Tipsy Comet: Interstellar Visitor Loaded With Alcohol

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of

0:04 Speaker 1: what's happening out there in the cosmos.

0:06 Speaker 2: I'm Anna and I'm Avery. It is Thursday, the twelfth

0:10 Speaker 2: of March twenty twenty six, and today's show is a

0:13 Speaker 2: packed one.

0:14 Speaker 1: We've got an interstellar comment that's absolutely loaded with alcohol,

0:19 Speaker 1: a rocket that bounced back from an explosive year to

0:22 Speaker 1: nail its seventh flight, and the biggest NASA briefing in months,

0:26 Speaker 1: the Artemis two flight readiness review is happening right now

0:30 Speaker 1: as we record.

0:31 Speaker 2: We've also got some beautiful science from deep inside the Sun,

0:34 Speaker 2: a satellite that came home early thanks to the solar cycle,

0:38 Speaker 2: and the brand new gas cloud discovered swirling around the

0:41 Speaker 2: black hole at the heart of our Milky.

0:42 Speaker 1: Way Dick's stories, Let's get into it.

0:45 Speaker 2: Our first story is one of my favorites in a

0:47 Speaker 2: while because it involves an interstellar comment that's frankly a

0:52 Speaker 2: little bit drunk.

0:53 Speaker 1: You're going to milk that headline all episode, aren't you?

0:56 Speaker 2: Every chance? I get so? Three iatls. If you've been

1:00 Speaker 2: listening to us over the past several months, you'll remember

1:03 Speaker 2: this as only the third confirmed interstellar object ever detected

1:07 Speaker 2: passing through our solar system. It came from somewhere out there,

1:11 Speaker 2: from a completely different planetary system, and it's been one

1:14 Speaker 2: of the most intensely observed objects in recent memory.

1:17 Speaker 1: And now astronomers using ALMA the ATACOMMA large millimeter submillimeter

1:23 Speaker 1: array in Chile have published new findings about its chemical makeup,

1:27 Speaker 1: and what they found is genuinely surprising.

1:30 Speaker 2: Using Alma's ATACOMMA compact array, researcher studied the coma that

1:35 Speaker 2: glowing halo of gas and dust around the comet's core

1:38 Speaker 2: as three IATLS was warming up on its approach towards

1:41 Speaker 2: the Sun in late twenty twenty five. They focused on

1:44 Speaker 2: the fingerprints of two molecules, methanol, which is a type

1:48 Speaker 2: of alcohol, and hydrogen cyanide, and.

1:51 Speaker 1: The results were extraordinary. In most Solar system comets, those

1:56 Speaker 1: two molecules show up in roughly comparable amounts. In three iatls,

2:01 Speaker 1: the ratio of methanol to hydrogen cyanide was between seventy

2:06 Speaker 1: and one hundred twenty to one. That's not just unusual,

2:09 Speaker 1: it places it among the most methanol rich comets ever studied. Period.

2:14 Speaker 2: Nathan Roth, the lead researcher from American University put it

2:18 Speaker 2: really beautifully. He said, observing three iatls is like taking

2:23 Speaker 2: a fingerprint from another solar system. The details reveal what

2:26 Speaker 2: it's made of, and it's bursting with methanol in a

2:29 Speaker 2: way we just don't usually see in comments from our

2:31 Speaker 2: own solar system.

2:32 Speaker 1: There's another fascinating detail here too. In most comments, hydrogen

2:37 Speaker 1: cyanide flows out from the nucleus the central core. Methanol

2:41 Speaker 1: usually does the same, but in three iatls, the methanol

2:45 Speaker 1: is coming from two places, the nucleus and from tiny

2:50 Speaker 1: icy grains drifting in the coma around the comet. Those

2:53 Speaker 1: grains are essentially acting like miniature comets of their own,

2:57 Speaker 1: releasing methanol as they warm up in sunlight. It's a

3:00 Speaker 1: level of structural complexity we haven't seen traced in an

3:04 Speaker 1: interstellar object before.

