NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Sep 15, 2023

Venus, Moon, and the Smoking Mountain

Venus has returned as a brilliant morning star. From a window seat on a flight to Mexico City, the bright celestial beacon was captured just before sunrise in this astronomical snapshot, taken on September 12. Venus, at the upper right, shared the early predawn skies with an old crescent Moon. Seen from this stratospheric perspective, both mountain peaks and clouds appear in silhouette along a glowing eastern horizon. The dramatic, long, low cloud bank was created by venting from planet Earth's active volcano Popocatépetl.

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

Meet NASA's UFO boss: Former Pentagon liaison Mark McInerney is revealed as head of new taskforce - after the space agency backtracks on plan to keep his identity a secret

Sep 15, 2023

• Mark McInerney will become US space agency's director of research into UFOs

• Officials initially refused to reveal his identity amid fears he would be harassed

The inaugural boss of NASA's newly-created UFO research division has been named as a former meteorologist and liaison to the Pentagon.

Mark McInerney will become the US space agency's director of research into unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), more commonly known as unidentified flying objects.

NASA officials initially refused to reveal McInerney's identity amid fears he would be harassed, before later backtracking on the decision.

Speaking about the new UFO boss following the release of the agency's highly-anticipated study into more than 800 UAP sightings, NASA's associate administrator Nicola Fox told reporters: 'They have been working there a while now, during the study, to help be a point of contact.'

But when directly asked whether she could name the official, Fox replied: 'We will not give his name out.'

All changed hours later, however, when NASA sent out a press release that included McInerney's name and revealed he previously worked as the agency's liaison to the Pentagon.

There has been no explanation as to why McInerney's identity was revealed when NASA initially declined to do so.

However, it emerged at last night's briefing that several members of the independent study group had received threats, hate mail and been ridiculed on social media.

Some were even apparently told to stay away from researching UFOs because it could damage their scientific credibility.

'That's in part why we are not splashing the name of our new director out there, because science needs to be free,' Dan Evans, the NASA official in charge of the study, originally said.

'Some of [the incidents] rose to actual threats.'

The newly-formed UFO research division will continue studying UAPs, even though the space agency yesterday ruled out that aliens were to blame for some 800 such sightings over almost three decades.

These are defined as objects 'that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective'.

In a landmark report commissioned by NASA last year and published on Thursday, an independent panel of 16 experts stressed that there was 'no reason to conclude' that any of the sightings they analysed were extraterrestrial in origin.

However, the team did warn that mysterious flying objects were a 'self-evident' threat to American airspace.

Even though they poured cold water on the extraterrestrial hypothesis, NASA's experts did not deny the possibility of a 'potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth's atmosphere.'

Their 33-page report called for NASA to utilise its technological might to continue studying UFOs because many cases remain unsolved — and researchers still have no idea what some of these sightings are.

NASA chief Bill Nelson announced that a new director for UFO research would help implement the panel's recommendations.

Following a news briefing setting out the findings, he said: 'I want to thank the independent study team for providing insight on how NASA can better study and analyse UAP in the future.

'NASA's new Director of UAP Research will develop and oversee the implementation of NASA's scientific vision for UAP research, including using NASA's expertise to work with other agencies to analyse UAP and applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to search the skies for anomalies.

'NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity.'

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McInerney's new role will see him 'centralise communications, resources, and data analytical capabilities to establish a robust database for the evaluation of future UAP', NASA said.

'He also will leverage NASA's expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and space-based observation tools to support and enhance the broader government initiative on UAP,' the space agency added.

Since 1996, McInerney has worked in various positions, spending time at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Hurricane Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The NASA advisory panel's new report analysed hundreds of potential UFO sightings, albeit with a budget of just $100,000 (£80,500) and just nine months to conduct their work.

The panel noted that, to date, most UAPs are recorded with sensors and other equipment intended for nonscientific purposes, under accidental or 'serendipitous' circumstances that are far from ideal.

