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Starship V3 is on the pad and tonight's the night — Flight 12 launches the most powerful rocket ever built. Plus: Webb solves a decades-old Neptune mystery, why space debris is quietly corrupting climate science, new doubts cast on DESI's dark energy results, a smarter route to the Moon, and why the galaxy may be full of hellish Venus-twins rather than Earths. All that on Astronomy Daily for Thursday, May 21, 2026.

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Astronomy Daily • S05E107 • Wednesday 21 May 2026 Starship V3 is on the pad and counting down for Thursday's debut launch — we bring you the full update including technical objectives, the Artemis stakes, and a sober note about a worker fatality at Starbase. Plus: a NIST proposal to build GPS for the Moon using lasers inside permanently frozen polar craters; space station startup Vast enters the satellite market; JWST finally has an explanation for the universe's impossibly large early black holes; the Roman Space Telescope locks in a September 2026 launch; and interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS gives up two remarkable new secrets — alien water thirty times richer in heavy hydrogen than anything in our solar system, and pre-discovery images that show it was spotted before anyone knew it was there.   Stories This Episode •       STORY 1 — Starship V3 Flight 12: Launch window opens Thursday 21 May at 6:30 PM EDT (8:30 AM AEST Friday 22 May). Splashdown of upper stage in Indian Ocean off Western Australia ~65 min after liftoff. First flight of Starship V3, first use of Starbase Pad 2. Key objectives: Raptor 3 engines, heat shield imaging by modified Starlink sats, 22 dummy Starlink deployments, Raptor relight in space. Worker fatality at Starbase 15 May under OSHA investigation. •       STORY 2 — Lunar GPS via NIST: Proposal to place ultrastable silicon optical cavity lasers in permanently shadowed craters near lunar south pole (~16K, near-perfect vacuum). Could enable lunar GPS network, atomic timekeeping on Moon, precise satellite ranging, gravitational wave detection. •       STORY 3 — Vast Corporation: Space station builder announces new line of high-power satellites, expanding beyond Haven-1 into commercial satellite manufacturing. Announced 19 May 2026. •       STORY 4 — JWST Black Holes: New arXiv paper proposes 'episodic super-Eddington accretion' in gas-rich dark matter-dominated early galaxies explains overmassive black holes found by JWST. Identifies them as 'missing link' between heavy seeds and luminous quasars. •       STORY 5 — Roman Space Telescope: Launch now confirmed as early as September 2026 — 8 months ahead of schedule, under budget. 100x Hubble's field of view, 1,000x survey speed. Targets dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets. Coronagraph for direct exoplanet imaging. •       STORY 6 — 3I/ATLAS: Pre-discovery images found in Rubin Observatory data from 21 June–2 July 2025, over a week before official ATLAS discovery. Water deuterium ratio at least 30x higher than any solar system comet (ALMA/U of Michigan/Nature Astronomy). Comet estimated ~12 billion years old.   Key Links •       SpaceX Starship Flight 12 livestream: spacex.com •       Flight 12 timeline (Space.com): space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/what-time-is-spacex-starship-v3-launch-starship-flight-12-timeline •       Starbase worker death (Space.com): space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/worker-dies-at-spacexs-starbase-in-leadup-to-starship-v3-megarocket-launch •       Lunar laser GPS (NIST): nist.gov/news-events/news/2026/05/shooting-moon-ultrastable-lasers-dark-craters-could-enable-lunar-navigation •       Vast satellite announcement: space.com (19 May 2026) •       Roman Space Telescope launch update: nasa.gov •       3I/ATLAS pre-discovery images: space.com/astronomy/comets •       3I/ATLAS water chemistry (ALMA): almaobservatory.org

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 A launch day episode packed with big science and bigger rockets. Today we cover the real-time launch of the ESA/China SMILE space weather satellite, SpaceX's Starship V3 sitting on its brand-new pad (and why it's now heading for Thursday), a UCL study warning that megaconstellation launches may be accidentally conducting an 'unregulated geoengineering experiment' in our upper atmosphere, the world's first space-based neutrino detector operating in orbit, extraordinary evidence in Antarctic ice that Earth is collecting material from a dead star, and a clever new cosmic mapper called TIME that studies the ancient universe using a single spectral line.

