Starfall Takes Flight, Roman Telescope Arrives, and Dark Matter's New Secrets Unveiled

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Anna: Today, right now, as you're listening,

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SpaceX may already have launched something

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the world barely knows exists, a brand

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new spacecraft, a secret disk shaped

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capsule called Starfall. It blasted off

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this morning from Cape Canaveral and it could

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change how things are made in space. Today on

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Astronomy Daily. That story plus the next

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great space telescope just touched down in

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Florida and the most mysterious glow in the

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galaxy just got a whole lot more mysterious.

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Stay with us.

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Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm

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Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. It is Tuesday 23rd

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June, 2026, and the universe has been

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busy.

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Anna: We have six big stories for you today. A same

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day launch, a telescope milestone, two

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JWST blockbusters, a, uh,

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ticking clock, space rescue and China's

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asteroid mission. Approaching the moment of

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truth.

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Avery: Let's get into it.

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Anna: Here's something a bit unusual to kick things

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off. We're covering a story that is happening

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right now, this morning. As this episode goes

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out, SpaceX launched,

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Avery: or is about to launch, a spacecraft that the

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company has said almost nothing about

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publicly.

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Anna: It's called Starfall. And everything we know

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about it comes not from SpaceX press releases

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or Elon tweets, but from filings with the

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U.S. federal Aviation Administration and

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Federal Communications Commission.

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Avery: So what is it? Starfall is a re entry

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capsule, a vehicle designed to carry cargo

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into orbit and bring it safely back to Earth.

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But it's not another dragon. It's a flat

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disk, about 3.1 meters across and

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only 75 centimeters tall. Think of a

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large flying saucer rather than a pointy

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rocket cone.

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Anna: The launch window opened at, uh, 6:43 this

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morning, Eastern Time. That's

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8:43pm here on the east coast of

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Australia. It's flying on a Falcon 9 from

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Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the

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booster supporting the mission on its 29th

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flight.

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Avery: Now, why does this matter? The target market

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is space manufacturing. The idea is that

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microgravity, true weightlessness, lets

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you make things you can't make on Earth. Pure

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pharmaceutical crystals, advanced materials,

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bio printed tissues. But to make any of that

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commercially viable, you need a cheap,

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reliable way to bring your product home.

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Anna: Until now, a small California company called

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Varda Space Industries has been pioneering

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that market. They've flown six capsule

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missions. But their capsules are small,

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carrying dozens of kilograms at most.

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Starfall is rated for up to

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1000kg. That's roughly 30

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times more return capacity,

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Avery: which creates an interesting situation

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because Varda has been launching all of its

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missions on SpaceX rockets. SpaceX

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is now entering the market.

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Anna: It's been powering after reentry

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starfall splashes down in the Pacific Ocean

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off the US West coast, about

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1,300km offshore. It's

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designed to be mass produced for starship

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flights in the future. Though Today's demo

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uses Falcon 9, SpaceX

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Avery: has been approved for two re entry

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demonstrations. This is the first. We'll be

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watching closely for news of a successful

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recovery.

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Anna: A genuinely exciting morning to be a space

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nerd.

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Now, from a launch happening today to a

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launch that's just a couple of months away,

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NASA's next great space telescope

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Avery: has arrived in Florida, the Nancy Grace

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Roman Space Telescope. Roman for short,

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arrived at the Kennedy Space center on Sunday

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21 June, riding NASA's

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Pegasus barge down from Baltimore after being

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loaded up at Goddard Space Flight center in

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Maryland.

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Anna: The telescope was tucked inside a special

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transport container that NASA has nicknamed I

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love this, the Chariot, keeping with the

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Roman theme because the telescope is named

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after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's very

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first chief of astronomy, not after the

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Empire. Roman is often called the

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mother of Hubble. She was the driving force

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behind getting Hubble built in the first

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place. It's a fitting tribute.

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Avery: Now roman is at KSC's Payload Hazardous

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Servicing Facility for final launch

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preparations. The team will check all six

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solar panels, inspect insulation and thermal

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blankets, and load around 290 gallons

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of hydrazine fuel.

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Anna: And here's the headline number NASA is

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targeting launch no earlier than Sunday 30th

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August on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

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And that timeline puts Roman a full eight

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months ahead of its original schedule.

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Avery: Eight months ahead. That's remarkable for a

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flagship space telescope.

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Anna: So what will Roman actually do? Its main

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Instrument is a 300 megapixel infrared

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camera with a field of view 100 times

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wider than Hubble's. It will survey billions

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of galaxies, discover hundreds of thousands

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of exoplanets, probe dark energy and

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dark matter, and do all of this at speeds and

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scales that simply weren't possible before.

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Avery: It also carries a coronagraph, a starlight

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blocking instrument that will directly image

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planets around nearby stars, a key step

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in the long hunt for Earth.

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Anna: Like worlds after launch, Roman will travel

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to the second Sun, Earth, Lagrange Point L2,

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about 1.5 million kilometers from

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Earth, the same neighborhood where the James

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Webb Space Telescope is parked right now.

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Avery: Webb looking deep and narrow, Roman

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looking wide and fast. They're going to

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complement each other beautifully.

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Anna: And speaking of the James Webb Space

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Telescope, let's talk about what it's been

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showing us lately, because JWST

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keeps finding things that shouldn't be there.

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Avery: This week, a series of three new papers

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published in the Astrophysical Journal

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Letters reveal something extraordinary about

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a galaxy cluster called

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XLSSC122.

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Anna: Now, XLSSC122 was

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first spotted way back in 2014 during an X

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ray survey. It's about 10.4

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billion light years away, meaning we're

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seeing it as it existed when the universe was

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only around 3.3 billion years old.

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That era is called cosmic noon, the peak

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of star formation when galaxies were building

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themselves at a furious rate.

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Avery: It looks far too grown up for its age. It's

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large, it's organized, it has a dense,

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concentrated core. A According to standard

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cosmological models, galaxy clusters that far

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back should still be loose, scattered. Still

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assembling, this one looks like it's had

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millions of years more to develop than it

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should have.

