sun

A star 1,540 times larger than the Sun is mutating in real time and it is something that baffles astronomers

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The universe is rarely in a hurry, since stellar processes usually be measured in millions or billions of yearsso witnessing the metamorphosis of a great star in the span of a single human life is practically unheard of. And this is precisely what is happening with WOH G64a true cosmic monster located in the Large Magellanic Cloudabout 163,000 light years from Earth. Big changes. Astronomers have been analyzing this astronomical giant for years, and now the red supergiant is changing radically in front of our telescopes as it heats up rapidly and opens a heated scientific debate. The question that the community is asking itself right now is whether we are facing the transformation towards a very rare yellow hypergiant or if it is simply the fierce interaction of a binary system before collapsing. What we knew. Discovered in the 1970s, WOH G64 has long held the title of one of the largest stars known. The data we know about it is no wonder, since it has a radius 1,540 times greater than that of our Sun, an approximate mass of 28 solar masses and shines 282,000 times brighter than our star. Despite its enormous size, it is an extremely young star, since it is barely 5 million years old. And if we put it into context, in the ruthless world of astrophysics, the largest stars “live fast and die young”, devouring the fuel inside them at great speed. The script twist. Until recently, everything fit the classic profile of an extreme red supergiant, placing its temperature at 3,400 ± 25 degrees Kelvin. But a turning point came in the last decade after the data published in Nature Asia which pointed out that the star suffered a mysterious dimming in 2011, followed by a sudden warming of more than 1,000 ºC and significant chemical alterations in the atmosphere. Now, a new study analyzes the photometry and optical spectroscopy accumulated over more than thirty years of this star. And the conclusion they have reached is that between 2013 and 2014, WOH G64 began to transition from red supergiant to yellow hypergiant. What are they? Yellow hypergiants are an exceptionally rare transition phase of which we barely have data and, above all, it is very ephemeral. In this case, the dramatic thermal evolution could be due to the star having partially ejected its outer envelope or to its stellar companion aggressively stripping away material. The debate is served. As is often the case on the frontier of astrophysics, not everyone agrees that the transition is complete. Rigorous science requires fact-checking constant, and recent research adds nuance to this story. This same year, one study pointed out because the star continues to maintain its classic red supergiant characteristics, questioning whether it has become a rare yellow hypergiant. The most logical explanation they see in this case is that the interaction with its companion star is causing these large temperature changes. This generates a great debate, since it goes completely against the other part of astrophysics that is convinced that we are facing a great twist in the script. A supernova. The big question that everyone is asking is how this titan will end, and some voices suggest that we are seeing the prelude to an imminent supernova. However, in astronomical terms, “imminent” is an elastic concept, since core collapse could occur in a time frame ranging from 100 to a few thousand years. And even if it collapses, even a spectacular explosion is not guaranteed. Although there is also the possibility that it fails in its attempt to explode and, instead, collapses directly in on itself, silently forming a black hole. Likewise, what happens seems to be something that our next generations will see. Images | European Southern Observatory In Xataka | We have analyzed the universe for 20 years looking for ET and all we have are 100 signals that China is now investigating

If the question is who is going to illuminate part of the new A-5 tunnel, the answer is simple: the sun

