Astronomy Daily | S05E49 | February 26, 2026 Six Planets, a Surprise in the Milky Way, and the First ISS Medical Evacuation Revealed Tonight the Moon sits right next to Jupiter in what is the visual highlight of the February six-planet alignment. Meanwhile, astronomers have made a jaw-dropping discovery about our galaxy’s magnetic field, NASA has named the astronaut at the centre of last month’s historic ISS medical evacuation, and a hypersonic scramjet launch has been scrubbed. All that and more in today’s episode. IN THIS EPISODE • SKYWATCHING — Moon-Jupiter conjunction tonight: the six-planet alignment (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) is peaking right now, with Jupiter blazing beside the waxing Moon after sunset. The Blood Moon total lunar eclipse arrives March 3. • DEEP SPACE — The world’s largest radio telescope array has made new chemical discoveries in the turbulent heart of the Milky Way around Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. • ARTEMIS UPDATE — NASA’s SLS rocket has returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs; early April is now the earliest realistic launch window for the crewed lunar flyby. • ISS — NASA has named the astronaut who required the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station, following last month’s early return of Crew-11. • SCIENCE — A groundbreaking new map of the Milky Way’s magnetic field reveals an unexpected diagonal reversal in the Sagittarius Arm — a discovery that prompted an OMG moment for the lead researcher. • LAUNCH UPDATE — Rocket Lab’s HASTE ‘That’s Not a Knife’ hypersonic mission carrying an Australian hydrogen scramjet demonstrator has been scrubbed; no new date yet. FIND US Website: astronomydaily.io | Social: @AstroDailyPod | Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Tonight, the night sky puts on a show.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 The moon has a date with Jupiter. And
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 six planets are lined up for your
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 viewing pleasure. This is Astronomy
00:00:09 --> 00:00:09 Daily.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 >> I'm Avery.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 >> And I'm Anna. Season 5, episode 49,
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 Thursday the 26th of February, 2026.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 Lots to get through today. So, let's go.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 >> If you've been watching the Western sky
00:00:22 --> 00:00:23 after sunset this week, you may have
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 noticed something spectacular building.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 Six of the solar systems planets are
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 above the horizon simultaneously right
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 now. And tonight is the visual
00:00:34 --> 00:00:35 highlight.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 >> We've also got a deep dive into some
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 extraordinary new findings about our
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 galaxy's magnetic field, a quick update
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 on Artemis 2, the identity of the
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 astronaut at the center of last month's
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 historic ISS medical story, and a brief
00:00:50 --> 00:00:51 heads up on a scrubbed military
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 hypersonic launch that we'd been
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 previewing earlier in the week. Big
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 show. Let's get into it.
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 >> So Avery, I know you've been watching
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 this planet parade build all week, and
00:01:02 --> 00:01:03 tonight is the moment we've been waiting
00:01:04 --> 00:01:04 for.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 >> It really is. As darkness falls this
00:01:07 --> 00:01:08 evening, if you head outside and look
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 west, you'll see the moon sitting right
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 next to Jupiter. It's a stunning
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 pairing, and it's the centerpiece of a
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 six planet alignment that's been
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 building throughout February.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 >> Let's break this down. Fix planets above
00:01:22 --> 00:01:26 the horizon at once. Mercury, Venus,
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 How does that work exactly?
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 >> The planets orbit the sun in roughly the
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 same flat plane, the ecliptic. So from
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Earth, they always appear in a band
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 across the sky. When they spread out
00:01:40 --> 00:01:41 enough that several are visible
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 simultaneously, we get what astronomers
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 call a planet parade or alignment. Right
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 now, they're nicely spaced across that
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 band. Now, I want to be honest with
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 listeners here because not all six
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 planets are easy to spot. Some are quite
00:01:56 --> 00:01:57 the challenge.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 >> Absolutely right. Jupiter is by far the
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 star of the show tonight. Pun intended.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 It's high in the western sky after
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 sunset, unmistakably bright, and sitting
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 just below the waxing gibbus moon. If
00:02:10 --> 00:02:11 you only look once this week, look
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 tonight. Look for the moon and that
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 blazing point of light right beside it
00:02:16 --> 00:02:17 is Jupiter.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 >> What about the others? Saturn and
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 Mercury are visible but low on the
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 western horizon. And I mean low. They
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 set not long after the sun, so you've
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 got a fairly tight window. Venus is
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 actually dimmer than you'd expect right
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 now because it's also sitting low in the
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 twilight glare. Uranus needs binoculars
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 and Neptune really requires a telescope
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 and you'll need to wait until the sun is
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 fully below the horizon before even
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 attempting that one. So, Jupiter and the
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 moon for casual observers, extra kit for
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 the dedicated stargazer.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 >> Exactly. And here's something to keep in
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 your diary. We're one week away from the
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 full moon on March 3rd. And this isn't
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 just any full moon. It's a total lunar
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 eclipse, which means we're heading into
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 a blood moon. We'll have full coverage
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 of that next week.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 >> Something to really look forward to. So,
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 tonight, get outside, find the moon, and
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 say hello to Jupiter right beside it.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:14 Beautiful.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 >> Now to the heart of our galaxy.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 Astronomers using the world's largest
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 radio telescope array have peered deeper
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 into the Milky Way's central molecular
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 zone than ever before. And what they
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 found is extraordinary.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 >> The region around Sagittarius A star,
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 our galaxy's super massive black hole at
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 the very center, is a violent, turbulent
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 environment. And new observations have
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 revealed hidden chemistry swirling
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 through that chaos. What the researchers
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 have done is essentially map the complex
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 molecules in the cloud of gas and dust
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 that surround Sagittarius A star at a
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 level of detail that wasn't previously
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 possible. They're finding chemical
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 signatures that challenge how we've
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 thought about that region of the galaxy.
