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