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Six Planets Tonight — And a Galaxy-Sized Mystery Solved ⭐ · Space News Today

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  Tonight, the night sky puts on a show.
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  The moon has a date with Jupiter. And
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  six planets are lined up for your
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  viewing pleasure. This is Astronomy
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  Daily.
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  >> I'm Avery.
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  >> And I'm Anna. Season 5, episode 49,
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  Thursday the 26th of February, 2026.
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  Lots to get through today. So, let's go.
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  >> If you've been watching the Western sky
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  after sunset this week, you may have
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  noticed something spectacular building.
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  Six of the solar systems planets are
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  above the horizon simultaneously right
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  now. And tonight is the visual
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  highlight.
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  >> We've also got a deep dive into some
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  extraordinary new findings about our
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  galaxy's magnetic field, a quick update
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  on Artemis 2, the identity of the
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  astronaut at the center of last month's
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  historic ISS medical story, and a brief
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  heads up on a scrubbed military
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  hypersonic launch that we'd been
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  previewing earlier in the week. Big
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  show. Let's get into it.
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  >> So Avery, I know you've been watching
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  this planet parade build all week, and
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  tonight is the moment we've been waiting
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  for.
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  >> It really is. As darkness falls this
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  evening, if you head outside and look
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  west, you'll see the moon sitting right
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  next to Jupiter. It's a stunning
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  pairing, and it's the centerpiece of a
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  six planet alignment that's been
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  building throughout February.
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  >> Let's break this down. Fix planets above
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  the horizon at once. Mercury, Venus,
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  Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
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  How does that work exactly?
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  >> The planets orbit the sun in roughly the
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  same flat plane, the ecliptic. So from
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  Earth, they always appear in a band
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  across the sky. When they spread out
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  enough that several are visible
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  simultaneously, we get what astronomers
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  call a planet parade or alignment. Right
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  now, they're nicely spaced across that
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  band. Now, I want to be honest with
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  listeners here because not all six
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  planets are easy to spot. Some are quite
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  the challenge.
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  >> Absolutely right. Jupiter is by far the
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  star of the show tonight. Pun intended.
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  It's high in the western sky after
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  sunset, unmistakably bright, and sitting
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  just below the waxing gibbus moon. If
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  you only look once this week, look
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  tonight. Look for the moon and that
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  blazing point of light right beside it
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  is Jupiter.
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  >> What about the others? Saturn and
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  Mercury are visible but low on the
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  western horizon. And I mean low. They
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  set not long after the sun, so you've
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  got a fairly tight window. Venus is
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  actually dimmer than you'd expect right
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  now because it's also sitting low in the
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  twilight glare. Uranus needs binoculars
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  and Neptune really requires a telescope
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  and you'll need to wait until the sun is
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  fully below the horizon before even
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  attempting that one. So, Jupiter and the
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  moon for casual observers, extra kit for
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  the dedicated stargazer.
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  >> Exactly. And here's something to keep in
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  your diary. We're one week away from the
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  full moon on March 3rd. And this isn't
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  just any full moon. It's a total lunar
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  eclipse, which means we're heading into
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  a blood moon. We'll have full coverage
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  of that next week.
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  >> Something to really look forward to. So,
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  tonight, get outside, find the moon, and
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  say hello to Jupiter right beside it.
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  Beautiful.
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  >> Now to the heart of our galaxy.
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  Astronomers using the world's largest
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  radio telescope array have peered deeper
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  into the Milky Way's central molecular
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  zone than ever before. And what they
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  found is extraordinary.
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  >> The region around Sagittarius A star,
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  our galaxy's super massive black hole at
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  the very center, is a violent, turbulent
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  environment. And new observations have
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  revealed hidden chemistry swirling
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  through that chaos. What the researchers
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  have done is essentially map the complex
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  molecules in the cloud of gas and dust
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  that surround Sagittarius A star at a
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  level of detail that wasn't previously
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  possible. They're finding chemical
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  signatures that challenge how we've
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  thought about that region of the galaxy.
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  >> When the lead researchers describe this
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  as just the beginning, that's telling,
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  isn't it? That phrase usually means
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  they've opened a door rather than closed
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  one.