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He burial of the A5 continues its course. It is one of the most ambitious works in the recent history of the Spanish capital and, after months of headaches, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is still a way to go, but the light thing is quite literal if we take into account that, in the surface park, there will be enormous pergolas that will not only serve to provide shade. They will be the battery of the tunnel. The pergolas. From the beginning The project took into account the installation of an infrastructure that would allow the use of sunlight to power the tunnel through which the vehicles will circulate. The idea with this burial is to create a large green area of ​​80,000 m2 that, in addition to trees, will have another solution to shelter pedestrians: eight pergolas to combat the sun and rain. They won’t be the only thing they will do. As the Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility area of ​​the Madrid City Council has commented to ABCall of them will have photovoltaic panels that will total 1,055 panels for a nominal power of 437 kW and an annual production of 561 MWh. It is the equivalent of the annual consumption of 200 homes in Spain and the energy that will power the installations of the underground section. We will see when the works are completed, since the Madrid City Council already calculation a production of 1,158 MWh per year. Geothermal. All the pergolas will not be the same and the panels will be installed in the most optimal way possible to meet this estimated production, but it is not the only system planned to supply the park facilities with electricity from renewable sources. An example is the Ángel González Municipal Public Library, located at one end of the project. Currently, and as detailed the town hall, the thermal installation compose of a 285 kW boiler and a 220 kW chiller. In their place, two 150 kW heat pumps will be installed and will employ low temperature geothermal energy to create a water circuit tempered at a constant 25 degrees. It is a form of renewable energy that takes advantage of the constant heat of the shallow subsoil to air condition buildings and produce hot water. Undertaking work to switch to low-temperature geothermal is a complex and expensive process, but on the scale of the A5 underground, it makes a lot of sense. In this way, a pump will exchange heat with the ground to extract ground temperature in winter and, in summer, transfer heat from the building to the subsoil and, thus, cool the library. All this without local combustion. Mountains in the capital. And since we’re talking about renewables and reusing, it’s curious what they will do with some of the land they are excavating. Instead of having to manage it as waste, in part of the walk will be created three artificial hills. It is a good way to take advantage of surplus land, but it will also have a useful function. They will house thousands of trees that must be relocated due to current works, but, in addition, each of the hills will have a purpose. One will be a park with picnic areas and biodiversity areas, another will house a skatepark and another will become a viewpoint. Let them finish now…That is the feeling of the neighbors who have been enduring headaches from noisebut also an urban ‘Mario Kart’. Because it is very good to undertake works that use renewable energy to solve specific problems, but it is normal that there are those who are choking on these works. In the end, it is not easy to cut one of the access arteries to the city for almost two years to bury 3.2 kilometers of a highway on which 80,000 vehicles circulate a day. There is less left until the end of 2026… Images | MadridMadrid City Council In Xataka | Madrid wants to put 110,000 tons of weight on the M-30. And the challenge is not technical: it is not to collapse the road

The sun never set in the Spanish empire. AI is achieving that in some companies neither

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There was a time when the Spanish empire did not set the sun. Their domains ranged from the colonies in America, to Europe and Southeast Asia. In the 21st century, global technology startups are recovering that model to develop your AI-based products 24 hours a day. When a team in San Francisco is finishing its work shift, its work continues in Europe, and then moves on to Asia, ensuring that development does not stop. The “follow the sun” model is not new, but the combination of distributed remote work and the development of AI has turned it into a formula to stay ahead of the competition, without exhausting the workforce. The IBM empire in the 90s. In the 90s, IBM was an empire on which the sun did not set either. He IBM giant was one of the first to try the “follow the sun” model (Follow The Sun or FTS) with a team of five offices spread over different time slots to chain days and shorten software development times. This model is based on the concatenation of days. Each group works during its normal day. When this ends in an office, the day begins in the next time slot that collects the witness of the work of his colleagues. The process is repeated throughout the day, synchronizing the journey of the star through the sky with the different work days throughout the planet. Although in principle this model ran into some difficulties due to the poor performance of the connection networks of the time, IBM refined the process and managed to reduce projects by up to 67% by coordinating three offices in the United States, Australia and India. A model that makes sense with AI. Today, Silicon Valley has stepped on the accelerator pedal of AI and new startup founders technologies have embraced days “996” in which all hours of the day that are dedicated to product development they are few. As and as I pointed out analyst and software engineering expert Gergely Orosz, in the context of high competitiveness in the development of AI models experienced by the startup ecosystem on the west coast of the United States, more and more companies are choosing the “follow the sun” model to add normal days for teams in different countries. Thus, a model designed in Europe is tested on equipment in Asia at night and reviewed in California the next morning. The development machinery does not stop. Global clients, local attention. Likewise, the clients of these technology companies are spread all over the world, so offering a technical support service is complicated if it has to be done from a single location. According to data From Zendesk, 73% of customers switch to competitors due to bad experiences with support servicesso the distributed remote system allows the change of time slot so that the service adapts to the languages ​​and local culture of each region. The user who needs help always speaks to someone during their normal hours, no matter where they live. ​The push for AI and remote work. The rise of AI has improved the efficiency of the system at its most critical moment: shift change. This was one of the points that was most difficult for IBM managers to polish in the 90s. AI tools have helped unite shifts with chatbots that resolve doubts to employees, agents who summarize conversations with customers, prepare error reports or give solution ideas based on the context of the information that has been collected throughout the shifts, so as not to lose details when changing teams. Companies that have opted for this model in which the sun does not set highlight that products are developed faster, there are fewer unresolved cases by the support service and customers see the company as always available. Companies, especially technology companies, opted for elimination of teleworking and back to the office. However, no one said that this office should be on the same continent as that of their colleagues. A new evolution of remote work. In Xataka | Three Spanish companies tell us how they fared after implementing a work utopia: the four-day week Image | Unsplash (James Harrison)

