Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News

Show notes In 2016, NASA's Swift caught a gamma-ray burst that came in two parts: a 1.7-second spike, four minutes of silence, then a 51-second burst from the same spot. A new Nature Astronomy paper finds that nearly every classification test labels the first part a merger and the second a collapsing star. It was published three days after Swift ended science operations. Also today: a black hole disc in MAXI J0637−430 that puffs up and shades itself at just a fifth of the Eddington limit; JWST finds methane in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS with a deuterium ratio of 3.18%, the highest ever measured in methane anywhere in the solar system; and NASA's Psyche goes to near-continuous thrust and makes the first in-space measurement of Hall-thruster swirl torque. Quick hits: Hera's second braking burn, Dragonfly's first simulated Titan flight, and 20 years of STEREO. Skywatch for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London: the Hunter's Moon, Mars and Jupiter closing before dawn, Saturn in the evening and Mercury's last call.

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Show notes NASA lays out Artemis III day by day: fourteen days in Earth orbit, two rival landers, one Orion. Plus the week that was, Swift's final bow, and Venus changing sides. The Rehearsal NASA's 23 October Artemis update laid out Artemis III day by day: a 14-day low-Earth-orbit mission targeted for summer 2027 in which Orion docks with a Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 test lander on day three (crew enter its cabin) and a SpaceX Starship test lander on day eight. For Artemis IV in 2028, Starship would dock with Orion in Earth orbit and push it to the Moon; Blue Moon would reach lunar orbit on Mark 1-derived transfer stages. Isaacman put Artemis III about 90 days behind on paper. Plus: the National Academies' four science-first landing sites, none at the south pole. The Week That Was MMX launched for Phobos and is in good health; the Moon is still shrinking (>10,000 young thrust faults); the Milky Way's disc formed in two stages; balloons measured GLE 77 through the atmosphere; and The Starry Night as a real 1889 sky. Also: the ELT's mirror, a Valles Marineris marsquake and Roman's science commissioning. Farewell, Swift On 20 October Swift reached 275 km, entered safe mode and was commanded to end operations ahead of re-entry, expected within weeks. No date or location has been published. Skywatch Venus at inferior conjunction (24 Oct, 6.5° from the Sun — do not look); Mercury low in the west for the south; the near-full Moon beside Saturn tonight; full Hunter's Moon 26 Oct 04:11 UTC; Mars and Jupiter closing pre-dawn for the north; UK clocks go back Sunday 25 Oct. Always use ISO 12312-2 certified filters for any solar viewing.

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Show notes Astronomers argue The Starry Night shows a real pre-dawn sky over Saint-Rémy around 22 July 1889; Roman enters science commissioning; Rubin's test camera and the Seagull Nebula; quick hits on Hera, Starship, Swift and Artemis; Skywatch with Venus at inferior conjunction. ·         Lead: The Night Van Gogh Saw ·         Roman Enters Science Commissioning ·         Rubin'S Test Camera And The Seagull ·         Quick Hits ·         Skywatch Sources ·         Kim et al., Scientific Reports — DOI 10.1038/s41598-026-73025-5 — https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-73025-5 ·         EurekAlert — SLLAB release, 22 Oct 2026 — https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1148245 ·         Science News — 'Was van Gogh's The Starry Night a flight of fancy or a real sky?' (Olson comment) — https://www.sciencenews.org/article/van-gogh-starry-night-real-sky-stars ·         Space.com — Starry Night depicts the sky on July 22, 1889 — https://www.space.com/astronomy/van-goghs-the-starry-night-depicts-the-sky-on-july-22-1889-researchers-find ·         Code and data — GitHub sllabinc/StarryNight; Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.21175816 — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21175816 ·         NASA — Roman Space Telescope enters final commissioning phase — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/10/22/nasas-roman-space-telescope-enters-final-commissioning-phase/ ·         NOIRLab — Seagull Nebula through Rubin's Commissioning Camera (noirlab2625) — https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2625/ ·         Universe Today — Even the Rubin's test camera produces stunning images — https://www.universetoday.com/articles/even-the-rubins-test-camera-produces-stunning-images ·         ESA — Brake! Time for ESA's Hera asteroid mission to go slow — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Brake!_Time_for_ESA_s_Hera_asteroid_mission_to_go_slow ·         ESA Hera on X — https://x.com/ESA_Hera ·         New Space Economy — SpaceX targets November for Flight 15 — https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2026/10/21/spacex-targets-november-2026-for-starship-flight-15-and-its-first-stage-tower-catch/ ·         NASA — Recently published (Faster to Science letter) — https://www.nasa.gov/news/recently-published/ ·         IJR/AP — Swift expected to re-enter in early November — https://ijr.com/discover/science-2026-09-25-nasa-telescope-rescue-spacecraft-reenters-mission-fails-3e6b8d19 ·         EarthSky — Sun news, 22 Oct 2026 — https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-activity-solar-flare-cme-aurora-updates/ ·         Skywatch ephemerides computed in-session with PyEphem for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, London and Saint-Rémy (1889)

