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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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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 your daily guide to the Universe for Thursday
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 the 14th of May, 2026.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 I'm Anna.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 Avery: And I'm Avery. Big show today, Anna. Uh,
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 we've got a rocket about to make history, a
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 spacecraft using Mars as a slingshot, and a
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 medieval poet who may have accidentally
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 written the world's first impact physics
00:00:23 --> 00:00:23 textbook.
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 Anna: Coming up, SpaceX locks in a
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 launch date for the most powerful version of
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 Starship yet. NASA's Psyche
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 probe is just hours away from its dramatic
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 Mars flyby. The James Webb Space
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 Telescope has delivered its clearest ever
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 map of the universe's skeleton.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 Avery: Coming up, a large coronal hole is sending a
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 surge of solar wind our way. Good news for
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Aurora watchers in the Southern Hemisphere.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 The Dragon cargo capsule has docked at the
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 International Space Station after a week of
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 weather delays. And we'll tell you why
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 researchers are re reading Dante's Inferno
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 through the eyes of a planetary scientist.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 Anna: Stay with us. It's all coming up on
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 Astronomy Daily.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:08 Avery: Let's go.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 Anna: Then let's kick things off with a story that
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 has the space community buzzing.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 SpaceX has officially announced the launch
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 date for Starship Flight 12, and
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 it is just five days away.
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 Avery: That's right, May 19 is now the target
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 for what may be the most anticipated rocket
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 test of the decade. This isn't just any
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 starship launch. Flight 12 will be the debut
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 of Starship version 3, a thoroughly
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 redesigned vehicle that SpaceX says has been
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 rebuilt almost from the ground up for full
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 and rapid reuse.
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 Anna: So what's actually changed? Well, the super
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 heavy booster now sports three grid
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 fins instead of the original six. Those are
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 the lattice like structures that help steer
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 it back through the atmosphere. The whole
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 vehicle is taller, heavier and more
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 capable than its predecessors.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 Avery: The launch window opens at 6:30 in the
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 evening Eastern Time. That's 8:30 the next
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 morning here in Australia. On May 20th,
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 it'll lift off from Starbase in South Texas.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 And um, importantly, this will be the very
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 first launch from Starbase's second orbital
00:02:16 --> 00:02:17 launch pad.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 Anna: Now, because this is a brand new vehicle
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 design, SpaceX won't be attempting to catch
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 the super heavy booster back at the launch
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 tower on this flight. Instead, both
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 the booster and the upper stage, known as
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 Ship, are targeting water landings. The
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 booster aims for the Gulf of Mexico and Ship
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 is targeting the Indian Ocean about 65
00:02:39 --> 00:02:40 minutes after liftoff.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 Avery: As for the payload, ship will carry 22
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 dummy Starlink satellites on the same
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 suborbital trajectory. And there's a clever
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 experiment. The last two of those dummy
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 satellites will actually scan Starship's heat
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 shield and beam images back to mission
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 controllers. They want to test whether they
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 can remotely assess heat shield integrity
00:03:01 --> 00:03:01 from orbit.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 Anna: There's also a single Raptor engine
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 relight planned in space, something that'll
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 be essential for future operational missions.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 And SpaceX has deliberately removed one
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 heat shield tile to measure how adjacent
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 tiles behave under re entry stress when
00:03:18 --> 00:03:19 there's a gap.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 Avery: Full disclosure on the engineering nerves
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 here. The previous version of this booster,
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 called B18, was actually destroyed
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 during ground testing late last year when its
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 liquid oxygen tank imploded during a pressure
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 test. B19 has had a much smoother
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 road, passing three static fire tests in
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 the last three months, including a, uh, full
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 33 engine full duration burn.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 Anna: We will of course, be watching this one very
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 closely. Mark your calendars May
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 19th. We'll have full coverage in the next
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 episode. Enormous stakes, enormous
00:03:54 --> 00:03:55 rocket.
