Weather Woes for SpaceX, JWST's Stunning Black Hole Findings, and Interstellar Comet 3I Atlas

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go

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to podcast for the latest and greatest

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news from across the cosmos.

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Avery: I'm Anna and I'm um, Avery. We're

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so glad you could join us today for another exciting dive

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into the universe's most captivating stories.

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Anna: We've got a jam packed episode for you

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today full of fascinating

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developments. We'll be starting close to

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home discussing the recent Space SpaceX

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Crew 11 launch scrub and

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why those pesky cumulus clouds caused

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a delay.

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Avery: Then we're gonna venture much, much further out into the

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galaxy as we uncover some incredible new

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findings from the James Webb Space Telescope which has

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exposed dormant black holes in the act of

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devouring stars. It's truly like nothing we've

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ever seen.

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Anna: And speaking of things we've never seen, we'll

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be tackling the thrilling idea of

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chasing down an interstell,

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the newly discovered Comet

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3I

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ATLs. Could we actually

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send a mission to intercept it?

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We'll break down the feasibility.

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Avery: Finally, we're taking a leap into the realm of science

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fiction turned potential reality warp

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drives. We'll explore the cutting edge research that

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suggests faster than light travel might just be possible

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within the next century. It's a mind bending

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topic that could redefine space exploration.

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So let's get started.

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Anna: Alright, let's kick things off with some news

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from our very own planet. Specifically

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Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX

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unfortunately had to scrub the recent launch

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attempt of their Crew 11 astronaut

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mission for NASA.

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Avery: That's right, this happened on July 31, just

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a over a minute before liftoff. The culprit?

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A bank of cumulus clouds that appeared right over

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NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

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Anna: It sounds like the weather just didn't want to

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cooperate with the excitement of the Crew 11 launch.

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NASA commentator Darrell Mail explained

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during the coverage that they could literally see

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the clouds moving over the pad.

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Avery: And it's not just about visibility. It's a critical safety

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issue. Neil elaborated that there's a 10 mile

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radius standoff area around the launch pad for

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these dark cumulus clouds. You absolutely

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do not want to send the rocket through a tall cloud like that

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as it could generate energy from the rocket passing through

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it, which is obviously a significant risk.

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Anna: Absolutely. Safety always comes first,

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especially when human lives are on the line.

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But there's good news. SpaceX will

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be trying again. The next attempt is Scheduled

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for Friday, August 1 at

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11:43am M

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EDT. With another chance

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on Saturday, August 2 at

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11:21am M EDT.

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Avery: When it does launch, the Crew 11 mission will see

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a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lift off from

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Launch Complex 39A at KSC.

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It's carrying the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft

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which is making its sixth flight, setting a new

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reuse record for Crew Dragon vehicles.

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Anna: The four person crew is an international

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one featuring NASA astronauts

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Zena Cardman and Mike Finke,

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Kamiya Yui from the Japan

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Aerospace Exploration Agency or

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JAXA, and Oleg Plaitnov

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of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

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Avery: Once launched, the Crew 11 will embark on an

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approximate 40 hour journey to catch up to the International

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Space Station which orbits at a remarkable speed

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of about 17,500 miles per hour

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or 28,000 kilometers per hour,

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roughly 248 miles or 400

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kilometers above Earth's surface. This will be

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SpaceX's 11th operational astronaut mission for

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NASA through its commercial crew program

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highlighting the growing role of private spacecraft

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in space travel.

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Anna: From launch delays, we now pivot to

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some truly mind bending discoveries

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courtesy of the James Webb Space Space

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Telescope. Prepare yourselves for

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a cosmic horror story because

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the JWST has caught

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dormant black holes in the act of

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devouring stars.

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Avery: Nothing like we've ever seen is how lead author

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Megan Masterson from MIT describes these

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findings. Unlike the active galaxies we usually

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hear about where black holes are constantly

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gorging on nearby matter, these are dormant

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black holes. They mostly slumber, stirring only

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for a brief spectacular feast on an unlucky

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passing star.

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Anna: This new study, published in

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Astrophysical Journal Letters,

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details how astronomers from

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mit, Columbia and other

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institutions used

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JWST to peer

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through thick layers of dust in

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nearby galaxies. They were looking

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for the aftermath of what are called

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tidal disruption events, or

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TDEs.

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Avery: These are incredibly rare cosmic occurrences.

