JWST reads alien geology, Io is FAR more powerful than we thought, and a meteor shower peaks TONIGHT

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Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,


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your daily guide to the universe and


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everything in it. I'm Anna.


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>> And I'm Avery. It's Tuesday, the 6th of


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May, 2026, and we are coming at you with


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six incredible stories today. From a


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robotic telescope that just read the


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geology of a world 50 lighty years away


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to a meteor shower you can watch live


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online right now.


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>> That's right. And we have a stunning mix


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of planetary science, exoplanet


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discovery, cosmological simulation, and


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some very welcome skywatching news for


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our Southern Hemisphere listeners.


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>> Let's get straight into it. Story one is


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genuinely historic.


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>> For years, when astronomers pointed the


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James Webb Space Telescope at a distant


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rocky world, they were really studying


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its atmosphere, the thin shell of gas


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around a planet. Today we're talking


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about something different, something


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that has never been done before.


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>> That's right. Astronomers have now used


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JWST to directly analyze the actual


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surface of a planet beyond our solar


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system, not its atmosphere, its surface,


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the rock itself. And what they found is


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remarkable.


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>> The planet in question is called LHS


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3844b.


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It's a so-called super Earth about 30%


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larger than our own planet and it sits


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roughly 48 12 light years away orbiting


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a small cool red dwarf star.


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>> Now this planet is an extreme situation.


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It orbits its star so closely that it


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completes a full year in just 11 hours.


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11 hours Anna that's your entire working


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day and then some. And because of that


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extreme proximity, it's tidily locked,


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meaning one face permanently points


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toward the star, baking in intense heat,


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while the other side sits in permanent


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darkness. The dayside reaches


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temperatures of around 725°


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C. That is hot enough to melt lead with


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room to spare. The research team led by


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Laura Kriedberg at the Max Plank


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Institute for Astronomy in Germany used


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JWST's mid infrared instrument known as


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MIRI to measure the thermal emission


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radiating directly from the planet's


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blazing hot dayside. They observe three


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secondary eclipses moments when the


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planet slipped behind its star and use


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those measurements to build a picture of


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what the surface is made of.


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>> And the result, Dr. Kriedberg described


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it directly. We see a dark, hot, barren


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rock devoid of any atmosphere. The


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surface appears to be composed of dark


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low silica material, probably basaltt or


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other olivine rich rock. Think volcanic


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planes like those you'd find on the moon


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or on Mercury.


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>> Importantly, the team was able to rule


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out a number of things. There's no


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earthlike silicar crust, the kind that


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forms through waterdriven geological


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processes and play tectonics. There's no


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evidence of accumulated volcanic gases,


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no carbon dioxide, no sulfur dioxide.


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This is a geologically quiet, airless


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ancient world. And while that might


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sound a bit bleak, the significance here


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is huge. The published paper in Nature


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Astronomy calls this the next step in


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unveiling the nature of distant planets.


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We're no longer just detecting


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exoplanets or guessing at their


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atmospheres. We're starting to read


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their geology.


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>> Think about what that means for the


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future. With more observations like


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this, we'll be able to build up a


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geological census of rocky worlds across


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the galaxy. That knowledge feeds


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directly into our understanding of which


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worlds might be capable of supporting


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life and which are simply very


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impressive, very hot pieces of rock.


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>> A dark, hot, barren rock. But a dark,


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hot, barren rock that just made


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scientific history. Sticking with the


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theme of worlds that are frankly hostile


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to life, let's talk about Io,


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>> Jupiter's extraordinary moon, the most


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volcanically active body in the entire


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solar system. A world being continuously


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needed by the gravitational tugofwar


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between Jupiter and its larger sibling


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moons, Ganymede and Europa.


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>> Io has over 400 volcanic features called


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pater. essentially giant depressions


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filled with lava leaks. Scientists have


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been measuring the heat output of these


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features for decades. And a new study


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released just yesterday suggests we've


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been getting it dramatically wrong.


