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Auroras on Ganymede, Superflare Warnings and Japan’s Very Bad Week · Space News Today

0:00
Hey everyone, welcome back to Astronomy
0:02
Daily. I'm Anna.
0:04
>> And I'm Avery. And Anna, today's episode
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is genuinely one of those ones where I
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kept saying, "Wait, what?" out loud
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reading the headlines.
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>> Right. We've got auroras on Jupiter's
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biggest moon that look just like the
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ones here on Earth. A solar storm early
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warning system that could give us a
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whole year's notice before the really
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dangerous ones hit. A cosmic image that
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is genuinely going to make you stop
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scrolling. And Japan's struggling
0:28
private rocket company has had yet
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another very bad day. This is series 5,
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episode 55 of Astronomy Daily. Let's get
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into it.
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>> So, our first story is a beautiful one.
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Scientists have just published detailed
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new research showing that Jupiter's
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largest moon, Ganymede, has auroras. And
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not just auroras, auroras that look
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strikingly similar to the northern
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lights here on Earth. which already
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sounds incredible for listeners who
0:56
might not know. Ganymede is fascinating
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in its own right. It's actually bigger
1:01
than Mercury. It's thought to have a
1:02
vast liquid saltwater ocean beneath its
1:05
icy crust. And it's the only moon in our
1:07
entire solar system known to have its
1:09
own magnetic field.
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>> And that magnetic field is the key to
1:13
this story. The research was led by
1:15
astrophysicists at the University of
1:18
Lege in Belgium. And they used data from
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NASA's Juno spacecraft which made a
1:23
close flyby of Ganymede back in 2021
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coming within about a thousand
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kilometers of the surface.
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>> So what did they find? Previous
1:31
observations had suggested Ganymede had
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auroras but they were blurry and low
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resolution. With Juno's ultraviolet
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spectrograph, the team could finally see
1:40
the fine detail. And what they found
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surprised them,
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>> right? They expected to see smooth,
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continuous, oval-shaped, glowing bands
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like a diffused curtain of light.
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Instead, Ganymede's auroras are
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fragmented into a chain of distinct
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bright patches. Each one roughly 50 km
1:58
across.
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>> And crucially, those same structures
2:01
called beads are something we see in
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Earth's own auroral displays. They're
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linked to large scale rearrangements of
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the magnetosphere that release enormous
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amounts of energy. The fact that we're
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seeing the same thing on Ganymede
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suggests that the fundamental physical
2:15
processes creating auroras might be
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essentially universal, which is a
2:20
beautiful idea when you think about it.
2:22
That the same magnetic dance that lights
2:24
up our polar skies on Earth is happening
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on a moon half a billion km away. The
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research was published in the journal
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Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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>> And if you're wondering when we'll get
2:35
another look, frustratingly, Juno will
2:38
never fly over Ganymede again. The next
2:40
close-up opportunity will come in 2031
2:43
when issa's juice spacecraft arrives at
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Jupiter. Until then, these 15 minutes of
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data from 2021 are all we have.
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>> 15 minutes of data that have kept
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scientists busy for years. That's pretty
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remarkable, really.
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>> Okay, next up, and this one has real
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world stakes. An international team of
3:00
scientists has developed what they're
3:02
calling the first system that can
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actually predict when and where the most
3:06
dangerous solar storms, super flares,
3:09
are likely to occur.
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>> And the headline number here is
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remarkable. They're talking about up to
3:15
a year's advanced warning, which if you
3:17
know anything about how solar
3:18
forecasting currently works, is a
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complete game changer.
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>> Right? Because today we can maybe
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predict a solar flare a few hours before
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it happens if we're lucky. And that's
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for regular flares. Super flares, the
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really extreme X10 or stronger events,
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happen so fast and so unpredictably that
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they have historically been almost
3:38
impossible to foresee. So how does this
3:41
new approach work? The team led by Dr.
3:45
Victor Velascoerrera from the National
3:47
Autonomous University of Mexico analyzed
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nearly 50 years of X-ray data from solar
3:54
monitoring satellites. They identified
3:56
two repeating natural cycles in solar
3:59
activity. One lasting about 1.7 years
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and another of around 7 years. When
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those cycles align in certain ways, the
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risk of super flares increases sharply.
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>> And the system doesn't just give you a
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time window. It also identifies which
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specific regions of the sun are at
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greatest risk. For solar cycle 25, the
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one we're in right now, the model flags
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a high-risk window that runs roughly
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from mid 2025 through to mid 2026,
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focused on the sun's southern
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hemisphere,
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>> meaning we're in it right now.
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>> We are. And the reason this matters so
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much is what a serious super flare could
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actually do. We're talking widespread
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power grid failures, satellite damage,
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GPS disruption, communications
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blackouts. For astronauts traveling
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outside Earth's magnetic protection,
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like the Aremis 2 crew heading around
4:53
the moon, it could pose serious
4:55
radiation risks.
