Artemis II Preparations, Jellyfish Galaxy, and Mars' Celestial Dance

0:00 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

0:02 source for all the latest news from across

0:04 the vast universe. I'm your host, Anna,

0:07 and I'm so excited to dive into today's

0:10 cosmic happenings. We've got a busy show for

0:12 you today. We'll be looking at how NASA and

0:15 the Department of Defence are Preparing for

0:17 Artemis 2. We've got a quick update from

0:20 the ISS. We'll be checking out a jellyfish

0:23 galaxy. Plus, we'll guide you on how to

0:25 spot Mars this month.

0:27 So buckle up space fans, it's time for

0:29 liftoff. NASA and the

0:32 Department of Defence recently teamed up to

0:34 practise emergency procedures for the Artemis

0:37 2 mission, which is set to send four

0:39 astronauts around the moon next year. These

0:42 simulations are super important because, you

0:44 know, safety first. The teams

0:47 rehearsed what they would do to rescue the

0:49 crew if there was an emergency during the

0:51 launch of the Orion spacecraft. This

0:54 included scenarios where they had to abort

0:56 the launch while the rocket was still on the

0:58 pad, as well as during the ascent into space.

1:01 To make it as realistic as possible, they

1:03 used test mannequins and a version of Orion

1:05 called the crew Module Test article.

1:08 During the pad abort simulation, the launch

1:10 team went through a normal countdown before

1:12 declaring an abort just before the simulated

1:15 launch. In a real emergency, Orion's launch

1:18 abort system would kick in, propelling the

1:20 capsule and its crew to safety before

1:22 parachuting down off the coast of Florida for

1:25 the test. They placed the test Orion in the

1:28 water and then two navy helicopters

1:30 carrying Air Force pararescuers

1:33 swooped in to retrieve the mannequin crew

1:35 just like they would in a real situation.

1:38 The next day they practised an ascent, abort

1:41 scenario. The rescue team set up another

1:43 simulation at sea and after receiving the

1:46 simulated abort call, they sprang into action

1:48 using a C17 aircraft and more Air Force

1:51 pararescuers. These procedures are similar to

1:54 those used in previous tests, making sure

1:57 everyone is prepared for anything that might

1:59 happen. It's all part of NASA's commitment to

2:02 keeping the Artemis II crew safe as they

2:04 venture to the moon and back. Next up,

2:07 a quick update to our story from yesterday

2:09 about Postponements to the AXE 4 mission.

2:12 Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Friday

2:15 that a leak on the Russian segment of the

2:17 International Space Station had been

2:19 repaired, that the Interfax news agency

2:21 reported. Good news indeed. No reports yet

2:24 on how this will affect prospective launch

2:26 date, though. NASA had on Thursday

2:28 indefinitely delayed a four person cruise

2:31 mission to the ISS over an escalating probe

2:34 into air leaks aboard the orbiting

2:35 laboratory's Russian segment.

2:38 Okay, next up in our cosmic tour, astronomers

2:41 have spotted a galaxy that looks like a

2:43 jellyfish with bunny ears. I know it

2:46 sounds like something out of a sci fi

2:47 cartoon, but it's real. This galaxy

2:50 called NGC 4858 is

2:53 way out there in the Coma cluster, over 300

2:55 million light years away. Now, galaxy

2:58 clusters are these huge collections of

3:00 galaxies, often containing thousands of them,

3:02 along with hot gas and what astronomers

3:05 suspect, a whole lot of dark matter. What

3:07 makes NGC4858 so interesting is what's

3:10 happening to it inside this cluster. It's

3:13 experiencing extreme pressure, kind of like a

3:15 wind, which is stripping gas away from the

3:16 galaxy. This process stretches the galaxy,

3:20 giving it that jellyfish shape, with long

3:22 trails of gas and young stars that resemble,

3:25 you guessed it, jellyfish tentacles.

3:27 But here's where the bunny ears come in. The

3:30 Images of NGC 4858

3:33 revealed these distorted spiral arms that

3:35 astronomers are calling bunny ears.

3:38 Apparently this is likely caused by a

3:40 combination of the environmental wind pushing

3:42 on the gas and the rotation of the galaxy

3:45 itself. And there's more.

3:48 Scientists have also found evidence of a

3:49 phenomenon called fallback. This is when gas

3:52 gets stripped away from a galaxy, but doesn't

3:54 quite escape, so it falls back toward the

3:56 galactic disc. It's like a galactic fountain,

3:59 with the gas often concentrating in distorted

4:01 spiral arms on one side of the inner tail.

4:05 Because NGC 4858 is face

4:08 on, it's a prime target for further studies

4:10 on how pressure and rotation affect galaxies

4:13 in extreme conditions.

4:16 M alright, let's turn our gaze to the Red

4:18 planet. If you've been keeping an eye on Mars

4:20 since the beginning of the year, you've

4:22 probably noticed how much its brightness has

4:24 changed and how it's been interacting with

4:26 the Moon, bright stars and other celestial

4:28 objects. Now, even though 2025

4:31 isn't exactly a banner year for Mars, it's

4:34 still putting on a pretty good show.

