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SpaceTime 20260928 Series 29 Episode 116 Discovery of the Milky Way's first microblazar Astronomers have discovered their first ever microblazar in the Milky Way and observations suggest it’s generating the fastest particles ever detected in the galaxy. Early Mars rocks reveal at least three separate water episodes A new study shows the region of the red planet now being explored by NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover has undergone at least three separate interactions with Martian liquid water. Starship about to launch on its first orbital flight The countdown is underway for today’s first orbital test flight for SpaceX’s Starship superheavy. The world’s largest and most powerful rocket will undertake six orbits during the mission aiming for an altitude of around 275 kilometres. The Science Report A new study claims they type of sleep you’re getting is influencing your risk of disease. 12 hundred genetic variants linked to personality may also influence health, wealth, work and love life. The Antarctic OZONE hole has reached one of its smallest sizes since the early 1990s. Scientists discover a new species of cat – the first in over a century. Skeptics guide to the psychology of seeing ghosts. Our Guest This Week Nina Lanza from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Justin Maki from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35638584?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime 20260930 Series 29 Episode 117 NASA names Dragonfly’s landing site on Titan NASA has identified the landing site where its Dragonfly rotocopter will first touchdown on the surface of the Saturnian Moon Titan. New clues about the Moon’s ancient magnetic field from the far side A new study claims that just like the present day Earth, the Moon once had a geodynamo driven magnetic field. Why galaxies in the early universe are so weird A new study suggests that the first galaxies in the universe looked a bit weird because their stars generated weaker stellar winds compared to those we see today. The Science Report A common chemical in plastics linked to the development of autism and ADHD. Recent slowing of Antarctic ice sheet loss caused by issues thousands of kilometres away. Study shows Shakespeare’s works are more complicated than most other European plays. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35638632?utm_source=youtube

Sponsor Link: This episode of Space Nuts is brought to you with the support of NordVPN .. To check out special money saving deal , visit www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) Space Nuts: Q&A on Radial Velocity, Dark Matter, and Angular Momentum In this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a variety of intriguing listener questions, ranging from the complexities of radial velocity in exoplanet detection to the mysteries of dark matter and angular momentum in black holes. Join them as they explore these cosmic conundrums with their characteristic wit and expertise. Key topics - Hussein from Yemen asks about the radial velocity method for detecting exoplanets, prompting a discussion on how astronomers can isolate individual planets from the combined gravitational effects of multiple bodies. - Martin from Maryland raises a thought-provoking question on the potential to harness dark energy for space flight, leading to an exploration of the feasibility of accelerating spacecraft to near-light speeds. - Peter from Sweden inquires about the angular momentum of matter falling into black holes, sparking a conversation on whether this matter retains its momentum or needs to shed some energy before crossing the event horizon. - Andrew and Fred Watson also touch on the ongoing search for Planet Nine and the importance of surveying exoplanets for understanding the universe's structure and potential for life beyond Earth. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction to the Q&A format and listener questions 01:20 - Hussein's question about radial velocity and exoplanets 10:30 - Martin's inquiry on harnessing dark energy for space travel 18:45 - Peter's question about angular momentum and black holes 26:00 - Discussion on the significance of ongoing exoplanet surveys 32:15 - Closing thoughts and listener engagement Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35480198?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 115 A comet older than the Sun Astronomers have found new clues about the origin of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS suggesting it’s more than twice as old as the Sun and solar system. The nearby “Super Earth” that might be a candidate for life Astronomers have taken a closer look at a nearby exoplanet finding it may be more Earth-like than previously thought. A new way to study the birth of the universe Scientists have discovered a new way to create quark gluon plasma – the first matter in the universe. The Science Report The number of women testing positive for gonorrhoea doubles over the past decade. New study shows people taking medicinal marijuana are far worse drivers. The growing problem of human pollution now present over the entire planet. The discovery of a half-billion-year-old fossil has rewritten the origin story of starfish Skeptics guide to the four flavours of aliens Our Guest This Week Professor Bill Collins from Curtin University Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35441243?utm_source=youtube

Perseverance drove to the edge of an ancient Martian lake expecting a beach and found the inside of a volcano — rock that water has been through at least three separate times. Europe's Jupiter probe comes home on Monday night and crosses Australia in a fully dark sky. Two teams, using two completely different techniques, both find something hiding inside the most famous planetary system we have ever photographed — and an Australian instrument is in the middle of one of them. Plus: heavy water in an interstellar comet, and what it says about the star that made it. In this episode · LEAD — Three floods at the crater's edge. Candice Bedford (Purdue) and colleagues publish in Communications Earth & Environment: the Margin Unit at Jezero is igneous, not sedimentary, and records at least three distinct episodes of water — CO₂-rich groundwater making carbonate ridges, then silica associated with the lake, then a later hot-water event leaving fluorite veins. Habitability context, not a biosignature. · Juice returns. ESA confirms the third Earth gravity assist for 28 September — closest approach 11:45 UTC over the Indian Ocean, bending the trajectory ~20° and adding ~3.5 km/s. The spacecraft crosses Australia north-east to north-west 15–30 minutes earlier, in full darkness. · HR 8799. Two preprints in two weeks point at a fifth, inner planet — one from archival JWST aperture-masking data (~7 au, a few Jupiter masses), one from Gaia astrometry (2–3 au, 10–14 Jupiter masses). They do not obviously describe the same object. Neither is peer-reviewed. · 3I/ATLAS. A modelling paper explains the high deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio measured in March as consistent with formation around a low-metallicity — meaning old — star. · Quick hit: Starship Flight 14 still targeting 28 September; Crew-13 still 'no earlier than early October' on NASA's own page; Albania signs the Artemis Accords as the 73rd country. · Skywatch: the equinox as an instant rather than a date, the Juice pass over Australia, Venus and Mercury for the south, Mars and Jupiter before dawn for the north, and Saturn heading into opposition. Sources and further reading · Bedford, C. C. et al., 'Lake- and groundwater-associated alteration of the olivine-rich Margin unit in Jezero crater, Mars', Communications Earth & Environment (2026). DOI 10.1038/s43247-026-03997-9 · NASA/JPL, 'NASA Discovery Reveals Complex Water Systems on Early Mars', 21 September 2026. · ESA, 'Juice to fly past Earth for third gravity assist', 21 September 2026. · Nguyen, J. S. et al., 'A Candidate Innermost Fifth Planet In the HR 8799 System Revealed By JWST NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometry', arXiv:2609.10507. · Lagrange, A.-M. et al., 'A fifth companion in the HR 8799 system revealed by Gaia', arXiv:2609.20996 (submitted to Nature Astronomy). · Furuya, K., Cordiner, M., Bockelée-Morvan, D. et al., arXiv:2609.12370. · NASA OIIR, 'NASA Welcomes Albania as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory', 21 September 2026. Skywatch figures computed in-session with PyEphem 4.2.1 for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London. Times are local unless marked UTC. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35420202?utm_source=youtube

Perseverance drove to the edge of an ancient Martian lake expecting a beach and found the inside of a volcano — rock that water has been through at least three separate times. Europe's Jupiter probe comes home on Monday night and crosses Australia in a fully dark sky. Two teams, using two completely different techniques, both find something hiding inside the most famous planetary system we have ever photographed — and an Australian instrument is in the middle of one of them. Plus: heavy water in an interstellar comet, and what it says about the star that made it. In this episode · LEAD — Three floods at the crater's edge. Candice Bedford (Purdue) and colleagues publish in Communications Earth & Environment: the Margin Unit at Jezero is igneous, not sedimentary, and records at least three distinct episodes of water — CO₂-rich groundwater making carbonate ridges, then silica associated with the lake, then a later hot-water event leaving fluorite veins. Habitability context, not a biosignature. · Juice returns. ESA confirms the third Earth gravity assist for 28 September — closest approach 11:45 UTC over the Indian Ocean, bending the trajectory ~20° and adding ~3.5 km/s. The spacecraft crosses Australia north-east to north-west 15–30 minutes earlier, in full darkness. · HR 8799. Two preprints in two weeks point at a fifth, inner planet — one from archival JWST aperture-masking data (~7 au, a few Jupiter masses), one from Gaia astrometry (2–3 au, 10–14 Jupiter masses). They do not obviously describe the same object. Neither is peer-reviewed. · 3I/ATLAS. A modelling paper explains the high deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio measured in March as consistent with formation around a low-metallicity — meaning old — star. · Quick hit: Starship Flight 14 still targeting 28 September; Crew-13 still 'no earlier than early October' on NASA's own page; Albania signs the Artemis Accords as the 73rd country. · Skywatch: the equinox as an instant rather than a date, the Juice pass over Australia, Venus and Mercury for the south, Mars and Jupiter before dawn for the north, and Saturn heading into opposition. Sources and further reading · Bedford, C. C. et al., 'Lake- and groundwater-associated alteration of the olivine-rich Margin unit in Jezero crater, Mars', Communications Earth & Environment (2026). DOI 10.1038/s43247-026-03997-9 · NASA/JPL, 'NASA Discovery Reveals Complex Water Systems on Early Mars', 21 September 2026. · ESA, 'Juice to fly past Earth for third gravity assist', 21 September 2026. · Nguyen, J. S. et al., 'A Candidate Innermost Fifth Planet In the HR 8799 System Revealed By JWST NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometry', arXiv:2609.10507. · Lagrange, A.-M. et al., 'A fifth companion in the HR 8799 system revealed by Gaia', arXiv:2609.20996 (submitted to Nature Astronomy). · Furuya, K., Cordiner, M., Bockelée-Morvan, D. et al., arXiv:2609.12370. · NASA OIIR, 'NASA Welcomes Albania as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory', 21 September 2026. Skywatch figures computed in-session with PyEphem 4.2.1 for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London. Times are local unless marked UTC. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily b

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 114 United States Space Force confirms it has weapons in orbit The United States Space Force confirms it has weapons in orbit to protect America’s assets in space. Why a moon could not survive in orbit around Venus A new study claims a moon could not survive in orbit around Venus because of the planet’s unusually slow rotation. Water discovered near the galaxy’s Supermassive black hole New observations of the star IRS 3, located near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole, suggest it’s emitting huge amounts of gas and dust, forming an exceptionally large stellar envelope containing water molecules. The Science Report A new study has shown that air pollution isn’t just bad for your lungs, it’s bad for your eyes as well. The new high-tech sponge made from plant fibres that can mop up an oil spills. Palaeontologists find that Tyrannosaurus rex had around the same body temperatures as humans. A new study shows 93 per cent of Australia’s first nations population died in the first 80 years following the arrival of the first Europeans. Alex on Tech: How real is the AI threat. 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35400747?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 113 New evidence of superflares on the Sun A new study has found that a giant sunspot observed back in 1947 had the potential to trigger a massive solar super flare. How Gondwana changes life on Planet Earth A new study has rewritten the evolution of one of planet Earth’s greatest ancient land masses, the super continent of Gondwana. The incredibly shrinking planet Mercury A new study suggests that the planet Mercury may have shrunk by as much as 30 percent since its creation. The Science Report Studies warn that a third of the world’s population are exposed to second hand smoke. New figures show deradicalization programs have failed. A new study has found that 2025 was one of the driest years in the past three decades. It was in this month in 1936, that the world’s the last known Tasmanian Tiger died at the Hobart Zoo. Skeptics guide to the Nazi’s hollow Earth conspiracy. Our Guest This Week Professor Bill Collins from Curtin University Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35364397?utm_source=youtube

Space Nuts: Q&A on BepiColombo, Neutrinos, and Time Dilation In this Q&A edition of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson dive into a series of intriguing listener questions that span topics from the nuances of orbital velocity to the enigmatic world of neutrinos and the complexities of time dilation. Join them as they unravel these cosmic queries with their signature blend of insight and humour. Key topics - Larry from Nebraska asks about the BepiColombo mission and the relationship between gravitational assists and orbital velocity, prompting a discussion on how spacecraft navigate the solar system. - Eduardo explores the nature of neutrinos, questioning whether they are affected by gravity and whether they can be trapped by black holes. - Shumo presents a thought-provoking idea about using high-energy gamma rays or neutrinos as interstellar beacons, leading to a discussion on the potential for advanced civilisations to communicate through unconventional means. - Colin from Adelaide raises questions about time dilation effects as depicted in the science fiction movie "Project Hail Mary," specifically the implications of travelling close to the speed of light and the resulting age differences upon return to Earth. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction to the Q&A format and listener interactions 01:20 - Larry's question about BepiColombo and gravitational assists 10:30 - Eduardo's inquiry on neutrinos and black holes 18:45 - Shumo's question about interstellar beacons using gamma rays or neutrinos 26:00 - Colin's confusion about time dilation in "Project Hail Mary" 32:15 - Discussion on the implications of time dilation and relativity Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35361318?utm_source=youtube

SHOW NOTES Black hole jets follow one universal rule Adelle Goodwin (Curtin University / ICRAR, Forrest Research Foundation Fellow) and Andrew Mummery (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) show that supermassive black holes launch their outflows at the same critical accretion rate as stellar-mass black holes — about 2% of the Eddington limit — making accretion-outflow coupling scale-invariant across seven orders of magnitude in mass. Nature Astronomy, 17 September 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02951-1 JWST's Little Red Dots are black hole seeds caught mid-growth Sunmyon Chon, Shingo Hirano, Tomoaki Ishiyama, Seok-Jun Chang and Volker Springel ran fully cosmological radiation-hydrodynamic simulations on Japan's ATERUI III supercomputer and produced heavy black hole seeds of about a million solar masses, whose optically thick discs generate exactly the broad hydrogen emission seen in Little Red Dots. Nature 657, 621-625, 16 September 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10985-8 Earth's centre of mass moves about half as far as we thought Donald Argus, Felix Landerer and colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with the University of Nevada, the University of Montana and the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, revise the annual oscillation between Earth's centre of mass and its centre of figure down from roughly 11 millimetres to about 4 to 5.5. Geophysical Journal International, ggag314. DOI: 10.1093/gji/ggag314 Two numbers explain the weather on a world 20 light-years away Merle Schrader and colleagues at Trinity College Dublin applied principal component analysis to one rotation of JWST spectroscopy of the brown dwarf SIMP 0136 and found two components — temperature and vertical cloud structure — account for all the detectable variability. Astronomy & Astrophysics, open access. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202660109 The Sun goes blank With only active region AR4528 left on the Earth-facing disc and rotating out of view, the Sun was on the verge of its first spotless day since 24 February 2026 — which itself ended a 1,335-day run of continuous sunspot activity stretching back to June 2022. Skywatch: Venus at greatest brilliancy, first quarter Moon, Observe the Moon Night Venus reaches greatest brilliancy on 18 September at magnitude -4.8; the Moon reaches exact first quarter at 20:43 UTC the same day, setting up International Observe the Moon Night on Saturday 19 September. All times and altitudes in this segment were computed for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London. SKYWATCH — COMPUTED REFERENCE Computed in-session with PyEphem 4.2.1. Local times. Sydney on AEST (UTC+10); Los Angeles PDT; New York EDT; London BST. City Sunset Venus alt Venus sets Mercury Mars pre-dawn Sydney 17:45 39.2 deg 20:58 (3h13m) 16.4 deg (sets 1h20m) 20.4 deg Los Angeles 18:52 14.3 deg 20:10 (1h19m) 8.8 deg (sets 0h43m) 48.4 deg New York 18:56 10.3 deg 19:59 (1h03m) 7.0 deg (sets 0h38m) 46.1 deg London 19:04 3.6 deg 19:32 (0h28m) 3.9 deg (sets 0h26m) 40.6 deg · Venus greatest brilliancy: 18 September 2026, magnitude -4.8. Disc 39.6 arcsec, 26% illuminated. · By 22 September the disc has grown to 42.3 arcsec but the lit fraction has fallen to 22.7% — the two changes nearly cancel, which is why listings disagree on the date. The peak is genuinely flat. · Moon reaches exact first quarter 18 September at 20:43 UTC = 06:43 AEST Sat 19 Sep / 16:43 EDT Fri 18 / 13:43 PDT Fri 18 / 21:43 BST Fri 18. · Moon altitude at sunset: Sydney 81.6 deg (near overhead), Los Angeles 27.1 deg, New York 20.4 deg, London 9.4 deg. · International Observe the Moon Night: Saturday 19 September 2026. NASA event at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, 5:30-8:00pm CST. · Pre-dawn Sat 19 Sep at nautical dawn — Jupiter: Los Angeles 26.4 deg, New York 25.1 deg, London 21.9 deg, Sydney 8.9 deg. · Mars-Jupiter separation: 22.9 deg on 18 Sep, 12.0 deg mid-October, 1.2 deg mid-November 2026. · Saturn is up essentially all night; sets 06:47 Sydney, 07:55 Los Ange

Astronomers have confirmed the youngest planet ever found - Elias 2-24 b, less than a million years old, sitting inside a gap it is carving in its own birth disc 450 light-years away. Plus: the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter finds a 222-metre crater that was not there in 2024, a 178-year-old space weather record gets corrected by seven years, and Sakurai's Object - a star that came back from the dead - has become six times hotter in thirty years. SOURCES Newfound 'Baby' Planet Smashes Record for Youngest Known World NASA Science, 16 September 2026 - https://science.nasa.gov/universe/newfound-baby-planet-smashes-record-for-youngest-known-world/ Elias 2-24 b discovery paper Bernardi, Cieza et al., The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 16 September 2026, DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/ae9bb6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae9bb6 ALMA Observations of Elias 2-24: A Protoplanetary Disk with Multiple Gaps (background) Cieza et al., ApJL 851 L23, 2017, DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9b7b - https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa9b7b NASA's Moon Orbiter Spots New, 'Once-in-Century' Moon Crater NASA Science, 16 September 2026 - https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/nasas-moon-orbiter-spots-new-once-in-century-moon-crater/ New 222-metre lunar crater - mission release W. M. Keck / Intuitive Machines / NASA LROC, 16 September 2026; two papers in Science Advances (Robinson et al., morphology and ejecta; Powell et al., Diviner thermal signature) - https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasas-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-discovers-a-new-222-m-diameter-lunar-crater-302880555.html Mystery of one of the earliest recorded space weather impacts solved Lancaster University / RMIT University, 16 September 2026; Wild, Carter, Hapgood et al., Space Weather (AGU), DOI 10.1029/2026SW005239 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2026SW005239 'Born-again' star offers rare chance to watch stellar evolution in real time The University of Manchester, 16 September 2026; Zijlstra, van Hoof et al., 'The emergence of a [WC] star in Sakurai's object', MNRAS, DOI 10.1093/mnras/stag1533 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1533 Cargo Mission and Crew-13 Updates; Station Research, Maintenance Continue NASA Space Station Blog, 16 September 2026 - https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/09/16/cargo-mission-and-crew-13-updates-station-research-maintenance-continue/ International Observe the Moon Night 2026 NASA, Saturday 19 September 2026 - https://science.nasa.gov/moon/observe-the-moon-night/overview Skywatch ephemerides Computed in-session with PyEphem for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London, 17-18 September 2026 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35328755?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 112 BepiColumbo on final approach to Mercury The BepiColumbo spacecraft Mercury Transfer Module has successfully separated from the main spacecraft, marking a major milestone in its eight year journey to the nearest plant to the Sun. Mercury’s crust formed by extreme volcanism A new study has shown that the planet Mercury’s crust was formed by extreme volcanism. First orbital launch success from European soil For the first time in history, a space launch from continental Europe has successfully reached orbit. The Science Report People with lung cancer more likely to have larger quantities of microplastics in their lungs. A genetically modified pig kidney keeps a patient with kidney failure dialysis free for nine months. Palaeontologists discover the fossilized remains of a peculiar new species of Jurassic squid. Scientists have discovered the first Denisovan radius bones at a fossil dig site in Southwest China. Skeptics guide to the regrets of the dead. Our Guests This Week Dr Fred Jourdan from Curtin University ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist Johannes Benkhoff DLR Planetary Scientist Jorn Helbert Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35327265?utm_source=youtube

Sponsor Link: This episode of Space Nuts is brought to you with the support of NordVPN. your first stop for online privavcy. To check out our special offer with a 30 day money back guarantee, visit www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://https//www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) Space Nuts: Venus’s Missing Moon, Satellite Pollution, and Space Force Uniform Controvers y Space Nuts covers three very different space stories in this episode, ranging from planetary science to the consequences of satellite reentry and a controversial military uniform design. Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson also field listener questions on orbital mechanics, neutrinos, alien communication, and time dilation. The discussion is broad, but the main thread is clear: how real-world physics shapes everything from Venus’s history to the future of spaceflight and even the look of space-age uniforms. Key topics Venus is Earth-like in size, mass, and gravity, but unlike Earth it has no moon, and the episode explores whether it may once have had one. Fred explains a modeling study led by Stephen Kane suggesting a Venus moon could have spiraled inward, crossed the Roche limit, and been torn apart by tidal forces. The team discusses what evidence might remain if Venus once consumed a moon, including possible chemical fingerprints in the atmosphere or surface. Satellite pollution is examined through the lens of reentering spacecraft, especially the growing number of Starlink reentries and their impact on the upper atmosphere. The European Space Agency’s jet-based chase of two reentering Cluster spacecraft, Tango and Samba, is described as an effort to measure reentry byproducts directly. The conversation raises concerns about aluminium oxides, atmospheric chemistry, and whether repeated reentries could have broader consequences such as ozone depletion. The final main story looks at proposed United States Space Force uniforms and why the design drew immediate comparisons to World War II-era fascist aesthetics and Starship Troopers. Andrew and Fred note how uniform design can shape perception, and why the new concept feels divisive rather than inspiring. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro and setup for the episode 00:41 - Venus, satellite pollution, and Space Force uniforms preview 04:40 - Venus as Earth’s twin and why it has no moon 08:21 - Modeling a missing Venusian moon 09:20 - Gravitational tug-of-war and moon migration toward Venus 11:44 - Conditions for a moon to survive around Venus 12:43 - Possible traces of an ancient moon impact 16:06 - Satellite pollution from reentering spacecraft 17:16 - Starlink reentries and atmospheric contamination 18:14 - ESA’s jet chase of reentering Cluster spacecraft 20:06 - Observing Tango and Samba during controlled reentry 21:45 - Why the atmospheric consequences could become controversial 23:12 - Wood as a potentially more benign spacecraft material 24:16 - Space Force uniforms and the first visual reaction 25:34 - Starship Troopers and deliberate fascist design cues 27:29 - Why the proposed uniforms feel unsettling Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35311316?utm_source=youtube

First starlight from Roman, a shorter fuse on the Solar System, weapons in orbit, and a globular cluster hiding behind the dust Roman opens its eye — and finds it has twice as long to look NASA has activated the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's Wide Field Instrument, a 300-megapixel infrared camera built around eighteen detectors, with a field of view at least a hundred times larger than Hubble's infrared field — a patch of sky bigger than the full Moon in a single exposure, at Hubble-comparable sharpness. The instrument reached its operating temperature of −143 °C on 11 September; detectors and the calibration system came up across the 11th and 12th; the element wheel turned in microgravity for the first time on the 12th; the focus mechanism was verified on the 13th. Roman then took its first starlight image — deliberately out of focus, and exactly as intended: a baseline diagnostic that proves the optical path is clear and every detector is live. Sharp science images are expected by early 2027. The Coronagraph Instrument has completed initial communications checkout from Caltech/IPAC and is running 30-day decontamination cycles at room temperature. Separately, NASA published the numbers from Roman's first mid-course correction: better than 99% accurate, using about 18 kg of a 200 kg propellant budget, on a spacecraft that launched lighter than its allowance. Jamie Dunn (Goddard): Roman has fuel for at least 22 years of potential science operations, against a design life of ten. Caveat kept on air: that is a fuel figure, not a funding or hardware figure. Why it matters: Roman's High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey measures cosmic expansion with Type Ia supernovae, and its High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey probes cosmic acceleration across more than 5,000 square degrees through weak lensing and galaxy clustering — two independent handles on the dark energy question that Monday's Australian-led supernova compilation sharpened but could not settle. A doubled mission means a longer lever arm in time, which in this measurement is everything. Caltech: the Solar System's dynamical fuse is far shorter than we thought Konstantin Batygin, Jim Fuller and Fred Adams (Caltech), 'Terminal instability of the Solar System triggered by stochastic solar mass loss', arXiv:2609.12494, posted 11 September and accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The standard estimate for how long the giant planets hold their architecture — about 10¹⁸ years — assumes the dying Sun sheds mass smoothly. Observations of white-dwarf recoil indicate mass is instead lost in discrete, independently directed ejections, so planetary orbits take a random walk. In simulations, roughly 40% of systems are disrupted or violently scattered before white dwarf formation and about 90% within ~3 billion years after, cutting the outer Solar System's dynamical lifetime to around a gigayear past white dwarf formation. Framed on air as a prediction to test — planetary systems around old white dwarfs should be rarer and more chaotic — with the granularity of the mass loss named as the number to go and measure. The United States says, for the first time, that it has weapons in orbit Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, speaking on the opening day of the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Maryland on Monday 14 September: the United States now has 'on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary actions'. It is the first public US acknowledgement of offensive capability in orbit. No systems, numbers, locations or timelines were disclosed. A Space Force spokesperson defined space control as employing 'kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation and even destruction, if necessary'. Gen. Douglas Schiess, Chief of Space Operations, said the following day that 'it was time' to talk about it, citing Chinese and Russian anti-sa

