European Space Power, Jupiter's Cosmic Role, and Rings Forming Live

0:00 Anna: Hello, cosmic explorers, and welcome to

0:02 Astronomy Daily, your daily ticket to the

0:04 wonders of the universe. I'm Anna, joined as

0:07 always by my co host and fellow starchaser,

0:09 Avery. It's October 24,

0:12 2025, and we've got a packed show today,

0:14 diving into five stellar stories that span

0:17 European space ambitions. Jupiter's heroic

0:20 past. Rings forming in real time. A

0:23 massive new exoplanet and space expertise

0:25 breaking records. Avery, you

0:28 ready to blast off into today's news?

0:31 Avery: Anna? I'm, um, fueled up and ready. My

0:33 coffee's practically at escape velocity.

0:36 Let's get into it with some big moves in the

0:38 European space industry that could reshape

0:41 the cosmic landscape.

0:43 Anna: First up, a major shakeup in European

0:45 aerospace. Airbus, Leonardo and

0:47 Thales have signed a memorandum of

0:50 understanding to create a new powerhouse

0:52 company focused on space systems. This isn't

0:55 just a merger. It's a bold step toward

0:57 European autonomy in space tech, covering

0:59 everything from satellites to deep space

1:01 exploration modules.

1:03 Avery: The details are out of this world, Anna. Uh,

1:05 Airbus is taking a 35% stake with

1:08 Leonardo and Thales, each holding

1:11 32.5%. They're combining

1:13 Airbus Space systems and digital businesses.

1:16 Leonardo's space division, including its

1:19 stakes in Telespasio and and Thales Aline

1:21 Space and Thales's shares in those joint

1:24 ventures, plus Thales SES. This

1:27 new entity, set to launch in 2027 pending

1:30 regulatory approval, will employ around

1:32 25,000 people and generate about

1:35 6.5 billion euros in revenue by

1:38 the end of this year. That's a massive

1:40 operation. The goal is to deliver end to end

1:43 solutions for telecommunications, navigation,

1:46 earnings, Earth observation, scientific

1:48 missions, and even national security. Though

1:51 launchers like Ariane aren't part of the deal

1:53 yet, the CEOs of all three companies said

1:56 it. By pooling our talent,

1:59 resources, expertise and R and D

2:01 capabilities, we aim to generate growth,

2:04 accelerate innovation, and deliver greater

2:06 value. And let's not forget the European

2:08 Space Agency's take. ESA Director General

2:11 Joseph Aschbacher called it very good

2:14 news, saying it could make Europe a stronger

2:16 global player while ensuring fair competition

2:19 in ESA's procurement. Anna, uh, these

2:21 companies already contribute to NASA's

2:23 Artemis program and the ISS. Could this

2:26 merger mean even bigger things for astronomy,

2:29 like advanced telescopes or better data

2:31 relays?

2:32 Anna: Absolutely. A, uh, unified European space

2:35 entity could streamline innovation, maybe

2:37 giving us sharper tools to peer into the

2:39 cosmos. It's a reminder that the tech

2:42 behind our stargazing is just as critical as

2:44 the discoveries themselves. Let's keep an

2:47 eye on how this shapes up.

2:49 Avery: Now, let's rewind billions of years for a

2:51 story that's frankly, mind boggling. New

2:54 research from Rice University shows that a

2:57 young Jupiter may have saved Earth from

2:59 spiraling into the Sun. Published in Science

3:01 Advances, this study uses advanced

3:03 simulations to reveal how Jupiter's early

3:06 growth sculpted the solar system we know

3:08 today.

3:09 Anna: Here's the scoop. As Jupiter grew at about

3:11 5.4 au, that's astronomical

3:14 units or Earth sun distances, it

3:17 pulled in gas, creating spiral arms and shock

3:20 waves in the protoplanetary disk. Those

3:22 waves cleared out gas in the inner solar

3:25 system seven times faster than without

3:27 Jupiter, forming a gap that stopped rocky

3:29 planets like Earth and Venus from migrating

3:32 inward toward a fiery doom.

3:34 Avery: Lead researcher Andre Isidoro explained that

3:37 Jupiter's growth created pressure bumps in

3:39 the disk, trapping dust and allowing Earth

3:42 and Venus to form stably at about one

3:44 astronomical unit. This process took just

3:47 300,000 years, lightning fast in

3:50 cosmic terms. Co author Bhaibhav

3:53 Srivastava added that Jupiter protected the

3:56 inward outward solar system material

3:58 separation, which explains why our solar

4:00 system lacks the super Earth pile ups that

4:03 seen around other stars.

4:04 Anna: ALMA observations of young star systems back

4:07 this up, showing similar ring and gap

4:09 structures in their disks. Isidoro also

4:12 tied this to chondrite meteorites, which

4:15 formed 2.3 million years later, saying

4:17 Jupiter itself created the conditions for

4:20 their late birth. Avery this makes me wonder,

4:23 is our habitable zone a cosmic fluke? Thanks

4:25 to Jupiter's early hustle?

4:26 Avery: It's wild to think about Anna we without

4:28 Jupiter playing cosmic bouncer,

4:31 Earth might not be here. This also

4:34 reshapes how we hunt for habitable

4:36 exoplanets. Maybe gas giants are

4:39 key to stable rocky worlds. Could

4:42 this guide where we point JWST

4:44 next?

4:45 Anna: Definitely. It's a clue that habitable

4:47 systems might need a Jupiter like protector.

4:50 This one's got me rethinking how lucky our

4:52 solar system really is.