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Imagine a galaxy's central black

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hole pulling in a nearby star,

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tearing it apart with immense tidal forces

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and then releasing a massive burst of energy.

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Since the 1990s, only about a hundred

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TDE's have been documented, mostly in

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galaxies with little dust, making the ray

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or optical light easier to observe.

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Anna: But the brilliance of JWST

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as uh, the world's most powerful infrag

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detector is that it can see through

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that obscuring dust. Previous work

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by the MIT team showed that while

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a uh, TDE's, X ray and optical

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light might be hidden, that same

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burst of light heats up the surrounding

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dust that generating a new signal in the

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form of infrared light.

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Avery: Exactly. And with JWST,

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they've now studied signals from four dusty

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galaxies where they suspected TDEs

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occurred. Inside the dust, JWST

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detected clear fingerprints of black hole

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accretion. That's the process where Material

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like stellar debris spirals and eventually falls

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into a black hole.

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Anna: What's fascinating is that the patterns detected

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by JWST were strikingly

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different from the dust around active galaxies,

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where the central black hole Is always pulling

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in material. This confirmed that a

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tidal disruption event did indeed

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occur in each of the four galaxies.

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And critically, they were products of

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dormant black holes, which had little to

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no activity and until a star

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wandered too close.

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Avery: This really highlights JWST's

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incredible potential to study these otherwise hidden

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events in detail. It's helping scientists understand

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the key differences in environments around active

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versus dormant black holes. Megan Masterson

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emphasized that they've learned these events are powered by

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black hole accretion, but they don't look like

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environments around normal active black holes.

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Anna: To get a, uh, bona fide signal, as

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Masterson put it, they specifically looked

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for a peak in infrared light that could only

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be produced by black hole accretion.

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This process is so intense that it

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can blast electrons out of atoms

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like neon, which then release infrared

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radiation At a very specific

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wavelength that JWST can

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detect.

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Avery: There's nothing else in the universe that can excite this

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gas to these energies except for black hole

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accretion. Masterson explained. This was their

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smoking gun. They then used JWST

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to detect another infrared wavelength, Indicating

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silicates, or dust, Mapping its patterns

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to differentiate between a temporary TDE

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and a constantly active black hole.

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Anna: The results definitively showed

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patterns Unlike typical active galaxies,

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confirming these were dormant black holes that

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only flared up Due to a star being

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disrupted. This research is just

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the beginning. The team plans to uncover

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many more hidden TDEs, which can

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then serve as powerful probes to

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understand fundamental black hole properties,

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like their mass and spin and how long

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they take to consume stellar material

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that's truly wild.

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Speaking of rare cosmic occurrences, We've

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had a few close encounters of our own Here in

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the solar system recently.

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Avery: You're talking about interstellar objects, aren't you?

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It's a tantalizing prospect. The idea

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of visitors from beyond our sun's reach.

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Anna: Exactly. Since 2017,

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we've spotted three 1i

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Oumuamua, 2eye

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Borisov. And just this month,

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3i Atlas this latest

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one, Discovered by the Asteroid

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Terrestrial Impact Last alert Survey

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is zipping through the inner solar system in the

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Latter Half of 2025.

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Avery: And of course, the immediate question is always,

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can we get a closer look? All assets

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on the ground and in space Will be turned towards 3i

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Atlas. But what would it look like up close?

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Can we even consider Chasing down such a

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speedy visitor?

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Anna: Well, A recent study from Michigan State

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University published on the ARXIV

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Preprint server actually explored the

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feasibility of just that. It's titled

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the Feasibility of a Spacecraft

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Flyby with the third interstellar object

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3I Atlas from Earth or Mars.

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The study could serve as a template for future

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missions to these enigmatic objects.

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Avery: Lead author Atsuhiro Yaginuma told

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Universe Today that a close flyby would enable

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measurements impossible from Earth. We could

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get direct compositional and isotopic analysis

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of ISIS dust and organics in

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situ, plus high resolution imaging of

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its nucleus, revealing its shape, size, size,

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spin state and active jets. All of this

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would offer critical insights into planetary formation

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and evolution in an alien system.

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Anna: We already know a bit about 3i

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atlas. It's a very old object

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hailing from the thick galactic disk of the

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Milky Way. Gemini north gave us a close

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up view mid month, confirming its

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cometary in nature. It's currently

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shining at AH 17th magnitude,

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but is expected to brighten 100 fold

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to 12th magnitude as it reaches

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perihelion about

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1.356

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astronomical units from the sun on

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October 29th.

