TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
February 19, 2025
HH 30: A Star System with Planets Now Forming
How do stars and planets form? New clues have been found in the protoplanetary system Herbig-Haro 30 by the James Webb Space Telescope in concert with Hubble and the Earth-bound ALMA. The observations show, among other things, that large dust grains are more concentrated into a central disk where they can form planets. The featured image from Webb shows many attributes of the active HH-30 system. Jets of particles are being expelled vertically, shown in red, while a dark dust-rich disk is seen across the center, blocking the light from the star or stars still forming there. Blue-reflecting dust is seen in a parabolic arc above and below the central disk, although why a tail appears on the lower left is currently unknown. Studying how planets form in HH 30 can help astronomers better understand how planets in our own Solar System once formed, including our Earth.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
NASA Images Reveal Tennessee's 'Swollen Rivers'
Feb 19, 2025 at 7:20 AM EST
The sheer scale of flooding in the wake of the powerful storm that battered the U.S. Southeast this past weekend has been revealed in images released by NASA.
The before-and-after shots—taken by NASA's Landsat 9 Earth observation satellite—capture the "swollen" rivers that followed the torrential rainfall.
This, according to the National Weather Service, saw many areas receive up to 6 inches of rainfall in just a 48-hour period.
In Tennessee, a state of emergency was declared by the local authorities after a levee broke near the small town of Rives, which has a population roughly 250, along the Obion river.
It has been estimated that some 60 percent of homes in the town have suffered water damage as a result of the flooding, with residents evacuated to shelters set up in local community centers and schools.
Some 10 miles to the southwest, a U.S. Geological Survey water gauge in the town of Obion logged water levels hitting 39.8 feet on February 18—4.8 feet above the threshold for a flood stage.
"The OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 captured this false-color image of swollen rivers in western Tennessee on February 17, 2025; the image of the left shows the same area on January 24, 2025," NASA explained on its Earth Observatory website.
"The band combinations used in the images makes it easier to distinguish between water, land and vegetation."
The water in the post-flooding image appears a lighter shade of blue, the space agency explained, because it is rich in suspended sediments.
According to NASA, the water-covered fields that can be seen across Missouri in the images are rice fields.
As NASA notes, some of the most destructive flooding seen in the wake of this past weekend's storm actually occurred to the north of the region captured in these images.
Unfortunately, it explained, "clouds on February 17 prevented satellites from acquiring similar images of floodwater in that area."
Local residents could be set for fresh weather worries in the coming days, too, forecasters have warned—starting with a blast of cold air expected to enter the region from the north.
Meanwhile, a snowstorm coming from the west has the potential to deposit several inches of snow on many of the same areas that recently flooded.
https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-images-reveal-tennessee-swollen-rivers-2033118
NASA layoffs on hold, for now
February 19, 2025
NASA did not carry out a widely expected layoff of 1,000 or more employees Feb. 18, but the last-minute reprieve may only be temporary.
The agency was expected to fire “probationary” civil servants, a category of employees that primarily includes those in their first year on the job but can also include those who have recently moved into new positions or changed agencies.
Such employees have limited civil-service protections. The cuts were planned as part of sweeping layoffs across the federal government by the Trump administration with the stated purpose of reducing costs.
Multiple agency sources, speaking on background, said they were told to expect probationary employees to be fired across the agency Feb. 18, which were amplified by news reports that stated that the firings would take place.
They estimated at least 1,000 people were in danger of losing their jobs.
However, by the end of the day, there were no reports of layoffs of any magnitude across NASA facilities.
Some said they were told that their specific centers, such as the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, were excluded, but given no reason for the exclusion.
That exclusion appeared to extend to all NASA facilities, at least for now. One possibility, sources said, is that NASA was able to successfully lobby the White House to stop the firings because of the critical nature of their work.
If so, it would be an exception as layoffs continued at other federal agencies.
That included the National Science Foundation, which fired 168 people, about 10% of its workforce, Feb. 18.
Those layoffs reported included both probationary employees as well as some others working at the agency on a temporary basis as subject matter experts.
