stay

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tuned for updates on that. It's on.

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Okay, shifting gears a bit to some not so great news

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after. As I reported yesterday, SpaceX experienced a pretty

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significant setback at their Massey's test site near Starbase

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Texas on the evening of June 18th. They were

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doing a routine six engine static fire test of

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ship 36 for their starship program and

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unfortunately There was a sudden energetic

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anomaly just after 11pm Central

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Daylight Time. While propellant was being loaded onto the vehicle,

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a pair of explosions ripped ship 36

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apart, producing a large fireball and causing

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significant damage to the test facility. This

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ship was actually slated for the 10th Test flight of

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Starship and super heavy, expected very soon,

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which obviously won't be happening now. So what

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happened? Well, according to SpaceX CEO

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Elon Musk, initial data points to a

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failure of a composite overwrapped pressure vessel,

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or COPV, in Ship 36's nose

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cone. These are lightweight tanks that hold high pressure

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gases. A rupture acted like a shaped charge, tearing

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the payload wall and header tank transfer tubes. This

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caused the liquid methane and oxygen to mix and instantly

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ignite, leading to the first explosion. The nose

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cone collapse. Seconds later, the rest of the propellant

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ignited, causing the second. Fires kept

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burning for several hours, indicating damage to the liquid

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methane farm. The good news is fire.

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Thankfully, SpaceX confirmed no personnel were

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injured and everyone was accounted for. All

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media and public members were safe too, thanks to

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preset exclusion zones. This is a crucial point,

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obviously for the Starship program,

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though this is a notable setback. It's the first

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time SpaceX has lost a ship in ground testing since

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May 2020. And what's more,

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they've lost the ability to perform testing at Massey's

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for now, due to all that significant damage to their

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static fire test stand and the surrounding

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infrastructure. It means that even ships like ship

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37, which just started getting engines, can't be

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static fired without repairs. It's worth noting that

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the COPVs on Starship don't share

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commonality with those used on SpaceX's Falcon

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rockets. So this issue is isolated to the Starship

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program. The FAA won't be involved in the

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investigation since it happened during ground testing.

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SpaceX will conduct their own. This means we're likely

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looking at some significant changes and delays for the

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Starship program in the coming months as they assess

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repairs and potentially inspect other ships in

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their fleet. It's a tough break for sure, but as

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SpaceX has demonstrated in the past, they will bounce

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straight back from looking at

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challenges in space.

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Let's turn our attention back to Earth and a fascinating

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mystery from its deep past. New research out

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of MIT is shedding light on how early complex

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life forms, what we call eukaryotes, might

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have survived those extreme periods known as Snowball

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Earth between 720 and

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635 million years ago. Now,

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imagine our planet completely iced over. We're

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talking average global temperatures of minus 50 degrees

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Celsius. Geologists call this the cryogenian

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period. And whether Earth was a hardened snowball or more

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of a softer slushball. And is still debated. But

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one thing's for most of it was plunged into a

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deep freeze. So the big question has always been, how

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and where did life actually survive?

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Previously, ideas included patches of open ocean,

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deep sea, hydrothermal vents, or perhaps even

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under ice sheets. But this new study suggests

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another intriguing meltwater

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ponds on the surface of the ice. Fatima

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Hussain, a graduate student at mit,

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explained their interest, saying, we see evidence for

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eukaryotes before and after the cryogenian in the

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fossil record, but we largely lack direct evidence

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of where they may have lived during. She

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added, the great part of this mystery is we know life

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survived. We're just trying to understand how and

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where. To test this meltwater pond

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hypothesis, the researchers analyzed samples from

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modern meltwater ponds in Antarctica, specifically

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on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. These ponds, just

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a few feet deep and meters wide, form when trapped

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sediments rise to the surface, absorb sunlight,

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and melt the ice. The bottom of these

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ponds are lined with microbial mats, kind of

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like sticky, layered communities of cells.

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While we know simpler life like cyanobacteria can survive

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in these harsh environments, the researchers wanted to know

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if eukaryotes, those more complex organisms

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with a cell nucleus, could also weather such

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challenging circumstances. Using a combination of

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lipid analysis, specifically looking for

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sterols and genetic components called

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ribosomal rna, they found something pretty

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remarkable. They discovered a surprising

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diversity of eukaryotic life, including various types

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of algae, protists, and even microscopic

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animals thriving within these microbial mats.

