Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News

In today's episode, Anna and Avery explore five of the week's most compelling space and astronomy stories: a new SETI Institute study suggesting stellar space weather could be scrambling alien radio signals before they even leave their home systems; groundbreaking research revealing that spaceflight physically shifts and deforms the human brain inside the skull; the impressive engineering story behind Roscosmos restoring Baikonur's launch pad in record time ahead of the Progress MS-33 mission; a surprising new finding from Nature that Earth's elliptical orbit plays a much bigger role in shaping El Niño and global weather patterns than previously thought; and the endlessly fascinating question of whether asteroid impacts could allow microbes to travel between planets — including the possibility that life on Earth may have originated on Mars.   Stories Covered •       Why SETI may be missing alien radio signals — space weather around distant stars could be smearing narrowband signals beyond the reach of current detectors (SETI Institute, March 2026) •       Spaceflight physically shifts and deforms the brain inside the skull — new MRI study of 26 astronauts published in PNAS reveals extent of microgravity's neurological impact (University of Florida, March 2026) •       Baikonur's Site 31/6 launch pad fully restored after November 2025 damage — over 150 workers complete repairs in under two months, clearing path for Progress MS-33 on March 22 (NASASpaceFlight, March 2026) •       Earth's distance from the Sun found to dramatically alter seasons — new Nature study shows orbital eccentricity drives its own annual cycle in the Pacific cold tongue, influencing El Niño over millennia (UC Berkeley, March 2026) •       Did Earth life begin on Mars? New research examines how asteroid impacts could allow microbes to travel between planets via ejected rock (Universe Today, March 2026)   Connect With Us Website: astronomydaily.io Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Tumblr: @AstroDailyPod Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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ASTRONOMY DAILY — S05E57 | Saturday 7 March 2026  
A landmark week for planetary defence — scientists confirm that NASA's DART impact didn't just move an asteroid's orbit around its companion, it shifted the entire binary system's path around the Sun. Plus: gravitational waves double, a European spacecraft goes silent, a 45-year theory bites the dust, a young Sun caught in the act — and a double planet show in tonight's sky.   In This Episode •       [00:00] Cold Open — Humanity moved a solar orbit •       [02:00] Story 1: DART changed Didymos's orbit around the Sun (Science Advances, March 2026) •       [06:00] Story 2: LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA doubles the gravitational wave catalog with GWTC-4 •       [10:00] Story 3: ESA's Proba-3 Coronagraph spacecraft goes dark — recovery underway •       [13:00] Story 4: Stars keep their rotation pattern for life — 45-year theory overturned (Nature Astronomy) •       [16:30] Story 5: Chandra captures first astrosphere around a Sun-like star •       [19:30] Story 6: Venus and Saturn pair up in tonight's sky — skywatching guide   Connect With Us •       Website & Blog: astronomydaily.io •       Social: @AstroDailyPod •       Network: Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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Astronomy Daily — S05E55 | 6 March 2026 Six stories today covering planetary defence, a cosmic laser record, a solar superstorm on Mars, space debris pollution, a mystery satellite launch, and the most charming farming experiment you'll hear about all year.   Stories This Episode 1. Asteroid 2024 YR4 — Moon Impact Officially Ruled Out NASA has confirmed, using the James Webb Space Telescope, that infamous asteroid 2024 YR4 will not hit the Moon in 2032. The space rock — once the most dangerous asteroid identified in two decades — will instead pass the Moon at a distance of around 13,200 miles. It previously held a 4% lunar impact probability, now fully eliminated thanks to Webb's extraordinary sensitivity pushing it to the limits of what the telescope can observe.   2. MeerKAT Detects Cosmic 'Gigalaser' 8 Billion Light-Years Away South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope has spotted the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected — a natural 'space laser' in a galaxy undergoing a violent collision more than 8 billion light-years away. The signal is so powerful it qualifies as a gigamaser. Adding to the serendipity, the signal was further amplified by a foreground galaxy acting as a gravitational lens on its 8-billion-year journey to Earth. The discovery points toward the future capability of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).   3. ESA's Mars Orbiters Record Solar Superstorm Hitting Mars A new Nature Communications study reveals what happened when the record-breaking May 2024 solar superstorm hit Mars. ESA's Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter recorded unprecedented electron density spikes in the Martian upper atmosphere — up to 278% above normal — and both spacecraft experienced computer glitches from the energetic particles. The study uses a novel spacecraft-to-spacecraft radio occultation technique and highlights how Mars's lack of a global magnetic field leaves it vulnerable to solar events in ways that Earth is not.   4. SpaceX Falcon 9 Re-entry Directly Linked to Atmospheric Lithium Plume For the first time, scientists have directly tied a specific rocket re-entry to a measurable atmospheric pollution event. