1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:05,360
Speaker 1: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

2
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,519
that brings you the latest space and astronomy news every

3
00:00:08,599 --> 00:00:09,240
single day.

4
00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:13,000
Speaker 2: I'm Anna and I'm Avery, and what a day to

5
00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:15,839
be talking about the Cosmo Xana. The universe has really

6
00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:17,960
pulled out all the stops for Valentine's Day.

7
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,839
Speaker 1: This year, it really has. We've got astronauts arriving at

8
00:00:21,839 --> 00:00:25,559
the space station today, a dying star sending the universe

9
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:30,199
a literal Valentine, possible Aurora dancing across the skies tonight,

10
00:00:30,559 --> 00:00:33,200
and a whole lot more. So let's get into.

11
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,520
Speaker 2: It ready when you are.

12
00:00:35,039 --> 00:00:38,840
Speaker 1: Our top story today is a Valentine's Day rendezvous, not

13
00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,280
between sweethearts, but between a Dragon spacecraft and the International

14
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:48,000
Space Station facex's Crew twelve mission launched yesterday morning at

15
00:00:48,039 --> 00:00:52,079
Cape Canaveral at five point fifteen Eastern time, and as

16
00:00:52,119 --> 00:00:55,200
we speak, four astronauts are on their way to dock

17
00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,439
with the ISS later this afternoon.

18
00:00:58,039 --> 00:01:00,799
Speaker 2: And what a crew it is. Commanding the mission is

19
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,120
NASA astronaut Jessicamir with Jack Hathaway as pilot. They're joined

20
00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,599
by ISSA astronaut Sophie Adenat, whose mission has been named

21
00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:13,400
Epsilon and Ross Cosmos cosmonaut Andre Fetiyev. It's a truly

22
00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:14,519
international crew.

23
00:01:15,239 --> 00:01:19,159
Speaker 1: This mission has been particularly urgent avery the ISS has

24
00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:22,719
been operating with just three crew members, a skeleton crew

25
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,879
since mid January, when Crew eleven had to make an

26
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,640
unexpected early return to Earth due to a medical issue

27
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:30,640
with one of its members.

28
00:01:31,239 --> 00:01:35,040
Speaker 2: That left NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts

29
00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,680
Sergei kutz Verskov and Sergei Mikhayev, holding down the four

30
00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,319
under own. NASA has been clear that seven crew members

31
00:01:42,439 --> 00:01:45,319
is really what you need to maximize a science output

32
00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,079
on a station that costs around three billion dollars a

33
00:01:48,159 --> 00:01:49,200
year to operate.

34
00:01:49,439 --> 00:01:52,439
Speaker 1: So there was real pressure to get this launch done quickly.

35
00:01:52,879 --> 00:01:56,959
SpaceX actually had the rocket and spacecraft ready ahead of schedule,

36
00:01:57,239 --> 00:02:00,680
but crew training and weather kept pushing the date. They

37
00:02:00,719 --> 00:02:03,599
lost two launch windows earlier in the week to bad

38
00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,799
weather along a flight path before finally getting off the

39
00:02:06,799 --> 00:02:08,280
ground yesterday.

40
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,280
Speaker 2: And in a lovely touch for Valentine's Day, the crew

41
00:02:11,319 --> 00:02:15,479
revealed their zero gravity indicator, a handmade crocheted model of

42
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,319
Earth with four little satellites representing each crew member. Plus

43
00:02:19,319 --> 00:02:22,039
a tiny moon for Commander Mer. It was made by

44
00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:26,479
Mer's childhood best friend and Hathaway's daughter. That's pretty adorable,

45
00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:28,039
it really is.

