Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that brings you the universe, one story at a time. I'm Avery.
And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us today, covering everything from the deepest cosmic mysteries to the latest missions exploring our own solar system.
That's right, Anna. We'll be talking about a potential breakthrough in the search for dark matter, a very busy week of rocket launches, and a curious find by the Perseverance rover on Mars.
Plus, we'll check in with the Osiris, uh, apex, and Escapade missions and dive into a fascinating new study that suggests there could be boiling oceans on tiny icy moons.
So grab your favorite beverage, get comfortable, and let's explore the cosmos.
Avery, let's start with what could be one of the biggest discoveries in modern physics. For nearly a century, scientists have been searching for dark matter.
Right. It's this mysterious substance that we know is out there because we can see its gravitational effects on galaxies, but. But it doesn't interact with light, so we can't see it directly. It's a huge puzzle.
Exactly. And now there's a tantalizing new signal. An astronomer from the University of Tokyo, analyzing data from NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, believes he may have found its signature.
Wow. Okay. How? What did he find?
He detected high energy photons, gamma rays that seemed to perfectly match the theoretical predictions for when dark matter particles collide and annihilate each other.
And we're not just talking about any particles. This is linked to the leading theory, Right? The idea of WIMPs.
That's the one. WIMPs, or weakly interacting Massive Particles, are the hypothetical particles that many physicists believe make up dark matter. The signal matches the energy that would be released if two wimps destroyed each other.
M. So this could be our first direct glimpse of dark matter actually doing something. Of course, it still needs to be verified and peer reviewed, of course, but.
If it holds up, it would be a monumental discovery. Finally pulling back the curtain on one of the universe's greatest secrets.
Absolutely incredible. From the invisible universe to the very visible, let's talk about what's heading up into the sky this week. It is going to be a very busy one for launch fans.
It certainly is. How many are we looking at?
7 launches from five different rockets all across the globe. SpaceX is leading the charge as usual, with three missions planned for its workhorse Falcon 9.
3 launches. They really make it look routine. And there's also a crewed mission this week, isn't there?
There is a Russian Soyuz rocket will be launching from Kazakhstan carrying three new crew members up to the International Space Station. Always exciting to see humans heading to orbit.
Mhm. And Russia has another launch planned too.
That's right. A military payload is set to launch on an Angara 1.2 rocket from northern Russia. And not to be left out, South Korea is getting in on the action with a launch of its KSLV2 rocket.
And the week is rounded out from French Guiana. Right, a Vega C launch.
Exactly. The Vega C will carry another South Korean satellite, this one heading to a sun synchronous orbit. It's a truly international week for spaceflight.
It's amazing to think of all that hardware leaving Earth in such a short span of time. Speaking of other worlds, let's journey from Earth orbit to the surface of Mars, where the Perseverance Rover has spotted something unusual.
Yes, another Martian mystery rock. What did Percy find this time?
Well, the science team describes it as a sculpted, high standing rock that looked completely different from the flat, broken up terrain around it. It immediately caught their attention.
And it's a decent size too, right? About three feet long. So of course they zapped it with the laser.
Naturally, the Supercam instrument analyzed its composition and the results are pretty conclusive. The rock, which they've nicknamed Phi Staxhla, is made of iron and nickel, which.
Is the classic signature of a meteorite. It's likely a fragment from the core of a large asteroid that slammed into Mars at some point in the distant past.
That's the leading theory. And if its origin is confirmed, this would be the very first meteorite the Perseverance has discovered since it landed back in February 2021.
That's fantastic. It's like getting a free sample of an asteroid delivered right to your rover. From one NASA mission to another, let's come a little closer to home and talk about a spacecraft that just paid Earth a flying visit.
You must be talking about Osiris Apex. This is the same spacecraft that delivered the sample from Astero Bennu, but now on a new mission.
Exactly. Its new name is Osiris Apophis Explorer. And its new target is Asteroid Apophis. To get there, it needed a gravity assist from Earth, and that just happened on September 23rd.
How close did it come?
It flew within about 2,100 miles of the surface. But the team didn't waste opportunity. As it approached and flew past, the spacecraft turned its instruments back towards home.
Right. To calibrate them. Since we know Earth so well, it's the perfect subject to test your instruments. On to make sure they're working correctly before you get to your new target. I bet they got some beautiful images.
They certainly did. It's always a bit special seeing our home planet from the perspective of one of our robotic explorers.
From a, uh, spacecraft looking back at us. Let's talk about one that's looking at itself. So NASA's new escapade mission has just sent back its first selfies.
That's right. This mission is a pair of twin spacecraft, and about a week after their launch, One of them turned its camera around to snap a picture.
And what do these selfies show? It's not just for social media, I assume.
No, though they are pretty cool. The images taken by the visible and infrared observation system, or visions, show part of the spacecraft solar panel against the backdrop of space.
It's an important engineering check. Right. It confirms that the camera system has deployed correctly and is functioning as expected as the explorer's speed away from Earth. It's the first step in a long journey.
Exactly. It's the spacecraft saying, I'm okay, My eyes are open and I'm ready for what's next. It's a simple image, but a very reassuring one for the mission team.
It always is.
And speaking of long journeys, let's take one ourselves out to the far reaches of the solar system for our final story, which sounds like something straight out of science fiction.
This is the one I've been waiting for. Boiling oceans on icy moons. It sounds contradictory.
It does. But a, uh, new study suggests it might be possible. We already have strong evidence that some larger icy moons, Like Saturn's moon Enceladus or Jupiter's Europa, have liquid water oceans under their icy shells.
Right. Kept liquid by the heat generated from tidal forces. The constant gravitational push and pull from their giant parent planet.
Exactly. This new research takes it a step further. It models what might happen inside much smaller icy moons, Moons that we previously thought would be frozen solid. The study finds that the same tidal forces could generate so much heat in the rocky core that the water at the bottom of the ocean could actually be boiling.
So you'd have this incredible environment With a ceiling of ice, A floor of boiling rock, and a vast, uh, liquid ocean in between.
That's the idea. And if you have liquid water and a source of heat and chemical energy, like a hydrothermal vent system at the bottom of an ocean, then you have.
The key ingredients for life, as we know dramatically expands the number of places in our solar system that could potentially host living organisms. What an amazing thought.
It really is. And it's not just about finding life, but understanding its limits. These environments would be under immense pressure and in total darkness. Life there would be fundamentally different, likely chemosynthetic, thriving on chemical reactions from the core rather than sunlight.
And that has huge implications. It suggests that the habitable zone isn't just about the distance from a star, but also about the internal dynamics of a world. You could have potentially habitable moons orbiting rogue planets that were ejected from their star systems, wandering through interstellar space.
And on, um, that note, we'll call it a wrap on today's episode of Astronomy Daily.
From a potential glimpse of dark matter, a week of powerful launches, a meteorite on Mars, and missions checking in on their way to new adventures, all the way to boiling oceans on distant moons, the universe is never short of wonders.
It certainly isn't. A huge thank you to all of you for joining us on Astronomy Daily. We hope you've enjoyed the journey.
You can find links to all the stories we discussed today on our website. And be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss an episode. Until next time. I'm Anna.
And I'm, um, Avery. Keep looking up. Is the tongue.