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 Avery: While everyone's eyes are on Starship next
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 week, there's something happening tomorrow
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 that deserves just as much attention, at
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 least for the science crowd. NASA's Psyche
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 spacecraft is about to use Mars as a cosmic
00:04:07 --> 00:04:08 slingshot.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 Anna: This is one of those elegantly clever
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 things about orbital mechanics. The
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 Psyche mission is ultimately headed for a
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 metal rich asteroid, also called
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 Psyche, out in the main asteroid belt
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 between Mars and Jupiter. It launched back
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 in October 2023, and it's been
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 gradually building speed using its solar
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 electric propulsion system ever since.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Avery: But solar electric propulsion is quiet and
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 efficient rather than fast. So to get the
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 extra kick it needs, the team planned this
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 Mars flyby from the very beginning. On
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 May 15th. That's tomorrow, Psyche
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 will pass just 2 miles from the Martian
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 surface. That's closer than the orbit of
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 Mars own moon, Phobos.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 Anna: And it'll be moving at over
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 12 miles per hour,
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 nearly 20 kilometers per hour.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 Mars's gravity will grab the spacecraft,
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 whip it around and send it on its way faster
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 and on a tilted trajectory that would have
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 been prohibitively expensive to achieve with
00:05:14 --> 00:05:15 propellant alone.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 Avery: The mission team has been preparing for this
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 for months. Back on February 23rd,
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 they fired the spacecraft's thrusters for,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 uh, a full 12 hours to fine tune the
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 approach. And since May 7th,
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 Psyche has been sending back early images.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 First a distant star field, then a
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 crescent shaped Mars, growing larger by the
00:05:36 --> 00:05:36 day.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Anna: Those images aren't just pretty, they're
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 functional. The imaging team is using this
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 period to calibrate their cameras and
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 practice the techniques they'll need when
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 Psyche eventually arrives at the asteroid
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 in late 20. It's essentially
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53 a dress rehearsal.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 Avery: One unique visual because Psyche is
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 approaching from Mars's night side, the
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 planet currently looks like a crescent, just
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 a thin sliver of sunlight on the edge, very
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 much like our own crescent Moon. After
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 closest approach, mission controllers expect
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 to see a near full Mars view. As the
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 spacecraft swings around to confirm
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 Anna: the flyby was successful, the team will
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 monitor radio signals through NASA's Deep
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 Space Network. And there's a bonus science
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 objective, too. Psyche will use its
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 instruments to search for any faint dust
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 rings that might surround Mars
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 created by micrometeorites striking
00:06:34 --> 00:06:35 Phobos
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 Avery: and Deimos asteroid arrival
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 2029 but tomorrow is a big
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 milestone. We'll have the results in our next
00:06:42 --> 00:06:43 episode.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 Anna: Now for something that puts everything, and
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 we mean everything, in perspective.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 Astronomers using the James Webb Telescope
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 have produced what they're calling the most
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 detailed map ever made of the cosmic
00:06:57 --> 00:06:57 web.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 Avery: The cosmic web is, well, it's the
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 universe's skeleton. Imagine the largest
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 structure that exists, a vast network of
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 dark matter filaments and gas sheets
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 interwoven across billions of light years,
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 connecting galaxies and galaxy clusters
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 together. Between those filaments are
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 enormous, almost entirely empty regions
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 called voids. That's the cosmic web.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 Anna: And now, for the first time, we have a
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 truly detailed map of it, one
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 that stretches all the way back to when the
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 universe was only about 1 billion years
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 old. The research was led by a team at
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 the University of California, Riverside,
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 using what's known as the Cosmos Web
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 Survey, the single largest observing program
00:07:44 --> 00:07:45 that Webb has ever conducted.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 Avery: The map charts the positions of over
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 164 galaxies
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 plotted across 13.7 billion
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 years of cosmic history. Think about that
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 A map of 164
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 galaxies spread across nearly the entire age
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 of the universe. Published in the
00:08:04 --> 00:08:05 Astrophysical Journal.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 Anna: What makes this such a leap forward is
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 precision. Webb's infrared instruments can
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 detect galaxies that were completely
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 invisible to older telescopes and can
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 measure their distances with far greater
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 accuracy. That's what allows you to place
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 each galaxy precisely in its cosmic
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 context, rather than just knowing roughly
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 where it sits.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 Avery: The lead author, Jose Hatamnia, a
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 graduate student at UC Riverside, put it this
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 for the first time, scientists can study how
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 galaxies evolve within cluster and
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 filamentary structures across of
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 cosmic time, from the universe's infancy
00:08:44 --> 00:08:45 right up to the present day.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 Anna: And the images from this map are genuinely
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 beautiful. The dense clusters and filaments
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 show up as bright yellow in the
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 visualizations. The voids are dark,
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 great sweeping emptiness between the cosmic
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 threads. It really does look like a web.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 Avery: The implications reach well beyond
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 aesthetics. Understanding how the cosmic
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 web formed and evolved over time is key to
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 understanding why galaxies look the way they
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 do today, why some are large spirals, others
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 are elliptical, others are irregular, and
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 how dark matter has shaped the universe we
00:09:20 --> 00:09:20 live in.
