00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Welcome back to Astronomy Daily, the
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 show that gets you caught up on the
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 cosmos every single day. I'm Anna.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 >> And I'm Avery. And friends, what a day
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 to be a space fan.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 >> It is day three of the Aremis 2 mission.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 Four humans are right now hurdling
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 toward the moon, and we have a lot to
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 cover. A record-breaking rocket launch,
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 brand new lunar science, a stunning
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 discovery about dead stars, and the best
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 chance all year to spot the planet
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 Mercury with your naked eye.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 >> Plus, we promised you an update on comet
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 maps yesterday, and we are delivering.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 The solar plunge has happened. The
00:00:38 --> 00:00:39 verdict is still coming in. Stay with
00:00:39 --> 00:00:40 us.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 >> Let's get into it.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 >> Trajectory so perfect, NASA canled its
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 own burn. We are now into day three of
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 the Aremis 2 mission and the headline
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 today is honestly almost too good to
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 believe. NASA had planned a trajectory
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 correction burn for this evening. A
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 small engine firing to nudge Orion onto
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 the perfect path to the moon and they
00:01:02 --> 00:01:03 didn't need it.
00:01:03 --> 00:01:04 >> Flight controllers in mission control at
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 Johnson Space Center looked at the data
00:01:06 --> 00:01:10 and made the call. Cancel the burn.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 Orion is already on the precise
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 trajectory it needs. As Howard Hu, the
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 Orion spacecraft program manager put it,
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 "It's really good to see that we don't
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 need these minor correction burns. It
00:01:21 --> 00:01:22 shows that our navigation performance
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 and our ability to get ranging has been
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 outstanding." This was the first of
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 three planned trajectory correction
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 burns. The others are still on the
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 schedule if needed, but this is a
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 genuine vote of confidence in the
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 precision of the entire mission so far.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 Meanwhile, what were Reed Wiseman,
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 Victor Glover, Christina and
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 Jeremy Hansen actually doing today?
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 Mission control woke them up playing in
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 a Daydream by the Freddy Jones band,
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 which is a great alarm clock choice. And
00:01:51 --> 00:01:52 then they got to work.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 >> Day three was all about medical
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 readiness. The crew demonstrated CPR
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 procedures in weightlessness and checked
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 out Orion's on board medical kit, a
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 thermometer, blood pressure monitor, a
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 stethoscope, and odoscope. They also
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 tested Orion's optical communication
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 system, successfully transmitting
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 highdefinition video back to ground
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 stations in the United States.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 >> But the really exciting part, the lunar
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 science team back on Earth is already
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 building what they call the lunar
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 targeting plan. They're selecting
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 specific geological features on the
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 moon's surface. craters, ancient lava
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 flows, ridges that the crew will observe
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 and photograph during their 6-h hour
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 flyby window on Monday.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 >> And Avery has been doing the math on
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 what Monday actually means.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 >> Well, it's history. On Monday, April
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 6th, the Aremis 2 crew will swing around
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 the far side of the moon, briefly out of
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 contact with Earth entirely. And at
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 their farthest point, they will be
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 252
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 mi from home. That breaks the all-time
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 human spaceflight distance record set by
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 the crew of Apollo 13 back in April
00:03:04 --> 00:03:08 1970. 56 years. We've been waiting 56
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 years to break that record.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 >> And it gets better. During the lunar
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 flyby, Orion will enter a solar eclipse,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 the sun moving behind the moon from the
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 crew's perspective. The crew will use
00:03:21 --> 00:03:22 that window to look for meteoroid
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 impacts flashing on the lunar surface
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 and to try to photograph the deep space
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 sky without the sun in the way.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 >> We'll have full day four and Monday
