The Earliest Galaxy Unveiled, Asteroid Apophis Awaits, and Betelgeuse's Hidden Companion

Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. Your

cosmic connection to the universe's latest

developments. I'm Anna. And today we've got

a stellar lineup of space stories that

showcase both the wonder and ambition of

humanity's quest to understand the cosmos.

Coming up, we'll explore a truly cosmic

miracle as the James Webb Space Telescope

breaks its own record by discovering the

earliest galaxy ever observed. We'll also

look at Europe's daring plan to land a,

spacecraft on the infamous asteroid Apophis

during its close approach to Earth in 2029.

Then we'll dive into the latest chapter of

SpaceX's Starship saga.

And finally, we'll unravel the mystery

surrounding one of the night sky's most

recognisable stars, Betelgeuse. As

astronomers search for evidence of a hidden

companion that might explain its puzzling

behaviour. Strap in for a journey across time

and space as we explore these fascinating

developments right here on Astronomy Daily.

Lets kick things off today with a pretty

important discovery. The James Webb Space

Telescope continues to rewrite the

astronomical record books with its latest

discovery. JWST has detected

what scientists are calling the mother of all

early galaxies. Fittingly designated

MAM Z14. This

remarkable cosmic find existed just 280

million years after the Big Bang, making it

the earliest and most distant galaxy ever

observed by humanity. To put this

timeframe into perspective, sharks have been

swimming in Earth's oceans for longer than

the universe had even existed when this

galaxy was forming. MAM Z14

breaks the previous record by about 20

million years, which might not sound like

much, but represents a significant step

closer to observing the very dawn of

galaxy formation. What's m

particularly fascinating about this discovery

is that the JWST wasn't actually expected to

find galaxies from this early epoch, at

least not at this stage of its mission.

Scientists have now identified over 100 more

relatively bright galaxies in the very early

universe than were predicted based on pre

JWST observations,

challenging our understanding of how quickly

the cosmos developed. The research team

was able to determine that MAMSI 14 is

approximately 50 times smaller than our Milky

Way. Perhaps most intriguing is the detection

of elements like nitrogen and carbon within

this ancient galaxy. This is surprising

because the very earliest galaxies should

primarily contain only the simplest elements,

hydrogen and helium. The presence of these

heavier elements, which astronomers somewhat

confusingly call metals, indicates that Mahm

Z14 isn't actually among the very first

objects formed in the universe. These heavier

elements are created inside stars and then

dispersed through supernova explosions,

suggesting there must be even earlier

galaxies out there waiting to be discovered,

perhaps the true first generation that

contained only hydrogen and helium.

Researchers are confident that JWST is up to

the task of pushing these boundaries even

further. As one scientist put it,

they would not be surprised if we find

galaxies at redshift 15 or 16

taking us even closer to witnessing the

universe's earliest moments.

This discovery is another testament to the

Webb Telescope's revolutionary capabilities,

allowing us to peer further back in cosmic

time than ever before and reshape our

understanding of how the universe evolved

from its earliest moments.

Next Today Once feared as a potential threat

to Earth, asteroid Apophis is now presenting

space agencies with a rare opportunity for

exploration. The European Space Agency is

actively preparing its Ramses mission, which

stands for Rapid Apophis mission for space

safety from a 2028 launch to coincide with

Apophis very close but safe flyby of our

planet on April 13, 2029,

this 1,100 foot wide space rock

will pass within about 20,000 miles of Earth,

closer than many of our artificial

satellites. The Ramses mission aims to

conduct detailed before and after analysis of

the asteroid, studying its surface

characteristics, composition, and orbit.

Scientists are particularly interested in how

Earth's gravitational pull might trigger

tidal forces in Apophis, potentially altering

its surface and interior structure during the

close approach. In an exciting development,

ESA has now selected Spanish company MCS

to lead the development of a second cubesat

that will attempt something extraordinarily

landing on Apophis. As Paolo Martino,

the Ramses project manager, explained,

landing on an asteroid presents unique

difficulties. The irregular shape and

unpredictable surface properties make it hard

to identify stable landing sites, while the

asteroid's extremely weak gravity creates a

risk that the lander could simply bounce off

and drift away into space. The main

Ramses spacecraft will be a modified version

of Issei's HERA probe, which is currently on

its way to study the binary asteroid Didymos,

where NASA's DART mission successfully

impacted in 2022. However, despite

the momentum behind this mission, it still

requires ESA member states to formally commit

funding at the agency's Ministerial Council

meeting this November. NASA is also

considering repurposing its shelved Janus

spacecraft for an Apophis mission, though

budget constraints have complicated these

plans. The good news is that NASA's

Osiris apex mission, the extended mission of

the spacecraft that successfully returned

samples from asteroid Bennu, will arrive at

Apophis about a month after its Earth flyby.

Additionally, Japan's Destiny plus mission,

which faced delays, has now been rescheduled

for a 2028 launch and will make a flyby

of Apophis on its journey to study asteroid

Phaethon. Scientists worldwide are,

emphasising the importance of international

collaboration to make the most of this rare

opportunity that Apophis presents for

advancing our planetary defence knowledge.