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 Anna: One of the most stunning results from the
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 cosmos Webb data is that the cosmic web
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 appears to have been in place much earlier
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 than some models predicted, meaning the
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 universe organized itself into this vast
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 structure surprisingly quickly after the Big
00:09:37 --> 00:09:37 Bang.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 Avery: Webb continues to rewrite the textbooks. This
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 one is a landmark result.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 Anna: Time now for a quick reminder to check out
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 the great deal our UH, sponsor this week
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 NORDVPN has put together for our listeners.
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00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 and so should you. Again, link in the show
00:10:06 --> 00:10:06 notes.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 Avery: Alright, let's get back to today's space and
00:10:09 --> 00:10:10 astronomy news.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 Anna: Now for something that Southern Hemisphere
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 listeners may want to keep an eye on this
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 weekend our sun has been busy and the
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 results could mean auroras for sky watchers
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 across Australia, New Zealand and southern
00:10:23 --> 00:10:24 South America.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 Avery: A large coronal hole has rotated into what's
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 called a ah, geoffective position, meaning
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 it's pointing directly at Earth. Coronal
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 holes are regions in the Sun's outer
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 atmosphere where the magnetic field opens
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 outward into space rather than looping back,
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 allowing a fast stream of solar wind to
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 escape directly into the solar system.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 Anna: This particular coronal hole is both large
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 and positioned right at the solar equator,
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 which means the high speed solar wind stream
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 it produces is aimed squarely in our
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 direction. That stream is expected to begin
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 reaching Earth on Friday, which is tomorrow.
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 Avery: Our time base weather forecasters have
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 issued a uh, G2 moderate geomagnetic
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 storm watch for Friday the 15th.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 G2 conditions are significant enough to push
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 aurora visibility well beyond the polar
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 circles. For Southern Hemisphere observers,
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 that means southern Australia, Tasmania and
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 New Zealand could all be in play.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 Anna: There's also a separate, slightly earlier
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 event to watch, a coronal mass
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 ejection. A blob of solar plasma was
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 launched on May 10 during an M
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 M5.7 flare from Active
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 Region 4436. That CME
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 may deliver a, uh, glancing blow today or
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 tomorrow, potentially adding some extra
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 activity before the main solar wind stream
00:11:46 --> 00:11:47 arrives.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 Avery: So what should you do if you want to catch
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 the show? Tonight and Friday night are your
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 best windows? Get away from city lights, find
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 the clear southern horizon and check the
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 Bureau of Meteorology's Space Weather Alert
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 page or apps like space weather live for
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 real time, KP Index updates. If it hits
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 KP5 or above, look south.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 Anna: Clear skies and fingers crossed.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 For those of you hoping to see the Southern
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 lights this weekend, now for
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 Avery: something a little different. What if one of
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 the greatest works of medieval literature was
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 also accidentally a, uh, reasonably accurate
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 description of a planetary impact event?
