Small Town Universe: Inside Green Bank's Radio Quiet Zone

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (0:04)
Small Town Universe, this week on Planetary Radio.
I'm Sarah Al-Ahmed of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.
In the mountains of West Virginia, USA, sits a town where cell phones and Wi-Fi are banned. That's also that the world's most sensitive radio telescope can listen undisturbed for signals from the cosmos. This week, we're bringing you a special conversation recorded live at the Planetary Society's screening of Small Town Universe, a documentary that follows the people whose lives are woven into that remarkable place. Mat Kaplan, our Senior Communications Advisor here at the Planetary Society and the original creator of Planetary Radio, sat down with director Katie Della Maggiore and physicist Ellie White. They talked about the making of the film, the beauty of Green Bank Observatory, and the fight to keep its funding secure. But before that, we've got a preview of the total solar eclipse coming to European skies next month with Kate Hals, our Public Education Specialist. And Bruce Betts, our Chief Scientist, joins me for What's Up, where we look at Hayabusa 2's recent flyby of asteroid Torifune. If you love Planetary Radio and want to stay informed about the latest space discoveries, make sure you hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode filled with new and awe-inspiring ways to know the cosmos and our place within it.
We begin with a preview of something that you really don't want to miss. On August 12th, 2026, just a little over a month after this episode airs, a total solar eclipse will sweep across parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and for the first time since 1999, it's going to be visible from Western Europe. The path of totality runs through Iceland, Greenland and Spain, with up to 2 minutes and 18 seconds of darkness in the middle of the day. You guys know how I feel about total solar eclipses. They're one of the most magical things that we can see here on Earth. It's pretty rare to have a situation where the angular size of the sun and the moon on the sky are exactly the same, especially on a world with life like ours. I'm joined now by Planetary Society's Public Education Specialist Kate Howells. She's heading to Spain to catch this total solar eclipse, on her honeymoon no less. We'll talk about what makes this eclipse special, how different it's going to be from Europe's last one, which was in a world before live streams and social media, and how the Planetary Society is offering resources in French, Spanish and German, so even more people can experience it.
Hey Kate.

**Kate Howells** (2:47)
Hi Sarah.

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (2:48)
Oh man, we only have only a month. It's a little over a month until the next major total solar eclipse. I want to bring you on to talk about this, not only because this is a huge moment, but because as a member of our staff, you're going to be celebrating your honeymoon at this eclipse. Where are you going to be going?

**Kate Howells** (3:06)
Yes, indeed. My new husband and I will be going to Spain for the total solar eclipse. We're going to be there for a couple of weeks in August, but we timed it specifically to be there for the eclipse.
We'll be a little north of Madrid, got a little country Airbnb, and we are going to take it all in having witnessed the last total solar eclipse that passed over North America where we live. We're both addicted now. We're just hooked. We're unfortunately going to be lifelong. Well, I don't want to say unfortunately. We are going to be lifelong eclipse chasers, I think.

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (3:41)
I always love it when people use total solar eclipses as a moment to celebrate relationships, and it's probably because of that imagery of the diamond ring effect that you get right as the sun peaks out from behind totality. But it just feels like one of the most romantic space moments to me anyway.

**Kate Howells** (3:58)
That's true. I didn't even think of the diamond ring connection, but it's very fitting for a honeymoon.

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (4:05)
Well we only have a month out, so anybody who hasn't planned to go to this already is probably a little out of luck because everyone's really excited about it. But I still wanted to give people a moment to understand when this is happening and maybe warn some of the people who are listening from Europe that this is going to be going down because anytime there's a total solar eclipse, I know traffic patterns change, the sky changes, animals change, so much goes down. So even if you don't plan to be at one of these things, you should probably be aware of when it's going to be happening. So when's the next one coming up?