Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host Anna. On today's
Speaker 1: cosmic Journey, we're exploring some truly mind bending developments in
Speaker 1: the world of space and astronomy. The universe has thrown
Speaker 1: scientists a major curveball, with new findings suggesting our understanding
Speaker 1: of dark energy might be completely wrong. We'll also look
Speaker 1: at the ongoing saga of Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft and
Speaker 1: China's ambitious plans to enter the crude spaceflight arena. Plus,
Speaker 1: we've got fascinating discoveries to share, from an exoplanet so
Speaker 1: strangely light that scientists can't figure out what it's made of,
Speaker 1: to dramatic evidence of a white dwarf star actually devouring
Speaker 1: one of its planets. And we'll explore new research suggesting
Speaker 1: that the beautiful feathery structures seen in spiral galaxies might
Speaker 1: form through surprisingly simple physics. So buckle up for a
Speaker 1: tour of the latest breakthroughs and mysteries from the cosmos
Speaker 1: as we journey together through the wonders of our universe.
Speaker 1: And this first story is a real mind bender. The
Speaker 1: universe just might be weirder than we can thought. Astronomers
Speaker 1: studying the largest ever map of the cosmos have uncovered
Speaker 1: evidence that could dramatically shake our fundamental understanding of how
Speaker 1: the universe works. Using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument known
Speaker 1: as DS, scientists have analyzed nearly fifteen million galaxies and
Speaker 1: quasers spanning an incredible eleven billion years of cosmic time,
Speaker 1: and what they found suggests we might have gotten dark
Speaker 1: energy completely wrong. Dark energy, that mysterious force believed to
Speaker 1: be driving the accelerating expansion of our universe has long
Speaker 1: been thought to be constant, but this new analysis hints
Speaker 1: at something far more complex. Dark energy may actually be
Speaker 1: evolving over time. This isn't just a minor adjustment to
Speaker 1: our models. It's potentially a complete rewrite of the prevailing
Speaker 1: lambda CDM model of cosmology that scientists have relied on
Speaker 1: for decades. The findings came from combining Dessi's observations with
Speaker 1: other critical data, including information from star explosions, the cosmic
Speaker 1: microwave background, and weak gravitational lensing. Together, these diverse observations
Speaker 1: point to the same surprising conclusion. The fundamental force we
Speaker 1: thought was constant throughout cosmic history appears to be changing.
Speaker 1: David Schlegel, a DESI project scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley
Speaker 1: National Laboratory, put it plainly. It's true that the dc
Speaker 1: results alone are consistent with the simplest explanation for dark energy,
Speaker 1: which would be an unchanging cosmological constant. But we can't
Speaker 1: ignore other data that extend to both the earlier and
Speaker 1: later universe. Combining Dessi's results with those other data is
Speaker 1: when it gets truly weird, and it appears that this
Speaker 1: dark energy must be dynamic, meaning that it changes with time.
Speaker 1: This realization puts science at a remarkable crossroads. Dark energy
Speaker 1: and dark matter together make up approximately ninety five percent
Speaker 1: of our universe, yet they remain largely mysterious as they
Speaker 1: don't interact with light and can't be detected directly. If
Speaker 1: dark energy is indeed changing over time, it would force
Speaker 1: us to completely rethink the Lambda CDM model that maps
Speaker 1: the growth of the cosmos and predicts its ultimate fate.
Speaker 1: As astrophysicist Katherine Hayman's from the University of Edinburgh noted,
Speaker 1: it's kind of exciting that the universe has thrown us
Speaker 1: a curveball here. The existing theories simply don't align with
Speaker 1: what we're now observing the numbers don't add up, and
Speaker 1: scientists are facing the thrilling and terrifying prospect of having
Speaker 1: to develop new physics to explain what's happening. What makes
Speaker 1: this finding particularly compelling is that it pushes the observation's
Speaker 1: disagreement with the standard model to the very edge of
Speaker 1: what physicists consider a significant discovery. With more data collection underway,
Speaker 1: we may soon cross that threshold and enter a new
Speaker 1: era of cosmological understanding. If dark energy is indeed evolving,
Speaker 1: we're looking at a fundamental shift in our understanding of
Speaker 1: the universe. This isn't just an academic concern. It has
Speaker 1: profound implications for the ultimate fate of everything we know.
