WEBVTT 00:00:08.049 --> 00:00:10.710 Howdy stargazers, and welcome to this episode 00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:14.070 of Star Trails. Drew here, and I'll be your guide 00:00:14.070 --> 00:00:17.550 to the night sky for the week starting June 29th 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:21.109 through July the 5th. If you're in the US, many 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:23.429 of us will be out on the evening of July the 00:00:23.429 --> 00:00:26.350 4th catching fireworks with friends or family. 00:00:26.769 --> 00:00:29.929 But there's a cosmic fireworks show overhead 00:00:29.929 --> 00:00:34.310 too. Also, last week seemed to bring a never 00:00:34.310 --> 00:00:38.609 -ending array of wild astronomy news. From the 00:00:38.609 --> 00:00:42.530 largest comet ever detected, the oldest galaxy 00:00:42.530 --> 00:00:45.530 ever photographed, to discoveries in the weird 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:49.090 world of dark matter. We'll talk about all that 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:51.950 and even more in the second half of the show. 00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:55.369 Whether you're tuning in from the backyard, the 00:00:55.369 --> 00:00:58.450 balcony, or just your imagination, I'm glad you're 00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:02.039 here. So find a cozy spot, let your eyes adjust, 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:05.019 and let's see what the sky holds for us this 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:09.400 week. Let's start with one of the prettiest pairings 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:13.219 of the week. Tonight, June 29th, look to the 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:16.900 western sky just after sunset. There you'll see 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:20.780 a delicate waxing crescent moon, only about 22 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:24.319 % illuminated, hanging out close to the planet 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:29.239 Mars. Nearby, you'll also spot Regulus, the brightest 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:32.400 star in the constellation Leo. If you have a 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.340 pair of binoculars, this little triangle of light, 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:38.959 the Moon, Mars, and Regulus, makes a perfect 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:42.459 early evening target. And, for those of you in 00:01:42.459 --> 00:01:45.200 North and South America, there's a chance the 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.239 Moon might even briefly pass in front of Mars, 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:52.879 what astronomers call an occultation. We won't 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.260 all be able to see it. So check in on an astronomy 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:59.859 app such as Stellarium to see if the occultation 00:01:59.859 --> 00:02:03.700 is visible in your area. Between now and July 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:06.319 the 5th, we're also catching the tail end of 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.319 the June boated meteor shower. This one's usually 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.280 pretty mellow, maybe a few meteors per hour, 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:16.340 but every now and then it surprises us with a 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:19.810 sudden outburst. If you're outside late in the 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:22.689 coming days, especially under dark skies, keep 00:02:22.689 --> 00:02:25.729 an eye out for slow bright streaks drifting out 00:02:25.729 --> 00:02:29.250 of the northern sky near the constellation Boötes. 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:33.530 There's a small planetary parade for early risers. 00:02:33.770 --> 00:02:36.270 Just before sunrise, look toward the eastern 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:40.069 sky to catch Venus, shining like a cosmic spotlight. 00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:43.129 It's the brightest thing in the sky after the 00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:46.800 moon right now. Further to the east, Saturn is 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.599 climbing higher each day. Jupiter is rising as 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:53.180 well, but it's just ahead of the morning sun 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:56.979 and lost in the glare. Uranus is hanging out 00:02:56.979 --> 00:02:59.740 around the Pleiades, but as usual, you'll need 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:03.580 a telescope to see it. Back in the evening sky, 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.039 Mercury is peeking out of the twilight haze. