TYB
>NASA Found Signs Of Life On Mars
https://phys.org/news/2025-09-astrophysicists-sun-year-magnetic-mirrors.html
https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/540/1/668/8127241
Astrophysicists find sun's 11-year magnetic cycle mirrors younger stars, shaping Earth's space weather
September 10, 2025
Most places on Earth have seasons because our planet is on a tilt as it orbits the sun.
But our star also has its own version of seasons that affect life on Earth—and new astronomical research is helping us better understand and manage the impact of these solar "seasons."
Just as Earth cycles through spring, summer, autumn and winter, the sun goes through an 11-year cycle of magnetic activity—essentially its own seasons, with the solar summer ("solar maximum") at the cycle's peak, while solar "winter" ushers in a calm period in the cycle.
On Earth, summers involve a temperature rise; the solar summer involves more sunspots and solar flares.
These flares send masses of charged particles across the solar system, and as they interact with our atmosphere, we can get stunning displays of color in skies above regions around the Arctic and Antarctic.
We are currently close to solar maximum, with the latest assessment of our current Solar Cycle 25 suggesting this cycle, which began in 2019, may have peaked last year.
"Spectacular displays of aurora in the night sky for the last year or so are a classic product of the maximum solar activity phase our sun is experiencing during 2024–2025," says Dr. Deepak Chahal from Macquarie University, who led new research into stellar magnetic cycles published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in June.
His work tracked magnetic activity in fast-rotating stars similar to our sun to better understand how the magnetic fields of stars evolve over time.
"Looking at younger, faster-rotating stars, and how their magnetic activity changes as they slow down with age, lets us see what our sun may have been like in its youth and how its magnetic behavior has evolved over billions of years."
When solar weather hits Earth
Unlike Earth's seasons, which are caused by our planet's tilt, the sun's seasons are driven by its magnetic field.
Every 11 years, the sun's magnetic field completely flips—north becomes south, and south becomes north. During this process, magnetic activity ramps up dramatically.
These solar seasons directly impact our technology-dependent lives in ways most of us don't ever realize.
Solar flares can disrupt radio communications, while massive eruptions called coronal mass ejections can damage satellites and knock out electrical grids.
Solar radiation storms pose risks to astronauts, and even airline passengers flying polar routes.
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In 1989, a severe solar storm during solar maximum caused a major blackout in Quebec, Canada, affecting millions of people for hours.
The largest known solar storm—the Carrington Event of 1859—caused telegraph systems worldwide to fail and produced auroras visible as far south as the Caribbean.
"If a solar storm the size of the Carrington event occurred today, it could cause unimaginable damage to our modern, technology-dependent society," says Associate Professor Devika Kamath, co-author of the study, and a lecturer in astronomy at Macquarie University's School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
"Our interconnected digital world today is far more vulnerable than the simple telegraph networks of 1859.
A similar event could disrupt everything from GPS navigation and mobile phone networks to banking systems and air traffic control, potentially causing trillions of dollars in damage."
A crystal ball for space weather
Scientists previously thought our sun's magnetic behavior was unusual compared to other stars, which seemed to have cycles either much shorter or longer.
But the new international research led by Macquarie, which included researchers from the University of NSW and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found our sun isn't the cosmic outlier scientists once thought.
After comparing data from 138 sun-like stars using data from multiple space telescopes over more than a decade, they found clues about what our sun was like when it was younger and more active.
"We found several young sun-like stars with magnetic cycles similar to our sun, but shorter," says Dr. Chahal.
"As these stars age and slow down, they may evolve to have cycles like our sun's current 11-year cycle."
This research acts like a preview of our sun's future behavior, helping scientists prepare for space weather that affects everything from GPS systems to airline routes over the poles, where radiation exposure is highest during solar storms.
Co-author Professor Richard de Grijs says research to better understand the sun's seasons delivers a whole-of-society benefit.
"Understanding the patterns of stellar activity cycles helps us better predict when dangerous space weather events might occur, not just around our own sun but potentially around other stars with planetary systems," he says.
"Our increasing dependence on satellite technology, GPS navigation, and interconnected digital systems means we need research like this to help us prepare for the space weather that's an inevitable part of living with an active star."
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Space Warfighting Heritage - The Dawn of Deep Space Surveillance
Sept. 9, 2025
Today, the world relies on a variety of space surveillance systems, including the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) system, to track over 47,000 man-made objects in orbit.
With its one-meter-wide telescope, and advanced digital camera technology, GEODSS can see objects the size of a basketball from more than 20,000 miles away.
This powerful technology is part of the USSF’s Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and allows Mission Delta 2 Guardians to continuously monitor space objects and debris deep in space to ensure satellites remain safe in low earth and geosynchronous orbit.
The original GEODSS prototype station was constructed at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico and first demonstrated its satellite tracking capabilities on September 1st, 1975.
During the 1980s, the Air Force operated the system as part of its space detection and tracking mission from sites at Maui, Diego Garcia, Socorro, New Mexico and South Korea.
