Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm anna bringing you the latest
and most exciting news from across the Cosmos. Today, We've
got a stellar lineup of stories that showcase just how
dynamic our understanding of space continues to be. Coming up
in the next twenty minutes, we'll explore a truly rare
cosmic event that's unfolding relatively close to home, a pair
of white dwarf stars on a collision course that will
eventually create a supernova explosion brighter than ten full moons.
This first of its kind discovery is giving astronomers unprecedented
insight into these cosmic standard candles. We'll also dive into
some space policy news as SpaceX steps in to launch
a military GPS satellite that had been waiting in storage
due to delays with United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket. This
satellite shuffle reveals interesting developments in how the Space Force
is adapting to ensure critical missions reach orbit on schedule.
Then we'll head to the International Space Station with the
Soyuz MS twenty seven mission, carrying a fascinating crew, including
a NASA astronaut with an extraordinary background as both a
Navy seal and a Harvard educated doctor. Our planetary exploration
takes us to Uranus, where new Hubble telescope data has
revealed the ice giant's day is actually longer than we've
thought for the past four decades. Those extra twenty eight
seconds might seem small, but they're forcing scientists to recalibrate
everything we know about the planet's coordinate system. And finally,
we'll look at an ambitious proposal for a fleet of
space telescopes working together to answer one of humanity's most
profound questions, how common is life in the universe. The
fascinating part is that even if this mission finds no
signs of extraterrestrial life, it could still tell us volumes
about our cosmic neighborhood. That's all ahead on today's episode
of Astronomy Daily, your window to the wonders beyond our world.
So let's get started. Astronomers have just made an unprecedented
discovery that's captivating the scientific community. A pair of white
doors stars locked in a deadly dance just one hundred
and fifty light years from Earth. This extremely rare binary
system consists of two massive white dwarfs that are on
a collision course spiraling ever closer to each other in
what will eventually result in one of the most spectacular
explosions in the cosmos. White dwarfs are essentially the dense
cores left behind when stars like our Sun die. They
pack roughly the mass of the Sun into a volume
about the size of Earth, making them incredibly dense. Finding
two of these stellar remnants orbiting each other this closely
is extraordinary, and the implications are even more fascinating. According
to research published in Nature Astronomy, these two stars are
already remarkably close, orbiting each other once roughly every fourteen hours,
but this leisurely encircling won't last forever. Over the next
billion years, gravitational wave radiation will cause the stars to
spiral even closer together. By the time they're about to
go supernova, they'll be whipping around each other every thing
to forty seconds. What makes this discovery truly significant is
that it's the first direct observation of what astronomers believe
is the most common cause of type one A supernova.
These cosmic explosions occur when a white dwarf gathers too
much mass. In this case, the heavier of the pair
will likely accumulate material from its partner through gravity, leading
to one or both stars exploding. Lead researcher James Munday
from the University of Warwick was understandably excited when he
spotted this system, noting that for years a local and
massive double white dwarf binary has been anticipated. His international
team quickly used some of the world's largest optical telescopes
to determine exactly how compact the system is, discovering that
the two stars are separated by just one sixtieth of
the Earth Sun distance. Type one A supernova are crucial
tools for astronomers because they serve as standard candles explosions
with known brightness that allow scientists to calculate the distance
between Earth and other galaxies. They're even used to test
theories about the expansion of the universe. Having a front
row seat to the formation of such an event is unprecedented.
When these stars eventually emerge, the resulting explosion will be
truly cataclysmic, about one thousand, trillion trillion times more powerful
than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever created. And while
that sounds alarming, especially considering how close the system is
to our Solar system, we don't need to worry. The
team's calculations indicate this cosmic spectacle won't happen for about
twenty three billion years. Co author Ingrid Pellisoli points out
that finding such a system relatively nearby suggests these binary
white dwarf pairs must be fairly common throughout the galaxy.
If they were rare, astronomers would have needed to look
much further away to find one. She adds that this
is just the beginning, as their survey searching for Type
ONEA supernova progenitors is ongoing, with more exciting discoveries likely
on the he horizon. This rare glimpse into the life
cycle of stars provides a valuable piece in our understanding
of cosmic evolution. By watching these white dwarfs over time,
astronomers can refine their models of how these standard candles
form and behave, ultimately improving our ability to measure the
vast distances of space and understand the fundamental nature of
our expanding universe. Next today, in a significant shift for
the US military's launch plans, Space System's Command announced Monday
that space X will now deploy a Global Positioning System
satellite originally scheduled to fly on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket.
