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Speaker 1: What if a visitor from another star system, I mean,

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a genuine tourist from another sun showed up in our

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cosmic backyard and suddenly started changing color and not just once, no,

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not once, but three times in like rapid succession. Welcome

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to thrilling threads, where today we're talking about an object

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whose story is well, it's being written in chemistry right

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before our eyes.

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Speaker 2: And that story belongs to interstellar object three eye out lists,

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or as we'll be calling it, three.

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Speaker 1: Eye out lists exactly three eye at lasts.

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Speaker 2: And this is the ultimate high stakes mystery right now.

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I mean, the evolution we're seeing in this object is

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it's just completely unprecedented.

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Speaker 1: So where did it start. It came in looking like what.

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Speaker 2: It started its journey toward our sun as this dark,

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very organic, deep red body. Then it just rapidly transitioned

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into this fiercely active green glow.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: And now for its final act, it's taken on this

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really unusual kind of striking golden.

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Speaker 1: Hue, so red to green to gold in.

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Speaker 2: The span of a few months. And look, this isn't

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just a pretty visual shift. This is a chemical phase change.

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It's happening in real time right in front of our.

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Speaker 1: Telescopes, and a lot of this amazing synthesis that we're

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going to get into it comes from the cutting edge

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observations compiled by geophysicist Stephan Burns. He put out a

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video recently called three I atlass is now glowing gold

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as Earth's closest approach countdown begins.

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Speaker 2: It's a fantastic breakdown.

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Speaker 1: It is. So our mission today is to go way

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beyond just saying, hey, it changed color. We're going to

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take those astronomical observations, all the data, the chemistry and

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really dig into what this whole evolution tells us about it.

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It's traumatic past.

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Speaker 2: And it's very very uncertain.

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Speaker 1: Future for you listening. This is your shortcut. We're going

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to unpack the physiting of why this visitor is behaving

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like nothing else we've ever seen.

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Speaker 2: And the gravity of this this chemical story, you really

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can't be overstated. When we look at those shifts red

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to green to gold, we're literally watching layers of its

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history being stripped away like cosmic tree rings almost kind of.

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It's like a piece of cosmic chronostratigic. Yeah, each color

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is signaling that a specific fuel tank, a volatile reservoir,

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is now empty.

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Speaker 1: And as it sheds these layers, it raises a pretty

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terrifying question, doesn't it.

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Speaker 2: It raises the critical question that is occupying astronomers everywhere

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right now. Is three I atlas about to just break apart?

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Speaker 1: And as we're going to discuss, there's a precedent for this,

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That beautiful golden color might actually be a prelude to

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a major.

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Speaker 2: Structural failure definitive one.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so let's start at the beginning. Let's chart this

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whole bizarre color story. When did we first even spot

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this thing.

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Speaker 2: It was initially picked up on July first of this year,

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and we got some really excellent early data, particularly from

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imagery taken on July thirty. That's our baseline.

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Speaker 1: And what were astronomers looking at? What kind of light?

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Speaker 2: They were focused on three key bands, the G band,

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which is the green end of the spectrum, the R band,

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which is red, and of course infrared to track the heat.

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Speaker 1: So diving into that initial data right after discovery, what

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did it look like. Was it already glowing that commentary green?

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Speaker 2: We all know that's the thing. It was the complete

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opposite when you look at the G band imagery, which

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is where you'd expect to see a lot of brightness

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for an active comet. Three I Atlas wasn't clearly green

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at all. It actually looked more yellow in that band, huh.

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But in the R band, the red optical imagery, it

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was glowing really brightly red, and that redness was its

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dominant color, I mean all the way through the end

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of September.

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Speaker 1: So for months it was a red.

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Speaker 2: Object, a red object. But the truly critical thing, the

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fact that set it apart from moment one, was its

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immediate activity. Right on the first day, on the very

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first day, it was observed a massive plume was already forming,

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and yet it was still pretty far from the Sun.

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Speaker 1: That's that's just wild. I mean, that's so counterintuitive. If

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this thing is spent what millions, billions of years in

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the deep frieze of interstellar space.

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Speaker 2: It should be frozen solid.

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Speaker 1: It should be a rock solid ice ball. It should

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take whek maybe months of the sun just baking it

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for the heat to get in there and start any

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kind of sublimation.

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Speaker 2: You've just hit on exactly why it immediately got the

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nickname Oddball. That rapid instantaneous activity. It suggests that only

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a really really thin, superficial crust of material was surrounding

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the nuclear.

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Speaker 1: So I had no insulation basically pretty much.

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Speaker 2: It didn't have that deep tough crust that a say,

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a long period Solar system comet like Hailbob might have.

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A normal comet needs a long time for the internal

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pressure to build up, and you know, pop the cork.

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Speaker 1: That's this thing.

