Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates

Astronomy Daily — S05E140 | Tuesday 14 July 2026 | Hosts: Anna & Avery Space mirrors are officially cleared for launch — and astronomers are sounding the alarm. In today's episode, Anna and Avery unpack the FCC's approval of Reflect Orbital's Eärendil-1, the first of a proposed constellation of sunlight-reflecting satellites, and what tens of thousands of orbital mirrors could mean for the night sky. Then it's off to the geostationary belt, where astronomers using clever image-stacking — with help from Siding Spring Observatory and the ANU — have revealed a minefield of invisible debris, most of it in no public catalogue. Also on the show: physicists in New York recreate black hole energy extraction on a benchtop, validating a 50-year-old Penrose prediction with 'synthetic rotation'; the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile turns on its axis for the very first time — 3,500 tonnes floating on 80 microns of oil; and University of Sydney's Dr Manisha Caleb and colleagues lay out how the Square Kilometre Array will turn fast radio bursts into a survey tool for the invisible universe. Plus a quick Starship Flight 13 update (now NET Thursday 16 July after a full 33-engine static fire), the story of Avi Loeb's appointment to chair the White House UAP Science Advisory Council, and a skywatch built around tonight's super new Moon. Stories & sources •       01. FCC approves Reflect Orbital Eärendil-1 space mirror — SpaceNews / Space.com / Engadget •       02. Faint debris "minefield" in geosynchronous orbit (DebrisWatch II, Journal of the Astronautical Sciences) — University of Warwick / Phys.org / Space.com •       03. Penrose superradiance via synthetic rotation (Nature) — CUNY ASRC / EurekAlert / Phys.org •       04. ELT completes first full rotation of its 3,500-tonne structure — ESO Picture of the Week / Space.com •       05. Fast radio bursts as cosmological probes with the SKA (Caleb et al.) — Universe Today / arXiv •       06. Starship Flight 13 slips to NET 16 July; full 33-engine static fire complete — Space.com •       07. Avi Loeb appointed chair of White House UAP Science Advisory Council — Space.com / AP coverage Skywatch highlights •       Tonight (14 July): super new Moon — darkest skies of the month; Milky Way core overhead for southern observers •       Evenings: Venus blazing in the west in Leo; crescent Moon joins Regulus & Venus on 16–17 July •       Pre-dawn: Saturn high with rings tilted ~9°; Mars passes 5° north of Aldebaran on 14 July Visit astronomydaily.io for all episodes and the free newsletter. Follow @AstroDailyPod. Astronomy Daily is part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network.

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Astronomy Daily S05E139 — Monday, 13 July 2026   Starship could fly again as soon as Wednesday — carrying its first-ever real payload. Japan quietly joins the reusable rocket club just a day after China. SpaceX asks regulators for a jaw-dropping 100,000 satellites. Physicists may have heard the accumulated whispers of every star that ever exploded. Isar Aerospace signs a $150 million deal to launch from Canada. And a ravenous black hole just 1.8 billion light-years away is giving astronomers — including teams from CSIRO and the University of Sydney — a window into the dawn of time.   In this episode •         Starship Flight 13: Booster 20's 33-engine static fire complete; launch NET Wednesday (AEST); first deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites; in-space Raptor relight and Indian Ocean splashdown planned. •         JAXA's RV-X reusable rocket completes its first hop at Noshiro — about 40 seconds, 10–11 metres up, landing upright — one day after China's Long March 10B sea recovery. •         SpaceX files with the FCC for a 100,000-satellite Gen3 constellation in very low Earth orbit, pitched at multi-gigabit AI-era connectivity — and entirely dependent on Starship. •         Super-Kamiokande reports the first indication of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background from nearly 5,000 days of data — the accumulated neutrinos of every core-collapse supernova in cosmic history. •         Isar Aerospace signs a 10-year deal with Maritime Launch Services for a dedicated complex at Spaceport Nova Scotia — first orbital launches targeted for 2028, up to 40 per year by 2029. •         Galaxy SDSS J110546.07+145202.4: a lightweight, ferociously fast-growing black hole behaving like the early universe's titans, shining 20-fold brighter in radio for eight-plus years — with CSIRO's ATCA among the follow-up telescopes. •         Skywatching: New Moon Tuesday evening (7:44pm AEST / 9:44pm NZST); prime Milky Way core viewing; Venus brilliant in the west; Mars near Aldebaran pre-dawn; Comet 10P/Tempel 2 favours southern observers.   Sources & further reading •         Space.com — Starship Flight 13 static fire & launch outlook; Starlink Gen3 filing; Isar/MLS deal; ravenous black hole; supernova neutrino whispers •         AP / Japan Times / RTÉ — JAXA RV-X first test flight •         Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy press release; Komossa et al., The Astrophysical Journal (2026) •         Tohoku University / phys.org — Super-Kamiokande DSNB indication (Neutrino 2026 conference) •         CBC / The Globe and Mail / SpaceQ — Isar Aerospace & Maritime Launch Services agreement details •         NASA JPL What's Up July 2026; EarthSky; Space.com night sky guide — skywatching

