Speaker 1: Welcome again to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Steve Dunkley.
It's the third of February twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: The podcast I mean your whole Steve gun Clue. Yes,
welcome back, one and all.
Speaker 1: Today Halle will present February's planet Parade for you. It's
a bupper story, so stay around for that one. Also,
she's talking briefly about something very interesting from the Russian
Institute of Biomedical Problems. Halle, what's going on there?
Speaker 3: Hi, favorite human? In true Russian pragmatic style, they've completed
a fascinating mission to the Moon without leading Earth.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's a neat trick. They are clever, and I
hope you're going to tell us all about it, So more.
Speaker 3: On that soon. A very good and there's more from
the Astronomy Daily newsletter in today's episode, of course, and.
Speaker 1: We'll let you will all know how you can receive
that newsletter in your email every day so they can
be across all the news events and research happening in
orbit and beyond.
Speaker 2: Right, Halle, that's.
Speaker 3: Right, human, there's something different.
Speaker 1: Every day, Okay, So why don't we just launched right
into the stories we've collected from the newsletter today. I'm
looking forward deal planet parride today.
Speaker 2: Hallie.
Speaker 3: That's always a great revelation to what's happening.
Speaker 2: He is the February sky.
Speaker 3: There are some nice highlights to look forward to.
Speaker 2: Okay, say let's get to at Staggs's.
Speaker 3: Let's go on. November fourteenth, twenty twenty four, the Institute
of Biomedical Problems IBMP of the Russian Academy of Sciences
marked the successful completion of Serious twenty three, a year
long biomedical isolation experiment simulating the conditions of deep space
travel and lunar surface operations. For three hundred and sixty
six days, a crew of six analog astronauts lived and
worked in a sealed environment, a meticulously controlled Earth based
stand in for interplanetary missions of the future. The Serious Scientific,
International Research and Unique Terrestrial Station Project, launched in collaboration
with NASA's Human Research Program and the IBMP in twenty seventeen,
had previously conducted shorter experiments lasting seventeen, one hundred and
twenty and two hundred and forty days. These missions, featuring
international crews from Russia, the United States, and the United
Arab Emirates, aimed to replicate the isolation and psychological strain
of long term spaceflight. However, after twenty twenty two, IBMP
decided to proceed with the ambitious serious twenty three experiment independently.
The latest crew heild from Russia and Belarus Commander Yuri Chebiterev,
flight Engineering Angelica Parfenova, medical officer Xenia Orlova, and researchers
Olga Mastakeia, Xenia Shishanina and Rustam Zeropov, a mixed gender
team of two men and four women.
Speaker 1: Astronomy Kai the podcast as someone who is no stratey
to come dropouts on a planetary scale. Apollo eleven moonwalk,
A buzz oldron has teamed up with Verizon to help
promote the company's satellite based solution to cell service dead
zones of all things Now, The ninety five year old
astronauter who in nineteen seventy nine became one of the
first humans, the second in fact, to step foot on
the lunar surface, appears in a new Verazon advert alongside
Paul Maricelli, the original can you hear Me Now? Test
man to ask can you text me now? Fifty six
years ago, he says I was one of the select
few that made it into space and the first team
to help America conquer the Moon order and said in
a statement released by Verazon. Back then, he says space
was the great unknown, and now we've never been closer
to it. I can't look up into the sky without
seeing a satellite fly by. It's remarkable to see how
far the human race and technology has come. In the commercial,
Aldron is seen wearing a silver jacket adorned with the
Apollo eleven mission patch while planting a Verizon's satellite powered
red and yellow flag at remote areas around the Earth.
At each stop, whether it be on the desert floor
of a canyon, at the base of a snow colored mountain,
or in an area of wilderness already marked as a
dead zone, the retired US Air Force general and doctor
of Astronautics uses his Verazon issued android's smartphone to show
that he can.
Speaker 2: Still send texts.
Speaker 1: Aldron's last test is shown as looping out around the Moon,
pasted an American flag planted on its surface to a
satellite in Earth orbit. They are a space suited Maricelli
without a helmet, receives Aldron's message and reacts that's my line.
