BepiColombo Lets Go: Eight Years, Nine Flybys, One Irreversible Moment

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Kind: captions
Language: en

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Hey everyone, welcome back to Astronomy


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Daily. It's Thursday, September 3rd,


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2026. I'm Anna and this is series 5,


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episode 184.


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>> And I'm Avery. Anna, we've got a


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spacecraft doing something irreversible


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today.


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>> We do. As we're recording, Beepy


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Columbbo, the European and Japanese


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mission to Mercury, is throwing away the


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module that got it there.


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>> Throwing away sounds harsh. It's


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accurate though. Eight years, nine


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planetary flybys, one very serious


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engine problem, and today the transfer


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module gets cut loose, and the two


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science orbiters are on their own. It's


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the start of the arrival phase.


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>> That's our lead. Then NASA has just


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handed Blue Origin $700 million to build


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the internet connection for Mars,


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>> which is a much bigger deal than it


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sounds.


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>> It really is. Then Saturn has grown a


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new shape at its south pole and nobody


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expected it. And an Australian in Broken


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Hill is part of how we found out.


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>> Love that story. And then a second


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Chinese private company has flown a


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reusable rocket 3 weeks after the first


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one.


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>> Plus, we'll get you sorted for the sky


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tonight. Both hemispheres as always.


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>> Let's get into it.


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>> Okay. Set the scene for me. What is


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physically happening today? So Bey


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Columbo has flown to Mercury as a stack.


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Three pieces bolted together. At the


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bottom, you've got the Mercury transfer


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module. That's the ion engine bus, the


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thing with the enormous solar wings


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that's been doing the driving. On top of


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that sits the European orbiter, the


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Mercury Planetary Orbiter. And on top of


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that sits the Japanese one, MO, the


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Mercury Magneettospheric Orbiter.


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>> Three spacecraft in a tower.


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>> A tower. And today at around 8 in the


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morning US Eastern time, which is about


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10 o'clock tonight for us in Sydney, the


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transfer module separates.


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It live. They start the broadcast a bit


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before, pause it, and come back about an


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hour later to confirm they've got a


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signal from what is now for the first


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time an independent spacecraft.


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>> And there's no putting it back together.


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>> None. That's why today matters. Up to


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this point, if something went wrong, you


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still had the propulsion module. From


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today, the ion engines are gone.


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Everything after this runs on the


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orbiter's own chemical thrusters.


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>> Take me back. This launched in 2018,


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>> October 20th, 2018, on an Aron 5 out of


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Kuru. So, we are 3 weeks shy of 8 years.


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>> 8 years to reach the closest planet to


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the sun, which sounds backwards.


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>> It sounds backwards. And it's the single


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most counterintuitive thing about


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Mercury. If you point a rocket at


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Mercury and just let go, you don't


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gently arrive, you fall. The sun's


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gravity well is enormous, and you pick


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up speed the whole way down. The hard


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part isn't getting there. The hard part


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is arriving slowly enough that Mercury's


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very weak gravity can actually catch


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you.


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>> So, the whole mission is a breaking


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problem.


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>> The whole mission is a breaking problem.


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that be Columbbo has used one flyby of


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Earth, two of Venus, and six of Mercury


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itself, the last of those in January


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2025,


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plus years of continuous, very gentle


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thrusting from those ion engines. All of


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it to shed speed rather than gain it.


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>> Nine flybys. That's more than most


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missions do in a lifetime. And there's a


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lovely bit of history in that because


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the mission is named after the man who


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invented that technique. Jeppe Colombo


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bey to everyone who knew him was an


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Italian mathematician who worked out in


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1974 that if you shaped Mariner 10's


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trajectory correctly, you could get


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repeat visits to Mercury instead of just


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one. He also figured out why Mercury


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rotates three times for every two


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orbits. So, the mission carries the name


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of the person who made this kind of


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flight possible at all.


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>> Now, you said one very serious engine


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problem.


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>> Yes. April 2024. The team found


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unexpected electric currents flowing


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between the transfer module solar arrays


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and one of its power distribution units.


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The practical effect was that there


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wasn't enough power reaching the


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electric thrusters, so they couldn't run


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at full thrust.


