- Sun's Spectacular X-Class Flare: The NSF Inouye Solar Telescope has captured its first images of an X-class solar flare, showcasing unparalleled detail of coronal loops and magnetic reconnections. This breakthrough could enhance our ability to predict solar flares and their effects on Earth, paving the way for improved space weather forecasting.
- Unlocking the Secrets of the Mesosphere: Researchers have developed ultralight flying structures that harness sunlight to explore the elusive mesosphere, a layer of our atmosphere that has remained largely uncharted. These innovative devices could revolutionise climate data collection and even facilitate exploration of Mars.
- Chunky Mars Interior Revealed: New findings from the InSight lander suggest that Mars' interior is filled with large preserved chunks of its ancient crust. This discovery offers a unique glimpse into the planet's early geological history and the chaotic processes that shaped its formation.
- The Paradox of Time Travel: A recent study explores the implications of travelling through a closed time-like curve, revealing that time travel would result in a cosmic reset, erasing any memories formed during the journey. This intriguing concept challenges traditional notions of time travel as depicted in popular culture.
- For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna and Avery signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Solar Flare Observations
[NSF](https://www.nsf.gov/)
Mesosphere Research
[Harvard University](https://www.harvard.edu/)
Mars InSight Mission
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Time Travel Study
[University Research](https://www.universityresearch.edu/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 brings the cosmos down to Earth. I'm Avery.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 today. We've got a fantastic lineup. We're
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 starting with our own sun, which just put on
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 a spectacular and slightly terrifying
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 show for our most powerful solar telescope.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 Avery: Then we're heading into our own atmosphere,
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 to a mysterious layer we can barely reach.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 And the brilliant new technology that might
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 finally unlock its secrets. After that, we'll
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 dig deep into Mars to find out why its
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 insides are as chunky as a cookie.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 Anna: And finally, we'll tackle the big one, time
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 travel. A new study suggests it might be
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 possible, but it comes with a catch that
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 changes everything. So let's get started.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 Avery: Alright, Anna, let's talk about the sun. We
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 know it can be violent, but this is something
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 else. The NSF Inouye Solar
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 telescope just got its first look at an X
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 class flare. And the images are mind
00:00:59 --> 00:00:59 blowing.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 Anna: They really are. For our listeners, an X
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 class flare is the most powerful category of
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 solar flare there is. These are massive
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 explosions of energy and catching one with
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 this level of detail is a huge deal. The
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 telescope managed to capture it at a
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 resolution where the smallest details are
00:01:18 --> 00:01:19 just four Earths across.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 Avery: That's incredible. It's like having a super
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 powered magnifying glass on, um, the most
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 energetic event in our solar system.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 So what did they actually see with this new
00:01:29 --> 00:01:30 level of clarity?
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 Anna: They saw something called coronal loops, but
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 on a scale we've never seen before. These are
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 thin filaments of plasma that arch over the
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 sun's surface following magnetic field lines.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 We've seen bundles of them before. But
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 Inoue's power allowed scientists to see
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 individual loops for the first time. Some
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 of these loops were as small as 21 kilometres
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 wide, which is right at the telescope's
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 resolution limit. It's these magnetic field
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 lines twisting, snapping and reconnecting
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 that powers the solar flares in the first
00:02:02 --> 00:02:02 place.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 Avery: So saying the fundamental building blocks of
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 these events is a game changer. I know these
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 flares can be dangerous, knocking out radio
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 communications and power grids here on Earth.
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 Does this help us prepare for that?
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 Anna: That's the goal. According to the
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 researchers, peering into these smaller
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 scales where the magnetic reconnection
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 actually happens, opens the door to
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 understanding the engine behind the flares.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 Better understanding leads to better
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 prediction models, which gives us a better
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 chance to protect our technology. When the
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 sun decides to act, it's a huge step
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 forward in forecasting space weather.
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 Avery: From the very big to the very,
00:02:41 --> 00:02:41 very small.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 Our next Story is about exploring a part of
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 our own atmosphere that's been stubbornly out
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 of reach. The mesosphere. It's too high for
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 balloons, but too low for satellites.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 Anna: Exactly. It's a huge blind spot for
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 climate and weather data. But researchers at
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 Harvard and the University of Chicago may
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 have found a way to reach it. And it sounds
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 like something out of science fiction.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 They've designed ultralight flying structures
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 that float by harnessing sunlight itself.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 No engines, no fuel, powered by
00:03:12 --> 00:03:13 sunlight.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:14 Avery: How does that work?