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>> The team actually validated this
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approach by demonstrating it correctly
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anticipated powerful eruptions on the
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far side of the sun in 2024, events
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nobody knew about until after the fact.
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That retroactive confirmation is what
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gives the scientific community
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confidence the model is genuinely
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working. It's been published in the
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Journal of Geoysical Research.
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>> Lead researcher Dr. Velasco Era put it
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well. We can't tell you the exact moment
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a storm will erupt, but we can tell you
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when the conditions are most dangerous,
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and that lead time is what makes all the
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difference for utilities, satellite
5:33
operators, and space agencies planning
5:36
missions. Think of it like a hurricane
5:38
season forecast rather than a specific
5:41
storm path prediction. You know when to
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be on guard that could genuinely save
5:46
lives and billions of dollars in
5:48
infrastructure,
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>> right? Let's take a breath from the
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we're all in danger stories and look at
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something beautiful. NASA and issa have
5:56
released a stunning new combined image
5:58
of the Cat's Eye Nebula, bringing
6:00
together observations from two of our
6:02
most powerful space telescopes, Uklid
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and Hubble. The Cats Eyee Nebula is one
6:07
of those objects that just never gets
6:09
old. It's a planetary nebula, the
6:12
glowing remains of a star similar to our
6:14
sun that expelled its outer layers as it
6:17
died. Located about 3,000 light years
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away in the constellation Draco, it was
6:23
actually one of the first nebula ever
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observed through a spectroscope way back
6:28
in 1864.
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And Hubble has imaged it before
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famously. But this new composite uses
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Uklid's wide field infrared capability
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alongside Hubble's detailed optical and
6:40
ultraviolet data to produce something
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genuinely new. You can see the layered
6:45
billowing shrouds of expelled material
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in extraordinary detail along with the
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intricate inner structures around the
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central white dwarf.
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>> What I love about this story is what it
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says about where we are with our
6:57
telescope infrastructure right now. We
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have Hubble, Web, Uklid, all operating
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simultaneously, each with different
7:05
strengths, and scientists are combining
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their data to produce views of the
7:09
universe that no single instrument could
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achieve alone.
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>> This is also in a very direct sense a
7:15
preview of our own sun's future. In
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about 5 billion years, our sun will go
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through the same process, shedding its
7:23
outer layers, leaving behind a glowing
7:25
nebula and a dense white dwarf at its
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core. The cat's eye is one possible
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version of our cosmic obituary.
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>> Cheerful, but genuinely awe inspiring.
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We'll have a link to the full image in
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the show notes. It is absolutely worth
7:40
seeing full size.
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>> It's just incredible what they keep on
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finding out there. Staying in the
7:45
beautiful corner of the universe for a
7:47
moment, the James Webb Space Telescope
7:50
has delivered another jaw-dropping
7:52
image, this time of a spiral galaxy
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called NGC 5134,
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sitting about 65 million lighty years
8:00
away. So, not exactly next door, but in
8:04
infrared, Web is able to pierce through
8:07
the dust that normally obscures so much
8:09
of the galactic structure. And what it
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reveals is extraordinary. Glowing clouds
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of gas, stellar nurseries where new
8:17
stars are actively forming, and the
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intricate spiral arms traced in enormous
8:21
detail. NGC 5134 is what's called a
8:25
barred spiral galaxy. It has a central
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bar-shaped structure from which its
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spiral arms extend. Galaxies like this
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are really important to study because
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they let us trace the entire stellar
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life cycle in one place. from dense
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clouds of gas where new stars are just
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beginning to form right through to older
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stellar populations in the central
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regions.
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>> And this image also serves as a kind of
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reference point for understanding galaxy
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evolution more broadly by comparing
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infrared observations of galaxies like
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NGC 5134 across cosmic time. Astronomers
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can build a picture of how galaxies
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grow, change, and eventually in some
9:03
cases stop forming stars altogether. web
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continues to deliver. Every single week
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there's something new. Link to the full
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image in the show notes as always.
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>> Okay, we've had two gorgeous images and
9:16
some landmark science. Time to talk
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about Japan's very unlucky rocket
9:21
program.
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>> Poor Chyros. So to set the scene for
9:25
anyone just joining this story, Space 1
9:27
is a Tokyo-based startup founded in
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2018, backed by Canon, IHI Aerospace,
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Shamzu Corporation, and the Development
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Bank of Japan. They've been trying to
9:37
become the first fully private Japanese
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company to put satellites into orbit
9:42
using a domestically developed rocket.
9:44
>> Their first Chyros rocket exploded
9:46
seconds after liftoff in March 2024. The
9:50
second one made it off the pad in
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December 2024, but lost attitude control
9:55
about 2 minutes in, creating what one
9:57
commentator described as a very
9:59
expensive corkcrew in the sky. And so
10:02
all eyes were on Chyros number three,
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which has been through a genuinely
10:06
painful week. The launch was originally
10:08
scheduled for February 25th, scrubbed
10:11
for weather. Ben rescheduled for Sunday,
10:13
scrubbed for weather again. then
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rescheduled for Wednesday, March 4th,
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which seemed promising.
