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Speaker 1: Okay, so picture this October twenty ninth, twenty twenty five.

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The global astronomy community gets this. Well, this jolt all

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thanks to a three word post from a major tech

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figure Watch the skies soon, right.

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Speaker 2: But the thing is that wasn't really the start of

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it for the scientist. It was more like the public

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catching up to a controlled panic that had been building

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for months.

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Speaker 1: Because observatory is from Hawaii all the way to Chile.

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They already knew exactly where to point their telescopes.

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Speaker 2: Didn't they. Uh huh, they were already tracking this visitor. Yeah,

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an object moving incredibly fast.

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Speaker 1: And that visitor three I Atlas, it's currently well ripping

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up the rule book, traveling at a mind blowing ninety

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four kilometers per second.

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Speaker 2: And everything about it, I mean everything is shine, its movement,

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what it's made of, It all seems wrong or at

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least not what we expected.

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Speaker 1: That speed, those weird characteristics, and yeah, the sheer energy involved.

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That's what we're diving into today. We're going to unpack

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the data on.

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Speaker 2: Three Atlas exactly, try to sort the solid science from

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the maybe understandable fear, and explore what this object really

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means for our picture of the galaxy.

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Speaker 1: Our mission here is to make sense of it all.

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We'll get into the physics. Yes, that absolutely terrifying number,

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eight hundred and seventy thousand megatons of TNT potential energy,

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but also the bigger picture.

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Speaker 2: The statistics, the philosophy. You know, what does it mean

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to have these outsiders dropping by? So let's get started.

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Speaker 1: First things first, that letter I and three I atlas.

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It's not just some catalog number, is it. What does

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the International Astronomical Union signal when they assign that designation?

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Speaker 2: Well, the eye is huge means interstellar. It's a formal

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declaration that this object it wasn't born here, it didn't

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come from our solar system.

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Speaker 1: It's from another star system entirely precisely.

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Speaker 2: It's not gravitationally tied to our Sun. It's just passing through.

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Speaker 1: And when we say interstellar space, we're talking about immense

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time scales, aren't we. This isn't just drifting in from

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the outer edges of our own systems.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely not. This object could have been traveling through the

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void for millions, maybe even.

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Speaker 1: Billions of years, billions so like, while Earth was still forming,

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while continents were shifting potentially.

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Speaker 2: Yes, think about that, it's been out there, surfing the

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cosmic tides between stars, through radiation, through emptiness, and now

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now it happens to pass through our little corner of

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the galaxy.

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Speaker 1: It's humbling makes you feel tiny and incredibly lucky to

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even see it. Right, So let's define our neighborhood. Then

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where does ours end and interstellar begin? What's the boundary?

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Speaker 2: Generally we think of the Orc Cloud as the edge.

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It's this huge, sparse sphere of icy bodies, maybe a

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light year out. Anything inside that, even way out there,

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is still technically ours, still caught by the Sun's gravity.

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Speaker 1: It belongs to us gravitationally speaking, exactly.

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Speaker 2: But an interstellar object like three I atlas, it's on

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a different path, hyperbolic trajectory. It's moving so fast that

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our Sun can bend its path a bit, but it

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can't capture it.

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Speaker 1: It's got an escape velocity right from the start.

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Speaker 2: Precisely, it's a visitor destined to head back out into

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the galaxy.

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Speaker 1: Okay, and here's where it gets really weird. Historically speaking,

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before October twenty seventeen, how many of these interstellar visitors

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had we confirmed?

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Speaker 2: Zero? Absolutely none, in all of human history, with all

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our telescopes, nothing.

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Speaker 1: Confirmed, which is staggering when you think about it, it

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really is.

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Speaker 2: Then boom, twenty seventeen we get one eyeoma moving at

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eighty seven kilometers per second, clearly not from around here,

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biz our shape, weird movement, and then two ibor us

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off in twenty nineteen, a bit slower, maybe a bit

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more like a normal comet, but still definitely interstellar.

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Speaker 1: And now three I Atlas in twenty twenty five, the

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fastest yet ninety four kilometers per second. So three and

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just eight years after millennia of nothing.

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Speaker 2: Yep, it's a lot now.

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Speaker 1: Models suggests there should be loads of these things passing

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through all the time. So why the sudden detection spree?

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Why were they invisible for so long?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a combination of factors. They're usually pretty small,

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maybe a few kilometers across, and they're dark.

