Gaia's Final Scan, Milky Way's Hidden Flares, and Unveiling New Planetary Mysteries: S28E10

SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 10
Gaia's Sky Scanning Completion and Mid Infrared Flare from Sagittarius A*
The European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft has completed its sky scanning phase, marking a monumental achievement in astronomical missions. Over the past decade, Gaia has transformed our understanding of the Milky Way by mapping the positions and characteristics of billions of stars. This mission has provided unprecedented insights into the origins and evolution of our galaxy, revealing its structure and history like never before.
Mid Infrared Flare from the Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers have detected a mid infrared flare from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This discovery, made using NASA's Webb Space Telescope, fills a crucial gap in our understanding of black hole flares and supports existing models of magnetic reconnection in the accretion disk surrounding the black hole.
Discovery of a New Type of Exoplanet
NASA's Webb Space Telescope has unveiled a new type of exoplanet, unlike anything in our solar system. The planet, GJ1214B, exhibits a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere similar to Venus, challenging previous assumptions about exoplanet atmospheres and providing new insights into planetary formation.
00:00 This is space time series 28 episode 10 for broadcast of 22 January 2025
00:49 European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft has completed its 10th science mission
05:22 First ever detection of mid infrared flare from Milky Way's supermassive black hole
11:15 NASA's Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new type of planet
14:11 New study suggests eating carrots can improve the treatment of type 2 diabetes
17:41 Tesla is launching satellite connectivity for regular mobile phones in Australia
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
www.bitesz.com
🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. Enjoy incredible discounts and bonuses! Plus, it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌
Check out our newest sponsor - Old Glory - Iconic Music and Sports Merch and now with official NASA merchandise. Well worth a look...
Become a supporter of this Podcast for as little as $3 per month and access commercial-free episodes plus bonuses: https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/about
✍️ Episode References
European Space Agency (ESA)
[https://www.esa.int/](https://www.esa.int/)
Gaia Mission
[https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia](https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia)
arXiv.org
[https://arxiv.org/](https://arxiv.org/)
NASA's Webb Space Telescope
[https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/](https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/)
Event Horizon Telescope
[https://eventhorizontelescope.org/](https://eventhorizontelescope.org/)
Harvard Center for Astrophysics
[https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/](https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/)
Astrophysical Journal Letters
[https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/
8205](https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205)
8--- Nature Communications
[https://www.nature.com/ncomms/](https://www.nature.com/ncomms/)
Clinical and Translational Science
[https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17528062](https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17528062)
TechAdvice
[https://www.techadvice.life/](https://www.techadvice.life/)


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Versus Spacetime Series twenty eight, Episode ten, for broadcast on
the twenty second of January twenty twenty five. Coming up
on space Time, Gaya, one of the most important astronomical
missions ever undertaken, finally completes at sky scanning phase. The
first ever detection of a mid infrared flair from the
Milky Way supermassive black hole, and discovery of a strange

(00:22):
new type of planet unlike anything in our Solar System.
All that and more coming up on Spacetime.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart gary.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
It was one of the most important scientific missions ever undertaken.
The European Space Agency's Milky Way map A Geya spacecraft
has finally completed the sky scanning phase of its journey,
in the process changing our understanding of our galaxy. The
two thousand kilogram probe has wrapped up more than three
trillion observations of about two billion stars and other objects

(01:12):
over its past decade of operations. In the process, its
revolutionized sciences understanding of our home galaxy and its cosmic neighborhood.
Launched back in December twenty thirteen, Geier is now almost
out of fuel. It uses about a dozen grams of
cold gas per day in order to keep it spinning
with pinpoint accuracy. That spinning allows it to be stable,

(01:32):
allowing it to focus on its primary mission. Technology tests
in our scheduled for the next few weeks before Gyre
has moved into a sort of retirement orbit where a
future missions will be mapped out. In the meantime, two
massive data releases from GEIA have already been tabled, one
for next year and another for the end of the decade.
The treasure trobe of data collected by GEIA has given

