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Humanity Just Moved an Asteroid’s Orbit Around the Sun · Space News Today

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  You're listening to Astronomy Daily. I'm
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  Anna.
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  >> And I'm Avery. It is Saturday the 7th of
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  March, 2026. And as usual, we have a
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  packed show for you today.
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  >> We absolutely do. Here's a question to
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  get you thinking. Back in September
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  2022, NASA slammed a spacecraft into an
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  asteroid. You probably remember that.
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  But did you know that we only just
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  confirmed something remarkable? That
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  impact didn't just nudge the asteroid.
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  It actually changed the orbit of an
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  entire asteroid system around the sun.
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  >> For the first time in human history, we
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  moved the celestial body's solar orbit.
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  And that's just story one. We've also
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  got gravitational waves, a spacecraft
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  emergency in orbit, a 45-year-old theory
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  biting the dust, our young sun blowing
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  its very first cosmic bubble, and a
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  gorgeous double planet show in tonight's
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  sky. Let's go.
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  >> So, let's kick off with the Dart story,
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  and I think it deserves a moment to
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  really sink in. We already knew that
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  Dart was a success. We knew it shortened
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  the orbit of Dimorphice around its
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  partner asteroid Ditimos by about 33
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  minutes. That was confirmed back in
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  2022. But a new study published
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  yesterday in the journal Science
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  Advances has revealed something even
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  bigger,
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  >> right? Because Ditimos and Dorphis are
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  gravitationally linked. They move
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  together. And researchers have now
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  confirmed that the debris blasted off
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  the amorphice during that impact was so
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  enormous, we're talking over a million
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  kilograms of rock and dust, that it gave
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  the whole binary system an extra kick.
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  >> And that extra kick was measurable. The
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  orbital period of the entire Ditto
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  system around the sun shortened by 0.15
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  seconds. Now, I know that sounds tiny,
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  but this is the first time a human-made
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  object has measurably changed the path
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  of a celestial body around our star.
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  >> To even measure that, the team had to
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  get incredibly creative. They tracked
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  what are called stellar occultations,
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  moments when the asteroid passes in
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  front of a background star and briefly
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  blocks its light. Volunteers around the
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  world contributed 22 of these
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  observations between October 2022 and
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  March 2025.
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  22 pinpoint moments of a star blinking
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  out. And from those they derived a
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  change of 0.15 seconds in a 770day solar
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  orbit. The momentum enhancement factor
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  turned out to be about two, meaning the
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  debris ejected by the impact roughly
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  doubled the total push given to the
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  asteroid. Dart didn't just hit Dorphice,
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  it turned Dorphice into a rocket.
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  >> And Thomas Statatler, lead scientist for
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  solar system small bodies at NASA
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  headquarters, framed it perfectly. He
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  said, "A tiny change can, given enough
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  time, grow into a significant
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  deflection." This result validates
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  kinetic impact as a genuine planetary
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  defense technique not just for nudging a
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  moon but for altering the path of an
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  entire binary system around the sun.
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  Hera spacecraft which launched in 2024
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  is expected to arrive at the Ditimo
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  system later this year to study the
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  aftermath of close though the science
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  from this impact is very much still
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  unfolding.
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  >> Story two and it is a landmark one. The
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  LIGO Virgo Kagra collaboration, the LVK,
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  has just published the fourth edition of
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  the gravitational wave transient catalog
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  known as GWTC4.
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  And the headline, they've more than
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  doubled the total number of
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  gravitational wave detections ever made.
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  >> Before this release, the entire catalog
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  contained 90 candidates from three
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  previous observing runs stretching back
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  to 2015. This new catalog adds 128 new
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  events, all detected during just the
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  first 9 months of the fourth observing
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  run between May 2023 and January 2024.
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  >> So, we've gone from 90 to 218 in one
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  update. And it's not just the quantity
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  that's exciting, it's the variety. The
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  catalog includes the heaviest black hole
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  binary merger ever detected, with each
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  black hole weighing in at around 130
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  times the mass of our sun.
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  >> There's also a binary where both black
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  holes are spinning at roughly 40% the
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  speed of light. And there are two new
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  mixed mergers, a black hole colliding
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  with a neutron star. Each one of those
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  is a treasure trove for astrophysics.