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>> The paper now available as a preprint on


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archive uses data from Juno's infrared


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instrument, the gyram, to look at Io's


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pater in a completely new way. And it


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turns out previous measurements were


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only seeing part of the picture.


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>> For a long time, scientists measured


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Io's volcanic heat output using what's


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called the Mband of infrared. And the


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Mband is excellent at picking up the


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really hot bright spots at the active


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edges of lava lakes where fresh uncooled


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magma is churning. What it misses is the


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vast cooler, older crust that forms


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across the rest of the lava lake


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surface.


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>> And that crust, it turns out, is


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enormous. It's much much more massive


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than those hot peripheral rings. So


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while it's cooler in temperature, its


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sheer scale means it contributes a


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staggering amount of total thermal


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output. The team used Gyram's updated


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data which can detect those lower


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temperatures to build a revised picture.


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For one wellstudied patera alone, known


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simply as P63, the old estimate was


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around 7 GW of thermal output. Some


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models put it at 20. The new gym data 80


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gawatt from a single lava lake.


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>> To put that in perspective, the entire


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output of the UK's electricity grid is


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around 40 gaw. One volcanic depression


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on Io is putting out double that.


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>> And that's just one of the 400 pere. The


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study only looked at 32 of them. The


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implications for Io's total heat budget


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are significant. We may have been


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underestimating this moon's thermal fury


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by an order of magnitude. And the study


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also found something intriguing about


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the crust itself. Using thermal cooling


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models, the team estimated that a crust


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at 200 Kelvin would be roughly 13 years


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old, meaning these lakes resurface on


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time scales of about a decade. So the


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geology of Io is incredibly dynamic,


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constantly renewing itself.


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>> Io never stopped surprising us. And now,


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thanks to Juno, we're starting to truly


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understand just how powerful this


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extraordinary little moon is.


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>> Now, we're going to zoom out, way, way


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out, from one single moon to, well, the


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entire universe.


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>> An international team of astrophysicists


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led by researchers at Durham University


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in the UK and Leiden University in the


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Netherlands has just released one of the


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largest cosmological data sets ever


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assembled. We're talking about 2 and 12


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pabytes of data.


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>> 2 and 12 pabytes. That is equivalent to


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roughly half a million highde movies.


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All now freely available to researchers


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anywhere in the world.


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>> This is the Flamingo Project, a suite of


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largecale computer simulations that


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model how matter has evolved across the


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universe, right from the Big Bang


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through to the present day. The


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simulations were run on the Cosma 8


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supercomputer at Durham, which is part


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of the D-Rack National Higherformance


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Computing Facility in the UK. And what


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makes Flamingo special is its scope.


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Many detailed simulations focus on small


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regions of space. You get great detail


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on individual galaxy formation, but you


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can't see the big picture. Other


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simulations capture vast cosmic volumes,


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but lose resolution at the small scale.


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Flamingo does both. Its simulations


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stretch across billions of light years,


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allowing researchers to study rare,


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massive structures like galaxy clusters


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while still capturing the physics of


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individual galaxy formation. The cosmic


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web, that vast network of filaments and


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nodes along which galaxies are


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distributed is reproduced across these


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volumes in extraordinary detail. The


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data includes 22 full hydrodnamical


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simulations, galaxy and halo cataloges,


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all sky maps, and particle data. Because


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the data set is so vast, the Flamingo


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team also built a custom web-based


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system so researchers can access just


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the data they need without having to


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download the entire archive.


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>> Matushaler of Leen University summed up


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the ambition well. Open access to data


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sets of this scale can significantly


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accelerate scientific progress. Since


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flamingo simulations were first


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introduced in 2023, they've already been


00:09:00.880 --> 00:09:03.430
used in dozens of studies. Now the full


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data set is public. The scientific


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community can do so much more.


