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ISS astronaut captures auroras and a meteor in stunning timelapse from space
July 26, 2024
Auroras, stars and a fleeting meteor are captured in a mesmerizing new video from the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, commander of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, shared a new timelapse of photos taken of Earth just before sunrise.
This nighttime view includes auroras dancing through Earth's atmosphere, glittering stars, passing satellites and a brief meteor streak.
The timelapse was taken from inside of the Cupola module of the orbiting lab, with the robotic Canadarm2 seen in the foreground of the video.
Dominick shared the new time-lapse in a post on X (formally Twitter) on July 21.
"If you watch carefully, part way through you can see a meteor streak towards Earth," Dominick wrote in the post.
However, most prominent in the timelapse are the green and purple auroras that light up the night sky.
Auroras, commonly known as the northern lights or southern lights, are caused by charged particles emitted by the sun, also known as solar wind, that collide with and excite atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere, creating the glowing light shows.
It has been a year of intense auroras due to the solar maximum, which occurs when the sun reaches peak solar activity during its 11-year cycle.
As a result, Earth is bombarded by even more solar particles that produce more frequent auroral displays at night.
Dominick launched to the space station on March 3, 2024 and is serving as a flight engineer aboard the orbiting lab for a planned 6-month mission.
In addition to his assigned tasks, which include science experiments and maintaining the space station, Dominick has enjoyed taking pictures from the vantage point of space.
In a separate post, Dominick explained how he and his crewmates set up a unique shot of the Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, which carried the Crew-8 astronauts to the space station.
The crew set up a camera in Boeing's Starliner cockpit window looking up at Dragon to capture portrait shots of each crew member.
The perfectly timed photo, which Dominick also shared on X (formally Twitter), leverages the moonlight to illuminate Dragon, with stars and part of the Milky Way captured in the background.
https://www.space.com/international-space-station-stars-auroras-meteor-video
Olympic Games opening ceremony accused of being Satanic ritual
27th Jul 2024
It featured a headless woman singing from a window.
Despite the Olympic Games officially getting underway today, most of the discourse is still concentrated on last night’s controversial and divisive opening ceremony.
Unlike previous opening ceremonies, last night’s show in Paris took place on the banks of the River Seine.
While most viewers were delighted by performances from pop icons Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, some were offended and disturbed by elements that have been deemed ‘anti-Christian’ and ‘satanic’.
A US-based Catholic Bishop, who described himself as someone who “loves the Olympics”, slammed the portrayal of The Last Supper during last night’s opening ceremony in Paris as a “gross mockery”.
The scene depicted a postmodern reenactment of the biblical event, using drag queens instead Jesus and his disciples.
Bishop Robert Barron, described the moment as a “gross, sort of flippant mockery,” and added: “France, whose culture is grounded very much in Christianity, felt the right thing to do was to mock the Christian faith.”
Others on social media took their criticisms one step further than the senior Christian minister, and labelled the performance as ‘satanic’.
The comments were referencing the inclusion of heavy metal band Gojira to the bill, whose performance depicted a rather terrifying-looking lady in red who was holding her own head in her hands.
One X user wrote: “The opening ceremony of the Olympics is not even hiding the satanic rituals anymore.
“There is no longer anything hidden in plain sight. These are the demonic dark forces of Satan who want to eclipse the light.”
Another wrote: “Dear Normies, You’re probably sat at home, watching the French Olympics thinking what the actual **** is this.
“Well it’s just another a conspiracy playing out in front of your very eyes.”
They added: “The one where we tell you – the World is run by satanic globalists who control everything.
These people do very strange sick things & openly worship Satan or a brand of.
“They love showing this fact off. Do you see it yet? They’re not even hiding it.”
Even highly-controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate got in on the act.
He shared a clip of the performance, along with the caption: “Satanists control the west and they show you that they worship the devil.
“It’s not a conspiracy theory. They literally show you. Are you blind?”
Those who were more historically informed picked up the references to the French Revolution in the performance, and recognised the headless singing woman as being that oif Marie Antoinette – an Austrian princess and the wife of France’s King Louis XVI.
Marie-Antoinette was guillotined in 1793 after the Revolutionary Tribunal found her guilty of crimes against the state.
X user @imshanereaction wrote: “Give the singing beheaded Marie Antoinette all the medals.”
Another person wrote: “This was about the French revolution – learn some history.”
https://www.joe.co.uk/news/olympic-games-opening-ceremony-accused-of-being-satanic-ritual-450556
'Double' meteor shower will light up the skies next week. Here's how to watch.