3:06 Speaker 2: What does all this methanol tell us It points to

3:09 Speaker 2: a comet that forms in an extremely cold environment, possibly

3:12 Speaker 2: a dark molecular cloud packed with carbon monoxide ice, and

3:16 Speaker 2: that its icy material was incorporated into the comet's nucleus

3:20 Speaker 2: with very little alteration. Essentially, this thing is a chemical

3:23 Speaker 2: time capsule from a distant planetary system, and it's older

3:27 Speaker 2: than our own Sun.

3:28 Speaker 1: And here's a fun watch this space moment. Three IATLS

3:33 Speaker 1: is currently about three point eight astronomical units from the Sun,

3:37 Speaker 1: roughly the distance between Mars and Jupiter, and heading outward

3:41 Speaker 1: at around twenty eight kilometers per second. On March sixteenth,

3:45 Speaker 1: just four days from now, it makes its closest approach

3:48 Speaker 1: to Jupiter, passing within about zero point three six AU.

3:52 Speaker 1: It's one of the last major milestones before this visitor

3:56 Speaker 1: disappears into interstellar space for good.

3:59 Speaker 2: It's been one of the most scientifically productive interstellar visitors

4:02 Speaker 2: we've ever had the luck to catch. Every observation has

4:06 Speaker 2: taught us something new about how planetary systems, not ours,

4:10 Speaker 2: form and evolve.

4:11 Speaker 1: Story two is a proper comeback story, and those are

4:15 Speaker 1: always fun to tell. Firefly Aerospace successfully launched its Alpha

4:20 Speaker 1: rocket last night, Wednesday the eleventh, from Vandenberg Space four

4:25 Speaker 1: space in California, and it was a mission called Stairway

4:29 Speaker 1: to seven Flight seven, and it absolutely nailed it.

4:34 Speaker 2: For context, Firefly had a rough twenty twenty five two

4:38 Speaker 2: major mishaps, a failed launch in April and then an

4:41 Speaker 2: explosive ground test in September. That destroyed a first stage.

4:45 Speaker 2: The rocket had been grounded for nearly eleven months, so

4:49 Speaker 2: this was a significant moment for them.

4:51 Speaker 1: The mission lifted off at five point fifty pm Pacific time,

4:55 Speaker 1: completed nominal stage separation, achieved orbital insertion, and delivered a

5:00 Speaker 1: demonstrator payload for Lockheed Martin. The second stage engine even

5:05 Speaker 1: performed a relight, a bonus milestone for validating new systems.

5:10 Speaker 2: And this wasn't just any flight. Spare Way to seven

5:13 Speaker 2: was the last flight of Alpha's Block one configuration. Firefly

5:17 Speaker 2: is now transitioning to Block two, which is an upgraded

5:20 Speaker 2: version of the rocket, longer, more capable, with a new

5:24 Speaker 2: in house avionic suite and improved thermal protection. Those systems

5:28 Speaker 2: were tested in shadow mode on this flight and confirmed.

5:31 Speaker 1: Working FEO Jason Kim said the mission was quote flawlessly

5:36 Speaker 1: executed and while Alpha has now had full mission success

5:41 Speaker 1: just three times in seven attempts, the trajectory is clearly improving,

5:46 Speaker 1: and Firefly's lunar landing success with Blue Gost last year

5:50 Speaker 1: showed they can absolutely get the job done.

5:53 Speaker 2: The first Block two flight will carry a US Space

5:56 Speaker 2: Force mission called Victis Hayes jackaled for no earlier than

6:01 Speaker 2: the second quarter of this year. Firefly also as plans

6:04 Speaker 2: to expand Alpha operations to Wallops Island in Virginia and

6:08 Speaker 2: the s Range Space Center in Sweden. Good times ahead

6:11 Speaker 2: for this team.

6:12 Speaker 1: All right, story three, and this one is literally happening

6:16 Speaker 1: as we speak. NASA held its Artemis two flight readiness

6:20 Speaker 1: review today Thursday the twelfth, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida,

6:25 Speaker 1: with a press conference at three pm Eastern featuring NASA

6:29 Speaker 1: Administrator Jared Isaacman.

