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Spacewalks, Supernovas, and the Mysteries of Super Jupiters · Space News Today

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  Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
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  that brings you the biggest news from
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  across the cosmos. I'm Avery.
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  >> And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.
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  Today, we're talking about a dramatic
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  spacew walk outside the Tiang Gong Space
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  Station. Plus, the James Webb telescope
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  spots the oldest supernova ever seen.
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  And we'll find out why giant planets
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  known as super Jupiters might look
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  nothing like our own Jupiter. and we'll
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  finish with a black hole that's whipping
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  up winds at a fraction of the speed of
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  light. Let's get started.
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  >> First up, let's head to low Earth orbit.
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  There's been some serious activity
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  outside the Tangong space station.
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  >> That's right. Two Chinese astronauts
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  from the Shenho 21 mission conducted a
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  marathon 8-hour spacew walk. The primary
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  goal was to get a close look at the
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  Shenho 20 return capsule.
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  >> Mhm. And what they were looking for was
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  damage. Right.
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  >> Exactly. The capsule was likely struck
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  by a piece of space junk and the damage
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  was serious enough that the Shenjo 20
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  crew couldn't use it to return home.
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  They had to come back to Earth on a
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  different vehicle as a precaution.
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  >> Wow. That really highlights the dangers
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  of space debris. So, this spacew walk
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  was essentially a forensic investigation
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  in orbit.
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  >> It was. They were meticulously
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  inspecting and photographing the damage
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  to understand exactly what happened. But
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  that wasn't all they did. They also took
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  the opportunity to install new space
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  debris protection systems on the station
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  itself.
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  >> A necessary upgrade, it seems. It's a
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  growing problem that isn't going away.
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  Every piece of junk, big or small, is a
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  potential threat to current and future
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  missions.
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  >> And speaking of China's space program,
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  they've been busy on the launch pad as
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  well. Incredibly busy. In fact,
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  >> you can say that again. They just set a
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  new national record by launching three
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  separate long march rockets in less than
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  19 hours.
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  >> 19 hours. That's an astonishing pace. It
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  brings their total for 2025 up to 83
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  orbital launches already.
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  >> So, what were these missions carrying?
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  >> A couple of different payloads. The
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  launches deployed more broadband
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  satellites for their Guang mega
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  constellation, which is their competitor
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  to systems like Starlink,
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  >> right?
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  >> And they also sent up two classified
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  military satellites. The details on
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  those, as you'd expect, are pretty
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  sparse.
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  >> It just shows the sheer scale and speed
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  of their operations right now. They're
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  not just launching frequently, they're
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  launching with incredible efficiency,
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  >> and they seem to be getting better at it
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  with every launch. Okay, let's shift our
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  focus from Earth orbit to the red
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  planet. A major new report from the US
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  Nationalmies of Sciences, Engineering,
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  and Medicine has just been released, and
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  it's making some bold recommendations
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  for the future of Mars exploration.
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  >> It really is. The headline
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  recommendation is that the primary
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  scientific objective for the first crude
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  missions to Mars should be the search
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  for life, either past or present. That's
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  a significant statement. For a long
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  time, the focus has been on geology and
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  paving the way for colonization. This
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  report puts astrobiology front and
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  center.
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  >> Exactly. It outlines 11 specific science
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  objectives and proposes two main science
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  mission campaigns to achieve them. The
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  first campaign would target near surface
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  glacier ice
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  >> which could preserve bio signatures.
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  >> Precisely. The second even more
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  ambitious campaign would involve
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  exploring the deep subsurface of Mars.
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  They're talking about drilling deep down
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  to where liquid water might still exist,
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  protected from the harsh surface
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  radiation.
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  >> That would be an incredible undertaking.
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  The technical challenges alone are
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  immense, but the potential payoff,
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  finding evidence of life on another
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  planet, is arguably the greatest prize
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  in science. It completely reframes the
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  why of sending humans to Mars. It's not
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  just about planting a flag. It's about
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  answering one of humanity's biggest
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  questions.
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  >> It would be nice if we could get a
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  definitive answer one day.