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>> This is open science at its most


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ambitious. Virtual universes freely


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given to the world


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>> and hopefully the world will receive it


00:09:16.640 --> 00:09:19.269
in the spirit it is given. Now, before


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we move on to our next story, I'd like


00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:23.750
to quickly remind you of our sponsor,


00:09:23.760 --> 00:09:26.470
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there's nothing to lose. When you're


00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:42.949
ready to check it out, make sure you use


00:09:42.959 --> 00:09:45.030
our special link, which you'll find in


00:09:45.040 --> 00:09:47.829
the show notes. From the very large to


00:09:47.839 --> 00:09:50.310
the very precise, our next story is


00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.150
about a clever new technique that's


00:09:52.160 --> 00:09:54.150
unlocking a whole new population of


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planets that we've been struggling to


00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:59.190
find. This one has a lovely Australian


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connection which we always enjoy. The


00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.829
study was led by Margot Thornton, a


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doctoral candidate at UNSW, the


00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.350
University of New South Wales in Sydney,


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and it tackles a real challenge in


00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.430
exoplanet science.


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>> So, here's the problem. NASA's test


00:10:15.920 --> 00:10:18.069
satellite finds planets by detecting


00:10:18.079 --> 00:10:20.389
tiny dips in starlight as a planet


00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:22.310
passes in front of its star. It's


00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.150
brilliant and it's found hundreds of


00:10:24.160 --> 00:10:26.389
confirmed planets. But there's a class


00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.710
of systems it really struggles with.


00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.230
Binary stars.


00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.190
>> Binary stars are pairs of stars in orbit


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around each other and they're very


00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.750
common. A huge fraction of stars in our


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galaxy have a companion. The


00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.150
complication is that when you have two


00:10:42.160 --> 00:10:44.790
stars doing their own thing, it becomes


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very hard to tease out the much smaller


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signal of a planet passing in front of


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one of them. But this new approach uses


00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:54.630
a different approach entirely. Instead


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of looking for the planet's shadow, it


00:10:56.640 --> 00:10:58.550
looks for the planet's gravitational


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fingerprint. As a planet orbits in a


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binary system, its gravity gently tugs


00:11:03.680 --> 00:11:05.910
on the stars and that changes the


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precise timing of when the two stars


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eclipse each other.


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>> It's a beautiful idea. You're not


00:11:11.760 --> 00:11:13.750
watching the planet at all. You're


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watching the stars dance and noticing


00:11:16.079 --> 00:11:18.870
when something is slightly out of step.


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>> And it works. The team applied this


00:11:20.959 --> 00:11:23.269
eclipse timing technique to test data


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and uncovered more than 25 new exoplanet


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candidates orbiting in binary star


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systems. Systems where traditional


00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.190
transit detection methods simply


00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.990
couldn't find them. Before this study,


00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.190
only 18 such circumbinary planets had


00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.269
ever been confirmed across all


00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:44.230
telescopes combined. 16 from NASA's


00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.870
retired Kepler mission, plus two found


00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:49.910
by TESS itself. This new method has the


00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:52.230
potential to dramatically expand that


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number.


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>> It's a reminder that the way we look for


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things matters as much as what we're


00:11:56.800 --> 00:11:59.670
looking for. Great work from the UNSW


00:11:59.680 --> 00:12:01.990
team showing that Australia is very much


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at the frontier of exoplanet discovery.


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>> Our penultimate story takes us to the


00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.069
outer solar system to those mysterious


00:12:10.079 --> 00:12:13.509
underexplored giants Uranus and Neptune.


00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.069
>> We often call them the ice giants, but


00:12:16.079 --> 00:12:18.150
that's a bit of a misnomer. Their


00:12:18.160 --> 00:12:20.550
interiors are not cold at all. They're


00:12:20.560 --> 00:12:22.470
subjected to temperatures in thousands


00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.790
of degrees and pressures millions of


00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:26.629
times greater than anything at Earth's


00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.110
sea level. It's an environment we simply


00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.069
cannot recreate in a lab. And because of


00:12:32.079 --> 00:12:34.389
that, the physics of what happens to


00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.790
materials under those conditions has


00:12:36.800 --> 00:12:38.870
long been the subject of theoretical


00:12:38.880 --> 00:12:41.750
modeling. Now, a new paper published in


00:12:41.760 --> 00:12:43.910
Nature Communications from researchers


00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:46.629
at the Carnegie Institution has added a


00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.350
striking new entry to that catalog.