Speaker 1: For decades, cosmologists have built their models on the assumption
Speaker 1: that dark energy remains constant throughout cosmic time, exerting a
Speaker 1: steady outward pressure that counteracts gravity's inward pull. What's particularly
Speaker 1: striking about DS's findings is how they transform when combined
Speaker 1: with other cosmic observations. While desi's data alone shows only
Speaker 1: a weak tension with the standard lambda CDM model, adding
Speaker 1: information from the cosmic microwave background, supernovas and gravitational lensing
Speaker 1: pushes this discrepancy to near discovery levels. The statistical significance
Speaker 1: approaches what physicists call a five sigma result, the gold
Speaker 1: standard for declaring a new discovery in physics. According to Schlegel,
Speaker 1: these combined observations suggest that either dark energy is becoming
Speaker 1: less important today or it was more important early in
Speaker 1: the universe. Either scenario would dramatically alter our understanding of
Speaker 1: cosmic evolution. If dark energy weakens over time, the universe's
Speaker 1: expansion might eventually slow, potentially even reversing into a Big crunch. Conversely,
Speaker 1: if dark energy strengthened in the past and maintains its
Speaker 1: current level, we could be headed for an accelerated expansion
Speaker 1: that tears apart galaxies, stars, and eventually atoms themselves, the
Speaker 1: so called Big Rip scenario. This discovery challenges Einstein's cosmological constant,
Speaker 1: represented by Lambda in the Lambda CDM model. Einstein originally
Speaker 1: introduced this constant as a mathematical fudge factor to create
Speaker 1: a static universe, later calling it his greatest blunder when
Speaker 1: the expanding universe was discovered. Ironically, dark energy later revived
Speaker 1: this concept, but now even this updated version appears insufficient.
Speaker 1: Adam Reese, who won the twenty eleven Nobel Prize in
Speaker 1: Physics for discovering dark energy's accelerating effect, considers this potentially
Speaker 1: the biggest hint we have about the nature of dark
Speaker 1: energy in the twenty five years since we discovered it.
Speaker 1: As he explains, if confirmed and it literally says, dark
Speaker 1: energy is not what most everyone thought a static source
Speaker 1: of energy, but perhaps something even more exotic. Fortunately, a
Speaker 1: fleet of new experiments is joining the investigation. The EUCLID
Speaker 1: Space Telescope, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and desaih itself,
Speaker 1: which will eventually measure fifty million galaxies and quasars, will
Speaker 1: provide unprecedented data to confirm or refute these findings. These
Speaker 1: observations will help determine whether we're truly witnessing the beginning
Speaker 1: of a cosmological revolution. What makes this scientific moment so
Speaker 1: exciting is its profound uncertainty. We stand at the threshold
Speaker 1: of potentially rewriting our understanding of the universe's basic operating principles.
Speaker 1: Dark energy may be losing strength as the universe ages,
Speaker 1: or it might have played a more significant role in
Speaker 1: the early universe than previously thought. Either way, the implications
Speaker 1: ripple through every aspect of cosmology, from the birth of
Speaker 1: the first stars to the ultimate destiny of all cosmic structures.
Speaker 1: Next up in today's news, Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft is
Speaker 1: facing yet another setback, with NASA officials now considering whether
Speaker 1: a third uncrewed test flight will be necessary before the
Speaker 1: vehicle can carry astronauts again. This comes after what was
Speaker 1: supposed to be an eight day test mission turned into
Speaker 1: a nine month ordeal for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams,
Speaker 1: the two NASA astronauts, finally returned to Earth this week,
Speaker 1: but not on the Boeing spacecraft that took them to
Speaker 1: the International Space Station. Instead, they splashed down in a
Speaker 1: SpaceX Dragon capsule, a vivid illustration of how Boeing's technical
Speaker 1: problems have forced NASA to rely on its competitor. We're
Speaker 1: looking at some options for Starliner should we need to
Speaker 1: a flying at uncrewed, Steve Stitch, chief of NASA's Commercial
Speaker 1: Crew Program, told reporters the space agency wants to validate
Speaker 1: that Starliner's thrusters can perform as designed in the unforgiving
Speaker 1: environment of space, something impossible to fully simulate in ground tests.
Speaker 1: The issues with Starliner's first crude mission emerged shortly after launch,
Speaker 1: when the spacecraft suffered five thruster failures and experienced concerning
Speaker 1: leaks of helium, which is used to pressurize the propulsion system.
Speaker 1: These problems were serious enough that NASA determined it would
Speaker 1: be too risky for Wilmore and Williams to return on
Speaker 1: the spacecraft, leaving it to fly back to Earth empty
Speaker 1: while the astronauts remained on the station. For Boeing, this
Speaker 1: represents not just a technical challenge, but a competitive disadvantage.
Speaker 1: While Starliner has struggled through its development process, SpaceX's Crew
Speaker 1: Dragon has already flown eleven astronaut missions for NASA, establishing
Speaker 1: itself as the reliable workhourse of America's human spaceflight program.
