NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Mar 11, 2024

A Full Plankton Moon

What glows in the night? This night featured a combination of usual and unusual glows. Perhaps the most usual glow was from the Moon, a potentially familiar object. The full Moon's nearly vertical descent results from the observer being near Earth's equator. As the Moon sets, air and aerosols in Earth's atmosphere preferentially scatter out blue light, making the Sun-reflecting satellite appear reddish when near the horizon. Perhaps the most unusual glow was from the bioluminescent plankton, likely less familiar objects. These microscopic creatures glow blue, it is thought, primarily to surprise and deter predators. In this case, the glow was caused primarily by plankton-containing waves crashing onto the beach. The image was taken on Soneva Fushi Island, Maldives just over one year ago.

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

Here Comes the Sun Series

MAR 11, 2024

Come get curious with NASA. As an official NASA podcast, Curious Universe brings you mind-blowing science and space adventures you won’t find anywhere else. Explore the cosmos alongside astronauts, scientists, engineers, and other top NASA experts who are achieving remarkable feats in science, space exploration, and aeronautics. Learn something new about the wild and wonderful universe we share. All you need to get started is a little curiosity.

NASA’s Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast hosted by Padi Boyd and Jacob Pinter

Introducing the Sun Series

Meet the Sun. Even if you think you know our star, our new miniseries from NASA’s Curious Universe will show you why Sun science is heating up in 2024—and why NASA experts have so much more to discover. Get ready for the hair-raising experience of a total solar eclipse, and learn how anyone can pitch in through citizen science. See the vibrant and sometimes chaotic close-up details of the Sun, and hear how NASA keeps astronauts and spacecraft safe from solar outbursts. And go inside a pioneering mission to touch the Sun’s atmosphere and investigate some of its biggest unanswered questions. NASA’s Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse

https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/curious-universe/here-comes-the-sun-series/

Sau Reservoir Dries Up

March 11, 2024

Three subsequent years of record low precipitation have taken a toll on northeastern Spain’s Catalonia region. Satellite images show one of the region’s largest reservoirs dried to a trickle in March 2024.

According to the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, 2023 was the second-driest year on a record that goes back 110 years, second only to 2022. The past three years in Catalonia have all seen the least amount of rain since 1914. In the meteorological agency’s annual climate bulletin for 2023, the drought was described as the “worst on record.” And parched conditions have continued into 2024: Parts of Catalonia received less than half of the average (1991-2000) rainfall from January through early March, and crops and reservoirs have dried up.

On February 1, 2024, the Catalan government declared a drought emergency, which put restrictions on water consumption for the region’s 6 million residents, as well as businesses and farmers. Such an emergency is typically declared once reservoir levels drop below 16 percent. The average water levels of Catalonia’s reservoirs stood at 14 percent on March 8, 2024. In Barcelona, the Catalan capital, public fountains and beachside showers had been turned off, according to news reports. Restrictions have also been placed on residential water, limiting daily use to about 210 liters (55 gallons) per person.

The Sau Reservoir (or Pantà De Sau), located 80 kilometers (50 miles) inland from Barcelona, is the region’s second-largest reservoir. It was created in 1966 by damming the Ter River and flooding an old village, called Santa Romà de Sau. The reservoir serves as a water source for numerous towns in the area, including Barcelona.

The images above show the Sau Reservoir on March 3, 2023 (left) compared to March 4, 2024 (right). They were acquired by Landsat 9 and Landsat 8, respectively. Receding water has exposed bare ground at the bottom of the reservoir. Although not visible in the images, the lack of water has also exposed structures of the old village of Santa Romà de Sau, including an 11th-century church, which now stand on dry land.

Over the past three years, the water level in this reservoir has decreased substantially. In April 2023, the reservoir dipped to 7 percent of capacity. Continued drought in winter 2023 caused water levels to further recede. In early March 2024, the water level dropped to 1 percent of capacity. This time of year, the reservoir typically stands at about 65 percent of capacity. According to news reports, if the lack of rain continues, Barcelona may begin importing water from Valencia.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152534/sau-reservoir-dries-up

Dragon Hatch Closed; Crew Readies for Undocking From Station

March 11, 2024

At 9:15 a.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission with NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov.

NASA+, NASA TV, the NASA app and the agency’s website will air live coverage beginning at 11 a.m., for undocking scheduled at 11:20 a.m. Following conclusion of undocking coverage, NASA coverage of Crew-7’s return will continue with audio only, and full coverage will resume at the start of the splashdown broadcast at 4:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Real-time audio between Crew-7 and flight controllers at NASA’s Mission Audio stream will remain available.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2024/03/11/dragon-hatch-closed-crew-readies-for-undocking-from-station/

SpaceX Starlink Mission

On Sunday, March 10 at 9:09 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

This is the 17th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, and now 12 Starlink missions.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-7-17

Alien Spacecraft Construction Program Confirmed By Pentagon Report

Mar 9, 2024

Another push for us all to put our heads in the sky today as the Pentagon released a report from the AARO (The Department of Defense, All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office) reviewing classified U.S. government programs (back to 1945) that debunked ongoing speculation of UFOs, saying that it officially found no evidence of alien spacecraft, activity or efforts by the U.S. government to withhold or cover up information regarding such things.

Though the report was meant to debunk Americans’ suspicions that the government can confirm the presence of extraterrestrials, after reading it, it’s not entirely convincing. One highlight of the review centered around a program that was to be named “Kona Blue” and aimed to capture an alien spacecraft with the purpose of reverse-engineering the technology.

AARO’s investigation uncovered the full path of the alleged program and found that it never actually got off the ground. But why even suggest the creation of such a project if aliens and alien spacecraft don’t exist, and there has never been any evidence of such?

The Director of the AARO, Tim Phillips, told reporters at a briefing regarding the review that “AARO assesses that alleged hidden UAP (or UFO to laymen) programs either do not exist or were misidentified authentic national security programs unrelated to extraterrestrial technology exploitation.”

The AARO interviewed several individuals regarding their alien spacecraft experiences as well. One individual claimed to have personally seen alien technology being tested at a government facility. The report went on to dismiss this claim as it “almost certainly was an observation of an authentic, non-UAP-related, technology test that strongly correlated in time, location, and description.”

Another eyewitness account was from a military officer who detailed his experience of physically touching an alien spacecraft. However, the AARO said that the individual did not touch an otherworldly craft but an F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational stealth aircraft in the world.

“We assess that claims of such hidden programs are largely the result of circular reporting in which a small group of individuals have repeated inaccurate claims they have heard from others over a period of several decades,” the review reads.

It seems clear that no matter the personal testimony, the government will find a way to explain it away. Could all the reports of alien spacecraft in the sky ever collected over the past 50 years or so be false? It doesn’t seem likely, but the AARO has clearly made a stance that the government has no knowledge or artifacts of aliens or their spaceships.

This news comes after a whistleblower talked with Congress last year about how the U.S. is hiding a ‘multi-decade’ program that captures UFOs and years of blatant paperwork releases proving that the government does have more knowledge of aliens and alien spacecraft than they let on. When working to get down to the brass tacks of the situation, it’s clear that the government is doing what it does best, sending mixed signals.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/sci/alien-spacecraft-construction-program.html

>>20551612

https://www.onthisday.com/events/march/11

>>20551698

adding it to the list, tyvm