The system has undergone several refurbishments and upgrades since its inception, including the addition of a powerful digital camera in 2005 that allows GEODSS to track multiple satellites simultaneously throughout its field of view.
Though the South Korean site was inactivated in the 1990s, the three remaining GEODSS locations are operated by the 15th Space Surveillance Squadron (SPSS) and remain a critical USSF space domain awareness capability.
https://www.spoc.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4298720/space-warfighting-heritage-the-dawn-of-deep-space-surveillance
Space Force’s top enlisted leader visits Kirtland AFB
Sept. 9, 2025
Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John Bentivegna visited Kirtland Air Force Base Sept. 3 to meet with Guardians, gain a deeper understanding of local space operations, and underscore the installation’s growing role in advancing national defense through innovation and enlisted force development.
During his visit, Bentivegna received mission overviews from Space Systems Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory, toured key facilities, and hosted a town hall with Guardians.
The trip emphasized Kirtland AFB’s strategic importance as home to approximately 1,200 Guardians supporting diverse missions that safeguard the nation’s access to and freedom of action in space.
“Visiting bases like Kirtland allows me to witness firsthand the incredible work our Guardians are doing,” Bentivegna said.
“These visits serve as a reminder of the sacrifices that our Guardians make daily, and I am beyond honored to witness it and advocate on their behalf.
The work being done here, from research and development to operational support and joint integration, is vital to our success in the space domain and our ability to protect the nation.”
Bentivegna’s discussions with Guardians centered on enlisted development, professional growth opportunities, and the importance of maintaining a strong culture of resilience and readiness.
He highlighted the critical role of enlisted leaders in shaping the future of the Space Force, noting that their expertise and innovation are vital to driving mission success, and his pride to witness their impact firsthand as their advocate.
The visit also reinforced the importance of collaboration between SSC, AFRL, and partner organizations at Kirtland AFB, which are leading research, development, and operational efforts to maintain U.S. space superiority.
From advancing satellite technology to pioneering new space systems, these missions directly contribute to national security and the joint fight.
“What truly stands out about Kirtland is its holistic approach to space dominance - innovation to warfighting,” Bentivegna said.
“Seeing the cutting-edge research at AFRL and the operational focus of SSC, I understand how we are advancing directed energy, prototype satellite operations, and Space Development Agency.
These are foundational in our ability to deter threats and maintain the peaceful use of space, which underpins everything we do as a Space Force. Kirtland is at the forefront of creating our competitive advantage in space.”
Kirtland Air Force Base continues to stand at the forefront of space innovation, advancing critical missions while shaping the next generation of enlisted leaders in the United States Space Force.
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4298766/space-forces-top-enlisted-leader-visits-kirtland-afb/
https://www.space.com/astronomy/gravitational-wave-detector-confirms-theories-of-einstein-and-hawking-this-is-the-clearest-view-yet-of-the-nature-of-black-holes
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/kw5g-d732
Gravitational wave detector confirms theories of Einstein and Hawking: 'This is the clearest view yet of the nature of black holes'
September 10, 2025
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is celebrating 10 years of cutting-edge gravitational wave science by confirming predictions made by physics luminaries Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Roy Kerr — and potentially revealing a path toward a theory of quantum gravity.
LIGO achieved this latest milestone by detecting gravitational waves, or tiny ripples in spacetime. The existence of gravitational waves was first predicted by Einstein in his 1915 theory of gravity, general relativity.
The newly detected ripples resulted from the collision of two black holes, each estimated to have a mass around 32 times that of the sun.
In just four days, on September 14, LIGO will celebrate exactly 10 years since it made the very first detection of gravitational waves. This signal, designated GW150914, had traveled about 1.3 billion years to reach Earth.
Its detection represented an entirely new method of astronomy — a way to "hear" spacetime ringing after some of the most powerful events in the cosmos rather than "see" them by relying on electromagnetic radiation.
Since then, LIGO and its gravitational wave detecting partners, Virgo and the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA), have detected a multitude of gravitational wave signals from other black hole collisions, mergers between neutron stars, and even from two rare "mixed mergers" involving a neutron star and a black hole.
"This is the clearest view yet of the nature of black holes," Maximiliano Isi, a member of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration from the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics, said in a statement.
"We've found some of the strongest evidence yet that astrophysical black holes are the black holes predicted from Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity."
Black hole theories validated by new gravitational wave signal
This newly detected signal, GW250114, stands among previous detections as one of the clearest gravitational wave signals ever.
"GW250114 is the loudest gravitational wave event we have detected to date; it was like a whisper becoming a shout," Geraint Pratten, member of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration and a researcher at the University of Birmingham, said in a separate statement.
"This gave us an unprecedented opportunity to put Einstein's theories through some of the most rigorous tests possible — validating one of Stephen Hawking's pioneering predictions that when black holes merge, the combined area of their event horizons can only grow, never shrink."
Hawking's prediction involves the light-trapping outer boundary of a black hole called the event horizon. This marks the point at which the gravitational influence of the black hole becomes so great that not even light moves fast enough to escape its grip.
