From Stars to Cells. In this month’s episode, we interview Dr Mel Ifran about her research adapting machine learning techniques from radio astronomy to detecting cancer cells. We also answer some of your questions from our live event last month.

The News

Seeing the dark side of the sun!

This month the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft has provided humanity with the first ever images of the Sun’s south pole. These images and videos reveal a shimmering bright atmosphere strewn with complex dark cloud-like structures writhing about within with temperatures ranging between 100,000 to 1 million degrees celsius. ​​These observations will shed light on how the Sun cycles between turbulent active phases and quieter periods. By closely studying the magnetic structures at the poles, researchers aim to better understand how these cycles originate and evolve. This knowledge is crucial for predicting future solar activity and improving models of solar dynamics. These predictions will help to inform plans to mitigate the impact of solar activity on our satellites and astronauts in space, as well as the power grid on Earth.

To be a star or to not be a star, that is the question

The James Webb Space Telescope has been discovering new objects left right and centre, and this month is no different! Nine new brown dwarfs have been identified. Among these, the lightest brown dwarf ever has been found with a mass just 2 times that of Jupiter has been found in the Perseus molecular cloud about 1,000 light years away. The previous lower limit was 13 Jupiters. These mysterious objects push the boundary of what can be formed via stellar processes and blur the line between planet and star. They form like stars, with a collapsing cloud of gas and dust but lack the required mass to trigger fusion of hydrogen to helium in their core.

Spectroscopic analysis of these brown dwarfs atmospheres shows the presence of an unidentified hydrocarbon. This unexpected find has only been seen in Saturn and Titan’s atmosphere and has led to the proposal of a new spectral class to classify objects with this species and highlighted the need to rethink the models we have for brown dwarf atmospheres.

Interview with Dr Mel Ifran

Jamie and Louisa chat with Dr Mel Irfan about her work on synchrotron modelling for the SKA and MeerKAT, and now applying machine learning and image segmentation methods to detecting cancer cells. We discuss what she's been able to transfer between fields and what has surprised her the most about working in a new area of physics. Mel is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, and did her PhD here at Manchester!

Ask an Astronomer with Louisa

This month, after hosting our Jodcast Live event at The Pint of Science, we asked our audience what questions they have about the universe. Louisa has a go at answering some of them in this month’s Ask an Astronomer.

And don’t forget to submit your questions to us for our next Ask an Astronomer. If you have never submitted a question before, now is the time to try! Your question may feature on the next Jodcast episode.

How likely is it that the closest habitable exoplanets are too far for us to make meaningful contact with?

With such a rapidly expanding field as exoplanets, first detected in 1998, there is still a lot to find out about planets that orbit other solar systems. (And there is a lot to discuss about this question!)

NASA's exoplanet archive counts 5,921 confirmed planets (as of June 2025), the closest being the system of planets in orbit around Proxima Centauri. The definition of a habitable planet remains the range of orbits where liquid water can exist on an exoplanet's surface, nicknamed the 'goldilocks zone'. The habitable zone remains contested, as scientists discuss the necessary factors to create a stable home for life - from a planet's magnetosphere, plate tectonic activity and the influence of a planet's rotational axis. And is water the only solvent that life could flourish from? Then we get into the exciting worlds of ammonia or even sulfuric acid worlds.

Getting back to the question, any form of messaging across the cosmos can quickly become a challenging endeavour - if extraterrestrials are using electromagnetic waves to message us with, then their message can't travel faster than the speed of light. As a result, for our local neighbour Proxima Centauri, messages sent via electromagnetic waves would take approx. 4 years to reach us. Anyone eager for a two-way conversation have their hopes pinned on aliens on one of Centauri's exoplanets, which brings us onto the last aspect of this question - what constitutes meaningful contact? How much could we hope to understand from an alien message? How do we decode this message? Would we be content with a simple, 'we exist' from our alien neighbours? Would we hear this message in the first place, over the abundance of signals that naturally occur in the cosmos? There is certainly a lot to think about when it comes to considering extraterrestrial life - I think the challenge is not in how likely a detection or contact will be, but instead postulating the many different forms that alien life and their communication could take.

