Twisting Waves on the Sun, the Brightest Radio Flash, and Europe's Solar Storm Simulation

0:00 Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that

0:03 brings you the universe, one story at a time.

0:05 I'm Avery.

0:06 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you

0:09 today. We've got a fantastic lineup. We'll be

0:12 looking at twisting magnetic waves on the sun

0:15 that could finally solve a decades old

0:17 mystery.

0:18 Avery: We'll also dive into the brightest cosmic

0:21 radio flash ever seen and why its silence

0:24 is baffling astronomers. But plus, a sobering

0:26 look at Europe's simulation of a catastrophic

0:29 solar storm.

0:31 Anna: And on a lighter note, a successful launch

0:33 for Japan's new cargo ship. And we'll even

0:36 tell you how you can spot some of humanity's

0:38 most legendary spacecraft in the night sky.

0:41 Avery: It's a packed show. Let's get started.

0:44 Anna: Alright, Avery, let's start with our own

0:46 star, the Sun. For more than 80

0:49 years, scientists have puzzled over a

0:52 major solar mystery. Why is the

0:55 Sun's atmosphere the corona mill

0:58 millions of degrees hotter than its surface?

1:00 Avery: Right. It's completely counterintuitive.

1:02 You'd expect it to get cooler the farther you

1:05 move away from the heat source.

1:07 Anna: Exactly. But now, for the first time,

1:09 astronomers have direct evidence of a

1:12 phenomenon that might be the key. They've

1:15 observed twisting magnetic waves in the

1:17 corona, something that was first proposed way

1:20 back in the 1940s.

1:21 Avery: And these aren't just any waves. They're

1:23 called small scale torsional alfven waves.

1:26 Essentially, imagine the Sun's magnetic field

1:29 lines as guitar strings. These waves are like

1:32 a, twisting or plucking motion traveling

1:34 along those strings carrying enormous amounts

1:37 of energy from the sun's surface up into the

1:39 corona.

1:40 Anna: That's a great analogy. This energy heats the

1:43 corona to its incredible temperatures.

1:46 According to one of the lead researchers,

1:48 this discovery provides essential validation

1:50 for the models describing how this process

1:52 works. He said having direct

1:55 observations for finally allows us to test

1:57 these models against reality.

1:59 Avery: It's a huge deal. This isn't just confirming

2:02 a theory. It's a fundamental piece of the

2:04 puzzle of how our star works. And by

2:06 extension, how other stars work too. A

2:09 mystery 80 years in the making might finally

2:12 be getting solved. Next, from a mystery

2:14 solved to one that just got deeper, let's

2:17 talk about fast radio bursts, or FRBs.

2:20 These are intense, millisecond long bursts of

2:22 radio waves from deep space.

2:24 Anna: And recently, astronomers spotted the

2:27 brightest one ever.

2:28 Avery: Right. This new Signal is designated

2:30 FRB2025

2:32 16A, but it has a much

2:35 better nickname, RB Float, which stands for

2:38 radio brightest flash of all time.

2:40 Anna: I love when scientists have fun with the

2:42 names. So they traced this incredibly

2:45 bright flash to a nearby galaxy, giving them

2:48 a fantastic view. But here's the

2:51 twist.

2:51 Avery: The twist is that it's gone completely

2:54 silent.

2:54 Anna: Exactly. Many known FRBs are

2:57 repeaters. They flash over and over again

2:59 from the same spot, which helps astronomers

3:01 study them. But RB Float, despite being the

3:04 brightest ever detected by the CHIME

3:06 telescope, hasn't sent out a single repeat

3:09 burst.

3:09 Avery: And that challenges a major theory in the

3:11 field, which is that, all FRBs might

3:14 eventually repeat if we just watch them for

3:16 long enough.

3:17 Anna: Mm. This non repeater, especially one

3:20 so powerful, opens the door to reconsidering

3:23 other origins. It suggests that at least

3:26 some of these events might be caused by a

3:28 single cataclysmic explosion, like the

3:31 collapse of a massive star, rather than a

3:33 repeating source like a magnetar.

3:35 Avery: So the brightest flash ever seen has left us

3:38 with more questions than answers. Classic

3:40 astronomy.

3:41 Anna: Well, from distant cosmic explosions

3:44 to a potential threat much closer to home,

3:47 the European Space Agency recently ran its

3:50 most extreme space weather simulation ever.

3:53 And the scenario was so severe that in the

3:56 exercise, no spacecraft was left

3:59 unscathed.

4:00 Avery: Wow, that sounds intense. So what was the

4:02 purpose of this cosmic fire drill?

4:04 Anna: It was designed to test how spacecraft

4:06 operations teams and space weather experts

4:09 would handle a truly catastrophic solar

4:12 storm. This is all in preparation for the

4:14 upcoming Sentinel 1D mission, which is

4:17 set to launch in November. They want to be

4:20 ready for the worst.

4:21 Avery: And these storms are no joke. A major one

4:23 could knock out satellites, disrupt gps,

4:26 and even take down power grids here on Earth.

