Feb. 26, 2026

Six Planets Tonight — And a Galaxy-Sized Mystery Solved ⭐

Six Planets Tonight — And a Galaxy-Sized Mystery Solved ⭐
Six Planets Tonight — And a Galaxy-Sized Mystery Solved ⭐
Space News Today
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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WEBVTT
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


00:00:04.880 --> 00:00:06.869
six planets are lined up for your


00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:09.110
viewing pleasure. This is Astronomy


00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:09.830
Daily.


00:00:09.840 --> 00:00:10.790
>> I'm Avery.


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>> And I'm Anna. Season 5, episode 49,


00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.670
Thursday the 26th of February, 2026.


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Lots to get through today. So, let's go.


00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:22.070
>> If you've been watching the Western sky


00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:23.990
after sunset this week, you may have


00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.950
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


00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.790
on Artemis 2, the identity of the


00:00:44.800 --> 00:00:46.869
astronaut at the center of last month's


00:00:46.879 --> 00:00:49.990
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


00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:02.870
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


00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:13.830
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


00:02:54.640 --> 00:02:57.030
full moon on March 3rd. And this isn't


00:02:57.040 --> 00:02:59.910
just any full moon. It's a total lunar


00:02:59.920 --> 00:03:01.750
eclipse, which means we're heading into


00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:03.990
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


00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:23.589
into the Milky Way's central molecular


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zone than ever before. And what they


00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:28.470
found is extraordinary.


00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:31.110
>> 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


00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:57.589
signatures that challenge how we've


00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:59.670
thought about that region of the galaxy.


00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:01.750
>> When the lead researchers describe this


00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:04.229
as just the beginning, that's telling,


00:04:04.239 --> 00:04:06.470
isn't it? That phrase usually means


00:04:06.480 --> 00:04:08.470
they've opened a door rather than closed


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one.


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>> Precisely. This is a proof of concept


00:04:11.760 --> 00:04:13.910
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


00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.310
resolution and sensitivity will only get


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better. We're talking about unlocking


00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.790
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


00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:31.590
radiation and gravity shape the


00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:33.110
surrounding chemistry.


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>> And it all feeds into the bigger


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question of how galaxies like ours


00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.310
evolve over cosmic time. Exactly right.


00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:41.909
It's one of those stories where the


00:04:41.919 --> 00:04:44.310
science is genuinely exciting right now,


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but the best discoveries are still ahead


00:04:46.320 --> 00:04:47.189
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


00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:55.189
from launchpad 39B to the vehicle


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assembly building.


00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:58.550
>> The crawler transporter made the journey


00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.990
on Tuesday. A spectacular but somewhat


00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.270
sobering sight. That 6.6 6 million pound


00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:07.110
vehicle hauling a rocket that was


00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.189
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


00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:15.350
repair whatever's causing the problem in


00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:17.670
the controlled environment of the VAB


00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.830
rather than on the pad. The current


00:05:19.840 --> 00:05:21.590
expectation is that the earliest


00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:23.749
realistic launch opportunity is now


00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.629
early April. Interestingly, President


00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:28.390
Trump gave a State of the Union address


00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:30.310
on Monday and gave a shout out to the


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Space Force, calling it, and I quote,


00:05:33.039 --> 00:05:35.749
"My baby," but notably didn't mention


00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.230
the Aremis 2 crew by name.


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>> Make of that what you will. We'll


00:05:39.919 --> 00:05:41.749
continue to follow this as it develops,


00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.629
but for now, no moonshot in March.


00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.710
>> Now, to a story that first broke last


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month and which has just had a


00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:50.870
significant new development. NASA has


00:05:50.880 --> 00:05:52.790
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


00:05:56.479 --> 00:05:57.270
Station.


00:05:57.280 --> 00:05:59.110
>> To recap for anyone who missed the


00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:01.590
original story, in January, SpaceX's


00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.469
Crew 11 mission returned to Earth early.