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Speaker 2: Three. I Atlas seemed to have this easily accessible skin

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that just started evaporating the second it felt that massive

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jump in solar.

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Speaker 1: Energy, an energy jump from basically zero in deep space

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to what our Sun puts.

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Speaker 2: Out, an almost infinitely large jump. Yet.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we start with a dark red object defined

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by this thin super volatile layer that just goes off instantly,

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which leads us to the first major shift, the transition

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to green. And that's tied to a very specific landmark

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in space, right it is.

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Speaker 2: It's tied to the single most important boundary in the

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inner Solar System for this kind of chemistry, the two

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point five astronomical unit mark, the two point five AU.

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Speaker 1: Line, and an AU is the distance from the Earth

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to the Sun, so two and a half times.

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Speaker 2: That distance exactly, and it's not an arbitrary number. It

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defines the rough distance where the Sun's energy the sheet

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and light is finally strong enough to overcome the energy

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needed to vaporize water ice.

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Speaker 1: So this is the water line.

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Speaker 2: This is the water line. In simple terms, this is

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where H two zero water ice suddenly comes incredibly active

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due to sublimation. It goes straight from solid to gas.

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Speaker 1: Hold on, explain that a bit more. We know commets

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are active much further out than two point five AU.

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So what were they, you know, breathing before they cross

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that line.

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Speaker 2: Excellent point, And that's key to the color. Before the

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September shift, when three I at lists was still out

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between three and two point six AU, it's COMO was

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being powered by different ices, more volatile stuff, much more

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volatile stuff, low temperature ices. We're talking mainly carbon dioxide

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CO two and crucially carbon monoxide CO and some cyanide CM.

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Speaker 1: Stuff that boils at much colder temperatures than.

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Speaker 2: Water, far colder. They require way less energy to turn

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into gas. So that initial sublimation is what powered the

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red phase.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we've got imagery from August twenty seventh, right,

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and it shows that at two point five nine AU

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so it's right on the hairy edge of crossing that boundary.

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Speaker 2: It's right on the verge. And once it crossed that

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two point five AU line, the physics of water just

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took over the whole system.

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Speaker 1: And what does that look like?

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Speaker 2: Well, once the solar energy was strong enough to energize

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all that water ice which had to be present in

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that thin outer crust, the entire system just changed. Water

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sublimation is extremely energetic. It releases a massive amount of material.

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Speaker 1: It's a much more violent process.

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Speaker 2: It is. This massive shift represented a huge amount of activity.

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The object was effectively waking up again, but this time

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with incredible force.

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Speaker 1: And the green color itself is so fascinating. What's actually

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causing that sacific visual signature in the coma.

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Speaker 2: That vibrant green color we associate with comets is it's

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often attributed to emission from dicarbon, which is C two

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or cyanide cn. These are radicals and they glow really

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strongly when they get excited by sunlight.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so how do they get there?

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Speaker 2: When that immense rush of water vapor blasts off the surface,

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it carries with it all these other trapped, more complex molecules.

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Speaker 1: The organic stuff from the red phase exactly.

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Speaker 2: The high energy solar radiation then just shatters those larger

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molecules into these smaller, simply radicals like C two, and

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those are what glow green.

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Speaker 1: So the green is literally the sign of a chemical breakdown.

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Speaker 2: It is. It was the peak of its activity, a

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chemically violent massive release of material.

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Speaker 1: And now now we're seeing the end of that peak,

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the transition to goal. This change is telling us that

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eruption is finally winding down.

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Speaker 2: It is the shift started subtly right around perihelion, its

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closest point to the Sun. On November twenty sixth, we

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got some amazing high resolution imagery from the Gemini Norse

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telescope and.

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Speaker 1: What did that show?

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Speaker 2: It showed it still had a touch of green, a

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little blue even, but the golden transition was visibly underway.

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You could see it happening. Astronomers were watching the colors

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literally fade and shift in the weeks that followed.

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Speaker 1: So they caught it midchange. They confirmed the whole triple

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color story right there. When did the gold become, you know,

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the main color.

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Speaker 2: The confirmation really solidified in December. An amateur astronomer, Alberto

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Kuanavadnisa captured an image on December tenth that showed a

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striking gold color, and then more images from the fourteenth

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confirmed it. The intense green glow was gone.

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Speaker 1: So this makes three i atlasks completely unique. A three

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color shift object red to green to gold.

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Speaker 2: It's a rapid, staged chemical evolution that tells this incredibly

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clear chronological story of its own composition.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so if red was the initial organic layer heating up,

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and green was the catastrophic loss of water and volatiles,

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what does the gold phase signify chemically? What is it?

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Speaker 2: The gold phase is the signature of depletion.

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Speaker 1: It's running out of gas.

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Speaker 2: It's run out of its special gas. Yeah. Yeah, it

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means the major easily volatile elements that powered the red

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and green phases, that organic crust, the water ice, they've

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been largely consumed. They've been volatilized and blown away.

