Anonymous ID: 8f7a54 Aug. 4, 2023, 7:06 a.m. No.19296457   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6468 >>6628 >>6803 >>6864

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Aug 4, 2023

 

Moonrays of August

 

A Full Moon rose as the Sun set on August 1. Near perigee, the closest point in its almost moonthly orbit, the brighter than average lunar disk illuminated night skies around planet Earth as the second supermoon of 2023. Seen here above Ragusa, Sicily, cloud banks cast diverging shadows through the supermoonlit skies, creating dramatic lunar crepuscular rays. The next Full Moon in 2023 will also shine on an August night. Rising as the Sun sets on August 30/31, this second Full Moon in a month is known as a Blue Moon. Blue moons occur only once every 2 or 3 years because lunar phases take almost a calendar month (29.5 days) to go through a complete cycle. But August's Blue Moon will also be near perigee, the third supermoon in 2023.

 

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

Anonymous ID: 8f7a54 Aug. 4, 2023, 7:15 a.m. No.19296484   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6488 >>6521 >>6628 >>6803 >>6864

James Webb Space Telescope reveals the colorful Ring Nebula in exquisite detail

Aug 3, 2023

 

The James Webb Space Telescope has imaged the Ring Nebula as a glowing green and purple eye, presenting the familiar astronomical object in an altogether new light.

 

Aside from its stunning aesthetic value, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images show the Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57 (M57), located around 2,200 light-years away, in intricate detail that will surprise even astronomers who are familiar with the object.

 

Located in the Lyra constellation, the Ring Nebula is a popular target for space enthusiasts as its donut-shaped ring of glowing gas and dust is visible even with small backyard telescopes throughout the summer.

 

"I first saw the Ring Nebula as a kid through just a small telescope," Western University astrophysicist and core member of JWST Ring Nebula Imaging Project, Jan Cami, said in a statement. "I would have never thought that one day, I would be part of the team that would use the world's most powerful space telescope ever built to look at this object."

 

The Ring Nebula is the glowing remains of a long-dead star, a class of astronomical object called a "planetary nebula," which somewhat confusingly has nothing to do with planets. At its heart is a white speck that represents a white dwarf star  —  what remains of that extinct stellar body's core.

 

M57, or the Ring Nebula, is particularly fascinating to astronomers because not only is it close enough to be viewed with even amateur telescopes, but from our vantage point in the solar system, the planetary nebula is tilted so that it is viewed face-on. That means that observing the Ring Nebula with space telescopes offers astronomers the opportunity to see what is going on within planetary nebula and shed light on the life and death of stars.

 

"The James Webb Space Telescope has provided us with an extraordinary view of the Ring Nebula that we've never seen before," University College London professor and co-lead scientist of the JWST Ring Nebula Imaging Project, Mike Barlow, said. "The high-resolution images not only showcase the intricate details of the nebula's expanding shell but also reveal the inner region around the central white dwarf in exquisite clarity."

 

A sneak peak at the sun's future

 

When stars of similar sizes to the sun exhaust their fuel for nuclear fusion, they can no longer support themselves against the inward force of their own gravity, ending the balancing act that kept the star stable for as long as billions of years.

 

As the core collapses, the outer layers of the star, where nuclear fusion still proceeds, are blasted outwards. This initially causes the star to swell out as a red giant, a phase which the sun will undergo in around 5 billion years when it will puff out to around the orbit of Mars, consuming the inner planets, including Earth.

 

This outer shell of material eventually cools and disperses to form a variety of different shapes, including wispy clouds, expanding bubbles or ring-shaped nebulas like M57. What shape a planetary nebula will take hinges on the complex physical processes occurring within it, processes that scientists still don't fully understand.

 

That means that observations of this system give us a glimpse of what the solar system could look like in billions of years.

 

"We are witnessing the final chapters of a star's life, a preview of the sun's distant future, so to speak, and JWST's observations have opened a new window into understanding these awe-inspiring cosmic events," Barlow explained. "We can use the Ring Nebula as our laboratory to study how planetary nebulas form and evolve."

 

Astronomers can also glean information about the chemical processes occurring in the planetary nebula by analyzing the colors their gas and dust emit as the stars in their centers blast it with radiation.