What are space-based telescopes and ground-based telescopes typically made of?

We use a variety of instruments to explore the universe, depending on what frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum we want to observe, largely dependent on whether it can propagate through the atmosphere unimpeded. In terms of materials used, the biggest factor for space-based telescopes is the weight - since whatever you build needs to fold up neatly onto a rocket of your choosing. You also need to consider the extreme environment that your satellite will exist in - whatever material you use needs to cope with extreme temperatures (so cannot expand or contract due to these rapidly shifting temps), cosmic bombardment (very critical to consider, with the amount of electronics onboard) and other larger debris flying your way. In fact, satellites can use kevlar to shield from flying debris. Space-based telescopes are largely built from aluminium, with a little bit of Gold (if we are thinking about the iconic James Webb Space Telescope!).

However, it's a different story for ground-based observatories. In space, your observatories have to be compact and light; on the ground, you want the biggest telescope that you can build (& afford!). Radio observatories, like Lovell at Jodrell Bank, rely on steel to support the antenna's surface and avoid deforming under its own weight - the dish has a mass of 1500 tonnes. In fact, some of the Mark I's structure had been bought and reused from WW2 battleships! But ground-based observatories can take many forms. The recently constructed Vera Rubin Observatory contains the world's largest camera, the new SKA-low site in Australia will consist of 131,000 2m wire antennas and - it just depends on what you want to look for in the universe, as to what to build and (more importantly) where to build your telescope.

Why does the RHINO telescope have a horn, whereas previous cosmology telescopes look like a table?

Both telescopes are looking at the same frequency band, so why are there so many different shaped telescopes to look for the same thing?

Listeners of the podcast may remember the cover art from January's episode, this table-like structure used by Dr Eloy de Lera Acedo (who we interviews) and others to probe the early universe at Cosmic Dawn, out in the Karoo desert in South Africa.

Whereas Dr Phill Bull is leading construction out at Jodrell Bank to build RHINO, a feed horn antenna that - for the purposes of listener's imagination - could be described as a giant funnel or chimney pot sat on top of the telescope.

The third kind of antenna to probe 21cm is in fact the wire antennas we mentioned early, currently constructed for the SKA low project.

Despite their funky appearance, the receivers are largely the same across these projects. What differs is their beam pattern, or what fraction of the sky they can observe and how well. The big benefit to a feed horn is that you can direct your attention to a particular patch of sky, or having a high gain - the gain being the technical term of how sensitive your telescope is in a given direction - as well as controlling the polarisation of the incoming signal detected.

So many differently shaped instruments, all trying to achieve the same job - peering back into the earliest epochs of the universe.

Feedback

On Facebook, TK Arispe says,
‘I'm excited to give this one a listen! By the way, would you guys ever consider doing an online fan meetup? I'd love to hang out with the Jodcast team, but I live in the US. I'm sure you have other international fans who feel the same way. Just a thought!’

Thank you for the idea. We’ll have a look into it. Look out for a future announcement if we end up doing it !

And remember, if you want to get in touch you can do so via twitter, facebook, instagram, bluesky or send us post - links and details can be found on our website at www.jodcast.net

Until next time, Jod on!

News : edit this out
Interview : Mel Ifran, Jamie Incley and Louisa Mason
Night Sky : Phoebe Ryder
Presenters : Phoebe Ryder
Editors : Louisa Mason
Segment Voice : Jamie Incley, Louisa Mason, Jordan Norris and George Bendo
Website : Lilia Correa Magnus & George Bendo & INSERT NAME HERE
Producer : Lily Correa Magnus
Cover Art : Microscope (left) and the 26 m Radio Telescope Dish at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, South Africa (right). CREDIT:Credit: Martin Heigan, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; image editing by Jessy Marin