TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
November 21, 2025
3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth
Now outbound after its perihelion or closest approach to the Sun on October 29, Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our fair Solar System. Its greenish coma and faint tails are seen against a background of stars in the constellation Virgo in this view from planet Earth, recorded with a small telescope on November 14. But this interstellar interloper is the subject of an on-going, unprecedented Solar System-wide observing campaign involving spacecraft and space telescopes from Earth orbit to the surface of Mars and beyond. And while the comet from another star-system has recently grown brighter, you'll still need a telescope if you want to see 3I/ATLAS from planet Earth. It's now above the horizon in November morning skies and will make its closest approach to Earth, a comfortable 270 million kilometers distant, around December 19.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Sun Activity, Electric Birds, Solar Dreams | S0 News and other thangs
Nov.21.2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWeoTA69Teo
https://x.com/MrMBB333
https://www.SpaceWeatherNews.com
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
Earth just got hit by a stealth solar storm no one saw coming
November 21, 2025
A stealth solar storm hit Earth on Nov. 20. It arrived without warning and may have contributed to auroras visible at mid latitudes.
This event didn't trigger a geomagnetic storm; however, such solar storms, or coronal mass ejections (CMEs), are still exciting because they erupt almost undetected and disrupt the solar wind conditions around Earth.
They are generally more common when the sun enters the declining phase of its 11-year solar cycle, the periodic rise and fall in the sun's magnetic activity.
A regular CME is usually obvious in solar data. These eruptions involve bright flares, sudden changes in extreme ultraviolet light or large loops visibly lifting off the sun's surface.
Coronagraphs typically capture them as billowing cloudlike structures emanating from the sun. Stealth CMEs are the opposite. They erupt quietly, without flares or any bright signatures.
They tend to be faint, slow-moving and very hard to track. Because of that, scientists usually only spot stealth CMEs after they arrive at Earth and disrupt the solar wind.
That's exactly what happened on Nov. 20, when NOAA's Space Weather Forecasters reported that solar wind conditions on Nov. 20 were dominated by negative-polarity coronal hole high-speed stream with a possible "embedded transient," which could indicate a stealth CME.
The magnetic field carried by the solar wind, normally around 4-6 nanoteslas, briefly spiked to 18 nanoteslas at 9:20 a.m. EST (1420 GMT) while solar wind speeds hovered between 400-500 km/s, higher than the usual background levels that flow near Earth.
"Stealthy #solarstorms are back!" space weather physicist Tamitha Skov wrote in a post on X. "They are stealthy because they have no signature in on-disk or coronagraph imagery.
We only detect them when they arrive at Earth. Expect only minor storming with this one at high latitudes, but some of them can cause strong storming when they launch near high-speed streams."
Auroras reported overnight from mid-latitudes, including Maine and Denmark, could have been the result of this stealthy CME combined with the effects of the fast solar wind stream from a coronal hole.
The high-speed stream helped boost geomagnetic activity slightly, meaning auroras stretched slightly farther than their usual background high-latitude range.
Why stealth CMEs matter
Stealth CMEs are a known challenge for space-weather forecasting. A 2021 study found that stealth eruptions can originate from quiet regions of the sun, yet still produce strong magnetic signatures in space.
The authors note that stealth CMEs "pose many problems for space weather forecasting" because their signatures are extremely faint and require multi-wavelength, multi-angle observations to identify.
Stealth CMEs arise from quiet regions on the sun with weak, simple magnetic fields. Conditions that become more common during the declining phase of a solar cycle.
"It may seem counterintuitive since we just had a near G5, but we just had an early sign of Solar Minimum's approach!" Skov wrote on X.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/earth-just-got-hit-by-a-stealth-solar-storm-no-one-saw-coming
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-will-the-northern-lights-be-visible-tonight
https://twitter.com/TamithaSkov/status/1991612848548770207
https://x.com/JAtanackov/status/1991649418362417258
https://x.com/HaelVoort/status/1991654784244621330
Avi Loeb 'Visibly Frustrated' As NASA Ignores 3I/ATLAS Anomalies At Live Event
20 November 2025, 7:57 PM GMT
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has publicly expressed frustration after NASA officials brushed off his concerns about unexplained features in 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object to visit our Solar System.
The tense exchange unfolded during a live Newsmax appearance, where both sides offered starkly different interpretations of the object's behaviour.
NASA's acting Administrator, Sean Duffy, doubled down on the agency's line: 'It walks like a comet, talks like a comet, struts like a comet. It's a comet.'
Loeb, however, insisted the evidence remains incomplete — and far stranger than NASA is willing to admit.