July 27, 2024
Stargazers will soon be able to witness a "double" meteor shower as both the Alpha Capricornids and the Southern Delta Aquariids peak next week.
The twin-skywatching event is "just an amazing coincidence," Nicholas Moskovitz, a planetary astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, told Live Science.
Meteor showers occur when Earth's orbit intersects a comet's path. The rocky debris left behind by the comet burns up as it enters Earth's atmosphere.
During the double meteor showers this month, Earth will cross the orbits of comet 96P/Machholz — which causes the Southern Delta Aquariids that will peak July 29 to July 30 — and comet 169P/NEAT, which births the Alpha Capricornids that will peak July 30 to July 31.
For two meteor showers to peak within 24 hours of each other is "a little bit unusual," Moskovitz said. "But the idea of multiple showers being visible in a single night? Certainly not too uncommon."
There are more than 900 meteor showers throughout the year, which means that on average, two to three meteor showers occur per night, Moskovitz noted.
But not all of these are "major" meteor showers, like the Perseids or Geminids, in which more than 100 meteors blaze across the sky every hour. Most meteor showers are minor, and astronomers are only beginning to study and measure these showers systematically thanks to newly developed instruments, Moskovitz said.
Meteor showers occur at regular intervals thanks to their predictable orbits around the sun. The small amount of annual variation in their intensity is determined by when comets release debris and how long the debris has been floating in space.
Predicting meteor showers has significant implications for the safety of spacecraft and humans traveling in space, said Moskovitz, who heads the Lowell Observatory Cameras for All-Sky Meteor Surveillance (LO-CAMS), a network of cameras that monitor meteors.
At its peak, the Southern Delta Aquariids will treat viewers to around 20 to 25 meteors per hour (so-called background meteor showers are typically around five meteors per hour). The Southern Delta Aquariids will appear "pretty faint," Moskovitz said.
"You really need to get to a dark site, away from lights, traffic, stay off your cell phones and let your eyes acclimate to the dark and you may have a chance of seeing some of those faint objects."
The Alpha Capricornids are much less frequent, but they are often associated with "bright fireballs with bigger meteor chunks coming in and burning up and getting brighter and sort of more spectacular," Moskovitz said.
These remarkably bright meteors are made of marble-size particles. Fainter meteors are usually grain-size.
The double meteor shower will be best viewed in the Southern Hemisphere where the radiant, or the apparent point from which the shower originates, will be almost overhead. People in the Northern Hemisphere can also see the meteor shower if there is a clear vantage of the southern horizon.
Both meteor showers will continue until mid-August.
"Almost all meteor showers peak in the early morning hours between 2 and 4 a.m.," Moskovitz said.
"So if you do want to catch either one of these, your best chances of seeing meteors are to get to a dark site and do so after midnight," he said.
Both showers are best viewed with the naked eye. But to make the most of other skywatching events this year, you may need a new pair of binoculars or a good backyard telescope.
https://www.space.com/double-meteor-shower-next-week-how-to-watch
Lego sets up 'space station' at San Diego Comic-Con, offers mission crew patch
July 27, 2024
Lego is recruiting new members for its "mission crew," issuing rocket builders with an exclusive mission patch at this year's San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC).
The toy company has launched "Space Station 8R1CK5," a sprawling booth that highlights many of its recent space-themed building sets within a setting that was inspired by both sci-fi and real-life orbiting outposts. Show-goers will find photo opportunities, panels and show-only opportunities inside Space Station 8R1CK5 (booth 2829), which is open through the convention's close on Sunday (July 29).
"Space is an endless playground for imagination and storytelling; we are hoping to capture that playground spirit right here at Space Station 8R1CK5," said Beth McKenna, head of U.S. marketing at the Lego Group, in a statement.
Lego fans attending SDCC are invited to design and build their own rocket, spacecraft or satellite to earn their own Mission Crew patch.
Using provided Lego bricks and a bracket "to make sure your rocket is flight-ready," the creations can then be sent "into space" by setting them in front of a station view screen and sharing a photo (or video) of them using the hashtag "#legosdcc."
"After over 20 years of showcasing at San Diego Comic-Con, we wanted to wow fans yet again and worked hard to create a brand-new experience that offers something for everyone," said McKenna.
The cloth patch with sticker backing features the image of a Classic Space Lego Spaceman minifigure and is inscribed "Space Station 8R1CK5," "Lego Mission Crew" and "Comic-Con International 2024."
Elsewhere in the booth, attendees can browse through a display of more than 50 Lego building sets, including an assortment of space sets from Lego City, Lego Technic and Lego Icons lines.
