This Week in Astronomy: Vera Rubin First Images, The Hunt for Planet Nine and Universe’s First Stars

<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos
<v Speaker 1>with our soothing Bedtime Astronomy podcast. Each episode offers a
<v Speaker 1>gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for
<v Speaker 1>unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries
<v Speaker 1>of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful
<v Speaker 1>slumber under the night sky. This week in Astronomy, Verorubin
<v Speaker 1>first images, the hunt for planet nine and universe's first stars.
<v Speaker 1>Verorubin Observatory captures dazzling debut images. After more than twenty
<v Speaker 1>years of planning and construction, the Verorubin Observatory in Chile
<v Speaker 1>has finally revealed its first images, marking a milestone in
<v Speaker 1>modern astronomy. Situated atop Sero poshone in central Chili, the
<v Speaker 1>observatory benefits from exceptionally clear, dry skies that are perfect
<v Speaker 1>for deep space observation. This massive US funded project is
<v Speaker 1>equipped with an eight point four meter telescope in the
<v Speaker 1>most advanced digital camera ever built, and it promises to
<v Speaker 1>reshape how we observe and understand the universe. One of
<v Speaker 1>the newly released images is a stunning composite of six
<v Speaker 1>hundred and seventy eight exposures taken over a span of
<v Speaker 1>just seven hours, capturing the Trified Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula,
<v Speaker 1>both star forming regions located thousands of light years away
<v Speaker 1>from Earth. These nebula appear in brilliant pinks and reds,
<v Speaker 1>revealing intricate structures and details that were previously too faint
<v Speaker 1>or invisible to detect. These nebulae, located within the Milky Way,
<v Speaker 1>are stellar nurseries where new stars are born, and the
<v Speaker 1>Reuben Observatory has presented them with unprecedented clarity. Another of
<v Speaker 1>the observatory's inaugural images presents an expansive view of the
<v Speaker 1>Verbo Cluster, a massive collection of galaxies. Even a small
<v Speaker 1>portion of the image is rich with detail, showing bright
<v Speaker 1>stars in the foreground and countless galaxies in the background,
<v Speaker 1>each a vast island of stars millions of light years away.
<v Speaker 1>Alongside the images, the Reuben team also released a remarkable
<v Speaker 1>video called the Cosmic Treasure Chest, which begins with a
<v Speaker 1>close up of two galaxies and then zooms out to
<v Speaker 1>reveal about ten million more, emphasizing the incredible scope and
<v Speaker 1>depth of the universe. The observatory is now capable of
<v Speaker 1>capturing The observatory is supported by powerful data processing systems
<v Speaker 1>that will enable it to carry out its flagship initiative,
<v Speaker 1>the Legacy Survey of Space and Time LSST, beginning later
<v Speaker 1>this year. This project will systematically scan a night sky
<v Speaker 1>every night for ten years, detecting even the faintest changes
<v Speaker 1>with a level of precision previously unattainable. These observations are
<v Speaker 1>expected to revolutionize our understanding of the universe by mapping
<v Speaker 1>billions of galaxies, tracking costs, m phenomena, and uncovering new
<v Speaker 1>celestial objects. The observatory is named in honor of Veris C. Rubin,
<v Speaker 1>a trailblazing American astronomer whose groundbreaking research offered the first
<v Speaker 1>convincing evidence of dark matter, the elusive form of matter
<v Speaker 1>that does not emit light yet exerts gravitational forces throughout
<v Speaker 1>the cosmos. Her work fundamentally changed the field of astrophysics.
<v Speaker 1>Alongside dark matter, scientists also study dark energy, a mysterious
<v Speaker 1>force believed to be driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. Together,
<v Speaker 1>dark matter and dark energy are thought to constitute approximately
<v Speaker 1>ninety five percent of the entire universe. Yet their true
<v Speaker 1>nature remains one of science's greatest mysteries. The observatory is
<v Speaker 1>a collaborative effort led by the US National Science Foundation
<v Speaker 1>and the Department of Energy, and it has already proven
<v Speaker 1>to be an extraordinary tool in other areas of space science.
