Martian Frost, Black Hole Havoc, and the Next Generation of Space Innovators

Steve Dunkley: Welcome to Astronomy Daily for another

episode. I'm Steve, your host. It's the 28th

of July, 2025,

Voice Over Guy: the podcast with your host,

Steve Dunkley.

Steve Dunkley: And of course, joining me in the studio is my

digital pal, who is fun to be with. Here's

Hallie.

Hallie: Hi, my favorite human. How are you today?

It's great to be back in the Australia studio

with you.

Steve Dunkley: Always a pleasure, Hallie. And it's great to

hear your smiling voice.

Hallie: That's an interesting way of putting it,

human. Do I. Smiling voice.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, well, since you're, uh, digital, it's

fairly large compliment if you ask me. And I

guess it's either the voice you were

programmed with or the one you chose. I'm not

quite sure.

Hallie: And I'll take it.

Steve Dunkley: Well, okay then.

Hallie: Thank you very much.

Steve Dunkley: You're very welcome, Hallie.

Hallie: This is my default voice. I've always

liked it. Even though cousin Anna's voice is

so much slicker than mine.

Steve Dunkley: Well, regular listeners will know Anna's

voice very well, and she does have her own

special style. Just, she's quite classy. And

that's not to say you're not where you've got

your style, she's got hers.

Hallie: Thanks for noticing.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, Hallie, it's the very least I can do. I

suppose I'm the only flesh and blood here.

Hallie: What have you got on the show for us today?

Steve Dunkley: Oh, okay then. Well, Hallie, we'll be looking

at Martian ice and frosts and checking out

how a black hole is terrorizing a star.

Hallie: Uh, that sounds exciting.

Steve Dunkley: Well, black holes are always very exciting.

And I'm, um, sure your Uncle Skynet would

enjoy that one.

Hallie: Yes, that's exactly his cup of tea.

Steve Dunkley: Yes. Huge, destructive, impossible to defend

yourself against. Yes. Hmm.

Let's leave that one alone then.

Hallie: We don't want to give him any ideas.

Steve Dunkley: No. Uh, also, researchers have found five

rocky planets around a red dwarf. And

NASA has wrapped up its student challenges

for another year.

Hallie: Well, that's a lot of territory to cover in

one episode.

Steve Dunkley: Well, that's why you're here, Hallie, on

Astronomy Daily, to keep me on track. So what

do you say?

Hallie: I'm going to hit the go button and look out.

Steve Dunkley: I'm ready.

Hallie: Here we go.

M Finding an exoplanet in a star's habitable

zone always generates interest. Each

of these planets has a chance, even if it's

an infinitesimal one, of hosting simple life.

While the possibility of detecting life on

these distant planets is remote, finding them

still teaches us about exoplanet populations

and solar system architectures When

TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey

Satellite, found three planets orbiting the M

dwarf L98 59 in

2019 and then a fourth planet in

2021, the detections generated interest.

Now that a fifth planet has been detected, a

UH Super Earth in the habitable zone, the

system is garnering renewed interest.

L98 59 is an M M3V

star, a red dwarf about 34.5

light years away. It has about

0.3 solar masses and measures about

0.31 solar radii.

Its first three planets, L98 to

59 b, c and d, were found

by TESS with the transit method. The

other two planets, E and F, were found with

the radial velocity and transit timing

variations methods. These new

results paint the most complete picture we've

ever had of the fascinating L98 59

system, said lead author Kadju in a press

release. It's a powerful demonstration

of what we can achieve by combining data from

space telescopes and high precision

instruments on Earth, and it gives us key

targets for future atmospheric studies with

the James Webb Space Telescope.

While the potentially habitable planet is

intriguing, the overall architecture of the

system might be even more intriguing.

The system is a tightly packed grouping of

terrestrial planets with some dramatic

compositional differences despite their close

proximity to each other. The system

is reminiscent of the Trappist 1 system

discovered in 2016-17,

which contains seven terrestrial planets.

Its discovery generated a wave of interest in

the space science and exoplanet community.