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics detected a tenfold spike in lithium vapour in the upper atmosphere — from 3 to 31 atoms per cubic centimetre — in the hours following the uncontrolled re-entry of a Falcon 9 upper stage off Ireland in February 2025. Eight thousand backward atmospheric simulations confirmed the connection. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the paper raises important questions about the growing chemical footprint of the commercial space industry.   5. Rocket Lab Launches Mystery Satellite — 'Insight at Speed is a Friend Indeed' Rocket Lab completed its 83rd Electron launch from New Zealand, deploying a single satellite for a confidential commercial customer to an orbit 470 km above Earth. The company announced the mission just hours before liftoff, offering no further details on the customer or the payload's purpose.   6. Scientists Grow Chickpeas in Simulated Moon Dirt for First Time Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have successfully grown and harvested chickpeas in simulated lunar regolith — the first time this has ever been achieved. Using a combination of vermicompost (worm castings) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to condition the otherwise toxic, sterile moon dirt, the team produced flowering, seed-bearing plants in soil mixtures of up to 75% regolith simulant. The chickpeas have not yet been cleared for eating pending metal accumulation testing — but the team's goal of 'moon hummus' is, apparently, very much alive.   Find Us:  astronomydaily.io  |  @AstroDailyPod on all platforms Subscribe & Review:  Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · everywhere you listen

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Welcome back to Astronomy Daily! In S05E55, Anna and Avery explore six fascinating stories from across the cosmos — from auroras on Jupiter’s largest moon to the latest JWST galaxy reveal, a breakthrough solar storm warning system, a beautiful combined nebula image, Japan’s ongoing rocket struggles, and Europe’s ambitious plans for orbital repair robots.   Stories This Episode 1. Ganymede’s Auroras Mirror Earth’s Northern Lights Scientists using data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft have revealed that Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede has fragmented, patch-like auroras remarkably similar to those seen on Earth. The research, led by the University of Liège and published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, suggests that the fundamental physical processes generating auroras may be universal across magnetised bodies in the solar system. Ganymede is the only moon known to have its own intrinsic magnetic field. 2. New Solar Superflare Forecasting System An international team has developed the first system capable of predicting when and where extreme solar storms are likely to occur, with up to a year’s advance warning. By analysing 50 years of X-ray data, researchers identified a 1.7-year and a 7-year solar cycle whose alignment predicts high-risk periods. The current window (mid-2025 to mid-2026) is flagged as elevated danger. Published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 3. Cat’s Eye Nebula — Euclid and Hubble Combined NASA and ESA have combined imagery from the Euclid and Hubble space telescopes to produce a breathtaking new composite view of the Cat’s Eye Nebula — the glowing remnant of a dying star about 3,000 light-years away in Draco. The image showcases the nebula’s complex layered shells and intricate inner structure in unprecedented detail. 4. JWST Reveals Spiral Galaxy NGC 5134 The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning infrared portrait of NGC 5134, a barred spiral galaxy 65 million light-years away. Webb’s infrared capability pierces through galactic dust to reveal glowing stellar nurseries and the full cycle of star birth and evolution playing out across the galaxy’s spiral arms. 5. Japan’s Kairos Rocket — Safety Abort on Third Attempt Space One’s Kairos No. 3 rocket was aborted just 30 seconds before liftoff on March 4 when a safety monitoring system detected unstable positioning satellite signals. Following two failed launches in 2024 and multiple weather scrubs this week, the company has yet to set a new launch date. The window remains open until March 25. A successful launch would mark the first orbital success for a fully private Japanese rocket. 6. Europe’s Orbital Repair Robots European companies led by Thales Alenia Space are developing robotic satellites capable of refuelling, repairing and repositioning spacecraft in orbit. A demonstration mission is planned for 2028. With nearly 15,000 operational satellites now in orbit — most never designed to be serviced — the in-orbit servicing market could transform how we manage space infrastructure. Regulatory questions around liability remain unresolved.   Links & Further Reading Full show notes, images and source links: astronomydaily.io Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | All podcast platforms Watch on: YouTube — Astronomy Daily Follow us: @AstroDailyPod on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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The Blood Moon has come and gone — and what a show it was. In today's Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery recap last night's total lunar eclipse, the last visible from North America until New Year's Eve 2028. Plus: NASA confirms Artemis 2 repairs are complete and an April crewed Moon mission is back on track. Astronomers have found the most tightly packed quadruple star system ever discovered — four stars crammed into a space no bigger than Jupiter's orbit. Gravitational waves could be about to solve one of cosmology's biggest mysteries: the Hubble Tension. The world's first private commercial space telescope has captured its first star. And finally — why do physicists say interstellar travel is impossible and aliens definitely haven't visited?   