NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Feb 16, 2024

Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

Heading for its next perihelion passage on April 21, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is growing brighter. The greenish coma of this periodic Halley-type comet has become relatively easy to observe in small telescopes. But the bluish ion tail now streaming from the active comet's coma and buffeted by the solar wind, is faint and difficult to follow. Still, in this image stacked exposures made on the night of February 11 reveal the fainter tail's detailed structures. The frame spans over two degrees across a background of faint stars and background galaxies toward the northern constellation Lacerta. Of course Comet 12P's April 21 perihelion passage will be only two weeks after the April 8 total solar eclipse, putting the comet in planet Earth's sky along with a totally eclipsed Sun.

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

Strong Solar Flare Erupts from Sun

February 16, 2024

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 1:53 a.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X2.5 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts. NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/solarcycle25/2024/02/16/strong-solar-flare-erupts-from-sun-9/

Spot the King of Planets: Observe Jupiter

FEB 15, 2024

Jupiter is our solar system’s undisputed king of the planets! Jupiter is bright and easy to spot from our vantage point on Earth, helped by its massive size and banded, reflective cloud tops. Jupiter even possesses moons the size of planets: Ganymede, its largest, is bigger than the planet Mercury. What’s more, you can easily observe Jupiter and its moons with a modest instrument, just like Galileo did over 400 years ago.

Jupiter’s position as our solar system’s largest planet is truly earned; you could fit 11 Earths along Jupiter’s diameter, and in case you were looking to fill up Jupiter with some Earth-size marbles, you would need over 1300 Earths to fill it up – and that would still not be quite enough! However, despite its awesome size, Jupiter’s true rule over the outer solar system comes from its enormous mass. If you took all the planets in our solar system and put them together, they would still only be half as massive as Jupiter all by itself. Jupiter’s mighty mass has shaped the orbits of countless comets and asteroids. Its gravity can fling these tiny objects towards our inner solar system and also draw them into itself, as famously observed in 1994 when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, drawn towards Jupiter in previous orbits, smashed into the gas giant’s atmosphere. Its multiple fragments slammed into Jupiter’s cloud tops with such violence that the fireballs and dark impact spots were not only seen by NASA’s orbiting Galileo probe, but also observers back on Earth!

Jupiter is easy to observe at night with our unaided eyes, as well-documented by the ancient astronomers who carefully recorded its slow movements from night to night. It can be one of the brightest objects in our nighttime skies, bested only by the Moon, Venus, and occasionally Mars, when the red planet is at opposition. That’s impressive for a planet that, at its closest to Earth, is still over 365 million miles (587 million km) away. It’s even more impressive that the giant world remains very bright to Earthbound observers at its furthest distance: 600 million miles (968 million km)! While the King of Planets has a coterie of 95 known moons, only the four large moons that Galileo originally observed in 1610 – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Calisto – can be easily observed by Earth-based observers with very modest equipment.

These are called, appropriately enough, the Galilean moons. Most telescopes will show the moons as faint star-like objects neatly lined up close to bright Jupiter. Most binoculars will show at least one or two moons orbiting the planet. Small telescopes will show all four of the Galilean moons if they are all visible, but sometimes they can pass behind or in front of Jupiter, or even each other. Telescopes will also show details like Jupiter’s cloud bands and, if powerful enough, large storms like its famous Great Red Spot, and the shadows of the Galilean moons passing between the Sun and Jupiter. Sketching the positions of Jupiter’s moons during the course of an evening - and night to night – can be a rewarding project! You can download an activity guide from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific at https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/1689e781-3f4a-4178-8f7a-7bc581986242

NASA’s Juno mission currently orbits Jupiter, one of just nine spacecraft to have visited this awesome world. Juno entered Jupiter’s orbit in 2016 to begin its initial mission to study this giant world’s mysterious interior. The years have proven Juno’s mission a success, with data from the probe revolutionizing our understanding of this gassy world’s guts. Juno’s mission has since been extended to include the study of its large moons, and since 2021 the plucky probe, increasingly battered by Jupiter’s powerful radiation belts, has made close flybys of the icy moons Ganymede and Europa, along with volcanic Io.