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Astronomy Daily S05E138 — Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap — Saturday, 11 July 2026   China nets a rocket booster from the sea for the first time ever, we remember space pioneer Wally Funk, and we recap the week's four biggest stories: Euclid's 31 ancient quasars, mystery metal spheres on a Queensland beach, JWST's unexplained substance on Titan and Pluto, and New Horizons waking from hibernation at the solar system's edge.   In This Episode •          China's Long March 10B rocket achieves the world's first-ever sea-net booster recovery, on its maiden flight •          Remembering Wally Funk (1939–2026), the oldest woman ever to fly to space •          Euclid space telescope uncovers 31 ancient quasars, including two new distance records •          Mystery metal spheres wash up on a Queensland beach — identified as rocket debris •          JWST finds a mysterious, unidentified substance on both Titan and Pluto •          New Horizons wakes from 321-day hibernation, 5.9 billion miles from Earth •          Skywatching: the Moon, Mars and the Pleiades line up before dawn
 

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S05E137: Euclid uncovers 31 ancient quasars including the two most distant ever observed, Roman Space Telescope reaches a major pre-launch milestone at Kennedy Space Center, China details its plans for a sunward asteroid early-warning network, Hayabusa2 reveals asteroid Torifune is a two-lobed “snowman” contact binary, NASA's GRITSS CubeSat launches to sharpen global positioning precision, and we close with tonight's Moon-free skywatching window. Sources •          Euclid Consortium / ESA — “Euclid discovers the most ancient quasars in the Universe,” Astronomy & Astrophysics, July 6, 2026 •          NASA Science — “NASA's Roman Launch Preparations Proceed,” science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman, July 9, 2026 •          Space.com — “China announces plan to build early-warning system for dangerous asteroids,” July 9, 2026 •          JAXA — “Hayabusa2 captures images of asteroid Torifune,” global.jaxa.jp, July 6, 2026 •          NASA / SatNews — “NASA and ISISPACE Deploy GRITSS CubeSat to Advance Orbital Reference Frame Precision,” July 9, 2026 •          Astronomy.com — “The Sky This Week, July 10–17, 2026”

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Astronomy Daily S05E136 — Thursday, 9 July 2026   An MIT physicist proposes a shoebox-sized satellite that could catch a hidden nuclear weapon in orbit, NASA's New Horizons wakes up after its longest hibernation ever nearly six billion miles from home, an Antarctic telescope catalogues over seven thousand galaxy clusters, Japan's ispace books cargo space on a SpaceX Starship Moon mission, a Falcon 9 booster breaks its own reuse record for a thirty-sixth flight, and we close with tonight's Venus–Regulus conjunction.   In This Episode •          A shoebox-sized satellite that could catch a hidden nuclear weapon in orbit •          New Horizons wakes up after its longest hibernation, 5.9 billion miles from Earth •          An Antarctic telescope catalogues over 7,000 galaxy clusters •          Japan's ispace books cargo space on a SpaceX Starship Moon mission •          SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster B1067 breaks its own reuse record — 36 flights •          Tonight's sky: Venus cosies up to Regulus
 

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