S03E217: Jupiter's Magnetic Tornadoes, ISS Dodges Debris, and India's Solar Breakthrough

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily with me Anna, bringing you the

0:02 Speaker 1: latest space and astronomy news. Today, we have an exciting

0:06 Speaker 1: lineup of stories from across the cosmos. We'll be exploring

0:09 Speaker 1: massive magnetic tornadoes on Jupiter that are spawning Earth sized storms.

0:13 Speaker 1: Learn about some close calls with space degree at the

0:15 Speaker 1: International Space Station, recently, dive into groundbreaking asteroid research, and

0:20 Speaker 1: much more. Let's get started with today's space headlines. Planetary

0:25 Speaker 1: scientists have made a remarkable discovery on Jupiter enormous magnetic

0:29 Speaker 1: tornadoes that are creating storms as large as our entire

0:32 Speaker 1: planet Earth. These massive storms manifest as dark oval shapes

0:36 Speaker 1: in Jupiter's atmosphere. But here's the fascinating part. They're only

0:40 Speaker 1: visible when viewed in ultraviolet light. The discovery came after

0:44 Speaker 1: years of observations, including data from the Hubble Space Telescope

0:49 Speaker 1: and NASA's Cassini spacecraft. These mysterious dark ovals are actually

0:53 Speaker 1: dense hazes of aerosols in Jupiter's stratosphere, formed by swirling

0:57 Speaker 1: magnetic vortices that twist down from the planet's ionosphere into

1:01 Speaker 1: its deep atmosphere. The key to understanding these storms lies

1:05 Speaker 1: in the powerful magnetic interactions happening around Jupiter. The planet

1:10 Speaker 1: is surrounded by something called the Ioplasma Taurus, a doughnut

1:14 Speaker 1: shaped ring of charged particles spewed out by volcanoes on

1:17 Speaker 1: Jupiter's moon Io. When these particles interact with Jupiter's magnetic field,

1:22 Speaker 1: they can trigger the formation of these massive tornado like structures.

1:26 Speaker 1: These magnetic tornadoes take about a month to form and

1:30 Speaker 1: then dissipate within a couple of weeks. The resulting haze

1:33 Speaker 1: in these dark ovals is remarkably dense, about fifty times

1:36 Speaker 1: thicker than typical concentrations in Jupiter's atmosphere. It's as if

1:40 Speaker 1: Jupiter has its own version of Tornado Alley, except these

1:43 Speaker 1: storms are large enough to swallow Earth whole. The International

1:47 Speaker 1: Space Station has had to take evasive action twice in

1:49 Speaker 1: less than a week to dodge dangerous space debris, highlighting

1:53 Speaker 1: an increasing challenge in low Earth orbit. The most recent

1:57 Speaker 1: maneuver happened Monday morning, when a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft

2:01 Speaker 1: docked to the station since August fired its thrusters for

2:05 Speaker 1: about three and a half minutes to move the iss

2:07 Speaker 1: clear of an incoming piece of space junk. This came

2:11 Speaker 1: just six days after a similar maneuver was needed to

2:14 Speaker 1: avoid a fragment from a defunct weather satellite. The growing

2:18 Speaker 1: frequency of these avoidance maneuvers points to an increasingly crowded

2:21 Speaker 1: orbital environment. There are currently over ten thousand, two hundred

2:26 Speaker 1: active satellites in orbit, with SpaceX's Starlink constellation accounting for

2:30 Speaker 1: about six thousy, seven hundred of those, but the debris

2:34 Speaker 1: problem is far more extensive than just active satellites. Experts

2:39 Speaker 1: estimate there are around forty thousand, five hundred tracked pieces

2:42 Speaker 1: of debris at least four inches wide, over a million

2:46 Speaker 1: pieces between zero point four and four inches, and an

2:49 Speaker 1: astounding one hundred thirty million tiny fragments at least a

2:52 Speaker 1: millimeter in size. Even these smallest pieces pose a serious

2:57 Speaker 1: threat as they travel at speeds around seventeen thouds thousand,

3:00 Speaker 1: five hundred miles per hour at the station's altitude. To

3:03 Speaker 1: put this growing hazard in perspective, the ISS has had

3:07 Speaker 1: to perform thirty two debris avoidance maneuver since nineteen ninety nine,

3:11 Speaker 1: with the frequency of these events clearly on the rise.