This is C/2026 A1 and its race towards the Sun

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We have just started 2026 and astronomy has already given us the first surprise of the year, since while most were looking towards the usual objectives, a team of astronomers in the Atacama Desert has detected an object. It’s about the comet C/2026 A1and there are possibilities that we can see it from Earth itself. Its relevance. We are not facing just any comet, since its orbit and size suggest that we are facing a “sungrazer“, which translated into Spanish would be something like “Sungrazer.” This means that it is a type of suicidal object that, if it manages to survive its passage through perihelion, could become a visual phenomenon comparable to the legendary Ikeya-Seki comet of 1965. The discovery. The story of this discovery It starts on January 13 at the AMACS1 observatory, located in the privileged geography of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile with a team of French astronomers who detected an unusual movement. The discovery was made as part of the MAPS search programwhich has been active since 2020 and already has the discovery of 8 comets and more than 300 near-Earth asteroids to its credit. In this way, the different organisms initially confirmed this finding as a diffuse spot. It had already been seen. Weeks before this discovery, researchers saw that ‘precoveries’ already existed in the databases. This means that other teams had uploaded previous images where the comet appeared, but it had not been identified since the brightness was even dimmer. But this team has finally not missed it. Your family. What makes the C/2026 A1 special is not only its discovery, but its lineage. Data from the JPL Small-Body Database and expert Seiichi Yoshida confirm that it belongs to the Kreutz familyspecifically to the Pe subgroup. In order to understand all these words, we must put ourselves in context to know that Kreutz comets are fragments of a giant comet that broke up centuries ago. Now this new visitor appears to be directly related to the Great Comet of 1106, a monster that broke into pieces giving rise to some of the brightest comets in history. Your trip. When analyzing the journey you are havingThe truth is that the numbers can be dizzying. Specifically, it has been seen that it has a speed of 3.2 million kilometers per hour and, based on this information, it has been seen when it will pass close to the Sun. Specifically, it will be on April 4, 2026 when it will pass just 0.00547 Astronomical Units from the Sun. In “Christian”, that means that it will pass about 800,000 kilometers from our star, which for an object made of ice and rock, that is basically grazing the solar surface. The April scenario. This is where the scientific community is divided between caution and excitement, as it all depends on one very specific question: ‘Will he survive?’ Right now on the table there is two possible scenarios which can be summarized in the following points: The first is for the comet to disintegrate, which would be a boring ending. What basically happens here is that the immense gravity and solar heat vaporize the comet before it leaves perihelion, being the fate of many sungrazers small. The second scenario is that it survives, and it is not nonsense since current estimates place the comet’s nucleus at about 2.4 kilometers in diameter. This figure is good news because it is large enough to have a chance of survival. If he survives. If it withstands the gravitational and thermal pull, the C/2026 A1 could reach an absurd brightness. Some optimistic projections suggest that it could be brighter than the full Moon or even visible to the naked eye during the day, near the solar disk, something we haven’t seen since Comet Ikeya-Seki in the 1960s. Calendar to view. The calendar that is on the table right now begins at the end of March 2026when astronomy fans will be able to begin to see them with telescopes. From here we will have to wait until April 4 to see if it survives and increases its brightness greatly to later deploy a massive tail. visible to the naked eye in our skies. As always with comets, they are like cats: they have tails and do exactly what they want. But with a core of 2.4 km and a direct trajectory from the Kreutz clan, C/2026 A1 is, without a doubt, one of those events that we must keep in mind in order to make history. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | China has created the largest kite in the world with a very clear objective: to make its energy extremely cheaper.

