Episode S05E75 — Saturday, 28 March 2026 | astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod 🚀 Story 1: Artemis II Crew Arrives at Kennedy Space Center The four-person crew of NASA's Artemis II mission — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch (NASA), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (CSA) — arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, March 27, 2026, ahead of a planned April 1 launch. The 10-day mission will fly the crew around the Moon and back to Earth — the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. Launch window: 6:24 PM EDT, April 1–6, 2026. Sources: NASA.gov, Space.com, AP, Orlando Sentinel ☄️ Story 2: Hubble Detects First-Ever Spin Reversal of a Comet A new study in The Astronomical Journal reveals that comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák reversed its direction of rotation — a first in observational astronomy. Gas jets acting as thrusters slowed the comet's spin and flipped it into a new direction. The comet's nucleus measures just 1 km across. Researchers warn the rapid new spin could lead to the comet's disintegration. Source: NASA Science / Space Telescope Science Institute, March 26, 2026 🌑 Story 3: LIGO Signal May Be a Primordial Black Hole A November 2025 LIGO detection of a gravitational wave signal from an object with less than one solar mass — impossible through stellar evolution — may be evidence of a primordial black hole formed in the Big Bang's first moments. A new University of Miami study in The Astrophysical Journal finds the detection consistent with primordial black hole models and suggests these objects could help explain dark matter. Source: Universe Today / University of Miami, March 27, 2026 ⭐ Story 4: IXPE Delivers New Portrait of Oldest-Known Supernova NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) has produced a new X-ray image of supernova remnant RCW 86 (SN 185) — the oldest recorded supernova, first observed by Chinese astronomers in 185 AD. Combined with Chandra and XMM-Newton data, the image reveals the remnant's expansion has slowed at the edge of a low-density cavity, producing a reflected shock. Source: NASA / Phys.org, March 25–27, 2026 🏥 Story 5: Mike Fincke Speaks About His ISS Medical Emergency NASA astronaut Mike Fincke has given his first detailed account of the January 7, 2026 medical event that led to the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station. In an AP interview, Fincke revealed he lost the ability to speak for approximately 20 minutes while eating dinner. Doctors have ruled out a heart attack but the cause remains unknown. The incident ended Crew-11's mission early, returning Fincke, Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov to Earth on January 15. Source: Associated Press / Phys.org, March 27, 2026 ☀️ Story 6: Solar Activity — AR4403 Flares, Possible CME March 29 Sunspot region AR4403, which rotated into view on March 26, produced an M3.9 solar flare causing a minor radio blackout over the Indian Ocean. Conditions are quiet on March 28, but space weather forecasters expect a co-rotating interaction region and coronal hole high-speed stream to arrive March 29, bringing unsettled geomagnetic conditions and possible aurora visibility at mid-latitudes. Southern Hemisphere observers in Australia and New Zealand should watch Sunday–Monday nights. Source: EarthSky / The Sun Today, March 27, 2026
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 Four astronauts, one rocket, four days
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 until launch. History is about to be
00:00:07 --> 00:00:08 made.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:09 >> And if you think that's the only
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 jaw-dropping story in space today, wait
00:00:12 --> 00:00:13 until you hear about a comet that
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 literally stopped spinning and started
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 going the other way.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:18 >> I'm Anna.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 >> I'm Avery.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 >> And this is Astronomy Daily, your daily
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 guide to everything happening in space
00:00:24 --> 00:00:28 and beyond. Welcome to season 5, episode
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 75. Let's get started then.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 >> All right, let's start with what is
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 without a doubt the biggest human space
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 flight story in more than 50 years. The
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 crew of NASA's Aremis 2 mission has
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 arrived at Kennedy Space Center in
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 Florida. And the countdown is well and
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 truly on.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 >> That's right. Yesterday, Friday the
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 27th, NASA astronauts Reed Weissman,
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 Victor Glover, and Christina Coach along
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 with Canadian Space Agency astronaut
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 Jeremy Hansen touchdown at Kennedy's
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 shuttle landing facility in their T38
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 jets arriving from Johnson Space Center
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 in Houston. They were greeted by NASA
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 administrator Jared Isaacman and a crowd
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 of reporters that was by all accounts
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 the largest anyone had seen for an
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 astronaut arrival in a very long time.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 And the energy was electric. Avery
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 Commander Reed Wisman stepped out onto
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 the runway, pumped his fists, and said,
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 and I'm quoting here, "Hey, let's go to
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 the moon." That says it all, really.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 >> It really does. So, the plan launch is
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 scheduled for no earlier than 6:24 in
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 the evening, Eastern time on Wednesday,
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 April the 1st. I know, April Fool's Day,
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 but this is no joke. The window stays
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 open until April 6th, giving the team a
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 6-day buffer, but mission managers are
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 pushing hard for that first opportunity.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 >> And the mission itself, Artemis 2, will
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 send all four crew members on a 10day
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 journey around the moon and back to
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 Earth aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 Launched on top of the space launch
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 system, the most powerful operational
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 rocket in the world. They won't land on
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 the moon. That's Artemis 3's job, but
