Stellar Updates: SpaceX's New Launch Capacity; New Theories on Cosmic Age

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Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the

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podcast that brings you the universe, one story

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at a time. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us.

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We've got a packed show for you today, Avery.

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We're talking about a massive expansion for SpaceX

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launches, a new theory that could double the age

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of the universe, and a potential glimpse of a

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primordial black hole and an

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interstellar visitor heading for Mars.

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Avery: An absolutely fascinating lineup.

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So where do you want to start? Should we kick things off with

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the launch pad?

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Anna: Let's do it.

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Our first story is big news for the pace of space

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exploration. SpaceX has just received

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a green light from US regulators to more

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than double their launch rate from Florida.

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Avery: And when you say more than double, you really mean

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it. They're going from 50 Falcon

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9 launches per year up to

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120 from Cape Canaveral.

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And that is a staggering increase in frequency.

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Anna: It really is. And to handle all those

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returning boosters, the approval also includes a, uh,

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new on site landing zone. They're planning for up

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to 34 booster landings right there at the Cape.

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This is all about streamlining their operations.

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Avery: So how does an approval like this work?

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I imagine launching that many rockets has some

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environmental considerations.

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Anna: Absolutely. The approval is officially called a, uh,

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mitigated finding of no significant impact.

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That means they've put measures in place to protect local

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wildlife and the environment. But it's not

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the final step. SpaceX still needs a final

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licence modification from the FAA and

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approval from the Air Force before they can start ramping up.

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Avery: It sounds like they're clearing the final hurdles. This

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has to be a huge relief for a lot of companies and

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agencies. We've heard about the launch bottleneck for a

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while now. This should really help ease the traffic jam

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for commercial satellites, military missions, and

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of course, SpaceX's own Starlink constellation.

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Anna: Exactly. And this isn't just happening in

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Florida. They're planning a similar expansion for their

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west coast operations at Vandenberg Space Force

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Base in California. We are truly entering

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an era of unprecedented access to space.

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Avery: Beyond just easing the traffic jam, what does

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this increased capacity mean for the kinds of

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missions? We'll see. Are we talking more

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sc, more commercial activity, or

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both? Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens

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in practise, but I think you'll find it'll be a

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balance of both science and commercial.

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Alright, from the very practical to the

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deeply theoretical. Anna.

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Uh, our next story is a real mind bender.

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A new study is suggesting that dark matter

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doesn't exist, and that the universe is

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twice as old as we thought.

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Anna: That's the headline, and it's as provocative as it

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sounds. A physicist named Rajendra

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Gupta has proposed a new cosmological

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model that attempts to explain the universe without

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the need for dark matter or dark energy,

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which are foundational pillars of our current

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understanding.

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Avery: Okay, I'm intrigued. How does he

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propose to do that? Our current model relies

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on dark matter to explain why galaxies don't fly

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apart.

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Anna: Well, Gupta's model combines two different and

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somewhat controversial ideas. The first

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is called covarying coupling constants, or

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ccc. This theory suggests that the

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fundamental physical constants of nature, things

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like the strength of gravity, might actually

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change over cosmic time.

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Avery: Whoa. That alone would rewrite the

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textbooks. Um, and what's the second idea?

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Anna: The second is an old hypothesis called

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tired light. This idea proposes that

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light particles, photons, lose

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energy as they travel over billions of light

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years. This energy loss would cause their light to

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shift toward the red end of the spectrum, which is

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something we currently attribute almost entirely to the

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expansion of the universe.

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Avery: So by combining these two theories, he can

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explain cosmic observations without

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dark matter. And how does that lead to the

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universe being twice. Twice as old?

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Anna: By reinterpreting the redshift of distant

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galaxies, his calculations suggest that

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the universe isn't 13.8 billion years

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old, but actually 26.7

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billion years old. It completely changes the

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timeline of cosmic evolution.

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Avery: This is a monumental claim. Dark matter is

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thought to make up about 27% of the universe.

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To just remove it from the equation is a

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radical step. So what's the next step

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for this theory? How do we know if it holds any water?

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Anna: That's the key question. The model now has to

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be rigorously tested against real world

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observational data. Can it accurately predict

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the rotation speeds of galaxies? Can it

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explain the patterns we see in the cosmic microwave

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background, the afterglow of the big Bang?

