Cosmic Filaments, Earth 2.0, and Mayonnaise in Space

0:00 Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the

0:02 podcast that brings you the latest news from

0:05 across the cosmos. I'm your host, Avery.

0:07 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.

0:10 We've got a busy show today. From the largest

0:13 rotating structure ever observed to. Man is

0:16 in space.

0:17 Avery: That's right. We'll also be looking at

0:19 China's ambitious plans to find Earth

0:22 2.0, checking in on a commander

0:24 swap at the International Space Station, and

0:27 celebrating an Emmy win for NASA. So

0:30 let's get started.

0:32 Anna: First up, an incredible discovery that's

0:34 being compared to a cosmic teacup ride.

0:37 Astronomers have found a string of 14

0:40 galaxies that are all spinning in the same

0:42 direction as the massive structure they

0:44 belong to.

0:45 Avery: And this isn't just any structure. It's a

0:48 cosmic filament. A gigantic thread

0:51 like formation made of dark matter, galaxies

0:54 and gas. They're the biggest things in the

0:56 universe, forming a kind of cosmic web.

0:59 Anna: Exactly. This particular filament is about

1:02 50 million light years long and is rotating

1:05 at a staggering velocity of 110

1:08 kilometers per second.

1:09 Avery: Wow, 110 kilometers per

1:12 second. And the galaxies within it are

1:15 spinning along with it.

1:16 Anna: That's the amazing part. Researchers looked

1:19 at a section of this filament about 140

1:21 million light years away. They found these 14

1:24 galaxies, all rich in hydrogen gas,

1:27 moving in a way that suggests the whole

1:29 structure is rotating. And more

1:32 surprisingly, many of the galaxies themselves

1:34 are spinning in the same direction as the

1:36 filament.

1:37 Avery: Right. The lead researcher, Lila Zhang,

1:40 used a great analogy. She said it's like the

1:42 teacups ride at a theme park.

1:44 Anna: Mhm. Each galaxy is a spinning teacup

1:47 and the whole platform, the cosmic filament,

1:49 is rotating too. This dual motion

1:52 gives us a rare insight into how galaxies get

1:55 their spin from the cosmic web they inhabit.

1:58 It suggests these larger structures have a

2:01 much stronger influence than we previously

2:03 thought.

2:03 Avery: A truly mind bending discovery.

2:06 Now let's shift our focus a bit closer to

2:08 home and look at the future of space

2:11 exploration. The China National Space

2:13 Agency, or cnsa, has

2:16 outlined some very ambitious plans.

2:18 Anna: That's right. In a video titled Earth 2.0.

2:21 Um, China's plan to find New Earth. They

2:24 detailed four major upcoming missions

2:26 scheduled for their 15th five year plan

2:29 between 2026 and 2030.

2:31 Avery: And these missions cover a huge range of

2:34 objectives. They're planning a radio

2:36 astronomy experiment for the far side of the

2:38 moon, a solar observatory to study space

2:41 weather, duts.

2:42 Anna: A space telescope to monitor black holes and

2:44 neutron stars, and of course, the

2:47 exoplanet hunting satellite that will search

2:49 for Those Earth like planets.

2:51 Avery: It's a clear statement of intent. China is

2:54 positioning itself to be at, uh, the absolute

2:56 forefront of space science and exploration in

2:59 the coming decade.

2:59 Anna: Absolutely.

3:01 Now for a couple of updates from the

3:03 International Space Station, where it's been

3:04 a busy few days. First up, a change of

3:07 leadership.

3:08 Avery: Yes, Expedition 73 is handing the reins

3:11 over to Expedition 74. On

3:13 Sunday, veteran Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey

3:16 Rysakov will pass the symbolic stat key

3:19 to four time NASA astronaut Mike Finke.

3:22 Anna: And that handover marks the beginning of the

3:24 end of the mission for three crew members.

3:26 Risakov, along with flight engineers Alexei

3:29 Zubritsky and NASA's Johnny Kim, are packing

3:32 up for their return trip to Earth inside the

3:34 Soyuz MS.27 spacecraft.

