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Welcome back to Cosmos in a Pod Space and Astronomy series.

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You know, every time I look up at the night sky

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and see all those stars,

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I can't help but wonder what lies beyond our own Milky Way.

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It's like, are we alone out here?

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Well, let me tell you, we're definitely not alone.

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In fact, there's a whole other galaxy out there,

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a massive spiral galaxy, twice the size of our own,

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packed with a trillion stars,

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and it's on a collision course with us.

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Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, a collision course?

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Are you serious?

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You're talking about the Andromeda Galaxy, right?

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That's the one.

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So this isn't some sci-fi movie plot,

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this is really gonna happen.

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Oh, it's as real as it gets, but don't worry,

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it's not gonna be some catastrophic explosive crash

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like you see in the movies.

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Okay, that's a little reassuring,

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but you've gotta explain this to me.

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What is the Andromeda Galaxy exactly?

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We can see it with the naked eye,

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but what do we actually know about it?

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Well, imagine a vast island of stars, gas, and dust.

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It's a spiral galaxy, just like our own Milky Way.

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Okay, I can picture that.

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But get this, Andromeda is more than twice the diameter

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of the Milky Way.

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It stretches over 220,000 light years across

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and contains a trillion stars.

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A trillion?

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That's mind-blowing.

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Our Milky Way only has a few hundred billion.

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It's like comparing a tiny village to a meganacity.

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Exactly, and like the Milky Way,

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Andromeda has a super massive black hole at its core,

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just like we do.

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It's also shrouded in a halo

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of this mysterious stuff called dark matter.

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Dark matter, that's a whole other deep dive right there.

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But I gotta ask, how do we even know all this

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about a galaxy that's millions of light years away?

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Is this all just speculation,

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or is there actual science behind it?

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Oh, there's definitely real science involved.

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Astronomers use all sorts of amazing techniques

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to study Andromeda.

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We analyze the light coming from it.

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We break that light down into its spectrum

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to reveal its composition, how far away it is,

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and even how fast it's moving.

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So by studying the light, we can learn so much

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about this distant galaxy.

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That's incredible.

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It is.

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We also study Andromeda's structure.

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We compare it to other galaxies to figure out

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how it's classified and how it's evolved over time.

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And by observing the movements of its stars and gas,

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we can map its gravitational field

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and understand how this invisible dark matter

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is influencing its destiny.

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Wow, it's like we're piecing together

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a giant cosmic puzzle.

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But let's get back to the main event, this collision.

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I mean, it's billions of years away,

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but I'm already getting nervous just thinking about it.

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OK, so picture this.

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Two vast swarms of bees, each with its own intricate dance,

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slowly merging together.

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OK, I'm visualizing it.

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That's what this galactic collision will be like.

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You have about four to five billion years.

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Two.

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So we have some time.

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Yes, thankfully.

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But in about four to five billion years,

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the Milky Way and Andromeda will have

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their first close encounter, passing through each other

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like, well, like ghostly apparitions.

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Their gravitational forces will start to tug and pull

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at each other, distorting their shapes.

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We'll see these incredible tails of stars and gas

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streaming out into space.

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So it's not like a head-on crash,

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more like a cosmic tango.

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You got it, a slow, graceful tango.

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And the dance doesn't end there.

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Over billions of years, they'll swing back towards each other,

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passing through multiple times.

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Each time, things get a little more chaotic.

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Stars get flung into new orbits.

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New stars are born.

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And eventually, over a very long time,

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they merge into a single, larger elliptical galaxy.

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A whole new galaxy.

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Do they have a name for this mega galaxy?

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They do.

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It's often called Milkomeda.

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Milkomeda, catchy.

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But I have to ask, what happens to our sun and solar system

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during all this?

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I mean, are we going to get flung out into the void?

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It's a natural question to ask.

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And it might sound scary.

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But direct collisions between individual stars

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are extremely unlikely.

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Think about it.

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Stars are incredibly far apart, even within a galaxy.

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The chances of our sun colliding with another star

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during this whole process are astronomically small.

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So no cosmic billiards?

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Not quite.

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But while our solar system will probably survive,

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things won't be exactly the same.

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The sun's orbit will likely be significantly altered.

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We might end up further out from the galactic center

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or on a completely different trajectory altogether.

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And what about the night sky?

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Will we still see the Milky Way?

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Oh, the night sky will be completely transformed.

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Just imagine the Milky Way's familiar band of light

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merging with the glow of Andromeda.

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It'll be a breathtaking tapestry of stars,

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unlike anything we can imagine today.

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Wow, that's both terrifying and awe-inspiring

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at the same time.

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It is, isn't it?

