NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Oct 15, 2023

An Eclipse Tree

Yes, but can your tree do this? If you look closely at the ground in the featured image, you will see many images of yesterday's solar eclipse – created by a tree. Gaps between tree leaves act like pinhole lenses and each create a small image of the partially eclipsed Sun visible in the other direction. The image was taken in Burleson, Texas, USA. Yesterday, people across the Americas were treated to a partial eclipse of the Sun, when the Moon moves in front of part of the Sun. People in a narrow band of Earth were treated to an annular eclipse, also called a ring-of-fire eclipse, when the Moon becomes completely engulfed by the Sun and sunlight streams around all of the Moon's edges. In answer to the lede question, your tree not only can do this, but will do it every time that a visible solar eclipse passes overhead. Next April 8, a deeper, total solar eclipse will move across North America.

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

Annular solar eclipse of 2023 wows skywatchers with spectacular 'ring of fire' (photos, video)

Oct 15, 2023

An annular solar eclipse wowed skywatchers across the Americas today with an impressive "ring of fire".

Sweeping through eight U.S. states before heading over Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Brazil, the impressive eclipse was visible to millions of people.

Many turned their cameras to the sky to capture the phenomenon in all its glory and we've rounded up some of the best photos here.

https://www.space.com/annular-solar-eclipse-2023-photos

DAF Publishes Comprehensive Strategy for the Space Force

Oct 13, 2023

Department of the Air Force’s Report to Congressional Committees, Comprehensive Strategy for the Space Force, dated August 2023, was published on the SpaceForce.mil Space Force Policy page for public review Oct. 13. A link to the document is available here:

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3556721/daf-publishes-comprehensive-strategy-for-the-space-force/

https://www.spaceforce.mil/portals/2/documents/foundational%20documents/crr%20-%20fy23%20comprehensive%20strategy%20for%20the%20space%20force%20-%20sig%20kendall%2015%20aug%2023.pdf

CSO announces new System Delta prototype to complement new Integrated Mission Deltas

Oct 13, 2023

The U.S. Space Force will prototype a new System Delta concept to complement and maximize the recently announced provisional Integrated Mission Deltas, which are organized around mission areas (e.g. position, navigation, and timing; electromagnetic warfare) instead of functional ones (e.g. intelligence, operations, cyber effects).

SYDs will consolidate Space Systems Command acquisitions program offices that design, develop, and deliver mission systems under a unified command structure.

“These units will directly complement IMDs by developing, acquiring, and fielding capability that satisfies operational needs,” said Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman in a recent service-wide memo. “Organizing the Space Force so IMDs in [Space Operations Command] have a clear SYD counterpart in SSC will streamline the feedback and focus the reach-back support between capability development and readiness generation.”

The intention of these provisional units is to synchronize the technological advancement of weapon systems with real-time input from operators.

“Our processes must generate the effects our Joint Force needs to successfully implement the [National Defense Strategy] in the face of our pacing threat. That’s what Forging a Purpose-built Space Service is all about,” Saltzman said.

SpOC established the first provisional IMDs for PNT and EW on Oct. 12. Complementary SYDs will be established under SSC in the coming months.

Both the IMD and SYD prototypes were intentionally designed to create unity of command for readiness while streamlining unity of effort; this is essential to the Space Force’s effort to forge a service purposefully built for great power competition.

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3556717/cso-announces-new-system-delta-prototype-to-complement-new-integrated-mission-d/

America officially has its first Space Ranger

OCT 14, 2023 5:52 PM EDT

Step aside, Buzz Lightyear.

Capt. Daniel Reynolds graduated from the U.S. military’s Ranger School this week, becoming the first Space Force Guardian to earn a Ranger tab. He is effectively the military’s first “Space Ranger.”

Reynolds was awarded his Ranger tab on Friday, Oct. 13. At the graduation ceremony, Capt. Reynolds was presented the Ranger tab by his father, Army Col. John Reynolds, himself a Ranger.

Reynolds is the first of likely many more Guardians to earn the tab in the service’s future. Reynolds isn’t going to be traipsing around outer space with a ray gun like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon, but instead he’s helping test Space Force’s satellite communications capabilities. He currently serves as a test director with 4th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Space Delta 12.

In Space Force’s short history Capt. Reynolds has emerged as a leader in the service’s achievements.

In May 2021, he became the first Guardian to graduate from the U.S. Army Air Assault School. In April 2022, he became the first Guardian to graduate from the 28-day-long Sapper Leaders Course, becoming the first Sapper in the Space Force.

As for why an aerospace engineer need the kind of skills Sappers and Rangers have, Reynolds touched on it after finishing the Sapper course.

“One of the worst things that we can do as a service is to exclude the warfighter from the engineering process,” Capt. Reynolds said in 2022. “As we move forward, it is imperative that the space test community understands their needs, wants, and concerns; their frame of reference is of the utmost importance in fielding increasingly advanced space systems.”

To earn his Ranger tab, Reynolds took part in a Ranger Assessment Course with 30 other service members. The course included 15 soldiers and 15 airmen, while he was the sole representative of the military’s newest branch. For more than 60 days he and the others were put through the grueling training process. During the course, he told the Air Force that the training helped him get a real sense of what troops deal with in the field and how they utilize tools such as satellite information.

“At courses like this we take individuals who are working in space, and we get them together with individuals who are the tip of the spear, executing these missions, engaging the enemy face-to-face,” Reynolds told the Air Force in August. “That’s where we learn how to design better systems and capabilities.”

Many Guardians were formerly airmen with the U.S. Air Force, split off when the service’s space duties were transferred to the military’s newest branch.

Reynolds joined the Air Force Academy in 2013, graduating in 2017. He initially trained as a test pilot, but switched to becoming an aerospace engineer with the formation of Space Force, transferring over to the branch in February 2021. He earned a Masters of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2019.

In addition to his Ranger tab, Reynolds also received the Officer Leadership Award for his Ranger class.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/space-force-ranger-school-guardian-daniel-reynolds/