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Houssain noted that no two ponds were alike, but

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they all hosted diverse eukaryotic assemblages from all the

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major groups. This really suggests that

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meltwater ponds during the snowball Earth episodes

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could have served as crucial above ice

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oases, nurturing the eukaryotic life

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that eventually led to the incredible diversification

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of complex life we see today, including

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us. The study was published in the journal

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Nature Communications.

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Okay, from understanding ancient life here on Earth,

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let's turn our gaze even further back in time,

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to the very early universe and the birth of

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galaxies. There's some really groundbreaking

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new research that's helping us understand how

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galaxies, including our own Milky Way, first

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came to be. We're talking about a period

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known as the cosmic noon, which spanned from

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10 to 12 billion years ago. During this

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incredibly active time, star formation was

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happening at a rate 10 to 100 times greater than

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it is today. And New research has been looking

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deeply into a particular type of ancient galaxy called

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Lyman Alpha emitters or laes.

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Now, without getting too technical, Lyman Alpha or Leia,

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is a hydrogen line emission in the UV spectrum.

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Basically, when young energetic stars form, they

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emit intense UV light that ionizes hydrogen

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gas around them. And when that hydrogen recombines, it

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emits this specific Lya line. So

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detecting it is like a really strong indicator of

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active star formation. LAEs are thought to be the

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direct progenitors of galaxies like our Milky Way.

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They're typically low mass and very young, only about

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200 to 600 million years old, and they have

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the highest star formation rates among all

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galaxies. But there's been a bit of, a

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puzzle surrounding them. Were they undergoing their

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very first intense burst of star formation or

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were they older galaxies just restarting their star forming engines

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after a quiet period? A new study

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titled Star Formation Histories Reveal

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Formative Starbursts Experienced by lea emitting

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Galaxies at Cosmic Noon. Led by Nicole Firestone from

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Rutgers University, set out to answer this.

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Firestone calls laes the most profound beacons of

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the high redshift universe, adding that they're

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fantastic probes of distant galaxy populations

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because they shine so brightly. M the team

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used machine learning to examine the light from 74

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LAEs detected by the 100 DCAM Imaging in

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Narrowband Survey, or ODIN.

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This allowed them to trace the star formation history of each

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galaxy. They identified three main

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those undergoing their first burst, those with a

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dominant burst happening now, but some past activity,

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and those where the dominant burst occurred in the past.

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The exciting finding a strong majority,

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67% of the LAEs they studied were indeed

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experiencing their very first major star formation burst,

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with at most only modest activity in their past.

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In fact, 95% were experiencing what the

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researchers called dominant bursts of star

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formation at the time of observation.

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Firestone emphasized, for the very first

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time, we have been able to definitively show that most

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LAEs are experiencing their first major

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starburst at the time of observation and only

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have very young stars. This is a big deal,

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because if LAEs are truly the precursors to

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galaxies like ours, then this research has

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essentially unlocked a part of our own galaxy's

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origin story. As Eric Gowiser, also from

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Rutgers, put it, now we know the answer to that question

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is yes. When asked if we'd looked far enough

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back to find the starting points for galaxies like the Milky Way.

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It really builds on those fascinating JWST

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findings that showed surprisingly massive,

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well, structured spiral galaxies in the early universe.

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I mean, it's all part of this incredible story of galaxy

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evolution. Alright, let's

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shift gears a little bit from the cosmic past

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to the future of searching for alien civilizations.

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Imagine scanning the night sky for signs of alien

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technology using the very same systems that

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hunt for exploding stars. That's exactly

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what researchers are starting to do now. Transforming

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astronomical alert systems originally

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designed to catch things like supernovae into

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powerful tools for detecting potential

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technosignatures. That's the evidence of

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advanced civilizations beyond Earth.

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Every single night, the Zwicky Transient Facility, or

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ztf, generates up to a million

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alerts as it monitors the sky for changing

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objects. These alerts flow through what are called

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alert brokers, which are basically sophisticated

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software systems that process and distribute information

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about anything that brightens, dims

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or suddenly appears in the sky. And the

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upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time, or

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lsst, is going to increase this volume by

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an order of magnitude, creating just an

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unprecedented flood of astronomical data.