4:36 Remember, it reached opposition. That's when

4:38 it appears directly opposite the sun in the

4:40 sky back in January. Well,

4:43 even though it's been receding from us ever

4:45 since, it's still making some eye catching

4:47 appearances this month. First up, on

4:50 June 17, Mars will be cozying up to

4:53 Regulus. That's a bright star in the

4:55 constellation Leo the Lion. If you're in the

4:57 Americas, keep an eye out. From June 13th

5:00 through the 20th, you'll see them hanging out

5:01 less than 2 degrees apart. The 15th to

5:04 18th is when they'll be super close, less

5:07 than 1 degree apart. On the 17th,

5:10 Mars will be just 3/4 of a 1 degree above

5:13 Regulus. Look for them around

5:15 10pm local time, about a quarter of the way

5:18 up in the western sky. Because they're so

5:20 close and similar in brightness, they'll

5:22 really stand out. Plus, the orange gold

5:25 of Mars and blue white of Regulus will look

5:28 even more intense next to each other. And

5:30 that's not all. On June 29,

5:33 a waxing crescent Moon will glide right past

5:36 Mars in the western sky at dusk. Now, North

5:39 America won't get to see the Moon actually

5:40 pass in front of Mars. That's called an

5:42 occultation. But it'll still be a beautiful

5:45 sight as Mars appears to glide above the

5:47 Moon. To catch it, you might need binoculars

5:49 at first, but once the sky darkens, Mars

5:52 should be easy to spot. So keep an eye on the

5:54 western sky at dusk. It will be worth a look.

5:58 Now, switching gears a bit, let's talk about

6:00 the future of space exploration. Next

6:03 week, from June 19 to 22, space

6:06 enthusiasts from all over the world will be

6:08 gathering in Orlando, Florida for the

6:10 International Space Development Conference,

6:13 or ISDC 2025.

6:16 This year's theme is Together beyond, and

6:19 it's all about collaboration across different

6:21 sectors and countries as we push further into

6:23 space. The conference is going to be packed

6:26 with discussions on everything from global

6:27 cooperation in space to developing

6:30 communities out there among the stars.

6:32 They'll also be talking about space health,

6:34 sustainability and making settlements on the

6:37 moon. Mars and beyond a, reality.

6:40 And of course, they'll be addressing the need

6:42 for planetary defence strategies to protect

6:44 Earth from asteroids. There's going to be

6:46 some seriously impressive speakers there,

6:48 too. We're talking Pascal Lee,

6:51 a planetary scientist, and Mars exploration

6:53 expert Gretchen Green, the first woman

6:56 physician, commercial astronaut Jared

6:58 Isaac Mann, who commanded the Inspiration4

7:01 mission, and former NASA astronauts Susan

7:04 Kilrain and Robert Hoot Gibson.

7:06 Also speaking is Shauna Pandya, who's set to

7:09 be the first female commercial Canadian

7:10 astronaut. It sounds like an amazing event

7:13 for anyone interested in the future of

7:15 humanity in space.

7:18 Finally today, let's dive into something a

7:19 little more mysterious. Dark matter. The

7:22 upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope,

7:25 launching in 2026, is going to play a

7:27 huge role in helping us understand this

7:29 elusive stuff. How? Through

7:32 gravitational lensing. Now, gravitational

7:34 lensing basically uses massive galaxy

7:37 clusters in the foreground, so to magnify

7:39 really distant objects in the background. And

7:42 dark matter, even though we can't see it,

7:44 makes up a massive chunk of these galaxy

7:46 clusters, like 85% or even more in some

7:49 cases. So without dark matter,

7:51 gravitational lensing wouldn't be nearly as

7:54 effective. The M Roman Space Telescope is

7:57 expected to find around 160,000 of these

7:59 gravitational lenses. But here's the cool

8:02 part. By using dark matter as a gravitational

8:04 lens, scientists can actually learn more

8:07 about it. The telescope will be on the

8:09 lookout for what are called strong

8:11 gravitational lenses. These happen when the

8:14 observer, the gravitational lens, and the

8:17 background object are all perfectly aligned.

8:20 These lenses give us a much more dramatic

8:22 magnification. Researchers are hoping to find

8:25 about 500 of these that are precise enough to

8:28 study the structure of dark matter at small

8:30 scales. These observations could help us

8:32 address some of the issues with the lambda

8:34 cold dark matter theory, which is the most

8:36 widely accepted model of Big Bang cosmology.

8:39 It's great at describing the large scale

8:41 universe, but it kind of falls apart when we

8:43 look at smaller scales. For example,

8:46 the Lambda CDM model predicts that there

8:48 should be way more dwarf galaxies around

8:51 larger galaxies like the Milky Way than we

8:54 actually see. The Roman telescope's strong

8:57 lenses should be able to detect the small

8:59 amounts of light being bent by the dark

9:01 matter halos of these galaxies. And if they

9:03 do, then the Lambda CDM M model becomes that

9:06 much stronger. Ultimately, scientists

9:09 are trying to figure out what kind of

9:10 particle makes up dark matter. Is it wimps,

9:13 axions? Or maybe sterile neutrinos? The

9:16 Roman Space Telescope is going to give us

9:17 some seriously valuable data to help us crack

9:19 the code. And that's

9:22 all the space news we have for you today. I'm

9:25 Anna and it's been a pleasure being your host

9:27 today. Don't forget to visit our website at

9:29 astronomydaily IO where you can where you can

9:32 catch up on all the latest space and

9:33 astronomy news with our constantly updating

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9:45 Until next time, keep looking up and as they

9:47 say, I'll, see you on the flip side. This is

9:49 Anna signing off.