S03E123: NEOWISE Ends, China's Satellite Mishap, and Meteor Mysteries

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another exciting episode of Astronomy Daily,

0:03 Speaker 1: your go to podcast for all the latest and most

0:05 Speaker 1: fascinating updates from the world of space and astronomy. I'm

0:09 Speaker 1: your host, Anna, and thank you so much for joining

0:11 Speaker 1: me today. We've got a stellar lineup of stories for you,

0:14 Speaker 1: including the conclusion of NASA's NEOWISE mission, the challenges posed

0:18 Speaker 1: by China's recent satellite launch, and groundbreaking discoveries in media science. Plus,

0:23 Speaker 1: we'll debunk a long standing theory about black holes formed

0:26 Speaker 1: from light and explore what these findings mean for future

0:28 Speaker 1: technological innovations. So sit back, get comfortable, and let's journey

0:33 Speaker 1: through the cosmos together. NASA's NEOWISE mission has officially come

0:37 Speaker 1: to an end after over a decade of invaluable service

0:40 Speaker 1: in detecting and studying asteroids and commets. Launched as the

0:44 Speaker 1: Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer or WHYSE back in December

0:48 Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, the mission was initially intended to

0:51 Speaker 1: map the entire infrared sky in just seven months. However,

0:55 Speaker 1: its capabilities proved so beneficial that it was repurposed as

0:58 Speaker 1: NEOWISE and extended to focus on identifying near Earth objects.

1:03 Speaker 1: A crucial part of planetary defense. One of neowis's most

1:07 Speaker 1: significant achievements is its comprehensive survey of the sky, producing

1:11 Speaker 1: all sky maps that include over one point four to

1:14 Speaker 1: five million infrared measurements of more than forty four thousand

1:18 Speaker 1: Solar System objects. This mission alone spotted three thousand Near

1:21 Speaker 1: Earth objects, with two hundred and fifteen of those being

1:24 Speaker 1: discovered for the very first time by Neowise. Additionally, it

1:28 Speaker 1: found twenty five new comets, including the remarkable comet C

1:32 Speaker 1: twenty twenty f three Neowise, which offered a dazzling display

1:36 Speaker 1: in the summer of twenty twenty. The decision to conclude

1:40 Speaker 1: the mission was driven by practical constraints. As solar activity increases,

1:44 Speaker 1: it causes the upper atmosphere to expand, creating drag that

1:47 Speaker 1: the Neowiz spacecraft, lacking propulsion, can't overcome. This decay in

1:52 Speaker 1: orbit means that Neowise will eventually fall back to Earth

1:55 Speaker 1: and burn up in our atmosphere by late twenty twenty four.

1:58 Speaker 1: Despite its end, neo Wwise has left a lasting legacy.

2:01 Speaker 1: The data it collected will serve scientists for years to come,

2:05 Speaker 1: and it has paved the way for future missions Like

2:07 Speaker 1: NASA's Neo Surveyor. This next generation mission aims to continue

2:11 Speaker 1: where Neowise left off, enhancing our ability to detect and

2:15 Speaker 1: characterize some of the more elusive Near Earth objects. The

2:18 Speaker 1: success of Neowise illustrates how resourceful and resilient space missions

2:22 Speaker 1: can be, repurposing technology and maximizing output long beyond their

2:27 Speaker 1: original missions. It is a testament to the ingenuity and

2:30 Speaker 1: dedication of the teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and

2:34 Speaker 1: other partners who supported NEOWISE's mission.

2:36 Speaker 2: Over the years.

2:37 Speaker 1: As we say goodbye to this groundbreaking mission, we look

2:40 Speaker 1: forward to what's next in our quest to understand and

2:42 Speaker 1: protect our planet from potential cosmic hazards. As we look

2:46 Speaker 1: forward to the launch of Neo Surveyor, slated for no

2:49 Speaker 1: earlier than twenty twenty seven, we can be assured that

2:51 Speaker 1: Neowise has set a solid foundation. Its exhaustive data sets

2:55 Speaker 1: and the knowledge it accrued will continue to be a

2:58 Speaker 1: cornerstone of our planet terry defense strategies and our broader

3:02 Speaker 1: understanding of the Solar System, all thanks to a brave

3:05 Speaker 1: little spacecraft that scanned the skies from its low Earth

3:08 Speaker 1: orbit ensuring we keep our eyes on the interstellar ball.

3:12 Speaker 2: This past Tuesday.

