NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Nov 24, 2023
Stereo Jupiter near Opposition
Jupiter looks sharp in these two rooftop telescope images. Both were captured on November 17 from Singapore, planet Earth, about two weeks after Jupiter's 2023 opposition. Climbing high in midnight skies the giant planet was a mere 33.4 light-minutes from Singapore. That's about 4 astronomical units away. Jupiter's planet girdling dark belts and light zones are visible in remarkable detail, along with the giant world's whitish oval vortices. Its signature Great Red Spot is still prominent in the south. Jupiter rotates rapidly on its axis once every 10 hours. So, based on video frames taken only 15 minutes apart, these images form a stereo pair. Look at the center of the pair and cross your eyes until the separate images come together to see the Solar System's ruling gas giant in 3D.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
High-energy 'sun goddess' particle opens possibilities for new physics, exciting scientists
Nov 23, 2023
Over the years, scientists have managed to unveil the existence of quite a few intriguing particles, pushing the entire field of physics forward with each discovery. There's the "God Particle" for instance, aka the Higgs Boson that grants all other particles their masses. There's also the so-called "Oh My God!" particle, an unimaginably energetic cosmic ray.
But now we have a new particle in town. It's named the "sun goddess" particle — and is fittingly extraordinary.
This particle has an energy level one million times greater than what can be generated in even humanity’s most powerful particle accelerators; it appears to have fallen to Earth in a shower of other, less energetic particles. Like the "Oh My God!" particle, these bits come from faraway regions of space and are known as cosmic rays. The particle has been dubbed "Amaterasu" after Amaterasu Ōmikami, the goddess of the sun and the universe in Japanese mythology, whose name means "shining in heaven."
And just as its mythological namesake is shrouded in mystery, so too is the Amaterasu particle. Its discoverers, including Osaka Metropolitan University researcher Toshihiro Fujii, don’t know where the particle came from or indeed what it is. They also still aren't sure what kind of violent and powerful process could have given rise to something as energetic as Amaterasu.
"This is the most energetic charged particle ever detected by the Telescope Array experiment," Fujii told Space.com.
The hope is that, just as Amaterasu is credited with the creation of Japan according to the Shinto tradition, the Amaterasu particle can help create an entirely new branch of high-energy astrophysics.
High-energy cosmic rays are extremely rare to begin with, but Fujii said the Amaterasu particle has an energy level not seen in a staggering 30 years of cosmic ray detections.
In fact, when the researchers spotted Amaterasu with the Telescope Array experiment — involving 507 detectors spread across 270 square miles (699 square kilometers) of the high desert of Millard County, Utah —they initially thought the detection must be some kind of mistake.
"I thought it would be my mistake or bug, and then after checking the details of the event, I was excited to find it was not an error," Fujii said.
First spotted by the Telescope Array experiment on May 27, 2021, the Amaterasu particle exhibits an energy of 224 exa-electron volts (EeV). For contest, one EeV is equivalent to 10¹⁸ electron volts. This puts Amaterasu on a similar energy level to the most energetic cosmic ray ever discovered — yes, that's the "Oh My God!" particle, which was detected in Oct. 1991 by the Fly’s Eye camera in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The latter had an energy of 320 EeV.
"The Amaterasu particle should be an important messenger from the universe about extremely energetic phenomena, but we need to disentangle the origin of this mysterious particle," Fujii explained.
There isn’t an astrophysical object, or any cosmic event for that matter, in the direction from which the sun goddess particle appears to have come from. That's why scientists are pretty unclear on what led to its creation. But, while the origins of the Amaterasu particle may be currently unknown, Fujii does have some avenues of investigation to follow up on. Importantly, some of these ideas could extend beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the best outline we have of the universe’s particle zoo and how each of those particles interact with one another.
"One possibility is the particle has been accelerated by extremely energetic phenomena, such as a gamma-ray burst or a jet from a feeding supermassive black hole at the center of active galactic nuclei," Fujii said. "Another possibility is creation in an exotic scenario such as the decay of super heavy dark matter — a new particle, from unknown physics beyond the Standard Model."