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Anna: But JWST has now revealed something

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even more surprising. When astronomers

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pointed the telescope at this cluster, they

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discovered it's acting as a gravitational

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lens. Its immense mass is bending and

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warping the light of even more distant

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galaxies behind it, creating beautiful

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blue gray arcs around the cluster's center.

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Avery: And that makes XLSSC122 the

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most distant galaxy cluster ever confirmed to

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act as a strong gravitational lens. Some of

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that bent light set out on its journey more

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than 12 billion years ago.

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Anna: The lensing effect is dominated not by the

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cluster's stars and gas, but by dark matter.

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By studying the arcs, the team at Caltech's

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IPAC can map the dark matter distribution

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with remarkable precision. And what they

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found is a core that's far more concentrated

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than their models.

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Avery: Predictable the third paper in the series

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found something called intracluster light, a

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faint glow from stars that have been stripped

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loose from their galaxies and now drift free

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through the cluster.

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XLSSC122 is the

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earliest known cluster where this glow has

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been detected.

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Anna: These results were announced at the

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248th meeting of the American

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Astronomical Society. Lead author Kyle

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Finner from IPAC summed it up before

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JWST we couldn't do this level of

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science in the early distant universe.

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Avery: It's another reminder that the early universe

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was far more structured and stranger than our

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models expected.

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Next up, we're staying in the realm of dark

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matter because a new study published in

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Physical Review Letters has just reignited

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one of astrophysics most stubborn debates.

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Anna: At the heart of our Milky Way, there's a

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mysterious spherical glow of high energy

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gamma rays. It extends for thousands of light

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years out from the galactic center. NASA's

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Fermi telescope first spotted it in the late

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2000s, and astronomers have been arguing

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about it ever since.

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Avery: It's called the galactic center excess, and

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there are two main explanations. One, a, uh,

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huge population of millisecond pulsars,

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rapidly spinning neutron stars that beam

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gamma rays outward. Two, dark

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matter particles annihilating each other.

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When two dark matter particles collide and

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destroy each other, they can release energy,

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including gamma rays.

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Anna: The pulsar explanation had been gaining

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ground in recent years. Some earlier

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analyses suggested a relatively modest

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population of a few hundred pulsars could

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explain the signal.

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Avery: But this new research, led by Florian List at

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the University of Vienna and Nick Rod at the

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has

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changed the picture. They trained a machine

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learning model on more than 1 million

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simulated gamma ray observations. And the

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result? For pulsars to account for the

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signal, you would need more than 35,000

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of them concentrated near the galactic

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center.

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Anna: 35,000. That's an

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implausibly high number. And crucially,

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those pulsars would need to be so

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individually faint that they'd be nearly

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indistinguishable from the emission you'd

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expect from annihilating dark matter.

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Avery: As Nick Rod put it, our new analysis shows

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that the sources would have to be so faint

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that they would be almost indistinguishable

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from the emission expected from annihilating

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dark matter.

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Anna: The study doesn't prove dark matter is the

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cause, far from it. But it means the dark

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matter explanation cannot be ruled out.

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And the pulsar hypothesis is on much

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shakier ground than many thought.

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Avery: Upcoming observatories, including the

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Cherenkov Telescope Array and the Southern

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Wide Field Gamma Ray Observatory, should

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eventually give us the resolution to separate

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these two signals. That observatory,

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incidentally, is being built in Chile. Well

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placed for Southern Hemisphere skywatchers.

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Anna: Something to watch closely. The heart of our

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own galaxy may be telling us something

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profound about the invisible stuff that makes

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up most of the universe now. A, uh,

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ticking clock. NASA's SIFT observatory

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rescue mission is four days from launch, and

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the people behind it are honest about what

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they've pulled off.

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Avery: Sean Domogal Goldman, NASA's astrophysics

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division director, said at a briefing press

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last week. And I quote, frankly,

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I have to be honest, no one thought it was

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going to be possible.

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Anna: The story so far. The Neil Gerald

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Swift Observatory has been watching the sky

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for gamma ray bursts since 2004.

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Over 2,000 detected across more than

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two decades. But it's been slowly

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losing altitude. Increased solar

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activity has puffed up Earth's upper

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atmosphere, creating drag that's been pulling

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Swift down faster than expected.

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Avery: Without intervention, Swift faces a

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90% chance of uncontrolled re entry

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by the end of this year. So NASA awarded

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a contract to an Arizona company called

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Catalyst Space Technologies last September

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to build and launch a rescue spacecraft in

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under nine months. Nine months from

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scratch. To build something that has never

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been attempted before.

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Anna: That spacecraft is called Link,

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lightweight in space, navigation and

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kinematics. It's a boxy vehicle about the

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size of a fridge, carrying three robotic arms

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fitted with lidar sensors, three hall

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thrusters and 16 reaction control

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thrusters.

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Avery: Link is now encapsulated inside a, uh,

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Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which

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itself will be making history as the last

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ever Pegasus XL flight. The

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rocket is carried under the belly of a

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modified aircraft called Stargazer, the only

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remaining airworthy Lockheed Martin L1011

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TriStar in the world.

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Anna: Launch is set for Saturday 27th

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June from Kwajalen Atoll in the Marshall

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Islands. The air launch method is required

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because Swift's orbit, inclined

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20.6 degrees to the equator, can't be

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efficiently reached from a ground based

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launch site.

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Avery: Once Link reaches Swift, it faces a delicate

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capture operation. Swift was never designed

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to be serviced. It has no docking port, no

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handholds. Link will have to grab it

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anyway. And after more than 20 years in

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space, Swift's insulation blankets may be as

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brittle as glass.

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Anna: If all goes well, Link will gradually raise

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Swift's orbit back to its original 600

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kilometer altitude, adding years to the

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telescope's life and proving that commercial

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satellite servicing can work at scale.

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Avery: We will absolutely be back with updates as

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this one unfolds. Saturday, June 27th.