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Speaker 1: So what are we seeing now? What's left to glow?

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Speaker 2: The object is shifting back to a dust dominated coma,

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but it's not the rich organic red dust we saw

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at the start. We're now seeing light reflected primarily off

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the remaining refractory material, a tough stuff. The tough stuff,

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the rocky bits, the silicates, maybe some sulfur compounds that

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require much higher temperatures to vaporize. The intense green glow

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from the C two has faded, and what's left behind

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is the yellowish golden reflection of more standard, boring comet dust.

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Speaker 1: And that's the signal.

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Speaker 2: That's the signal that the unique temporary skin it picked

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up in interstellar space is now, for all intents and

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purposes gone.

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Speaker 1: This is incredible. The clues embedded in that gas cloud,

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especially during that first red phase, they are just crucial

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for piecing together this object's ancient history.

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Speaker 2: If we look deeper than just the color, the data

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reveals things that fundamentally challenge what we thought we knew

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about interstellar travelers.

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Speaker 1: So let's pivot from the visible light down to the

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molecular level. You mentioned Three eye Alis was remarkably red.

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Why does that redness make it so different from the

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other two interstellar visitors we've tracked, Umumoa and borisav oh

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it's a.

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Speaker 2: Huge point of distinction UMHMOA, the first one was extremely dark,

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which suggests a really heavily processed, maybe even metallic composition.

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It barely had a comb at.

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Speaker 1: All, so weird tumbling cigar.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, and then borisaw. The second one was actually a

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lot like a typical comet from our own solar system,

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pretty standard. The three eyeallis three eyelids being so intensely

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red just stands at as highly organic and complex.

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Speaker 1: And when you say red, you mean it's redder than

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most things even in our own solar system. What kind

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of complex chemistry actually does that? What absorbs blue light

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so well?

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Speaker 2: That intense red color is the unmistakable signature of complex organics. Specifically,

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we're talking about refractory carbon compounds. Some people call them

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thousands or other long carbon rix chains, okay, and this

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indicates the dust is incredibly organic, rich chemically. It's more

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similar to objects that formed in the coldest, most distant

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parts of a solar system, like a trans Neptunian object.

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Speaker 1: And these red compounds aren't just you know, cosmic soot.

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Speaker 2: Not at all. They are highly complex precursor materials. They're

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capable of creating the foundational building blocks of biochemistry.

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Speaker 1: You're talking about amino acids.

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Speaker 2: Amino acids, nucleotide based pairs, the raw ingredients for life.

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Speaker 1: So that immediately puts three i at lists right in

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the middle of that whole conversation about panspermia, or the

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idea that interstellar objects could carry the seeds of life

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from one star to another.

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Speaker 2: It does. The source material refers to this as the

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interstellar seed hypothesis. The ability of this rock to carry

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the literal raw materials for biochemistry is why it's so

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important that red dust is a snapshot of universal organic

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chemistry preserved in the deep cold of space.

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Speaker 1: But while those red organics point to a certain kind

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of origin, the truly bizarre finding was something else, right,

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something that points to an even stranger history.

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Speaker 2: The selective nickel emission, the nickel spike.

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Speaker 1: What did the spectroscopic data actually show and why did

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it just defy all expectations about how elements are distributed

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in the cosmos.

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Speaker 2: What's so fascinating here is the sheer selectivity of it.

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We saw nickel emission ramp up sharply very early on

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in the comets activation. But and this is the key,

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it happened without a corresponding simultaneous increase in iron emission.

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Speaker 1: And normally they come together.

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Speaker 2: Right right, They're like cosmic buddies. The spectroscopic data, which

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is rock solid. It gave us very clear data confirming

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the nickel spike and the lack of iron. In most

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places in the universe, where you find nickel, you find iron.

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They're made in similar stellar processes. They candense together in

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rocky So to.

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Speaker 1: See nickel gas streaming out without an iron plume, it.

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Speaker 2: Means there is a highly specialized chemical process at work

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inside that nucleus, a process that is preferentially grabbing the

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nickel and leaving the iron behind.

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Speaker 1: This sounds less like geology and more like industrial chemistry.

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You've got some kind of mechanism that's acting like a

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molecular filter, picking nickel over iron. What's the leading theory

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for that?

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Speaker 2: The leading explanation is brilliant. It centers entirely around a

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class of molecules called metal carbonyls. Metal carbonyls specifically nickel

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carbonyl and iron carbonyl. Yeah, these are the carrier molecules

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that allow heavy metals like nickel and iron to basically

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turn into a gas at very low temperatures.