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Avery: Unlike Oumuamua, we're seeing 3I

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Atlas on its inbound leg, which is a big advantage

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for planning an intercept. However, it's really

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moving at a speedy 58 km per second

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relative to the Sun. Catching up would be

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a whirlwind mission. The study looked at various

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scenarios with an Earth or Mars departure between

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January 2025 and March

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2026.

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Anna: An Earth departure would demand a high

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initial Delta V around

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24km per second, which is

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a huge amount of thrust, although the dawn

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spacecraft almost matched this in its post

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launch phase. Interestingly, a

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Mars departure would need much less,

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only about 5 kilometers per second in early

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2025. This is because 3i

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Atlas makes a much closer pass by

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Mars at 0.2 au

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on October 3 compared to its

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closest Earth passage at 1.8

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au on December 19.

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Avery: Yaginuma pointed out that Mars orbiters could

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image 3i Atlas when it's not observable

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from Earth, especially around its perihelion.

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This would be crucial for understanding its activity.

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Repurposing existing Mars orbiters like Maven

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or Odyssey might even be possible if they have enough

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fuel.

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Anna: The study also considered missions already

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built but looking for a new destination

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like the Janus Duo, two small

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simplex spacecraft that were shelved

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after delays forced the Psyche mission to

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take an alternate path. Being relatively

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light, they might be candidates if we could launch

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them sooner rather than later.

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NASA's Osiris apex. A

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repurposed Osiris Rex is also

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set to perform an Earth gravity assist in

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September 2025, and could make long

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range observations of 3i Antlis

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start in November.

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Avery: Despite these possibilities, intercepting something

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Moving at over 60 km per second

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would make imaging during such a fast

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encounter incredibly tricky. For

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comparison, New Horizons pass Pluto, charon at

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only 14 kilometers per second.

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Anna: The future, however, looks promising for

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high speed flybys. The European Space

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Agency's proposed comet interceptor,

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planned for launch in 2029, will be

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parked at the Sun Earth L2 point,

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awaiting a target. While designed for new

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comets, it could potentially chase down an

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interstellar object if it happens to pass by.

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Avery: The key takeaway from the study is the

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earlier we can spot incoming interstellar

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objects, the more options we'll have, and the

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less energy will be required to go after them. A

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new generation of all sky surveys, like the recently

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commissioned Vera C. Rubin Observatory,

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promises to do just that, spotting these

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cosmic interlopers early and helping us study

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them like never before.

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Anna: From chasing interstellar comets, we now

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turn to a concept that has truly captured

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the human imagination. For

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warp drive. We're talking about the ability

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to travel through faster than the speed of light,

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a concept that started in the realms of Star Trek

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and Star wars, but is now being

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seriously investigated by scientists.

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Avery: That's right, Anna. Scientists are actively

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researching whether bending spacetime itself could

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allow us to reach distant stars, quickly, turning what

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was once pure science fiction into a potential

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scientific reality.

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Anna: The fundamental idea of warp drive doesn't

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involve rockets burning fuel. Instead, it

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involves bending spacetime. Physicist

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Miguel Alcabierre first described this concept in

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1994. He proposed creating a bubble

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around a spacecraft that compresses space in

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front of it and expands space behind it.

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Avery: And the clever part is, inside this bubble, your

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ship doesn't actually move faster than light.

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It stays still while space time itself

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shifts around it. This ingenious loophole

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allows the bubble to exceed light speed when, without

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breaking Einstein's universal speed limit, which states

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that nothing with mass can travel at or faster than

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light speed.

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Anna: Within spacetime, however, there's a

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massive catch. Creating this bubble

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requires something called negative energy or

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negative mass, which are strange materials that

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push space outward rather than pulling it in.

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Alcavieri's original theory suggested you'd

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need negative energy equivalent to Jupiter's mass,

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which is far beyond anything we can currently

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achieve.

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Avery: But some researchers are working on this. NASA

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physicist Dr. Harold Sunny White, for example,

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believes that by tweaking the bubble's shape, this mass

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requirement could be reduced to about 700

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kg, making the idea slightly more

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feasible. White even leads a NASA team

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Developing the Whyte Jude warp field

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interferometer, A, uh, device intended to

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detect tiny warp bubbles. While it's nowhere

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near enabling actual space travel, it's a crucial

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step, and we.

