The End of an Era for SpaceX, China's Reusable Rockets, and Cosmic Conundrums

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Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that

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brings you the latest news from across the

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cosmos, as we like to say. Give us 10

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minutes and we'll give you the universe. I'm

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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 again today

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covering everything from historic launch pads

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being retired to incredible new discoveries

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by the James Webb Space Telescope.

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Avery: That's right, Anna. we'll be looking at

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China's progress on reusable rockets,

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Australia's orbital ambitions, and we'll end

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the show with a deep dive into some of the

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biggest unsolved mysteries in space.

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Anna: So let's get started. Avery. First

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up is an end of an era for SpaceX.

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Avery: It certainly is. SpaceX is

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decommissioning its original Starship launch

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pad, known as Pad 1, or

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Suborbital Pad A, at its Starbase

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facility in Texas. And this pad was the

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workhorse for the early days of Starship

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development, seeing a total of 11

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flights.

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Anna: It's amazing to think about the history made

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there. This wasn't just a simple concrete

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slab. It went through some massive upgrades

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over the years.

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Avery: Absolutely. it was eventually equipped with a

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full launch tower, a water deluge system to

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protect the pad from the intense heat of

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liftoff, and even the arms designed to catch

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and support the massive super heavy boosters

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for reuse.

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Anna: A true testament to their iterative design

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process. While it's sad to see it go, I

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imagine they need the space for the next

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phase of development.

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Avery: Exactly. They're moving on to bigger and

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better things with their new orbital launch

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site. But Pad one will always be remembered

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as where Starship learned to fly.

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Anna: Speaking of reusable rockets, SpaceX

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is getting some serious competition from M.

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China. The Chinese company Landspace

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has been making some impressive strides.

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Avery: They have. They're developing the Zhuque

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3 Rocket, which looks remarkably similar to

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Starship. It's a stainless steel, methane

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fueled, reusable launch vehicle. And they

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just hit a major milestone.

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Anna: The static fire test. Right. That's a

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crucial step.

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Avery: Right. They successfully completed a

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static fire test of the first stage

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prototype. This is where they fire up the

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engines while the rocket is securely bolted

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to the ground to testing the entire system

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under flight light conditions.

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Anna: So what's next for them?

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Avery: Landspace is aiming for its first orbital

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flight test in late 2025. This

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is all part of a much larger ambition for

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China, which is heavily investing in building

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its own space infrastructure, including a

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satellite constellation similar to Starlink.

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The pace of their development is really

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Something to watch.

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Anna: From engineering marvels on Earth to

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incredible discoveries far from home, the

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James Webb Space Telescope has deep done it

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again. This time giving us a peek into how

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moons might be born.

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Avery: This story is fascinating. Webb has

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observed a disk of material swirling around

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an exoplanet about 600 light years away.

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Anna: And this isn't just any disk. It's

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what's known as a circumplanetary disk.

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And it's the first time we've seen one that

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is rich in carbon. Scientists believe

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these disks are the birthplaces of moons,

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or exomoons in this case.

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Avery: So we're essentially watching a, moon system

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in the process of forming. Much like how the

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moons of Jupiter or Saturn might have formed

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in our own solar system billions of years

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ago.

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Anna: Precisely. The finding provides a, ah, rare

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real time look at the building blocks of

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moons and helps us understand the conditions

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under which they form. The power of the Webb

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telescope continues to unlock secrets of

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planetary formation that were completely out

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of reach just a few years ago.

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Avery: Lets bring our focus back to Earth now,

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specifically to Australia. The Australian

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rocket company Gilmour Space is gearing up

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for another shot at reaching orbit.

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Anna: Their first attempt didn't quite make it, did

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it?

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Avery: Unfortunately not. The flight was terminated

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shortly after liftoff due to an anomaly.

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But in the world of spaceflight, failure

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is often part of the process. The company

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has analyzed the data and is now targeting

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2026 for its second orbital

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attempt.

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Anna: It's a resilient industry. What does

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this mean for Australia's space program?

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Avery: It's a huge deal. A successful launch

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would make Australia the 12th country to

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reach orbit from its own soil. Gilmour

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Space remains optimistic and their

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determination is really fueling the growth of

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the nation's sovereign space industry. We'll

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be watching closely in 2026.

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Anna: All right, for our final segment, let's,

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let's venture into the unknown. Despite

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all our incredible technology and

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discoveries, space is still filled with

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profound mysteries that continue to puzzle

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scientists.

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Avery: My favorite kind of topic, where do we start?

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Anna: Let's start with the big one, the Hubble

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Tension. For years there's been a major

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disagreement on just how fast the universe

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is expanding. Measurements from the early

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universe, like the cosmic microwave

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background, give us one number. But

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measurements from the local modern universe

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using things like supernovae give us

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a different number faster.