As gravity is related to mass, the size of an event horizon, also known as the Schwarzschild radius — after Karl Schwarzschild, the first physicist to solve the equations of general relativity and inadvertently predict the existence of black holes — also depends on the mass of a black hole.
The greater the mass, the wider the event horizon.
In 1971, Hawking, along with physicist Jacob Bekenstein, predicted that when black holes merge, the total area of the resultant daughter black hole's event horizon would be larger than the area of the progenitor black holes' event horizons combined; the duo said that event horizon would have an area proportional to its level of disorder or "entropy."
GW250114 revealed that the progenitor black holes had a total surface area of around 93,000 square miles (240,000 square kilometers), which is around the size of the entire U.K.
The daughter black hole created by the merger, however, has a surface area of 154,000 square miles (400,000 square kilometers), which is about the size of Sweden.
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Another prediction verified by this research comes from New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr, who developed Kerr geometry from general relativity, which describes empty spacetime around a rotating black hole, or a Kerr black hole.
Following mergers between black holes, these systems enter what scientists call a ringdown phase. This sees the daughter black hole vibrating and emitting gravitational waves at very specific frequencies, akin to the changing "voice" of the black hole.
Kerr predicted the "voice" of the black hole could be described by two values alone: the mass of the black hole and its spin.
This really sets black holes apart from other celestial objects, like stars, that must be described using a vast range of characteristics.
What is extraordinary about this is the fact that a black hole 1 billion times as massive as the sun can be completely characterized by just two numbers: mass and spin.
"Given the clarity of the signal produced by GW250114, for the first time, we could pick out two 'tones' from the black hole voices and confirm that they behave according to Kerr's prediction, obtaining unprecedented solid evidence for the Kerr nature of black holes found in nature," Gregorio Carullo, member of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration and a researcher at the University of Birmingham, said in the statement.
What is fitting about this new detection is the fact it is so similar to the signal that LIGO detected to make history on September 14, 2015, GW150914.
"The detection of a black hole binary with parameters similar to those of GW150914, but three times louder, only a decade after the breakthrough discovery, is owed to the tremendous technological improvements of our instruments, paving the path for precision astronomy with gravitational waves," said LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration team member Patricia Schmidt, Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham.
Regular and purposeful improvements have been a constant factor in the life of LIGO, which consists of two detectors in Washington and Louisiana that can now measure distortions in spacetime that are 1/10,000 the width of a proton, or 700 trillion times smaller than the width of a human hair.
"Rai Weiss proposed the concept of LIGO in 1972, and I thought 'this doesn't have much chance at all of working,'" Kip Thorne, an expert on the theory of black holes who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics with Weiss and Barry Barish for the development of LIGO, said in a separate statement.
"It took me three years of thinking about it on and off and discussing ideas with Rai and Vladimir Braginsky [a Russian physicist], to be convinced this had a significant possibility of success.
The technical difficulty of reducing the unwanted noise that interferes with the desired signal was enormous. We had to invent a whole new technology."
Who could have predicted this technology could have been so successful in opening a new window to our study of the universe?
Certainly not Einstein, who, when he theorized the existence of gravitational waves, predicted that no instrument of Earth would ever be sensitive enough to detect these spacetime ripples.
"Just 10 short years ago, LIGO opened our eyes for the first time to gravitational waves and changed the way humanity sees the cosmos," Aamir Ali, a program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Physics, which has supported LIGO since its inception, said in the statement.
"There's a whole universe to explore through this completely new lens, and these latest discoveries show LIGO is just getting started."
Future improvements for LIGO could include the addition of a planned fourth detector, this time located in India, which will improve the precision with which LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA can localize gravitational wave sources.
As for this latest milestone, it is certain that Einstein, Hawking and Weiss, the latter of whom passed away just last month, would all have been thrilled to see LIGO further validate their work.
"If Hawking were alive, he would have reveled in seeing the area of the merged black holes increase," Thorne added.
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Astronomers discover repeating gamma-ray burst 'unlike anything we have ever witnessed before'
September 9, 2025
Astronomers have spotted a cosmic explosion of high-energy gamma-rays unlike any ever seen before. The gamma-ray burst (GRB) designated GRB 250702B set itself apart from other explosive bursts of gamma-rays by exploding several times in one day.
That's something difficult to explain, given GRBs are thought to arise from the catastrophic deaths of massive stars, with no known scenario currently accounting for repeated blasts over a full day.
Co-lead researcher and University College Dublin astronomer, Antonio Martin-Carrillo, said in a statement that this GRB is "unlike any other seen in 50 years of GRB observations."
GRB 250702B was initially detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on July 2, 2025, but its location was uncertain.
The following day, GRB 250702B was investigated by the Very Large Telescope (VLT), which used its HAWK-I infrared camera to pinpoint the source of this GRB outside the Milky Way. This was later confirmed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
GRBs are believed to occur either when massive stars reach the end of their lives and undergo gravitational collapse to become black holes or neutron stars, or when an unfortunate star wanders too close to a black hole and is shredded in a so-called "tidal disruption event."
