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Webb Makes Astronomy History | Update - NASA Rolls Artemis Back to the Hangar | Is There Life on... · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily.
• 0:03
  I'm Anna.
• 0:04
  >> And I'm Avery. It's Wednesday, February
• 0:06
  25th, 2026, and you are listening to
• 0:09
  season 5, episode 48.
• 0:11
  >> Big show today. NASA's moon rocket is on
• 0:14
  the move again. James Webb has achieved
• 0:17
  a genuine first in a history of
• 0:19
  astronomy, and we're going to talk about
• 0:21
  a world out there that is becoming
• 0:23
  increasingly difficult to explain
• 0:25
  without considering the word life. Plus,
• 0:29
  the sun is taking a quiet day for the
• 0:31
  first time in years. There's some
• 0:33
  gripping new detail from China's
• 0:35
  incredible space emergency last year.
• 0:37
  And we close with something that might
• 0:39
  just make you want to send a letter.
• 0:41
  >> All that coming right up. Let's get into
• 0:43
  it.
• 0:44
  >> We start with an update on a story we've
• 0:46
  been following closely all week. And
• 0:48
  today, there's a genuinely new angle
• 0:50
  that caught a lot of people off guard.
• 0:53
  >> Right. So, Artemis 2, as of this
• 0:56
  morning, the enormous space launch
• 0:58
  system rocket and the Orion spacecraft
• 1:00
  have physically begun their 4mm journey
• 1:03
  from launchpad 39B back to the vehicle
• 1:06
  assembly building at Kennedy Space
• 1:08
  Center. That roll back started around
• 1:10
  9:00 a.m. Eastern time and could take up
• 1:13
  to 12 hours.
• 1:15
  >> The reason, as we've covered, is a
• 1:17
  helium flow interruption in the rocket's
• 1:19
  upper stage. Helium is critical. It
• 1:22
  pressurizes the propellant tanks.
• 1:24
  Without that working perfectly, you
• 1:26
  cannot fly. March is now completely off
• 1:29
  the table. The next realistic
• 1:31
  opportunity opens on April 1st.
• 1:33
  >> But here's what's new today, and it's a
• 1:35
  bit of a talking point. Last night, the
• 1:38
  four Artemis 2 crew members, Reed
• 1:40
  Wisman, Victor Glover, Christina Caul,
• 1:43
  and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
• 1:45
  They were sitting in the gallery at the
• 1:47
  US capital for President Trump's State
• 1:50
  of the Union. They were guests of House
• 1:52
  Speaker Mike Johnson
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  >> and the speech ran for nearly two hours.
• 1:56
  The president praised the space force
• 1:58
  extensively. He called it quote his
• 2:00
  baby. But he made no mention of the four
• 2:03
  astronauts sitting right there in the
• 2:05
  room and no mention of the Aremis
• 2:07
  program at all,
• 2:08
  >> which was noticed. These are the first
• 2:11
  people who will travel beyond low Earth
• 2:13
  orbit since the Apollo era. And they
• 2:15
  were in the chamber. Some in the space
• 2:18
  community found the omission quite
• 2:19
  striking.
• 2:20
  >> The crew have now been released from
• 2:22
  their pre-launch quarantine since
• 2:24
  there's no imminent launch. NASA has
• 2:26
  said they'll hold a media briefing in
• 2:28
  the coming days to lay out the path
• 2:29
  forward. For now, April 1st is the
• 2:32
  earliest the mission could fly pending
• 2:34
  successful repairs, a likely second wet
• 2:37
  dress rehearsal, and the clean flight
• 2:39
  readiness review.
• 2:40
  >> We will absolutely keep you updated as
• 2:43
  this develops. The mission itself is
• 2:45
  still on. It's just going to take a bit
• 2:47
  longer.
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  >> This story has still got a long way to
• 2:50
  go. Me thinks
• 2:51
  >> now. This next story is a genuine
• 2:54
  landmark in astronomy. Something
• 2:56
  researchers have been waiting years for.
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  >> It has to do with supernova, those
• 3:01
  spectacular explosions that mark the
• 3:03
  deaths of massive stars. Astronomers
• 3:06
  have long wanted to look back at
• 3:07
  archival images after a supernova
• 3:10
  occurs, and find the star that caused
• 3:12
  it, the so-called progenitor star. But
• 3:15
  for many of the most massive stars, they
• 3:18
  just weren't there. They seemed to be
• 3:20
  missing.