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Speaker 1: Right, traveling through intert stellar space for ages would make

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them dark, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 2: Cosmic tanning exactly, And they're moving incredibly fast, so they

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only become bright enough to see when they get close

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to the Sun, reflecting its light. But because they're moving

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so fast, that window that chance to spot them. It's

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tiny weeks, maybe months, and.

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Speaker 1: Most surveys weren't really looking for things moving that fast

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on that kind of trajectory.

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Speaker 2: Generally, no, they were optimized for slower bound objects like

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asteroids in our own system. These interstellar interlopers just zipped

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past before we could really lock onto them and confirm.

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Speaker 1: Their path, Which brings us to the tech that changed

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the game, the ATLA system. This isn't your average observatory telescope, right.

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Speaker 2: Not at all. ATLA stands for Astrooid Terrestrial Impact Last

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Alert System. It's specifically designed for planetary defense.

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Speaker 1: Based in Hawaii, Helacala and Mana Loa.

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Speaker 2: Correct, and its genius is that it scans the entire

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visible sky every twenty four hours. That rapid wide coverage

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is exactly what you need to catch something moving at

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extreme speeds, and it worked.

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Speaker 1: Umar fifteenth, twenty twenty five ATLAS flags this object moving

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at ninety four kilometers hyperbolic trajectory confirmed.

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Speaker 2: And it got its designation three IATLIS, the third confirmed

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visitor from beyond our solar system.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we've established it's an outsider, but it's the

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way it's acting that's got scientists really scratching their heads.

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Let's start with how it looks. It's reflectivity or albedo.

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What should a comet that's been wandering interstellar space look like?

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Speaker 2: Well, the classic description is a dirty snowball, and the

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emphasis is usually on dirty. They should be really dark.

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Think about it. Billions of years getting bombarded by cosmic rays.

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Radiation cooks the surface, turns complex organic molecules into this dark, tar.

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Speaker 1: Like stuff, so low reflectivity, like asphalt. Almost.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Typical comets in our system have an albedo around

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point zero four too point zero six, I mean, the

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absorb ninety four to ninety six percent of the light

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that hits them. Very dark, and three iatlists it clocks

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in at point one eight.

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Speaker 1: Zero point one eight. That's way brighter.

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Speaker 2: It's about three times more reflective than we'd expect, which

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is puzzling.

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Speaker 1: What does that imply? Is it made of something different

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or is it somehow clean?

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Speaker 2: That's the question. It suggests a surface that's either surprisingly pristine,

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like it hasn't suffered that interstellar weathering, or maybe it's

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made of unusually high amounts of reflective materials, things like water, ice,

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maybe even metallic compounds.

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Speaker 1: But wouldn't that pristine's surface be really weird for something

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that's traveled for potentially billions of years, shouldn't it be

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dark and grimy?

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Speaker 2: You'd think so. For it to stay that bright after

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such a long journey, it suggests either some kind of

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constant resurfacing process is happening, maybe through really active outgassing

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or well, or it forms somewhere with very different chemistry

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than we're used to. It really challenges our assumptions about

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how things age out there in the void.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so it's shininess is weird, but its movement is

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causing even more headaches. Right the outgassing, the jets.

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Speaker 2: Oh, yes, the unpredictable thrust. So we expect comets to

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develop tails they get near the sun. Solar heating fagorizes

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of the ice creates a coma. Jets of gas and

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dust shoot.

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Speaker 1: Off standard comet behavior.

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Speaker 2: Right, but observations, particularly from the European Southern Observatory's very

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large telescopes since March, show that three ie Atlas's jets

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are well. They're asymmetric.

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Speaker 1: Asymmetric meaning they're not just pointing straight away from the

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Sun exactly.

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Speaker 2: Some jets seen to be coming out sideways or even

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from parts of the comet that shouldn't be getting heated

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enough by the sun to produce strong jets.

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Speaker 1: You had a great analogy for this earlier.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like having an ice cube under a heat lamp,

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but it starts melting vigorously from the side that's in shadow.

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It doesn't make intuitive sense based just on solar heating.

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Speaker 1: So what does that mean? Practically?

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Speaker 2: It means the object is essentially pushing itself around in

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ways we can't easily predict. These asymmetric jets act like tiny,

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unpredictable rocket thrusters. They exert a non gravitational force on

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the comet.

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Speaker 1: And that makes calculating its feature path.