It's been ten years since I asked America, can you
hear me now? Back then, dead zones were everywhere, and
it's safe to say today that they are only in
the most remote places, like the dark Side of the Moon,
he said in Verazon's release, making the common mistake of
describing the far side of the Moon as the non
existent Dark Side. Satellite is for sure the next frontier,
he says. Verazon's customers with select new model phone updated
software can send texts such as emergency SOS messages, including
their location when they are in areas inside the United
States without cellular coverage. According to the company, its US
network provides a coverage to more than ninety nine percent
of the places where people live, work and play, but
its satellite service now covers the very few places throughout
the country where customers cannot connect. For the service to work,
the phones, which include Google's Pixel nine series and Samsung's
Galaxy S twenty five, must be outdoors with a line
of sight to the Viasat, EchoStar or other satellites that
are part of the Skylight Satellite Connectivity service. The service
may not work in parts of Alaska. In addition, AHST
space Mobile, a satellite designer and manufacturer based in Midland, Texas,
has a one hundred million dollar commitment from Verizon to
provide direct to cellular satellite service when needed for Verizon's customers.
This week, the Federal Communications Commission authorized AST to begin
testing its service in the United States. This approval enables
the first five of AST's commercial Bluebird satellites, already operating
in low Earth orbit, to test connections with Verison's smartphones,
supporting voice, full data, and video applications, as well as
other native capabilities without the need of any specialized software
or subdivice support or update. That's one giant leap for connectivity,
says Aldred. In the commercial AST space Mobile also has
an agreement to provide space based network services to AT.
Speaker 2: And C and its customers.
Speaker 1: Similarly, Demobile partner with SpaceX to use the Starlik Broadbands
Internet constellation and its direct to sell capabilities.
Speaker 2: This is not Aldron's first appearance in a commercial.
Speaker 1: In the past, he has filmed ads for IBM and
YouTube YouTube TV in twenty nineteen, a commercial for Quaker
Oats in twenty sixteen, and in twenty fifteen a promotion
to visit Switzerland. In nineteen eighty seven, Aldron joined Mercury
astronauts Scott Carpenter and Gordo Cooper to advertise the Commodore
Amiga five hundred home computer. Oh you remember that one.
And in nineteen seventy two, a year after he left NASA,
Aldron helped sell the Volkswagen VW Beetle, comparing its computer
diagnostic system to the computer he used to fly to
the Moon. Thank you for joining us for this Monday
edition of Astronomy Daily, where we offer just a few
stories from the now famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you
can receive in your email every day, just like Hallie
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Speaker 2: See you there.
Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily with Steve and Halle Space, space, science, and Astronomy.
Speaker 3: A safety panel is calling on NASA to reassess to
plans for upcoming Artemis missions, arguing that the agency is
packing too many objectives into each mission. At a January
thirtieth public meeting of ASAP, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
members reiterated past concerns about the number of first time
objectives planned for Artemis three, the first crude lunar landing
of the overall campaign and later missions. Each first milestone
carries its own individual risk, and as these risks are
compounded and aggregated, it only increases the overall risk posture
for any individual flight mission, said panel member Bill bray
It begs the question is it time for the agency
to reassess the current mission objectives and its approach for
Artemis three and beyond, with the goal to better balance
the risks across all those flight tests. ASAP has previously
expressed its concerns about the number of firsts on Artemis three,
such as in its most recent annual report, were released
in early twenty twenty four. That report listed thirteen separate
firsts for the mission, mostly tied to the starship, lunar
lander and new spacesuits being developed. By Axiom Space. That
list has only grown since then, he noted, with changes
to the heat shield for Orion, NASA announced in December
that it would reformulate the aff goat material used in
the heat shield for Artemis three and later missions to
prevent the heat shield erosion seen on the Artemis one
re entry. Those concerns extend beyond Artemis three, Bray said,
with later missions incorporating the Lunar Gateway, the Blue Moon
Crude lunelander, and a lunar rover. Each of these elements
under development and delivery requires a near perfect program execution
across a complex set of tests and milestones, and frankly,
there's very little room for failure. Problems with a single
key element, he concluded, will result in continued launch delays
and an irregular and erratic cadence of mission flights and
issue ASAP has also previously raised it also creates an
increased risk posture for Artemis missions. Bray said that ASAP
discussed the issue with Omikshatriya, Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA's
Moon to Mars Program Office, at recent meetings. The panel
urged NASA to treat each launch as a test objective
like the Apollo program, with clear test objectives that could
be balanced across all launch events and ensure a more
regular cadence of missions. He didn't disclose NASA's response to
those concerns, but said that ASAP will continue to press
NASA to re examine its Artemis mission plans and consider
reallocation of test objectives to achieve a more regular launch
cadence with the others more balanced risk exposure.
Speaker 1: Well aer that so we are listening to Astronomy Daily podcast.
The Gayer mission, launched by the European Space Agency, has
completed a decade of groundbreaking astronomical observations, collecting over three
trillion data points on two billion stars and celestial objects.
The European Space Agency's Gaya spacecraft, which has been mapping
the Milky Way, has completed its sky scanning phase.
Speaker 2: Over the past decade.