 

"The structure in this object is incredible, and to think that this is all created by just one dying star," Western University astrophysicist Els Peeters said. "Beyond the morphological treasure trove, there is also much information on the chemical makeup of the gas and dust in these observations. We even found large carbonaceous molecules in this object, and we have no clear idea how they got there. Yet."

 

The material in planetary nebulas like M57 is enriched with the heavy elements that are forged during the life of the dead star that created it. Eventually, much of this matter will be incorporated into huge clouds of gas and dust called interstellar clouds. When dense patches of these clouds condense and collapse under their own gravity, they birth new stars that contain the material from stellar predecessors. That means objects like the Ring Nebula can weave a tale of stellar life and death.

 

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-ring-nebula-dead-star

Anonymous ID: 8f7a54 Aug. 4, 2023, 7:25 a.m. No.19296510   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Incredible moment giant fireball made 'two audible booms' as it exploded over West Virginia and eight other US states is captured by photographer shooting the supermoon

08:51 EDT, 4 August 2023

 

  • A 75-pound fireball soared through the night sky at around 2 am ET Wednesday

  • A photographer was shooting the supermoon when it soared overhead

 

An amateur astronomer was snapping images of the supermoon over West Virginia Wednesday morning when a giant fireball exploded in the sky as it fell from space.

 

Bill Stewart, from Ceredo, was perched on his rooftop to capture the brilliant moon when he saw a blazing streak in the sky that 'made two audible booms.'

 

Stewart, however, was not a lone observer of the cosmic display - there are more than 70 sighting reports from nine US states, including Georgia and Ohio.

 

NASA has also acknowledged the fireball, revealing it was likely a comet fragment weighing 75 pounds that traveled southeast at 37,000 miles per hour.

 

Steward shared a video of the epic experience, telling SpaceWeather.com that the fireball broke through the night sky at 2:13 am ET.

 

'The fireball made two audible booms,' he said.

 

'After one bright flash, it broke into three distinct fragments.

 

'One remained bright as it descended below the horizon. It could have possibly touched down although I didn't hear it impact.'

 

NASA's Bill Cooke said the comet fragment 'entered Earth's atmosphere about 50 miles above the Kentucky town of Krypton, moving roughly southeast at 37,000 miles per hour.

 

'The object traveled 65 miles through the atmosphere before disintegrating 30 miles above Duffield, Virginia.'

 

Cooke continued explaining that the fireball's breakup generated about two tons of TNT.

 

The American Meteor Society, a non-profit founded in 1911 that collects reports of meteors and other cosmic sightings, shows 74 other people spotted the fireball early Thursday morning.

 

Reports came from Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

 

Sheen A, from Delphia, Kentucky, reported her house shook immediately after she heard the boom.

 

Tennessee resident April H shared: 'It was the brightest and biggest meteor I have ever seen. It was the most elegant green ball arcing across the sky before it suddenly turned to a bright gold as it broke apart and disappeared.

 

'From where I live, [in Unionville] it appeared to have been going over the southern end of Rutherford Co TN, headed East and ended near Hwy. 231S.'

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12370091/West-Virginia-man-captures-moment-giant-fireball-explodes-early-morning-sky-NASA-says-came-comet.html

Anonymous ID: 8f7a54 Aug. 4, 2023, 7:33 a.m. No.19296533   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6541 >>6543 >>6588

UFOs 'took control of Russian nukes' and 'entered launch codes' nearly triggering WWIII

10:13, 4 Aug 2023

 

Journalist George Knapp told Congress that the Russian military has had a number of run-ins with UFOS since the late 1960s including a terrifying incident at a missile silo in Ukraine

 

Russia has been thrust into the UFO mania debate as it's been claimed extraterrestrial beings took control of the Kremlin's cache of nuclear missiles.

 

The hijacking almost led to World War III, according to sworn testimony shared with Congress this week.

 

Award-winning Las Vegas journalist George Knapp - who often reports on ET phenomena - told the panel that Russian military officials had also deployed fighter jets to fire on the UFOs following a near world-ending clash

 

Mr Knapp said Russia has been carrying out what is known as the biggest UFO probe in history, which has taken 10 years and taken accounts from figures across the entire breadth of the Russian military. It found there had been 45 incidents of Russian fighter jets clashing with UFO and three jets crashing with at least two Russian airmen killed.

 

Mr Knapp claims to have spoken with a Russian official called Boris Sokolov, who says there have been at least 45 incidents in which fighter jets had a run-in with an unidentified flying object.