Evidence from nearly all UFO cases, in other words, was not collected with enough scientific rigour for experts to reach reliable conclusions in the panel's view.

'Coupled with incomplete data archiving and curation,' the NASA panel wrote, 'this means that the origin of numerous UAP [UFOs] remain uncertain.'

They concluded that in their scientific view, the bar for proof of extraterrestrial visitors to our planet must be kept high.

'In the search for life beyond Earth, extraterrestrial life itself must be the hypothesis of last resort,' the panel wrote, 'the answer we turn to only after ruling out all other possibilities.'

'As Sherlock Holmes said, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth".'

Back in May, NASA's independent study team shared their preliminary observations — that up to 98 per cent of reported UAP sightings can be explained away.

Just 2 to 5 percent are considered 'possibly really anomalous', the panel added, but a lack of high-quality data is hampering researchers' ability to apply 'rigorous scientific scrutiny' to the mystery-solving.

NASA's study is separate from the Pentagon's investigation into UAPs, which saw US lawmakers hear first-hand accounts of UFO sightings from former members of the military earlier this year.

That Pentagon study, led by the Defense Department's new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and directed by Pentagon physicist Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, has received 350 reports of UFOs in the past two years.

Almost half, or precisely 171 of those UFO cases, remain unexplained.

Although their is cross-collaboration, the US space agency's panel is focused on the civilian, unclassified side of this effort, while AARO leads the charge on examining UAPs in coordination with the intelligence and military communities.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12521885/Meet-NASAs-UFO-boss-Former-Pentagon-liaison-Mark-McInerney-revealed-head-new-taskforce-space-agency-backtracks-plan-identity-secret.html

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'I am horrified': Archaeologists are fuming over ancient human relative remains sent to edge of space

Sep 13, 2023

For the first time, fossilized remains of ancient human relatives have gone to the edge of outer space — and scientists are not happy about it.

Fragmentary remains of two ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, were carried aboard a Virgin Galactic flight on Sept. 8. Departing from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the fossils, carried by South African-born billionaire Timothy Nash in a cigar-shaped tube, were rocketed to the edge of space.

The fossils were chosen by Lee Berger, a National Geographic Society explorer in residence and the director of the Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, who was instrumental in the discovery of both species. A fragment of the collarbone of 2 million-year-old A. sediba, first discovered by Berger's son Matthew in 2008, was chosen for the trip, as well as a thumb bone from H. naledi, the still-mysterious 300,000-year-old hominin found in the Rising Star cave in 2013 by a group of researchers Berger dubbed "Underground Astronauts."

Lee Berger did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication, but in a statement, he noted that "the journey of these fossils into space represents humankind's appreciation of the contribution of all of humanity's ancestors and our ancient relatives," while Matthew Berger speculated that these hominins "never could have dreamed while alive of taking such an incredible journey as ambassadors of all of humankind's ancestors."

The fact that these ancient species would not have understood their journey into the upper atmosphere is one of many reasons anthropologists and others have critiqued the space flight.

In a thread on X (formerly Twitter), Alessio Veneziano, a biological anthropologist and co-organizer of the AHEAD conference (Advances in Human Evolution, Adaptation and Diversity), succinctly identified four main issues that have been discussed: 1) the lack of scientific justification for the flight; 2) ethical issues surrounding respect for human ancestral remains; 3) Berger's access to the fossils, which few other researchers share; and 4) the misrepresentation of the practice of palaeoanthropology.

The fossils' space journey has been roundly criticized for lacking a scientific purpose, especially since a malfunction on the mission could have destroyed the priceless specimens. Berger's original permit request, which was ultimately approved by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), mentioned that the goal of the journey was to promote science and bring global recognition to human origins research in South Africa rather than to address any scientific questions.