(01:54):
astronomer's unique insights into the origins and evolution of our
Milky Way galaxy. See guys been mapping the positions, distances, movements, brightness, changes, composition,
and numerous other characteristics of billions of stars, repeatedly monitoring
them with its three instruments over the course of its mission.
This is a neighborhood Guy to deliver on its primary role,

(02:16):
building the largest and most precise map of the Milky Way,
showing a home galaxy like no other mission has ever
done before. In fact, it's given us the best reconstructed
view of how our galaxy might look to an outside observer.
This new impression of the Milky Way incorporates sky data
from a multitude of papers over the past decade, and

(02:37):
it contains major changes from previous models. Even basic ideas
have been revised, such as the rotation of our galaxy
central bar, the warp in the galaxy's disc, the detailed
structure of our spiral arms, and interstellar dust near the Sun.
Guys repeated measurements of stellar distances, motions, and characteristics are
key to performing galactic archaeology on our Milky Way galaxy.

(03:01):
In the process, revealing missing links in our galaxy's complex history,
helping scientists better understand its origins, from detecting the ghosts
of other galaxies that have been cannibalized by the Milky Way,
and multiple streams of ancient stars that merged with the
Milky Way early in its history, defining evidence for an
ongoing collision with a Sagittary's dwarf galaxy. Today, Guya is

(03:22):
rewriting the Milky Way's history and making predictions about its future.
In the process of scanning the stars in our own galaxy,
GUYS also spotted other objects ranging from asteroids in our
solar system to galaxies and quasars. The bright and active
centers of galaxies powered by monstrous, super massive black holes
outside our Milky Way. For example, guys provided pinpoint precision

(03:45):
all but more than one hundred and fifty thousand asteroids,
and it's had such high quality measurements it's even been
able to uncover possible moons around hundreds of these asteroids.
It's also created the largest three dimensional map of about
one point three million quasars, with the furthest shining bright
when our universe was just one point five billion years old.
Guys also discovered a new breed of black holes, including

(04:08):
one with a mass of nearly thirty three times that
of our Sun, hiding the confillation at Quilla, less than
two thousand light years from Earth. It's the first time
a black hole of stellar origins this big has been
spotted within the Milky Way. We've already had three data
releases from GEYA, and they've changed our understanding of the galaxy.
Data Release four is expected to contain some five hundred

(04:30):
terabytes of information covering the first five and a half
years of the spacecraft's operations. Data Release four will also
expand it's binary star catalog, the largest such catalog to date.
That's because GUY has the unique ability to tease out
tiny motions in pairs of celestial objects orbening close to
each other, but it's already spotted previously hidden companions around

(04:50):
bright stars. Guya's exoplanet discoveries are also set to increase
with the forthcoming data sets. That's thanks to the longer
frame time of observations, making it a lot easier for
GUY to spot wabbling stars, the stars that are gently
being tagged by the gravitational perturbations of orbening planets. It's
been a fascinating mission so far, and although the data

(05:12):
collection is now coming to an end, the astronomer is
sifting through the data for the next two releases will
and deadly make discoveries that will revolutionize our understanding of
the cosmos. This report from ACTV what does.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
The Milky Way look like from the outside. No spacecraft
can travel beyond our galaxy, so we can't take a selfie.
But during its lifetime, Gaya made three trillion observations of
two billion stars and other objects, giving us the best
insight yet of what our home galaxy looks like. Gaia
shows that our galaxy's disc is warped and wobbles, possibly

(05:49):
caused by a collision with another smaller galaxy moving further out.
Gaya also studied other galaxies around the Milky Way, such
as the large and small Magellanic Clouds and forty other companions.
Gaya revealed our galaxy's turbulent history by tracking the movements
of streams of stars. Gaya gives a unique view of

