Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of space and
astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and today, as we
close out twenty twenty four, we've got an exciting lineup
of stories from stellar explosions to perfect planetary systems and
upcoming cometary visitors. To get us started, let's take a
look at the latest stunning image from our most venerable
space based telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope has captured another
breathtaking image, this time showcasing the galaxy Lyda two two
zero five seven, located approximately six hundred and fifty million
light years away in the constellation Gemini. What makes this
observation particularly special is the presence of a spectacular supernova
explosion designated as SN twenty twenty four PI, which was
first detected in January twenty twenty four. In the image,
you can spot the supernova as a pale blue dot
just below and to the right of the galaxy's core,
creating a striking contrast against the galaxies ethereal spiral arms.
This snapshot, taken about six weeks after its initial discovery,
shows the supernova significantly dimmer than at its peak brightness.
What's fascinating about Sn twenty twenty four Pi is that
it's classified as a type IA supernova, which occurs through
a remarkable process involving a white dwarf star. These white
dwarfs are essentially the crystallized cores of stars that were
originally less massive than eight times our Sun. They're incredibly
dense objects, packing roughly the mass of our Sun into
a sphere the size of Earth, with surface temperatures exceeding
one hundred thousand degrees. The formation of this type of
supernova requires a specific set of circumstances. The white dwarf
must be part of a binary star system, where it
can siphon material from its stellar companion. When the white
dwarf accumulates too much mass, it reaches a critical point
where it can no longer support itself. This triggers a
catastrophic chain of runaway nuclear fusion, resulting in an explosion
so bright it can be observed across vast distances of space.
This process is particularly interesting because it represents the eventual
fate of many stars in our galaxy, including our own Sun,
though not all will end in such spectacular explosions. The
discovery and observation of supernovae like SN twenty twenty four
PI help astronomers better understand stellar revolution and the fundamental
processes that shape our universe Next Up. Twenty twenty four
has proven to be a record breaking year for space launches,
with an unprecedented two hundred and fifty nine orbital missions
successfully placing over two thousand, seven hundred payloads into orbit
and beyond. SpaceX dominated the landscape with an astounding one
hundred and thirty four launches, accounting for eighty five percent
of all payloads delivered to space, including more than one thousand,
nine hundred Starlink satellites. The United States and China emerged
as the primary launch providers, together handling eighty percent of
all orbital traffic. The US led with fifty four percent
of launches, while China maintained a strong presence with twenty
six percent. Despite launching more missions than in twenty twenty three,
China matched its previous year's success rate of sixty five
orbital missions, following an anomaly with their final Ligion I
rocket launch. Rocket Lab showed impressive growth, achieving sixteen successful missions,
a sixty percent increase from their previous year. Meanwhile, Russia's
launch activities continued their gradual decline, ending the year with
seventeen flights. India and Europe each conducted a handful of missions,
but are positioning themselves for increased activity in twenty twenty five.
The final quarter of twenty twenty four was particularly intense,
featuring a record breaking streak of fourteen launches within just
seven days. During November and December averaged nearly one launch
per day with thirty orbital attempts. SpaceX achieved several significant milestones,
including their four hundredth orbital launch in October and their
four hundredth Falcon nine flight in November. Looking ahead to
twenty twenty five, the space industry shows no signs of
slowing down. Blue Origin is preparing for the highly anticipated
debut of their new Glen heavy lift launch vehicle, while
SpaceX continues to expand their Starlink constellation and commercial launch services.
These developments signal an exciting new chapter in space exploration,
with increasing launch cadence and capabilities across the industry. The
year's achievements demonstrate not just the growing commercialization of space,
but also the incredible reliability and efficiency of modern launch systems,
setting new standards for what's possible in space access and
orbital operations. While on the subject of successful launches, India's
space program has marked another significant milestone with the successful
launch of their space docking experiment, known as SPADEX. The
mission lifted off on December thirtieth from the Satish Dowan
Space Center aboard of Polar Satellite launch vehicle, carrying two
specialized spacecraft designed to test crucial docking technologies. The mission
features two two hundred twenty kilogram spacecraft, a chaser and
a target, placed into precise four hundred seventy five kilometers
circular orbits. These spacecraft are equipped with advanced technology, including
a low impact docking system, laser range finders, and sophisticated
sensors to enable precise orbital maneuvers. What makes this mission
particularly noteworthy is its role in India's broader space ambitions.
The technology being tested is essential for India's Gagannion program,
which aims to make India only the fourth nation capable
of independent human spaceflight. The first crude mission under this
program is scheduled for twenty twenty six, following uncrued test
flights planned for twenty twenty five, but the implications extend
beyond human spaceflight. These docking capabilities will be crucial for
India's ambitious Chandrion four lunar mission, targeted for twenty twenty
seven or TIX twenty eight. This mission plans to collect
samples from the Moon's south pole and return them to Earth,
a feat that requires precise orbital docking maneuvers to transfer
the precious lunar samples from the ascent vehicle to the
return spacecraft. The mission's secondary payload module, POEM four, carried
twenty four different experiments, including innovative technologies like a walking
robotic arm, a debriscapture system, and various research modules. This
demonstrates India's commitment to maximizing the scientific value of each
launch while advancing their technological capabilities. The successful deployment of
both spacecraft marks just the beginning of this experimental mission.
