Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for
the latest space and astronomy news. I'm
Anna.
Avery: And I'm avery. Today's Tuesday, January
27, 2026, and we've got some
fascinating stories lined up for you.
Anna: We certainly do. On today's episode, we're
diving into NASA's groundbreaking new Dark
matter map, getting the latest updates on
this week's orbital launch schedule, and
learning about what the Artemis II crew might
see on the far side of the Moon.
Avery: Plus, we'll explore stun new insights into
Jupiter's complex cloud systems,
find out about a rare solar eclipse that only
a handful of people will witness, and get the
latest on SpaceX's upgraded Starship
development.
Anna: Let's get started.
Avery: Take it away, Anna.
Anna: Our top story today comes from NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where scientists
have created one of the most detailed dark
matter maps ever produced using data from
the James Webb Space Telescope.
Avery: This is really exciting stuff, Anna. Uh, the
map shows how dark matter, that invisible,
ghostly material that makes up most of the
universe's mass, overlaps and
intertwines with regular matter like stars
and galaxies.
Anna: Published Monday in Nature Astronomy, this
map is twice as sharp as any previous
dark matter map made by other observatories.
Diana Skogni Aglio, the lead author and
astrophysicist at jpl, described it
as seeing the invisible scaffolding of the
universe in stunning detail for the first
time.
Avery: What's particularly fascinating is how the
map confirms that dark matter and regular
matter have essentially grown up together.
Wherever you see a massive cluster of
thousands of galaxies, there's an equally
massive amount of dark matter in the same
place. When you see strings of regular matter
connecting clusters, dark matter strings are
there, too.
Anna: The team used Webb's unprecedented
sensitivity to observe nearly
800,000 galaxies in a region of
SK about 2.5 times larger
than the Full Moon. They detected dark matter
by observing how its mass curves space
itself, which bends light from distant
galaxies as it travels to Earth.
Avery: Here's something to ponder. Without dark
matter, we might not even be here. Dark
matter began clumping together first in the
early universe, and those clumps then pulled
regular matter together, creating the
conditions for stars and galaxies to form
earlier than they would have otherwise.
Anna: That earlier star formation was crucial
because those first generations of stars
turned hydrogen and helium into the rich
array of elements that now make up planets
like Earth. So in a very real sense,
dark matter influenced the creation of the
elements necessary for life.
Avery: Looking ahead, the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman
Space Telescope will map dark matter over
an area 4,400 times bigger than this
Webb study, though it won't match Webb's
incredible resolution. For even more
detailed looks, we'll have to wait for next
generation telescopes like the proposed
Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Anna: Fascinating research that's literally
revealing the invisible foundation of our
universe.
Avery: Moving on to this week's launch schedule,
it's shaping up to be, uh, a busy last week
of January with flights from Florida,
California and New Zealand on the manifesto.
Anna: That's right, SpaceX is planning to close out
the month with the GPS 3
SV09 mission along with up to three
Starlink launches. The GPS launch is
scheduled for late Monday evening from cape
Canaveral.
Avery: The GPS 3 SV09
satellite, named Ellison Onisuka after one of
the fallen Challenger astronauts, will be
launched to medium Earth orbit. This
spacecraft offers improved accuracy and
jamming resistance over previous versions of
gps.
Anna: Meanwhile, Rocket Labs ELECTRON is preparing
for the Bridging the Swarm mission from New
Zealand's Mahia Peninsula on Wednesday.
This launch will carry South Korea's Neonsat
1 a observation satellite to sun
synchronous orbit.
Avery: The Neonsat constellation is designed to
provide near real time disaster monitoring
capability for the Korean Peninsula. The
100 kilogram Neonsat 1A features
a high resolution optical camera and will
join an existing NEONSAT satellite already in
orbit.
Anna: This miss already faced a couple of delays.
It was originally scheduled to launch back in
December, but was scrubbed after sensor
issues during Countdown.
Avery: SpaceX also has multiple Starlink missions on
the schedule this week from Both coasts,
Group 1719 from Vandenberg
Space Force Base in California on Thursday,
and Group 6101 from Cape
Canaveral later that same day.
Anna: And looking ahead to early February, the
first Starlink mission of next month, Group
6 103, is currently scheduled
for Sunday, February 1.
Avery: China also has two possible flights on the
manifest a Chang Zhang 7A from
Hainan island and a Jielong 3 from the
South China Sea. Though neither has a
confirmed launch date.