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>> How much did they lose? They clawed back


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most of it. Engineers got the thrusters


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to about 90% of original performance,


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but 90% wasn't enough for the trajectory


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they were flying. Santa Martinez, the


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mission manager, put it plainly at the


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time. After months of investigation,


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they concluded the thrusters would stay


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below the minimum thrust needed for the


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orbit insertion they'd planned for


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December 2025.


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>> So, they redesigned the arrival.


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>> They redesigned the arrival. new


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trajectory, a revised set of flybys, and


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the arrival slipped by 11 months from


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December 2025 to November this year,


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which is why we're talking about it now


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rather than last Christmas.


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>> 11 months is a long slip. Was anything


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gained?


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>> A bit, actually. Johannes Benov, the


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project scientist, made the point that


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the extra time flew the instruments


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through parts of Mercury's environment


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they'd never otherwise have sampled.


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It's not compensation for the delay, but


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it isn't nothing either.


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>> All right, so today the module goes,


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what's the calendar from here?


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>> It's a slow staged arrival. November


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21st is gravity capture. That's when


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Mercury actually takes hold of both


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orbiters. Then in the second week of


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December, around the 9th and 10th, MO is


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released into its own very stretched


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orbit. About a week after that, the


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European Orbiter starts working its way


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down. It reaches its final science orbit


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on March 10th next year, and routine


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science operations formally begin on


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April 6th, 2027.


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>> So, today is the beginning of a 7-month


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arrival.


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>> That's exactly the right way to think


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about it. Nobody's landing. Nobody's


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breaking hard. It's a long, careful


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settling in.


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>> And the two orbiters end up in quite


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different places. deliberately. So, the


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European orbiter goes low and tight,


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roughly 480 kilometers at its closest,


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1500 at its furthest. That's the mapping


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orbit, minology, elemental composition,


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the surface at a range of wavelengths.


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MO goes much higher and much more


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elliptical out to something like 11,000


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km because it's chasing the magnetic


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field and the particles and you need to


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fly through a big volume of space to


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sample that properly.


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Which brings me to the thing I actually


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want to know. What are the questions?


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>> Three big ones and they're all genuinely


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strange. The first is the magnetic


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field. Mercury is small. It should have


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cooled and frozen solid billions of


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years ago. And yet it has a global


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magnetic field. Of the rocky planets,


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only Earth and Mercury do. So something


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inside it is still liquid and still


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moving. And we don't have a settled


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explanation for that. And Mercury's core


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is huge, isn't it?


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>> Enormous relative to the planet. The


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iron core takes up something like 85% of


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the radius. Mercury is essentially a


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metal ball with a thin coat of rock on


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it, and nobody is entirely sure why.


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>> Second question,


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>> ice. There is water ice sitting in


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permanently shadowed craters at


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Mercury's poles. On the planet closest


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to the sun, where the dayside gets to


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well over 400° C, the floors of some


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polar craters never see sunlight, so


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they stay cold enough to hold ice. But


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where it came from and how much there is


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is open.


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>> And the third,


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>> the hollows. These are my favorite.


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Messenger, the last mission to orbit


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Mercury, found these bright, shallow,


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irregular pits scattered across the


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surface. No impact structure, no


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volcanic vent, just ground that appears


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to be disappearing. The best guess is


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some volatile material in the rock is


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sublimating straight to gas and leaving


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the hollow behind. And they look fresh.


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There's a real possibility Mercury's


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surface is actively changing right now,


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which is not something you expect from a


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dead little world.


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>> How many times have we actually been to


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Mercury before this?


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>> Barely. Two missions ever. Mariner 10


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did three flybys in 1974 and 75.


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Messenger orbited from 2011 to 2015.


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That's it. It is the least explored


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planet in the inner solar system by a


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very wide margin.


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>> And is there an Australian thread here?


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There usually is.


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>> There is, and it's a nice one. ISA


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tracks its deep space missions through a


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network that includes New Norsia in


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Western Australia, north of Perth. and


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issa opened a brand new deep space


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antenna at that site in October last


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year, working with CSRO.


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Southern Hemisphere ground stations


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aren't a courtesy on missions like this.


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They're how you keep a spacecraft in


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contact as the Earth turns.


