SpaceX's Texas Transition, Dark Comet Mysteries, and Jupiter's Volcanic Moon: S03E231

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily space and astronomy news roundup.

0:04 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Anna, and today we've got an exciting

0:07 Speaker 1: lineup of stories covering everything from SpaceX's headquarters move to

0:11 Speaker 1: mysterious dark comets and volcanic moons. So let's get started.

0:17 Speaker 1: In a significant development for the space industry, Elon Musk

0:20 Speaker 1: has announced that SpaceX's headquarters will officially relocate to Star based, Texas.

0:25 Speaker 1: This move follows a pattern we've seen from Musk's companies,

0:29 Speaker 1: with both Tesla and X formerly Twitter, having already made

0:33 Speaker 1: similar transitions away from California. The relocation to Texas marks

0:37 Speaker 1: a substantial shift in SpaceX's operations, though the full extent

0:41 Speaker 1: of job and facility transfers from California remains unclear. The

0:45 Speaker 1: company has already been expanding its presence in Texas, with

0:49 Speaker 1: substantial operations at its Bokachka facility, now known as Starbase.

0:54 Speaker 1: This decision aligns with Musk's previous business moves, including his

0:58 Speaker 1: personal relocation into Texas in twenty twenty one. The state's

1:02 Speaker 1: business friendly environment and absence of state income tax have

1:06 Speaker 1: made it an increasingly attractive destination for tech companies and

1:10 Speaker 1: their executives. Scientists have made an intriguing discovery in our

1:14 Speaker 1: cosmic neighborhood, identifying seven new dark comets, bringing the total

1:19 Speaker 1: known count to fourteen. These mysterious celestial objects are challenging

1:24 Speaker 1: our understanding of what makes a comet a comet, as

1:26 Speaker 1: they display some rather peculiar characteristics. Unlike traditional commets that

1:31 Speaker 1: sport their iconic tales, these dark comets remain visually elusive

1:36 Speaker 1: while still exhibiting comet like movement patterns. What makes them

1:40 Speaker 1: particularly fascinating is that they show non gravitational acceleration, meaning

1:44 Speaker 1: something besides gravity is influencing their trajectories, yet they lack

1:48 Speaker 1: the visible outgassing we typically associate with comets. The research

1:53 Speaker 1: has revealed two distinct families of these enigmatic objects. The

1:56 Speaker 1: first group resides in the Outer Solar System, sharing space

2:00 Speaker 1: with our gas and ice giants. These outer dark comets

2:03 Speaker 1: are relatively large, measuring hundreds of meters across and follow

2:07 Speaker 1: more elliptical orbits similar to typical comets. The second group,

2:12 Speaker 1: found in the inner Solar System, consists of smaller objects,

2:15 Speaker 1: just tens of meters across, traveling in more circular orbits

2:19 Speaker 1: like our planets. This discovery could have significant implications for

2:22 Speaker 1: our understanding of Earth's early history. Scientists suggest that as

2:27 Speaker 1: many as sixty percent of near Earth objects might be

2:30 Speaker 1: dark comets, potentially playing a crucial role in delivering water

2:34 Speaker 1: to our planet during its formation. Here's a story for

2:37 Speaker 1: our listeners. In Australia. The Geminid meteor shower will be

2:41 Speaker 1: putting on a dazzling celestial display this weekend, treating stargazers

2:45 Speaker 1: down Under to one of the year's most spectacular astronomical events.

2:50 Speaker 1: Unlike most meteor showers that come from comets, the Geminids

2:53 Speaker 1: originate from an unusual asteroid called faithOn, which occasionally behaves

2:58 Speaker 1: like a comet by producing a dust detail. This unique

3:01 Speaker 1: characteristic of faith On results in the Geminids producing some

3:05 Speaker 1: of the brightest and most robust meteors of any annual shower.

3:10 Speaker 1: The meteors occur when Earth passes through the debris trail

3:13 Speaker 1: left behind by this mysterious asteroid, with the particles burning

3:17 Speaker 1: up in our atmosphere at speeds of tens of kilometers

3:20 Speaker 1: per second. While this year's show coincides with a full moon,

3:23 Speaker 1: which can somewhat diminish the visibility of fainter meteors. The

3:27 Speaker 1: Geminid's characteristically bright nature means that many shooting stars should

3:31 Speaker 1: still be clearly visible. The best viewing will occur in

3:35 Speaker 1: the early morning hours of Saturday, particularly around moonset, when

3:39 Speaker 1: the sky is at its darkest. You can find plenty

3:42 Speaker 1: of charts online that can advise you of when moonset

3:45 Speaker 1: is happening in your area. For optimal viewing, astronomers recommended

3:49 Speaker 1: finding a spot away from city lights and focusing on

3:52 Speaker 1: the area between Mars and Jupiter just below the star

3:56 Speaker 1: Polyx in the Gemini constellation. However, meteors coul appe or

4:00 Speaker 1: anywhere in the night sky, making a wide field of

4:02 Speaker 1: view more advantageous than using specialized equipment like telescopes or binoculars.