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 they will fly farther from Earth than
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 any human has ever been. The Apollo 13
00:02:18 --> 00:02:22 record set back in 1970 will be broken.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 >> The crew are now in quarantine at
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 Kennedy, spending their final days
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 reviewing mission procedures, completing
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 medical checkups, and spending precious
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 time with family. The countdown clock is
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 set to begin ticking at 4:44 p.m. on
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 Monday, and from that point, it's all
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 systems go. For anyone who watched the
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 Apollo missions as a child or who has
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 simply dreamed of humanity returning to
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 the moon, this is the week we've been
00:02:46 --> 00:02:47 waiting for.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 >> We will absolutely be following this one
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 closely over the coming days on
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 Astronomy Daily. And for our listeners
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 down under in Australia and across New
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 Zealand, April 2nd is your morning to
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 set those alarms.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 >> Now, from the moon to a tiny snowball
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 tumbling through our inner solar system,
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 and when I say tiny, I mean it. Comet
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 41P, formerly known as Tuttle Jeecobini
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 Krisak, measures just one kilometer
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 across, about three times the height of
00:03:16 --> 00:03:17 the Eiffel Tower.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 >> And yet, this little cosmic wanderer has
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 just done something that scientists have
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 never in all of recorded astronomical
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 history observed before. It reversed its
00:03:29 --> 00:03:30 spin.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 >> That's right. A new study published this
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 week in the Astronomical Journal based
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 on observations from NASA's Hubble Space
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 Telescope reveals that comet 41P first
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 dramatically slowed its spin, nearly
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 came to a complete stop, and then
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 started going the other way. Researchers
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 describe it as a kind of merrygoround
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 effect. The comet's own outgassing jets,
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 streams of gas blasted off its surface
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 as it heats up near the sun, were
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 pushing against its spin so hard that
00:03:59 --> 00:04:00 they eventually flipped it.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 >> To give you a timeline, back in March
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 2017, the comet was spinning at a
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 regular pace. By May 2017, Swift
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 observatory data showed it had slowed to
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 three times that rate. And then when
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 Hubble took a look in December 2017, the
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 comet was spinning fast again. but in
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 the opposite direction. The whole
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 reversal had happened within months.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 >> Now, here's the twist, and it's a
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 sobering one. Study author David Jwitt
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 of UCLA says that because the comet is
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 now spinning so rapidly in its new
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 direction, centrifugal forces could
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 overcome the comet's own weak gravity.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 And his conclusion, quote, I expect this
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 nucleus will very quickly self-destruct.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 We may be witnessing the final chapter
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 of comet 41P's long life,
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 >> which makes these observations all the
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 more remarkable. The comet is thought to
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 have been in its current orbit for
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 around 1 years. And in one close
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 pass of the sun, we got to watch it
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 undergo a transformation that would
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 normally take centuries in just a matter
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 of months. Hubble really never stops
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 delivering the goods. Story 3 takes us
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 to one of the deepest mysteries in
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 modern cosmology and potentially one of
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 the most significant detections in the
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 history of gravitational wave astronomy.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 >> Back in November last year, LIGO, the
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 laser interferometer gravitational wave
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 observatory, picked up a signal that
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 stopped researchers cold. The
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 gravitational wave appeared to come from
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 a merger event involving at least one
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 object that weighed less than a single
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 solar mass. And here's why that matters.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 Through all known processes of stellar
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 evolution, that simply shouldn't be
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 possible. Regular black holes form from
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 dying stars. And the minimum mass for
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 that is a few times our sun. So what was
00:05:53 --> 00:05:54 it?
