TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Oct 19, 2023
A Sunrise at Sunset Point
This timelapse series captured on October 14 is set against the sunrise view from Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon, planet Earth. Of course on that date the New Moon caught up with the Sun in the canyon's morning skies. Local temperatures fell as the Moon's shadow swept across the high altitude scene and the brilliant morning sunlight became a more subdued yellow hue cast over the reddish rocky landscape. In the timelapse series, images were taken at 2 minute intervals. The camera and solar filter were fixed to a tripod to follow the phases of the annular solar eclipse.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
Dwarf Planet Near Mars Could Help Us Find Alien Life
Oct 18, 2023
A dwarf planet near Mars could help astronomers in their search for alien life, as more research has been done into its abundance of organic matter.
The planet, named Ceres, lies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. And scientists have found that from these asteroids, the plant holds a host of complex organics.
These organic compounds were first discovered by scientists in 2017, with the Dawn spacecraft, but a new study published in the Geological Society of America details that they may be more widespread than originally thought.
"The organics were initially detected in the vicinity of a large impact crater, which is what motivated us to look at how impacts affect these organics," Terik Daly, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and leader of the study, said in a statement. "We are finding that organics may be more widespread than first reported and that they seem to be resilient to impacts with Ceres-like conditions."
The planet's organic matter, along with clues that it holds a high abundance of water ice, means it may have the necessary building blocks to support extraterrestrial life.
"Although researchers have performed impact and shock experiments on various types of organics in the past," Daly said, "what was missing was a study dedicated to the type of organics detected on Ceres using the same type of analytical method used by the Dawn spacecraft to detect them."
Scientists say that doing this would allow them to compare both sets of data gathered from the organics on the planet.
"By capitalizing on the strengths of two different datasets collected over Ceres, we've been able to map potential organic-rich areas on Ceres at higher resolution," Juan Rizos, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland who also worked on the study, said in the statement. "We can see a very good correlation of organics with units from older impacts and with other minerals like carbonates that also indicate the presence of water. While the origin of the organics remains poorly understood, we now have good evidence that they formed in Ceres and likely in the presence of water.
"There is a possibility that a large interior reservoir of organics may be found inside Ceres. So, from my perspective, that result increases the astrobiological potential of Ceres."
The discovery of organic matter on a planet, and how widespread it is, points to the existence of life, as it points to the presence of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon, which are all needed to sustain life.
Organic matter was discovered on Mars by NASA's Perseverance rover in July.
The find also had implications in the search of alien life on Mars.
"They are an exciting clue for astrobiologists since they are often thought of as building blocks of life," Joseph Razzell Hollis, a postdoctoral fellow at London's Natural History Museum, previously told Newsweek.
https://www.newsweek.com/dwarf-plant-mars-alien-life-1835817
London Stock Exchange System Issue Halts Trading in Many Stocks
Oct 19, 2023
London Stock Exchange Group Plc is investigating a system incident, according to a statement on the company’s website.
Only stocks on the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 250 and international orderbook are available for trading, the LSE said.
Bloomberg data shows hundreds of affected stocks, including Asos Plc and Deliveroo Plc.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/london-stock-exchange-system-issue-halts-trading-in-many-stocks-1.1986860
Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder on the Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)
Oct. 18, 2023
Yesterday the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence delivered to Congress the Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) as required by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022, as amended by the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2023.
Analyzing and understanding the potential threats posed by UAP is an ongoing collaborative effort involving many departments and agencies, and the Department thanks the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and other contributing departments and agencies for their collaborative efforts to produce this report.
The safety of our service personnel, our bases and installations, and the protection of U.S. operations security on land, in the skies, seas, and space are paramount. We take reports of incursions into our designated space, land, sea, or airspaces seriously and examine each one.
The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is leading DOD's efforts, in coordination with ODNI and other government agencies, to document, analyze, and when possible, resolve UAP reports using a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach. This year's UAP report covers UAP reports from Aug. 31, 2022, to April 30, 2023, as well as any UAP report from previous time periods that were not included in an earlier report. AARO received a total of 291 UAP reports in this time period, consisting of 274 that occurred during this period and another 17 that occurred from 2019-2022 but had not been included in previous annual reports. This brought the total cases that AARO has been reviewing to over 800 as of April 30, 2023.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3561843/statement-by-pentagon-press-secretary-brig-gen-pat-ryder-on-the-annual-report-o/
https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PDFs/FY23_Consolidated_Annual_Report_on_UAP-Oct_2023.pdf
set it off
U.S. State Dept issues "worldwide caution" travel alert
October 19, 2023
Due to increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution. U.S. citizens should:
Stay alert in locations frequented by tourists.
Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive information and alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency overseas.
Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/worldwide-caution.html
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