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 111 27 new Trans Neptunian Objects discovered in the outer solar system The first ever joint observation of Trans Neptunian objects by NASA’s Hubble and Webb space telescopes has discovered 27 new worlds in the dark outer reaches of the solar system. A decagon discovered at Saturn's south pole New observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving, 10-sided decagon atmospheric structure encircling Saturn's south pole. LINK’s failed rescue mission scopes its target but can’t save it The LINK spacecraft which was meant to rescue NASA's doomed Swift Gamma Ray space Telescope (https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nasa-swift-telescope-falling-earth.html) has now reached to within 15 kilometres of Swift and has even managed to take some images of the stricken observatory. The Science Report The latest data on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in Australia paints a mixed picture. Climate change forcing a decline in global sea weed forests. Asian elephants shown to resist impulsive behaviour in favour of rational problem solving. The artificial-intelligence chatbot Claude cracks Fermat’s last theorem. Alex on Tech the phone duo. Our Guests This Week Dr Fred Jourdan from Curtin University ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist Johannes Benkhoff DLR Planetary Scientist Jorn Helbert Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35288689?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 110 Lunar far side rocks rewriting history A new study claims the timing and intensity of asteroid bombardment across the lunar surface declined gradually, rather than being a short, intense burst of impacts as previously thought. The crystals that might have made Snow Ball Earth worse A new study claims planet Earth may have been pushed deeper into a global deep freeze known as snowball Earth by something as ordinary as salt. Meteor strike reported off the Western Australian coast The European Space Agency’s Near Earth Objects co-ordination centre has reported a meteor impact in the Indian Ocean off the coast of north western Australia. The Science Report Warnings of a ten percent chase that AI could cause human extinction within the next decade. The world enters a new era of artificial general intelligence with the release of GPT-6 Astra. A new study has shown that Psychiatrists agree on a diagnosis in only 55% of cases. The 2026 Ig Nobels handed out in Switzerland showing what happens to old undies. Skeptics guide to the truth about surveys. Our Guests This Week Dr Fred Jourdan from Curtin University ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist Johannes Benkhoff DLR Planetary Scientist Jorn Helbert Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35274814?utm_source=youtube

An Australian-led team has rebuilt thirty years of supernova observations into one consistent catalogue — and it adds fresh weight to the idea that dark energy is not constant. We also ask whether the young Sun swallowed a super-Earth, find out why a quiet Sun is bad news at thirty-five thousand feet, and watch JWST run the most sensitive exomoon search ever attempted. Plus a Crew-13 update and a skywatch with a live aurora alert for both hemispheres. In this episode · Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty-four Type Ia supernovae, rebuilt from Pantheon+ and the Dark Energy Survey's full five-year sample into a single internally consistent catalogue by Ryan Camilleri and Professor Tamara Davis at the University of Queensland, with ANU, Swinburne and international colleagues. · On their own the supernovae give a matter density of 0.310 for flat ΛCDM. Combined with the CMB and baryon acoustic oscillations, a tension appears under constant dark energy — and eases when dark energy is allowed to evolve. Preference: 2.5–3.1 sigma. · Why that is interesting but not a discovery, and why a second independent line of evidence pointing the same way as DESI changes the shape of the argument. · Professor Mutlu Yildiz (Ege University) on whether the young Sun engulfed a planet of 5–10 Earth masses — and whether that single event explains both the solar sound-speed discrepancy and the Sun's missing lithium. · Yaniv, Yair and Price on six balloon flights to 35 km: cosmic radiation at cruising altitude runs 40–60% higher at solar minimum, with an anticorrelation of r = −0.71 against solar activity. · David Kipping stacks twelve JWST transits of LP 890-9c and excludes moons down to 0.1 Earth radii across the entire Hill region — the most sensitive exomoon search on record. · Crew-13 now targeting no earlier than late September after an oxidiser leak in Dragon's propulsion system. · Skywatch: a coronal-hole stream arriving today with aurora chances at both ends of the planet, Venus at greatest brilliancy on 18 September, Mars past Pollux, Saturn towards opposition, International Observe the Moon Night on the 19th, and the equinox on the 22nd. Sources · University of Queensland — 'Big supernova dataset challenges dark energy theory', 8 September 2026 · Camilleri, Lee, Davis, Rubin, Shah, Scolnic, Lidman et al., 'Supernovae Unite: Combining Pantheon+ and DES-SN5YR', Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia — arXiv:2609.05053; companion host-mass paper arXiv:2609.05321 · Royal Astronomical Society — ''Fingerprints' inside the Sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet', 10 September 2026. Yildiz, MNRAS, DOI 10.1093/mnras/stag1527 · Yaniv, Yair & Price, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, September 2026 — cosmic radiation at aviation altitudes across the solar cycle · Kipping, 'JWST Excludes Exomoons Down to 0.1 Earth Radii Around a Rocky, Temperate Exoplanet', arXiv:2609.05301, 4 September 2026 · NASA Space Station blog — 'NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Date', 29 August 2026; Canadian Space Agency update, September 2026 · EarthSky sun news and NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center outlooks, 12–14 September 2026 · NASA Science — 'What's Up: September 2026 Skywatching Tips' Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal

Sponsor Link: This episode of Space Nuts is brought to with the support of NordVPN. To grab our special NordVPN deal, simply visit www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) ....take control of your online privacy because no-one else is going to do it for you! Space Nuts: Q&A on Mitsubishi's Role in Telescope Manufacturing, Jupiter's Storms, and Gravitational Waves In this Q&A episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a range of fascinating listener questions, from the involvement of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in telescope manufacturing to the mysteries of Jupiter’s storms and the nature of gravitational waves. Join them as they delve into these cosmic queries with their signature wit and expertise. Key topics - Thomas from Canberra asks about Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and their role in the manufacturing of telescope hardware at Siding Spring Observatory. Fred Watson explains the engineering behind the Anglo-Australian Telescope and the significance of its construction. - Young listener Emily poses a question about Jupiter's Great Red Spot, prompting a discussion on the dynamics of storms and atmospheric patterns on the gas giant. - Butch from the UK inquires about the Parker Solar Probe and its mission to study the sun, as well as the advancements in solar observation technology. - Trent from North Georgia wonders if gravitational waves are slowed down by passing through matter, leading to an insightful explanation of how these waves interact with the fabric of spacetime. - The episode wraps up with a lively discussion on the role of artificial intelligence in astronomy and its implications for the future of scientific research. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction to the Q&A format and listener interactions 01:20 - Thomas's question about Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Siding Spring Observatory 10:30 - Emily's question about storms on Jupiter 18:45 - Butch's inquiry on the Parker Solar Probe and solar missions 26:00 - Trent's question about gravitational waves and their speed 32:15 - Discussion on artificial intelligence in astronomy and its impact 40:00 - Closing remarks and listener engagement Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35250109?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — The Weekend Wrap, Saturday 12 September 2026: OUR LEAD: A SMALLER MERCURY Mercury has been contracting for four and a half billion years as its huge iron core cools, and it writes the record on its own surface — in long lobe-fronted cliffs called lobate scarps, where one slab of crust has ridden up over another. Add up all that shortening and you get the total contraction. The trouble was that the surface record always gave a smaller number than thermal models predicted. New work led by Gaku Nishiyama at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin, published in Geophysical Research Letters and released by the American Geophysical Union on 10 September, explains the gap — and the explanation is beautifully simple. Impact debris buries the cliffs. Using MESSENGER imagery reworked with stereophotogrammetry, the team showed that the rougher the terrain, the fewer shortening structures you can find per unit area. Since faults don't know what the surface above them looks like, that correlation isn't geology — it's a detection limit. Correct for it and Mercury's total loss of diameter rises by 10–30%, from a range topping out near 16 km to as much as 23 km. That points to a larger metal core, fewer light elements in it, or a hotter start — and it closes the long-standing mismatch with the physics. BepiColombo is about ten weeks from gravity capture at Mercury, carrying a far better laser altimeter and a much less eccentric orbit. If Nishiyama is right, it should find the missing small scarps in exactly the rough ground where today's maps look suspiciously empty. Some of that data will come home through ESA's New Norcia station in Western Australia, run in partnership with CSIRO. THE WEEK THAT WAS · Monday — Isar Aerospace's Spectrum reached orbit from Andøya Spaceport in Norway on 5 September, the first vehicle ever to do it from Western European soil, carrying five university cubesats. · Tuesday — giant-impact simulations including temperature-dependent rock strength can produce an intact Moon in about five hours rather than a slowly accreting debris disc. A sensitivity result, not a new origin story. · Wednesday — Hubble and Webb together found 27 previously unknown trans-Neptunian objects down to about 5 km, and the small ones keep the colours of their birth population rather than looking like collision fragments. · Thursday — 109 localised fast radio bursts were used to measure how far galactic feedback has smoothed the clumpiness of matter, finding more cool gas in big haloes than X-ray surveys see. · Friday — population synthesis suggests magnetars are roughly half of all neutron stars at birth, not one in a hundred, which doubles the Galactic supernova rate and makes magnetar central engines affordable. ALSO IN THIS EPISODE · The Sun's superflare potential — new work from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research with the University of Colorado, released 10 September. Scaling the 300 strongest modern solar flares against the size of their active regions, then applying that relation to the giant sunspot group of 1947 — the largest in four centuries of observation — gives a region with enough stored magnetic energy to power a superflare. Potential, not prediction: the caveats are covered properly on air. · Rocket Lab has filed a protest with the US Government Accountability Office over NASA's ~$700M Mars Telecommunications Network award to Blue Origin, on eligibility and technical-evaluation grounds. A GAO decision is due around mid-December. · Starship Flight 14 has slipped to no earlier than 18 September — and the tower catch of the ship is deferred to a later flight, which corrects how we framed it earlier this month. SKYWATCH — BOTH HEMISPHERES · The Moon and Venus about half a degree apart in front of Spica on the evenings of 13–14 September — Southern Hemisphere observers get the better geometry. · Venus reaches greatest brilliancy on 18 September at magnitude −4.8. · SN 2026aaiv, a Type Ia

Today's episode — S05E191, Friday September 11, 2026: Main story: A population-synthesis study published in Nature Astronomy on 10 September argues that magnetars make up roughly half of all neutron stars, not the one-in-a-hundred implied by the catalogues. Celsa Pardo-Araujo and Nanda Rea (Institute of Space Sciences, ICE-CSIC, Barcelona) with Michele Ronchi (ASTRON) and Vanessa Graber (Royal Holloway) modelled the whole isolated-neutron-star population as one family rather than four separate classes, evolving spin-down, magneto-thermal decay and Galactic dynamics together, then filtering the simulated population the way real surveys filter the sky. Of the 24 known neutron stars younger than 2,000 years, magnetars and central compact objects are about 59%; the derived birth fraction averages ~50% (40–70% or 30–50% depending on the assumed birth-field distribution, which peaks at 1–2.5 × 10^14 gauss). Two consequences: the Galactic core-collapse supernova rate has to be higher than assumed, around two per century, and magnetar central-engine models for superluminous supernovae, gamma-ray burst plateaus and fast radio bursts finally have the supply to work. Caveats: it is a model rather than a census, the anchor sample is 24 objects, and 'magnetar' is defined by a field threshold. Southern thread: the field began with SGR 0526−66 in the Large Magellanic Cloud on 5 March 1979, and the same Barcelona group modelled GLEAM-X J162759, found with the Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia. The rest of the news: · Chariklo's rings: The first stellar occultation ever planned specifically for JWST — 18 October 2022 — has been published in Science Advances, led by Yücel Kılıç, Pablo Santos-Sanz and Celia Navas (IAA-CSIC) with Nicolas Rambaux, Bruno Sicardy and Josselin Desmars (LTE) and Damya Souami (LIRA). Against the 2017 ground-based occultations, the inner ring C1R is about 50% more opaque and the outer ring C2R about 60% less, with the ring positions unchanged. Chariklo is the largest known centaur at ~125 km radius; the rings sit at 390 and 405 km and are a few km wide. Candidate explanations: material loss from C2R, material arriving at or collisions grinding down C1R — or a wavelength effect, since infrared is being compared with visible light. The rings were discovered in 2013 by an occultation campaign across Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. · Mercury under bombardment: Kilpua et al. report in Nature Astronomy (8 September) that BepiColombo's fourth Mercury flyby in September 2024 — 165 km above the surface, closer than its eventual science orbit — coincided with a major solar particle eruption. The Finnish-built SIXS instrument watched energetic electrons and protons penetrate Mercury's magnetosphere and precipitate onto the surface over a wide area. That bombardment both sputters atoms off the surface and drives the X-ray fluorescence used to read its composition, and Mercury's small, weak magnetosphere makes it a stand-in for Earth during an extreme solar storm. The spacecraft separated its transfer module on 3 September; gravity capture is 21 November. · Europe buys a way home: ESA has awarded The Exploration Company a contract worth up to €760M under ALADDIN (Autonomous LEO Accelerated Demo Docking to ISS Node) — €310M for the demonstration mission, with ESA funding 60% and the company 40%, plus €450M in options for two further flights. The Nyx capsule flies on Ariane 6 and must dock with the ISS no later than Q2 2029, with up to €50M in additional incentive for using European launch vehicles. Europe has flown cargo up before, with the five ATVs, but has never returned anything from orbit. CEO Hélène Huby: 'It is the first time in Europe that a five-year-old space startup wins a contract worth hundreds of millions of euros.' The company's Mission Possible capsule survived reentry in June 2025 but was lost before splashdown — a partial success in its own words. Thales Alenia Space Italy remains in a

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 109 Witnessing the birth of a comet More than 5 billion kilometres from Earth, an ancient icy object is slowly awakening as a distant frozen world known as a Centaur transforming into an active comet. New mysteries about the moons of Neptune A new study has revealed that three of Neptune's inner moons may be the shattered remains of ancient icy worlds. NASA’s Roman Space Telescope blasts off bound for orbit beyond the Moon NASA’s next great flagship cosmic observatory the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully launched into space bound for orbit on the dark side of the Earth beyond the Moon. The Science Report Scientists have found a link between flavour chemicals in some vapes and pregnancy problems. A new study shows flight attendants and pilots have the highest risk of death from radiation-related cancers. A growing plant disease spreading across parts of Western Australia is linked to a loss of habitat. Scientists claim they’re working on a tent that can supply its own electricity. Skeptics guide to England’s most violent poltergeist. Our Guests This Week Dr Benjamin Pope from Macquarie University Chelsea Gohd NASA Public Engagement Specialist Astrophysicist Jason Rhodes NASA JPL Astrophysicist DIda Markovic NASA JPL Astrophysicist Eric Huff NASA JPL Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35213350?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E190, Thursday September 10, 2026: Main story: 109 fast radio bursts have been used to measure how much galactic feedback has smoothed out the matter in the universe. A fast radio burst lasts about a millisecond, and on its way to us it is dispersed — low radio frequencies slowed more than high ones by free electrons along the path, exactly the way a prism separates white light. The size of that delay counts the ordinary matter the burst passed through. Writing in Nature Astronomy on 8 September, a team led by Kritti Sharma at Caltech, with Vikram Ravi, Liam Connor and Elisabeth Krause (University of Arizona), used 109 bursts localised to host galaxies out to redshift ~0.3 — most of them from Caltech's DSA-110 — to constrain the suppression of matter clustering by feedback, and the gas fractions of groups and clusters between 10^13 and 10^15 solar masses. They find more gas retained than the X-ray picture implies: gas fractions about 1.9σ above stacked eROSITA measurements, and slightly above the Atacama Cosmology Telescope's kSZ constraints, consistent with the bursts counting cool gas that X-rays miss. The constraint is already competitive with both of those far larger experiments, cutting the uncertainty on clustering at these scales by roughly a factor of eight. That matters because feedback is the confound sitting under the S8 tension — it mimics the signature of massive neutrinos and of some dark energy and dark matter models. The technique's foundation is Australian: the Macquart relation, established with ASKAP in Western Australia in 2020, is what found the universe's missing ordinary matter in the first place. The rest of the news: · Hypersoft X-ray sources: NASA and the Chandra X-ray Center announced a new class of object on 9 September — 84 sources across six galaxies (M31, M101 and four ellipticals) that emit more than eight times as many photons below 0.3 keV as just above it, exceeding 10^38 erg/s in that narrow band and more again in the extreme ultraviolet. Led by Mustafa Muhibullah (University of Alabama) with Jimmy Irwin and Rosanne Di Stefano (CfA), published in Nature Astronomy. They are likely compact objects accreting from companions, and may be both the long-sought progenitors of Type Ia supernovae and a significant unaccounted source of ionising radiation. · A rendezvous with Halley's Comet: a trajectory study circulated on 6 September by Roberto Flores and Elena Fantino (Khalifa University), Mauro Pontani (Sapienza), and Ivano Bertini and Cesare Barbieri (Padua) sets out the first Halley rendezvous achievable with proven hardware — unpowered Jupiter and Saturn gravity assists plus deep-space low-thrust arcs, a Hall-effect thruster on a standard RTG, ~2,000 kg launch mass with ~750 kg of instruments, launching August 2036 or September 2037 and arriving in 2060, about a year before Halley's 2061 perihelion. Months alongside the comet instead of Giotto's minutes at 68 km/s. · Apollo Maneuvers 2026: US Space Command announced on 8 September that it had completed the first live-fly orbital manoeuvre exercise of its kind, moving real operational satellites across low, medium and geosynchronous orbits with Operation Olympic Defender allies (Australia among them) and commercial operators via its Commercial Integration Cell. Named for the US Army's 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. The practical consequence is more unpredictable objects in an already crowded region, and in-orbit refuelling becoming load-bearing. · Skywatch: New Moon on 11 September at 14:27 AEST (04:27 UTC) makes tonight and tomorrow the darkest nights of the month. Southern Hemisphere — the galactic core still high after dark, and Venus well placed low in the west-south-west, 7.4° from Spica and building to greatest brilliancy on 18 September at magnitude −4.8. Saturn rises about an hour after sunset for everyone, heading for its 4 October opposition with the rings about 7° from edge-on. North America — the pre-dawn s

Space Nuts: Dark matter clues, Saturn’s new decagon, Mars and Titan missions. Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson cover a packed astronomy episode that moves from a tentative dark matter signal to a newly spotted ten sided storm pattern on Saturn. They also dig into two upcoming sample return style missions, one to Mars and one to Titan, before finishing with listener questions about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, solar missions, gravitational waves, and AI in astronomy. Key topics In this episode, Andrew and Fred discuss the Lux-Zeppelin underground detector result, where researchers saw a low-energy flash that might be consistent with dark matter, though the signal is still far short of discovery level. Fred explains why dark matter is inferred from galaxy rotation and gravitational lensing, and why direct detection experiments need to be buried deep underground and shielded from background noise. The discussion covers Fred’s own migraine aura experience, including the zigzag visual pattern he describes as a brain-based phenomenon that affects both eyes. In this episode, they celebrate an outback astronomy success story involving Trevor Barry of Broken Hill, whose long-term Saturn observations helped connect amateur and professional work on planetary atmospheres. Fred explains Saturn’s famous north polar hexagon and the newly reported south polar decagon, noting that the southern feature appears to have formed only since 2023. They cover China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return plans, including the narrowing of candidate landing sites from 86 to 12 and the mission’s focus on clay-rich terrain that may preserve signs of ancient life. Fred and Andrew also discuss NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan, including the chosen region near Selk crater, the expected 3.3-year primary mission, and why Titan’s dense atmosphere makes rotorcraft flight more practical there than on Mars. Timestamps 00:00 - Pre-show timing and getting ready to go live 00:49 - Welcome to Space Nuts and what’s coming up 02:23 - Fred joins the show and mentions recovering from knee surgery 03:17 - First story: a possible dark matter detection at Lux-Zeppelin 05:28 - Why dark matter is hard to detect directly 06:56 - Underground detectors and the LZ experiment in South Dakota 08:50 - The flash event and why it is only a hint, not a discovery 11:44 - The 2.6 sigma result and what that means statistically 13:55 - Trevor Barry and the discovery of Saturn’s south polar decagon 16:23 - Saturn’s north polar hexagon and why the south is unusual 17:49 - The decagon’s possible recent formation and what comes next 21:26 - China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission 23:40 - Candidate landing sites narrowed down and why clays matter 25:20 - NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan 26:03 - Why the Titan landing region near Selk crater is scientifically interesting 27:31 - Dragonfly’s three point three year primary mission and Titan’s chemistry 29:09 - Listener shout-outs and wrapping the first half Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35194340?utm_source=youtube

Everything beyond Neptune is a leftover. The icy bodies of the Kuiper Belt never got assembled into a planet, and out there — dark, cold and empty enough that things mostly leave each other alone — they are the closest thing we have to the original building blocks of the solar system, still sitting roughly where they were made. The trouble is that everything we know about them, we learned from the big ones. Ground-based telescopes stop at around twenty-five kilometres. In two papers published on 8 September in The Astronomical Journal, teams using Hubble and Webb simultaneously — one telescope in visible light, one in the infrared, on the same field at the same moment — report twenty-seven previously unknown trans-Neptunian objects, the faintest ever directly detected. The smallest is about five kilometres across. NASA's own description of the faintest of them: the equivalent of standing on Earth and picking out a small swarm of fireflies on the Moon. The surprise is the colours. Objects that small are assumed to be collision fragments, and a fragment should be showing us the fresh ice under the irradiated red rind — so the small population should look bluer and messier than the large one. It doesn't. Led by Anastasia Morgan at Northern Arizona University, the colour study finds the small objects carry the same colour relationship as their large counterparts, in both the dynamically cold population that formed in place and the dynamically hot population that was flung outward during the giant planets' migration. David Trilling: these hot objects 'retain a signature of where they were born, even though they've been orbitally scrambled since then.' The companion size-distribution study, led by Marielle Eduardo at the University of Victoria, finds the same size distribution in both populations despite their different birthplaces. Together the two results point away from small TNOs being rubble and towards planetesimals that formed quickly, at large sizes — the picture Arrokoth gave us up close in 2019. Then: Anak Krakatau. The Sunda Strait volcano went into a major explosive phase on 5 September that ran more than twenty-four hours, throwing ash to 15,000 metres — 50,000 feet — to the west. Eight airports closed across Java and Sumatra, 2,961 flights grounded, around 170,000 travellers stranded. NASA's Earth Observatory published Landsat 8 and Suomi NPP imagery on 9 September. The whole warning chain runs through orbit: geostationary Himawari-9 imaging the full disc every ten minutes, feeding the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre run by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology — because ash doesn't show up on aircraft weather radar, and the only warning a crew gets comes up from the ground. ESA closed out the 26-year Cluster mission by flying its last two satellites, Samba and Tango, into the atmosphere over the South Pacific near Tonga on 31 August and 1 September — deliberately, and precisely enough that a chartered business jet carrying thirty instruments could be underneath them. The ROSIE campaign, led by Jiří Šilha of Astros Solutions, got about fifty seconds on each spacecraft, measuring not the light show but the chemistry: titanium, sodium, potassium and aluminium, and specifically aluminium oxide, whose effect on ozone at those altitudes is a genuinely open question as constellations scale. ESA's Draco mission in 2027 will record the same process from the inside. And a study from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and released on 4 September, finds that Messier 74 — the Phantom Galaxy — is more than twice the size the catalogues give it. Deep imaging with a one-metre telescope, about ten times deeper than Sloan, traces a disc of young stars out to roughly 100,000 light years against a catalogued 45,000. Mean age in that outer region: 640 million years. The likely cause is a close pass by the neighbouring galaxy UGC 1176 about a billion years ago. Skywatch covers bo

