Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for the latest space
in astronomy news. I'm Anna, and today we're covering some
fascinating stories from across the cosmos, from groundbreaking research and
alien life detection to massive cosmic structures, So let's get
straight into it. In an exciting development for the search
for extraterrestrial life, researchers in Germany have created a new
and remarkably simple method that could revolutionize how we look
for life on other planets. The technique focuses on detecting
movement in microorganisms, specifically their attraction to certain chemicals, a
process known as chemotaxis. The team tested their method on
three different types of microbes, two bacteria and one archea,
using an amino acid called el Serina's bait. All three
species showed clear movement toward the chemical, which is particularly
significant since these organisms were chosen for their ability to
survive in extreme conditions, similar to what we might find
on Mars. What makes this discovery particularly promising is its simplicity.
Instead of requiring complex equipment, the method uses a basic
slide with two chambers separated by a thin membrane. Microbes
are placed on one side, and l serene on the
other If living organisms are present and capable of movement,
they'll naturally swim through the membrane toward the chemical. The
implications for future space missions are significant. L serene is
believed to exist on Mars, and if Martian life shares
any biochemical similarities with Earth life, this method could provide
a straightforward way to detect it. While some modifications would
be needed to make the system spaceworthy and automated, the
fundamental simplicity of the approach makes it an attractive option
for future missions. This method could be particularly valuable for
exploring places like Europa Jupiter's moon, where we suspect there
might be oceans that could harbor life. By making life
detection cheaper and faster, future missions could achieve more with
fewer resources, potentially accelerating our search for life beyond Earth.
Let's get a Mars update now. A fascinating discovery has
emerged from Mars, where scientists have uncovered what they're calling
a seismic highway deep within the red planet. This finding
comes from analyzing data from NASA's Insight Lander, which has
completely changed our understanding of how seismic waves travel through Mars.
By comparing marsquake data with impact craters identified by the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers found something unexpected. When meteoroids strike Mars,
they create seismic waves that travel much deeper into the
planet than previously thought. Rather than being dampened by the
crust as expected, these waves appear to find a more
direct route through the planet's mantle. One particular impact crater,
measuring seventy one feet in diameter, proved especially revealing. The
seismic signals from this impact were detected at the Cerberus
Fossy region, over one thousand miles away from the impact site.
This remarkable distance far exceeded what scientists thought possible based
on existing models of Mars's interior structure. The discovery is
forcing scientists to reassess their understanding of Mars's composition and
internal structure. As one researcher put it, they used to
think most seismic energy was confined to traveling within the
Martian crust. Instead, they've found this deeper, faster pathway through
the mantle, allowing seismic signals to reach much more distant
regions of the planet. This breakthrough was made possible through
the clever use of artificial intelligence. Scientists developed a machine
learning algorithm that could quickly analyze tens of thousands of
images from the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter, identifying impact craters in
a matter of days, rather than the years it would
have taken to do manually. What's particularly exciting about this
discovery is how it might help us better understand not
just Mars, but other rocky planets as well. By revealing
these unexpected properties of Mars's interior, were gaining valuable insights
into planetary evolution that could apply to Earth, the Moon,
and beyond. Here's news of a party. I wouldn't mind
going to. Maybe my invitation's in the mail, but I
won't hold my breathe. The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona,
is gearing up for an exciting celebration as it marks
the ninety fifth anniversary of one of astronomy's most significant discoveries.
Their sixth annual Wyhart Pluto Festival, running from February thirteenth
to seventeenth, will commemorate Clyde Tombaugh's historic discovery of Pluto
at this very location back in nineteen thirty. This year's
festival theme, to Boldly Go Beyond New Horizons, carries special
significance as it also marks the tenth anniversary of NASA's
New Horizons mission, which gave us our first detailed glimpses
of this fascinating dwarf planet. The celebration promises an engaging
mix of educational activities and social events, including a unique
Pluto pub crawl and exclusive book signings at their new
Astronomy Discovery Center. Among the distinguished guests is Adam Nimoy,
son of Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy, who brings an
intriguing connection between science fiction and real world astronomy. He'll
be joining an impressive panel alongside New Horizons Principal investigator
Alan Stern and renowned comet hunter David Levy at the
Orpheum Theater. The connection between the Niemoy family and the
Observatory runs deeper than you might expect. Leonard Nimoy, who
grew up in Boston's immigrant West End, had a genuine
fascination with astronomy and space exploration. He owned his own
telescope and even visited the Lowell Observatory, bringing home models
of satellites from his visits to various space facilities. The
festival will also feature a special presentation where Adam Nimoy
will discuss his book The Most Human, exploring his relationship
with his father, followed by a screening of his documentary
For the Love of Spock. It's a fitting tribute that
bridges the gap between science fiction's ability to inspire and
the real world pursuit of astronomical discovery that continues at
low observatory to this day. In an extraordinary discovery that's