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.419 Between now and June 30th, it passes near the 00:03:10.419 --> 00:03:14.750 Beehive Cluster. also known as Messier 44 in 00:03:14.750 --> 00:03:18.710 the constellation Cancer. Grab a pair of binoculars 00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:21.009 and try to catch this pairing in the northwest 00:03:21.009 --> 00:03:24.310 right after sunset. The beehive cluster looks 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:27.610 like a soft sprinkling of stars, and Mercury 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:30.590 will be just nearby, like a bright pearl in a 00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:33.909 field of fireflies. It will set quickly, and 00:03:33.909 --> 00:03:36.550 you'll need a clear view to the western horizon. 00:03:37.480 --> 00:03:40.620 Now is also the perfect time to get reacquainted 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:44.340 with the Summer Triangle. This asterism made 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:48.139 up of the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair 00:03:48.139 --> 00:03:51.759 dominates the southern sky by 10pm and leads 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.360 you right into the rich star fields of the Milky 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.759 Way. Look higher overhead and you'll find Cygnus 00:03:58.759 --> 00:04:02.639 the Swan flying along the Milky Way's path. while 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.439 Boötes and its bright orange star Arcturus glide 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:09.900 westward. If the sky is clear, you'll be able 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:13.360 to see the Milky Way as a faint misty band stretching 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:17.019 across the sky from northeast to southwest. It's 00:04:17.019 --> 00:04:19.660 one of the best times of the year to see our 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:24.319 galaxy from the inside. The new moon just passed 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:27.540 us on June 25th, which still means we're getting 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:31.439 darker skies earlier in the week. The first quarter 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:35.180 moon lands around July 2nd and will rise near 00:04:35.180 --> 00:04:39.199 sunset, staying bright until past midnight. It's 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.079 a good opportunity to study lunar craters with 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:52.519 a small telescope. Some weeks it feels like the 00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:55.980 universe is just showing off, and lately it's 00:04:55.980 --> 00:04:59.769 been putting on a real show. Whether it's ancient 00:04:59.769 --> 00:05:03.069 galaxies turning up in the deep field, mysterious 00:05:03.069 --> 00:05:06.610 matter finally stepping into the light, the largest 00:05:06.610 --> 00:05:10.850 comet ever spotted, or an asteroid on a moonshot 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:13.990 trajectory, there's been no shortage of cosmic 00:05:13.990 --> 00:05:17.370 headlines to catch our eye this week. Oh, and 00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:20.829 I almost forgot, down south in my neck of the 00:05:20.829 --> 00:05:24.089 woods, we had a giant daytime meteor light up 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:27.069 the summer skies a few days ago. complete with 00:05:27.069 --> 00:05:30.470 a sonic boom. It was caught by everything from 00:05:30.470 --> 00:05:34.029 security cameras to dash cams across the southeast 00:05:34.029 --> 00:05:38.230 states. Before we dig into our big story about 00:05:38.230 --> 00:05:41.009 one of the most powerful telescopes ever built 00:05:41.009 --> 00:05:44.569 finally opening its eye on the universe, let's 00:05:44.569 --> 00:05:47.230 take a quick spin through some of the quirkiest 00:05:47.230 --> 00:05:50.069 and most fascinating space news of the week. 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:56.839 First up, an asteroid dubbed 2024 YR4, a near 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:01.240 -Earth object roughly 250 meters across, has 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:05.519 made headlines for a pretty unusual reason. Unlike 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:08.680 most asteroids we worry about hitting us, this 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:11.699 one's projected to strike the Moon sometime in 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:15.560 late 2028. Scientists are actually taking it 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.360 seriously, not because it'll destroy the moon, 00:06:18.699 --> 00:06:21.399 but because it could create a blast visible from 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:24.579 Earth and possibly threaten satellites orbiting 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:28.459 nearby. Even more fascinating, the impact would 00:06:28.459 --> 00:06:31.300 provide an unplanned but valuable experiment 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:36.490 in lunar geology and space debris dynamics. Instruments 00:06:36.490 --> 00:06:39.629 from NASA and the European Space Agency could 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:42.930 get real -time data on the effects of a mid -sized 00:06:42.930 --> 00:06:47.110 asteroid collision on the moon's surface. So, 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:50.589 while it's technically a city killer, fortunately, 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:55.449 it's not aiming for us. Next up, let's meet Zhulong, 00:06:55.709 --> 00:06:59.699 which means red