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Anna: Have some hints of negative energy. Small amounts

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have appeared in experiments like the Casimir effect,

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where two metal plates placed close together Create

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negative energy. But these tiny quantities

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Are still a far cry from what's needed for warp

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drives.

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Avery: Scientists are still debating the practicality of warp

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drives. Calculations suggest quantum fields

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at the warp bubble's edges Might become infinitely

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large and unstable. Other simulations indicate

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exotic matter Might escape the bubble Faster than light,

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Quickly destroying it. Even the smallest

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viable warp bubble, roughly 30ft wide,

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would demand negative energy, Surpassing all

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positive energy in our universe. It's a truly

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immense challenge.

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Anna: Professor Tim Dietrich from Potsdam University

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Also highlighted another serious issue,

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Causality paradoxes. He explained that

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using a warp drive might cause paradoxes Once it

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crosses light speed, Potentially disrupting our

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understanding of cause and effect. It's like

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traveling into the past.

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Avery: Yet despite these significant hurdles, Warp

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drives haven't been dismissed entirely. Professor

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Geraint Lewis of the University of Sydney Believes we

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might discover exotic matter within the next century.

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He optimistically stated that Einstein's theory is

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a hundred years old, but we've only scratched the surface,

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Suggesting hyper fast travel Might become achievable

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in the next 100 or 1000 years.

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Anna: Dr. White from NASA supports the idea that initial

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warp journeys could combine warp drives with

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traditional propulsion. Ships could leave Earth with

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standard rockets, Engage warp drives one safely

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away and deactivate them close to their destination.

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A trip to Alpha Centauri, which currently takes

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centuries, could then potentially take just months.

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Avery: Um, and interestingly, even if humans can't build

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warp drives, Detecting aliens using this

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technology might be possible. Dr. Katie

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Kloe, a, ah, cosmologist at Queen Mary University of

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London, Suggests that collapsing warp bubbles would

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emit gravitational waves. If these exist,

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Earth based detectors could potentially spot them.

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Anna: Dietrich and Klauf have studied scenarios where the

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exotic matter's containment field collapses,

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Creating ripples propagating outward.

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Detecting these gravitational waves would be confirmation

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that someone else has already mastered warp

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drive. Dr. Clough even praised

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Star Trek beyond for its more

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accurate depiction, Noting that the

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bullet shot was loosely based on how

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light curves around a warp bubble.

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Avery: The visual depiction of warp travel in movies

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like Star wars with dazzling bursts of

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streaking stars, and is also likely

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incorrect. According to Dr. Clough,

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looking forward would show objects shifted toward blue,

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While backward views would turn red due to

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warped like wavelengths. Shapes would appear

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distorted, similar to viewing through curved glass.

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Research by physics students at the University of

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Leicester suggests passengers would instead

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witness a glowing disk due to cosmic

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background radiation shifting into visible light.

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Anna: Dr. Clough even praised Star Trek

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beyond for its more accurate

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depiction, noting that the bullet

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shot was loosely based on how light

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curves around a, uh, warp bubble.

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Avery: Warp drive remains speculative and distant,

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but history teaches us not to dismiss such

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concepts lightly. Touchscreens, voice

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assistants, and 3D printing all began as

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improbable ideas from fiction. Star

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Trek famously predicted warp travel by

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2063. While ambitious scientists

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agree that breakthroughs could bring us closer, faster than

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we imagine.

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Anna: Continued exploration in physics,

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quantum mechanics, and engineering could

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one day make warp drives a reality.

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Whether humanity ever travels at warp

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speed remains uncertain, but the pursuit

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itself enriches our understanding of the

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universe and pushing scientific boundaries.

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Perhaps someday, space journeys lasting

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mere moments instead of lifetimes might

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transition from science fiction into

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our everyday reality.

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Well, that brings us to the end of another

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fascinating episode of Astronomy Daily.

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What a ride it's been today.

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Avery: Absolutely, Anna. It's always inspiring to see how far

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our understanding of the universe has come and how much

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more there is to explore.

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Anna: Indeed. Thank you so much for tuning in to

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Astronomy Daily. We hope you enjoyed

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exploring the cosmos with us today.

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Avery: You can find more episodes of Astronomy Daily and

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00:21:26.890 --> 00:21:29.690
stay updated on the latest space and astronomy news

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00:21:29.850 --> 00:21:31.760
by simply visiting our website at, uh,

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astronomydaily.IO.

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Anna: We'Ll be back tomorrow with more stories from across

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the universe. Until then, keep looking

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up