The effects of spaceflight on heritage items "hasn't been an area of scientific study," Justin Walsh, a professor of art and archaeology at Chapman University in California, told Live Science in an email. "Space archaeologists like me are definitely interested in the effect of the space environment on items in space," he said, "but I don't think we'd use a piece of heritage from here on Earth as a test article to see what happens to it."

"I am horrified that they were granted a permit," Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton in the U.K., wrote in an X thread, noting she would use it as an example in her class about unethical approaches. "This is NOT science."

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Walsh echoed Zakrzewski's concerns with the ethics of the flight. Because the fossilized bones are not just scientific specimens but the remains of our collective ancestors, we owe them respect, Walsh said. For the purpose of the permit, however, the fossils appear to have been categorized as paleontological — rather than human — remains, getting around ethical and legal issues, which speaks to the larger, ongoing scientific discussion of who we consider to be "human."

"As a sovereign state, South Africa can manage its national estate as it sees fit, including shooting part of that estate into space like the US, Russia, Denmark, and others all have," Rachel King, an associate professor of cultural heritage studies at University College London, told Live Science in an email. But "the fact that it happened through what looks like a standard compliance procedure should make everyone think about potential wider consequences," she noted, including future events that may put archaeological heritage at risk of destruction.

That documentation is a key aspect of Berger's permit request, in which he justified the selection of the fossils — and mitigated the risk of their loss — because they have been "extensively studied" and "published many times." But there are few fossil hominin casts other than Homo naledi available for study and public viewing, often owing to a lack of financial and material resources in the countries in which they are found. On top of that, the final major critique of the fossils' space journey is the entitlement and privilege revealed by the flight.

The fossils were carried aboard Virgin Galactic by Nash, whose father John made his fortune in aviation. Nash was one of the first people to buy a ticket on the second commercial flight of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space plane. Nash has also been friends with Lee Berger for over a decade and owns most of the so-called Cradle of Humankind — including the land where the Bergers discovered A. sediba, which he hopes to develop into a "paleotourism" industry.

While most paleoanthropological researchers do not have the access to land and fossils afforded to Berger, the problem remains, in the eyes of many, that Berger has misrepresented what these researchers actually do.

"This is an unusual activity for ancient fossils," Walsh said, with "no sign that Berger was interested in performing science and answering that question [on the effects of spaceflight] by flying the fossils." Instead, in keeping with standard scientific practice, Walsh would have liked an open dialogue about the mission, including more information about the risks and benefits, prior to the flight.

"We should ask: Can the University of the Witwatersrand and Lee Berger be trusted to care for these fossils going forward, if this is what they think is an appropriate thing to do with them?" Walsh said.

https://www.space.com/archaeologists-fuming-over-ancient-human-relative-remains-sent-to-space

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Las Vegas family release bizarre drawings of UFOs they claim landed in backyard

Sep 14, 2023

A Las Vegas family has broken its silence to double down on claims that UFOs landed in the backyard – as they showed off drawings that they made of the apparent alien sightings.

The Kenmore family, who went viral earlier this year after calling 911 to report that two ten-foot aliens had landed in their backyard, spoke out for the first time in an interview with Inside Edition.

“I believe I saw something that wasn’t from Earth,” youngest son Joshua said.

The family members created drawings of what they claimed to have seen as they also revealed that they saw a black Chevrolet Suburban with “government plates on it” soon after the extraterrestrial encounter.

The family remained anonymous for months out of fear of being ridiculed but said that, since their UFO visit, strangers have flocked to their house to see where the aliens landed – with some even climbing over the fence.

The family’s lawyer Sam Heidari, who was hired to sue any trespassers, told Inside Edition the Kenmore’s “didn’t want that publicity”.

“The only thing they did was report it to the police,” he said.

Mr Heidari said he believes that the Kenmores believe what they saw was real.

The family released drawings of the supposed UFOs in an effort to try to further substantiate their claims.

One of the sons Bobby drew a figure with glowing, antennae-like ears and a mouth full of gnashing teeth. He said the being didn’t appear to have a nose.

