Homeward Bound Astronauts and Betelgeuse's Imminent Supernova: S04E66

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of space and

0:03 Speaker 1: astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and today we've got

0:06 Speaker 1: a packed episode, covering everything from stranded astronauts finally coming home,

0:10 Speaker 1: to groundbreaking telescope observations and exciting space launches. From mission

0:16 Speaker 1: control to the depths of deep space. We're bringing you

0:20 Speaker 1: the latest developments in space exploration and astronomical discoveries that

0:24 Speaker 1: are shaping our understanding of the Cosmos. Let's get on

0:28 Speaker 1: with it. After an unexpectedly extended stay aboard the International

0:32 Speaker 1: Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams are

0:36 Speaker 1: finally preparing to return home. What was originally planned as

0:40 Speaker 1: an eight day mission has stretched into nearly three hundred

0:43 Speaker 1: days in space, making this one of the longer unplanned

0:47 Speaker 1: extensions of a space mission in recent memory. The two

0:51 Speaker 1: astronauts arrived at the ISS last June as part of

0:54 Speaker 1: Boeing's first Starliner crew test flight. However, their return was

0:58 Speaker 1: delayed due to multiple technical issues with Boeing spacecraft, including

1:02 Speaker 1: five helium leaks and five failures of its reaction control

1:05 Speaker 1: system thrusters. These complications led to the mission being abandoned,

1:09 Speaker 1: leaving Wilmore and Williams to wait for an alternative ride home. Now,

1:14 Speaker 1: they're scheduled to depart the space station aboard a SpaceX

1:16 Speaker 1: Dragon capsule on Tuesday morning, with a planned splashed down

1:20 Speaker 1: near Florida by evening. They'll be joined by NASA astronaut

1:23 Speaker 1: Nick Haig and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbanov in the Dragon capsule,

1:28 Speaker 1: appropriately named Freedom. During their extended stay, the astronauts have

1:34 Speaker 1: had to maintain rigorous health protocols to combat the effects

1:37 Speaker 1: of long term spaceflight. This includes two hours of daily

1:41 Speaker 1: resistance and endurance training to prevent the muscle and bone

1:44 Speaker 1: loss that naturally occurs in microgravity. While there three hundred

1:49 Speaker 1: days in space is impressive, it's still well short of

1:52 Speaker 1: the current record of four hundred and thirty seven days

1:54 Speaker 1: set by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov in nineteen ninety five.

1:59 Speaker 1: NASA will be live streaming the entire return journey, starting

2:03 Speaker 1: with the hatch closure between Freedom and the ISS on

2:06 Speaker 1: Monday night. The undocking is scheduled for early Tuesday morning,

2:09 Speaker 1: North American time, with the final phase of re entry

2:12 Speaker 1: beginning Tuesday evening. Weather conditions are currently favorable for the splashdown,

2:17 Speaker 1: though NASA continues to monitor various factors including spacecraft readiness, recovery,

2:22 Speaker 1: team preparedness, and sea states. Meanwhile, in Australia, in a

2:27 Speaker 1: remarkable achievement for radio astronomy, the SCAYE Low telescope in

2:31 Speaker 1: remote Australia has captured its first image of the Cosmos.

2:35 Speaker 1: While construction of this groundbreaking instrument is still ongoing, even

2:39 Speaker 1: its initial capabilities have revealed something extraordinary. Eighty five of

2:43 Speaker 1: the brightest known galaxies in a particular region of space,

2:46 Speaker 1: each harboring super massive black holes at their centers. To

2:50 Speaker 1: put the scale of this observation in perspective, the area

2:53 Speaker 1: of sky captured is equivalent to holding a small apple

2:56 Speaker 1: at arm's length, or about one hundred full moons. What

3:00 Speaker 1: makes this achievement even more impressive is that it was

3:03 Speaker 1: accomplished using just four connected stations comprising only one thousand,

3:07 Speaker 1: twenty four antennas spread across less than six kilometers. Doctor

