S03E154: FCC's Satellite Internet Shake-Up, Mysterious Black Hole, and Super Harvest Moon Eclipse

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for the latest space

0:02 Speaker 1: and astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and today we'll

0:06 Speaker 1: be covering a range of exciting topics, from FCC's call

0:09 Speaker 1: for more competition in satellite Internet to the discovery of

0:12 Speaker 1: a mysterious black hole. We've got a packed episode ahead,

0:15 Speaker 1: so let's dive right in. In a bold move, Federal

0:19 Speaker 1: Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworsel is advocating for increased competition

0:24 Speaker 1: in the satellite Internet market, taking aim at SpaceX's Starlink dominance.

0:29 Speaker 1: Starlink Elon Musk's ambitious project currently controls nearly two thirds

0:33 Speaker 1: of all active satellites and has launched an impressive seven

0:37 Speaker 1: thousand satellites since twenty eighteen. Rosen Warsell argues that our

0:41 Speaker 1: economy doesn't benefit from monopolies, emphasizing the need to invite

0:45 Speaker 1: more space actors and companies to develop innovative constellations. She

0:50 Speaker 1: believes that competition in every communications market leads to lower

0:54 Speaker 1: prices and increased innovation, and space should be no exception.

0:58 Speaker 1: This push for diversity in the satellite Internet sector comes

1:00 Speaker 1: as Musk predicts Starlink will deliver over ninety percent of

1:04 Speaker 1: all space based Internet traffic next year. The FCC is

1:07 Speaker 1: actively working to help new entrants navigate the Commission's processes

1:11 Speaker 1: and understand license application procedures. It's worth noting that this

1:15 Speaker 1: isn't the first time the FCC has challenged starlink. Last year,

1:19 Speaker 1: they reaffirmed a decision to deny Starlink eight hundred and

1:22 Speaker 1: eighty five point five million dollars in rural broadband subsidies,

1:27 Speaker 1: citing failure to meet basic program requirements. As we look

1:30 Speaker 1: to the future of satellite internet, this call for increased

1:33 Speaker 1: competition could reshape the landscape, potentially leading to more affordable

1:37 Speaker 1: and innovative services for consumers worldwide. It's a space race

1:41 Speaker 1: of a different kind, and one that could have far

1:43 Speaker 1: reaching implications for global connectivity. Next up in today's Space News.

1:48 Speaker 1: In a groundbreaking discovery, Chinese researchers have uncovered a low

1:52 Speaker 1: mass black hole that's breaking all the rules. This fascinating

1:55 Speaker 1: find is challenging our understanding of black holes and binary systems.

2:00 Speaker 1: The team, led by doctor Songwang from the National Astronomical

2:03 Speaker 1: Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used a combination

2:08 Speaker 1: of radial velocity and astrometry methods to identify this elusive object.

2:13 Speaker 1: What makes this discovery so intriguing is that the black

2:16 Speaker 1: hole falls within what scientists call the mass gap, a

2:19 Speaker 1: range between three to five solar masses where black holes

2:22 Speaker 1: were thought to be extremely rare or non existent. This

2:26 Speaker 1: particular black hole, found in the binary system G three

2:29 Speaker 1: four hundred and twenty five, has a mass of about

2:32 Speaker 1: three point six solar masses. It's orbiting a red giant

2:35 Speaker 1: star in a wide, nearly circular orbit that takes about

2:39 Speaker 1: eight hundred and eighty days to complete. This unusual configuration

2:43 Speaker 1: is puzzling scientists as it doesn't fit with our current

2:46 Speaker 1: theories of binary evolution and supernova explosions. The discovery not

2:50 Speaker 1: only adds a new member to the known range of

2:52 Speaker 1: black hole masses, but also provides crucial insights into the

2:56 Speaker 1: dynamics of binary systems and stellar evolution. It suggests that

3:00 Speaker 1: there might be more of these low mass black holes

3:03 Speaker 1: out there, hiding in binary systems we haven't yet detected.

3:07 Speaker 1: This finding opens up new avenues for research and challenges

3:10 Speaker 1: astronomers to rethink their theories about how binary systems form

3:14 Speaker 1: and evolve. It's a reminder that the universe is full

3:17 Speaker 1: of surprises and there's still so much we have to

3:19 Speaker 1: learn about the cosmic objects that populate our night sky.

3:23 Speaker 1: Here's one for your calendar. Get ready for a celestial spectacle, stargazers.

3:27 Speaker 1: A partial lunar eclipse of the super Harvest Moon is

3:30 Speaker 1: on its way and it's an event you won't want

3:31 Speaker 1: to miss. Mark your calendars for Tuesday, September seventeenth, when

3:35 Speaker 1: the Moon will put on quite a show. This eclipse

3:37 Speaker 1: will be visible across most of North and South America, Europe, Africa,

3:42 Speaker 1: and parts of Western Asia and Antarctica. What makes this

3:45 Speaker 1: event extra special is that it's happening during a supermoon,

3:49 Speaker 1: which means the Moon will appear slightly larger in the

3:52 Speaker 1: night sky due to its closer proximity to Earth. For

3:55 Speaker 1: those in the Eastern time zone of the US, the

3:58 Speaker 1: eclipse will kick off around eight four forty pm EDT

4:01 Speaker 1: and reach its peak at about ten forty four PM.

