Spacewalks, Supernovas, and the Mysteries of Super Jupiters

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Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast


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that brings you the biggest news from


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across the cosmos. I'm Avery.


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


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Today, we're talking about a dramatic


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spacew walk outside the Tiang Gong Space


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Station. Plus, the James Webb telescope


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spots the oldest supernova ever seen.


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And we'll find out why giant planets


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known as super Jupiters might look


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nothing like our own Jupiter. and we'll


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finish with a black hole that's whipping


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up winds at a fraction of the speed of


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light. Let's get started.


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>> First up, let's head to low Earth orbit.


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There's been some serious activity


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outside the Tangong space station.


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>> That's right. Two Chinese astronauts


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from the Shenho 21 mission conducted a


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marathon 8-hour spacew walk. The primary


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goal was to get a close look at the


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Shenho 20 return capsule.


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>> Mhm. And what they were looking for was


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damage. Right.


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>> Exactly. The capsule was likely struck


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by a piece of space junk and the damage


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was serious enough that the Shenjo 20


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crew couldn't use it to return home.


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They had to come back to Earth on a


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different vehicle as a precaution.


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>> Wow. That really highlights the dangers


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of space debris. So, this spacew walk


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was essentially a forensic investigation


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in orbit.


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>> It was. They were meticulously


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inspecting and photographing the damage


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to understand exactly what happened. But


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that wasn't all they did. They also took


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the opportunity to install new space


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debris protection systems on the station


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itself.


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>> A necessary upgrade, it seems. It's a


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growing problem that isn't going away.


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Every piece of junk, big or small, is a


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potential threat to current and future


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missions.


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>> And speaking of China's space program,


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they've been busy on the launch pad as


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well. Incredibly busy. In fact,


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>> you can say that again. They just set a


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new national record by launching three


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separate long march rockets in less than


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19 hours.


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>> 19 hours. That's an astonishing pace. It


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brings their total for 2025 up to 83


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orbital launches already.


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>> So, what were these missions carrying?


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>> A couple of different payloads. The


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launches deployed more broadband


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satellites for their Guang mega


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constellation, which is their competitor


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to systems like Starlink,


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>> right?


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>> And they also sent up two classified


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military satellites. The details on


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those, as you'd expect, are pretty


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sparse.


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>> It just shows the sheer scale and speed


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of their operations right now. They're


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not just launching frequently, they're


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launching with incredible efficiency,


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>> and they seem to be getting better at it


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with every launch. Okay, let's shift our


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focus from Earth orbit to the red


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planet. A major new report from the US


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Nationalmies of Sciences, Engineering,


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and Medicine has just been released, and


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it's making some bold recommendations


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for the future of Mars exploration.


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>> It really is. The headline


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recommendation is that the primary


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scientific objective for the first crude


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missions to Mars should be the search


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for life, either past or present. That's


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a significant statement. For a long


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time, the focus has been on geology and


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paving the way for colonization. This


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report puts astrobiology front and


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center.


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>> Exactly. It outlines 11 specific science


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objectives and proposes two main science


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mission campaigns to achieve them. The


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first campaign would target near surface


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glacier ice


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>> which could preserve bio signatures.


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>> Precisely. The second even more


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ambitious campaign would involve


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exploring the deep subsurface of Mars.


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They're talking about drilling deep down


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to where liquid water might still exist,


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protected from the harsh surface


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radiation.


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>> That would be an incredible undertaking.


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The technical challenges alone are


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immense, but the potential payoff,


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finding evidence of life on another


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planet, is arguably the greatest prize


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in science. It completely reframes the


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why of sending humans to Mars. It's not


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just about planting a flag. It's about


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answering one of humanity's biggest


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questions.


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>> It would be nice if we could get a


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definitive answer one day.


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>> Well, from the search for life to the


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death of stars, the James Webb Space


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Telescope has done it again. It's given


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us a glimpse into the cosmic dawn by


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finding the oldest supernova ever seen.


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>> This story is just mind-boggling. JWST


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detected light from a star that exploded


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13 billion years ago.


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>> Let that sink in. The universe itself is


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about 13.7 billion years old. So, this


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event happened just 730 million years


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after the Big Bang.


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>> Incredible. So, what do we know about


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this event?


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>> It's been designated GRB250314A.


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The GRB stands for gammaray burst which


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was detected first. That burst is the


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telltale sign of a massive star


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collapsing into a black hole or neutron


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star. The supernova is the explosion


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that follows.


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>> So this breaks the previous record for


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the most distant supernova


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>> by a long shot. Observing an event like


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this from the very early universe, gives


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astronomers a direct look at the life


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cycle of the first generations of stars,


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which were much more massive and


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short-lived than stars like our sun.


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It's a crucial piece of the puzzle for


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understanding how the universe evolved.


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>> From the most distant to some of the


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most massive, let's talk about


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exoplanets. A new study is challenging


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what we thought we knew about super


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Jupiters,


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>> right? These are gas giants that are


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significantly more massive than our own


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Jupiter. This new research focused on an


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exoplanet called VHS 1256b.


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It has a mass of about 20 Jupiters.


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>> 20 times the mass of Jupiter. That's


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almost in the territory of a brown


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dwarf, a failed star.


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>> It's right on that line. And the study


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suggests that planets this massive might


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not look like Jupiter at all. We picture


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Jupiter with its beautiful stable banded


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cloud patterns.


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>> Mhm. The great red spot, the distinct


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zones and belts.


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>> Exactly. But on a world like VHS 1256b,


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the internal heat and higher


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temperatures could drive a much more


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turbulent and chaotic atmosphere. The


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model suggests that instead of stable


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bands, you'd see large dusty silicut


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storms swirling chaotically. So less


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organized beauty, more violent chaos.


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>> That's a good way to put it. It reminds


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us that our own solar system is just one


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example and the diversity of planets out


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there is far greater than we can


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imagine.


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>> Well said. And from Voyages within our


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solar system, let's take a leap to the


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truly cosmic scale. For our final story,


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we're heading to the center of galaxy


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NGC 3783


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where a super massive black hole is


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putting on a spectacular and very windy


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show.


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>> And this was a coordinated effort


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between two powerful space telescopes,


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the XMM Newton and the new XRISM


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Observatory.


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>> That's right. They observed the black


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holes active galactic nucleus or AGN as


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it let out a massive X-ray flare. So,


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similar to a solar flare from our sun,


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but on an unimaginable scale.


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>> Precisely. And this flare had a dramatic


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effect. It triggered powerful winds of


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superheated gas being blasted away from


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the black hole at an incredible


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the speed of light.


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>> 20% of the speed of light. That's just


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phenomenal speed.


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>> It really is. And observing this process


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helps astronomers understand how these


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central black holes influence their


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entire host galaxies. These winds are so


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powerful that they can clear out gas


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from the galaxy center, which can shut


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down star formation and fundamentally


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shape how a galaxy evolves over billions


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of years. It's a direct link between the


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very small, the accretion disc of a


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black hole, and the very large, the


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entire galaxy. A fantastic discovery to


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end on.


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>> And that's all the time we have for


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today on Astronomy Daily. We covered


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everything from spacew walks and launch


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records to the hunt for life on Mars.


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and we peered back to the dawn of time


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with the oldest supernova and questioned


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what a super Jupiter really looks like.


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Thanks so much for joining us.


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>> You can find us wherever you get your


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podcasts or our website which can be


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found at astronomyaily.io.


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We'll be back tomorrow with another


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roundup of the latest news from the


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final frontier.


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>> Until then, keep looking up. This is


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Avery and Anna signing off. Sunny day


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stories told




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stories