Loeb Says Science Requires Humility, Not Slogans
The clash centred on what Loeb calls 'significant anomalies'. Speaking on-air, he emphasised that scientific conclusions must rest on data rather than authority:
'The foundation of science is the humility to learn, not the arrogance of expertise.'
Loeb argued that merely invoking 'experts' is not an explanation. Instead, he wants quantitative evidence for NASA's position — and says the current data set shows unresolved contradictions.
One of the biggest questions, in his view, is the report of seven jets emanating from 3I/ATLAS:
They could be normal cometary vents.
Or, Loeb argues, they could be thrust-like features.
He claims his calculations show the object lacks enough surface area to sustain the mass flow expected from so many jets if it were a standard comet.
Loeb Presses NASA on Missing Images and Delayed Releases
Loeb also criticised NASA for the slow release of high-resolution data from the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images were captured when 3I/ATLAS passed roughly 19 million miles from Mars, a rare vantage point.
Duffy blamed staffing shortages linked to the US government shutdown.
Loeb dismissed that outright:
'We've had 45 days since the images were taken … They definitely had plenty of time.'
He argued the issue is larger than one administrator:
'It just shows you how sluggish bureaucracy is. Bureaucracy is taking over science.'
The Anomalies Loeb Says NASA Is Downplaying
Multiple features of 3I/ATLAS continue to raise eyebrows — not only for Loeb, but among a subset of astronomers following the object.
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Lack of a Tail
Despite signs of strong non-gravitational acceleration, 3I/ATLAS showed no obvious dust tail in early observations — an unusual trait for a comet nearing the Sun.
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CO₂-Dominated Coma
Infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope found the object's coma heavily dominated by carbon dioxide, an uncommon profile among typical comets.
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The 'Anti-Tail'
Loeb and collaborator Eric Keto modelled a structure resembling an anti-tail — a bright extension pointing toward the Sun rather than away from it, contradicting expected behaviour.
These features do not prove the object is artificial, but they also do not fully align with standard comet dynamics.
Critics Push Back
Not all astronomers are persuaded.
On Reddit, some cited commentary from Penn State's Jason Wright, who argued Loeb's calculations are 'demonstrably wrong' and that the broader scientific community has already examined the anomalies and found them unremarkable.
NASA has maintained its position that 3I/ATLAS is simply a highly unusual but natural comet.
A Debate Far From Over
In a separate interview with Cambridge Day, Loeb said scientists have a responsibility to consider low-probability possibilities:
'We have the duty to consider a low-probability event … because the implications are huge.'
As NASA continues to release data — and Loeb continues to challenge its interpretations — 3I/ATLAS remains one of the most debated interstellar visitors in years.
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/avi-loeb-visibly-frustrated-nasa-ignores-3i-atlas-anomalies-live-event-1756803
https://www.ufonews.co/post/scientist-calls-out-nasa-over-3i-atlas-data
https://www.newsnationnow.com/vargasreports/3i-atlas-nasa-pics-inconclusvie-avi-loeb/
https://x.com/NASASolarSystem/status/1991599385583435919
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo
Newly-Discovered Sideways Lines Are Likely a Satellite Streak or Otherwise a Hint for the Release of Smaller Objects by 3I/ATLAS
November 20, 2025
Today a new image of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was taken by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann, and E. Prosperi and reported here.
The image stacks 20 exposures of 100 seconds each, observed at 4:15 UTC on November 20, 2025. The displayed field has dimensions of 16.7 arcminutes on a side, equivalent to 1.6 million kilometers at the 3I/ATLAS distance of 326 million kilometers from Earth.
The image shows two narrow jets directed opposite to each other and oriented vertically from the 3I/ATLAS-Sun axis. Together with the tail and anti-tail along this axis, the sideways lines constitute an X-shaped pattern.
They extend out to a distance of about a million kilometers from 3I/ATLAS.
The simplest interpretation is that these lines are the streak of an Earth-based communication satellite which coincidentally intersected 3I/ATLAS in projection in the sky for a few seconds.
There is another line near the bottom of the image, also likely to be a satellite streak.
If future images will confirm the reality of these lines as associated with 3I/ATLAS, then these sideways jets will raise two questions:
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Why are the sideways jets so straight and narrow, resembling thin lines, given that 3I/ATLAS was reported here to rotate with a 16.16-hour period?
Given the typical thermal speed of 400 meters per second for sublimated volatiles at the current distance of 3I/ATLAS from the Sun, the rotation of 3I/ATLAS should have introduced gaps or wiggles in the jets on a length-scale of order tens of thousands of kilometers.