Speaker 1: The financial implications for Boeing are significant as well. The
Speaker 1: aerospace giant has already absorbed more than two billion dollars
Speaker 1: in charges related to Starliner development. Since twenty sixteen, the
Speaker 1: sealing of Boeing's fixed price four point two billion dollars
Speaker 1: NASA contract has grown by three hundred twenty six million
Speaker 1: dollars since BA being awarded in twenty fourteen, with the
Speaker 1: company having received roughly half that amount during development. This
Speaker 1: stands in start contrast to SpaceX, which has not only
Speaker 1: successfully delivered on its initial contract but has secured additional
Speaker 1: missions Due to Starliner's delays. The value of SpaceX's initial
Speaker 1: three billion dollars NASA contract has grown to nearly five
Speaker 1: billion dollars, largely because NASA has had to book extra
Speaker 1: dragonflights while waiting for Starliner to become operational. Boeing plans
Speaker 1: a ground test this summer, focusing on propulsion system components
Speaker 1: aimed at validating potential fixes, but the timeline for Starliner's
Speaker 1: next flight, crude or uncrewed, remains uncertain as NASA and
Speaker 1: Boeing engineers work through the complex technical challenges that have
Speaker 1: plagued the spacecraft's development. The technical issues plaguing Starliner represent
Speaker 1: yet another costly setback for Boeing in what has become
Speaker 1: an increasingly challenging development program. The aerospace giant has already
Speaker 1: invested more than two billion dollars of its own money
Speaker 1: into the spacecraft, trying to create a viable competitor to
Speaker 1: SpaceX's crew Dragon. NASA officials are now carefully weighing their options,
Speaker 1: with Steve Stitch emphasizing that a key purpose of an
Speaker 1: additional uncrewded test would be to verify that Starliner's thrusters
Speaker 1: can perform properly in the vacuum of space. This propulsion
Speaker 1: system has proven particularly troublesome, with the thruster failures and
Speaker 1: helium leaks during the first crude mission, highlighting problems that
Speaker 1: couldn't be adequately identified during ground testing. Boeing's financial commitment
Speaker 1: to Starliner keeps growing beyond initial projections. The ceiling of
Speaker 1: their fixed price NASA contract has expanded by three hundred
Speaker 1: twenty six million dollars since being awarded a decade ago,
Speaker 1: reaching four point two billion dollars total, Yet the company
Speaker 1: has only received about half that amount so far during
Speaker 1: the development phase, with certification for routine flights still elusive. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Boeing isn't just looking at Starliner as a NASA taxi service.
Speaker 1: The company has broader commercial aspirations to use the spacecraft
Speaker 1: for transporting customers to and from privately built space stations
Speaker 1: currently in early development. This represents the kind of non
Speaker 1: government revenue stream that SpaceX has already started capturing with
Speaker 1: its fully private Dragon missions, but Starliner's uncertain future complicates
Speaker 1: these commercial ambitions. A NASA Safety advisory panel noted in
Speaker 1: January that while significant progress was being made in postflight
Speaker 1: technical investigations, the propulsion system issues remain unresolved. Until Boeing
Speaker 1: can definitively fix these problems, Starliner's path to certification and
Speaker 1: commercial viability remains blocked. The contrast with SpaceX grows starker
Speaker 1: with each passing year. While Starliner has yet to complete
Speaker 1: a fully successful crude mission crew, Dragon has become the
Speaker 1: workhourse of America's human spaceflight program, with eleven successful astronaut
Speaker 1: missions already completed. This operational track record gives SpaceX a
Speaker 1: tremendous advantage in both government and private markets. For Boeing,
Speaker 1: the stakes go beyond just this spacecraft program. The company's
Speaker 1: reputation as a premier aerospace manufacturer has already faced challenges
Speaker 1: with its commercial airline issues. Starliner was meant to showcase
Speaker 1: Boeing's capabilities in the growing commercial space sector, but instead
Speaker 1: the ongoing difficulties have highlighted the company's struggles to deliver
Speaker 1: complex space systems on budget and on schedule. Meanwhile, China's
Speaker 1: space industry seems to be going from strength to strength.
