Atmosphere Found on Rocky Exoplanet, Starship Drama Unfolds, and Meteorite Treasure Trove

About this episode

The episode discusses the first detected atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet, Starship's launch abort, and various astronomical discoveries.

Astronomy Daily — S05E143 | Friday 17 July 2026 | "A World With Air" Anna and Avery bring you a genuine milestone: the first atmosphere ever detected on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star. Plus Starship's last-second launch abort, the New Jersey bedroom meteorite carrying life's ingredients, the earliest galaxy-building ever seen, metallic dunes on Mars, and a Moon–Venus meeting in tonight's sky. In this episode 01:45 — A world with air. Astronomers detect helium escaping from LHS 1140 b, a super-Earth 48 light-years away — the first confirmed atmosphere on a rocky, habitable-zone exoplanet. Published in Science. 07:00 — Starship Flight 13 aborts at T-0. Several Raptor engines failed to ignite at the moment of launch; two engines will be replaced, with a retry expected early next week. 10:15 — The Hillsborough meteorite. The rock that crashed through a New Jersey bedroom in July 2024 is a rare, ultra-pristine CM1/2 carbonaceous chondrite laced with amino acids and salts — evidence for the delivery of life's ingredients to early Earth. Published in Science Advances. 14:00 — Galaxies growing up fast. Durham University astronomers using JWST find the most distant…

People in this episode

Hosts: Anna, Avery

Topics covered

• exoplanets
• atmosphere detection
• space exploration
• meteorites
• galaxy formation
• Mars exploration
• skywatching

Keywords

• rocky exoplanet
• atmosphere
• Starship
• meteorite
• galaxy
• Mars
• helium
• JWST
• skywatch

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Science, Science Advances, MNRAS

Places: New Jersey, LHS 1140 b

More episodes of Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News

• Half the Neutron Stars · September 11, 2026 · 31 min
• A Hundred and Nine Flashes · September 10, 2026 · 28 min
• The Smallest Things Remember · September 9, 2026 · 28 min
• The Moon in Five Hours · September 8, 2026 · 27 min
• Europe Launches From Europe — And Two White Dwarfs Six Minutes Apart · September 7, 2026 · 29 min
• The Hydrogen Map: How a Radio Telescope Heard Half the Universe · September 5, 2026 · 28 min