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Avery: And the fact that they don't match suggests

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we might be missing something fundamental

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about the physics of the cosmos.

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Anna: Exactly. Next up,

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fast radio bursts or FRBs.

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These are incredibly powerful

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millisecond long bursts of radio Waves from

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deep space. We know they come from

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distant galaxies, but we have no idea

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what causes them. Theories range from

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magnetars to alien signals,

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but nothing fits all the data.

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Avery: A, true cosmic whodunnit.

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Anna: Then there's the giant elephant in the room.

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Dark matter. We see its gravitational

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effects everywhere. In the rotation of

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galaxies, in the bending of starlight.

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But we can't see the stuff itself.

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It makes up about 85% of the

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matter in the universe and we have no

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idea what it is.

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Avery: It's humbling to think that we've only ever

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observed a tiny fraction of what's actually

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out there.

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Anna: It really is. Lets touch on

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a few more strange ones. We recently

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detected the second longest gamma ray burst

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ever seen. It lasted for over a thousand

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seconds. We think these bursts come

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from collapsing massive stars. But

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one lasting that long challenges our

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models. Wow. Then there's

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Hoag's object. A bizarre galaxy that looks

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like a perfect ring of young blue stars

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surrounding an older yellow nucleus

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with almost nothing in between. We

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don't know how it formed.

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Avery: That sounds like something out of science

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fiction.

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Anna: And another great mystery closer to home.

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The hunt for Planet nine. The strange

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clustered orbits of several objects in the

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outer solar system suggest there might be

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a massive undiscovered planet lurking

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out there, 10 times the mass of Earth.

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But despite years of searching, we haven't

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found it.

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Avery: These mysteries are what make astronomy so

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exciting. For every answer we find, we

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uncover 10 new questions. The list of

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cosmic conundrums is seemingly endless.

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Take the Great Attractor for instance. It's a

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massive gravitational anomaly located in the

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direction of the Hydra Centaurus

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supercluster, pulling our Milky Way and

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countless other galaxies towards it at

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incredible speeds. The the problem is we

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can't observe it directly because it's hidden

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behind the zone of avoidance, the dusty

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star filled plane of our own galaxy.

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Anna: It's a mind boggling concept, like a

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hidden cosmic behemoth shaping the

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structure of our local universe. And

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speaking of strange observations, we have to

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talk about Tabby's star. Also known as

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KIC

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846-2852.

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This star exhibits bizarre and

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extreme dips in its brightness. We're not

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talking about the tiny regular dimming of a

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transiting exoplanet. These are

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massive irregular drops at one

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point blocking over 20% of the

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starlight.

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Avery: That's the star that famously led to

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speculation about alien megastructures

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like a Dyson swarm. While that's an exciting

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thought, the more plausible, though still

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unconfirmed explanation is is a vast

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uneven ring of cosmic dust orbiting the

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star. But the irregular nature of the dimming

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events makes it a persistent m and unique

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puzzle that defies easy explanation.

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Anna: It's a perfect example of how one

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strange object can challenge our assumptions.

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Then there's the other side of the dark coin.

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Dark energy. We discussed dark matter,

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the invisible glue holding galaxies together.

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Dark energy is its antithesis,

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a mysterious, repulsive force

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causing the expansion of the universe to

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accelerate. It's believed to account for

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nearly 70% of the universe's total

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energy density. And we have almost no

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idea what it is.

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Avery: So, to recap, about 25%

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of the universe is dark matter, which we

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can't see, and about 70 70% is

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dark energy, which we can't explain.

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That means all the stars, planets, and

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galaxies, everything we've ever observed,

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make up less than 5% of the cosmos.

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It's an incredibly humbling realization and

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drives home how much is left to discover.

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Anna: Absolutely. And perhaps the most profound

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mystery is one that strikes at the heart

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of physics itself. The black hole

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information paradox. General

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relativity suggests that information that

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falls into a black hole is gone forever,

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completely erased from the universe. However,

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a fundamental law of quantum mechanics

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states that information can never truly be

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destroyed.

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Avery: This creates a fundamental conflict between

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our two best theories describing the

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universe. To solve it, physicists may need a

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unified theory of quantum gravity, one that

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can explain both the macroscopic world of

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gravity and the microscopic world of

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quantum particles. Finding that solution

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could represent the single greatest leap in

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our understanding of reality.

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Anna: It's incredible. These puzzles,

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from cosmic structures to fundamental

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paradoxes, are, the driving force behind

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modern astronomy. They ensure that for

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every discovery we make, an even more

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fascinating question is waiting just beyond

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the horizon. And that's a perfect note

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to end on. It's a reminder of just how

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much there is still to explore.

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Avery: That's all the time we have for today's

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Astronomy Daily. We hope you enjoyed our

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journey through the latest in space news and

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cosmic mysteries. Join us next time as we

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continue to explore the universe. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. Until then, keep looking

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up.