>>18366374

TYB

Sun Releases Strong Solar Flare

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 3:16 p.m. ET on Feb. 17, 2023. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

This flare is classified as an X2.2 flare.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/solarcycle25/2023/02/17/sun-releases-strong-solar-flare-4/

Popular Eagles Build New Home at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Feb 17, 2023

The most famous pair of American bald eagles at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have returned to their prominent position at the Florida spaceport – nestled in a tree along Kennedy Parkway, just a couple miles south of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

No, it’s not the same nest – or even the same tree – that thousands of Kennedy employees and visitors have come to know over the decades. Located within 100 yards of the previous nest, the eagles’ new home is closer to Kennedy Parkway, providing an opportunity for even more passers-by to view the majestic birds in their natural habitat.

Storms during the non-nesting season (roughly April through August of 2021) badly damaged the original nest, which was built in 1973 and was used almost every year from 1975 until 2022. However, late last year, the eagles were spotted nearby carrying nesting material to the new location. The pair returned a few months ago, completing and moving into their brand new home.

“You always wonder where they’re going to rebuild. And the cool thing is they built it closer to the road, which creates more wildlife activity for people to see up close,” said Russell Lowers, a wildlife biologist with 32 years of experience at Kennedy. “That’s why I’m so excited – because they actually rebuilt the nest closer to viewing by the general public.”

A combination of storms and pine bark beetles killed the original tree about five years ago. But the eagles continued to use the dead tree, a behavior that isn’t uncommon, Lowers explained. That’s until storm winds collapsed about half of the nest off the back side of the tree. That apparently was the last straw – or stick – for the eagles, who chose to set up their new accommodations.

Typically, eagles do not build within a mile of another eagle’s nest, Lowers said, making it a safe assumption that it is the same mating pair returning year after year. Since eagles have an average lifespan of 20-25 years, and the original nest was nearly 50 years old, these two haven’t been spending winters at Kennedy since the 1970s. Of course, the current eagle pair could be from the same family “tree.”

Their timing is pretty good, too. Biologists and scientists noted the eagles were first spotted at Kennedy within a day of the previous year’s arrival – for the past eight years running.

“It’s like a contest,” Lowers joked.

For nearly 20 years, Lowers and Senior Geographic Information Systems Analyst Resa Cancro have been monitoring this territory, as well as several other territories throughout Kennedy, in helicopters flown by NASA pilots. According to the most recent survey, Kennedy currently is home to 39 eagle territories, 33 of which are active or potentially active. Records from the early 1990s were less than a third of these numbers.

“These numbers represent recovery of a population,” said Chief Scientist and Wildlife Biologist Dave Breininger.

During the most recent helicopter flight, an eagle from Kennedy’s famous duo was seen sitting in the new nest, though it is not yet known whether she was incubating eggs. Another flight is scheduled later this month in hopes of making that determination.

Documentation during flights includes nest occupation, how many eaglets are produced, and fledging from the nest. Eagles incubate their eggs for about 35 days on average, then fledge at eight to 14 weeks of age. They are generally seen on center from about September to March. Most Florida eagles summer near the Chesapeake Bay or in the coastal plain of North Carolina from April to August.

“I have worked out here since 1984 and I will still slow down and look; honestly, it gives me chills,” Cancro said. “I don’t see how anybody cannot just be in awe. They’re just so majestic. Every day … even the five-millionth time, I still stop.”

Motorists also should stop – or at least slow down – if they spot wildlife too close to the road. Young eagles are still gaining experience and the adult ones can be a bit stubborn, Breininger said.

“They’re often eating road carcasses,” Breininger said. “Sub-adults are vulnerable to increased road mortality and adult eagles sometimes have no desire to move out of the way. Unlike some birds, they’re pretty bold.”

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/popular-eagles-build-new-home-at-nasa-s-kennedy-space-center

Hubble Views a Merging Galactic Trio

Feb 17, 2023

A spectacular trio of merging galaxies in the constellation Boötes takes center stage in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These three galaxies are set on a collision course and will eventually merge into a single larger galaxy, distorting one another’s spiral structure through mutual gravitational interaction in the process. An unrelated foreground galaxy appears to float serenely near this scene, and the smudged shapes of much more distant galaxies are visible in the background.

This colliding trio – known to astronomers as SDSSCGB 10189 – is a relatively rare combination of three large star-forming galaxies lying within only 50,000 light-years of one another. While that might sound like a safe distance, for galaxies this makes them extremely close neighbors. Our own galactic neighbors are much further away; Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, is more than 2.5 million light-years away from Earth.

This image comes from an observation designed to help astronomers understand the origin of the largest, most massive galaxies in the universe. These galactic behemoths are called Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) and – as the name suggests – are defined as the brightest galaxies in any given galaxy cluster. Astronomers suspect that BCGs form through the merger of large, gas-rich galaxies like the ones seen here. They turned to Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys to investigate this galactic trio in painstaking detail, hoping to shed light on the formation of the universe’s most massive galaxies.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-views-a-merging-galactic-trio

>>18366575

Sure is purty

Judicial Watch Weekly Update - Trump Victimized by Media==

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

• Trump Vindicated: Media Elite Turn on “Russiagate” Coverage

• D.C. Schools Set to Push CRT, Anti-Americanism, Leftist Propaganda

• Texas Border Operation Catches 348,000 Illegals, 361 million Fentanyl Doses

https://www.judicialwatch.org/trump-victimized-by-media/