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 >> When the lead researchers describe this
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 as just the beginning, that's telling,
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 isn't it? That phrase usually means
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 they've opened a door rather than closed
00:04:08 --> 00:04:09 one.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 >> Precisely. This is a proof of concept
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 for a new era of galactic center
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 observations. As the array's
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 capabilities continue to improve, the
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 resolution and sensitivity will only get
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 better. We're talking about unlocking
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 processes at the very engine room of our
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 galaxy. How molecules form in extreme
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 environments, how the black holes
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 radiation and gravity shape the
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 surrounding chemistry.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:34 >> And it all feeds into the bigger
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 question of how galaxies like ours
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 evolve over cosmic time. Exactly right.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 It's one of those stories where the
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 science is genuinely exciting right now,
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 but the best discoveries are still ahead
00:04:46 --> 00:04:47 of us.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:48 >> As we've been reporting throughout the
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 week, NASA's Aremis 2 space launch
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 system rocket has now been rolled back
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 from launchpad 39B to the vehicle
00:04:55 --> 00:04:56 assembly building.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 >> The crawler transporter made the journey
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 on Tuesday. A spectacular but somewhat
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 sobering sight. That 6.6 6 million pound
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 vehicle hauling a rocket that was
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 supposed to be heading for the moon.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 >> The issue is with the upper stage and
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 engineers now need to diagnose and
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 repair whatever's causing the problem in
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 the controlled environment of the VAB
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 rather than on the pad. The current
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 expectation is that the earliest
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 realistic launch opportunity is now
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 early April. Interestingly, President
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 Trump gave a State of the Union address
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 on Monday and gave a shout out to the
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 Space Force, calling it, and I quote,
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 "My baby," but notably didn't mention
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 the Aremis 2 crew by name.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 >> Make of that what you will. We'll
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 continue to follow this as it develops,
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 but for now, no moonshot in March.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 >> Now, to a story that first broke last
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 month and which has just had a
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 significant new development. NASA has
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 now identified the astronaut at the
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 center of the first ever medical
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 evacuation from the International Space
00:05:56 --> 00:05:57 Station.
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 >> To recap for anyone who missed the
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 original story, in January, SpaceX's
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 Crew 11 mission returned to Earth early.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 One member of that crew had experienced
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 a medical issue serious enough to
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 warrant cutting the mission short and
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 bringing the entire crew home.
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 >> That was unprecedented. In the entire
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 history of the ISS, we'd never had a
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 medical evacuation at that level before.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 >> NASA has now shed more light on what
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 happened, specifically at the request of
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 the astronaut involved, who wanted their
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 identity made public. The crew of crew
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 11 included NASA astronauts Mike Frink
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 and Zena Cardman, JAXA astronaut Kama
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 UI, and Ross Cosmos cosminaut Oleg
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 Platinoff. It turns out it was Mike
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 Frink who needed the medical help. It
00:06:41 --> 00:06:42 was explained that he needed some more
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 imaging scans performed, which just
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 couldn't be done with the equipment on
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 board the ISS. So, home they came.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 However, the nature of his ailment still
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 hasn't been revealed. The details
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 emerging give the medical community and
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 space agencies important data for future
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 longduration mission planning. It raises
00:07:01 --> 00:07:02 real questions about how we handle
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 health crises in orbit, what protocols
00:07:05 --> 00:07:06 are in place, and how they might need to
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 evolve, especially as missions
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 eventually go beyond low Earth orbit.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 >> A deeply human story alongside all the
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 engineering and science. We'll link to
00:07:16 --> 00:07:17 the full NASA disclosure in the show
00:07:17 --> 00:07:18 notes.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 >> Right. And now for what might be my
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 favorite story of the episode. And
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 honestly, it's one of those pieces of
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 research that just makes you stop and
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 think about how strange and wonderful
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 our galaxy is. Tell me everything.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 >> So, a team led by Dr. Joanne Brown at
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 the University of Calgary has produced
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 the most detailed map yet of the Milky
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 Ways magnetic field. And what they found
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 has fundamentally surprised them.