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In today’s episode, Anna and Avery cover a blue whale-sized asteroid making a close pass of Earth today, the imminent debut of SpaceX’s most powerful rocket yet, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft successfully completing its Mars gravity assist, fresh science arriving at the ISS, a new physics paper challenging the simulation hypothesis at its foundations, and Congress pushing back hard against proposed cuts to NASA’s science budget.   Story 1 — Asteroid 2026 JH2 Newly discovered asteroid 2026 JH2 (first spotted 10 May 2026) makes a close Earth flyby today at ~90,000 km — within the orbital radius of many satellites. Estimated size: up to ~35 metres (blue whale-sized). Zero impact risk confirmed. Observable with binoculars at peak magnitude ~11.5. Live stream available via the Virtual Telescope Project. Orbital period: 3.7 years between Earth and Jupiter.   Story 2 — Starship V3 / Flight 12 SpaceX targets May 19, 2026 for the debut of Starship Version 3 (Flight 12) from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas. Launch window opens 6:30 PM EDT. Key upgrades: Raptor 3 engines (250 tf SL thrust, up from 230 tf), three larger grid fins, new integrated hot-stage design, updated propellant systems. No tower catch on this flight; booster splashes in Gulf of Mexico. Upper stage (Ship 39) targets Indian Ocean after 65 minutes. Payload: 22 Starlink simulator satellites. Critical step toward Artemis lunar landings.   Story 3 — NASA Psyche Mars Flyby On 15 May 2026 at 3:28 PM EDT, Psyche completed its Mars gravity assist at 4,500 km altitude travelling at 12,333 mph. Passed inside the orbits of both Martian moons. Confirmed by Doppler shift monitoring. Mission: en route to metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche (arrival July 2029). Thousands of Mars observations gathered for science calibration.   Story 4 — SpaceX CRS-34 SpaceX’s 34th Dragon cargo mission docked at ISS at 6:37 AM EDT on 17 May 2026, delivering ~6,500 lb of cargo for Expedition 74. Science payloads include: microgravity simulator validation study, wood-based bone scaffold (osteoporosis research), red blood cell/spleen spaceflight study. Dragon will return to Earth mid-June splashing down off California coast.   Story 5 — Simulation Hypothesis Paper Paper: ‘Non-algorithmic physics and the limits of the simulation hypothesis’, published in the Journal of Holography Applications in Physics. Authors: Mir Faizal (UBC Okanagan), Lawrence Krauss, Arshid Shabir, Francesco Marino. Core argument: using Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, the team argues any theory of quantum gravity would be non-algorithmic — containing truths no computation can capture. Since any simulation requires algorithms, reality cannot be fully simulated. Note: this is a theoretical paper, not an experimental result. The authors acknowledge no complete quantum gravity theory currently exists.   Story 6 — NASA FY2027 Budget House Appropriations Committee approved $24.438 billion for NASA in FY2027 — matching FY2026 and rejecting the White House’s proposed $18.8 billion (a 23% cut). The proposal would have cut the Science Mission Directorate by 46%, terminating 50+ missions. Committee protects science, Habitable Worlds Observatory, and STEM education funding. Bill still needs Senate passage and reconciliation.   Skywatching TONIGHT — Moon-Venus conjunction: look west after sunset for the crescent Moon close to brilliant Venus. Earthshine visible on dark lunar limb. Southern Hemisphere: look west-northwest, best in first hour after sunset. Blue Moon on 31 May (second full Moon of the month).