The team has been hunting cosmic rays with the Telescope Array experiment in Utah since 2008, and will now continue to do so with a fourfold improved sensitivity of the newly upgraded project. They also expect other next-generation observatories to get in on the cosmic-ray action to help scientists embark on a more detailed investigation of the Amaterasu particle.
https://www.space.com/mysterious-sun-goddess-particle-new-physics
China's youngest space station crew send home spectacular views from space (video)
Nov 23, 2023
China's Shenzhou 17 astronauts are getting into the rhythms of life in orbit — and also sending back some choice clips of their activities.
Shenzhou 17 arrived at the Tiangong space station on Oct. 26, where they were greeted by the outgoing Shenzhou 16 mission crew.
Mission commander Tang Hongbo, a veteran of 2021's Shenzhou 12 mission, and rookie astronauts Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin have now been in orbit for three weeks and working well.
Their daily work includes moving equipment outside the space station for experiments, managing equipment and facilities and maintaining science facilities for long-term research, according to a report from Chinese broadcaster CCTV.
The Shenzhou 17 astronauts have also conducted "medical care skill training" to boost their physical fitness and meet the demands of living in orbit.
China's human spaceflight agency recently released footage of the crewmembers as they ate and exercised. The astronauts also captured their own footage, including a view of their Shenzhou 17 spacecraft docked with Tiangong.
The trio are expected to spend another five months in orbit. They will welcome the arrival of a new cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 7, in early 2024. They are also reported to soon conduct their first extravehicular activity, or spacewalk.
https://www.space.com/china-shenzhou-17-astronauts-tiangong-video
Is US on the Verge of 'Catastrophic' UFO Leak? What We Know
Nov 22, 2023 at 12:44 PM EST
A retired U.S. Army Colonel has said continuing to hide information about UFOs could have "catastrophic" consequences for America, amid new claims that government officials agreed to hold back top-secret research 20 years ago.
Colonel Karl E. Nell called on a Stanford University conference for a "campaign plan" that would force greater transparency and a "Manhattan project" to reverse engineer recovered UFOs or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.
Washington insiders also heard how in 2004, a CIA thinktank, the Defence Intelligence Agency, and the Pentagon, broadly agreed that information about UFOs should not be declassified, deeming the societal risks too great.
The Mail based its report on the first symposium of the Sol Foundation, a nonprofit calling for "serious, well-funded, and cutting-edge academic research into the nature of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena and their broad cosmological and political implications."
The event on Saturday heard from Col. Nell and former CIA scientist Hal Puthoff. Puthoff made the allegations about the 2004 thinktank discussions, which he said had erred toward not disclosing UFO research details to the public.
Slides presented by Col. Nell and published by the Mail showed Nell's hopes that disclosure about UAP would be achieved by October 1, 2030, admitting there was "risk" that his timeline targets could fall behind.
In the slides, Nell argued his plan, if achieved, would see "Proper Oversight Restored," "Catastrophic Disclosure Avoid," and "Scientific Understanding Advanced."
More specifically, Nell advocated for "restoration of proper Federal government oversight over all UAP legacy (and ongoing) program efforts" and "transformative" research and technology programs.
On LinkedIn, Nell lists his most recent position as "Modernization Advisor to Vice Chief of Staff of the Army." In response to a Newsweek comment request, the Army Futures Command said in an email that Nell is no longer assigned to the Army Futures Command.
Among the Sol Foundation's other speakers were former U.S. Air Force veteran David Grusch, who testified before Congress earlier this year under oath that "the U.S. government is operating with secrecy—above Congressional oversight" over UAP.
Grusch told the symposium: "Let us advocate for transparency, not for ourselves, but for the generations to come, as we embark on a journey toward a more enlightened and interconnected world."
A June 2023 article by The Debrief stated that Nell worked with Grusch on the National Reconnaissance Office's UAP Task Force from 2021 to 2022, and referred to him as "beyond reproach".
The Mail's report on the Sol Foundation event did not directly quote Nell's concerns around "catastrophic disclosure" but summarized that preventing the release of information could sow discord from the likes of independent actors or U.S. foreign rivals.