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 Anna: It uses a phenomenon called photoforces.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 It's a gentle force that pushes on an object
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 when light heats one side more than the
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 other. Down here on the ground, the force is
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 so weak, we never notice it. But in the
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 extremely thin air of the mesosphere, that
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 tiny push is enough to overcome the weight of
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 these new structures.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 Avery: So, so what are these things made of? They
00:03:36 --> 00:03:37 must be unbelievably light.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 Anna: They are. They're built from ultra thin
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 ceramic alumina with a special coating on the
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 bottom to absorb sunlight. The researchers
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 actually tested them in a lab in a low
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 pressure chamber that mimics the mesosphere.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 And they levitated perfectly with just a bit
00:03:52 --> 00:03:53 of light.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 Avery: That's amazing. The applications seem
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 endless. You could attach sensors for climate
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 data or create floating communication arrays
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 like a, uh, low orbit starlink. One of the
00:04:03 --> 00:04:04 researchers even said they could eventually
00:04:04 --> 00:04:05 fly on Mars.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 Anna: That's the long term vision. Mars has a thin
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 atmosphere that's very similar to our
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 mesosphere, making it a perfect target.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 One of the lead authors called it the Wild
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 west in terms of applied physics, because
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 nothing has ever been able to fly sustainably
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 up there before. This opens up an
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 entirely new way to explore our upper
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 atmosphere and potentially other
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 worlds too.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Speaking of Mars, our next story takes
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 us deep inside the red planet. A
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 new analysis has revealed that the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 interior of Mars is, and this is
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 a direct quote, as chunky as a
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 delicious macadamia cookie.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 Avery: I love it when scientists get creative with
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 their analogies. So what does that mean
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 exactly? It's not actually made of cookies, I
00:04:55 --> 00:04:55 assume.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 Anna: No. Unfortunately, what they found
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 using data from the Insight lander is
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 that huge chunks of Mars
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 ancient early crust are preserved
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 deep within its mantle. These are
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 geological fossils from when the planet was
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 first forming four and a half billion years
00:05:15 --> 00:05:16 ago.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 Avery: Insight was the mission that listened for
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 Marsquakes. Right. So they used seismic waves
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 to map the interior. Like an ultrasound.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 Anna: That's right. By studying how the waves from
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 these quakes travelled and bounced, they
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 couldn't map out the Composition. And they
00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 found these massive fragments, some up
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 to four kilometres across, just drifting in
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 the mantle. The theory is that during the
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 chaotic early days of the solar system,
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 giant impacts shattered the young planet's
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 crust and those pieces sank into the
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 molten mantle before a new crust formed.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 Avery: And they've just been sitting there ever
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53 since?
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 Anna: Pretty much. Unlike Earth, Mars doesn't
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 have active plate tectonics. Our crust and
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 mantle are constantly churning and recycling
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 each other. Mars has a single
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 solid crust, a stagnant lid.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 So its interior evolution is much slower.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 It's acted like a, uh, time capsule,
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 preserving this evidence of its violent
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 birth. This gives us an incredible
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 window into what rocky planets look like
00:06:21 --> 00:06:22 before tectonics get started.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 Avery: Okay, for our final story, we're going from
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 planetary history to rewriting it. Or
00:06:29 --> 00:06:29 maybe not.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:31 Anna, uh, let's talk time travel.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 Anna: This is a really fascinating one. A new
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 study looked at what would happen inside a
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 spaceship travelling on a closed time
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 like curve, which is basically a loop through
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 space time that brings you back to the exact
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 moment you left.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 Avery: The classic sci fi setup. So do we get to go
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 back and fix our mistakes or accidentally
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 erase ourselves from existence by bumping
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 into our grandfather?
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 Anna: Well, according to this research, neither.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 The study uses standard quantum mechanics
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 and thermodynamics, not some exotic new
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 theory. And the conclusion is
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 the laws of physics themselves demand
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 self consistency. After one full
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 loop, everything inside the ship clocks
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 computers, and even you must return
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 to its original state.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 Avery: So time travel would be like pressing a
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 cosmic reset button.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 Anna: Precisely. And it gets weirder.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 To maintain that consistency, the second law
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 of thermodynamics, the one that says
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 disorder or entropy always increases,
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 has to be temporarily reversed. At a
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 certain point in the loop, entropy hits a
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 maximum and then it starts decreasing.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 Processes run backwards. Coffee would get
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 warmer, broken eggs would reassemble.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 Avery: And what does that do to a person? What about
00:07:53 --> 00:07:53 our memories?
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 Anna: This is the biggest catch. The formation of
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 memory is a thermodynamic process,
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 as entropy reverses to bring the system back
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 to its starting state. Any memories you
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 formed during the trip would have to be
00:08:08 --> 00:08:09 erased completely.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 Avery: So you could live through this incredible
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 journey. But from your point of view, it
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 would feel like nothing happened at all.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 You'd get in the ship, complete the loop, and
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 arrive back in the same instant. With no
00:08:21 --> 00:08:22 memory of the trip.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 Anna: Exactly. It's the ultimate form of what
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 happens in the loop stays in the loop because
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 it gets completely wiped clean. So instead
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 of rewriting history, you just reset
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 it and forget it. A very different and
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 much less adventurous picture of time travel
00:08:40 --> 00:08:41 than the movies suggest.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 Avery: And that's all the time we have for today,
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 from the fiery heart of the sun to the
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 delicate flyers in our atmosphere, the chunky
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 interior of Mars, and the strange,
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 forgettable physics of time travel.
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 Anna: Thanks for joining us on Astronomy Daily. If
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 you'd like to stay on top of the latest space
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 and astronomy news, simply visit our website
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 at astronomydaily IO and
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 check out our constantly updating newsfeed.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 You can also find all our back episodes
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 there. If you'd like to do some binge
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 listening, I'm Anna.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 Avery: And I'm Avery. We'll see you next time for
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 another look at our amazing universe. Until
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 then, keep looking up.