3:12 Speaker 1: George Heald, the skaa Low lead commissioning scientist, notes that

3:17 Speaker 1: the quality of this first image exceeded their expectations even

3:21 Speaker 1: with such an early version of the telescope. The successful

3:25 Speaker 1: image also confirmed that the telescope's complex systems are working

3:28 Speaker 1: as intended, from the proper connection of stations to the

3:31 Speaker 1: crucial timing systems and data calibration processes. But this is

3:36 Speaker 1: just the beginning. Over the next eighteen months, an additional

3:39 Speaker 1: sixteen thousand antennas will be added to the array, making

3:42 Speaker 1: Sky low the most sensitive radio telescope of its kind.

3:46 Speaker 1: With this expanded capability, it will be able to detect

3:49 Speaker 1: more than four thousand, five hundred galaxies in the same

3:52 Speaker 1: area of sky that currently shows just eighty five. The

3:56 Speaker 1: ultimate vision is even more ambitious. Once construt production is completed,

4:01 Speaker 1: Scale low will include more than one hundred thirty thousand

4:04 Speaker 1: antennas spread across seventy four kilometers. When it begins deep

4:08 Speaker 1: surveys of this region of sky in twenty thirty, scientists

4:12 Speaker 1: expect it to reveal up to six hundred thousand galaxies,

4:15 Speaker 1: including some of the faintest and most distant objects from

4:18 Speaker 1: the early universe, when the first stars and galaxies were

4:22 Speaker 1: just beginning to form. Let's move on now to this

4:25 Speaker 1: week's activity schedule. Space launch enthusiasts are in for an

4:28 Speaker 1: exciting week ahead with multiple missions scheduled from several launch

4:32 Speaker 1: providers around the globe. Let's break down the packed launch

4:36 Speaker 1: manifest that's coming our way. SpaceX is leading the charge

4:39 Speaker 1: with three Falcon nine launches on the schedule. First up

4:43 Speaker 1: is a Starlink mission set for Tuesday, launching from Cape

4:46 Speaker 1: Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This will be followed

4:50 Speaker 1: by a National Reconnaissance Office mission from Vandenberg Space Force

4:53 Speaker 1: Space in California on Wednesday. The week will wrap up

4:57 Speaker 1: with another Starlink launch from Vandenberg on Saturday. Rocket Lab

5:01 Speaker 1: is maintaining its impressive launch cadence with an electron mission

5:05 Speaker 1: dubbed High five from their launch site in New Zealand.

5:09 Speaker 1: This mission, launching early Tuesday, will deliver the final batch

5:13 Speaker 1: of satellites for the French company Kinis, completing their Internet

5:17 Speaker 1: of Things constellation. This launch comes just seventy two hours

5:21 Speaker 1: after their previous successful mission, showcasing Rocket labs growing capability

5:26 Speaker 1: for rapid launch operations. Meanwhile, in China, Galactic Energy has

5:31 Speaker 1: scheduled two launches of their Goushen Singh one rocket from

5:35 Speaker 1: the Juquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The

5:38 Speaker 1: first mission has already successfully delivered eight satellites to orbit,

5:42 Speaker 1: including Earth observation and weather monitoring spacecraft. A second launch

5:47 Speaker 1: is planned for later in the week, though details about

5:49 Speaker 1: its payload remain under wraps. This busy launch schedule continues

5:54 Speaker 1: the trend we've seen in recent months of increased commercial

5:56 Speaker 1: space activity. If all launches precede as planned, we'll see

6:00 Speaker 1: orbital missions in just one week, further demonstrating the growing

6:03 Speaker 1: accessibility and commercialization of space launch services. Next up, it's

6:09 Speaker 1: nice to be reporting on a highly successful mission to

6:12 Speaker 1: the Moon. In a significant milestone for commercial lunar exploration,

6:16 Speaker 1: Firefly Aerospace has announced the successful completion of their Blue

6:20 Speaker 1: ghost Ie lunar lander mission. The spacecraft wrapped up operations