3:13 Speaker 1: Morning saw the lift off of a Chinese Long March

3:15 Speaker 1: six A rocket, launching the first eighteen satellites for China's

3:19 Speaker 1: ambitious Chanfan broadband network. This mega constellation network aims to

3:24 Speaker 1: host up to fourteen thousand satellites, promising widespread Internet connectivity. However,

3:30 Speaker 1: this inaugural launch did not go as smoothly as planned

3:33 Speaker 1: and has already raised significant concerns about space sustainability. Shortly

3:37 Speaker 1: after successfully placing the satellites into Low Earth orbit, a

3:40 Speaker 1: troubling event unfolded. The upper stage of the Long March

3:43 Speaker 1: six A rocket broke apart, dispersing a cloud of debris

3:46 Speaker 1: into space. According to the United States Space Command, over

3:50 Speaker 1: three hundred pieces of trackable debris have been identified, with

3:54 Speaker 1: many more smaller shards likely unaccounted for. These fragments are

3:57 Speaker 1: now racing around our planet, adding to the growth problem

4:00 Speaker 1: of space junk. This incident has set off alarms within

4:04 Speaker 1: the space community. China's Chianfan project, if each of its

4:07 Speaker 1: launches were to result in similar debris creation, poses a

4:11 Speaker 1: substantial threat to the already cluttered Low Earth orbit. We

4:15 Speaker 1: must not forget the previous incident with a Long March

4:17 Speaker 1: six upper stage in twenty twenty two, which resulted in

4:21 Speaker 1: over five hundred pieces of trackable debris. The pattern suggests

4:24 Speaker 1: that without proper mitigation, such launches could contribute immensely to

4:28 Speaker 1: space debris. Experts like Audrey Schaeffer from Slingshot Aerospace underscore

4:32 Speaker 1: the importance of adhering to space debris mitigation guidelines. The

4:36 Speaker 1: fragmentation of the Long March six to a rocket serves

4:39 Speaker 1: as a stark reminder of the necessity for robust space

4:42 Speaker 1: domain awareness and sustainability practices. The growing population in Earth's orbit,

4:47 Speaker 1: which includes around ten thousand operational satellites and countless pieces

4:51 Speaker 1: of debris, demands our collective attention and action As we

4:55 Speaker 1: look towards an increasingly interconnected and space reliant future. Ensuring

4:59 Speaker 1: sustainable practices in space operations is not just advisable, it's imperative.

5:06 Speaker 1: Did you know that not all meteors just blaze through

5:08 Speaker 1: the sky and disappear in the blink of an eye.

5:11 Speaker 1: Some actually leave behind a lingering, glowing trail. For over

5:14 Speaker 1: a century, astronomers have been intrigued by these persistent meteor

5:18 Speaker 1: trails trying to unlock the mystery of what causes them.

5:22 Speaker 1: Recent studies have finally shed light on this captivating phenomenon.

5:26 Speaker 1: Contrary to what many might have believed, the key to

5:29 Speaker 1: these lasting trails isn't the speed or brightness of the meteor. Instead,

5:33 Speaker 1: it's all about the meteor's altitude as it enters Earth's atmosphere.

5:37 Speaker 1: Researchers found that meteors that zoom in at around ninety

5:40 Speaker 1: kilometers up are the ones most likely to leave behind

5:43 Speaker 1: a persistent afterglow. This is because at this height, a

5:46 Speaker 1: chemical reaction occurs between the vaporized metals from the meteor

5:50 Speaker 1: and the oxygen and ozone present in the atmosphere. This

5:53 Speaker 1: reaction emits heat and light, sustaining the trail for minutes

5:56 Speaker 1: or even up to an hour. It's incredible to think

5:59 Speaker 1: that these trails twist and writhe like luminous serpents carried

6:03 Speaker 1: away by the winds high above us. The discovery overturns

6:07 Speaker 1: previous assumptions that only the fastest and brightest meteors could

6:10 Speaker 1: leave such trails. In reality, even slower meteors can produce

6:14 Speaker 1: these mesmerizing afterglows as long as they dip to the

6:17 Speaker 1: right altitude. This revelation opens up new possibilities for studying

6:21 Speaker 1: our atmosphere. Persistent media trails provide a rare free opportunity

6:25 Speaker 1: to probe the elusive layers of our atmosphere that are

6:27 Speaker 1: otherwise difficult to study. So next time you spot a

6:30 Speaker 1: shooting star with a lingering glow, you'll know it's taken

6:33 Speaker 1: the perfect dive through our skies. So what do these

6:36 Speaker 1: persistent meteor trails mean for our understanding of the atmosphere, Well,

6:41 Speaker 1: it's quite fascinating. These enduring trails provide a unique window

6:44 Speaker 1: into the atmospheric chemistry at altitudes that are otherwise difficult

6:47 Speaker 1: to study.

6:48 Speaker 2: You see, the trails are.

6:49 Speaker 1: Formed when metals from the metior react with atmospheric ozone,

6:53 Speaker 1: and this process emits light that can linger for minutes

6:57 Speaker 1: or even up to an hour. Because of their height

6:59 Speaker 1: at all around ninety kilometers, these metior trails form in

7:02 Speaker 1: a region that's sort of a no man's land for

7:04 Speaker 1: conventional atmospheric studies. It's too high for weather balloons to

7:07 Speaker 1: reach and too low for satellites to monitor effectively. Persistent

7:11 Speaker 1: metior trails, however, happen more frequently than we once thought,

7:15 Speaker 1: providing almost a constant stream of natural experiments that we

7:18 Speaker 1: can observe and study. Particularly interested in the role these

7:22 Speaker 1: trails could play in measuring the small concentrations of ozone

7:25 Speaker 1: at such high altitudes. Since ozone plays a crucial role

7:29 Speaker 1: in absorbing ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, understanding its distribution

7:33 Speaker 1: is essential for climate science and atmospheric chemistry. The new

7:37 Speaker 1: research can also help us grasp why some trails maintain

7:40 Speaker 1: their luminous forms for extended periods while.