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It really makes you realize the vastness of the universe

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and the incredible forces at play.

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OK, I need a minute to process all this.

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We've covered a lot.

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Andromeda size, how we study it, the timeline of the collision,

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and the fate of our solar system.

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But I'm sure our listeners have a million more questions,

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just like me.

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Welcome back to Cosmos in a Pod.

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Remember we were talking about this galactic collision

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between the Milky Way and Andromeda.

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Let's get into some of the finer details of what will actually

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happen during this cosmic dance.

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OK, yeah, last time we left off with the idea

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that these two galaxies will sort of pass through each other.

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Right, it's not so much a head-on crash, but more like,

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well, imagine two ships passing in the night.

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But these ships are absolutely massive,

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like colossal islands of stars.

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And their wakes are literally ripples

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in the fabric of space time.

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OK, I like that analogy.

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So as they get closer, what's going to happen first?

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Well, those beautiful spiral arms

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that we see in pictures of galaxies,

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those will be the first to feel the effects.

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Oh, right, because those arms extend out pretty far, right?

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Exactly.

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And the gravitational pull between the two galaxies

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will stretch and distort them, creating

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these incredible streams of stars and gas

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extending out into the void.

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They're like luminous arcs, almost like cosmic brushstrokes

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across the canvas of space.

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That's a beautiful way to put it.

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But is that kind of a destructive process?

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I mean, are those stars getting ripped away from their galaxies?

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It is destructive in a way, yeah.

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But it's also a process of creation.

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You see, these streams, which astronomers call title tails,

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can actually lead to the birth of new stars.

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Wait, really?

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How does that work?

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Well, as the gas and dust in those tails get compressed,

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it can trigger the formation of new stars,

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lighting up those regions with their brilliance.

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It's like even in this seemingly destructive event,

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new life can emerge.

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Wow, that's incredible.

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So we've got these spiral arms getting stretched

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and distorted, new stars being born in these title tails.

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What happens next in this cosmic tango?

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Well, eventually, those two galaxies,

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they'll have their first close encounter.

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Oh, OK.

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So this is the moment we've been building up to.

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What happens during this first cosmic meet and greet?

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It's not a head-on collision, as you might imagine.

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Think of it more like two schools of fish

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swimming through each other.

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Their paths intertwine, but they don't directly collide.

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So no stars smashing into each other.

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Right, the distances between individual stars

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are just too vast for that to happen.

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But even though there are no direct collisions,

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the gravitational forces will be immense.

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Stars will get flung into new orbits.

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The whole galactic structures will be disrupted.

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And these vast clouds of gas and dust

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will collide, which, as we said, can trigger even more star

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formation.

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So it's like a cosmic fireworks show.

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You could say that.

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And this first encounter, it's a pivotal moment

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in the merger process.

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You see, once they pass through each other,

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those galaxies won't just go their separate ways.

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Oh, right.

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They're locked in by gravity.

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Exactly.

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Their gravitational dance continues.

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They'll slow down.

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They'll be drawn back towards each other.

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And eventually, they'll have a second close encounter,

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and then another, and another, each time they get closer,

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more entangled, until.

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Until they finally merge into one,

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into that milcomita galaxy we talked about.

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You got it.

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It's a slow process, taking billions of years.

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But each time they pass through each other,

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the galaxies get more and more mixed.

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Their stars and gas swirl together,

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well, like ingredients in a cosmic blender.

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So all this gas and dust and stars swirling around,

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what happens to those supermassive black holes

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we talked about, the ones at the center of each galaxy?

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Ah, yes.

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That's where things get really mind blowing.

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You see, we're talking about two objects, each millions,

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maybe even billions of times the mass of our sun

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on a collision course.

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As they get closer, they'll start to orbit each other,

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a dance of unimaginable power.

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OK, now I'm really trying to picture this.

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Two supermassive black holes in a cosmic waltz,

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that can't be good, right?

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Well, it's certainly a dramatic event.

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As those black holes orbit each other,

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they actually create these powerful waves of energy,

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ripples in the very fabric of space time.

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Wait, you're talking about gravitational waves?

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Exactly.

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Those gravitational waves travel at the speed of light,

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carrying with them information about these cataclysmic events.

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Wow, that's a whole other deep dive we could do.

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But what happens when those black holes finally meet?

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Is it like an explosion?

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It's more of a merging, a slow and powerful embrace.

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As they spiral closer and closer,

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they lose energy through those gravitational waves.

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And eventually, they become one, a single, even more massive

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black hole right at the heart of that newly formed

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Milcomeda galaxy.

