TYB
They were digging on the ufo egg too…
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
January 27, 2025
Pleiades over Half Dome
Stars come in bunches. The most famous bunch of stars on the sky is the Pleiades, a bright cluster that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. The Pleiades lies only about 450 light years away, formed about 100 million years ago, and will likely last about another 250 million years. Our Sun was likely born in a star cluster, but now, being about 4.5 billion years old, its stellar birth companions have long since dispersed. The Pleiades star cluster is pictured over Half Dome, a famous rock structure in Yosemite National Park in California, USA. The featured image is a composite of 28 foreground exposures and 174 images of the stellar background, all taken from the same location and by the same camera on the same night in October 2019. After calculating the timing of a future juxtaposition of the Pleiades and Half Dome, the astrophotographer was unexpectedly rewarded by an electrical blackout, making the background sky unusually dark.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Israeli female astronaut will go to space with NASA
Jan. 27, 2025
Israel has reached an agreement with NASA to send the first Israeli woman astronaut into space, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Gila Gamliel said on Monday.
Israel is expanding cooperation in space technology with longtime allies such as the U.S., Italy and Azerbaijan, as well as with regional parties to the landmark 2020 Abraham Accords such as the United Arab Emirates.
“I received a confirmation from NASA to send the first Israeli woman astronaut into space,” Gamliel said at the 20th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference in Tel Aviv.
“We in Israel have now begun the process of searching for our candidate among our brave women.”
The annual event—named after the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster—promotes international collaboration and innovation in space exploration.
This year’s conference was attended by Omran Sharaf, the UAE assistant foreign minister for advanced science and technology; and the president of the Italian Space Agency, Professor Teodoro Valente.
Valente signed an accord with his Israeli counterpart, Uri Oron, to develop a payload for a mission to the moon.
“Our space cooperation is really improving,” the Italian Space Agency president told JNS.
“Just a few days ago our vice prime minister was here to support cooperation between our two countries—and space is one part of [that].”
“Israel, despite being a small country, stands at the global forefront of the space field and serves as a significant factor in leading international space programs,” President Isaac Herzog said in a recorded video address from New York, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly’s event marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
“We are already promoting cooperation with countries that have signed the Abraham Accords, and I am confident that in the near future we will see additional cooperation which will contribute to both Israel and the international space community,” Herzog said.
Gamliel, who visited NASA’s Space Center in Houston in September, noted that nine nano-satellites built by Israeli high school students, including from a school along the Gaza border, will soon be sent into space aboard SpaceX rockets.
The launch is slated to take place in March off the West Coast of the United States.
“We are building the future not just for ourselves, but for those who are no longer here,” said Or Ziner, a high school senior from southern Israel who headed the satellite project at her school.
“Twenty years ago, we began a journey that would transform how the world sees Israel’s place in space exploration,” Gamliel said.
“By continuing to forge international partnerships and collaborations we aim to solidify Israel’s status as a global leader in the space industry while contributing to the advancement of global space exploration and innovation.”
https://www.jns.org/israeli-female-astronaut-will-go-to-space-with-nasa/
NASA Images Reveal Massive Fires in Baja California
Jan 27, 2025 at 7:38 AM EST
As wildfires in Los Angeles began to subside late last week, Baja California, just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, faced its own wave of devastating blazes.
Satellite images released by NASA's Earth Observatory captured the vast scope of the fires from space. By Sunday, the flames had consumed over 28,000 acres across the Baja California peninsula.
The striking image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, shows a thick plume of smoke stretching out over the Pacific Ocean.
This smoke was driven by the strong Santa Ana Winds, which intensified the fires and spread the devastation along the coastline.
The fires in Baja California closely resemble those in Los Angeles, underscoring the escalating wildfire risks across the southwestern region of North America.
The Santa Ana winds—hot, dry gusts descending from inland mountains—and severe drought conditions have created a perfect environment for wildfires to ignite rapidly and spread uncontrollably.
The impact of these wildfires extends far beyond the flames. Smoke can travel hundreds of miles, significantly degrading air quality and posing serious health risks, particularly for individuals with preexisting respiratory or other health conditions.
As of Sunday, three active wildfires were burning in Baja California, according to Mexico's National Forestry Commission.
Some 28,000 acres have so far been burned, with firefighters attempting to quell the flames. One fire had been completely extinguished after burning 160 acres.
The image released by NASA was captured at 1:44 p.m. PT on January 23, 2025, and shows a fire raging in the El Escondido area of Ensenada, about 50 miles south of the U.S. border.
Gusts of wind upwards of 50 miles per hour were reported across the state, according to the Baja California Civil Protection Office.
Meanwhile, much of the northern half of the Baja California peninsula is under extreme drought conditions following months of little to no rain.