This is no small matter. It represents the second time
in just six months that the Space Force has had
to reassign a military satellite to SpaceX due to continued
delays with ULA's new Vulcan launch vehicle. The satellite in question,
designated GPS three SV zero eight, is the eighth in
a series of ten advanced navigation satellites that provide critical
positioning and timing signals for both military and civilian users worldwide.
It had been sitting in storage at Lockheed Martin's factory
in Colorado, essentially ready to go, but waiting for its
ride to space. Thanks to this launch vehicle trade, as
the Space Force calls it, the GPS satellite could reach
orbit as early as the end of May, a dramatic
acceleration compared to its uncertain timeline with ULA. What makes
this particularly remarkable is how quickly the military can pivot
when necessary. Colonel Jim Horn, Senior material Leader of Launch Execution,
pointed out that this showcases the Space Force's ability to
complete high priority launches with just three months of preparation
compared to the typical planning cycle of two years. This
rapid response capability isn't just a convenience, It's increasingly viewed
as a strategic necessity. Frank Calvelly, the Pentagon's chief of
Space Acquisition, had previously expressed significant concerns about ULA's manufacturing capabilities,
writing in a letter to ULA's owner's Boeing and Lockheed
Martin that currently there is military satellite capability sitting on
the ground due to Vulcan delays. The Vulcan rocket, which
ULA hopes will eventually launch twice monthly, has only flown
on two demonstration missions so far. While the Space Force
did certify the rocket for military launches last month, ULA
faces the daunting task of working through its massive backlog
of eighty nine missions, a number that grew even larger
after the Space Force awarded the company nineteen additional launches
just last week. This isn't the first time the military
has had to pull this kind of maneuver. Last year,
teams from the Space Force, SpaceX, and Lockheed Martin successfully
executed what they called a rapid response Trailblazer mission, preparing
a GPS satellite for launch on a Falcon nine in
less than five months, rather than waiting for its ULA slot.
That mission launched successfully in December. To maintain balance in
its launch portfolio, the Space Force is making adjustments across
its manifest moving a future GPS payload from SpaceX's Falcon
Heavy back to ULA's Vulcan, ensuring that the next three
GPS satellites after this one will still fly on Vulcan
once the rocket is ready. A similar compensation occurred after
last year's reassignment. These advanced GPS three satellites represent a
significant upgrade to the navigation constellation. They broadcast more accurate
signals that are harder for adversaries to jam, and they
include a new channel compatible with Europe's Galileo navigation network.
This allows users to merge signals from both constellations to
achieve even better position estimates, a capability that both military
strategists and civilian applications are eager to utilize. With two
more completed GPS three satellites already in storage and waiting
for launch, plus an upgraded GPS three F design set
to begin launching in twenty twenty seven, the pressure to
get these capabilities into orbit remains high. This satellite swap
demonstrates not just the Space Force's flexibility, but the growing
importance of having redundant launch options to ensure national security
assets can reach space when needed. The fourth crewed space
launch of twenty twenty five is now in the history
books as Soyuz MS twenty seven successfully lifted off from
the Baikoner Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch occurred right on
schedule at five forty seven UTC on Tuesday, April eighth,
carrying three crew members bound for the International Space Station.
Leading the mission is veteran cosmonaut Sergei Raijakov, who's no
stranger to space travel. This marks his third journey beyond
Earth's atmosphere, following previous missions in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty.
During his second flight, Rjhakov even served as the commander
of the International Space Station during Expedition sixty four, gaining
valuable leadership experience that will serve him well on this
new mission. Joining Rjhakov are two first time space travelers.
Russian cosmonaut Alexei Zubritsky, a senior lieutenant in the Russian
Air Force, is serving as one of the flight engineers.
Born in Ukraine's Zapporijia region in nineteen ninety two, Zubritsky
was selected for the cosmonaut program in twenty eighteen after
graduating from the ivan kojdub National University of the Air Force.