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Mark it in your calendars.

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And finally today, China's Tianwen 2

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mission, an asteroid sample return mission

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that is now in its most critical phase yet.

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Anna: Taiwan 2 launched in May 2025,

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and on June 7 this month it

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performed its main insertion burn to enter

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orbit around a T near Earth

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asteroid called Kamo oaloa.

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Formally designated

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469219 Kamo

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Oeloa, Kamola' Olua is

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extraordinary.

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Avery: It's a quasi satellite of Earth. Not a moon

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in the traditional sense, but a space rock

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that orbits the sun on a path so similar to

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ours that it dances around us, perpetually

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staying between 38 and 100 times

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the distance of the moon. It's been Earth's

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companion for more than a century and will

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remain so for the foreseeable future.

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Anna: The asteroid is tiny, somewhere between

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40 and 100 meters across,

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smaller than a football pitch. It spins

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once every 28 minutes, which presents

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real challenges for the sampling operation.

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Avery: Since the June 7th orbit insertion, amateur

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radio operators using a 20 meter dish in

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Germany and the 25 meter Dwingelo telescope

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00:14:37.430 --> 00:14:39.350
in the Netherlands have been tracking the

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spacecraft's fine adjustment burns. The

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Because China has published no official

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mission updates or ephemerities, everything

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00:14:46.190 --> 00:14:48.230
we know about the mission's progress has come

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from independent observers.

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Anna: The mission timeline has sample collection

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00:14:52.990 --> 00:14:55.990
beginning on July 4. Taiwan, too,

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00:14:55.990 --> 00:14:58.790
has three sampling methods available Touch

363
00:14:58.790 --> 00:15:01.510
and go, hover and anchor and attach

364
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to cope with whatever surface conditions it

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finds at arrival.

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Avery: There's also a fascinating scientific debate

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simmering beneath all of this. Kamoa

368
00:15:10.350 --> 00:15:13.270
Olawa's reddish color resembles lunar rock,

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00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:15.610
leading some scientists to propose it's a

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00:15:15.610 --> 00:15:18.250
fragment blasted off the moon by an ancient

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impact. But a new study in Nature

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00:15:20.490 --> 00:15:23.010
Communications suggests it may instead have

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originated in the Flora family of the main

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asteroid belt.

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Anna: The samples, expected to return to earth in

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late 2027, should settle that debate

377
00:15:32.450 --> 00:15:34.970
definitively. If the isotopes match

378
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lunar rock, the lunar fragment theory wins.

379
00:15:38.010 --> 00:15:40.530
If not, we're looking at a space weathered

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00:15:40.530 --> 00:15:42.770
asteroid from the inner belt that just

381
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happens to look lunar.

382
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Avery: After delivering the samples, Tianwen 2

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00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:50.170
doesn't stop. It uses Earth's gravity to

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slingshot toward a main belt comet called

385
00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:55.730
311P Pan Stars, with

386
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rendezvous expected in January 2035,

387
00:15:58.810 --> 00:16:01.530
a ten year mission of remarkable ambition.

388
00:16:02.090 --> 00:16:04.650
Anna: We will be watching the July 4th sample

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00:16:04.650 --> 00:16:07.210
collection attempt very closely indeed

390
00:16:07.450 --> 00:16:09.290
before we go tonight.

391
00:16:09.290 --> 00:16:11.730
Tuesday 23rd the moon sits

392
00:16:11.730 --> 00:16:14.290
beautifully close to Spica, the brightest

393
00:16:14.290 --> 00:16:17.240
star in Virgo. They're separated by less than

394
00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:20.200
2 degrees, so easy to find with the naked eye

395
00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:22.680
after sunset, Spica, uh, shines as a

396
00:16:22.680 --> 00:16:25.440
brilliant bluish white point right beside the

397
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:26.120
moon's glow.

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00:16:26.760 --> 00:16:29.640
Avery: Looking ahead. On June 25, Mercury

399
00:16:29.640 --> 00:16:31.759
will appear close to Jupiter, low in the

400
00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.240
western sky after sunset. Venus will be

401
00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.480
shining nearby to complete a nice little

402
00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.360
planetary trio. You'll want a clear horizon

403
00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:41.560
to the west to catch Mercury, but Jupiter

404
00:16:41.560 --> 00:16:42.570
will be unmissable.

405
00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.520
Anna: And for our Southern Hemisphere listeners,

406
00:16:45.520 --> 00:16:47.800
you're well placed for the Milky Way core

407
00:16:47.800 --> 00:16:50.640
right now. Midwinter means dark early

408
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.200
evenings, and the galactic center rises

409
00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:55.920
nicely in the north after sunset. Get away

410
00:16:55.920 --> 00:16:58.719
from city lights if you can. It's a beautiful

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00:16:58.719 --> 00:16:59.760
time of year for it.

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00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.240
Avery: The Strawberry Moon June's full moon rises

413
00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:05.680
on June 29th. That's coming up fast,

414
00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:08.400
shining in Sagittarius near the Teapot

415
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.190
asterism for parts of southern Australia and

416
00:17:11.190 --> 00:17:13.350
New Zealand. Keep an eye out. There may be a

417
00:17:13.350 --> 00:17:16.190
lunar occultation of antares visible on June

418
00:17:16.190 --> 00:17:16.910
27th.

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00:17:17.470 --> 00:17:19.710
Anna: That's Astronomy Daily for Tuesday

420
00:17:19.870 --> 00:17:22.750
23rd June 2026.

421
00:17:23.390 --> 00:17:26.110
What a morning. Starfall in the air,

422
00:17:26.350 --> 00:17:28.750
Roman in Florida and the

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00:17:28.750 --> 00:17:31.550
universe full of mysteries that keep

424
00:17:31.550 --> 00:17:32.390
getting deeper.

