Spectacular Auroras, Suni Williams Retires, China's Space Rescue

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Hello, space enthusiasts.

I'm Anna.

And I'm Avery.

Welcome to Astronomy Daily.

Your daily dose of space and astronomy news

brought to you by astronomydaily.io.

And what a day we have for you today, Avery.

If you were lucky enough to catch the auroras last night,

you know what we're leading with.

Absolutely, Anna.

We're following up on yesterday's story about that powerful

X-Class solar flare and the coronal mass ejection

that was racing toward Earth.

Well, it hit and it hit hard.

That's right.

We've got stunning photos from around the world

of the resulting Northern Lights.

And a retirement announcement from a legendary NASA astronaut

an incredible space rescue story from China

and some exciting updates from the commercial space sector.

Plus, we'll tell you about NASA's latest mission

that's preparing to study the sun's most powerful eruptions

and we'll take you on a cosmic journey

billions of years into the past

with some fascinating new telescope observations.

So, grab your coffee, settle in,

and let's get into today's space news.

All right, Anna, let's dive into our lead story

and what a spectacular show it was.

Yesterday, we told our listeners about that X-1.9 solar flare

and coronal mass ejection headed our way.

Well, it arrived right on schedule.

In fact, a little early.

It certainly did, Avery.

The CME slammed into Earth's magnetic field

on January 19th at around 2.38 PM Eastern time

and it packed quite a punch.

Base weather forecasters at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center

confirmed that geomagnetic conditions

escalated to G4 level.

That's classified as severe on their five-point scale.

And the results were absolutely breathtaking.

What made the CME particularly noteworthy

was just how fast it traveled.

Remember, it was ejected from the sun

on January 18th during that powerful solar flare,

which means it covered roughly 93 million miles

in just over a day.

That's exceptionally quick.

The Aurora displays that followed

were truly global in scope.

We're seeing reports and photographs from locations

that rarely get to witness the northern lights.

One photographer, Greg Gage,

captured stunning red auroras from Deming, New Mexico.

That's at 32 degrees latitude.

He told Space.com he was on vacation there

and never expected to see auroras that far south.

That's incredible.

And it wasn't just North America.

The displays stretched across Europe, Asia, and beyond.

In Germany, vivid red and green auroras

danced above the river Mughalspray near Berlin.

Hungary saw intense red and green hues

filling the skies over the village of a boyvar.

France had some particularly eerie displays

with rich magenta auroras above Brittany.

And in China, the northern lights were visible

above Bayji village in Heelong-Jong Province

with photographers capturing everything from magenta to green

to even hints of blue in the curtains of light.

What's particularly interesting about these displays

is the variety of colors.

The red auroras were seeing indicate

that oxygen atoms at very high altitudes

around 200 to 300 miles up are being energized.

The green we typically associate with auroras

comes from oxygen at lower altitudes

while any blue would be from nitrogen.

The geomagnetic conditions throughout the night

were quite dynamic too.

Storm levels fluctuated between G1, G2, G3,

and G4 as the CME pass through Earth's magnetic field.

According to the UK Met Office,

this kept Earth's magnetic field in a highly disturbed state

for hours, producing repeated surges of auroral activity.

And there's more good news for aurora watchers.

While geomagnetic activity is expected to gradually ease,

forecasters say conditions remain unsettled.

That means there's still a chance

the northern lights can make another appearance tonight

if solar wind conditions cooperate.

So if you missed last night's show,

keep those cameras charged

and your aurora alert apps turned on.

The sun is clearly in an active phase

and we could see more displays

in the coming days and weeks.

Absolutely, and this really highlights

why we track space weather so closely.

While these auroras are beautiful,

the same geomagnetic storms can affect satellites,

power grids, and radio communications.

It's a reminder of how our technological society

is connected to what's happening

93 million miles away on the sun.

Moving on to our next story, Avery,

and this one marks the end of an era.

After 27 years of distinguished service,

NASA astronaut SUNY Williams

has officially retired from the agency.

This is definitely a significant moment, Anna.

SUNY Williams has been such an inspiring figure

in human space flight.

Her retirement became effective on December 27th, 2025.

Though NASA just announced it this week,

let's talk about her remarkable achievements.

Where do we even start?

Over the course of her career,

Williams logged an impressive 608 days in space.