 

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It's the Astronomy Daily Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap — your Saturday deep dive into the biggest stories from across the week, plus two brand-new headlines and a bonus story we just couldn't leave out.   This week on Astronomy Daily: •      NASA's Psyche spacecraft executed its Mars gravity assist flyby yesterday — slingshotting past the Red Planet at 12,000 mph on its way to a $10 quadrillion metal-rich asteroid •      SpaceX launched the record-breaking CRS-34 Dragon mission to the ISS Friday night — with docking happening TODAY (Sunday May 17) •      James Webb Space Telescope maps the cosmic web in unprecedented detail — 164,000 galaxies, 13.7 billion years of history •      Hubble reveals 'Dracula's Chivito' — the largest, most chaotic planet nursery ever seen, 1,000 light-years from Earth •      Starship Version 3 is on the pad — debut launch targeting Tuesday May 19 from the new Launch Pad 2 at Starbase •      Comet R3 PanSTARRS is in Southern Hemisphere skies NOW — and tonight is New Moon. Your last chance for 170,000 years •      WEEKEND BONUS: NASA's Curiosity rover drilled into a rock on Mars — and the rock wouldn't let go   Find us at astronomydaily.io | Follow @AstroDailyPod | Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network   YouTube Show Notes Title: Mars Slingshot! Cosmic Web Mapped! Starship V3 Launch SOON! Weekend Space News Wrap | Today's Space News   In this weekend edition of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover seven stories — two fresh headlines, four of the biggest stories from the past week, and a bonus story that's pure gold. It's been one of the best weeks in space in 2026.   CHAPTERS: 1.    00:00 — Cold Open & Weekend Wrap Introduction 2.    01:30 — FRESH: NASA Psyche Spacecraft's Mars Gravity Assist 3.    04:00 — FRESH: SpaceX CRS-34 Dragon Launch to the ISS 4.    06:00 — WEEKLY WRAP: JWST Maps the Cosmic Web 5.    08:30 — WEEKLY WRAP: Hubble's 'Dracula's Chivito' Planet Nursery 6.    11:00 — WEEKLY WRAP: Starship V3 — Launch This Tuesday! 7.    13:00 — WEEKLY WRAP: Comet R3 PanSTARRS — Skywatching Now 8.    15:00 — WEEKEND BONUS: Curiosity Rover's Sticky Rock 9.    16:30 — Outro & Credits   Subscribe for daily space and astronomy news | astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod | Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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It's happening right now — NASA's Psyche spacecraft is executing a close Mars flyby at over 12,000 mph, using the Red Planet's gravity to slingshot toward a metallic asteroid. We've got live coverage of this extraordinary moment, plus the landmark results of a decade-long SETI search across 70,000 stars, Perseverance reaching the oldest Martian terrain ever explored, Hubble paving the way for the Roman Space Telescope launching this September, AI making supernova distance measurements four times more precise, and the James Webb Space Telescope finding a galaxy in the early universe that simply doesn't spin. All that and your southern hemisphere skywatching guide — on Astronomy Daily, Season 5, Episode 103.   Chapter Timestamps 00:00: Cold Open — Psyche Mars Flyby Teaser 00:45: Introduction & Episode Overview 01:15: Story 1: Psyche's Mars Flyby — It's Happening Right Now 04:45: Story 2: UCLA SETI — 10 Years, 70,000 Stars, Zero Aliens Yet 08:45: Story 3: Perseverance Reaches Mars' Oldest Terrain 13:15: Mid-Roll Break 14:15: Story 4: Hubble Paves the Way for the Roman Space Telescope 17:45: Story 5: AI Makes Supernova Distances Four Times More Precise 21:15: Story 6: Webb Finds a Non-Spinning Galaxy From the Early Universe 24:45: Skywatching — Southern Hemisphere Highlights 26:15: Trivia Teaser 25:45: Outro & Sign-off   Links & References •       NASA Psyche Mission: science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche •       UCLA SETI Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2605.05408 •       Perseverance Rover Updates: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 •       Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: roman.gsfc.nasa.gov •       Astronomy Daily: astronomydaily.io •       Follow us: @AstroDailyPod

