Today's episode — S05E177, Wednesday August 26, 2026:
Feature story: Astronomers using the ALMA array in Chile, led by Bill Dent (European Southern Observatory), have released the most detailed picture yet of the actual surface of Betelgeuse, the red supergiant marking Orion's shoulder — a corrugated, irregular surface with bright convective hot spots, some nearly 1,000°F hotter than the surrounding plasma. One hot spot in the northeastern region has persisted for more than seven years, far longer than current models predict, and its orientation lines up with the position of Betelgeuse B — a companion star imaged for the first time in July by a separate VLT/SPHERE study — raising the possibility the companion is influencing the giant star's surface. Betelgeuse is one of the closest stars to us expected to eventually go supernova (on a timescale of roughly the next 100,000 years); Dent notes the imagery builds a crucial "before" baseline for whenever that happens.
The rest of the news:
- ISS Spacewalk 98: NASA's Anil Menon and ESA's Sophie Adenot finished replacing a Space-to-Ground antenna on the station, six and a half hours outside, restoring communications redundancy that had been running on a backup since November. Adenot's spacewalk record as the first French woman to conduct an EVA is now backed by two completed outings.
- Solar flare/CME: The Sun fired an M6.9 flare from sunspot region 4513, triggering radio blackouts over Africa, Europe and the Arctic; a slow-moving CME is due to graze Earth around Friday, August 28, with an outside chance of minor geomagnetic storming — mostly a Northern Hemisphere aurora story.
- Falcon 9 reuse record: SpaceX's booster B1067 flew for the 37th time — a new single-booster reuse record — on the company's 100th Falcon 9 launch of 2026.
- Tonight's Sky: A 96%-partial lunar eclipse falls the night of August 27-28, spectacular from the Americas but invisible from Australia and the rest of Asia-Pacific (broad daylight here). Venus and Saturn remain good evening/overnight targets locally.
Links & sources:
- Space.com — The bubbling surface of doomed supergiant star Betelgeuse has been revealed like never before
- Space.com — Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse! Astronomers capture clearest image yet of famous star's elusive companion
- Space.com — "You just saved the video dish": Two astronauts complete spacewalk to replace ISS antenna
- NASA — NASA, ESA Spacewalkers Finish Installing High-Speed Antenna
- Space.com — Sun fires powerful M6.9 solar flare and CME toward Earth
- Space.com — SpaceX sets rocket-reuse record on 100th Falcon 9 launch of the year
- Space.com — Partial lunar eclipse Aug. 27-28: stages and visibility
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