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Show notes Last November the Sun produced its strongest radiation storm in almost twenty years, and this time scientists were ready: neutron monitors from Cornwall to Shetland, sensors on transatlantic airliners, and weather balloons launched within the hour. A new Space Weather paper shows just how patchy the storm was, with one Shetland balloon passing aviation warning thresholds while others saw nothing. Also: a marsquake proves Valles Marineris is still tectonically active, a near-synchronised binary powers the Kepler field's most violent superflares, suspected Chinese rocket debris lands in a Borneo plantation, a correction on NASA's Artemis briefing, Hera's second braking burn, and a both-hemispheres skywatch with Venus at inferior conjunction, Mercury for the south, and the Moon with Saturn. Sources ·         Baird et al., Space Weather (DOI) — https://doi.org/10.1029/2026SW005279 ·         University of Surrey release, 20 Oct 2026 — https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/rare-solar-radiation-storm-gives-scientists-clearest-picture-yet-flight-risks ·         NICT — ICAO space weather centres (ACFJ) — https://swc.nict.go.jp/en/knowledge/icao.html ·         Song et al., Nature Communications — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78193-6 ·         Columbia/phys.org — Valles Marineris — https://phys.org/news/2026-10-giant-canyon-mars-tectonically-today.html ·         Kővári et al., arXiv 2610.11799 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.11799 ·         Konkoly Observatory release via phys.org — https://phys.org/news/2026-10-astronomers-uncover-powerful-stellar-flares.html ·         AFP via phys.org — Indonesia debris — https://phys.org/news/2026-10-indonesia-probes-chinese-rocket-fragment.html ·         CGTN — Zhuque-2E launch 14 Oct — https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-10-14/China-s-Zhuque-2E-rocket-launches-10-satellites-into-space-1ReYXyOhz5C/share_amp.html ·         ESA — Hera braking manoeuvres — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Brake!_Time_for_ESA_s_Hera_asteroid_mission_to_go_slow ·         NASA — Artemis update advisory — https://nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-discuss-artemis-acceleration-status-of-upcoming-moon-missions

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Show notes The Milky Way's disc settled in two stages; metal-rich gas around Sgr A*; two mirror-image simulated universes; shadows in the Orion Bar; quick hits on Hera, Uzbekistan and Artemis; Orionid-night skywatch. Sources ·         IAC — Milky Way's disc formed in two very distinct stages — https://www.iac.es/en/outreach/news/research-iac-reveals-milky-ways-disc-formed-two-very-distinct-stages ·         Mirabal et al. — ApJL 1010 L38 — https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb0a3 ·         McGill — Gas around Milky Way's central black hole is rich in metals — https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/gas-around-milky-ways-central-black-hole-rich-metals-study-finds-375101 ·         Ford et al. — AJ (DOI) — http://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ae994d ·         Ford et al. — arXiv 2605.13995 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13995 ·         Argonne — Aurora powers two of the largest cosmological simulations — https://www.anl.gov/article/argonnes-aurora-supercomputer-powers-two-of-the-largest-cosmological-simulations-to-date ·         UDE — New 3D model reveals hidden chemistry of stellar nurseries — https://www.uni-due.de/2026-10-16-publication-aa-brandt-gaches-3d-model-en ·         Gaches et al. — A&A 714 A295 — https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202660769 ·         ESA — Finding Hera's way: Flight Dynamics team in action — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Finding_Hera_s_way_Flight_Dynamics_team_in_action ·         Kun.uz — Uzbekistan joins Artemis Accords — https://kun.uz/en/news/2026/10/19/uzbekistan-joins-artemis-accords-on-peaceful-space-exploration ·         NASA — To discuss Artemis acceleration, status of upcoming Moon missions — https://nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-discuss-artemis-acceleration-status-of-upcoming-moon-missions ·         The Planetary Society — Night sky, October 2026 — https://www.planetary.org/night-sky/night-sky-what-to-see-this-month

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