The actual docking maneuver, scheduled for early January, will be
the true test of these new capabilities. If successful, it
will represent a major step forward in India's journey toward
becoming a complete spacefaring nation. Twenty twenty four proved to
be a particularly challenging year for NASA, with several dramatic
developments testing the agency's resilience and problem solving capabilities. Perhaps
most notably, what began as a routine mission turned into
an extended stay aboard the International Space Station for astronauts
Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore. Their Boeing Starliner spacecraft encountered
issues with helium leaks and thruster problems during its approach
to the ISS, leading NASA to make the cautious decision
to return the spacecraft empty, leaving the crew stranded until
at least February twenty twenty five. In an ironic twist,
these Boeing test pilots will ultimately return home aboard a
space X Dragon spacecraft, extending their intended three month mission
to eight and a half months. This situation highlighted the
ongoing challenges in developing reliable commercial crew transportation systems. On Mars,
we witness the bittersweet end of an extraordinary mission, as
the Ingenuity helicopter made its final flight on January eighteenth.
While its crash landing marked the conclusion of its journey,
Ingenuity had far exceeded all expectations, completing seventy one flights
over nearly three years when it was originally designed for
just a handful of demonstrations over thirty days, this small
one point eight kilogram helicopter proved that powered flight was
possible in Mars's extremely thin atmosphere equivalent to Earth's atmosphere
at eighty thousand feet. The Europa Clipper mission faced its
own dramatic challenges. Just months before launch, engineers discovered hundreds
of potentially compromised transistors that might not withstand Jupiter's intense
radiation belts. After four months of round the clock testing,
they found a workable solution by maintaining the transistors at
room temperature, though this required additional power from the spacecraft's
massive solar panels. In a final dramatic turn, one of
the most intense Gulf of Mexico hurricanes ever recorded threatened
the mission's launch. Fortunately, the storm weakened as it crossed Florida,
allowing the spacecraft to launch successfully during a backup window.
The Europa Clipper is now en route to its twenty
twenty five Mars flyby, which will help propel it toward
its ultimate destination at Jupiter. All in all, quite a
challenging year for NASA now on to an exciting discovery.
Located just one hundred and five light years away in
the constellation Coma Baronesis, astronomers have discovered a remarkable star
system that's been dubbed mathematically perfect. The star HD one
to one zero zero six seven hosts six exoplanets that
orbit in an incredibly synchronized dance, locked together by gravitational
forces in a precise cosmic choreography. While this celestial ballet
initially suggested a mature, well established system, new research has
dramatically revised our understanding of its age. Previous estimates using
traditional stellar aging methods, placed the system at around eight
billion years old. However, a fresh analysis of the star's
activity levels and rotation rates suggest us it's actually much younger,
only about two point five billion years old. The team
reached this conclusion by examining telltale signs of stellar youth,
including higher levels of ionized calcium in the star's atmosphere
and a faster rotation rate compared to older stars like
our sun. HD one one zero zero six seven completes
one rotation in about twenty earth days, while our more
elderly son takes at least twenty seven days, indicating this
star is still in its relative youth. This discovery of
the system's younger age has important implications for potential habitability.
While the six known planets orbit too close to their
parent star to support life as we know it, there
could be additional undiscovered planets in more temperate zones. However,
the star's younger age means it's likely still producing intense
radiation that could make life challenging on any world's orbiting
within its habitable zone. What makes this system particularly fascinating
is how quickly its planets achieved their perfect orbital resonance,
rather than require billions of years of gradual settling. Researchers
now believe this synchronized orbital pattern may have established itself
in as little as one billion years through gravitational interactions
between the planets. As we look ahead to early twenty
twenty five, skywatchers have an exciting visitor to anticipate. Comet Atlas,
officially designated C twenty twenty four G three, is making
its way toward the Inner Solar System and could provide
quite a spectacle, particularly for observers in the southern hemisphere.
The comet is scheduled to reach its closest approach to
the Sun on January thirteenth, twenty twenty five, coming within
a mere eight point three million miles of our star.
To put that in perspective, that significantly closer than Mercury's
closest approach to the Sun. This close encounter means the
comet could potentially shine as brightly as Venus in our
night sky. However, this extremely close solar approach comes with
risks for the comet itself. While analysis of its orbital
paths suggests it previously visited the inner Solar System about
one hundred and sixty thousand years ago, there's no guarantee
it will survive this encounter. The intense heat from such
a close solar pass could potentially cause the comet to
break apart. If Atlas does survive its solar encounter, observers
in the southern Hemisphere will be ideally positioned to view
it in the western sky after sunset. The timing isn't perfect, though,
as the full moon on January thirteenth will create some interference,
but viewing conditions should improve each subsequent evening as the
moon rises later. The comet was first spotted on April fifth,
twenty twenty four by the Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert
System or ATLAS, which gives the comet its name. Like
many of its kind, it originates from the ort cloud,
that vast sphere of icy bodies surrounding our Solar System.
Whether it survives its close encounter with the Sun or not,
Comet Atlas promises to provide an interesting start to the
astronomical calendar of twenty twenty five, and that brings us
to the end of today's episode of Astronomy Daily. Thank
you for joining me on this journey through the latest
developments in space exploration and astronomical discoveries. If you want
to stay up to date with all the latest space
and astronomy news, head over to Astronomy Daily dot io,
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is Anna wishing you a happy New Year and signing
off until tomorrow's cosmic update. Keep looking up. There's always
something amazing happening in our universe.
Speaker 2: Star the band stories control