Newsweek has contacted the Sol Foundation and the Pentagon via email for comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/catastrophic-ufo-leak-uap-aliens-us-army-colonel-karl-nell-1846123
https://thesolfoundation.org/about/
Joe Rogan grills UFO whistleblower David Grusch on alien entities as ex-intel officer says ‘variety interacting with us’
Updated: 19:53 ET, Nov 22 2023
A GOVERNMENT whistleblower has sat down with chart-topping podcaster Joe Rogan to discuss UFOs and aliens.
In June, David Grusch made headlines after claiming that the US had found vehicles of non-human origins.
“These are retrieving non-human origin technical vehicles, call it spacecraft if you will, non-human exotic origin vehicles that have either landed or crashed,” the former intelligence officer with top-secret clearance said.
Grusch said that after his discovery, he notified Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General about the program, which he claimed the unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) task force was denied access to.
Now, he has appeared as a guest on Joe Rogan's show to discuss all that he saw in his time holding top-secret government clearance.
Rogan first talked to Grusch about the "entities," he had refered to in the past, asking just how many might be out there.
"There is a variety and we have a certain number of different things," responded Grusch.
He went on to explain that the total amount of these entities is not presently calculatable but confirmed that they are interacting with Earth.
The former intelligence officer then shifted to explain more details about ''biologically" studying the entities.
"You're looking at it and it's like, I don't even understand the physiology at all. It's like what the heck, it's like way different," explained Grusch.
"We have some idea not a complete picture," he described of the government's understanding of the entities.
Grusch then divulged that he was present when the physiological descriptions of some of these entities were presented to government officials.
"They went into all those details and stuff and I remember, you know, some of the professional staff members were like 'whoa'," recalled Grusch.
"Like a total World bubble got burst right there for a lot of people."
The former agent explained that what these officials saw was a driver for the support behind the Schumer Amendment.
The amendment was proposed by Senators Chuck Schumer and Mike Rounds in July to alter the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Amendment was meant to "mandate government records related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), more commonly known as UFOs, carry the presumption of disclosure."
Grusch himself has to be careful with what he reveals due to laws restricting his transparency; multiple times throughout the interview he expressed he had, "to be careful."
DIRECTOR PROMISES A REVEAL
Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), recently spoke on some of the claims Grusch has made regarding UFOs and entities interacting with Earth.
"I can’t comment on anything he’s told other people. The only way we can get anything that he has shared to other people is if he gives permission to them to share it because he’s protected under those same laws," Kirkpatrick told NewsNation.
"But I have a whole range. I’ve got almost 40 other people that have come in and provided a lot of rich information that we’ve been investigating and crossreferencing and researching and trying to figure out the truth. And again, that’s what I’m saying."
Since Grusch came forward, the AARO hasn't definitively stated that he is wrong but Kirkpatrick hasn't verified any of the claims.
Kirkpatrick said more information about UFOs and what the US government has uncovered will soon be made public.
"We’ve got a package of a lot of new material that we’ve got ready for release," he said.
"We’ve uncovered some things that we are having declassified. Not just operational videos, but historical documents."
Kirkpatrick described the information as “educational material that will help inform the public."
https://www.the-sun.com/news/9695205/joe-rogan-podcast-ufo-david-grusch-aliens-whistleblower/
Data from Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveal gamma radiation pulses from Sagittarius A*
NOVEMBER 24, 2023
A pair of astrophysicists at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico has found, via study of data from the low-Earth orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, regular gamma radiation pulses emanating from around the black hole (at the center of the Milky Way galaxy Sagittarius A*). Gustavo Magallanes-Guijón and Sergio Mendoza have written a paper describing their findings, published on the arXiv preprint server.
Prior research has shown that there is a relatively stable supermassive black hole near the center of the Milky Way galaxy—it has been named Sagittarius A. Prior research has also shown that, unlike many other supermassive black holes at the center of other galaxies, Sagittarius A is not actively pulling in hordes of materials, nor is it shooting out a lot of jets of plasma.
In this new effort, the research pair has found something else unique about it, though: A blob of gas orbiting it at a distance similar to that of Mercury from the sun.
Back in 2021, scientists were able to identify gamma radiation arriving here on Earth as coming from Sagittarius A*. Scientists have known since that time that such radiation is not coming from the black hole itself—black holes do not emit radiation—but from something close to it. In this new effort, the researchers sought to learn more about the source of such radiation.