“Indiscriminately firing 10% of NSF’s workforce today is a massive mistake that will hurt our ability to compete globally, especially with China,” said Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), ranking members of the House Science Committee and its research committee, respectively, in a Feb. 18 statement.
“These federal employees have dedicated themselves to strengthening American science. They deserve better than this.”
NASA was also facing a 10% cut in employees when the planned probationary firings were combined with those who voluntarily took buyouts through the Deferred Resignation Program, where employees resign but continue to be paid through the end of the fiscal year.
At least 750 NASA employees signed up for the program, according to sources, although the agency has not released a specific number.
The Planetary Society, an advocacy group, estimated that the 10% cut would have been the largest single reduction in force at the agency since the end of the Apollo program more than a half-century ago.
“While we recognize the value of improved efficiency and structural optimization, any workforce changes should be in service of improving the agency’s ability to execute its mission.
Indiscriminate layoffs do not serve this purpose,” it said in a statement opposing the anticipated firings.
“Indiscriminately firing the next generation of NASA scientists, engineers and wider team members is exactly the wrong step to secure America’s leadership in space — just as competition with China is reaching fever pitch,” said Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.), a former NASA chief of staff, in a social media post Feb. 18.
The reprieve from the layoffs may only be temporary, though. Some sources said they were informed that firings of at least some probationary employees may still take place by the end of the month.
NASA, like other agencies, has also been instructed to prepare for what could be larger cuts to its workforce.
A Feb. 11 executive order by President Trump told agencies that they could hire only one new employee for every four that leave while preparing for potentially massive layoffs.
“Agency Heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” it states, but does not define “large-scale” in terms of the number of employees or fraction of the workforce.
“Your leaders are tracking the recent executive order calling for agencies to undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force, among other things,” NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro wrote in a Feb. 14 memo to agency employees.
“We are currently awaiting further guidance and will keep you posted as we learn more.”
https://spacenews.com/nasa-layoffs-on-hold-for-now/
https://x.com/gtwhitesides/status/1892006949610258561
Asteroid hurtling toward Earth? Odds for impact keep increasing
02/19/25 6:57 AM ET
The odds keep growing that an asteroid big enough to wipe out a city will collide with Earth in seven years, according to NASA.
But the chance of an actual impact is still quite slim.
NASA first discovered “2024 YR4,” the 130-to-300-foot-wide asteroid, in December 2024, and found it only had roughly a 1 percent chance of impacting Earth on its trajectory, NewsNation’s Los Angeles affiliate KTLA reported.
On Jan. 27, the asteroid surpassed a 1 percent chance of hitting Earth, an “important threshold,” according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Currently, no other known large asteroids have an impact probability above 1%,” NASA said in a press release.
On Feb. 7, the asteroid’s chances of hitting our planet grew to 2.3 percent, and as of Feb. 18, there’s a 3.1 percent chance that 2024 YR4 will impact Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. This means the odds are now one in 32.
There is a 96.9 percent chance that the asteroid will miss Earth, though NASA said this rare asteroid has a significant risk now, rating it at Torino Scale 3, a ranking of potential impacts.
“In the unlikely event that 2024 YR4 is on an impact trajectory, the impact would occur somewhere along a risk corridor which extends across the eastern Pacific Ocean, northern South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Arabian Sea, and South Asia,” JPL said in a release.
NASA said its James Webb Space Telescope will observe the asteroid in March 2025 “to better assess the asteroid’s size.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/5152487-asteroid-hurtling-toward-earth-odds-2032/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14412341/Social-media-meltdown-NASA-asteroid.html
Musk claims Nasa astronauts are stuck in space because of Biden
Wednesday 19 February 2025 10:25 GMT
Elon Musk claimed two Nasa astronauts currently stuck in space had been left there by Joe Biden's administration “for political purposes" during a joint interview with Donald Trump conducted by Sean Hannity broadcast on Fox News on Tuesday (18 February).
SpaceX, founded and owned by the billionaire, has been contracted to bring Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore home. Musk said rescue attempts would be made in less than a month.
He and Mr Trump did not explain what political advantage they thought the former president might have been seeking by leaving astronauts stranded in space.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/musk-trump-interview-biden-space-b2700747.html