Radio data become a video of instantaneous plasma motion in the 3C 345 jet
The kine algorithm joins radio observations of 3C 345 from different epochs into a time-continuous video that measures local, instantaneous jet-plasma motion. Launch-ready MTG-I2 is designed to feed frequently refreshed, detailed imagery into short-range severe-weather forecasting in Europe. One reconstructs an existing monitoring record and the other will produce new observations; both show why imaging change across time can reveal more than isolated frames.
Science··Night
Separate observations meet on one timeline
Very long baseline interferometry combines data from widely separated radio telescopes into an image, but processing each epoch alone can fragment the motion when a source changes during a monitoring programme. The peer-reviewed Nature paper introduces kine, which handles observations from different times jointly. Its neural-field representation learns spatial and temporal correlations in the data and makes intermediate moments sampleable. The researchers applied it to multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array observations of the blazar 3C 345 and built a time-continuous video that also carries polarization information. The video jointly reconstructs the observing sequence; the telescopes did not directly record it as a film.[1]
Motion can be measured locally along the jet
Time continuity yields a velocity field more detailed than following bright features from one frame to the next. The team reports that it can measure local, instantaneous plasma motion along the jet, whereas older methods generally track discrete components. Motion can therefore be treated as a flow that varies across the image rather than only as the path of a conspicuous bright knot. The authors say kine could also reconstruct faster-changing sources such as Sagittarius A* from a single Event Horizon Telescope observation, but they do not demonstrate that application here. The evidence presented belongs to 3C 345; wider monitoring programmes remain the method's proposed next arena.[1]
MTG-I2 is readied for short-range weather forecasting
A nearer application of time-sensitive imaging is being prepared for European weather services. ESA has declared the Meteosat Third Generation imager MTG-I2 ready for launch. Liftoff on Ariane 6 from French Guiana was scheduled for 27 August 2026 at 17:10 local time and 22:10 Central European Summer Time. The satellite will join a constellation operated for EUMETSAT that already has two spacecraft in orbit. ESA says the detailed imagery will provide new data products, especially for short-range forecasting of severe weather. Because launch had not yet occurred, the source does not measure imaging performance; it documents readiness and the intended data stream.[2]