The National Forestry Commission said in a post on X (formerly Twitter): "If you see a forest fire, report it immediately and do not try to put it out."
Adam Voiland, senior science writer and editor for NASA Earth Observatory, wrote in a post about the new images: "Hot, dry weather and strong winds fueled wildland fires in Baja California in late January 2025.
Seasonal Santa Ana winds blew in from dry areas inland and accelerated down the Sierra Juarez mountain range, creating conditions where a few sparks and small brush fires could quickly escalate."
Some showers will bring rain to the affected area throughout Monday; however, much of the rest of the week looks set to be dry and warm in Baja California, which could hamper firefighting efforts.
The strong Santa Ana winds have, at least, died down for now, which should help slow the spread of further fires.
It's unclear how many people and properties have been affected by the fires at this time. Newsweek contacted the National Forestry Commission via email for further comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-images-reveal-massive-fires-baja-california-mexico-wildfire-2021238
https://x.com/CONAFOR/status/1883573643470688731
NASA Tracking Bus-Size Asteroid Approaching Earth at 30,000 Mph
Jan 27, 2025 at 7:34 AM EST
An asteroid the size of a school bus is set to zoom by the Earth on Tuesday, traveling several times faster than a speeding bullet.
The asteroid, named 2025 BS4, is said by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to be roughly 22 feet in diameter, with JPL's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) estimated that it could be between 17 and 40 feet across.
The average American school bus is roughly 35 to 40 feet long, for reference.
The asteroid has a speed of 16.02 km/s, or about 35,835 mph, while the fastest bullets can only travel about 1,800 mph.
2025 BS4 is due to fly past our planet at a distance of about 511,000 miles, roughly twice the distance of the moon's 238,900-mile orbit around our planet.
Asteroids in our solar system are mostly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Occasionally, interactions with the gravity of the planets can cause an asteroid to be ejected from this reservoir, zooming into the inner solar system and in the vicinity of Earth.
"Space is three dimensional—whilst there are a huge number of comets and asteroids out there, most of them move on orbits that don't perfectly intersect with that of the Earth—even if they do cross where our orbit is in terms of the distance from the Sun, they usually pass harmlessly well above or below the Earth," Jonti Horner, an astrophysics professor at Australia's University of Southern Queensland, told Newsweek.
Due to its proximity to the Earth, 2025 BS4 is classified as a near-Earth object (NEO), which are defined as objects that come within about 120 million miles of the sun, or 30 million miles of Earth.
Objects and asteroids that come within around 4.6 million miles of the Earth and have a diameter of at least 460 feet.
"A PHA is one that has an orbit intersecting the Earth's orbit around the sun by less than 0.05 astronomical units (1 AU is the distance to the Sun), that's just over 4.5 million miles," Martin Barstow, a professor of astrophysics and space science at the University of Leicester in the U.K., previously told Newsweek.
"It also has to have an absolute brightness of 22.0 or less (lower values of the magnitude are brighter = larger objects), i.e. an asteroid (or comet) that would cause significant regional damage if it hit the Earth," he said.
"Not all NEOs are potentially hazardous, but all hazardous objects are NEOs."
2025 BS4 is not large enough to be considered a PHA, however, so is only classified as an NEO. According to NASA, this asteroid has a 0.000013 chance of hitting us at any point in the future.
There are several other NEO asteroids making close fly-bys of the Earth over the next few days, including the 100-foot 2025 BH2 passing at a distance of 4,280,000 miles today, the 36-foot 2025 BF5 coming within 797,000 miles of us tomorrow, and the 51-foot 2025 BS2 missing us by 2,330,000 on Wednesday.
https://www.newsweek.com/asteroid-space-bus-sized-space-astronomy-nasa-2021221
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/planetary-science/planetary-defense/near-earth-asteroids/
https://twitter.com/AsteroidWatch/status/1877761188391510285
Both The Outer Light and Dom Lucre said they will be posting deeper digs into it today, or sometime soon.
https://youtu.be/sIBmeGU-L_Q?si=nX7mLxMjwUIWT998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-DUDDbATYM
For real anons
Noida boy, 14, picked by NASA to name asteroid he ‘discovered’
January 27. 2025
Daksh Malik, a Class 9 student of Noida's Shiv Nadar School, has been recognised by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for a ‘provisional asteroid discovery,’ which means that the boy will get to pick a permanent name for the asteroid.
The asteroid is currently named ‘2023 OG40,’ with 2023 being the year of its discovery.
“I've been fascinated with space…I used to watch all these documentaries on National Geographic about planets and the solar system. This is like a dream come true,” The Print quoted Malik
Opportunity to ‘discover’ an asteroid
For a year and a half, Malik and two of his school friends, had been hunting for asteroids under the International Asteroid Discovery Project (IADP).