4:07 Speaker 1: Happy stargazing. Next up, in an exciting discovery that's challenging

4:13 Speaker 1: our understanding of planetary systems, researchers have identified a fourth

4:17 Speaker 1: planet in the fascinating Kepler fifty one system. This star

4:22 Speaker 1: system was already unique for hosting three ultralow density planets

4:25 Speaker 1: known as superpuffs, worlds that are about the size of

4:29 Speaker 1: Saturn but only a few times more massive than Earth,

4:32 Speaker 1: giving them the density of cotton candy. The discovery came

4:36 Speaker 1: as a surprise. When scientists were observing Kepler fifty one

4:39 Speaker 1: D with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the planet transited

4:44 Speaker 1: its star two hours earlier than predicted, suggesting something was

4:48 Speaker 1: tugging on it gravitationally. After analyzing data from multiple telescopes,

4:53 Speaker 1: including web, Hubble, and ground based observatories, researchers confirmed the

4:58 Speaker 1: presence of this previously unknown for or planet. Now designated

5:01 Speaker 1: Kepler fifty one E. The new planet appears to orbit

5:06 Speaker 1: its star every two hundred and sixty four days, placing

5:09 Speaker 1: it just inside the star's habitable zone at a distance

5:11 Speaker 1: slightly greater than Venus is from our Sun. While researchers

5:15 Speaker 1: aren't certain if this new world shares the superpuff characteristics

5:19 Speaker 1: of its siblings, its discovery is forcing astronomers to rethink

5:22 Speaker 1: their theories about how such unusual planetary systems form. This

5:27 Speaker 1: finding is particularly intriguing because superpuff planets are quite rare,

5:32 Speaker 1: and when they do occur, they're typically the only one

5:34 Speaker 1: in their system. Now we have a system with at

5:37 Speaker 1: least three confirmed superpuffs, possibly four, making Kepler fifty one

5:42 Speaker 1: an even more exceptional case for studying these mysterious cotton

5:45 Speaker 1: candy worlds. Talking of new discoveries, a concerning new study

5:50 Speaker 1: suggests that our Sun might be capable of producing massive

5:53 Speaker 1: solar flares known as superflares, far more frequently than we

5:57 Speaker 1: previously believed. According to research that surveyed over fifty six

6:01 Speaker 1: thousand sun like stars, these powerful eruptions could occur as

6:06 Speaker 1: often as once every century, rather than the previously estimated

6:09 Speaker 1: time frame of many hundreds to thousands of years. These

6:13 Speaker 1: superflares can release energy between one hundred and ten thousand

6:17 Speaker 1: times greater than the largest solar flare ever measured from

6:19 Speaker 1: our Sun, the famous Carrington event of eighteen fifty nine.

6:24 Speaker 1: This is particularly noteworthy because it's been about one hundred

6:27 Speaker 1: and sixty five years since that last major solar storm

6:31 Speaker 1: hit Earth, potentially putting us in line for another significant event.

6:36 Speaker 1: If such a superflare were to occur today, the consequences

6:39 Speaker 1: could be devastating for our modern technology dependent society. These

6:43 Speaker 1: events can potentially knock out communication systems and power grids,

6:47 Speaker 1: causing widespread disruptions to our daily lives. The research team,

6:51 Speaker 1: led by scientists at the University of Ulu and Finland

6:54 Speaker 1: detected nearly three thousand superflares across more than two thousand,

6:58 Speaker 1: five hundred stars during their survey. While scientists are still

7:03 Speaker 1: uncertain whether our Sun behaves exactly like these other stars,

7:07 Speaker 1: this research raises important questions about our star's capability for

7:10 Speaker 1: producing such powerful events and highlights the need for better

7:14 Speaker 1: preparation and protection of our vital infrastructure against potential solar storms.

7:20 Speaker 1: And In other Discovery news, scientists have made a fascinating

7:24 Speaker 1: breakthrough in understanding one of our Solar System's most active worlds.

7:27 Speaker 1: NASA's Juno mission has finally solved a forty four year

7:30 Speaker 1: old mystery about Jupiter's moon Io and its extraordinary volcanic activity.

7:35 Speaker 1: Through extremely close flybys that brought the spacecraft within just

7:39 Speaker 1: nine hundred and thirty miles of Io's surface, researchers have

7:42 Speaker 1: discovered that each of its estimated four hundred volcanoes is

7:45 Speaker 1: likely powered by its own chamber of molten magma, rather

7:49 Speaker 1: than a global underground ocean of magma as previously theorized.

7:53 Speaker 1: This volcanic activity is driven by an intense process called

7:56 Speaker 1: tidal flexing, as Io orbits Jupiter every forty two point

8:00 Speaker 1: five hours, the gas giant's immense gravitational pull literally squeezes

8:04 Speaker 1: and stretches the Moon. This constant manipulation generates tremendous internal heat,

8:09 Speaker 1: melting portions of Io's interior. By measuring how the Moon's

8:13 Speaker 1: gravity affected Juno's acceleration during its flybys, scientists were able

8:18 Speaker 1: to determine that Io's interior structure is more rigid than

8:21 Speaker 1: would be expected if it contained a global magma ocean.

8:25 Speaker 1: This discovery not only changes our understanding of Io, but

8:28 Speaker 1: has broader implications for how we think about other moons

8:31 Speaker 1: in our Solar system, such as Europa and Enceladus, as

8:35 Speaker 1: well as exoplanets beyond our Solar system. It provides new

8:39 Speaker 1: insights into planetary formation and evolution, showing how complex and

8:43 Speaker 1: varied volcanic processes can be across different worlds. And that's

8:48 Speaker 1: all for today's space news. I'm ana and you've been

8:52 Speaker 1: listening to Astronomy Daily. For more fascinating stories from the cosmos,

8:57 Speaker 1: head over to our website at Astronomydaily dot io, where

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9:20 Speaker 1: you tomorrow. Sunny Day Star Starz story