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While these systems were initially built to catch explosive

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events like supernovae and to track asteroids,

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new research by Eleanor Gallet, James

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Davenport and Steve Croft is demonstrating their

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untapped potential for seti, the search for

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Extraterrestrial intelligence. Their work shows how

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we can totally repurpose these existing

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astronomical systems to search for those

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subtle signatures that might indicate artificial structures

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or technology around distant stars. The

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inspiration for this approach actually comes partly from

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Boyajian's Star, also known as Tabby's Star.

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This star, officially KIC

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846-2852, really puzzled

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astronomers with its mysterious dimming patterns a few years

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back. And while natural explanations like dust

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clouds ultimately proved most likely in that case,

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the study of Boyajian's star highlighted how

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unusual stellar behavior could potentially indicate

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artificial megastructures like a Dyson sphere,

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which is a hypothetical construct an advanced civilization

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might build around its star. So this new

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research takes that concept even further, creating

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automated systems to identify what they call

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stellar dippers. These are stars that

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suddenly and dramatically dim without any obvious

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natural causes like a classical stellar variability

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or other astrophysical phenomena. The challenge of

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course, is immense. How do you filter millions of

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nightly alerts? To find the handful that might represent

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something truly anomalous, the

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researchers developed a two stage approach.

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First, they use the alert broker's built in filtering

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capabilities to narrow down candidates. Then

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they apply additional analysis using historical data

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to identify stars showing unprecedented dimming

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behavior. They're even deploying clever

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optical SETI techniques like looking for planetary transit

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zone geometries. And using something called the Ceti ellipsoid

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The SETI ellipsoid is this particularly neat

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concept that identifies the zone in space where

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hypothetical alien observers would have seen Earth transit

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across our sun, potentially prompting them to send

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signals in our direction. Now

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the researchers are honest about the current limitations.

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The SETI methods that these alert brokers can execute

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are still somewhat limited, but they're providing

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suggestions to enhance future technosignature and

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anomaly searches. Especially in the era of the

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Vera C Rubin Observatory. The existing

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systems weren't designed with SETI in mind, so some

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modifications and new approaches will definitely be needed to

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fully realize their potential. However,

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the foundation is really solid. Alert brokers

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already have sophisticated tools for identifying unusual

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astronomical events. The LaserRE alert

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broker, for instance, offers a watchmap feature that can monitor

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specific regions of the sky for anomalous signals.

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And as the Vera C Rubin Observatory comes online with

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lsst, the volume of astronomical

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alerts is just going to increase dramatically, which

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creates both huge opportunities and challenges for

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technosignature research. More data means

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better chances of catching rare anomalous events.

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But it also means developing even more sophisticated filtering

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techniques so we don't get completely overwhelmed.

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This work represents a really sensible approach to SETI because it

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uses existing infrastructure rather than requiring

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dedicated alien hunting telescopes.

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By utilizing systems that are already scanning the entire

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visible sky every few nights, we're essentially getting

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a free ride on one of the most comprehensive

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surveillance networks ever pointed at the sky.

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And while we shouldn't expect to find alien

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megastructures next week, this research is

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definitely establishing the groundwork for a new generation of

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SETI that could operate continuously,

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scanning millions of stars for those signs that we

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are not alone in the universe.

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Okay, so we've talked about searching for life, but, what about

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the formation of planets themselves? Let's

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turn our attention to one of the really big mysteries in planetary

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why are enormous and mysterious worlds

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sometimes found silently looping around their stars

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far beyond the orbit of known planets?

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Like some drift as far as 10,000

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times the distance between Earth and the Sun?

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For decades, astronomers really struggled to explain how

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these lonely giants ended up so far from the warm

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center of their systems. But thanks to new research

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out of Rice University, the mystery might finally

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have a solution. A new study

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published in Nature Astronomy reveals that these

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distant worlds aren't just cosmic flukes.

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They're actually the natural results of wild early life

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behavior in planetary systems. During this

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chaotic stage, young planets collide.