That makes her second on the list

for cumulative time and space by a NASA astronaut.

She completed three missions

to the International Space Station

and held numerous records throughout her career.

Her most recent mission was particularly interesting.

Williams and fellow astronaut,

which will more launch the board Boeing Starliner spacecraft

in June 2024,

as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test mission.

Both tied for six place on the list

of longest single space flight by an American,

logging 286 days during their combined starliner

and SpaceX crew nine missions.

That's right.

And during that mission,

Williams once again took command of the space station

for Expedition 72.

She's also renowned for her spacewalking expertise.

She completed nine spacewalks,

totaling 62 hours and six minutes over her career.

That gives her the record for most spacewalk time

by a woman and fourth most

on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list.

Oh, and here's a fun fact.

She was also the first person

to run a marathon in space.

Beyond her spaceflight experience,

Williams held numerous important roles at NASA.

Do served as deputy chief of the astronaut office

was director of operations in Star City, Russia,

and most recently helped establish

a helicopter training platform

to prepare astronauts for future moon landings.

NASA Administrator Jared Ixman

had some wonderful words about her legacy.

He called her a trailblazer and human spaceflight,

whose work advancing science and technology

has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the moon

and future missions to Mars.

It's worth noting her background too.

She's a retired US Navy captain

and an accomplished pilot

with more than 4,000 flight hours

in 40 different aircraft.

She holds a bachelor's degree in physical science

from the United States Naval Academy

and a master's degree in engineering management.

In her retirement statement, Williams said,

anyone who knows me knows that space

is my absolute favorite place to be.

She expressed gratitude for her 27 year career

and the support she received from her colleagues

and mentioned she's excited to watch NASA make history

as the agency continues its exploration efforts.

It's a well-deserved retirement

for someone who has contributed so much to human spaceflight.

Her achievements will undoubtedly inspire

the next generation of astronauts and space explorers.

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All right, Anna, our next story is quite dramatic.

It involves a successful space rescue emergency repairs

and some impressive quick thinking by China's space program.

This is really a remarkable story, Avery.

China's Shenzhou 20 capsule safely landed

in Inner Mongolia on January 19th, 2026,

after spending 270 days in orbit.

But the journey back wasn't exactly routine.

This mission became one of the most technically demanding

in China's human spaceflight history.

The Shenzhou 20 was originally launched back

on April 24th, 2025, from the Ju-Quan Satellite Launch Center.

It was expected to complete its mission

and return in November 2025.

But then came the complication.

A suspected impact with space debris

damaged one of the capsule's port holes.

Talk about a critical issue.

A cracked port hole on a spacecraft is serious business,

especially when you're thinking about the intense heat

and forces of reentry through Earth's atmosphere.

So how did China's space program respond?

With remarkable speed and coordination,

first, the authorized astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft

to photograph the damaged port hole during a spacewalk

on December 9th.

They used high-definition cameras

to get a detailed diagnosis of the problem.

And then came an unprecedented move.

China launched Shenzhou 22 on November 25th,

marking the first rapid response emergency deployment

in China's space history.

This uncrewed craft delivered a specially engineered repair

device designed to enhance the capsule's heat resistance

and ceiling for reentry.

Meanwhile, for safety reasons,

the crew of Shenzhou 20 was evacuated ahead of schedule.

They returned aboard Shenzhou 21 on November 14th,

in what the China Manned Space Agency called

an emergency reroute.

So the Shenzhou 20 capsule came home empty,

but it came home safe.

According to CGTN, the China Manned Space Agency

declared the mission a complete success.

After an on-site inspection,

confirmed the capsule was in good condition

despite everything it went through.

What really stands out here

is the operational capability this demonstrates.

China executed three overlapping missions,

Shenzhou 20, 21, and 22.

Over a span of just weeks,

that shows significant operational depth

and the ability to respond to emergencies in space.

Absolutely, and it's not just about the technical achievement.

This validates China's long-term approach

to maintaining crew vehicles in orbit.

The Shenzhou 20 stayed up there for 270 days,

which demonstrates the reliability

of their spacecraft systems.

This mission also underscores something we talk about often.

The very real danger posed by space debris.

Even small particles traveling at orbital velocities

can cause significant damage,

as we saw here with the port hole crack.

And China's ability to handle this situation

adds to their growing reputation in space exploration.