6:24 Speaker 1: after an impressive three hundred and forty six hours of

6:26 Speaker 1: daytime operations plus an additional five hours after sunset at

6:30 Speaker 1: its landing site in mare Crisium. During its mission, Blue

6:34 Speaker 1: ghost Ie exceeded expectations, collecting over one hundred and nineteen

6:38 Speaker 1: gigabytes of data, including fifty one gigabytes of scientific and

6:42 Speaker 1: technical information from its ten NASA sponsored payloads. The mission

6:47 Speaker 1: achieved all of its objectives, marking a major success for

6:50 Speaker 1: both Firefly and NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program. Among

6:55 Speaker 1: its achievements, the lander made history by tracking GPS signals

6:59 Speaker 1: on the lunce for the first time, and conducted the

7:02 Speaker 1: deepest robotic drilling operation ever performed on the Moon. The

7:07 Speaker 1: spacecraft even managed to capture observations of a solar eclipse

7:11 Speaker 1: as Earth passed between the Sun and the Moon on

7:14 Speaker 1: March fourteenth, creating a spectacular ring of light as sunlight

7:18 Speaker 1: filtered through Earth's atmosphere. The mission's success is particularly noteworthy

7:24 Speaker 1: as it was Firefly's first attempt at a lunar landing.

7:27 Speaker 1: This achievement stands out even more considering the challenges faced

7:31 Speaker 1: by other recent commercial lunar missions that either failed to

7:35 Speaker 1: reach the Moon or experienced hard landings that limited their

7:38 Speaker 1: capabilities Looking ahead, Firefly already has two more lunar missions

7:43 Speaker 1: in the pipeline through NASA's program. Blue Ghost two is

7:47 Speaker 1: scheduled for launch next year and will attempt an ambitious

7:50 Speaker 1: landing on the lunar far side, while Blue GHOSTS three

7:53 Speaker 1: is planned for twenty twenty eight, returning to the near

7:56 Speaker 1: side with a suite of astrophysical and lunar science instruments,

8:00 Speaker 1: including a small rover. This successful mission represents a significant

8:04 Speaker 1: step forward improving the viability of commercial lunar exploration and

8:09 Speaker 1: sets a promising precedent for future private sector missions to

8:12 Speaker 1: the Moon. The James Web Space Telescope has achieved another

8:16 Speaker 1: remarkable milestone by capturing the first ever direct images of

8:20 Speaker 1: carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a distant planet. These

8:24 Speaker 1: groundbreaking observations come from the HR eight thousand, seven hundred

8:29 Speaker 1: and ninety nine system, located one hundred and thirty light

8:32 Speaker 1: years from Earth, and provide crucial insights into how planets form.

8:37 Speaker 1: The discovery is particularly significant as it offers compelling evidence

8:41 Speaker 1: that the four giant planets in the HR eight thousand,

8:44 Speaker 1: seven hundred and ninety nine system likely formed through the

8:47 Speaker 1: same process as our own Jupiter and Saturn, through core accretion,

8:51 Speaker 1: where solid cores gradually accumulate gas over time. This finding

8:55 Speaker 1: demonstrates Web's unprecedented capability to directly analyze the chemical composition

9:00 Speaker 1: of exoplanet atmospheres, rather than just inferring it from starlight.

9:05 Speaker 1: The HR eight thousan, seven hundred and ninety nine system

9:08 Speaker 1: is remarkably young, only about thirty million years old compared

9:12 Speaker 1: to our Solar system's four point six billion years. The

9:16 Speaker 1: planets are still hot from their formation, emitting significant infrared

9:20 Speaker 1: light that provides scientists with valuable data about their composition

9:23 Speaker 1: and formation process. Using web's advanced coronagraphs, which block the

9:28 Speaker 1: bright light from stars similar to how a solar eclipse works,

9:32 Speaker 1: the research team was able to detect more heavy elements

9:35 Speaker 1: in these planets than previously thought. They observed specific wavelengths

9:39 Speaker 1: that reveal the presence of various gases and other atmospheric components.

