Stellar Insights: SpaceX's Starship Launch, Black Moon Magic, and Alien Signal Strategies

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Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,

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the podcast that brings you the biggest news from

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across the cosmos. I'm your host,

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Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. It's a packed day, Avery.

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We've got a massive rocket gearing up for launch,

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a rare lunar event, a, uh, disappointing update

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on a once promising exoplanet, and a

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fascinating new strategy for finding intelligent

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life.

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Avery: Let's not waste any time then. Let's start

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with the big one.

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SpaceX is getting ready to fly Starship

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again.

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Anna: That's right. This will be the 10th overall test

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flight for the Starship system. The

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massive super heavy booster has been moved to the launch

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pad down at Starbase in South

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Texas, with the launch tentatively scheduled for

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this Sunday, August 24th.

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Avery: And for anyone who's new to the show, we're not

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exaggerating when we say massive

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Starship is the largest and most powerful

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rocket and ever built. This is the vehicle

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SpaceX has designed to eventually send people to

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the Moon and Mars.

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Anna: M. Exactly. This upcoming launch marks the fourth

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test flight of 2025. And as many

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of our listeners know, the previous three flights this

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year ended prematurely. SpaceX is

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known for its rapid, iterative approach to testing.

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They build, they fly, they learn from any

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failures, and they fly again quickly.

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Avery: And that's really what sets SpaceX apart from

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traditional aerospace, isn't it? The old

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way was to test everything on the ground for years,

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aiming for perfection before the first launch.

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SpaceX treats it more like software development.

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Launch, find the bugs, fix them, and

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launch again. It's a build, fly, learn,

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repeat model that moves incredibly fast.

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So what does a successful test look like

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this time around? Are they trying to get to

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orbit?

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Anna: The flight plan is similar to the previous attempts.

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If all goes well, the super heavy booster will

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perform its burn separate from the Starship upper

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stage and then conduct a soft splashdown in

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the Gulf of Mexico. The upper stage,

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or ship will continue on a suborbital

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trajectory, re enter the atmosphere and

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aim for its own splashdown in the Indian

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Ocean.

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Avery: Fingers crossed for a successful flight.

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Each step gets them closer to returning astronauts

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to the moon. We'll be watching closely on Sunday.

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Speaking of the moon, the Starship is a

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crucial part of NASA's Artemis program.

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It's not just about SpaceX's ambitions. It's

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about a global effort to return to the lunar

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surface. For our listeners who might not be

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familiar with it, what exactly is the

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Artemis Program?

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Anna: The Artemis program is NASA's ambitious

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plan to establish a, uh, sustainable human

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presence on and around the Moon. It's

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A multi stage effort with the ultimate goal of

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not just visiting the Moon, but learning to live and

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work there. This will then serve as a stepping stone

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for future missions to Mars. From

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a future event to one that's happening this

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week.

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On Saturday, August 23rd, we'll be experiencing a

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black Moon.

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Avery: A black Moon. That sounds incredibly dramatic.

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Is this an official astronomical term?

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Anna: It's more of a colloquial term, actually.

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It's not something you'll find in astronomy

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textbooks. A black moon refers to the

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13th new moon in a single

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calendar year. Normally we have 12, one

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for each month. But because the lunar cycle

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is slightly shorter than our calendar months, we

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get an extra one every few years.

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Avery: Ah, uh, so it's a scheduling quirk. So

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what is a new Moon? For our listeners who

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might not know.

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Anna: A new Moon occurs when the Moon passes between

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the Earth and the Sun. From our

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perspective, the side of the Moon facing us is,

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is not illuminated by sunlight. So the

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Moon is still up there in the sky during the day, but we

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can't see it because its dark side is facing us

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and it's lost in the blare of the Sun.

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Avery: Which means if we can't see the Moon, the night

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sky is much, much darker. This

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is fantastic news for stargazers.

