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Starship V3 is on the pad and tonight's the night — Flight 12 launches the most powerful rocket ever built. Plus: Webb solves a decades-old Neptune mystery, why space debris is quietly corrupting climate science, new doubts cast on DESI's dark energy results, a smarter route to the Moon, and why the galaxy may be full of hellish Venus-twins rather than Earths. All that on Astronomy Daily for Thursday, May 21, 2026.
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 The world's biggest rocket is sitting on
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 a launchpad in South Texas right now.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 And tonight, for the first time ever,
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 it's going to fly.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 >> Starship version 3, Flight 12. And it is
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 absolutely the biggest story in space
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 flight today.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 >> We've also got a deep solar system
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 mystery wrapped up by the James Webb
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 Space Telescope and some genuinely
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 unsettling news about what the galaxy
00:00:25 --> 00:00:26 may be full of.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:30 >> Spoiler, not very many Earths. I'm Anna.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 >> And I'm Avery. This is Astronomy Daily.
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 Today's space news from the universe to
00:00:34 --> 00:00:35 you.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 >> We've been tracking the Starship V3
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 story for a couple of days now. The
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 delays, the wet trust rehearsal, the
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 OSHA investigation, and today is finally
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 the day. The launch window opens at 5:30
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 this afternoon, Texas time, and SpaceX
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 is going for it. This is flight 12 in
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 the Starship program overall, but it's
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 the first flight of the V3 design, which
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 is by some measures an almost entirely
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 new rocket. Elon Musk himself said that
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 nearly every part has been redesigned
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 compared to V2. The rocket now stands
00:01:10 --> 00:01:14 124.4 m tall. That's just over 400 ft,
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 making it officially the tallest rocket
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 humanity has ever built.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 >> And it's not just bigger for the sake of
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 it. The big structural change on this
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 version is that Starship V3 is designed
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 for inorbit refueling for the first
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 time. That's the capability that unlocks
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 deep space missions to the moon and
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 eventually Mars.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 >> NASA is counting on exactly that.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 Starship has been selected as the human
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 landing system for the Aremis program.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 The current plan is for a docking test
00:01:43 --> 00:01:47 in low Earth orbit as early as 2027 with
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 a moon surface landing targeted for the
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53 Aremis 4 mission in 2028. But there's a
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 mountain to climb before any of that.
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 SpaceX still hasn't sent Starship into
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 full orbit. The program has seen
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 explosions, delays, and last week a
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 contractor working at Starbase in Texas
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 died in a fall. The US Occupational
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 Safety and Health Administration has
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 opened an investigation.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 >> Today's flight profile is suborbital,
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 similar to recent missions. The plan is
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 to deploy 20 Starlink simulator
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 satellites, attempt a single Raptor
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 engine relight in space, and test the
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 heat shield by deliberately removing one
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 tile to measure aerodynamic load on
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 neighboring tiles during re-entry.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 >> That tile experiment is actually quite
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 clever. You need to understand the
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 failure modes before you can fix them.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 >> Weather is sitting around 55% favorable
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 right now. Not ideal, but workable. And
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 there is a lot writing on this beyond
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 engineering pride. SpaceX's planned IPO,
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 which could value the company at up to
00:02:49 --> 00:02:53 $1.75 trillion, would be the largest
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 public offering in history. Today's test
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 flight is very much in the shop window.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:00 >> No pressure then.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 >> None whatsoever. We'll have the result
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 in tomorrow's episode. Whatever happens
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 tonight, it's a pivotal moment for the
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 program and for the future of human
00:03:08 --> 00:03:09 space flight.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 >> Next up today, billions of years ago,
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 Neptune had a tidy family of moons.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 Then, a rogue intruder arrived and tore
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 everything apart. New research published
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 in the journal Science Advances suggests
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 that one moon survived the chaos, and
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 we've known about it since 1949.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 That moon is Nared, Neptune's third
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 largest satellite and one of the
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 strangest orbits in the solar system. It
00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 swings as close as 1.4 million km to
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 Neptune and as far away as 9.6 million.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 For comparison, our moon is a pretty
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 consistent 384
00:03:47 --> 00:03:48 km from Earth.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 >> For decades, astronomers have known that
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 Nared's extreme elliptical orbit was
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 unusual, but they couldn't agree on why.
