Six Planets Tonight — And a Galaxy-Sized Mystery Solved ⭐
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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Kind: captions
Language: en
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Tonight, the night sky puts on a show.
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The moon has a date with Jupiter. And
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six planets are lined up for your
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viewing pleasure. This is Astronomy
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Daily.
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>> I'm Avery.
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>> And I'm Anna. Season 5, episode 49,
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Thursday the 26th of February, 2026.
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Lots to get through today. So, let's go.
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>> If you've been watching the Western sky
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after sunset this week, you may have
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noticed something spectacular building.
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Six of the solar systems planets are
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above the horizon simultaneously right
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now. And tonight is the visual
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highlight.
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>> We've also got a deep dive into some
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extraordinary new findings about our
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galaxy's magnetic field, a quick update
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on Artemis 2, the identity of the
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astronaut at the center of last month's
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historic ISS medical story, and a brief
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heads up on a scrubbed military
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hypersonic launch that we'd been
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previewing earlier in the week. Big
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show. Let's get into it.
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>> So Avery, I know you've been watching
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this planet parade build all week, and
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tonight is the moment we've been waiting
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for.
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>> It really is. As darkness falls this
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evening, if you head outside and look
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west, you'll see the moon sitting right
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next to Jupiter. It's a stunning
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pairing, and it's the centerpiece of a
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six planet alignment that's been
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building throughout February.
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>> Let's break this down. Fix planets above
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the horizon at once. Mercury, Venus,
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
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How does that work exactly?
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>> The planets orbit the sun in roughly the
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same flat plane, the ecliptic. So from
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Earth, they always appear in a band
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across the sky. When they spread out
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enough that several are visible
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simultaneously, we get what astronomers
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call a planet parade or alignment. Right
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now, they're nicely spaced across that
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band. Now, I want to be honest with
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listeners here because not all six
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planets are easy to spot. Some are quite
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the challenge.
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>> Absolutely right. Jupiter is by far the
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star of the show tonight. Pun intended.
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It's high in the western sky after
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sunset, unmistakably bright, and sitting
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just below the waxing gibbus moon. If
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you only look once this week, look
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tonight. Look for the moon and that
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blazing point of light right beside it
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is Jupiter.
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>> What about the others? Saturn and
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Mercury are visible but low on the
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western horizon. And I mean low. They
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set not long after the sun, so you've
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got a fairly tight window. Venus is
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actually dimmer than you'd expect right
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now because it's also sitting low in the
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twilight glare. Uranus needs binoculars
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and Neptune really requires a telescope
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and you'll need to wait until the sun is
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fully below the horizon before even
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attempting that one. So, Jupiter and the
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moon for casual observers, extra kit for
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the dedicated stargazer.
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>> Exactly. And here's something to keep in
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your diary. We're one week away from the
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full moon on March 3rd. And this isn't
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just any full moon. It's a total lunar
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eclipse, which means we're heading into
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a blood moon. We'll have full coverage
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of that next week.
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>> Something to really look forward to. So,
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tonight, get outside, find the moon, and
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say hello to Jupiter right beside it.
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Beautiful.
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>> Now to the heart of our galaxy.
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Astronomers using the world's largest
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radio telescope array have peered deeper
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into the Milky Way's central molecular
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zone than ever before. And what they
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found is extraordinary.
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>> The region around Sagittarius A star,
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our galaxy's super massive black hole at
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the very center, is a violent, turbulent
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environment. And new observations have
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revealed hidden chemistry swirling
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through that chaos. What the researchers
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have done is essentially map the complex
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molecules in the cloud of gas and dust
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that surround Sagittarius A star at a
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level of detail that wasn't previously
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possible. They're finding chemical
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signatures that challenge how we've
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thought about that region of the galaxy.
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>> When the lead researchers describe this
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as just the beginning, that's telling,
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isn't it? That phrase usually means
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they've opened a door rather than closed
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one.
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>> Precisely. This is a proof of concept
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for a new era of galactic center
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observations. As the array's
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capabilities continue to improve, the
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resolution and sensitivity will only get
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better. We're talking about unlocking
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processes at the very engine room of our
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galaxy. How molecules form in extreme
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environments, how the black holes
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radiation and gravity shape the
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surrounding chemistry.
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>> And it all feeds into the bigger
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question of how galaxies like ours
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evolve over cosmic time. Exactly right.
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It's one of those stories where the
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science is genuinely exciting right now,
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but the best discoveries are still ahead
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of us.
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>> As we've been reporting throughout the
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week, NASA's Aremis 2 space launch
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system rocket has now been rolled back
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from launchpad 39B to the vehicle
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assembly building.