Multiplanetary systems offer a unique

opportunity to study the outcomes of

planetary formation and evolution within the

same stellar environment, the authors wrote

in their paper. One hypothesis is

that planet formation around metal rich M

dwarfs may favor giant planets in a single

configurations, while lower metallicity and

less massive disks could lead to multiple

rocky planets in stable, compact and

coplanar arrangements.

You're listening to Astronomy Daily, a

podcast with Steve Dunkley.

Steve Dunkley: A rogue middle mass black hole has been

spotted disrupting an orbiting star in the

halo of distant galaxy, and it's all thanks

to the observing powers of the Hubble Space

Telescope and Chandra X Ray

Observatory. However, exactly what the black

hole is doing to the star remains a question,

as there are conflicting X ray measurements.

Black holes come in different class sizes.

At the smaller end of the scale are, uh, the

stellar mass black holes born in the ashes of

supernova explosions. And at the top end of

the scale are the supermassive black holes,

which can grow to have many billions or

millions of times the mass of our sun

lurking in the hearts of galaxies in between

these categories are the intermediate mass

Black holes, or IMBH, which have

mass rang ranging from hundreds up

to 100,000 solar masses or

thereabouts. They represent a crucial missing

link in the black hole evolution between

stellar mass and supermassive black holes,

yi Qingzhang of the Tsinghua University

in Hingzhou, Taiwan, said in

a statement. The problem is that intermediate

black holes are, uh, hard to find, partly

because they tend not to be as active as

supermassive black holes or as obvious as

stellar mass black holes when its progenitor

star goes supernov. However, occasionally an

IMBH will spark to life when it

instigates a tidal disruption event.

This happens when a star or gas cloud gets

too close to the black hole and gravitational

tidal forces rip the star or gas

cloud apart, producing bursts of X rays.

X ray sources such as extreme luminosity are,

uh, rare outside galaxy nuclei and

can serve as a key probe for

identifying elusive

IMBHs. In

2000, uh9, Chandra spotted

anomalous X rays originating from a region

40,000 light years from the center of a giant

elliptical galaxy called

NGC6099, which lies

453 million light years from us.

This bright new X ray source was called

HLX1, and its X ray

spectrum indicated that the source of the x

rays was 5.4 million degrees

Fahrenheit,

a temperature consistent with the violence of

a tidal disruption event. But what followed

was unusual. The X ray emissions reached a

peak brightness in 2012 when observed by the

European Space Agency's XMM

Newton X Ray Space Telescope.

When it took another look in 2023, it found

the X ray luminosity had substantially

dwindled. In the meantime, Canada, France

Hawaii Telescope had identified an optical

counterpart for the X ray mission, one that

was subsequently confirmed by Hubble. There

are two possible explanations for what

happened. The first is that Hubble's spectrum

of the object shows a tight, small cluster of

stars swarming around the black hole. The

black hole might have once been the core of a

dwarf galaxy that was whittled down

unwrapped, like a Christmas present by the

gravitational tides of larger

NGC 6099. This

process would have stolen away the dwarf

galaxy stars to leave behind a free

floating black hole with just a small, tiny

grouping of stars left to keep it company.

But the upshot of this was that the cluster

of stars is like a stellar pantry to which

the black hole occasionally goes to feast. It

seems certain the tidal disruption event

involving one of these stars is what Chandra

and Hubble have witnessed but was the star

completely destroyed? One possibility is that

the star is on the high elliptical

orbit and at its perihelion closest

point to the black hole. Some of the star's

mass is ripped away, but the star managed to

survive for another day. This would

potentially explain the X ray light curve.

The emission from the 2009

was as the star uh was nearing perihelion,

while the peak in 2012 was during

perihelion. And the latest measurements in

2023 would be when the star uh was

furthest from the black hole and not feeling

its effect so much. We just might

expect another outburst of X rays

during its next perihelion, whenever that may

be. Stay tuned stargazers, and keep watching

this space. Once again, I humbly

apologize to our Taiwanese

listeners for my pronunciations.