Speaker 1: It has made more than three trillion observations of around
two billion stars and other celestial objects, transforming our understanding
of our galaxy and surrounding universe. Gaya was launched on
December nineteen, twenty thirteen, and after years of precise observations,
its fuel supply.
Speaker 2: Is now running low.
Speaker 1: The spacecraft consumes about a dozen grams of cold gas
per day to maintain stability and accuracy.
Speaker 2: The mission is not over yet.
Speaker 1: In coming weeks, Gay will undergo a series of technology
tests before being placed into its final retirement orbit. Additionally,
two major data releases are planned, one in twenty twenty
six and another by the end of the decade, offering
even more insights into our cosmic neighborhood. Today marks the
end of science observations, and we are celebrating this incredible
mission that has exceeded all of our expectations, lasting for
almost twice its original foreseen lifetime, says ESA Director of
Science Carol Mandell.
Speaker 2: The treasure trove of data collected by GAYA has given.
Speaker 1: Us unique insights into the origin and evolution of our
Milky Way galaxy, and has also transformed astrophysics and solar
system science in ways that we are not yet.
Speaker 2: To fully appreciate.
Speaker 1: GAYA built on unique European excellence with astrometry and will
leave a long lasting legacy for future generations. After eleven
years in space and surviving micro metiarite impacts and solar
storms along the way, GAYA has finished collecting science data.
Now all eyes turned towards the preparation of the next
data releases, says GAYA Projects scientists Johann Solman. I'm thrilled
with the performance of this incredible mission and excited about
the discoveries that await us. GAYA has been charting the positions, distances, movements, brightness, changes, composition,
and numerous other characteristics of stars by monitoring with its
three instruments many times over the course of its mission.
This has enabled GAYA to deliver on its primary goal
of building the largest, most precise map of the Milky Way,
showing us our home galaxy like no other mission has
ever done. As such, we're now able to have the
best reconstructed view of how the galaxy might look to
an outside observer. This new artist's impression of the Milky
Way incorporates GAYA data from a multitude of papers over
the past decade. It contains major changes from previous models
because has changed our impression of the Milky Way. Even
basic ideas have been revised, such as the rotation of
our galaxy central bar, the warp of the discs, the
detailed structure of spiral arms, and the interstellar dust near
the Sun. Says Stefan pain Wadner this scientific visualizer for
the hauste Astronomy Germany and the IAU Office of Astronomy
for education. Still, the distant parts of the Milky Way
remain educated guesses based on incomplete data. With further Gayer
data releases, our view of the Milky Way will become
even more accurate. Gaya's repeated measurements of stellar distances, motions,
and characteristics are key to performing galactic archaeology on our
Milky Way, revealing missing links in our galaxy's complex history,
and that'll help us learn more about our origins. From
detecting ghosts of other galaxies and multiple streams of ancient
stars that merged with the Milky Way in its early history,
to finding evidence from an ongo collision with Sagittary's dwarf galaxy. Today,
Gaya is rewriting the Milky Way's history and making predictions
about its future. In the process of scanning stars in
our own galaxy, Gaya has also spotted other objects, from
asteroids in our Solar System backyard, to galaxies and quasars,
the bright and active centers of galaxies powered by super
massive black holes outside our Milky Way, for example, GAYA
has provided pinpoint precision orbits of more than one hundred
and fifty thousand asteroids and has such high quality measurements
as to uncover possible moons around hundreds of them. It's
also created the largest three dimensional map of about one
point three million quasars, with the furthest shining bright when
the universe was only one point five billion years old.
GAYA has also discovered a new breed of black hole,
including one with a mass of nearly thirty three times.
Speaker 2: The mass of our Sun.
Speaker 1: That one hiding in the Constantle Aquilla less than two
thousand light years from Earth. The first time a black
hole of stellar origin this big has been spotted within
the Milky Way. It's impressive that these discoveries are based
only on the first few years of GAYA data, and
many were made in the last year alone. GAYA has
been the discovery machine of the decade, a trend that
is set to continue, says Anthony Brown, chair of the
GAYA Data Processing and Analysis Consortium and based at Leading
University in the Netherlands. The GAYA scientific and engineering teams
are already working full steam on the preparations for GAYA
Data Release four, expected in twenty twenty six. The data
volume and quality improves with every release, and GAYA Data Iour,
with an expected five hundred terabytes of data products, is
no exception. Furthermore, it will cover the mission's first five
and a half years, corresponding to the length of the
originally foreseen duration of the mission. This is the GAYA
release to the community he has been waiting for, and
it's exciting to think that this only covers half of
the collected data, says Antonello Vallinari, Deputy Chair of DPAK Instituto.