This leads to what are currently thought to be the most energetic explosions in the universe, putting out as much energy in a period ranging from milliseconds to minutes as the sun will radiate in around 10 billion years.
GRB 250702B, on the other hand, lasted around a day. That is 100 to 1,000 times longer than most GRBs, according to co-team leader and Radboud University researcher Andrew Levan.
"More importantly, gamma-ray bursts never repeat since the event that produces them is catastrophic," Martin-Carrillo added.
When Fermi initially saw GRB 250702B on July 2, the space telescope saw it burst three times over a few hours. Then, an examination of data from the Einstein Probe X-ray space telescope revealed that the same source had erupted a day prior.
This makes GRB 250702B a long-period repeating GRB like nothing astronomers have previously observed. Its nature remains a mystery. "If this is a massive star, it is a collapse unlike anything we have ever witnessed before," Levan said.
Fermi and the Einstein Probe could not pinpoint the source of GRB 250702B, with the explosion appearing to have come from the plane of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
To confirm or refute this, the team turned to the VLT, one of the world's most advanced optical telescopes located at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
"Before these observations, the general feeling in the community was that this GRB must have originated from within our galaxy," Levan said. "The VLT fundamentally changed that paradigm."
Observations made with the HAWK-I camera showed that GRB 250702B actually erupted beyond the limits of the Milky Way, in another galaxy. This was then confirmed by Hubble.
The exact distance to the source of GRB 250702B isn't certain yet, but the team thinks that the size and brightness of its home galaxy indicate it is located billions of light-years away.
"What we found was considerably more exciting: the fact that this object is extragalactic means that it is considerably more powerful," Martin-Carrillo said.
Further investigation of GRB 250702B will be needed to both more accurately pinpoint its location and to determine what caused this long-lasting repeating blast of gamma-rays.
One explanation would be a massive star collapsing onto itself, releasing vast amounts of energy. This should have created a GRB lasting mere seconds, however.
Alternatively, a star being ripped apart in TDE could produce a day-long GRB, but this scenario fails to replicate other properties of the GRB 250702B, an explosion that would require a very unusual star being destroyed by an even stranger black hole.
The team is currently monitoring the site of this explosion with the VLT and the James Webb Space Telescope, hoping to catch a glimpse of its aftermath to better understand its nature.
"We are still not sure what produced this, but with this research, we have made a huge step forward towards understanding this extremely unusual and exciting object," Martin-Carrillo concluded.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/astronomers-discover-repeating-gamma-ray-burst-unlike-anything-we-have-ever-witnessed-before-video
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf8e1
https://www.space.com/astronomy/dwarf-planets/the-weird-ringed-dwarf-planet-quaoar-may-have-an-extra-moon-astronomers-discover
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/adfeda
The weird ringed dwarf planet Quaoar may have an extra moon, astronomers discover
September 10, 2025
The odd dwarf planet Quaoar might have a brand-new moon. Observations of the tiny world, made by a pair of astronomers in California, suggest it possesses either a second satellite or a third ring.
Quaoar and our solar system's other dwarf planets are generally so far away that they are a challenge to view directly from Earth. (An exception is Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.)
So, to observe them, astronomers rely on stellar occultations — moments when an object passes between them and a background star. The body of the foreground object briefly blocks light from the star, as do any rings or satellites.
Both of Quaoar's known rings were discovered in separate occultations, with the first ring initially identified by a trio of amateur astronomers.
But occultation observations can be tricky. Seeing rings depends on the angle of their orbit, which can miss the star completely.
And moons must be in the right position in their journey around their parent object to block the star, so spotting them can be hit or miss. And occultations themselves depend on the viewer's location on Earth, as the viewing angle shifts with latitude.
On June 25, 2025, Rick Nolthenius, an astronomer at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, and his former student, amateur astronomer Kirk Bender, set out to observe the Quaoar system during an occultation.
The roughly 680-mile-wide (1,090 kilometers) dwarf planet would pass in front of the background star at an angle visible only to observers in northern Canada and other parts of the Arctic during daylight hours.
But one of the rings might manage an occultation that could be seen from California. It was enough to send Nolthenius and Bender south to the Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy, where an observing partnership was set up.
With Nolthenius on the institute's 36-inch telescope and Bender on the 14-inch one, they anxiously awaited the potential passage.
"I did decide to start the recording earlier," Nolthenius told Space.com. "I thought, Who knows what we're going to see?"
So they had their separate systems up and running four minutes before the anticipated occultation. Their optimism paid off.
"I said, 'Oh my God, did you see that? The star disappeared,'" Nolthenius said.
It was a brief flicker, lasting just over a second, and Bender hadn't seen it. But both telescopes did. The recordings showed a brief 1.23-second blip.
"The profile of the occultation was most consistent with it being a new satellite — a new moon — going around Quaoar," Nolthenius said.
The results were published this past August in an article in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.
'Keep recording'
Quaoar was discovered in 2002. The dwarf planet orbits beyond Pluto, taking 286 Earth years to complete one lap of the sun.
