Cosmic Fireworks, Mars Meets Uranus, and the Dawn of a New Era in Astronomy

Astronomy Daily — S05E132 — Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap — Saturday, July 4, 2026 It's the Fourth of July weekend edition of Astronomy Daily! This week's wrap covers the successful launch of the Swift rescue mission after a week of delays, the historic start of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's decade-long sky survey, an aurora-triggering geomagnetic storm timed for the holiday weekend, a promising nearby habitable-zone super-Earth, a brand new James Webb 'cosmic fireworks' image released for America's 250th birthday, and a rare ultra-close conjunction between Mars and Uranus visible before dawn today. In this episode: •          Swift Boost mission: LINK spacecraft launches successfully on the final flight of Pegasus XL •          Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time from Chile •          G2–G3 geomagnetic storm watch brings aurora chances for the July 4 weekend •          Recap: GJ 3378 b, a potentially habitable super-Earth just 25 light-years away •          JWST releases new 'cosmic fireworks' image of the FS Tau star system for America 250 •          Mars and Uranus in an extremely close conjunction, visible before dawn today Links & sources: •          science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift — Swift Boost mission updates •          rubinobservatory.org — Vera C. Rubin Observatory LSST •          swpc.noaa.gov — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center aurora forecasts •          science.nasa.gov/missions/webb — James Webb Space Telescope FS Tau image release •          space.com/stargazing — Mars-Uranus conjunction viewing guideBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.astronomydaily.io/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmailBecome a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.