About this episode

The episode discusses the first detected atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet, Starship's launch issues, and recent 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
• Starship launch
• meteorites
• galaxy formation
• Mars exploration
• astronomy

Keywords

• exoplanet atmosphere
• Starship
• meteorite
• galaxy formation
• Mars dunes
• astronomy news
• helium detection

Mentioned in this episode

Products: JWST

Books & works: Science, Science Advances, MNRAS

Places: New Jersey, LHS 1140 b, Mars, Kaiser Crater, Moon, Venus, Regulus

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