Its name comes from the creation mythology of the Tongva people, who are indigenous to the Los Angeles Basin, where the initial observations were made. The name can be pronounced with two syllables (/ˈkwɑːwɑːr/) or three (/ˈkwɑːoʊ(w)ɑːr/).
In 2007, Quaoar's only confirmed moon, named Weywot, was spotted. The dwarf planet's rings are a puzzle.
The pair orbit a significant distance from the icy world, farther out in relation to the dwarf planet's size than expected.
Their extensive reach required astronomers to revise what they thought they knew about the survival of planetary rings.
It's possible that the new observations by Nolthenius and Bender indicate not a moon but a third ring.
The duo have been cautious in their classification, allowing for the possibility that a torus of material could be behind the observations.
But Nolthenius doesn't think that's likely. "As soon as I saw that occultation, I decided, OK, we're going to keep recording," he said.
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The pair continued to observe for a full three minutes after the planned occultation time, for a total time of nine minutes.
They saw no sign of a second occultation, which they would have expected had a ring been involved. However, the duo still doesn't rule a ring out as a possibility.
Study co-author Benjamin Proudfoot, an astronomer at the University of Central Florida, also thinks that a newfound satellite is the most likely explanation.
Proudfoot observed Quaoar in 2024 using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, work that allowed him to place constraints on the ring system in a paper published earlier this year in The Planetary Science Journal.
"We think we found a new moon," Proudfoot told colleagues in July at the Progress in Understanding the Pluto Mission: 10 Years after Flyby conference in Laurel, Maryland, where he reported the discovery.
Checking the boxes
Rings and moons aren't the only potential explanations for blockages seen during occultations. Nolthenius and his colleagues had to rule out several other possibilities.
Perhaps the easiest was an airplane flying overhead. In addition to Nolthenius and Bender, a handful of other observers were present, and they watched the area of the sky for aircraft; none were spotted in the region during the occultation.
A large bird could theoretically block both telescopes, and Nolthenius said that California condors are native to the region. But "they don't hover," he said, and that would be necessary to block both telescopes for more than a second.
What about a drone, which could easily manage the feat?
Nolthenius pointed out that such a craft would have to be very large, at least 80 inches (200 centimeters) wide, and would have to be precisely targeted to hover in such a way that it would block both telescopes — in other words, sent to "mess with those astronomers."
It would have to move into position, stop on a dime, remain for less than two seconds, and then leave. "That would take a drone mastery beyond what I think is possible," Nolthenius said.
The team then vetted objects beyond Earth. Satellites orbiting our planet would block out light for less than a second.
Interference by known asteroids would have been identified by the International Occultation Timing Association, which provides times to interested parties for occultations around the world.
What about unknown asteroids? An asteroid that has remained undiscovered to date would have produced a shorter event, and it would be unlikely to block light completely, according to the researchers.
The final potential obstructor was the Quaoar's known moon, Weywot. But it was casting its shadow further south, from an observer's perspective; occultations it may have produced would have been seen from Costa Rica, not California.
According to Proudfoot's calculations, the newfound Quaoar moon — if it does indeed exist — is at least 19 miles (30 km) wide.
It appears to be moving in a special orbit known as a resonance with the outermost ring, making three trips around Quaoar for every five made by the annulus.
Those numbers are rough estimates, because they are based on a single observation.
Full confirmation will come as other astronomers make observations of the moon. But that could be a challenge.
"Right now, we have a pretty good idea of what its orbit should look like, but not where along that possible orbit it could be," Proudfoot told Space.com by email.
Observing it again would essentially require a blind search. He said it's likely that the moon is only visible in a telescope like Webb when it is farthest from Quaoar, making it even more challenging to observe.
"It's on the bleeding edge of detectability," Proudfoot said.
Nolthenius hopes that more astronomers – professionals and amateurs – will turn their eyes to the skies to observe Quaoar's occultations.
Right now, the dwarf planet is passing in front of a region of the sky filled with stars. Once it moves on, he said, occultations will be much less common for the next 200 years.
If the new moon is confirmed, Nolthenius will have the chance to name it. He indicated that he's considering naming it after "someone special to me," but he's not sure how to make that work with the International Astronomical Union's naming conventions.
(Small objects in the outer solar system are generally named after deities associated with the underworld or creation). Regardless, confirmation will likely take some time.
Meanwhile, both Nolthenius and Bender will continue hunting for occultations of Quaoar and other targets.
The pair plan to observe more than a hundred occultations this year, roughly the same number they hunted last year.
"It's a little microadventure," Nolthenius said of occultation hunting. "I get to go off and do some science and not think about anything else."
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Space Development Agency's First Tranche 1 Mission
September 10, 2025
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, September 10 at 7:12 a.m. PT for a Falcon 9 launch of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) first Tranche 1 mission to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Thursday, September 11 at 7:04 a.m. PT.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 10 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 will be the sixth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
The space vehicles launched during this mission will serve a part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a new layered network of satellites in low-Earth orbit and supporting elements that will provide global military tactical communication and missile warning, indication, and tracking capabilities.
