Space News Today

Show notes Six months after Artemis II swung around the far side of the Moon, NASA has published what the crew saw, said and sketched — including five faint impact flashes spotted during a 54-minute eclipse. Plus: two UCL papers that take apart the chemical evidence for hypernovae, Juno finds Jupiter's magnetodisk crumpled into ripples, and IISc simulations suggest magnetised white dwarfs could grow well past the Chandrasekhar limit. Skywatch: the crescent Moon meets Antares, Mercury and Venus favour the south, Mars leaves the Beehive, and Vesta at opposition. Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report · Crew: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch (NASA) and Jeremy Hansen (CSA); lunar flyby 6 April 2026. · Five extremely faint impact flashes seen from ~74,000 km during a 54-minute eclipse behind the Moon; impactors estimated at no more than ~5 cm. · Crew-reported colours (blue = titanium-rich volcanic rock, brown = iron, green = glass); terminator observations as a proxy for south-pole lighting. · 'Hello, World' Earth image lit by moonlight; labelled southern Milky Way image (Crux, Carina, LMC). · Source: NASA Science, 'Artemis II: Sights & Sounds of Science', 7 Oct 2026 — science.nasa.gov/feature/artemis-ii-preliminary-lunar-science-report/ Hypernovae: the evidence that wasn't · Anmol Aggarwal & Ralph Schoenrich (Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL), two MNRAS papers; UCL release 5 Oct 2026. · Uneven ('stochastic') supernova enrichment explains three of four supposed hypernova-enriched stars; the fourth (silver- and uranium-rich halo giant) fits a neutron-star merger plus one ordinary supernova. · Source: ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/oct/ultra-powerful-star-explosions-might-not-have-occurred-after-all ; DOI 10.1093/mnras/stag610 Juno: Jupiter's rippling magnetodisk · Ruilong Guo (Shandong University) et al., Science China Earth Sciences 69(10), 2026; release 6 Oct 2026. · Repeated current-sheet crossings — four in ten minutes in one case — with reconnection signatures; a rotating, rippled sheet rather than a smooth flapping one. · Source: doi.org/10.1007/s11430-025-1870-9 White dwarfs beyond the Chandrasekhar limit · Zenia Zuraiq, Banibrata Mukhopadhyay (IISc) and collaborators incl. Christopher Tout, ApJL 2026; IISc release 9 Oct 2026. · Modified STARS code: a magnetised accreting white dwarf reaches ~2.4 solar masses vs ~1.4 without the field. · Source: iisc.ac.in/events/strong-magnetic-fields-could-allow-white-dwarfs-to-grow-beyond-the-chandrasekhar-limit/ Quick hit: Hera and MMX · ESA: Hera BRM-1, 93-minute braking burn early Thu 15 Oct; BRM-2 on 22 Oct. esa.int (Hera) · JAXA: MMX launch on H3 F10, 20 Oct 2026 04:41:03 JST from Tanegashima; samples to South Australia in 2031. Skywatch (computed for Sydney, LA, New York, London) · Tonight: crescent Moon near Antares — 1.3° from New York, 2.3° from LA and London (very low), 7° from Sydney. · Evening Mercury (24° up at sunset from Sydney) and Venus (heading to inferior conjunction ~24 Oct) favour the south. · Pre-dawn: Mars ~2° from the Beehive, Mars–Jupiter closing to ~1.2° on 16 Nov; Saturn in the evening; Southern Taurids; Vesta at opposition (mag 6.5, Cetus). · Solar safety: never view the Sun except through certified ISO 12312-2 filters.

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Wednesday SpaceTime 20261014 Series 29 Episode 123 Surfs up on the Saturnian moon Titan A new study suggests lakes and seas on the Saturnian moon Titan could produce a three metre surf under the right conditions. How planet Earth rock and rolls on its axis Ancient sea-level changes have provided new evidence showing that planet Earth experienced episodes of rapid true polar wander during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Scientists have Glueballs Physicists finally discovered the long elusive glueball, a particle made entirely of elemental particles called gluons. The Science Report New warnings about the deadly dangers of daylight saving time. Claims too much exposure to light during the night may be influencing the shape of your heart. Discovery of the first ever Diplodocus dinosaur fossils outside North America. Warnings that people in the early stages of psychosis may be more vulnerable to AI chatbots. Alex on Tech China’s growing robot army.