They're now capable of managing multi-vessel operations

under pressure with modular mission architecture

and long-term crew support capabilities.

Congratulations to all involved

in this very successful mission in the end.

Moving on to our next story, Avery,

and we're heading to West Texas,

where Blue Origin is preparing

for its next sub-orbital space tourism mission.

That's right, Anna.

Blue Origin is scheduled to launch six space tourists

on its NS-38 mission this Thursday,

January 22.

The launch window opens at 9.30 a.m. Eastern time.

That's 8.30 a.m. local Texas time.

This will be the 38th flight

of Blue Origin's new shepherd rocket capsule system.

And if all goes according to plan,

the 17th crewed mission they flown.

The mission follows the same profile we've seen before,

about 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff

to the capsule's parachute-aided touchdown.

During that brief but spectacular journey,

passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness

and get to see Earth against the blackness of space

from an altitude above the carbon line,

which is generally recognized as the boundary of space.

Now, let's talk about who's flying.

We have entrepreneur and pilot Tim Drexler,

retired obstetrician and gynecologist Linda Edwards,

real estate developer and investor Elaine Fernandez,

entrepreneur and technologist Alberto Gutierrez,

and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Jim Hendren,

who founded Hendren Plastics Inc.

And there's an interesting late addition to the crew manifest.

Blue Origin just announced that Laura Stiles,

who is Blue Origin's director of new shepherd launch operations,

will be flying on this mission.

That's a pretty cool opportunity for someone

who's been so involved in making these missions happen.

Diles is actually a late replacement for a passenger

who had to drop out due to illness,

though that person will get to fly on a future mission.

Blue Origin has been steadily building their flight rate.

Just last month, they made history

by flying the first wheelchair user to space

on their NS-37 mission.

They're really demonstrating that space flight

can be accessible to a diverse range of people.

Al Blue Origin hasn't publicly disclosed their ticket prices,

but we know their main competitor, Virgin Galactic,

charges $600,000 per seat for similar suborbital flights.

So we can probably assume Blue Origin's prices

are in that same ballpark.

If you want to watch this launch,

Blue Origin typically livestreams our missions

and space.com will likely carry the feed as well.

It's always exciting to watch these launches.

That new shepherd rocket is quite a sight to see.

Absolutely, and it's worth noting how routine

these launches are becoming.

Blue Origin is really building up their experience

with regular crewed flights,

which is essential for the commercial space tourism industry.

Our next story takes us from suborbital tourism

to cutting-edge heliophysics research, Anna.

NASA Sunrise, that's the Sun Radio Interometer Space

Experiment, is moving closer to its launch later this year

after successfully completing a rigorous series of tests.

This is such a fascinating mission, Ivory.

Sunrise consists of six small sats.

There are about the size of a toaster oven

that will fly information to act as one giant radio telescope

studying the Sun.

That's the clever part.

These six small sats will orbit at about 22,000 miles altitude,

which is geosynchronous orbit,

flying up to 10 miles apart from each other.

By combining their observations using a technique

called interferometry, they'll create

what's essentially a single large radio telescope in space.

And what will they be looking at?

Solar radio bursts.

These bursts are generated by solar energetic particle events

deep within the Sun's atmosphere or corona.

In extreme cases, these events could pose radiation hazards

to unprotected astronauts and damaged satellites.

The spacecraft were built at Utah State University's

Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah,

and they just completed what's described

as a rigorous testing campaign.

This included thermal vacuum testing

to simulate orbital conditions, electromagnetic compatibility

testing to ensure the electronic systems

won't interfere with the sensitive instruments

and, most dramatically, vibration testing.

The vibration testing is crucial,

because launch is an incredibly violent event.

Jim Lux, the Sunrise Project Manager

at NASA's Jet Propulsion Marbotary,

explained that each spacecraft was loaded with propellant

to match its launch mass and then subjected

to vibration testing in all three axes.

They wanted to make the simulated vibrations

as true to the actual launch conditions as possible.

And here's the important part.

Pre and post-test functional checks were performed

and all six spacecraft passed with flying colors.

The mission is scheduled to launch

from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida

aboard a ULA launch Vulcan Centaur rocket

as a ride share mission.

Once in orbit, each satellite will deploy four

telescoping antenna booms about 10 feet long,

forming an X-shaped configuration.