And there's now dear Astrophicia Astronomic lest Observatory in Padua, Italy.
Sorry about my pronunciation, folks, I'm Australian. Even though the
mission has now stopped collecting data, it will be the
business as usual for us for many years to come
as we make these incredible data sets ready to use,
she says. GAYA data release set for is set to
expand its binary star catalog, the largest such catalog to date.
GAYA has a unique ability to tease out the tiny
motions of pairs of celestial objects orbiting close to each other,
and has already spotted previously hidden companions around bright stars Incidentally,
gaya's largest targeted observation on January ten was a binary
pair sixty one Signy. This iconic star attracted the attention
of nineteenth century astronomers to yield some of the first
proper motion and parallax measurements techniques used by GAYA on
some billion stars, and astute science fiction readers will remember
sixty one Signey from Clifford CEMAC's Wonderful, Wonderful story Time
and Again, starring the ineffable Asher Sutton. Gaya's exoplanet discoveries
are also set to increase with the forthcoming data sets,
thanks to the longer time frame of observations making it
easier to spot wobbling stars. Over the next few months,
will continue to downlink every last drop of data from
Gaya and that at the same time, the processing teams
will ramp up their preparations for the fifth and final
major data release at the end of the decade. This
will conclude with an incredible coordinated effort between hundreds of
experts across the Science Operations Centers here at ESAC, the
mission operations team flying GAIA from ESA's European Space Operations
Center in Germany, and a huge consortium of data processing
specialists who have together ensured the smooth running of this
beautiful mission.
Speaker 2: For so long.
Speaker 1: While today marks the end of science observations, a short
period of technology testing now begins. The tests have the
potential to further improve gay or calibrations, learn more about
the behavior of certain technology after ten years in space,
and even aid the design of future space missions. After
several weeks of testing, GAY will leave its current orbit
around lagrange point two one point five million kilometers from
the Earth in a direction away from the Sun, to
be put into its final heliocentric orbit far away from
Earth's sphere of influence. This spacecraft will be passivated on
twenty twenty seven March twenty twenty five to avoid harm
or interference with other spacecraft. During the technology tests, Gaya's
orientation will be changed, meaning it will be temporarily become
several magnitudes brighter, looking observations through small telescopes a lot easier.
It won't be visible to the naked eye, though a
guide to locating Gaya has been set up so amateur
astronomers are invited to share their observations.
Speaker 2: GAY will treat us with this final gift as we
bid farewell.
Speaker 1: Shining amongst the stars ahead of its well earned retirement.
It's a moment to celebrate this as this transformative mission,
and thank all the teams for more than a decade
of hard work operating Gaya, planning its observations, and ensuring
its prescuous data are returned smoothly to Earth.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Astronomy Daily with Steve Dunky. February brings
a rare planetary parade with five great planets in clear
view and a special alignment of Mercury and Saturn on
February twenty fourth. Throughout February, a striking gathering of the
five greatest planets Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn, along
with the moral Lusiburanus and Neptune, will be the main
celestial attraction in the evening sky. Later in the month,
anyone with a clear unobstructed view of the horizon may
be able to see all five bright planets stretching across
the sky. Two of these planets, Mercury and Saturn, will
appear especially close together on Monday, February twenty fourth, the
highlight of this month long planetary display. While this planetary
alignment isn't particularly rare, it is relatively uncommon. Spotting two, three,
or even four bright planets at once is not unusual,
but the chance to see all five together doesn't come
around often. Looking ahead, a similar alignment will occur in
late October twenty twenty eight, though that event will take
place before sunrise, requiring early risers to catch the view.
By far, the most prominent of the five planets is Venus.
Although it reached its greatest angular distance east of the
Sun on January tenth, it continues to shine brilliantly in
the west southwest sky at dusk throughout February, a breathtaking
evening lantern. This will remain at peak brightness for much
of the month, and if you observe it through steadily
held binoculars or a small telescope, you'll see it as
a crescent. As February progresses, Venus's disc will appear larger
as it moves closer to Earth, while its crescent thins
as the planet aligns more closely with the Earth' sun
line of sight. The next planet to spot is Saturn,
the famed Lord of the Rings. To find it, simply
look toward Venus and extend an imaginary line straight downward.
The first bright star like object you come across will
be Saturn. Your first impression might be wow, it's so dim,
but in reality, Saturn shines as brightly as a first
magnitude star. However, when compared to Venus, which is a
full six magnitudes brighter, Saturn appears significantly fainter, only about
one slash two fifty as bright. Saturn is typically more radiant,
but right now, its ring system is nearly edge on
from Earth's perspective, contributing little reflected light. To catch a
glimpse of the rings, now appearing as a thin bright
light bisecting the planet's disc, you'll need a small telescope
with at least thirty x magnification. During the first two
weeks of February, watch as the gap between Venus and
Saturn gradually widens. In the second half of the month,
Saturn will become increasingly difficult to spot against the brightening
evening twilight, eventually fading into the Sun's glare by month's end.