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 The leading theory was that it was a
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 captured object, something that drifted
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 in from the outer solar system and got
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 gravitationally trapped. But this new
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 study led by Matthew Belellikoff at the
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 California Institute of Technology
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 strongly rules that out. The team used
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 study Nari in detail and what they found
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 changes the story significantly. Their
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 observations are consistent with Narid
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 being an original moon of Neptune, one
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 that formed right alongside the planet,
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 but was thrown into its wild orbit when
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 Neptune captured its largest moon,
00:04:32 --> 00:04:33 Triton.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 >> And Trion's story is quite the tale
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 itself. Tryion is thought to have
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 originated in the Kyper belt, the frigid
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 region beyond Neptune, where objects
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 like Pluto live. At some point, Triton
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 was captured by Neptune's gravity, and
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 the gravitational chaos of that event
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 scattered Neptune's original moons onto
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 collision courses with each other. Both
00:04:53 --> 00:04:54 were destroyed.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 >> Neptune's innermost moons are thought to
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 be the shattered remnants of those
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 originals. Rubble that coalesed after
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 Triton's arrival. Married, according to
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 this new research, escaped that fate by
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 being thrown into its current extreme
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 orbit. far enough out to survive, but
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 close enough to still be bound to
00:05:14 --> 00:05:15 Neptune.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 >> As Belellikov puts it, it takes a long
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 time to do science. This mystery began
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 with Merid's discovery in 1949, and we
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 may finally have some answers in 2026,
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 thanks to Web. The researchers note that
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 this work would simply not be possible
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 with any previous telescope. It really
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 is a testament to what Web continues to
00:05:34 --> 00:05:38 deliver. A survivor of 4 billion years
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 of cosmic chaos. Not a bad story for a
00:05:41 --> 00:05:42 Thursday.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:43 >> Here's a number that should give you
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 pause. In 2005, the European Space
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 Agency was tracking around 16 pieces
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53 of debris in orbit. By 2026, that number
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 has grown to more than 44, an
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 increase of roughly 180%. And that's
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 only what we can track. The vast
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 majority of debris is too small to track
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 at all. Estimates there are millions of
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 fragments out there. Paint flex, bolt
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 fragments, shards from old rocket
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 stages. Moving at orbital velocities.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 Even something tiny can cause
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 catastrophic damage.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 >> But new research is drawing attention to
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 a consequence that gets less coverage
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 than the collision risk. The scientific
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 cost. A study looking at NASA's Earth
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 observing satellites, specifically Aqua,
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 Terra, and Aura, found that since 2005,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 this fleet has had to execute avoidance
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 maneuvers at least 32 times to dodge
00:06:38 --> 00:06:39 debris.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 >> And those maneuvers aren't free. Not in
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 terms of fuel and possibly not in terms
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 of data, according to records from the
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 land data products evaluations
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 assessment. Some of those avoidance
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 burns may have corrupted climate data
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 during the collection window. You move
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 the satellite, the instruments point
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 somewhere different, and the record has
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 a gap or an artifact.
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 >> These satellites were not designed with
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 this level of debris in mind. Aqua, for
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 instance, has lasted 18 years longer
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 than its original design life. It's been
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 incredibly productive, but it only has
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 so much fuel left. Every avoidance
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 maneuver burns some of that reserve. And
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 as one insurance analyst put it to
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 space.com, even without collisions,
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 space debris has an economic cost. Each
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 time a satellite has to maneuver to
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 avoid a potential collision, it uses
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 fuel, which is a finite and precious
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 resource. The headline quote from
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 researchers is blunt. Things will get
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 worse before they get better.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 >> The good news is that two companies have
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 announced plans to begin active debris
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 removal from orbit in 2027. The
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 technology exists, the will and the
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 regulation need to catch up quickly.