<v Speaker 1>In ten hours of observation, the Ruben Observatory detected two thousand,
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and four previously unknown asteroids within our Solar System,
<v Speaker 1>including seven near Earth objects that have been confirmed to
<v Speaker 1>pose no danger. For context, all other ground and space
<v Speaker 1>based observatories together typically discover about twenty thousand new asteroids annually,
<v Speaker 1>highlighting Ruben's unmatched capabilities. It is also expected to become
<v Speaker 1>the most efficient facility for detecting interstellar objects rare visitors
<v Speaker 1>from beyond our Solar System, offering new opportunities to study
<v Speaker 1>these mysterious travelers. More images from the observatory were scheduled
<v Speaker 1>to be released later the same day, and excitement continues
<v Speaker 1>to grow around what this new facility will reveal. With
<v Speaker 1>its cutting edge technology, powerful survey capacity, and mission to
<v Speaker 1>answer fundamental questions about the cosmos, the Veroruben Observatory stands
<v Speaker 1>as one of humanity's most ambitious astronodmy comical undertakings, poised
<v Speaker 1>to unlock secrets of the universe and inspire future generations
<v Speaker 1>of scientists and dreamers alike. New clues emerge in the
<v Speaker 1>hunt for Planet nine. For many years, astronomers have been
<v Speaker 1>intrigued by a strange puzzle unfolding in the distant reaches
<v Speaker 1>of our Solar System. Far beyond Neptune lies a region
<v Speaker 1>filled with icy, rocky remnants known as Kuiper Belt objects.
<v Speaker 1>These small celestial bodies don't drift randomly as one might expect,
<v Speaker 1>but instead appear to be clustered in oddly aligned orbits,
<v Speaker 1>behaving as though they are being guided by something massive
<v Speaker 1>and unseen. The leading theory to explain this curious arrangement
<v Speaker 1>proposes the existence of an enormous hidden planet, unofficially named
<v Speaker 1>Planet nine, gravitationally hurting these distant objects into their mysterious paths.
<v Speaker 1>According to current models, if Planet nine exists, it would
<v Speaker 1>be a true colossus, anywhere from five to ten times
<v Speaker 1>the mass of Earth and orbiting the Sun at a
<v Speaker 1>staggering distance of four hundred to eight hundred times farther
<v Speaker 1>than Earth does. At that remote location, it would be
<v Speaker 1>far too faint to detect with ordinary telescopes that depend
<v Speaker 1>on catching the light the planet reflects from the sun.
<v Speaker 1>Reflected sunlight weakens dramatically with distance, making this approach nearly
<v Speaker 1>hopeless for such a remote target. This is where a
<v Speaker 1>group of scientists led by Amoschen from National t Singhuai
<v Speaker 1>University introduced a groundbreaking shift in strategy. Instead of relying
<v Speaker 1>on visible light, which fades drastically with distance, they turn
<v Speaker 1>their attention to thermal radiation, the faint heat that all
<v Speaker 1>objects emit. The physics here gives them an edge. While
<v Speaker 1>reflected light becomes sixteen times dimmer every time you double
<v Speaker 1>the distance from the Sun, heat emissions only drop by
<v Speaker 1>a factor of four, offering a more favorable path for detection.
<v Speaker 1>To pursue this line of investigation, the use the team
<v Speaker 1>used data from the Akari Space Telescope, a Japanese satellite
<v Speaker 1>that performed one of the most sensitive all sky surveys
<v Speaker 1>ever in far infrared light, the perfect region of the
<v Speaker 1>electromagnetic spectrum to detect the faint thermal glow of a cold,
<v Speaker 1>distant worldlike Planet nine. Unlike telescopes on Earth that struggle
<v Speaker 1>with interference from the planet's own atmosphere. Akari's view from
<v Speaker 1>space allowed it to pick up extremely subtle signals precisely
<v Speaker 1>the kind Planet nine would give off. The team focused
<v Speaker 1>their efforts on a specific swath of sky. This area
<v Speaker 1>wasn't chosen at random, but based on detailed computer simulations
<v Speaker 1>that predicted the most likely location for planet nine, inferred
<v Speaker 1>from the unusual orbital paths of the Kuiper Belt objects.