4:04 Speaker 1: Our friends in Europe and Africa will catch the show

4:06 Speaker 1: in the pre dawn hours of September eighteenth. Now don't

4:09 Speaker 1: expect a total blackout of the moon. This partial eclipse

4:13 Speaker 1: will only cover about eight point seven percent of the

4:15 Speaker 1: Moon's surface with Earth's darkest shadow. But even a slight

4:18 Speaker 1: lunar eclipse is a site to behold. Can't see it

4:21 Speaker 1: in person, no worries. Several organizations are offering free online

4:25 Speaker 1: live streams of the event. You can tune in to

4:28 Speaker 1: time and date the Virtual Telescope Project or the Adler

4:32 Speaker 1: Planetarium for live coverage and expert commentary. So whether you're

4:36 Speaker 1: watching from your backyard or your computer screen, don't miss

4:40 Speaker 1: this super harvest moon lunar eclipse. It's a reminder of

4:43 Speaker 1: the wonders that unfold in our night sky. Now let's

4:46 Speaker 1: turn our attention to some concerning news about NASA. A

4:50 Speaker 1: recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and

4:53 Speaker 1: Medicine has highlighted significant challenges facing America's space agency. The

4:58 Speaker 1: report paints a rather dire picture of NASA's current state

5:01 Speaker 1: and future prospects. One of the main issues identified is

5:04 Speaker 1: aging infrastructure. Shockingly, eighty three percent of NASA's facilities have

5:08 Speaker 1: exceeded their design lifespan. This isn't just about old buildings,

5:12 Speaker 1: It's about the critical technology and equipment needed for space

5:15 Speaker 1: exploration and research. Another major concern is underfunding. NASA's budget

5:20 Speaker 1: has remained essentially flat for decades. When adjusted for inflation,

5:24 Speaker 1: it's currently hovering around just zero point one percent of

5:27 Speaker 1: the USGDP, which is less than one eighth of what

5:30 Speaker 1: it was during the Apollo era. This financial squeeze has

5:34 Speaker 1: led to a focus on near term missions at the

5:36 Speaker 1: expense of long term investments in infrastructure, workforce, and technology development.

5:42 Speaker 1: The report also points out problems with specific NASA resources,

5:46 Speaker 1: like the Deep Space Network, a crucial system for communicating

5:49 Speaker 1: with spacecraft across the Solar System. This network is overworked

5:53 Speaker 1: and underfunded, leading to costly compromises in mission operations. The

5:57 Speaker 1: implications of these issues are serious. Without adequate funding and infrastructure,

6:02 Speaker 1: NASA's ability to carry out its ambitious programs in exploration

6:06 Speaker 1: and science is at risk. The agency that put humans

6:09 Speaker 1: on the Moon and has sent rovers to Mars is

6:11 Speaker 1: struggling to maintain its technological edge. The report's authors present

6:15 Speaker 1: a stark choice either increase NASA's funding significantly or cut

6:19 Speaker 1: some of its missions. It's a wake up call not

6:22 Speaker 1: just for NASA, but for political leaders and the public.

6:25 Speaker 1: The future of American space exploration hangs in the balance,

6:29 Speaker 1: and the decisions made in the coming years will shape

6:32 Speaker 1: NASA's capabilities for decades to come. Let's shift our focus

6:35 Speaker 1: to something a bit more positive. In an exciting development,

6:38 Speaker 1: astronomers from the Nicolas Copernicus University in torn have made

6:42 Speaker 1: a remarkable discovery in the Great Bear constellation. They found

6:46 Speaker 1: a new planet that's pushing the boundaries of what we

6:48 Speaker 1: know about planetary systems. This newly discovered planet is a

6:52 Speaker 1: true giant, boasting a mass eleven times that of Jupiter.

6:56 Speaker 1: To put that into perspective, it's more than three thousand

6:59 Speaker 1: times the mass of Earth. It's orbiting a star known

7:02 Speaker 1: as HD one one eight two zero three, which is

7:05 Speaker 1: about twenty percent more massive and twice as large as

7:07 Speaker 1: our Sun. What makes this discovery particularly intriguing is the

7:11 Speaker 1: planet's orbit. It takes a leisurely fourteen years to complete

7:14 Speaker 1: one revolution around its star, positioning it at a distance

7:17 Speaker 1: of six astronomical units that's six times the distance between

7:22 Speaker 1: Earth and the Sun. The planet's surface temperature is estimated

7:25 Speaker 1: to be a frigid minus one hundred degrees celsius or lower,

7:29 Speaker 1: making it an inhospitable world despite its impressive size. This

7:33 Speaker 1: discovery is part of a larger planetary system that includes

7:35 Speaker 1: another gas giant discovered back in two thousand and six.

7:39 Speaker 1: The two planets form what astronomers call a hierarchical system,

7:42 Speaker 1: with the inner planet orbiting closely to the star and

7:45 Speaker 1: the newly discovered outer planet circling the pair. What's fascinating

7:49 Speaker 1: is how this configuration challenges our understanding of planetary formation

7:53 Speaker 1: and evolution. The system's stability, maintained despite the planet's massive

7:57 Speaker 1: size and elongated orbits, is partly due to effects arising

8:01 Speaker 1: from Einstein's general theory of relativity. This finding opens up

8:05 Speaker 1: new questions about how such exotic planetary systems form and

8:08 Speaker 1: develop over time. It's a reminder that our galaxy is

8:11 Speaker 1: full of surprises and there's still so much to learn

8:13 Speaker 1: about the diverse array of planetary systems out there. And

8:18 Speaker 1: that brings us to the end of today's cosmic journey

8:21 Speaker 1: through Astronomy Daily. I'm anna, and it's been my pleasure

8:25 Speaker 1: to guide you through these fascinating space stories. Don't forget

8:29 Speaker 1: to keep exploring the universe with us by visiting Astronomydaily

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8:42 Speaker 1: to all our previous episodes. Want more Stellar content, find

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8:52 Speaker 1: looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.

8:56 Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in. Star is the Soul, The Star

9:08 Speaker 1: is the tall st