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So after all that drama, all those close encounters,

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all that stellar tango, we end up

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with one giant elliptical galaxy with a supersized black hole

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in the middle.

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Precisely.

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But that's not the end of the story.

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Milcomeda will continue to evolve.

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It might even merge with other galaxies.

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And in this way, it will continue

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to shape the cosmic landscape for billions of years to come.

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It's just incredible to think about this whole journey

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from two distinct spiral galaxies

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to this single elliptical giant.

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It's more incredible than any sci-fi movie I've ever seen.

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It really shows you just how dynamic the universe is.

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But we're not done yet.

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In our final part, we need to zoom out even further,

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explore the implications of this galactic merger

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for our local group of galaxies and for the fate

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of the universe as a whole.

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Welcome back to Cosmos in a Pod.

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We've been talking about this incredible collision

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between the Milky Way and Andromeda,

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the birth of new stars, these supermassive black holes

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merging.

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It's just mind-blowing stuff.

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It really is.

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But now I think it's time we zoom out a bit.

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Look at the bigger picture.

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What does this galactic dance actually tell us

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about the universe as a whole?

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Zoom out for me.

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We've been focused on these two galaxies.

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But are these kinds of events common?

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I mean, is this like a freak occurrence?

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Or is the universe just this giant mosh pit

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of colliding galaxies?

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You know, it's probably more of a mosh pit

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than you might think.

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Astronomers, they believe that these galaxy mergers

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have been happening since, well, since basically

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the beginning of the universe, since the Big Bang.

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Early galaxies, they were much smaller and way more numerous.

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So they were constantly bumping into each other,

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merging, growing larger.

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This process has been going on for billions of years.

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So those amazing, majestic galaxies that we see today,

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those pictures of grand spirals and ellipticals,

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they're all a result of this cosmic demolition derby.

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Exactly.

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And this Andromeda-Milky Way collision,

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it's just one example of this process that's

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happening right now, right in our own cosmic neighborhood.

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And astronomers, they've observed tons of other mergers

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at different stages, which actually gives us

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this incredible glimpse into both the universe's history

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and its future.

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It's like we have a time machine.

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We can look back and see how these giant galaxies were

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built.

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But if these mergers are so common,

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what does that actually mean for the future of Milkomeda,

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this new galaxy that we've been talking about?

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Well, Milkomeda, it won't be immune to the pull of gravity

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from other galaxies.

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It's probably going to attract smaller galaxies,

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absorb them, grow even more massive.

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It's this never-ending cycle of, well,

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cosmic growth and evolution.

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So even though the Milky Way and Andromeda are merging,

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it's not like the whole universe is

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going to become just this one giant blob of stars.

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It just keeps going, this merging and growing.

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Well, yeah, that's the thing about the universe.

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It's constantly changing, always evolving.

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But there is kind of a twist.

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As the universe expands, the distances between galaxies

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are also increasing.

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Oh, right, the expanding universe.

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Yeah, so that expansion, it could eventually actually

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overpower the force of gravity, meaning that future mergers

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might be less likely.

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So even though they're happening all the time now,

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someday galaxy mergers might become a rare sight,

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kind of a lonely thought with galaxies drifting farther

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and farther apart.

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Yeah, it is kind of a lonely thought.

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But remember, the universe is a pretty vast and surprising

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place.

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And even if these mergers become less frequent,

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other processes, like the formation of new stars

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and the evolution of existing galaxies,

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that will all keep going.

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The universe is dynamic.

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It's always changing.

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And who knows what incredible wonders are waiting for us

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out there billions of years from now?

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It's just amazing to think about.

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We've gone from this intimate dance of two galaxies

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to the grand expanse of the entire universe.

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And this collision, it's just one small chapter

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in this much larger story.

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It is.

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And the Andromeda-Milky Way collision,

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it reminds us that we live in a universe that's

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in constant motion, full of beauty and mystery

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and endless possibilities for exploration and discovery.

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It's been a truly incredible deep dive.

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We've explored the science, the drama,

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all these mind blowing implications

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of this cosmic event.

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And it shows us that our place in the universe,

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it's not static.

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It's dynamic.

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It's evolving.

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And it's interconnected in ways that we're just

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beginning to understand.

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And as we continue to explore and learn more,

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I'm sure we'll uncover even more wonders out there,

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which just fuels our curiosity and our awe.

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Who knows what other cosmic dances are

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waiting for us to discover?

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It's exciting to think about.

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Listeners, thank you so much for joining us

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on this incredible journey.

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We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the Andromeda-Milky

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Way collision.

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Don't forget to follow and subscribe to the podcast

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and our YouTube channel for more deep dives

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into the wonders of the universe.

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Until next time, keep looking up.