Speaker 1: In a bold move that signals a new era for
Speaker 1: China's space ambitions, a commercial space company called Beijing z
Speaker 1: Way Yutong Technology, better known as AZ Space, has announced
Speaker 1: plans to conduct orbital crude flight tests by twenty twenty
Speaker 1: seven or twenty twenty eight. This represents a significant milestone
Speaker 1: for China's commercial space sector, which until now has seen
Speaker 1: human spaceflight as the exclusive domain of government agencies. K
Speaker 1: Shiao Min, chairman of AIDS Space, made the announcement to
Speaker 1: Chinese media last week, setting a timeline that would make
Speaker 1: his company the first private Chinese entity to send humans
Speaker 1: to orbit. While China's government run human spaceflight program has
Speaker 1: successfully operated the Tiangong space station using Shenzho spacecraft launched
Speaker 1: on Long March rockets, this would mark the first time
Speaker 1: a commercial company attempts such a mission. Founded just five
Speaker 1: years ago in twenty nineteen, AZ Space has focused its
Speaker 1: business on spacecraft manufacturing and space tourism. The relatively young
Speaker 1: company has secured backing from several venture capital firms, though
Speaker 1: specific funding details for their ambitious human spaceflight program weren't disclosed.
Speaker 1: This leaves questions about how the company will finance such
Speaker 1: a technically challenging and expensive endeavor. The path to crewed
Speaker 1: spaceflight involves several intermediate steps, which, as space has already begun.
Speaker 1: The company has more immediate plans for twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: including life launches of their self developed B three hundred
Speaker 1: spacecraft and the more advanced Deer five spacecraft. These missions
Speaker 1: are scheduled for July and September this year, respectively, with
Speaker 1: Jang explaining that these spacecraft will conduct critical on orbit, docking, verification,
Speaker 1: and re entry tests. This follows Azy Space's December twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three launch of their Deer one spacecraft aboard an
Speaker 1: I Space Hyperbola one rocket. The company is also developing
Speaker 1: the larger C two thousand spacecraft with a two thousand
Speaker 1: kilograms payload capacity, which they see as a stepping stone
Speaker 1: toward their ultimate goal of human rated spacecraft. While the
Speaker 1: timeline appears highly ambitious by global spaceflight standards, the announcement
Speaker 1: comes in the context of strong governmental support for China's
Speaker 1: commercial space sector. The central government has designated commercial space
Speaker 1: as a key emerging industry to be supported and promoted,
Speaker 1: with local and provincial governments actively working to attract space
Speaker 1: companies and foster innovation ecosystems. What remains unclear is whether
Speaker 1: azy space will have access to state owned technology for
Speaker 1: their reusable and crude spacecraft plans, or if they'll need
Speaker 1: to develop these critical systems independently. Either way, this announcement
Speaker 1: signals that China's commercial space race is accelerating to new heights.
Speaker 1: China's approach to commercial space has evolved dramatically over the
Speaker 1: past decade. When the government first began opening the sector
Speaker 1: to private capital in late twenty fourteen, the initial focus
Speaker 1: was quite narrow, primarily small launch vehicles and satellites. This
Speaker 1: marked a significant shift from the exclusively state run space
Speaker 1: program that had defined China's approach for decades. In the
Speaker 1: years that followed, we've seen a remarkable expansion in both
Speaker 1: the scope and ambition of China's commercial space ventures. What
Speaker 1: began with modest rockets and small satellites has progressively grown
Speaker 1: to encompass ever larger liquid propellant launchers with potential reusability,
Speaker 1: diverse space systems and applications, remote sensing and communecations, constellations,
Speaker 1: and more recently, low cost, reusable cargo spacecraft designed to
Speaker 1: service the Tiangong Space Station. The emergence of two planned
Speaker 1: low Earth orbit mega constellations has provided a crucial market
Speaker 1: opportunity for these commercial launch companies to establish themselves and
Speaker 1: build sustainable business models. Much like we've seen with SpaceX
Speaker 1: in the United States, these large satellite deployments create the
Speaker 1: consistent launch demand needed to justify investment in rocket development.
Speaker 1: With AZS Space now setting its sites on crude orbital spaceflight,
Speaker 1: we're witnessing what appears to be the beginning of a
Speaker 1: new phase in China's commercial space evolution. This represents a
Speaker 1: fundamental shift where private firms may soon undertake human spaceflight
Speaker 1: activities that have traditionally been the exclusive domain of China's
Speaker 1: state run human spaceflight agency. This transformation is occurring with
Speaker 1: explicit government encouragement. China's central government has formally designated commercial
Speaker 1: space as a key emerging industry deserving of support and promotion.
Speaker 1: This top down endorsement cascades through various levels of government,
Speaker 1: with local and provincial authorities actively competing to attract commercial
Speaker 1: space companies to their regions through incentives and infrastructure development.