Such periodic features are not apparent in the new image.
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Why are the two sideways jets oriented vertically to the tail and anti-tail associated with the 3I/ATLAS-Sun axis? We expect outgassing to emerge from the surface of a rock when it faces the Sun.
The resulting gas or dust are expected to be pushed away from the Sun by radiation pressure and the solar wind. Both processes favor the 3I/ATLAS-Sun axis as the line of symmetry and not the vertical direction traced by the sideways jets.
If not a satellite streak, these straight and narrow sideways-jets is that they are lines highlighting the trail of gas or dust associated with the linear path of small mini-objects that departed from 3I/ATLAS.
If the mini-objects started their journey near perihelion — at closest approach of 3I/ATLAS to the Sun on October 29, 2025, they traversed a distance of a million kilometers in 22 days. This corresponds to a speed of 500 meters per second relative to 3I/ATLAS.
The mini-objects could either be pieces of ice that broke apart from the surface of a natural comet nucleus or small probes that were released from a technological mothership.
By monitoring these components in the coming weeks, we should be able to distinguish the two interpretations.
The release of sub-components by 3I/ATLAS can also explain the X-shape of the glow around 3I/ATLAS in its HiRISE image at closest approach to Mars (as discussed here).
Since this image was taken on October 2, 2025, it represents the early stage of the break-up of 3I/ATLAS into multiple components — extending only out to a few thousand kilometers at that time.
If the break-up started close to Mars two months ago, the ejection speed of the sub-components needs to be about 200 meters per second.
The required velocity kick, formulated in rocketry as Delta-V, is very reasonable for the thrust enable by chemical propulsion. The Sun’s tidal force across the diameter of 3I/ATLAS is too weak to yield this velocity kick over the related period of time.
The fundamental question to address in the coming weeks is whether these smaller objects are real and not simply an artifact of a satellite streak, and if real— are they natural or technological in origin?
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/breaking-news-newly-discovered-sideways-lines-might-trace-the-release-of-smaller-objects-by-de3e38121c6e
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/orientation-of-the-plume-around-3i-atlas-in-the-hirise-image-6e7f95759aa4
https://x.com/DobsonianPower/status/1991862116869935205
https://x.com/UAPWatchers/status/1991811129367031898
https://spacetracker.space/post/3iatlas-new-images-capture-20-minute-frame-build-up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhXItNOKaT8 (Ray's AstrophotographyComet 3i Atlas - HUBBLE pictures show ROTATION and CORE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feepShNtfAY (The Angry Astronaut: Why did NASA 3I Atlas images look so horrible? PLUS, the truth is getting buried, even online!)
Michael Salla
@MichaelSalla
This exemplifies the problem humanity is facing when it comes to the truth about what's happening in space.
Amateur astronomers are releasing clearer images of space objects such as 3I/Atlas than highly funded space agencies with billion dollar space telescopes that delay, obfuscate and manipulate the received data to hide the truth.
Thank goodness for the upcoming International Asteroid Warning Network exercize that will have all eyes on 3I/Atlas from Nov 27 to Jan 27.
Trust the people.
4:00 AM · Nov 20, 2025
https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1991476628728193341
https://x.com/digijordan/status/1991291307797410028
https://x.com/NASASolarSystem
DISCOVERY: 'Plasma Beings' On NASA Missions FEEDING Off Our Energy!
Nov 19, 2025
“Plasmas” up to a kilometer in size and behaving similarly to multicellular organisms have been filmed on 10 separate NASA space shuttle missions, over 200 miles above Earth within the thermosphere.
These self-illuminated “plasmas” are attracted to and may “feed on” electromagnetic radiation, according to a groundbreaking multi-institute study into the phenomenon.
Extraterrestrial Life in the Thermosphere: Plasmas, UAP, Pre-Life, Fourth State of Matter:
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=131506
https://x.com/TheProjectUnity/status/1991206358713090469
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ujgVC1EB18
He doesn't have an X account that I'm aware of but he does have a YT channel
https://www.youtube.com/@GaryMcKinnonUFO
Crew Works on Stem Cells, CubeSats; Prepares for Soyuz and Commercial Crew Launches
November 20, 2025
Stem cells and CubeSat installations were the main research focus aboard the International Space Station on Thursday.
The Expedition 73 crew also collected microbe samples for analysis, configured Earth observation gear, and replaced hoses on a treadmill.
Also, NASA and SpaceX have been working to be ready as early as Feb. 15 for the next commercial crew rotation launch to the International Space Station.