• 3:21
  >> Well, now we know why, and it's thanks
• 3:23
  to James Webb. On June 29th last year,
• 3:27
  an automated sky survey detected a new
• 3:29
  supernova in a galaxy called NGC 1637,
• 3:34
  about 40 million lighty years away. The
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  explosion was designated 2025 PHT and a
• 3:42
  team at Northwestern University
• 3:44
  immediately did something clever.
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  Instead of pointing their telescopes at
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  the new supernova, they went to the
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  archives to images Webb had already
• 3:52
  taken of that same galaxy.
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  >> And there it was, a single red super
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  giant star sitting exactly where the
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  supernova now shines. This is the first
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  published detection of a supernova
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  progenitor by the James Webb telescope
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  ever.
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  >> And here's the key thing. Hubble
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  couldn't see it. The star was completely
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  invisible in Hubble images. It was
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  surrounded by so much dust that shorter
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  wavelengths of light were blocked
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  entirely. Only Web's infrared
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  instruments could pierce that veil. Lead
• 4:24
  author Charlie Kilpatrick from
• 4:26
  Northwestern described it as quote the
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  reddest, most dusty red super giant
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  we've seen explode as a supernova. And
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  there was another surprise, the dust
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  composition. They expected silicutri
• 4:38
  dust, the kind astronomers usually find.
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  Instead, it was carbonri. The team
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  thinks that carbon may have been dredged
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  up from deep inside the star in its
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  final moments before death. This has
• 4:50
  direct implications for what's called
• 4:52
  the mystery of the missing red super
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  giants. Theory predicts these massive
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  stars should be easy to spot before they
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  explode. They should be bright and
• 5:01
  luminous, but historically they've often
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  not shown up in preupnova images at all.
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  Now we have a compelling answer. They're
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  there. They're just hidden in dust.
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  >> The findings are published in the
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  astrophysical journal letters. The team
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  is now looking for similar dusty red
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  super giants that might be the next to
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  explode. And web successor missions,
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  including the upcoming Nancy Grace
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  Romans telescope, should help that
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  search enormously.
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  >> A beautiful piece of detective work.
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  >> From stellar deaths to potential life,
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  because our next story is one that keeps
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  getting more interesting every time new
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  data comes in. The exoplanet K218b.
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  If you've been following exoplanet
• 5:44
  science over the last couple of years,
• 5:46
  you'll know this name. K218b
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  is located 124 light years away in the
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  constellation LEO, sitting squarely in
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  the habitable zone of its red dwarf host
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  star, and James Webb has been staring at
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  it.
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  >> What Webb found was an atmosphere rich
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  in both carbon dioxide and methane. That
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  chemical combination is significant. It
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  points strongly towards what astronomers
• 6:11
  call a hyen world. The idea is a planet
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  with a warm liquid water ocean beneath a
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  thick hydrogen-rich atmosphere. And the
• 6:20
  intrigue doesn't stop there. Earlier
• 6:23
  analyses of K218b's atmosphere had also
• 6:26
  hinted at possible traces of dimethyl
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  sulfide, a molecule that on Earth is
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  produced almost exclusively by marine
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  life. Now, that hasn't been confirmed,
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  and scientists are appropriately
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  cautious. There are non-biological
• 6:41
  explanations being explored, but the
• 6:43
  ongoing analysis of web data is
• 6:45
  continuing to add layers to the story.