They got this opportunity in 2022, when the astronomy club of their school sent an email about the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).
Under the IASC, a citizen science programme affiliated to NASA, people – including students – from around the world can ‘discover’ for the US space agency.
IADP, which is conducted by the organisation STEM & Space, along with the IASC, has over 6,000 participants every year from around the world, of whom only a few are able to discover new asteroids.
The IASC website states that before Daksh, five other students from India have managed to discover a named asteroid.
In what Malik described as a ‘fun exercise,’ the three friends, like other participants, had to download IASA's datasets, calibrate them on the Astronomica software, and then observe for any celestial objects likely to be asteroids.
Also, they had to be look out for any kind of movement in an object, in addition to checking if the light being emitted from it falls within the limit for asteroids.
“I felt like I was working at NASA,” Malik said to the website.
He added that NASA will take 4-5 years to run initial tests and complete their verification for the asteroid, and only then will he get to name it.
The boy has names such as ‘Destroyer of the World,’ ‘Countdown’ in his mind.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/noida-boy-14-picked-by-nasa-to-name-asteroid-he-discovered/ar-AA1xVb2x
Good questions.
Logically, no, it doesn't make any sense, but we're in a movie and there's been a lot of that.
China embraces commercial participation in moon mission for the first time
January 25, 2025
China’s space agency has accepted the participation of a commercial space company in a lunar exploration mission for the first time in a move which may foreshadow greater commercial lunar activity.
STAR.VISION Aerospace Group Limited, engaged in areas including satellite design, intelligent satellite platforms and AI data analysis, will team up with Zhejiang University (ZJU) and the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Türkiye to develop two, 5-kilogram lunar surface micro-exploration robots.
The project has been selected for China’s Chang’e-8 mission which is scheduled for launch in 2028 on a Long March 5 rocket.
STAR.VISION is the first Chinese private enterprise approved by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to participate in the lunar exploration program, STAR.VISION said in a Jan. 24 statement.
The three parties will cooperate while focusing on specific areas. ZJU, which has earlier provided an imager for the Queqiao lunar relay satellite which supported the Chang’e-4 lunar far side mission, will focus on the engineering aspects.
STAR.VISION is expected to provide algorithms and components.
METU’s participation follows Türkiye’s application last year to join the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and highlights how China’s international engagement on the project is playing out.
“It is a great honor to participate in such a cutting-edge international cooperation project,” Halil Ersin Soken, the project’s chief designer for the Turkish side and professor at METU, told Chinese media.
“We will focus on the development of navigation systems and robotic subsystems,” he added.
Chang’e-8 is a test in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mission targeting the lunar south pole, with a view to long-term lunar habitation.
ISRU refers to using local resources, like lunar soil, to produce materials or consumables to support lunar habitation.
Chang’e-8, and the 2026 Chang’e-7 mission, will serve as a basis for China’s future, larger-scale ILRS project to be constructed in the 2030s.
Expanding commercial space in China
The move to include STAR.VISION signals that Chinese companies are able to participate in national-level lunar missions, but also raises the possibility that the country could follow the lead of other nations and allow commercial entities to attempt their own lunar missions.
China has gradually increased the space in which commercial actors and private capital can engage in the space sector, allowing gradually larger capacity rockets and huge constellation plans, and last year made commercial space a key priority.
Commercial lunar missions, potentially launching on Chinese commercial rockets, could be a future development.
China is already emulating NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) as it last year selected two proposals to develop spacecraft for low-cost space station resupply missions which will launch on commercial rockets.
Meanwhile, separate American and Japanese commercial lunar landers are currently in Earth orbit in the early stages of circuitous journeys to the moon. The pair launched on a Falcon 9 rocket Jan. 15.
Mobile charging robot from Hong Kong
The Chang’e-8 mission will feature another robot through an international cooperation project.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will lead the project, involving a number of Chinese universities, the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), an ILRS partner.
The roughly 100-kilogram robot will conduct scientific exploration, instrument deployment and installation tasks on the lunar surface.
“Its mobile wireless charging capability can power up various devices on the lunar surface, boosting the efficiency of both lunar exploration and collaborative operations,” according to a HKUST statement.
International cooperation, lunar challenges
CNSA issued an announcement of opportunities for international cooperation in the Chang’e-8 mission in October 2023, making around 200 kilograms of payload mass available.
It follows similar Chinese international engagement with earlier Chang’e lunar missions.
Last year’s Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission included payloads from France, Sweden and Italy, and a Pakistani cubesat.
https://spacenews.com/china-embraces-commercial-participation-in-moon-mission-for-the-first-time/
https://star.vision/newsroom/37
Astronomers seek global ban on space advertising
January 25, 2025
Astronomers are calling on nations to ban advertising in space that can be seen from the ground, calling it the latest threat to the dark and quiet sky.