The work by the researchers involved obtaining publicly available data captured by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope for the period June to December 2022 and then analyzing it. Their analysis involved processing and searching for patterns, particularly those that occurred periodically. In so doing, they found one.
They discovered that every 76.32 minutes, a pulse of gamma radiation emitted from something close to Sagittarius A makes its way to Earth. Such pulses, they note, have a periodicity of almost exactly half of the X-ray flares that have been recorded also coming from near Sagittarius A, suggesting that the two are connected.
The research pair suggests that the source of both is likely a blob of gas orbiting Sagittarius A*—one that is traveling at nearly 30% of the speed of light. They also suggest that the blob is emitting across multiple wavelengths and flares periodically as it moves.
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fermi-gamma-ray-space-telescope-reveal.html
China Launches Fifth Military Force – ‘Near-Space Command’
NOVEMBER 23, 2023
China has created a new military force to develop capabilities for a contested zone deemed crucial for determining the outcome of future battles.
Dubbed the “Near-Space Command,” the service will serve as the fifth force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLAS) alongside the army, navy, air force, and rocket force.
According to researchers at the National University of Defence Technology in Hunan province, the new force will be responsible for defending the country against attacks that utilize the lower boundary of space.
It will be tasked with developing and deploying solar-powered drones and spy balloons for high-latitude surveillance and intelligence gathering.
The Chinese researchers clarified that the near-space combat force is still in development and that relevant units are not yet mature.
“Combat operations [in the near-space] have not been standardized. The understanding of near-space combat command needs to be deepened,” they said, as quoted by South China Morning Post.
Using Hypersonic Weapons
During a war, the Near-Space Force will have full control of China’s hypersonic weapons, including those in the inventory of the other four branches of the military.
The near-space area is too thin to support aircraft operations, so the new service will utilize weapons that travel more than five times the speed of sound and operate above 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Earth.
In order to effectively do that, Beijing will reportedly integrate a professional hypersonic weapons team for smoother operations in conflicts.
Together, the new force will be responsible for targeting heavily-protected military assets and disrupting enemy war machines in the early stages of war.
China will tap commanders who possess impeccable decision-making skills and have a deep understanding of international strategy and national policies.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/11/23/china-near-space-command/
China conducts launch to test satellite internet capabilities
November 23, 2023
HELSINKI — China sent an undisclosed number of satellites into orbit Thursday to test satellite internet technologies.
A Long March 2D rocket using a Yuanzheng-3 upper stage lifted off at 5:00 a.m. Eastern (1000 UTC) Nov. 23 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., (CASC), only announced the nature of the payload when it declared the launch successful.
No details of the launch payloads were revealed. Xinhua tersely described the launch as carrying a single “experiment satellite for satellite internet technologies.”
A launch statement from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) however suggests that separate satellites were developed by SAST and the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (IAMCAS) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) respectively.
Space object tracking from the U.S. Space Force’s space domain awareness teams will later reveal the number of objects associated with the launch that have been cataloged in orbit.
A pair of satellites under the same name launched from Jiuquan spaceport July 9. That launch used a Long March 2C rocket with a YZ-1S upper stage. Xinhua again characterized the launch as a single satellite, yet two entered orbit.
The most likely application for the satellites is testing for China’s national satellite internet megaconstellation project, named Guowang.
The project envisions placing 13,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, partly in response to Starlink and other planned LEO megaconstellations. SpaceX has launched 5,000 Starlink satellites since 2019 and is seeking international approvals which could see it expand to 40,000 Starlinks in orbit.
IAMCAS and the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), another major subsidiary of CASC, were previously understood to be two entities contracted to manufacture satellites for Guowang.
CASC had stated earlier in the year that it intended to begin launching batches of satellites for Guowang. This would potentially be using a Long March 5B rocket modified to use a Yuanzheng-2 upper stage. The Long March 8 is also being considered for high-density launches of satellites for Guowang. Chinese commercial launch actors say they are also vying for contracts related to the project.
A communications megaconstellation would not only provide telecommunications and internet coverage domestically, but also potentially position China as a provider of global public goods, a commercial competitor to other systems, and, among other things, provide military and government communications that would be hard to degrade.