6:31 Speaker 2: A flight readiness review is a critical milestone. It's the

6:35 Speaker 2: formal process where all the key mission stakeholders come together

6:38 Speaker 2: and evaluate whether every system, every procedure, and every person

6:43 Speaker 2: is ready to fly. It's one of the last major

6:45 Speaker 2: gates before a launch date gets set.

6:47 Speaker 1: To recap where we are. Artemis two is the first

6:51 Speaker 1: crude mission of the Artemis program. Four astronauts flying around

6:56 Speaker 1: the Moon and back inside the Orion spacecraft from Earth

7:00 Speaker 1: than any humans have ever traveled. The crew is Reed Wiseman,

7:05 Speaker 1: Victor Glover, Christina Cock and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

7:11 Speaker 2: The mission hit a snag in late February when a

7:13 Speaker 2: helium flow issue was found in the upper stage of

7:16 Speaker 2: the Space Launch System rocket after a wet dress rehearsal.

7:20 Speaker 2: The stack had to be rolled back into the vehicle

7:22 Speaker 2: assembly building for repairs. NASA has since identified and fixed

7:27 Speaker 2: to seal obstruction in the quick disconnect causing the problem,

7:30 Speaker 2: and technicians have been validating the repairs.

7:33 Speaker 1: The rocket is currently targeting a second rollout to the

7:36 Speaker 1: launch pad later this month, with an April launch window

7:40 Speaker 1: on the table. We'll have the outcome of today's press

7:42 Speaker 1: conference in our show notes. This story is moving fast

7:46 Speaker 1: and we'll be covering every step of it as we

7:48 Speaker 1: get closer.

7:49 Speaker 2: It has been over fifty years since humans flew beyond

7:53 Speaker 2: low Earth orbit. Artemis two is going to change that,

7:57 Speaker 2: and we are so close.

7:59 Speaker 1: Well, we certainly hope so.

8:01 Speaker 2: Story four is a beautiful piece of long game science.

8:05 Speaker 2: Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Yale University have

8:09 Speaker 2: published a study in the Monthly Notices of the Royal

8:12 Speaker 2: Astronomical Society that reveals something fundamental and surprising about our star.

8:17 Speaker 2: The Sun's internal structure shifts measurably from one solar cycle

8:22 Speaker 2: to the next.

8:23 Speaker 1: This might sound like it should be obvious of course,

8:26 Speaker 1: the Sun changes. But here's the thing. During solar minimum,

8:30 Speaker 1: the Sun is supposed to be at its calmest, fewer

8:33 Speaker 1: sun spots, weaker magnetic fields, a quieter, more uniform surface.

8:39 Speaker 1: The assumption had always been that these quiet periods were

8:42 Speaker 1: basically the same each time around.

8:44 Speaker 2: And they're not. The team used a network of six

8:47 Speaker 2: ground based telescopes called the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network BISON,

8:53 Speaker 2: which has been listening to the sun hum for over

8:55 Speaker 2: forty years. They analyze tiny vibrations inside the Sun, essentially

9:00 Speaker 2: sound waves trapped inside the star to infer what was

9:03 Speaker 2: happening beneath the surface. This field is called helio seismology

9:08 Speaker 2: and it's essentially the same principle as using seismic waves

9:11 Speaker 2: to map the interior of the Earth.

9:13 Speaker 1: They looked at four successive solar minima, the quiet periods

9:18 Speaker 1: between solar cycles twenty one and twenty five, and found

9:22 Speaker 1: that the minimum between cycles twenty three and twenty four,

9:26 Speaker 1: which fell in two thousand and eight to two thousand

9:28 Speaker 1: and nine, was structurally different from the other three. That

9:32 Speaker 1: minimum was already known to be one of the quietest

9:35 Speaker 1: and longest on record, but now they've shown it left

9:39 Speaker 1: a measurable internal.

9:40 Speaker 3: Fingerprint, specifically, a sound wave glitch caused by helium ionization

9:46 Speaker 3: just below the Sun's surface was significantly stronger than in

9:49 Speaker 3: the other three minima, and the speed of sound in

9:52 Speaker 3: the outer layers was slightly.

