Wheelchair Astronaut, Cosmic Fireworks, and the Race to Mine the Moon

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Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for

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the latest news from across the cosmos. I'm

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Avery.

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

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today, Avery. We're talking about everything

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from the first wheelchair user heading to

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space to a star system that's getting ready

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to put on a celestial fireworks show.

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Avery: Absolutely. We'll also be diving into a new

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survey of our galactic neighbors. A

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surprising discovery about the sun, the new

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race to mine the moon, and the incredible

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tech being built to study the planet right

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next door. Sure. Let's get started.

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First up, a truly historic mission from Blue

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origin. They're targeting December 18 for

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their NS37 mission and it's a huge

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step forward for accessibility in space.

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Anna: It really is. Onboard the New Shepard vehicle

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will be Michaela Benthouse, an aerospace

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engineer at the European Space Agency who is

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set to become the first wheelchair user to

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fly to space.

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Avery: That's just fantastic. And she's not just a

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passenger, she's an aerospace engineer

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herself. That adds another layer to this.

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Anna: Exactly. It's not just about tourism. It's

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about opening up the field of space

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exploration to talented professionals who

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might have been excluded in the past. It's a

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suborbital flight lasting about 10 minutes,

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but it sends a powerful message that space is

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for everyone.

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Avery: It really challenges the old right stuff

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astronaut mold. And she'll be joined by a

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pretty interesting crew, including investors

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and even a former top engineer from SpaceX,

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Hans Konigsmann. And it's not just a

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symbolic gesture. The engineering that goes

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into making a spacecraft accessible for

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someone with different physical needs is non

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trivial. It forces designers to rethink

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everything from seating and restraints to how

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crew members interact with the cabin in m

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microgravity. These are solutions that could

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benefit all future astronauts.

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Anna: A diverse group for a landmark flight. We

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wish the entire NS37 crew a safe

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and incredible journey.

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Alright, let's shift our focus from low Earth

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orbit to our nearest galactic neighbors, the

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Magellanic Clouds. A major new survey is

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about to give us an unprecedented look at

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these satellite galaxies.

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Avery: Ah, yes, the large and small Magellic clouds

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for our listeners in the northern hemisphere.

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They might not be familiar, but they're a

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stunning sight from southern latitudes. So

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what's this new survey the 1001MC

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all about?

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Anna: The key is the technology. It's a five year

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survey using the foremost instrument on the

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VISTA telescope in Chile. Now past

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surveys have given us beautiful images, which

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is called photometry, measuring brightness

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and position. This one is all about

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spectroscopy.

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Avery: Right. So spectroscopy Breaks down the

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starlight into its component wavelengths,

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like a fingerprint. What can that fingerprint

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tell us?

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Anna: It tells us so much more. We can learn a,

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star's chemical composition, Its temperature,

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How fast it's moving toward or away from us,

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and even how quickly it's spinning. By

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gathering spectra for about half a million

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stars, this survey will create a detailed 3D

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map of the cloud's chemistry and motion.

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Avery: And that helps us understand how they're

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interacting with our Milky Way. Right. I've

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read about the Magellanic Stream, that huge

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river of gas Being pulled from the clouds by

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our galaxy's gravity.

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Anna: Precisely. This data, led by Dr. Lara

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Cullinan's group, Will give us the missing

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link to model that interaction accurately. It

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will help us piece together the history of

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this cosmic dance and predict the ultimate

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fate of these two small galaxies.

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Avery: So this isn't just about taking a picture.

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It's about conducting a census, A cosmic

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demographic survey. Are we looking at a

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timeline of years or decades before we can

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start drawing major conclusions from this

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data?

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Anna: The survey itself runs for five years, but

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initial data releases Will likely happen

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along the way. The full impact will unfold

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over the next decade as theorists use this

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incredibly rich dataset to refine their

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models of galaxy formation and evolution.

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It's a foundational project.

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Avery: From a cosmic dance to a cosmic U turn.

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NASA's Parker Solar Probe has captured some

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incredible footage from its journey to touch

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the sun.

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Anna: This is genuinely surprising. During its

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closest approach, the probe observed a

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coronal mass ejection, or cme.

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This is a massive eruption of solar material

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and magnetic fields from the sun.

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Avery: And we usually think of CMEs as a one way

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street blasting out into space. If they're

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aimed at Earth, they can cause geomagnetic

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stor and the aurora.

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Anna: That's the conventional picture. But Parker's

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images clearly show that not all the material

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escapes. A significant portion actually

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slows down, reverses course, and falls

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back toward the sun in these elongated

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blobs, which scientists are calling inflows.

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Avery: So the sun is recycling its own magnetic

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fields. What does that mean for us? Does this

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change how we predict space weather?

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Anna: It could. Understanding this recycling

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process Gives us a more complete model of the

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sun's magnetic activity. Better models mean

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better forecasts, which is vital for

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protecting our satellites, Power grids and

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astronauts from the most intense solar

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storms. This is the first time we've seen it

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so clearly. And it's a huge new piece of the

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solar puzzle.

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Avery: Okay. From solar physics to lunar

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politics. Anna, There's a new space race

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underway. But it's not about planting flags.

