>I will not be bullied or cowed by a violent left-wing mob who hate our country.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
June 11, 2024
Colorful Stars and Clouds near Rho Ophiuchi
Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful, yet dusty? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust illuminated by starlight produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the upper right of the featured image. The Rho Ophiuchi star system lies at the center of the blue reflection nebula on the left, while a different reflection nebula, IC 4605, lies just below and right of the image center. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
Solar flare blasts out strongest radiation storm since 2017
June 10, 2024
It's the sunspot region that just does not want to quit!
Beastly sunspot AR3697 has made headlines again just before it makes another exit.
The sunspot region, formerly known as AR3664, produced the historic geomagnetic storm that led to May's global auroras.
On Saturday (June 8), the sunspot fired off a M9.7-class solar flare, the second strongest type on the classification scale.
The flare was powerful enough that it produced the strongest radiation storm since 2017, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).
These types of events can pose a risk of impact to space launch operations and satellites, and can also disrupt shortwave radio signals.
The event was registered as strong (S3) on NOAA's Space Weather Scale for Solar Radiation Storms, and triggered an enormous radio blackout in the northern polar region.
After Saturday's blast, fast-moving energetic protons began their journey toward Earth.
Upon arrival, the particles interacted with Earth's magnetic field and were directed to the poles where they soaked up shortwave radio transmissions.
This is known as a polar cap absorption (PCA) event, similar to what occurred in July 2023.
Saturday's M9.7-class flare also hurled off a coronal mass ejection (CME) which could approach Earth's outer atmosphere today (June 10) and lead to a geomagnetic storm.
Although not forecast to be anywhere close to its last solar storm show in May, a Geomagnetic Storm Watch remains in place by NOAA's SWPC for conditions at the G2 level.
With the right conditions, the aurora could be possible to see over some northern and upper Midwest States from New York to Idaho Monday night (June 10).
You can see the forecast for tonight and the following evening here.
On Monday (June 10), Region 3697 fired off an even stronger solar flare, a X1.5-class at 7:08 a.m. EST (1108 GMT).
Parts of Earth's sunlit side could experience temporary or complete loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals.
According to the SWPC forecast, solar activity is expected to be at minor to moderate levels the next few days as Region 3697 rotates out of sight.
https://www.space.com/solar-storm-june-strongest-radiation-since-2017
Nasa Mars rover inundated by particles from solar storm
Jun 11, 2024
A Nasa rover on Mars was struck by charged particles from a solar storm that swept the Red Planet last month.
The cameras on the Curiosity rover, which landed there 12 years ago, recorded white streaks and specks falling “like snow” on May 20, as charged particles hit the lenses.
Nasa said that if astronauts had been standing next to the rover at the time, they would have received a radiation dose of 8,100 micrograys.
“Mars scientists have been anticipating epic solar storms since the Sun entered a period of peak activity called solar maximum earlier this year,” Nasa said on Monday.
“Over the past month, Nasa’s Mars rovers and orbiters have provided researchers with front-row seats to a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections that have reached Mars – in some cases, even causing Martian auroras.”
The camera on the agency's Odyssey orbiter, which is used for orientation, was also inundated by energy from solar particles, putting it temporarily off line.
Mars has a very thin atmosphere that leaves it vulnerable to charged particles from the Sun.
Earth has also been struck by particles in the past few months, with the most powerful solar storm in more than two decades on May 10 that resulted in spectacular auroras from the UK to Tasmania.
"Our home planet is shielded from charged particles by a robust magnetic field, which normally limits auroras to regions near the poles," the space agency said.
"Mars lost its internally generated magnetic field in the ancient past, so there’s no protection from the barrage of energetic particles.
"When charged particles hit the Martian atmosphere, it results in auroras that engulf the entire planet."
https://www.thenationalnews.com/future/space/2024/06/11/nasa-mars-rover-inundated-by-particles-from-solar-storm/
Head Of NASA Says He Works With A "Bunch Of Wizards"
JUN 10, 2:38 PM EDT
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson isn't one to mince words — but in a recent interview, he did use a colorful turn of phrase to describe his colleagues at the space agency.
Speaking to South Florida's Local 10 News, Nelson described, apropos to almost nothing, his NASA colleagues as "a bunch of wizards"
The quip came in response to a reporter's light-hearted closer question at the end of an interview that primarily focused on the seemingly cursed Boeing Starliner mission and the space race with China, the latter of which Nelson has sounded off on using interesting language more than once.
"Are you having fun?" asked newscaster Glenna Miberg. "I mean, last we saw of you, you were in the Florida Senate and now you're the top rocket scientist."
True to his down-home manner, Nelson laughingly responded by characterizing himself as a "country lawyer… who happened to get a chance to fly in space almost four decades ago" — a reference, of course, to his six-day trip amongst the stars on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986.
Packed Resume
Both before and after his first stint at NASA in the 80s, Nelson represented Florida in Congress. As the career civil servant maintains, his turns as the head of the Subcommittees on Science and Space in both the House and the Senate provided the Florida native with the right stuff to run the agency.
"I'm glad that I can now use what I've learned over the years, including the chairmanship of the [space subcommittee] in the Senate, and now try to offer some leadership," Nelson said.
Indeed, it's clear from this interview and other previous remarks that the NASA administrator not only expresses some serious gratitude over his role at its helm, but also that he greatly admires the mythical beings he works with at the agency.
"It's hard to believe today marks three years since I was sworn in as NASA Administrator," Nelson tweeted last month.
"What a privilege I have to work every day with the wizards of @NASA."
"We've expanded American leadership in space, in the skies, and here on Earth — for the benefit of all," he continued. "Let's keep going."
https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-administrator-wizards