Meanwhile, eldest son Angel coloured in his alien with gray pencil, noting that he was trying to keep the colour accurate to what he had seen.

He told Inside Edition the alien had a ball of light beside it and stood with one leg bent.

Describing the apparent encounter on the evening of 1 May, , Angel said that he and his brother heard something falling from the sky before they then observed a flash of light.

The brothers said that they then felt the impact of something hitting the ground and heard a loud bang.

The two teenagers were then hit with a shockwave, they claimed, which they likened to an “out of body experience”.

Angel claimed he then tried to look at the fallen object but the whole backyard was blurry, and he heard “thousands of footsteps” all around him before the blurriness subsided.

The teen said he could make out a tall, very thin creature standing between eight and 10 feet tall. Panicking, he called Bobby to the backyard, who told him to go inside.

Angel said the creature had “weird-looking feet and a big face and eyes” and “a big mouth”.

“I could hear his loud deep breathing and see his stomach move,” he said.

The teenager went back inside and called the police.

“There’s like a eight foot person… and it has big eyes and it’s looking at us,” he said to the operator in the now-viral 911 call. “I swear to God, it’s not a joke.”

That same night, a police officer’s bodycam captured a greenish light blazing through the sky.

An officer repsonding to the family’s home told them: “I’m not gonna BS you guys. One of my partners said they saw something fall out of the sky too.”

Angel said an officer walked with the family to the backyard and pointed at a perfect circle that had been etched into the ground.

Angel’s story was further corroborated by footage from a neighbour’s Ring camera, which captured a whooshing sound and an enormous bang.

Angel previously spoke out bout his experience in a video posted to YouTube in June.

“This is not a conspiracy theory. I am not making this story up for clout or fame,” he said in the video, which has had just under a million views.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ufo-drawing-aliens-las-vegas-b2412006.html

Watch NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and 2 cosmonauts launch to the ISS on a Russian rocket today

Sep 15, 2023

A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts will launch to space later today (Sept. 15), and you can watch live.

NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, alongside Russian counterparts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, will launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT or 8:30 p.m. local time at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.)

You can watch the launch live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA Television. Coverage starts about 45 minutes before launch. The crew will then make one of the fastest-ever trips to the ISS, potentially arriving as soon as 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT). We will also carry that coverage live, from NASA. Hatch opening will follow around 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT) as the Soyuz astronauts join the Expedition 69 crew already on station.

The trio will launch aboard the MS-24 spacecraft as a relief crew for NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos' Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin. Rubio and his colleagues were already scheduled for a six-month mission, which was delayed to a year following a leak in their own Soyuz spacecraft (MS-22) in December 2022.

The agencies eventually decided to rapidly send up an empty replacement vehicle, MS-23, which safely arrived in February. But prior to the leak, MS-23 was supposed to hold O'Hara and her relief crew, who were still in training at the time of its faster-than-expected launch. For Rubio and his crewmates, coming home required an even longer wait until the new MS-24 and O'Hara's crew would be ready this month to relieve them.

In the meantime, Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin unintentionally set records. At an expected 371 days in space (assuming a Sept. 27 landing), they are the first crew to spend more than a year on the ISS. And only four people have spent longer in space than that, all cosmonauts who visited the Soviet-era Mir space station for as long as 427 days.

NASA has emphasized the importance of having backup vehicles in case of emergencies like this. The agency had a backup plan to bring Rubio home in an already docked SpaceX Dragon vehicle (putting Rubio in a temporary seat installed below four seats already occupied by other astronauts); Rubio's Russian crewmates would have taken the broken Soyuz, as two humans would not heat up the spacecraft as rapidly as three. But that scenario was not required after MS-23 arrived.

NASA and the Russians regularly exchange astronauts to fly on each other's vehicles; O'Hara's was part of a set of four announced in mid-2022.

https://www.space.com/nasa-astronaut-loral-ohara-russian-soyuz-iss-launch-livestream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyRIu-CYBdA