China is also looking at building a space infrastructure system that would integrate communications with navigation and positioning and remote sensing.
Meanwhile the government of Shanghai has expressed backing for another broadband megaconstellation. That project would consist of an initial 1,296 satellites.
Thursday’s launch was China’s 54th of 2023. CASC stated early in the year it would aim to launch more than 60 times. It has so far completed 40 launches. Commercial actors have accounted for the other 14 orbital launches so far this year.
https://spacenews.com/china-conducts-launch-to-test-satellite-internet-capabilities/
Space Force Reports 2 Suicides This Year, Marking the First in the Service's Short History
Tuesday, Nov 21 2023
The Space Force has reached a sobering new milestone as it ends its fourth year in operation: the first two suspected deaths by suicide in its ranks.
The guardians’ deaths, which occurred between April and June, mark the first time the Space Force has reported suicides in the Defense Department’s quarterly tallies since the service was founded in December 2019. The periodic updates include confirmed suicides as well as deaths that are still under investigation.
It’s a tragic statistic for the smallest and newest branch of the armed forces, which has sought to craft flexible, empowering quality-of-life policies for the nearly 9,000 troops in its care.
“We are committed to fostering a culture that encourages help-seeking behavior and dispels the perceived stigma of seeking mental health treatment,” a spokesperson for the Department of the Air Force, which oversees the Space Force, told Air Force Times Monday.
The other branches of the U.S. armed forces typically log at least a dozen suicides every three months.
Around 25 of every 100,000 active duty troops die by suicide each year, according to Pentagon data. That’s compared to the national rate of 15 suicides per 100,000 Americans, as reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Air Force, which saw 91 suicides in 2022, has already logged about half that many in 2023, according to Pentagon data. The service reported 46 presumed suicides across the active duty, Reserve and Guard components in the first half of 2023, eight more than in the same time period one year earlier.
Twenty-four airmen were thought to have died by suicide from January to March this year, plus another 22 from April to June, the Pentagon’s most recent quarterly report showed.
The number has continued to climb in the third quarter of 2023.
A spokesperson for Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, confirmed Wednesday the service is investigating the deaths of three airmen who died in apparent suicides in October. Airmen have often criticized how the far-north base handles suicides as troops struggle with its isolation and long winters.
Minot is “actively working to provide extensive mental health and resilience resources to struggling individuals,” Capt. Christopher Thibeaux-Moore said. He declined to answer to which squadrons the airmen belonged at the base, which manages a portion of the country’s underground nuclear missiles and B-52 Stratofortress bombers.
“There are a variety of resources in place to provide support systems for our airmen and families in times of need,” 5th Bomb Wing Commander Col. Daniel Hoadley said in an emailed statement. “We worked with higher headquarters to make extra chaplains, counselors and mental health professionals available to support those who are grieving.”
A counselor is embedded with the squadrons affected by the recent deaths, Thibeaux-Moore said, and the base has bolstered a local peer-to-peer support program for those who might be at risk of suicide.
“The loss of any airman affects us as a team,” 91st Missile Wing Commander Col. Kenneth McGhee said in the emailed statement. “We must continue to advocate for various support systems through the Air Force and the local community to ensure that those who need to seek help are able to do so.”
The Department of the Air Force has struggled to curb suicides in its ranks for years, and in 2019 briefly paused daily operations to encourage unit commanders to discuss mental health with their airmen. After falling from 110 that year to 72 in 2021, Air Force suicides are again on the rise.
Service leaders have encouraged troops to seek help for poor mental health — including taking advantage of expedited appointments made possible by the “Brandon Act” reforms — and invested in other suicide-prevention measures ranging from gun locks to local intervention training programs.
As the Space Force looks to carve out its own culture, further differentiating itself from the Air Force from which it came, it has not begun to explore a service-specific set of suicide-prevention initiatives or support services, the spokesperson said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has pledged to pursue a multifaceted approach to bolstering suicide prevention and response in the military.
“Suicide prevention is a long-term effort,” he wrote in a Sept. 28 memo. “Change will not happen overnight, but we have no time to spare. The health and well-being of these extraordinary public servants and their families is an obligation that I take seriously and personally.”
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/11/21/space-force-records-first-suicides-since-services-founding-in-2019/