(06:12):
our Milky Way, scanning our galaxy from the inside out,
building a more detailed map than ever before, fundamentally changing
what we thought we knew about our home galaxy, where
our Sun is embedded among billions of stars.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
This is space time still to calm. The first EVI
detection of a mid infrared flare from the Milky Way,
super messy black hole, and discovery of a strange new
type of planet and like anything ever seen in our
Solar system. All that and more still to calm on
space time. Astronomers have made the first ever detection of

(07:04):
a mid infrared flare emanating from Sagittarius, a star the
Milky Way's central supermassive black hole. The observations are reported
on the prepress physics website archive dot org, are based
on data collected by NASA's Infrared Web Space Telescope, located
some twenty seven thousand light years away. Sagittarius a star
has about four point three million times the mass of

(07:26):
our Sun, and it's the central pivot point around which
our entire galaxy rotates. Sagittarius a Star regularly exhibits flares
that can be observed in moldible wavelengths. That allows scientists
to see different views of the same flare and better
understand how it emits light and how those emissions are generated.
But despite a long history of successful observations and even

(07:49):
imaging the cosmic beast using the Event Horizon telescope in
twenty twenty two, one crucial piece of the puzzle, the
mid infrared observations, have been missing until now. Infrared radiation
has longer wavelengths than visible light, but shorter wavelengths than radio,
and mid infrared sits in the middle of the infrared band.
It allows astronomers to observe objects like flares, which are

(08:11):
often difficult to observe in other wavelengths because of the
impenetrable clouds of gas and dust which block out the
view from Earth. See Until this study, no one had
yet successfully detected Sagittarius A's variability in the mid infrared.
That left a gap in science's understanding of what causes
these flares, and therefore raises questions about whether the theoretical

(08:31):
models of the supermassive black hole are actually complete. One
of the studies authors, Joseph mckel from the Harvard Center
for Astrophysics, says, Sagittaris A's flare evolves and changes quickly
in just a matter of hours, and not all these
changes can be seen at every wavelength. For over twenty years,
astronomers have known what happens in the radio wave band
and what happens in the infrared light, but the connection

(08:55):
between them the mid infrared was never one hundred percent
clear or certain. Because there's these new observations in the
mid infrared fills that gap and connects the two. My
new scientists still aret one hundred percent sure what causes
these flares, so they rely on models and simulations, which
they then compare with observations to try and understand where
it's all coming from. Now many simulations are suggesting that

(09:17):
flares in Sagittaries a star are being caused by the
bunching up of magnetic field lines and the supermassive black holes.
Turbulent accretion disc a disc of matter surrounding the black
hole's event horizon on which material is being crushed and
torn apart at the subatomic level before falling beyond the
event horizon and into the singularity of the black hole.
When two magnetic field lions approach, they can connect to

(09:40):
each other and then release a huge amount of energy. Now,
the byproduct of this so called magnetic reconnection is synchrotron
emissions that occurs when energized electrons travel at speeds close
to the speed of light along the magnetic field lines
and they can emit the HyG energy photons powering the flare.
But because the mid infrared spectral ra sits between the

(10:00):
submillimeter and near infrared, it keeps its secrets locked away
about the role of electrons, which would need to be
cool in order to release energy to power the flares.
And new observations are consistent with the existing models and simulations,
and that adds another little piece to the puzzle supporting
the theory of what lies behind the flares. The research
indicates that there may be a connection between the observed

(10:23):
variability at millimeter wavelength and the observed mid infrared flare emissions.
Simultaneous observations using the submillimeter array telescope, the Nuclear Spectroscopic
Telescope Array New Star, and the Chandra X ray observatory
filled in the additional part of the story. Sadly, no
flares were detected during the X ray observations, likely because

(10:43):
this particular flare simply didn't accelerate electrons to high enough energies.
But the team was successful when they turned to the
submillimeter array, which detected a millimeter awave flare lagging roughly
ten minutes behind the mid infrared flare. It all adds
to the puzzle picture. This is space time still to come.
Astronomers have discovered a strange new type of planet, unlike