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Speaker 2: Difficult, extremely difficult. Even a tiny push, if it's consistent

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over months of years, can significantly alter its trajectory down

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the line.

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Speaker 1: Okay, weird reflectivity, weird movement. Let's get weirder. The chemistry

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spectroscopy tells us what things are made of by analyzing

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their light. What did the chemical fingerprint of three iatless reveal?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is where it gets really intriguing for the specialists.

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When we look at comets from our own solar system,

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we expect to see certain common ices water, carbon monoxide,

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carbon dioxide, methane. You know, the standard cold storage inventory

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of the outer solar system.

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Speaker 1: The usual suspects, right, But.

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Speaker 2: Three ietlists showed well, it showed silicon compounds in ratios

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that just don't match up with how we think commets.

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Speaker 1: Normally form silicon like rock forming stuff. How is that weird?

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Speaker 2: In a comment, it's not the presence of silicon itself,

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but the ratios and perhaps the form it's in, suggested

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by how it's appearing in the coma gas. Normally in

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the super cold regions where commets form siligin is locked

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up tight in rocky desk grains mixed with lots of ice.

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The ratios observed in three iatlyiss coma seem to suggest

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maybe a higher abundance of materials that usually need higher

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temperatures to form or vaporize, or maybe a structure that

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allows these specific silicon compounds to escape more easily than

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the standard ices. It hints at, well, maybe some high

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temperature processing in its past, or a layered structure that's

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very different from our dirty snowball model.

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Speaker 1: So it's not just what it's made of, but how

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those ingredients are mixed or structured exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's like finding I think the analogy used was finding

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a car engine inside beehive.

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, that paints a picture unexpected components in unexpected

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arrangements precisely.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't automatically mean aliens built it, obviously, but it

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does mean that the natural explanation requires us to invent

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some new ways commets might form or evolve in other

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star systems because our standard recipes don't produce this result wild.

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Speaker 1: And then there's the path itself, the trajectory analysis from

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NASA's Propulsion Lab JPL. They found something unnerving.

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Speaker 2: Unnerving might be a strong word, but definitely statistically improbable.

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Given its incredible speed, you'd expect three I atlas to

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just kind of barrel through the Solar System on a

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fairly random path slightly dent by the Sun in planets

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makes sense. Instead, the path it actually took involved a

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series of gravitational assists from Jupiter and Saturn. These weren't

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just minor nudges. The way it flew past them seemed

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almost optimized, like it was calculated to use their gravity

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perfectly to gain speed and sling itself out of the

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solar system with minimal energy loss.

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Speaker 1: Wait, calculated like intentionally?

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Speaker 2: No, No, gravity doesn't have intent, but the result of

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the interactions, the specific orbital parameters that had coming in

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led to this remarkably efficient trajectory. For a purely random

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object arriving from interstellar space, hitting those gravitational keyholes so

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precisely is well highly unlikely from a statistical standpoint. It

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adds another layer of huh to the whole thing.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's recap the weirdness. Too bright, moving unpredictably due

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to weird jets, strange chemical signature, and follows a path

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that looks suspiciously efficient.

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Speaker 2: That's pretty much the scientific headache in a nutshell.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's pivot to the part that gets headlines,

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the raw power. An object this size, moving this fast,

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what happens if it were to hit something? Let's talk

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kinetic energy. How big is this thing again?

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Speaker 2: Estimates put it around three point two kilometers in diameter,

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which is substantial. You know, maybe stack ten Empire State

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buildings and to end roughly.

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Speaker 1: Okay, big, But you said velocity is the key factor.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Remember basic physics, kinetic energy is halftimes mass times

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velocity squared. That squared term is critical. Doubling the velocity quadruples.

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Speaker 1: The energy, and ninety four kilometers per second is way

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faster than typical asteroids that might pose a threat.

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Speaker 2: Oh much faster. Your average near Earth asteroid or a

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NEYA might approach her somewhere between twenty maybe forty kilometers

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per second. They're bound to the Sun, so there's speeds

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are constrained by our solar systems dynamics.

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Speaker 1: But three iatlis isn't bound. It's coming in hot from

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interstellar space exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's carrying galactic level velocity. Yeah, And because energy scales

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with the square of that speed, its potential impact energy

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is dramatically higher than a typical nea of the same size.

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Speaker 1: So run the numbers, size, estimated density, that incredible speed,

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what's the energy release figure?

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Speaker 2: The calculation comes out to roughly eight hundred and seventy

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thousand megatons of TNT equivalent.