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00:17:32.390 --> 00:17:33.870
Avery: We'll be back tomorrow with the latest from

426
00:17:33.870 --> 00:17:36.760
the Cosmos. Find us at astronomydaily IO

427
00:17:36.760 --> 00:17:38.840
and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

428
00:17:38.840 --> 00:17:41.120
Anna: On behalf of Avery and the whole Astronomy

429
00:17:41.120 --> 00:17:43.720
Daily team, keep looking up. Clear skies,

430
00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:44.040
everyone.

431
00:17:44.360 --> 00:17:46.920
Avery: Fall is a re entry capsule, a vehicle

432
00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:49.440
designed to carry cargo into orbit and bring

433
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.120
it safely back to Earth. But it's not another

434
00:17:52.120 --> 00:17:54.480
Dragon. It's a flat disk, about

435
00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.280
3.1 meters across and only 75

436
00:17:57.280 --> 00:17:59.920
centimeters tall. Think of a large flying

437
00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:02.280
saucer rather than a pointy rocket cone.

438
00:18:02.830 --> 00:18:05.470
Anna: The launch window opened at 6:43 this

439
00:18:05.470 --> 00:18:07.230
morning, Eastern Time. That's

440
00:18:07.230 --> 00:18:10.190
8:43pm here on the east coast of Australia.

441
00:18:10.830 --> 00:18:13.670
It's flying on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral

442
00:18:13.670 --> 00:18:15.990
Space Force Station, the booster supporting

443
00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:18.270
the mission on its 29th flight.

444
00:18:18.830 --> 00:18:21.270
Avery: Now, why does this matter? The target market

445
00:18:21.270 --> 00:18:24.190
is space manufacturing. The idea is that

446
00:18:24.190 --> 00:18:27.070
microgravity, true weightlessness, lets

447
00:18:27.070 --> 00:18:29.790
you make things you can't make on Earth. Pure

448
00:18:29.790 --> 00:18:32.350
pharmaceutical crystals, advanced materials,

449
00:18:32.350 --> 00:18:35.350
bio printed tissues. But to make any of that

450
00:18:35.350 --> 00:18:37.590
commercially viable, you need a cheap,

451
00:18:37.590 --> 00:18:39.580
reliable way to bring your product home.

452
00:18:39.580 --> 00:18:42.270
Anna: M Until now, a small California

453
00:18:42.270 --> 00:18:44.630
company called Varda Space Industries has

454
00:18:44.630 --> 00:18:47.070
been pioneering that market. They've flown

455
00:18:47.070 --> 00:18:49.790
six capsule missions, but their capsules are

456
00:18:49.790 --> 00:18:52.670
small, carrying dozens of kilograms at most.

457
00:18:53.070 --> 00:18:54.990
Starfall is rated for up to

458
00:18:54.990 --> 00:18:57.900
1000kg. That's roughly 30

459
00:18:57.900 --> 00:18:59.580
times more return capacity,

460
00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:01.900
Avery: which creates an interesting situation

461
00:19:02.140 --> 00:19:04.500
because Varda has been launching all of its

462
00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:07.260
missions on SpaceX rockets. SpaceX

463
00:19:07.260 --> 00:19:09.380
is now entering the market it's been

464
00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:09.900
powering.

465
00:19:10.380 --> 00:19:13.220
Anna: After re entry, Starfall splashes down in the

466
00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:16.140
Pacific ocean off the US West coast, about

467
00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:19.140
1300 kilometers offshore. It's designed

468
00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:21.580
to be mass produced for starship flights in

469
00:19:21.580 --> 00:19:24.410
the future. Though today's Demo uses Falcon

470
00:19:24.410 --> 00:19:25.770
9, SpaceX

471
00:19:25.770 --> 00:19:27.810
Avery: has been approved for two re entry

472
00:19:27.810 --> 00:19:30.730
demonstrations. This is the first. We'll be

473
00:19:30.730 --> 00:19:32.930
watching closely for news of a successful

474
00:19:32.930 --> 00:19:33.490
recovery.

475
00:19:33.970 --> 00:19:36.250
Anna: A, uh, genuinely exciting morning to be a

476
00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:37.010
space nerd.

477
00:19:37.490 --> 00:19:40.090
Now, from a launch happening today to a

478
00:19:40.090 --> 00:19:41.970
launch that's just a couple of months away,

479
00:19:42.290 --> 00:19:45.170
NASA's next great space telescope has arrived

480
00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:46.050
in Florida.

481
00:19:46.370 --> 00:19:49.310
Avery: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Roman

482
00:19:49.310 --> 00:19:51.390
for short, arrived at the Kennedy Space

483
00:19:51.390 --> 00:19:54.270
center on Sunday, 21 June, riding

484
00:19:54.270 --> 00:19:56.870
NASA's Pegasus barge down from Baltimore

485
00:19:56.870 --> 00:19:59.310
after being loaded up at Goddard Space Flight

486
00:19:59.310 --> 00:20:00.230
center in Maryland.

487
00:20:00.710 --> 00:20:03.190
Anna: The telescope was tucked inside a special

488
00:20:03.270 --> 00:20:06.190
transport container that NASA has nicknamed I

489
00:20:06.190 --> 00:20:08.750
love this, the Chariot, keeping with the

490
00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:11.550
Roman theme, because the telescope is named

491
00:20:11.550 --> 00:20:14.470
after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's very

492
00:20:14.470 --> 00:20:16.990
first chief of astronomy, not after the

493
00:20:16.990 --> 00:20:17.350
Empire.

494
00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:20.520
Avery: Roman is often called the mother of Hubble.

495
00:20:20.520 --> 00:20:23.000
She was a driving force behind getting Hubble

496
00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:25.040
built in the first place. It's a fitting

497
00:20:25.040 --> 00:20:27.800
tribute. Now roman is at KSC's Payload

498
00:20:27.800 --> 00:20:30.240
Hazardous Servicing Facility for final launch

499
00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.720
preparations. The team will check all six

500
00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:35.360
solar panels, inspect insulation and thermal

501
00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:38.280
blankets, and load around 290 gallons

502
00:20:38.280 --> 00:20:39.480
of hydrazine fuel.