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>> The crawler transporter made the journey
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on Tuesday. A spectacular but somewhat
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sobering sight. That 6.6 6 million pound
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vehicle hauling a rocket that was
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supposed to be heading for the moon.
00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.270
>> The issue is with the upper stage and
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engineers now need to diagnose and
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repair whatever's causing the problem in
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the controlled environment of the VAB
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rather than on the pad. The current
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expectation is that the earliest
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realistic launch opportunity is now
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early April. Interestingly, President
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Trump gave a State of the Union address
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on Monday and gave a shout out to the
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Space Force, calling it, and I quote,
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"My baby," but notably didn't mention
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the Aremis 2 crew by name.
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>> Make of that what you will. We'll
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continue to follow this as it develops,
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but for now, no moonshot in March.
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>> Now, to a story that first broke last
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month and which has just had a
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significant new development. NASA has
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now identified the astronaut at the
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center of the first ever medical
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evacuation from the International Space
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Station.
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>> To recap for anyone who missed the
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original story, in January, SpaceX's
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Crew 11 mission returned to Earth early.
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One member of that crew had experienced
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a medical issue serious enough to
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warrant cutting the mission short and
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bringing the entire crew home.
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>> That was unprecedented. In the entire
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history of the ISS, we'd never had a
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medical evacuation at that level before.
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>> NASA has now shed more light on what
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happened, specifically at the request of
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the astronaut involved, who wanted their
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identity made public. The crew of crew
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11 included NASA astronauts Mike Frink
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and Zena Cardman, JAXA astronaut Kama
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UI, and Ross Cosmos cosminaut Oleg
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Platinoff. It turns out it was Mike
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Frink who needed the medical help. It
00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:42.629
was explained that he needed some more
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imaging scans performed, which just
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couldn't be done with the equipment on
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board the ISS. So, home they came.
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However, the nature of his ailment still
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hasn't been revealed. The details
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emerging give the medical community and
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space agencies important data for future
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longduration mission planning. It raises
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real questions about how we handle
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health crises in orbit, what protocols
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are in place, and how they might need to
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evolve, especially as missions
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eventually go beyond low Earth orbit.
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>> A deeply human story alongside all the
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engineering and science. We'll link to
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the full NASA disclosure in the show
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notes.
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>> Right. And now for what might be my
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favorite story of the episode. And
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honestly, it's one of those pieces of
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research that just makes you stop and
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think about how strange and wonderful
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our galaxy is. Tell me everything.
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>> So, a team led by Dr. Joanne Brown at
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the University of Calgary has produced
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the most detailed map yet of the Milky
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Ways magnetic field. And what they found
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has fundamentally surprised them.
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>> Let's back up a second. How do you even
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map a magnetic field across a galaxy?
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>> Great question. The technique is called
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Faraday rotation. When radio waves
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travel through space, they interact with
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electrons and magnetic fields, and that
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interaction causes them to shift
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slightly. They rotate. Dr. Brown student
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Rebecca Booth described it brilliantly.
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Think of a straw in a glass of water
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looking bent because of refraction.
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Faraday rotation is the same concept,
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but it's electrons and magnetic fields
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bending radio waves instead of light
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through water. That's a genuinely
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beautiful analogy,
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>> isn't it? And by carefully measuring how
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much those radio waves shift, the team
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can trace the invisible magnetic lines
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flowing through the galaxy. Now, here's
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the astonishing finding. If you could
00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.670
look at the Milky Way from above, the
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overall magnetic field runs clockwise.
00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:46.949
But in the Sagittarius arm, one of our
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galaxy's spiral arms, it runs
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counterclockwise. a complete reversal.
00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.790
>> They must have known about that reversal
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before though, right?
00:08:56.959 --> 00:08:59.269
>> They knew about the reversal. Yes. What
00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:01.030
they didn't understand was how the
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transition happened, how the field
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:05.590
switches direction, and this is where
00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:07.829
the new data delivered a genuine moment
00:09:07.839 --> 00:09:10.470
of discovery. Dr. Brown describes it
00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.430
perfectly. She says one day her student
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Anna brought in the new data and Brown's
00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.150
reaction was, and I'm quoting here,
00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:21.350
"OMG, the reversal's diagonal."
00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:23.990
>> I love that. An OMG moment in
00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.509
astrophysics.
00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.310
>> It's wonderful. The reversal doesn't
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:30.550
happen in a flat, clean plane as
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previously assumed. It runs diagonally
00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.590
through the galaxy in three dimensions.
00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:37.750
That changes everything about how we
00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:40.230
model the magnetic structure. The team
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:42.790
has now built a new 3D model to explain
00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:43.590
it.