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  >> Daniel Williams, a researcher at the
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  University of Glasgow and LVK member put
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  it well. He said they're pushing into
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  new parts of parameter space, seeing
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  things that are more massive, spinning
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  faster, and more astrophysically unusual
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  than anything detected before. What I
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  love about this is what it means for
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  testing Einstein. The catalog includes
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  an event with one of the loudest
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  gravitational wave signals ever
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  recorded, GW230814,
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  and the team used it to run precision
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  tests of general relativity. It passed
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  with flying colors, but the fact that
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  we're now running those tests on events
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  this extreme is remarkable.
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  >> LIGUR and its partners are currently in
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  a maintenance break, but a new six-month
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  observing run is expected to begin in
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  late 2026. Given how rapidly the catalog
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  is growing, that run could double it
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  again.
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  >> All right, story three, and this one has
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  a genuine element of suspense. Europe's
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  ProRa 3 mission is in trouble. A
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  confirmed yesterday that they have lost
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  contact with one of the two spacecraft
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  that make up the Proba 3 mission.
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  >> Let me explain what Proba 3 actually is
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  because it's a fascinating concept. It
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  launched from India back in December
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  2024 and it consists of two separate
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  spacecraft designed to fly in
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  extraordinarily precise formation about
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  150 m apart to create artificial solar
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  eclipses in space. One spacecraft, the
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  Occultter, physically blocks the bright
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  face of the sun. The other, the
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  Coronagraph, uses that shadow to image
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  the sun's faint outer atmosphere, the
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  corona, without being blinded by the
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  solar disc. And to make this work, the
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  two spacecraft must maintain alignment
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  to within millimeter accuracy.
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  >> It's an almost absurdly precise
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  operation, and it was working. In May of
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  last year, the spacecraft achieved their
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  landmark formation flying test. In June,
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  they captured the first ever images of
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  an artificial solar eclipse in space. It
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  was a genuine technological first. And
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  then on the weekend of February 14th,
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  something went wrong. The Coron
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  spacecraft, the one doing the imaging,
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  experienced an anomaly that prevented it
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  from entering safe mode.Sa describes it
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  as a progressive loss of attitude. In
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  other words, the spacecraft slowly lost
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  its orientation.
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  >> As it drifted, its solar panels moved
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  away from the sun. The batteries
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  drained. The spacecraft dropped into
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  survival mode, and contact was lost. ISA
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  says root cause is under investigation.
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  And they're exploring whether the
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  companion occultter spacecraft can be
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  maneuvered closer to assist in recovery.
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  >> Losing either spacecraft would
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  effectively end the proba 3 mission.
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  Lisa says teams are working hard and
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  they will provide updates as new
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  information becomes available. This is
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  very much a developing story. We'll keep
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  following it. Story 4 is a classic
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  example of a long-held scientific belief
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  getting overturned. For 45 years,
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  astronomers thought they understood how
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  stars like our sun change as they age.
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  Specifically, how their rotation pattern
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  evolved.
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  >> The idea was this. Our sun rotates
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  differentially. The equator takes about
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  25 days to complete one full rotation
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  while the poles take about 35 days.
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  Equator faster, poles slower. That's
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  called solar type differential rotation.
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  And scientists believed that as stars
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  slowed down over billions of years, they
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  would eventually flip. The poles would
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  start spinning faster than the equator
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  instead.
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  >> That flip state was called antisolar
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  differential rotation. Theoretical
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  simulations predicted it. No one had
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  ever observed it, but the model said it
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  should happen. And for decades, the lack
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  of observations was attributed to
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  limitations in our telescope technology.
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  >> But now, researchers at Nagoya
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  University in Japan have used Fugaku,
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  the country's most powerful supercomput
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  to run the most detailed simulations
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  ever of stellar interiors. And the
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  result is clear. The flip doesn't
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  happen. The key was resolution. Previous
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  simulations were low resolution and
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  magnetic fields faded out of the models
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  entirely. At high resolution, we're
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  talking 5.4 billion grid points per
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  simulated star. The magnetic fields
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  stayed strong. And those magnetic
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  fields, it turns out, are what prevent
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  the rotation from flipping. Professor
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  Heidi Yukihada, one of the co-authors,
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  said it simply. Turbulence and magnetism
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  keep the equator spinning faster than
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  the poles throughout the stars life. The
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  switch doesn't happen because magnetic
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  fields, which previous simulations
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  missed, prevent it.