The second flight engineer position is filled by NASA astronaut
Johnny Kim, whose background reads like an action movie script.
Before becoming an astronaut, Kim served as a Navy seal
seeing combat in the Middle East, where he earned a
Silver Star. Not content with just military achievements, he went
on to earn a mathematics degree summa cum laude and
a medical degree from Harvard, becoming both a physician and
a naval aviator before NASA selected him. In twenty seventeen,
the Soyuz spacecraft reached the station in just over three hours,
docking to the Preichal module on the Russian segment at
nine O three UTC. This precise orbital ballet demonstrates the
reliability of the Soyuz program, which continues to serve as
a crucial transportation system for the international space community. With
the arrival of Soyuz twenty seven, the space station is
temporarily home to ten astronauts and cosmonauts. The new arrivals
will join the existing crew ten and Soyu's MS twenty
six teams already aboard. This larger crew will work together
during a handover period until Soyu's MS twenty six undocks
on April twentieth, marking the end of Expedition seventy two
and the beginning of Expedition seventy three. Unlike typical Soyuz missions,
which last about six months, this crew is scheduled for
an extended stay of approximately eight months. They won't return
to Earth until December eighth, giving them ample time to
conduct experiments and perform essential maintenance on the orbital outpost.
Among their potential tasks is at least one spacewalk planned
for the US segment of the station. Johnny Kim, with
his extensive training in EVA operations, is expected to participate
in this critical work outside the protective shell of the ISS.
The Soyuz MS twenty seven mission represents the continuity of
international cooperation in space despite geopolitical tensions on Earth. It's
also the second Soyuz rocket launch of twenty twenty five,
and the first of two planned crude flights from Baikunor
this year. The backup crew for this mission already named
as the prime crew for Soyu's MS twenty eight is
scheduled to launch no earlier than November twenty seventh. As
these three explorers settle into their home for the next
eight months, they become part of the ongoing human presence
in low Earth orbit that has now continued uninterrupted for
over two decades, furthering our understanding of living and working
in the challenging environment of space. Up next, new findings
means new adjustments. Time to adjust our calendars. For Urinus,
the ice giant just got a longer day. Recent analysis
of decade long observations from the Hubble Space Telescope has
revealed that Urinus takes seventeen hours, fourteen minutes, and fifty
two seconds to complete a full rotation on its axis.
This new measurement adds tour twenty eight seconds to the
previous estimate established by NASA's Voyager two spacecraft back in
nineteen eighty six. The original rotation period of seventeen hours,
fourteen minutes and twenty four seconds was determined during Voyager
two's historic flyby, the first and so far only spacecraft
visit to the distant planet. Scientists based that figure on
radio signals from Uranus's auroras and direct measurements of its
magnetic field. This value became the foundation for all coordinate
systems and surface mapping of the pale turquoise world. However,
this new research suggests astronomers may need to reconsider some
of those maps. The Voyager two estimate contained inherent uncertainties
that led to significant problems. Within just a couple of
years after the spacecraft's brief encounter, the orientation of Uranus's
magnetic axis became completely lost, resulting in a one hundred
eighty degree error in the planet's longitude. Coordinate systems based
on that outdated rotation period quickly became unreliable. To resolve
this astronomical dilemma, a team led by Laurent Lamy from
the Paris Observatory undertook the painstaking task of tracking Uranus's
auroras using Hubble data collected between twenty eleven and twenty
twenty two. By monitoring these luminous atmospheric displays over more
than a decade, the researchers pinpointed the planet's magnetic poles
with unprecedented accuracy, enabling them to calculate a more precise
rotation period. The continuous observations from Hubble were crucial. Lamy
noted without this wealth of data, it would have been
impossible to detect the periodic signal with the level of
accuracy we achieved. This methodical approach offers benefits beyond just
updating a planetary factoid. The technique can now be applied
to determine rotation rates for any celestial body with a
magnetic field and auroras, not only within our Solar System,
but potentially for exoplanets and other distant worlds as well.