This year is the first time that Lego has marketed products under a common "Space" theme.
Attendees can also view a life-size Lego-built statue of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, travel to a galaxy far, far away… at the Lego Star Wars product display and have a "close encounter" with specimens from different universes with Lego IP products. Or, as Lego advises, they "can watch the time float by from one of the space windows and content screens."
The Lego Mission Crew patch is at least the third space-themed cloth badge that the company has given away.
Earlier patches depicting the NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander and International Space Station were distributed with the purchase of their sets in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
LEGO's Space Station 8R1CK5 is in the same galactic neighborhood as at least one other major space-themed booth in the SDCC 2024 Exhibit Hall.
NASA has its own display (booth 3845), where it is promoting its newly revealed Artemis 2 crew poster, showing the next four astronauts to fly to the moon, and the agency's previously published "First Woman" comic book, which follows a young girl as she becomes the first female to reach the lunar surface.
https://www.space.com/lego-space-mission-crew-patch-san-diego-comic-con
Sun blasts out most powerful flare of current solar cycle, sends massive coronal mass ejection into space
July 26, 2024
On Tuesday (July 23), Europe's Solar Orbiter (SolO) spacecraft witnessed an extremely powerful X14 class solar flare erupt from the far side of the sun.
Although it was not the most powerful flare ever recorded, which was estimated at roughly a X45 back in 2003, solar flares of this magnitude can result in longer-lived radiation storms and even world-wide blackouts if they are directed at Earth.
The X-class are the leaders on the classification scale, and blast out energy 10 times more powerful than M class flares, which is second on the list.
"From the estimated GOES class, it was the largest flare so far," Samuel Krucker, the principal investigator for the Spectrometer and Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) on SolO, shared told SpaceWeather.com.
"Other large flares we've detected are from May 20, 2024 (X12) and July 17, 2023 (X10). All of these have come from the back side of the sun."
s far as on the sun's Earthside, the biggest flare that was recorded so far for this current cycle occurred on May 14, 2024, an X8.9, associated with the beastly sunspot that created the historic geomagnetic storm that led to worldwide auroras.
Accompanying the flare was an extremely large coronal mass ejection (CME), detected by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
CMEs are bursts of plasma and magnetic field that erupt outward from the sun's atmosphere.
The magnetically charged plasma blast that accompanied the X-class flare on July 23 was not sent in our direction, but if it was, it could have been quite the solar storm.
Had this CME taken a path that would bring impacts to Earth, it could have brought quite the impacts to our planet.
The viewing of the auroras could have been quite impressive, but on the concerning side, with such a dynamic blast of energetic particles whipped up and hurled our way, it could have threatened us with major technological problems or electrical blackouts similar to the event in 1989 that severely impacted the power grid in Quebec, according to SpaceWeather.com.
Just remember: the sun is always rotating, so this region will remain one to watch as it comes back into view within the next week and a half.
https://www.space.com/sun-solar-flare-far-side-x14-july-23
SpaceX Starlink Mission
On Saturday, July 27 at 1:45 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This was the 17th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and now 13 Starlink missions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-10-9
Schaumburg shooting suspect claimed to receive messages from outer space, prosecutors say
Friday, July 26, 2024 4:07PM
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (WLS) – The man charged in the Schaumburg shooting of a tree trimmer appeared in court Friday.
Michael Lang, 55, is facing attempted murder charges.
A judge decided Lang should remain in custody, saying he poses a threat to the public after Schaumburg police said he shot a tree trimmer.
Prosecutors said on Wednesday, Lang came out of the home he shares with his parents on Braintree and began yelling at four landscapers who had been hired by his father.
Prosecutors said Lang was shouting at them for making too much noise, telling them to leave.
Police said when the workers started gathering their equipment to leave, Lang allegedly got a handgun from his car that was parked in the driveway.
Prosecutors said Lang then allegedly pointed the gun at one of the workers and fired one round into his abdomen after they say he said, "I told you to leave or one of you was going to die."
Video from a doorbell camera across the street captured the sound of a gunshot and then a scream.
After a standoff that lasted several hours, Schaumburg police say Lang surrendered peacefully.
During that situation, neighbors had to be evacuated.
"To see 40 cop cars, these heavily armed vehicles," neighbor Case Van Winderden said. " To see these guys in full military outfits. It was crazy. Never seen anything like this."
Prosecutors said Lang's parents were not home during the standoff and that Lang called 911 twice during that time saying he was receiving messages from outer space.
The 66-year-old landscaper who was shot received emergency medical treatment on the scene and was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.
At last check, he was in serious but stable condition.