Anna: Yet, it's worth noting that China's year in
spaceflight has already been eventful with
two launch failures within 12 hours in mid
January, so they may be proceeding cautiously
with these upcoming missions.
Okay, moving on, our next story takes us to
preparations for NASA's Artemis 2 mission,
where four astronauts are training to become
the first humans to see parts of the moon
that have remained hidden from view even
during the Apollo missions.
Avery: The Artemis 2 crew Reid Wiseman,
Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Coach, and
Jeremy Hansen won't land on the lunar
surface, but they'll fly around the far side
of the Moon and potentially observe regions
never before seen by human eyes.
Anna: Among the most significant targets is Mari
oriental, a vast 600 mile
wide impact basing that sits along the edge
of the lunar far side. Its location makes it
nearly impossible to view from Earth, despite
its massive scale.
Avery: The crew will spend a dedicated three hour
segment of their mission focusing on direct
lunar observation. NASA exploration
scientist Jacob Bleacher emphasizes that
human vision can detect subtle surface
differences, Variations in brightness or
texture that indicate differences in rock
composition and geological age.
Anna: What's fascinating is that the astronauts
have been training extensively in geology,
including simulated exercises in Iceland
where they practiced identifying volcanic and
impact related features in environments
resembling the Moon.
Avery: The far side of the moon holds a geologic
record less disturbed than the near side.
While much of the near side is covered with
maria, the vast plains of ancient lava that
have erased older surface features, the far
side remains heavily cratered and relatively
intact.
Anna: Because of tidal locking, the moon always
shows the same face to Earth. Until the
Soviet Luna 3 mission in 1959,
no one had any idea what the far side looked
like. Even the Apollo missions only had brief
views and poor lighting.
Avery: Artemis 2 breaks that pattern by taking
advantage of a launch window and flight path
that ensures better visibility of the hidden
hemisphere. The mission is currently
scheduled for no earlier than February 6,
and astronaut Christina.
Anna: Koch noted that the mission may help shift
public understanding away from the outdated
phrase the dark side of the moon, which
falsely implies the region lacks sunlight.
Avery: An exciting mission that will give us
unprecedented views of lunar territory that
remained largely mysterious for all of human
history.
Anna: Now let's turn our attention to Jupiter,
where NASA's Juno spacecraft continues to
reveal the gas giant's secrets from beneath
its dense cloud layers.
Avery: Juno has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016,
peering through storms and cyclones to unveil
the planet's hidden complexity. And recent
observations are showing just how much more
intricate Jupiter is than we ever imagined.
Anna: One of the most fundamental questions
scientists have debated for decades is how
deep Jupiter's distinctive cloud bands
actually go. By measuring Jupiter's
gravity field, Juno discovered that these
belts and zones, which are alternating
east and west flowing jet streams,
extend about 1900 miles,
or 3000 kilometers below the cloud
tops.
Avery: That's incredible depth. And Juno's
discoveries have completely upended our
understanding of Jupiter's interior structure
too. Scientists long thought Jupiter had a
small solid core surrounded by hydrogen and
helium. But Juno's data suggests the
planet has a larger, more diluted core than
previously believed.
Anna: The spacecraft has also provided the first
detailed views of Jupiter's north pole.
Revealing massive cyclonic storms
arranged in fascinating eight
storms in an octagonal pattern in the north
and five in a pentagonal pattern in the
south. These storms are extremely
resilient and have persisted for years.
Avery: And here's something really intriguing.
Juno recently captured images showing a
mysterious green glow near Jupiter's north
pole. The flash of light was traveling at
breakneck speed, which makes capturing it
even more remarkable.
Anna: Scientists believe this could be lightning,
but Jupiter's lightning is vastly different
from Earth's. It's caused by clouds
containing ammonia water solution and can
be much more powerful than terrestrial
lightning.
Avery: Juno's mission has been extended multiple
times and was scheduled to end in September
2025, but appears to still be
operational, with no new end date being
promoted. During this extended phase,
the spacecraft is conducting close
flybys of Jupiter's intriguing Galilean
moons Ganymede, Europa and
IO Eventually, Juno.
Anna: Will meet its end by burning up in Jupiter's
atmosphere. But until then, it continues to
revolutionize our understanding of the solar
system's largest planet.