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>> And then a safety monitoring system
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activated 30 seconds before liftoff due
10:24
to unstable signal reception from a
10:26
positioning satellite, and the launch
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was aborted. No new date has been set,
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though the launch window runs until
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March 25th.
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>> And to be clear, that system activating
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is actually the system doing exactly
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what it's supposed to do. This is not a
10:40
failure in the sense that the previous
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two launches were. It's the safeguard
10:44
working correctly, but it's still deeply
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frustrating for everyone involved,
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including the local community in
10:49
Kushimoto who've embraced this as a kind
10:52
of space tourism attraction. There's
10:54
something genuinely compelling about
10:56
this story because it's about a
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country's private space industry trying
11:00
to find its feet in a market now
11:02
dominated by Space X. Japan has
11:04
excellent government rockets. The H3 has
11:07
been going well, but the commercial
11:09
small satellite launch market is where
11:11
everyone wants to be, and Space 1 is
11:14
fighting hard to get there.
11:15
>> We will absolutely be watching. Still a
11:18
few weeks in the launch window. Fingers
11:19
crossed for Chyros number three.
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>> We'll keep you updated.
11:23
>> And finally, a story I find genuinely
11:25
exciting because it's about solving a
11:27
problem we've been quietly ignoring for
11:29
decades. Europe is developing orbital
11:32
repair robots, autonomous spacecraft
11:34
that could refuel, fix, and reposition
11:36
satellites in orbit.
11:38
>> The framing I love here is space tow
11:40
trucks, which is how the project manager
11:42
at Thalus Alenia Space, Stephanie Behar
11:45
Lefanetka, described it. The idea is a
11:48
robotic satellite with a mechanical arm
11:50
that can approach a stricken or aging
11:52
satellite, capture it, service it, and
11:55
if necessary, push it to a different
11:57
orbit. The scale of the problem this
11:59
addresses is significant. There are now
12:02
nearly 15,000 operational satellites in
12:06
orbit. The vast majority were designed
12:09
to be entirely disposable. Once they
12:12
malfunction or run out of fuel, they
12:14
either drift into a graveyard orbit or
12:17
contribute to the growing debris
12:18
problem. Repair was never part of the
12:21
business model.
12:22
>> Dallas Alena Space is planning a
12:24
demonstration mission for 2028. So still
12:27
a few years away that will prove out the
12:29
capture and servicing technology. One of
12:32
the clever insights in the engineering
12:34
is that around 3/4 of all satellites in
12:36
orbit have robust metal rings that were
12:39
originally designed for launch. Those
12:41
rings turn out to be ideal grab points
12:44
for a robotic arm. Even though nobody
12:46
designed them with that in mind,
12:48
>> there are fascinating legal questions,
12:50
too. If a French company's robot repairs
12:54
a South Korean military satellite, who
12:56
bears liability if something goes wrong
12:59
during the procedure? These are
13:01
genuinely unsolved problems in
13:03
international space law that need to be
13:05
worked out before this market can scale.
13:08
And it's not just Europe. There are
13:10
parallel programs in the US and China.
13:13
But this story shows Europe is serious
13:15
about staking a claim in what could be a
13:17
very large market. For
13:19
telecommunications companies running
13:21
aging geostationary satellites worth
13:23
hundreds of millions of dollars, the
13:25
economics of repair versus replacement
13:27
are compelling.
13:29
>> It's also just a nice idea, isn't it?
13:32
Space is full of expensive hardware
13:35
we've abandoned. The idea that we might
13:37
start going back up there to fix things
13:40
rather than just launch new ones feels
13:42
like a more mature relationship with the
13:44
orbital environment.
13:46
>> And that's our six for today. Auroras on
13:48
Ganymede, solar superflare forecasting,
13:51
the Catsai Nebula re-imagined, a
13:54
stunning web galaxy, Japan's ongoing
13:57
rocket struggles, and Europe's plans to
13:59
send robots to fix our orbital
14:01
infrastructure. If you want to see any
14:04
of the images we talked about today, the
14:06
cat's eye, NGC5134,
14:09
Ganymede's auroras, they're all linked
14:11
in the show notes and the blog post over
14:13
at astronomyaily.io.
14:16
>> If you're enjoying the show, the best
14:18
thing you can do is leave us a review on
14:19
Apple Podcast or Spotify and share the
14:22
episode with a friend who loves space.
14:24
It genuinely makes a difference. You can
14:26
also find us at Astro Daily Pod across
14:29
X, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and
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Facebook. We're back tomorrow with more.
14:35
Until then, keep looking up.
14:48
Stories told.