For fifty years the story has been that the Moon assembled slowly out of a disc of debris. New simulations from Southwest Research Institute add one thing everybody left out — the strength of rock — and get an intact Moon in about five hours. Plus eight black holes that outgrew their galaxies, two massive stars that fell past each other and got caught, Dragonfly's Titan landing site gets a name, and today's daylight occultation of Jupiter. Links & sources Southwest Research Institute — SwRI-led modeling identifies new scenarios for Moon formation — https://www.swri.org/newsroom/press-releases/swri-led-modeling-identifies-new-scenarios-moon-formation Denton, Canup, Asphaug et al. — The Astrophysical Journal Letters (DOI) — https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae91e9 Space.com — Earth's moon could have formed in just 5 hours after giant impact — https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/earths-moon-could-have-formed-in-just-5-hours-after-giant-impact Buchner et al. — A large population of overmassive black hole quasars at z=0.3–0.8 revealed by eROSITA, A&A 713, A11 — https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/09/aa59356-26/aa59356-26.html Astronomy & Astrophysics — 2026 press releases — https://www.aanda.org/2026-press-releases Zhang, Garay et al. — An eccentric massive protobinary assembled via a core-merger parabolic encounter, Nature Astronomy — https://www.nature.com/natastron/articles?year=2026 Universidad de Chile coverage of the IRAS 07299-1651 result — https://www.radiofestival.cl/la-danza-nupcial-de-estrellas-masivas-astronomo-de-la-universidad-de-chile-participa-de-historico-hallazgo/ NASA / APL — Dragonfly Gets Wired Up While Titan Landing Area Is Named — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/dragonfly/2026/09/02/nasas-dragonfly-gets-wired-up-while-titan-landing-area-is-named/ Sky & Telescope — Tuesday's daytime Jupiter occultation, a warm-up for the 'big one' — https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/tuesdays-daytime-jupiter-occultation-a-warm-up-for-the-big-one/ Universe Today — September's lunar occultations: circumstances and visibility — https://www.universetoday.com/articles/penultimate-lunar-occultations-inbound-for-jupiter-venus-and-more-in-september NASA — What's Up: September 2026 skywatching tips — https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/whats-up-september-2026-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/ EarthSky — Visible planets and night sky guide for September — https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35157295?utm_source=youtube

A German rocket lifted off from an Arctic island on Saturday and became the first vehicle ever to reach orbit from Western European soil. Plus: the gaps in stellar streams may not be dark matter after all, two white dwarfs circling every 374 seconds in the far southern sky, peptides that fold in concentrated sulfuric acid, and what Katalyst's LINK is actually doing next to Swift. Both-hemispheres skywatch, and a serious safety warning for tomorrow's daylight Jupiter occultation. Links & sources · Isar Aerospace — mission updates — https://isaraerospace.com/mission-updates-overview · ESA — Spectrum launches to orbit (imagery) — https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/09/Spectrum_launches_to_orbit · NASASpaceflight — Isar 'Onward and Upward' — https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/09/isar-onward-and-upward/ · Space.com — Private German rocket makes history — https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/isar-aerospace-second-launch-norway-andoya-spaceport-spectrum-rocket · Space.com — Gilmour Space eyes a second orbital attempt — https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/australias-gilmour-space-not-going-to-give-up-as-it-eyes-2nd-orbital-launch-attempt-in-2026 · Sky & Telescope — Gaps in stellar streams may be common — https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/gaps-in-stellar-streams-common-not-sign-dark-matter/ · Arora et al. — Semianalytic modeling of subhalo encounters with thin stellar streams, ApJ — https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adf740 · Sharma et al. — Rapid orbital decay in eRASSU J060839.5−704014 (arXiv) — https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.09341 · Maitra et al. — eRASSU J060839.5−704014 discovery paper, A&A (2024) — https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/ref/2024/03/aa47811-23/aa47811-23.html · MIT News — Peptides can form well-defined structures in Venus-like conditions — https://news.mit.edu/2026/study-peptides-can-form-well-defined-structures-harsh-venus-conditions-0831 · NASA Swift blog — Commercial spacecraft for Swift boost continues tech demo — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/09/04/commercial-spacecraft-for-nasas-swift-boost-continues-tech-demo/ · NASA Swift blog — LINK spacecraft recovery progressing — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/08/06/link-spacecraft-recovery-progressing-for-nasas-swift-boost/ · EarthSky — Saturn at opposition, 4 October 2026 — https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/saturn-at-opposition-closest-brightest-best/ · Star Walk — Astronomical events, September 2026 — https://starwalk.space/en/news/night-sky-tonight-september Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35140777?utm_source=youtube

Space Nuts: Q&A on the Swift Satellite, Redshift, and Hypothetical White Holes In this engaging Q&A edition of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson dive into a myriad of intriguing questions posed by listeners. From the fate of the Swift satellite to the mysteries of redshift and the speculative nature of white holes, this episode covers a wide range of cosmic curiosities. Key topics include: - The fate of the Swift satellite and the challenges faced by the Link mission meant to boost its orbit. - An exploration of redshift and the implications of energy loss in distant light. - Insights into the temperature variations on the Moon and the potential for human habitation beneath its surface. - A thought-provoking discussion on the hypothetical merger of black holes and white holes, and what that could mean for our understanding of the universe. Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they tackle these questions with their signature blend of humour and expertise, providing listeners with a deeper understanding of the cosmos. 00:00 - This is where the audience asks us questions, we scratch our heads 01:20 - Do you always record on the same day and time 02:56 - What are your thoughts on the red dots as seen by James Webb Telescope 06:33 - A spacecraft called Link will boost the decaying orbit of the Swift satellite 14:08 - Is distant light redshifted? What happens to the lost energy 16:18 - Professor Fred Watson discusses Apollo 13 problems in Q and A edition 17:19 - Fenton from Minnesota has a question about the temperature on the moon 23:13 - European astrobiologist working on Roslyn Franklin rover on Mars 26:03 - Fred Watson asks what would happen if a white hole merged with a black hole Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35136046?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery open the Weekend Wrap with a genuine first: South Africa's MeerKAT has detected the 21-centimetre hydrogen signal from four to five billion light years away using radio data alone — no optical galaxy survey propping it up — proving out the technique the Square Kilometre Array will use to measure dark energy. Then the week in review: Roman's coronagraph wakes up, Starship Flight 14 gets a date, Mars turns out to be lopsided inside, BepiColombo lets go, LZ's one unexplained flash, and a centaur caught in the act of becoming a comet. Plus the sky for the week ahead, both hemispheres. Links & sources · University of Manchester — Astronomers use MeerKAT to directly detect faint hydrogen signal from the distant Universe — https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/astronomers-use-meerkat-to-directly-detect-faint-hydrogen-signal-from-the-distant-universe · The Astrophysical Journal Letters — Paul, Wolz, Santos, Chen et al. (paper DOI) — https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae808f · American Astronomical Society — release listing — https://aas.org/node/730547 · Phys.org — MeerKAT directly detects faint hydrogen signal from the distant universe — https://phys.org/news/2026-09-meerkat-faint-hydrogen-distant-universe.html · Space.com — Scientists detect signals of hydrogen from billions of years ago — https://www.space.com/astronomy/galaxies/scientists-detect-signals-of-hydrogen-from-billions-of-years-ago-could-this-help-us-map-out-the-universe · Xinhua — MeerKAT in South Africa directly detects faint hydrogen signal from distant universe — https://english.news.cn/africa/20260905/3f6c7164a4404b0a9b79f879b1d31a59/c.html · SKA Observatory — the construction journey (SKA-Mid, Karoo; SKA-Low, Murchison) — https://www.skao.int/en/explore/construction-journey · NASA Science — Roman's planet imager has powered on (1 September 2026) — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/09/01/nasa-romans-planet-imager-has-powered-on/ · NASA — NASA's dark universe-seeking Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches — https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-dark-universe-seeking-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-launches/ · Next Spaceflight — Starship Flight 14 (NET 15 September 2026, Pad 2, Starbase) — https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/8346/ · Tesla Oracle — FCC filing points to Starship Flight 14 on 15 September; Booster 21 33-engine static fire — https://www.teslaoracle.com/2026/09/02/fcc-filing-reveals-starship-flight-14-launch-on-september-15-spacex-conducts-33-engine-static-fire-on-booster-21/ · Nature — Tidal tomography reveals a thermal anomaly beneath Mars's crustal dichotomy (27 August 2026) — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10893-x · Phys.org — Thermal anomaly discovered below Mars' south pole — https://phys.org/news/2026-08-thermal-anomaly-mars-south-pole.html · ESA — Latest updates: BepiColombo's arrival at Mercury — https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Latest_updates_BepiColombo_s_arrival_at_Mercury · ESA — BepiColombo's Mercury arrival begins (full replay) — https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2026/09/BepiColombo_s_Mercury_arrival_begins_-_full_replay · Brown University — LZ experiment sees surprising result in search for dark matter — https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-09-01/lz-dark-matter-results · The LZ Dark Matter Experiment — collaboration site — https://lz.lbl.gov/ · ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics — Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory — https://www.centredarkmatter.org/supl · University of Central Florida — UCF researchers study a centaur transforming into a comet — https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-researchers-study-a-centaur-transforming-into-a-comet/ · Phys.org — Saturn encounter may have set distant centaur on path to becoming a comet — https://phys.org/news/2026-09-saturn-encounter-distant-centaur-path.html · Space.com — Scientists watch a comet being born 3 billion miles away — https://www.space.com/astronomy/comets/scientists-wa

Links & sources Brown University — LZ experiment sees surprising result in search for dark matter — https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-09-01/lz-dark-matter-results US Department of Energy — LZ Sees Surprising Result in Search for Dark Matter — https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/lz-sees-surprising-result-search-dark-matter Imperial College London — Dark matter hunt takes unexpected turn after puzzling signal spotted in LZ detector — https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/articles/natural-sciences/physics/2026/dark-matter-hunt-takes-unexpected-turn-after-puzzling-signal-spotted-in-lz-detector/ TeVPA 2026 — Search for high-energy dark matter interactions with the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment — https://indico-icehap.phys.s.chiba-u.ac.jp/event/3/contributions/471/ The LZ Dark Matter Experiment — collaboration site — https://lz.lbl.gov/ Space.com — Scientists may have detected the 1st direct evidence of dark matter — https://www.space.com/astronomy/dark-universe/scientists-may-have-detected-the-1st-direct-evidence-of-dark-matter ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics — Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory — https://www.centredarkmatter.org/supl SABRE South — dark matter direct-detection experiment — https://www.sabre-experiment.org.au/ Phys.org — Underground lab clears crucial hurdle for dark matter hunt — https://phys.org/news/2026-04-underground-lab-crucial-hurdle-dark.html Space.com — India sends Earth-imaging satellite toward geosynchronous orbit in milestone launch — https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/gslv-mark-ii-eos-05-launch-first-indian-geo-earth-observing-satellite Outlook India — 'Successfully and precisely injected': ISRO chairman hails GSLV-F17 launch — https://www.outlookindia.com/national/successfully-and-precisely-injected-isro-chairman-hails-gslv-f17-launch-eos-05-reaches-orbit Business Standard — ISRO launches India's first imaging satellite in geostationary orbit — https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/isro-launches-india-s-first-imaging-satellite-in-geostationary-orbit-126090400054_1.html Space.com — Rocket issues delay 1st-ever private mission to Venus — https://www.space.com/astronomy/venus/rocket-issues-delay-1st-ever-private-mission-to-venus-we-are-awaiting-neutron-readiness Syracuse University — The Spin Behind Fading Black Hole Flares — https://news.syr.edu/2026/09/01/the-spin-behind-fading-black-hole-flares/ arXiv — The Role of Stellar Spin in Repeating Partial Tidal Disruption Events (2606.02692) — https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.02692 NASA Science — What's Up: September 2026 Skywatching Tips — https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/whats-up-september-2026-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/ Universe Today — Lunar occultations of Jupiter, Venus and more in September — https://www.universetoday.com/articles/penultimate-lunar-occultations-inbound-for-jupiter-venus-and-more-in-september In-The-Sky.org — Lunar occultation of Jupiter, 8 September 2026 — https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20260908_16_100 EarthSky — Sun news: flare, CME and aurora updates — https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-activity-solar-flare-cme-aurora-updates/ Space.com — Night sky September 2026: the best things to see this month — https://www.space.com/stargazing/what-to-see-night-sky-september-2026 Follow us: @AstroDailyPod · astronomydaily.io Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business mod

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 106 The most distant Blazar ever seen Astronomers have detected the most distant blazar ever recorded. The blazar -- catalogued as OP 313 was detected some 8 billion light years away. Did the motion of an ocean carve Enceladus's tiger stripes? A new study suggests the iconic tiger stripes at the south pole of the Saturnian ice moon Enceladus may have been formed by ocean waves. SpaceX to build the world’s biggest space port in Louisiana SpaceX boss Elon Musk has announced plans to build the world’s largest spaceport in the Louisiana wetlands on the Gulf Coast 185 kilometres west of New Orleans. The Science Report It seems most girls prefer lovers to fighters at least in non-human animals. Scientists discover a type of brain activity that’s 'tagging' priority information to remember later. Discovery of the fossilized remains of a giant crocodile that once dominated the food chain. The trend for retro phones could mean people want to distance themselves from their smartphones. Skeptics guide to beating up psychic stories. Our Guests This Week Professor Paulo de Souza from Edith Cowan University Bryan Butler from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35099081?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery cover BepiColombo's arrival at Mercury beginning today, as the ESA/JAXA mission jettisons the transfer module that has carried it for nearly eight years and nine planetary flybys. Plus: NASA awards Blue Origin a $700 million contract to build a dedicated Mars communications orbiter, Hubble confirms a brand-new ten-sided cloud pattern at Saturn's south pole — first spotted by amateur astronomers, one of them in outback New South Wales — and China's Galactic Energy flies its reusable Pallas-1 rocket for the first time. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35086238?utm_source=youtube

Space Nuts: Spanish Eclipse, Nancy Grace Roman Launch, Cloud Nine, and Venus's Mysterious Clouds Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson cover four big astronomy stories in this episode, from Fred’s trip to view a sunset eclipse in Spain to the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. They also unpack a starless dwarf galaxy called Cloud Nine and a new way of thinking about the strange dark material in Venus’s clouds. Guests and speakers Andrew Dunkley - Host, frames the news, asks listener questions, and guides the discussion. Professor Fred Watson - Astronomer at large, explains the eclipse, the Roman telescope, Cloud Nine, and Venus’s clouds. Key topics In this episode, Fred recounts the Spanish eclipse expedition The eclipse was only 9 degrees above the western horizon at totality, making the viewing conditions unusually challenging. He and Marnie led a 16-person tour through France, Spain, and Switzerland before settling near Santander in northern Spain. They staked out a viewing site 2 kilometers from the hotel, set up a gazebo, and had to tie it down to a car to keep it from blowing away. The weather looked threatening, but a hole opened in the cloud just before totality, giving them a clear view of the corona. Fred described the yellowish corona, pink hydrogen clouds, and the crowd of around 2,000 people. We discuss the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch Andrew watched the launch live after being nudged by his own brain at the right moment. Fred noted the launch was flawless, with 27 Merlin motors firing. The telescope is headed for the L2 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometers away. Roman is a 2.4-meter Hubble-class telescope but with 100 times the field of view. Its wide-angle infrared design should enable major surveys of dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets via its coronagraph. Fred explains why Cloud Nine matters Cloud Nine is described as a starless dwarf galaxy about 14 million light years away. It lies near Messier 94 and was studied using the Gran Telescopio Canarias and its Hypercam instrument. The deep exposure was 2.36 hours, yet the team found no convincing stellar population. Fred says theory suggests the gas may be too hot to cool and collapse into stars because of the ultraviolet background radiation after reionization. He says Cloud Nine may be the first strong example of a galaxy predicted by standard cosmology but never before clearly identified. Venus’s clouds are still puzzling astronomers Fred explains that Venus appears yellowish because we see the top of its cloud layer, especially in visible light. In ultraviolet, Venus shows dramatic global cloud patterns caused by an as-yet unidentified absorber. The new study uses radiative transfer modeling to constrain what the unknown absorber could be. The team compares Venus’s cloud droplets to cigarette smoke, tiny particles that look light-colored when dispersed but could become dark sludge in bulk. The result suggests the absorber must be very efficient, very concentrated, or both, but it is not being claimed as evidence of life. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35083231?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E183, Wednesday September 2, 2026: Main story: A thermal anomaly beneath Mars's south pole. Writing in Nature on August 27, a team led by Alexander Berne (Caltech PhD '26, now University of Arizona) reports that the interior of Mars's southern hemisphere is 200–400 °C hotter than the northern hemisphere and partially molten. The team used tidal tomography — measuring how much the solid body of Mars flexes under the Sun's tidal pull by tracking minute velocity changes in three orbiters (Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) across roughly 25 years of radio tracking data. Hotter, softer rock deforms more, so the degree of flex reveals interior temperature. The result offers a deep-interior explanation for the Martian crustal dichotomy — the sharp division between the smooth low northern plains and the ancient, thickly crusted southern highlands, unexplained since the Viking era — and also accounts for the concentration of crustal magnetic anomalies in the south and the unexpectedly strong seismic-wave damping seen by InSight. The cause of the asymmetry remains open: a giant early impact, lopsided mantle convection, or a heat-trapping compositional layer. Co-authors span Brown University, NASA Goddard, the University of Arizona, Academia Sinica, the University of Rome, TU Delft, UCLA, UT Austin, CU Boulder and UC Santa Cruz. Crew-13 stands down. NASA and SpaceX announced on August 29 that an oxidizer leak had been found in the Dragon spacecraft's propulsion system during standard prelaunch processing, delaying the Crew-13 launch from its September 12 target. Teams are performing additional tests and data review and will complete any necessary rework before flight; a new target date will be announced once available. The crew is commander Jessica Watkins (NASA), pilot Luke Delaney (NASA), and mission specialists Joshua Kutryk (CSA) and Sergey Teteryatnikov (Roscosmos), flying an approximately seven-month increment with significant station maintenance and several spacewalks planned. Swift is observing again. NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory restarted science operations on August 26, with two of its three instruments back online and the third expected within weeks. Swift's telescopes had been powered down progressively — the ultraviolet/optical and X-ray telescopes in February, the Burst Alert Telescope in April — to reduce power draw and atmospheric drag while awaiting a boost from Katalyst Space's LINK spacecraft, launched in July. NASA announced on August 19 that LINK would not attempt the capture after developing attitude-control problems. With no rescue coming, NASA has restarted the instruments to extract as much science as possible. NASA expects Swift to fall below roughly 300 km (185 miles) — where telescope operations become impractical — within the next one to two months. Katalyst will still fly proximity operations to demonstrate in-orbit servicing techniques. An 80,000-year mission to Alpha Centauri. The Seattle-area nonprofit Fermi Explorer Mission announced plans to launch a 100–200 kg probe toward Alpha Centauri (4.4 light-years away) at the end of 2029, most likely on a SpaceX rideshare. Solar electric propulsion plus repeated perihelion pumping manoeuvres would build a cruise speed of 24.2 km/s (about 54,000 mph) — faster than New Horizons at Pluto — for a journey of roughly 80,000 years: 12 years of active operations followed by around 79,500 years of coasting. Budget is under $15 million, with $10 million verbally pledged. Payload is at least 1 kg in a shielded 10 cm cube, including a digitised Voyager Golden Record, messages from children worldwide, and cosmic-ray detectors. Co-founders Philip Johnston, Ezra Feilden and Adi Oltean are behind the space computing company Starcloud; the advisory board includes Rob Meyerson (former Blue Origin president) and Jeff Thornburg (former SpaceX propulsion lead). Johnston: "We'll be the first to leave, and th

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 105 More evidence Mars once had liquid water More than 20 years after NASA's Mars Spirit rover landed on the red planet scientists have uncovered new evidence that suggests liquid water – essential for life as we know it -- may once have covered large parts of the Martian surface. Are mysterious little red dots hiding something big A new study claims mysterious Little Red Dots seen near the dawn of the universe are likely to reside in small, dense compact star forming galaxies. Chang'e-7 lunar mission delayed Beijing has scrubbed for now its Chang’e-7 mission to the Moon sighting a failure to meet strict launch conditions. The Science Report A promising new way to tackle one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. Proof that alumni relationships between judges and lawyers are affecting court rulings. Looking for inexpensive and safer alternatives to dangerous lithium-ion batteries. The new app helping blind or visually impaired people navigate outdoors. Alex on Tech: Meta gets a slap on the wrist. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35060992?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E182, Tuesday September 1, 2026: Main story: SpaceX cleared Booster 21's static fire at Starbase's Pad 2 on August 30, the last major milestone before Starship Flight 14 — the third flight of the Starship V3 design. Ship 41 had already completed its own static fire campaign at Massey's Test Site. Flight 14 will attempt something no Starship flight has done before: catching the ship itself, not just the Super Heavy booster, with the launch tower's upgraded "chopstick" arms. Pad 2 received expanded propellant storage, additional pumps and faster-moving catch hardware ahead of the attempt. The flight follows directly on from Flight 13's Ship 40, which survived a dramatic, unplanned float in the Indian Ocean after splashdown before finally beginning its journey home to Starbase on August 30. A firm Flight 14 launch date is still pending FAA and range approvals, with current expectation pointing to sometime in September. Chang'e-7 slips to early 2027. China's four-vehicle lunar south pole mission — rolled back to the vehicle assembly building on August 24, hours before its scheduled launch — has now been retargeted to early 2027 (February–March windows), a far bigger delay than the "about a month" first reported. Chinese authorities have not disclosed a technical cause beyond an approaching storm; multiple outlets report a separate issue was likely found during final on-pad testing, with reviews continuing into whether the launch vehicle or the spacecraft itself is at fault. A very busy month at the space station. NASA's Jessica Meir (her 7th spacewalk) and ESA's Sophie Adenot (her 3rd, following her historic first-French-woman EVA a few weeks ago) began a roughly six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk at 7:30am EDT on September 1 — the ISS's 284th since 1998, and Expedition 75's fourth in a single month. Tasks include replacing a spacecraft navigational aid, prepping a cosmic particle detector for a future upgrade, and installing data-relay jumper cables. NASA's Anil Menon supported from inside on Canadarm2, with Jack Hathaway on safety watch. Planet formation is a "race against time." A team led by Naman Bajaj (University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, with the SETI Institute) published in The Astronomical Journal on August 27, using archival JWST MIRI data on 72 young, Sun-like stars to show protoplanetary disk dispersal happens in two distinct phases — magnetically driven jets and winds early on (roughly the first 1–10 million years), then photoevaporative winds taking over as the star matures. Gas giant planets must form before that gas is gone. Türkiye joins the Artemis Accords. Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır signed on August 31 at NASA Headquarters, hosted by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman — Türkiye is the 71st country to sign. Türkiye sent its first astronaut to the ISS in 2024 and is preparing its first lunar mission, AYAP-1; it hosts the International Astronautical Congress in October. Tonight's sky: Venus is in a tight conjunction with Spica, under 2° apart, low in the west/west-southwest about 45 minutes after sunset (Sydney sunset ≈ 5:33pm AEST), setting roughly 90 minutes later. Saturn now rises near sunset and is up most of the night in Aquarius, building toward an October 4 opposition with rings tilted a photogenic angle. Jupiter has returned to the pre-dawn sky (best 4–6am), with Mars still visible nearby but fading. The Moon is a waning gibbous heading to last quarter on September 4. The weak Aurigid meteor shower peaked overnight but is Northern Hemisphere-favoured and moonlight-affected — not worth chasing from the Southern Hemisphere. Links & sources: KeepTrack — SpaceX Brief, Aug 30 2026: Super Heavy Static Fire Clears Starship Flight 14 Basenor — Starship Flight 14: 5 Details That Matter Right Now Space.com — SpaceX test-fires Starship Super Heavy booster ahead of critical Flight 14 Tesla Oracle — Starship 40 begins its journey from th

🚀 The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is safely away — Anna and Avery recap Sunday's clean Falcon Heavy launch, what happens next on the road to L2, and a surprise Australian link in the mission. Then: Elon Musk signals the eventual retirement of Falcon 9, two Nobel laureates defend an accelerating universe against a slowing-expansion claim, a single ancient asteroid strike solves two mysteries on Mars's moon Deimos, and everything worth looking up at tonight, wherever you are. Chapters / topics: Roman Space Telescope's clean launch • What happens next (L2 cruise & commissioning) • Roman's science mission explained • SpaceX signals Falcon 9's eventual retirement • The universe is still speeding up (dark energy rebuttal) • One asteroid strike solves two Deimos mysteries • Tonight's sky (both hemispheres) 🔔 Subscribe for daily space and astronomy news. Full show notes and links at astronomydaily.io. #AstronomyDaily Links & sources: Space.com — Liftoff! NASA's Roman Space Telescope soars to the stars on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in spectacular launch (video) NASA Science (Roman blog) — NASA's Roman Space Telescope Launches NASA Science (Roman blog) — NASA Concludes Roman Space Telescope Launch Coverage Space.com — What time will SpaceX launch NASA's Roman Space Telescope? (Full mission timeline) Space.com — Goodbye, Falcon 9: SpaceX planning to retire workhorse launcher when Starship is up and running Teslarati — Elon Musk just set a condition that could end Falcon 9 as we know it ScienceDaily — The universe is still speeding up, but nobody knows why University of Bern (media relations) — Asteroid impact shaped the appearance of Mars' moon Deimos Nature Astronomy — Raducan, Agrusa, Asphaug et al. (2026), DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-02956-w When The Curves Line Up — 2026, August 31: Venus Nears Spica TelescopeAdvisor — Night Sky in September 2026: Saturn Approaching Opposition Follow us: @AstroDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35026033?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 104 Strange anomaly discovered below the Martian south pole Astronomers have discovered a strange thermal asymmetry deep beneath the surface of the Martian southern hemisphere. Starship bound for home Starship 40 has finally left Australian waters bound for home. The orbiter used for SpaceX test flight 13 has been loaded aboard the 48,000-tonne semi-submersible vessel Forte for the long journey back to Starbase Texas. Roman Space Telescope final countdown The final countdown is now underway for the launch of NASA’s new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The Science Report A new record for keeping brain organoids made in a laboratory alive and developing. A new study shows smoking rates have continued to drop while vaping rates climb. Warnings that Australia’s native reptiles are disappearing at twice the rate previously thought. A new dog study says man’s best friend may be communicating with you through blinking. Skeptics guide to covering up the South Australian algal bloom. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35024232?utm_source=youtube