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Speaker 1: Okay, for those of us who don't deal with industrial

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chemistry every day. What makes these compounds so important to

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this puzzle a metal atom bonded to a carbon monoxideer.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, and they're critical because they are incredibly volatile. Both

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iron carbonyl and nickel carbonyl are known to sublimate to

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go from solid to gas really easily at low temperatures,

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far far below the temperature you'd need to vaporize the

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bulk metal itself.

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Speaker 1: So in the gently warming nucleus of the comet, these

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are some of the first things to gas off.

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Speaker 2: They should be. But if both can sublimate easily, why

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the nickel spike and the complete absence of iron. That's

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the core riddle.

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Speaker 1: What's the chemical difference?

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Speaker 2: It all comes down to chemical stability. It's a concept

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00:14:24,639 --> 00:14:27,320
used on Earth in things like the Mawd process for

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refining nickel iron carbonyl. It's notoriously unstable. It's highly reactive,

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especially if there's water.

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Speaker 1: Around and inside the nucleus of a.

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Speaker 2: Comet, we know there is abundant water ice, so the

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hypothesis is that the iron carbonyl, which might have formed

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00:14:40,639 --> 00:14:43,799
in there, very quickly reacts with that water. It's a

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process called hydrolysis, and that effectively destroys the carbonyl molecule.

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Before it can ever reach the surface to sublimate, so.

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Speaker 1: The iron is trapped. Its carrier molecule is too fragile,

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too reactive to survive the trip through the wet, icy interior.

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Speaker 2: It gets chemically scrubbed out by its own.

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Speaker 1: Environment and the nickel carbonyl.

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Speaker 2: Nickel carbonyl is significantly more stable. It's much less reactive

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with water, so it survives that chemical gauntlet inside the

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nucleus and successfully makes the journey to the surface. Once

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it gets out into the coma, into the gaseous envelope,

320
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it's exposed to intense solar radiation and that radiation finally

321
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provides the energy needed to break the stable nickel carbonyl apart,

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releasing the free nickel atoms.

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Speaker 1: Which is what the spectroscope see is is that bizarre

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sharp spike. That is a stunning piece of detective work.

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The fact that we can figure out the internal chemical conditions,

326
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the presence of water, the instability of one molecule versus another,

327
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just by looking at a trace. Ellman's light profile is

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it speaks volumes, It really does, But this selective process

329
00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:53,159
it suggests incredibly specific, really unique conditions inside that nucleus.

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It points so strongly to a very unusual pass it does.

331
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Speaker 2: It tells us this object's history wasn't just simple accretion

332
00:16:00,639 --> 00:16:03,559
in a cold cloud. It required conditions that allowed these

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00:16:03,639 --> 00:16:05,840
carbonyls to form in the first place, and then a

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thermal history that preserved the stable nickel ones while providing

335
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just enough heat and water to destroy the iron ones.

336
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It's a chemical fingerprint that demands an explanation.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we have this object that's rich in organics

338
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but also chemically processed to a degree that it favors

339
00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:25,759
the release of these stable nickel carbonyls. Based on all

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the current data, what is the most likely story for

341
00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,200
three i at lists before it ever came here.

342
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,279
Speaker 2: The consensus is really pointing to a two part history. First,

343
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it was likely once a short period comet orbiting its

344
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own host star, which will probably never identify. And second, second,

345
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,200
it was ejected from that system and then spent cosmic

346
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time scales maybe billions of years, just accumulating new material

347
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in the extremely cold, high vacuum environment of interstellar space.

348
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Speaker 1: Let's focus on that first phase, a short period orbit.

349
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Why is that specific history so crucial for explaining the

350
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,600
the processed reactive nucleus we saw, because it.

351
00:17:02,519 --> 00:17:07,079
Speaker 2: Implies the object was heavily thermally processed. We're not talking

352
00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:09,880
about something that stayed way out in the cold and

353
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,279
its stars orc cloud. It must have undergone hundreds, maybe

354
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,640
thousands of close repeated orbits around its parent star.

355
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Speaker 1: So it was getting constantly baked.

356
00:17:18,519 --> 00:17:20,960
Speaker 2: Constantly bombarded by that star's energy. It would have been

357
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subjected to severe thermal stress over and over again.

358
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Speaker 1: And what would that kind of repeated baking have done

359
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to its original composition.

360
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Speaker 2: It would have essentially sterilized the core. It would have

361
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driven off all the most volatile material. Imagine the heat

362
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,880
just boiling off layers, things like methane, ammonia, a lot

363
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:38,799
of the pristine CO two and CO. They would have

364
00:17:38,799 --> 00:17:41,759
been gone long ago or buried so deep they couldn't escape.

365
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Speaker 1: So what's left is a cooked core.

366
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Speaker 2: You're left with a heavily processed basic nucleus, a core

367
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of high temperature silicates and refractory carbons. This process explains

368
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,720
why the nucleus was probably structurally weak, and why it

369
00:17:55,759 --> 00:17:58,599
only had that very thin layer of new volatile material

370
00:17:58,640 --> 00:17:59,559
on it when it got.