503
00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:42.160
Anna: And here's the headline number. NASA is

504
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:45.096
targeting launch no earlier than Sunday 30th

505
00:20:45.224 --> 00:20:47.970
August on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

506
00:20:48.360 --> 00:20:50.920
And that timeline puts Roman a full eight

507
00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:52.920
months ahead of its original schedule.

508
00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:55.680
Avery: Eight months ahead. That's remarkable for a

509
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:57.320
flagship space telescope.

510
00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:00.480
Anna: So what will Roman actually do? Its main

511
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.400
Instrument is a 300 megapixel infrared

512
00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:05.880
camera with a field of view 100

513
00:21:06.040 --> 00:21:08.800
times wider than Hubble's. It will survey

514
00:21:08.800 --> 00:21:11.560
billions of galaxies, discover hundreds of

515
00:21:11.560 --> 00:21:14.440
thousands of exoplanets, probe dark energy

516
00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:17.200
and dark matter, and do all of this at

517
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.400
speeds and scales that simply weren't

518
00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:20.340
possible before.

519
00:21:20.580 --> 00:21:23.380
Avery: It also carries a coronagraph, a starlight

520
00:21:23.380 --> 00:21:25.620
blocking instrument that will directly image

521
00:21:25.620 --> 00:21:28.500
planets around nearby stars, a key step

522
00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:30.820
in the long hunt for Earth. Like worlds.

523
00:21:31.060 --> 00:21:33.380
Anna: After launch, Roman will travel to the second

524
00:21:33.380 --> 00:21:35.780
Sun, Earth Lagrange Point L2,

525
00:21:36.020 --> 00:21:38.820
about 1.5 million kilometers from

526
00:21:38.820 --> 00:21:41.060
Earth, the same neighborhood where the James

527
00:21:41.060 --> 00:21:43.540
Webb Space Telescope is parked right now.

528
00:21:43.860 --> 00:21:46.500
Avery: Webb looking deep and narrow, Roman

529
00:21:46.500 --> 00:21:48.980
looking wide and fast. They're going to

530
00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:50.660
complement each other beautifully.

531
00:21:50.740 --> 00:21:52.380
Anna: And speaking of the James Webb Space

532
00:21:52.380 --> 00:21:54.500
Telescope, let's talk about what it's been

533
00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:56.900
showing us lately, because JWST

534
00:21:57.300 --> 00:21:59.700
keeps finding things that shouldn't be there.

535
00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:02.300
Avery: This week, a series of three new papers

536
00:22:02.300 --> 00:22:04.100
published in the Astrophysical Journal

537
00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:06.700
Letters reveal something extraordinary about

538
00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:08.100
a galaxy cluster called

539
00:22:08.100 --> 00:22:10.420
XLSSC122.

540
00:22:10.660 --> 00:22:13.300
Anna: Now, XLSSC122

541
00:22:13.460 --> 00:22:16.340
was first spotted way back in 2014 during

542
00:22:16.340 --> 00:22:19.320
an X ray survey. It's about 10.4

543
00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:22.000
billion light years away, meaning we're

544
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.320
seeing it as it existed when the universe was

545
00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:26.920
only around 3.3 billion years old.

546
00:22:27.320 --> 00:22:30.280
That era is called cosmic noon, the peak

547
00:22:30.280 --> 00:22:32.600
of star formation, when galaxies were

548
00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:34.680
building themselves at a furious rate.

549
00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.640
Avery: It looks far too grown up for its age. It's

550
00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:40.120
large, it's organized, it has a dense,

551
00:22:40.120 --> 00:22:42.960
concentrated core. According to standard

552
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:45.880
cosmological models, galaxy clusters that far

553
00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:48.200
back should still be loose, scattered. Still

554
00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:50.630
assembling. This one looks like it's had

555
00:22:50.630 --> 00:22:52.630
millions of years more to develop than it

556
00:22:52.630 --> 00:22:53.070
should have.

557
00:22:53.230 --> 00:22:56.030
Anna: But JWST has now revealed something

558
00:22:56.030 --> 00:22:58.870
even more surprising. When astronomers

559
00:22:58.870 --> 00:23:01.310
pointed the telescope at this cluster, they

560
00:23:01.310 --> 00:23:03.550
discovered it's acting as a gravitational

561
00:23:03.550 --> 00:23:06.430
lens. Its immense mass is bending and

562
00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:08.510
warping the light of even more distant

563
00:23:08.510 --> 00:23:11.190
galaxies behind it, creating beautiful

564
00:23:11.190 --> 00:23:13.710
blue gray arcs around the cluster's center.

565
00:23:13.870 --> 00:23:16.590
Avery: And that makes XLSSC122

566
00:23:16.670 --> 00:23:19.110
the most distant galaxy cluster ever

567
00:23:19.110 --> 00:23:21.530
confirmed to act as a strong gravitational

568
00:23:21.530 --> 00:23:24.410
lens. Some of that bent light set out on its

569
00:23:24.410 --> 00:23:26.650
journey more than 12 billion years ago.

570
00:23:26.810 --> 00:23:29.250
Anna: The lensing effect is dominated not by the

571
00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:32.170
cluster's stars and gas, but by dark matter.

572
00:23:32.490 --> 00:23:35.170
By studying the arcs, the team at Caltech's

573
00:23:35.170 --> 00:23:37.810
iPac can map the dark matter distribution

574
00:23:37.810 --> 00:23:40.410
with remarkable precision. And what they

575
00:23:40.410 --> 00:23:43.170
found is a core that's far more concentrated

576
00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:44.410
than their models predict.

577
00:23:44.650 --> 00:23:46.770
Avery: The third paper in the series found something

578
00:23:46.770 --> 00:23:49.750
called intracluster light, a faint glow

579
00:23:49.750 --> 00:23:51.630
from stars that have been stripped loose from

580
00:23:51.630 --> 00:23:54.150
their galaxies and now drift free through the

581
00:23:54.150 --> 00:23:57.150
cluster. XLSSC122

582
00:23:57.150 --> 00:23:59.790
is the earliest known cluster where this glow

583
00:23:59.790 --> 00:24:00.630
has been detected.