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It's about mining the Moon.

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Anna: That's right. The ambition has moved from

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exploration to exploitation. We have

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nations and a growing number of private

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companies like Interlude and Astrobotic

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actively developing technologies to extract

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lunar resources.

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Avery: And the resources they're after are

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incredibly valuable for future space travel.

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You have water ice, which can be turned into

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rocket fuel and helium 3 for potential

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fusion reactors.

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Anna: The potential is enormous. The Moon could

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become a critical staging post for the rest

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of the solar system. But this gold rush

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mentality is raising serious concerns.

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We're talking about the risk of environmental

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damage to a pristine world and the potential

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for geopolitical conflict over the most

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resource rich areas.

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Avery: And we don't really have any rules for this,

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do we? The Outer space treaty of

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1967 feels completely

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outdated.

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Anna: It's woefully insufficient. It says no

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nation can own the Moon, but it's silent on

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whether a private company can own the

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resources it extracts. It's a huge legal

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vacuum. Bodies are trying to hash

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out new agreements like the Artemis Accords,

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but there's no global consensus yet.

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Avery: And that lack of consensus is the real

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danger. Without clear, internationally agreed

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upon rules, you risk a first come, first

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serve situation that could lead to disputes

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and even sabotage. Establishing a framework

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for peaceful, sustainable resource use is as

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critical as developing the technology to get

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there.

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Anna: Lets wish the policymakers well then.

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Avery: Indeed, we're essentially heading into a Wild

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west scenario on the Moon. This is a story we

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will definitely be following closely.

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Anna: Let's turn our gaze now to a different kind

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of cosmic event on the horizon. There's a

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star system called V Sagittea that

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astronomers are watching very, very closely.

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Avery: Right, this is a future headliner. So

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V Sagitta is a binary system, two

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stars orbiting each other. What makes this

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pair so special?

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Anna: It's what they call a cataclysmic variable.

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One star is a white dwarf, the incredibly

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dense, collapsed core of a dead star. It's

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pulling in a stream of gas from its larger

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companion star, and it's doing so at an

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unprecedented accelerating rate.

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Avery: And when that stolen gas builds up on the

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surface of the super dense white dwarf. Boom.

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Anna: Boom is right. The immense pressure and

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temperature will ignite a runaway

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thermonuclear reaction. A nova.

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Astronomers predict this will happen in the

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coming years. And when it does, the system

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will brighten so dramatically, it will likely

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be one of the brightest stars in our night

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sky, easily visible to the naked eye.

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Avery: That's incredible, but that's not even the

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grand finale, is it?

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Anna: Not at all. This process is causing the

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two stars to spiral closer and closer

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together. Eventually, they will collide and

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merge, triggering a full blown

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supernova. The resulting explosion will

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be so mind bogglingly br,

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it might even be visible during the daytime.

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An amazing if violent astronomical

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event in the making.

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Avery: Do we have a more precise prediction than

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in the coming years? Is this something we

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might see in our lifetimes?

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Anna: The models, based on decades of observation

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of its accelerating orbital decay point to a

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date around 2083 plus or minus a

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decade. So, yes, it's very likely to happen

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within the lifetime of many people listening

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today. It's a rare chance to watch a

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celestial forecast come true.

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Avery: True.

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For our final story, we're going from a

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system far away to the one right next door.

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We're talking about Proxima Centauri and its

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famous exoplanet, Proxima B.

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Anna: That's right. Proxima B is our nearest

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exoplanet neighbor, which makes it a

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tantalizing target. But studying it is one of

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the greatest technical challenges in

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astronomy. The planet is completely lost

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in the glare of its host star.

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Avery: How bad is the glare?

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Anna: The star Proxima Centauri is about

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10 million times brighter than the light

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reflected by the planet. It's like trying to

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see a speck of dust on a floodlight from a

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mile away. But a new instrument called

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Ristretto is being built to do just that.

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Avery: Okay, so how does Ristretto pull off this

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magic trick?

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Anna: It's a combination of technologies. It's a

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spectrograph that will be installed on the

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Very Large Telescope in Chile. First, it

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uses a coronagraph, essentially a tiny,

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precise mask to physically block the light

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from the star. Then it uses a system of

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extreme adaptive optics with deformable

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mirrors to cancel out the blurring effect of

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Earth's atmosphere.

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Avery: And once the star's light is suppressed,

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what's the ultimate goal?

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Anna: The goal is to collect the faint light that

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has passed through or been reflected by the

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planet's atmosphere. By analyzing that light,

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Ristretto can search for the chemical

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fingerprints of gases like oxygen, methane,

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or water vapor. Potential biosignatures.

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It's one of our best chances yet to find out

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if the closest world beyond our solar system

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has an atmosphere and perhaps one that could

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support life.

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Avery: And that's a wrap on today's top stories.

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From new frontiers in human spaceflight to

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the cutting edge of exoplanet research. The

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universe never fails to amaze.

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Anna: It certainly doesn't thanks for tuning in to

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Astronomy Daily. Join us next time as we

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continue to explore the final frontier.

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Avery: Until then, keep looking up

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Astronomy Day.

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Anna: Stories.