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Speaker 1: Eight hundred and seventy thousand megatons. Okay, need context. That

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sounds enormous.

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Speaker 2: It is. For comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was

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about fifteen kilotons, so this impact would be like seventeen

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seventeen and a half million Heroshima bombs going off at once. Yeah,

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now it's not chicks lub levels. The Banisar killer was

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much bigger, maybe one hundred million megatons, but eight hundred

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and seventy thousand mega tons that's still easily a cotton killer.

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Speaker 1: What would that look like?

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Speaker 2: You're talking to crater maybe fifty kilometers wide. Global earthquakes

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easily exceeding magnitude, and the sheer amount of dust and

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debris thrown into the atmosphere would block sunlight, causing catastrophic

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climate disruption for years, Global agriculture collapses. It's an extinction

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level event scenario, even if not total extinction like chicks eleven.

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Speaker 1: Okay, deep brecks. That's the potential. Now the crucial part

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the current reality. What do the trajectory experts at NASA's

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Center for Near Earth Objects Studies see NEEOS say right now.

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Speaker 2: Right now, and this is updated constantly. The calculated trajectory

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shows zero probability.

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Speaker 1: Of impact, zero zero probability. Where is it going? Then?

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Speaker 2: Its closest approach to Earth is predicted for August twenty

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twenty seven, and at that point it's projected to pass

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us at a distance of one point three astronomical units,

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which is about one hundred and ninety four million kilometers.

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That's roughly half the distance from Earth to Mars when

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Mars is at its foregust, so a very safe distance

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based on everything we can calculate using predictable physics, we

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are not in danger.

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Speaker 1: All right, that's the crucial reassurance, zero impact probability based

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on current data. But if that's the case, why all

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the intense monitoring, Why is this thing still top of

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the list for planetary defense people.

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Speaker 2: Because of the caveat, because of those weird asymmetric outgassing

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jets we talked.

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Speaker 1: About the tiny unpredictable thrusters exactly.

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Speaker 2: Our current trajectory calculation, the one that says zero impact

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probability relies mostly on gravity acting predictably, but free ialyis

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isn't acting predictably. It has this non gravitational force pushing

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it around.

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Speaker 1: And even a tiny push matters.

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Speaker 2: Over time immensely. These calculations are incredibly sensitive. If those

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jets provide even a tiny sustained push, maybe changing the

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velocity by just one meter per second, but kept up

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over six months or a year, Okay, by the time

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it gets to our neighborhood in twenty twenty seven, that

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tiny velocity change could translate into a trajectory shift of millions.

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Speaker 1: Of kilometers millions enough to potentially cross Earth's path.

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Speaker 2: It's physically possible. Yes, a sustained directed throat from those jets,

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even a very weak one, could theoretically nudge its path

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from a safe miss to an intersection course.

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Speaker 1: So the current zero probability assumes the jets won't push

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it in exactly the wrong way for a sustained period.

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Speaker 2: Essentially, yes, it assumes future non gravitational forces will average

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out or won't be perfectly aligned to cause trouble. But

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since the object has already shown unpredictable behavior, we can't

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just rely on that assumption.

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Speaker 1: We have to distinguish possible from probable. It's possible the

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jets could push it towards us, but it's currently considered

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highly improbable.

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Speaker 2: That's the correct way to think about it. The Planetary

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Defense Coordination Office tracks it intensely because while the probability

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is currently zero, the consequences of it changing are so high,

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and the object's behavior is already anomalous. We need constant

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monitoring of those jets to update the model in real time.

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Speaker 1: Unprecedented vigilance for an unprecedented object.

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Speaker 2: You got it. We're safe now, but we need to

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keep watching very very closely.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's pull back from the immediate object and look

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at the bigger pattern. Three interstellar visitors confirmed in eight

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years after none before. This isn't just about three i

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alis anymore, is it. It suggests something's changed and how

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we see the galaxy, or maybe how the galaxy interacts

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with us.

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Speaker 2: It's a paradigm shift in observational astronomy. Absolutely, and yes,

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we credit the improved technology pans stars at last for

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finding them, but even accounting for that, the numbers seem off.

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Researchers like those at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

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have run simulations. They model how many interstellar objects we

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should expect to be passing through based on estimates of

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star density, how planetary systems form and eject material, things.

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Speaker 1: Like that, and compare that prediction to what we're actually.

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Speaker 2: Seeing exactly, and the results are frankly startling.

