SpaceX's Ninth Starship Flight, A Hidden Dwarf Planet, and Europa's Future Habitable Zone

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

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host, Anna, bringing you the latest and most

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fascinating developments from across the cosmos.

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Today we've got a great lineup of stories that

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showcase both human ingenuity and the wonders

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of our universe. We'll dive into

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SpaceX's ninth Starship test flight,

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a mission with impressive successes, but also

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some dramatic setbacks along the way. Then

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we'll explore a significant new discovery in our own solar

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system. A a dwarf planet that's been hiding in plain

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sight for years and represents the largest such

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find in over a decade. We'll also journey

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to Europa and examine its potential future habitability,

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peek at a bizarre star within a star system and

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investigate new research suggesting habitable moons

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might be more common than we thought. So get comfortable

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and join me for a journey through the latest astronomical

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discoveries that continue to expand our understanding of

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the universe we call home.

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First up today, SpaceX's Starship

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Super Rocket completed its ninth flight test recently

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and it was quite the rollercoaster of achievements and

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challenges. The launch began impressively at

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SpaceX's starbase in Texas, with the

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massive 400 foot tall rocket lifting off as

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planned. The first stage booster, known as

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Super Heavy, performed Beautifully with all 33

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methane fueled engines firing perfectly,

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generating an astonishing 16.7 million

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pounds of thrust, more than twice the power of the

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Saturn 5 rockets from the Apollo era.

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What made this launch particularly notable was

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that this marked the first time SpaceX reused a

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Super heavy booster, as this same first

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stage had previously flown during January's seventh test

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flight. The successful reuse represents a

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significant milestone in SpaceX's quest for rapid

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reusability of its rocket components. However,

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the mission encountered several significant challenges. Once the

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second stage, known as ship, separated from

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the booster, the planned deployment of eight

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Starlink satellite simulators had to be scrubbed

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when SHIP couldn't open its payload doors.

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This would have been Starship's first ever payload deployment,

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making the failure particularly disappointing.

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Things went from bad to worse as SHIP continued its

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journey. As it headed toward a scheduled splashdown in

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the Indian Ocean, it began spinning

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uncontrollably. SpaceX commentators

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reported that the second stage had lost attitude control,

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apparently due to propellant leaks. The spacecraft

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ultimately broke up during its uncontrolled descent over a

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cleared area of ocean. Despite these

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setbacks, the test flight wasn't without its successes.

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The super heavy booster executed several challenging

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manoeuvres after stage separation, including a directional

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flip over and maintaining a heightened angle of attack.

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Both techniques aimed at improving fuel efficiency for

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future missions. The booster also demonstrated

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its ability to maintain controlled descent even

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when simulating a single engine failure.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remained

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characteristically optimistic, noting on social media

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that Starship made it to the scheduled engine cutoff point,

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which represented a significant improvement over previous

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flights. He also highlighted that there was no

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significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent,

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another important achievement. Looking ahead,

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Musk indicated that SpaceX plans to accelerate

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its launch cadence for the next three Starship flights,

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aiming for approximately one launch every three to four

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weeks. This aggressive schedule reflects

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SpaceX's determination to rapidly iterate and improve

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the Starship system. This persistence

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is crucial given Starship's central role in NASA's

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Artemis programme, where a version of the spacecraft

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is slated to serve as the landing system for the Artemis

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3 mission, which would mark humanity's return to

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the lunar surface. Beyond moon missions,

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SpaceX has even more ambitious plans,

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with Musk suggesting that starship flights to Mars could

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begin as early as 2024. While that

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timeline seems extraordinarily ambitious, the

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company's approach of testing, failing,

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learning, and rapidly improving continues to push the

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boundaries of what's possible in space exploration.

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Now let's turn our attention to discovery. In

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exciting news for planetary scientists, a

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newly discovered object in the outer solar system has

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been confirmed as a dwarf planet, the

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largest such discovery in more than a decade.

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Currently bearing the preliminary designation

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2017 of 201,

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this celestial body measures approximately 700

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kilometres, about 400 miles across, and

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follows an extremely elliptical orbit around our sun.

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What makes this orbit particularly remarkable is its

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lengthy duration, taking an estimated

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25,000 years to complete a single circuit around

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the sun. This places 2017

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of 201 in the exclusive category

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of dwarf planets, alongside more familiar

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objects like Pluto, the asteroid Ceres, and

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a handful of other similar bodies in the outer solar

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system. The discovery story is almost as

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fascinating as the object itself is. The dwarf

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planet was hiding in plain sight, buried within

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terabytes of publicly available astronomical data,

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some of which was collected more than a decade ago.

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Finding this celestial needle in a haystack required

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months of computational work to distinguish it from the

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countless background stars and noise.