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/spot-the-king-of-planets-observe-jupiter/

NASA Welcomes Uruguay Foreign Minister for Artemis Accords Signing

FEB 15, 2024

During a ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington Thursday, Uruguay became the 36th country to sign the Artemis Accords. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participated in the signing ceremony for the agency, and Omar Paganini, foreign minister, signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Uruguay.

The accords establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations.

Also participating in the event were:

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy

Karen Feldstein, associate administrator for NASA’s Office of International and Interagency Relations

Kevin Sullivan, U.S. Department of State deputy assistant secretary

Andrés Augusto Durán Hareau, Uruguayan ambassador to the U.S.

Heide Fulton, U.S. ambassador to Uruguay

“NASA welcomes Uruguay as the newest member of the Artemis Accords family,” said Nelson. “The United States and Uruguay share a commitment to democracy and peace, and now, we expand these principles in the cosmos to commit to the safe and transparent exploration of space.”

The Artemis Accords were established in 2020 by the United States together with seven other original signatories. Since then, the Accords signatories have held focused discussions on how best to implement the Artemis Accords principles.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to introduce space cooperation as a new chapter in the robust bilateral agenda between Uruguay and the U.S.,” said Paganini. “We are sure that this signing ceremony is not an end in itself, but the beginning of a new bilateral track based on knowledge-intensive activities and new opportunities for our people.”

The Artemis Accords reinforce and implement key obligations in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They also strengthen the commitment by the United States and signatory nations to the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices NASA and its partners support, including the public release of scientific data.

More countries are expected to sign the accords in the months and years ahead, which are advancing safe, peaceful, and prosperous activities in space. Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-welcomes-uruguay-foreign-minister-for-artemis-accords-signing/

NASA Selects Texas A&M as First Approved Exploration Park Facility

Feb. 15, 2024

NASA and the Texas A&M University System announced an agreement Thursday, Feb. 15, to lease underutilized land in Exploration Park, a 240-acre development at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The A&M System will develop a facility to enable human spaceflight research and development that enables the commercial space economy.

The lease agreement will allow the A&M System and others to use NASA Johnson land to create facilities for a collaborative development environment that increases commercial access and enhances the United States’ commercial competitiveness in the space and aerospace industries.

NASA Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, and Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III announced the new collaboration at the AIAA-hosted Ascend Texas (ASCENDxTexas) Conference at South Shore Harbour Conference Center.

“For more than 60 years, NASA Johnson has been the hub of human spaceflight,” Wyche said. “Exploration Park will be the next spoke in the larger wheel of a robust and durable space economy that will benefit not only exploration of the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, but all of humanity as the benefits of space exploration research roll home to Earth.”

As the home of Mission Control Center for the agency’s human space missions, astronaut training, human health and space medicine, and leadership of premiere human spaceflight programs and missions, NASA Johnson leads the way for human space exploration. Leveraging this unique role and location, Exploration Park will play a key role in helping the human spaceflight community attain U.S. goals for the commercialization and development of a robust space economy by creating an infrastructure that fosters a multi-use environment where academic researchers, aerospace companies and entrepreneurs can collaborate with NASA and solve space exploration’s greatest challenges.

“The Texas A&M University System has a long history of supporting space-related research, and Texas A&M University has been a space grant university since 1989,” Sharp said. “This new agreement and planned facility will allow us to build on our space tradition and help us to be a major part of the commercial space economy.” NASA issued an announcement for proposals for use of the undeveloped and underutilized land near Saturn Lane on June 9, 2023, and has just completed negotiations with the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to formalize the lease agreement. The parcel is outside of Johnson’s controlled access area and adjacent to its main campus. NASA will lease the land to the A&M System for an initial period of 20 years, with two additional 20-year options, for a potential total of 60 years.

“For the last 35 years, Texas A&M University has honored its space-grant mission by becoming a powerhouse in human and robotic space exploration,” Welsh said. “This agreement enables us to leverage faculty expertise, establish strategic partnerships and develop resources to foster new discoveries, technological innovations and a future workforce that will benefit Texas and the nation. We are grateful to NASA, the Board of Regents and the State of Texas for their vision and support of Texas A&M’s work in space exploration.”

In the coming years, NASA and its academic, commercial, and international partners will see the completion of the International Space Station Program, the commercial development of low Earth orbit, and the first human Artemis campaign missions establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars.

