TYB
GM, and stuff.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
April 23, 2025
An Almost Everything Sky
This surprising sky has almost everything. First, slanting down from the upper left and far in the distance is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. More modestly, slanting down from the upper right and high in Earth's atmosphere is a bright meteor. The dim band of light across the central diagonal is zodiacal light: sunlight reflected from dust in the inner Solar System. The green glow on the far right is aurora high in Earth's atmosphere. The bright zigzagging bright line near the bottom is just a light that was held by the scene-planning astrophotographer. This "almost everything" sky was captured over rocks on Castle Hill, New Zealand late last month. The featured finished frame is a combination of 10 exposures all taken with the same camera and from the same location. But what about the astrophotographer himself? He's pictured too – can you find him?
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-celebrates-hubbles-35th-year-in-orbit/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/mosaic-of-hubble-35th-anniversary-targets/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/mars-near-opposition-compass-image/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/planetary-nebula-ngc-2899-2/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/rosette-nebula-context-image/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/ngc-5335/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ALNPxsKeA
Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit
April 23, 2025
In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently taken by Hubble, stretching from the planet Mars to star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy.
After more than three decades of perusing the universe, Hubble remains a household name — the most well-recognized and scientifically productive telescope in history.
The Hubble mission is a glowing success story of America’s technological prowess, unyielding scientific curiosity, and a reiteration of our nation’s pioneering spirit.
“Hubble opened a new window to the universe when it launched 35 years ago.
Its stunning imagery inspired people across the globe, and the data behind those images revealed surprises about everything from early galaxies to planets in our own solar system,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“The fact that it is still operating today is a testament to the value of our flagship observatories, and provides critical lessons for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which we plan to be serviceable in the spirit of Hubble.”
Perched above Earth’s blurry atmosphere, Hubble’s crystal-clear views have been nothing less than transformative for the public’s perception of the cosmos.
Through its evocative imagery, Hubble has made astronomy very relevant, engaging, and accessible for people of all ages.
Hubble snapshots can portray the universe as awesome, mysterious, and beautiful — and at the same time chaotic, overwhelming, and foreboding.
The 24,000-pound observatory was tucked away inside the space shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay and lofted into low Earth orbit on April 24, 1990.
As the shuttle Discovery thundered skyward, the NASA commentator described Hubble as a “new window on the universe.” The telescope turned out to be exactly as promised, and more.
More scientific papers than ever are based on Hubble data, thanks to the dedication, perseverance, and skills of engineers, scientists, and mission operators.
Astronauts chased and rendezvoused with Hubble on five servicing missions in which they upgraded Hubble’s cameras, computers, and other support systems.
The servicing missions took place from 1993 to 2009.
The telescope’s mission got off to a shaky start in 1990 when an unexpected flaw was found in the observatory’s nearly eight-foot diameter primary mirror.
Astronauts gallantly came to the rescue on the first shuttle servicing mission in December 1993 to improve Hubble’s sharpness with corrective optics.
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To date, Hubble has made nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets.
Hubble discoveries have resulted in over 22,000 papers and over 1.3 million citations as of February 2025.
All the data collected by Hubble is archived and currently adds up to over 400 terabytes, representing the biggest dataset for a NASA astrophysics mission besides the James Webb Space Telescope.
Hubble’s long operational life has allowed astronomers to return to the same cosmic scenes multiple times to observe changes that happened during more than three decades: seasonal variability on the planets in our solar system, black hole jets travelling at nearly the speed of light, stellar convulsions, asteroid collisions, expanding supernova bubbles, and much more.
Before 1990, powerful optical telescopes on Earth could see only halfway across the cosmos. Estimates for the age of the universe disagreed by a big margin.
Supermassive black holes were only suspected to be the powerhouses behind a rare zoo of energetic phenomena. Not a single planet had been seen around another star.
Among its long list of breakthroughs: Hubble’s deep field images unveiled myriad galaxies dating back to the early universe.
The telescope also allowed scientists to precisely measure the universe’s expansion, find that supermassive black holes are common among galaxies, and make the first measurement of the atmospheres of exoplanets.
Hubble also contributed to the discovery of dark energy, the mysterious phenomenon accelerating the expansion of universe, leading to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The relentless pace of Hubble’s trailblazing discoveries kick-started a new generation of space telescopes for the 21st century.
Hubble provided the first observational evidence that there were myriad distant galaxies for Webb to pursue in infrared wavelengths that reach even farther beyond Hubble’s gaze.
Now, Hubble and Webb are often being used in complement to study everything from exoplanets to galaxy evolution.
Hubble’s planned successor, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will have a significantly larger mirror than Hubble’s to study the universe in visible and ultraviolet light.
It will be significantly sharper than Hubble and up to 100 times more sensitive to starlight. The Habitable Worlds Observatory will advance science across all of astrophysics, as Hubble has done for over three decades.
A major goal of the future mission is to identify terrestrial planets around neighboring stars that might be habitable.
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https://www.nasa.gov/general/planetary-alignment-provides-nasa-rare-opportunity-to-study-uranus/
https://science.larc.nasa.gov/URANUS2025/
Planetary Alignment Provides NASA Rare Opportunity to Study Uranus
Apr 22, 2025
When a planet’s orbit brings it between Earth and a distant star, it’s more than just a cosmic game of hide and seek.
It’s an opportunity for NASA to improve its understanding of that planet’s atmosphere and rings. Planetary scientists call it a stellar occultation and that’s exactly what happened with Uranus on April 7.
Observing the alignment allows NASA scientists to measure the temperatures and composition of Uranus’ stratosphere – the middle layer of a planet’s atmosphere – and determine how it has changed over the last 30 years since Uranus’ last significant occultation.
“Uranus passed in front of a star that is about 400 light years from Earth,” said William Saunders, planetary scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and science principal investigator and analysis lead, for what NASA’s team calls the Uranus Stellar Occultation Campaign 2025.
“As Uranus began to occult the star, the planet’s atmosphere refracted the starlight, causing the star to appear to gradually dim before being blocked completely.
The reverse happened at the end of the occultation, making what we call a light curve. By observing the occultation from many large telescopes, we are able to measure the light curve and determine Uranus’ atmospheric properties at many altitude layers.”