The future of energy lies in fusion, and China aims to light the first light bulb with the power of the Sun in 2030

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When we think of the future energyit is easy for us to think about renewables. Much of Europe has a while running with renewables, China is an expanding power and even some states in the United States They are seeing its benefits. However, the future lies in nuclear power. But not because of fission, but for the fusion. And China has just taken a giant step in the forecasts of its BEST program with a single objective. Replicate the process that powers the Sun. China and the ultimate energy. Fusion and fission are nuclear reactions that release energy from the nucleus of the atom, and That’s where their similarities end.. Briefly, fission consists of breaking the nuclei of heavy atoms such as uranium to release energy. It is the process that we use in current nuclear power plantsand decades ago we managed to make it something stable. Fusion is the reverse process: it joins light atoms to generate energy. It is tremendously unstable and the heat generated is enormous, but the process generates a much higher amount of energy. Imitate that star power It is extremely complex, but we have been trying to replicate it for years for a very simple reason: it is estimated that it will offer almost unlimited energy and long-lasting waste-freesomething against which nuclear fission can’t compete. China is one of the countries that is pushing the development of nuclear fusion plants the most, so much so that it intends to put the first plant into operation a decade before its competitors. EAST. It stands for ‘Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak’, an experimental program that China has been developing since 2006 to test the viability of commercial fusion energy. After setting some records for temperature and operating time, in 2021 achieved continuous plasma operation for 17 minutes in which the core operated at 70 million degrees Celsius. They are five times the sun temperature and, although temperatures of up to 160 million degrees were previously achieved for 20 seconds, the ideal is to maintain a very high temperature for as long as possible. Steps have continued to be taken and researchers recently discovered that the reactor could work at 165% of its maximum theoretical capacity without suffering disruptions. To contextualize, it is as if we have an engine designed to go at 200 km/h, but we discover that we can drive at 330 km/h constantly without it overheating. In short: China is taking steps to control the enormous challenge represented by the magnetic confinement of plasma. BEST. The ‘Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak’, for its part, is the spearhead of its nuclear fusion program. If EAST is the proof of concept, BEST is the demonstration of feasibility. The EAST steps are those that will be replicated in BEST, a reactor built on a larger scale that will operate for a shorter period of time in a sustained manner, but under conditions of greater energy gain. Goal: 2030. China began construction of the BEST in 2023 and hopes to complete it by 2027 to begin testing with plasma. If it goes well, the CFETR reactor will be the one that pours fusion energy into the grid. In a statement published by the state media Xinhuawe see that the intention is to generate electricity by 2030 and start do it commercially by 2035. If the goal is reached, China will be the first country that will be able to commercially emulate the power of the Sun to light the “first nuclear fusion light bulb” in history. Although, of course, the United States and Massachusetts They also say that they will be the first. They are not the only ones. If they reach the goal, it will be a fundamental step in achieving new generation energy, and they want to reach that future a decade before the rest of the countries, or so China suggests. In this race for nuclear fusion, the BEST is expected to begin operating commercially between 2030 and 2035. Meanwhile, in France there is the ITER. With 24,000 million euros in budgetis the most expensive international program in history, only surpassed by the Apollo Programthe International Space Stationhe Manhattan Project or the GPS system. It aims to be very powerful, but has constant delaysa budget that has overflowed and an operational date that has not been fulfilled. In the United States, a private startup is building SPARCmuch smaller than ITER, but more profitable. United Kingdom has the STEPJapan JT-60SA and Russia the T-15MD Hybrid. Talking about dates is complicated, since there were tests that were expected to be obtained in 2025 and were not achieved… and there is talk of between 2040 and 2060 for the commercial viability of this energy “from the stars”, although the calendars have been readjusted. China has turned new generation energy in a matter of stateand we will see if they meet their goal of starting production in 2030. And, although it seems that we have to put the artificial intelligence even in the soup, the enormous energy needs of this technology are encouraging advances in nuclear fusion. The joke that nuclear fusion energy always has 30 years to go may have come to an end. Images | Oak Ridge National LaboratoryNASA In Xataka | Europe is looking for where to put its first nuclear fusion reactor. And Spain is one of the best candidates

Europe is looking for a place to light its “artificial sun” and Spain only has to defeat Italy and Germany to achieve it