3:37 Avery: Safe travels to them. But while the crew is

3:39 changing, the science never stops. And our

3:42 next story from the ISS is a fascinating one.

3:45 Anna, uh, why are scientists studying

3:47 mayonnaise in space?

3:48 Anna: It sounds strange, but it's all about

3:50 understanding something called soft matter.

3:53 This includes things like gels, foams,

3:56 colloids, and mayonnaise. These

3:59 substances have internal structures that

4:01 reorganize very slowly over time.

4:04 Think about how sunscreen can change in the

4:06 cabinet or how a cream loses effectiveness.

4:09 Avery: Okay, that makes sense. And studying this

4:11 process on Earth is complicated by gravity,

4:14 right?

4:14 Anna: Exactly. So researchers developed an

4:16 experiment called Colis, which is now

4:19 operating on the space station. It uses

4:22 sophisticated optical techniques to look

4:24 inside these materials without disturbing

4:26 them in a microgravity environment.

4:29 Avery: And are there any results yet?

4:30 Anna: There are, and they're already surprising.

4:33 Early data shows that gravity affects the

4:35 structure of soft matter much more

4:38 dramatically than anyone expected. This could

4:40 have huge implications for everything from

4:43 food production to pharmaceuticals right here

4:45 on Earth.

4:47 Avery: Incredible. What we can learn from looking at

4:48 everyday items in an extraordinary place.

4:51 Next, let's talk comets. NASA's Punch mission

4:54 has released an incredible 40 day timelapse

4:56 of Comet Swann.

4:58 Anna: This might be the longest, most frequent

5:00 observation of a comet ever recorded. The

5:03 Spacecraft imaged Comet C 2025

5:06 R2, also known as Swann, every

5:09 four minutes from late August to early

5:11 October.

5:11 Avery: The video is just stunning. You can see the

5:14 comet gliding through space with its bluish

5:16 green coma and glowing tail. Clear visible.

5:19 That glow is from the sun's heat vaporizing

5:21 the comet's ices, a process called

5:23 sublimation. Mhm.

5:25 Anna: And there was an unexpected guest star in the

5:27 video. The comet happened to be sharing the

5:30 same patch of sky with the famous

5:31 Interstellar Visitor 3i Atlas,

5:34 which you can just glimpse in the footage. A

5:36 true cosmic photobomb Fantastic.

5:39 Avery: And for our final story today, we're

5:41 switching from scientific observation to

5:43 television production. NASA has won another

5:45 Emmy award.

5:47 Anna: They have. This time it's for their broadcast

5:49 of the total solar eclipse back on April 8,

5:52 2024. The Academy of Television Arts and

5:55 Sciences recognized them for excellence in

5:57 production technology.

5:59 Avery: And it was a massive undertaking. The agency

6:02 called it the most complex life project

6:04 they've ever produced. The broadcast was

6:06 three hours long, covered seven American

6:08 states in two countries, and had hosts and

6:10 correspondents all over the path of totality.

6:13 Anna: The effort definitely paid off. The broadcast

6:16 pulled in nearly 40 million views across all

6:19 of NASA's channels, including their streaming

6:21 service, NASA. From watch parties in

6:24 libraries to Times Square, people all over

6:27 the world tuned in.

6:28 Avery: A well deserved win for a truly spectacular

6:30 production that brought a celestial wonder to

6:33 millions. And that, unfortunately, is all the

6:35 time we have for today.

6:36 Anna: Thanks for joining us on Astronomy Daily. If

6:39 you'd like to stay on top of all the latest

6:41 space news or listen to our back episodes,

6:44 join us just visit our

6:45 [email protected].

6:48 it's constantly updating, so there's always

6:50 something new to check out.

6:52 Avery: And that's it for today. See uh you Monday

6:53 when we do it all over again. Until then,

6:55 clear skies and keep looking up.

7:10 Sam.