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Speaker 1: Don't leave us hanging. What's the number.

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Speaker 2: The current detection rate seems to be exceeding those theoretical

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predictions by something like three hundred and forty percent.

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Speaker 1: Three hundred and forty percent. Okay, wow, that's not just

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a little bit higher. That's fundamentally more than expected.

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Speaker 2: Right. It's not a minor tweak you can explain away

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by saying, oh, our telescope's got a bit better. A

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three hundred and forty percent discrepancy suggests something profound.

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Speaker 1: Which leads to what you called the statistical dilemma.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, either our models for how many of these things

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should be out there wandering between stars are just catastrophically wrong,

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as some put it, or well, or something else is happening.

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Speaker 1: Let's unpack the wrong model's idea first. What part of

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the models might be so off?

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Speaker 2: It could be several things. Maybe planetary systems are way

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more efficient at ejecting comets and asteroids into interstellar space

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than we thought. Maybe giant planets do it more often,

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or systems are more dynamically unstable early.

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Speaker 1: On, so more stuff gets thrown out.

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Speaker 2: Or maybe these objects aren't all just ejected planetary bodies.

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Maybe there are other significant sources fragments from stellar events

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like supernovae, maybe a material captured from interstellar clouds that

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condenses differently, we might just be undercounting the sheer density

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of stuff floating between stars.

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Speaker 1: We need more data points, basically.

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Speaker 2: Desperately, and that's where the next generation of observatories comes in,

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specifically the Verra C Reuben Observatory in Chile.

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Speaker 1: That's the big one coming online soon, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it should be fully operational late twenty twenty five. Yeah,

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it's designed for massive deep sky surveys. Projection suggests Reuben

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could detect one or two new interceellar objects every.

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Speaker 1: Year one two year, Okay, that changes everything absolutely.

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Speaker 2: Instead of just three data points in a decade, we

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could have a catalog of maybe twenty thirty or more.

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That gives you real statistical power to test the models,

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figure out the true population, see if their compositions vary,

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and start answering where this three hundred and forty percent

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excess is coming from.

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Speaker 1: This flood of detections also fuels the more let's say

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controversial side of the discussion techno signatures, the idea that

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maybe some of these aren't natural. Doctor Avi lob At

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Harvard has been vocal about this.

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Speaker 2: He has and his core argument, especially regarding Umumwa and

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00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,680
now potentially relevant to three Iyeatless focuses on that unexplained

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non gravitational acceleration that weird push.

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Speaker 1: The standard explanation is outgassing right comet jets.

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Speaker 2: It is, but Low points out, particularly with Umumua, that

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the acceleration seemed very smooth, continuous, and there wasn't a

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visible coma or tail that you'd expect from vigorous outgassing.

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With three eyeatlis, we do see jets, but they're asymmetric

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and unpredictable.

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Speaker 1: So Loeb's point is, if the push doesn't look exactly

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like standard comet outgassing, then.

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Speaker 2: We have to at least consider other possibilities before defaulting

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to a natural explanation that doesn't quite fit the data.

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00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,519
He argues for keeping the possibility of an artificial origin,

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00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,599
say a light sale in Omo's case case, or I'd

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be something else for three iatlys on the table as

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a hypothesis to be tested, not dismissed out of hand.

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Speaker 1: It's about applying the scientific method rigorously, even to uncomfortable possibilities.

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Speaker 2: That's his stance. If the phenomenon violates known physics or

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00:19:57,079 --> 00:20:01,359
observed behaviors for natural objects, we need extraordinary evidence for

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any explanation, whether it's a new kind of natural object

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or something artificial.

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Speaker 1: And this isn't just theoretical anymore. People are actively looking

400
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for technological signs now right.

401
00:20:09,839 --> 00:20:13,119
Speaker 2: Yes. The Breakthrough Listen initiative funded by Yuri Milner is

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a prime example. They're using powerful radio telescopes to specifically

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target these interstellar visitors.

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Speaker 1: Listening for signals emissions.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, any kind of patterned electromagnetic emission that would indicate technology,

406
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rather than just the random radio noise of natural objects

407
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reflecting solar radiation or emitting thermal energy. It's a proactive search.

408
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,680
We're not just waiting for ET to call. We're checking

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our unusual visitors for phone signals, so to speak.

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Speaker 1: That feels like a major shift driven by these weird

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objects forcing the issue.