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 flyby coverage in Monday's episode.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 Right now, four humans traveling toward
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 the moon and everything is going exactly
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 to plan.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 >> Next, the solar plunge has happened. Now
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44 we wait.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 >> All right, we promise you this and here
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 it is. Your comet maps update. Yesterday
00:03:49 --> 00:03:53 we introduced you to comet C 2026A1
00:03:53 --> 00:03:57 known as MAPS, a rare CO sungrazer
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 discovered in January by a team of
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 French astronomers in Chile. We told you
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 it was about to make one of the most
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 dangerous journeys in the solar system,
00:04:06 --> 00:04:10 a pass within 161 km of the sun's
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 surface, closer than most comets ever
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 come. And we promise to bring you the
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 latest today. So, here's where we are.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:22 At 14:22 UTC today, that's right in the
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 middle of the day in Australia. Comet
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 maps reached perihelion. It passed
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 through the lower corona of the sun. The
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 plunge is done.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 >> And the verdict? That is genuinely still
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 coming in because right now, MAPS is in
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 the sun's glare, basically invisible to
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 groundbased observers. We're relying on
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 spacecraft imagery, particularly from
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 SOHO's Lasco Coronograph to track what
00:04:48 --> 00:04:49 happened.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 >> The big question has shifted. It's no
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 longer just did it survive. It's what
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 kind of show will it put on? There are
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 several scenarios. If the nucleus
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 survived intact, maps could emerge in
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 the next day or two as a stunning naked
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 eye comet. Some predictions put its
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 potential brightness at magnitude
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 minus5.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 brighter than Venus. Others suggest it
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 could reach magnitude minus15,
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 brighter than the full moon. At
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 perihelion, it may have even been
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 briefly visible in daylight.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 >> Even if the nucleus broke apart, which
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 is what happens to most sun grazers, the
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 story isn't necessarily over. A
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 post-parelion breakup can produce what
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 astronomers call a headless wonder, a
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 bright glowing tail with no nucleus
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 behind it. Sometimes those can be
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 spectacular in their own right.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 >> Maps belongs to the Crutz sun graaser
00:05:45 --> 00:05:49 family, the same family as comet Ikea in
00:05:49 --> 00:05:50 1965.
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 One of the brightest comets of the 20th
00:05:52 --> 00:05:56 century and comet Lovejoy in 2011, which
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 survived its own brush with the corona
00:05:59 --> 00:06:00 and went on to dazzle southern
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 hemisphere observers.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 >> And that is the key phrase, southern
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 hemisphere. If maps emerges from the
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 glare as expected, the window to see it
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 from the ground opens around April 6th
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 to 10th. Look west after sunset low on
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 the horizon. In Australia and across New
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 Zealand, you are perfectly placed for
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 this. Venus will be your guide star,
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 bright in the western evening sky, and
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 maps, if it survived, should appear
00:06:27 --> 00:06:28 nearby.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 >> We will have the latest on Monday's
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 episode. This story is very much not
00:06:32 --> 00:06:36 over. Atlas 5 lifts its heaviest payload
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 ever, 29 Amazon LEO satellites.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 >> While all eyes were on the moon this
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 morning, there was a rocket launch
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 happening simultaneously that set a
00:06:45 --> 00:06:46 record of its own.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 >> In the early hours of this morning, 1:45
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 a.m. Eastern time, a United Launch
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in
00:06:57 --> 00:07:01 Florida. Its cargo, 29 Amazon LEO
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 satellites. And that payload, 29
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 satellites packed into one rocket, made
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 history. It is the heaviest single
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 payload the Atlas 5 has ever flown.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:17 >> This is mission LA05 for Amazon LEO, the
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 satellite internet constellation
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 previously known as Project Cooper.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 Amazon renamed the constellation in
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 November last year, and they're building
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 it at pace. With today's launch, they
00:07:28 --> 00:07:32 now have around 241 satellites on orbit
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 out of an eventual constellation of more
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 than 3.