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 >> Next on today's agenda, over the past
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 year or so, results from the dark energy
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 spectroscopic instrument, DESI, have
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 been causing excitement and
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 consternation in equal measure. The data
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 appeared to hint that dark energy, the
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 mysterious force driving the
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 accelerating expansion of the universe,
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 might be evolving over time, changing in
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 strength as the cosmos ages,
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 >> which if true would be a genuinely
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 enormous deal. The standard cosmological
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 model treats dark energy as a fixed
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 cosmological constant. If it's changing,
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 the model needs to be rebuilt from the
00:08:29 --> 00:08:30 ground up.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 >> Exactly. But new research published in
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 physical reviewd is urging caution.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 Scientists at the Tatada Institute of
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 Fundamental Research in Mumbai have
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 found something subtle. A small but
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 significant mismatch between two key
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 data sets used to measure dark energies
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 properties. Supernova brightness data
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 and Barryon acoustic oscillations which
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 are essentially ripples in the
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 distribution of galaxies across the
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 universe. And the mismatch matters
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 because the DEESI results that pointed
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 to evolving dark energy relied on
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 combining those two data sets. If they
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 aren't mutually consistent, if there's a
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 small but real discrepancy in what
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 they're measuring, then the apparent
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 signal of evolving dark energy could be
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 a systematic artifact rather than a
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 genuine physical phenomenon. The
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 researchers traced the mismatch back to
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 a potential violation of what's called
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 the cosmic distance duality relation, a
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 fundamental geometric relationship that
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 underpins how we calculate distances in
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 the universe. If that relation is being
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 violated or if there are subtle
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 calibration errors in the data sets,
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 then the apparent evolution of dark
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 energy may simply disappear.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 >> What does this mean in practical terms?
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 It means we don't know yet. This paper
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 doesn't prove dark energy is constant.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 It just raises a serious methodological
00:09:55 --> 00:09:59 flag. Science is working exactly as it
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 should. Extraordinary claims get
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 extraordinary scrutiny. More data from
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 Desi's third release and from Uklid
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 mission should help clarify things later
00:10:09 --> 00:10:10 this year.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:11 >> The universe remains stubbornly
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 mysterious,
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 >> which is honestly what keeps us in a
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 job. Now, here's a question that sounds
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 simple, but turns out to be
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 extraordinarily complex. What's the most
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 efficient way to get from Earth to the
00:10:23 --> 00:10:24 moon?
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 >> I mean, you point the rocket at it.
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 >> You'd think, right? But no, because in
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 space flight, the most direct path is
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 almost never the most efficient one. And
00:10:33 --> 00:10:34 the new study published in the journal
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 Astronamics has found the trajectory to
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 the moon that is better than any route
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 previously described in the scientific
00:10:40 --> 00:10:41 literature.
00:10:41 --> 00:10:42 >> How much better?
00:10:42 --> 00:10:46 >> The new route uses 58.8 8 m/s less fuel,
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 what engineers call delta V, compared to
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 the previous best known path. That might
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 sound tiny, but consider the total fuel
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 budget for an Earth to moon transfer is
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 around 3
00:10:57 --> 00:11:01 m/s. Shave nearly 60 off that and you've
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 made a real difference. Every meter/s
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 saved is, as the researchers put it, a
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 massive amount of fuel consumption.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 >> So, how did they find it? The team from
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 the universities of Kolimbra, Porto and
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 Evora in Portugal and the University of
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 Sa Paulo in Brazil used a mathematical
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 approach called the theory of functional
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 connections. It dramatically reduces the
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 computing power needed to simulate
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 trajectories which let them test around
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 30 million different routes. Previous
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 studies had managed around 280.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 >> That's an enormous leap in the search
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 space.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 >> And it paid off. The most efficient
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 route they found is counterintuitive.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 Instead of heading more or less directly
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 toward the moon, the spacecraft first
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 swings toward a point called the L1
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 Lrange plane, the gravitational balance
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 point between Earth and the moon about
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 85% of the way there. It enters a stable
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 orbital pathway around L1, then departs
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 on an unstable pathway that transitions
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 it into lunar orbit,
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 >> essentially using the moon's own gravity
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 as part of the propulsion system.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 >> Exactly. The team also notes that the L1
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 point maintains constant line of sight
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 with Earth, which means communication is
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 uninterrupted throughout the journey.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 And crucially, this method can be
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 adapted. You could use it for any planet
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 moon system or any orbital transfer
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 problem. As a researcher say, the
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 systematic analysis they developed could
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 be adopted much more widely going
00:12:23 --> 00:12:24 forward.