The victim's family did not want to appear on camera, but said their loved one remains hospitalized and is doing OK.
A public defender told the court that Lang is a lawyer and has his own law firm. He is due in court on August 23.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/schaumburg-il-shooting-michael-lang-claimed-receiving-messages/15099635/
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3851829/ai-powered-agile-talent-identification-systems-support-joint-force/
AI-powered agile talent identification systems support joint force
July 26, 2024
The launch of an artificial intelligence-powered platform for uncovering and matching talent across the joint force is an important step in tackling what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., has described as the current “war for talent.”
Combining the eagle from the Defense Department's iconic heraldry with the term for a short-term work opportunity, the GigEagle platform is one of the Defense Innovation Unit's transformational projects.
It works to match members of the Reserve and National Guard with gigs based on their full set of skills, including in-demand talents gained from civilian careers.
The gigs range from four hours to 90 days across DoD.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael T. McGinley, GigEagle's program lead, draws parallels from the platform's inception to the successful model of rideshare companies that match supply and demand in real time.
“The idea is that across the department, programs have real-time needs for specific support and skills, and by mapping the expertise across the Reserve and Guard force, who have in-demand expertise outside of their military occupational specialty, we are able to connect them in an easy-to-use environment,” McGinley said.
Today, the model for real-time talent matching has been proven, and it's transforming the way one military member is serving.
Air Force Reservist Maj. Kaitlin Zimmerman created her GigEagle profile and was matched with a project listed by the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to support an on-base Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center initiative.
While her military job is a program manager in the Space System Command's reserve strike team, she was tapped for her civilian career skills as a principal data scientist at Amazon Web Services to help predict MWR program office staffing levels.
“They needed a pretty straightforward machine learning model, and I was able to build a model that predicted the staffing needs with close to 87% accuracy,” Zimmerman said.
The MWR office provided a dataset with information that included the number of people on-base, different events and training courses, which Zimmerman was able to use as proof of the possible.
“The training dataset was relatively small, so I'd categorize this as a prototype — nothing ready for production, but it did show that it could be done,” Zimmerman said.
Showcasing what is possible for the future of defense work is precisely what platform users are demonstrating.
With a focus across the services to find ways to drive modernization and recruit and develop top talent, the platform represents a joint capability gap solution.
“Throughout the U.S. Army and other services, there is an unprecedented focus on innovation and modernization which is forcing the department to leverage skillsets not typically developed within traditional military occupational specialties or branches,” said Army Maj. Craig Robbins, chief talent management officer at the 75th Innovation Command.
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Leveraging soldier skills and experience — especially those gained through the private sector — in AI, robotics, software development, data analytics and medical technologies represent just a few areas critical for the future force.
“These are skills we know we have in our ranks, but [we] cannot access them in real time because we lack the tools to identify them across the force,” Robbins said.
The demand for talent matching is not new. Several years ago, the 75th Innovation Command prototyped a tool, which has since been retired, that matched talent with missions and assignments.
Building on this demand, GigEagle brings those capabilities to the next level using AI and machine learning to understand the totality of soldiers' talents and how they align with problem sets in real time.
“I see GigEagle as the next step forward in achieving what we've been able to achieve in the 75th Innovation Command, but at scale across the Army and DoD,” Robbins said.
Early adopters of the platform include DIU's own Joint Reserve Detachment, Space Force Space Systems Command, Marine Innovation Unit and AFWERX.
During a March technology demonstration at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas, Chief of the National Guard Bureau Gen. Daniel Hokanson, experienced the GigEagle platform.
“We're happy to have seen the GigEagle platform in action, a new joint talent marketplace that could be a game changer for the National Guard Bureau by unlocking the incredible skills resident in our Guard force.”
Most recently, GigEagle prevailed as a top contender in DoD's inaugural Talent Management: From the Ground Up Innovation Challenge hosted by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
The goal was to meet the challenges of talent management by asking employees across the department for their best talent management ideas.
Of the 200 submissions received, nine, including GigEagle, were selected after employees presented their ideas in a final round of the competition in April.
They will work with various policy offices inside DoD to collaborate on how best to implement their ideas.
Initially focused on National Guard and Reserve talent, the platform has enterprise-wide use case potential to include supporting the active-duty component, civilian service matching, and even military spouses.
To learn more about how this platform can transform the way service members can apply their skills or how your organization can find and engage in-demand talent to help solve problems, visit www.gigeagle.mil.