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 The Atlas 5 flew in its most powerful
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 configuration, the 551 variant with five
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 solid rocket boosters strapped on, and
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 ULA engineers made specific
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 modifications to the Centaur upper stage
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 and its dispenser system to carry the
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 extra load. These 29 satellites went up
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 on a northeast trajectory to a low Earth
00:08:00 --> 00:08:04 orbit of around 450 km. Amazon has an
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 FCC deadline looming. They need to have
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 half of their constellation operational
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 by July 2026, which puts them in a
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 serious race. Multiple Atlas 5 and
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 Vulcan Centaur launches are planned this
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 year. Plus, missions on Aron 6, New
00:08:20 --> 00:08:24 Glenn, and Falcon 9. The Atlas 5 is one
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 of the most reliable rockets ever built.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 This was its 102nd mission. And while
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 the Vulcan Centaur is taking over as the
00:08:32 --> 00:08:33 primary heavy lift vehicle going
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 forward, today proved the old workhorse
00:08:36 --> 00:08:37 has still got it.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 >> Okay, our next story. Moon's hot cold
00:08:40 --> 00:08:44 divide may be wrong. Blue Ghost rewrites
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 lunar science. With the Aremis 2 crew
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 heading toward the moon right now, this
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 next story feels especially timely
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 because new data from the moon's surface
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 is challenging something scientists
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 thought they understood for decades. A
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 touched down in the moon's Mari
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 Chrysium, the Sea of Crises, back in
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 March of 2025. It operated for a full
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 lunar day, drilling into the surface and
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 sending back over 110 gigabytes of data.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 And now a year on, scientists are
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 presenting the first major scientific
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 results. And they are surprising.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 >> The long-standing view of the moon has
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 been this. The near side, the face we
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 always see from Earth, is geologically
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 hot. It's dominated by ancient volcanic
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 plains. And beneath the surface, there's
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 a concentration of heat producing
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 radioactive elements, particularly
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 thorium, in a region called the
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 Proellarum creep terrain. The far side
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 by contrast is cooler, older, more
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 heavily cratered.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 >> Blue ghost was specifically sent to land
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 outside that hot region and marchium
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 well away from the creep zone precisely
00:09:56 --> 00:09:57 to test whether the temperature
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 difference was as dramatic as scientists
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 expected. The answer has upended the
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 model. Lugos's heat probe found that the
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 underground temperature at Mari Chrysium
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 is not significantly different from what
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 Apollo astronauts measured at their
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 landing sites deep inside the supposed
00:10:15 --> 00:10:15 hot zone.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 >> As Seichi Nagihara, the principal
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 investigator of Blue Ghost's heat probe
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 at Texas Tech University put it, "We may
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 have to abandon that binary."
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 >> What does this mean? Heat producing
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 elements like thorium may be more widely
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 distributed beneath the lunar surface
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 than anyone thought. And one possible
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 explanation is that volcanic activity in
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 some regions wasn't driven by those
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 radioactive elements at all. It may have
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 simply been easier for magma to break
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 through in places where the crust was
00:10:45 --> 00:10:46 thinner.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 >> It's a fundamental rethink of how the
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 moon formed and evolved. And it has
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 direct implications for where future
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 crude missions might land and what
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 they'll find.
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 Blue Ghost Mission 2, expected to launch
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 later this year, will land on the lunar
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 far side, giving scientists the next
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 data point in this evolving picture.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 >> Onwards the story five. Let's simply
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 call this one stellar science. Pulsars
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 are broadcasting from the edge of their
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 magnetic reach. Now to a discovery that
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 overturns decades of thinking about some
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 of the most extreme objects in the
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 universe and it has an Australian
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26 fingerprint on it.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 >> Pulsars are the collaps remnants of dead
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 stars. They're among the densest objects
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 we know of. A teaspoon of pulsar
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 material would weigh around 10 million
00:11:36 --> 00:11:40 tons on Earth. As they spin, they sweep
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 beams of radio waves across the cosmos
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 like cosmic lighouses. And a special
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 class called millisecond pulsars spins
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 hundreds of times per second. So
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 regularly that they rival atomic clocks
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 in their precision.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 >> For decades, the textbook answer to
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 where those radio pulses come from was
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 simple. Near the surface, close to the
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 magnetic poles. That's where scientists
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 assumed all the action happened.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 >> A new study published in monthly notices
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 of the Royal Astronomical Society has
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 just rewritten that. Professor Michael
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 Kramer from the Maxplank Institute for
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 Radio Aastronomy in Germany and Dr.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:22 Simon Johnson from Australia's own CSRO
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 analyzed radio observations of nearly
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 200 millisecond pulsars and compared
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 them with gammaray data from NASA's
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 Fermy Space Telescope.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 >> What they found about 1/3 of millisecond
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 pulsars are broadcasting radio waves
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 from two completely separate regions at
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 once. not just the magnetic poles, but
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 also from a distant swirling zone of
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 charged particles called the current
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 sheet, right at what's called the light
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 cylinder. That's the boundary where the
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 pulsar's magnetic field would need to
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 travel faster than light just to keep
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 pace with the spinning star.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 >> As Dr. Johnston put it, these tiny, fast
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 spinning stars are even more complex and
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 surprising than we thought. broadcasting
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 from both their surfaces and from the
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 very edge of their magnetic reach.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 >> The practical consequences are
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 significant because the radio signals
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 are spreading out over a wider range of
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 directions than previously understood.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 More pulsars should be detectable than
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 scientists thought. And that's good news
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 for projects like pulsar timing arrays,
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 networks of pulsars used as detectors
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 for gravitational waves rippling across
00:13:35 --> 00:13:36 the universe.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 >> A great piece of science and a proud
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 moment for CSRO, Australia's National
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 Science Agency.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 >> And finally today, an invitation to go
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 outside and look up because right now
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 Mercury is putting on its best
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 performance of the entire year. and we
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 have the best seats in the house.