This data mainly consists of temperature, density, and pressure of the stratosphere. Analyzing the data will help researchers understand how the middle atmosphere of Uranus works and could help enable future Uranus exploration efforts.
To observe the rare event, which lasted about an hour and was only visible from Western North America, planetary scientists at NASA Langley led an international team of over 30 astronomers using 18 professional observatories.
“This was the first time we have collaborated on this scale for an occultation,” said Saunders. “I am extremely grateful to each member of the team and each observatory for taking part in this extraordinary event.
NASA will use the observations of Uranus to determine how energy moves around the atmosphere and what causes the upper layers to be inexplicably hot.
Others will use the data to measure Uranus’ rings, its atmospheric turbulence, and its precise orbit around the Sun.”
Knowing the location and orbit of Uranus is not as simple as it sounds. In 1986, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft became the first and only spacecraft to fly past the planet – 10 years before the last bright stellar occultation occured in 1996.
And, Uranus’ exact position in space is only accurate to within about 100 miles, which makes analyzing this new atmospheric data crucial to future NASA exploration of the ice giant.
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These investigations were possible because the large number of partners provided many unique views of the stellar occultation from many different instruments.
Emma Dahl, a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech in Pasadena, California, assisted in gathering observations from NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii – an observatory first built to support NASA’s Voyager missions.
“As scientists, we do our best work when we collaborate. This was a team effort between NASA scientists, academic researchers, and amateur astronomers,” said Dahl.
“The atmospheres of the gas and ice giant planets [Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune] are exceptional atmospheric laboratories because they don’t have solid surfaces.
This allows us to study cloud formation, storms, and wind patterns without the extra variables and effects a surface produces, which can complicate simulations very quickly.”
On November 12, 2024, NASA Langley researchers and collaborators were able to do a test run to prepare for the April occultation.
Langley coordinated two telescopes in Japan and one in Thailand to observe a dimmer Uranus stellar occultation only visible from Asia.
As a result, these observers learned how to calibrate their instruments to observe stellar occultations, and NASA was able to test its theory that multiple observatories working together could capture Uranus’ big event in April.
Researchers from the Paris Observatory and Space Science Institute, in contact with NASA, also coordinated observations of the November 2024 occultation from two telescopes in India.
These observations of Uranus and its rings allowed the researchers, who were also members of the April 7 occultation team, to improve the predictions about the timing on April 7 down to the second and also improved modeling to update Uranus’ expected location during the occultation by 125 miles.
Uranus is almost 2 billion miles away from Earth and has an atmosphere composed of primarily hydrogen and helium.
It does not have a solid surface, but rather a soft surface made of water, ammonia, and methane. It’s called an ice giant because its interior contains an abundance of these swirling fluids that have relatively low freezing points.
And, while Saturn is the most well-known planet for having rings, Uranus has 13 known rings composed of ice and dust.
Over the next six years, Uranus will occult several dimmer stars. NASA hopes to gather airborne and possibly space-based measurements of the next bright Uranus occultation in 2031, which will be of an even brighter star than the one observed in April.
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Animal That Once Lived With Dinosaurs Helps Keep NASA Kennedy In Balance
Apr 22, 2025
They’re known as “living fossils”.
For over 450 million years, horseshoe crabs have been an ecologically vital part of our planet. They’re one of the few surviving species on Earth dating back to the dinosaurs.
At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is one of more than 1,500 types of animals and plants you can find living on its over 144,000 acres, the majority of which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service.
Sharing a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore, NASA Kennedy is one of the most biologically diverse places in the United States.
The center’s land, water, and air species live alongside the symbols of America’s space program: the vital facilities and infrastructure that support the many launches at NASA Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as well as the rockets enabling humanity’s exploration of the cosmos.
Preserving NASA Kennedy’s wildlife while also fulfilling the agency’s mission requires a balanced approach. The American horseshoe crab exemplifies that balance.
Horseshoe crabs are keystone species in coastal and estuary systems like the ones surrounding Earth’s premier spaceport.
By themselves, these resilient arthropods are a strong indicator of how an ecosystem is doing to support the migratory birds, sea turtles, alligators and other wildlife who rely on it for their survival.
“The presence and abundance of horseshoe crabs influence the structure and functioning of the entire ecosystem,” said James T. Brooks, an environmental protection specialist at NASA Kennedy.
“Their eggs provide a vital food source for many shorebirds in coastal habitats, and their feeding activities help shape the composition of plants and animals that live at the bottom of the ocean or in rivers and lakes.
Changes in horseshoe crab populations can signal broader ecological issues, such as pollution or habitat loss.”
As featured recently on NASA+, biologists survey NASA Kennedy’s beaches regularly for horseshoe crabs, counting each one they spot and tagging them with devices that lets researchers study their migration patterns and survival rates.
The devices also track the crabs’ spawning activity, habitat health, and population trends, especially during peak breeding seasons in spring and summer.
All this data helps in assessing the overall health of NASA Kennedy’s ecosystem, but horseshoe crabs also play a vital role in humanity’s health.
Their blue, copper-based blood contains a substance called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, critical for detecting bacterial contamination in medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines.
Their unique value in ensuring biomedical safety underscores why NASA Kennedy emphasizes ecological monitoring in addition to its roles in the global space economy, national defense, and space exploration.
At NASA Kennedy, horseshoe crabs are protected and monitored through habitat restoration projects like rebuilding shorelines eroded by storms and minimizing human impact on nesting sites.
These initiatives ensure that the spaceport’s operations coexist harmoniously with nature and deepen our understanding of Earth’s interconnected ecosystems.
On this Earth Day, NASA Kennedy celebrates the important role these ancient mariners play as we launch humanity’s future.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/kennedy/animal-that-once-lived-with-dinosaurs-helps-keep-nasa-kennedy-in-balance/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKQfDWYQsuM
NASA Tests Ultralight Antennas to Benefit Future National Airspace
Apr 22, 2025
NASA engineers are using one of the world’s lightest solid materials to construct an antenna that could be embedded into the skin of an aircraft, creating a more aerodynamic and reliable communication solution for drones and other future air transportation options.
Developed by NASA, this ultra-lightweight aerogel antenna is designed to enable satellite communications where power and space are limited.
The aerogel is made up of flexible, high-performance plastics known as polymers. The design features high air content (95%) and offers a combination of light weight and strength.
