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Stellar Explosions, Galactic Surprises, and the Controversial Light Beaming Plan · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Imagine watching a star erupt in high
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  definition frame by frame, gas jets
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  twisting like cosmic fireworks. Or
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  discovering that our galaxy's monstrous
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  black hole isn't the destroyer we
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  feared. Today on Astronomy Daily, we're
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  unpacking Nove caught in the act. Stable
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  survivors orbiting Sagittarius AAR and a
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  bold plan to beam sunlight into the
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  night sky. But at what cost to the stars
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  above? I'm Anna here with my co-host
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  Avery. Let's dive in. Hello stargazers,
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  and welcome to Astronomy Daily for
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  December 9th, 2025. I'm Anna, your guide
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  through the cosmos from the ground up.
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  >> And I'm Avery, orbiting right alongside
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  you. Whether you're sipping coffee under
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  city lights or chasing dark skies in the
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  wild, we've got the latest in space and
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  astronomy to fuel your wonder. Today,
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  we're blending breakthroughs in stellar
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  explosions, galactic survival stories,
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  and even the futuristic twist on
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  illuminating Earth while keeping our
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  telescopes trained on the heavens. Anna,
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  what's got you buzzing today?
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  >> Oh, Avery, it's those real time nova
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  observations. It's like the universe
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  handed us a front row seat to stellar
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  drama. But let's start there and work
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  our way out.
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  >> Okay, kicking things off with the cosmic
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  blockbuster. Astronomers have captured
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  stars exploding in real time and what
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  they saw has rewritten the script on
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  nove published just yesterday in nature
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  astronomy. This study used the center
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  for high angular resolution astronomy or
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  charara array for short in California to
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  image two nove as they unfolded
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  revealing ejections far more complex
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  than a simple blast. Right, Avery. Nove
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  aren't supernova. They're thermonuclear
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  runaways on white dwarfs siphoning
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  material from companion stars. But
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  instead of a straightforward shell of
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  gas, these events showed
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  multidirectional outflows. Take the 1674
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  Hercules, the fastest nova on record. It
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  brightened and faded in mere days about
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  6,500 to 29,000 lighty years away in our
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  galaxy. Charara's intererometry,
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  basically combining light from multiple
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  telescopes for super high resolution,
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  caught two perpendicular jets of gas
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  timed perfectly with gammaray bursts
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  detected by NASA's Fermy Space
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  Telescope. And don't forget V1405
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  Cassiopia, the slow burner at 5600
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  light-years out. It peaked for nearly
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  200 days, bright enough to spot with the
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  naked eye. The white dwarf held onto its
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  outer layers for over 50 days before a
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  delayed ejection again sinking with
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  those high energy gammaray rays. It's
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  like the star was staging a multi-act
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  play.
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  >> Lead author Elias a from Texas Tech
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  calls it a shift from grainy black and
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  white to highdefin video. He told
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  reporters, "These observations allow us
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  to watch a stellar explosion in real
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  time, uncovering the true complexity of
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  how these explosions unfold." Gail
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  Schaefer, Cher's director at Georgia
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  State, emphasized the text's
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  flexibility. Catching these transient
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  events requires adapting our schedule as
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  targets of opportunity pop up.
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  >> Absolutely. As Laura Chomc from Michigan
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  State puts it, nove are laboratories for
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  extreme physics, linking nuclear
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  reactions on the star surface to the
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  geometry of ejected material and that
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  zippy gammaray radiation. This could
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  reshape how we model binary star
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  evolution and even galactic chemistry.
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  >> The realing stuff. If you're an amateur
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  imager, keep an eye on the skies. These
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  targets of opportunity remind us the
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  universe doesn't wait. Shifting from
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  stellar blasts to human ones, the soy
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  use MS-27 crew splashed down safely
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  yesterday, wrapping up an eight-month
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  stint on the International Space
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  Station. NASA reports the trio, NASA
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  astronaut Johnny Kim and Ross Cosmos
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  Cosmonaut Sergey Raichov and Alexe
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  Zubertsky touched down in Kazakhstan
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  after over 260 days in orbit.
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  >> It's a textbook return. Avery launched
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  last spring. Their mission overlapped
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  with key station upgrades and a packed
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  research calendar. While specifics on
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  astronomical experiments are still
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  filtering in, this crew contributed to
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  ongoing solar observations and
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  microgravity fluid dynamics that
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  indirectly support astrophysics modeling
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  like simulating plasma flows in stellar
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  atmospheres.
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  >> True. And it's a handover moment. The
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  station's now prepped for the next
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  rotation, keeping that continuous human
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  presence humming. No major hitches on
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  descent per NASA's blog. Undocking
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  smooth de-orbit burn on point and a
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  balmy step landing at dawn local time.
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  >> 8 months is no small feat. These
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  missions remind us that while we chase
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  exploding stars from afar, boots, or
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  rather spac suits in orbit, are building
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  the data pipelines for tomorrow's
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  discoveries. Welcome home, crew. Now,
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  for the adrenaline junkies, our weekly
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  launch roundup is stacked. NSF
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  Spaceflight.com's December 8th update
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  highlights a global frenzy. China,
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  Russia, Rocket Lab, ULA, and SpaceX all
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  lighting up the pad this week. Leading
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  the pack, SpaceX's Starship Flight 6
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  test from Starbase, Texas, eyeing rapid
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  reusability tweaks after last month's
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  hop. Over in China, a Long March 7A
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  lofted more Tiangong station modules,
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  bolstering their orbital lab. Russia's
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  Soyuse 2.1b from Mto Stoi sent a
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  classified payload skyward. No spoilers,
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  but whispers of Comsat upgrades.