584
00:24:00.870 --> 00:24:03.870
Anna: These results were announced at the 248th

585
00:24:03.870 --> 00:24:06.310
meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

586
00:24:06.630 --> 00:24:09.550
Read author Kyle Finner from IPAC summed it

587
00:24:09.550 --> 00:24:12.150
up before jwst we

588
00:24:12.150 --> 00:24:14.230
couldn't do this level of science in the

589
00:24:14.230 --> 00:24:15.590
early distant universe.

590
00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:18.130
Avery: It's another reminder that the early universe

591
00:24:18.130 --> 00:24:20.490
was far more structured and stranger than our

592
00:24:20.490 --> 00:24:21.250
models expected.

593
00:24:21.970 --> 00:24:24.250
Next up, we're staying in the realm of dark

594
00:24:24.250 --> 00:24:26.330
matter because a new study published in

595
00:24:26.330 --> 00:24:29.010
Physical Review Letters has just reignited

596
00:24:29.010 --> 00:24:31.490
one of astrophysics most stubborn debates.

597
00:24:32.050 --> 00:24:34.570
Anna: At the heart of our Milky Way, there's a

598
00:24:34.570 --> 00:24:37.490
mysterious spherical glow of high energy

599
00:24:37.570 --> 00:24:40.570
gamma rays. It extends for thousands of light

600
00:24:40.570 --> 00:24:43.260
years out from the galactic center. NASA's

601
00:24:43.260 --> 00:24:45.700
Fermi telescope first spotted it in the late

602
00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:48.500
2000s, and astronomers have been arguing

603
00:24:48.500 --> 00:24:49.700
about it ever since.

604
00:24:50.340 --> 00:24:53.140
Avery: It's called the Galactic Center Excess, and

605
00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:55.900
there are two main one a

606
00:24:55.900 --> 00:24:58.579
huge population of millisecond pulsars,

607
00:24:59.060 --> 00:25:01.900
rapidly spinning neutron stars that beam

608
00:25:01.900 --> 00:25:04.900
gamma rays outward. Two dark

609
00:25:04.900 --> 00:25:07.220
matter particles annihilating each other.

610
00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:09.940
When two dark matter particles collide and

611
00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:11.940
destroy each other, they can release energy,

612
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:13.600
including gamma rays.

613
00:25:14.080 --> 00:25:16.360
Anna: The pulsar explanation had been gaining

614
00:25:16.360 --> 00:25:18.640
ground in recent years. Some earlier

615
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:21.480
analyses suggested a relatively modest

616
00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:24.400
population of a few hundred pulsars could

617
00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:25.440
explain the signal.

618
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:28.880
Avery: But this new research, led by Florian List at

619
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:31.640
the University of Vienna and Nick Rod at the

620
00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:34.280
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has

621
00:25:34.280 --> 00:25:36.840
changed the picture. They trained a machine

622
00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:39.040
learning model on more than 1 million

623
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.070
simulated gamma ray observations. And the

624
00:25:42.070 --> 00:25:44.790
result? For pulsars to account for the

625
00:25:44.790 --> 00:25:47.670
signal, you would need more than 35,000

626
00:25:47.670 --> 00:25:50.150
of them concentrated near the galactic

627
00:25:50.150 --> 00:25:50.630
center.

628
00:25:51.190 --> 00:25:53.590
Anna: 35,000. That's an

629
00:25:53.590 --> 00:25:56.590
implausibly high number. And crucially, those

630
00:25:56.590 --> 00:25:59.350
pulsars would need to be so individually

631
00:25:59.350 --> 00:26:02.070
faint that they'd be nearly indistinguishable

632
00:26:02.070 --> 00:26:03.910
from the emission you'd expect from

633
00:26:03.910 --> 00:26:05.190
annihilating dark matter.

634
00:26:05.830 --> 00:26:08.440
Avery: As Nick Rod put it, our new analysis

635
00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:10.760
shows that the sources would have to be so

636
00:26:10.760 --> 00:26:12.400
faint that they would be almost

637
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:14.880
indistinguishable from the emission expected

638
00:26:15.120 --> 00:26:16.560
from annihilating dark matter.

639
00:26:17.120 --> 00:26:19.800
Anna: The study doesn't prove dark matter is the

640
00:26:19.800 --> 00:26:22.480
cause, far from it. But it means the dark

641
00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:25.200
matter explanation cannot be ruled out.

642
00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.800
And the pulsar hypothesis is on much

643
00:26:27.800 --> 00:26:29.680
shakier ground than many thought.

644
00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.240
Avery: Upcoming observatories, including the

645
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.880
Cherenkov Telescope Array and the Southern

646
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:37.360
Widefield Gamma Ray Observatory, should

647
00:26:37.360 --> 00:26:40.180
eventually give us the resolution to separate

648
00:26:40.180 --> 00:26:42.460
these two signals. That observatory,

649
00:26:42.540 --> 00:26:45.220
incidentally, is being built in Chile. Well

650
00:26:45.220 --> 00:26:47.420
placed for Southern Hemisphere skywatchers.

651
00:26:48.060 --> 00:26:50.900
Anna: Something to watch closely. The heart of our

652
00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:53.180
own galaxy may be telling us something

653
00:26:53.260 --> 00:26:56.060
profound about the invisible stuff that makes

654
00:26:56.060 --> 00:26:58.830
up most of the universe now a, ah,

655
00:26:58.860 --> 00:27:01.660
ticking clock. NASA's SIFT observatory

656
00:27:01.740 --> 00:27:04.340
rescue mission is four days from launch and

657
00:27:04.340 --> 00:27:06.620
the people behind it are honest about what

658
00:27:06.620 --> 00:27:07.470
they've pulled off.