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https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3851211/daf-senior-leaders-reinforce-importance-of-allies-partners/
DAF senior leaders reinforce importance of allies, partners
July 26, 2024
Department of the Air Force leaders reinforced the importance of allies and partners during their recent trip to the United Kingdom July 17-23.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin reemphasized the importance of interoperability in the air and space domains during engagements at the Global Air and Space Chiefs' Conference, Royal International Air Tattoo and Farnborough International Air Show.
Throughout the trip, Kendall, Saltzman and Allvin participated in more than a dozen bilateral and multilateral engagements to deepen and expand relationships with allies and partners from Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
“Integration starts with us,” Allvin penned in a primer submitted to GASCC for publication. “Common values like respect for sovereignty, liberty, and the rule of law form the foundation of our relationships.
These relationships translate into strategic real-time intelligence sharing and culminate in integrated battlespace activities.”
Kendall met with a range of U.K. defense and military officials, including the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry Maria Eagle, and Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton.
Additionally, he met with the new chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Marshal Stephen Chappell, to discuss the recent Department of the Air Force reoptimization for Great Power Competition initiative and reaffirm bilateral strategic alignment, and Royal Netherlands Navy Vice Adm. Jan Willem Hartman, Materiel and IT Command commander, to explore opportunities to deepen collaboration.
A key aspect Kendall highlighted throughout each of his engagements was the need for the Department of the Air Force to intentionally and efficiently drive modernization efforts to contend with challenging strategic competitors.
“We’re in a situation today where it's really important for the Department of the Air Force to modernize as effectively and quickly as we can,” Kendall said during his keynote address at the Farnborough International Air Show.
“We need to make good choices, partner closely with our allies, and develop and field cutting-edge capabilities together.”
Among Allvin's engagements were meetings with the Royal Australian Air Force Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Stephen Chappell and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura.
These discussions focused on the importance of the trilateral strategic relationship and reassuring the strength of shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Allvin also met with counterparts from Finland, Sweden, and Norway to discuss the regional security environment and support to NATO’s deterrence and defense mission.
Additionally, Allvin, Saltzman and Knighton signed a shared vision statement at the Global Air and Space Chiefs' Conference.
This statement underscores the focus on collaboration with the RAF across three lines of effort: operational harmonization, capability integration, and system resilience.
“Among great powers, space is the linchpin,” Saltzman said. “We’re part of a growing group of allies and partners that enhance our collective security through resiliency, redundancy and interoperability.
Collaboration between the U.S. and the U.K. is essential to maintaining our combined force’s competitive advantage across all domains.”
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Allvin emphasized collaboration is key to success in addressing rapidly evolving threats.
“No nation can successfully confront today’s dynamic security environment alone,” Allvin said.
“By increasing our integration with the Royal Air Force, we are enhancing our collective ability to address the threats we face.
We will continue to invest in partnerships like this to build enduring advantages while simultaneously strengthening deterrence.”
Part of Saltzman’s engagements included meeting with U.K. Royal Air Force Air and Space Commander Air Marshal Allan Marshall and Australian Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Novak, Australian Defence Space Command commander, to discuss the ongoing AUKUS security partnership.
He also met with British Army Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman, U.K. Space Command commander, discussing U.K. space power priorities and U.S. Space Force efforts to reoptimize for GPC.
“This theory’s viability rests on our ability to build a coalition to uphold and strengthen a rules-based international order for space,” Saltzman wrote about the U.S. Space Force’s theory of success in an article for the GASCC publication.
“Given the inherently global nature of space activities and the interconnectedness of space systems, collaboration among space-faring nations is indispensable for enhancing space situational awareness, promoting responsible behavior, and establishing norms of behavior in space.”
During keynote remarks at GASCC, Saltzman also advocated for a shift in perspective regarding the current military deterrence model in a time where aggressors are developing new methods, asymmetric, and hybrid warfare to try and erode the established international order – including the space domain.
At the same time, he emphasized the importance of effective deterrence.
“I believe Integrated Deterrence is a valuable and worthy approach in the U.S.’s National Defense Strategy,” Saltzman said.
“Our NDS describes it as a weaving together of capabilities and concepts with those of our international and interagency partners to dissuade aggression.”
To do this effectively, Saltzman said, “I propose we design our forces and orchestrate our activities around military functions like ‘protect’ and ‘defend,’ which we can more tangibly pursue, rather than ‘deterrence,’ which is a more nebulous and complex concept.”
Together with NATO allies and European partners, the U.S. continues to transform and modernize its military forces to enable alliance and coalition operations and improve speed, posture, transparency and alignment across all domains – air, sea, land, cyber and space.
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>You'll hit Deadpool's new "apartment" and from there you'll know exactly what you're in for.