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A massive sunspot is currently visible to the unaided eye. Here's how to see it safely before it's gone
May 30, 2023
If you're looking to get a view of a massive sunspot that has delighted skywatchers, you better hurry - but be careful.
Normally, catching sight of a sunspot on the sun requires a powerful telescope and a whole lot of special equipment and filters, but a new sunspot has grown so big that you can see it without a telescope at all — but you're still going to need eye protection.
South Korean astronomer Bum-Suk Yeom created the photo above showing the relative scale of AR3310 with the Earth to give you a sense of just how enormous this particular sunspot is. AR3310 is currently on the edge of the sun's visible disk, about to rotate out of view, so act fast if you want to see this sunspot.
Since a sunspot is the product of strong magnetic fields, they are usually the point on the sun's surface that produce solar flares, also known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. These massive bursts of solar plasma can even reach as far as Earth and interfere with electronics, as well as produce visually stunning auroras.
The sunspot AR3310 is a massive dark patch on the sun that is about four times the size of Earth, and it is caused by especially strong and intertwined magnetic fields. In the case of sunspots, the magnetic fields are so powerful that they actually keep some of the heat from nuclear fusion inside the sun from reaching its outer atmosphere, producing a cool spot that appears dark to an observer.
Astronomers and astrophotographers around the world have been observing AR3310 while it has been visible, leading to some incredible images of the sun and this massive sunspot.
https://www.space.com/sun-sunspot-unaided-eye-how-to-see-safely
North Korea launches ‘space vehicle’ amid military spy satellite plans
May 30, 2023
North Korea has launched what was described as a space launch vehicle, after announcing a plan to put its first military spy satellite into orbit.
Sirens were heard across Seoul early on Wednesday as the city issued a warning asking citizens to prepare for potential evacuation. However, the interior ministry later said the warning was sent in error, and the military confirmed the launch would have no impact on the capital.
The Japanese government also briefly issued an emergency warning over its J-Alert broadcasting system for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, saying a missile had been launched from North Korea.
It later confirmed the missile did not fly over Japanese territory.
North Korea had said it would launch its first military reconnaissance satellite between 31 May and 11 June to boost monitoring of US activities, drawing a threat from Japan to destroy any North Korean missile that violates its territory. Japan’s defence ministry said in a statement: “We will take destructive measures against ballistic and other missiles that are confirmed to land in our territory.”
Analysts say a military satellite would enhance North Korea’s surveillance capability and improve its ability to strike targets in the event of war.
A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of UN security council resolutions that ban the country from using ballistic technology because it is regarded as a cover for missile tests.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/30/north-korea-fires-space-launch-vehicle-towards-south
New record! 17 people are in Earth orbit at the same time right now
May 30, 2023
The total number of people in Earth orbit is now at a record high, though only for a short time.
With the launch of China's three-person Shenzhou 16 mission on Monday (May 29) at 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 GMT or 9:31 a.m. Beijing Time on May 30), the population in orbit grew to 17.
The previous record, set during the privately funded Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, was 14 people.
The current count is comprised by four crews:
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Shenzhou 16 (three people) — Chinese taikonauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, now aboard China's Tiangong space station.
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Shenzhou 15 (three people) — Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, who have been aboard Tiangong since November 2022 and who are expected to return to Earth in early June.
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Expedition 69 (seven people) — Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia's federal space corporate Roscosmos; astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg of NASA; and Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the International Space Station (ISS).
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Axiom-2 (four people) — Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson, private astronaut John Shoffner and Saudi Arabian astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, who departed the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon "Freedom" to return to Earth on Tuesday (May 30).
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The Ax-2 crew is scheduled to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 11:04 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (0304 GMT on Wednesday, May 31), leaving 13 people in Earth orbit.
By coincidence, the current record includes the 600th person to enter Earth orbit. Ax-2 mission specialist Barnawi became the sexcentenarian orbital space traveler, as well as the first Saudi woman in space, when she and her crew launched on May 21.
The record for most people in space (rather than just Earth orbit) at once was reset recently, too, and lasted an even shorter amount of time. For about 5 minutes, there were 20 people off the planet.
That record was set by the six members of Virgin Galactic Unity 25 SpaceShipTwo crew, whose suborbital spaceflight coincided with three Chinese taikonauts living aboard Tiangong and 11 astronauts, cosmonauts and spaceflight participants on board the International Space Station.
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SpaceShipTwo Unity 25 (six people): Michael Masucci, CJ Sturckow, Beth Moses, Luke Mays, Jamila Gilbert and Christopher Huie.
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Shenzhou 15 (three people) — Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.
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Expedition 69 (seven people) - U.S. astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg; Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev; and Sultan AlNeyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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Axiom Space Ax-2 (four people) - Peggy Whitson, John Stoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi.
The previous record for the most people in space at once was set during Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-19 suborbital flight on Dec. 11, 2021, when there were briefly 19 people off Earth.
https://www.space.com/record-17-people-in-earth-orbit-at-once
A bunch of monsters movies start just like this
Ax-2 Mission | Splashdown
On Tuesday, May 30 at 11:05 a.m. ET, Dragon autonomously undocked from the International Space Station. After performing a series of burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison its trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, landing off the coast of Florida twelve hours later at approximately 11:04 p.m. ET.
Aboard the spacecraft will be Ax-2 astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi, who flew to the space station on Dragon when Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, May 21 at 5:37 p.m. ET.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTLmuhsMYMM
https://www.axiomspace.com/