The Earliest Galaxy Unveiled, Asteroid Apophis Awaits, and Betelgeuse's Hidden Companion

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Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. Your cosmic

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connection to the universe's latest developments. I'm

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Anna. And today we've got a stellar lineup of space

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stories that showcase both the wonder and ambition of

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humanity's quest to understand the cosmos.

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Coming up, we'll explore a truly cosmic miracle as

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the James Webb Space Telescope breaks its own record by

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discovering the earliest galaxy ever observed.

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We'll also look at Europe's daring plan to land a,

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spacecraft on the infamous asteroid Apophis

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during its close approach to Earth in 2029.

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Then we'll dive into the latest chapter of

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SpaceX's Starship saga.

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And finally, we'll unravel the mystery surrounding one of the night

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sky's most recognisable stars, Betelgeuse.

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As astronomers search for evidence of a hidden

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companion that might explain its puzzling behaviour.

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Strap in for a journey across time and space as we explore

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these fascinating developments right here on Astronomy Daily.

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Lets kick things off today with a pretty important discovery.

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The James Webb Space Telescope continues to

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rewrite the astronomical record books with its latest

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discovery. JWST has detected

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what scientists are calling the mother of all early

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galaxies. Fittingly designated MAM

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Z14. This remarkable

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cosmic find existed just 280 million years

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after the Big Bang, making it the earliest and

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most distant galaxy ever observed by

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humanity. To put this timeframe into

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perspective, sharks have been swimming in Earth's oceans for

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longer than the universe had even existed when this galaxy

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was forming. MAM Z14

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breaks the previous record by about 20 million years,

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which might not sound like much, but represents a

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significant step closer to observing the very

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dawn of galaxy formation. What's m

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particularly fascinating about this discovery is that

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the JWST wasn't actually expected to find

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galaxies from this early epoch, at least not

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at this stage of its mission. Scientists have now

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identified over 100 more relatively bright

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galaxies in the very early universe than

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were predicted based on pre JWST

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observations, challenging our understanding of how

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quickly the cosmos developed. The research

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team was able to determine that MAMSI 14 is

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approximately 50 times smaller than our Milky Way.

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Perhaps most intriguing is the detection of elements like

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nitrogen and carbon within this ancient galaxy.

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This is surprising because the very earliest galaxies

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should primarily contain only the simplest elements,

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hydrogen and helium. The presence of these

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heavier elements, which astronomers somewhat confusingly

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call metals, indicates that Mahm Z14

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isn't actually among the very first objects formed in the

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universe. These heavier elements are created

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inside stars and then dispersed through supernova

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explosions, suggesting there must be even

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earlier galaxies out there waiting to be discovered,

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perhaps the true first generation that contained only hydrogen and

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helium. Researchers are confident that

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JWST is up to the task of pushing these boundaries

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even further. As one scientist put

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it, they would not be surprised if we find galaxies at

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redshift 15 or 16 taking us

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even closer to witnessing the universe's earliest moments.

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This discovery is another testament to the Webb

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Telescope's revolutionary capabilities,

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allowing us to peer further back in cosmic time than ever

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before and reshape our understanding of how the

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universe evolved from its earliest moments.

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Next Today Once feared as a potential threat to

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Earth, asteroid Apophis is now presenting space

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agencies with a rare opportunity for exploration.

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The European Space Agency is actively preparing its

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Ramses mission, which stands for Rapid Apophis

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mission for space safety from a 2028 launch

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to coincide with Apophis very close but safe

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flyby of our planet on April 13,

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2029, this

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1,100 foot wide space rock will pass

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within about 20,000 miles of Earth, closer than

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many of our artificial satellites. The Ramses

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mission aims to conduct detailed before and after

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analysis of the asteroid, studying its surface

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characteristics, composition, and orbit.

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Scientists are particularly interested in how Earth's gravitational

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pull might trigger tidal forces in Apophis,

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potentially altering its surface and interior structure during the

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close approach. In an exciting development,

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ESA has now selected Spanish company MCS

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to lead the development of a second cubesat that will

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attempt something extraordinarily landing on

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Apophis. As Paolo Martino, the

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Ramses project manager, explained, landing on an

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asteroid presents unique difficulties. The

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irregular shape and unpredictable surface properties make it

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hard to identify stable landing sites, while the

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asteroid's extremely weak gravity creates a risk that the

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lander could simply bounce off and drift away into space.

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The main Ramses spacecraft will be a modified version

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of Issei's HERA probe, which is currently on its

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way to study the binary asteroid Didymos, where

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NASA's DART mission successfully impacted in

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2022. However, despite the momentum

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behind this mission, it still requires ESA

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member states to formally commit funding at the agency's

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Ministerial Council meeting this November.

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NASA is also considering repurposing its shelved

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Janus spacecraft for an Apophis mission, though

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budget constraints have complicated these plans. The

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good news is that NASA's Osiris apex

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mission, the extended mission of the spacecraft that

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successfully returned samples from asteroid Bennu,

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will arrive at Apophis about a month after its Earth

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flyby. Additionally, Japan's

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Destiny plus mission, which faced delays,

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has now been rescheduled for a 2028 launch

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and will make a flyby of Apophis on its journey to

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study asteroid Phaethon. Scientists

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worldwide are, emphasising the importance of international

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collaboration to make the most of this rare

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opportunity that Apophis presents for advancing our

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planetary defence knowledge.