Speaker 1: The strategy appears designed to foster innovation ecosystems around space
Speaker 1: technology while maintaining strategic oversight of the sector's development. It
Speaker 1: creates a hybrid model where private capital and entrepreneurial energy
Speaker 1: can accelerate technological progress and commercial applications, while the government
Speaker 1: maintains involvement in critical aspects of space development. As this
Speaker 1: landscape continues to evolve, the boundaries between commercial and state
Speaker 1: space activities in China may become increasingly fluid, potentially creating
Speaker 1: new models for how public and private sectors collaborate in
Speaker 1: space exploration and utilization. In a fascinating discovery that highlights
Speaker 1: the diversity of worlds beyond our Solar system, astronomers have
Speaker 1: recently identified two exoplanets orbiting a star called TOI one thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred fifty three, located approximately two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: light years away in the Draco constellation. These newly found
Speaker 1: worlds represent planetary types that are actually quite common throughout
Speaker 1: our galaxy, but completely absent from our own Solar System.
Speaker 1: The discovery team used NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or
Speaker 1: tests along with the HARPS in high resolution spectrograph to
Speaker 1: confirm these distant worlds. What makes this finding particularly exciting
Speaker 1: is the nature of the planets themselves. One is classified
Speaker 1: as a super earth, while the other is what astronomers
Speaker 1: call a sub neptune. While both planets are intriguing, it's
Speaker 1: the sub neptune, designated TOI one thousand, four hundred fifty
Speaker 1: three C that has astronomers truly puzzled. This world is
Speaker 1: approximately two point two times the size of Earth, which
Speaker 1: isn't unusual for its type. However, what's extraordinary is its mass,
Speaker 1: measuring just two point nine times that of Earth. This
Speaker 1: creates an extremely low density that has left scientists scratching
Speaker 1: their heads about what this planet could possibly be made of.
Speaker 1: To put this in perspective, this makes TOI one thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty three C one of the least
Speaker 1: dense sub neptunes ever discovered. The planet's lightweight nature suggests
Speaker 1: one of two fascinating possibilities. Either it has an unusually thick,
Speaker 1: hydrogen rich atmosphere extending far above its surface, or perhaps
Speaker 1: its composition is dominated by water rather than rock. The
Speaker 1: combination of precise size and mass measurements allowed researchers to
Speaker 1: calculate the planet's density with confidence, which is what revealed
Speaker 1: this peculiar characteristic. As astrophysicist Manu Staalport, who worked on
Speaker 1: the study, explained, the two planets present an interesting contrast
Speaker 1: in their characteristics. While two OI one thousand, four hundred
Speaker 1: fifty three B appears to be a fairly typical rocky
Speaker 1: super Earth orbiting close to its star with a four
Speaker 1: point three day cycle, two I one thousand, four hundred
Speaker 1: fifty three C defies easy categorization. This puzzling world raises
Speaker 1: fundamental questions about planetary formation and evolution. How could a
Speaker 1: planet grow to such a size while maintaining such low density,
Speaker 1: what processes shaped its development, and what might its surface
Speaker 1: or atmosphere be like. These mysteries make TOI one thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred fifty three C an exceptionally promising target for
Speaker 1: future atmospheric studies. The research team employed a two pronged
Speaker 1: approach to characterize these distant worlds. The transit method, using
Speaker 1: test data, revealed each planet's size and orbital period by
Speaker 1: measuring the slight dimming of starlight as they passed in
Speaker 1: front of their host star. Meanwhile, the radial velocity measurements
Speaker 1: from Harpsend detected the subtle gravitational wobble each planet induces
Speaker 1: on the star, allowing scientists to determine their masses. What's
Speaker 1: particularly fascinating about the system is that the two planets
Speaker 1: orbit in a configuration close to what astronomers call a
Speaker 1: three to two resonance. This means that for every three
Speaker 1: complete orbits of the inner planet, the outer planet completes
Speaker 1: almost exactly two. Such orbital resonances aren't random. They're considered
Speaker 1: a natural consequence of orbital migration, providing important clues about
Speaker 1: how these planets moved and eventually settled into their current positions.