Researchers can adjust its properties to achieve either the flexibility of plastic wrap or the rigidity of plexiglass.
“By removing the liquid portion of a gel, you’re left with this incredibly porous structure,” said Stephanie Vivod, a chemical engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
“If you’ve ever made Jell-O, you’ve performed chemistry that’s similar to the first step of making an aerogel.”
NASA sandwiched a layer of aerogel between a small circuit board and an array of thin, circular copper cells, then topped the design off with a type of film known for its electrical insulation properties.
This innovation is known at NASA and in the aviation community as an active phased array aerogel antenna.
In addition to decreasing drag by conforming to the shape of aircraft, aerogel antennas save weight and space and come with the ability to adjust their individual array elements to reduce signal interference.
They are also less visually intrusive compared to other types of antennas, such as spikes and blades. The finished product looks like a honeycomb but lays flat on an aircraft’s surface.
In the summer of 2024, researchers tested a rigid version of the antenna on a Britten-Norman Defender aircraft during an in-flight demonstration with the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.
Then, last October, researchers at NASA Glenn and the satellite communications firm Eutelsat America Corp., of Houston, began ground testing a version of the antenna mounted to a platform.
The team successfully connected with a Eutelsat satellite in geostationary orbit, which bounced a signal back down to a satellite dish on a building at Glenn.
Other demonstrations of the system at Glenn connected with a constellation of communications satellites operated in low Earth orbit by the data relay company Kepler.
NASA researchers will design, build, and test a flexible version of the antenna later this year.
“This is significant because we are able to use the same antenna to connect with two very different satellite systems,” said Glenn researcher Bryan Schoenholz.
Low Earth orbit satellites are relatively close – at 1,200 miles from the surface – and move quickly around the planet.
Geostationary satellites are much farther – more than 22,000 miles from the surface – but orbit at speeds matching the Earth’s rotation, so they appear to remain in a fixed position above the equator.
The satellite testing was crucial for analyzing the aerogel antenna concept’s potential real-world applications.
When modern aircraft communicate with stations on the ground, those signals are often transmitted through satellite relays, which can come with delays and loss of communication.
This NASA-developed technology will make sure these satellite links are not disrupted during flight as the aerogel antenna’s beam is a concentrated flow of radio waves that can be electronically steered with precision to maintain the connection.
As new types of air transportation options are brought to the market and U.S airspace – from the small, piloted aircraft of today to the autonomous air taxis and delivery drones of tomorrow – these kinds of steady connections will become increasingly important.
That’s why NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts program are supporting research like the aerogel antennas that can boost industry efforts to safely expand the emerging marketplace for these transportation systems.
“If an autonomous air taxi or drone flight loses its communications link, we have a very unsafe situation,” Schoenholz said. “We can’t afford a ‘dropped call’ up there because that connection is critical to the safety of the flight.”
Schoenholz, Vivod, and others work on NASA’s Antenna Deployment and Optimization Technologies activity within the Transformational Tools and Technologies project.
The activity aims to develop technologies that reduce the risk of radio frequency interference from air taxis, drones, commercial passenger jets, and other aircraft in increasingly crowded airspace.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/nasa-tests-ultralight-antennas-to-benefit-future-national-airspace/
NASA Wins Six Webby Awards, Six Webby People’s Voice Awards
Apr 22, 2025
NASA was recognized today by the 29th Annual Webby Awards with six Webby Awards and six Webby People’s Voice Awards, the latter of which are awarded by the voting public.
The Webbys honors excellence in eight major media types: websites and mobile sites; video and film; advertising, media and public relations; apps and software; social; podcasts; artificial intelligence, immersive and games; and creators.
Since 1998, NASA has been nominated for more than 100 Webby Awards, winning 49 Webbys and 67 People’s Voice Awards.
Full List of NASA's 29th Annual Webby Award Wins
NASA.gov
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Websites and Mobile Sites | Government and Associations
This is the sixth Webby Award and the 13th People’s Voice Award for the agency’s website
NASA Instagram
Webby Winner
Social | Education and Science
NASA+
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Websites and Mobile Sites | Television, Film and Streaming
2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Video and Film | Events and Live
NASA’s 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Campaign
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Social | Events and Live streams
NASA’s Webb Telescope: Unfolding a Universe of Wonders
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Social | Education and Science (Campaigns)
NASA Streams Historic Cat Video From Deep Space
People’s Voice Winner
Video and Film | Events and Live streams
About the Webby Awards
Established in 1996 during the web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the IADAS—a 3000+ member judging body.
The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Internet experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries, and creative celebrities—and associate members who are former Webby winners, nominees and other internet professionals.
The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category—the Webby Award and the Webby People’s Voice Award.
Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards.
In the spirit of the open web, the Webby People’s Voice is chosen by the voting public, and garners millions of votes from all over the world.
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-wins-six-webby-awards-six-webby-peoples-voice-awards/
It's about (space-)time: Scientists explore new dimension for light
April 23, 2025
By breaking a decades-old paradigm and rethinking the role that the dimension of time plays in physics, researchers from the University of Rostock and the University of Birmingham have discovered novel flashes of light that come from and go into nothingness—like magic at first glance but with deep mathematical roots that protect against all kinds of outside perturbations.
Time is the strange dimension: Unlike its spatial siblings, it is a one-way street as the clock only ever ticks forward and never backward.
Scientists have long been aware of time's quirks, with the British astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington musing about this "arrow of time" in his 1927 lectures.
Nevertheless, whether it be because of or despite its uniqueness, time as a dimension for physics to play out in has long received far less attention than space.
Recently though, rapid progress in the research on so-called spatiotemporal crystals, objects with repeating patterns in time and space, has inspired a rethinking of the role time should play in our understanding of physics.
Additionally, this has spawned the question of whether the uniqueness of time can be more than a mere quirk and instead lead to new effects ultimately useful in applications.
Now, a team of researchers from the University of Rostock and the University of Birmingham has taken up this challenge and made a crucial discovery: In their experiments, light is brought to appear glued to a singular point in space-time.
"It's almost biblical: In the beginning, there is nothing. Then physics says, 'Let there be light!,' and there actually is light—at one precise moment in time and point in space," says Prof. Alexander Szameit of the University of Rostock.