(11:06):
anything in our Solar system, and later in the science report,
a new study suggest that carrots can improve the treatment
of type two diabetes. All that and more still to
come on space time. Astronomers have discovered a strange new

(11:36):
type of planet, unlike anything ever seen in our Solar system.
The findings are reported in the Astrophysical Journal. Letters are
based on new observations by NASA's web Space Telescope combined
with simulated computer models, the amazing discovery provides another piece
to the puzzle of understanding how planets and planetary systems
are formed. Now. So far, more than five thousand exoplanets,

(11:59):
that is, planets all around other stars, have been confirmed,
and many are unlike any of the planets in our
Solar system, making it difficult to guess what these strange
worlds are like. One of the most common types of
exoplanets falls into the size range between the Earth and Neptune. Now,
astronomers have been debating whether these planets are earthlike, rocky
or terrestrial worlds but with thick, hydrogen rich atmospheres, or

(12:22):
whether they're more Neptune like icy worlds surrounded by water
ridge atmospheres, the so called water worlds. The problem is
previous studies have all been confatted by layers of thick,
high clouds, which seem to be a common feature on
these types of planets. That makes it difficult to study
the atmosphere below the cloud deck, and that's where the
Web space telescope comes in. Astronomers used Web's infrared capabilities

(12:45):
to peer through the clouds on one of these strange worlds,
the planet called GJ TWOL fourteen B is located just
forty eight light years away in the direction of the
constellation are Fusius, and that makes it relatively nearby and
consequently one of the easiest examples of this kind of
planet to study. As astronomers looked at the data, they
were shocked to find that instead of a hydrogen rich

(13:06):
super Earth, or for that matter, a Neptune like water world,
the new data revealed concentrations of carbon dioxide comparable to
the levels found in the dense CO two atmosphere of Venus.
The studies lead author, Everett Shulin from the University of Arizona,
says that discovery was a surprise and there are many
uncertainties still in the data. The problem is that detected

(13:27):
carbon dioxide signal from these observations was only tiny, so
careful statistical analysis needed to be carried out to ensure
that the signal was even real. The authors used theoretical
models to run a plethora of what if scenarios about
the likely atmosphere of the planet in order to match
the web observations, and out of all these models, the
ones which best fit the data suggest a carbon dominated

(13:49):
atmosphere very much like Planet Venus, this Space Time and

(14:10):
Time out to Tech. Another brief look at some of
the other stories making us in science this week. With
the Science Report, scientists have calculated at around four hundred
and sixty five thousand tons of methane were emitted from
the nord Stream subsea pipeline when it was sabotaged and
damaged in twenty twenty. The findings were reported in the
journal Nature and Nature Communications are based on three separate studies.

(14:32):
This is the largest recorded amount of methane released from
a single transient event. Disturbingly, however, it only represents zero
point one percent of anthropogenic methane emissions for twenty twenty two.
In the Nature paper, the authors found around four hundred
and sixty five thousand tons of methane were emitted in
the atmosphere, equivalent to about one point two percent of

(14:53):
all emissions from natural gas and zero point three percent
of methane emissions from agriculture and accompanying Nature Communication paper
suggests that some fourteen percent of the Baltic Sea experience
dissolved methane concentrations five times greater than average natural levels.
In fact, it may have impacted up to twenty three
marine protected areas. A second Nature Communications paper looked at

(15:16):
the secondary release of methane in the atmosphere after being
dissolved in the sea water, and it looked at the
distribution of that methane which escaped from the pipelines. A
new study suggests that eating carrots can improve the treatment
of type two diabetes. You see, carrots enhance the body's
ability to regulate blood sugars, and they positively influence the

(15:36):
composition of gut bacteria. Type two diabetes treatment typically involves
dietary changes in medication, though many people experience side effects
from the pharmaceuticals are reporting. The journal Clinical and Transitional
Science found that carrots could offer a natural, potentially side
effect freeway to complement existing treatments. The authors studied the