Speaker 1: Two I one thousand, four hundred and fifty three ce's
Speaker 1: extraordinarily low density presents an exciting scientific puzzle. For a
Speaker 1: planet its size to be so light weight, it must
Speaker 1: have a fundamentally different composition than the rocky worlds we're
Speaker 1: familiar with. The evidence points to either a substantial hydrogen
Speaker 1: rich atmosphere that significantly increases the planet's diameter without adding
Speaker 1: much mass, or perhaps an interior largely composed of water
Speaker 1: rather than denser materials like rock and metal. And this
Speaker 1: makes TYI one thousand, four hundred fifty three C an
Speaker 1: ideal candidate for future atmospheric studies Using next generation instruments
Speaker 1: like the James Web Space Telescope. JWST's advanced capabilities could
Speaker 1: potentially analyze the planet's atmosphere, determining whether it's primarily hydrogen
Speaker 1: or water dominated, which would revolutionize our understanding of this
Speaker 1: enigmatic world. The orbital resonance also suggests these planets have
Speaker 1: remained dynamically stable for a long time, providing a window
Speaker 1: into the system's formation history. Such configurations typically develop when
Speaker 1: planets migrate inward through their star's protoplanetary disc, gradually locking
Speaker 1: into these synchronized orbits. If TOI one thousand, four hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty three C does indeed have a substantial water component,
Speaker 1: it would represent a fascinating planetary category, neither truly rocky
Speaker 1: like Earth nor gaseous like Neptune, but something in between
Speaker 1: that we don't see in our Solar System understanding. So
Speaker 1: worlds could fundamentally reshape theories about how planets form and
Speaker 1: what kinds of habitable environments might exist throughout the galaxy.
Speaker 1: And in another exciting discovery, scientists may have finally solved
Speaker 1: a decade's old cosmic mystery that has puzzled astronomer since
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty. Strange X ray emissions detected from the center
Speaker 1: of the Helix nebula might actually be evidence of a
Speaker 1: planet being violently ripped apart and devoured by the dying
Speaker 1: star at its core. The helix nebula represents the final
Speaker 1: stage of a dying star that has shed its outer layers,
Speaker 1: leaving behind a small, dense remnant called a white dwarf.
Speaker 1: What makes this particular white dwarf, designated WD twenty two
Speaker 1: twenty six, two hundred and ten unusual is that it
Speaker 1: shouldn't be producing the powerful X rays that telescopes have
Speaker 1: consistently detected for over forty years. Thanks to observations from
Speaker 1: NASA's Chandra X ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM, Newton,
Speaker 1: researchers believe they finally cracked this cosmic case. The data
Speaker 1: reveals a Neptune sized planet orbiting perilously close to the
Speaker 1: white dwarf, completing a revolution in less than three days.
Speaker 1: Even more intriguing evidence suggests there may have been a
Speaker 1: Jupiter like planet orbiting even closer that met a catastrophic fate.
Speaker 1: Lead author Sandino Estrata Dorado from the National Autonomous University
Speaker 1: of Mexico explains, we think this X ray signal could
Speaker 1: be from planetary debris pulled onto the White dwarf as
Speaker 1: the death knell from a planet that was destroyed by
Speaker 1: the White Dwarf in the Helix nebula, we might have
Speaker 1: finally found the cause of a mystery that's lasted over
Speaker 1: forty years. The doomed planet likely began its life at
Speaker 1: a safe distance from its star, but as the star
Speaker 1: aged and transformed into a white dwarf, the planet's orbit
Speaker 1: may have been disturbed by gravitational interactions with other planets
Speaker 1: in the system. This migration brought it fatally close to
Speaker 1: the White Dwarf, where intense gravitational forces began to tear
Speaker 1: it apart. What astronomers our witnessing now appears to be
Speaker 1: the aftermath of this cosmic destruction. As debris from the
Speaker 1: shattered planet falls onto the white dwarf surface, it becomes
Speaker 1: superheated to millions of degrees, producing the telltale X ray
Speaker 1: signature that astronomers have been detecting for decades. If confirmed
Speaker 1: This would represent the first documented case of a planet
Speaker 1: being destroyed by the central star in a planetary nebula.
Speaker 1: The observation offers a sobering glimpse into the potential fate
Speaker 1: that awaits planet's orbiting aging stars, perhaps even our own
Speaker 1: Solar System in the distant future. This discovery provides crucial
Speaker 1: insights into the fate of planetary systems as their stars
Speaker 1: reach the end of their lives. What we're witnessing at
Speaker 1: the Helix nebula may be a preview of what awaits
Speaker 1: countless other star systems, including possibly our own Solar System,
Speaker 1: billions of years in the future. The research team analyzed
Speaker 1: X ray data collected over multiple observations spanning a decade
Speaker 1: and found something remarkable. The signal has remained relatively consistent
Speaker 1: in brightness since the early nineteen nineties. This stability suggests
Speaker 1: we're observing an ongoing process rather than a one time
Speaker 1: catastrophic event. But within this consistent signal, astronomers detected subtle
Speaker 1: fluctuations that repeat every two point nine hours, providing compelling
Speaker 1: evidence for planetary remains orbiting exceptionally close to the white dwarf.
Speaker 1: Martin Guerrero from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia explains
Speaker 1: the mysterious signal we've been seeing could be caused by
Speaker 1: the debris from the shattered planet falling onto the white
Speaker 1: dwarf's surface and being heated to glow in X rays.