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For decades, nuclear fusion has been the distant horizon of energy: an almost mythical promise, always thirty years ahead. A future without a map. In full electrification of the economy and with demand pushed by the digital industry and data centers, Europe has begun to set coordinates for that promise: where to build the first commercial centers. For the first time, the “artificial sun” is no longer just a scientific experiment and it becomes a problem of territory, infrastructure and industrial planning. And in this new European energy map, Spain appears among the best positioned countries. A new path. Gauss Fusion, the European company created to power the first generation of commercial fusion plants on the continent, has completed the first comprehensive European study of potential sites for this technology, in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The study culminates in a map that did not exist until now. A map that indicates 150 industrial clusters and up to 900 potential sites spread across nine European countries. Behind each point there is an analysis of geology, seismicity, meteorology, refrigeration, access to the electrical grid and existing infrastructure, aligned with standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Spain on the horizon. It appears as the third country with the most identified clusters: 17, only behind Germany (53) and Italy (22), and ahead of France, Austria, the Netherlands or Switzerland. This is not a political decision or a formal candidacy, but rather a strictly technical diagnosis: where it would be possible to build a first-generation fusion power plant if it had to be done tomorrow. “That Spain appears as the third country with the most potential clusters is due solely to technical criteria,” emphasizes Milena Roveda, CEO of Gauss Fusion, in an interview with Xataka. “The study follows an objective methodology consistent with international standards. There are no strategic weightings or quotas per country,” he emphasizes. And that nuance is key. The map does not look for winners or distribute investments: it identifies where the minimum physical and industrial conditions already exist to host a fusion power plant. But why Spain? On the one hand, its fusion ecosystem. Spain is one of the European countries with greater historical involvement in ITERhouses the headquarters of Fusion for Energy in Barcelona and has achieved key industrial contracts for national companies. Added to this is the role of CIEMATuniversities with leading groups in plasma physics and materials, and the beginning of the construction of IFMIF-DONES in Granadaa critical infrastructure to validate materials for future reactors. On the other hand, their regulatory experience. “Spain has a nuclear regulatory body with extensive prestige and experience,” highlights Roveda. From an industrial point of view, Roveda insists that Spain should not limit itself to being a host: “It has the potential to be a key piece in the merger value chain. Companies like IDOM already have demonstrated that can design and deliver extremely complex systems. Where could these clusters be? The map does not draw isolated points, but rather broad areas. The study identifies regional clusters capable of containing multiple viable locations. In Spain, they appear spread over a good part of the territory – from Andalusia and Extremadura to Castilla y León, Aragon, Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque Country and the Valencian Community – and are concentrated in industrial areas with high electrical demandgood network connectivity and, in some cases, close to old energy enclaves that could reuse part of their infrastructure. Frédérick Bordry, CTO of Gauss Fusion, explains to Xataka that the objective of the map is not to select a specific place, but “to have a broad database that allows collaboration with authorities, companies and other interested parties.” The final decision, remember, will not come until the end of 2027. What would a commercial fusion center be like? Talking about commercial fusion is no longer talking about experiments like ITER. Gauss Fusion works with the concept of a GIGA plantcapable of producing 1 gigawatt of electricity. This implies very specific industrial requirements. “Assuming an efficiency of 30%, a plant of this type must safely evacuate about 2 GW of heat,” explains Bordry. In practice, this requires access to rivers, reservoirs or the sea, as well as robust electrical infrastructure. Unlike fission, fusion does not produce chain reactions, is self-limiting, does not emit CO₂ and does not generate long-lived radioactive waste. “Due to its safety features, it could and should be integrated near urban and industrial centers,” says Bordry, even supplying waste heat for industrial uses or district heating. This aspect connects with a trend that is already seen in Europe: heat recovery in district heating networks, as happens in Finland with data centerseither the use of large industrial heat pumps. The process now enters a delicate phase. According to Gauss Fusion, the goal is to reduce the European map to between two and five final locations by the end of 2026, and make the final decision in 2027. But the technical criteria will not be the only ones. “Political will, the regulatory framework and social acceptance will be essential,” emphasizes Roveda. In his opinion, Europe needs policies that promote fusion as a new industrial engine, and regulations “adapted to the real risk of these facilities.” Social acceptance will also be key. “Transparency and citizen participation are essential,” he says. “We have to explain well what fusion is and what it is not.” A project that covers a lot. For Bordry, no European country can tackle a project of this magnitude alone. The merger will require a continental industrial alliance, something that Roveda defines as a “fusion Eurofighter”, in which Spain should play a central role, not only as a location, but as a technological and industrial supplier. In a context in which European electricity demand could grow up to 75% by 2050fusion is beginning to be seen not as a distant promise, but as one more piece of the energy puzzle, complementary to renewables, storage and electrification. An open closure, but with a … Read more

For years, foreigners who wanted sun and beach bought a house in Spain. Now they are looking for something else: luxury housing