371
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Speaker 1: Here, So its own star basically baked it down to

372
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a stripped down shell, and then it got kicked out.

373
00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:07,279
How does that happen?

374
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,720
Speaker 2: The ejection event, it would have almost certainly been a

375
00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,119
massive gravitational interaction, a classic three body.

376
00:18:12,799 --> 00:18:15,480
Speaker 1: Problem, the comet, a giant planet and its star.

377
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,240
Speaker 2: Most likely, the comet would have gotten a gravitational slingshot

378
00:18:19,279 --> 00:18:22,400
from a massive planet, gaining enough velocity to overcome the

379
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:28,359
star's gravity and achieve escape velocity. Then it began its long.

380
00:18:28,319 --> 00:18:32,200
Speaker 1: Lonely journey, a journey that must have been incredibly long, millions,

381
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,440
maybe billions of years. We know deep space is an

382
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,799
insane vacuum, but what was it actually accumulating out there?

383
00:18:37,839 --> 00:18:40,200
Speaker 2: You're right, the energy flux is minuscule. I mean we're

384
00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,519
talking ten to the minus seven ten to the minus

385
00:18:42,559 --> 00:18:44,759
eight washpa square meter. You can barely measure it. But

386
00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:50,079
over cosmic timescales, that ejected processed nucleus acts like a tiny,

387
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:51,839
sticky gravitational seed.

388
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,359
Speaker 1: A cosmic fly swat.

389
00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:57,000
Speaker 2: Cosmic flyswatter exactly. It traveled through regions of space filled

390
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,000
with materials produced when other older stars ex floated and

391
00:19:01,079 --> 00:19:02,839
scattered their guts across the galaxy.

392
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,680
Speaker 1: So what was the composition of this interstellar pickup phase.

393
00:19:06,839 --> 00:19:10,079
Speaker 2: Over that long period, the stripped down core accumulated a

394
00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:14,680
brand new, temporary, single reservoir of exotic materials. This included

395
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:18,240
those small, complex organic molecules that gave it its initial

396
00:19:18,279 --> 00:19:21,240
red color. They just adhere to the surface and water too,

397
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,799
and a significant amount of water ice, forming a layered shell.

398
00:19:25,799 --> 00:19:28,240
The key is that this shell didn't mix deeply into

399
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:32,400
that sterilized core. It stayed as a thin, easily volatile

400
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,519
layer right on the surface, a frosting. A frosting exactly,

401
00:19:35,559 --> 00:19:37,720
a frosting that was ready to react violently as soon

402
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:38,519
as it got heated up.

403
00:19:38,559 --> 00:19:40,680
Speaker 1: And now we get to the great cosmic shock, the

404
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,799
reactivation near our Sun. We need a comparison that really

405
00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:46,960
drives home the sheer scale of the energy change it experienced.

406
00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,839
Speaker 2: The contrast is just it's mind boggling. When three i

407
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,279
atlts approached our Sun, it went from receiving an ambient

408
00:19:54,319 --> 00:19:57,160
interstellar light flux of maybe ten to the minus eight

409
00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,240
watts per square meter, basically nothing less energy then a

410
00:20:00,319 --> 00:20:03,799
dust mote generates. It went from that to receiving about

411
00:20:03,799 --> 00:20:06,119
seven hundred and thirty five watts per square meter from

412
00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,319
our Sun at the two point five AU line. Wow,

413
00:20:09,519 --> 00:20:12,079
that is an increase of about ten orders of magnitude

414
00:20:12,079 --> 00:20:14,960
and energy hitting its surface all at once.

415
00:20:14,839 --> 00:20:17,759
Speaker 1: And that massive energy spike is what triggered the whole

416
00:20:17,759 --> 00:20:20,680
color shift sequence, essentially blasting off the layers of its

417
00:20:20,759 --> 00:20:22,160
interstellar history in order.

418
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:26,119
Speaker 2: Precisely, that sudden, violent energy increase is what caused those

419
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,119
stored materials, the organics, the volatiles concentrated on the crust

420
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,160
to suddenly activate. So the red phase was the initial

421
00:20:33,319 --> 00:20:36,440
lower temperature sublimation of the outer organic layer. The green

422
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:39,359
phase was the peak violent sublivation of the water ice

423
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,440
and everything trapped with it as it crossed the two

424
00:20:41,519 --> 00:20:42,599
point five AU mark.

425
00:20:42,759 --> 00:20:44,039
Speaker 1: And now the gold phase.

426
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,880
Speaker 2: The gold phase signals that those exotic interstellar acquired materials

427
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,279
are almost entirely spent. We are now seeing the residual

428
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:54,240
exposed core. The show is.

