Anonymous ID: 318c83 Oct. 18, 2023, 7:19 a.m. No.19756486   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6493 >>6545 >>6556 >>6642 >>6729 >>6783 >>6906 >>7014 >>7074

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Oct 18, 2023

 

Dust and the Western Veil Nebula

 

It's so big it is easy to miss. The entire Veil Nebula spans six times the diameter of the full moon, but is so dim you need binoculars to see it. The nebula was created about 15,000 years ago when a star in the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus) exploded. The spectacular explosion would have appeared brighter than even Venus for a week - but there is no known record of it. Pictured is the western edge of the still-expanding gas cloud. Notable gas filaments include the Witch's Broom Nebula on the upper left near the bright foreground star 52 Cygni, and Fleming's Triangular Wisp (formerly known as Pickering's Triangle) running diagonally up the image middle. What is rarely imaged but seen in the featured long exposure across many color bands is the reflecting brown dust that runs vertically up the image left, dust likely created in the cool atmospheres of massive stars.

 

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

Anonymous ID: 318c83 Oct. 18, 2023, 7:59 a.m. No.19756696   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6705 >>6729 >>6783 >>6906 >>7014 >>7074

Anna Paulina Luna

@realannapaulina

 

Just got word that we will be allowed to do the SCIF Classified UAP briefing ref Grusch with the IG!

@timburchett @JaredEMoskowitz @mattgaetz

 

9:06 AM · Oct 17, 2023

 

https://twitter.com/realannapaulina/status/1714312017757028559

Anonymous ID: 318c83 Oct. 18, 2023, 8:41 a.m. No.19756900   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6906 >>7014 >>7074

City-size comet regrows 'horns' after massive volcanic eruption

Oct 17, 2023

 

The cryovolcanic comet 12P/Pons–Brooks, which will make its closest approach to Earth next year, has re-sprouted its distinctive "horns" after its second major eruption in four months.

 

An enormous volcanic comet the size of a small city has violently exploded for the second time in four months as it hurtles toward the sun. And just like the previous eruption, the cloud of ice and gas emitted what looked like a gigantic pair of horns.

 

The comet, named 12P/Pons-Brooks, is a cryovolcanic — or cold volcano — comet. It has a solid nucleus, with an estimated diameter of 18.6 miles (30 kilometers), and is filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas known as cryomagma. The nucleus is surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of gas called a coma, which leaks out of the comet's interior.

 

When solar radiation heats the comet's insides, the pressure builds up and the comet violently explodes, shooting its frosty guts out into space through large cracks in the nucleus's shell.

 

On Oct. 5, astronomers detected a large outburst from 12P, after the comet became dozens of times brighter due to the extra light reflecting from its expanded coma, according to the British Astronomical Association (BAA), which has been closely monitoring the comet

 

Over the next few days, the comet's coma expanded further and developed its "peculiar horns," Spaceweather.com reported. Some experts joked that the irregular shape of the coma also makes the comet look like a science fiction spaceship, such as the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.

 

The unusual shape of the comet's coma is likely due to an irregularity in the shape of 12P's nucleus, Richard Miles, a BAA astronomer, told Live Science after the comet's previous eruption. The outflowing gas is likely being partially obstructed by a notch sticking out on the nucleus, Miles said. As the gas continues to expand away from the comet, the irregularity in the coma's shape becomes more defined and noticeable, he added.

 

12P is currently hurtling toward the inner solar system, where it will be slingshotted around the sun on its highly elliptical 71-year orbit around our home star — similar to the green comet Nishimura, which pulled off a near-identical maneuver on Sept. 17.

 

12P will reach its closest point to Earth on April 21, 2024, when it may become visible to the naked eye before being catapulted back toward the outer solar system. It will not return until 2095.

 

This is the second time 12P has sprouted its horns this year. On July 20, astronomers witnessed the comet blow its top for the first time in 69 years (mainly due to its outbursts being less frequent and harder to spot during the rest of its orbit). On that occasion, 12P's coma grew to around 143,000 miles (230,000 km), which is around 7,000 times wider than the comet's nucleus.

 

It is unclear how large the coma grew during the most recent eruption, but there are signs the outburst was "twice as intense" as the previous one, the BAA noted. By now, the coma has likely shrunk back to near its normal size.

 

As 12P continues to race toward the sun, there is a high probability that we will witness several more major eruptions. It is possible that those eruptions will be even bigger than the most recent one as the comet soaks up more solar radiation, according to Spaceweather.com.

 

But 12P is not the only volcanic comet that astronomers are currently monitoring: 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (29P) — the most volatile volcanic comet in the solar system — has also had several noticeable eruptions in the last year.

 

In December 2022, 29P experienced its largest eruption in around 12 years, which sprayed around 1 million tons of cryomagma into space. And in April this year, for the first time ever, scientists accurately predicted one of 29P's eruptions before it actually happened, thanks to a slight increase in the comet's brightness in the lead-up to the icy explosion.

 

https://www.space.com/comet-racing-toward-earth-grows-horns

Anonymous ID: 318c83 Oct. 18, 2023, 9:09 a.m. No.19757077   🗄️.is 🔗kun

The UK Space Agency is Unlocking Space for Business

18 October 2023

 

Global satellite services currently support activity that contributes £370 billion to the UK economy, which is around 17.7% of our GDP. As the cost of accessing space continues to fall and the pace of innovation increases, a greater number of businesses now have the opportunity to harness the advantages offered by satellites through enhanced imagery, connectivity and navigation capabilities.

 

Unlocking Space for Business is an 18-month programme designed to bring these untapped benefits to hundreds of new organisations across the UK, focused on the leading transport and logistics and financial services sectors.

 

Opportunity areas can include using satellite imagery to improve the measurement of climate variables and verification of customer insurance claims after extreme weather events, satellite position and navigation to support location tracking and enabling the movement of people and satellite connectivity to help crew and passengers keep in touch with operators and families on shore.

 

Unlocking Space for Business will provide workshops, networking events, learning and development sessions, and online resources to support companies in their understanding of what satellite data and services can mean for them as well as offering the opportunity to bid for a share of up to £6 million UK Space Agency funding later this year to help launch innovative pilot projects, data procurement or partnerships.

 

Satellite data and services have the ability to unlock and deliver new revenue growth opportunities, operational efficiencies, improved customer experiences and ESG benefits for organisations.

 

Unlocking Space for Business will connect leading data suppliers, technology integrators, insight providers and end-users to encourage the development and adoption of innovative solutions using satellite data and services.

 

Delivery of the project is being supported by PwC, a leader in human-led, tech powered business transformation, and the Satellite Applications Catapult, a leader in bringing space-based services to market.

 

Organisations can register their interest to get involved with the project and keep up to date with planned activities including Insight and Networking Events, Exploration Workshops and learning and development sessions ahead of the funding call opening later in the year.

 

Unlocking Space for Business is part of the UK Space Agency’s Inspiration Programme, directly delivering the National Space Strategy (NSS) goal to use space to deliver for UK citizens and the world by increasing public awareness of the critical role space-based assets play in our daily lives, emphasising how they can be leveraged to enable business benefits such as improving public services and combating challenges such as the climate emergency.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-uk-space-agency-is-unlocking-space-for-business