At a briefing during the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month, the organization rolled out a statement calling for bans on “obtrusive space advertising” because of the interference it could cause for groundbased astronomy.
Obtrusive space advertising is defined in U.S. federal law as “advertising in outer space that is capable of being recognized by a human being on the surface of the Earth without the aid of a telescope or other technological device.”
Such advertising is banned in federal law through prohibitions on granting launch licenses for missions carrying payloads to carry out space advertising.
While that federal ban has been in place for decades, John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, a member of AAS’s Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE), said at the briefing there is growing concern that companies in other nations would launch obtrusive space advertising payloads.
“The lure of it is so great that I can’t imagine that no one will try,” he said. “I think the commercial value will prompt somebody to do it.”
There are no imminent space advertising efforts Barentine said he was aware of, but he did cite one Russian company, Avant Space.
That company launched a 3U cubesat in April 2024 that was designed, the company stated, to test technologies for a proposed future constellation of satellites that would maneuver in orbit and shine lasers to form logos or other images for advertisers.
Avant Space has disclosed few details about that demonstration satellite or plans for deploying a constellation. “Their technology demonstration was evidently successful, as far as anybody knows,” Barentine said.
Another Russian company, StartRocket, announced in 2019 that it had a contract with the Russian subsidiary of PepsiCo to promote an energy drink using space advertising, with a fleet of smallsats reflecting sunlight with Mylar sails to form the logo.
However, PepsiCo’s U.S. headquarters said it was not pursuing such advertising after conducting an “exploratory test” using a high-altitude balloon.
The AAS, in its statement, called for a global ban on obtrusive space advertising “by appropriate international convention, treaty, or law” and urged the U.S. delegation to the United Nation’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) to advocate for such a ban.
Barentine said he would like the U.S., at COPUOS, “to go actively promote this issue and try to establish it as at least a norm within the international community to not engage in this form of advertising.”
https://spacenews.com/astronomers-seek-global-ban-on-space-advertising/
https://aas.org/about/governance/society-resolutions/space-advertising
SpaceX Starlink Mission
January 27, 2025 3:22 p.m. ET
SpaceX is targeting Monday, January 27 for a Falcon 9 launch of 21 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Liftoff is targeted for 3:22 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 6:21 p.m. ET. If needed, additional launch opportunities are also available Tuesday, January 28 starting at 2:50 p.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This is the 20th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-26, SXM-9, OneWeb Launch 16, Instelsat IS-40e, O3B mPOWER, Ovzon 3, Eutelsat 36D, Turksat 6A, Maxar 2, and 10 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-12-7
A few articles running with it for anyone interested
https://www.unilad.com/technology/news/google-maps-los-angeles-help-message-739720-20250127
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/help-sign-spotted-on-google-maps-near-las-dodgers-stadium-viral-photo-sparks-buzz-article-117584604
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2524711/mysterious-help-signs-in-los-angeles-spark-concerns-over-human-trafficking
Qassam commander killed in Israeli drone strike on West Bank
Jan 27, 2025, 7:38 PM
Local Palestinian media reports said the Tulkarm commander, Ihab Abu Attiya, was killed when an Israeli drone struck his vehicle near the camp in the Nur Shams on Monday, Press TV reported.
Hamas in a statement confirmed that Abu Attiya had "ascended to martyrdom as a result of the occupation’s targeting."
The resistance movement said the strike was a “desperate attempt to eliminate the resistance.”
Hamas said, "The timing of the assassination, which coincided with the occupation’s intensification of its war in the West Bank, confirms that it will not bring it security and stability."
In a video recorded two days ago, Abu Attiya was seen while receiving the Palestinians released following the prisoner exchange deal with the Israeli regime.
An Israeli military raid is ongoing in the vicinity of Tulkarem camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
Israel has released a list of more than 700 Palestinian prisoners, who are to be released under the deal. More than 230 prisoners are serving life sentences and will be permanently sent to exile upon their release.
Hamas has said Israel was forced to "open the doors of his cells to our heroic prisoners,” after more than 14 months of "unprecedented brutal aggression that targeted every inch of Gaza in its barbarity."
Since the ceasefire took effect in Gaza, the regime has targeted the refugee camp of Jenin.
On Sunday, the Health Ministry said 26-year-old Abdul Jawad Yasser al-Ghoul, who was injured on January 21, succumbed to his injuries. His death has brought to 16 the number of those killed in Jenin.
Israel’s military action has not been confined to Jenin.
Israel’s intensified raids in the West Bank have drawn condemnations. The UN has warned that Israel may repeat its campaign of genocide in Gaza in the West Bank.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/227530/Qassam-commander-killed-in-Israeli-drone-strike-on-West-Bank
There are videos of people going over there in real time to validate.
The messages were still there.