Astronomy Daily S05E215 — The Star That Was Born Twice (Tuesday 27 October 2026). Hosts Anna and Avery. Lead: the Orion Nebula's age paradox. Its planet-forming discs and its expanding gas shell both look far younger than its million-year-old stars. Wilhelm, Trani and Portegies Zwart (Leiden / Universidad de Concepción) propose that the nebula's most massive star, θ1 Orionis C1, formed a few hundred thousand years ago when two stars merged, driven by their companion's gravity, suddenly switching on harsher radiation. We cover the caveats and the clean test that could falsify it. Also: WD J1328−1450, a white dwarf with two nested rings of gas that point to two hidden planetary bodies; China's AIMS telescope reads a solar flare's magnetic field directly in the mid-infrared; and a Yale study arguing giant impacts can help rocky planets keep hydrogen atmospheres. Quick hits: NASA's new Competition Model 2.0, Swift's mission formally ended ahead of re-entry, Hera's second braking burn, and the DPS meeting in Spokane. Skywatch: finding the Orion Nebula from Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London; Saturn in the evening; Mercury's last call in the south; Mars and Jupiter converging before dawn. Sources · Wilhelm, Trani & Portegies Zwart, 'A triple-induced merger in θ1 Ori C solves the proplyd lifetime problem and the curiously young shell of M42', A&A, DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/202662018; arXiv 2609.38550 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38550 · Leiden University release, 23 Oct 2026 — https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2026/10/leiden-astronomers-explain-the-orion-nebulas-age-paradox · Gentile Fusillo, Lagos-Vilches, Koester et al., 'A double debris disc around a white dwarf sculpted by two planetary bodies', Nature Astronomy, 26 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-03004-3 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-03004-3 · Deng, Bai, Wei et al., 'Apparent magnetic field decay in a solar flare from Zeeman splitting of the Mg I 12.32-µm line', Nature Astronomy, 23 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-03013-2; arXiv 2610.33502 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33502 · Modirrousta-Galian & Korenaga, 'Retention of primordial atmospheres through giant impacts', Nature Astronomy, 26 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-03006-1 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-03006-1 · NASA Science, 'Faster to Science: A Letter to the Science Community' — https://science.nasa.gov/directorates/smd/faster-to-science-a-letter-to-the-science-community/ · NASA Science, 'NASA's Swift Mission Ends Ahead of Re-Entry', 23 Oct 2026 — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/10/23/nasas-swift-mission-ends-ahead-of-re-entry/ · ESA Hera mission updates — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera
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