429
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,680
Speaker 1: Over, and that brings us to the fragmentation risk. If

430
00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,240
the gold phase means that thin accumulate layer is gone,

431
00:21:01,599 --> 00:21:05,319
what's the fate of the heavily processed, maybe unstable core underneath.

432
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,640
Speaker 2: This is a source of genuine worry among astronomers right now.

433
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,079
As all that material blasts off the surface, it carries

434
00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,960
away mass, but it also carries away momentum so.

435
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:15,880
Speaker 1: It can start to spin.

436
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,240
Speaker 2: It creates forces torques that can dramatically change the object's

437
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,079
spin rate, and that leads to rotational stresses that the

438
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,119
already thermally processed which is a nice way of saying

439
00:21:27,319 --> 00:21:29,920
possibly fractured nucleus might not be able to withstand.

440
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,480
Speaker 1: And we have to talk about the chilling parallel observation,

441
00:21:32,599 --> 00:21:35,440
the thing that gives this gold color such an ominous meaning.

442
00:21:35,559 --> 00:21:38,400
Speaker 2: Yes, the precedent a C twenty twenty five K one

443
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,400
Outlyss another out other outlas. This was a solar system

444
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,599
comet that also recently shifted to a golden hue, and

445
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,839
that shift signified the depletion of its main volatiles and

446
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,160
the exposure of its underlying structure. And crucially crucially, shortly afterward,

447
00:21:52,279 --> 00:21:55,039
K one Outlyss started to fragment apart. It was a

448
00:21:55,079 --> 00:21:58,119
widely observed event. It just disintegrated.

449
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,920
Speaker 1: So if we connect those dots, the gold color might

450
00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,599
be a physical warning sign, not just a pretty visual effect.

451
00:22:05,759 --> 00:22:09,200
Speaker 2: It could be the sublimation process itself, especially if it's

452
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,720
happening from specific active jets on the surface, can induce

453
00:22:12,799 --> 00:22:15,799
these torques that just tear the object apart from the inside.

454
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,480
Speaker 1: Out, absolutely, And this object is now approaching its closest

455
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,119
distance to Earth, and it's still heading toward the massive

456
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:22,880
gravitational influence of Jupiter.

457
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,880
Speaker 2: So if it is structurally unstable, a stripped beer nucleus

458
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,160
that's now spinning faster and faster, this is the critical window.

459
00:22:29,519 --> 00:22:31,519
This is when we might see it begin to come apart,

460
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,720
potentially producing a cloud of gold and dust, just like

461
00:22:34,799 --> 00:22:35,720
kawan Atlas did.

462
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:40,000
Speaker 1: Okay, So we have this bizarre gold glowing, potentially fragmenting

463
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,160
object doing its final act. Given that the source material

464
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,960
was compiled very recently on the fifteenth, when is the

465
00:22:47,079 --> 00:22:49,920
absolute most critical viewing window for our listeners to try

466
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:50,640
and see this thing?

467
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,279
Speaker 2: We need to pinpoint the date. The closest approach to

468
00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,880
Earth is scheduled for December nineteenth. This makes all these

469
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,960
details incredibly timely for anyone hoping to catch it. This

470
00:23:02,039 --> 00:23:04,240
is essentially your last best chance.

471
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:08,680
Speaker 1: And the viewing conditions are just by pure luck perfect,

472
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:10,839
which is so rare for these things.

473
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,480
Speaker 2: They are absolutely ideal, and it's all thanks to the moon.

474
00:23:14,039 --> 00:23:16,920
December nineteenth coincides precisely.

475
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:18,759
Speaker 1: With a new moon, meaning the sky will be dark,

476
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:19,559
pitch black.

477
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,400
Speaker 2: The moon is positioned with the sun, so there will

478
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,400
be zero competing moonlight. And for tracking a dim, diffuse

479
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,319
object like three eyeatless, no moon is absolutely essential for

480
00:23:30,319 --> 00:23:31,279
getting a clear view.

481
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,559
Speaker 1: So what are the logistics for someone who actually wants

482
00:23:33,559 --> 00:23:34,279
to go out and look.

483
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,680
Speaker 2: The logistics are pretty good. For early birds. The object

484
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,119
will be visible fairly high above the horizon in the

485
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,160
early morning hours. What time we're talking typically between three

486
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,119
and four am, pinning on your location, of course, because

487
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,160
it's so high in the sky, you minimize any atmospheric distortion.

488
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,519
If you have a clear sky, even a decent pair

489
00:23:51,519 --> 00:23:54,039
of binoculars, this is the time to look.

490
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,079
Speaker 1: And where in the sky should we be looking? Where

491
00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:56,839
is it positioned?

492
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 2: Three eye Atlas is making a very significant shift right now.

493
00:24:00,799 --> 00:24:03,200
It is currently moving out of the constellation of Virgo

494
00:24:03,279 --> 00:24:05,359
and heading directly into the constellation of Leo.