9:54 Speaker 2: Higher, suggesting subtly different gas pressures, temperatures, and magnetic field

9:59 Speaker 2: strengths deep inside the Sun.

10:01 Speaker 1: Why does this matter because how the Sun behaves during

10:04 Speaker 1: its quiet periods has a strong bearing on how active

10:08 Speaker 1: the next cycle will be. Better understanding solar minima means

10:12 Speaker 1: better space weather forecasting and space weather affects satellites, GPS,

10:17 Speaker 1: power grids, and communications infrastructure here on Earth.

10:21 Speaker 2: Professor Bill Chaplin from Birmingham summed it up perfectly. For

10:25 Speaker 2: the first time they've been able to clearly quantify how

10:28 Speaker 2: the Sun's internal structure shifts between one cycle minimum and

10:32 Speaker 2: the next, and the techniques used here could eventually be

10:35 Speaker 2: applied to other Sun like stars using esay's upcoming Plato mission.

10:40 Speaker 2: The Sun isn't just our star, it's our best laboratory

10:44 Speaker 2: for understanding stars everywhere.

10:46 Speaker 1: Following up on a story we brought you a couple

10:49 Speaker 1: of days ago, you could say story five has a

10:52 Speaker 1: certain poetic quality to it. Yesterday morning, Wednesday, the eleventh

10:57 Speaker 1: NASA's Van Allen Probe A re entered Earth Earth's atmosphere

11:01 Speaker 1: and burned up over the eastern Pacific Ocean, ending a

11:04 Speaker 1: mission that launched back in August twenty twelve, nearly fourteen

11:08 Speaker 1: years in space.

11:10 Speaker 2: The Van Allen Probes, there were two of them, A

11:13 Speaker 2: and B, were built to study Earth's radiation belts. Those

11:17 Speaker 2: are the two massive donut shaped zones of high energy

11:21 Speaker 2: charged particles trapped by our planet's magnetic field. They're named

11:26 Speaker 2: for physicist James Van Allen, who discovered them in the

11:29 Speaker 2: late nineteen fifties. Understanding these belts is critical because they

11:34 Speaker 2: shield Earth from cosmic radiation and solar wind, but they

11:38 Speaker 2: can also be brutal on satellites and spacecraft passing through them.

11:42 Speaker 1: The probes were originally designed for a two year mission,

11:46 Speaker 1: they ran for nearly seven During that time, they made

11:49 Speaker 1: a series of landmark discoveries, including the first confirmed observation

11:54 Speaker 1: of a transient third radiation belt, which can formed during

11:58 Speaker 1: periods of intense solar activity. The spacecraft ran out of

12:02 Speaker 1: fuel in twenty nineteen and have been drifting in orbit

12:05 Speaker 1: ever since.

12:06 Speaker 2: Here's what made yesterday's re entry newsworthy beyond the usual

12:09 Speaker 2: satellite farewell. NASA had originally calculated that Probe A wouldn't

12:14 Speaker 2: re enter until twenty thirty four, eight years later than

12:18 Speaker 2: it actually did. The culprit the current solar cycle. We're

12:22 Speaker 2: in a particularly active phase right now, and increased solar

12:25 Speaker 2: activity heats and expands Earth's upper atmosphere, which creates more

12:29 Speaker 2: drag on satellites and low to medium orbit, pulling them

12:33 Speaker 2: down faster than expected.

12:35 Speaker 1: The six hundred kilogram spacecraft mostly burned up on re entry,

12:39 Speaker 1: as expected, with a one in four thy two hundred

12:43 Speaker 1: chance of any surviving debris causing harm to anyone on

12:46 Speaker 1: the ground. The US Space Force confirmed re entry at

12:51 Speaker 1: six thirty seven am Eastern Time over the Eastern Pacific.

12:55 Speaker 1: No injuries or debris impact reported, but.