dragon in Mandarin. This beauty 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:03.579 is the most distant grand design spiral galaxy 00:07:03.579 --> 00:07:07.000 ever discovered, spotted by the James Webb Space 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:11.120 Telescope at an eye -watering 12 .3 billion light 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:15.319 -years away. Now remember, the universe is believed 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:19.819 to be around 13 .8 billion years old, so the 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:23.040 light from this galaxy has taken almost as long 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.500 to travel here as the universe has been in existence, 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.120 and that's absolutely mind -blowing when you 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.420 think about it. And here's the kicker, spiral 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:37.379 galaxies, those majestic pinwheels like our Milky 00:07:37.379 --> 00:07:40.540 Way, aren't supposed to be this well -formed 00:07:40.540 --> 00:07:44.660 so early in the universe. At this distance, we're 00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:48.360 seeing Zhulong as it looked just 1 .5 billion 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:52.399 years after the Big Bang. That's a baby photo, 00:07:52.779 --> 00:07:56.660 cosmically speaking. Most galaxies back then 00:07:56.660 --> 00:08:00.420 were chaotic blobs, still in their awkward teenage 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:04.040 phase. But Zhulong is already posing for the 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:07.899 Hubble catalog. Its existence suggests galaxy 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:11.500 formation models may need some tweaking, or that 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:14.740 cosmic order arrived much sooner than we thought. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.579 And speaking of cosmic giants, one of the solar 00:08:18.579 --> 00:08:22.420 system's true leviathans is stirring out past 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:29.899 Saturn. Meet comet C2014UN271, also known as 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:34.250 Bernardinelli -Bernstein. a name almost as massive 00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:37.870 as the object itself. This isn't your typical 00:08:37.870 --> 00:08:41.929 icy visitor. Bernardinelli Bernstein is estimated 00:08:41.929 --> 00:08:47.470 to be between 120 and 150 kilometers wide. That's 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.649 about 10 times the size of a typical comet and 00:08:50.649 --> 00:08:53.210 roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island. 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:57.620 It's currently inbound from the Oort cloud, that 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:00.580 distant shell of icy bodies that surrounds our 00:09:00.580 --> 00:09:04.159 solar system like a cosmic deep freezer. Even 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:07.379 though it's still more than 16 astronomical units 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:10.840 from the Sun, that's beyond the orbit of Uranus, 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:15.139 it's already active, venting gas and long frosty 00:09:15.139 --> 00:09:18.539 jets. In fact, it was one of the most distant 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:22.820 comets ever observed with a visible coma. Its 00:09:22.820 --> 00:09:25.860 closest approach will bring it only as near as 00:09:25.860 --> 00:09:31.019 11 AU, and you may recall 1 AU is the distance 00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:34.620 from the Earth to the Sun. It will remain well 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:39.419 outside Saturn's orbit by 2031, but its sheer 00:09:39.419 --> 00:09:42.620 size and activity make it an incredible object 00:09:42.620 --> 00:09:45.980 of study. It's basically a time capsule from 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:49.120 the solar system's earliest days, and we're getting 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.250 a front row seat. as it thaws out. And here's 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:56.370 one more quick news item. It's a true mystery 00:09:56.370 --> 00:09:59.889 with a twist ending. For decades, astronomers 00:09:59.889 --> 00:10:02.470 have known that the visible matter in the universe, 00:10:03.169 --> 00:10:06.809 the stuff made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, 00:10:07.269 --> 00:10:11.049 also known as baryonic matter, just didn't add 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:14.759 up. The math said it should be there, but when 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:17.460 we looked, only about half of it could be found 00:10:17.460 --> 00:10:22.639 in stars, gas clouds, and galaxies. Enter fast 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:27.580 radio bursts, or FRBs, those strange ultra -short 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:31.840 flashes of radio waves from deep space. Scientists 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:35.919 realized they could use FRBs like X -rays, tracking 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:39.039 how much ordinary matter each signal passed through. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.500 Using a network of these bursts, astronomers 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:46.100 found the missing baryons in long, wispy filaments 00:10:46.100 --> 00:10:49.860 of gas stretched between galaxies. It's kind 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:52.559 of like finding socks that fell behind the dryer, 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:56.960 except on a cosmic scale. The science is evolving 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.059 as we speak, so hopefully we'll learn more in 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:03.919 the near future. And now for the big story this 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.200 week, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, named after 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:10.879 the pioneering astronomer who helped discover 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:15.120 dark matter. It's finally awake and it's already 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:19.399 making waves. Last Monday, the Rubin team released 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:22.700 the telescope's first full -color, first light 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:27.179 image, taken with its 3200 -megapixel camera, 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:30.759 the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy. 00:11:31.490 --> 00:11:35.029 This thing is an absolute monster in the best 00:11:35.029 --> 00:11:38.370 possible way. Imagine a camera the size of a 00:11:38.370 --> 00:11:41.750 small car, sensitive enough to detect a flashlight 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:45.409 from the moon, snapping the entire night sky 00:11:45.409 --> 00:11:50.309 again and again for 10 years. The Rubin Observatory 00:11:50.309 --> 00:11:53.070 is located in northern Chile, taking advantage 00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:56.509 of some of the clearest skies on Earth. Its main 00:11:56.509 --> 00:11:59.990 project is the legacy survey of space and time. 00:12:00.090 --> 00:12:03.649 a decade -long scan of the southern sky that 00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:06.470 will create the most detailed time lapse of the 00:12:06.470 --> 00:12:10.409 universe ever made. Three things make Rubin stand 00:12:10.409 --> 00:12:14.190 out from other observatories. One, its size and 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:18.429 speed. Rubin has an 8 .4 -meter mirror and can 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:21.590 image the entire southern sky every few nights. 00:12:22.490 --> 00:12:27.509 Two, its resolution. With 3 .2 gigapixels per 00:12:27.509 --> 00:12:30.970 image, Rubin can pick up faint, fast, and fleeting 00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:35.269 objects, like asteroids zipping by or supernovae 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:39.169 popping off across the universe. And three, it's 00:12:39.169 --> 00:12:43.190 collecting a massive amount of data. Over 10 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:46.610 years, Rubin will collect about 20 terabytes 00:12:46.610 --> 00:12:50.389 of data per night, building a vast database of 00:12:50.389 --> 00:12:53.919 how the sky changes over time. The first image 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:57.360 from Rubin is a beauty. The debut features regions 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.259 including the Virgo Cluster with hundreds of 00:13:00.259 --> 00:13:03.740 galaxies packed into view, the Lagoon and Trifid 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:07.720 Nebula bursting with color and gas, and a segment 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:10.779 of the large Magellanic Cloud that looks like 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:14.450 a cosmic wave cresting. Even more impressively, 00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:17.990 in just its first 10 hours of scanning, Rubin 00:13:17.990 --> 00:13:22.049 detected more than 2 ,000 new asteroids, most 00:13:22.049 --> 00:13:25.029 of which were unknown to previous sky surveys. 00:13:26.169 --> 00:13:29.210 Eventually, Rubin is expected to detect billions 00:13:29.210 --> 00:13:32.649 of galaxies, millions of supernovae, and track 00:13:32.649 --> 00:13:35.710 hundreds of thousands of near -Earth objects, 00:13:36.370 --> 00:13:38.830 all while helping scientists tackle the biggest 00:13:38.830 --> 00:13:41.860 questions in astronomy. from dark matter and 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:45.799 dark energy to the origin of the Milky Way. And 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:48.759 with the data pouring in, who knows what surprises 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:52.440 the telescope might catch next? Rogue planets, 00:13:52.980 --> 00:13:56.580 asteroid impacts, or the blink of a dying star? 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:14.000 where you can contact me and explore past episodes. 00:14:14.659 --> 00:14:17.600 Be sure to follow us on Blue Sky and YouTube. 00:14:18.139 --> 00:14:20.960 Links are in the show notes. Until we meet again 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.559 beneath the stars, clear skies everyone.