3:14 Speaker 1: Speaking of avoiding things in space, in an exciting development

3:18 Speaker 1: for planetary defense scientists have unveiled a new integrated approach

3:22 Speaker 1: for studying near Earth asteroids. This breakthrough was demonstrated during

3:26 Speaker 1: the observation of asteroid twenty twenty two w J one,

3:30 Speaker 1: which was first detected by the Catalina Sky Survey in

3:33 Speaker 1: Arizona last November, just hours before it entered Earth's atmosphere

3:37 Speaker 1: over southern Ontario. For the first time in history, astronomers

3:42 Speaker 1: were able to track and study an incoming asteroid in

3:45 Speaker 1: detail during the brief window between its discovery and atmospheric entry.

3:50 Speaker 1: Using the Lowell Discovery telescopes rapid tracking capabilities, researchers observed

3:55 Speaker 1: the asteroid for about an hour before it disappeared into

3:58 Speaker 1: Earth's shadow, moving at an incredible five degrees per second

4:02 Speaker 1: across the sky. The combined data from telescopic observations and

4:06 Speaker 1: fireball cameras allowed scientists to determine that twenty twenty two

4:10 Speaker 1: WJ one was a silica rich object just forty to

4:14 Speaker 1: sixty centimeters wide, making it the smallest asteroid ever characterized

4:18 Speaker 1: before impact. This precise size calculation was possible thanks to

4:22 Speaker 1: measurements of the asteroid's reflectivity as it approached Earth. This

4:26 Speaker 1: new methodology of combining space based detection with ground based

4:30 Speaker 1: observation provides unprecedented detail about incoming asteroids and represents a

4:35 Speaker 1: significant advancement in our ability to study these objects. The

4:39 Speaker 1: success of this approach suggests we'll be able to gather

4:41 Speaker 1: even more detailed information about future Earth impacting asteroids, enhancing

4:46 Speaker 1: our understanding of these celestial visitors and improving our planetary

4:50 Speaker 1: defense capabilities. And a little update, Earth has bid farewell

4:55 Speaker 1: to its temporary companion, as asteroid twenty twenty four PT

4:59 Speaker 1: five has a fIF ended its brief stint as our

5:01 Speaker 1: planet's second moon. The thirty seven foot wide space rock,

5:05 Speaker 1: which had been orbiting Earth since September twenty ninth, departed

5:09 Speaker 1: on Monday at ten forty three a m Eastern time.

5:12 Speaker 1: Scientists who track this celestial visitor say it's been a

5:15 Speaker 1: fascinating opportunity to study these temporary orbital captures. Doctor Carlos

5:20 Speaker 1: de la Fuente Marcos of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid,

5:23 Speaker 1: who helped discover the asteroid's mini moon status, explains that

5:27 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four PT five is typically part of the

5:30 Speaker 1: Arjuna asteroid Belt, a collection of objects that circle the

5:33 Speaker 1: Sun in orbits very similar to Earth's. Looking ahead, astronomers

5:37 Speaker 1: have calculated several future close approaches of twenty twenty four

5:41 Speaker 1: PT five to our planet. The next visit is expected

5:44 Speaker 1: on January ninth, twenty twenty five, when it will pass

5:47 Speaker 1: within about one point one million miles of Earth. However,

5:51 Speaker 1: its velocity during this approach may be too high for

5:54 Speaker 1: Earth's gravity to capture it again. A more promising opportunity

5:57 Speaker 1: might come in May twenty eighty four, when in conditions

6:00 Speaker 1: could be just right for another temporary capture. While we

6:04 Speaker 1: say goodbye to this particular mini moon, scientists remind us

6:08 Speaker 1: that such temporary captures are relatively common, with several typically

6:12 Speaker 1: occurring each decade. These events provide valuable opportunities to study

6:16 Speaker 1: near Earth objects and better understand the complex gravitational dance