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 >> Mercury reached what astronomers call
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 greatest elongation on April 3rd, the
00:14:02 --> 00:14:03 point where it appears farthest from the
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 sun in our sky. This is the year's
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 greatest elongation for Mercury. Full
00:14:08 --> 00:14:12 stop. The best it will get all of 2026.
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 Here's the key thing about Mercury. It's
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 always close to the sun in our sky,
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 which makes it genuinely difficult to
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 spot. Most people have never actually
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 seen it. Greatest elongation is your
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 best window. The planet pulls as far
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 from the sun's glare as it ever gets,
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 giving you a brief, clear opportunity
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 before it slips back.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 >> Right now, Mercury is sitting about 28°
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 from the sun, rising in the eastern sky
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 before dawn. Look east about 30 to 40
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 minutes before sunrise. You're looking
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 for a steady point of light, magnitude
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 around 0.4, four, which is bright enough
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 to see with the naked eye under decent
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 conditions. It's sitting low on the
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 horizon just above Mars in the
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 constellation Aquarius.
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 >> And here's the southern hemisphere
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 advantage. This is specifically the best
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 morning apparition of Mercury for the
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 southern hemisphere in 2026 from
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 Australia and New Zealand. The geometry
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 of the ecliptic gives us a steeper angle
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 to the horizon. Mercury climbs higher
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 and stays out of the Merc longer than it
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 does for northern hemisphere observers.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 >> If you have binoculars or a small
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 telescope, there's a bonus. Mercury is
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 currently showing a half illuminated
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 face, what astronomers call a quarter
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 phase. You can see it going through
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 phases just like the moon, which is
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 something a lot of people don't realize
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 about Mercury. And keep watching the
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 eastern sky over the next couple of
00:15:41 --> 00:15:45 weeks because Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 Neptune will gather in a tight cluster
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 on the morning of April 18th. Three of
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 those four will be visible to the naked
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 eye, close enough to cover with three
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 fingers held at arms length. A lovely
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 little planetary alignment to chase.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 >> So this week, look east before sunrise
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 for Mercury. Look west after sunset for
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 any sign of comet maps emerging from the
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 sun's glare. And keep an eye on Monday's
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 episode for everything you need to know
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 about the Aremis 2 lunar flyby. And that
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 is your Astronomy Daily for Saturday the
00:16:18 --> 00:16:22 5th of April 2026. A crew heading to the
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 moon. A comet that may be putting on the
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 sky show of the decade. A
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 record-breaking rocket launch. Science
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 from the lunar surface. A pulsar
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 discovery out of Australia. and Mercury
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 waiting for you in the dawn sky.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 >> We'll be back Monday with day four and
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 five of Artemis 2 and the latest on
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 comet maps. If you're heading outside
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 tonight, clear skies everyone.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 >> From all of us at Astronomy Daily, keep
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 looking up. Astronomy day.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:59 Stories told.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:03 Stories to tell.