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Speaker 1: Good morning, good evening, and good winever you're listening, Welcome

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to Astronomy Daily, your front row seat to the Cosmos.

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Speaker 2: I'm Anna and I'm Avery.

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Speaker 3: It's Friday, the thirteenth, February twenty twenty six. And if

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you're superstitious, well, the universe doesn't care about your calendar.

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It's been too busy making black holes, breaking rockets, and

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building planetary systems that make absolutely no sense.

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Speaker 1: That's right, We've got an absolutely packed show for you today.

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Astronomers may have just watched a star quietly collapse into

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a brand new black hole in our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy.

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No supernova required. SpaceX's Crew twelve is launching to the

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International Space Station as we speak. Europe's most powerful rocket

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just flew for the very first time, and that's just

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for starters.

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Speaker 3: We've also got a Vulcan rocket that apparently didn't learn

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its lesson the first time around, a planetary system that's

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been turned completely inside out. And now this is Swift

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Observatory going into survival mode to avoid a fiery re entry.

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Let's get into it.

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Speaker 1: We're kicking things off with what is quite literally happening

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right now. NASA and SpaceX have given the final go

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for Crew twelve mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff

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was scheduled for five point fifteen am Eastern Time this

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morning from Space Launch Complex forty at Cape Canaveral.

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Speaker 3: The crew is an international squad. We've got NASA astronauts

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Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronauts Sophiettino

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from France and Ross Cosmos cosmonaut Andre Fadiev from Russia.

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They're riding aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on a Falcon

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nine rocket.

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Speaker 1: And this launch was supposed to happen yesterday on the twelfth,

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but mission teams waved off due to weather conditions along

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the flight path. They completed a final weather briefing last

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night and gave the all clear to proceed into the countdown.

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Speaker 3: If everything went according to plan this morning, the crew

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should arrive at the station tomorrow afternoon, on Valentine's Day,

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at around three fifteen pm Eastern Romantic Right. Nothing says

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I Love you like docking with a space station at

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twenty eight thousand kilometers per hour.

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Speaker 1: Once they're aboard, they'll bring the station back up to

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its full complement. Of seven crew members. The ISS has

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been operating with a reduced crew, so this is a

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welcome reinforcement. They've got a packed science agenda waiting for

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them up there.

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Speaker 3: Fun stat on this one. The Falcon nine booster being

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used B one zero eight one is flying for its

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twenty second time, twenty two flights on a single rocket booster.

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And this is the nineteenth Falcon nine mission of twenty

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twenty six alone. And we're only in mid February. Base

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Exis launch cadence is just relentless.

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Speaker 1: We'll keep do updated on crew twelves progress as they

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make their way to the station. You can catch the

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full coverage on NASA Plus, Amazon Prime, and NASA's YouTube channel.

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Speaker 3: All right, Anna, this next story is the kind of

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thing that gives astrophysicists goosebumps. Astronomers believe they've witnessed something extraordinary.

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A massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy that didn't go

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out by a bang, but just quietly vanished, and what

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it left behind appears to be a brand new black hole.

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Speaker 1: This is genuinely remarkable. The star, cataloged as M thirty

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one twenty fourteen DS one, was a yellow supergiant about

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thirteen times the mass of our own Sun, sitting roughly

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two point five million light years away in our neighboring

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Andromeda Galaxy. Before it disappeared, it was one of the

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brightest stars in Andromeda, shining about one hundred thousand times

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brighter than our own Sun.

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Speaker 3: So here's what happened. A team led by Columbia University

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astrophysicist Kisha Lai Day was sifting through archival data from

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NASA's Neal Wise mission, an infrared space telescope that mapped

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the sky from twenty nine to twenty twenty four. They

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were building a map of how millions of stars change

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in brightness over time, and buried in that data they

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found something stunning.