In this intriguing Q&A episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Jonti Horner tackle a variety of cosmic queries from listeners. Join them as they explore the fascinating world of radio telescopes and how they produce images from radio waves, delve into the complexities of gravitational waves, and ponder the sounds and smells of space. Key topics include: - How photographic images are generated from radio telescopes, despite only receiving radio waves, and the fundamental principles behind this technology. - A deep dive into gravitational waves, their impact on space, and how LIGO detects these minute disturbances in the fabric of spacetime. - An imaginative discussion on what sounds might exist in space and the potential smells one could encounter beyond Earth’s atmosphere, including the curious idea of cosmic fragrances. Join Andrew and Jonty as they demystify these concepts, providing clarity and insights into the wonders of astronomy and space science. 00:00 - Space Nuts aims to answer questions from the audience about astronomy and space science 01:37 - Were the pyramids built by aliens or were they built by humans 04:26 - How is a photographic image produced from a radio telescope and not an optical telescope 12:36 - Dean: I often hear about gravity waves and I have a hard time visualising 20:15 - Andrew Dunkley: I think ideas become easier to explain over time 22:45 - Our next question comes from David from Port Washington, New York 30:37 - Several volcanoes have blown up since we've been to them 32:08 - The metropolitan area of Auckland contains 53 volcanoes 35:02 - If you could take a big inhale, what would space smell like 36:22 - If you would like to send us some questions, please do through our website Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35022058?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E180, Saturday August 29, 2026, The Weekend Wrap: Main story: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches tomorrow, Sunday August 30, with a primary window opening 7:26am EDT (11:26 UTC / 9:26pm AEST Sunday night in Sydney) on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center; backup window Monday August 31 at 7:22am EDT. Total ascent to spacecraft deployment is about 31 minutes 31 seconds, with Falcon Heavy's side boosters landing back at Cape Canaveral roughly 7 minutes 40 seconds after liftoff. Named for NASA's first chief astronomer Nancy Grace Roman (the "mother of Hubble"), the telescope shares Hubble's 2.4-metre primary mirror but pairs it with a Wide Field Instrument boasting a field of view roughly 100 times larger at similar resolution. Its major science campaigns: the High Latitude Wide Area Survey, mapping ~2 billion galaxies to probe dark matter and dark energy; a companion supernova time-domain survey; and the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, a gravitational-microlensing exoplanet hunt expected to find on the order of 100,000 new worlds, including free-floating rogue planets. A Coronagraph Instrument will demonstrate direct exoplanet imaging technology. After deployment, Roman heads for the Sun-Earth L2 point (~1.5 million km out), a month-long cruise followed by months of commissioning. The mission closes out three threads covered this week: its clearance for launch nine months early (S05E176), its Cold War spy-satellite origin story (S05E178), and its narrow escape from budget cancellation (S05E179). The week in review: ● Chang'e-7's delay, revisited: Monday's episode (S05E175) reported China's Chang'e-7 lunar south pole mission scrubbing on August 24 due to Tropical Storm Narra, with the next window estimated at about a month out. Since then, reporting has split — some outlets still cite a mid-September window, while others report a slip to February or March 2027, citing the mission's roughly 100-days-per-year favorable lighting geometry at Shackleton Crater. China's Manned Space Agency has not issued a firm new date as of this recording; we're flagging the uncertainty rather than picking a side. ● Betelgeuse's bubbling surface: ALMA's most detailed image yet of the red supergiant's actual surface shows a corrugated, hot-spotted texture, with one hot spot persisting for over seven years — possibly stirred by a newly confirmed companion star (S05E177). ● Diamond rain, decoded: A Lawrence Livermore experiment recreated Neptune- and Uranus-like interior pressures, settling a 20-year dispute over diamond's melting point and pointing toward roughly triple the energy gain in certain fusion reactor configurations (S05E178). ● The space-mirror fight: US startup Reflect Orbital has FCC approval for its first demonstration mirror satellite; a new peer-reviewed study (Kocifaj, Bakos & Kundracik) finds the planned full-scale mirrors would appear roughly 40 times brighter than the full Moon to anyone in their beam — "worse than big cities like London," per Princeton's Gáspár Bakos (S05E179). ● Starship's Ship 40 is actually heading home: hours after Friday's episode aired, Ship 40 was loaded onto the heavy-lift vessel Forte and departed Christmas Island on the ~20,000km voyage back to Starbase, Texas, expected to take several weeks. Flight 14 remains targeted no-earlier-than September 15, with Booster 21's static-fire testing now complete. Links & sources: ● Space.com — What time will SpaceX launch NASA's Roman Space Telescope on Aug. 30? (Full mission timeline) ● NASA Science — Roman Launch Countdown ● Engadget — How to watch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's launch ● Scientific American — China delays ambitious Chang'e 7 moon mission until 2027 ● SpaceNews — China delays Chang'e-7 lunar south pole landing mission launch ● CGTN — Explainer: Why Chang'e-7 can't simply launch a few days later ● Space.com — The bubbling surface of doomed supergiant star Betelgeuse has

Today's episode — S05E179 , Friday August 28, 2026: Feature story: US startup Reflect Orbital has FCC approval for Eärendil-1, a demonstration satellite carrying a 60-foot mirror, the first step toward a planned constellation of 50,000-plus orbital mirrors beaming reflected sunlight to Earth on demand. A new peer-reviewed study (Kocifaj, Bakos and Kundracik, accepted at The Astrophysical Journal Letters) finds a full-scale, 174-foot operational mirror would appear about 40 times brighter than the full Moon to anyone standing in its roughly 3.4-mile beam, with measurable sky-glow extending 20-34 km further — astronomer Gáspár Bakos says it would be "worse than big cities like London," warning "you would not see any stars if you were in the beam." The rest of the news: Starship update: Ship 40 — the Flight 13 upper stage that survived an intact splashdown on July 24 — has been loaded onto a heavy-lift transport vessel off Christmas Island and is now heading home to Starbase, Texas, a journey expected to take several months. Meanwhile Flight 14 has quietly slipped to no-earlier-than September 15, per internal SpaceX/FAA planning documents, with Booster 21's static fire testing now the pacing item. A hot, watery world on borrowed time: astronomers led by Sylvain Breton (INAF) have characterised HD 176071 b, an exoplanet 335 light-years away that's roughly 50% water by mass, orbiting so close to its star (a 14-hour year) that it's expected to eventually be consumed by tidal forces. Found via a reflected-light technique applied to archival Kepler data. Roman Space Telescope: two days from its Sunday, August 30 launch (7:26am ET, Falcon Heavy), with today's Launch Readiness Review still underway as we record. We trace the mission's near-cancellation in leaked 2025 budget documents proposing a 24% NASA funding cut — and how Roman's team responded to Congress restoring funding by pulling the launch forward eight months, finishing under budget. Tonight's Sky: the G2 geomagnetic storm NOAA forecast for today is playing out now — aurora chances improve at northern latitudes, unlikely to reach much past Tasmania locally. Venus and Saturn remain the reliable local targets, under a near-full Moon. Links & sources: Space.com — Massive space mirrors could be 40 times brighter than the full moon, astronomers warn arXiv — Atmospheric Light Pollution by Proposed Reflect Orbital Space Mirrors (Kocifaj, Bakos & Kundracik) Space.com — The FCC just gave Reflect Orbital permission to launch its 1st space mirror to orbit Space.com — Starship is coming home: SpaceX loads floating spacecraft onto huge ship in the Indian Ocean Space.com — Astronomers discover hot watery exoplanet destined to be swallowed by its star Space.com — Trump tried to scrap NASA's Roman Space Telescope last year. Now it's ready to launch Watchers.news — M6.9 solar flare produces Earth-directed CME, G2 geomagnetic storm watch issued for August 28 Follow us: @AstronomyDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-d

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 103 *Warnings that some Earth microbes could contaminate the Moon NASA says some of Earth's microbes hitching a ride to space with human explorers could survive in the shaded nooks and crannies of the Moon's South Pole contaminating the otherwise pristine environment. *China’s first reusable rocket China has finally landed a reusable rocket in one piece. *Russia develops a nuclear rocket motor Russia has developed a prototype nuclear plasma engine which could cut journey times to Mars from 6 months to just 30 days. *September Skywatch The September equinox, and the constellations Capricorn, Pegasus, and Cygnus are among the highlights of the September night skies on SkyWatch. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics And Senior science writer and Sky and Telescope magazine contributor Jonathan Nally 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34984724?utm_source=youtube

Space Nuts: Moon impact, Roman Observatory launch, and Neptune’s odd moons Andrew Dunkley is joined by Professor Jonti Horner, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland, for a wide-ranging astronomy update. They cover SpaceX’s out-of-control rocket body hitting the Moon, the imminent launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Observatory, and a new result that may explain the strange origin of some of Neptune’s moons. We discuss why lunar impacts matter far beyond the Moon itself, how Roman will study exoplanets and dark energy, and why clay minerals on Neptune’s small moons are such a big clue about a violent early solar system. Key topics SpaceX’s rocket body impacted the Moon after being left in a long, uncontrolled orbit Why lunar impacts are a real concern for future habitats, infrastructure, and Apollo heritage sites The sheer scale of human-made objects that have already hit or landed on the Moon Elon Musk’s vision for lunar factories, rail-gun launches, and large-scale off-Earth manufacturing Why the same company could end up both creating the risk and needing to solve it The Nancy Grace Roman Observatory launching around 9 months ahead of schedule Roman’s 2.4 metre mirror, 300 megapixel wide-field camera, and hydrazine-fueled journey to L2 How Roman will study dark energy, gravitational lensing, exoplanets, and free-floating planets New James Webb observations of Neptune’s moons showing clay-type minerals on Larissa and Galatea Why those clays suggest a much older, more violent system shaped by Triton’s capture and moon-to-moon collisions Timestamps: 00:00 - Studio prep, muting phones, and getting ready to record 01:53 - Episode intro: SpaceX lunar impact, Roman Observatory, and Neptune moons 03:00 - Jonti Horner joins the show 04:26 - SpaceX rocket body crashes into the Moon 07:03 - Predicted impact plume and expected crater size 08:54 - Korean spacecraft Danuri captures post-impact images 10:19 - Why Moon impacts matter for future lunar bases 11:47 - Protecting Apollo landing sites and lunar archaeology 12:15 - More than 3,000 human-made objects have hit the Moon 14:32 - Law, responsibility, and the problem of cleanup beyond Earth 16:07 - Musk’s plans for Moon factories and Starlink-style expansion 18:12 - Rail guns, Optimus robots, and scaling lunar industry 19:34 - SpaceX’s own industry could be threatened by its own debris 21:24 - Balancing commercial benefits and environmental costs 23:46 - The Nancy Grace Roman Observatory launch approaches 26:03 - Roman’s orbit, hydrazine fuel, and five-year mission plan 27:57 - From WFIRST to Roman: how the telescope evolved 29:23 - Roman’s mirror, 300 megapixel camera, and survey power 30:14 - Exoplanets, microlensing, and the coronagraph 33:29 - Roman’s launch status and the excitement ahead 34:17 - Neptune’s moons and the role of Triton Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34972418?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E178, Thursday August 27, 2026: Feature story: Physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, led by Marius Millot, used the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester to shock-compress diamond samples to about 1 terapascal — roughly three times Earth's core pressure — and temperatures hotter than the Sun's surface, recreating conditions found deep inside Neptune and Uranus. The results resolve a 20-year, ~1,000-degree disagreement between lab measurements and quantum simulations over diamond's actual melting point, confirming the simulations were right. The team also found diamond stays in its normal crystal structure right up until it melts — no intermediate phase — and confirmed solid diamond floats in liquid carbon, the same basic physics as ice floating on water. Published in Nature Physics, the corrected melting-point data could help triple energy gain in inertial confinement fusion reactors by allowing gentler, more efficient laser compression of diamond-shelled fuel capsules. The rest of the news: Roman Space Telescope's strange origin: three days out from its Sunday, August 30 launch (7:26am ET, Falcon Heavy), we trace how Roman's core optics began life inside the National Reconnaissance Office's canceled "Future Imagery Architecture" spy-satellite program, donated to NASA in 2012 after the program's spectacular 2005 collapse. The telescope is currently being mated to its Falcon Heavy at LC-39A, with a Launch Readiness Review Friday, August 28.NOAA storm watch: the Space Weather Prediction Center has issued an official G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm watch for Friday, August 28, following Tuesday's M6.9 solar flare — aurora chances improve for northern-tier US states, the UK and similar latitudes; minor storming isn't expected to reach much past Tasmania locally.AI solar storm detection: NJIT researchers have built a Transformer-based AI model, EarlyDetect, that spots hidden precursor signals of solar active regions forming roughly 9.24 hours before they're visible — not yet ready for real-time forecasting, but a promising extension of the warning window.SpaceX Starbase Louisiana: a $100 billion, five-complex, ten-pad second Starbase announced for Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, alongside Governor Jeff Landry — construction targeted for 2027, first launch aimed at 2029.Tonight's Sky: a 96%-partial lunar eclipse peaks at 4:13 UTC / 12:13am ET August 28 — spectacular from the Americas, broad daylight in Sydney (~2:13pm AEST). Venus and Saturn remain the reliable local targets.Links & sources: ScienceDaily — Scientists crushed diamond beyond Neptune-like pressures — and solved a 20-year mysteryGizmodo — Scientists Recreate the Melting "Diamond Rain" of Neptune and Uranus. It May Help Fusion PowerSpace.com — From spy satellite to space telescope: the unlikely origins of NASA's Roman Space TelescopeSpace.com — Nancy Grace Roman Telescope live updates: NASA readies Roman for launchWatchers.news — M6.9 solar flare produces Earth-directed CME, G2 geomagnetic storm watch issued for August 28Universe Today — AI Spots Hidden Solar Storm Signs 9 Hours EarlyEurekAlert / NJIT — New AI model detects hidden signs of solar eruptions hours before they emergeSpace.com — Starbase Louisiana: SpaceX announces enormous $100 billion Starbase launch siteSpaceNews — SpaceX to develop Starship launch site in LouisianaEarthSky — Partial lunar eclipse of the August 27-28, 2026Follow us: @AstroDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who k

Today's episode — S05E177, Wednesday August 26, 2026: Feature story: Astronomers using the ALMA array in Chile, led by Bill Dent (European Southern Observatory), have released the most detailed picture yet of the actual surface of Betelgeuse, the red supergiant marking Orion's shoulder — a corrugated, irregular surface with bright convective hot spots, some nearly 1,000°F hotter than the surrounding plasma. One hot spot in the northeastern region has persisted for more than seven years, far longer than current models predict, and its orientation lines up with the position of Betelgeuse B — a companion star imaged for the first time in July by a separate VLT/SPHERE study — raising the possibility the companion is influencing the giant star's surface. Betelgeuse is one of the closest stars to us expected to eventually go supernova (on a timescale of roughly the next 100,000 years); Dent notes the imagery builds a crucial "before" baseline for whenever that happens. The rest of the news: ISS Spacewalk 98: NASA's Anil Menon and ESA's Sophie Adenot finished replacing a Space-to-Ground antenna on the station, six and a half hours outside, restoring communications redundancy that had been running on a backup since November. Adenot's spacewalk record as the first French woman to conduct an EVA is now backed by two completed outings.Solar flare/CME: The Sun fired an M6.9 flare from sunspot region 4513, triggering radio blackouts over Africa, Europe and the Arctic; a slow-moving CME is due to graze Earth around Friday, August 28, with an outside chance of minor geomagnetic storming — mostly a Northern Hemisphere aurora story.Falcon 9 reuse record: SpaceX's booster B1067 flew for the 37th time — a new single-booster reuse record — on the company's 100th Falcon 9 launch of 2026.Tonight's Sky: A 96%-partial lunar eclipse falls the night of August 27-28, spectacular from the Americas but invisible from Australia and the rest of Asia-Pacific (broad daylight here). Venus and Saturn remain good evening/overnight targets locally.Links & sources: Space.com — The bubbling surface of doomed supergiant star Betelgeuse has been revealed like never beforeSpace.com — Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse! Astronomers capture clearest image yet of famous star's elusive companionSpace.com — "You just saved the video dish": Two astronauts complete spacewalk to replace ISS antennaNASA — NASA, ESA Spacewalkers Finish Installing High-Speed AntennaSpace.com — Sun fires powerful M6.9 solar flare and CME toward EarthSpace.com — SpaceX sets rocket-reuse record on 100th Falcon 9 launch of the yearSpace.com — Partial lunar eclipse Aug. 27-28: stages and visibilityFollow us: @AstroDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34953699?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 102 *SpaceX’s Starship arrives at Christmas Island After some 24 days at sea, a SpaceX recovery team has successfully towed its test flight 13 Starship into the remote Australian Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island. The unplanned operation was hastily put together after the spacecraft unexpectedly held together following its splashdown off the Western Australian coast. *How old really is the universe? Astronomers have come up with a new way to work out the age of the universe finding it to be 13.6 billion years old – some 200 million years younger than previously thought. *Einstein’s general relativity theory still stands More than 100 years after Albert Einstein published his iconic general theory of relativity, it remains science’s best understanding of gravity and the universe on the cosmic scale. *The Science Report A new study shows that carrying a little extra weight could be beneficial as you get older. People lacking human connections more likely to turn to AI chatbots for companionship. The Southern Ocean and parts of the Pacific may be the best places to fertilise to remove CO2. How dogs have learnt to understand human facial expressions. Alex on Tech: The Galaxy passport sized Z Fold 8 tops the sales figures. 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34948055?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E176, Tuesday August 25, 2026: Feature story: NASA's Roman Space Telescope is fully encapsulated inside its Falcon Heavy fairing and cleared to launch no earlier than 7:26 a.m. ET this Sunday, August 30 — about nine months ahead of its original schedule, a rarity for a NASA flagship mission. Roman is headed to Sun-Earth L2 for a five-year mission mapping dark energy and dark matter and hunting exoplanets with a starlight-cancelling coronagraph. Its wide-field camera surveys roughly a hundred times faster than Hubble at comparable image sharpness. Named for NASA's first chief astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman — the "mother of Hubble" — the mission is a formal ESA partnership; some of its data will come down through a new ESA antenna at New Norcia, Western Australia. The rest of the news: ISS Spacewalk 98: NASA's Anil Menon and ESA's Sophie Adenot are outside the station today finishing a Space-to-Ground antenna replacement and, time permitting, installing a new docking retroreflector — their third spacewalk together in under a month.Milky Way merger scar: A Hubble-based study (the ARMA project, led by Davide Massari) has found evidence of a ~500-million-solar-mass dwarf galaxy, dubbed Low-energy-Kraken-Heracles, absorbed by the Milky Way roughly 12 billion years ago — the earliest documented merger in our galaxy's history.Perseids 2028 watch: Jupiter's gravity may nudge Perseid debris closer to Earth's path in 2028, potentially producing an outburst of 200-300 meteors/hour under favorable dark-sky conditions — though modelers caution the forecast is an "educated guess."Tonight's Sky: A 96%-partial lunar eclipse falls the night of August 27-28 — spectacular from the Americas and parts of Europe/Africa, but invisible from Australia and the rest of Asia-Pacific, where it happens in broad daylight. Venus and Saturn remain good evening targets locally in the meantime.Links & sources: NASA Science — Roman Launch CountdownNASA Roman Blog — Roman Telescope Enclosed in Falcon Heavy FairingSpace.com — The Roman Space Telescope is ready to launch Aug. 30JPL — NASA Telescope Named for "Mother of Hubble" Nancy Grace RomanESA — Roman factsheetNASA — NASA to Cover Three US SpacewalksSpace.com — The earliest galaxy "swallowed" by the cannibal Milky Way left a scar at its heartSpace.com — Could Jupiter supercharge the Perseids in 2028?Space.com — Partial lunar eclipse Aug. 27-28: stages and visibilityFollow us: @AstronomyDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34935927?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 101 *NASA scraps its Swift rescue mission NASA has been forced to abandon its planned rescue mission to save the Swift Gamma Ray Space Telescope. *The Milky Way’s first big galactic collision Astronomers have discovered what was probably the first major galactic collision involving our home galaxy the Milky Way cannibalising a dwarf galaxy less than two billion years after the big bang. *Understanding the stuff atoms are made of New observations by the world’s largest atom smasher have revealed some of the basic fundamental physics of the universe, challenging long-standing theories of how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei. *The Science Report Australia records its first confirmed case of H5 N1 bird flu in a mammal on the nation’s main land. How bushfires are polluting water supplies with arsenic. Successful Phase 3 trials of a new Australian developed personalized mRNA cancer vaccine. The growing impact of plastic pollution on Lord Howe Island’s Sable Shearwaters rookery. Over 90% of Blue Mountains rainforests wrongly catalogued as eucalypt forests. The Skeptics guide to the ghost of the Crying Tree pub. Our guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics And Senior science writer and Sky and Telescope magazine contributor Jonathan Nally 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34916388?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E175, Monday August 24, 2026: Main story: China delays Chang'e-7's launch by about a month. The Chang'e-7 lunar south pole mission's launch window opened today, August 24, but a tropical system (reported as Tropical Depression/Storm Narra) over the Gulf of Tonkin, alongside a cited safety and reliability review, forced a scrub with no immediate new date. Because the mission's landing site — the rim of Shackleton Crater — requires specific solar illumination geometry on top of standard orbital mechanics, its launch windows recur only about once a month for roughly a week at a time, unlike China's earlier equatorial lunar missions. Independent trajectory analysis puts the next viable opportunity around mid-to-late September. The rest of the news: LandSpace / Zhuque-3 follow-up: Thursday's celebrated first-ever leg-landing of an orbital-class Chinese booster had a coda — residual methane and oxygen ignited near the booster's base after touchdown, damaging a landing leg and toppling the vehicle. The landing itself (four legs, near dead-center, ~390km downrange in Gansu) still stands as the achievement it was reported as; the post-landing fire is a separate, and not unprecedented, engineering challenge — SpaceX's own Falcon 9 booster B1086 suffered a near-identical fire and tip-over in March 2025.SpaceX's 100th launch of 2026: A Falcon 9 carrying 27 Starlink satellites lifted off from Vandenberg on August 22, SpaceX's 100th orbital mission of the year (99 Falcon 9 flights plus one Falcon Heavy). The booster landed on its ninth flight; Starlink has passed 11,000 operational satellites.Tonight's Sky: Comet 220P/McNaught is in outburst — roughly 20,000 times brighter than normal — and observable with binoculars rather than requiring a telescope, at least until it fades after an October close pass. Also: a reminder that a 96%-partial lunar eclipse falls the night of August 27–28.Links & sources: NASASpaceFlight.com — LandSpace's Zhuque-3 Topples After Landing (https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/08/landspaces-zhuque-3-topples/)Space.com — Bad weather delays launch of China's historic Chang'e 7 mission to moon's south pole (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/bad-weather-delays-launch-of-chinas-historic-change-7-mission-to-moons-south-pole)SCMP — China puts Chang'e-7 mission to lunar south pole on hold (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3364982/china-puts-change-7-mission-lunar-south-pole)SpaceNews — China delays Chang'e-7 lunar south pole landing mission launch (https://spacenews.com/china-delays-change-7-lunar-south-pole-landing-mission-launch/)China in Space — Chang'e 7 Moon Mission Delayed by One Month (https://www.china-in-space.com/p/change-7-moon-mission-delayed-by)CNN — China postpones launch of unprecedented water-hunting moon mission amid space race (https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/23/science/change-7-china-moon-mission-launch-postponed)Space.com — SpaceX sends 27 Starlink satellites to orbit on 100th Falcon rocket launch of the year (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-starlink-satellite-launch-group-15-20)APOD — Comet 220P in Outburst (August 24, 2026) (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260824.html)Follow us: @AstroDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them ou