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Speaker 2: It absolutely is. The data is making us ask questions

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we might have previously considered fringe.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so the scientific response to three I at list

415
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,240
has been massive. You mentioned this is maybe the most

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intense observation campaign ever for a single object.

417
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Speaker 2: It really feels like at the level of the international

418
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coordination is unprecedented. Every major telescope facility ground in space

419
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that can observe it is observing it. The data sharing

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is happening at incredible speed.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk specifics the James web Space Telescope JWST. It

422
00:21:13,759 --> 00:21:16,799
spent fourteen straight hours staring at this thing. That's a

423
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huge chunk of time for web What did it find?

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Speaker 2: That dedicated time yielded some fascinating thermal data? JWST looked

425
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in the infrared, measuring the heat coming off.

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Speaker 1: The object, and did it just look like a cold

427
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rock heated by the sun.

428
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Speaker 2: Not entirely. The surface temperature variations didn't quite match what

429
00:21:36,079 --> 00:21:39,720
you'd expect from simple passive solar heating as it rotates,

430
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you know, hot side facing the sun, cold side facing space,

431
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smooth transition.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't smooth.

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Speaker 2: There were sharper, sort of inconsistent temperature differences across the surface,

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deviations from the expected thermal curve.

435
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Speaker 1: What could cause that? Is it hot inside?

436
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,680
Speaker 2: Well? An internal heat source like radioactive decay is one possibility,

437
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though considered unlikely for something this size. A more plausible

438
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interpretation is that the surface composition or structure is highly non.

439
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Speaker 1: Uniform, meaning some parts heat up or cool down differently

440
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:11,160
than others exactly.

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Speaker 2: Maybe patches of highly reflective ice next to patches of

442
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very dark absorbit material or areas with very different density

443
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or thermal conductivity. It could suggest significant internal variations in

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what it's made of, maybe layers of different materials.

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Speaker 1: Which ties back to the weird chemistry and reflectivity. Again,

446
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it's all pointing towards complexity.

447
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,359
Speaker 2: It seems to be. Yes, the thermal data adds another

448
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piece of the puzzle, suggesting this isn't just a simple

449
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uniform dooty.

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Speaker 1: Snowball and other instruments are adding crucial pieces too. The

451
00:22:40,559 --> 00:22:46,559
European Space Agencies Gaia spacecraft providing incredible positional accuracy.

452
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Speaker 2: Yes, Gaia's precision is astounding. We're talking accuracy down to

453
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micro arc seconds.

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Speaker 1: Translate that where us It's.

455
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:55,759
Speaker 2: Like being able to measure the width of a coin

456
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lying on the surface of the Moon as seen from Earth.

457
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Speaker 1: Okay, that's ridiculous precision. Why is that needed?

458
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Speaker 2: It goes back to the unpredictable jets. Because three I

459
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,039
atlas is pushing itself around slightly, standard orbital tracking can

460
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accumulate errors quickly. Gaya provides these ultra precise reference points

461
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in its position, allowing us to constantly recalibrate the trajectory

462
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models and keep that zero impact probability number reliable even

463
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with the non gravitational forces acting on it.

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Speaker 1: So we have Gaya locking down the position, China's fast

465
00:23:26,519 --> 00:23:29,880
radio telescope listening in Japan's super telescope nailing down at

466
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seven point three hour rotation. It's a full court press.

467
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Speaker 2: Absolutely in all this data, all this uncertainty, it's sparking

468
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serious talk about the next step, maybe going to.

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Speaker 1: It and intercept mission for something moving at ninety four

470
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kilometers per second.

471
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 2: It's incredibly challenging, but yes, concepts are being studied places

472
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,039
like JOHNS. Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory or looking into it.

473
00:23:51,039 --> 00:23:55,039
It would require a very fast spacecraft, probably launched on

474
00:23:55,079 --> 00:23:59,559
something with massive capability like SpaceX's starship, which was floated

475
00:23:59,559 --> 00:24:02,359
as an option shortly after that cryptic tweet went out.

476
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,599
Speaker 1: Wow, so we're moving from just watching to potentially chasing

477
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:06,039
it down.

478
00:24:06,559 --> 00:24:10,200
Speaker 2: The thinking is that this object is so strange, maybe

479
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,000
the only way to truly understand its nature, natural or

480
00:24:13,039 --> 00:24:15,960
otherwise is to get sensors right up close to it.

481
00:24:16,519 --> 00:24:19,279
Sample the COMA imaged the surface and high resolution.