6:20 Speaker 1: between Earth and its cosmic neighbors. The James Web Space

6:24 Speaker 1: Telescope is helping astronomers tackle one of the biggest questions

6:27 Speaker 1: in exoplanet research, which distant worlds have atmospheres. A new

6:32 Speaker 1: study focusing on the super Earth GLEISA four hundred eighty

6:35 Speaker 1: six B is providing crucial insights into what scientists call

6:39 Speaker 1: the cosmic shoreline, the dividing line between planets that can

6:43 Speaker 1: maintain atmospheres and those that cannot. Located just twenty six

6:48 Speaker 1: light years away, Glisa four hundred eighty six B is

6:51 Speaker 1: about two point eight times the mass of Earth and

6:54 Speaker 1: orbits a small active red dwarf star. Recent web observations

6:58 Speaker 1: reveal the planet has a scorching day side temperature of

7:01 Speaker 1: eight hundred and sixty five kelvin, measured with unprecedented precision

7:05 Speaker 1: to within just fourteen degrees. This extreme heat suggests the

7:09 Speaker 1: planet has either a very thin atmosphere or none at all,

7:13 Speaker 1: as a thick atmosphere would help distribute heat more evenly.

7:17 Speaker 1: The findings are particularly significant because they help scientists understand

7:20 Speaker 1: how planets orbiting red dwarf stars, the most common type

7:23 Speaker 1: of star in our galaxy, might lose their atmospheres over

7:26 Speaker 1: billions of years due to intense stellar activity. This knowledge

7:30 Speaker 1: is crucial as astronomers continue their search for potentially habitable worlds,

7:35 Speaker 1: suggesting they should focus on more massive planets or those

7:38 Speaker 1: receiving less intense stellar radiation if they want to find

7:42 Speaker 1: worlds that have held onto their atmospheres. Finally, today time

7:47 Speaker 1: to say congratulations. Scientists in India are celebrating the first

7:51 Speaker 1: major breakthrough from their ADITYA L One Solar Observation Mission,

7:55 Speaker 1: the country's pioneering venture into solar studies. Using their advanced

7:59 Speaker 1: visible Emisis line coronagraph instrument, researchers have successfully captured and

8:04 Speaker 1: analyzed detailed data about massive solar eruptions known as coronal

8:08 Speaker 1: mass ejections. These powerful solar events can weigh up to

8:12 Speaker 1: a trillion kilograms and hurdle through space at speeds reaching

8:16 Speaker 1: three thousand kilometers per second. When directed toward Earth, they

8:21 Speaker 1: can traverse the one hundred fifty million kilometer journey in

8:24 Speaker 1: as little as fifteen hours, potentially causing significant disruptions to

8:28 Speaker 1: our technology dependent world. The mission's ability to precisely track

8:32 Speaker 1: these solar storms could prove invaluable for protecting our modern infrastructure.

8:38 Speaker 1: These events can interfere with satellite operations, disrupt power grids,

8:42 Speaker 1: and affect global communication systems. By providing early warnings of

8:47 Speaker 1: incoming solar storms, ADITYA L One's observations could give us

8:51 Speaker 1: crucial time to safeguard sensitive equipment and maintain essential services.

8:56 Speaker 1: What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is the spacecraft's unique

9:01 Speaker 1: vantage point and capabilities, Its specialized coronagraph can observe the

9:06 Speaker 1: Sun's outer corona continuously, providing uninterrupted monitoring that could help

9:10 Speaker 1: us better understand and predict these potentially hazardous solar phenomena.

9:15 Speaker 1: This advancement positions India among the select group of nations

9:18 Speaker 1: capable of conducting sophisticated solar research from space. And that's

9:25 Speaker 1: it for today. Thanks for listening to Astronomy Daily with

9:27 Speaker 1: me Anna. If you'd like to catch up on all

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9:48 Speaker 1: see you tomorrow with another episode of Astronomy Daily. In

9:51 Speaker 1: the meantime, keep looking up and let me know if

9:53 Speaker 1: you see anything unusual.

9:55 Speaker 2: Bye the Stars. The Soul Store is control