 

But the incident which caused the most concern happened at an Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) silo in Ukraine, in which a UFO "somehow took control of the launch system", says Mr Sokolov. Describing the events in incredible detail, Mr Knapp said the UFO appeared over the base before performing aerial maneuvers which far exceed anything human-built aircraft can do, leaving eyewitnesses stunned.

 

Then after taking control of the launch system, the ETs allegedly fired up the ballistic missiles. Launch control codes, which are only known by the select few, were then entered and the base was unable to prevent the WWIII-sparking events unfolding in front of them. Just as quickly as the UFOs appeared, they disappeared and their hold on the system went with them.

 

In response to the terrifying events, the Russian Defence Ministry has issued an order which bans its military from interfering with UFOs because they "may have incredible capacities for retention", according to Mr Knapp. While Russia takes an avoidant approach to the supposed aliens, since the late 1960s the US has maintained that they "pose no threat to national security and are not worthy of further study".

 

"This dismissive attitude is directly at odds with what was revealed in documents, reports, and internal memos," Mr Knapp wrote. "High-ranking military officers considered the UFO mystery to be 'serious business.' The paper trail revealed via FOIA requests documents how military leaders knew that UFOs were 'real, not fictitious,' that they were metallic craft, capable of incredible maneuvers far beyond any known technology on Earth, and that there were a disturbing number of incidents wherein UFOs seemed to demonstrate an intense interest in our military assets, in particular nuclear weapons. If this is not a matter of national security, what is?"

 

Mr Knapp is not the only individual raising these concerns with the US government. Investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell also chimed in, telling Congress that UFOs are a major concern and may have us outgunned. "UAP have proven that they can operate with impunity within our airspace. This is occurring almost every day, often within our restricted airspace," Corbell wrote in his testimony shared by Fox News.

 

"And most alarmingly, UAP are witnessed, documented and often captured on corroborative multi-platform defense sensors and targeting systems while displaying the capability to outpace, outmaneuver, and outperform our most advanced military weaponry; or any other known technologically advanced terrestrial nation’s military inventory and private industry holdings."

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ufos-took-control-russian-nukes-30626199

Anonymous ID: 8f7a54 Aug. 4, 2023, 8:19 a.m. No.19296708   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6712 >>6722 >>6726 >>6740 >>6815

Spinning UFO with 'fiery thruster' spotted as US officer claims shape is 'alien'

UPDATED 12:59, 4 Aug 2023

 

Footage of a mysterious flying object with a spinning fiery thruster has sent shockwaves through the UFO community.

 

The clip appears to show an unknown craft similar in shape and design to spaceships seen in the hit film, Independence Day. The UFO-like item also seems to have a fiery thruster on the back that burns with different intensities.

 

At one point, the blazing thruster starts spinning and the entire UFO turns into a fireball in the sky. The blaze then subsides into a spinning line of flames.

 

The video was originally filmed by a local resident on their phone in the borough of Cerro, Havana, Cuba, in 2019 but re-surfaced on social media – going viral after Cuban journalist, Juan Manuel Cao, 62, shared it on his AmericaTeVe Miami channel.

 

Cao said: “It’s the closest thing to a flying saucer I’ve ever seen and it’s not a dot in the sky, it’s clearly visible.”

 

Former US Intelligence Officer, Colonel Octavio Pérez appeared on the show to add his thoughts to the clip. He said the aircraft possibly uses an anti-gravitational system, suggesting it could be extraterrestrial or a spy plane adapted from alien technology.

 

One viewer commented: “Those US military ships using alien technology are everywhere.”

 

Another said: “At first it looks blurry, but then the object becomes very clear. It is one of the best images I have ever seen.”

 

Monterey UFOs remarked: “Amazing!”

 

Paranormal Tenerife wrote: “This is one of the clips that caught my attention the most. It has a different design to the typical.”

 

The viral video comes amid a growing wave of statements and testimonies in the US about the existence of UFOs.

 

Former US intelligence official David Grusch recently claimed before Congress that the government maintains a secret UFO recovery program and is in possession of "non-human" spacecraft and "dead pilots".

 

The Havana sighting and recent revelations in the US have fuelled growing speculation about the existence of extraterrestrial life and the role of governments in concealing such information.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/spinning-ufo-fiery-thruster-spotted-30626047

https://youtu.be/G6ZHdRSQsvo