Johnson already is leading the commercialization of space with the commercial cargo and crew programs and private astronaut missions to the space station. The center also is supporting the development of commercial space stations in low Earth orbit, and lunar-capable commercial spacesuits and lunar landers that will be provided as services to both NASA and the private sector to accelerate human access to space. Through the development of Exploration Park, the center will broaden the scope of the human spaceflight community that is tackling the many difficult challenges ahead.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-texas-am-as-first-approved-exploration-park-facility/

Water found on the surface of an asteroid for the 1st time ever

Feb 15, 2024

Water molecules have been detected on the surface of an asteroid for the first time, revealing new clues about the distribution of water in our solar system.

Scientists studied four silicate-rich asteroids using data gathered by the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a telescope-outfitted plane operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center.

Observations by SOFIA's Faint Object InfraRed Camera (FORCAST) instrument showed that two of the asteroids — named Iris and Massalia — exhibit a specific wavelength of light that indicated the presence of water molecules at their surface, a new study reports.

"Asteroids are leftovers from the planetary formation process, so their compositions vary depending on where they formed in the solar nebula," study lead author Anicia Arredondo, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement. "Of particular interest is the distribution of water on asteroids, because that can shed light on how water was delivered to Earth."

While water molecules have previously been detected in asteroid samples returned to Earth, this is the first time that water molecules have been found on the surface of an asteroid in space. In a previous study, SOFIA found similar traces of water on the surface of the moon, in one of the largest craters in its southern hemisphere.

"We detected a feature that is unambiguously attributed to molecular water on the asteroids Iris and Massalia," Arredondo said in the statement. "We based our research on the success of the team that found molecular water on the sunlit surface of the moon. We thought we could use SOFIA to find this spectral signature on other bodies."

SOFIA observations of the moon revealed roughly the equivalent of a 12-ounce bottle of water trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface, chemically bound in minerals. In the new study, the SwRI scientists found that the abundance of water on the two asteroids was similar to that seen on the moon and could also be bound to minerals, like on the lunar surface, or adsorbed in silicate, the researchers said.

Iris and Massalia, which measure 124 miles (199 kilometers) and 84 miles (135 km) in diameter, respectively, have similar orbits, traveling an average distance of 2.39 astronomical units (AU), or sun-Earth distances, from the sun.

"Anhydrous, or dry, silicate asteroids form close to the sun while icy materials coalesce farther out," according to the statement. That’s because any water present on the surface of objects in the inner solar system was thought to evaporate from the heat of the sun. "Understanding the location of asteroids and their compositions tells us how materials in the solar nebula were distributed and have evolved since formation."

Therefore, the findings at Iris and Massalia suggest that some silicate asteroids can conserve some of their water over the eons and may be more commonly found in the inner solar system than previously thought. In fact, asteroids are believed to be the primary source of Earth's water, providing the necessary elements for life as we know it. Understanding of the distribution of water through space will help researchers better assess where to search for other forms of potential life, both in our solar system and beyond.

Their findings were published Feb. 12 in The Planetary Science Journal.

https://www.space.com/water-detected-asteroid-surface-first-time-sofia

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3678873/usspacecom-ussf-leaders-tout-partners-as-game-changers-to-address-space-threats/

USSPACECOM, USSF leaders tout partners as ‘game changers’ to address space threats

Feb. 15, 2024

U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, U.S. Space Forces – Space commander; and U.S. Space Command’s Combined Joint Force Space Component commander, joined the Space Order of Battle panel along with USSF Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of Space Operations for Operations, Cyber and Nuclear; and USSF Maj. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, deputy chief of Space Operations for Intelligence, at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium, Feb. 13.

During the discussion, moderated by retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, panelists emphasized the growing threats in the space domain from competitors like China and Russia who have demonstrated dual use capabilities and a wartime space architecture that could put the joint force and its allies and partners at risk.

This is the domain that people are now concerned about. It is no longer this benign domain, I’m not sure it ever really was. But we have to be prepared (for) all those threats,” Schiess said.

Gagnon specifically highlighted two areas he thinks the People’s Republic of China is focused on, removing USSPACECOM’s ability to support the joint force from space and growing PRC space capabilities to compete with the U.S. capabilities “that we have all grown accustomed to, to make us the most lethal military in the world.”