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Speaker 1: Starting around twenty fourteen, this star began to brighten in

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infrared light, then it started fading dramatically invisible light, and

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by twenty twenty two it had vanished entirely from Neo

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wise's view. Even with the most sensitive telescopes available today,

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there's nothing there. As Depasse put it, imagine if betal

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juice just suddenly disappeared, That's essentially what happened here, just

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in the galaxy next door.

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Speaker 3: Now. Normally, when a massive star dies, it goes out

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spectacularly as a supernova. The core collapses, neutrinos erupt outward,

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and the resulting shock wave blasts the star's outer layers

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into space in an explosion that can outshine an entire galaxy.

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But this star didn't do any of that. It appears

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to be what astronomers call a failed supernova.

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Speaker 1: The theory is that the core collapsed as expected, forming

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a dense neutron star, but the shockwave that was supposed

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to blow the star apart just wasn't strong enough. Instead

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of exploding outward, most of the star's material fell back inward,

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overwhelming the neutron star and creating a black hole. Its

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death by implosion rather than explosion.

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Speaker 3: And what's really interesting is the role of convection. The

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team realized that previous models hadn't properly accounted for the

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churning turbulent motions in the star's outer layers. When they

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factored that in, they found the convection actually helped sap

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energy from the shockwave, making it more likely to fail.

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That's a significant new insight.

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Speaker 1: The material that didn't fall straight in is now forming

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a rotating accretion disk around the newborn black hole slowly

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spiraling inward, much like water circling a drain. The infrared

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glow from that debris should remain visible to the James

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Webb Space Telescope for decades as it gradually fades.

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Speaker 3: The study was published yesterday in the journal Science, and

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the implications are huge. If relatively lightweight stars like this

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one at just thirteen solar masses can collapse directly into

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black holes, then there could be far more black holes

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out there than we've previously estimated. This could be a

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very common way for stars to die, and we've just

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been missing it because there's no explosion to see.

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Speaker 1: Not everyone's convinced yet, though Some astronomers suggest this could

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be a case of merging stars whose combined light got

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obscured by dust. But as one researcher put it, the

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definitive test is simple. Death is forever. If it's truly

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a black hole, that star is never coming back. Future

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observations with JWST will help settle the debate.

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Speaker 3: Thicking with the launch theme, Europe had a huge milestone yesterday.

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The most powerful version of the Arion six rocket flew

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for the first time, and it was carrying cargo for

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one of SpaceX's biggest competitors.

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Speaker 1: That's right, Ariyan Space launched the Arion sixty four, the

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four booster configuration of Europe's new flagship rocket. It lifted

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off from the Guyana Space Center in Kuru, French, Guyana

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at sixteen forty five UTC on February twelfth, and writing

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on top were thirty two satellites for Amazon's Internet constellation,

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now officially branded as Amazon Leo.

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Speaker 3: So let's break down the naming. The Arion six comes

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in two versions, the six to two with two strap

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on solid rocket boosters and the six four with four.

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This was the first time the six to four has

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ever flown, and it's significantly more powerful. Those four P

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one twenty C solid boosters give it the extra punch

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needed to loft heavier payloads.

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Speaker 1: And Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is Amazon's

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answer to SpaceX's Starlink. The plan is to build a

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con installation of three thousand, two hundred and thirty six

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satellites providing broadband Internet from low Earth orbit. So these

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thirty two satellites are an early batch to start building

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out that network.

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Speaker 3: It's a big deal on two fronts for Europe. The

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Arion six' four flying successfully means they now have a

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heavy lift option that can compete for larger commercial and government.

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Payloads and For, amazon getting satellites up on a NON

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SpaceX rocket is strategically. Important you don't want your main

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competitor also being your sole ride to.

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Speaker 1: Orbit the launch went smoothly with the satellites successfully deployed

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into Low earth. Orbit it's a promising start for The

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arion six'. Four, configuration now speaking of rockets that had

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a slightly less, smooth day we need to talk About The.