Speaker 1: This steady stream of material creates a consistent energy signature
Speaker 1: that telescopes can detect across vast distances. The research team
Speaker 1: considered alternative explanations, including whether a low mass star rather
Speaker 1: than a planet, might have been destroyed. However, such stars
Speaker 1: are significantly more massive than Jupiter sized planets, making them
Speaker 1: much less likely to be torn apart by the white
Speaker 1: dwarf's gravity. Interestingly, WD twenty two twenty six two hundred
Speaker 1: and ten shares X ray behavior similarities with two other
Speaker 1: white dwarfs that are not inside planetary nebulas. One appears
Speaker 1: to be pulling material from a planet in a more
Speaker 1: gradual fashion without complete destruction, while another is likely accreting
Speaker 1: material from what remains of a destroyed planet. These three
Speaker 1: white dwarfs may represent a newly recognized class of variable
Speaker 1: objects that offers a window into different stages of planetary destruction.
Speaker 1: It's important to find more of these systems because they
Speaker 1: can teach us about the survival or destruction of planets
Speaker 1: around stars like the Sun as they enter old age,
Speaker 1: notes co author Jesus Twala. By studying these systems, astronomers
Speaker 1: gain valuable insights into the long term fate of our
Speaker 1: own Solar system. When our Sun eventually exhausts its nuclear
Speaker 1: fuel billions of years from now, it will expand into
Speaker 1: a red giant before shedding its outer layers and becoming
Speaker 1: a white dwarf. During this tumultuous transit, the inner planets
Speaker 1: will likely be engulfed, while the orbits of surviving outer
Speaker 1: planets may become destabilized. What we're witnessing in the Helix
Speaker 1: nebula could be a preview of Earth's ultimate fate, offering
Speaker 1: both a sobering reminder of cosmic mortality and a fascinating
Speaker 1: glimpse into the life cycle of planetary systems, and one
Speaker 1: more discovery for good measure. For over a century, astronomers
Speaker 1: have been captivated by the majestic spiral arms that wind
Speaker 1: through galaxies like our own Milky Way, but recent observations
Speaker 1: using the unprecedented resolution of the Hubble and James Webb's
Speaker 1: Space telescopes have revealed something even more fascinating. These grand
Speaker 1: spiral structures aren't just simple arms, but are decorated with
Speaker 1: intricate features astronomers called feathers. These feathery structures extend just
Speaker 1: a few thousand light years, relatively small by galactic standards,
Speaker 1: but they play an outsized role in galactic evolution. Unlike
Speaker 1: the broader spiral arms they branch from, these feathers are
Speaker 1: extraordinarily dense regions, packed with gas and dust. They serve
Speaker 1: as cosmic nurseries where much of a galaxy star formation
Speaker 1: takes place, hosting young star clusters and massive clouds of
Speaker 1: neutral hydrogen where new stars are born. Initially, astronomers believe
Speaker 1: these feathers were exclusive to the largest Grand design spiral galaxies. However,
Speaker 1: mounting evidence suggests their nearly universal features, with our own
Speaker 1: Milky Way sporting these delicate structures as well. What is
Speaker 1: puzzled scientists for years is how these complex features form.
Speaker 1: The leading theories have involved elaborate mechanisms, perhaps powerful supernova
Speaker 1: explosions sculpting the gas within spiral arms or vast magnetic fields,
Speaker 1: twisting and compressing matter into these filamentary patterns. The complexity
Speaker 1: of feathers seem to demand equally complex formation processes, but
Speaker 1: sometimes the most elegant explanation is also the simplest. In
Speaker 1: research recently accepted for publication in Astronomy and astrophis Physics,
Speaker 1: a team of astronomers proposed a surprisingly straightforward mechanism gravity
Speaker 1: alone might create these feathers. To test this hypothesis, the
Speaker 1: researchers designed an elegantly simple computer simulation. They created a
Speaker 1: basic model of a rotating disc of gas. No stars,
Speaker 1: no complex physics, just gas moving under the influence of
Speaker 1: its own gravity. When they ran the simulation, something remarkable happened.