These fleeting flashes of light, however short, are no accident, but instead have deep mathematical roots, elaborates Prof. Hannah Price of the University of Birmingham: "Topology, a perhaps rather abstract but very fundamental and deeply consequential branch of mathematics, actually mandates certain physical behavior here."
Because of this and due to the one-way nature of time, such space-time-topological events, as they are called, also exhibit a unique robustness against outside perturbations: The researchers found that they come with an inherent protection against randomly messed-up experimental parameters as well as stray light.
"This is something seemingly all previously known states of light are susceptible to," Dr. Joshua Feis of the University of Rostock explains.
Dr. Sebastian Weidemann, also from the University of Rostock, adds, "Such protection is very desirable as it may allow the robust shaping of light waves in key applications such as imaging, communications or lasers."
These findings prove the potential that reconsidering the role of time in space-time, in physics in general as well as in its interplay with topology, has for both fundamental science as well as potential applications.
Crucially, they open the door to a much wider field of potential discoveries enabled by directing research into this new-old dimension.
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-space-scientists-explore-dimension.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01653-w
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Next_generation_scientists_set_sail_to_harness_space_for_oceans
Next generation scientists set sail to harness space for oceans
22/04/2025
A new wave of ocean scientists has embarked on an extraordinary six-week voyage aboard a majestic tall ship that set sail today from Norway bound for southern France. But this is no ordinary journey.
Thanks to this ESA Advanced Ocean Training Course, these upcoming researchers will be taking a deep dive into ocean science, empowering them with skills to harness satellite data for research, innovation and sustainable development – and preparing them to become tomorrow’s leaders and ambassadors for ocean science.
Oceans are vital to life on Earth. They hold 97% of the planet’s water, support the livelihoods of over three billion people, and are crucial to weather patterns, climate regulation, global food security and biodiversity.
As Peter Thomson, United Nations Special Envoy for the Ocean, stated, “There can be no healthy planet without a healthy ocean, and the ocean’s health is currently measurably in decline.”
So, it is especially fitting that this extraordinary voyage sets sail today, 22 April Earth Day 2025 – a day when people around the world unite to raise awareness about environmental protection and to take action against climate change.
ESA’s Craig Donlon, organiser of the expedition, said, “The importance of oceans to our planet cannot be over-estimated, basically ‘no blue, no green’.
Covering 74% of Earth’s surface, oceans are dynamic and involve complex processes that have huge implications for the health of our planet and all living things.
“Since the advent of the satellite era, our understanding of ocean science has come on leaps and bounds, but with climate change upon us, the demand for ocean resources rising and shipping routes busier than ever, it is imperative that we continue to advance our scientific knowledge and understand how oceans are being impacted so that, ultimately, appropriate decisions can be made.
“Thanks to high-quality and frequent measurements from satellites, we can now observe the global ocean every few days – transforming our ability to understand and protect this vast blue ecosystem.
“As a space agency, arguably with the best Earth observation programme in the world, passing on know-how to the next generation of scientists is our duty, so that they are not only equipped but also inspired to find new ways of using satellite data to understand and help safeguard our planet for the future – which is the purpose of ESA’s hands-on Ocean Synergy Training Course.”
Setting sail from Tromsø today, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl tall ship is now home to 50 students and over 20 lecturers and ocean experts.
In addition, over 40 citizen scientists will actively participate in the scientific research conducted aboard the ship.
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In a message to those participating in this remarkable voyage, Christine Meyer, Governing Mayor of Bergen, Norway, said, “You will return home having changed the world just a little, in that you are also a scientific expedition.
You will return home with a cargo of knowledge. And that is something that we all need in these times of climate change, and of environmental challenges.
“We need all the knowledge we can get about the ocean. It is said we know more about the moon than the deep sea.
So, this is a journey of adventure and of discovery. A journey of excitement for both the individual and society.”
Throughout the six-week voyage to Nice in France, with stops in Reykjavik in Iceland and the island of Menorca in Spain, students will not only learn about satellite oceanography via lectures, but importantly they will be emersed in a demanding programme of taking in situ measurements and analysing near-realtime satellite data to compare with measurements taken from the ship and with ocean model fields.
The ship’s arrival in Nice on 3 June comes at a crucial moment, just ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference starting on 9 June.
The conference seeks to galvanize urgent action to conserve and sustainably manage oceans, seas and marine resources, while advancing the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14.
Notably, the ESA Advance Ocean Training Course is part of the year-long One Ocean Expedition – a scientific and educational voyage around the Northern Hemisphere oceans, with the overarching goal of drawing attention to and sharing knowledge about the ocean’s crucial role for a sustainable future in a global perspective.
It is an important and timely contribution to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
ESA’s Director of Earth Observations, Simonetta Cheli, commented, “With Earth science at cornerstone of our ESA Earth Observation Programmes, we are proud to contribute to the One Ocean Expedition.
“It is our sincere hope that all participants in this training course make the most of this unique opportunity – to deepen their knowledge, refine their skills and emerge better prepared to advance the field of satellite oceanography as they progress in their scientific careers.”
The importance of investing in our future ocean scientists is recognised by institutes sponsoring ESA’s Advanced Ocean Training Course including Ocean Data Laboratory (France), the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (Norway), NASA (US), the Trevor Platt Science Foundation (India) and the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation (Norway), amongst others.
Through this sponsorship, international students beyond Europe are able to participate in the scientific voyage.
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Massive Dust Storm Seen From Space
Apr 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM EDT
A powerful dust storm that surged across northern Mexico over the weekend was so vast it was clearly visible from space, as captured in satellite footage shared by weather and science agencies.
The storm, which swept through at least 15 municipalities on Saturday was documented by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) using satellites.
These atmospheric dust events are not only dramatic in appearance but also have serious consequences for public safety and health.
With reduced visibility, poor air quality and hazardous driving conditions, large-scale dust storms like this reflect ongoing challenges posed by drought and land degradation in arid regions.
CIRA shared a video of the event on X, formerly Twitter, writing: "An incredible view of a dust storm charging south across Mexico."
In the video, the dust is rapidly moving across northern Mexico.
AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bob Larson told Newsweek that it isn't unusual for satellites to pick up dust.
"If you have a large enough field of dust in the air, you can definitely pick that up pretty easily in the satellite presuming the sky is clear," he said.