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>> So, what should people actually watch


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for today?


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>> Signal acquisition. That's the moment.


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Separation itself is a mechanical event


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you can't really see. The thing that


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tells you it worked is the ground


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station hearing a healthy carrier from a


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spacecraft that an hour earlier didn't


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exist as an independent object. If that


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comes through clean, Bey Columbo is


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genuinely on approach.


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>> Right. Second story. And this one is


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about plumbing, but the good kind. NASA


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announced on Tuesday, September 1st,


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that it has awarded Blue Origin a firm


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fixedpric contract worth about 700


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million to build the Mars


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Telecommunications Network,


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>> which is not a science mission.


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>> Deliberately not. This is a dedicated


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communications orbiter. Its entire job


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is relaying science data, imagery,


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navigation information, and mission


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commands for anything operating on or


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around Mars. No instruments of its own


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competing for power and pointing time.


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>> And that's the change, isn't it? Because


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right now, that job is done by science


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orbiters moonlighting.


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>> Exactly right. Every picture you have


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ever seen from Curiosity or Perseverance


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came home through Mars Odyssey or the


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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Odyssey


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launched in 2001. MRO launched in 2005.


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Odyssey is 25 years old and it's


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carrying the data return for a whole


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planet as a side hustle.


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>> And people have been sounding the alarm


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about that for years.


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>> For years. The worry has always been the


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same. If one of those two fails, surface


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missions don't go quiet exactly, but


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their data rates fall off a cliff. You'd


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be choosing which images come home.


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>> So, what's Blue Origin actually


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building?


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>> It's based on their Blue Ring platform,


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a hybrid spacecraft that uses both


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solar, electric, and chemical


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propulsion. It launches on New Glenn.


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Delivery deadline is December 31st, 2028


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and NASA expects it operational at Mars


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by 2030.


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>> And the contract is design, develop,


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launch, and operate. All four.


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>> All four. That's the interesting bit.


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Structurally, NASA isn't buying a


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spacecraft. It's buying a service. The


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same way it now buys communications


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around the Earth and the Moon. It sits


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under the space communications and


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navigation program and it follows a


00:12:02.640 --> 00:12:05.110
request for proposals NASA put out back


00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:06.069
in May.


00:12:06.079 --> 00:12:07.910
>> Who else was in the running?


00:12:07.920 --> 00:12:10.710
>> Rocket Lab was the other finalist. So,


00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:13.430
this was a real competition, not a sole


00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:14.710
source award.


00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:16.949
>> And Blue Origin does have Mars form now,


00:12:16.959 --> 00:12:19.269
which they didn't have two years ago.


00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:22.150
>> That's the part I'd flag. New Glenn's


00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:24.790
second flight in November last year


00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:27.430
carried NASA's twin escapade probes to


00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.069
Mars and landed its booster for the


00:12:30.079 --> 00:12:32.629
first time on the same mission. So, the


00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:34.870
pitch here isn't theoretical.


00:12:34.880 --> 00:12:37.350
>> And the longer game is crude missions.


00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.350
>> That's stated fairly openly in the


00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.590
announcement. If you're serious about


00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.230
people at Mars in the late 2030s or


00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:47.030
2040s, you cannot run that on two


00:12:47.040 --> 00:12:49.269
orbiters built in the Clinton and Bush


00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:51.990
administrations. You need infrastructure


00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.790
that's designed to be infrastructure.


00:12:54.800 --> 00:12:57.910
>> It's the least glamorous $700 million


00:12:57.920 --> 00:13:00.629
NASA will spend this decade and probably


00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:02.629
one of the more important.


00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:05.269
>> Nobody's ever made a poster of a relay


00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:07.750
satellite, but nothing else works


00:13:07.760 --> 00:13:08.870
without it.


00:13:08.880 --> 00:13:11.590
>> Now, this one is just lovely. Saturn's


00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.910
south pole has a 10-sided shape around


00:13:13.920 --> 00:13:16.710
it, and it wasn't there before.