pushing the boundaries of our understanding, astronomers have identified one
of the largest exoplanets ever found, orbiting a relatively small
star about two forty four light years from Earth named
Gaia four B. This mysterious world was discovered through the
European Space Agency's Gaia mission, which detected the planet by
observing how its massive gravitational pull affects its parent star's
movement through space. This celestial giant boastsa mass eleven point
eight times that of Jupiter, making it a truly remarkable find,
especially considering it orbits a relatively modest orange dwarf star
with just sixty four percent of our Sun's mass while
it follows an orbit similar in distance to Mars's path
around our Sun. Its cooler star means temperatures on Gaya
four B are likely quite chilly. What makes this discovery
particularly intriguing is how it challenges our traditional classifications of
cosmic objects. The line between what we call a planet
and what we consider a failed star or brown dwarf
becomes remarkably blurry with gyapour B. While its mass falls
below the typical thirteen jupiter mass threshold used to define
brown dwarfs, the way it likely formed raises fascinating questions
about its true nature. The star's chemical composition suggests there
might not have been enough heavy elements available during the
system's formation to build such a massive planet through traditional
planetary formation processes. This hints at the possibility that Guya
four B may have formed more like a star through
the gravitational collapse of a gas cloud, rather than the
way we think most planets come together. Whether we call
it a supersized planet or a failed star, giafour B
represents one of the most massive worlds ever found around
a lower mass star, making it an invaluable discovery for
understanding how these extraordinary systems form and evolve. As we
continue to analyze data from the Gay emission, we may
find more of these boundary pushing worlds that help us
better understand the diverse range of objects populating our galaxy.
Now try and get your brain around this. Just when
we thought we had a handle on the scale of
cosmic structures, astronomers have made a mind bending discovery that's
forcing us to think even bigger. They've found what appears
to be the largest structure ever observed in our universe,
and they've named it QUIPU, after an ancient ink and
measuring system. To give you an idea of just how
massive this structure is, it contains roughly two hundred quadrillion
times the mass of our sun. That's a number so
large it's rarely used, even in astronomy, where we regularly
deal with cosmic scale measurements. And if that wasn't impressive enough,
KEEPU stretches across one point three billion light years of space.
This superstructure isn't just breaking records, it's reshaping our understanding
of the cosmos. Kipu and four other new ll discovered
superstructures together contain forty five percent of all galaxy clusters
in their region of space, thirty percent of the galaxies,
and twenty five percent of all matter. They're essentially cosmic
metropolises on an unimaginable scale. These structures are so massive
that they actually distort our view of the universe. Their
immense gravitational influence affects everything from our measurements of the
cosmic microwave background the afterglow of the Big Bang, to
our calculations of how fast the universe is expanding. They
even act as enormous cosmic lenses, bending light from distant
objects as it travels toward Earth. While our current models
of the universe can account for structures like Kipu, these
cosmic giants won't last forever. Scientists predict that over time,
these superstructures will eventually break apart into smaller units, but
for now they stand as remarkable cosmic monuments, offering us
unprecedented insights into the largest scale architecture of our universe
and challengelenging our understanding of how such enormous structures could
have formed in the first place. In a groundbreaking move
that brings space exploration into the modern digital age, NASA
is hosting its first ever live Twitch stream directly from
the International Space Station. This historic broadcast, scheduled for February twelfth,
marks a significant step in NASA's efforts to connect with
new audiences through contemporary platforms. During this pioneering stream, viewers
will have a unique opportunity to interact with NASA astronaut
Don Pettitt, whose currently orbiting Earth aboard the Space Station,
and Matt Dominic, who recently returned from the Crew eight mission.
They'll be sharing insights about daily life in orbit and
discussing the fascinating research being conducted in the microgravity environment
of the ISS. This isn't just another space broadcast. It's
part of NASA's broader strategy to engage with digital audiences
where they are. As Britney Brown, director of NASA's Office
of Communications, Digital and Technology de Vision, explains, this stream
is just the beginning. The agency is planning more Twitch
exclusive content, responding directly to feedback from digital creators who've
been asking for content tailored to their communities. The stream
will do more than just showcase life in space. It's
designed to highlight ways for viewers to get involved with
NASA's mission, from citizen science projects to educational programs. Aimed
at inspiring the next generation of space explorers, the Artemis generation.
This broadcast represents a new chapter in how we engage
with space exploration. This initiative comes as part of NASA's
expanding digital presence, which includes the recent launch of their
own streaming platform, NASA Plus, and redesigned websites. It's a
clear signal that the Space Agency is committed to making
space exploration more accessible and engaging for everyone, wherever they
might be, even if that's just watching from their computer
screens two hundred and fifty miles below the International Space Station.
Thanks for joining me today on Astronomy Daily. As always,
it's been a pleasure bringing you the latest developments from
the fascinating world of space and astronomy. I'm anna, and
if you're hungry for more cosmic content, you can catch
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