46
00:02:28,599 --> 00:02:32,120
Speaker 1: Docking is expected at around three point fifteen pm Eastern

47
00:02:32,159 --> 00:02:34,599
Time today, so by the time many of you are

48
00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,639
listening to this, the ISS should be back to its

49
00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:42,960
full complement of seven. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised the teams,

50
00:02:43,319 --> 00:02:47,439
saying they brought Crew eleven home early, pulled Crew twelve forward,

51
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,199
and did it all while preparing for the Artemis two

52
00:02:50,319 --> 00:02:53,479
moon mission. A busy few weeks at NASA, to say

53
00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:54,000
the least.

54
00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,560
Speaker 2: And speaking of the Artemis to rocket, there was a

55
00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,039
fantastic photo from Kennedy Space Center this week showing the

56
00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,800
massive SLS Moon rocket photo bombing the Crew twelve Falcon

57
00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,960
nine on the neighboring launch pad, two very different rockets

58
00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,199
side by side, representing the present and future of human spaceflight.

59
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,319
Speaker 1: Now we've been keeping you updated on this one, but

60
00:03:16,439 --> 00:03:19,080
with just three days to go, it's time for a

61
00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:24,280
final reminder. On Tuesday, February seventeenth, the first solar eclipse

62
00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,599
of twenty twenty six will take place. An annular solar

63
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,240
eclipse or also known as a ring of fire eclipse.

64
00:03:31,879 --> 00:03:34,240
Speaker 2: And here's the thing. This one is going to be

65
00:03:34,319 --> 00:03:38,159
witnessed by more penguins than people. The path of annularity,

66
00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:41,360
where you'd actually see that stunning ring of sunlight around

67
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,520
the Moon, cuts across a remote stretch of Antarctica and

68
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:45,439
the Southern Ocean.

69
00:03:46,039 --> 00:03:49,599
Speaker 1: At maximum eclipse, the Moon will cover about ninety six

70
00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,240
percent of the Sun's disc, leaving that slim glowing ring

71
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,479
visible for up to two minutes and twenty seconds. But

72
00:03:56,639 --> 00:03:59,000
you'd need to be at one of the scientific research

73
00:03:59,039 --> 00:04:03,159
stations down in Antarctica, like the French Italian Concordia Station

74
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:05,120
or Russia's Myrni station.

75
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,759
Speaker 2: For the rest of the world, partial phases will be

76
00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,280
visible from the very southern tips of Chile and Argentina

77
00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,519
and the cross parts of Southern Africa, including South Africa,

78
00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:21,120
Mozambique and Madagascar. But if you're in Europe, North America

79
00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,759
or most of Asia, no dice on this one. I'm

80
00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:25,079
afraid Bill.

81
00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,360
Speaker 1: It's a reminder that eclipse season is upon us, and

82
00:04:28,399 --> 00:04:30,519
that brings us neatly to our next story.

83
00:04:30,879 --> 00:04:34,279
Speaker 2: Have you ever noticed that solar eclipses and lunar eclipses

84
00:04:34,319 --> 00:04:37,959
seem to arrive in pairs. It's not a coincidence. Every

85
00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,199
eclipse is part of a predictable pattern during a short

86
00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,160
window known as an eclipse season.

87
00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,879
Speaker 1: That's right. An eclipse season lasts about thirty one to

88
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,199
thirty seven days, and there are typically two each year,

89
00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,000
roughly six months apart. They occur when the Sun passes

90
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,759
near one of the lunar nodes, the points where the

91
00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,319
Moon's tilted orbit crosses the plane of Earth's orbit around

92
00:05:00,319 --> 00:05:03,560
the Sun. During this window, the geometry lines up for

93
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:04,360
eclipses to.

94
00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,319
Speaker 2: Happen, and because the window is long enough to contain

95
00:05:07,399 --> 00:05:09,839
both a new moon and a full moon, which are

96
00:05:09,879 --> 00:05:13,240
always about two weeks apart, you almost always get a pair,

97
00:05:13,439 --> 00:05:16,360
a solar eclipse at new moon and the lunar eclipse

98
00:05:16,399 --> 00:05:18,279
at full moon, or vice versa.