Abnormally dry winter and spring conditions contributed to the dust storm. Northern Mexico has received only one-third of its average rainfall this year, Larson said, which contributes to the dry environment ideal for dust storms.
The region has also been warmer than normal, which can exacerbate dry conditions.
AccuWeather also shared footage of the storm moving across the region, emphasizing its scale and speed.
"A large dust storm swept through northern Mexico over the weekend. It was so massive that it was clearly visible on satellite," AccuWeather posted with the video on X.
Similar dust storms moved across parts of the U.S. and caused impact in west Texas and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas about a month ago.
Parts of Southern California also experienced a dust storm that created hazardous air quality this month.
AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bob Larson told Newsweek: "Any active wind is going to yield dust storms and also brush fires and wildfires, which has been an ongoing problem across part of Mexico as well."
National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service in a webpage about dust: "Satellites are important tools for tracking and studying aerosol particles in the atmosphere made of dust.
These particles can not only affect human health and safety, but can also affect the weather and climate by cooling or warming the Earth as well as enhancing or preventing cloud formation."
While dust storms are not uncommon in this part of the world, abnormally dry conditions can exacerbate them. Dust storms are more common during dry months, and it's possible more will occur as the region warms further.
https://www.newsweek.com/mexico-dust-storm-seen-space-2062791
https://x.com/CIRA_CSU/status/1914361264266207311
NASA's SPHEREx team rings bell at New York Stock Exchange
April 23, 2025
Members of NASA's SPHEREx mission team celebrated Earth Day and the recent launch of the astrophysics observatory by ringing the closing bell for the New York Stock Exchange on April 22, 2025.
What is it?
This photo captures the moment that Michael Thelen, NASA's flight system manager for the SPHEREx observatory, rang the closing bell for the New York Stock Exchange on Earth Day, April 22, 2025.
Joining him for the honor were other members of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team, as well as team members from BAE Systems Inc., Space & Mission Systems, which built the telescope and spacecraft's main structure, known as a "bus."
At 4:00 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, trading as normal came to an end as the brokers on the stock exchange floor below gathered to hear the bell ding at Thelen's command.
Where is it?
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City.
SPHEREx (or Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is in a sun-synchronous, low Earth orbit, circling the planet at about 430 miles (700 kilometers) above the surface.
It was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in southern California on March 12, 2025.
Why is it amazing?
Although this is not the first time that NASA has been invited to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange (or NASDAQ), it is still not as common as having businesses who are part of the market or other newsmakers receive the honor.
What is amazing is what the SPHEREx mission promises to answer. SPHEREx was built and launched to collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars in the Milky Way.
The information transmitted back to Earth will help improve scientists' understanding of how the universe evolved, while searching for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/nasas-spherex-team-rings-bell-at-new-york-stock-exchange-space-picture-of-the-day-for-april-23-2025
Incredible photo catches the sun rising behind the world's largest telescope
April 23, 2025
Construction of the world's largest telescope has reached its highest point with assembly of the roof's dome and large sliding doors that will shield the observatory.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) recently shared new progress photos of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the world's largest visible- and infrared-light telescope.
The ELT is currently under development on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile's Atacama Desert and expected to see its "first light" by 2028.
ESO shared a stunning view of the ELT's construction, including one with a gorgeous, glowing sun rising up behind the telescope on April 12.
The photo was taken by Eduardo Garcés from the Cerro Paranal mountain, home to ESO's Very Large Telescope, which is about 14 miles (23 kilometers) from the ELT, capturing a silhouette of the dome's structure surrounded by construction equipment.
The ELT reached a significant milestone recently with the completion of one of the dome's sliding doors — and assembly started on the second — marking the highest point of the dome's construction, according to a statement from the ESO.
ESO and Chilean flags were placed at the top of the telescope's dome as part of a Topping Out or Roofing Ceremony (called Tijerales in Chile) held on April 16, which included a traditional barbecue for workers on site and was live-streamed for industrial and institutional partners celebrating the milestone in Garching, Germany, according to the statement.
ESO shared an up-close view of the dome's roof structure and two flags streaming in the wind, which can produce powerful gusts in the Atacama desert.
The two sliding doors located on the dome's roof open laterally and are designed to protect the telescope from the harsh desert environment.
They will be closed during the day to shield the telescope from unwanted light and open at night for astronomical observations. The dome also includes a mechanism to seal the interior, preventing wind, rain, dust, and light from entering.
Garcés took a similar photo in August 2023, which shows a more skeletal frame of the dome without its protective cladding and underscores how construction has progressed in less than two years.
Another recent progress photo taken on April 14 using one of the live webcams on site captured the bright Milky Way flowing above the telescope's dome, illuminated by stars shining in the night sky.
Peeking out through the open roof is the white frame of the telescope's main structure that will support its optical equipment, including its primary mirror that measures 128 feet (39 meters) across — the largest ever made for an optical telescope.
The massive dome measures 305 feet (93 meters) in diameter, or about the size of a football field and stands 263 feet (80 meters) tall.
Featuring a 130-foot-wide (39.3m) mirror, the ELT will study the universe in visible light to provide a more detailed view of potentially habitable exoplanets, the formation of the first galaxies, supermassive black holes, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/tech/incredible-photo-catches-the-sun-rising-behind-the-worlds-largest-telescope
Lyrid meteor shower 2025 delights stargazers with the help of a dramatic fireball display (photos)
April 23, 2024
The Lyrid meteor shower put on a spectacular show, delighting sky watchers overnight with a peak rate of 10 to 20 meteors per hour.
The Lyrids occur each year between April 16-25 as Earth passes through the trail of primordial debris shed in the wake of the ancient comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which takes around 415 years to complete a single long, looping orbit of the sun.
The first known recording of the Lyrid shower was made by Chinese astronomers in the year 687 BC, making it the oldest recorded recurring event of its type that is still active today, according to NASA.
Naturally, skywatching photographers from around the world were ready and waiting to capture the 2025 Lyrids, which occurred as our planet dove through the densest section of Thatcher's debris trail.
The moon helpfully stayed below the horizon, leaving the sky unspoiled with its reflected radiance until well into the predawn hours.