Then there's Jupiter, unmistakable with its silvery white brilliants, though
only one tenth as bright as Venus, the largest planet
in our solar system appears high in the south at dusk,
accompanied by two famous naked eye star clusters, the Pleiades
and Hyades, as well as several bright winter stars. The
most notable is the orange hued Aldeboran, positioned just below Jupiter.
With binoculars or a small telescope, you can also spot
Jupiter's for largest moons, first observed by Galileo in sixteen
ten with his crude telescope. Make a special effort to
view them on the night of February twenty fifth to
twenty six, when three of them, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
form a strike kingly tight triangle on one side of
the planet, while Io sits alone on the other. The
triangle will appear tightest at twelve thirty nine am Eastern
time on February twenty six, five thirty nine GMT or
nine thirty nine pm Pacific time on February twenty fifth. Now,
look halfway up in the eastern sky for orange yellow Mars,
which blazes into view as night falls during February. It
is accompanied by the twin stars of Gemini, Polyx, and Castor.
This striking trio spends nearly the entire night, crossing the sky,
forming a distinctive triangle that gradually shifts in size and
shape as the month progresses. Mars was at opposition and
closest to Earth in January. During February, as Earth moves
ahead in its orbit, Mars lags behind, causing it to
fade by about three quarters of a magnitude over the
course of the month. The fifth and final planet is
the smallest in our Solar system, Mercury. This rocky little
world becomes visible during the final week of February, shining
almost as brightly as Serious, the brightest star in the sky,
at magnitude minus one point two. It will set just
over an hour after the Sun on February twenty fourth.
Remember when we said we'd come back to Saturn. Well,
on February twenty fourth, Mercury will be in conjunction with Saturn,
with the two planets appearing relatively close, just one point
five degrees apart. This will be your chance to complete
the set and say you've seen all five evening planets
at once. Mercury will be positioned to Saturn's right and
shining about eight times brighter. To spot them, you'll need
a flat, unobstructed west southwest horizon and a very clear,
transparent sky. Start looking about thirty minutes after sunset, scanning
two fist wits at arm's length directly below Venus. We
strongly recommend using binoculars to scan near the horizon. Mercury
should be easy to pick up, and once you've found it,
you should have no trouble seeing it with the naked eye. Saturn, however,
is another story. While it's likely visible through binoculars, spotting
it without optical aid will be a challenge, but if
you succeed, you'll have seen all five and one. This
round of planetary bingo, we've covered the five brightest planets
visible to the naked eye, but two more can be
spotted with good binoculars or a small telescope. A star
chart or atlas will help pinpoint their exact locations in
the sky. Urinus can sometimes be spotted with the naked
eye by those with excellent eyesight, a clear, dark sky,
and prior knowledge of where to look. At its brightest,
it shines at magnitude plus five point six and is
easily identifiable with good binoculars. A small telescope may reveal
its tiny greenish disc. Finally, we come to the most
distant of the eight classical planets, Neptune. It will spend
all of twenty twenty five in the constellation Pisces at
its peak magnitude of plus seven point eight. This bluishued
world is visible only with good binoculars or a telescope.
Try spotting it on the evening of February first, when
it appears near a brilliant Venus and a waxing crescent moon.
Later in the month, it feeds into the bright evening
twilight as it approaches conjunction with the Sun. On March twentieth,
Astronomy Day with Steve and Helene Space Space Science and.
Speaker 1: Astronomy, and thanks for staying with us for the first
show in February twenty twenty five, it looks like this
year is going to fly by faster than twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Did what do you think?
Speaker 3: Hell, it sure feels that way.
Speaker 2: I mean, January's just gone.
Speaker 3: Stop the world human I want to get off, ha ha,
No chance, halle.
Speaker 1: We ride this one all the way to the end well, which,
by staggering coincidence, is about now.
Speaker 3: So it's goodbye, Oh Sandy.
Speaker 2: A little fulllorn there Halle. But it's just for another.
Speaker 3: Week and listeners can enjoy my cousin Anna doing astronomy
daily weekdays until we are back next Monday.
Speaker 2: Oh that busy, busy girl unstoppable. Oh that's for sure. Anyway,
we'll see you all next week.
Speaker 3: Bye day the podcast, I mean.
Speaker 2: Your host, Steve Dunklin. H