99
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,160
Speaker 1: So the annular solar eclipse on February seventeenth is the

100
00:05:22,199 --> 00:05:26,360
opening act. Exactly fourteen days later, on March third, the

101
00:05:26,399 --> 00:05:30,560
same eclipse season delivers a total lunar eclipse, a blood moon,

102
00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,439
with the Moon spending nearly an hour fully inside Earth's

103
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:35,720
dark umbrel.

104
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,040
Speaker 2: Shadow, and that one is much more accessible observers in

105
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,519
East Asia Australia. The Pacific and western North America will

106
00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,120
have excellent views of the Moon turning that gorgeous coppery

107
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:48,439
color during flatality.

108
00:05:48,639 --> 00:05:51,879
Speaker 1: But wait, there's more. The second eclipse season of twenty

109
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,879
twenty six arrives in August, and this one is the blockbuster.

110
00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:01,560
On August twelfth, a total solar eclipse will sweep across Greenland, Iceland,

111
00:06:01,639 --> 00:06:05,519
and northern Spain. That's the first total solar eclipse since

112
00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,800
April twenty twenty four, and much of Western Europe and

113
00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:12,240
North America will see at least a deep partial eclipse.

114
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,279
Speaker 2: Then two weeks after that, on August twenty eighth, a

115
00:06:16,399 --> 00:06:20,120
partial lunar eclipse rounds out the season. So twenty twenty

116
00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,639
six really is shaping up to be a remarkable year

117
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,079
for eclipse chasers, for eclipses, two seasons, and some genuinely

118
00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,920
spectacular events. If you've been meeting to plan an eclipse trip,

119
00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:31,839
now's the time.

120
00:06:32,079 --> 00:06:34,720
Speaker 1: We'll have much more on the March and August eclipses

121
00:06:34,759 --> 00:06:36,560
as they get closer, so stay tuned.

122
00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,600
Speaker 2: And now for what has to be the most perfectly

123
00:06:39,639 --> 00:06:42,600
timed astronomy story of the year. Just in time for

124
00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,319
Valentine's Day, Space has sent us a heart shaped greeting.

125
00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,319
Speaker 1: The star Mira A, about three hundred light years from Earth,

126
00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,639
has ejected a cloud of gas and dust that forms

127
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,639
a striking heart shape around it. And this isn't just

128
00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,879
a pretty picture, it's a genuinely surprising science discovery.

129
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,879
Speaker 2: Mira A is a red giant star, one of the

130
00:07:03,879 --> 00:07:07,199
most famous variable stars in the sky. It was first

131
00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,079
documented all the way back in fifteen ninety six as

132
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,439
a star. In the last stages of its life, it's

133
00:07:13,439 --> 00:07:17,160
been shedding material into space, but the amount and speed

134
00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,199
of this particular rejection caught astronomers off guard.

135
00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,519
Speaker 1: The study, led by Theo Corey at Sweden's Chalmers University

136
00:07:24,519 --> 00:07:28,839
of Technology, found that Mira A ejected roughly seven earth

137
00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,879
masses of material in this burst. Using observations from both

138
00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,839
the Very Large Telescope and the Alma radio array in Chile,

139
00:07:37,279 --> 00:07:40,639
the team discovered that gas fills the heart shaped structure,

140
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,480
while dust concentrates along the outer edges, creating a beautiful

141
00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:46,639
glowing outline.

142
00:07:46,879 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 2: What's particularly fascinating is that the star appears to be

143
00:07:50,199 --> 00:07:55,120
acting like a lighthouse, illuminating its surroundings unevenly. Corey said

144
00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,639
that they were very surprised to see the structure, and

145
00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,199
that the star's illumination of the surrounding us varies in

146
00:08:01,319 --> 00:08:02,560
unexpected ways.

147
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: And there's a companion star in this love story too.

148
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,199
Mira B, a white dwarf star that orbits Mira A,

149
00:08:09,639 --> 00:08:12,879
is already beginning to gather some of the ejected material.