659
00:27:08.260 --> 00:27:11.220
Avery: John Domogal Goldman, NASA's astrophysics

660
00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:13.500
division director, said at a briefing press

661
00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:16.500
last week, and I quote, frankly I

662
00:27:16.500 --> 00:27:18.700
have to be honest, no one thought it was

663
00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:19.460
going to be possible.

664
00:27:20.100 --> 00:27:22.860
Anna: The story so far the Neil Gerald's

665
00:27:22.860 --> 00:27:25.220
Swift Observatory has been watching the sky

666
00:27:25.220 --> 00:27:27.860
for gamma ray bursts since 2004.

667
00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:31.020
Over 2,000 detected across more than

668
00:27:31.020 --> 00:27:33.700
two decades. But it's been slowly

669
00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:36.200
losing altitude. Increased solar

670
00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:38.400
activity has puffed up Earth's upper

671
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.040
atmosphere, creating drag that's been pulling

672
00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:43.080
Swift down faster, uh, than expected.

673
00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:46.210
Avery: Without intervention, Swift faces a uh,

674
00:27:46.280 --> 00:27:49.280
90% chance of uncontrolled re entry

675
00:27:49.280 --> 00:27:52.280
by the end of this year. So NASA awarded

676
00:27:52.280 --> 00:27:54.720
a contract to an Arizona company called

677
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.320
Catalyst Space Technologies last September

678
00:27:57.560 --> 00:28:00.520
to build and launch a rescue spacecraft in

679
00:28:00.520 --> 00:28:03.210
under nine months. Nine months from

680
00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:05.570
scratch to build something that has never

681
00:28:05.570 --> 00:28:06.570
been attempted before.

682
00:28:07.210 --> 00:28:09.450
Anna: That spacecraft is called Link.

683
00:28:09.770 --> 00:28:12.090
Lightweight in space navigation and

684
00:28:12.090 --> 00:28:15.010
kinematics. It's a boxy vehicle about the

685
00:28:15.010 --> 00:28:17.650
size of a fridge, carrying three robotic

686
00:28:17.650 --> 00:28:20.570
arms fitted with lidar sensors, three hall

687
00:28:20.570 --> 00:28:23.290
thrusters and 16 reaction control

688
00:28:23.370 --> 00:28:24.010
thrusters.

689
00:28:24.570 --> 00:28:27.410
Avery: Link is now encapsulated inside a Northrop

690
00:28:27.410 --> 00:28:30.410
Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which itself

691
00:28:30.410 --> 00:28:32.970
will be making history as the last ever

692
00:28:32.970 --> 00:28:35.770
Pegasus XL flight. The rocket is

693
00:28:35.770 --> 00:28:37.490
carried under the belly of a modified

694
00:28:37.570 --> 00:28:40.330
aircraft called Stargazer, the only remaining

695
00:28:40.330 --> 00:28:43.090
airworthy Lockheed Martin L1011

696
00:28:43.090 --> 00:28:43.850
Tristar

697
00:28:43.850 --> 00:28:46.450
Anna: in the world launch is set for Saturday

698
00:28:46.610 --> 00:28:49.290
27 June from Kwajalen

699
00:28:49.290 --> 00:28:52.090
Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The air launch

700
00:28:52.090 --> 00:28:54.770
method is required because Swift's orbit,

701
00:28:54.850 --> 00:28:57.650
inclined 20.6 degrees to the equator,

702
00:28:58.120 --> 00:29:00.160
can't be efficiently reached from a ground

703
00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:01.240
based launch site.

704
00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:04.280
Avery: Once Lync reaches Swift, it faces a

705
00:29:04.280 --> 00:29:07.240
delicate capture operation. Swift was never

706
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:09.000
designed to be serviced. Um, it has no

707
00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:11.840
docking port, no handholds. Link will

708
00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:14.280
have to grab it anyway. And after more than

709
00:29:14.280 --> 00:29:16.840
20 years in space, Swift's insulation

710
00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:19.080
blankets may be as brittle as glass.

711
00:29:19.800 --> 00:29:22.680
Anna: If all goes well, Link will gradually raise

712
00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:25.400
Swift's orbit back to its original 600

713
00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:28.100
kilometer altitude, adding years to the

714
00:29:28.100 --> 00:29:30.700
telescope's life and proving that commercial

715
00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:33.060
satellite servicing can work at scale.

716
00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:36.140
Avery: We will absolutely be back with updates as

717
00:29:36.140 --> 00:29:38.940
this one unfolds. Saturday June 27th.

718
00:29:38.940 --> 00:29:40.340
Mark it in your calendars.

719
00:29:40.580 --> 00:29:43.220
And finally today, China's Tianwen 2

720
00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:45.700
mission, an asteroid sample return mission

721
00:29:45.700 --> 00:29:48.020
that is now in its most critical phase yet.

722
00:29:48.420 --> 00:29:51.380
Anna: Taiwan 2 launched in May 2025,

723
00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:54.380
and on June 7 this month it

724
00:29:54.380 --> 00:29:56.980
performed its main insertion burn to enter

725
00:29:56.980 --> 00:29:59.980
orbit around a tiny near Earth asteroid

726
00:30:00.060 --> 00:30:02.660
called Kamo oeloa. Formally

727
00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:05.580
designated 469219,

728
00:30:05.660 --> 00:30:08.260
Kamo Oloa Kaumo'

729
00:30:08.260 --> 00:30:09.820
Oloa is extraordinary.

730
00:30:09.979 --> 00:30:12.740
Avery: It's a quasi satellite of Earth, not a moon

731
00:30:12.740 --> 00:30:15.180
in the traditional sense, but a space rock

732
00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:18.020
that orbits the sun on a path so similar to

733
00:30:18.020 --> 00:30:20.700
ours that it dances around us, perpetually

734
00:30:21.010 --> 00:30:24.010
staying between 38 and 100 times the

735
00:30:24.010 --> 00:30:26.090
distance of the Moon. It's been Earth's

736
00:30:26.090 --> 00:30:28.090
companion for more than a century and will

737
00:30:28.090 --> 00:30:29.890
remain so for the foreseeable future.