In This Episode •       00:00 — Cold Open & Show Introduction •       02:00 — Story 1: Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Recap •       06:00 — Story 2: Artemis 2 Repairs Complete, April Launch on Track •       09:00 — Story 3: Record-Breaking Quadruple Star System TIC 120362137 •       12:30 — Story 4: Gravitational Waves and the Hubble Tension •       15:30 — Story 5: Mauve — World's First Private Space Telescope •       18:30 — Story 6: Why Interstellar Travel Is Impossible •       22:00 — Show Close   Find Us •       Website: astronomydaily.io •       Social: @AstroDailyPod •       Network: Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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In today’s episode, Anna and Avery cover six stories from across the space and astronomy world — including a seismic shift in NASA’s Artemis program, a jaw-dropping Webb telescope discovery, fresh imagery of an interstellar comet, and the debut of a powerful new reusable rocket from China.   🚀 IN THIS EPISODE •       NASA officially redesigns Artemis 3 — no Moon landing, and SpaceX’s Starship may not even fly on the mission •       The James Webb Space Telescope discovers PSR J2322-2650b: a lemon-shaped exoplanet orbiting a pulsar every 7.8 hours, with a carbon-rich atmosphere that defies all known planetary science •       A new ‘stochastic siren’ method using gravitational waves from merging black holes could finally resolve the Hubble tension — one of physics’ deepest mysteries •       ESA’s JUICE spacecraft captures its first detailed image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing a glowing coma and sweeping tail •       This week’s global launch roundup: Japan’s Kairos rocket makes its third attempt, and SpaceX eyes its 600th Falcon booster recovery •       China’s CAS Space prepares to debut Kinetica-2, a reusable heavy-lift rocket targeting late March   🔗 LEARN MORE •       Full episode details and blog post: astronomydaily.io •       NASA Artemis updates: nasa.gov/artemis •       Webb telescope news: science.nasa.gov/mission/webb   ⭐ SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review — it helps other space enthusiasts find the show. New episodes every weekday.   Find us: astronomydaily.io • @AstroDailyPod • Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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Tonight's sky is putting on a show — and we've got all the science to go with it! In this episode, Anna and Avery cover six incredible stories: a Blood Moon total lunar eclipse happening tonight, a revolutionary new telescope issuing 800,000 cosmic alerts in a single night, the violent origin story of Saturn's rings and its moon Titan, new research revealing Earth's magnetic poles can take 70,000 years to reverse, the James Webb Space Telescope mapping Uranus in 3D, and a wild — and cautionary — tale about the legal status of Apollo moon rocks.   STORIES THIS EPISODE 1. 🌕 Blood Moon Tonight — Total Lunar Eclipse March 2/3 A total lunar eclipse turns the Moon blood red tonight, visible from North America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Totality begins at 6:04 a.m. ET and lasts 59 minutes — the last blood moon until 2028. We explain why the Moon turns red and how to catch the rare 'selenelion' phenomenon.   2. 🔭 Vera Rubin Observatory — 800,000 Alerts in One Night The Vera Rubin Observatory — home to the world's largest digital camera at 3.2 gigapixels — issued 800,000 alerts to astronomers in a single night on February 24. At full capacity it could generate 7 million alerts nightly, revolutionising real-time astronomy.   3. 🪐 Titan & Saturn's Rings — Born from One Catastrophic Collision New research suggests Saturn's largest moon, Titan, formed from a colossal collision between two older moons hundreds of millions of years ago — and that same impact created Saturn's iconic rings. One event, two iconic solar system features.   4. 🌍 Earth's Magnetic Poles — 70,000 Years to Flip Scientists analysing 40-million-year-old deep-sea sediment cores have found evidence of a geomagnetic reversal that lasted 70,000 years — far longer than the 10,000-year benchmark. During that time, Earth's weakened magnetic field would have exposed the planet to significantly higher cosmic radiation.   5. ⭐ Webb Maps Uranus in 3D — Wild Auroras Revealed The James Webb Space Telescope has produced the first 3D map of Uranus's upper atmosphere using its Near Infrared Spectrometer, revealing complex auroras unlike anything seen before and mapping the structure of its ionosphere in unprecedented detail.   6. 🌑 Moon Rocks & the Law — Don't Even Think About It! Apollo moon rocks are US federal property — and buying, selling or owning them is a serious federal crime. We tell the extraordinary story of the 2002 NASA intern heist, and explain the one legal way you can own a piece of the Moon.   USEFUL LINKS • Eclipse times for your location: timeanddate.com/eclipse • Vera Rubin Observatory: rubinobservatory.org • NASA Lunar Sample Laboratory: curator.jsc.nasa.gov • Astronomy Daily website: astronomydaily.io • Follow us on social: @AstroDailyPod

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NASA rewrites the Artemis roadmap, the Space Force grounds Vulcan Centaur, astronomers peer back 11 billion years to the universe's most extraordinary construction site, water bears reveal surprising secrets about Martian soil, NASA passes a key milestone in extracting oxygen from lunar regolith, and ancient stellar lighthouses rewrite the Milky Way's origin story. Plus — six planets in tonight's sky.