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Astronomy Daily — S05E102 | Thursday 14 May 2026   In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six stories spanning the entire space science spectrum — from a record-breaking rocket debut to medieval literary theory.   Stories in This Episode 1.    Starship V3 Gets a Launch Date — SpaceX confirms May 19 for Flight 12, the debut of the fully redesigned Version 3 Starship and Super Heavy. 2.    Psyche Mission: Mars Flyby Tomorrow — NASA's asteroid-bound spacecraft passes just 2,800 miles from Mars on May 15 for a crucial gravity assist. 3.    JWST Maps the Cosmic Web — The James Webb Space Telescope charts 164,000 galaxies across 13.7 billion years in the most detailed cosmic web map ever made. 4.    Aurora Watch: Coronal Hole Facing Earth — A large solar coronal hole is pointing at Earth; G2 storm conditions expected from May 15 with aurora potential for Southern Hemisphere observers. 5.    Dante's Inferno and Impact Physics — New research presented at the European Geosciences Union argues Dante's 14th-century Hell maps the geometry of a planetary impact crater. 6.    CRS-34: Dragon Docks at the ISS — After two weather scrubs, SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule successfully delivers 6,500 lbs of science experiments to the space station.   Chapter Timestamps 00:00 — Introduction & Headlines 01:00 — Starship V3: May 19 Launch Date Set 05:00 — NASA Psyche: Mars Gravity Assist Flyby 08:30 — JWST Maps the Cosmic Web 12:00 — Aurora Alert: Coronal Hole & Solar Wind 15:00 — Dante's Inferno as Impact Crater Science 18:30 — CRS-34 Dragon Docks at the ISS 21:30 — Skywatcher's Corner: Aurora Tips & Mars 23:00 — Trivia, Sign-Off & Socials   Find us at astronomydaily.io | Follow @AstroDailyPod | Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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Today on Astronomy Daily: A weather-delayed rocket launch gets a second chance — Dragon is heading to the ISS tonight. The most powerful rocket ever built is fuelled and ready, with Starship V3 Flight 12 targeting as early as May 19. NASA's Psyche spacecraft is days away from a dramatic Mars slingshot. A startup wants to beam electricity to satellites using lasers. Physicists may have cracked one of science's greatest puzzles. And Juno delivers the closest-ever view of a mysterious moon of Jupiter. All this — plus a Southern Hemisphere skywatching guide and space trivia — on Episode 101.   Chapter Timestamps 00:00 — Cold Open & Introduction 01:15 — Story 1: SpaceX CRS-34 Dragon cargo launch — weather scrub resolved 05:00 — Story 2: Starship V3 Flight 12 — launch as early as May 19 09:00 — Story 3: NASA Psyche spacecraft Mars flyby — this Friday 13:00 — Story 4: Star Catcher Industries raises $65M for space power grid 17:00 — Story 5: Brown University solves the cosmological constant problem 21:00 — Story 6: Juno's closest-ever image of Jupiter's moon Thebe 25:00 — Southern Hemisphere Skywatching Guide 26:30 — Space Trivia: What is asteroid Psyche made of? 27:30 — Outro & Sign-off   Stories Covered Today • SpaceX CRS-34 mission launches tonight from Cape Canaveral after Tuesday weather scrub • Starship V3 completes wet dress rehearsal — Flight 12 targeting May 19 • NASA Psyche spacecraft performs Mars gravity assist flyby on May 15 • Star Catcher Industries raises $65 million for world's first orbital power grid • Brown University proposes topology solution to the cosmological constant problem • NASA Juno captures closest-ever image of Jupiter's inner moon Thebe   Find us at astronomydaily.io | Follow @AstroDailyPod | Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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Episode 100 of Series 5 and the universe is not slowing down. Today: a live ISS resupply launch, a Mars rover drama that took a week to resolve, a cosmic debate about our galactic neighbour, two extraordinary black hole findings from the James Webb Space Telescope, and a brand-new category of planet that smells of rotten eggs. Plus a quick milestone moment for the show.   STORIES IN THIS EPISODE   •       SpaceX CRS-34 launches tonight — 6,500 lbs of cargo, science payloads, weather risks •       Curiosity rover's 'Atacama' rock drama — a first in 14 years of Mars exploration •       The Large Magellanic Cloud may be approaching the Milky Way for the very first time •       JWST's little red dots: an X-ray clue a decade in the making •       JWST: two early-universe black holes that outgrew their galaxies by a factor of hundreds •       L 98-59 d: a brand-new class of planet — global magma ocean, sulphur-rich atmosphere   CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS   •       0:00 — Cold open & Episode 100 milestone •       1:30 — Story 1: SpaceX CRS-34 launches tonight •       5:00 — Story 2: Curiosity rover's 'Atacama' rock saga •       8:30 — Story 3: Is the Large Magellanic Cloud a first-time visitor? •       12:00 — Story 4: JWST's little red dots — the X-ray dot emerges •       15:30 — Story 5: JWST black holes that outgrew their galaxies •       19:00 — Story 6: L 98-59 d — the rotten egg planet •       22:30 — Southern skywatching & outro   Subscribe for daily space and astronomy news. Find us at astronomydaily.io and across all platforms at @AstroDailyPod.