00:06:04.479 --> 00:06:06.309
One member of that crew had experienced


00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.230
a medical issue serious enough to


00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.070
warrant cutting the mission short and


00:06:10.080 --> 00:06:12.309
bringing the entire crew home.


00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:15.029
>> That was unprecedented. In the entire


00:06:15.039 --> 00:06:17.590
history of the ISS, we'd never had a


00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.390
medical evacuation at that level before.


00:06:20.400 --> 00:06:22.469
>> NASA has now shed more light on what


00:06:22.479 --> 00:06:24.469
happened, specifically at the request of


00:06:24.479 --> 00:06:26.469
the astronaut involved, who wanted their


00:06:26.479 --> 00:06:28.950
identity made public. The crew of crew


00:06:28.960 --> 00:06:31.430
11 included NASA astronauts Mike Frink


00:06:31.440 --> 00:06:34.150
and Zena Cardman, JAXA astronaut Kama


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UI, and Ross Cosmos cosminaut Oleg


00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:38.950
Platinoff. It turns out it was Mike


00:06:38.960 --> 00:06:41.110
Frink who needed the medical help. It


00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:42.629
was explained that he needed some more


00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:44.629
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


00:06:55.840 --> 00:06:58.390
space agencies important data for future


00:06:58.400 --> 00:07:01.029
longduration mission planning. It raises


00:07:01.039 --> 00:07:02.790
real questions about how we handle


00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.110
health crises in orbit, what protocols


00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:06.950
are in place, and how they might need to


00:07:06.960 --> 00:07:08.950
evolve, especially as missions


00:07:08.960 --> 00:07:11.270
eventually go beyond low Earth orbit.


00:07:11.280 --> 00:07:14.070
>> A deeply human story alongside all the


00:07:14.080 --> 00:07:16.070
engineering and science. We'll link to


00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:17.749
the full NASA disclosure in the show


00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:18.710
notes.


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>> Right. And now for what might be my


00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:22.550
favorite story of the episode. And


00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.309
honestly, it's one of those pieces of


00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.150
research that just makes you stop and


00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:28.309
think about how strange and wonderful


00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.270
our galaxy is. Tell me everything.


00:07:31.280 --> 00:07:33.830
>> So, a team led by Dr. Joanne Brown at


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the University of Calgary has produced


00:07:35.840 --> 00:07:38.309
the most detailed map yet of the Milky


00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.790
Ways magnetic field. And what they found


00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.350
has fundamentally surprised them.


00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.670
>> Let's back up a second. How do you even


00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.950
map a magnetic field across a galaxy?


00:07:48.960 --> 00:07:51.830
>> Great question. The technique is called


00:07:51.840 --> 00:07:54.950
Faraday rotation. When radio waves


00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:57.350
travel through space, they interact with


00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:00.070
electrons and magnetic fields, and that


00:08:00.080 --> 00:08:02.070
interaction causes them to shift


00:08:02.080 --> 00:08:05.189
slightly. They rotate. Dr. Brown student


00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:08.150
Rebecca Booth described it brilliantly.


00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:10.869
Think of a straw in a glass of water


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looking bent because of refraction.


00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.309
Faraday rotation is the same concept,


00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.869
but it's electrons and magnetic fields


00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:21.350
bending radio waves instead of light


00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.309
through water. That's a genuinely


00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:25.990
beautiful analogy,


00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.189
>> isn't it? And by carefully measuring how


00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:31.990
much those radio waves shift, the team


00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.550
can trace the invisible magnetic lines


00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:37.029
flowing through the galaxy. Now, here's


00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.269
the astonishing finding. If you could


00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.670
look at the Milky Way from above, the


00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:44.710
overall magnetic field runs clockwise.


00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:46.949
But in the Sagittarius arm, one of our


00:08:46.959 --> 00:08:49.350
galaxy's spiral arms, it runs


00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:52.710
counterclockwise. a complete reversal.


00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.790
>> They must have known about that reversal


00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:56.949
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


00:09:01.040 --> 00:09:03.509
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


00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:15.990
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


00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:33.190
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.