00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.590
>> And why does it matter? Why does the
00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.790
galaxy's magnetic field matter at all?
00:09:48.800 --> 00:09:51.350
>> Well, as Dr. Brown puts it, without a
00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.350
magnetic field, the galaxy would
00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.829
collapse in on itself due to gravity.
00:09:55.839 --> 00:09:57.990
The magnetic field is essentially one of
00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.070
the forces holding the whole structure
00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:02.550
in balance. Understanding how it's
00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:04.470
shaped and how it's evolved over
00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:06.630
billions of years tells us something
00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:09.110
profound about how galaxies like ours
00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.430
come to exist and persist.
00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.230
>> Absolutely mindexpanding. We'll have the
00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.069
research details and links in the show
00:10:16.079 --> 00:10:16.949
notes.
00:10:16.959 --> 00:10:19.190
>> And finally, a quick update on a launch
00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:20.870
we've been previewing earlier in the
00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:23.590
week. Rocket Lab's haste suborbital
00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:25.750
rocket was due to liftoff from Wallops
00:10:25.760 --> 00:10:28.150
Island, Virginia on Tuesday, but the
00:10:28.160 --> 00:10:29.990
mission was scrubbed due to out of
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.069
bounds launch commit criteria.
00:10:32.079 --> 00:10:33.750
>> No new launch date has been announced
00:10:33.760 --> 00:10:35.910
yet, but just to give listeners the full
00:10:35.920 --> 00:10:37.670
picture on what this mission actually
00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:40.550
is, cuz it's genuinely fascinating.
00:10:40.560 --> 00:10:43.030
>> It really is. The mission is called
00:10:43.040 --> 00:10:45.350
That's Not a Knife. And yes, that is a
00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.509
deliberate Crocodile Dundee reference.
00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:49.829
And it's carrying a scramjet powered
00:10:49.839 --> 00:10:53.350
hypersonic demonstrator called Dart AE
00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:55.030
built by the Australian company
00:10:55.040 --> 00:10:57.990
Hypersonics. A scramjet being the key
00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:59.590
technology here.
00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:02.550
>> Exactly. A scramjet supersonic
00:11:02.560 --> 00:11:05.509
combustion ramjet ingests air flowing
00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.030
through it faster than the speed of
00:11:07.040 --> 00:11:10.069
sound and burns fuel in that airream.
00:11:10.079 --> 00:11:11.910
What makes Hypersonic's version
00:11:11.920 --> 00:11:14.230
particularly interesting is that it runs
00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:16.870
on hydrogen rather than kerosene, making
00:11:16.880 --> 00:11:19.030
it essentially zero carbon dioxide
00:11:19.040 --> 00:11:21.990
emissions at hypersonic speeds. The Dart
00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:24.389
AE is designed to validate advanced
00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.630
propulsion materials and guidance
00:11:26.640 --> 00:11:29.030
systems for the US Defense Innovation
00:11:29.040 --> 00:11:29.750
Unit.
00:11:29.760 --> 00:11:32.150
>> And Haste itself is Rocket Lab's
00:11:32.160 --> 00:11:34.710
workhorse electron rocket adapted for
00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.269
suborbital hypersonic testing.
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.030
>> Correct. This would have been the
00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:41.509
seventh haste flight. The mission will
00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:43.990
fly, just not this week. We'll update
00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:45.750
you when a new date is confirmed.
00:11:45.760 --> 00:11:48.389
>> That's everything for series 5, episode
00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:51.350
49. An enormous thank you for joining us
00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:52.069
today.
00:11:52.079 --> 00:11:54.790
>> Lots to look at both in the sky and in
00:11:54.800 --> 00:11:57.030
the science. Don't forget moon and
00:11:57.040 --> 00:11:59.750
Jupiter tonight. Get outside if you can.
00:11:59.760 --> 00:12:02.150
>> If you enjoyed today's episode, please
00:12:02.160 --> 00:12:04.949
do subscribe, leave us a review, and
00:12:04.959 --> 00:12:07.750
share us with a friend who loves space.
00:12:07.760 --> 00:12:10.150
We are Astronomy Daily, part of the
00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:13.990
byes.com podcast network. Find us on all
00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.710
major podcast platforms at Astronomy
00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:20.310
Daily and on social media at Astro Daily
00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:20.870
Pod.
00:12:20.880 --> 00:12:22.629
>> We'll be back tomorrow with more from
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.710
the universe. Until then, keep looking
00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:25.190
up.
00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:37.670
>> Clear skies, everyone.
00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:41.480
Stories told.