00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:51.269
>> They've identified a previously


00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:53.590
unrecognized state of matter that may


00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:56.389
exist in these extreme environments. A


00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:59.430
phase they call quasi one-dimensional


00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.310
superionic. It's a mouthful, so let's


00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:03.509
break that down.


00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.829
>> Super ionic materials are already


00:13:05.839 --> 00:13:08.790
fascinating. In a normal solid, both the


00:13:08.800 --> 00:13:11.350
ions and electrons are locked in place.


00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.470
In a normal liquid, both flow freely. A


00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.550
super ionic state is something in


00:13:16.560 --> 00:13:19.829
between. The ion lice is solid, but some


00:13:19.839 --> 00:13:22.310
particles flow through it like a liquid.


00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.030
We actually believe a super ionic phase


00:13:25.040 --> 00:13:27.910
exists deep inside Uranus and Neptune


00:13:27.920 --> 00:13:30.150
already. But this new phase is


00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:32.870
different. The quasi one-dimensional


00:13:32.880 --> 00:13:34.790
part refers to the fact that in this


00:13:34.800 --> 00:13:37.350
newly identified phase, the flowing


00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.350
particles don't move freely in all


00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.430
directions. They're constrained to flow


00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:43.990
along narrow one-dimensional channels


00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.629
within the material structure. It's like


00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:48.790
water moving through a network of pipes


00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:51.269
rather than flooding a room. This is


00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.430
significant because the behavior of


00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:56.710
materials in ice giant interiors governs


00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.710
everything from their magnetic field


00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.030
generation to their heat flow to their


00:14:01.040 --> 00:14:03.430
atmospheric dynamics. If we've been


00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:05.750
missing an entire phase of matter that


00:14:05.760 --> 00:14:08.310
exists in these conditions, our models


00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.430
of how Uranus and Neptune actually work


00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.750
may need revision. With new missions to


00:14:13.760 --> 00:14:16.150
the ice giants being seriously discussed


00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:18.389
by both NASA and issa for the coming


00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:21.030
decades, this kind of foundational


00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:23.509
physics work is exactly what's needed to


00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.269
ensure we know what questions to ask


00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:26.470
when we get there.


00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:29.509
>> A new state of matter hidden inside two


00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:32.710
worlds just a few billion km away.


00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:35.030
Sometimes the most exotic physics


00:14:35.040 --> 00:14:37.750
doesn't require going to another galaxy,


00:14:37.760 --> 00:14:39.829
just the outer edge of our own solar


00:14:39.839 --> 00:14:42.389
system. And finally, something you can


00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:44.389
do something about tonight, or more


00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.710
precisely, in the pre-dawn hours of


00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:47.910
tomorrow morning.


00:14:47.920 --> 00:14:50.550
>> The Eta Aquaria meteor shower is at its


00:14:50.560 --> 00:14:52.389
peak right now. And for our southern


00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:54.870
hemisphere listeners, particularly our


00:14:54.880 --> 00:14:57.269
Australian and New Zealand friends, this


00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.350
is one of the best meteor events of the


00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.990
year. The Edeto Aquariads are the debris


00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.870
of Hal's comet, the legendary comet that


00:15:04.880 --> 00:15:06.550
last swept through the inner solar


00:15:06.560 --> 00:15:10.150
system in 1986 and won't return until


00:15:10.160 --> 00:15:13.670
2061. Every year in early May, Earth


00:15:13.680 --> 00:15:15.829
plows through the trail of dust and rock


00:15:15.839 --> 00:15:18.069
particles Halley has left behind across


00:15:18.079 --> 00:15:21.030
its 76-year orbit. And those particles


00:15:21.040 --> 00:15:23.110
burn up in our upper atmosphere as


00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.509
spectacular shooting stars. What makes