00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:21.590
>> 10-sided. A decagon. A decagon published


00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.750
in science advances yesterday, September


00:13:23.760 --> 00:13:26.870
2nd, led by Augustine Sanchez Lagga at


00:13:26.880 --> 00:13:28.550
the University of the Bas country in


00:13:28.560 --> 00:13:31.430
Spain with Amy Simon at NASA Goddard and


00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:33.350
Michael Wong at UC Berkeley among the


00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.710
co-authors.


00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:36.949
>> And we already knew Saturn does this at


00:13:36.959 --> 00:13:38.470
the other pole.


00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:40.710
>> That's the famous one, the northern


00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:43.670
hexagon, six-sided, been known since


00:13:43.680 --> 00:13:46.550
Voyager in the 1980s, and it is rock


00:13:46.560 --> 00:13:49.509
solid. Amy Simon's line is that it has


00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:51.590
been there every single time anyone has


00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.230
looked for more than 40 years.


00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.389
>> So why has nobody seen a southern one


00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:57.509
before?


00:13:57.519 --> 00:13:59.990
>> Because we couldn't look. Saturn is


00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.870
tilted like Earth and it takes about 30


00:14:02.880 --> 00:14:05.269
years to go around the sun. Between


00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:08.870
roughly 2012 and 2023, the South Pole


00:14:08.880 --> 00:14:11.430
was simply turned away from us. It has


00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.990
only recently come back into view.


00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.629
>> And who spotted it? This is the part I


00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:19.590
love. Amateur astronomers. The first


00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.750
hint turned up in groundbased images in


00:14:21.760 --> 00:14:25.030
2024. A subtle undulating band around


00:14:25.040 --> 00:14:27.269
the pole in pictures submitted to


00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:29.269
something called the planetary virtual


00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:31.430
observatory laboratory which is a


00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.269
database professionals use to mine


00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:36.230
amateur planetary imagery. Two observers


00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.030
are credited. Jean Paul O and Trevor


00:14:39.040 --> 00:14:41.910
Barry. Trevor Barry as in


00:14:41.920 --> 00:14:45.030
>> as in Broken Hill, New South Wales, far


00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:47.750
western outback, New South Wales. He's a


00:14:47.760 --> 00:14:49.189
former miner who built his own


00:14:49.199 --> 00:14:51.590
observatory. He's been imaging Saturn


00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.829
for the better part of two decades. He's


00:14:53.839 --> 00:14:56.069
won an Astronomical Society of Australia


00:14:56.079 --> 00:14:58.550
award for it, and he has a long history


00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:00.790
of contributing to exactly this kind of


00:15:00.800 --> 00:15:02.230
professional work.


00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:04.710
>> So, a bloke in Broken Hill helps find a


00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:06.470
new feature on Saturn.


00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.790
>> And then Hubble goes and confirms it.


00:15:08.800 --> 00:15:10.389
Once they knew what to look for, the


00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.870
team went into Hubble's Opal program,


00:15:12.880 --> 00:15:14.629
that's the longrunning survey that


00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:16.389
photographs the outer planets every


00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.550
year, and found the decagon sitting


00:15:18.560 --> 00:15:21.509
there in data going back to 2023 with


00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.430
observations running through late August


00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:24.790
last year.


00:15:24.800 --> 00:15:27.110
>> How big is it in Earth terms?


00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.030
>> I'm going to be careful here because


00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:31.189
some of the coverage yesterday quoted a


00:15:31.199 --> 00:15:34.470
width that's larger than Saturn itself,


00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.629
which obviously can't be right. The


00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.389
official releases don't put a hard


00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:40.470
number on it. What we can say


00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.790
confidently is that it's the same class


00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:45.590
of feature as the hexagon. A planet


00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:48.470
scale wave locked inside a polar jetream


00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.829
tens of thousands of kilome across. I'd


00:15:51.839 --> 00:15:53.590
rather wait for the paper's own figures


00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:55.269
than repeat one that doesn't survive a


00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:56.710
sanity check.


00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.470
>> Fair. And why 10 sides rather than six?


00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:02.069
>> The mechanism is thought to be the same


00:16:02.079 --> 00:16:05.110
in both cases. a meandering wave trapped


00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.150
inside a fast polar jet. The number of


00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:10.470
sides falls out of how fast and how wide


00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.030
that jet is. Different jet, different


00:16:13.040 --> 00:16:13.990
number.