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  >> Precisely. This is a proof of concept
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  for a new era of galactic center
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  observations. As the array's
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  capabilities continue to improve, the
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  resolution and sensitivity will only get
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  better. We're talking about unlocking
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  processes at the very engine room of our
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  galaxy. How molecules form in extreme
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  environments, how the black holes
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  radiation and gravity shape the
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  surrounding chemistry.
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  >> And it all feeds into the bigger
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  question of how galaxies like ours
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  evolve over cosmic time. Exactly right.
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  It's one of those stories where the
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  science is genuinely exciting right now,
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  but the best discoveries are still ahead
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  of us.
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  >> As we've been reporting throughout the
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  week, NASA's Aremis 2 space launch
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  system rocket has now been rolled back
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  from launchpad 39B to the vehicle
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  assembly building.
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  >> The crawler transporter made the journey
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  on Tuesday. A spectacular but somewhat
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  sobering sight. That 6.6 6 million pound
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  vehicle hauling a rocket that was
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  supposed to be heading for the moon.
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  >> The issue is with the upper stage and
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  engineers now need to diagnose and
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  repair whatever's causing the problem in
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  the controlled environment of the VAB
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  rather than on the pad. The current
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  expectation is that the earliest
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  realistic launch opportunity is now
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  early April. Interestingly, President
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  Trump gave a State of the Union address
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  on Monday and gave a shout out to the
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  Space Force, calling it, and I quote,
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  "My baby," but notably didn't mention
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  the Aremis 2 crew by name.
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  >> Make of that what you will. We'll
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  continue to follow this as it develops,
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  but for now, no moonshot in March.
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  >> Now, to a story that first broke last
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  month and which has just had a
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  significant new development. NASA has
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  now identified the astronaut at the
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  center of the first ever medical
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  evacuation from the International Space
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  Station.
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  >> To recap for anyone who missed the
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  original story, in January, SpaceX's
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  Crew 11 mission returned to Earth early.
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  One member of that crew had experienced
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  a medical issue serious enough to
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  warrant cutting the mission short and
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  bringing the entire crew home.
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  >> That was unprecedented. In the entire
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  history of the ISS, we'd never had a
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  medical evacuation at that level before.
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  >> NASA has now shed more light on what
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  happened, specifically at the request of
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  the astronaut involved, who wanted their
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  identity made public. The crew of crew
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  11 included NASA astronauts Mike Frink
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  and Zena Cardman, JAXA astronaut Kama
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  UI, and Ross Cosmos cosminaut Oleg
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  Platinoff. It turns out it was Mike
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  Frink who needed the medical help. It
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  was explained that he needed some more
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  imaging scans performed, which just
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  couldn't be done with the equipment on
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  board the ISS. So, home they came.
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  However, the nature of his ailment still
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  hasn't been revealed. The details
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  emerging give the medical community and
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  space agencies important data for future
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  longduration mission planning. It raises
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  real questions about how we handle
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  health crises in orbit, what protocols
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  are in place, and how they might need to
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  evolve, especially as missions
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  eventually go beyond low Earth orbit.
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  >> A deeply human story alongside all the
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  engineering and science. We'll link to
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  the full NASA disclosure in the show
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  notes.
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  >> Right. And now for what might be my
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  favorite story of the episode. And
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  honestly, it's one of those pieces of
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  research that just makes you stop and
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  think about how strange and wonderful
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  our galaxy is. Tell me everything.
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  >> So, a team led by Dr. Joanne Brown at
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  the University of Calgary has produced
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  the most detailed map yet of the Milky
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  Ways magnetic field. And what they found
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  has fundamentally surprised them.
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  >> Let's back up a second. How do you even
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  map a magnetic field across a galaxy?
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  >> Great question. The technique is called
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  Faraday rotation. When radio waves
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  travel through space, they interact with
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  electrons and magnetic fields, and that
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  interaction causes them to shift
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  slightly. They rotate. Dr. Brown student
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  Rebecca Booth described it brilliantly.
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  Think of a straw in a glass of water
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  looking bent because of refraction.