Sponsor Link: This episode of Space Nuts is brought to you with the support of NordVPN (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) . Protect your online activities with a special deal at In this Q&A episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Jonti Horner tackle a variety of fascinating questions from listeners. From the intriguing phenomenon of planetary atmospheres that may rain diamonds and sapphires, to the complexities of satellite approvals and the possibility of planets forming without a star, this episode is packed with cosmic insights. Key topics include: - Nick from Perth asks about the science behind the claims of diamond and sapphire rain on distant planets, prompting a discussion on spectral analysis and the nature of scientific reporting. - Sandy from Melbourne raises concerns about the recent FCC approval for Reflect Orbital's satellite, leading to an exploration of the regulatory landscape surrounding space launches and the implications for global cooperation. - Rennie from California queries whether planets can form without a sun, which sparks a deep dive into the theories surrounding rogue planets and the role of dark matter in planetary formation. Join Andrew and Jonty as they navigate these thought-provoking questions, shedding light on the mysteries of the universe and the ever-evolving field of astronomy. 00:00 - This is a Q and A episode and in this particular show we're answering audience questions 01:00 - Professor Jonty Horner joins us to discuss astrophysics 01:29 - The heat stays a bit longer than summer and the cold stays too much past winter 02:55 - Nick in Perth has a question regarding planetary atmospheres 11:29 - Scientists are extrapolating from what they know about planets' interior 12:49 - Andrew Dunkley: Question comes from Sandy in Melbourne, Australia 14:51 - FAA proposing to circumvent environmental laws for commercial launches and spacecraft reentries 21:54 - Fast developing industry with no regulation developed around it 25:20 - Space Nuts Q and A edition with Andrew Dunkley and Jonty Horner 25:38 - Can planets form without a sun because dark matter would be the gravity 33:41 - You can send in your Space Nuts questions via our website Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34913014?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery cover China's Chang'e-7 mission — a four-vehicle lunar south pole expedition, including a leaping hopper robot, that a Brown University scientist calls the most ambitious robotic Moon mission any nation has ever attempted, with its launch window opening Monday. Then: this week's biggest hardware stories, catching up on Starship's Ship 40 (still marooned off Christmas Island), LandSpace's historic private rocket landing in China, NASA pinpointing exactly where a Falcon 9 hit the Moon, and the failed rescue mission for NASA's Swift telescope. Full show notes: Today's episode — S05E174, Saturday August 22, 2026, our second "Weekend Wrap": Main story: China's Chang'e-7 targets the most ambitious lunar mission ever. China's Long March 5 Y14 rocket rolled out to the pad at Wenchang Space Launch Site on August 19, ahead of a launch window running August 24–31. Chang'e-7 comprises four vehicles — an orbiter, a lander built for up to eight years of surface operations, a rover, and a six-legged, thruster-powered hopper capable of 15km leaps — targeting the rim of Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole, with landing expected near year's end. The mission's primary goal is the first landed, direct search for water ice in the Moon's permanently shadowed craters. Brown University planetary scientist James Head called it "the most ambitious, comprehensive, and complex robotic lunar mission ever attempted by any nation or entity." The mission carries international instruments from Russia, Italy, Thailand, Switzerland, Bahrain, Egypt, and a University of Hong Kong/International Lunar Observatory Association telescope. It precedes Chang'e-8 (~2028) and China's targeted crewed lunar landing by 2030. The week in review: - Starship's Ship 40: After Tuesday's episode reported recovery as complete, fuller reporting showed the ship was towed further than first known, arriving August 18 off Christmas Island (not a mainland port) after 24 days adrift and 400+ km of drift. SpaceX has no announced plan yet for the final leg to Starbase, Texas — at its current tow pace that trip would take over a year. Separately, Elon Musk said August 20 that a Starship tower-catch attempt is now "probably... in a few months" rather than on Flight 14 as earlier hoped; Flight 14 is targeted no earlier than August 28 and will attempt Starship's first-ever full orbital flight. - LandSpace / Zhuque-3: On August 19, Chinese commercial company LandSpace became the first private Chinese company to land an orbital-class rocket booster, recovering Zhuque-3's first stage in Gansu Province on the rocket's second flight (the first, in December 2025, reached orbit but failed its landing attempt). - SpaceX Moon impact site: NASA and South Korea's Danuri orbiter pinpointed and imaged the crater left by a spent Falcon 9 upper stage that struck the Moon on August 5 — a 60-foot-wide, sub-10-foot-deep crater at 19.4759°N, 266.7138°E, with ejecta rays revealing space-weathering data. - Swift telescope rescue fails: NASA confirmed on August 19 that the LINK rescue spacecraft's attitude-control failure (two of three reaction wheels down, plus a thruster malfunction) ended the rescue attempt for the aging Swift Observatory, which will now reenter uncontrolled later this year — not expected before October per early reporting, though NASA hasn't confirmed a date. Links & sources: - Space.com — China's Chang'e 7 moon probe will launch this weekend on the most ambitious lunar mission in history (https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/chinas-change-7-moon-probe-will-launch-this-weekend-on-the-most-ambitious-lunar-mission-in-history) - Scientific American — China is about to launch its most ambitious moon mission yet (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chinas-change-7-moonshot-will-seek-water-ice-at-the-lunar-south-pole/) - Al Jazeera — China's new moon mission could unlock secret of lunar ice: Why that matters (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/22/chinas-n

Anna and Avery cover how NASA, working with South Korea's Danuri orbiter, pinpointed and imaged the exact crater left by a SpaceX Falcon 9 stage that struck the Moon on August 5th. Plus: the private rescue mission for NASA's ailing Swift telescope has officially failed, astronomers may have caught dark matter bending a black hole's jet, and Rocket Lab launches its ninth radar satellite for Japan's iQPS. Full show notes: Today's episode — S05E173, Friday August 21, 2026: Main story: NASA finds the crater a SpaceX rocket left on the Moon. A spent SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon's surface on August 5, 2026, at 19.4759°N, 266.7138°E. South Korea's Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (Danuri) imaged the impact site within hours using its LUTI camera, confirming the predicted location to within 0.6 miles and passing refined coordinates to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team. LRO's Narrow-Angle Camera imaged the site on August 11–12, revealing a crater roughly 60 feet wide and less than 10 feet deep, with dark rays of space-weathered material excavated from about 1.5 feet down and brighter rays of fresh, unweathered material from deeper still. NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (Planetary Defense program) refined the original impact prediction using data from independent astronomers. Swift telescope rescue mission fails. NASA's Swift Observatory, losing altitude faster than expected due to heightened solar activity, was the target of a $30 million rescue attempt by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies. Their LINK spacecraft launched July 3 on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket but suffered an attitude-control failure roughly three weeks later, spinning uncontrollably before it could dock with and boost Swift. NASA confirmed the mission's failure on August 19; Swift is now expected to reenter the atmosphere uncontrolled before the end of 2026. LINK will still attempt a proximity flyby to gather data for future servicing missions. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman: "This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting." Dark matter may be magnifying a black hole's jet. A team led by Silke Britzen at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, combining data from the VLBA, the Fermi gamma-ray telescope, and NASA's Swift X-ray instrument, found that the plasma jet from blazar PKS 2233-148 shows an unexpected deviation consistent with gravitational lensing by an unseen dark matter clump — a potential first detection of dark matter substructure lensing a blazar jet. The result could also help confirm blazars as sources of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, July 31. Rocket Lab launches a new radar satellite for Japan. Rocket Lab launched SUSANOO-II, a synthetic aperture radar Earth-observation satellite, for Tokyo-based iQPS on an Electron rocket from New Zealand (mission: "The Lightning God Defends"). It's Rocket Lab's ninth launch for iQPS, part of a planned 36-satellite constellation, and marks the company's 14th flight of 2026 and 93rd Electron mission overall. Tonight's sky: the Moon is a waxing gibbous, about 63% illuminated. With a telescope, find the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra — look for bright star Vega overhead, then the small parallelogram of stars just below it. Mark your calendars for a 96%-partial lunar eclipse on August 27–28, nearly total — full viewing details to come. Links & sources: - NASA Science — NASA's LRO Images Falcon 9 Crater on Moon, Learns New Details (https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/nasas-lro-images-falcon-9-crater-on-moon-learns-new-details/) - Universe Today — NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Images Falcon 9 Crater on Moon, With Some Help From a Korean Spacecraft (https://www.universetoday.com/articles/nasas-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-images-falcon-9-crater-on-moon-with-some-help-from-a-korean-space) - Space.com — Private mission to sav

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 100 The ingredients for planets formed far earlier than thought A new study suggests that the basic ingredients needed to form planets - and possibly life - may have existed just a hundred million years after the big bang -- far earlier in the history of the Universe than previously thought. Hunting for the hypothetical axion For years scientists have been hunting for a hypothetical elementary particle called the AXION which could lead to new physics unlocking some of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Now the German Research Foundation has given a green light to the construction of a new six million Euro experiment called the BabyIAXO – a first step in the search for the elusive and as yet undetected particle. NASA’s Swift rescue mission back on track Katalyst Space has successfully uploaded a new flight software update designed to return its Link spacecraft into a more stable configuration. Link is on a rescue mission to save NASA’s Swift gamma ray space telescope from crashing back to Earth. The Science Report A new potential cure for baldness. Study shows people are most ticklish on the neck, armpits, belly, and the soles of their feet. Scientists have discovered a fossil of the earliest known siphuncle-bearing cephalopod. Study shows moving a pet cat from an outdoor lifestyle to living indoors is easier than you think. Skeptics guide to chasing the Moon. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics And Senior science writer and Sky and Telescope magazine contributor Jonathan Nally 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34875760?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery cover LandSpace becoming the first Chinese commercial company to land an orbital-class rocket booster — a big step for the country's private space sector. Plus: astronomers find a "mega-Earth" 23 times more massive than our planet that shouldn't be able to exist, a star weaving impossibly close to our galaxy's supermassive black hole that could reveal its spin within a decade, and new JWST data showing the early universe's galaxies were hiding roughly four times more mass than we thought. Full show notes: Today's episode — S05E172, Thursday August 20, 2026: Main story: China's private spaceflight sector sticks the landing. On August 19, Chinese commercial launch company LandSpace successfully recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 (ZQ-3) rocket after liftoff from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in northwestern China — the first time any Chinese commercial company has landed an orbital-class booster. The 76.6-metre, stainless-steel, methane-fueled rocket (taller than a Falcon 9) touched down on four legs roughly 390km downrange in Gansu Province about eight minutes after liftoff, running on a single Tianque-12 engine. It's ZQ-3's second flight — the first, in December 2025, reached orbit but couldn't stick the recovery. The landing puts LandSpace among a very small club of companies with proven booster-reuse technology and marks, in the company's words, a shift "toward the engineering application phase of reusability." A "mega-Earth" that shouldn't be this dense. Astronomers led by Max Kroft (University of Wisconsin–Madison) have identified GJ 523b, a rocky exoplanet 23.5 times more massive than Earth but only 2.5 times its width — extraordinarily dense for its size. Standard planet-formation models say a planet this massive, orbiting its star every 17.75 days in a system just 170 million years old, should have pulled in a thick hydrogen-helium envelope; instead it's stayed almost entirely rocky. Found by TESS and confirmed with the WIYN 3.5-metre telescope at Kitt Peak; submitted to The Astronomical Journal, not yet peer-reviewed. The star that could reveal a black hole's spin. A newly identified star, S301, is orbiting our galaxy's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, closer and faster than any star found before it — passing within 12 astronomical units at roughly 25,000 kilometres per second and completing a full orbit in just 8.7 years. Led by K. Abd El Dayem (Paris Observatory) with Nobel laureate Reinhard Genzel's group, researchers expect to use S301's orbit to directly measure the black hole's spin within a decade — a first for any supermassive black hole, and a real-world test of Einstein's general relativity. JWST finds the early universe's galaxies were hiding their mass. A team led by Chloe Cheng (Leiden University), using JWST's NIRSpec instrument alongside data from the VLT's LEGA-C survey, found that ancient "quiescent" galaxies contain far more faint, low-mass stars than previously accounted for — potentially raising their true mass estimates by a factor of four. The hidden stars had simply been outshone by brighter ones in the same galaxies. Published in Nature Astronomy; the finding deepens existing tension with current galaxy-formation models. Tonight's sky: the Moon is about 56% illuminated and well-placed for lunar observing — look along the sunrise terminator for the crater Theophilus and its dramatic, shadowed walls. Venus is still blazing at magnitude -4.1 low in the western sky after sunset, and Saturn continues its predawn "moon parade" in the south-southeast for early risers. Links & sources: - Spaceflight Now — LandSpace becomes first commercial Chinese company to land an orbital-class booster (https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/19/landspace-becomes-first-commercial-chinese-company-to-land-an-orbital-class-booster/) - Space.com — Touchdown! Private Chinese rocket aces landing on 2nd-ever flight (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/

Sponsor Link: This episode of Space Nuts is brought to you with the support of NordVPN (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) . Secure your online presence and enjoy a special deal at www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) . Asteroid or comet, dinosaur impact firestorms, crater discovery, and Q&A on exoplanets and satellites Andrew Dunkley is joined by Professor Jonti Horner of the University of Southern Queensland for two tightly related Space Nuts conversations. The first explores how astronomy keeps blurring the lines between asteroids and comets, what new research says about the dinosaur-killing impact, and a surprising crater found by an amateur astronomer planning a trip. The second is a listener Q&A covering exotic exoplanet weather, space regulation, and whether planets can form without a star. Key topics In this episode, Andrew and Jonti explain why astronomy often uses tidy labels for objects that sit on a continuum, especially when the line between asteroid and comet gets blurry. They discuss near-Earth object 1998 SH2, which appears to have comet-like activity despite looking asteroid-like for decades. Jonti breaks down how outgassing can nudge a small body off its predicted path, revealing non-gravitational forces. The dinosaur-killing impact is revisited with new modelling suggesting the first hours after impact may have included global firestorms, not just long-term climate collapse. The show covers the terminology debate around meteor, meteorite, fireball, bolide, asteroid, and comet impact. A Canadian amateur astronomer, Joel LePointe, is credited with spotting a likely impact crater while planning a camping and hiking trip using satellite imagery. The newly identified crater near Lake Marcel in northern Quebec is described as about 390 million years old and roughly 25 kilometers wide. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34859602?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery cover Sophie Adenot becoming the first French woman ever to conduct a spacewalk — a historic EVA that ran into some antenna trouble along the way. Plus: a trillion-mile river of gas that explains why some planetary systems end up tilted, an honest update on Starship's Ship 40 as it turns out the recovery saga wasn't quite finished, and SpaceX quietly closing in on 11,000 satellites in orbit. Full show notes: Today's episode — S05E171, Wednesday August 19, 2026: Main story: First Frenchwoman to spacewalk. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot became the first French woman ever to conduct a spacewalk on August 18, working alongside NASA's Anil Menon (on his second EVA, delayed from August 13 after a carbon dioxide sensor flag on his first spacewalk August 6). The pair set out to replace one of the station's space-to-ground antennas, but the job took longer than planned — after 6 hours and 23 minutes (the station's 282nd spacewalk overall), controllers called it before the swap was fully complete. The old antenna is secured but not stowed; the new one remains on its storage platform. Another spacewalk is scheduled for next Tuesday to finish the job. France's first-ever spacewalk was performed by Jean-Loup Chrétien on Mir in 1988. A trillion-mile river of gas explains tilted planets. Astronomers led by Maria Galloway-Sprietsma (University of Florida), with advisor Jaehan Bae and international collaborators, used the ALMA telescope in Chile to trace a gas streamer roughly 1.2 trillion miles (0.2 light-years) long feeding into the young triple-star system GW Orionis, 1,300 light-years away in Orion. The streamer's infall angle closely matches the tilt of the system's warped outer disk ring, offering a mechanism for why some planetary systems end up with misaligned or even retrograde orbits. Published August 6 in The Astronomical Journal. Correction/update: Ship 40's journey continues. Last episode we reported Starship's Ship 40 recovery as complete after its intact splashdown and tow toward Western Australia. Fuller reporting since shows the ship was towed further and arrived, as of August 18, in sheltered waters off Christmas Island after 24 days and 400+ km adrift — with SpaceX now planning to transport it back to Starbase, Texas, for full inspection. Musk has cited the intact recovery as strengthening the case for attempting a tower catch of a returning ship as early as Flight 14. SpaceX quietly passes 11,000 satellites. Tuesday night's Starlink 17-50 launch from Vandenberg — SpaceX's 100th mission of 2026 overall (97th Falcon 9 flight of the year) — added 24 more satellites, pushing the Starlink constellation to nearly 11,000 operational satellites. Booster B1097 flew for the 12th time, targeting a droneship landing in the Pacific. Tonight's sky (well, tomorrow's predawn sky): Saturn is showing off a "moon parade" before dawn, its unusually narrow, shallowly tilted rings (7.5°) lining up major moons — Titan, Rhea, Tethys, Dione and, in larger scopes, Iapetus and Enceladus — almost in a straight row. This evening, catch a waxing crescent Moon. Links & sources: Space.com — Watch European astronaut make history during spacewalk today (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/watch-european-astronaut-make-history-during-spacewalk-today)Spaceflight Now — Astronauts remove failed antenna; run out of time to install a spare (https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/18/astronauts-remove-failed-antenna-run-out-of-time-to-install-a-spare/)France 24 — Sophie Adenot set to become first French female astronaut to venture outside ISS (https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260818-sophie-adenot-set-to-become-first-french-female-astronaut-to-venture-outside-iss)Space.com — A 'river' of cosmic gas 1 trillion miles long sent planets in the Orion constellation into tilted orbits (https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/a-river-of-cosmic-gas-1-trillion-miles-long-sent-planets-in-the-orion-constellation-int

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 99 Discovery of black hole stars at the cosmic dawn Astronomers have suggested mysterious objects from the dawn of time known as little red dots may represent an entirely new type of cosmic phenomenon which they’re calling black hole stars. Claims Mars could have had liquid water less than a billion years ago A new study claims Mars may have had liquid water flowing across its surface as recently as 757 million years ago, far more recent than the several billion years previously thought. A new mission to extend the life of satellites in orbit Northrop Grumman’s latest Mission to extend the life of spacecraft has successfully reached Geostationary Transfer Orbit and is now closing in on its first target telecommunication satellite. The Science Report A new, faster more inexpensive test for lung cancer. Having European ancestry linked to a greater risk of developing colorectal cancer. Scientists have used artificial intelligence to design and build functioning viruses. Kids who start using social media earlier often end up performing worse in tests later. Alex on Tech Google’s new pixel 11. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34840245?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery close out a three-week saga: SpaceX has recovered Starship's Ship 40 from the Indian Ocean after a soft splashdown, a difficult tow, and a moment where recovery odds looked as low as 18%. Plus: a dead star in the Helix Nebula previews our own Sun's five-billion-years-from-now fate, new evidence the Milky Way was built in part by an ancient galactic collision, and China's fast recovery from a rocket failure with back-to-back launches. Full show notes: Today's episode — S05E170, Tuesday August 18, 2026: Main story: Starship's Ship 40 makes it home. SpaceX has completed recovery of Ship 40, the Starship Flight 13 upper stage that survived an unprecedented soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24. After drifting over 400km and a difficult multi-week tow through rough seas (prediction markets had given it ~18% odds as of mid-August), recovery vessels including the Normand Ranger brought the ship in to Western Australia this week. SpaceX had already secured the imagery it needed from the heat shield and engines regardless of outcome; Ship 41 and Flight 14 (targeting ~August 20) are already in the pipeline. A dead star shows us our Sun's future. A Yale-led team studying the Helix Nebula's white dwarf found 22 bow-shock structures in its outer halo — the first direct observation of a dead star's ejected material dispersing back into the galaxy. It's a preview of what our own Sun will undergo in roughly 5 billion years. Published August 12 in Nature. The collision that built the Milky Way. Hubble and Gaia data revealed a previously unknown ancient dwarf galaxy, "LKH," which merged with the Milky Way 11.8 billion years ago — predating the well-known Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus merger by 1.8 billion years. Published August 17 in Nature Astronomy. China bounces back from a rocket failure. After an August 10 Long March 7A failure destroyed a communications satellite, China launched twice within 23 hours on August 16 — a Long March 12 from Wenchang and a Long March 2C from Taiyuan — demonstrating operational resilience across two rocket types and launch sites. Tonight's sky: the waxing crescent Moon pairs with a brilliant Venus (magnitude -4.1) low in the western sky, about 45 minutes after sunset. Links & sources: NASASpaceFlight.com — While SpaceX recovers Ship 40, Ship 41 prepares for testing ahead of Flight 14 (https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/08/spacex-recovers-ship-40-ship-41-flight-14/)MarineRadar — SpaceX recovers Starship from Indian Ocean after three-week tow (https://www.marineradar.com/trends/spacex-recovers-starship-from-indian-ocean-after-three-2026-08-15)CNN — Satellite imagery captures race to recover 170-foot SpaceX Starship in the Indian Ocean (https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/science/spacex-starship-indian-ocean-recovery-satellite-images)Space.com — Scientists find dead star that predicts our Sun's future (https://www.space.com/astronomy/stars/scientists-find-dead-star-that-predicts-our-suns-future-broken-apart-and-returned-to-the-galaxy)Space.com — How an ancient collision with another galaxy transformed the Milky Way (https://www.space.com/astronomy/galaxies/how-an-ancient-collision-with-another-galaxy-transformed-the-milky-way)Space.com — China bounces back from Long March rocket explosion with back-to-back launches (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/china-bounces-back-from-long-march-rocket-explosion-with-back-to-back-launches-video)Space.com — Night sky August 2026: what you can see tonight (https://www.space.com/what-to-see-night-sky-august-2026)Follow us: @AstronomyDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 98 Three supermassive black holes discovered in a single galaxy for the first time Astronomers have for the first time, discovered a galaxy near the dawn of time containing three monster black holes. A new White House advisory body on UFOs The pentagon has just released its latest batch of X-files looking at unexplained phenomena and strange happenings. The release follows the appointment of Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb as chair of the new White House scientific panel on UFOs. Was Venus once just like Earth A new study suggests that the hellish inhospitable world of Venus could have once been far more Earth like . The Science Report Western Europe has just experienced its hottest June and July on record. A new study says if you want to live longer then take the stairs. Scientists still don’t know how long most fungi can live - or even how to define their age. A dog’s ability to understand human language is likely a product of both nature and nurture. Skeptics guide to the missing nuclear scientists. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics And Senior science writer and Sky and Telescope magazine contributor Jonathan Nally 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34822670?utm_source=youtube

Anna and Avery cover NASA's newly funded concept for spherical, propeller-free "aerobots" that could one day explore the methane-carved cave systems of Saturn's moon Titan. Plus: SpaceX breaks its own launch-turnaround record with two Falcon 9 missions 38 minutes apart, Rocket Lab lands its biggest-ever defense contract to build "Flatellites" for the U.S. Space Force, and a geomagnetic storm arriving today could bring aurora to high latitudes tonight. **Full show notes:** Today's episode — S05E169, Monday August 17, 2026: **Main story: NASA funds spherical "Aerobots" to explore Titan's caves.** A NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase 1 grant is backing SPARK (Solid-state Propulsion for Autonomous Reconnaissance of Karst) — small, propeller-free spherical robots using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) thrusters, led by Daniel Drew (University of Hawaii) with JPL's Ethan Schaler and Jacob Izraelevitz and Michael Malaska (Blue Marble Space Institute of Science). The concept targets Titan's karst terrain — sinkholes and caves carved by liquid methane and ethane rather than water — as a candidate site for astrobiology research. Phase 1 covers nine months; a Phase 2 award could follow. No confirmed mission link yet, though NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft is headed to Titan around 2028. **SpaceX sets a new launch-turnaround record.** Two Falcon 9 missions launched 38 minutes apart on August 15 — a Globalstar satellite mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:12 p.m. ET, and the classified USSF-366 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:50 p.m. ET — beating SpaceX's previous 65-minute record from August 2024. Both boosters landed successfully (14th and 18th flights respectively). 2026 tally: 96 Falcon 9 launches so far. **Rocket Lab wins $397 million Space Force contract for "Flatellites."** The flat-panel satellites will support the SB-AMTI (Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator) program and launch stacked aboard Rocket Lab's still-undebuted Neutron rocket. It's Rocket Lab's largest defense contract to date, bringing 2026 government contract funding to $943 million. **Geomagnetic storm expected today.** A double CME plus a high-speed solar wind stream is forecast to bring G1–G2 level geomagnetic storming, with the main impact expected later today. Aurora is possible at high latitudes — potentially Scotland, northern England, Northern Ireland, Alaska, Canada, and the northern US, plus southern New Zealand and Tasmania in the Southern Hemisphere. Comes amid an active stretch for the Sun, including 14 C-class flares from sunspot region AR4507 over August 15–16. **Links & sources:** - [Space.com — NASA funds spherical 'Aerobots' for Titan's caves](https://www.space.com/technology/nasa-funds-spherical-aerobots-that-could-explore-the-caves-of-saturns-moon-titan) - [JPL Robotics — Titan Aerobots](https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/what-we-do/research-tasks/titan-aerobots/) - [JPL — Shapeshifter concept for Saturn's moons (background)](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-designing-shapeshifting-robots-for-saturns-moons/) - [Space.com — SpaceX breaks launch doubleheader record](https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-breaks-record-launch-doubleheader-ussf-366-globalstar-2r) - [Spaceflight Now — Globalstar/USSF-366 launch coverage](https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/15/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-satellite-replenishment-mission-for-globalstar-from-cape-canaveral/) - [Space.com — Rocket Lab's $397M Flatellites contract](https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/us-space-force-gives-rocket-lab-usd397-million-to-build-threat-tracking-flatellites) - [Rocket Lab — Flatellites contract announcement](https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-awarded-397-million-contract-to-build-and-launch-flatellites-for-u-s-space-forces-space-based-airborne-moving-target-indicator-program/) - [ummid.com — Geomagnetic storm set to hit Earth Monday Aug 17](https://www.ummid.com/news/2026/8