Read on to see a handful of the most spectacular images from the Lyrid meteor shower 2025.
cont.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/meteors-showers/lyrid-meteor-shower-2025-delights-stargazers-with-the-help-of-a-dramatic-fireball-display-photos
The NRO and the U.S. Space Force Just Conducted Another Secret Launch
April 23, 2025
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space (SSC AATS) initiative have launched another secret mission payload from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on April 20, 2025, at 8:29 a.m. EDT.
Dubbed NROL-145, the secret launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 is the tenth overall of the intelligence organization’s proliferated architecture mission since the program’s inception and the fourth of this year.
While the details of the secret launch’s payload likely remain classified, security industry site Clearance Jobs suggests NROL-145 may include a Starshield “spy” satellite built by either Northrop Grumman or SpaceX.
Adapted from SpaceX’s Starlink global communications network, the Starshield network of satellites provides the U.S. and allied militaries with additional capabilities.
Along with communications, these capabilities may include advanced target tracking, tracking of debris, radio and optical reconnaissance, and early missile warning.
“Over the past two years, NRO has launched more than 200 satellites, creating the largest and most capable government constellation on orbit in our nation’s history,” a statement from the NRO explained.
Latest Secret Launch Was Third in Eight Days
Although the NRO was officially created in 1961, the U.S. did not admit to performing reconnaissance from space until 1978. The organization’s existence wasn’t officially acknowledged until 1992, when it was declassified.
The U.S. Space Force was formally launched in December 2019, making it the newest of the country’s military branches. Since its inception, the Space Force has been tasked with protecting military and civilian assets in space.
More recently, the organization has been supplementing plans for negotiating space conflicts with plans and secret simulations to prepare the U.S. for an all-out war in space.
“We must simultaneously be ready to defend American spacepower as well as to protect our forces against hostile spacepower,” Space Force General Chance Saltzman told recent attendees of the Air & Space Forces Association War Symposium.
The third mission launch in just the past eight days, NROL-145, was the first mission launched in conjunction with the SSC AATS under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 Launch Service NRO Task Order awarded in October 2024
“This was our first Phase 3 launch, coming only months after establishing this new contract,” explained Col. Jim Horne, Launch Execution Senior Materiel Leader.
“The Lane 1 path is ideal for shorter, more responsive mission timelines in addition to being the ideal entry avenue for prospective NSSL providers.”
More Launches Scheduled Through 2029
The NRO says 2025 will “continue to be a dynamic year” with another 12 secret launches already on the schedule.
BY the end of the launch contract in 2029, the organization says that half of the planned launches will continue to expand the Proliferated Architecture of “spy” satellites, while the other half will ensure “sustained growth and innovation.”
“NRO’s ability to leverage multiple acquisition approaches demonstrates NRO’s commitment to delivering critical national systems on orbit faster than ever before.”
https://thedebrief.org/the-nro-and-the-u-s-space-force-just-conducted-another-secret-launch/
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/04/22/governors-alarmed-looming-transfer-of-air-national-guard-units-space-force.html
Governors 'Alarmed' by Looming Transfer of Air National Guard Units to Space Force
April 22, 2025 at 5:39pm ET
A bipartisan group representing all U.S. governors is sounding the alarm about a looming move to transition Air National Guard units into the Space Force without approval from the affected states as efforts to reverse the decision continue in Congress.
In a new statement published Tuesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Governors Association, decried Legislative Proposal 480, a plan for Space Force to take control of some state Air National Guard units.
Polis and Stitt warned that the service is moving quickly to sidestep state governors by taking control of those units possibly as soon as this year.
"We are particularly alarmed by indications that Space Force leadership is aggressively pushing a plan to fully implement Legislative Proposal 480 (LP 480) and remove units from states by the end of the year," the National Governors Association statement said.
"There has still been no formal notification to, coordination with, or consent obtained from the impacted states."
The governors' warning that the active-duty Space Force could be moving quickly to take control of space-focused Air National Guard units found in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio follows a recent effort in Congress to create a Space National Guard and overturn Legislative Proposal 480.
The proposal, authored last year under former President Joe Biden's administration and first reported on by Military.com, would transfer Air National Guard units with space missions into the active-duty Space Force by seeking exemptions from existing laws that require state governors to approve such a move.
It was ultimately signed into law as part of last year's National Defense Authorization Act.
"Governors must be part of the conversation from the start, as has been the precedent for over 120 years," the National Governors Association statement said.
"We were alarmed when the prior administration pursued this course of action, and we remain alarmed it's continuing to happen now."
Spokespeople for the National Governors Association did not immediately respond to Military.com questions asking about the organization's knowledge of the timeline for the Space Force to take over the units with space missions.
A Department of the Air Force spokesperson told Military.com that "the Space Force is planning to transfer responsibility for the covered space functions performed by the Air National Guard."
"The Space Force, Air Force and National Guard Bureau will jointly determine the specific conditions, resource alignments, and timing for the transfer of each covered space function," the spokesperson added.
"In accordance with the law, the Space Force is not planning to relocate the missions out of the affected states."
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The original Air Force proposal was strongly condemned last year by the governors of every U.S. state and territory, a point reiterated in Tuesday's statement.
"Governors from all 55 states and territories have repeatedly urged Congress to reject LP 480, which would reassign specified Air National Guard units to the U.S. Space Force without the legally required consent of governors," the National Governors Association said in Tuesday's statement. "National Guard assets are not only critical to national security and military readiness, they are also essential to a governor's ability to respond swiftly to emergencies and natural disasters."
Military.com also first reported last month that bipartisan groups of lawmakers submitted bills in both chambers of Congress aimed at establishing a Space National Guard, which also would explicitly dismantle the proposal to transfer those units to the Space Force.
That bill was spearheaded, in part, by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
"Sen. Crapo is still leading efforts in the Senate to repeal LP 480 in the FY2026 NDAA," Melanie Lawhorn, a spokesperson for Crapo, told Military.com on Tuesday.
That legislation may have support from the White House. Notably, on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised in August that "as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard."
The National Guard Association of the United States, an organization that lobbies for the reserve component also known as NGAUS, has been vocal against the effort to transfer the Air National Guard space units into the active-duty Space Force, saying it would hurt staffing.
Most recently, NGAUS announced survey results last month that showed only 8% of Air National Guardsmen in space missions would be interested in transferring to the active-duty Space Force.
The Space Force, unlike other service branches, does not have a reserve component like a National Guard.
