SpaceX Ax-4 Mission Delay, Satellite Paint Breakthroughs, and James Webb's Breathtaking Revelations

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Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna.

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Today we've got a, fascinating lineup of stories from across

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the cosmos, ranging from launch delays and exciting

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advancements in mitigating light pollution, to

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stunning images of alien worlds and groundbreaking

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orbital refuelling tests. So buckle up as

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we dive into the latest happenings in space and astronomy.

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First up, we have some news regarding a slight delay to the

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SpaceX AXE 4 mission to the International

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Space Station. The launch, which was

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initially scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, has been

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postponed due to a liquid oxygen leak detected in the

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Falcon 9 rocket. Now, liquid oxygen,

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or LOX, is one of the two propellants that the

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Falcon 9 uses to power its Merlin engines,

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the other being rocket grade kerosene.

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SpaceX discovered the leak after conducting a static fire

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test, which is a pretty standard pre launch procedure

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where they briefly ignite the rocket's engines while

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it's still anchored to the launch pad. According to

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Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's VP of Build

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and Flight Reliability, this particular

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Falcon 9 first stage has actually flown once before

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and they'd noticed a similar leak during its re entry into

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Earth's atmosphere on that mission. Turns out

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they hadn't fully repaired it during refurbishment. Or

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as he put it, they didn't find the leak and didn't

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get it corrected. SpaceX is currently

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working on installing a purge system that should

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mitigate the leak, even if it continues on launch day.

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The AXE 4 mission is the fourth private

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astronaut mission to the ISS organised by

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Axiom Space. The mission is commanded by Peggy

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Whitson, a record breaking former NASA

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astronaut who is now Axiom's Director of Human

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Spaceflight. The crew includes pilot

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Shubanshu Shukla from India, mission specialist

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Slawash Usnanski Wisniewski from Poland and

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the European Space Agency, and Hungarian mission

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specialist Tibor Kapu. It's interesting

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to note that no astronaut from any of these three countries

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has ever visited the ISS before.

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The AXE4 astronauts are scheduled to spend

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about two weeks living and working aboard the orbiting Lab,

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conducting around 60 different science experiments

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before returning to Earth with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

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Moving on from the Axe 4 mission, there's a whole bunch of other launch

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activity to keep an eye on this week. SpaceX

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has been super busy as always. They recently

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celebrated the 500th launch of a Falcon rocket

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with the Starlink 1219 mission. Can you

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believe that's also their 70th launch this year?

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And get this, they managed, a whopping 17

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launches in May alone. That included 16

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Falcon 9 launches and the ninth test flight of

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Starship. So, yeah, pretty busy. Speaking of

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Starlink, there are several more Starlink missions lined up.

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Just recently they launched another batch of

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23 Starlink satellites, a mix of the

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V2 mini and direct to cell variants.

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Rocket Lab is also in the mix. They're planning to launch

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another batch of imaging satellites for their customer,

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IQPS of Japan. IQPS wants to build a

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36 satellite constellation to monitor the Earth.

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Oh, and remember Amazon's Project Kuiper? Well,

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the launch of their second batch of satellites has been pushed back a bit

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due to weather delays. And just to recap

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on that Axiom mission four that we talked about earlier,

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it's going to be the seventh private Dragon mission and the 18th

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crewed launch for SpaceX. Besides Peggy

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Whitson, the crew includes Shubanshu Shukla from India,

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Slavash Usnansky Wisniewski from Poland,

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and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

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Dragon will be docked at the ISS for up to 14 days

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and the crew will be doing around 60 science

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experiments focusing on human health, plant and

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microbial biology, and the effects of

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microgravity.

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Now let's talk about something that could really help clean up our

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night skies. It's about this new super black

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paint called Vantablack 310 and

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how it might just be a game changer in the fight

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against satellite light pollution. You know,

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all those mega constellations of satellites orbiting Earth, they

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can really mess with astronomical observations.

