Episode Details

BONUS PART START STARTS AT 18:21

Watch here (with no ads) or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JMSfLchB5hI

Interview with Dr. Noelia Noël about painting satellites black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yQegWQWtUo

Dragonfly is taking shape. A new exoplanet at Beta Pictoris. Hera gets a software upgrade mid-flight. And new features hiding in the Orion Nebula. On Space Bites Plus, how we can paint satellites black to reduce light pollution. All this and more in this week's Space Bites.

• 00:00 Intro

• 00:20 Dragonfly Takes Its Shape https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/dragonfly/2026/07/09/nasas-dragonfly-clears-key-tests-as-titan-rotorcraft-takes-shape/

• 03:41 Software Update for HERA https://www.universetoday.com/articles/rebooting-a-spacecraft-140-million-kilometres-from-home

• 06:11 New Exoplanet at Beta Pictoris https://www.universetoday.com/articles/this-exoplanet-hid-for-10-years-before-astronomers-finally-found-it

• 09:36 Missing Link for Black Holes https://www.universetoday.com/articles/a-relativistic-jet-could-be-an-indication-of-the-missing-link-for-black-holes

• 11:51 Vote results

• 12:13 Ancient astronomers were right about Theta Eridani https://www.universetoday.com/articles/to-ancient-astronomers-theta-eridani-was-brighter-for-a-thousand-years-now-we-know-why

• 14:41 New Features Hiding in the Orion Nebula https://www.universetoday.com/articles/astronomers-find-new-features-hiding-in-the-orion-nebula

• 16:15 Hubble Discovers First of Star Cluster’s Missing Black Holes https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-discovers-first-of-star-clusters-missing-black-holes/

• 17:54 More space news

• 18:21 BONUS https://www.universetoday.com/articles/ultra-black-coating-could-mitigate-light-pollution-caused-by-satellites

• 19:03 How do you do, fellow kids?