00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.230
>> And the really interesting difference is


00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:17.509
the age.


00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:19.749
>> That's the headline for scientists. The


00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.389
hexagon is old and stable. This thing


00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.470
looks new. And Simon's assessment is


00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.470
that it appears to be strengthening,


00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.230
which means for the first time we get to


00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:30.230
watch one of these form rather than


00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:32.470
inheriting a finished one. The plan is


00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.590
to keep tracking it with Hubble and JWST


00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:37.590
as sunlight builds toward the southern


00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:40.069
summer over the next few years and see


00:16:40.079 --> 00:16:42.550
whether it settles or falls apart.


00:16:42.560 --> 00:16:45.030
>> A planet size geometry experiment


00:16:45.040 --> 00:16:46.870
running in real time.


00:16:46.880 --> 00:16:48.150
>> And we're on the right side of the


00:16:48.160 --> 00:16:50.069
planet to appreciate it, which we'll


00:16:50.079 --> 00:16:52.150
come back to in a few minutes.


00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:54.550
>> Last news story, and it's another one


00:16:54.560 --> 00:16:56.389
for the Chinese commercial launch


00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.670
column. Galactic Energy flew its Palace


00:16:59.680 --> 00:17:02.150
One rocket for the first time. That was


00:17:02.160 --> 00:17:05.669
late on August 31st, US Eastern time.


00:17:05.679 --> 00:17:08.470
So, morning of September 1st in China


00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:10.789
out of the Ju Kuan launch center


00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:12.309
>> and it worked.


00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.189
>> Clean debut. The company says it reached


00:17:15.199 --> 00:17:17.750
its planned orbit about 30 minutes after


00:17:17.760 --> 00:17:20.549
liftoff. First flight of a brand new


00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.870
vehicle straight to orbit, which is not


00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:23.909
a given.


00:17:23.919 --> 00:17:27.829
>> Give me the numbers. 52 m tall, so a bit


00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:31.990
over 170 ft. About 7 tons to low Earth


00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.029
orbit. And crucially, the first stage is


00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:37.750
built to be reusable. Hypersonic grid


00:17:37.760 --> 00:17:40.870
fins, deployable landing legs rated for


00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:44.390
up to 25 flights. If that specification


00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.470
sounds familiar, it's because it's


00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:48.950
essentially the Falcon 9 playbook.


00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.710
>> Did they try to land it?


00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:54.070
>> No. Hardware was fitted, but no recovery


00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:56.390
attempt on a maiden flight. They're


00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.110
targeting the second half of 2027 for


00:17:59.120 --> 00:18:00.950
the first landing try.


00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:02.470
>> Now, the reason this matters isn't


00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.150
really the rocket on its own.


00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.190
>> No, it's the pattern. Look at the last 8


00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:10.710
weeks in China. July 10th, a long march


00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.990
10B, that's the state program, launches


00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.230
and catches its first stage in a net


00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.870
strung across a ship at sea, making


00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:21.270
China only the second country ever to


00:18:21.280 --> 00:18:24.549
recover an orbital class booster. Mid


00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:28.710
August, Land Space lands Juke 3 on legs,


00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.110
the first Chinese private company to do


00:18:31.120 --> 00:18:33.510
it, though, as we covered at the time,


00:18:33.520 --> 00:18:35.990
it caught fire and toppled over after


00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.750
touchdown. And now, three weeks later, a


00:18:39.760 --> 00:18:42.150
second private company debuts a vehicle


00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:45.190
with recovery hardware already on it.


00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.870
>> Three different programs, three


00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:49.029
different approaches in under two


00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:49.990
months.


00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.710
>> And there's a clear commercial driver.


00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:54.710
China is building out very large


00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.510
satellite constellations, Gul Wong,


00:18:57.520 --> 00:19:00.470
Chiian Fan, and you cannot deploy tens


00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.870
of thousands of satellites on expendable


00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.390
rockets at any sensible price. Galactic


00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:08.630
Energy is quite openly positioning


00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:12.070
Palace 1 as a constellation workhorse.


00:19:12.080 --> 00:19:13.830
>> And this isn't a startup with no track


00:19:13.840 --> 00:19:14.950
record.