9:44 Speaker 1: This achievement builds upon web's earlier indirect detection of carbon

9:48 Speaker 1: dioxide in twenty twenty two, when it observed the exoplanet

9:52 Speaker 1: WASP thirty nine B as it passed in front of

9:55 Speaker 1: its star. But this new direct imaging capability opens up

9:59 Speaker 1: exciting new possibilities for studying distant worlds and understanding how

10:03 Speaker 1: planetary systems form and evolve. The findings not only advance

10:08 Speaker 1: our understanding of planet formation, but also demonstrate web's remarkable

10:12 Speaker 1: ability to peer into the atmospheres of distant worlds with

10:16 Speaker 1: unprecedented detail and precision. This capability will be crucial as

10:20 Speaker 1: we continue to search for and study potentially habitable planets

10:24 Speaker 1: beyond our Solar system. Let's turn our attention now to

10:28 Speaker 1: a fascinating stellar neighbor that's been making headlines. Beetlejuice. This

10:32 Speaker 1: red giant star forming the distinctive shoulder of the constellation Orion,

10:37 Speaker 1: sits about five hundred light years away and is putting

10:40 Speaker 1: on quite a show as it approaches the end of

10:42 Speaker 1: its life. To put its size into perspective, if you

10:46 Speaker 1: placed Beetlejuice in our Solar system, it would extend roughly

10:49 Speaker 1: to the orbit of Mars. This massive star, weighing between

10:53 Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty times the mass of our Sun, is

10:56 Speaker 1: in an incredibly unstable phase of its life cycle. A

10:59 Speaker 1: strong estimate it could go supernova anytime within the next

11:03 Speaker 1: few hundred thousand years, or it might have already exploded

11:06 Speaker 1: with the light still traveling toward us. When Beetlejuice does

11:10 Speaker 1: go supernova, it will be truly spectacular. We're talking about

11:14 Speaker 1: an event so bright it will be visible during broad daylight,

11:17 Speaker 1: outshining every planet in our sky. At night, it will

11:21 Speaker 1: shine almost as brightly as the full moon, allowing you

11:24 Speaker 1: to read a book at midnight by its light alone,

11:27 Speaker 1: this cosmic fireworks display will last for several months before

11:30 Speaker 1: gradually fading away. Now you might be wondering if we

11:34 Speaker 1: should be concerned about having such a powerful explosion relatively

11:37 Speaker 1: close to Earth. The good news is that we're perfectly safe.

11:41 Speaker 1: While Supernova released enormous amounts of energy, the vast distance

11:45 Speaker 1: between us and beetlejuice means that by the time that

11:48 Speaker 1: energy reaches Earth, it will have spread out so much

11:51 Speaker 1: that it poses no threat to our planet. It's a

11:54 Speaker 1: perfect example of the inverse square law in action. The

11:58 Speaker 1: further you get from a source of radiation, the more

12:00 Speaker 1: dramatically its effects decrease. So when Beatle just finally does

12:04 Speaker 1: make its grand exit, we can simply sit back and

12:07 Speaker 1: enjoy the most impressive astronomical light show in human history,

12:11 Speaker 1: knowing we've got front row seats to one of the

12:13 Speaker 1: universe's most spectacular events. Well, that brings us to the

12:18 Speaker 1: end of another packed episode of Astronomy Daily. From those

12:21 Speaker 1: stranded astronauts finally heading home, to groundbreaking telescope images, multiple

12:26 Speaker 1: rocket launches, lunar mission successes, web's revolutionary exoplanet observations, and

12:31 Speaker 1: the fascinating future of beetlejuice. It's been quite a journey

12:35 Speaker 1: through today's space news. I'm Anna, and I want to

12:38 Speaker 1: thank you for joining me today. If you're hungry for

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13:08 Speaker 1: the wonders of space with all of you. Until tomorrow,

13:11 Speaker 1: keep looking up and stay curious about our fascinating universe.

13:14 Speaker 1: Sunny Day Star ist Star is All Star