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They bounce, and they scatter, almost like

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balls on a pinball machine. And sometimes,

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if the conditions are just right, one of these

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planets Gets pushed to the outer limits of the system.

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And believe it or not, it just stays there.

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As Andre Isidoro, A lead author and assistant

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professor at Rice, put it, essentially, we're watching

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pinballs In a cosmic arcade. He explained

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that when giant planets Scatter each other through gravitational

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interactions, Some are flung really far away.

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But if the timing and the surrounding environment Are just right,

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those planets don't get ejected completely. Instead,

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they get trapped in these extremely wide orbits.

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This happens while stars are still part of crowded birth clusters,

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which contain hundreds or even thousands of stars.

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The Rice team, along with collaborators,

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Ran thousands of computer simulations of early

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planetary systems Living in these dense

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clusters. Many of these virtual universes Showed

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planets being kicked into orbits between one hundred and ten

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thousand astronomical units from their stars.

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That's up to 250 times farther than Neptune.

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Now. Usually when planets are pushed that far, they don't

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survive. They just get ejected into deep space

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and become rogue planets Wandering the galaxy

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alone. But in these simulations, Some

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actually survived. Gravitational

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nudges from neighboring stars in the cluster Helped

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stabilize these extreme orbits. As Nathan

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Kaib, A co author of the study, explained,

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when these gravitational kicks happen at just the right

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moment, A planet's orbit becomes decoupled from

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the inner planetary system. This creates a

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wide orbit planet that's essentially frozen in place after the

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cluster disperses. And get this.

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These findings Might shed new light on one of our own solar

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system's Most intriguing mysteries, Planet

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Nine. This theorized world, if it

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exists, could be between five and ten times

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Earth's mass and orbits somewhere between

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250 and a thousand astronomical

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units from the sun. It hasn't been observed

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directly, but several icy bodies Beyond

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Neptune have these strange clustered orbits.

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That suggests they're being pulled by something big and unseen.

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Planet nine could be that something. According to the

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study, if the early solar system Experienced two

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specific instability phases, One during the growth

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of Uranus and Neptune, and another during the later

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scattering among gas giants, there's up to a

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40% chance that Planet Nine was actually trapped in

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its current location. Isidoro said.

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Our simulations show that these kinds of orbits Are

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entirely possible. The solar system might

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not be unique, but it could be One of the more

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efficient ones when it comes to trapping these wide orbit

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planets. The study also provides A bit of a

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roadmap for future exoplanet hunters. Wide

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orbit planets Are super hard to detect because they're so far

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away and dim, but the research suggests they're

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more likely to appear around metal rich stars that

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already have gas giants. These stars could become

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prime targets for deep imaging surveys, and

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instruments like the upcoming Vera C Rubin Observatory will be

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absolutely essential. This telescope is expected

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to help either find Planet nine or disprove its

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existence by scanning the sky in unprecedented detail.

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It's really fascinating to think that the chaos of early

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planetary systems, combined with the gravitational

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influence of a crowded stellar neighborhood, could

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be responsible for these distant, stable worlds.

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It really adds another piece to the complex puzzle

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of how planetary systems, including our own, came.

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And that wraps up another exciting episode of Astronomy

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Daily. It's always amazing to delve into the

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latest breakthroughs and mysteries of the cosmos, isn't it?

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From delayed space missions and unexpected incidents

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to the ancient secrets of life on Earth and even the

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search for alien civilizations, there's just so much to

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explore. Thank you so much for joining me

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on this journey through the universe's latest happenings.

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If you want to catch up on all the latest space and astronomy

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00:20:37.600 --> 00:20:40.480
news with our constantly updating news feed, or if you

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want to listen to all our back episodes, be sure to visit our

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website@astronomydaily.IO that's a

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S T R O N o M M y D A I

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00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.600
L y IO and hey, don't forget to

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subscribe to Astronomy Daily on Apple podcasts,

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00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.160
Spotify and YouTubeMusic, or wherever you get your

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00:20:57.160 --> 00:20:59.880
podcasts. We'll be back tomorrow with more news from

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00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:02.860
beyond our world. Until then, this is Anna signing

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off and reminding you to keep looking up.