📰  STORIES THIS EPISODE
1 — NASA Overhauls the Artemis Programme NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a sweeping restructure of the Artemis Moon programme on Friday 27 February. The headline change: Artemis III will no longer attempt a crewed lunar landing. Instead it has been redesigned as a low Earth orbit test flight in 2027, where astronauts will dock with the SpaceX Starship Human Landing System and potentially Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, testing suits, life support and rendezvous procedures before anyone attempts a surface landing.   The Block 1B SLS upgrade has been scrapped, vehicle configuration standardised, and NASA is targeting annual Moon landings from Artemis IV and V in 2028, with at least one surface landing per year thereafter. Isaacman invoked Apollo's step-by-step approach as his model — pointing out the programme was essentially jumping from Apollo 8 to the Moon landing without the intervening tests. The Lunar Gateway space station was notably absent from the announcement. Artemis II — the crewed flight around the Moon — remains on track for no earlier than 1 April 2026 pending resolution of a helium pressurisation issue.   2 — Space Force Grounds Vulcan Centaur The U.S. Space Force has placed an indefinite hold on all national security launches aboard ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket following a repeat solid rocket booster anomaly during the USSF-87 mission on 12 February — the rocket's fourth flight. A booster nozzle appeared to separate during ascent, mirroring an incident on Vulcan's second certification flight in October 2024. The payloads were successfully delivered, but Space Force Col. Eric Zarybnisky confirmed at the AFA Warfare Symposium that no further Vulcan national security missions will fly until the issue is fully resolved. With over a dozen military launches manifested for 2026, the grounding threatens significant disruption to the Pentagon's launch schedule.   3 — The Universe's Most Extraordinary Construction Site Astronomers using the Very Large Array and ALMA telescope have discovered J0846 — the first strongly gravitationally lensed protocluster core ever found. A foreground galaxy cluster is acting as a cosmic zoom lens, magnifying a cluster of at least 11 furiously star-forming galaxies more than 11 billion light years away — all crammed into a region smaller than the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda. Completely invisible to optical telescopes due to dense dust shrouding, ALMA's detection of cold dust and gas revealed the extraordinary scene. Lead researcher Nicholas Foo (Arizona State University) describes it as catching a galaxy cluster in the very first chapter of its life.   4 — Could Mars Soil Actually Block Earth Microbes? A Penn State-led international team published findings in the International Journal of Astrobiology showing that simulated Martian regolith significantly suppresses tardigrade (water bear) activity — one of the toughest creatures on Earth. Critically, rinsing the regolith with water largely reversed the harmful effect, suggesting the culprit is a water-soluble compound — possibly salts or perchlorates detected by previous Mars missions. The dual implication: Martian soil may naturally protect the Red Planet from Earth contamination, and could potentially be treated to support plant growth in future habitats.   5 — Extracting Oxygen from Lunar Soil — A Major Milestone NASA's Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project has passed a key integrated prototype test aboard the ISS, confirming that concentrated solar energy can drive a chemical reaction in simulated lunar regolith to produce carbon monoxide — which can then be converted into breathable oxygen. Lunar regolith is approximately 45% oxygen by mass, locked in silicate minerals. The integrated system combines hardware from Sierra Space, NASA Glenn, Composite Mirror Applications, and Kennedy Space Center. Beyond breathing air, the process could produce rocket propellant in-situ — directly relevant to this week's Artemis restructuring and the goal of a permanent lunar presence.   6 — Ancient Stellar Lighthouses Rewrite the Milky Way's Origin Story Using the largest-ever catalogue of RR Lyrae variable stars — ancient pulsating 'cosmic lighthouses' over 10 billion years old — combined with ESA's Gaia satellite data, a large international team has found that the Milky Way's structural layers (halo, thick disk, thin disk) all formed at roughly the same early epoch, not sequentially as long assumed. The layers differ in chemistry, not age — each enriched by successive generations of supernovae. Strikingly, the same pattern was found in Andromeda, suggesting a universal mechanism of large galaxy formation.  🔭  TONIGHT'S SKY — SIX PLANET PARADE