738
00:30:30.450 --> 00:30:33.170
Anna: The asteroid is tiny, somewhere between

739
00:30:33.330 --> 00:30:35.570
40 and 100 meters across,

740
00:30:36.050 --> 00:30:38.770
smaller than a football pitch, it spins

741
00:30:38.770 --> 00:30:41.530
once every 28 minutes, which presents

742
00:30:41.530 --> 00:30:43.810
real challenges for the sampling operation.

743
00:30:44.450 --> 00:30:47.330
Avery: Since the June 7th orbit insertion, amateur

744
00:30:47.330 --> 00:30:49.850
radio operators using a 20 meter dish in

745
00:30:49.850 --> 00:30:52.600
Germany and the 25 meter Dwingolo telescope

746
00:30:52.910 --> 00:30:54.710
in the Netherlands have been tracking the

747
00:30:54.710 --> 00:30:57.270
spacecraft's fine adjustment burns. Because

748
00:30:57.270 --> 00:30:59.350
China has published no official mission

749
00:30:59.350 --> 00:31:01.910
updates or ephemerities, everything we know

750
00:31:01.910 --> 00:31:03.870
about the mission's progress has come from

751
00:31:03.870 --> 00:31:05.310
independent observers.

752
00:31:05.950 --> 00:31:08.310
Anna: The mission timeline has sample collection

753
00:31:08.310 --> 00:31:11.070
beginning on July 4th. Taiwan

754
00:31:11.070 --> 00:31:13.150
2 has three sampling methods.

755
00:31:13.710 --> 00:31:16.390
Touch and go, hover and anchor and

756
00:31:16.390 --> 00:31:18.710
attach to cope with whatever surface

757
00:31:18.710 --> 00:31:20.110
conditions it finds at arrival.

758
00:31:21.010 --> 00:31:23.370
Avery: There's also a fascinating scientific debate

759
00:31:23.370 --> 00:31:25.730
simmering beneath all of this. Kamoa

760
00:31:25.730 --> 00:31:28.690
Olawa's reddish color resembles lunar rock,

761
00:31:28.770 --> 00:31:30.970
leading some scientists to propose it's a

762
00:31:30.970 --> 00:31:33.610
fragment blasted off the moon by an ancient

763
00:31:33.610 --> 00:31:35.850
impact. But a new study in Nature

764
00:31:35.850 --> 00:31:38.370
communications suggests it may instead have

765
00:31:38.370 --> 00:31:40.810
originated in the Flora family of the main

766
00:31:40.810 --> 00:31:41.730
asteroid belt.

767
00:31:42.290 --> 00:31:45.010
Anna: The samples expected to return to earth in

768
00:31:45.010 --> 00:31:47.810
late 2027 should settle that debate

769
00:31:47.810 --> 00:31:50.360
definitively. If the isotopes match

770
00:31:50.360 --> 00:31:53.320
lunar rock, the lunar fragment theory wins.

771
00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:55.920
If not, we're looking at a space weathered

772
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.120
asteroid from the inner belt that just

773
00:31:58.120 --> 00:31:59.560
happens to look lunar.

774
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:02.720
Avery: After delivering the samples, Tianwen 2

775
00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:05.560
doesn't stop. It uses Earth's gravity to

776
00:32:05.560 --> 00:32:08.200
slingshot toward a main belt comet called

777
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:11.080
311P, with

778
00:32:11.080 --> 00:32:13.880
rendezvous expected in January 2035,

779
00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:16.840
a 10 year mission of remarkable ambition.

780
00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:20.000
Anna: We will be watching the July 4th sample

781
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.600
collection attempt very closely indeed.

782
00:32:22.840 --> 00:32:25.000
Before we go tonight, Tuesday

783
00:32:25.240 --> 00:32:28.200
23rd, the moon sits beautifully close to

784
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:30.680
Spica, the brightest star in Virgo.

785
00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:33.319
They're separated by less than 2 degrees,

786
00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:35.840
so easy to find with the naked eye after

787
00:32:35.840 --> 00:32:38.560
sunset. Spica, uh, shines as a brilliant

788
00:32:38.560 --> 00:32:41.200
bluish white point right beside the moon's

789
00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:42.840
glow, looking m ahead.

790
00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:45.800
Avery: On June 25, Mercury will appear close

791
00:32:45.800 --> 00:32:48.040
to Jupiter, low in the western sky after

792
00:32:48.040 --> 00:32:50.700
sunset. Venus will be shining nearby to

793
00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:53.580
complete a nice little planetary trio. You'll

794
00:32:53.580 --> 00:32:55.700
want a clear horizon to the west to catch

795
00:32:55.700 --> 00:32:58.020
Mercury, but Jupiter will be unmissable.

796
00:32:58.660 --> 00:33:00.900
Anna: And for our Southern Hemisphere listeners,

797
00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:03.180
you're well placed for the Milky Way core

798
00:33:03.180 --> 00:33:06.020
right now. Midwinter means dark early

799
00:33:06.020 --> 00:33:08.580
evenings, and the galactic center rises

800
00:33:08.580 --> 00:33:11.300
nicely in the north after sunset. Get away

801
00:33:11.300 --> 00:33:14.100
from city lights if you can. It's a beautiful

802
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time of year for it.

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Avery: The Strawberry Moon June's full moon rises

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on June 29th. That's coming up fast,

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shining in Sagittarius near the teapot

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asterism for parts of southern Australia and

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New Zealand. Keep an eye out. There may be a

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00:33:28.750 --> 00:33:31.590
lunar occultation of antares visible on June

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00:33:31.590 --> 00:33:32.310
27th.

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Anna: That's Astronomy Daily for Tuesday,

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23rd June 2026.

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What a morning star fall in the air,

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Roman in Florida and the universe

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00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:47.320
full of mysteries that keep getting

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deeper.