There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sda-t1tl-b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSsb1tv_DBQ
Nusantara Lima Mission
September 10, 2025
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, September 10 for a Falcon 9 launch of the Nusantara Lima mission to geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Liftoff is targeted for 8:00 p.m. ET with additional opportunities available until 9:55 p.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 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 will be the 23rd flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously supported Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER-b, USSF-124, BlueBird 1-5, and 18 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/nusantaralima
Russian MOD rejects Poland drone claims
10 Sep, 2025 12:28
The Russian military has not designated any targets in Poland for long-range strikes, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. Earlier on Wednesday, Warsaw claimed multiple drones it identified as Russian violated its airspace.
The Ministry expressed readiness to hold “consultations” with Polish defense officials on the issue and claimed that the range of the drones used in overnight strikes on western Ukraine does not exceed 700km.
“There were no targets designated on Polish territory,” the ministry stressed.
The targets attacked during overnight strikes included multiple military industrial facilities across Western Ukraine, the ministry revealed.
Namely, the Russian military scored hits on a tank and an aircraft plant located in the city of Lviv, as well as other installations in Ivano-Frankovsk, Khmelnitsky, and Zhitomir regions.
The sites have been involved in the manufacturing of long-range drones, and the production and repair of armored vehicles and combat aviation, according to the statement.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has claimed the country’s military detected 19 separate violations overnight, describing the incident as a “provocation” by Russia.
Up to four drones were downed, according to the PM, who also claimed the aircraft came into the country’s airspace from Belarus rather than from Ukraine.
Warsaw also formally invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty over what it called an “act of aggression” by Russia. The article mandates consultations if a member of the US-led bloc has its security threatened.
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also pinned the blame for the drone incident on Moscow, calling it “the most serious European airspace violation by Russia” during the Ukraine conflict.
She also alleged that unspecified “indications suggest it was intentional, not accidental.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s close ally, Belarus, said it had given the Polish military an early warning about the incoming drones, telling it that a number of UAVs used by Kiev and Moscow for attacking each other strayed “as a result of the impact of the parties’ electronic warfare assets.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/624419-russian-mod-rejects-poland-drone-claims/
Ukrainian bomb plot targeting Russian defense industry thwarted – FSB
10 Sep, 2025 09:02
Russia has foiled a Ukrainian military intelligence service assassination plot against a senior employee of a major defense plant in the Urals, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday.
The incident was reported in Russia’s Republic of Udmurtia, whose capital, Izhevsk, hosts the firearms manufacturer Kalashnikov and other defense enterprises.
According to the FSB, Kiev’s HUR intelligence agency recruited a man, provided him with instructions on handling explosives and toxins, and tasked him with carrying out the bombing attack. The suspect has been charged with preparing a terrorist act.
A video released by the FSB suggested that Ukrainian operatives coerced the man into the plot through a financial scam. He said he had been told that a bank loan exceeding $100,000 had been taken out in his name, leaving him vulnerable to prosecution.
The FSB said the suspect was arrested after surveilling the residence of his intended target. Officials shared footage of him filming a rural home over a fence with his phone.
Last month, the Russian agency reported preventing another alleged Ukrainian-organized terror plot, in which a 54-year-old Russian woman was tricked into debt and then unwittingly sent on a suicide bombing mission.
Investigators said she survived because an encrypted signal intended to trigger the explosive device failed to transmit.
https://www.rt.com/russia/624403-fsb-ukrainian-plot-udmurtia/
Trump to call Polish President over Russian drone incursion amid calls to hit Putin with 'harsh sanctions': Live updates
Updated: 13:47 EDT, 10 September 2025
Donald Trump will hold talks with Polish President Karol Nawrocki over the Russian drone incursion amid calls for the US to impose 'harsh sanctions' on Vladimir Putin.
The White House has announced the two leaders will speak on Wednesday with President Trump said to be tracking reports out of Poland.
Russia has offered to hold talks with Poland about the overnight drone attack which has put NATO on alert for conflict across Europe.
Donald Tusk has confirmed 19 drones crossed into the country overnight as Poland's Prime Minister called on NATO allies for help with his country closer to conflict than at any time since the Second World War.
Following an emergency cabinet meeting this morning, Tusk has requested to invoke NATO Article 4 so members can discuss the threat posed to Poland by Russia following the airspace violation early this morning.
Meanwhile, a Russian diplomat has described claims Russia flew the devices into Poland as 'groundless' in its first response to the incursion which has been roundly condemned across Europe.
Poland scrambled its air defenses in the early hours of Wednesday to take down the drones, marking the first engagement of a NATO country since the Russian-Ukraine conflict began more than three years ago.
10:07
Russian drones in Poland: What we know so far
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace. These threats were neutralized by Poland and NATO allies.
The Polish Prime Minister has invoked NATO Article 4 where member states can raise an issue to its main political decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council
Eight million Poles were forced to take shelter during a military operation to shoot down drones in the eastern part of the country
Warsaw's Frederic Chopin Airport and the surrounding airspace were also temporarily closed during the incident.