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Vulcan centaur this is an update to the story we.

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Covered Yesterday United launch alliance FLEW the ussf eighty seven

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mission FOR The Us space force Early on, february twelfth

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and there was a very. Familiar problem about thirty seconds

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after Liftoff From cape canaveral observers noticed a bright glow

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and a shower of sparks pouring from the aft end

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of one of The four gems SIXTY three xl solid.

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Rocket boosters video and tracking footage showed what appears to

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be a nozzle, burned through where a hot exhaust gas

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essentially melts its way through the.

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Speaker 2: Nozzle casing and here's.

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Speaker 3: The thing this has. Happened before the exact same type

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of anomaly Occurred during vulcan's second certification flight Back in

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october twenty. TWENTY four ula and Booster Manufacturer northrop grummen

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spent months investigating, that incident identified a, manufacturing defect and

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said they'd. Fixed it the third Flight in august twenty

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twenty five, went cleanly.

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Speaker 1: But now on just the fourth, flight overall the problem.

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IS back ula acknowledged it had quote an observation early

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during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors

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and said the team is reviewing.

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Speaker 3: The data the silver lining is that the mission. Still

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Succeeded the falcon, nine Sorry the Vulcan's twin bee four main,

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engines compensated And the centaur upper stage completed all its.

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Plan burns about eight hours, AFTER launch ula confirmed the

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payloads were successfully delivered to, geosynchronous orbit more than twenty

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two thousand Miles.

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Speaker 1: Above earth the primary payload was a PAIR of gssap

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satellites For The. Space force these are maneuverable spacecraft that

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serve as a sort of neighborhood watch for geosynchronous orbit.

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Monitoring ACTIVITY near us and. Allied assets there were also

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some research and development.

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Speaker 3: Payloads aboard but the bigger question now is what this

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Means for. VULCAN'S future ula had ambitious plans to fly

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sixteen to eighteen missions, this year including Launches FOR amazon

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gps satellites And More space. FORCE payloads a recurring boost

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issue on a rocket that's only flown four times is a.

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Serious Concern The space force has already said it will

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work CLOSELY with ula on flight worthiness before the next national.

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Security mission we'll be watching this.

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Speaker 1: One closely bulkan is supposed to be ULA's flagship for,

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the future replacing The venerable. Atlas five it needs to

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prove it can, fly reliably and a pattern of booster

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issues isn't helping that case.

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Speaker 3: All right time for some. Planetary weirdness astronomers have found

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a star system that looks like someone assembled the planets

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in the. Wrong order think of it as a cosmic double.

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Stuffed oreo that's actually a.

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Speaker 1: Great analogy the star IS called lhs nineteen. Zero three

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it's a red dwarf about half the mass Of, our

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sun located about one hundred and sixteen light. Years away

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it has four planets all orbiting in less than, thirty

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days so it's a very. Compact system and from the,

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star outward the arrangement goes rocky gaseous, gaseous rocky.

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Speaker 3: Which is the exact opposite of what models predict in

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standard planetary. Formation theory rocky planets form closer to the

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star where intense starlight strips, away atmospheres and gas giants

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form farther out where there's more gas available in the.

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Protoplanetary disc you'd expect rocky on the inside gassy on,

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the OUTSIDE.

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Speaker 1: But lhs nineteen oh three follows the. Rules beautifully for

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the first, three planets a rocky one closest in than two,

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gaseous ones and then the, fourth planet the one, furthest

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out is. Rocky again it's like Finding a venus like

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world Out past. Neptune's orbit it just shouldn't.

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Speaker 3: Be there the system was first discovered By NASA's test

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mission back in, twenty nineteen and this, latest Study published

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february Twelfth, in science used a suite of ground based

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and space based instruments to precisely determine the planet's masses.

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And densities that's how they could tell which ones are

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rocky and which, have thick. Gascious envelopes the.

