Space News Today

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/)


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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-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/) Astronomy Daily is part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network. Follow @AstroDailyPod and find every episode at astronomydaily.io.





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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.


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Astronomy Daily S05E148 — "Far Side" Thursday 23 July 2026 Starship gets a second shot at Flight 13 — with a schedule caveat worth knowing about. The first far-side lunar samples reveal that Earth has been quietly shielding the side of the Moon that faces us. Astronomers debate whether the lunar far side should be closed to industry. The Milky Way's only helium nova finally steps out from behind twenty-five years of dust. And the case that our entire galaxy once turned over. Plus a skywatch closer with a straightforward piece of advice about the Delta Aquariids: do not wait for the peak.





In this episode Starship Flight 13 ● Window opens 6:45pm EDT / 2245 GMT Thursday 23 July — 8:45am AEST and 10:45am NZST Friday 24 July. ● Schedule is not locked: Starbase road and beach closure notices point to further Pad 2 testing. ● The 16 July attempt aborted at T-0 when four of 33 Raptors missed start parameters; the limit is three. ● Two Raptors were removed and replaced before this attempt. ● First-ever Starship deployment of V3 Starlink satellites — 20 of them. ● Super Heavy splashes down in the Gulf at ~7 minutes; Ship targets the Indian Ocean off Western Australia at ~65 minutes. No catch attempts. Chang'e-6 and the solar wind ● Published in Nature Geoscience by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geology and Geophysics. ● Based on 1,935 grams of regolith returned from the South Pole–Aitken basin on the lunar far side. ● First direct laboratory comparison of solar wind implantation between the near and far sides. ● Far-side soil records faster, deeper-penetrating particles; the neon isotope ratio sits below every near-side sample measured. ● About a quarter of the solar wind exposure at the Chang'e-5 near-side site involved wind decelerated by Earth's magnetosphere. The far-side site shows none. ● Opens the possibility of using lunar noble gases as a fossil record of Earth's magnetic field over deep time. The far side debate — NAM 2026 ● Held Tuesday 21 July at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting, University of Birmingham. Convened by Prof Martin Ward. ● For the motion: Prof Joe Silk (Johns Hopkins) and Dr Jonathan McDowell (Durham Space Research Centre). ● Against: Dr Nikita Chiu (Durham) and Dr Manuel Salvoldi (aerospace engineer and educator). ● For: the far side is the only radio-quiet site near Earth — critical for detecting the cosmic dark ages, and an exceptional platform for gravitational wave detection. ● Against: commercial investment is what makes lunar exploration sustainable, and governance can let science and industry coexist. ● Audience support for the motion rose from 68% to 76% across the debate. V445 Puppis ● Presented at NAM 2026 by John Mills, University of Warwick. ● The only confirmed helium nova in the Milky Way. Erupted in late 2000, then vanished behind its own dust for over twenty years. ● Now confirmed as a white dwarf accreting from a rare stripped helium star — only a few thousand such stars are thought to exist in the entire galaxy. ● Orbital period of 3.7 days, roughly double previous estimates. Mass transfer has resumed. ● Unexplained high-speed "bullets" of possibly oxygen-rich gas travelling up to 20 million mph (~9,000 km/s) — never seen in any other nova. ● Data from ESO's Very Large Telescope, Hubble, the Southern African Large Telescope and TESS. ● Helium novae may be one pathway to Type Ia supernovae, the standard candles used to measure cosmic expansion. The Milky Way disc flip ● Presented at NAM 2026 by Kirill Batrakov, Durham University. ● Based on 25 Milky Way-like galaxies in the Auriga simulation suite, followed across roughly 11 billion years. ● Galaxies with the most slowly rotating stellar haloes shared a major head-on merger and a disc reorientation greater than 90 degrees. ● Our stellar halo rotates at only 10–20 km/s; the disc moves at around 220 km/s. ● The Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus collision roughly 10 billion years ago is the candidate trigger. ● Batrakov describes a disc flip as likely rather than confirmed, and is looking for independent signatures. ● Separate 2026 work led by Ling Zhu, using 600,000+ giant stars from Gaia and LAMOST, found the outer dark matter halo oriented almost vertically to the stellar disc — consistent with the disc having tilted. Skywatch ● Southern Delta Aquariids are active now, running into late August, with maximum around 30 July. ● Full Moon on 29 July means peak night is close to 98% illuminated — the worst conditions of the run. ● Best window: the pre-dawn mornings from now until roughly 27 July, after moonset. ● Radiant near Skat in Aquarius. Use Fomalhaut and the Great Square of Pegasus to locate it. ● Australia and New Zealand: radiant climbs near overhead. Best from around 2am to first light. ● North America: radiant sits low in the south — fewer meteors, but a better chance of long-trailed earthgrazers. Same 2am-to-dawn window, local time. ● Sunspot region AR4493 has grown rapidly to beta-gamma-delta...

Discoveries on Mars, the Hubble Tension, and Dark Photons - Space Nuts Episode


Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson as they explore the latest developments in space science—from evidence of complex organic molecules found by the Perseverance rover on Mars that may hint at past life, to the ongoing mystery of the Hubble tension that challenges our understanding of the universe's expansion. Plus, a deep dive into the elusive concept of dark photons and their potential role in explaining dark matter.


Key Topics:


The significance of complex carbon molecules detected in Martian rocks by Perseverance and their implications for extraterrestrial life


The challenges and prospects of returning samples from Mars and the influence of upcoming Chinese missions


Understanding the Hubble tension: different measurements of the universe's expansion rate and what they could mean for new physics


The role of gravitational wave observations in refining the Hubble constant and resolving cosmological discrepancies


An introduction to dark photons: what they are and their potential connection to dark matter and dark energy


The nature of cosmic redshift, light travel time, and how we look back in cosmic history


The possibility of the universe expanding into higher dimensions or higher-dimensional multiverses


The shape and boundaries of the universe: flat, spherical, or saddle-shaped?





Resources & Links:


Science Advances Paper on Martian Organic Molecules


NASA Perseverance Rover


Cosmological Parameters and Hubble Tension


Large Hadron Collider Official Site


Dark Photons and Dark Matter — University of California


BiteStop Streaming Service


Connect with Fred Watson:


Professor Fred Watson - LinkedIn


Professor Fred Watson - Twitter


Note:


Stay tuned for future episodes where we continue exploring mysteries of the cosmos, and don't forget to visit our website (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) .


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