495
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 1: And this this is where the story shifts from just

496
00:24:09,559 --> 00:24:13,799
hard physics into something, well, something far more suggestive. The

497
00:24:13,839 --> 00:24:18,400
celestial parallel that Stephan Burns himself noted it is truly uncanny.

498
00:24:18,599 --> 00:24:20,799
Speaker 2: It's almost mythological when you think about it. Considered the

499
00:24:20,839 --> 00:24:24,079
coincidence see twenty twenty five k one Atlas, the one

500
00:24:24,079 --> 00:24:27,240
that fragmented, it shifted to gold, and it moved into Leo,

501
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,559
and now three eye Atlas is also moving into Leo

502
00:24:31,079 --> 00:24:35,400
and at the exact same time glowing gold and Leo.

503
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 1: The constellation of the Lion. It's historically been associated with royalty,

504
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,200
with kings, with the color gold and fire. To have

505
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,839
two objects named Atlas, one that broke apart and one

506
00:24:44,839 --> 00:24:47,519
that's threatening to both turning gold as they enter the

507
00:24:47,519 --> 00:24:50,319
constellation of Gold, that's a powerful synchronicity.

508
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 2: It adds this layer of cultural meaning that humans just

509
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,079
naturally apply to these grand celestial events. But regardless of

510
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,640
the symbolism, the physics dictates urgency.

511
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:00,559
Speaker 1: It's dimming.

512
00:25:00,799 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 2: The object has already begun dimming since its closest approach

513
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,240
to the Sun. That December nineteenth window is your last

514
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:11,440
critical opportunity, because as it moves into January, February, and

515
00:25:11,559 --> 00:25:13,640
March of twenty twenty six, it's just going to keep

516
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,440
getting dimmer and dimmer as it travels further away, heading

517
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,799
for its final long distance encounter with Jupiter.

518
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,519
Speaker 1: It's moments like this that just redefine what scientific discovery

519
00:25:22,559 --> 00:25:26,799
even means to understand an object like three I at lists,

520
00:25:26,839 --> 00:25:30,160
you have to be a master of synthesis. You're connecting

521
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,759
the thermodynamics of ice sublimation to the quantum mechanics of

522
00:25:33,799 --> 00:25:35,119
dicarbon emission and.

523
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 2: Tracing the stability of these delicate metal carbonyl bonds across

524
00:25:38,759 --> 00:25:43,119
the vastness of interstellar space. It's just a profound, unifying

525
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,599
lesson in how chemistry really dictates the entire narrative of

526
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:47,279
the cosmos.

527
00:25:47,519 --> 00:25:50,839
Speaker 1: It's incredible the fact that a single small transient object

528
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:54,319
can act as a vessel carrying these complex organic precursors

529
00:25:54,319 --> 00:25:56,960
across light years, and then it just reveals its entire

530
00:25:57,039 --> 00:26:01,119
traumatic life story through predictable sequence of colors based purely

531
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,880
on energy. It just highlights how interconnected everything is.

532
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,519
Speaker 2: It makes every element we find, whether it's nickel or carbon,

533
00:26:07,759 --> 00:26:10,400
feel like a clue left behind from some alien past.

534
00:26:10,759 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 1: It does, and this incredible scientific complexity. It brings us

535
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,279
to a really fascinating dimension of the source material we've

536
00:26:17,319 --> 00:26:21,519
been relying on today. Because the creator, Stephan Burns, he

537
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,640
uniquely blends this meticulous scientific analysis with a much broader,

538
00:26:25,799 --> 00:26:28,759
more philosophical.

539
00:26:27,799 --> 00:26:31,559
Speaker 2: Interpretation, right and this raises an important question. While we

540
00:26:31,839 --> 00:26:36,680
as impartial guides, are focusing on the observable, quantifiable physics,

541
00:26:37,039 --> 00:26:41,680
the spectroscopy, the au distances the fragmentation risk. It's always

542
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,200
fascinating how observers feel compelled to connect these dramatic celestial

543
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,000
events to broader concepts.

544
00:26:47,519 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 1: To consciousness, spirituality.

545
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 2: Exactly, especially when you have a parallel as striking as

546
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:53,000
the Leo Goold connection.

547
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: It's hard to ignore it is, and.

548
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,839
Speaker 2: The source material explicitly explores this idea, the idea of

549
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,839
a potential energy connection, a psychic link between Earth and

550
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,960
three I at lists. During this closest.

551
00:27:03,519 --> 00:27:06,400
Speaker 1: Approach, he makes a pretty bold claim, doesn't he He does.

552
00:27:06,799 --> 00:27:11,640
Speaker 2: The Source creator asserts that their observations suggests the standard cosmological,

553
00:27:12,039 --> 00:27:15,640
purely materialistic view is and I'm quoting, not even one

554
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,960
percent of what actually is happening in reality with consciousness

555
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,839
and spirituality. They see this moment as a convergence point.