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The real estate market emits signals which show that foreigners have won a relevant weight in the sale and purchase of luxury homes, which leads us to think about changes in the profile of the international buyer. Spain is no longer just a destination for families or couples from other countries interested in getting a small apartment for their vacation in search of sun and beach. It also receives wealthy people who want settle herein the cities, and is able to pay for his house out of pocket. The data are certainly suggestive. “First level destination”. I warned him recently in an interview with Idealista Paloma Pérez Bravo, CEO of Residencial de Lucas Fox, a platform specialized in the premium market: “Spain has gone from being a sun and beach getaway to a top-level luxury destination.” From your experiencethe country “has stopped being the home of the sun and has become the home of investment. People want more first homes than second homes because they are moving to Spain.” It’s not the only change he appreciates. Upon your signature, Bravo explains to SERdigital nomads are now arriving, entrepreneurs from America, English and American, also businessmen and investors who used to invest in the US and now find themselves with problems there due to Trump’s immigration policy. Is there data? Yes, although they come mainly from companies, so they must be handled with some caution. In your report On market forecasts for 2026, Lucas Fox reveals for example that 62% of buyers Those who close transactions worth more than 2.5 million euros are foreigners, more than 60% of ultra-luxury sales are signed without the need for financing and a good part of the acquisitions are made in search of a “main residence”, not to convert the property into a vacation home or as an investment. Looking ahead to next year, the company also expects that activity in the segments prime and super prime grow 3-6% and 6-10% respectively and leaves behind a fundamental idea that tells us about the profile of those clients who purchase the most expensive houses: “The international buyer is already the majority.” Specifically, the weight of Europeans stands out, followed by Americans and British. Other percentage: 92%. Lucas Fox is not the first to warn of the frequency with which foreign accents are heard in real estate agencies specializing in the premium market. A few months ago Barnes claimed that 92% of buyers from the Spanish luxury market were already foreigners. Of them, around half (49%) were also investors from outside the EU, with a notable presence especially of Mexicans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Russians, Chinese and Arabs. The community members They accounted for 43% while the Spanish, according to the real estate agency, were left with a meager 8% of the total. Are there more clues? The answer is once again affirmative. Another company that shared data recently is LuxuryEstatea premium housing portal that confirms that searches by international buyers interested in the Spanish market already represent a substantial part of its traffic. Above all, the demand for information from european countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands and the interest aroused by the premium segment of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Madrid or the Valencian Community. Other regions, such as the Canary Islands and the Basque Country, also seem to be emerging. A consolidated destination. LuxuryEstate confirm in fact that ours “is no longer just an aspirational destination, but a highly competitive market.” The comment is in line with what it points out to Lucas Fox or even CaixaBank Research, which in a recent analysis Regarding the changes in the profile of the resident foreigner who acquires housing in Spain, he warns: “Spain has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations for luxury investment in Europe.” Different buyers. In the same reportCaixaBank recalls that the demand for housing by foreigners has grown in recent years, first after the pandemic and then thanks to the improvement in financing. It also clarifies that there are differences between resident foreigners and those who do not live here and are mainly looking for houses for their vacations or as an investment. On average, the former (residents) paid around €1,795/m2 in 2024 and the latter (non-residents) €3,063/m2. These are values ​​significantly higher than those recorded by national buyers, which moved at 1,713. However, the last balance of Property Registrars shows that foreign demand for housing has reduced in the third quarter of the year, representing 13.6% of the total. The percentage reflects the entire market, not just the luxury segment, although there are those who warn that the latter is not immune to the shortage of supply, which among other issues affects its prices. Images | DaYsO (Unsplash) In Xataka | After Catalonia, there is another autonomous community considering prohibiting buying a home to invest: Canary Islands

The overhaul of 6,000 Airbus A320 aircraft is a disturbing reminder that our technology is at the mercy of the Sun