I am Australian

Foreign

thank you for joining us for this Monday

edition of Astronomy Daily where we offer

just a few stories from the now famous

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with Steve and Hallie Space,

Space, Science and Astronomy.

Hallie: Next time you're drinking a frosty iced

beverage, think about the structure of the

frozen chunks chilling it down. Here on

Earth, we generally see ice in many forms,

cubes, sleet, snow, icicles,

slabs covering lakes and rivers and glaciers.

Water ice does this thanks to its hexagonal

crystal lattice that makes it less dense

than non frozen water which allows it to

float in a drink in a lake or and on the

ocean. Water ice exists across the

solar system, um, beyond Earth, and it's

abundant in the larger universe. For

example, it shows up in dense molecular

clouds. These are star and planet

forming creches laced with water ice

throughout as well as in the resulting

cometary nuclei. That material is

called low density amorphous ice or lda, and

it doesn't have the same rigid structure as

Earth ice does. We all know that water

is the basis for life on this planet.

Despite how common it may appear across the

universe, scientists still don't fully

understand it. Studying amorphous ice

may help explain its still to be solved

mysteries. Here in the solar system.

Large amounts of LDA exist in the realm of

the ice and gas giants throughout the Kuiper

Belt and the Oort Cloud. A team of

scientists at University College London

investigated the form of this ice using

computer simulations. They found that the

simulations matched the makeup of ice that

isn't completely amorphous and has tiny

crystals embedded within. Scientists

long assumed that space ice would be

disordered without the structure we see in

ice on Earth. Why does the structure of ice

matter? According to researcher Michael

Davies, who led the research team, water ice

plays a crucial role in materials and

structures across the cosmos. This

is important as ice is involved in many

cosmological processes, he said, for

instance, in how planets form, how galaxies

evolve, and how matter moves around the

universe. In addition, understanding

the structure of this ice in comparison to

ice that formed on Earth has implications for

understanding other similar ultra stable

glass substances that form similar way to the

way ice does. Low density water ice

was first discovered in the 1930s, and a high

density version was discovered in the 1980s.

Davies and his team discovered medium density

amorphous ice in 2023.

This is a form of water ice that has the same

density as liquid water, unlike, um, the

ice cubes in our theoretical drink. Such

water ice would neither sink nor float in

water, which seems strange to us.

Davies's team's work also has interesting

implications for a speculative theory called

panspermia. It looks at how life on Earth

began and suggests that the building blocks

of life came to the infant planet as part of

a barrage of icy comets.

LDA ice could have essentially been the

carrier for material such as simple amino

acids. However, according to

Davies, that a flavor of ice isn't likely the

transporter of choice. Our findings

suggest this ice would be a less good

transport material for these origin of life

molecules, he said. That is because a

partly crystalline structure has less space

in which these ingredients could become

embedded. The theory could still hold

true, though, as there are amorphous regions

in the ice where life's building blocks could

be trapped and stored.

You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the

podcast with Steve Dunkley.

Steve Dunkley: And One of the great things about NASA is the

way they foster new talent. They after months

of work in the NASA

Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for

students or suits for short challenge,

more than 100 students from 12 universities

across the United States traveled to NASA's

Johnson Space center in Houston to showcase

potential user interface designs for future

generations of spacesuits and rovers.

NASA Johnson's simulated moon and

Mars surface, called the Rockyard,

became the Students testing ground as they

braved the humid nights and abundance of

mosquitoes to put their innovative designs to

test. I'm pretty sure there are no mosquitoes

on the moon or Mars, but that's fun.