The service is creating a part-time active-duty service model, the first of its kind, but officials have said they won't start accepting applications for that until at least 2026.
Retired Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, president of NGAUS, told Military.com in an interview Tuesday that it appears the Space Force is rushing to get the transfer done before other efforts stop it.
"What's the rush?" McGinn said. "To me, it's a control thing too. For some reason, they don't want to work with governors as has been seen in how they approached this thing right from the get-go."
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Senior Pentagon Official Says Cyber Warfare Poses Significant Threat to Joint Force
April 22, 2025
Director for Cyber Warfare John Garstka delivered keynote remarks at the event today virtually from the Pentagon.
Garstka, who works in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Platform Weapon Portfolio Management, said real-world cyberattacks on commercial critical infrastructure are on the rise.
Likening cyberspace to the fifth warfighting domain, with air, land, sea and space being the others, he said many people have a hard time grasping the impact of cyber conflict because they don't have access to simulations of such attacks and the subsequent effects.
"What we have learned [from our wargaming] is that this is a significant threat that we have to prepare the joint force to deal with," Garstka said.
He added that to prepare for such threats, DOD is focusing on the infrastructure necessary for supporting space systems missions.
"If you shut down the water or the power or the fuel, and you can't provide a space system ground segment with power, then you [just] have a static display," Garstka said.
"And so, it's super important that when we think about cybersecurity for space systems …
we factor in DOD installation-critical infrastructure, and we also factor in commercial-critical infrastructure when we have space systems dependent on that infrastructure," he added.
Garstka said proper risk assessment is also an essential element of dealing with cyberthreats, and that such assessments must cover the entire life cycle of the system rather than just the operation and sustainment phases.
Regarding which systems are most at risk of cyberattack, Garstka said America's adversaries — including China — often focus on the defense industrial base.
"What's important to point out is that cyberattacks can impact production lines; they can shut a production line down," Garstka said, noting that such attacks on the DIB can impact real-world DOD missions.
"We're not talking about hypotheticals here. If you're dependent on the DIB for operations of your space systems, you have to treat protecting the DIB as important as protecting the space system, space segment or ground segment," he added.
Garstka also said it's crucial the services view the DIB as a key mission partner and that DOD gives industry the requirements necessary to meet the designs of next-generation space systems rather than having them fall victim to adversarial espionage campaigns in cyberspace.
"We've got to figure out how to close the cost equation to make that a reality," he said. Garstka said having the motivation necessary to achieve the level of cybersecurity required, despite financial challenges, is essential for countering these threats.
"The most important thing you can bring to the fight is motivation — the ability to identify the type of requirements that these space systems need to meet — and then you've got to be able to [fund them]," Garstka said.
Now in its seventh year and held at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California, Space Systems Command's annual cyber expo spends two days covering "all things cyber," including strategy and operations, cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence.
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4163237/senior-pentagon-official-says-cyber-warfare-poses-significant-threat-to-joint-f/
Russia reports drone attack in Tatarstan near Shahed production facility
23.04.2025 17:55
Russia has reported a UAV attack in Tatarstan, where a facility in the Alabuga special economic zone manufactures kamikaze drones.
This was reported by BBC Russian Service, according to Ukrinform.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that air defenses had allegedly intercepted and destroyed a drone over the Republic of Tatarstan around 12:20 p.m. local time.
Russian Telegram channels shared footage of the “air defense operation”.
Reports indicate that one or more drones were intercepted near Yelabuga, where the Alabuga special economic zone hosts a factory for Shahed drone production.
This area has been targeted by drone strikes in the past.
As a result of the reported attack, flights at Kazan and Nizhnekamsk airports were suspended.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, commented on Telegram that the situation in Alabuga was “somewhat loud and somewhat successful in some places.”
He noted that over 6,000 Shahed/Geran drones and thousands of decoy drones were produced at the Alabuga facility in 2024.
Kovalenko added that Russia aims to increase production this year to between 8,000 and 10,000 Shahed/Geran drones and approximately 15,000 decoy drones.
As Ukrinform reported, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said last year that a warehouse in Russia, containing $16 million worth of components for Shahed attack drones, was destroyed.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3985233-russia-reports-drone-attack-in-tatarstan-near-shahed-production-facility.html
https://t.me/astrapress/79613
Drone strike in Marhanets: Injury toll rises to 49, nine killed
23.04.2025 16:07
In Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk region, the number of injuries from an FPV drone strike on a bus carrying company employees has risen to 49.
The head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, Serhiy Lysak, shared the update on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
“49 injured… This is an update on the consequences of the Russian strike on Marhanets,” he wrote.
According to Lysak, 31 victims have been hospitalized. Four of them—two men and two women—are in critical condition.
As Ukrinform earlier reported, in Marhanets, a drone strike targeted a bus carrying company employees on their way to work.
Initial reports confirmed 9 fatalities and 42 injuries.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3985191-drone-strike-in-marhanets-injury-toll-rises-to-49-nine-killed.html
Three Arrested in Separate Ozark County Incidents Involving Drugs, Weapons, and Drone Interference
April 23, 2025
Ozark County, MO – The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department has recently released details on two incidents that occured in March, resulting in multiple arrests on charges ranging from drug possession and DWI to weapons violations and interference with law enforcement equipment.
On March 4, 2025, deputies responded to the Town & Country parking lot in Gainesville following reports of a man acting erratically.
Deputy Ryan and Lt. Rhoades arrived on the scene and found Eric Hogard behind the wheel of a running vehicle, which was parked across several spots.
According to deputies, Hogard was yelling at unseen figures and appeared severely intoxicated.
When officers made contact, Hogard allegedly attempted to drive away.
He then locked the vehicle, rolled up the windows, and made threatening remarks toward the deputies, stating, “That’s it, I’m going to pull it.”
Officers were able to de-escalate the situation and forcibly removed Hogard from the vehicle as he resisted arrest.
A search of the vehicle revealed methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, alcohol, and what deputies described as “copious amounts of marijuana.”
Hogard was booked into the Ozark County Jail on charges of DWI, possession of a controlled substance, and resisting arrest.
In a separate and more dangerous situation on March 15, 2025, deputies responded to a 911 call from Tecumseh after a resident reported being shot at by a neighbor while both were traveling on a rural county road.