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  The carbon dioxide and methane
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  combination is precisely what you'd
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  expect if there were a liquid ocean
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  beneath that atmosphere. The current
• 6:55
  focus is whether those chemical
• 6:57
  signatures could have a biological
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  origin. And that's one of the most
• 7:01
  consequential questions in all of
• 7:03
  science. K28b is one of the most watched
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  targets in astrobiology right now. And
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  with web continuing to accumulate data,
• 7:12
  we should expect more updates in the
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  months ahead. Avery, if it turns out
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  there is life on K218b,
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  >> then everything changes. That's all I'll
• 7:22
  say. Okay, something a little different
• 7:24
  now. A story about our own sun behaving
• 7:27
  unusually quietly. On February 22nd, the
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  Sun's Earth-facing disc went completely
• 7:33
  spotless for the first time in 1,355
• 7:37
  days. That ends a streak stretching all
• 7:39
  the way back to June 8th of 2022. For
• 7:42
  nearly 4 years, you could look at the
• 7:44
  sun on any given day and find at least
• 7:47
  one active sunspot region. Not anymore,
• 7:50
  for a few days at least. Sunspots are
• 7:53
  regions of intense magnetic activity on
• 7:56
  the solar surface, and they're the
• 7:58
  source of solar flares and the coronal
• 8:00
  mass ejections that can send charged
• 8:03
  particles hurtling toward Earth. We are
• 8:06
  in solar cycle 25, which peaked in
• 8:08
  October 2024 with a sunspot count
• 8:12
  significantly higher than scientists
• 8:14
  initially predicted.
• 8:15
  >> Here's a fun wrinkle. While Earth was
• 8:18
  looking at a blank sun, NASA's
• 8:20
  Perseverance rover on Mars had a
• 8:23
  different view. From the Martian
• 8:25
  surface, Perseverance could see sunspot
• 8:27
  groups blazing away on the far side of
• 8:30
  the sun, invisible to us here on Earth,
• 8:33
  but clearly visible from Mars' position
• 8:35
  in the solar system.
• 8:37
  >> The spotless period appears to have
• 8:39
  lasted about 2 to 3 days before a new
• 8:42
  active region began emerging around
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  February 24th. So, the sun isn't
• 8:47
  shutting down. It's just having a quiet
• 8:49
  moment. Solar activity isn't expected to
• 8:52
  reach its next minimum until around
• 8:54
  2030. But this little pause is a signal
• 8:57
  that solar cycle 25 is beginning its
• 9:00
  long, slow windown from that October
• 9:02
  2024 peak. For listeners who love aurora
• 9:06
  hunting, the good news is there's still
• 9:08
  plenty of solar activity ahead. But the
• 9:11
  best years of the cycle are behind us
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  now. Now to a story that we've touched
• 9:16
  on before, but which has taken on
• 9:18
  fascinating new depth this week with the
• 9:20
  Shenzu 20 astronauts speaking out in
• 9:23
  remarkable detail about last year's
• 9:25
  inorbit emergency, China's first ever
• 9:28
  human spaceflight crisis. Just to recap
• 9:31
  the situation, China's Shenzhu 20 crew,
• 9:35
  Commander Chen Dong, along with Chen
• 9:37
  Shong Rui and Wing Yay launched in April
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  2025 for what was supposed to be a
• 9:43
  standard six-month mission to the Tiang
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  Gong space station. During pre-return
• 9:48
  checks on the day before they were
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  supposed to come home, Commander Chen
• 9:52
  went to inspect the return capsule
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  >> and he spotted something on the viewport
• 9:57
  window, something triangular. His first
• 9:59
  thought, and he shared this in a new
• 10:01
  interview with Chinese state broadcaster
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  CCTV, was that a small leaf had somehow
• 10:06
  stuck to the outside of the glass.
• 10:08
  >> And then, as he told it, he quickly
• 10:11
  realized that couldn't happen because
• 10:13
  they were in space.
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  >> What he was actually seeing was a crack,
• 10:17
  a triangular scar roughly 2 cm long in
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  the outer layer of the three layer
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  viewport window, most likely caused by a
• 10:25
  debris strike. The crew used a
• 10:27
  pen-shaped microscope to confirm the
• 10:29
  damage, took photos immediately, and
• 10:31
  transmitted everything to the ground.
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  The decision that followed was
• 10:35
  extraordinary. The crew could not safely
• 10:38
  return in their own spacecraft. Instead,
• 10:41
  they transferred to the Shenzu 21
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  vehicle that had just arrived days
• 10:45
  earlier, carrying their relief crew. An
• 10:48
  uncrrewed Shenzu 22 was then emergency
• 10:51
  launched, carrying a port hole repair
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  device. The whole response from finding
• 10:56
  the crack to the crew's safe return to
• 10:58
  Earth took just over 20 days.