The updated rotation period provides astronomers with with a much
more reliable coordinate system for Uranus, one expected to remain
accurate for decades until future missions can gather even more
precise data. This improvement could prove invaluable for planning those
future expeditions to Uranus, particularly in designing orbital tours and
selecting suitable atmospheric entry sites for probes. While twenty eight
seconds might seem like a minor adjustment in astronomical terms,
this level of precision represents a significant refinement in our
understanding of the seventh planet from the Sun. The findings
published in the journal Nature Astronomy earlier this month demonstrate
how continued observations from Earth based instruments can still enhance
our knowledge of even the most distant planets in our
Solar system. Finally, today, in our search for life beyond Earth,
scientists are developing increasingly sophisticated tools to answer one of
humanity's most profound questions, are we alone? A groundbreaking mission
concept called Life, the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets, aims to
tackle this question with us precedented clarity. Life proposes deploying
a fleet of four space telescopes working in perfect coordination
around a central combiner spacecraft. These telescopes would fly in
formation tens to hundreds of meters apart, collectively functioning as
a powerful interferometer that combines their light detections to achieve
what no single telescope could. What makes Life particularly revolutionary
is its planned use of nulling interferometry, a clever technique
that cancels out the overwhelming glare from stars by combining
their light out of phase. This creates what scientists call
destructive interference, effectively dimming the stars brilliance while preserving the
faint light from any orbiting planets. Rather than producing direct images,
Life would observe in the mid infrared spectrum, allowing it
to spectroscopically analyze the light from exoplanets and reveal the
molecular composition of their atmospheres. The mission would target dozens
of Earth sized planets residsiding in the habitable zones of
their stars, searching for telltale biosignatures atmospheric gases that could
indicate the presence of life. These biosignatures include the obvious
candidates like oxygen and water vapor, but also compounds such
as ozone, methane, nitrous oxide, demethyl sulfide, and phosphene. The
detection of certain combinations of these molecules could provide compelling
evidence for biological activity. Currently, Life remains a concept spearheaded
by researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. It hasn't yet
been adopted by a space agency, but its scientific potential
is already being carefully assessed. A fascinating aspect of the
Life mission is that it could deliver profound insights even
if it fails to detect any biosignatures at all. Using
sophisticated statistical models, researchers have determined that Life would need
to examine only forty to eighty exoplanets without finding any
signs of life, to conclude with confidence that fewer than
ten to twenty percent of similar planets in the universe
harbor life. A simple positive detection would change everything, notes
astronomer Daniel Engerhausen of ETH Zurich. But even if we
don't detect life, we'll quantify how rare or common planets
with detectable biosignatures really might be. The team employed both
by eesian and frequentist statistical approaches to reach this conclusion,
ensuring their findings are robust across different mathematical frameworks as
the sample size increases. If no biosignatures are detected, scientists
could place increasingly stringent limits on the prevalence of life
in our galaxy. Of course, the researchers acknowledge certain challenges.
Some biosignatures might be missed due to detection limitations, or
planets might be mistakenly included in the potentially habitable category.
It's not just about how many planets we observe, anger
Housen explains, about asking the right questions and how confident
we can be in seeing or not seeing what we're
searching for. Whether life ultimately finds inhabited worlds or determines
they're exceedingly rare. The mission would fundamentally transform our understanding
of life's place in the cosmos. In either scenario, humanity
would gain unprecedented insight into our cosmic significance, either as
one among many living worlds or as something far more
unique than we previously imagined. Well, that's all for today's
cosmic journey. What an incredible set of discoveries we've explored together.
From those doomed white dwarf stars destined for a spectacular
collision billions of years from now, to the Space Force's
agile satellite launch maneuvers, to the successful Soyuz mission carrying
international crew members to the ISS. We've also learned that
Uranus turns a bit more slowly than we thought. Those
extra twenty eight seconds might seem trivial to us, but
they represent a significant refinement in our understanding of the
ice giant, and the proposed life telescope array could finally
help us determine whether habitable worlds are cosmic rarities or
scattered abundantly throughout our galaxy. What links all these stories
is humanity's relentless curiosity about the universe we inhabit. Each discovery,
each mission, each new measurement brings us closer to understanding
our cosmic neighborhood and our place within it. I'm Anna,
and I've been delighted to share these fascinating space developments
with you on Astronomy Daily. If you're hungry for more
space news, remember to visit our website at Astronomy Daily
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