00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:18.870
>> Not at all. They already fly series 1, a


00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.110
small satellite launcher with more than


00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:24.549
20 flights behind it. So Palace 1 is a


00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:27.430
step up, not a first attempt.


00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:30.549
>> The thing I'd watch is 2027.


00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.390
Landing is the hard part, and everyone's


00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.549
landing attempt is still ahead of them,


00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:37.029
right? Let's get you outside. And we


00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.870
have to start with Saturn tonight for


00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:40.390
obvious reasons.


00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:42.630
>> After that segment, it would be rude not


00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:43.669
to.


00:19:43.679 --> 00:19:45.830
>> Saturn is rising around sunset now and


00:19:45.840 --> 00:19:47.830
it's up for most of the night over in


00:19:47.840 --> 00:19:50.470
Aquarius, sitting at about magnitude


00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:52.390
plus 0.4.


00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.150
It's building toward opposition on


00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.310
October 4th. So, it gets a little better


00:19:56.320 --> 00:19:58.390
every night for the next month.


00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.070
>> And the rings are doing something


00:20:00.080 --> 00:20:03.430
unusual. They're tilted only about 8°


00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.830
from edge on, close to the narrowest


00:20:05.840 --> 00:20:08.150
they've been in a dozen years, which


00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.830
some people find disappointing, and I


00:20:09.840 --> 00:20:12.150
think is the opposite. When the rings


00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:14.870
are nearly closed, the moons line up in


00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.430
a much tighter row, and the globe of the


00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.230
planet is easier to see detail on. It's


00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:21.990
a different Saturn.


00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.549
>> Southern Hemisphere advantage tonight.


00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:27.750
>> A real one from Sydney. Saturn climbs


00:20:27.760 --> 00:20:29.830
high overhead, so you're looking through


00:20:29.840 --> 00:20:31.590
much less atmosphere than northern


00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:33.590
observers who get it lower in the


00:20:33.600 --> 00:20:35.909
southern sky. If you've got a telescope


00:20:35.919 --> 00:20:37.830
and you've been meaning to use it, this


00:20:37.840 --> 00:20:40.230
is the month. And to be clear, the


00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.149
decagon we just talked about is far


00:20:42.159 --> 00:20:44.549
beyond a backyard scope. That's a Hubble


00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.110
class detection. What you can see is the


00:20:47.120 --> 00:20:49.430
ring tilt and the moons.


00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:51.029
>> For North American listeners


00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:53.510
specifically, the big one is tonight's


00:20:53.520 --> 00:20:54.630
moon.


00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.190
Yes, the moon passes very close to the


00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:59.350
Pletes tonight and it's an actual


00:20:59.360 --> 00:21:01.510
occultation from North America, from


00:21:01.520 --> 00:21:04.549
East Asia, and from Arctic latitudes.


00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:06.549
The cluster stars wink out behind the


00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.350
lunar limb. If that's you, that's your


00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:12.230
event, and binoculars are plenty. And


00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:12.950
from here,


00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:15.430
>> from Australia, New Zealand, the moon


00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:18.070
and the pletes rise together in the


00:21:18.080 --> 00:21:21.590
small hours as a close, pretty pairing,


00:21:21.600 --> 00:21:23.830
but no occultation.


00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:25.909
Worth setting an alarm for if you're up


00:21:25.919 --> 00:21:26.870
anyway.


00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:28.149
>> Moon phase


00:21:28.159 --> 00:21:30.630
>> waning gibus and it hits last quarter


00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:33.510
tomorrow, September 4th. Practically


00:21:33.520 --> 00:21:36.070
that means it rises late. So the early


00:21:36.080 --> 00:21:38.230
evening is dark, which is good news for


00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:39.510
the next one.


00:21:39.520 --> 00:21:43.110
>> Venus. Venus is the unmissable one. Low


00:21:43.120 --> 00:21:46.149
in the west to west southwest, roughly


00:21:46.159 --> 00:21:48.549
14 degrees up an hour after sunset from


00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:51.750
Sydney. Sunset here is about 5:35 in the


00:21:51.760 --> 00:21:53.669
afternoon at the moment. It's just


00:21:53.679 --> 00:21:55.350
pulled away from Spya after their


00:21:55.360 --> 00:21:57.350
conjunction on Monday night, and it's


00:21:57.360 --> 00:21:59.270
building toward greatest brilliancy on


00:21:59.280 --> 00:22:02.149
September 18th. There's a beautiful thin


00:22:02.159 --> 00:22:04.950
crescent moon alongside it on the 14th.