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Show notes Hera Hits the Brakes ESA's Hera spotted its target asteroid for the first time last week and fires its first braking burn on Thursday — 93 minutes of thrust to start stopping at Didymos and Dimorphos, the asteroid pair NASA's DART hit in 2022. Plus: Solar Orbiter traces a solar-wind switchback back to the Sun, Gemini North finds chains of giant knots in the remnant of the supernova of 1181, Webb reads the dust of Mars-sized worlds colliding, and Perseverance becomes the farthest-driving vehicle on another world. In the skywatch: the Moon meets Antares, Venus bows out, Mars and Jupiter rule the northern dawn, and the Orionids are a week away. Hera Hits the Brakes Two years after launch, Hera caught its first glimpse of Didymos from about 236,500 km away — a sub-pixel dot. On Thursday 15 October three hydrazine thrusters fire for 93 minutes (BRM-1), taking a few hundred metres per second off its approach speed; BRM-2 (~31 min) follows on 22 October, then three small transition burns. The first signal after the burn comes through ESA's New Norcia antennas in Western Australia. Hera will measure the mass of Dimorphos so DART's single orbital-period result can become a repeatable deflection technique; its CubeSats Milani and Juventas will study dust, composition and the interior. Solar Orbiter traces a switchback home Coburn et al. (Nature Astronomy, 8 Oct) used heavy-ion charge states measured inside a large switchback crossed on 2 March 2022 to show it formed by interchange reconnection in hot closed loops at the Sun's surface — with waves and turbulence taking over once it left. Both leading theories are right, at different stages. The supernova of 1181 is strung with pearls Cunningham, Caiazzo et al. (ApJ, 6 Oct) used Gemini North/GMOS to show that Pa 30's radial filaments are chains of knots ~100 billion km across. Pa 30 is the Milky Way's only known Type Iax remnant, with a surviving 'zombie' star. The knots constrain models but don't yet settle what formed them. Webb reads the wreckage of colliding worlds Su et al. (ApJ, 1 Oct) studied 21 extreme debris disks with Webb and Spitzer. About a third are silica-rich, consistent with collisions between Mars-sized planetary embryos; older systems should be silica-poor. Quick hit: Perseverance's driving record On 11 October (sol 2,006) Perseverance reached 45.22 km, passing Opportunity's 45.16 km. More than 90% of the distance was driven on AutoNav. Sources · Hera braking campaign (ESA, 7 Oct 2026) — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Brake!_Time_for_ESA_s_Hera_asteroid_mission_to_go_slow · Hera's first glimpse of Didymos (ESA, 7 Oct 2026) — https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/10/Destination_sighted_Hera_s_first_glimpse_of_Didymos · Finding Hera's way: Flight Dynamics team in action (ESA, 7 Oct 2026) — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Finding_Hera_s_way_Flight_Dynamics_team_in_action · Solar Orbiter tracks origin of magnetic switchbacks (ESA, 8 Oct 2026) — https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Solar_Orbiter_tracks_origin_of_mysterious_magnetic_switchbacks · Coburn et al., Nature Astronomy, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-02928-0 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02928-0 · Gemini North reveals pearl-like knots in Pa 30 (NOIRLab, 6 Oct 2026) — https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2624/ · NASA's Webb provides crash course on planet-shattering collisions (NASA) — https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-provides-crash-course-on-planet-shattering-collisions/ · Su et al., ApJ 1010:1, DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ae88fe — https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae88fe · Perseverance sets off-world record for total distance driven (JPL, 12 Oct 2026) — https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-sets-off-world-record-for-total-distance-driven/

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Space Nuts: Fast-Moving Planets, Photon Pressure, and the Nature of Moons

In this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a series of intriguing listener questions. Kicking off with Ron's query about the implications of living on a super fast-moving planet orbiting Sagittarius A*, they delve into the fascinating world of time dilation and its effects on scientific observations. Next, Jeff from Colorado poses a thought-provoking question regarding photon pressure and its potential influence on the universe's expansion, leading to a discussion on dark energy and cosmic mysteries. Brian from the Gold Coast wonders about the visibility of cosmic microwave background radiation behind black holes, while Bob rounds off the episode with a query on the characteristics that define a moon. Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they navigate these cosmic curiosities with their trademark wit and insight.