556
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:27,519
Speaker 1: That's a powerful philosophical statement. It's deliberately challenging the prevailing

557
00:27:27,599 --> 00:27:32,160
scientific paradigm. It's positing that the physical event has this

558
00:27:32,559 --> 00:27:36,039
energetic or intuitive resonance that people can actually access. It

559
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:38,720
is so in the context of trying to connect to

560
00:27:38,799 --> 00:27:43,400
this energy. Did the source material suggest any kind of methodology, Yes.

561
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,319
Speaker 2: Very specifically in a very practical physical sense, to potentially

562
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,160
build that psychic connection and receive, as they put, a

563
00:27:50,279 --> 00:27:54,279
unique interstellar information or awakenings. The four suggested drinking a

564
00:27:54,279 --> 00:27:57,680
specific tea blend during this critical timeframe around the nineteenth

565
00:27:57,799 --> 00:28:00,759
A tea blend. A tea blend they call spiritual consists

566
00:28:00,799 --> 00:28:05,559
of camomal mugwart, passionflower, and purple lotus flower. The intent

567
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,880
is to use this specific combination of herbs, which are

568
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:13,640
known for enhancing rest, relaxation, dream vividness, to allow an

569
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,240
observer to more intuitively tune in to the frequency of

570
00:28:17,279 --> 00:28:18,440
this interstellar visitor.

571
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,039
Speaker 1: That is just an incredible contrast. We have the precise

572
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,839
hard data on one side, the sublimation rates, the nickel

573
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,160
carbonyl stability, and right alongside it you have the assertion

574
00:28:29,319 --> 00:28:31,920
that one might need a blend of organic herbs to

575
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,119
tap into the true energetic meaning of the event.

576
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 2: It's a compelling juxtaposition. It really reminds us that human

577
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,559
interpretation of the cosmos involves both the telescope and our

578
00:28:42,599 --> 00:28:43,680
own inner experience.

579
00:28:43,799 --> 00:28:46,799
Speaker 1: The scientific view is entirely focused on the external world,

580
00:28:46,839 --> 00:28:47,720
on prediction.

581
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,279
Speaker 2: Exactly, and the alternative, as presented by the source, focuses

582
00:28:51,319 --> 00:28:54,759
on the application of knowledge through consciousness and intuitive connection.

583
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,920
It's about integrating the physical phenomenon into a greater personal

584
00:28:59,039 --> 00:29:00,319
or spiritual reality.

585
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,119
Speaker 1: It's a wonderful example of how one single cosmic event

586
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,079
can spawn two entirely different but equally passionate forms of inquiry.

587
00:29:07,279 --> 00:29:08,960
Speaker 2: I think so, so let's recap.

588
00:29:09,319 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: We watched this interstellar oddball go through a truly unparalleled evolution.

589
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,799
It started as this thermally sterilized red rock. It picked

590
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,000
up a thin, exotic skin during its long cold journey,

591
00:29:21,319 --> 00:29:25,599
which then triggered a furiously active green glow near our sun.

592
00:29:25,759 --> 00:29:29,839
Speaker 2: And now it has become a potentially fragmenting golden spectacle

593
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,200
moving into the constellation of kings Leo.

594
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:33,759
Speaker 1: It's an incredible story, and.

595
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 2: What's so fascinating is the chemical narrative that the gold

596
00:29:36,039 --> 00:29:39,640
color completes. It signals the depletion of its exotic interstellar

597
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,359
required materials. We are now most likely looking at the residual,

598
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,519
heavily processed core.

599
00:29:45,519 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 1: A core weakened by two different star systems, a.

600
00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:52,880
Speaker 2: Core potentially weakened by two distinct stellar eras. Yeah, the

601
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,680
stability of what's left and the speed of its rotation,

602
00:29:56,279 --> 00:29:58,279
that's what's going to determine if three Eye at List

603
00:29:58,319 --> 00:30:01,519
stays intact where its long, lonely rendezvous with Jupiter or

604
00:30:01,559 --> 00:30:02,400
whatever it lies beyond.

605
00:30:02,519 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 3: So you now have the full picture, the complex chemical details,

606
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,759
the hypothesis of its layered past, and the perfect viewing

607
00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:12,839
window on December nineteenth, free from moonlight. Given that chilling

608
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,480
and frankly dramatic parallel with K one Atlas, the comet

609
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,799
that fragmented right after turning gold, do you think this

610
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,559
color is just a beautiful optical effect or is it

611
00:30:21,559 --> 00:30:23,240
a beautiful cosmic warning sign that.

612
00:30:23,279 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 1: Three Ie Atlas is about to disintegrate? What stands out

613
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,640
to you most about the bizarre three color journey of

614
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:30,480
this exceptional celestial visitor