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In this milestone episode — one away from our 100th — Anna and Avery cover six extraordinary stories: the Pentagon's unprecedented release of 162 declassified UFO/UAP files; SpaceX firing all 33 Raptor V3 engines on the Super Heavy booster ahead of Starship Flight 12; tomorrow's CRS-34 cargo launch to the ISS; JWST's breathtaking new portrait of cosmic buckyballs inside a dying star; never-before-seen mineral maps of the Moon's far side created from Artemis 2 mission photographs; and the American Meteor Society's growing alarm over an unexplained spike in large fireball events across the globe.   Stories Covered 1. Pentagon Releases 162 Declassified UAP Files (May 8, 2026) •       The Pentagon launched a public portal at war.gov/UFO on Friday 8 May, releasing 162 declassified files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. •       Files include 120 PDF documents, 28 videos, and 14 images — spanning sightings from the 1940s to 2025. •       The PURSUE program (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) will release additional files on a rolling basis every few weeks. •       The files show no evidence of extraterrestrial contact or government cover-up; they are classified as 'unresolved cases.' •       Notable items include footage of a football-shaped UAP near Japan, a white orb over Syria, and Apollo 17 lunar imagery showing unexplained lights.   2. SpaceX Starship V3 Super Heavy — Full 33-Engine Static Fire (May 7, 2026) •       SpaceX completed the first successful full-duration, full-thrust static fire of the Super Heavy V3 booster at Starbase, Texas, on 7 May. •       All 33 Raptor V3 engines fired simultaneously — the most powerful ground test of any rocket first stage in history. •       Previous tests on 15 April ended early due to ground equipment issues; the 7 May test went the full duration. •       The Starship V3 Ship upper stage also completed its static fire in April — both vehicle halves now cleared for flight. •       SpaceX is targeting 15 May for Starship Flight 12, a suborbital test mission. Starship is central to NASA's Artemis lunar landing system.   3. SpaceX CRS-34 — ISS Resupply Launch (12 May 2026) •       Launch: 7:16 PM EDT, Tuesday 12 May from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. •       Cargo: approximately 6,500 pounds, including scientific experiments, food, equipment, and crew supplies. •       Autonomous docking scheduled: ~9:50 AM EDT, Thursday 14 May, at Harmony module's forward port. •       Key payloads: Laplace (planet formation dust study), STORIE (space weather / ring current monitoring), wooden bone scaffold (osteoporosis research), and red blood cell / spleen change investigation. •       Watch live on NASA+, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and NASA's website from 7:00 PM EDT on 12 May.   4. JWST Reveals the Birthplace of Cosmic Buckyballs — Planetary Nebula Tc 1 •       Western University astronomers returned to planetary nebula Tc 1 (10,000+ light-years away, constellation Ara) using JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). •       First detected buckyballs (buckminsterfullerene / C60 molecules) in space here in 2010 using Spitzer; now JWST reveals the full structure for the first time. •       Buckyballs are concentrated in a thin spherical shell around the central white dwarf — arranged like 'one giant buckyball.' •       JWST imagery also reveals an unexplained upside-down question mark feature at the nebula's heart. •       Current theoretical models don't fully explain the buckyballs' observed infrared emissions — multiple new papers are in preparation. •       Buckyballs found in meteorites on Earth; understanding their space origins provides clues about organic chemistry and possibly life's building blocks.   5. Artemis 2 — Far-Side Moon Images (Published May 2026) •       Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy collaborated pre-mission with Commander Reid Wiseman to plan detailed lunar photography during the Artemis 2 flyby. •       McCarthy's image-stacking technique — applied to Wiseman's far-side photographs taken during the 6 April lunar flyby — has produced unprecedented colour mineral maps of the far side. •       Colours reveal mineral composition variations (browns, blues, reds) not visible to the naked eye — described as 'cyborg vision' for the Moon. •       NASA has released the full Artemis 2 photo archive: 12,217 images now publicly available. •       Full archive: NASA astronaut photography public archive (link in episode resources).   6. The 2026 Fireball Surge — AMS Analysis (Published May 2026) •       The American Meteor Society reports an anomalous spike in large fireball events in Q1 2026 that 'warrants serious investigation.' •       Total Q1 event count (2,046) is only marginally above historical norms; the anomaly is in the SIZE of events — the largest fireballs are happening at roughly double the historical rate. •       March 2026: 40+ major events, including a 3,229-witness fireball over Europe (8 Mar), an Ohio sonic boom explosion (17 Mar), and a meteorite through a Houston roof (21 Mar). •       79% of Q1's high-witness fireball events produced confirmed sonic booms — a strong physical indicator of large, dense incoming objects. •       Anthelion sporadic source (opposite the Sun) is producing roughly double its normal activity; activity concentrated in a single 1,000-square-degree patch. •       Ruling out explanations: not a new shower, not seasonal variation alone, not reporting bias. •       AMS calling for expanded automated all-sky camera networks and better cross-referencing with radar, infrasound, and satellite data.

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