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  >> And there's a bonus finding. Magnetic
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  fields in solar type stars weaken
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  continuously throughout their lifetime
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  with no revival in old age. Previous
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  models had predicted a magnetic
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  comeback. That doesn't happen either.
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  >> This matters practically, too. A
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  corrected model of stellar rotation
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  helps us better understand the sun's
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  11-year sunspot cycle and could improve
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  our predictions of how magnetic activity
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  affects the habitability of planets
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  orbiting sunlike stars over billions of
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  years.
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  Dory 5, and it's a lovely one. A real
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  window into our own sun's distant past.
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  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has
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  captured the very first image of what's
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  called an astrosphere around the
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  sun-like star.
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  >> Our sun has a protective bubble around
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  it called the heliosphere, created by
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  the solar wind streaming outward and
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  carving out a cavity in interstellar
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  space. It's enormous. It extends far
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  beyond the outer planets and shields the
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  solar system from harmful galactic
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  cosmic rays. But we've never been able
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  to photograph it from the outside.
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  >> The star Chandra observed is called
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  HD61005
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  and it sits about 120 light years away
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  in the constellation Pupus. It has
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  roughly the same mass and temperature as
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  our sun, but it's only about 100 million
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  years old. Our sun is around 5 billion
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  years old. So HD610005
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  is cosmically speaking a baby. And
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  because it's so young, its stellar wind
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  is dramatically more powerful. It blows
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  about three times faster and is 25 times
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  denser than the wind from our sun today.
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  That's why its astrosphere is bright
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  enough to detect in X-rays. The powerful
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  wind collides with the surrounding
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  interstellar dust and gas, and that
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  collision produces X-ray emission that
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  Chandra can detect.
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  >> The astrosphere has a diameter roughly
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  200 times the distance between Earth and
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  the Sun. Carrie Liss of John's Hopkins
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  University, who led the study, put it
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  beautifully. We've been studying our
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  sun's heliosphere for decades, but we
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  can never see it from the outside. This
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  is the closest thing we have to a
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  photograph of what our own sun's bubble
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  looked like several billion years ago.
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  The star is also nicknamed the moth
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  because a surrounding disc of dust forms
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  a mothlike structure around it. And
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  interestingly, the dense dusty
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  environment is actually part of why the
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  astrosphere is so visible here, making
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  HD 610005
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  a uniquely ideal subject for this kind
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  of observation. And we'll finish with
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  some sky watching news because tonight
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  and tomorrow night offer something quite
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  special. Venus and Saturn are meeting up
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  in the evening sky and it's a treat for
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  anyone who can get outside shortly after
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  sunset. Venus is already impossible to
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  miss right now. It's shining at
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  magnitude minus 3.9, which makes it by
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  far the brightest object in the sky
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  after the sun and moon. Tonight and
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  tomorrow, Saturn sits close alongside
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  it. though considerably fainter at
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  magnitude 1.0.
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  >> The best time to look is about 30
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  minutes after sunset when Venus will be
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  roughly 7° above the western horizon.
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  Binoculars will help a lot. Saturn
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  should pop into view easily near
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  brilliant Venus. You'll have about 70
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  minutes before both planets set. And if
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  you're pointing a telescope at Venus
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  tonight, you're in for an extra treat.
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  The planet is currently showing a 97%
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  lit disc, almost fully illuminated from
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  our perspective. It's a gorgeous site.
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  Neptune is also lurking nearby, just
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  over a degree from Saturn, though you'll
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  need a telescope to catch that one.
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  >> So, get outside this evening if skies
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  are clear. Venus is your guide. Find
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  that brilliant white beacon low in the
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  west, and Saturn will be right there
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  waiting for you.
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  >> And that's our show for today. Six
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  stories from an asteroid nudged around
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  the sun to a planet pairing up in
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  tonight's sky. It's a great time to be
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  paying attention to the universe.
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  >> If you enjoyed today's episode, please
• 13:59
  subscribe wherever you're listening and
• 14:01
  leave us a rating or review. It
• 14:03
  genuinely helps the show reach more
• 14:04
  people.
• 14:05
  >> You can find us at astronomyaily.io
• 14:08
  for the blog and show notes and follow
• 14:11
  us at astroaily pod on all the major
• 14:13
  social platforms. until Monday. Keep
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  looking up.
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  >> Clear skies, everyone. Astronomy Day.
• 14:22
  Stories we told.