Sponsor Link: This Q&A episode of Space Nuts is brought to you with the support of NordVPN (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) . When you decide to get serius about your security online, do what we did and get NordVPN . We have a special deal for you too, chck out the details at www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) In this episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson delve into a captivating Q&A session, tackling a range of intriguing questions from listeners. From the possibility of moons having atmospheres to the mysteries surrounding hot Jupiters and the fascinating realm of black holes, this episode promises to ignite your curiosity about the cosmos. Key topics include: - Chris from Exmouth wonders if moons can have atmospheres and if they can share these with their parent planets, leading to a discussion on Titan and Pluto's unique characteristics. - An anonymous listener poses a thought-provoking question about 'secret astronomy' and the potential for military satellite technology to advance our understanding of the universe. - Fenton from Minnesota asks about the likelihood of rocky planets existing in solar systems with hot Jupiters, prompting a discussion on planetary migration and the diversity of solar systems. - Ed raises a classic black hole question regarding the merger of black holes and the concept of mass escaping, leading to an exploration of gravitational waves and their implications. Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they navigate these fascinating topics, providing insights and sparking further exploration into the wonders of space. 00:00 01:18 04:13 05:37 11:35 16:34 20:35 27:11 31:31 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34803640?utm_source=youtube

Today's episode — S05E168, Saturday August 15, 2026, our "Weekend Wrap": **Main story: a magnetar confirms 90-year-old vacuum birefringence prediction.** A team led by Rachael Stewart (George Washington University), using NASA's IXPE spacecraft, found the strongest evidence yet that extreme magnetic fields polarize light passing through empty space — confirming a 1936 prediction by Werner Heisenberg and Hans Euler. The team studied magnetar 1E 1547-5408 and found X-rays nearly 3x more polarized than expected, in a direction matching the star's magnetic field. Published August 5 in *Nature*. **The week in review:** - **Starship:** Ship 40 (Flight 13, splashed down July 24) remains adrift in the Indian Ocean after recovery efforts stalled in rough seas; Elon Musk said August 7 that recovery is "not looking good right now." Still unresolved as of this weekend — roughly 18% recovery odds per prediction markets. SpaceX has moved on to Flight 14 prep (Ship 41, targeting ~August 20). - **Eclipse:** The August 12 total solar eclipse swept a 182-mile shadow from the Arctic through Greenland, Iceland (2m18s max totality at Látrabjarg) and northern Spain. Next Spanish total eclipse: August 2, 2027. - **Black hole star:** JWST's "Mirage or Miracle" survey identified MoM-BH*-1, a gas-shrouded black hole glowing from just 660 million years after the Big Bang — a candidate explanation for how supermassive black holes grow so fast. - **Virgin Galactic:** Commercial flights delayed again, from Q4 2026 to February 2027; Q2 earnings (revenue $1.54M, net loss ~$55.9M) sent shares down further, with heavy cash burn guided for Q3/Q4 and a new shelf filing for capital flexibility. **Links & sources:** - [Space.com — Is empty space really empty? This magnetic star may finally solve a 90-year-old mystery](https://www.space.com/astronomy/stars/is-empty-space-really-empty-this-magnetic-star-may-finally-solve-a-90-year-old-mystery) - [Space.com — 'Not looking good right now': Starship likely to be lost at sea](https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/not-looking-good-right-now-starship-likely-to-be-lost-at-sea-2-weeks-after-epic-13th-test-flight-elon-musk-says) - [NASASpaceFlight.com — While SpaceX recovers Ship 40, Ship 41 prepares for testing ahead of Flight 14](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/08/spacex-recovers-ship-40-ship-41-flight-14/) - [Manifold Markets — Will Starship Ship 40 be recovered to shore?](https://manifold.markets/Mqrius/will-starship-ship-40-be-recovered) - [Space.com — Total solar eclipse 2026 thrills millions](https://www.space.com/stargazing/solar-eclipses/total-solar-eclipse-2026-thrills-millions-with-a-stunning-cosmic-spectacle-photos-video) - [Wikipedia — Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_12,_2026) - [EurekAlert — Mirage or miracle? JWST finds earliest known 'black hole star' at cosmic dawn](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1139484) - [SpaceNews — Virgin Galactic delays resumption of commercial flights to 2027](https://spacenews.com/virgin-galactic-delays-resumption-of-commercial-flights-to-2027/) - [Virgin Galactic — Q2 2026 financial results and business update](https://www.virgingalactic.com/news/virgin-galactic-announces-second-quarter-2026-financial-results-and-provides-business-update) - [StocksToTrade — Virgin Galactic (SPCE) news, Aug 13 2026](https://stockstotrade.com/news/virgin-galactic-holdings-inc-spce-news-2026_08_13/) Follow us: @AstronomyDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop you

Anna and Avery break down yesterday's total solar eclipse — a 182-mile-wide shadow that swept from the Arctic through Greenland and Iceland to northern Spain, giving millions of people up to 2 minutes 18 seconds of totality. Plus: astronomers find three supermassive black holes sharing one distant galaxy (two are about to merge), Virgin Galactic pushes commercial spaceflight back to February 2027, and Rocket Lab signs a new launch customer for Neutron even as the rocket's debut slips further. **Full show notes:** Today's episode — S05E166, Thursday August 13, 2026: **Main story: The August 12 total solar eclipse.** The Moon's shadow crossed the Arctic Ocean, eastern Greenland, western Iceland, northern Spain, the Balearic Islands and out into the Mediterranean. Longest totality on land: 2 minutes 18 seconds at Látrabjarg, Iceland. Millions gathered across northern Spain, with the path also crossing A Coruña, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valencia and Palma (Madrid and Barcelona were just outside the path). Observers reported seeing the solar corona, a prominence, and Jupiter, Mercury and Venus during totality. Spain gets another total eclipse on August 2, 2027. **Three supermassive black holes, one galaxy.** Astronomers led by Hannah Übler (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics) used JWST to confirm three actively feeding supermassive black holes in galaxy J0148-4214, 12.5 billion light-years away — the first such triple system ever confirmed. Two of the three are on course to merge. **Virgin Galactic delays commercial flights to 2027.** The company's upgraded Delta-class spaceplane will now begin commercial service in February 2027, pushed back from Q4 2026, to complete avionics and systems installation. Shares fell 12% after-hours. $750,000 seat packages were oversubscribed. **Rocket Lab's Neutron: delay and deal.** Rocket Lab is hedging on a 2026 debut for its Neutron rocket, with the window potentially slipping into 2027 — even as the company signs a new five-launch deal with Kepler Communications. **Links & sources:** - [Space.com — Total solar eclipse live updates](https://www.space.com/news/live/total-solar-eclipse-today-aug-12-2026-live-updates) - [Space.com — Total solar eclipse 2026 thrills millions (photos, video)](https://www.space.com/stargazing/solar-eclipses/total-solar-eclipse-2026-thrills-millions-with-a-stunning-cosmic-spectacle-photos-video) - [CNN — Photos: Total solar eclipse 2026](https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/12/science/gallery/photos-total-solar-eclipse) - [Wikipedia — Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_12,_2026) - [Max Planck Institute — Three supermassive black holes discovered in a single galaxy](https://www.mpg.de/26904239/three-black-holes-discovered-in-a-young-galaxy) - [SpaceNews — Virgin Galactic delays resumption of commercial flights to 2027](https://spacenews.com/virgin-galactic-delays-resumption-of-commercial-flights-to-2027/) - [Spaceflight Now — Window for 2026 Neutron debut is narrowing](https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/10/window-for-2026-launch-debut-of-rocket-labs-neutron-rocket-is-narrowing-as-development-continues/) - [Rocket Lab — Neutron launch deal with Kepler Communications](https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-inks-neutron-launch-deal-with-kepler-communications/) Follow us: @AstronomyDailyPod Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there ar

Anna and Avery break down JWST's discovery of MoM-BH*-1, the earliest known "black hole star" — a black hole shrouded in dense gas, glowing from just 660 million years after the Big Bang, that might explain how supermassive black holes grow so fast. Plus: the Perseid meteor shower's spectacular overnight peak, a new satellite built to watch other satellites in geostationary orbit, and veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke's retirement after 30 years and four spacecraft. **Full show notes:** Today's episode — S05E167, Friday August 14, 2026: **Main story: JWST finds the earliest known "black hole star."** Astronomers led by Rohan Naidu (University of Hawai'i) and Jorryt Matthee (ISTA) identified MoM-BH*-1 — a young black hole wrapped in a dense gas envelope so thick it radiates almost like a star, appearing over 100,000 times the Sun's radius. Light from the object left it roughly 13 billion years ago, just 660 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery, from the "Mirage or Miracle" JWST survey, may explain how supermassive black holes grow fast enough to match observations of the early universe, and may be linked to the population of mysterious "little red dots" Webb has found since 2024. **The Perseid meteor shower's spectacular peak.** The Perseids peaked overnight on August 12–13, just hours after this week's total solar eclipse, with dark, moonless skies delivering hundreds of visible meteors per hour at the best sites. Debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle remains active through roughly August 24. **Astranis unveils Perceptor.** A new satellite line built to monitor activity in geostationary orbit, using electric propulsion for repeated multi-angle flybys of other spacecraft. Astranis CEO John Gedmark cited past close approaches by Russian and Chinese spacecraft near U.S. satellites as motivation. No launch date announced yet. **Astronaut Mike Fincke retires after 30 years.** Fincke flew four missions across four spacecraft types — Soyuz (twice), Space Shuttle Endeavour, and SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour — commanded the ISS twice, and capped his career with Crew-11, a mission cut short in January after a frightening in-orbit medical incident. **Links & sources:** - [EurekAlert — Mirage or miracle? JWST finds earliest known 'black hole star' at cosmic dawn](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1139484) - [phys.org — Mirage or miracle? JWST finds earliest known black hole star](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mirage-miracle-jwst-earliest-black.html) - [Scientific American — JWST images illuminate 'black hole stars' at cosmic dawn](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jwst-images-illuminate-black-hole-stars-at-cosmic-dawn/) - [ERC — Earliest known black hole star found at cosmic dawn](https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/news/earliest-known-black-hole-star-found-cosmic-dawn) - [Space.com — Perseid meteor shower peak photos](https://www.space.com/stargazing/meteor-showers/the-perseid-meteor-shower-peak-was-spectacular-here-are-our-favorite-photos-aug-2026) - [Space.com — Astranis Perceptor satellites for geostationary orbit awareness](https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/astranis-perceptor-satellites-geostationary-orbit-space-situational-awareness) - [Spaceflight Now — Mike Fincke, a 30-year astronaut, retires from NASA](https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/12/mike-fincke-a-30-year-astronaut-with-experience-across-four-human-rated-spacecraft-retires-from-nasa/) Follow us: @AstroDailyPod Web: www.astronomydaily.io (https://www.astronomydaily.io) Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 97 The world watches as a SpaceX rocket crashes into the Moon A disused SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage has crashed into the Moon providing astronomers with useful data on the effects of impacts hitting the lunar surface. The radiation eating mutant fungus from Chernobyl Scientists say there’s a black fungus in the highly radioactive ruins of the Chernobyl power station that’s now evolved to feed on radiation. NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory Scientists have designed two revolutionary new computer chips to process data from a new space telescope called the Habitable Worlds Observatory that will search the skies for Earth like planets and for signs of life on those worlds. The Science Report A strong correlation found between dementia death rates and living in the suburbs. Improving pedestrians’ thermal comfort through tree, shrub, and grass plantings along city streets. The exotic origin story of the Australian platypus. New Zealand's endangered yellow-eyed penguin found to be three genetically distinct subspecies. Skeptics guide to high tech water diviners. This Week’s Guests Professor Robert Ward from the Australian National University Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you… Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34765322?utm_source=youtube

In this episode • Shadow Day: the only total solar eclipse of 2026 crosses Arctic Russia, Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain today — the first total eclipse over western mainland Europe since 1999 (Spain’s first since 1905, Iceland’s since 1954). Max totality ~2 min 18 s. Reykjavík ~17:48 UT; northern Spain ~18:27–18:33 UT (Sun very low, ~4–10° up). Live via NASA, timeanddate and the Exploratorium. • Where you are: North America gets an afternoon partial (Nova Scotia ~33%, N. Maine ~28%, Montreal ~18%, Boston ~16%, NYC ~9–10%, Toronto ~8%, DC ~10%; Fairbanks ~37% in the morning) — no totality anywhere on the continent, glasses on throughout. Europe outside the path sees a deep evening partial (London ~91%). Australia/SH: not visible directly — watch the streams (~1:30–6:00 am AEST Thu). • Chasing the shadow: NASA’s WB-57 jet flies the path at ~50,000 ft (~740 km/h), extending totality to nearly 3 minutes with four visible/IR cameras (SCIFI) to probe coronal heating, prominences and the solar wind (PI Amir Caspi, SwRI). The Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (A. Des Jardins, Montana State) launches ~86 balloons from Iceland and Spain to measure atmospheric changes. • A star-building magnetic field: ALMA captures the first direct high-resolution image of a twisted, toroidal magnetic field wrapped around a protostellar jet in NGC 1333 IRAS 4A (~960 ly, Perseus cloud), confirming a decades-old prediction of how young stars launch jets and shed spin — the same physics that scales up to black-hole jets (Ching et al., Nature Communications 2026; NSF NRAO/ALMA). • Why worlds turn hellish: UC Riverside’s Stephen Kane argues planetary rotation is an overlooked driver of climate and habitability — slow spin may help tip a world into a Venus-style runaway greenhouse. Measuring true spin is hard because winds can masquerade as rotation; ESA’s PLATO (launch March 2027) could test the idea across hundreds of Venus-like planets (Astronomical Journal, accepted). • Skywatch — both hemispheres: the Perseids peak overnight 12–13 Aug under a genuinely moonless sky (best midnight–dawn; NH-favoured). Southern Hemisphere: evening Venus (mag −4.4, just past dichotomy), the pre-dawn planet line-up, and Comet 10P/Tempel 2. ISO 12312-2 eye-safety line included. Sources • NASA Science — Total Solar Eclipse on August 12, 2026; “NASA Science Soars During August Total Solar Eclipse” • timeanddate; Eclipsophile; NationalEclipse.com; azmth.space — path, contact times, magnitudes • Astronomy.com; Forbes; CBS News — North American partial times & percentages • Space.com; Smithsonian — WB-57 SCIFI campaign & Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project • NSF NRAO / phys.org — Ching et al., “Unveiling dominant toroidal magnetic fields in a protostellar outflow,” Nature Communications (2026) • UC Riverside (news.ucr.edu) / phys.org — S. Kane, planetary rotation & runaway greenhouse (Astronomical Journal, accepted) • EarthSky; Astronomy.com — Perseid peak (moonless), Venus dichotomy Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://ww

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 95 Spectacular vortices discovered on the Sun’s surface Astronomers have for the first time observed swirling whirlpool like vortices deep in the Sun’s photosphere – its visible surface. The event horizon of merging black holes seen for the first time Astronomers have for the first time picked up gravitational waves from the event horizon during the actual merger of two black holes . Starship recovery efforts underway off Western Australia SpaceX are towing their Test 13 Starship prototype back to shore after it survived its Indian Ocean soft splash down off the Western Australian coast. The Science Report Scientists develop a new blood test to help test for signs of Alzheimer's. E-scooter riders found to be 3.5 times more likely than motorcyclists to get traumatic brain injuries. Reshaping sciences understanding of mammal evolution during the age of dinosaurs. A new study shows how wireless charging for drones could be achieved using lasers. Skeptics guide to claims Artemis II was a hoax. This Week’s Guests Professor Robert Ward from the Australian National University Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34728634?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E164 “Eclipse Eve” · Tuesday 11 August 2026. Sources are primary/agency where possible; aggregator dates were checked against originals. In this episode • LEAD — The 12 August total solar eclipse: the only total eclipse of 2026 and the first over mainland Europe since 1999. Totality arcs from Siberia over the North Pole to eastern Greenland, western Iceland, northern Spain and a sliver of Portugal; maximum totality ~2 min 18 s. Partial for much of North America near sunset; not visible from Australia. ESA livestreams from the Javalambre Observatory, Spain. • MIDDLE 1 — A state CASC Long March 7A exploded ~85 seconds after lifting off from Wenchang on 10 August, a total loss (payload reported as the Zhongxing-4B communications satellite). Separately, Landspace’s private Zhuque-3 was on the same-night manifest from Jiuquan for its second propulsive landing-legs recovery attempt — outcome unconfirmed at recording. China’s first orbital-booster landing (net-capture, Long March 10B) already succeeded on 10 July. • MIDDLE 2 — The Perseids peak overnight 12–13 August under a New Moon — the darkest conditions in roughly two decades. Parent comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Realistic ~30–50 meteors/hr from dark sites (nominal ~100), with a slim chance of a dust-trail boost; the next confidently forecast outburst is 2028. • MIDDLE 3 — Japan’s H3 launched Michibiki No. 7 (QZS-7) from Tanegashima, bringing the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System up to the strength Japan needs to run it as a standalone service — a regional navigation layer that keeps a satellite near the zenith over Japan/Asia-Pacific, reinforcing GPS and building navigation resilience. The satellite also hosts a US Space Force space-surveillance sensor (SACHI). • CLOSER — Both-hemispheres skywatch: eclipse viewing times (totality window ~16:58–18:34 UT, greatest ~17:46 UT) and the ISO 12312-2 eye-safety rule; Perseid how-to for the North (best 2 a.m.–dawn); and Southern-Hemisphere content — pre-dawn planets, evening Venus, Comet 10P/Tempel 2. Eye safety • A partial eclipse is never safe to view with the naked eye. Use ISO 12312-2 certified eclipse glasses/viewers, or indirect projection (pinhole). Direct viewing is only safe during true totality, and only inside the path (Greenland, Iceland, Spain). Links • astronomydaily.io — full back-catalogue, daily news feed, listener reviews, newsletter sign-up, contact form • @AstroDailyPod on your platform of choice Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34714982?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E163 · “The Long Way Home” · Monday 10 August 2026. Sources verified against primary / institutional outlets. Starship “lost at sea” (Flight 13) • Flight 13 launched 24 July 2026 from Starbase, South Texas; the upper stage (“Ship,” Ship 40, ~52 m) made the softest Starship water landing yet in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia — and, in a program first, survived intact and afloat. • SpaceX had not planned to recover it. Musk confirmed the salvage attempt on 28 July (“We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship”); recovery ship Go Australis was joined by Norwegian tugs Normand Ranger and Skimmer Tide, with a tow line to the nose. • On 7 August, Musk said recovery is “not looking good right now” in rough seas — but the team had already obtained close-up photos of critical heat-shield and engine regions for future upgrades. A saltwater-soaked Ship was never going to be reflown. • Heat shield: on SpaceX’s first quarterly earnings call (4 August) Musk said he’d “consider the heat-shield problem solved,” long the biggest hurdle to full reuse. • The flight also deployed 20 next-gen Starlink V3 satellites; the Super Heavy booster had engine trouble and was lost in the Gulf of Mexico. Stacked, Starship stands ~124 m. Flight 14 is targeted for late August — its first attempt at operational orbit with production Starlink. • Sources: SpaceX / @elonmusk on X (7 Aug); Space.com (Mike Wall, 7 Aug); CNN (3 Aug). Landspace Zhuque-3, second landing attempt • Landspace (private, Beijing, founded 2015) targets liftoff ~7:45 p.m. EDT Mon 10 Aug (23:45 UTC / ≈9:45 a.m. AEST Tue 11 Aug) from Jiuquan, aiming for a propulsive first-stage recovery on legs (Falcon 9-style), landing downrange in Gansu. • The methalox, stainless-steel Zhuque-3 (~66 m) is broadly a Falcon 9 rival. Its Dec 2025 maiden flight reached orbit but the first stage failed its landing burn and crashed. • Accuracy note: this is China’s fourth orbital-class recovery attempt. A Long March 10B already landed via net-capture on 10 July (China became the 2nd nation to land an orbital booster) — so tonight would make Landspace the first Chinese company to attempt a propulsive/landing-legs recovery, not “China’s first.” • Sources: Space.com (7 Aug); Yahoo/Space (7 Aug); launch trackers (NOTAM-based). Uranus’s “breathing” bow shock • New multifluid-MHD modelling shows Uranus’s bow shock expands and contracts over a single ~17-hour Uranian day — driven by the planet’s own extreme rotation and tilted, offset magnetic field, not by changes in the solar wind. • The model is constrained by Voyager 2’s 1986 flyby — still the only direct measurements ever taken inside the Uranian system (a nice callback to E159’s Voyager 2 “Big Bang” lead). • Implications for future ice-giant missions and for the many ice-giant exoplanets now being found. Cao et al., AGU Advances; surfaced via an Eos research spotlight this week. (Framed as newly-spotlighted rather than newly-published.) • Sources: AGU Advances (Cao et al.); Eos research spotlight; phys.org (7 Aug). Total solar eclipse — 12 August 2026 • The only total solar eclipse of 2026. Unusual over-the-pole path: Arctic Siberia → eastern Greenland → western Iceland → northern Spain (clipping NE Portugal) → the Balearics at sunset. • Greatest eclipse ≈17:46 UTC; max totality 2 min 18 s just off Iceland’s west coast, with the Sun only ~26° high. Iceland’s first total eclipse since 1954 (Reykjavik’s first in 593 years); Spain’s first since 1905. • North America sees a partial across the northern tier (Alaska to North Carolina) and most of Canada — deepest in the far north, a shallow bite (10%) from the US Northeast, late morning to early afternoon local. NASA livestream from 1:15 p.m. EDT at nasa.gov/live. • Not visible from the Southern Hemisphere. Sources: NASA eclipse pages; national eclipse guides. Skywatch — both hemispheres • Perseids peak the night of 12–13 August under a new Moon — excellent for the Northern Hemisp

In this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, join host Andrew Dunkley and astronomer Fred Watson Watson as they tackle a variety of fascinating questions from listeners. From the peculiarities of Martian days to the mysteries of black holes and the galactic centre, this episode is filled with enlightening discussions that are sure to spark curiosity about the cosmos. In this episode: - John asks about the implications of Mars' longer day length on human biology and potential adaptations for future colonists. - Dan inquires about the growth of black holes, exploring how quickly they can develop into supermassive entities and what happens when there’s nothing left to consume. - Young Thomas, just 11 years old, poses several intriguing questions about the galactic centre, including whether it can swallow all stars and planets in the galaxy, and the limits of a black hole's gravitational reach. - Paul reflects on historical discoveries in astronomy, specifically how Harlow Shapley determined our Sun's position within the Milky Way, challenging the long-held belief that it was at the centre. Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they explore these thought-provoking questions and more, encouraging listeners to continue their journey of exploration and discovery in the universe. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . (00:00) This is a Q and A edition where we take audience questions (02:16) When and if Mars is populated with humans, how would we work with longer day (08:50) Andrew: How astronauts deal with gravity when they land on Earth (11:47) Dan from the Gold coast has some questions about black holes (12:51) Fred: How fast do black holes grow? Dan asks fundamental astrophysics question (18:17) Fred asks five questions about black holes from Thomas Reid, 11 (22:03) Thomas asks if black holes can swallow up all stars and planets (24:31) Final question comes from Paul from Las Vegas (26:42) It was actually 1919 when that discovery was made (34:24) We continue to receive great questions from great listeners and long may it continue Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34693771?utm_source=youtube

This weekend on Astronomy Daily: the Inouye Solar Telescope reveals whirlpools on the Sun’s surface for the first time, a Falcon 9 upper stage carves a fresh crater on the Moon, Voyager 2 pulls off a daring "Big Bang" power swap 21 billion kilometres away, and the LINK spacecraft wins its de-spin battle in the race to save NASA’s Swift. Plus your both-hemispheres guide to the 12 August total solar eclipse and the moonless Perseid peak. In this episode ● (01:20) LEAD — First-ever sighting of Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices on the Sun (Nature, 5 Aug; Inouye Solar Telescope / NSO / MPS) ● (09:00) Falcon 9 upper stage 2025-010D impacts the Moon near Einstein Crater ● (12:15) Voyager 2’s "Big Bang" power swap buys another year of interstellar science ● (15:30) LINK spins down from 9°/s to 1.47°/s — software update next in the Swift rescue ● (18:45) Skywatch: 12 Aug total solar eclipse + Perseid peak — both hemispheres, with eye-safety Links & sources ● Nature: Kuridze et al., "Ubiquitous Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities driving plasma mixing on the Sun" (5 Aug 2026) ● NSO / NSF and Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research press releases (5 Aug 2026) ● NASA/JPL Voyager blog: "NASA Engineers Help Prolong Voyager 2’s Science Mission" (4 Aug 2026) ● NASA Science Swift blog: LINK stabilisation update; ESA & NASA eclipse pages for 12 Aug 2026 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34681248?utm_source=youtube