Ukraine and European allies call the incident a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict, as leaders describe the Kremlin's recent incursion as 'unacceptable'.
Belarus has claimed it informed Poland and Lithuania of drones which went astray because of electronic jamming during strikes between Russia and Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, deferring to Russia's Defense Ministry.
Belarus blamed "electronic warfare" for the drones' deviation; U.S. response still pending.
Russia said it did not target Polish sites in an overnight drone attack on Ukraine, before saying it was ready for 'talks' with the country.
U.S. President Donald Trump said of the Kremlin's drone incursion on Truth Social: "What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones? Here we go!"
Poland's interior ministry spokesperson Karolina Galecka has said two additional drones have been found in Polish territory, totalling to 14 so far.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15083399/poland-russia-drones-ukraine-nato-war-live-updates.html
Poland being brought into this began as a downed ufo in some articles.
>How easy is it to spoof a transponder?
>Any Chips stolen?
>Programmed?
>Homebrewed?
Something's up.
Greta Thunberg’s Gaza aid flotilla claims it was attacked by second drone off Tunisian coast
Wednesday 10 September 2025 10:16 EDT
A second boat in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla carrying activists including Greta Thunberg has been hit by a “suspected drone”, the group has claimed.
Activists and aid workers travelling as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said the boat, Alma, which is sailing under a British flag, was “attacked” while docked in Tunisian waters on Wednesday morning.
The group said nobody on board was hurt, but the vessel sustained fire damage on its top deck.
It comes just one day after the Familia Madeira, known as the Family Boat, thought to be carrying the group’s steering committee including Ms Thunberg, was reportedly struck while similarly docked near Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said port.
Tunisia said on Tuesday that the claim had “no basis in truth” and blamed the fire on an issue originating within the vessel.
A video posted to the GSF’s Instagram appears to show a flaming item landing on the boat’s deck before exploding, as people run for cover.
In a picture posted later, the group showed debris found on the deck of the Alma following the suspected strike.
“Following the drone strike on one of the Global Sumud Flotilla boats, crew members recovered a charred electronic device from the deck,” they wrote.
“While a full investigation is ongoing, the presence of such a device provides further indication that the boat was deliberately targeted.”
The flotilla is on what the group calls a “peaceful mission” aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the embattled Gaza Strip.
They are due to arrive later this month, but Israeli forces are likely to intercept the boats before they can reach the strip.
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is said to be drafting up plans for the arrest of Ms Thunberg and the seizure of the flotilla, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported.
There are plans to convert the ships into a police fleet.
“The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) confirms that on September 9, another boat in our fleet – the “Alma” – was attacked by a drone as it was docked in Tunisian waters,” the GSF wrote in a statement.
“The boat, sailing under the British flag, sustained fire damage on its top deck. The fire has since been extinguished, and all passengers and crew are safe.
An investigation is currently underway and when more information is available it will be released immediately.”
They added that the alleged strike “marks the second such attack in two days”.
“These repeat attacks come during intensified Israeli aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, and are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission,” it continued.
“The Global Sumud Flotilla continues undeterred. Our peaceful voyage to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and stand in unwavering solidarity with its people presses forward with determination and resolve.”
It comes after Ms Thunberg was among a number of other activists arrested by Israeli forces after they attempted to break the naval blockade in June.
Their boat was boarded by military who took them to Israel, where they were detained and eventually expelled.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/greta-thunberg-gaza-flotilla-drone-attack-tunisia-b2823682.html
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SEXmqOvT-SU
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-it-will-soon-increase-pace-of-gaza-city-strikes-reiterates-call-to-evacuate/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/after-strikes-in-multiple-countries-idf-chief-says-army-will-sever-the-hands-of-all-our-enemies/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-vows-to-further-intensify-gaza-city-strikes-says-over-360-sites-hit-in-recent-days/
https://twitter.com/Hanzpal2/status/1965701755393757472
IDF says it will soon increase pace of Gaza City strikes, reiterates call to evacuate
September 10, 2025 8:26 pm
The IDF said on Wednesday it would increase its strikes on Gaza City in the coming days as part of its preparations to invade and conquer the city, as it continued to urge Palestinians to evacuate the area in the northern Gaza Strip, pushing back against Hamas’s claims that the humanitarian zone in the enclave’s south was full.
It said in a statement on Wednesday evening that it would “increase the pace of strikes” in the densely populated Gaza City, with the intention of “targeting Hamas’ terror infrastructure, disrupting its operational readiness, and reducing the threat to our forces as part of preparations for the next stages” of the offensive.
As part of its preparations, the IDF said it has struck over 360 “terror targets” in Gaza City in recent days, including several high-rise towers that it said were being used by Hamas for various purposes.
The widespread strikes were conducted in three main waves, beginning on Friday with attacks against high-rise buildings where the military said Hamas had installed surveillance equipment and set up sniper and anti-tank missile posts and command centers.
The first wave took place in the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, where the IDF said it hit Hamas observation and sniper posts, a Hamas interrogation facility, tunnel shafts under buildings and weapon depots, among other targets.
