Rubin spots a hidden world & Ancient Mars rock records water - Space News (Oct 30, 2026)

Support The Automated Daily directly: 15 free episodes a day, 5 editions, 3 languages, about $4 a day to produce. A coffee keeps it going: theautomateddaily.com/support Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Lindy is your ultimate AI assistant that proactively manages your inbox - https://try.lindy.ai/tad - Discover the Future of AI Audio with ElevenLabs - https://try.elevenlabs.io/tad - KrispCall: Agentic Cloud Telephony - https://try.krispcall.com/tad Today's topics: Rubin spots a hidden world - The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has detected 2026 ED138, a large icy object beyond Pluto that may qualify as a dwarf planet. The discovery highlights Rubin’s ability to uncover faint objects in crowded regions of the sky. [17][90] Ancient Mars rock records water - Teghaza 001, a Martian meteorite formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, preserves evidence that water interacted with the ancient crust of Mars. The rock provides a rare record of the planet’s warmer, wetter past. [61][62] Webb finds lava-world cloud shield - James Webb observations indicate that the lava planet TOI-561 b retains a highly reflective atmosphere. Climate models suggest silicate clouds could provide a mineral sunscreen against intense starlight. [211][214] Cat’s Head reveals newborn stars - Hubble and Webb have produced complementary views of the Cat’s Head Nebula, a dusty star-forming region within the Carina Nebula. Infrared observations reveal newborn stars hidden from visible-light telescopes. [49][50] ISS marks hundredth U.S. spacewalk - Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed another upgraded solar array during the hundredth U.S. spacewalk conducted from the International Space Station. The array will support station operations and its eventual controlled deorbit. [91][100] Episode Transcript Rubin spots a hidden world We begin beyond Pluto, where astronomers have identified a strong new dwarf-planet candidate. For now, it carries the temporary designation 2026 ED138. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory recorded the object repeatedly during early observations, and researchers later recognized it while searching the data for moving points of light. Its brightness suggests that it is large enough for gravity to have pulled it into a roughly rounded shape, although more observations are needed before its status can be settled. What makes the discovery especially interesting is where it appeared: against a dense field containing millions of background stars. Separating a faint, slowly moving object from that crowded view is difficult. Rubin’s success suggests that many more distant bodies could emerge as its main sky survey gathers momentum. This is not yet an official addition to the dwarf-planet roster, but it is a promising new piece of the outer solar system. Ancient Mars rock records water From the edge of the solar system, we move to a rock that carries a record of early Mars. Researchers have confirmed that a meteorite called Teghaza 001 formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest known pieces of Mars on Earth. The rose-colored rock was found in Mali’s Sahara Desert in 2022, but its importance became clear only after detailed laboratory dating. Minerals insi