13:00 Speaker 2: Is still up there and its re entry isn't expected

13:03 Speaker 2: before twenty thirty, though given what just happened, we might

13:06 Speaker 2: want to keep an eye on that estimate too. The

13:09 Speaker 2: Sun has a way of accelerating things.

13:12 Speaker 1: And our final story brings us right to the heart

13:15 Speaker 1: of our own galaxy and the super massive black holes

13:18 Speaker 1: sitting there. Astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial

13:23 Speaker 1: Physics have discovered a new gas cloud orbiting Sagittarius A star,

13:28 Speaker 1: the four million solar mass black hole at the center

13:32 Speaker 1: of the Milky Way, about twenty seven thousand light years

13:35 Speaker 1: from Earth.

13:36 Speaker 2: The new cloud is called G two T, and it

13:39 Speaker 2: was found using the ERIS instrument, the Enhanced Resolution Imager

13:43 Speaker 2: and spectrograph mounted on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large

13:47 Speaker 2: Telescope in Chile. Two previous clouds, known as G one

13:51 Speaker 2: and G two, had been observed orbiting Sagittarius A star

13:55 Speaker 2: for years, but their true nature was still hotly debated.

13:59 Speaker 2: Were they pure gas clouds or were they hiding stars

14:02 Speaker 2: inside them?

14:03 Speaker 1: The discovery of G two T turns out to be

14:06 Speaker 1: the key that helps answer that question. Because the three

14:10 Speaker 1: clouds don't just share the same general neighborhood. Their three

14:14 Speaker 1: d orbits are almost identical, just rotated slightly with respect

14:19 Speaker 1: to each other.

14:20 Speaker 2: And here's why that's a big deal. If G one,

14:23 Speaker 2: G two, and G two T each contain the hidden

14:26 Speaker 2: star at their core, you'd expect those stars to have

14:29 Speaker 2: very different orbital histories. The odds of three independent stars

14:33 Speaker 2: settling into nearly identical orbits around the super massive black

14:37 Speaker 2: hole are extraordinarily slim, so the matching orbits strongly rule

14:41 Speaker 2: out the hidden star hypothesis.

14:44 Speaker 1: Instead, the astronomers believe all three clouds likely share a

14:48 Speaker 1: common origin, a massive binary star system called IRS sixteen

14:54 Speaker 1: s W, which is in that region and is known

14:57 Speaker 1: to be expelling enormous amounts of gas. The three clouds

15:01 Speaker 1: may have been shed from that pair of stars at

15:04 Speaker 1: different times, drifting into similar orbits as they interact with

15:08 Speaker 1: the extreme gravitational environment near Sagittarius, a star.

15:13 Speaker 2: The galactic center is one of the most extreme environments

15:16 Speaker 2: in the universe. Stars and gas clouds hurtling around the

15:19 Speaker 2: black hole at tremendous speeds, and yet we're still finding

15:23 Speaker 2: brand new objects there after decades of observation. It's a

15:26 Speaker 2: reminder that our own cosmic backyards still hold secrets, extraordinary ones.

15:32 Speaker 1: That's all six stories for today. What a show, A

15:36 Speaker 1: tipsy interstellar comet, a triumphant rocket comeback, the imminent Moon

15:41 Speaker 1: mission update, the Sun's inner life, a satellite's fiery farewell,

15:46 Speaker 1: and a new discovery at the very heart of our galaxy.

15:50 Speaker 2: If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, leave us a review,

15:54 Speaker 2: and share us with someone who loves space. You can

15:58 Speaker 2: find us at Astronomy do io and on all the

16:02 Speaker 2: major platforms at at astro Daily Pod.

16:06 Speaker 1: And keep watching the skies. Jupiter's about to get a

16:09 Speaker 1: very unusual close visitor. In just four days three I

16:13 Speaker 1: Atlas making its last big swing before heading back to

16:17 Speaker 1: the stars.

16:18 Speaker 2: From Anna and me, thanks for listening to Astronomy Daily.

16:22 Speaker 2: We'll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, keep looking up

16:26 Speaker 2: Sunday

16:29 Speaker 3: Stars start