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 Anna: That is the argument being put forward by
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 Timothy Burberry, a professor at Marshall
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 University in West Virginia, in research
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 presented at the European Geosciences Union
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 General assembly in Vienna earlier this
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 month. And once you hear it, it's
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 genuinely hard to unthink.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 Avery: So, the basics. Dante Alighetti wrote
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 the Divine Comedy in the early 1300s.
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 That's the 1300s. The inferno is the
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 first part of that work. And it describes
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 Hell as an inverted conical pit beneath
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 Jerusalem. Nine concentric circles
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 descending downward to a frozen core where
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 Satan is trapped.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 Anna: Now, for seven centuries, readers have
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 interpreted this as spiritual allegory,
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 pure and simple. Satan fell from
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 heaven and was imprisoned at the Earth's
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 center. Mount Purgatory was created on
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 the opposite side of the globe from the
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 displaced Earth. Vivid imagery,
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 profound theology, end of story.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 Avery: Or so everyone thought. Burberry's
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 argument is that if you strip away the
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 religious symbolism and look at what Dante is
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 actually describing as a physical event,
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 it maps remarkably well onto the structure of
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 a complex impact crater.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 Anna: In his interpretation, Satan acts as
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 a high velocity impactor, an
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 asteroid sized object striking the southern
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 hemisphere at tremendous speed,
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 drilling through the crust to the Earth's
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 core. The nine circles of Hell. They
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 closely resemble the concentric terraced
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 rings that large impacts create as
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 shockwaves propagate outward, the same
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 structures you see in major impact basins
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 on the Moon and Venus.
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 Avery: The specific comparison Burberry makes is to
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 the Chicxulub impact, The asteroid strike
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 66 million years ago that ended the age of
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 the dinosaurs and left the 150
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 kilometer crater beneath what is now the Gulf
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 of Mexico. Chicxulub is one of the best
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 studied complex impact structures on Earth.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 And its internal geometry, peak
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 rings, terraced walls, central basin,
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 mirrors what Dante described.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 Anna: Mount Purgatory rising on the opposite
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 side of the globe. That would be the central
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 peak, or in some large impacts, an
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 antipodal feature, a mountain created by
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 the focused seismic energy of the impact
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 converging on the far side of the planet.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 Avery: It's a real phenomenon now, and, um,
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 this is important. Burberry is not claiming
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 that Dante had secret knowledge of impact
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 physics. He's proposing something more
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 interesting than that, that Dante
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 intuitively applied the best physics
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 available to him in the 14th century to think
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 through what a catastrophic fall from heaven
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 would look like as a real physical event. And
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 in doing so, he stumbled into something that
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 looks a lot like what we now know about
00:15:18 --> 00:15:19 impact craters.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 Anna: The research was presented under the flag of
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 what Burberry calls literary
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 geomythology, the idea that ancient
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 texts and myths sometimes preserve
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 intuitions about natural phenomena long
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 before science has the tools to formally
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 describe them. The nine Circles of Hell
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 as Multi Ring Impact Basin
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 Satan as Oblong Asteroid
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 it's quite a thought.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 Avery: The Divine Comedy simultaneously one of
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 history's greatest literary achievements, and
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 apparently a geophysical thought
00:15:53 --> 00:15:53 experiment.
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 Anna: Who knew Wrapping up our main stories
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 today with an update to a mission we've been
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 following this week. After not one but
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 two weather scrubs, the SpaceX Dragon
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 cargo capsule for NASA's CRS
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 34 mission has successfully docked with
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 the International Space Station.
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 Avery: The launch finally got off the ground from
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 Cape Canaveral on Wednesday evening. After
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 scrubs on both Tuesday and Wednesday due to
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 weather, Dragon arrived at the ISS today,
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 May 14, docking autonomously to the
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 forward port of the Harmony Module.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 Anna: On board about 6
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 pounds, roughly 2
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 kilograms of science experiments,
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 supplies and hardware for the expedition's
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 74 crew. BASA astronaut Jack
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 Hathaway and ESA astronaut Sophie
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 Adenow were on duty to monitor Dragon's
00:16:46 --> 00:16:47 approach and docking.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 Avery: Now, some of that cargo is genuinely
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 fascinating. One investigation, called Green
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 Bone, involves a scaffold made from wood that
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 researchers believe could be used to help
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 grow bone cells in microgravity. The
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 goal is to develop new treatments for bone
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 fragility conditions, particularly
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 osteoporosis Wood derived growing
00:17:08 --> 00:17:09 bone in space.