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Airports around the world have once again plunged into chaos of red screens and canceled flights. Airbus and EASA They have ordered an unprecedented technical stoppage of 6,000 A320 aircraft to apply a patch that prevents “data corruption in the ELAC computer.” Behind this technicality lies a disturbing reminder that all of our digital technology is at the mercy of the Sun. The more advanced, miniaturized and efficient our infrastructure is, the more vulnerable it becomes to space weather. Anatomy of a “bit flip”. On October 30, a JetBlue Airbus A320 covering the route between Cancun and Newark made a sudden downward pitch without the pilots commanding it. A manufacturer inquiry revealed that the culprit had been a high-energy particle: a neutron generated by the interaction of the solar wind with the atmosphere that impacted a memory cell of the ELAC (Elevator Aileron Computer) computer with enough energy to change the voltage of a microscopic transistor from 0 to 1. This phenomenon known as a “bit flip” caused the L104 version of the Airbus software to interpret that the plane was in a dangerous situation (such as a stall). The computer did what it was programmed to do: “save” the plane by lowering the nose to gain speed. But the problem was not the hardware itself, but rather the software logic, which in this version does not have the necessary immunity to discard corrupt data. Hence, it does not affect all aircraft, and the solution is to apply a patch. The price of Moore’s law. 30 years ago, transistors were macroscopic bricks that required a lot of energy to alter. Today, microprocessors in airplanes (as well as those in cars and cell phones) have transistors on the nanometer scale. They are so sensitive that a minor solar storm, like the one on October 30, which was classified as G1, has the potential to wreak havoc that we previously only expected from catastrophic solar stormslike the Carrington event. It is the price that we pay for Moore’s law– As transistors become smaller and operate at lower voltages, less power is required to disturb their state. A precedent called Qantas 72. While the JetBlue Flight 1230 case has ended up affecting an unusual number of aircraft, industry veterans have had a déjà vu. In 2008, Qantas Flight 72 (an Airbus A330) experienced a similar nightmare over the Indian Ocean. The plane abruptly lowered its nose twice without warning, throwing passengers against the cabin roof. The Australian ATSB investigation concluded that one of the aircraft’s inertial reference units had been hit by cosmic rays, causing it to take an angle of attack of 50 degrees. The difference is that today we have thousands more planes in the sky, more dependent on automation, and operating under a 25 Solar Cycle which is proving to be more active than anticipated. Beyond airplanes. The Sun had already sent us a warning about its new maximum in 2022, when SpaceX lost 38 of 49 Starlink satellites just released. Not due to electronic failures, but thermodynamic ones. A solar storm increased the density of air in the Earth’s atmosphere, slowing satellites in low orbit until they fell. It was a minor storm, but enough to cost millions of dollars. The satellites are more exposed to solar radiation and are especially sensitive to geomagnetic storms. On Halloween night 2003, the Sun played trick-or-treating, causing a 30-hour crash in the FAA’s WAAS system, which is vital to GPS landing accuracy. If that were to happen today, with the current reliance on GNSS for everything (from Uber to banking transactions), the impact would be incalculable. Will there be another Carrington event? The most disturbing thing about the technical report on the A320 is that the triggering event was a level G1 geomagnetic storm, classified as minor. The scale goes up to G5, classified as extreme. In 1859, the Carrington Event fried telegraph networks around the world. If a storm of that magnitude hit the Earth today, we wouldn’t be talking about updating the software of 6,000 airplanes. We would be talking about the possible loss of entire GPS constellations, massive physical damage to the electrical grid and a paralysis of global transportation for weeks or months. We’ve built a civilization on extremely fragile silicon scaffolding, and our host star has a bad temper. Hence, space meteorology has ceased to be a scientific curiosity and has become a first-rate mission to predict solar storms and prepare satellites, astronauts and electrical infrastructure on the ground for any possibility. Today was a software patch, tomorrow we may need to rethink how we harden all of our technology. Image | ESA, Airbus In Xataka | Airbus has launched an urgent alert for the A320, the most delivered aircraft in the world: “operational interruptions” are looming