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The Standard Model does this very well. So

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Gupta Siri has a very high bar to clear.

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It's a fascinating alternative. But for now, the

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Standard Model remains the reigning champion.

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Avery: Speaking of cosmic mysteries, our next story comes from

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the James Webb Space Telescope, which may have just

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found the first direct evidence of a primordial black

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hole.

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Anna: This is an amazing story. Astronomers were

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looking at an object nicknamed the little red

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dot, officially called QSO

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uh1. And this little dot might just be

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a massive black hole seed born in the

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fiery chaos of the very early universe.

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Avery: How early are we talking?

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Anna: The light from this object comes from the epoch

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of reionization just 600

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million years after the Big Bang. That's

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incredibly early in cosmic history. And the black

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hole itself is estimated to have a mass of

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50 million suns.

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Avery: 50 million solar masses, less

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than a billion years into the universe's existence.

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That's a monster. How were they even

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able to see something so distant and ancient?

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Anna: They had a little help from Einstein. The

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observation was made possible by gravitational

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lensing, where the gravity of a massive galaxy

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cluster in the foreground acted like a cosmic

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magnifying glass, amplifying the light from

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the little red dot behind it.

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Avery: So what makes this discovery so significant? What

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does it tell us about how black holes form?

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Anna: Here's the most fascinating part. This enormous

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black hole is located in a surprisingly small

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host galaxy. According to our current

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models, galaxies and their central black holes

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are supposed to grow up together. But this black hole

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is way too big for its galaxy. It's like

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finding a giant skeleton inside a child's

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playroom.

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Avery: Which suggests the black hole came

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first.

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Anna: Exactly. This could be evidence for what are, uh,

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called heavy seeds. Instead of forming from a

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collapsed star and slowly growing, these

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black holes might have formed directly from the

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collapse of massive gas clouds, or even from

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density fluctuations right after the Big Bang

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itself. These would be true primordial black

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holes.

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Avery: It's an incredible find. I

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assume there's a caveat here.

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Anna: Of course, the findings are currently in a

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preprint, which means they're awaiting the rigorous

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process of peer review. But if they hold up,

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this little red dot could fundamentally change

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our understanding of how the first galaxies

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and the giants within them came to be.

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Avery: Alright, for our, uh, final story today. We're coming back into

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our own solar system, but we're tracking a visitor

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from very, very far away. An

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interstellar comet is set to make a close flyby of

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Mars.

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Anna: That's right, Avery. The Comet is designated

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3i Atlas, with the I standing for

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interstellar. And on 10-3-20,

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it's going to pass within 18.6 million

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miles of the red planet. That's a

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fantastic observation opportunity for our, uh, robotic

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explorers there.

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Avery: And it sounds like the European Space Agency is already getting

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its probes ready. What's the plan?

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Anna: ESA's Mars Express and Trace Gas

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Orbiter are going to attempt to observe it as it

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passes. They'll try to image the comet,

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though it will still be quite distant for detailed close

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ups. More importantly, they'll use their

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spectrometers to measure the light coming from it, which

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can tell us about its chemical composition.

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Avery: So we get a chance to analyse the building

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blocks of another solar system. That's

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incredible. Are any other spacecraft going to be

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looking?

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Anna: It's very likely. NASA's orbiters like

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Maven and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and

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perhaps even China's Tianwen one could

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all potentially point their instruments at the Comet.

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Even the JWST has already taken a look

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at 3i Atlas from its vantage

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point further out in space. It's an all hands on

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deck effort to study this rare traveller.

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Avery: It's amazing to think that we have a fleet of

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advanced scientific instruments orbiting

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another planet ready to welcome a visitor

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from the stars. October 2025 is a

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date to mark on the calendar.

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Anna: And that's a wrap on today's astronomical news.

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We've gone from the bustling launch pads of Florida

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to the edge of cosmological theory,

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deep into the cosmic dawn and back to a

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close encounter at Mars.

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Avery: What a journey. A, uh, big thank you to all of you for

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tuning in and sharing it with us. And for even more

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news, please visit our website at

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astronomydaily IO where you'll find

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our continually updated news feed, plus all

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our back episodes if you need to do some catching up.

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Until next time, this has been Astronomy Daily.

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Um, I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. Keep looking up.