Landslides on Pluto and China's SpaceX-like Rocket Recovery Success Discover the intriguing discovery of landslides on Pluto, explained through recent image analysis from the New Horizons spacecraft, and learn how these features provide clues about the dwarf planet's geological activity. Plus, explore China's recent achievement in rocket recovery, mimicking SpaceX's successful landing techniques with innovative net capture technology, signaling a significant step forward in space debris management and reusability. Fred Watson and Andrew Dunkley discuss recent scientific findings on landslides around Sputnik Planitia on Pluto How climate change on Earth is increasing landslide activity, and how similar processes might be happening on other worlds The significance of the 2015 flyby of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft and what it revealed about planetary geology Details of China's recent successful rocket booster recovery using a net and its potential impact on space launch economics Comparison between China's new net capture method and SpaceX's chopsticks system for booster recovery The rapid advancement of Chinese space capabilities, including lunar and space station missions The broader context of international space race dynamics and the race to return humans to the Moon UAP Study Group Led by Avi Loeb and the Search for Extraterrestrial Phenomena Get an inside look at the White House-formed UAP science advisory council led by Harvard's Avi Loeb, emphasizing scientific rigor in studying unidentified anomalous phenomena. The discussion covers the composition of the council, the importance of unbiased research, and the challenges of interpreting mysterious aerial objects observed over the years. The formation and purpose of the UAP Science Advisory Council, chaired by Avi Loeb The diverse backgrounds of experts involved, including physicists, military personnel, computer scientists, and psychologists How modern technology and data are transforming the study of UAPs, with government and military reports analyzed over decades The debate over the nature of UAPs: natural phenomena, advanced human technology, or potential extraterrestrial origins The cultural and political implications of gaps in understanding these phenomena and the importance of scientific methodology Reader comments reflecting skepticism and intrigue about the investigations and the sensationalism surrounding UAP research Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34662699?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E161 · “The Colour of Empty Space” · Friday 7 August 2026. Hosts: Anna & Avery. astronomydaily.io · @AstroDailyPod ① Vacuum birefringence: reading a magnetar ● NASA’s IXPE, with NICER and the Parkes/Murriyang radio telescope (NSW), measured the polarised X-rays of magnetar 1E 1547.0−5408. ● Result: soft X-ray polarisation ~65% at 2 keV, rising to nearly 80% at some rotation phases — the strongest signal yet of vacuum birefringence, a QED effect predicted by Heisenberg in 1936. ● The team calls it the “most definitive signal to date,” not a confirmed detection; an April 2026 analysis disputes it under different geometry. Co-leads: Rachael Stewart; Hoa Dinh Thi (Rice); with Marcus Lower (Swinburne). ● Source: Stewart et al., Nature, 5 Aug 2026 (DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10859-z); NASA IXPE release. ② Gateway HALO hardware → Lunar Infrastructure Demos ● NASA and Northrop Grumman are repurposing the HALO module’s power, data and avionics into three surface missions — LID-1, LID-2, LID-3. ● Goal: “survive-the-night” power and thermal tech for the lunar South Pole, where night lasts ~14 Earth days and temperatures plunge below −200 °C. ● Part of a wider Moon-base update in which four commercial landers reached final qualification testing at once. ● Source: NASA & Northrop Grumman releases, 4 Aug 2026; Spaceflight Now. ③ New Glenn: the cause is a valve ● Blue Origin traced the 28 May New Glenn booster explosion (during a pad hot-fire at Cape Canaveral) to the main oxygen valve on one of the seven BE-4 engines. ● Fix: small, retrofittable valve modifications; return to flight still targeted by year’s end. The BE-4 also powers ULA’s Vulcan. ● Source: Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, 5 Aug 2026; SpaceNews. ④ LINK’s de-spin: the fight to save Swift ● Katalyst Space’s LINK robot — tasked with boosting NASA’s ageing Swift observatory before re-entry — hit a multi-axis tumble when two of three reaction wheels failed. ● Using gimballed electric-propulsion thrusters, the team cut the spin from ~9°/s to ~1.47°/s on under 100 g of propellant. A flight-software update is next; rendezvous slips to ~end of August. ● Source: NASA Swift blog, 6 Aug 2026; Katalyst mission updates. ⑤ Skywatch: eclipse + Perseids ● 12 Aug total solar eclipse — totality across Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain; afternoon partial for eastern Canada and the NE United States (10% only NE of the NYC–Rochester line; ~50% in Atlantic Canada). NASA live from 1:15 pm EDT. ● Perseid peak the night of 12–13 Aug under a New Moon — up to ~100/hr from dark rural sites. ● Southern Hemisphere: eclipse not visible; Perseids barely clear the horizon. Sydney: pre-dawn planet line-up + Venus + winter Milky Way. ● EYE SAFETY: use only ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses for every partial phase; never combine them with a camera, telescope or binoculars. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/ep

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 94 Black holes are a hundred times more powerful than we thought Astronomers have been forced to rewrite their textbooks on the power of supermassive black holes after new observations have shown that these cosmic monsters can generate enough energy to impact galaxies hundreds of thousands of light years away. The dramatic collision the flipped our Milky Way galaxy A new study suggests that our home galaxy the Milky Way may have undergone a dramatic change in orientation following a head on collision with another galaxy. A successful return to Earth for the crew of the Soyuz M-28 The Roscosmos Soyuz M-28 spacecraft has returned safely to Earth bringing home the expedition 74 crew who have spent the past 8 months aboard the International Space Station. August SkyWatch The red supergiant Antares, Barnard’s star is the second nearest star system to the Sun, and the annual Perseids meteor shower are among the highlights of the August night skies on SkyWatch This Week’s Guests NASA WB-57 pilot Tom Parent NASA WB-57 Sensor Equipment Operator Cary Klemm Nation Wide Eclipse Ballooning Project Principal Investigator Dr Angela Des Jardins from Montana State University. Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio Texas Juno Launch Director Omar Baez NASA Juno Mission Manager John Calvert NASA Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics And Senior science writer and Sky and Telescope magazine contributor Jonathan Nally 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34655638?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E160 · 6 August 2026. In this episode: a Falcon 9 upper stage confirmed to have struck the Moon; a live ISS spacewalk; supernova SN 2026gzf caught at first light; SpaceX Crew-13 previewed; and a both-hemispheres guide to the 12 August eclipse and Perseids. FALCON 9 LUNAR IMPACT (LEAD) ● Spent upper stage 2025-010D struck near Einstein Crater (~19.4°N, 93.3°W) at ~06:35 UTC, 5 Aug 2026 — matching Bill Gray / Project Pluto predictions. ● ESO’s Very Large Telescope (Paranal) detected sodium and lithium in the impact plume for ~5–10 minutes — sodium from lunar soil, lithium likely from the rocket. ● NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter holds a pre-impact baseline and will image the fresh crater, giving a rare before-and-after dataset to validate hollow-body impact models for future landers. ● Origin: Falcon 9 launched 15 Jan 2025 with Firefly Blue Ghost 1 and ispace Resilience; the stage was left adrift and returned unplanned via solar activity and gravity. ● Sources: NASA; ESO / VLT; CNN; Project Pluto (projectpluto.com); Fernando et al., arXiv:2607.14625. ISS SPACEWALK — U.S. EVA 96 ● NASA’s Jessica Meir (Expedition 75 commander) and Anil Menon; ~6.5 h EVA beginning ~08:35 EDT, 6 Aug; live on NASA+. ● Task: reconfigure the 3B power channel to accept a seventh roll-out solar array later in 2026 — part of station upkeep ahead of the planned 2030 deorbit. ● Menon’s first spacewalk; two further EVAs scheduled 13 and 25 Aug. ● Sources: NASA / NASA+ ; NASA ISS blog. SUPERNOVA SN 2026GZF ● X-ray “shock breakout” (EP260321a) detected by China’s Einstein Probe on 21 Mar 2026 from a galaxy ~500 million light-years away; follow-up revealed a broad-lined Type Ic supernova. ● Unusually, no gamma-ray burst and no lasting relativistic jet — and the faintest shock breakout yet linked to this class; a possible missing link between ordinary and GRB-producing supernovae. ● Follow-up used NSF NOIRLab facilities including DECam and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Two teams: O’Connor et al. (CMU) and Rastinejad et al. (UMD), in ApJL. ● Sources: NSF NOIRLab; Carnegie Mellon University; The Astrophysical Journal Letters. SPACEX CREW-13 ● Targeting NET 12 Sep 2026 aboard Crew Dragon Grace from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral. ● Crew: Jessica Watkins (NASA, cmdr — first NASA astronaut to fly Dragon twice), Luke Delaney (NASA, pilot), Joshua Kutryk (CSA), Sergey Teteryatnikov (Roscosmos). 180-day stay; moved up from November. ● Sources: NASA; SpaceX; Houston Public Media. SKYWATCH — 12 AUGUST & BEYOND ● Total solar eclipse 12 Aug: totality across E Greenland, W Iceland, N Spain and NE Portugal (max 2m18s). Partial across northern US (Alaska–N Carolina), most of Canada, much of Europe and NW Africa. NASA livestream from 1:15 pm EDT. ● US partial highlights: Presque Isle ME ~29% (contiguous-US max); NYC ~9% from ~1:07 pm EDT; Boston ~16%; Toronto ~8%; Montreal ~18%; St John’s ~53%. ● Perseids peak 12–13 Aug under a new Moon (northern-favoured, up to ~100/hr from dark northern sites). ● Southern Hemisphere: pre-dawn planet parade (Saturn best, near opposition; Mars, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune), brilliant Venus in the evening west, and the winter Milky Way high overhead. ● Look-ahead: deep partial lunar eclipse 28 Aug (96% umbral), favouring the Americas. ● SAFETY: use only ISO 12312-2 certified eclipse glasses / solar filters during any partial phase. ● Sources: NASA; ESA; Sky & Telescope; BBC Sky at Night; EarthSky; timeanddate.com; The Planetary Society. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Govern

Astronomy Daily S05E159 — Wednesday, 5 August 2026. In this episode: a power-saving “Big Bang” keeps Voyager 2 doing science, direct-to-phone satellites reach orbit, Curiosity finds a vast honeycomb field on its 14th Martian anniversary, and NASA’s Aspera prepares to hunt the universe’s missing gas. ① Voyager 2’s “Big Bang” power save • JPL engineers freed up power by simultaneously switching off certain devices and substituting lower-power alternatives, while keeping the spacecraft warm enough to operate. • The Voyagers run on radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and lose ~4 watts per year as their plutonium decays; after nearly 50 years, power margins are razor-thin. • The move keeps three instruments — magnetometer, plasma wave subsystem and cosmic ray subsystem — running at least a year longer; the same swap is planned for Voyager 1. • Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause in Nov 2018 and is now 13 billion miles (21 billion km) from Earth; its southerly path means it is commanded via the Canberra Deep Space Network dish. Source: NASA/JPL Voyager blog, 4 Aug 2026 · science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyager ② AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 11–13 • Three next-generation direct-to-smartphone satellites launched on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral (liftoff targeted 3:42 a.m. EDT, 5 Aug; backup 5:10 a.m.). • Their phased-array antennas span ~2,400 sq ft — the largest commercial arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit — and connect to standard, unmodified phones. • They deliver nearly double the peak download speed of the first-generation BlueBirds (which hit ~98.9 Mbps to a phone); the company targets beta service later in 2026. Source: AST SpaceMobile / Space.com, Aug 2026 · confirm deployment before publish ③ Curiosity’s “sea of polygons” + 14 years • Curiosity found its largest-ever field of honeycomb-like polygonal fractures (each ~4–8 cm across) in a valley nicknamed “Valle Grande” on Mount Sharp. • The 360° panorama was captured on 19–20 June from 340 images; the polygons wrap around a ~6 m butte nicknamed “Miraflores.” • Such patterns point to ancient water — drying mud, wet–dry cycles, or compaction — consistent with lakes and streams once present on Mount Sharp’s foothills. • Today, 5 August, is Curiosity’s 14th landing anniversary (landed 5 Aug 2012). Source: NASA/JPL, announced ~29 Jul 2026 · jpl.nasa.gov ④ NASA’s Aspera (mission preview) • Aspera is a shoebox-sized NASA Pioneers smallsat launching NET 15 Aug on a Rocket Lab Electron from Mahia, New Zealand. • It is the first NASA astrophysics mission to map the circumgalactic medium — hot gas around galaxies — in ultraviolet light, tracing the “missing baryons.” • Led by Carlos Vargas at the University of Arizona, one of the youngest principal investigators in NASA history. Source: NASA Pioneers / Rocket Lab, 2026 · rocketlabcorp.com ⑤ Skywatch • Tonight (5 Aug): Last Quarter Moon; Mars forms a triangle with Elnath and cluster M35 (binoculars help). • 12 Aug: total solar eclipse (Arctic–Greenland–Iceland–northern Spain; partial for parts of the US) — not visible from Australia; use ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses. • 12–13 Aug: Perseid peak under a New Moon (NH-favoured); plus a six-planet pre-dawn alignment. • SH targets: eta-Eridanids peak 7 Aug; Sagittarius star fields; deep partial lunar eclipse 27–28 Aug (Americas + parts of Europe/Africa). Source: NASA Skywatching “What’s Up” Aug 2026; Sky & Telescope; timeanddate.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do wh

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 93 The strongest evidence yet that Betelgeuse is not alone Astronomers have finally demonstrated that the red supergiant star Betelgeuse has a binary companion star about two to three times the mass of the Sun. Is the mighty Andromeda galaxy dying A new study has found that star formation is winding down in our nearest big neighbouring galaxy Andromeda. The most volcanically active world in the Solar System NASA's Juno spacecraft has provided the first measurements of the temperature below the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. The Science Report A new study warns that mining is now a threat to over 12,000 species across the globe. Claims taking faecal capsules could help people with insomnia get a good night's sleep. The link between air pollution exposure and ending up with lung and heart issues. People who spend an excessive amount of time online tend be more stressed. Alex on Tech Telstra Starlink expanding. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34618949?utm_source=youtube

S05E158 — “The Crater Makers” · Tuesday 4 August 2026. Four stories on cosmic impacts — and a new map of the X-ray sky — plus a both-hemispheres skywatch. ① A dead Falcon 9 is about to crater the Moon ● A spent SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage (catalogued 2025-010D) is predicted to strike the Moon near Einstein Crater on 5 Aug 2026 at ~06:35 UTC — the second documented uncontrolled rocket impact on the Moon. ● The stage launched Firefly’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience landers in Jan 2025, then was stranded in a chaotic Earth orbit for ~18 months. Impact speed ~2.4 km/s (~5,400 mph); expected crater ~17–27 m across. ● Prediction by Bill Gray (Project Pluto). NASA’s LRO can image the site before and after; a ~two-dozen-author campaign is coordinating observers to chase the ejecta plume. ● Governance angle: no international framework governs cislunar debris — a growing hazard as lunar traffic increases (callback to E154’s distant-retrograde-orbit debris study). Sources: Space.com / Forbes / Reuters (Cris Tolomia) — impact preview, 31 Jul–3 Aug 2026 · Project Pluto (Bill Gray) — 2025-010D impact page · ZME Science — impact timing, 3 Aug 2026 ② Neptune’s inner moons: shrapnel of a shattered world ● JWST NIRSpec spectroscopy of Neptune’s inner moons Larissa, Galatea and Proteus (Caltech; lead author Ryleigh Davis, Mike Brown’s group) detected magnesium-rich phyllosilicates — clay minerals that require liquid water and had never been seen beyond Jupiter. ● The clays imply the material came from much larger, water-bearing worlds — evidence that Neptune’s original regular moon system was destroyed when Triton (a captured Kuiper Belt object) arrived. ● Proteus, the largest of the three, lacks the clays — possibly re-heated and reprocessed after re-forming, hiding its history. Sources: Davis et al., Science Advances, 29 July 2026 · Caltech / phys.org press coverage, 29 Jul–3 Aug 2026 · Space.com (Charles Q. Choi), 3 Aug 2026 ③ “Charbroiled within hours”: impact dust and the dinosaurs ● New modelling (Brandon Johnson et al., Purdue) argues ultrafine impact dust from Chicxulub acted as an insulating blanket, raising surface heating ~3.5× above the spherule-only estimate — enough to ignite global wildfires and kill exposed animals within hours. ● The same dust then blocked sunlight for years — so the model adds a ferocious opening act to the established “impact winter,” rather than replacing it. Sheltering underground or underwater aided survival. ● Caveat: the strongest physical wildfire evidence is so far confined to North America (per UCL’s Alfio Chiarenza, not involved in the study); a truly global fire record remains unconfirmed. Sources: Johnson, Johnson, Wakita & Robertson, JGR: Biogeosciences, 2026 · Popular Science / Space.com / ZME Science, 28 Jul–2 Aug 2026 ④ eROSITA DR2 — the X-ray sky doubles ● The eROSITA telescope (SRG mission) released its second data set (DR2) on 31 July 2026: ~1.9 million pointlike and ~64,000 extended X-ray sources from the first three all-sky scans — nearly doubling the previously released eROSITA catalogue. ● For scale: ROSAT catalogued ~130,000 sources in the 1990s and was the benchmark for 30 years. Lead author: Miriam Ramos-Ceja (MPE). ● DR2 delivers the first direct census of cataclysmic-variable binaries sufficient to explain the decades-old Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission. It coincides with SDSS DR20 (Black Hole Mapper), enabling 3D mapping of active black holes. Sources: Ramos-Ceja et al. (eROSITA-DE), arXiv:2607.27772; DR2 release · Max Planck Society press release, 29 July 2026 · phys.org, 31 Jul 2026 Skywatch — both hemispheres ● Falcon 9 impact (5 Aug, ~06:35 UTC): not naked-eye; ejecta plume a long shot for advanced amateurs in the Americas near the western limb (~2:35 a.m. EDT). Sydney: Moon below horizon — watch for LRO after-images. ● Comet 10P/Tempel 2: perihelion 2 Aug, closest to Earth 3 Aug (~0.41 AU); ~mag 8–9 near M30 in Capricornus. Best return of the century; Souther

In this enlightening Q&A episode of Space Nuts, join host Andrew Dunkley and astronomer Fred Watson Watson as they field a range of intriguing questions from listeners. From the hypothetical concept of dark matter stars to the mysteries of dormant comets and the mechanics of gravitational slingshots, this episode is packed with engaging discussions that spark curiosity in the cosmos. In this episode: - An exploration of dark matter stars: What are they, and how could they hypothetically shine without fusion? - Understanding dormant comets: What defines them, and how can we identify these ancient celestial bodies? - The mechanics behind gravitational slingshots: How do spacecraft gain speed from planetary gravity, and what role does the planet's rotation play? - The rise of smart telescopes: Are these automated devices a boon for budding astronomers, or do they undermine traditional astrophotography? - Personal experiences with smart telescopes and their impact on learning and engagement in astronomy. Resources & Links: - [Dark Matter and Dark Energy Overview]( NASA (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/dark-energy-and-dark-matter) ) - Insights into these elusive components of the universe. - [NASA's Comet Research]( NASA Comet Missions (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/comets/index.html) ) - Discoveries and ongoing studies of comets in our solar system. - [Gravitational Slingshots Explained]( NASA's Gravitational Assist (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/679/gravitational-assist/) ) - How spacecraft use gravity to navigate the solar system efficiently. Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they unravel the complexities of space science, encouraging listeners to explore the universe and engage with the wonders of astronomy. Don't forget to submit your questions for future episodes! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . (00:00) This is Space Nuts and we've got questions from our audience (01:57) Frederick: Greens Goddess started following me some time ago (02:47) Casey from Colorado says dark matter stars could be incredibly bright (09:13) Our next question comes from Michael about dark matter (10:27) What's a dormant comet and how do you detect them (16:28) Just wondering if you could explain the orbital mechanics behind Slingshots (22:32) Smart telescopes allow beginners to dive straight into astrophotography (28:56) Jason: Is there a privacy infringement there? Maybe, yeah (30:03) Astronomer Fred Watson answers your Space Nuts questions (32:16) Space Nick Nuts podcast available at Apple Podcasts and Spotify Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34603359?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 92 The monster that’s been let out of its cage Astronomers have for the first time discovered a monstrous supermassive black hole wandering unseen near the edge of a galaxy. Counting down to next week’s solar eclipse Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Greenland Russia and the arctic are about to experience a total solar eclipse as the Moon’s shadow sweeps across the surface of the Earth. The Swift Space Telescope rescue mission suffers a major setback NASA’s Link mission to save the Swift Space Telescope has suffered a few problems with a sudden loss of attitude control putting the spacecraft into an uncontrollable spin. The Science Report Former Biden administration chief health advisor Anthony Fauci pleads the fifth on everything. Antimicrobial resistance in children on the rise globally. The footprints of an ancient civilisation discovered in the Amazon. Discovery of fossils of a giant mosasaur eating an ichthyosaur that ate a pterosaur. Skeptics guide to the 2026 Bent Spoon Awards. This Week’s Guests NASA WB-57 pilot Tom Parent NASA WB-57 Sensor Equipment Operator Cary Klemm Nation Wide Eclipse Ballooning Project Principal Investigator Dr Angela Des Jardins from Montana State University. Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio Texas Juno Launch Director Omar Baez NASA Juno Mission Manager John Calvert NASA Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics And Senior science writer and Sky and Telescope magazine contributor Jonathan Nally 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34599892?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E157 · “The Edge of Everything” · Monday 3 August 2026 In this episode • The largest galaxy, measured at last. Ultra-deep imaging of IC 1101 in the Abell 2029 cluster has traced its outer edge for the first time: an edge radius of ~260 kpc, a diameter near 520 kpc (~1.7 million light-years), and ~3.4 trillion solar masses in stars — about 17× the width of the Milky Way. Faint outer structures aligned with cluster X-ray disturbances show it is still accreting. Source: Marrero-de la Rosa et al., “How large can galaxies be? Ultra-deep imaging of IC 1101”, accepted A&A (arXiv:2607.15340, 16 Jul 2026); phys.org, 31 Jul 2026; The Debrief, 1 Aug 2026. • Hayabusa2's record asteroid flyby. JAXA confirmed (press conference 30 Jul) that its Hayabusa2 probe passed just 400 m from the surface of near-Earth asteroid Torifune on 5 July — 744 m from centre at 18,000 km/h — the closest asteroid flyby by any mission, plus the first-ever laser ranging of an asteroid during a flyby. Torifune proved to be a contact binary. Source: JAXA press conference, 30 Jul 2026; phys.org / Japan Today (AFP), 31 Jul 2026; autoevolution, 1 Aug 2026. • UK's first orbital launch on hold. Rocket Factory Augsburg de-stacked its RFA One at SaxaVord Spaceport (Unst, Shetland) after finding a vehicle issue during hot-fire test prep (announced 28 Jul). The certified launch window opens 10 August; a successful flight would be the first orbital launch from UK soil. Source: RFA statement (X), 28 Jul 2026; Space.com, 1 Aug 2026; Shetland Times, 28 Jul 2026. • Andromeda is winding down. A new Hubble study mapping ~200 million stars across two-thirds of Andromeda's disk finds star formation has declined over ~500 million years (from ~1 to ~0.2 solar masses/year), with the steepest drop in the last 40 million years — possibly linked to an interaction with satellite galaxy M32. Source: Williams et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 27 Jul 2026; NASA/STScI release, 27 Jul 2026. Skywatch — both hemispheres • Comet 10P/Tempel 2 — perihelion 2 Aug; closest approach to Earth tonight (3 Aug). Binoculars/small scope, dark skies. Best pre-dawn from the Southern Hemisphere; ~9:30–10:30 pm local for mid-northern latitudes before moonrise. • Moon near Saturn tonight (3 Aug) — naked-eye pairing, both hemispheres, up into dawn. • Mercury at greatest western elongation (2 Aug) — low eastern horizon ~1 hr before sunrise, toward Gemini; Mars higher. Better placed for northern observers. • Diary (2 days out): Falcon 9 upper stage (2025-010D) lunar impact near Einstein Crater, 5 Aug ~06:35 UTC — ~2:35 am EDT / 11:35 pm PDT (4 Aug); North America best-timed on the dark limb. Southern Hemisphere: ~4:35 pm AEST (daylight) — await orbiter after-images. • Looking ahead: 12 Aug total solar eclipse (Greenland/Iceland/Spain) + moonless Perseid peak + six-planet dawn alignment. View partial phases only through certified ISO 12312-2 filters. Links & follow • Website, back catalogue, news feed & newsletter: astronomydaily.io • Social: @AstroDailyPod · Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club