While the United States has approximately 9,000 satellites in space, 70% of them are communication satellites to “connect the world,” Gagnon said. He compared this with the PRC, who has approximately 900 satellites, of which over half are remote sensing satellites designed to “find, fix and track joint forces in the western Pacific.”

To best meet these challenges, the USSF recently activated S4S to ensure the most efficient presentation of forces to USSPACECOM. In his role as the C/JFSCC and S4S commander, Schiess acknowledged he has three lines of effort: protecting the joint force from space-enabled attacks, defending space systems, and delivering space capabilities to the joint force.

"Our joint force is architected and grown on the effect that they are going to have space to do their job, and so, we can't allow that they don't have that,” Schiess said. “We have to protect, we have to defend, and we deliver. And that means that we have to have those capabilities.”

Burt said that part of the solution is to make it harder for an adversary to take away or eliminate the joint force’s access to space capabilities through proliferation and resiliency.

You impose cost upon (adversaries) to have more capability and magazine depth to try to take that capability away from the joint force,” Burt said. “By diversifying constellations in different orbits, you get different capabilities.”

Gagnon explained this as “disincentivizing first mover advantage” so that an adversary does not have the opportunity for a “knockout punch.”

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The USSF has demonstrated numerous capabilities to mitigate threats, one of its recent examples is the VICTUS NOX mission, which demonstrated the USSF’s ability to execute Tactically Responsive Space, or TacRS.

Schiess explained that the concept of TacRS is to give the component commander the ability to rapidly reconstitute space assets and allow the USSPACECOM commander to plan and react quickly, should they need to.

“What do we have out there that we can put up very quickly, one, to send a message to our adversaries that we're watching, and that we're aware of what they're doing,” Schiess said. “And here's our capability to get after that, but also get something up there as fast as possible.”

As competitors continue to develop advanced capabilities, the USSF needs to adapt and continue developing advanced tactics and advanced operations in space, Gagnon said. He explained how the USSF’s X-37B spaceplane, on its seventh mission, is getting after further understanding the space environment through space domain awareness experiments.

“Space defense starts with space awareness,” Gagnon said while also emphasizing the significant role international partners play in improving and increasing SDA.

“Although we have the best space domain awareness today … we will be even better with our partners, because we are stronger together,” Gagnon stated.

Schiess expanded on the “exquisite capabilities” partners provide, including commercial partners in the Commercial Integration Cell at the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. He acknowledged the power of the 10 current companies, but added, “10 is not enough … we have to expand the commercial integration.”

He also addressed the progress across the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and USSPACECOM to jointly share threat information and conduct other measures to avoid or reduce harm to commercial satellites from potential threats through the Commercial Space Protection Tri-Seal Strategic Framework.

“Now we are on (the) hook from U.S. Space Command to provide threat warnings to them, to provide information, but we also get something back from (commercial partners),” Schiess said. “Sometimes they may have some information that we may not have, because of the capabilities that they have on orbit.”

As USSPACECOM continues to grow allies and partners, Chilton noted, “no doubt our great allies and partners give the Chinese pause.”

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The Sol Foundation Releases 17 Videos from Groundbreaking UFO Conference

Feb 13, 2024

A UFO-focused think tank called The Sol Foundation has just released a collection of 17 videos from their inaugural UAP conference. The Foundation’s leadership consists of highly respected figures in the UFO community, including Dr. Garry Nolan from Stanford (executive director of the board), anthropologist Dr. Peter Skafish, Robovision chair Jonathan Berte, and UFO whistleblower David Grusch.

The conference consisted of in-depth presentations from well-respected UAP researchers about the latest questions, policies, and evidence surrounding non-human intelligence. You can see the full video collection in the story below.

Karl Nell

Dr. Peter Skafish

Hal Puthoff

Dr. Garry Nolan

Dr. Paul Thigpen

Kevin Knuth

Dr. Iya Whiteley

Dr. Avi Loeb

Larry Maguire

Jeff Kripal

Christopher Mellon

Dr. Timothy Gallaudet

Dr. Beatriz Villarroel

Jairus Victor Grove

Dr. Diana Walsh Pasulka

Dr. Jacques Vallee

David Grusch

https://www.postapocalypticmedia.com/sol-foundation-17-ufo-uap-videos/

https://www.youtube.com/@_SolFoundation