Tonight is the peak of the February 2026 six-planet parade. Look west approximately 30 minutes after sunset:   •      Venus — unmissable at magnitude −3.9, bright beacon low in the west •      Jupiter — high in the east, easily the most prominent planet •      Saturn — low in the west near the horizon, setting relatively early •      Mercury — very low on the western horizon, requires a clear flat horizon and quick timing •      Uranus — binoculars or telescope required, near the Pleiades in Taurus •      Neptune — telescope required, experienced observers only; extreme caution near the horizon   Four planets are visible to the naked eye. Act quickly — Mercury and Saturn set fast. Jupiter is your easiest target all evening.  🔗  LINKS & RESOURCES
•      Full episode archive & show notes: astronomydaily.io •      Follow us on social media: @AstroDailyPod •      NASA Artemis programme updates: nasa.gov •      Artemis II mission page: nasa.gov/artemis-ii •      ULA Vulcan Centaur: ulalaunch.com •      ALMA telescope: almaobservatory.org •      ESA Gaia mission: sci.esa.int/gaia •      NASA CaRD / ISRU technology: nasa.gov/isru  📲  SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW
•      Podcast: Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and all major platforms •      YouTube: Website: astronomydaily.io — blog posts, show notes, episode archive •      Social: @AstroDailyPod across Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok •      Network: Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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Episode 50 of Season 5! Today Anna and Avery bring you six unmissable space stories: a star 1,540 times the size of our Sun transforming into a rare yellow hypergiant in real time; SpaceX's Dragon CRS-33 capsule completing a historic ISS-boosting mission and splashing down this morning; the James Webb Space Telescope revealing the haunting 'Exposed Cranium' nebula in unprecedented detail; a total lunar eclipse blood moon arriving this Tuesday (March 3) — the last until 2028/29; groundbreaking research showing Jupiter's icy moons may have been born with life's molecular building blocks embedded in them; and NASA shaking up its human spaceflight leadership following a damning report on the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test.   STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: •  (00:00) Intro & Episode 50 Milestone •  (02:00) WOH G64: Red supergiant transforms into yellow hypergiant — supernova imminent? •  (06:00) SpaceX CRS-33 Dragon splashes down after historic six-month ISS-boosting mission •  (09:00) Webb's Exposed Cranium Nebula: A dying star's brain-shaped farewell •  (12:00) Blood Moon Alert: Total lunar eclipse Tuesday March 3 — where to watch •  (14:30) Jupiter's moons born with life's building blocks — new research •  (17:00) NASA leadership shakeup: Starliner fallout claims two senior figures •  (19:30) Outro   FIND US: •  Website: astronomydaily.io •  Social: @AstroDailyPod on all major platforms •  Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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Astronomy Daily  |  S05E49  |  February 26, 2026 Six Planets, a Surprise in the Milky Way, and the First ISS Medical Evacuation Revealed   Tonight the Moon sits right next to Jupiter in what is the visual highlight of the February six-planet alignment. Meanwhile, astronomers have made a jaw-dropping discovery about our galaxy’s magnetic field, NASA has named the astronaut at the centre of last month’s historic ISS medical evacuation, and a hypersonic scramjet launch has been scrubbed. All that and more in today’s episode.   IN THIS EPISODE •       SKYWATCHING — Moon-Jupiter conjunction tonight: the six-planet alignment (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) is peaking right now, with Jupiter blazing beside the waxing Moon after sunset. The Blood Moon total lunar eclipse arrives March 3. •       DEEP SPACE — The world’s largest radio telescope array has made new chemical discoveries in the turbulent heart of the Milky Way around Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. •       ARTEMIS UPDATE — NASA’s SLS rocket has returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs; early April is now the earliest realistic launch window for the crewed lunar flyby. •       ISS — NASA has named the astronaut who required the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station, following last month’s early return of Crew-11. •       SCIENCE — A groundbreaking new map of the Milky Way’s magnetic field reveals an unexpected diagonal reversal in the Sagittarius Arm — a discovery that prompted an OMG moment for the lead researcher. •       LAUNCH UPDATE — Rocket Lab’s HASTE ‘That’s Not a Knife’ hypersonic mission carrying an Australian hydrogen scramjet demonstrator has been scrubbed; no new date yet.   FIND US Website: astronomydaily.io  |  Social: @AstroDailyPod  |  Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network

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This episode includes AI-generated content.