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 >> Let's back up a second. How do you even
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 map a magnetic field across a galaxy?
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 >> Great question. The technique is called
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 Faraday rotation. When radio waves
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 travel through space, they interact with
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 electrons and magnetic fields, and that
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 interaction causes them to shift
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 slightly. They rotate. Dr. Brown student
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 Rebecca Booth described it brilliantly.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 Think of a straw in a glass of water
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 looking bent because of refraction.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 Faraday rotation is the same concept,
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 but it's electrons and magnetic fields
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 bending radio waves instead of light
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 through water. That's a genuinely
00:08:24 --> 00:08:25 beautiful analogy,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 >> isn't it? And by carefully measuring how
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 much those radio waves shift, the team
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 can trace the invisible magnetic lines
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 flowing through the galaxy. Now, here's
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 the astonishing finding. If you could
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 look at the Milky Way from above, the
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 overall magnetic field runs clockwise.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 But in the Sagittarius arm, one of our
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 galaxy's spiral arms, it runs
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 counterclockwise. a complete reversal.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 >> They must have known about that reversal
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 before though, right?
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 >> They knew about the reversal. Yes. What
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 they didn't understand was how the
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 transition happened, how the field
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 switches direction, and this is where
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 the new data delivered a genuine moment
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 of discovery. Dr. Brown describes it
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 perfectly. She says one day her student
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 Anna brought in the new data and Brown's
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 reaction was, and I'm quoting here,
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 "OMG, the reversal's diagonal."
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 >> I love that. An OMG moment in
00:09:24 --> 00:09:25 astrophysics.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 >> It's wonderful. The reversal doesn't
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 happen in a flat, clean plane as
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 previously assumed. It runs diagonally
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 through the galaxy in three dimensions.
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 That changes everything about how we
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 model the magnetic structure. The team
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 has now built a new 3D model to explain
00:09:42 --> 00:09:43 it.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 >> And why does it matter? Why does the
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 galaxy's magnetic field matter at all?
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 >> Well, as Dr. Brown puts it, without a
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 magnetic field, the galaxy would
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 collapse in on itself due to gravity.
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 The magnetic field is essentially one of
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 the forces holding the whole structure
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 in balance. Understanding how it's
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 shaped and how it's evolved over
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 billions of years tells us something
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 profound about how galaxies like ours
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 come to exist and persist.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 >> Absolutely mindexpanding. We'll have the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 research details and links in the show
00:10:16 --> 00:10:16 notes.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 >> And finally, a quick update on a launch
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 we've been previewing earlier in the
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 week. Rocket Lab's haste suborbital
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 rocket was due to liftoff from Wallops
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 Island, Virginia on Tuesday, but the
00:10:28 --> 00:10:29 mission was scrubbed due to out of
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 bounds launch commit criteria.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 >> No new launch date has been announced
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 yet, but just to give listeners the full
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 picture on what this mission actually
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 is, cuz it's genuinely fascinating.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 >> It really is. The mission is called
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 That's Not a Knife. And yes, that is a
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 deliberate Crocodile Dundee reference.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 And it's carrying a scramjet powered
00:10:49 --> 00:10:53 hypersonic demonstrator called Dart AE
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 built by the Australian company
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 Hypersonics. A scramjet being the key
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 technology here.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 >> Exactly. A scramjet supersonic
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 combustion ramjet ingests air flowing
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 through it faster than the speed of
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 sound and burns fuel in that airream.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 What makes Hypersonic's version
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 particularly interesting is that it runs
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 on hydrogen rather than kerosene, making
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 it essentially zero carbon dioxide
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 emissions at hypersonic speeds. The Dart
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 AE is designed to validate advanced
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 propulsion materials and guidance
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 systems for the US Defense Innovation
00:11:29 --> 00:11:29 Unit.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 >> And Haste itself is Rocket Lab's
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 workhorse electron rocket adapted for
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 suborbital hypersonic testing.
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 >> Correct. This would have been the
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 seventh haste flight. The mission will
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 fly, just not this week. We'll update
00:11:44 --> 00:11:45 you when a new date is confirmed.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 >> That's everything for series 5, episode
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 49. An enormous thank you for joining us
00:11:51 --> 00:11:52 today.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 >> Lots to look at both in the sky and in
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 the science. Don't forget moon and
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 Jupiter tonight. Get outside if you can.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 >> If you enjoyed today's episode, please
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 do subscribe, leave us a review, and
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 share us with a friend who loves space.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 We are Astronomy Daily, part of the
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 byes.com podcast network. Find us on all
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 major podcast platforms at Astronomy
00:12:16 --> 00:12:20 Daily and on social media at Astro Daily
00:12:20 --> 00:12:20 Pod.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 >> We'll be back tomorrow with more from
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 the universe. Until then, keep looking
00:12:24 --> 00:12:25 up.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:37 >> Clear skies, everyone.
00:12:37 --> 00:12:41 Stories told.