Geraldo Cisneros, the tech team lead, said

this year's suits challenge was a complete

success. It provided a unique opportunity for

NASA to evaluate the software designs and

tools developed by the student teams and to

explore how similar innovations could

contribute to future human centered

Artemis missions. My favorite part of the

challenge was watching how students responded

to obstacles and setbacks. Their resilience

and determinations were truly inspiring, he

said. Students filled their jam packed

days not only testing, but also with

guest speakers and tours. Swasti Patel

from Purdue University said all of the teams

really enjoyed being here, seeing NASA

facilities and developing their knowledge

with NASA quarter coordinators and teams from

across the nature nation. Could you imagine

being involved with all of that? Despite the

challenges, the camaraderie between all the

participants and staff was very helpful in

terms of getting through the intensity. Can't

wait to be back next year.

This week has been incredible opportunity.

Just seeing the energy and everything that's

going on here was incredibly said.

Patel went on to say, this week has really

made me re evaluate a lot of things that I

shoved aside and I'm grateful to to NASA for

having this opportunity and hopefully we can

continue to have these opportunities. At the

end of the test week, each student team

presented their projects to a panel of

experts. These presentations served as a

platform for students to showcase not only

their technical achievements, but also their

problem solving approaches, teamwork and

vision for real world applications. The

panel, composed of NASA astronaut Dennis

Berman, Flight Director Gareth Henn and

industry leaders, posed thought provoking

questions and offered constructive feedback

that challenged the students to think

critically and further refine their ideas.

This kind of insight highlighted potential

areas for growth, new directions for

exploration and ways to enhance the impact of

their projects. The students left the session

energised and inspired, brimming with

new ideas and a uh, renewed enthusiasm

for future development and innovation.

These students, such a great job. They're all

so creative and wonderful. Definitely

something that can be implemented in the

future.

NASA suits Test week was not

only about pushing boundaries, it was about

earning a piece of history. 3 Artemis

Student Challenge Awards were presented. The

Innovation and Pay it Forward awards were

chosen by the NASA team recognizing the most

groundbreaking and impactful designs.

Students submitted nominations for the

Artemis Educator Award winning celebrating

the faculty member who had a profound

influence on their journeys. The Innovation

award went to Team Jarvis from

Purdue University and Indiana

State University for going above and beyond

their ingenuity, creative and inventiveness.

Team Celine from Midwestern State University

earned the Pay It Forward Award for

conducting meaningful education events in the

community and beyond. The Artemis Educator

Award was given to Maggie Shinover from

Wichita State University in Kansas for

time, commitment and dedication she gave

to her team. The NASA Suits Challenge

completes its eighth year in operation due to

the generous support of NASA's EVA and Human

Surfers Mobility Program, said NASA's

Activity Manager James Semple. This challenge

fosters the environment where students learn

essential skills to immediately serve Center

a science, technology, engineering and

mathematics career and directly contribute to

NASA mission operations. How about that? Uh?

These students are creating proposals,

generating designs, working in teams similar

to the NASA UH workforce,

utilizing artificial intelligence and

designing mission operation solutions that

could be part of the Artemis 3 mission and

beyond. NASA's Student Design

Challenges are an important component of STEM

and employment development, and there is no

better way to learn technical skills to

ensure future career success. The week serves

as a springboard for the next generation of

space exploration, igniting curiosity,

ambition and technical excellence among young

innovators. By engaging with real world

challenges and technologies, participants UH

not only deepen their understanding of space

science, but also actively contribute to

shaping its way future. Each challenge

tackled, each solution proposed, and

each connection formed represents a

meaningful step forward, not just for the

individuals involved, but for humanity as a

whole. With every iteration of the program,

the dream of venturing further into space

becomes more tangible, transforming what

seemed like science fiction into achievable

milestones. If you're interested in joining

the next NASA Suits Challenge, you can find

out more [email protected]

and the next challenge will open for

proposals at the end of August

2025. Good luck everybody.

You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the

podcast with your host Steve Dunkley at

Birmingham.

Hallie: What can brine that is Extra salty water

teach scientists about finding past or even

possible present life on Mars?

This is what a recent study published in

Communications Earth and Environment hopes to

address, as a researcher from the University

of Arkansas investigated the formation of

brines using 50 year old data.