• 11:01
  >> And the damaged Senzu 20 capsule, it was
• 11:04
  eventually brought back to Earth
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  uncrrewed on January 19th of this year
• 11:08
  after spending 270 days in orbit, 90
• 11:12
  days longer than planned. It survived
• 11:14
  re-entry, which itself was a significant
• 11:17
  engineering achievement.
• 11:19
  >> Commander Chen Dong summed it up
• 11:21
  beautifully. The unexpected window
• 11:23
  cracks ultimately became a precious
• 11:25
  testament to the concerted efforts and
• 11:27
  shared commitment for safety between our
• 11:30
  two crews and all groundbased space
• 11:32
  personnel.
• 11:33
  >> A genuinely remarkable chapter in human
• 11:36
  space flight. The space debris problem
• 11:38
  is real and this story illustrates
• 11:41
  exactly why it matters.
• 11:43
  >> And finally, something a little lighter
• 11:45
  to close the show. Avery, have you ever
• 11:48
  wanted to send a letter that was also
• 11:50
  technically a window to the cosmos?
• 11:53
  >> I feel like that's a rhetorical
• 11:55
  question, but yes, obviously.
• 11:57
  >> Well, the US Postal Service has you
• 11:59
  covered. Yesterday, February 24th, the
• 12:02
  USPS officially issued two brand new
• 12:06
  priority mail stamps, both featuring
• 12:09
  images from the James Webb Space
• 12:11
  Telescope. The first is the priority
• 12:13
  mail stamp priced at $11.95
• 12:17
  and it features the Crab Nebula, the
• 12:19
  spectacular remnant of a star that
• 12:21
  exploded in the constellation Taurus
• 12:23
  about 6,500 lighty years away. Web
• 12:27
  captured it in the infrared, revealing
• 12:29
  structural details that have never been
• 12:31
  seen before. The second is the Priority
• 12:34
  Mail Express stamp at $33.25.
• 12:38
  And this one is a real showpiece. It's a
• 12:41
  composite image called Galaxy Pair. Two
• 12:45
  interacting spiral galaxies IC263
• 12:50
  and NGC2207
• 12:53
  located about 80 million light years
• 12:55
  away. The image combines web and Hubble
• 12:58
  data across infrared, visible, and
• 13:01
  ultraviolet wavelengths. It is genuinely
• 13:04
  stunning.
• 13:06
  >> Kansas City, Missouri was the official
• 13:07
  city of issue, though there was no
• 13:09
  public ceremony. And here's a lovely
• 13:12
  detail for collectors. You have until
• 13:14
  June 24th to send your stamps in for a
• 13:17
  first day of issue postmark. The postal
• 13:19
  service will even apply the postmark for
• 13:22
  free up to 50 envelopes.
• 13:24
  >> And this is actually the fourth
• 13:26
  consecutive year the USPS has used web
• 13:29
  imagery on priority mail stamps. In
• 13:31
  2022, it was a forever stamp featuring a
• 13:35
  rendering of the telescope itself. In
• 13:37
  2024 and 2025, the Pillars of Creation
• 13:41
  featured now the Crab Nebula and a
• 13:44
  Galaxy pair. Web is becoming something
• 13:46
  of an annual tradition at the post
• 13:48
  office,
• 13:49
  >> which when you think about it is rather
• 13:51
  wonderful. A space telescope that cost
• 13:54
  $10 billion and took 30 years to build
• 13:57
  is now sitting in people's junk drawers
• 13:59
  next to the scissors and the tape.
• 14:01
  >> That is the most poetic thing you have
• 14:04
  ever said on this podcast. I have my
• 14:06
  moments.
• 14:07
  >> And that is Astronomy Daily for
• 14:09
  Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. What a
• 14:13
  show. Rollbacks, red super giants,
• 14:16
  possible ocean worlds, a quiet sun,
• 14:19
  space debris emergencies, and
• 14:22
  commemorative postage.
• 14:23
  >> If you enjoyed today's episode, please
• 14:25
  do leave us a review wherever you
• 14:27
  listen. It makes a genuine difference.
• 14:29
  And you can find us at astronomydaily.io
• 14:32
  IO and on social media at Astro Daily
• 14:35
  Pod
• 14:35
  >> for Avery. I'm Anna. Stay curious, keep
• 14:39
  looking up, and we'll see you tomorrow.
• 14:41
  >> Clear skies, everyone.
• 14:53
  The stories told.