4:29 Anna: Precisely. The lead simulation officer,

4:32 Gustavo Baldo Carvalho, put it bluntly.

4:35 He said the key takeaway is that it's not a

4:37 question of if this will happen, but when.

4:40 Avery: Sobering words. So what are they doing? To

4:43 prepare for the inevitable, ESA is.

4:45 Anna: Expanding its network of space weather

4:47 monitors. They're placing sensors on more

4:49 satellites, and even developing a dedicated

4:52 mission called Vigil, which is planned for

4:54 2031. It will be positioned at a stable

4:57 point in space to give us an early warning of

5:00 any dangerous solar activity heading our way.

5:03 Avery: That's good to hear. It's a reminder that

5:05 space isn't just about discovery. It's also

5:08 about understanding and mitigating the risks

5:10 that come with living next to an active star.

5:13 On a much more positive note, let's talk

5:16 about a successful mission launch. The Japan

5:18 Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA,

5:21 has successfully launched its new advanced

5:23 cargo spacecraft, the HTV

5:26 X1, aboard an H3 rocket.

5:28 Anna: Yes, it lifted off from the Tanegashima

5:31 Space center and is now on its way to the

5:33 International Space Station. This is a big

5:36 deal for JAXA and for the station's crew.

5:39 Avery: So what makes this spacecraft special?

5:41 Anna: The HTV X1 is an uncrewed

5:44 expendable ship designed to resupply the ISS

5:47 with essentials like food, water and science

5:50 experiments. But it's also a platform for

5:52 technical demonstrations, testing new

5:54 technologies in space. It's a real workhorse.

5:58 Avery: And it seems JAXA has its sights set much

6:00 further than the iss.

6:02 Anna: They absolutely do. With the International

6:04 Space Station scheduled for deorbit in 2030,

6:07 space agencies are planning for what comes

6:09 next. The HTVX platform is

6:12 designed to be versatile in the future. It's

6:15 intended to deliver cargo to Gateway, the

6:17 planned lunar orbiting space station that

6:20 will support the Artemis missions to the

6:21 moon.

6:22 Avery: So this launch isn't just about keeping the

6:24 lights on at the iss. It's a critical step

6:27 in building the infrastructure for humanity's

6:30 return to the moon and missions beyond low

6:32 Earth orbit. A very exciting development from

6:35 Japan.

6:35 Anna: And for our final story today, we're bringing

6:38 things back to Earth, or at least back to our

6:41 own backyards. We all know the names of

6:43 legendary spacecraft like the James Webb

6:46 Space telescope and Voyager 1. But do you

6:49 know where to find them in the night sky?

6:51 Avery: That is a great question. I think most people

6:53 assume they're just up there somewhere,

6:55 completely invisible. But with a bit of

6:58 guidance, you can actually point to the patch

7:00 of sky where they are.

7:01 Anna: Exactly. And a recent guide has laid out

7:04 where to look for five of these incredible

7:06 explorers during October of 2025.

7:09 It's a great way to feel to these missions.

7:12 Avery: Okay, so let's run through them. For the

7:14 James Webb Space Telescope or jwst.

7:17 You'll need to find the famous red star

7:19 Aldebaran and the constellation Taurus.

7:22 JWST will be in that same area of the sky.

7:25 Anna: And what about the Parker solar probe, the

7:28 craft that's touching the Sun?

7:30 Avery: That one can be found low in the southwestern

7:32 sky right around sunset. Next up is

7:35 NASA's Juno spacecraft which is orbiting

7:37 Jupiter. It can be found high overhead

7:40 in the eastern sky during the pre dawn hours.

7:43 Anna: Two more to go. The New Horizons probe, which

7:46 flew past Pluto.

7:47 Avery: For New Horizons, you'll need to locate the

7:49 famous Teapot Asterism in the constellation

7:52 Sagittarius. The probe is cruising through

7:55 that region of space. And finally, the

7:57 legend itself, Voyager 1, humanity's most

8:00 distant object.

8:02 Anna: Where can we wave hello to Voyager?

8:04 Avery: To find Voyager 1, you'll first need to

8:07 locate the stars of the constellation

8:09 Ophiuchus. It's out there

8:12 over 15 billion miles away in

8:15 that direction. Of course, you can't see the

8:18 spacecraft themselves, but just knowing

8:20 you're looking at their exact location in the

8:22 cosmos is pretty amazing. And that's a

8:25 wrap for today's episode of Astronomy Daily.

8:28 From solving the sun's mysteries to spotting

8:31 our most distant explorers in the night.

8:33 Anna: Sky, thanks for listening. I'm Anna

8:36 reminding you to keep looking up.

8:38 Avery: And I'm Avery Clear Skies.

8:40 Anna: It's a constant reminder of how much is

8:43 happening out there and how much we are a

8:46 part of it. We hope you enjoyed the journey

8:48 with us today.

8:49 Avery: Be sure to subscribe to Astronomy Daily

8:51 wherever you get your podcasts so you don't

8:53 miss an episode.

8:58 Hm.

9:01 The.

9:07 Anna: Story.

9:15 Avery: For Soul.