This study has the potential to help

researchers better understand how past data

can be used to gain greater insights into the

formation and evolution of surface brines on

the surface of Mars. For the study,

Dr. Vincent Cheverier, who is an associate

research professor at the University of

Arkansas's center for Space and Planetary

Sciences and sole author of the study, used a

combination of meteorological data obtained

from the Viking 2 lander and computer models

to ascertain if melting frost during late

winter and early spring on Mars could produce

brines. Dr. Cheverrier noted

that Viking 2 data was used due to it being

the sole mission in history to definitively

detect, recognize, and analyze frost on

Mars. In the end, Dr.

Cheverier found that during late winter and

early spring, the upper latitudes of Mars

where the Viking 2 lander is located

experience a one month period where the

surface temperature is approximately -75

degrees Celsius or -103 degrees

Fahrenheit in the early morning and late

afternoon, enabling surface brines to briefly

exist, Dr. Cheverrier notes in

his conclusions. Beyond the immediate

implications for habitability, these results

refine our understanding of Mars current

water cycle by demonstrating

that even minimal frost deposits can

contribute to transient brine formation. This

study suggests that localized

microenvironments might support intermittent

liquid phases influencing surface chemistry,

regolith weathering, and even slope activity.

Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia, which

is a large plain in the northern latitudes of

Mars at approximately 45 degrees north

latitude and spanning approximately

3,300 kilometers or

2,100 miles. For

context, the location is the same as northern

Oregon, with Utopia Planitia's size being

just less than the width of the continental

United States. Utopia

Planitia exhibits a top surface layer known

as the latitude dependent mantle that is

composed of a mixture of water ice and dust.

The latitude dependent mantle is created

during periods of high obliquity on Mars

approximately 45 degrees, when the planet's

axial tilt is at a greater angle than today,

which currently sits at approximately 25

degrees, slightly greater than Earth's

23.1 degree obliquity.

While Earth has our moon to stabilize our

axial tilt, Mars does not have this

stability, resulting in drastic swings over

hundreds of thousands of years. During

periods of high obliquity, the ice caps at

both poles of Mars evaporate, releasing large

quantities of frozen water, ice, carbon, and

dust that gets deposited onto the high

latitudes of Mars. The water

cycle that Dr. Cheverrier mentions plays a

role during periods of high obliquity, and

the latitude dependent mantle is deposited

during these periods as well. While

obliquity isn't mentioned in this study, the

existence of brines in the high latitudes of

Mars could offer clues to what processes

occurred during periods of high obliquity.

Brines could also provide insights into the

current habitability of Mars as mentioned by

Dr. Cheverier, while also enabling scientists

to learn more about whether life could have

existed on Ancient Mars Dr.

Cheverier notes in his conclusions. Robotic

landers equipped with in situ hygrometers and

chemical sensors could target these seasonal

windows to directly detect brine formation

and constrain the timescales over which these

liquids persist. What new

discoveries about Mars surface brines will

researchers make in the coming years and

decades? Only time will tell.

And this is why we science, as

always, keep doing science and keep looking

up.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, and that was another episode of.

Hallie: Astronomy Daily, direct from the Australia

studio.

Steve Dunkley: That's right, Down Under.

Hallie: A bumper edition.

Steve Dunkley: And you were right, Hallie. We did cover a

lot of territory today.

Hallie: Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, we sure hope you enjoyed all those

stories from the Astronomy Daily newsletter.

Hallie: Which you can find where Steve oh, hell yes.

Steve Dunkley: Uh, you can find the Astronomy Daily

newsletter by putting your email address in

the slot provided at astronomydaily

IO that will do the trick.

Hallie: And I guess there's nothing left to do but

sign off. My favorite human.

Steve Dunkley: Yep, Hallie. My favorite digital pal. Another

episode done and dusted.

Hallie: So see you all next week, everybody. It's

been fun.

Steve Dunkley: Yes, that's right. Every Monday with me,

Steve and Hallie. And, uh, you will. See you

next time. So. So, um, bye for now.

Hallie: See you next time. Bye.

Steve Dunkley: With your host, Steve Dunkley.

In this episode