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And now A Ah, quick SpaceX update. The federal

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Aviation Administration has now stepped in following the

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ninth test flight of SpaceX's massive Starship

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rocket, requiring the company to investigate what went

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wrong. Interestingly, the FAA's

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investigation is narrowly focused on just one part of

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the mishap the loss of the Starship upper

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stage, which failed to complete its planned

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trajectory as designed. Despite both

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stages of the vehicle meeting explosive ends. The

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FAA clarified that the destruction of the super heavy

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booster was actually covered by what they called

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approved test induced damage exceptions

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that SpaceX had requested prior to launch.

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In other words, some level of damage or destruction to the

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booster was anticipated and approved as part of the

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experimental nature of the test. Flight

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9, which launched on May 27 from

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SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas,

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represented a significant milestone as the first ever

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reuse of a super heavy booster. This particular

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booster had previously flown during January's Flight 7

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mission, where it not only completed its engine burn

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successfully, but also made a dramatic return to

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Starbase, where it was caught by the launch tower's

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mechanical arms, nicknamed the chopsticks

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for Flight 9, SpaceX took a more experimental

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approach with the booster. Rather than attempting another

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tower catch. They conducted various tests,

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including bringing the booster down at a higher angle of attack

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to increase atmospheric drag. The plan

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called for a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico,

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but things didn't go as intended. Contact with the

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booster was lost shortly after it began its landing

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burn, approximately six minutes after launch,

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when it experienced what SpaceX ah euphemistically

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described as a rapid unscheduled

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disassembly. The Starship upper stage

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faced even greater difficulties. It was supposed

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to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean

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off Western Australia about 65 minutes after

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launch. However, an attitude control error

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prevented the vehicle from achieving the proper orientation

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for reentry. Following automated

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safety protocols, Starship vented its remaining

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pressure to create the safest possible conditions,

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but contact was lost about 46 minutes into the

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flight. Despite these failures,

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the mission still showed progress compared to previous

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flights, where the upper stage was lost within

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just 10 minutes of liftoff. The

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FAA noted that there were no reports of injuries or

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damage to public property and the impact on

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commercial flights was minimal. Just one flight

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diverted and another briefly held for 24 minutes.

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Betelgeuse one of the most recognisable stars in our

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night sky has long captivated

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astronomers with its unpredictable behaviour.

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This massive red supergiant in the

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constellation orion sits about 640

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light years from Earth and is nearing the end of its

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stellar life. Destined to eventually

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explode as a supernova at, more than

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700 times the size of our sun, it's truly

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a cosmic giant. What's

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particularly intriguing about Betelgeuse is its

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peculiar brightness variations. You might

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remember the excitement in late 2019, when it

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dimmed dramatically, leading to speculation that a

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supernova might be imminent. That event

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turned out to be just a massive dust cloud temporarily

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blocking its light. But it highlighted the volatile

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nature of this dying star. Now

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astronomers are exploring a fascinating.

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Betelgeuse might not be alone. About

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one third of stars similar to Betelgeuse display what

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scientists call large, long secondary periods,

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or LSPs, which are extended brightness

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fluctuations that have puzzled researchers for decades.

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While various explanations have been proposed, from

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internal pulsations to dust formation, evidence

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is increasingly pointing toward a hidden companion star.

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The current theory suggests a low mass companion,

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somewhere between half to twice the mass of our sun,

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might be orbiting Betelgeuse every 2,100

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days. That's roughly six years at a distance

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comparable to Saturn's orbit around our Sun.

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This companion wouldn't dramatically alter Betelgeuse's

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evolutionary path, but it could influence the

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supergiant through tidal forces and interactions with

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stellar winds. This hypothesis also

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helps explain other mysteries, like Betelgeuse's

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unusually fast rotation speed of 5 to 15

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kilometres per second, which could result from tidal

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interactions with this orbiting companion. The

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theory even accounts for the observed 36 year

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cycle in both brightness and radial velocity patterns

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that have long confounded astronomers.

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Despite targeted searches using the Hubble Space

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Telescope's STIS spectrograph, this

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potential companion remains elusive.

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Researchers timed their observations for when the

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companion would be most visible in far ultraviolet

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light, but no clear signals were detected.

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This doesn't rule out its existence. The companion

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may simply be too small and cool to be detected

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amid Betelgeuse's overwhelming brightness.

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The search continues because finding this hidden partner isn't

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just scientific curiosity. It could significantly

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enhance our understanding of how massive stars evolve

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and eventually die in spectacular supernova

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explosions.

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That's all for today's episode of Astronomy Daily. What

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an incredible journey through the cosmos we've had. From

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the discovery of Mom Z14 to Europe's

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ambitious plans to land on asteroid apophis during its

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2029 flyby of Earth, we've also

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examined SpaceX's ongoing Starship development with

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its recent Flight 9 mishap, and explored the

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intriguing possibility that Betelgeuse, one of our

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night sky's most famous stars, might have a

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hidden stellar companion. The the universe continues to

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surprise us with each new discovery, reminding us

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just how vast and mysterious our cosmic neighbourhood truly

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is. I've been your host, Anna,

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and I want to thank you for joining me on this cosmic

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journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, please visit

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our website at astronomydaily IO

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where you can sign up for our free daily newsletter and access

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all our back episodes. You'll never miss a

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Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube,

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Until

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next time, keep looking up. The universe is waiting to

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be discovered.

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Sam.