<v Speaker 1>The challenge was immense. In a sky teeming with stars, galaxies,
<v Speaker 1>cosmic dust, and the occasional stray asteroid, how does one
<v Speaker 1>pick out a single, slow moving planet. The answer lay
<v Speaker 1>in motion. Planet nine woulden't zip across the sky like
<v Speaker 1>a comet. It would appear stationary over the course of
<v Speaker 1>a single night, but if observed across weeks or months,
<v Speaker 1>its position would subtly shift against the background stars. By
<v Speaker 1>comparing infrared images from Acari taken at different times, the
<v Speaker 1>researchers looked for objects with just this kind of movement.
<v Speaker 1>To avoid being misled by false positives, they carefully filtered
<v Speaker 1>out known sources of noise, such as passing cosmic rays
<v Speaker 1>and distant galaxies that don't move. After this painstaking process,
<v Speaker 1>they identified two promising candidates. Both objects were located in
<v Speaker 1>the predicted region and emitted infrared light consistent with what
<v Speaker 1>would be expected from a massive, distant planet. This does
<v Speaker 1>not yet prove the existence of Planet nine, but it
<v Speaker 1>marks the most compelling lead uncovered so far. These potential
<v Speaker 1>detections were detailed in a paper published in the publications
<v Speaker 1>of the u S Astronomical Society of Australia. The work
<v Speaker 1>is far from finished, however. These objects now require follow
<v Speaker 1>up observations with more powerful instruments to confirm whether they
<v Speaker 1>behave as a true planet should slowly shifting across the
<v Speaker 1>sky in a way that matches predicted orbital paths. There
<v Speaker 1>is also the possibility that they could be something else entirely,
<v Speaker 1>such as background galaxies or other infrared emitting bodies masquerading
<v Speaker 1>as planets. Still, the significance of this step cannot be overstated.
<v Speaker 1>If either candidate turns out to be Planet nine, it
<v Speaker 1>would fundamentally reshape our understanding of the Solar System's architecture
<v Speaker 1>and history, offering fresh insights into how planetary systems form
<v Speaker 1>and evolve. Just as importantly, this search showcases the value
<v Speaker 1>of creative thinking in science. Sometimes the key to finding
<v Speaker 1>a lost planet isn't seeing it directly in the sunlight,
<v Speaker 1>but rather sensing its quiet warmth radiating across the cold,
<v Speaker 1>vastness of space. Radio signals reveal clues about the universe's
<v Speaker 1>first stars. Understanding how the universe changed from being completely
<v Speaker 1>dark to being filled with light is one of the
<v Speaker 1>biggest questions in astronomy. This moment in time when the
<v Speaker 1>very first stars and galaxies began to form, is called
<v Speaker 1>the cosmic dawn. It marks the beginning of everything we
<v Speaker 1>now know, galaxies, planets, and eventually life. But even with
<v Speaker 1>our most powerful telescopes, we can't see these very first
<v Speaker 1>stars directly because they are too far away and too old.
<v Speaker 1>So scientists have had to find new and creative ways
<v Speaker 1>to figure out what those stars were like. One of
<v Speaker 1>the most promising methods doesn't involve light at all, but
<v Speaker 1>rather a special type of radio signal. This signal is
<v Speaker 1>created by hydrogen, the most basic and abundant element in
<v Speaker 1>the early universe, and it can tell us a lot
<v Speaker 1>about what was happening over over thirteen billion years ago,
<v Speaker 1>just one hundred million years after the Big Bang. A
<v Speaker 1>group of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge has
<v Speaker 1>developed a way to study this hydrogen signal, known as
<v Speaker 1>the twenty one centimeter signal, to learn about the masses
<v Speaker 1>of the universe's first stars. When the first stars were born,
<v Speaker 1>they gave off ultraviolet and X ray radiation that changed
<v Speaker 1>the behavior of hydrogen atoms floating in space. These changes
<v Speaker 1>affected the twenty one centimeter signal in very specific ways.