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  >> Well, from the search for life to the
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  death of stars, the James Webb Space
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  Telescope has done it again. It's given
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  us a glimpse into the cosmic dawn by
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  finding the oldest supernova ever seen.
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  >> This story is just mind-boggling. JWST
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  detected light from a star that exploded
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  13 billion years ago.
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  >> Let that sink in. The universe itself is
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  about 13.7 billion years old. So, this
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  event happened just 730 million years
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  after the Big Bang.
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  >> Incredible. So, what do we know about
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  this event?
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  >> It's been designated GRB250314A.
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  The GRB stands for gammaray burst which
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  was detected first. That burst is the
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  telltale sign of a massive star
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  collapsing into a black hole or neutron
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  star. The supernova is the explosion
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  that follows.
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  >> So this breaks the previous record for
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  the most distant supernova
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  >> by a long shot. Observing an event like
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  this from the very early universe, gives
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  astronomers a direct look at the life
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  cycle of the first generations of stars,
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  which were much more massive and
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  short-lived than stars like our sun.
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  It's a crucial piece of the puzzle for
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  understanding how the universe evolved.
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  >> From the most distant to some of the
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  most massive, let's talk about
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  exoplanets. A new study is challenging
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  what we thought we knew about super
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  Jupiters,
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  >> right? These are gas giants that are
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  significantly more massive than our own
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  Jupiter. This new research focused on an
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  exoplanet called VHS 1256b.
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  It has a mass of about 20 Jupiters.
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  >> 20 times the mass of Jupiter. That's
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  almost in the territory of a brown
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  dwarf, a failed star.
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  >> It's right on that line. And the study
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  suggests that planets this massive might
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  not look like Jupiter at all. We picture
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  Jupiter with its beautiful stable banded
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  cloud patterns.
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  >> Mhm. The great red spot, the distinct
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  zones and belts.
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  >> Exactly. But on a world like VHS 1256b,
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  the internal heat and higher
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  temperatures could drive a much more
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  turbulent and chaotic atmosphere. The
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  model suggests that instead of stable
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  bands, you'd see large dusty silicut
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  storms swirling chaotically. So less
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  organized beauty, more violent chaos.
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  >> That's a good way to put it. It reminds
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  us that our own solar system is just one
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  example and the diversity of planets out
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  there is far greater than we can
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  imagine.
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  >> Well said. And from Voyages within our
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  solar system, let's take a leap to the
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  truly cosmic scale. For our final story,
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  we're heading to the center of galaxy
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  NGC 3783
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  where a super massive black hole is
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  putting on a spectacular and very windy
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  show.
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  >> And this was a coordinated effort
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  between two powerful space telescopes,
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  the XMM Newton and the new XRISM
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  Observatory.
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  >> That's right. They observed the black
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  holes active galactic nucleus or AGN as
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  it let out a massive X-ray flare. So,
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  similar to a solar flare from our sun,
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  but on an unimaginable scale.
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  >> Precisely. And this flare had a dramatic
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  effect. It triggered powerful winds of
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  superheated gas being blasted away from
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  the black hole at an incredible
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  the speed of light.
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  >> 20% of the speed of light. That's just
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  phenomenal speed.
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  >> It really is. And observing this process
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  helps astronomers understand how these
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  central black holes influence their
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  entire host galaxies. These winds are so
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  powerful that they can clear out gas
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  from the galaxy center, which can shut
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  down star formation and fundamentally
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  shape how a galaxy evolves over billions
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  of years. It's a direct link between the
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  very small, the accretion disc of a
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  black hole, and the very large, the
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  entire galaxy. A fantastic discovery to
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  end on.
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  >> And that's all the time we have for
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  today on Astronomy Daily. We covered
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  everything from spacew walks and launch
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  records to the hunt for life on Mars.
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  and we peered back to the dawn of time
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  with the oldest supernova and questioned
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  what a super Jupiter really looks like.
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  Thanks so much for joining us.
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  >> You can find us wherever you get your
• 8:53
  podcasts or our website which can be
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  found at astronomyaily.io.
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  We'll be back tomorrow with another
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  roundup of the latest news from the
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  final frontier.
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  >> Until then, keep looking up. This is
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  Avery and Anna signing off. Sunny day
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  stories told
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