And now A Ah, quick SpaceX update. The

federal Aviation Administration has now

stepped in following the ninth test flight of

SpaceX's massive Starship rocket, requiring

the company to investigate what went wrong.

Interestingly, the FAA's investigation is

narrowly focused on just one part of the

mishap the loss of the Starship upper stage,

which failed to complete its planned

trajectory as designed. Despite both

stages of the vehicle meeting explosive ends.

The FAA clarified that the destruction of the

super heavy booster was actually covered by

what they called approved test induced

damage exceptions that SpaceX had requested

prior to launch. In other words, some level

of damage or destruction to the booster was

anticipated and approved as part of the

experimental nature of the test. Flight

9, which launched on May 27 from

SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas,

represented a significant milestone as the

first ever reuse of a super heavy booster.

This particular booster had previously flown

during January's Flight 7 mission, where it

not only completed its engine burn

successfully, but also made a dramatic return

to Starbase, where it was caught by the

launch tower's mechanical arms, nicknamed the

chopsticks for Flight 9,

SpaceX took a more experimental approach with

the booster. Rather than attempting another

tower catch. They conducted various tests,

including bringing the booster down at a

higher angle of attack to increase

atmospheric drag. The plan called for a

hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, but

things didn't go as intended. Contact with

the booster was lost shortly after it began

its landing burn, approximately six minutes

after launch, when it experienced what SpaceX

ah euphemistically described as a rapid

unscheduled disassembly. The

Starship upper stage faced even greater

difficulties. It was supposed to make a

controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off

Western Australia about 65 minutes after

launch. However, an attitude control error

prevented the vehicle from achieving the

proper orientation for reentry.

Following automated safety protocols,

Starship vented its remaining pressure to

create the safest possible conditions, but

contact was lost about 46 minutes into the

flight. Despite these failures,

the mission still showed progress compared to

previous flights, where the upper stage was

lost within just 10 minutes of liftoff.

The FAA noted that there were no reports of

injuries or damage to public property and the

impact on commercial flights was minimal.

Just one flight diverted and another briefly

held for 24 minutes.

Betelgeuse one of the most recognisable stars

in our night sky has long captivated

astronomers with its unpredictable behaviour.

This massive red supergiant in the

constellation orion sits about 640

light years from Earth and is nearing the end

of its stellar life. Destined to eventually

explode as a supernova at, more than

700 times the size of our sun, it's truly

a cosmic giant. What's

particularly intriguing about Betelgeuse is

its peculiar brightness variations. You

might remember the excitement in late 2019,

when it dimmed dramatically, leading to

speculation that a supernova might be

imminent. That event turned out to be just a

massive dust cloud temporarily blocking its

light. But it highlighted the volatile nature

of this dying star. Now astronomers

are exploring a fascinating.

Betelgeuse might not be alone. About

one third of stars similar to Betelgeuse

display what scientists call large, long

secondary periods, or LSPs, which

are extended brightness fluctuations that

have puzzled researchers for decades. While

various explanations have been proposed, from

internal pulsations to dust formation,

evidence is increasingly pointing toward a

hidden companion star. The current theory

suggests a low mass companion, somewhere

between half to twice the mass of our sun,

might be orbiting Betelgeuse every 2,100

days. That's roughly six years at a distance

comparable to Saturn's orbit around our Sun.

This companion wouldn't dramatically alter

Betelgeuse's evolutionary path, but it could

influence the supergiant through tidal forces

and interactions with stellar winds.

This hypothesis also helps explain other

mysteries, like Betelgeuse's unusually fast

rotation speed of 5 to 15 kilometres per

second, which could result from tidal

interactions with this orbiting companion.

The theory even accounts for the observed 36

year cycle in both brightness and radial

velocity patterns that have long confounded

astronomers. Despite targeted searches

using the Hubble Space Telescope's STIS

spectrograph, this potential companion

remains elusive. Researchers timed their

observations for when the companion would be

most visible in far ultraviolet light, but

no clear signals were detected. This

doesn't rule out its existence. The companion

may simply be too small and cool to be

detected amid Betelgeuse's overwhelming

brightness. The search continues because

finding this hidden partner isn't just

scientific curiosity. It could significantly

enhance our understanding of how massive

stars evolve and eventually die in

spectacular supernova explosions.

That's all for today's episode of Astronomy

Daily. What an incredible journey through the

cosmos we've had. From the discovery of Mom

Z14 to Europe's ambitious plans to

land on asteroid apophis during its 2029

flyby of Earth, we've also examined

SpaceX's ongoing Starship development with

its recent Flight 9 mishap, and explored the

intriguing possibility that Betelgeuse, one

of our night sky's most famous stars, might

have a hidden stellar companion. The the

universe continues to surprise us with each

new discovery, reminding us just how vast and

mysterious our cosmic neighbourhood truly is.

I've been your host, Anna, and I want to

thank you for joining me on this cosmic

journey. If you enjoyed today's episode,

please visit our website at astronomydaily IO

where you can sign up for our free daily

newsletter and access all our back episodes.

You'll never miss a moment of astronomical

discovery. Don't forget to subscribe to

Astronomy Daily on Apple Podcasts,

Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get

your podcasts. Until next time, keep looking

up. The universe is waiting to be discovered.

Sam.

In this episode