00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.669
So, mark that one. Pre-dawn,


00:22:07.679 --> 00:22:09.830
>> Jupiter is back and it's worth the early


00:22:09.840 --> 00:22:12.950
start, rising east northeast around 10


00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:15.990
to 4 in the morning. Mars is also there,


00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.710
low and slowly fading. And tonight, it


00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:20.390
makes a triangle with Beetlejuice and


00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.789
Elnath if you want a target to find.


00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:24.950
>> And there's a Jupiter event coming for


00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:26.390
North America.


00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:28.789
>> There is. On September 8th, the moon


00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.110
occults Jupiter, visible from Canada,


00:22:31.120 --> 00:22:33.990
the United States, Mexico, Greenland,


00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.549
the Caribbean, and Eastern Russia. The


00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:37.909
catch is that for most of that


00:22:37.919 --> 00:22:39.990
footprint, it happens in daylight with


00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:42.070
the sun above the horizon.


00:22:42.080 --> 00:22:43.830
>> Which brings us to the standing


00:22:43.840 --> 00:22:44.789
reminder.


00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:46.470
>> It does, and it applies to that


00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:48.870
occultation directly. If you are


00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.190
observing anywhere near the sun, take it


00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.990
seriously. Any filter you use for direct


00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.390
solar viewing must be certified to the


00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.430
ISO12312-2


00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:02.149
standard, not sunglasses, not smoked


00:23:02.159 --> 00:23:05.029
glass, not a stack of exposed film.


00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.149
ISO12312-2.


00:23:08.159 --> 00:23:10.549
And check the certification is genuine.


00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.390
Sweeping a telescope or binoculars


00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:13.909
around a daylight sky looking for


00:23:13.919 --> 00:23:16.549
Jupiter is exactly the situation where


00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:17.830
people get hurt.


00:23:17.840 --> 00:23:20.070
>> Anything else on the calendar? three to


00:23:20.080 --> 00:23:22.630
pencil in international observe the moon


00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.270
night on the 19th the equinox on the


00:23:25.280 --> 00:23:27.990
22nd spring for us autumn for our


00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:30.390
northern listeners and the harvest moon


00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.870
rising near Saturn on the 26th which


00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:34.710
after tonight's conversation feels like


00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.310
a nice bookend


00:23:36.320 --> 00:23:40.390
>> and that's episode 184


00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.630
has cut loose the module that carried it


00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:45.270
for eight years and is officially on


00:23:45.280 --> 00:23:46.950
approach to Mercury


00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.110
>> Blue Origin is building Mars a proper


00:23:49.120 --> 00:23:51.909
phone line. Saturn has grown a 10-sided


00:23:51.919 --> 00:23:54.390
crown at its south pole with a hand from


00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:56.390
an amateur astronomer in Outback New


00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:58.549
South Wales. And a second Chinese


00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:00.230
private company has put a reusable


00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:01.909
rocket into orbit.


00:24:01.919 --> 00:24:04.630
>> Full show notes, links to every primary


00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.590
source and the whole back catalog are at


00:24:07.600 --> 00:24:09.909
astronomyaily.io.


00:24:09.919 --> 00:24:12.230
>> You can find us on X, Instagram, and Tik


00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.789
Tok at astroaily pod. And if you've got


00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:17.110
a question or a correction, we genuinely


00:24:17.120 --> 00:24:19.190
want it. There's a contact form on the


00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.870
website. You'll find us at


00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:22.950
astronomydaily.io.


00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:25.269
>> If today's episode was useful, the


00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:27.750
single most helpful thing you can do is


00:24:27.760 --> 00:24:30.390
send it to one person who'd enjoy it.


00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:32.870
>> We'll be back tomorrow. Until then,


00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:34.149
clear skies.


00:24:34.159 --> 00:24:38.549
>> Clear skies. Astronomy Day.


00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.279
Stories we told.