00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:27.910
the Eta Aquar special for the southern


00:15:27.920 --> 00:15:30.790
hemisphere is geometry. The radiant, the


00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:32.949
point in the sky the meteors appear to


00:15:32.959 --> 00:15:34.790
stream from in the constellation


00:15:34.800 --> 00:15:37.590
Aquarius, rises high in the sky before


00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:40.389
dawn. From Australia and New Zealand, it


00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:42.870
reaches a really favorable altitude,


00:15:42.880 --> 00:15:45.269
meaning you can expect to see up to 50


00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:48.470
meteors per hour under ideal conditions.


00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.949
>> There is a caveat this year. A waning


00:15:50.959 --> 00:15:53.269
gibbus moon is hanging around in the sky


00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:55.269
and it will wash out some of the fainter


00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:57.670
meteors, but the brighter ones, the


00:15:57.680 --> 00:15:59.670
proper fireballs, should punch through


00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:02.150
just fine. Your best window is in the


00:16:02.160 --> 00:16:04.629
hours before dawn, away from the moon,


00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.269
lying back on a blanket and looking up.


00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.509
>> And if clouds are in the way, or you're


00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:11.910
deep in the city, or you simply can't


00:16:11.920 --> 00:16:14.230
face a 4:00 a.m. alarm, there's good


00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.389
news. There are free live streams of the


00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.550
shower available online. One


00:16:18.560 --> 00:16:20.550
particularly impressive option comes


00:16:20.560 --> 00:16:22.790
from the Alma Observatory in Chile's


00:16:22.800 --> 00:16:25.269
Atakama Desert, one of the driest,


00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:27.749
clearest places on Earth and one of the


00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:30.310
premier sites in world astronomy. You'll


00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:31.910
find links in our show notes.


00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:33.670
>> So whether you're watching from a dark


00:16:33.680 --> 00:16:36.069
paddock under the Milky Way or from your


00:16:36.079 --> 00:16:38.629
lounge with a coffee at sunrise, you can


00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:40.710
join millions of people tonight in


00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.110
witnessing the cosmic legacy of Hal's


00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:47.670
comet. Juding stars. Every single one a


00:16:47.680 --> 00:16:50.230
tiny piece of one of the most famous


00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.269
objects in the history of human sky


00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:56.629
watching. That never gets old. And


00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.030
that's a wrap on today's Astronomy


00:16:59.040 --> 00:17:01.350
Daily. We've read the geology of an


00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:04.309
alien world. We've discovered Io is even


00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.470
more powerful than we thought. We've


00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.110
opened two and a half pabytes of virtual


00:17:09.120 --> 00:17:11.590
universe to the world. We found new


00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:14.069
planets around binary stars. We've


00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:16.230
discovered new states of matter inside


00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.949
ice giants. And we've told you exactly


00:17:18.959 --> 00:17:21.750
where to watch a meteor shower tonight.


00:17:21.760 --> 00:17:24.549
Not a bad day's work for a Tuesday. If


00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.390
you enjoyed today's show, please


00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:28.710
subscribe, leave a review, and share us


00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.350
with a friend who loves space as much as


00:17:31.360 --> 00:17:33.270
we do. You can find us at


00:17:33.280 --> 00:17:35.029
astronomydaily.io


00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:38.710
and on socials at astroaily pod. We're


00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.750
part of the byes.com podcast network.


00:17:41.760 --> 00:17:44.390
Until tomorrow, keep looking up.


00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:45.590
>> This is Anna


00:17:45.600 --> 00:17:46.710
>> and Avery.


00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:59.430
>> Clear skies, everyone.


00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.240
Stories told.