Speaker 1: The gas naturally fragmented into a series of nested filaments
Speaker 1: that bore a striking resemblance to the feathers observed in
Speaker 1: real galaxies. The key insight is that these gas discs
Speaker 1: are inherently unstable. Even tiny initial clumps tend to collapse
Speaker 1: under their own gravity, and when combined with the rotation
Speaker 1: of the disc, these collapsing regions naturally form elongated structures
Speaker 1: the feathers we observe in spiral galaxies. When researchers compared
Speaker 1: the simulated feathers with actual observations. They found broad agreement
Speaker 1: in size, shape, and density. This doesn't mean the mystery
Speaker 1: is completely solved. The simulated galaxies were deliberately simplified, lacking
Speaker 1: many elements we know exist in real galaxies. The next
Speaker 1: step is to introduce more realistic physics. Those supernovas and
Speaker 1: magnetic fields do exist and certainly influence galactic evolution. The
Speaker 1: question is whether they would disrupt these gravitationally formed feathers,
Speaker 1: or perhaps enhance them. What makes this finding so compelling
Speaker 1: is that it demonstrates how nature can use basic physical
Speaker 1: principles to generate remarkably complex structures, even at the vast
Speaker 1: scales of galaxies. Sometimes the universe's most intricate patterns emerge
Speaker 1: from its simplest rules. The team's simulations were remarkably simplistic
Speaker 1: by design. Rather than creating a complex model incorporating all
Speaker 1: the known physics of galaxies, they stripped everything back to
Speaker 1: the most basic elements. Just a disk of gas rotating
Speaker 1: and evolving under its own gravitational influence. No stars, no
Speaker 1: explosive stellar feedback, no magnetic fields, just gravity. When they
Speaker 1: set this simplified system in motion, the results were striking.
Speaker 1: The rotating gas disc didn't remain smooth and uniform. Instead,
Speaker 1: it naturally began to fragment, breaking down into a series
Speaker 1: of nested, elongated filaments that closely resembled the feathery structures
Speaker 1: astronomers observe in real galaxies. This fragmentation occurs because gaseous
Speaker 1: discs are inherently gravitationally unstable. Any slight density fluctuation, no
Speaker 1: matter how small, initially tends to attract more matter to itself.
Speaker 1: As these regions grow denser, they collapse faster, creating a
Speaker 1: self reinforcing process. The rotation of the disc then stretches
Speaker 1: these collapsing regions into the filamentary patterns we recognize as feathers.
Speaker 1: What's particularly impressive is how well these simulated structures matched
Speaker 1: actual observations. When the researchers compared their computer generated feathers
Speaker 1: with those seen in real spiral galaxies, they found significant
Speaker 1: similarities in key properties like sie shape and density distributions.
Speaker 1: This doesn't mean we've solved the entire puzzle. The researchers
Speaker 1: acknowledge that real galaxies are far more complex environments. The
Speaker 1: next challenge is determining whether introducing more realistic elements like
Speaker 1: stellar feedback from supernovas or the influence of magnetic fields
Speaker 1: would disrupt these gravitationally formed feathers, or perhaps work in
Speaker 1: concert with gravity to shape them further. The finding highlights
Speaker 1: a principle that appears repeatedly across cosmic scales, that immense
Speaker 1: complexity often emerges from relatively simple underlying physics. From the
Speaker 1: intricate patterns of snowflakes forming from simple water molecules to
Speaker 1: the vast, filamentary cosmic webs stretching across the universe, Nature
Speaker 1: frequently uses basic rules to create stunning complexity. In the
Speaker 1: case of galactic feathers, it seems that gravity alone might
Speaker 1: be sufficient to establish the foundation of these structures. It's
Speaker 1: a powerful reminder that sometimes the most elegant explanations in
Speaker 1: science are also the simplest, and that brings us to
Speaker 1: the end of today's episode of Astronomy Daily. From the
Speaker 1: evolving mystery of dark energy to Boeing starliner troubles, China's
Speaker 1: ambitious space plans, puzzling exoplanets, a star devouring its own planet,
Speaker 1: and the simple gravitational forces behind complex galactic structures, we've
Speaker 1: covered quite the cosmic journey together. I'm anna, and it's
Speaker 1: been my pleasure guiding you through these fascinating developments in
Speaker 1: astronomy and space exploration. The universe continues to surprise us,
Speaker 1: whether it's throwing curveballs at our understanding of fundamental forces
Speaker 1: or revealing the elegant simplicity behind seemingly complex cosmic patterns.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's show, please visit our website at
Speaker 1: Astronomydaily dot io, where you can sign up for our
Speaker 1: free daily newsletter, catch up on all the latest space
Speaker 1: and astronomy news with our constantly updating news feed, and
Speaker 1: listen into all our back episodes. You can also find
Speaker 1: us on social media. Just search for astro Daily Pod
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Speaker 1: love hearing from fellow space enthusiasts, so don't hesitate to
Speaker 1: reach out and share your thoughts. Until next time, keep
Speaker 1: looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Speaker 1: This has been Astronomy Daily and I'm anna signing offday
Speaker 1: Startz Starz