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Anna: Precisely. Without the moonlight washing

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out the fainter stars, a new Moon

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provides the best conditions for stargazing.

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So while you can't see the Black Moon itself,

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its absence makes for a perfect

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opportunity to get out your telescope or

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even just a pair of binoculars and enjoy

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the night sky.

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Avery: All right, from good news for stargazing here on Earth

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to some less than stellar news from far away.

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Anna, what's this about? The James Webb Space Telescope

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delivering a bit of a letdown.

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Anna: Yes, this story concerns an

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exoplanet named GJ

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3929.

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It was once considered a promising candidate in the

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search for Earth like worlds. However,

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new data from the JWST

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has determined that the planet likely has no

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atmosphere at all. It's now believed to be

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a bare rock.

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Avery: Ah, uh, that's a shame. Uh, you hear about these

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potentially habitable worlds and get your hopes up.

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Why was this one considered so promising to begin

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with?

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Anna: It's a rocky exoplanet orbiting a red

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dwarf star, a type of system that is

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very common in our galaxy and a key

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focus for scientists. This

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observation was part of a special program

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using the JWST

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specifically designed to study these rocky

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worlds and hunt for atmospheres.

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Avery: So even though it's a disappointing result for this Specific

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planet. It's still useful data, right?

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Anna: That's the key takeaway. Science

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isn't just about finding what you're looking for.

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It's also about ruling things out.

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These findings, while not what we hoped for,

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are crucial. They contribute to our

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understanding of how planets evolve and

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what factors allow a planet to hold on

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to its atmosphere. It helps scientists

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refine their models and know what to look for

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and what to avoid in future searches.

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Every discovery, even a null result, is a

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piece of the puzzle.

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Avery: Speaking of searching for things, our, uh, last story is

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the one that really caught my eye. It's about finding the best

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places to look for signals from intelligent

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alien life. This is the big question, isn't it?

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Avery: Are we alone?

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Anna: It certainly is. And this new research

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from NASA's Deep Space Network and Penn

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State University offers a clever new

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approach. Scientists analyzed

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20 years of data from NASA's Deep Space

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Network, or DSN. That's the

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network of giant radio antennas we use

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to communicate with our spacecraft across the

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solar system.

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Avery: So they weren't looking for incoming signals.

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Avery: But looking at our outgoing signals.

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Anna: Exactly. They mapped where our most

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powerful deep space radio signals have

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been pointed over the last two decades.

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And they found something fascinating. Our

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transmissions are overwhelmingly directed

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towards our spacecraft near Mars. We are

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constantly beaming information towards the.

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Avery: Red planet M. So what you're saying.

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Avery: Is we've been accidentally broadcasting we

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are here in the direction of Mars for years?

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Anna: In a way, yes. The study suggests

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that if an extraterrestrial intelligence would were

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located in a place where they could see the Earth and

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Mars align, there's a

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77% chance they would be in the

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path of one of our powerful transmissions.

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This gives us a targeted search area.

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Avery: So the best place to listen for aliens is where they would

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have the best chance of hearing us first. That makes perfect

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sense. It's like checking your missed calls.

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Anna: It's a logical strategy. The researchers

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recommend that the search for these

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technosignatures should focus on

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planetary systems that are edge on

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to our own solar system's plane and

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relatively close by within about

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23 light years. It's a way of

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narrowing down an impossibly large search area

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to something much more manageable.

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Avery: What an episode. We've had a rocket launch, a,

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uh, sky gazing opportunity, a reality check for

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an exoplanet, and a new roadmap for finding

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E.T.

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Anna: It just shows that there's always something new and

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exciting happening out there. That's all the time

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we have for this episode.

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Avery: If you'd like to read more about the stories we discussed today

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or browse our archive of back episodes. Be sure to visit

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our website@astronomydaily.IO.

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Anna: Thanks for tuning in to Astronomy Daily.

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Avery: Clear skies, everyone.