TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
April 28, 2024
Rings Around the Ring Nebula
The Ring Nebula (M57) is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep exposure - a collaborative effort combining data from three different large telescopes - explores the looping filaments of glowing gas extending much farther from the nebula's central star. This composite image includes red light emitted by hydrogen as well as visible and infrared light. The Ring Nebula is an elongated planetary nebula, a type of nebula created when a Sun-like star evolves to throw off its outer atmosphere and become a white dwarf star. The Ring Nebula is about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical constellation Lyra.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
SpaceX Galileo L12 Mission
On Saturday, April 27 at 8:34 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This was the 20th flight of the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 13 Starlink missions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=galileol12
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SpaceX Starlink Mission
SpaceX is targeting Sunday, April 28 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 5:50 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 9:50 p.m. ET. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Monday, April 29 starting at 5:25 p.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about five minutes prior to liftoff. Watch live.
This is the 13th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, O3b mPOWER, Ovzon 3, EUTELSAT 36D, and six Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-6-54>>
'We could feel the heat': Neighbors temporarily evacuated after large brush fire near Space Force Annex
Updated: 10:20 PM EDT Apr 27, 2024
PALM BAY, Fla. — Firefighters in Palm Bay battled a fierce and fast-moving fire near the Space Force Annex on Saturday.
According to Palm Bay Fire Rescue, the brush fire was called in just before 2 p.m. Saturday at the Space Force Annex on Minton Road. Firefighters worked to get the fire under control and protect homes and structures in the area.
As of 8 p.m., Saturday, officials said the bulk of the fire was out.
"A majority of the fire efforts now are focused on putting out hotspots and small flare ups," PBRF officials said.
A number of homes along Isar Avenue NW, to the west of the Space Force Annex, were evacuated for several hours. Firefighters have said the fire’s threat to structures in the area has passed.
" I looked out the window, and there was nothing but flames, a lot of smoke, debris in the air, and ashes. We could feel the heat and everything," Carisa Ramirez, one of the neighbors who was told to evacuate, said.
The debris and burnt spots reached property lines and backyards. Some neighbors said their sheds were damaged.
Jason Cochran's fence and boat were damaged by the fire. He said it will take thousands of dollars to fix everything, but he is thankful no one was hurt.
"The boat is garbage. There are some airboat props that are sitting there that got burned up, the fence, and some other little stuff, nothing major," Cochran said. "It could have been worse. The only thing was making sure dogs and kids were safe."
Firefighter crews reported it as a fast-moving, heavy fire that was helped by winds.
"Right off the bat, we were initiating mutual aid protocol, getting other units in from different cities, activating all of our units from all of our stations within the city to try to get things under control the best way possible," PBFR's public information officer John Ringleb said.
Officials said this is a problem they will deal with for several weeks because of high wind conditions and not a lot of rain in the forecast.
"We have our added brush truck response any time there is a wildland or brush fire that is being called in to our comm center, just so that we can be a little bit preemptive in case it is something large," Ringleb said.
No homes were damaged, and no injuries were reported, officials said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
https://www.wesh.com/article/palm-bay-firefighters-battle-brush-fire-space-force-annex/60625852
Rep. Burchett to Newsmax: Agencies Need to 'Come Forth' on UFOs
Saturday, 27 April 2024 06:50 PM EDT
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Saturday that "it's time for all these alphabet agencies to come forth" when it comes to the existence of UFOs.
Earlier in the week, a video went viral of a cylinder-shaped object flying close to a plane as it neared LaGuardia Airport in New York. Michele Reyes, who captured the video, said she emailed the Federal Aviation Administration and the National UFO Database but did not receive a response.
Burchett said even as a member of Congress, he is kept in the dark by various agencies that are assigned to monitor unidentified aircraft.
"I just want total disclosure. You know, I want transparency. I wanna know what they're spending. In the history of audits our Pentagon has never passed an audit," he said during an appearance on "Saturday Agenda."
Burchett mentioned his attempt to have the government UFO files declassified was shot down during a theatrical display on the Senate floor.
"I'm not so sure if that wasn't just staged, looking back on it now, because it's clear something's going on. More than half the country believes that there is something going on. I think it's time for all of these alphabet agencies to come forth.
"You know, they even admitted to having these recovery teams. Now what the heck are they recovering?" he asked.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/burchett-ufo-unidentified-aircraft/2024/04/27/id/1162659/
Brit astronaut Tim Peake says alien lifeforms exist and 'seeds are everywhere'
UPDATED20:52, 27 APR 2024
Don't panic – top Brit astronaut Tim Peake has declared that there are lifeforms existing outside Earth.
The space traveller said he is convinced there are ETs – extraterrestrials – elsewhere in the universe in “millions of places”.
Major Tim, 52, explained: “Hollywood’s not done us any favours in that respect, we all think of little green people running around and who knows what they might be, what different life forms are. You only have to look on this planet. Look at the octopus and how incredibly intelligent that is.
“And how when you follow the tree of life back, how early humans and the octopus split apart and yet they’ve both developed into intelligent creatures that have clear emotions and sensitivities. And you think that’s on planet Earth, what might life have done on another planet?
“I think there’s a difference between single-celled organisms, bacteria, which are probably far more abundant in the universe.
“Making that leap to complex multi-cellular life is going to be more rare, but I absolutely think it’s happened in hundreds of thousands of places, if not millions of places.”
Tim – who has spent more than 185 days in space – said he is certain we are not alone in the universe.
He added: “Yeah, I’m a firm believer. I know many, many serious scientists, astrophysicists, cosmologists who are firm believers as well.
“Just statistically. I mean, look at the images coming back from the James Webb telescope. They’re just unbelievable when we look at other galaxies around.
“There’s about 200 billion stars in our own Milky Way, around about, and we think maybe up to one or two trillion galaxies in the observable universe. It’s mind-boggling.
“And then you think about in our own Solar System there’s abundant water, carbon-based molecules, you know, carbon compounds that we know are floating around, we capture them outside on the space station and analyse them.
“So the seeds of life are everywhere, water is everywhere, stars are everywhere and planets orbiting stars in what we call the ‘Goldilocks Zone’, the habitable zone where liquid water could exist, they seem to be everywhere as well.
“We’ve only really looked in our tiny little neighbourhood so far and we found 5,000 planets already and some of these stars burn a lot, lot longer than our sun will burn and of course, if you’ve got time, you’ve got more time for life to evolve and potentially that life to become much more sophisticated.
“So I think life is abundant throughout the universe.”
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/brit-astronaut-tim-peake-says-32678497