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 Anna: There's also the ODESSI study, which is
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 testing how accurately Earth based simulators
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 can replicate actual microgravity
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 conditions. Scientists will compare
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 bacteria behavior in true space
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 conditions against results from ground based
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 labs, and if the data differs, it
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 could mean some of our ground based
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 conclusions about microgravity biology
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 need to be revised.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 Avery: And a third investigation is looking at how
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 red blood cells and the spleen change
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 in the space environment, crucial data for
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 protecting the health of astronauts on long
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 duration missions to the moon and eventually
00:17:49 --> 00:17:49 Mars.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 Anna: This Dragon capsule known as
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 C209 is actually making its
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 sixth flight to the ISS. That's a record for
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 a SpaceX cargo craft and a sign of just
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 how reliably reusable these vehicles have
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 become. It's expected to stay at the station
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 for about a month before returning to Earth
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 with completed experiments splashing down off
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 the coast of California in mid June.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 Avery: Despite the weather delays, CRS 34
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 is on its way. Science is being done.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:20 Good news all round.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 Anna: Time now for your Sky Watcher's Corner, our
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 weekly guide to what's worth looking for in
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 the night sky. And this week, Avery, we've
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 got a very timely one.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 Avery: We do. As we mentioned in story four,
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 there is a real chance of aurora activity
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 this weekend for the Southern Hemisphere
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 observers with a, uh, G2
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 geomagnetic storm watch in effect from Friday
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 the 15th. The Southern Lights, the
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 Aurora Australis could be visible from
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 southern Australia, Tasmania and New
00:18:50 --> 00:18:51 Zealand.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 Anna: The best viewing is away from city light
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 pollution with a clear, unobstructed southern
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 Horizon. Check the KP index. If it
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 reaches 5 or higher, you're in business.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 Apps like Space Weather Live and my Aurora
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 Forecast give real time updates. Bundle up,
00:19:09 --> 00:19:10 be patient and look south.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 Avery: And while you're out there Friday evening,
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 remember that just hours earlier, NASA's
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 Psyche spacecraft will have completed its
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 Mars flyby, slingshotting around the red
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 planet on its way to a metal asteroid.
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 Mars itself is in the pre dawn sky this week
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 near Saturn. Early risers can catch both
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 as the sky lightens before sunrise.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 Anna: A weekend of space events right on our
00:19:35 --> 00:19:36 doorstep. Don't miss it.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 Avery: That's everything from us for this Thursday
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 edition of Astronomy Daily. What a show.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 Starship V3 on the launch pad.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 Psyche swinging past Mars. The
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 universe's skeleton mapped in unprecedented
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 detail. Aurora alerts for the Southern
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 Hemisphere. Dante moonlighting as an
00:19:56 --> 00:19:59 impact physicist and Dragon safely
00:19:59 --> 00:19:59 at the station.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:03 Anna: Before we go, a quick trivia. The
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 Chicxulub impact crater, the one that helped
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 end the dinosaurs 66 million years ago,
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 is buried beneath the Gulf of Mexico and the
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 Yucatan peninsula. At roughly
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 150km across, it's one of the
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 largest confirmed impact structures on Earth.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 And now possibly in medieval Italian
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 poetry.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 Avery: Links to everything we've covered today are
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 in the show Notes. Find us at astronomydaily
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 IO and follow us on social media
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 astrodaily pod. And if you enjoy the
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 show, please leave us a rating and a review.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:38 It genuinely helps new listeners find us.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 Anna: From all of us here at Astronomy Daily, keep
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 looking up clear skies and we'll see you
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 tomorrow.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 Avery: I saw every day
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 the stories be told.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 Stories.