7:42 Speaker 2: Others dissipate quickly.

7:44 Speaker 1: This involves delving deeper into the minute interactions between charged

7:48 Speaker 1: dust grains and the electric fields they generate, potentially leading

7:52 Speaker 1: to a new layer of detail in our atmospheric models.

7:55 Speaker 1: The implications for metior observations are also significant. As we

7:59 Speaker 1: gather more data, we can improve our predictive models for

8:02 Speaker 1: meteor showers and better understand the various factors that influence

8:06 Speaker 1: a meteor's visibility and the persistence of its trail. In short,

8:10 Speaker 1: these findings not only solve a century long mystery, but

8:13 Speaker 1: also open up new avenues for atmospheric and space science research.

8:17 Speaker 2: It's a rare win.

8:18 Speaker 1: Win that shows how sometimes the most fleeting phenomena can

8:21 Speaker 1: offer the most enduring insights.

8:24 Speaker 2: Have you ever heard of kogle blitza.

8:26 Speaker 1: Also known as black holes created from concentrated light? For decades,

8:29 Speaker 1: this concept has fascinated astrophysicists and theoretical physicists alike. These

8:34 Speaker 1: hypothetical black holes were thought to be formed by incredibly

8:37 Speaker 1: high concentrations of electromagnetic waves, essentially intense light. Sounds intriguing, right,

8:43 Speaker 1: While recent research has shown that this idea, long a

8:46 Speaker 1: staple of futuristic theories, might just be a myth. A

8:48 Speaker 1: team of researchers from the University of Waterloo and Universidad

8:52 Speaker 1: Complutense de Madrid challenged the kogle blitz theory using advanced

8:57 Speaker 1: mathematical models that include quantum effect. Their findings were groundbreaking.

9:02 Speaker 1: The light intensity required to form a google blitz far

9:05 Speaker 1: exceeds anything observed in the universe.

9:07 Speaker 2: To put it simply, even the.

9:08 Speaker 1: Brightest and most intense light sources like quasars can't achieve

9:13 Speaker 1: the concentration needed. So why is this important? For one,

9:16 Speaker 1: it helps clarify the limitations of our understanding of black

9:19 Speaker 1: holes and the conditions necessary for their formation. Traditional black

9:24 Speaker 1: holes form from collapsed masses of regular matter are well

9:28 Speaker 1: studied and understood within the framework of Einstein's theory of

9:31 Speaker 1: general relativity. The idea was that since energy curved space time,

9:36 Speaker 1: a high concentration of light energy in its most radiant

9:38 Speaker 1: form might also lead to a gravitational collapse. However, this

9:42 Speaker 1: theory did not consider quantum effects. The researchers discovered that

9:46 Speaker 1: before you could ever reach the necessary intensity of light,

9:50 Speaker 1: quantum mechanical effects would kick in. At extremely highlight concentrations,

9:54 Speaker 1: particles such as electron positron pairs would spontaneously form and

9:58 Speaker 1: scatter away, preventing the light from concentrating enough to cause

10:01 Speaker 1: a gravitational collapse. This discovery is significant not only for

10:05 Speaker 1: its immediate implications, but also for the future of scientific research.

10:10 Speaker 2: Just as the.

10:10 Speaker 1: Science behind pete scans was theoretical before finding practical applications,

10:15 Speaker 1: understanding these quantum limitations could pave the way for future

10:19 Speaker 1: technological innovations. It reminds us that the field of quantum

10:23 Speaker 1: mechanics holds many secrets yet to be uncovered, and each

10:26 Speaker 1: discovery takes us one step closer to deeper understanding.

10:29 Speaker 2: So while the notion of Google blitza may now be debunked.

10:33 Speaker 1: The research contributes profoundly to the intersection of quantum mechanics

10:37 Speaker 1: and general relativity, two pillars of modern physics. It's a

10:41 Speaker 1: testament to how our theoretical frameworks continually evolve, driven by

10:46 Speaker 1: new findings and innovative research. As Eduardo Martin Martinez and

10:50 Speaker 1: his team continue their groundbreaking work, we can look forward

10:53 Speaker 1: to a future where today's theories become tomorrow's technological cornerstones,

10:57 Speaker 1: shaping the way we understand and interact with our universe.

11:06 Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us on this journey through the

11:08 Speaker 1: latest in space and astronomy news. I hope you found

11:11 Speaker 1: today's stories as fascinating as I did. I'm anna and

11:14 Speaker 1: it's been a pleasure to bring you the details and

11:16 Speaker 1: implications of these incredible events and discoveries. Remember, if you

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