{"podcast":{"title":"Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News","slug":"astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676","podcast_index_feed_id":5658676,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/5648921/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.astronomydaily.io","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/3ef2bb90b641d3f09a10b0a281912ff3.jpg","author":"bitesz.com","episode_count":901,"summary":"Join hosts Anna and Avery for daily Space & Astronomy news, insights, and discoveries . Give us 20 minutes and we'll give you the Universe! For more visit, our website and sign up for the free daily newsletter and check out our continually updated newsfeed. http://astronomydaily.io . Follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and TikTok ...just search for AstroDailyPod . Enjoy! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support .","last_synced_at":"2026-09-19T16:18:05.091830+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676"},"episode":{"title":"Dark Matter Revealed by Light Echoes, MAVEN's Legacy, and Groundbreaking Research on Menstruation in Space","slug":"dark-matter-revealed-by-light-echoes-maven-s-legacy-and-groundbreaking-research-on-menstruation-in-space","published_at":"2026-06-22T10:25:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676/dark-matter-revealed-by-light-echoes-maven-s-legacy-and-groundbreaking-research-on-menstruation-in-space","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676","url":"http://astronomydaily.io","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/track/op3.dev/e/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72628062/dark_matter_revealed_by_light_echoes_maven_s_legacy_and_groundbreaking_research_on_menstruation_in_space.mp3","summary":"S05E121 | Monday, 22 June 2026 Hosts: Anna & Avery | astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod Story 1 — Dark Matter Is Hugging Our Galaxy's Black Hole • Virginia Tech researchers used 'echo mapping' — light reverberations around active black holes — to detect dark matter signatures • Supermassive black holes including Sgr A* (Milky Way) appear surrounded by dense dark matter clusters • Lead researcher Mayank Sharma: 'The observational evidence for dark matter is simply undeniable' • Published in Physical Review D, June 11, 2026 • Provides a new tool for probing dark matter in the most extreme gravitational environments Story 2 — Swift Rescue Mission: Launch Date Confirmed • NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory launched 2004; has been losing altitude due to atmospheric drag — no thrusters to compensate • Katalyst Space Technologies built LINK — a robotic servicer with 3 robotic arms and xenon Hall-effect thrusters • Northrop Grumman's Stargazer aircraft departed Wallops Flight Facility June 18 carrying Pegasus XL + LINK • Launch from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands: confirmed for June 27, 2026 • LINK must chase down Swift, inspect it, and latch on — a first-of-its-kind robotic capture mission • Critical altitude threshold: if Swift drops below 185 miles (300 km), rescue becomes impossible • Success would give Swift another ~22 years of science at its original 600 km altitude Story 3 — Chandra Spots a Supernova Near the Galactic Centre • NASA Chandra, ESA XMM-Newton, and MeerKAT (South Africa) detected a 'blue blob' of X-ray emission in Sagittarius C • Sagittarius C is a star-forming region ~26,000 light-years from Earth, a few dozen light-years from Sgr A* • Estimated age: ~1,700 years — light from the explosion would have reached Earth around 300 AD • Expansion speed:…","meta_description":"S05E121 | Monday, 22 June 2026 Hosts: Anna & Avery | astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod Story 1 — Dark Matter Is Hugging Our Galaxy's Black Hole • Vir…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1047,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676/episodes/dark-matter-revealed-by-light-echoes-maven-s-legacy-and-groundbreaking-research-on-menstruation-in-space/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676/dark-matter-revealed-by-light-echoes-maven-s-legacy-and-groundbreaking-research-on-menstruation-in-space.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}