The suspect reportedly fled into nearby woods, prompting the activation of the Ozark County Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team (S.E.T.) and the deployment of a drone to assist in the search.
During the operation, deputies attempted to search the property of Nancy Blackburn, a location known to be frequented by the suspect.
As the drone flew over the area, Blackburn allegedly fired at it, prompting additional criminal charges.
Authorities later secured search warrants for both Blackburn’s and the suspect Matt Trent’s properties. A negotiator was able to reach Trent by phone and convince him to surrender peacefully.
He was arrested on charges of second-degree assault, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon.
Meanwhile, a search of Blackburn’s property led to her arrest for unlawful use of a weapon and possession of methamphetamine.
Additionally, her actions involving the drone have been referred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for further investigation regarding federal violations for interfering with unmanned aircraft.
Ongoing Investigations
The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that investigations into both incidents are ongoing and emphasized that additional charges may be filed pending further review by the prosecutor’s office and federal authorities.
Sheriff’s officials urge residents to report suspicious behavior and to never interfere with law enforcement operations, including the use of drones in official investigations.
https://www.ozarkradionews.com/local-news/three-arrested-in-separate-ozark-county-incidents-involving-drugs-weapons-and-drone-interference
https://www.reporternews.com/story/news/2025/04/23/ufos-reported-sightings-in-abilene-over-the-years/83194901007/
UFO sightings have been reported in Abilene. Do you believe something is out there?
April 23, 2025 6:00 a.m. CT
Glowing lights, lost time and a test among witnesses.
A number of UFO sightings have been reported in Abilene and documented over the years by the National UFO Reporting Center.
As for NUFORC, the nonprofit organization has been compiling UFO reports worldwide for 50 years.
The center's publicly accessible database contains 51 incidents that have occurred in the Abilene area. The reports date back to 1991 and are all listed as open.
Though Abilene is home to Dyess Air Force Base, many witnesses of unexplained sightings describe their observations as objects they have never seen before.
NUFORC's reports are posted online. The names of those making the reports are not included.
The oldest reported sighting
The oldest UFO sighting in Abilene in NUFORC's database occurred on Sept. 1, 1991.
A parent was driving with their three sons in Abilene when they spotted a light in the sky and stopped to get a better look.
"This light didn’t have a beam and it was swaying back and forth between two houses right at rooftop height.
I looked up above to see where the light was coming from and it was a huge triangular shaped object in the sky," the report stated.
The round light started to come toward the car and everything around appeared gray and silent.
"It felt like time standing still," the report said.
The person who reported the incident said they lost a chunk of time as they stopped to observe.
"I have always heard of missing time and I glanced at the time on the car," the person wrote. "I went out right at that time and when I came to, I looked at the clock and I was missing one hour."
The parent asked their kids if they had fallen asleep. They said, "No," and that they had not been stopped for very long.
The children had not seen the light. The incident was not reported until June 9, 2008.
A test between three and a zipping star
A man, his wife and his employee were enjoying the evening air in July of 1995, according to a 1995 report to NUFORC. The man walked from the front porch where they were talking to stretch, lie on his back and look at the sky.
The man saw a star move out of the corner of his eye, believing it to be a shooting star, but the light which blended in among the other stars traveled in a bizarre pattern.
"When the 'star' moved, it did not accelerate the way everything else I had ever seen had," he wrote in the report.
He described the "star" as going full speed, turning in a curving movement and stopping and starting without accelerating or decelerating.
"After seeing that happen a couple of times, the reality of what I was seeing, that I was definitely seeing a genuine UFO, so overwhelmed me, that I actually wondered if I was losing my mind," he said. "I needed someone else to tell me if they were seeing this too."
Individually, he pulled aside his wife and his employee to question them and see if they were seeing the same "star" moving around in the sky. Both those tested told him they saw the same thing happening in the sky.
"We all feel absolutely sure that this object was a long ways outside of any atmosphere surrounding our planet, and while it certainly appeared to actually be as far away as the stars themselves, especially when the objected stopped, I realize it was probably actually between the earth and the stars," the man wrote in the report.
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The three witnesses watched the moving "star" for several hours before going to sleep.
In his report, the man listed his experiences with the United States Air Force and with aircrafts to suggest that what he witnessed was not a normal aircraft.
"I have never, ever seen anything that could even remotely do the kinds of things that this craft did," the report stated.
The 1995 incident was reported to NUFORC on Oct. 31, 2003.
Traveler spots lights along Interstate 20
An Aug. 10, 2000, incident reported to NUFORC describes a traveler's observations in the early morning hours on the last leg of their trip.
The vacationer was driving home from the Pacific Northwest to central Texas when they spotted several moving lights in the sky along Interstate Highway 20 between Abilene and Fort Worth.
"I happened to look up into the sky at some point when I noticed a large number of lights moving through the night sky. I saw many such lights over the course of the next several minutes," the report said.
The lights appeared to be on objects shaped like "tops" and "cigar-shaped" crafts.
They initially believed the objects to be normal aircrafts like helicopters or planes, but they spotted two crafts that flew low relative to other aircrafts.
"I could see them clearly, as they flew low relative to the other objects," the report stated. "They were cone-shaped, with the flat end at a slight angle. The flat ends had several lines of lights on them."
The traveler described the lights as white and steady and not appearing to blink or flicker.
The observer said that one craft was following the other in a straight line through the sky, and they lost sight of them as they traveled along the road.
The whole incident lasted about 40 seconds.
A sighting streak in 2008
Six sightings were reported to NUFORC during the last few days of October 2008.
Observers noted changing colors and unblinking lighted objects Oct. 21-30, 2008. They saw white lights to red, orange and gold lights.
Was there an extraterrestrial event drawing flying objects to the skies of Abilene?
The most recent UFO sighting was this spring
According to the NUFROC database, the latest reported incident in Abilene happened April 12.
"I swear I just saw a UFO or whatever they call them now," the person stated in the report.
The observer was outside smoking when they saw a light in the sky.
They live close to Dyess Air Force Base but said it was different than other aircrafts they often see.
The craft did not have strobe or marker lights, and it was close enough that there should have been noise, but the witness heard no sound.
"The thing it did that made me know this was not an Earth Craft at all was it shot what looked like a large smoke ring in front of itself but the ring stayed ahead of it never slowing down and the light never flew through it," the observer stated in the report.
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