Key topics

- The effects of high-speed planetary motion near a black hole on time and observational science.

- Exploring photon pressure and its relationship to the universe's expansion and dark energy.

- The cosmic microwave background radiation and its interaction with black holes.

- Defining moons: How small and irregular can they be while still being classified as moons?

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction and overview of listener questions

01:20 - Ron’s question about living on a fast-moving planet and time dilation effects

15:30 - Jeff’s inquiry into photon pressure and its impact on cosmic expansion

25:00 - Brian’s question regarding cosmic microwave background radiation and black holes

35:15 - Bob’s exploration of what constitutes a moon

45:00 - Closing thoughts and listener engagement

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The coldest brown dwarf we know has weather. JWST watched water clouds thicken and thin on WISE 0855, a sunless world seven and a half light-years away — plus a star slowly eating a brown dwarf, ten minutes of X-rays after a half-second burst, a Soviet satellite breaking up over Western Australia, NASA's lunar cave hunt, and Mercury's best evening show of the year for the south. Stories Weather on a World Without a Sun Miles et al. used JWST NIRSpec to take a spectrum of WISE 0855 every 15 minutes for 11 hours. Carbon monoxide and phosphine rise and fall together as convection dredges deep gas upward, while patchy water clouds thicken and thin higher up — the first variable water clouds seen outside the Solar System. Source: University of Arizona release, 9 Oct 2026; arXiv:2609.20664 The Star That Eats Slowly ZTF J0440+2325: a red dwarf drawing gas from a 25-Jupiter-mass brown dwarf on an 87-minute orbit — the first confirmed stable mass transfer from a substellar object onto a star. Householder, Burdge et al., Nature Astronomy, 5 Oct 2026. Source: Nature Astronomy (2026); arXiv:2603.17039 Ten Minutes After Half a Second Einstein Probe caught ~560 s of soft X-rays after the 0.37 s GRB 250704B, at redshift 0.661 with no supernova — pointing to a compact-object merger and possibly a newborn magnetar. Science Bulletin, 2026. Source: DOI 10.1016/j.scib.2026.08.021; arXiv:2601.14137 A Dead Satellite Comes Apart Soviet weather satellite Meteor 2-7 (launched 1981) fragmented on 5 Oct at ~850 km, detected by LeoLabs' Western Australian radar. Cause unknown. Source: EarthSky, 9 Oct 2026; Space.com Quick hit: NASA Goes Caving on the Moon NASA's PRISM picks for the Moon Base program include GIMLI, which will probe the Marius Hills Pit for a lava tube, plus LEMS-SP and DISCO. Source: NASA RELEASE26-080, 30 Sept 2026 Skywatch Mercury at greatest eastern elongation — 24° up at sunset from Sydney vs 10° LA, 7.5° NY, 3° London. Crescent Moon near Venus and Mercury, Venus heading to inferior conjunction on the 24th, pre-dawn Mars and Jupiter for the north (Mars through the Beehive), Orionids 21–22 Oct. Source: Computed with PyEphem Sources · https://astrobiology.com/2026/10/09/first-detection-of-variable-water-clouds-outside-of-our-solar-system/ · https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.20664 · https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/175765 · https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.17039 · https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2601.14137 · https://earthsky.org/?p=560313 · https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/a-dead-soviet-satellite-just-broke-apart-in-orbit-again-experts-say-its-part-of-a-worrying-trend · https://nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-adds-new-science-investigations-for-moon-base

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