Sue Leopardy, the Sunrise Principal Investigator

at the University of Michigan,

points out that these solar radio bursts

are triggered when vast quantities of energy

stored in the Sun's magnetic field

accelerate solar particles to high speeds.

Tracking these events will help space agencies

protect astronauts and spacecraft.

And this mission will work in conjunction

with other NASA heliophysics missions,

like the solar terrestrial relations observatory,

the Parker Solar Probe, and Solar Orbiter,

which is an international cooperative mission with ESA.

It's exciting to see these missions coming together

between Parker Solar Probe diving close to the Sun,

Solar Orbiter studying the polar regions

and now Sunrise tracking radio bursts from Earth orbit.

We're building a comprehensive picture

of our star's behavior.

And now for our final story, Avery,

we're going to talk about something

that's never been seen before in quite this detail.

Planetary systems in their awkward teenage years.

Love that description, Anna.

Astronomers using the Otakama large millimeter

sub-millimeter array, better known as ALMA,

have captured the most detailed images ever

of 24 debris disks.

These are the dusty belts left behind

after planets have finished forming.

The survey is called ARCs,

which stands for the ALMA survey

to resolve exo-kiper belt substructures.

Meredith Hughes, an associate professor

at Wesleyan University and co-principal investigator,

explains it perfectly.

We've often seen the baby pictures of planets forming,

but until now, the teenage years have been a missing link.

And just like human teenagers,

these systems turn out to be quite dramatic.

The observations revealed incredible diversity,

not just simple rings, but multi-ring belts,

wide smooth halos, sharp edges,

and even unexpected arcs and clumps.

This phase is really important

because these debris disks represent

what's called the collision-dominated phase

of planet formation.

Think of it like our own solar system's kuiper belt,

that ring of icy debris beyond Neptune

that preserves a record of massive collisions

and planetary migrations from billions of years ago.

Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy,

another co-principal investigator,

notes that by characterizing these disk structures,

they can find evidence pointing to the presence of planets.

They're using ALMA alongside direct imaging

and radio velocity studies

to search for young planets in these systems.

One of the challenges with studying debris disks

is that they're incredibly faint,

hundreds or even thousands of times dimmer

than the bright gas-rich disks

where planets are actively being born,

but ALMA's sensitivity and resolution

made these observations possible.

And the findings are fascinating.

About one-third of the observed disks

show clear substructures like multiple rings

or distinct gaps.

These could be legacy features

from earlier planet-building stages

or they could be sculpted by planets

over much longer time scales.

Perhaps most surprising,

several of these disks retain gas much longer than expected.

In some systems, this lingering gas

might actually shape the chemistry of growing planets

or it might push dust into wide halos.

Many of the disks also show asymmetries and arcs.

They're lopsided with bright arcs or eccentric shapes.

This hints at gravitational interactions

with unseen planets left over scars

from planetary migration

or interactions between the gas and dust.

Luka Matra from Trinity College Dublin,

another co-principal investigator puts it beautifully.

These disks record a period when planetary orbits

were being scrambled and huge impacts

like the one that forged Earth's moon

were shaping young solar systems.

And here's some great news for the scientific community.

All of the arcs observations and process data

are being made freely available to astronomers worldwide,

which means we can expect even more discoveries

from this data set in the coming years.

Meredith Hughes sums up the significance perfectly.

This project gives us a new lens

for interpreting the craters on the moon,

the dynamics of the kuiper belt

and the growth of planets big and small.

It's like adding the missing pages

to the solar system's family album.

Well, that wraps up today's episode of Astronomy Daily.

What an incredible day of space news we've covered.

From spectacular auroras lighting up skies around the globe

to the retirement of a legendary astronaut,

the emergency space repairs by China,

exciting commercial space launches

and groundbreaking observations of planetary systems,

it's been quite a journey through the cosmos.

And remember, if you want to stay up to date

with all the latest space in astronomy news,

visit our website at astronomydaily.io.

You can also find us on all major social media platforms,

just search for AstroDailyPod.

That's AstroDailyPod, all one word.

We'd love to hear from you and see your aurora photos

if you caught last night's display.

Thanks for joining us today, space fans.

Keep looking up and we'll see you tomorrow

with more exciting space and astronomy news.

Until then, clear skies, everyone.

Astronomy day, the star is the toe.

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