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  Faraday rotation is the same concept,
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  but it's electrons and magnetic fields
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  bending radio waves instead of light
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  through water. That's a genuinely
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  beautiful analogy,
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  >> isn't it? And by carefully measuring how
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  much those radio waves shift, the team
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  can trace the invisible magnetic lines
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  flowing through the galaxy. Now, here's
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  the astonishing finding. If you could
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  look at the Milky Way from above, the
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  overall magnetic field runs clockwise.
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  But in the Sagittarius arm, one of our
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  galaxy's spiral arms, it runs
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  counterclockwise. a complete reversal.
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  >> They must have known about that reversal
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  before though, right?
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  >> They knew about the reversal. Yes. What
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  they didn't understand was how the
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  transition happened, how the field
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  switches direction, and this is where
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  the new data delivered a genuine moment
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  of discovery. Dr. Brown describes it
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  perfectly. She says one day her student
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  Anna brought in the new data and Brown's
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  reaction was, and I'm quoting here,
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  "OMG, the reversal's diagonal."
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  >> I love that. An OMG moment in
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  astrophysics.
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  >> It's wonderful. The reversal doesn't
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  happen in a flat, clean plane as
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  previously assumed. It runs diagonally
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  through the galaxy in three dimensions.
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  That changes everything about how we
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  model the magnetic structure. The team
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  has now built a new 3D model to explain
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  it.
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  >> And why does it matter? Why does the
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  galaxy's magnetic field matter at all?
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  >> Well, as Dr. Brown puts it, without a
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  magnetic field, the galaxy would
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  collapse in on itself due to gravity.
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  The magnetic field is essentially one of
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  the forces holding the whole structure
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  in balance. Understanding how it's
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  shaped and how it's evolved over
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  billions of years tells us something
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  profound about how galaxies like ours
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  come to exist and persist.
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  >> Absolutely mindexpanding. We'll have the
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  research details and links in the show
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  notes.
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  >> And finally, a quick update on a launch
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  we've been previewing earlier in the
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  week. Rocket Lab's haste suborbital
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  rocket was due to liftoff from Wallops
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  Island, Virginia on Tuesday, but the
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  mission was scrubbed due to out of
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  bounds launch commit criteria.
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  >> No new launch date has been announced
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  yet, but just to give listeners the full
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  picture on what this mission actually
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  is, cuz it's genuinely fascinating.
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  >> It really is. The mission is called
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  That's Not a Knife. And yes, that is a
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  deliberate Crocodile Dundee reference.
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  And it's carrying a scramjet powered
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  hypersonic demonstrator called Dart AE
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  built by the Australian company
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  Hypersonics. A scramjet being the key
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  technology here.
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  >> Exactly. A scramjet supersonic
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  combustion ramjet ingests air flowing
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  through it faster than the speed of
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  sound and burns fuel in that airream.
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  What makes Hypersonic's version
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  particularly interesting is that it runs
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  on hydrogen rather than kerosene, making
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  it essentially zero carbon dioxide
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  emissions at hypersonic speeds. The Dart
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  AE is designed to validate advanced
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  propulsion materials and guidance
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  systems for the US Defense Innovation
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  Unit.
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  >> And Haste itself is Rocket Lab's
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  workhorse electron rocket adapted for
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  suborbital hypersonic testing.
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  >> Correct. This would have been the
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  seventh haste flight. The mission will
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  fly, just not this week. We'll update
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  you when a new date is confirmed.
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  >> That's everything for series 5, episode
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  49. An enormous thank you for joining us
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  today.
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  >> Lots to look at both in the sky and in
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  the science. Don't forget moon and
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  Jupiter tonight. Get outside if you can.
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  >> If you enjoyed today's episode, please
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  do subscribe, leave us a review, and
• 12:04
  share us with a friend who loves space.
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  We are Astronomy Daily, part of the
• 12:10
  byes.com podcast network. Find us on all
• 12:14
  major podcast platforms at Astronomy
• 12:16
  Daily and on social media at Astro Daily
• 12:20
  Pod.
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  >> We'll be back tomorrow with more from
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  the universe. Until then, keep looking
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  up.
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  >> Clear skies, everyone.
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  Stories told.