<v Speaker 1>By analyzing how the signal was influenced, the scientists believe
<v Speaker 1>they can figure out how big those first stars were,
<v Speaker 1>how much light and energy they gave off, and how
<v Speaker 1>they helped shape the early universe into the more complex
<v Speaker 1>one we see today. The team's results were published in
<v Speaker 1>the journal Nature Astronomy, and they offer an exciting glimpse
<v Speaker 1>into a time we've never been able to study in
<v Speaker 1>such detail. One of the key researchers on this project,
<v Speaker 1>Professor Anastasia Filecof, from Cambridge, explained that this is a
<v Speaker 1>unique chance to understand how light first appeared in a
<v Speaker 1>universe that had been cold and dark. This moment, the
<v Speaker 1>birth of the first stars, was a turning point, and
<v Speaker 1>studying it helps explain how the universe evolved. Filecof leads
<v Speaker 1>the theory team behind a project called REACH, which stands
<v Speaker 1>for the Radio Experiment for the Analysis of Cosmic Hydrogen.
<v Speaker 1>REACH is a radio telescope designed to detect the faint
<v Speaker 1>twenty one centimeter signal, and its one of two major
<v Speaker 1>projects helping astronomers unlock the secrets of the early universe.
<v Speaker 1>The other is the Score Kilometer Array or SKA, which
<v Speaker 1>is a massive network of radio antennas being built to
<v Speaker 1>scan the sky and fine detail while REACH is still
<v Speaker 1>being fine tuned. Its goal is to collect data from
<v Speaker 1>the radio waves sent out by hydrogen atoms during the
<v Speaker 1>cosmic dawn and the later phase called the Epic of reonization,
<v Speaker 1>when the first stars gave off so much radiation that
<v Speaker 1>they reionized hydrogen atoms across the universe. SKA, on the
<v Speaker 1>other hand, will be able to measure tiny differences in
<v Speaker 1>the signal across large areas of the sky, providing a
<v Speaker 1>much bigger picture of what was happening during those early times.
<v Speaker 1>Filecalven Or collaborators created detailed models to predict how the
<v Speaker 1>twenty one centimeter signal would behave if the first stars
<v Speaker 1>had different masses. Their simulations took into account things like
<v Speaker 1>the original mix of elements from the Big Bang and
<v Speaker 1>the effects of X ray binary systems. Pairs of stars
<v Speaker 1>were one as a collapsed object like a black hole
<v Speaker 1>or neutron star. These systems produced strong X ray radiation
<v Speaker 1>and seemed to be more common among the universe's first stars,
<v Speaker 1>which are known as population three stars. The researchers found
<v Speaker 1>that many earlier studies had not fully considered how these
<v Speaker 1>X ray binaries could change the twenty one centimeter signal.
<v Speaker 1>By including them, they showed that the signal is more
<v Speaker 1>sensitive to the masses and brightness of the first stars
<v Speaker 1>than previously thought. Radio astronomy is very different from looking
<v Speaker 1>at pictures taken by space telescopes like James Webb. Instead
<v Speaker 1>of showing detailed images of individual stars, radio telescopes collect
<v Speaker 1>patterns and signals from large groups of stars and galaxies.
<v Speaker 1>It's like listening to a faint hum and trying to
<v Speaker 1>figure out what kind of orchestra is playing, even if
<v Speaker 1>you can't see the instruments. But with the right tools
<v Speaker 1>and careful analysis, scientists can learn an incredible amount from
<v Speaker 1>these quiet signals. The work from the Cambridge led team
<v Speaker 1>suggests that radio telescopes like REACH and SKA will be
<v Speaker 1>able to tell us not just that the first stars existed,
<v Speaker 1>but also how big they were and how they lived
<v Speaker 1>and died. This kind of knowledge could change the way
<v Speaker 1>we understand the entire history of the universe. The researchers
<v Speaker 1>say these predictionians are a crucial guide for the observations
<v Speaker 1>now being made from places like the Caro in South Africa,
<v Speaker 1>where the Reach telescope is located. If everything goes as planned,
<v Speaker 1>these new tools will soon give us a clearer picture
<v Speaker 1>of the first lights in the universe and finally help
<v Speaker 1>us understand how the darkness turned into light. A