Avery: Our next story involves a celestial event
that very few people will witness. A
rare annular solar eclipse set to occur
over one of the most remote places on Earth.
Anna: On February 17, 2026,
a spectacular ring of fire eclipse
will be visible from a narrow stretch of
Antarctica. The phenomenon will only be
fully visible from an uninhabited region of
the continent, with just two research
stations falling within the event's path.
Avery: The antumbral shadow of the Moon, the area
where the full annular eclipse can be seen,
will travel across a, uh, 26,
61 mile stretch of mainland
Antarctica. Only two inhabited locations
fall within this narrow Concordia
Station, a AH French Italian base, and
Mirny Station, operated by Russia.
Anna: At Concordia, annularity will last 2
minutes and 1 second with the sun positioned
5 degrees above the horizon. At
Mirny, it will experience 1 minute and
52 seconds of annularity, with the sun
slightly higher at 10 degrees.
Avery: Given the extreme location and limited
infrastructure, eclipse meteorologist Jay
Anderson noted that it's a challenge to
reach, and neither of the two inhabited
locations is set up to welcome Taurus.
Anna: However, a partial eclipse will be visible
over a much larger region, including
several Antarctic research bases, parts of
southeastern Africa, the southern tip of
South America, and stretches of the Pacific,
Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Avery: For example, Poland's AB
Dobrolansky station will see 92%
of the sun covered, while McMurdo station in
the US will see 86%. Even
distant cities like Durban in South Africa
will witness about 16% coverage.
Anna: Weather could be a significant factor, though
mirny station averages 65%
cloud cover in February, while Concordia has
a clearer profile with about 35%
coverage, and temperatures can drop as low
as -112 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Avery: Interestingly, the eclipse itself might
improve viewing conditions. The sudden
temperature drop from the eclipse can disrupt
local cloud formation, potentially causing
convective clouds to dissipate.
Anna: Though if you're one of the handful of
researchers stationed in Antarctica next
month, you might be in for a spectacular
show, assuming the clouds cooperate and
you can brave the extreme cold.
And finally, in some late breaking news, we
have an update on SpaceX's Starship
development program.
Avery: According to a post from CEO Elon Musk, the
delayed first test of SpaceX's upgraded
Starship rocket, version 3, is now
slated for mid March.
Anna: This third version of Starship is larger and
more powerful than previous iterations.
Crucially, SpaceX plans to use
Starship V3 to launch its next
generation Starlink satellites, which will be
capable of faster data speeds but are heavier
and larger.
Avery: It's also the first version designed to dock
with other starships in Earth orbit, a
capability the company needs to reach the
Moon or Mars. This comes as SpaceX
faces pressure from the Trump administration
to return US astronauts to the lunar surface
before the end of a second term.
Anna: SpaceX was making progress toward a launch of
Starship V3 in late 2025,
but in November, the booster stage suffered a
major explosion during testing that blew out
an entire side of the steel rocket.
Avery: The company said it was performing gas system
pressure testing when the explosion happened,
but hasn't offered a more detailed breakdown
of what went wrong.
Anna: The second version of Starship was a mixed
bag. The program successfully reached orbit,
deployed dummy versions of next generation
Starlink satellites, and caught multiple
booster stages after they returned to the
launch pad.
Avery: But Starship V2 also suffered several
explosions and setbacks. Some resulted from
SpaceX's developmental approach of pushing
test vehicles to or past their limits.
Others were more unexpected, like when a
starship vehicle erupted in a massive
fireball during ground testing last June.
Anna: Meanwhile, competition is emerging. Jeff
Bezos's new Glenn rocket successfully
launched for the first time in January
2025 and completed its first
booster landing in November. Blue Origin
is planning a third new Glenn launch in late
February and ah.
Avery: Late last year, Blue Origin revealed it's
developing a larger super heavy variant of
new Glenn M, which more directly compare
competes with starship.
Anna: So while SpaceX continues to dominate the
global launch market, other players are
starting to close the gap. It'll be
interesting to see how the Starship V3 test
goes in March, and.
Avery: That wraps up today's episode of Astronomy
Daily.
Anna: Thanks for joining us for another journey
through the cosmos. Remember to check out our
website at astronomydaily IO
for more space and astronomy news.
Avery: And don't forget to follow us on social media
astrodaily Pod for updates between
episodes.
Anna: Until next time, keep looking up.
Avery: Clear skies, everyone.