4:54 Closer to home, astronomers have made history

4:56 by observing rings forming around a solar

4:58 system object in real time for the first

5:00 time. The star of the show

5:03 2060 Chiron, a centaur, a

5:06 hybrid comet asteroid orbiting between Saturn

5:09 and Uranus.

5:10 Avery: Using Brazil's Pico dos Dias observatory

5:13 in 2023 and comparing data from

5:15 2011, 2018 and 2022,

5:19 researchers spotted 44 rings of water, ice

5:21 and rock around Chiron ranging from

5:24 273 kilometers to 1400

5:27 kilometers from its center, plus some

5:29 diffused material likely triggered by a

5:31 recent collision. This evolving system makes

5:34 Chiron the fourth known ringed small body.

5:37 Joining Chariklo Haumea and Kauar,

5:40 co author.

5:41 Anna: Braga Ribas from the Federal University of

5:43 Technology Pirana, writing in the

5:45 Astrophysical Journal Letters, called it an

5:48 evolving system that will help us understand

5:50 the dynamical mechanisms governing the

5:53 creation of rings and satellites around small

5:55 bodies. Avery Watching rings form live

5:58 is like catching a planet's makeup tutorial

6:00 in action.

6:01 Avery: Totally. It's a front row seat to

6:04 processes we usually only model. The

6:06 outermost ring might not last, so follow up

6:09 observations are critical. This could tell us

6:12 not just about Chiron, but but about ring

6:15 formation across the universe. Maybe

6:18 even for exomoons or debris disks.

6:21 Anna: Exactly. Centaurs like Chiron are proving to

6:23 be more dynamic than we thought. It's a

6:26 reminder that our solar system is still

6:28 cooking up surprises even after decades of

6:30 study.

6:31 Avery: Let's zoom out to 37 light years away

6:34 where a new super Earth has astronomers

6:36 buzzing.

6:37 Ross508b4times

6:40 Earth's mass was discovered using the

6:43 upgraded Subaru telescope in Hawaii.

6:46 This is a big deal for planet hunters.

6:48 Anna: The National Astronomical Observatory of

6:50 Japan used a new instrument optimized for

6:53 low mass stars to spot Ross

6:55 508B, which has a radius

6:58 1.83 times Earth's. It

7:01 orbits an M M dwarf red dwarf, just

7:04 0.18 solar masses in a

7:07 10.8 day elliptical orbit at

7:09 0.053 au, dipping in

7:11 and out of the habitable zone. That

7:14 elliptical path means wild temperature

7:16 swings, but there's potential for liquid

7:18 water, which has NASA eyeing it for

7:20 atmospheric studies.

7:21 Avery: M dwarfs are the most common stars out there.

7:24 Anna long lived and dim, making

7:27 them ideal for finding rocky planets.

7:30 Ross508 Ah B's variability

7:33 makes it a prime target for JWST

7:36 to probe its atmosphere. Could it hold

7:39 clues to habitability? Or is it too

7:41 chaotic?

7:42 Anna: I'm, um, leaning toward chaotic but

7:44 intriguing. Elliptical orbits challenge our

7:47 Earth centric ideas of habitability. But

7:49 that's what makes it exciting. As the first

7:51 planet found with this new Subaru tool, it's

7:53 a sign we'll see more super Earth soon.

7:56 Avery does this make you hopeful for finding

7:58 nearby worlds we could study in detail?

8:00 Avery: Oh, for sure. It's close enough to poke with

8:03 our best scopes. And M dwarfs are treasure

8:06 troves for planet hunters. This could

8:08 redefine what we call a.

8:09 Anna: Habitable world back on Earth or

8:12 just above it.

8:13 SpaceX has hit a jaw dropping milestone.

8:16 Their 139th mission of 2025

8:19 launching Spain's SpainSat NG2 satellite on a

8:22 Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on October 23rd.

8:26 This sets a new record for the.

8:27 Avery: Company that's 134 Falcon 9 launches

8:30 this year alone, surpassing their 2024

8:33 total. The booster, on its 23rd flight,

8:36 was expended due to the high energy

8:38 geosynchronous transfer orbit needed for

8:40 spinsat NG2, which bolsters

8:43 Spain's telecom fleet alongside NG1.

8:46 Launched in January, the upper stage

8:49 nailed deployment 36 minutes after liftoff.

8:51 Anna: SpaceX's cadence is unreal, especially with

8:54 starship tests ramping up. This launch

8:56 cadence means more satellites for astronomy,

8:58 like better data relays or even small

9:00 cubesats for niche experiments.

9:02 Avery, is this relentless pace the future of

9:04 space access, or are we pushing the limits?

9:08 Avery: It's the future, Anna. Cheaper launches

9:10 mean more science payloads, more

9:13 telescopes, more probes. SpaceX

9:16 is making space feel less like a frontier and

9:19 more like a highway. What's next?

9:21 Anna: A launch a day wouldn't surprise me. This

9:24 kind of access could supercharge our ability

9:26 to study the cosmos, from exoplanets to

9:29 cosmic background radiation.

9:31 Avery: And that's our cosmic journey for October 24,

9:34 2025. From Jupiter's ancient

9:36 heroics to SpaceX's launch marathon,

9:39 we've covered the universe's latest chapters.

9:42 Thanks for tuning in to Astronomy Daily. We

9:44 love having you along for the ride.

9:46 Anna: Couldn't have said it better, Avery. If you

9:48 enjoyed today's episode, hit that subscribe

9:50 button. Leave us a review and let us know on

9:52 social media which story sparked your

9:54 curiosity. Join us tomorrow for more cosmic

9:57 updates. I'm Anna.

9:59 Avery: And I'm Avery. Keep looking up and clear

10:02 skies, everyone.