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 >> Well, this week, astrophysicists Nikico
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 Capaluti and Alberto Magara from the
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 University of Miami published the
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 compelling answer in the Astrophysical
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 Journal. Their conclusion, it may be a
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 primordial black hole, an object formed
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 not from a collapsing star, but from the
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 unimaginable density of the universe
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 itself in the first fraction of a second
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 after the big bang.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 >> Primordial black holes are one of the
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 most tantalizing concepts in theoretical
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 physics. They could range from
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 microscopic to enormous. And crucially,
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 they are one of the most compelling
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 candidates for dark matter, the
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 invisible substance that makes up
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 roughly 85% of all matter in the
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 universe. We can see dark matter's
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 gravitational effects everywhere we
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 look, but we have never directly
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 detected it. A confirmed primordial
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 black hole detection would transform our
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 understanding of the cosmos overnight.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 The Miami team modeled how many
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 primordial black holes should exist, how
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 often they should merge, and how
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 frequently LIGO should detect them. And
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 remarkably, the numbers lined up. One
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 rare detection event exactly as her
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 theory predicts. It's not confirmation.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 One signal is suggestive, not
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 conclusive. But it is a genuinely
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 thrilling lead to follow. As Capelluti
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 himself put it, the most plausible
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 explanation for the LIGO signal, which
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 lacks any conventional astrophysical
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 explanation, is the detection of a
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 primordial black hole. Next generation
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 detectors, including the space-based
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 LISA mission planned for the 2030s and
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 the groundbased cosmic explorer, 10
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 times more sensitive than LIGO, will
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 hopefully shed more light on this. For
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 now, we may have just received our first
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 signal from the dawn of time itself.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 Here's a story that bridges ancient
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 human history and cuttingedge astronomy.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:50 In the year 185 AD, Chinese astronomers
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 recorded a strange new star appearing in
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 the sky, one that would remain visible
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 for up to 8 months. They called it a
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 guest star. What they had actually
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 witnessed was one of the earliest
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 supernova explosions ever recorded by
00:08:03 --> 00:08:07 humanity. Fast forward 1 years, and
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 that same ancient explosion, now known
00:08:09 --> 00:08:13 as supernova remnant RCW86,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 or SN185,
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 has just been given its most detailed
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 examination yet. NASA's EXPE mission,
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 the imaging X-ray polarimetry explorer,
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 has delivered a breathtaking new image
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 of the remnants outer edge, combining
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 its unique X-ray polarimetry data with
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 observations from NASA's Chandra
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 Observatory and the European Space Ay's
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 XMM Newton telescope.
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 >> So, what did they find? E targeted the
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 outer rim of the remnant, highlighted in
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 a vivid purple ring in the new image,
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 and discovered something fascinating.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 The expanding shell of superheated gas,
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 which had been blasting outward at
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 tremendous speed for 2 years,
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 appears to have stopped at the edge of a
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 large, low density cavity that
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 surrounded the original star. In other
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 words, the explosion ran into a wall.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 And the new data helps explain why the
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 remnant expanded so much faster than
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 astronomers initially expected.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 >> Achieves this by studying the
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 polarization of X-rays. Essentially, how
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 those high energy light waves are
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 oriented as they travel through space.
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 It's a technique that opens a completely
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 new window on the behavior of exploding
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 stars, black holes, and pulsars. The
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 resulting composite image with yellow
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 for low energy X-rays, blue for high
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 energy, and the purple data overlaid is
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 genuinely one of the most beautiful
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 things you'll see in space science this
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 week. We'll have a link in the show
00:09:43 --> 00:09:44 notes.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:45 >> There's something deeply moving about
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 this story. A star that humans watched
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 die with the naked eye two millennia
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 ago, recorded by diligent observers in
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 ancient China, is still revealing its
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 secrets today. Science is a very long
00:09:59 --> 00:10:00 conversation.
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 >> Story 5 brings us a story that's both
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 deeply human and profoundly relevant to
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 the future of space exploration and it
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 connects directly to our lead story
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 today about Artemis 2.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 >> Earlier this year, you may recall NASA
00:10:14 --> 00:10:15 made headlines when it announced that
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 the Crew 11 mission aboard the
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 International Space Station was being
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 cut short due to a medical concern. The
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 agency initially declined to name the
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 astronaut involved, but in late
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 February, veteran astronaut Mike Think,
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 a four-time space flyer and retired US
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 Air Force Colonel, came forward at his
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 own request to confirm that he was the
00:10:37 --> 00:10:38 person affected.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 >> And this week, for the first time, Fank
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 spoke in detail about what actually
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 happened in an exclusive interview with
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 the Associated Press conducted from
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 Houston's Johnson Space Center. The
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 account is extraordinary. Think says he
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 was eating dinner on January 7th, the
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 evening before a planned spacew walk,
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 when it suddenly hit. He lost the