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The detection came through painstaking analysis of data

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originally collected for the Dark Energy Survey,

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or ds. While that project

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primarily focuses on studying gravitational lensing

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in distant galaxies, the survey's ability to

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detect extremely faint objects made it

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inadvertently perfect for hunting distant solar system

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objects. Sihao Cheng from the Institute

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for Advanced Study led the discovery team,

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noting that while in principle anyone could have made this

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discovery using the public data, the process was

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extraordinarily demanding. Developing

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the algorithm alone took several months, followed by

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additional months of computation. And as they scanned through

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roughly 200 terabytes of data using hundreds of

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processors, what made the search

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particularly challenging was the widely separated

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observation dates. Unlike targeted

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asteroid searches that typically take successive exposures

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separated by hours or days, these images were

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often separated by months or even years,

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containing numerous points of light from unrelated objects that

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needed to be filtered out. After identifying the

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object in DES data, the team confirmed its

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existence by locating it in another public data set

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from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope.

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In total, they found 19 observations of the

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object spanning from 2011 to 2017,

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all showing it exactly where their orbital

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calculations predicted. The extreme

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elongation of 2017 of

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201's orbit means it's only visible over a

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tiny fraction of its journey around the sun,

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too faint to detect for more than 99% of its

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orbit. This suggests there could be many

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more similar objects lurking undetected at the edges

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of our solar system. M Interestingly, this

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discovery has implications for the hypothesised

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Planet X or Planet nine. Some

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astronomers have suggested this unknown planet's

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gravitational influence explains the clustered

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orbits of certain trans neptunian objects.

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However, 2017 of

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201's orbit doesn't fit this pattern,

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potentially challenging the Planet X hypothesis,

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though debate continues among experts about what this new

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discovery actually tells us about our outer solar system.

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Next on the story list today. While Europa is

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currently an icy world with a subsurface ocean,

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its distant future might hold something remarkable.

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In about 12 billion years, when our sun

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exhausts its hydrogen fuel and enters the red giant

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phase of its evolution, the habitable zone of our

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solar system will dramatically shift outward from its current

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position. This cosmic relocation

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of real estate suitable for liquid water will eventually

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encompass Jupiter and its moons, potentially

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transforming Europa in fascinating ways.

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Researchers estimate that as the expanding sun grows more

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luminous, Europa could develop and maintain a

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tenuous water vapour atmosphere for several hundred thousand

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years. The process begins with the Sun's

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inevitable evolution. After spending billions of

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years as a stable main sequence star, our sun will

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eventually deplete its core hydrogen fuel.

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This triggers the fusion of heavier elements like helium,

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causing the Sun's outer envelope to expand

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dramatically. During this red giant phase,

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the sun will grow hundreds of times larger than its current

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size, engulfing Mercury and Venus

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entirely while rendering Earth unless

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uninhabitable. However, for the

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outer planets, this stellar evolution creates

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new possibilities. Computer models suggest

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that Jupiter's system will enter the red giant

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branch habitable zone in about 12 billion

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years when it's approximately 2

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astronomical units from the expanding sun,

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less than half its current distance, Jupiter

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itself will likely develop bright water clouds in its upper

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atmosphere as it experiences the increased solar

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radiation. More intriguingly, Europa's

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surface ices will begin to sublimate under the influence

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of both the brighter Jupiter and the expanded

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Sun. Much like dry ice sizzling away

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in sunlight, Europa's frozen surface will

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transform directly from solid to vapour.

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While most of this sublimated ice will escape to space,

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simulations suggest some water vapour will

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remain bound to Europa for approximately

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200,000 years before being completely

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lost. During this brief cosmic

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window, Europa might actually be considered

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habitable. Though whether this timespan is sufficient

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for life to emerge and thrive remains

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an open question. This scenario offers

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valuable insights for astronomers studying

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exoplanetary systems around sun like stars.

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As we identify more exoplanets and potentially

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exomoons, understanding how these worlds

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evolve alongside their ageing stars becomes

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increasingly important. The fate of Europa

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serves as a model for what might happen to similar icy worlds

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in distant star systems.

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Now for something pretty rare. In a

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remarkable discovery, Chinese astronomers have

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identified an extremely rare type of binary star

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system that gives us a glimpse into a fleeting

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phase of stellar evolution. Using

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the 500 metre aperture spherical radio

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Telescope, also known as the China Sky Eye,

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researchers led by Han Jin Lin from the National

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Astronomical Observatories of China detected

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a unique pulsar designated PSRJ

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1928 1815.

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Located about 455 light years away,

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this system features something astronomers have long

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theorised but rarely observed a

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pulsar whose radiation pulses are occasionally blocked

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by its companion star every few hours.

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What makes this discovery particularly special is that the

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two stars are actually orbiting inside a common

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envelope of hydrogen gas. Pulsars themselves

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aren't uncommon. Scientists have identified

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nearly 3,500 in our galaxy alone.

