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Podcast: Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates
Episode: Tipsy Comet: Interstellar Visitor Loaded With Alcohol
Description: In today's episode of Astronomy Daily — S05E61, Thursday 12 March 2026 — Anna and Avery cover six of the biggest stories in space and astronomy from the past 24 hours.  Stories in this episode: •      3I/ATLAS, our third confirmed interstellar visitor, has been found to be extraordinarily rich in methanol — a type of alcohol — with ALMA observations revealing methanol-to-hydrogen cyanide ratios far beyond almost any known solar system comet. The findings offer a chemical fingerprint of a distant planetary system, and the comet makes its closest pass to Jupiter on March 16. •      Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket successfully returned to flight on March 11, completing its seventh mi...