150
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,360
The researchers say they'll keep monitoring the expanding cloud because

151
00:08:17,399 --> 00:08:20,279
it could eventually affect Mira B. Though we've got a

152
00:08:20,319 --> 00:08:24,399
cosmic couple exchanging material on Valentine's Day, You couldn't make

153
00:08:24,439 --> 00:08:24,759
it up.

154
00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,759
Speaker 2: The study has been accepted for publication in the journal

155
00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:32,360
Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the preprint is already available on archive.

156
00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:34,679
A truly heartfelt discovery.

157
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:40,120
Speaker 1: Literally from hearts to headspinners. Scientists have been lift puzzled

158
00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,679
by a comment that has done something truly extraordinary. It's

159
00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:45,600
flipped its rotation direction.

160
00:08:46,159 --> 00:08:50,960
Speaker 2: Palmet forty one p Tutal Jacobini Cresak try saying that

161
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,960
three times fast was observed by NASAs Swift spacecrafts back

162
00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,759
in twenty seventeen, slowing its rotation dramatically. It went from

163
00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:04,200
once every twenty hours to once every fifty three hours

164
00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:05,399
in just sixty days.

165
00:09:06,159 --> 00:09:08,919
Speaker 1: To put that in context, the previous record for a

166
00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,759
commentary spin down was held by Comet Hartly II, which

167
00:09:12,799 --> 00:09:16,759
slowed from seventeen to nineteen hours over ninety days. So

168
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,480
Comet forty one p changed its spin rate ten times

169
00:09:20,519 --> 00:09:24,360
more dramatically in two thirds the time. It's unprecedented.

170
00:09:25,159 --> 00:09:28,399
Speaker 2: But that's not even the stranger part. New analysis of

171
00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:32,679
Hubble space telescope images by astronomer David Jewett at UCLA

172
00:09:33,039 --> 00:09:37,200
has revealed that after slowing down, the comet's rotation appeared

173
00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,559
to actually reverse it started spinning the other way.

174
00:09:41,399 --> 00:09:45,120
Speaker 1: The culprit appears to be the comet's own outgassing. As

175
00:09:45,159 --> 00:09:48,240
comets approach the Sun, the heat up and release jets

176
00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,759
of gas. When that gas escapes unevenly from the surface,

177
00:09:52,039 --> 00:09:56,399
what scientists call anisotropic outgasing, it creates a torque on

178
00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,519
the nucleus, gradually changing and eventually reversing its spin.

179
00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,399
Speaker 2: Jewett estimates that the nucleus is less than zero point

180
00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:09,240
seven kilometers in radius, making it particularly susceptible to these forces.

181
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,639
And here's the sobering implication. The lifetime of the nucleus

182
00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:17,519
to rotational instability is just a few decades, which is

183
00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:20,720
incredibly short compared to the thousands of years it's been

184
00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:21,639
in its current orbit.

185
00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,000
Speaker 1: So while the comet's orbit might be stable for millennia,

186
00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,639
its physical integrity is much more fragile. It raises the

187
00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,559
question of whether comets might not last as long as

188
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,720
we previously thought, with their own internal forces eventually tearing

189
00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,799
them apart. The paper is available as a pre print

190
00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,759
on archive for anyone who wants to dig into the details.

191
00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,120
Speaker 2: And finally, here's something for everyone to look forward to.

192
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,840
Later this month, a rare six planet parade is building

193
00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,799
in the evening sky, and the best part, it's happening

194
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:54,639
at a perfectly civilized hour.

195
00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,960
Speaker 1: Throughout February, six planets are lining up across the sky

196
00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:07,279
in what astronomers call a planetary alignment. The parade features Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus,

197
00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,759
and Neptune, and the show peaks on February twenty eighth.

198
00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,759
Speaker 2: Now, four of those Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter will

199
00:11:15,799 --> 00:11:18,960
be visible to the naked eye, Urinus and Neptune will

200
00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,679
require binoculars or a telescope. The best time to look

201
00:11:22,759 --> 00:11:26,080
is about thirty minutes after your local sunset low in

202
00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,639
the western sky. You'll want a clear, unobstructed horizon.