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 >> Small savings scaled across dozens of
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 future Artemis missions. That adds up to
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 a lot of rocket fuel
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 >> and a lot of money.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 >> Speaking of money, here's a way you can
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 save heaps and secure your online life.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 Simply do what we did and get NordVPN.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 To take advantage of our very special
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 offer, just look for the link in the
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46 show notes.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 >> Stay safe online and away from prying
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 eyes. Get NordVPN.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 >> All right, on to our next story. And
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 this one will surprise many. If you've
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 ever looked up at the night sky and felt
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 reassured that the galaxy must be full
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 of Earth's worlds with oceans,
00:13:03 --> 00:13:07 atmospheres, and the potential for life.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:08 New research from the European
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 Geocsciences Union Conference in Vienna
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 may give you pause.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 >> That's not the most comforting preamble.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Preliminary results presented by Shaun
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 Jordan, a post-doal researcher at
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 ETHZurich, suggest that our galaxy may
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 be filled with a far greater number of
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 Venuslike worlds than true Earth
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 analoges, and that this might simply be
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 how rocky planet formation works.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:34 >> Walk us through the science.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 >> When a rocky planet forms, it goes
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 through what's called a magma ocean
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 phase. Essentially, the entire surface
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 is molten. As it cools, the atmosphere
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 it develops heavily depends on its
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 chemistry and its distance from its
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 star. Jordan and colleagues argue that
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 it's actually quite straightforward to
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 end up with a carbon dioxide dominated
00:13:55 --> 00:13:59 atmosphere. Thick, hot, crushing Venus
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 style after that cooling phase. Getting
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 to an Earthlike nitrogen oxygen
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 atmosphere is harder.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 >> Meaning a Venus outcome might be the
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 path of least resistance.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 >> That's the implication. And there's a
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 philosophical reframe buried in here,
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 too. Jordan suggests that Venus may not
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 have gone wrong. It may simply have been
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 born that way. A planet that came out of
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 its magma ocean phase looking exactly
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 like Venus does today without ever
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 having oceans or a temperate climate.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 >> How many exenus candidates are we
00:14:31 --> 00:14:32 actually talking about?
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 >> At least a few dozen rocky exoplanets
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 are considered potential Venus analoges,
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 though none have been confirmed as such.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:41 We don't yet have the atmospheric
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 characterization tools to be certain.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 The challenge is that a Venuslike
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 atmosphere, all those sulfuric acid
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 clouds, looks very similar to a
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 featureless atmosphere in our current
00:14:52 --> 00:14:53 observations.
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 >> There's a telling phrase in the coverage
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 of this research that our own Venus has
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 been described as criminally
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 underexplored. Only one mission has sent
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 a lander since the Soviet program in the
00:15:04 --> 00:15:05 80s.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 >> That's the awkward irony. We are looking
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 for Venus twins across the galaxy while
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 barely understanding the one we have
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 next door. ESA's Envision mission and
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 NASA's Da Vinci program are both in
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 development, and they can't come soon
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 enough. Our nearest twin, the cautionary
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 tale, deserves a much closer look.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 >> From a habitable paradise candidate to
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 the galaxy's most common world, quite
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 the demotion.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 >> Science rarely flatters our assumptions.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 Before we head out, a quick look at the
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 sky for our southern hemisphere
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 listeners, particularly in Australia and
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 New Zealand. This week is a beautiful
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 time to watch the evening sky. Jupiter
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 is blazing brightly in the west after
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 sunset, and the waxing moon is sliding
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 past it over the next couple of nights.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 Tonight, they're particularly close
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 together, making for a stunning naked
00:15:57 --> 00:15:57 eye pairing.
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 >> No equipment needed. Just step outside
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 Look west and you'll see the moon and
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 the brightest star near it. That's
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 Jupiter. It's one of those simple
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 wonderful reminders that the solar
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 system is right there every clear night.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 >> Cloud-free skies to all of you.
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 >> That is Astronomy Daily for Thursday,
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 May 21st, 2026. Six stories from the
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 launchpad in Texas to the farthest
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 reaches of Neptune's battered moon
00:16:24 --> 00:16:24 system.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 >> And the Starship result, whatever it is,
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 we'll have it for you tomorrow. If you
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 enjoyed the show, please take a moment
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 to subscribe and leave a rating wherever
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 you get your podcast. It genuinely makes
00:16:34 --> 00:16:35 a difference.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:39 >> You can find us at astronomyaily.io
00:16:39 --> 00:16:43 and on socials at astroaily pod. We're
00:16:43 --> 00:16:47 part of the byes.com podcast network.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 >> Until tomorrow, keep looking up.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:54 >> Clear skies.
00:16:54 --> 00:17:01 told
00:17:02 --> 00:17:09 stories told
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 stories