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Speaker 1: Leading explanation is. Planetary migration sometime early in the, system's

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history the inner planets may have, shuffled around similar to

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what happened in Our Own solar system during the late.

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HEAVY bombardment a gravitational reshuffle could have sent a large

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body crashing into the, fourth planet stripping away, its atmosphere

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or the planet may have formed late after the system

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had run out.

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Speaker 3: Of gas As Astronomer andrew cameron From the University Of

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saint andrew's, put it that stuff does happen in young.

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Planetary systems this one has the look of something that's

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been turned. Inside out it's a fantastic reminder that for

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all our models, and theories the universe keeps. Finding ways as.

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Speaker 1: A prisis our final story today is about a veteran

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space telescope that's fighting for its life and NASA's creative

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plan to.

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Speaker 3: Save It The Neo Garold swift observatory has been one

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of NASA's warkhorses for high. Energy astrophysics it's been in

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orbit for about twenty, one years rapidly slewing to observe

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gamma ray bursts and other transient, cosmic events but time

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and physics are catching up.

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Speaker 1: With it the problem is. Atmospheric drag enhanced, solar activity

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and we're right around solar Maximum heats earth's upper atmosphere

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and causes it. To expand that expanded atmosphere creates more

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drag on satellites in, low orbit slowly pulling. Them down

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swift's average altitude has been, steadily declining and it's now

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dropped below about two hundred and fifty miles or four

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hundred Kilometers.

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Speaker 3: So on, february Eleventh NASA's swift team made a. Tough

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call they've temporarily suspended most. Science Operations The burst alert

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telescope will keep detecting gamma, ray bursts but the spacecraft

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will no longer slew to follow up on those detections

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with its. Other, instruments instead controllers Are keeping swift in

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a fixed orientation that minimizes.

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Speaker 1: Atmospheric drag think of it like a swimmer turning sideways

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to cut through a current instead of facing it. Head

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on by reducing how much Surface area swift presents to

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the thin wisps of atmosphere at, that altitude they can

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slow the.

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Speaker 2: Orbital decay and here's the.

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Speaker 3: CREATIVE part nasa has contracted a Company Called Catalyst, space

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technologies Based, In, flagstaff arizona to actually go up And

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give swift. The push they're planning a servicing mission that

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will boost the observatory into a, higher orbit extending its.

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Scientific lifetime the reboost spacecraft is expected to launch in,

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the summer but for that, To work swift needs to

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stay above about one hundred eighty five miles roughly three,

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Hundred kilometers so everything they're doing now is about preserving

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enough altitude to make the rescue. Mission possible it's a

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fascinating case study in. Satellite servicing if, it works it

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demonstrates a capability that could be applied to all sorts of.

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Aging spacecraft rather than letting valuable observatories, burn up you

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send a little tugboat to push them. Back up the

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economics of that could be transformative for.

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Speaker 1: Space science we're Rooting for swift twenty one years of

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service and still going. Fingers crossed the reboost mission comes together,

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in time.

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Speaker 3: And that wraps up another packed Edition Of. Astronomy daily What,

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a friday, The thirteenth it's been from a star silently

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becoming a, black hole to rockets that keep. Surprising us

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the universe never takes a.

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Speaker 1: Day off if you enjoyed, today's episode please hit subscribe

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00:16:44,519 --> 00:16:47,399
wherever you're listening and leave us a review if. You

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00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,919
can it really does help new listeners. Find us you

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00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,519
can also follow us on social media At Astro daily

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00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:55,679
pod on all the.

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Speaker 3: Major platforms head over to astronomydaily dot io for full

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show notes and links to all the stories we, covered

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00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,759
today and if you've, got questions, story tips or just

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00:17:05,799 --> 00:17:07,480
want to, say hi we'd love to hear.

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Speaker 2: From you until, next time keep looking up clear.

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Speaker 3: Skies Everyone sunday star Is the star is the