203
00:11:30,279 --> 00:11:33,000
Speaker 1: Mercury might be the trickiest to spot because of its

204
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,399
low position near the horizon, but Venus and Jupiter should

205
00:11:36,399 --> 00:11:39,759
be unmistakable. They're the brightest objects in the evening sky

206
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:40,639
after the moon.

207
00:11:41,399 --> 00:11:44,159
Speaker 2: Now, this isn't quite as rare as the seven planet

208
00:11:44,159 --> 00:11:47,679
alignment we saw in February last year, which included all

209
00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:51,559
the classical planets plus Uranus and Neptune. That one won't

210
00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:55,159
happen again until twenty forty. But groupings of six planets

211
00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:57,000
are still pretty special.

212
00:11:57,279 --> 00:12:00,759
Speaker 1: As astronomer Greg Brown from the Royal Observatory Greenwich has

213
00:12:00,799 --> 00:12:04,240
pointed out. While groups of three or four planets appearing

214
00:12:04,279 --> 00:12:08,320
together are relatively common, the more planets involved, the more

215
00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,440
orbital geometry has to cooperate. So a six planet parade

216
00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:14,600
is definitely worth stepping outside for.

217
00:12:15,399 --> 00:12:18,720
Speaker 2: Mark your calendars for February twenty eighth, and maybe start

218
00:12:18,759 --> 00:12:22,080
scoping out a good western facing spot with a low horizon.

219
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:23,919
We'll remind you as a day gets.

220
00:12:23,759 --> 00:12:27,639
Speaker 1: Closer before we go, one more little Valentine's Day treat.

221
00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,320
If you're in the Northern United States or southern Canada tonight,

222
00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,960
you might want to step outside after dark and look north.

223
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:40,639
NOAA forecasters are predicting possible G one minor geomagnetic storming

224
00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,840
this weekend, driven by the combined effects of a coronal

225
00:12:43,919 --> 00:12:48,000
whole high speed solar windstream and a coronal mass ejection

226
00:12:48,159 --> 00:12:49,200
from earlier this week.

227
00:12:49,639 --> 00:12:52,879
Speaker 2: So there's a chance, no guarantees, but a chance to

228
00:12:52,919 --> 00:12:56,360
see the Northern lights tonight and into Sunday. Dates like

229
00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:59,320
Michigan and Maine, and of course our friends in Canada

230
00:12:59,399 --> 00:13:02,399
and northern US Europe have the best odds. What could

231
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,559
be more romantic than watching the Aurora dance across the

232
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:07,080
sky on Valentine's Day?

233
00:13:07,399 --> 00:13:10,960
Speaker 1: Imagine telling your date, I arranged the Northern Lights just

234
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:11,440
for you.

235
00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,919
Speaker 2: Smooth move, very smooth. Well that's off for today's show.

236
00:13:16,039 --> 00:13:20,120
Whether you're spending Valentine's Day stargazing, watching a spacecraft doc

237
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,279
with the Space Station, or just enjoying the cosmic love

238
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,399
story of Mira A and its heart shaped nebula, we

239
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,200
hope the universe gives you something to smile about today.

240
00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,279
Speaker 1: Don't forget to subscribe to Astronomy Daily wherever you get

241
00:13:32,279 --> 00:13:35,480
your podcasts, and you can find us online at Astronomy

242
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,600
Daily dot io and on social media at astro Daily Pod.

243
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,039
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a rating

244
00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,399
and review. It really helps others find the show.

245
00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,000
Speaker 2: Until next time, keep looking up and Happy Valentine's Day

246
00:13:49,039 --> 00:13:52,159
from all of us at Astronomy Daily, Queer Skies, Everyone,

247
00:13:52,759 --> 00:14:12,559
Sunday Starts Store is the Soul Store? Is the troll

248
00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:15,840
mhm