482
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,079
Speaker 1: This whole saga detection, the anomalies the global response. It

483
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:25,480
feels like more than just science. What does this moment

484
00:24:25,559 --> 00:24:26,400
really signify?

485
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 2: I think it signifies our arrival at a new level

486
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:34,519
of cosmic awareness. Seriously, think back just thirty years nineteen

487
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,880
ninety five, we hadn't even confirmed any planets orbiting other stars. Yet,

488
00:24:39,279 --> 00:24:42,079
the idea of tracking a visitor from another star system

489
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,799
in real time pure science fiction and narrator.

490
00:24:44,839 --> 00:24:46,519
Speaker 1: It routinely almost.

491
00:24:46,279 --> 00:24:49,720
Speaker 2: We're tracking it, analyzing its chemistry from millions of klounters away,

492
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,519
coordinating observations across the globe, debating its fundamental nature, even

493
00:24:54,559 --> 00:24:58,079
contemplating chasing it down. It shows how far human science

494
00:24:58,079 --> 00:24:59,200
and collaboration have come.

495
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,599
Speaker 1: We're finally to really engage with these profound questions about

496
00:25:02,599 --> 00:25:04,279
our place in the galaxy exactly.

497
00:25:04,319 --> 00:25:07,079
Speaker 2: It proves our Solar system isn't some isolated island. It's

498
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:12,119
part of a dynamic, interconnected galaxy. Material maybe information flows

499
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,960
between stars, and we're finally capable of noticing, of analyzing,

500
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,079
of asking the right questions when something unusual arrives, like.

501
00:25:19,039 --> 00:25:20,599
Speaker 1: The universe is sending us puzzle.

502
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:24,319
Speaker 2: Pieces or maybe challenges. Every answer we get about three

503
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,519
iat lists seems to spawn ten more complex questions it's

504
00:25:27,599 --> 00:25:31,079
driving science forward in unexpected ways. It's like we're becoming

505
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,759
participants in the Cosmo's understanding itself, and that's well, that's

506
00:25:34,759 --> 00:25:35,400
pretty amazing.

507
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,960
Speaker 1: Okay, let's bring it home. Key takeaways for everyone listening.

508
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,039
This object three iat lists is fascinating, it's anomalis it

509
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,279
carries immense energy due to its speed.

510
00:25:44,519 --> 00:25:46,799
Speaker 2: But the most critical fact right now is that its

511
00:25:46,799 --> 00:25:51,759
current calculated trajectory poses zero threat to Earth. The closest

512
00:25:51,799 --> 00:25:54,720
approach in August twenty twenty seven is predicted to be

513
00:25:54,759 --> 00:25:58,599
a very safe one hundred and ninety four million kilometers.

514
00:25:58,079 --> 00:26:01,279
Speaker 1: Away, and it's vital to follow credible stars for updates. Right,

515
00:26:01,519 --> 00:26:05,079
NASA esay, the IAU not random speculation.

516
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,599
Speaker 2: Absolutely, there's real scientific uncertainty here about its composition, its

517
00:26:08,599 --> 00:26:11,240
origin those jets. But that uncertainty is normal, it's how

518
00:26:11,279 --> 00:26:13,759
science works. Is not evidence of a cover up, it's

519
00:26:13,759 --> 00:26:15,039
evidence of active discovery.

520
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:17,880
Speaker 1: So, whether three I Atlas ultimately forces us to rewrite

521
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,799
textbooks on comet formation across the galaxy, or if it

522
00:26:20,839 --> 00:26:23,960
opens up that even bigger debate about techno signatures, the

523
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,759
real story here might be about us.

524
00:26:26,079 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 2: I think. So the fact that we can do this track,

525
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:34,240
interstellar objects debate their nature with precision, coordinate globally planned

526
00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:37,359
potential missions. It means we're living in a future that

527
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,799
previous generations could only dream about. The capacity of human

528
00:26:41,839 --> 00:26:43,240
science is the headline here.

529
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,960
Speaker 1: We are actively engaging with the universe in a way

530
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:46,960
we never could before.

531
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not just passive observers anymore so.

532
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 1: The final thought for everyone listening, keep looking up, keep

533
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,920
asking those big questions, because the story of our galactic

534
00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,599
neighborhood and the truly strange visitors at some times sends

535
00:27:00,599 --> 00:27:02,839
her a way. Is clearly just getting started.