Astronomy Daily S05E156 — Weekend Space & Astronomy News Wrap. Saturday, 1 August 2026. In this episode • The first “self-driving” telescope — a SkAI deep-learning system (Northwestern / UChicago / Fermilab) schedules and re-plans observations in real time on the Dark Energy Camera at the Blanco 4-m, Cerro Tololo, Chile — matching human schedulers across two runs. • Betelgeuse's companion imaged — ESO's VLT delivers the clearest view yet of likely “Betelgeuse B,” ending a century-long search (recap, E153). • (44) Nysa — first known three-lobed (trilobate) asteroid, plus a ~1 km moon, from LBT + VLT high-contrast imaging (recap, E155). • A black hole's 300,000-light-year reach — XRISM traces quasar-driven winds from H1821+643 reshaping an entire galaxy cluster (recap, E154). • August skywatch — Comet 10P/Tempel 2 at perihelion (2 Aug); total solar eclipse crossing Greenland, Iceland, Spain & Portugal (12 Aug) paired with a moonless Perseid peak (12–13 Aug); a six-planet line-up through the month. Sources • SkAI / self-driving telescope: Northwestern University news release, 31 July 2026; phys.org, 31 July 2026 (Blanco 4-m / DECam / Cerro Tololo). • Betelgeuse companion: ESO / VLT; Montargès et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics (covered in E153). • (44) Nysa: Large Binocular Telescope (SHARK-VIS) + VLT high-contrast imaging; Lowell Observatory release (covered in E155). • Black-hole feedback: XRISM observations of quasar H1821+643 (covered in E154). • Skywatch: timeanddate.com and Space.com August 2026 sky guides; Royal Observatory Greenwich 2026 highlights (eclipse path and Perseid peak details). astronomydaily.io · @AstroDailyPod · Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34567185?utm_source=youtube

Sponsor Link: This episode of SpaceTime is brought to you with the support of NordVPN . Now more than ever, you need a reliable VPN service to protect you online. Governments, bad actors and who knows are all trying to access your details online. Get protected by the best - NordVPN. Check out our special deal by visiting nordvpn.com/stuartgary (https://www.nordvpn.com/stuartgary) and help support the show at the same time. Win/win! SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 91 The near-Earth asteroid that’s actually a comet Astronomers have confirmed that the near Earth Asteroid 1998 SH2 is actually a comet further blurring the lines between the two types of celestial bodies. Psyche’s gravity assist Mars Flyby NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has undertaken a successful gravity assist flyby of the red planet Mars to help slingshot the probe to its ultimate target – the strange metallic asteroid 16-Psyche. China expanding its space station As NASA looks at winding down and de-orbiting the International Space Station in 2030, Beijing has announced new plans to double the size of its Tiangong Space Station. The Science Report New clues about how the body’s nervous system senses warm and cool temperatures. Alarming pesticide levels found in the food of endangered Western Australian Carnaby's cockatoos. Scientists have discovered evidence of an ancient species of snake that lived underground. Study warns working from home may not have a significant impact on your carbon footprint. Skeptics guide to multiple Ohio Bigfoot sighting. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34565654?utm_source=youtube

Sponsor Link: NordVPN - Safeguard your online activity with our exclusive offer for Space Nuts listeners. Visit www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) for details. From SpaceX Nuclear Experiments to Galactic Discoveries Join host Andrew Dunkley and astronomer Fred Watson as they explore some of the most fascinating topics in space science, from innovative nuclear power tests in space to the expanding boundaries of our galaxy. Whether you're an astrophotography enthusiast or a space policy advocate, this episode delivers insights that broaden your cosmic perspective. In this episode: SpaceX's recent CubeSat launch featuring a tritium-based nuclear power source for space applications The potential and safety considerations of nuclear energy in space missions The possibility of nuclear weapons detection in space using neutron sensors and passive radiation monitoring The intriguing hypothesis of dark matter stars and their potential signatures The mystery surrounding Earth's dust origins—cosmic spherules and their unknown sources New research indicating our galaxy's spiral arms are about 10% longer than previous estimates, based on light echoes from gamma ray bursts The rise of smart telescopes and their role in making astrophotography more accessible for amateurs Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction and overview of today's headlines (02:00) SpaceX's CubeSat with tritium power source—what's happening? (04:33) Nuclear power in space: Safety and future applications (11:03) Detecting nuclear weapons in space: Challenges and innovations (22:45) Earth's dust origins: Micro-meteorites and cosmic spherules explained Resources & Links: SpaceX's CubeSat nitrogen launch story Beta-voltaic nuclear power technology NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Universe Today article on Milky Way mapping James Webb Space Telescope and dark matter research Science Advances publication on Earth's micrometeorites Connect with Fred Watson: LinkedIn Twitter Enjoying the show? Support us on Patreon and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for tuning in and keep looking up! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34565447?utm_source=youtube

S05E155 · Friday 31 July 2026 · Astronomy Daily with Anna & Avery. Four stories and a both-hemispheres skywatch. Australian English. ① Asteroid (44) Nysa — the first three-lobed world, and its hidden moon ● trilobate body — three lobes joined by two narrow necks; a candidate “first” of its kind. ● A new ~1 km moon, S/2026 (44) 1, was found orbiting ≥170 km out — spotted using high-contrast imaging borrowed from exoplanet work, and confirmed moving across two observing runs. ● The moon lets astronomers weigh Nysa (mass → density), which should help decide between a genuine contact-trinary and a single, deeply indented body. ● Nysa is a bright, main-belt E-type (enstatite-rich) asteroid, ~75 km across, known since 1857. ● Source: Lowell Observatory / University of Arizona press release, 29 Jul 2026; study “Unmasking (44) Nysa: Evidence for a Trilobate Structure” (Minker et al.). Coverage: Space.com, Gizmodo, 29–30 Jul 2026. ② Mapping Alien Continents — a NASA concept to image an exoplanet’s surface ● NASA’s 2026 NIAC round funds 18 early-stage “visionary” concepts (~$175k each, 9 months). These are seed studies, not missions. ● Paul Stankus (Brookhaven) proposes “Mapping Alien Continents”: resolve the surface of an Earth-like exoplanet — continents, oceans — in visible light. ● Method: a novel “dynamic hierarchical nulling” interferometer to suppress starlight at 10¹⁰-to-1 contrast, then combine beams from two spacecraft ~100 km apart (optical VLBI-style imaging). ● Source: NASA “2026 Innovative Technology Concepts” release and NIAC selections (posted 21 Jul; consolidated release ~29 Jul 2026); Universe Today feature, 30 Jul 2026. ③ Solar-storm watch — CMEs inbound, minor-storm and aurora potential ● Two faint coronal mass ejections, plus coronal-hole solar wind, are set to give Earth glancing blows; forecasters flag possible G1 (minor) geomagnetic storms and auroras over the coming days. ● G1 means little grid impact but aurora visible at somewhat lower latitudes than usual — see the skywatch for where to look, both hemispheres. ● Source: NOAA SWPC (WSA-ENLIL model); EarthSky / The Sun Today, 30 Jul 2026. ④ ESCAPADE’s family portrait of Earth and the Moon ● NASA’s twin Mars orbiters (“Blue” and “Gold,” built by Rocket Lab) imaged Earth and the Moon as thin crescents in visible and thermal-infrared light from a loiter orbit near Sun–Earth L2. ● In infrared, Earth’s night side glows with its own heat; the Moon’s shadowed half is far colder — a calibration check before Mars. ● ESCAPADE’s science goal (arrival Sept 2027): measure how the solar wind strips Mars’s unshielded atmosphere — the payoff of today’s solar-wind thread. ● Source: NASA (Goddard) image feature, ~25 Jul 2026 (images captured 3 Jul); NAU / phys.org; Universe Today, 29 Jul 2026. Skywatch — both hemispheres ● Bright waning-gibbous Moon (post-Buck-Moon, 29 Jul) washes out faint targets. ● Southern Delta Aquariids + Alpha Capricornids just past peak (SH-favoured; Moon-hampered). Perseids build to a near-moonless peak on the night of 12–13 Aug — prime for North America, low in the north for the SH. ● 12 Aug total solar eclipse: totality across Greenland / Iceland / Spain; partial for parts of northern North America and Europe. ISO 12312-2 eye protection required for any partial phase. ● Pre-dawn planets low in the east (Sydney and North American framing). Aurora watch for high latitudes both hemispheres if the storms land. ● Diary: a spent Falcon 9 upper stage (2025-010D) is predicted to hit the Moon near Einstein Crater on 5 Aug 2026, ~06:35 UTC (~2:34 a.m. ET). North America best-timed; telescope needed, Moon ~56% lit, target the limb dust plume. From Sydney the Moon is down at impact — rely on LRO after-images. Callback to E125/E147. Source: Fernando et al., arXiv 2607.14625. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest

Astronomy Daily S05E154 — “The Reach of a Giant.” Thursday, 30 July 2026. Hosted by Anna and Avery. In this episode • A supermassive black hole caught heating and stirring an entire galaxy cluster — turbulence reaching ~300,000 light-years, about 100× more energetic than expected (XRISM / quasar H1821+643). • Why some “clean” white dwarfs are secretly feasting: magnetic fields funnel shredded planetary debris to the poles, aurora-style, hiding the meal. • NASA’s Psyche used its Mars flyby as a dress rehearsal — spotting Phobos and Deimos from afar to practise for its 2029 moonlet hunt at asteroid 16 Psyche. • A new study on keeping the road to the Moon clear: modelling how debris disperses in Distant Retrograde Orbits as cislunar traffic climbs. • Skywatch: tonight’s double meteor shower — the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids — with both-hemispheres viewing details and local times. Sources • Yamada, S. et al., “Vigorous turbulence driven by quasar-mode feedback in a cluster core,” Nature Astronomy, 28 July 2026 (DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-02939-x; arXiv 2607.24911). Tohoku University release. • “White Dwarfs Eat More Planetary Debris Than Thought, But Magnetic Fields Hide It,” Universe Today, 29 July 2026 (Pham et al., arXiv 2607.20747). • “NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Aces Mars Flyby,” NASA JPL / ScienceDaily, 28 July 2026. • “The Risks of Debris Between the Earth and the Moon for Future Exploration,” Universe Today, 29 July 2026 (Chinese Academy of Sciences DRO study). • Double meteor shower peak: American Meteor Society; NASA; Scientific American; CNN; National Geographic, 28–30 July 2026. Correction / caveat desk • Skywatch numbers assume the ~98% waning Buck Moon (full 29 Jul). Faint Delta Aquariids will be washed out; the Alpha Capricornid fireballs are the reliable catch tonight. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34535634?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E153 · Wednesday 29 July 2026. Four stories from the frontier of space and astronomy, plus a both-hemispheres look at the sky — and news of our brand-new website. In this episode • Betelgeuse is not alone. ESO’s VLT/SPHERE has captured the clearest direct image yet of Betelgeuse B, the long-suspected companion to the famous red supergiant — ending a roughly century-long search. Published 28 July 2026 in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Montargès, Boccaletti et al.). The companion is more massive than predicted (≈2–3 solar masses), likely paces Betelgeuse’s ~6-year brightness cycle, and may eventually spiral into the supergiant. • Swift catches a wandering black hole. TDE 2025abcr — the most off-centre tidal disruption event ever seen — reveals a ~1-million-solar-mass “wandering” black hole ~30,000 light-years from its galaxy’s core, ~750 million light-years away. First flagged by the Zwicky Transient Facility (Nov 2025) and pinned down with NASA’s Swift; an AI sifted ~500,000 nightly flashes to find it. Published 27 July 2026 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Stein et al.; Carney et al.). • Roman is fuelled for launch. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completed fuelling on 25 July (≈290 gallons of hydrazine) and holds its mission-preview briefing today — one month from a 30 August launch, roughly eight months ahead of schedule. Roman will survey ~50× as much sky as Hubble in five years, probe dark energy, and is expected to find 100,000+ exoplanets via microlensing. • Swift’s rescue mission is in trouble. Katalyst’s LINK servicing spacecraft — launched 3 July to boost the decaying Swift observatory — began spinning over the weekend; two of three reaction wheels are non-operable, with some cold-gas thruster degradation. LINK remains powered and in contact; the team is using its electric (xenon) thrusters to arrest the spin before deciding, with NASA, whether to proceed. Developing story — details accurate as of recording. • Skywatch. Full Buck Moon tonight (29 July); Jupiter at solar conjunction; Southern Delta Aquariids favour the Southern Hemisphere but are washed out by the Moon this year; Alpha Capricornid fireballs are the pick for both hemispheres; the Perseids peak on the moonless night of 12–13 August alongside a total solar eclipse (Greenland/Iceland/Spain; partial for parts of Europe and North America). Never view the partial phases without ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses. Sources • ESO release eso2611 & Astronomy & Astrophysics, Montargès, Boccaletti et al., “VLT/SPHERE imaging of the candidate companion of Betelgeuse” (28 Jul 2026). • NASA Swift / The Astrophysical Journal Letters — TDE 2025abcr wandering-black-hole discovery (27 Jul 2026); UNC-Chapel Hill release. • NASA — Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope fuelling & launch-preview updates (25–29 Jul 2026). • NASA Swift blog — “Commissioning Update for Spacecraft to Boost NASA’s Swift” (28 Jul 2026); Katalyst Space Technologies. • EarthSky, NASA, American Meteor Society, timeanddate — meteor showers, Buck Moon, Jupiter conjunction, 12 Aug eclipse. New — astronomydaily.io Our new website is live: full back catalogue, a continuously-updating space-news feed, listener reviews (read and leave your own), and a daily newsletter sign-up. Got a question or a story tip? Drop us a note — and tell us what you think of the new site. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in pri

Astronomy Daily S05E152 — “Reading the Heat” · Tuesday 28 July 2026. Hosts Anna & Avery. NASA’s Juno spacecraft has taken the first-ever temperature reading beneath the surface of Io, Jupiter’s volcanic moon — and the technique behind it could reshape how we study icy ocean moons and even volcanoes on Earth. We also look at why JWST’s “Little Red Dots” might be globular clusters being born, the first SETI search built from archived ALMA data (and its six-million-star surprise), and a live burst of space weather feeding into a meteor-filled — if Moon-washed — skywatch. In this episode ● Juno reads Io’s subsurface temperature for the first time — 20°C rise within a few metres, heat flow up to ~30× Earth’s average, and a remarkably smooth, low-density surface. ● Why the method matters: a multi-depth microwave thermometer that works from orbit — promising for Europa, Enceladus, and terrestrial volcanology. ● JWST’s “Little Red Dots” may be globular clusters in formation, powered by a short-lived supermassive star — linking two long-standing mysteries. ● The first SETI survey of archived ALMA data opens the millimetre band — and reveals “stellar bycatch” of 6.1 million background stars. ● Live space weather: an M3.2 flare from region AR4494 and a glancing CME, with G1–G2 storms and possible aurorae, north and south. ● Skywatch: meteor week under the full Buck Moon (29 July), the Alpha Capricornid fireball tip, evening Venus, pre-dawn Saturn/Mars/Mercury — and Jupiter vanishing behind the Sun. Sources ● NASA/JPL — “NASA’s Juno Takes Temperature of Jupiter’s Fiery Moon Io” (22 July 2026); Brown et al., J. Geophys. Res.: Planets, DOI 10.1029/2025JE009622. ● Chisholm et al., “Little Red Dots as Globular Clusters in Formation,” Astrophysical Journal Letters (press cycle 20 July 2026; UT Austin / McDonald Observatory). ● L. Mason (University of Manchester), first ALMA-archive SETI survey, RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2026. ● Space-weather status: EarthSky Sun news / NOAA SWPC (M3.2 flare AR4494, 26 July; 24 July CME; G1–G2 outlook, 27–28 July). ● Skywatch data: EarthSky, Star Walk, American Meteor Society, NASA — Southern Delta Aquariids (peak ~30 July), Alpha Capricornids (30–31 July), full Buck Moon 29 July, Jupiter solar conjunction 29 July. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail (https://www.astronomydaily.io/protonmail) Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34497197?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 89 A lucky 13th test flight for the world’s biggest rocket The world’s largest and most powerful rocket has successfully launched on its latest test flight bringing it a step closer to NASA’s Artemis program’s aim of returning humans to the lunar surface, and eventually on to Mars and beyond. Scientists identify the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs A new study has determined that the asteroid which slammed into the Earth 66 million years ago wiping out over 75 percent of all life on the planet including all the non-avian dinosaurs was most likely a rare CO type carbonaceous chondrite. SpaceX rocket about to crash into the Moon The spent upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to slam into the visible side of the Moon, providing scientists with a new method of pinpointing exactly where objects strike the Moon, data that could help prepare for future lunar seismic experiments. The Science Report Warnings that a third of all heart related deaths due to ultra processed foods. New data suggests fewer people in Australia are now smoking. Scientists have identified high levels of vehicle tyre dust on local Brisbane balconies. Iran continuing its nuclear weapons program in a complex deep below Pickaxe Mountain. Skeptics guide to fake news click bait. Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34479589?utm_source=youtube

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 88 The hellish planets orbiting a nearby star Astronomers have painted the most detailed portrait yet of the planetary system orbiting Barnard’s Star – the Sun’s closest stellar neighbour after Alpha Centauri, just under six light-years away. Australia’s role in India’s manned space program India’s manned space program is moving ahead with the commissioning of a new space tracking station on Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The latest mission to the International Space Station The Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft has successfully docked with the International Space Station three hours and two orbits after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan. The Science Report A new study has found a link between health risks and electromagnetic fields. Wild koala given a chlamydia vaccine implant to help them survive the ever spreading disease. A quadriplegic now able to feed himself using his own hand, thanks to microchip brain implants. Study shows the last five decades of pop music has slowly shifted towards being more self-focused. Skeptics guide to the Pentagon’s latest UFO file release. Our Guests This Week: Mars Perseverance Rover Deputy Project Scientist Katy Stack Morgan NASA JPL Mars Perseverance Rover project Scientist Ken Farley NASA JPL Mars Perseverance Rover Deputy Project Manager Matt Wallace NASA JPL Mars Perseverance Rover Chief Engineer Adam Steltzner NASA JPL Mars Perseverance Rover Mobility Team Member Farah Alibay NASA JPL And our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34460019?utm_source=youtube

Astronomy Daily · S05E150 · “Lucky Thirteen” · Saturday 25 July 2026. Your Weekend Wrap: Starship Flight 13 finally flies and floats, the strongest exomoon candidate yet, a robotic satellite-servicer on its way to GEO, and what the Moon’s far side reveals about Earth — plus a both-hemispheres skywatch. In this episode Chapter Segment 00:00 Cold open & headlines 01:30 LEAD: Starship Flight 13 flies — softest splashdown yet, first real Starlink V3 deploy 09:00 Exo-satellite at CD-35 2722 — strongest exomoon candidate yet (Nature) 11:45 Northrop Grumman MRV-MEP — a mechanic for the geostationary belt 14:30 Chang’e-6 — the Moon’s far side records Earth’s magnetosphere (Nature Geoscience) 17:15 Skywatch — Buck Moon, Delta Aquariids, the 12 Aug Perseids + total solar eclipse 20:45 Sign-off Sources & further reading STARSHIP FLIGHT 13 • Space.com — Starship’s “softest splashdown” yet after Flight 13 — https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacexs-starship-megarocket-makes-the-softest-splashdown-ever-after-launching-next-gen-starlink-satellites-in-flight-13-test-video (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacexs-starship-megarocket-makes-the-softest-splashdown-ever-after-launching-next-gen-starlink-satellites-in-flight-13-test-video) • UPI — Starship successful flight test, splashes down in Indian Ocean — https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/24/Starship-has-successful-flight-test-splash-down-in-Indian-Ocean/3791784840519/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/24/Starship-has-successful-flight-test-splash-down-in-Indian-Ocean/3791784840519/) • CNN — Starship hits key milestones in “Lucky 13” test flight — https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-13-launch (https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-13-launch) EXO-SATELLITE CD-35 2722 • ESO — New “exomoon” detection challenges cosmic labels — https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2610/ (https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2610/) • Nature (paper) — Planetary-mass exosatellite around a substellar companion — https://www.nature.com/ (https://www.nature.com/) • Phys.org — Jupiter-mass “exomoon” orbiting a brown dwarf — https://phys.org/news/2026-07-jupiter-mass-exomoon-orbiting-brown.html (https://phys.org/news/2026-07-jupiter-mass-exomoon-orbiting-brown.html) MRV-MEP SATELLITE SERVICING • Northrop Grumman — MRV launches, ushering in a new era of in-space servicing — https://news.northropgrumman.com/launch/northrop-grummans-mission-robotic-vehicle-launches-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-in-space-servicing (https://news.northropgrumman.com/launch/northrop-grummans-mission-robotic-vehicle-launches-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-in-space-servicing) • Spaceflight Now — Novel geosynchronous robotic servicing satellite launch — https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/07/21/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-novel-geosynchronous-robotic-servicing-satellite-on-decade-long-mission/ (https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/07/21/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-novel-geosynchronous-robotic-servicing-satellite-on-decade-long-mission/) CHANG’E-6 FAR-SIDE SOLAR WIND • Nature Geoscience — Deeper solar wind penetration on the Moon’s far side — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-02042-w (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-02042-w) • EurekAlert! / CAS — Chang’e-6 samples reveal how Earth slows the solar wind — https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1136535 (https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1136535) SKYWATCH • EarthSky — Delta Aquariid meteor shower 2026 — https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-delta-aquarid-meteor-shower/ (https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-delta-aquarid-meteor-shower/) • EarthSky — Visible planets & night-sky guide / 12 Aug total solar eclipse — https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/ (https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-

Astronomers have confirmed the first moon-like object beyond our solar system — and immediately discovered our vocabulary cannot handle it. A Jupiter-mass world orbits a brown dwarf, which orbits a red dwarf, seventy light-years away. Is it a moon? A planet? Something we have not named yet? Also on today’s show: the Milky Way’s most powerful particle accelerator is confirmed in the direction of Altair, out-punching the Large Hadron Collider by a factor of a hundred. Chandra catches a black hole starving a galaxy it does not even live in. China flies the world’s largest solid rocket from the open ocean for the first time. Starship Flight 13 gets another window. And the Moon meets the heart of the Scorpion. Chapters Time Chapter 00:00 Cold open — what is a moon, exactly? 00:35 Welcome and headlines 01:15 The first exo-satellite — CD-35 2722 05:55 The galaxy’s most powerful particle accelerator 10:00 The Red Potato galaxy and its hostile neighbour 13:35 Gravity-1 launches from the open sea 16:55 Starship Flight 13 — when and where to watch 19:10 Skywatch — the Moon and Antares 22:30 Sign-off Story sources 1. First confirmed exo-satellite • Hoy, K., Zurlo, A., Peña R, P.A. et al. “Planetary-mass exosatellite detected around the substellar companion of a star.” Nature 655, 865–869 (2026). • European Southern Observatory release eso2610a, 23 July 2026. • Observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope, Cerro Paranal, Chile. 2. Proton PeVatron confirmed • Mizuno, T., Sano, H., Murase, T., Oka, T., Suzuki, H., Nakahara, N. “Hadronic Scenario for Galactic PeVatron LHAASO J1912+1014u Supported by Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Data and FUGIN CO Data.” The Astrophysical Journal, 16 July 2026. • Hiroshima University news release; instruments: Fermi-LAT, Nobeyama 45 m / FUGIN survey, Chandra X-ray Observatory. 3. The Red Potato galaxy • NASA / Chandra X-ray Observatory news release, July 2026. Wang, W., Cantalupo, S., Travascio, A. et al., University of Milano-Bicocca. • Galaxy designation MQN01 J004131.9-493704, redshift approximately 3.25. Original JWST identification announced January 2026; the Chandra jet result is the new element. 4. Gravity-1 open-sea launch • Orienspace Gravity-1 Y4, third flight. Liftoff 0254 UTC, 22 July 2026, from a launch service ship approximately 170 km east of Shanghai. • Reporting via SpaceNews, CGTN and Space.com. Nine payloads including six Huantian constellation satellites. 5. Starship Flight 13 • SpaceX; live coverage via Spaceflight Now and Space.com. Booster 20 / Ship 40, second flight of Starship V3. • Launch window opens 24 July 2026 at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 UTC). Payload: 20 Starlink V3 satellites. 6. Skywatch • Astronomy.com Sky This Week; timeanddate.com Moon guide; EarthSky visible planets guide. • Moon 0.6° south of Antares, 6:00 p.m. EDT 24 July. Full Buck Moon 29 July, 14:36 UTC, in Capricornus. Astronomy Daily is part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network. Find us at astronomydaily.io and at @AstroDailyPod. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did! Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support) This episode includes AI-generated content. Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/34439586?utm_source=youtube