This is how the “impossible” photo of the man falling into the Sun was made

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It seems like a montage, but it is so real that it has gone around the world just when AI was making surreal images stop impressing us. Andrew McCarthy’s “The Fall of Icarus” has shown that there are still ways to outdo the machine with technical precision and months of planning. Logistical madness. In the photo, a backlit silhouette appears to have launched itself in free fall over the Sun. It is the skydiver Gabriel C. Brown transiting in front of a particularly active solar disk. On the other side of the telescope, the famous astrophotographer Andrew McCarthywhich had begun planning the capture at the beginning of the year. It is, quite possibly, the first photo of this type, since the list of variables to control was insane. They needed the optimal sun angle, a safe height for Brown to launch from, and a perfectly calculated glide path between the sun and the camera. Three-way communication. It was 9 in the morning in the Arizona desert. McCarthy had his telescopes ready and was in constant communication with both Gabriel Brown, the skydiver, and Jim Hamberlin, the pilot of the paramotor from which he would launch. McCarthy followed the aircraft with his telescope and, once it was aligned with the Sun, gave the order. “Okay, I’ll see you,” he said over the radio. “Jump, jump, jump!” Brown jumped at about 1,070 meters above sea level with the engine idling to ensure a perfect angle. “I got it, man!” he heard him say on the radio. The sixth time was the charm. McCarthy told Live Science that the biggest challenge had been finding the paramotor in the sky. Although it was about 2.4 km from its position, the point of the shot was to capture in detail the Sun, which was 50 million times the same distance. It took the team six attempts to correctly align the aircraft with the photographer’s position on the ground. When push came to shove, they could only make one jump, as folding the parachute for a second attempt would have taken too long. Is it really not a setup? It is not, and the secret is in the telescope. As explained PetaPixelcarried a hydrogen-alpha filter to block all sunlight except for a very specific red wavelength that emits incandescent hydrogen. This is how those infernal images of the solar chromosphere are taken: the layer of active “fire” on the surface of the Sun, with its filaments and protuberances especially visible during times of greater solar activity. It is not very different from how other photos of rockets and space stations passing in front of the Sun are taken, but with extra planning and audacity so that the protagonist of the image is, for the first time, a tiny person. Images | Andrew McCarthy In Xataka | We are used to seeing the Perseids looking up. This is what they look like from space, looking down

offer “sun a la carte”

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Suppose you acquire the power to cancel the night in a specific place in the world. What would you use it for? It’s not a new idea. During World War II, Nazi scientists fantasized about launching mirrors into space. in order to “fry” enemy cities. Fortunately, they didn’t have the technology to do it. In the 1990s, Russia really tried with the Znamya projectwhose sole intention was to illuminate the dark cities of Siberia during the long winter. However, the experiment was short-lived: the first prototype disintegrated in the atmosphere and the second was never deployed. A new attempt. In the era of photovoltaic solar energy, the Californian company Reflect Orbital plans deploy a constellation of gigantic mirrors in orbit with a new purpose: to reflect sunlight towards large photovoltaic plants on Earth during twilight hours. In other words, offer “sun on demand” as a service to increase the production of renewable energy. The company, which has already raised $20 million, carried out successful tests with hot air balloons, and is ready to make the leap into space. Its director, Ben Nowack, sums it up like this: “We want to make it as easy as possible: you go to a website, tell us your GPS coordinates and we send you some sunlight after dark.” They have already applied to the FCC for a license to launch their first demonstration satellite in 2026, with an 18 x 18 meter mirror. In the long term, they propose deploying a fleet of 4,000 satellites with reflectors of up to 55 x 55 meters. “Catastrophic” for science. As energy companies know, solar panels stop producing electricity just when demand picks up. Reflecting sunlight from the sky can solve this intermittency, a seemingly laudable idea that doesn’t appeal to everyone. Astronomers, already fighting a tough battle against light pollution, have reacted vehemently. “The whole point of this project is to illuminate the sky and extend daylight, and obviously from an astronomical perspective, that’s pretty catastrophic,” explains Robert Masseyfrom the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom. Worse than Starlink? Unlike constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink, where satellite glow is an unwanted effect that the company tries to mitigate, in the case of Reflect Orbital, light pollution is the main product. The beams of light would be four times brighter than the full moon, and would not only affect the illuminated area, because atmospheric dispersion would extend the impact to hundreds of kilometers around, according to the astronomers themselves. This would not only ruin astronomical observations, but could have devastating effects on wildlife, disrupting the circadian rhythms of countless species, experts say. Too late? The Reflect Orbital project comes at the worst possible time for astronomy. The night skies have been under siege for some time. Artificial objects in orbit have already increased the brightness of the night sky by more than 10% above natural levels, exceeding the threshold at which a place is considered “light polluted”. Satellite megaconstellations led astronomers to come together and create a common front to save the dark skies. The fear is that, if projects like Reflect Orbital succeed, there will soon be no dark corners on our planet from which to observe the universe. Hence many of the most ambitious and powerful telescopes are being deployed in space. Images | Reflect Orbital In Xataka | The Nazi plan to build a huge space mirror with which to ‘fry’ enemies and the Russian project that (almost) makes it a reality

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