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These dense stellar remnants form after massive stars

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explode as supernovae. As they rotate, they emit

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beams of electromagnetic radiation from their magnetic

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poles that sweep across space like lighthouse beams.

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When one of these beams crosses Earth, we detect it as a regular

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pulse of radio waves. But the

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PSR J1928 1815

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system captures a critical moment in binary

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star evolution. In these systems, the heavier star

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ages faster and eventually collapses into a neutron

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star, or pulsar. Meanwhile, the smaller

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companion star loses material to its dense partner,

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causing them to share a common envelope of hydrogen gas

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for a relatively short period. Astronomically speaking,

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the two stars orbit within this shared envelope.

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Over approximately 1,000 years, the neutron star

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gradually clears away this envelope, eventually leaving

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behind a hot helium burning star orbiting the neutron

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star. This observation provides compelling

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evidence supporting long standing theories about how

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stars in binary systems exchange mass,

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shrink their orbits and eject shared gas

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envelopes. Understanding these processes

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helps astronomers piece together the complex puzzle of

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stellar evolution, neutron star behaviour, and how such

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pairs eventually merge to produce gravitational waves.

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The discovery is particularly significant because

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binary systems are extremely common in our

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galaxy. More than half of all stars

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exist as part of binary or multiple star

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systems, their gravitational dance shaping their

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evolution in dramatic ways. In some cases,

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one star's gravity can drag material from its

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companion, leading to explosive events like

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novae or even supernovae. With

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increasingly powerful telescopes like fast,

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astronomers hope to find more of these rare cosmic

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pairs, further illuminating the processes that shape

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stars throughout their lifetimes and after their deaths.

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Finally today, while we've focused much

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of our search for extraterrestrial life on Earth like

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exoplanets, a fascinating new study suggests we

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should broaden our horizons to include moons orbiting

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giant planets. Researchers from Hungary and the

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Netherlands have published compelling findings about the potential

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habitability of exomoons in the journal

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Astronomy and Astrophysics. Their

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study, titled Grand Theft

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Formation of Habitable Moons Around Giant

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Planets, used complex simulations to

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investigate how moons form around giant

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exoplanets and whether these moons could support

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life. The team, led by Zoltan

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Denks from the Hun Ren Research Centre for Astronomy and

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Earth Sciences, focused specifically on the

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formation of large moons in circumplanetary

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discs, the rotating collections of material that

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remain after a planet forms. The

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researchers examined 461 known giant

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exoplanets, modelling how lunar embryos might

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grow through collisions within these discs. Their

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simulations revealed that moons with masses between Mars

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and Earth could form around planets roughly 10 times

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the size of Jupiter, with many potentially

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habitable. Perhaps most interestingly,

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the study found that the optimal distance for habitable

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exomoons is between 1 and 2

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astronomical units from their stars.

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Beyond this range, tidal heating rather than

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stellar radiation becomes the primary heat source for

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these moons. This is similar to what we see in our

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own solar system, where moons like Europa and

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Enceladus likely harbour subsurface oceans warmed by

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tidal flexing rather than direct sunlight.

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The simulations also showed that as distance from

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the star increases, more moons tend to form,

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but their masses become too small to maintain

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habitability. Meanwhile, closer to the star,

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fewer but more massive moons form, with more

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being lost to stellar theft, where the star's

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gravity pulls them away from their host planet. While

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astronomers haven't definitively confirmed the existence of

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any exomoons yet several candidates have been

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identified. The James Webb Space Telescope is

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currently examining potential exomoon candidates.

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And the European Space Agency's upcoming PLATO

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mission may also be capable of detecting these

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distant moons. This research

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effectively expands our definition of the habitable

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zone to include moons orbiting giant planets.

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As one researcher put it, the circumstellar

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habitable zone can be extended to moons around giant

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planets, potentially multiplying the number of worlds

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where we might someday find evidence of life.

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Well, that's all for today's episode of Astronomy Daily.

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What an incredible journey through space we've taken

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from watching SpaceX push the boundaries of rocket

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technology despite setbacks to discovering

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a massive new dwarf planet that was

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hiding in plain sight within existing data.

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We've peered into the distant future where Europa might

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briefly become habitable as our sun expands, and

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witnessed the bizarre spectacle of a pulsar

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orbiting inside another star.

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Perhaps most tantalising is the possibility that

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habitable moons may be far more common than we once

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thought, potentially expanding our search for life

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beyond traditional Earth like planets.

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Each of these stories reminds us that the universe remains full

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of surprises, constantly challenging our assumptions about

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what's possible as our tools and

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techniques for observation continue to improve. From

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powerful radio telescopes like FAST to the

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upcoming PLATO mission, we stand on the

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threshold of even more remarkable discoveries. The

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cosmos is vast and ancient, yet we're learning new

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things about it every day. Thank you for joining me

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on Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna, and I'll

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see you again tomorrow as we continue to explore the wonders of our

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universe together. In the meantime, keep

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looking up in wonder.