The second and third waves took place in Daraj, Tuffah and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, with numerous strikes against Hamas targets, including a tunnel where operatives were gathered to carry out an attack and an RPG manufacturing site, the military said.
The strikes continued into Wednesday, when the IDF hit a tower it said Hamas was using to monitor Israeli troops.
According to the military, the terror group had installed surveillance equipment inside the building to track the movement of Israeli troops in the area and to advance attacks on Israel.
A video shared online from the scene of the strike showed the building collapsing in a cloud of dust, followed by a secondary explosion.
Speeding up evacuations
Israel continued to urge Palestinians to evacuate Gaza City on Wednesday. The city in the north of the Strip is home to roughly one million people, or around half of Gaza’s total population.
Residents have been slowly leaving as the IDF has ramped up preparations for an offensive against Hamas there, and on Sunday the military ordered the entire city to evacuate immediately.
In total, the military estimates that around 150,000 Palestinians have fled the city since Israel started urging them to evacuate, including tens of thousands in the past day.
But the vast majority have refused to heed the IDF’s call, choosing to stay put, having become exhausted by multiple previous displacements and believing nowhere in the Strip is truly safe.
This led the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, to reiterate the need to evacuate on Wednesday.
“The IDF is determined to defeat Hamas and will operate in the Gaza City area with great force, just as it has throughout the Strip,” Adraee said on X.
While Gazans have trickled out of the city, some of them faster than others, the IDF has accused Hamas of blocking those who are trying to leave.
To that end, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities stressed in a message on Wednesday that there was plenty of available space in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the enclave’s south to set up tents for those being displaced from Gaza City.
“In recent days, the Hamas terrorist organization has been running a false campaign aimed at preventing you, the residents of Gaza, from moving from the northern Gaza Strip to the south for your safety and protection,” COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian said on his Arabic-language Facebook page.
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“Contrary to Hamas’s claims, there are available spaces in the humanitarian area for setting up tents,” Alian said. “Do not fall for Hamas’s lies, as it wants to use you as a human shield for its murderous goals.
“Hamas endangers you and harms your families. You must know the truth and follow the evacuation instructions. These are life-saving instructions,” he added.
COGAT published graphics showing locations in the humanitarian zone where there were open areas for setting up tents.
Sides prepare for battle
Even as Palestinian civilians slowly move elsewhere in the bombed-out Strip, the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Wednesday that the head of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, Izz al-Din Haddad, had instructed his fighters to remain in Gaza City and gird for battle with Israel.
Haddad reportedly told fighters that he too will be on the front lines during the fighting, which he predicted would last for months. The report said other terror groups had taken similar stances to Haddad and have warned their operatives that they will be punished if they leave the city.
Meanwhile in Israel, the IDF said on Wednesday that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had approved operational plans for the campaign and had briefed senior officers on the matter.
He told officers that the military was “moving toward the next stages in the mission of toppling Hamas rule.” “That is our objective. We are going to bring down this regime, and nothing will stop us from carrying out the mission,” he said, according to remarks provided by the IDF.
He stressed that the IDF’s two main goals remained “the release of the hostages,” which he added was a “moral mission of the highest priority, critical and essential,” and “the mission of toppling Hamas.” “These are the missions of our generation,” Zamir told the officers.
“As I have said in the past, we will attack [Hamas] and pursue it everywhere, in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and in other places, as we did in the last 24 hours,” he said, referring to Tuesday’s strike in Qatar, which targeted Hamas’s top political leadership, albeit with the results in doubt.
Zamir said the IDF was “closely examining the shift in the balance of power in the Middle East.” “We have already been in a war for nearly two years, and now we are in its decisive stages,” he added.
Aid enters northern, southern Gaza
Strikes across other areas in the Strip continued as well on Wednesday, and the Hamas-run health ministry said hospitals had received 41 bodies of people killed in the past 24 hours, and 148 wounded people for treatment.
Separately, the health ministry said five people, including a child, had died of causes related to malnutrition over the past 24 hours, raising the overall reported toll of such deaths since the beginning of the war to 404, including 141 children.
The ministry, whose numbers cannot be verified, said the overall tally includes 126 Palestinians — among them 26 children — who died of malnutrition-related causes since the UN declared that there was a famine in northern Gaza last month.
Israel, which paused the delivery of aid into Gaza for nearly three months until mid-May, but which has sought to ramp up assistance since, has rejected the report. Israel has accused Hamas of hijacking aid shipments, and the UN of failing to deliver them.
COGAT said on Wednesday that nearly 280 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Strip on Tuesday through the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing in southern Gaza and the Zikim Border Crossing in the north.
According to COGAT, around 400 trucks’ worth of aid were collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza side of the crossings Tuesday to be distributed, though a backlog of “hundreds of trucks” remains.
Deliveries of similar amounts of aid have been reported daily in the past few weeks. The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people amid the war.
COGAT also said that “tankers of UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems” on Tuesday, and that it coordinated the entry and exit of humanitarian aid workers rotating in and out of Gaza.
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wowza