(15:57):
effects of character over sixteen weeks on two groups fed
a calorie matched diet. One group were given diet supplements
which included ten percent freeze dride carrot powder, and the
results showed that the group receiving the carrot powder exhibited
improved blood sugar regulation as measured by glucose tolerance tests.
The studies showed that carrots altered the composition of the

(16:17):
gut microbiome, a billions of microorganisms living in the gut
at play a crucial role in digestion and health. Carrots
contain bioactive compounds that enhance the sool's ability to absorb sugar,
thereby aiding in blood sugar regulation. These bioactive substances, derived
from unsaturated fatty acids, are also present in other vegetables
from the carrot family, including parsley, celery and parsnips. While

(16:42):
it might not be easy to insert it into your ear,
scientists that meta claimed that your smartphone could soon be
the equivalent of the fabled babelfish from the Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy see in Hitchhiker or The Babelfish was
a small fish capable of real time language translations. While
most existing machine learning translation systems are text oriented or

(17:03):
they involve modible steps off and translating speech into text
and then converting it into speech in another language, the
new model, called seamless M four T does immediate speech
to speech translations covering one hundred and one languages. A
report of the journal Nature claims the new artificial intelligence
model is capable of filtering out background noise and adjusting
to speech variations with twenty three percent more translation accuracy

(17:25):
than other translators. Australia's largest telecommunications company, Telstra, has just
signed on to SpaceX's Starlic broadband Internet satellite service. With
the details, we joined by technology editor Alex Saharov right
from tech Advice Start Live Yeah Now.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Late last year, the New Zealand company one end z
announced that it was launching satellite connectivity for regular mobile phones,
in this case the Galaxy Flip six, the Fold six,
the Galaxy SPNY four Ultra and the Oppo find x eight.
Funnily enough, no mention of the iPhone there that had
emergency satellite capabilities for the last couple of years with
the iPhone fourteen onwards. The Tester's announced that it is

(18:04):
bringing what is known as a director handset or satellite
to mobile text messaging to customers in Australia. And this
is going to be for those people who don't have
mobile coverage. It's not launched yet, it's launching later this year.
The boiler plate textas that any LTE or which is
a four G phone or above can do this, but
given the New Zealand has only specified a certain number

(18:24):
of phones where yet to see what Telstra is going
to be offering, But satellite connectivity is going to eventually
also extend to data that this won't stop the four
G five Gen sixty networks being rolled out. You get
much faster connectivity pin times, but it'll fill in all
the black spots. And twenty twenty five and onwards is
the year that the tyranny of distance is yet once
again smashed into ever greater irrelevancy.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Is this just with Starlink or is it with other
satellite providers as well well?

Speaker 2 (18:49):
So far it's only with Starlink, but Amazon is launching
a whole bunch of satellite, and mean China's launching satellite.
Eventually there'll be other constellations that can do the same
thing as well. But Elin Musk has been launching after
Rocker on space and Stalin has been launching version two
satellites that can do much more in terms of bandwidth
and data and speeds and latency. So Eli my Stalink

(19:10):
is first that others will undoubtedly follow.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
That's Alex saharav Royt from Tech Advice Dot Live and
that's the show for now. Spacetime is available every Monday,

(19:35):
Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Google podcast
pocket Casts, Spotify a Cast, Amazon Music, Bites dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube,
your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with
Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the
National Science Foundation, on Science Own Radio and on both

(19:57):
iHeartRadio and tune In Radio. And you can help to
support our show by visiting the Spacetime Store for a
range of promotional merchandising goodies, or by becoming a Spacetime Patron,
which gives you access to triple episode commercial free versions
of the show, as well as lots of burnus audio
content which doesn't go to weir, access to our exclusive
Facebook group, and other rewards. Just go to space Time

(20:21):
with Stewart Gary dot com for full details. You've been
listening to space Time with Stuart Gary.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
This has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.