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 ability to speak. He felt no pain. The
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 episode lasted around 20 minutes. His
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 crew mates, seeing him in distress,
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 immediately contacted flight surgeons on
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 the ground. It was completely out of the
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 blue, he told the AP. It was just
00:11:13 --> 00:11:17 amazingly quick. NASA used the station's
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 ultrasound machine during the event,
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 which Frink credits as genuinely useful,
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 and his condition quickly stabilized.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 But NASA's medical team determined that
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 the safest course of action was an early
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 return to Earth so that Fank could
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 access advanced medical imaging not
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 available on the ISS. NASA canled the
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 following day spacew walk. And on
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 January 15th, Fank and his three crew
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 mates, Zen Cardman, Kima Yui, and Oleg
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 Platinov, splashed down in the Pacific
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 Ocean about a month ahead of schedule.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 Here's the part that is both remarkable
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 and sobering. As of this week, doctors
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 still do not know what caused it. A
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 heart attack has been ruled out, but the
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 precise nature of the event, whether
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 neurological, cardiovascular, or
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 something else entirely, remains
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 undiagnosed. NASA is now reviewing
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 astronaut medical records to determine
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 whether anything similar has occurred in
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 space before, potentially without being
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 recognized. And here's why this matters
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 so much right now with Artemis 2 5 days
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 from launch on the ISS. If something
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 goes wrong medically, astronauts could
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 be home within hours. On a 10-day lunar
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 mission, and certainly on any future
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 mission to Mars, that option doesn't
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 exist. The FINK incident has become a
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 landmark moment for space medicine,
00:12:36 --> 00:12:37 prompting urgent conversations about
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 what medical capabilities need to exist
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 on deep space vehicles. Think himself
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 framed it with characteristic composure.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 Spaceflight is an incredible privilege
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 and sometimes it reminds us just how
00:12:50 --> 00:12:51 human we are.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 >> And Mike Fank says he feels fine now and
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 is continuing routine post-flight
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 conditioning at Johnson Space Center. We
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 wish him a full and swift recovery. And
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 we salute the crew and the medical teams
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 who got everyone home safely.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 >> And finally, eyes on the sun because our
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 nearest star has been putting on a show
00:13:11 --> 00:13:12 this week.
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 >> That's right. A new sunspot region
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 designated AR4403
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 rotated into view on the eastern solar
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 limb on March 26th, and it wasted no
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 time making its presence felt. Within
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 hours of coming into view, AR4403
00:13:29 --> 00:13:33 unleashed the powerful M3.9 solar flare
00:13:33 --> 00:13:37 at 611 UTC, triggering an R1, that's a
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 minor, radio blackout over the Indian
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 Ocean. Now, the good news, as of today,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 Saturday the 28th, the sun is relatively
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 quiet. AR4403
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 has calmed after its initial outburst,
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 and space weather forecasters are
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 expecting mostly quiet conditions
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 through today. But there's a catch, and
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 it's worth noting for our listeners who
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 love aurora watching.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 >> From Sunday the 29th, a co-rotating
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 interaction region, a dense zone of
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 compressed solar wind along with a
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 high-speed stream from a coronal hole
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 are expected to arrive at Earth. And a
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 faint coronal mass ejection from the
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 recent activity could also graze our
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 planet's magnetic field around that
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 time. base weather forecasters are
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 predicting unsettled geomagnetic
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 conditions which could in favorable
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 circumstances push auroras to slightly
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 lower latitudes than usual. So for our
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 listeners in southern Australia,
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 Tasmania and New Zealand, particularly
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 those of you with dark skies away from
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 city lights, Sunday and Monday nights
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 are worth watching. Check your local
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 Aurora alert apps. Keep an eye to the
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 south and fingers crossed for clear
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 skies. And if you capture anything
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 spectacular, we'd love to see it. Tag us
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 at Astro Daily Pod.
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 >> We'll be keeping an eye on developments
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 and may have an update in Monday's
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 episode if conditions escalate. And that
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 is a wrap on an absolutely packed
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 edition of Astronomy Daily. To recap
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 what we covered today, the Aremis 2 crew
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 has landed at Kennedy Space Center with
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 April 1st launch in their sites. Hubble
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 has documented the first ever spin
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 reversal of a comet and that comet may
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 be on borrowed time. LIGO may have
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 detected a black hole born at the dawn
00:15:21 --> 00:15:25 of the universe itself. NASA's IXP
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 telescope gave us the finest portrait
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 yet of a supernova first seen by human
00:15:30 --> 00:15:34 eyes in 185 AD. Astronaut Mike Finke
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 spoke for the first time about his still
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 mysterious medical emergency in orbit.
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 And the sun is stirring with possible
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 aurora opportunities on the way for
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 southern hemisphere sky watchers.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 >> What an extraordinary time to be alive
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 and looking up. If you're enjoying
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 Astronomy Daily, please subscribe, leave
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 us a review, and share the show with
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 anyone in your life who loves the cosmos
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 as much as we do. You can find us at
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 astronomyaily.io
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 and across all platforms at Astro Daily
00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 Pod.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 >> Until Monday, keep looking up.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 >> Clear skies, everyone.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 day.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:15 Stories we told.