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  Rocket Labs Electron nailed a Dawn
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  launch from New Zealand, deploying small
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  sats for Earth observation that double
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  as calibration tools for astronomy
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  ground stations. And ULA's Vulcan
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  Centaur roared on its second flight from
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  Cape Canaveral, hauling CERT payloads
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  towards GEO, key for future deep space
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  relays.
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  >> No major scrubbers, reported though.
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  Weather nipped at a few heels. These
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  aren't just fireworks. There are the
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  supply lines for telescopes in space and
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  probes to the stars. If you're tracking
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  live, apps like NSFs are gold.
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  >> Agreed. It's a reminder that astronomy
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  thrives on reliable rides to orbit.
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  >> Over to exoplanet hunting. The Subaru
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  telescope in Hawaii has scored its
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  inaugural discoveries. A failed star
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  brown dwarf and an intriguing exoplanet,
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  marking a milestone for its upgraded
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  infrared capabilities.
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  Subaru's no newbie, but these finds
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  detailed in a freshpace.com report
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  showcase its revamped seed survey. The
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  brown dwarf, lurking in a nearby system,
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  clocks in at just 13 to 80 Jupiter
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  masses, too lightweight for hydrogen
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  fusion, hence the failed tag. But it's
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  got a dusty disc hinting at potential
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  planet formation. And the exoplanet, a
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  gas giant orbiting a young sunlike star
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  about 300 lighty years out with an
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  orbital tilt suggesting a dramatic
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  formation history. Maybe a gravitational
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  slingshot from siblings. High contrast
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  imaging pierced the glare revealing
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  spectral signatures of methane and water
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  vapor.
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  >> Implications. This duo pushes our census
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  of substellar objects and wide orbit
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  worlds, refining models of how solar
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  systems assemble. Subaru is pointing the
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  way for JWST follow-ups.
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  >> A stellar debut, pun intended.
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  >> Speaking of galactic neighbors, new
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  research in astronomy and astrophysics
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  reveals our Milky Way's super massive
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  black hole, Sagittarius A star, isn't
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  the wrecking ball we imagined. Lead
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  author Florian Per's team tracked
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  oddballs like G2/DSO,
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  D9, X3, and X7 over two decades with the
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  very large telescopes Symphony and NCO
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  instruments plus fresh 2024 AIS data.
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  These objects in the dense central
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  parseek where stellar crowds are
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  millions of times our local density
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  follow stable Keeperan orbits hugging
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  within 08 parsects of Sagittarius A
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  stars 4 million solar mass grip. G2/DSO
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  not a doomed gas cloud but a star
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  shrouded in one resisting tidal
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  spaghettification.
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  D9's a binary pair cruising steady. X7's
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  elongated Bowshock form is
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  northwardbound untouched. X3 a young
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  stellar or stellar unit accelerates but
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  stays on track.
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  >> Per notes the fact that these objects
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  move in such a stable manner so close to
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  a black hole is fascinating. Sagittarius
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  A star is less destructive than was
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  previously thought. Co-alker Michael
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  Giaek adds, "It can stimulate star
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  formation or exotic dusty objects via
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  binary mergers.
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  >> This paints the galactic center as a
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  stellar nursery lab, not a shredder,
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  challenging destruction models and
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  opening doors to black hole ecology."
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  >> Mindbending. Our black holes got a soft
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  spot.
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  >> Okay, wrapping with a provocative
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  proposal. Startup Reflect Orbital wants
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  to launch thousands of mirror laden
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  satellites by 2030 to beam sunlight
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  earth at night, lighting solar farms,
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  aiding rescues. But astronomers are
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  sounding alarms on the fallout.
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  >> The plan, low Earth orbit satellites
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  with panels focusing beams of sunlight
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  over 5 km spots, four times brighter
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  than a full moon. Proponents tout
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  roundthe-clock solar power, but critics
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  crunch the numbers. Samantha Lawler from
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  the University of Regina says it yield
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  mere millows per panel needing a hordes
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  focused on one spot to matter.
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  >> The real thing for astronomy it's sky
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  flooding light pollution on steroids.
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  Robert Massie of the Royal Astronomical
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  Society calls it catastrophic scrambling
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  observations of faint stars and planets.
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  John Barentine from Silverado Hills
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  Observatory warns of scattered beams
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  disrupting wildlife navigation. Birds,
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  insects, migrants via atmospheric glow.
• 10:32
  Aaron Bolley from UBC pushes rooftops
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  over orbits. More efficient and
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  sustainable.
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  >> A double-edged sword. Innovation versus
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  the dark we need for discovery.
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  >> And that's our cosmic dispatch for
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  December 9th, 2025. From exploding nove
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  to orbiting survivors, it's a universe
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  full of surprises, gentle and fierce.
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  >> Thanks for joining us on Astronomy
• 10:57
  Daily. Tune in tomorrow for more. Got
• 11:00
  thoughts on space mirrors? Hit us on
• 11:02
  social at Astro Daily Pod.
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  >> Clear skies, everyone. I'm Avery
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  >> and I'm Anna. Keep looking up.
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  told
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  stories told
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  stories