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Vantablack 310 can reduce the amount of light

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reflected by satellites down to as little as 2% of what's

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reflected by uncoded satellites. That's a massive

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difference. This is especially important for

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observatories like the Vera Rubin Observatory,

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which, when it's fully operational, could have up to

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40% of its images affected by satellite

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streaks. That's a huge problem. The paint

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itself is made from a special blend of carbon black,

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sort of like soot mixed with binders that

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make it tough enough to handle the harsh conditions of space.

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And the best part, it's easy to apply, so satellite

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manufacturers can use it in their own facilities.

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What's really impressive is how durable this stuff is.

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Tests have shown that it can withstand about three years in

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orbit with almost no change, while other space

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paints erode pretty quickly. Plus, it doesn't seem to

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cause the same overheating issues that earlier dark paints did.

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This new paint could make satellites virtually invisible to

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the naked eye. This is a big improvement, and hopefully

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it means that we can preserve our dark Skies while still

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benefiting from satellite technology.

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Okay, next up, let's dive into some absolutely breathtaking

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images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope,

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or jwst. These images, they're not

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just pretty pictures. They're giving us incredible

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insights into exoplanets, planets beyond our own

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solar system. Specifically, scientists

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have been studying two exoplanets orbiting a star called

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YSES 1. And what they've

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found is just, well, mind blowing. On one of

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these planets, YSEs 1c, they've

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detected clouds made of fine sand. Yes,

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you heard that right. Sand clouds drifting in the alien

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atmosphere. And it gets even cooler

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on the other planet, YSEs

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1b observations suggest it's

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surrounded by a large swirling disc rich with olivine.

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Olivine is a mineral that, get this, can form

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the gemstone peridot here on Earth. These

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observations are, groundbreaking because they allow us to directly study

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the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres.

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Scientists have found evidence of water, carbon monoxide,

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carbon dioxide and methane in the atmospheres of both

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planets, which, while common, help us

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to build a clearer picture of what these alien worlds are like.

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The discovery of the olivine disc is particularly

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intriguing. It shouldn't really be there because dust like

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that usually settles pretty quickly,

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geologically speaking. So its presence

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suggests there might have been a recent collision between objects

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orbiting near YSEs 1b. Talk

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about being in the right place at the right time to see something amazing.

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Now let's turn our attention to some interesting activity happening

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in geostationary orbit. It seems that

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China is gearing up for an orbital refuelling test with

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its Shijian satellites. The Shijian

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21 and Shijian 25 spacecraft appear to be

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manoeuvring towards a rendezvous and docking. This

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is a pretty big deal because it's all about testing technologies

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for servicing and refuelling satellites in orbit.

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Shijian 25 was launched earlier this year

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specifically, specifically to test on orbit refuelling and

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mission extension technologies. While Shijian

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21, which has already completed a mission towing, ah,

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a defunct navigation satellite, is now the

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target for this refuelling demonstration. But here's

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where it gets even more interesting. The US

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surveillance satellites USA 270

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and USA 271, part of the

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Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Programme,

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are also in the area, apparently keeping a close eye on these

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operations. So it's kind of like everyone's watching everyone else.

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The ability to refuel and service satellites in orbit

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has some pretty significant strategic implications.

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It could extend the lifespan of existing satellites,

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reduce costs and even decrease space debris.

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Of course, it also has potential military applications.

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It's worth noting that Northrop Grumman has already

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demonstrated this capability with its mission extension

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vehicle 1, which successfully docked with an

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Intelsat satellite back in 2020 for a five

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year servicing mission. So it's not a totally

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new thing, but it's definitely an area where we're seeing increasing

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activity and interest.

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So to quickly recap today we've covered the

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delay of the SpaceX AXE 4 mission, some of

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the many other launches that are happening in coming days, the

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use of vantablack to combat light pollution, those

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incredible new JWST images of exoplanets,

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and China's upcoming orbital refuelling test.

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Thanks for tuning in to Astronomy Daily. I've been your host, Anna.

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if you want to catch up on any past episodes, make sure

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you visit our website@astronomydaily.IO.

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again for joining me today and I look forward to having you with

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us next time. Until then, keep looking up. You never know what

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you might see. This is Anna signing off.