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…
More episodes of Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates
- Postcards From Mars
- India Reaches Orbit — Privately — Today's Space News
- The Sun's Hidden Power, Atmosphere on a Nearby Planet, and Starship's Five-Act Drama
- Hide and Seek - The Faintest Planet Ever Imaged, Pluto's Landslides & Starlink's 355,000 Dodges
- Starship Set for Launch, First Black Hole Found in Omega Centauri, and X-Rays in Space
- Space Mirrors Spark Controversy, Hidden Space Junk Revealed, and Black Hole Energy Breakthrough
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates podcast page.