This change maximizes launch opportunities for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12, while also accommodating the Artemis II launch windows.
As both missions advance toward launch and rely on resources and facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, this change helps deconflict operations.
NASA also set the agency’s coverage of NASA astronaut Chris Williams’ will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft to the International Space Station on Thursday, Nov. 27
Back on station, researchers are studying how to turn stem cells into brain and cardiac cells in microgravity. NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman serviced the stem cell samples for viewing inside a fluorescence microscope for the Stellar Stem Cells Mission 2 experiment.
Doctors on the ground will observe how weightlessness affects the reprogrammed stem cells possibly leading to advances in regenerative medicine, drug testing, and space-based biomanufacturing.
Cardman also assisted NASA Flight Engineers Mike Fincke and Jonny Kim and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui who swapped thermal control system hoses on the COLBERT treadmill located inside the Tranquility module.
The quartet worked throughout Thursday temporarily uninstalling the station’s bathroom, or waste and hygiene compartment, to access the life support hoses.
Earlier, Yui installed the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the multi-purpose experiment platform inside the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock. It will soon be placed outside the orbital outpost in the external microgravity environment.
The Japanese robotic arm will grapple the CubeSat deployer then position it away from the orbiting lab to deploy a set of CubeSats into Earth orbit for private and public research.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, station Commander and Flight Engineer respectively, partnered together on Thursday and swabbed surfaces inside the Zarya module then placed the samples inside test tubes.
The samples will be analyzed later to understand the microbial environment aboard the space station and protect crew health.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov began his day with orbital plumbing in the Nauka science module then set up a camera to capture time-lapse photography of the Earth.
Platonov spent the end of his shift inside the Zvezda service module servicing the Elektron oxygen generator.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/11/20/crew-works-on-stem-cells-cubesats-prepares-for-soyuz-and-commercial-crew-launches/
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/25-year-of-scientific-discovery-aboard-international-space-station/
https://x.com/zenanaut/status/1990539821723553867
NASA Stuff
Hubble Seeks Clusters in ‘Lost Galaxy’
Nov 21, 2025
Today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535, which is situated about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden).
Through a small telescope, this galaxy appears extremely faint, giving it the nickname ‘Lost Galaxy’.
With a mirror spanning nearly eight feet (2.4 meters) across and its location above Earth’s light-obscuring atmosphere, Hubble can easily observe dim galaxies like NGC 4535 and pick out features like its massive spiral arms and central bar of stars.
This image features NGC 4535’s young star clusters, which dot the galaxy’s spiral arms. Glowing-pink clouds surround many of these bright-blue star groupings.
These clouds, called H II (‘H-two’) regions, are a sign that the galaxy is home to especially young, hot, and massive stars that blaze with high-energy radiation.
Such massive stars shake up their surroundings by heating their birth clouds with powerful stellar winds, eventually exploding as supernovae.
The image incorporates data from an observing program designed to catalog roughly 50,000 H II regions in nearby star-forming galaxies like NGC 4535.
Hubble released a previous image of NGC 4535 in 2021. Both the 2021 image and this new image incorporate observations from the PHANGS observing program, which seeks to understand the connections between young stars and cold gas.
Today’s image adds a new dimension to our understanding of NGC 4535 by capturing the brilliant red glow of the nebulae that encircle massive stars in their first few million years of life.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-seeks-clusters-in-lost-galaxy/
Europa Clipper Captures Uranus With Star Tracker Camera
11/20/2025
NASA’s Europa Clipper captured this image of a starfield — and the planet Uranus — on Nov. 5, 2025, while experimenting with one of its two stellar reference units.
These star-tracking cameras are used for maintaining spacecraft orientation. Within the camera’s field of view — representing 0.1% of the full sky around the spacecraft — Uranus is visible as a larger dot near the left side of the image.
At the time the images were taken, Europa Clipper was about 2 billion miles (3.2 billion kilometers) from Uranus. The spacecraft is currently en route to the Jupiter system to study the icy moon Europa.
Europa Clipper launched in October 2024 and will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030 to conduct about 50 flybys of Europa. The mission’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.
The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology.
The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/europa-clipper-captures-uranus-with-star-tracker-camera/
Catch a Comet Using Early Data from the Vera Rubin Observatory
Nov 21, 2025
Join the Rubin Comet Catchers project, and help scientists discover comets and other active objects in our solar system!
The Rubin Comet Catchers project invites you to examine early images from the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
You’ll look for faint tails and other signs of cometary activity that telescopes and software alone might miss.
Finding new comets can help answer key questions about how much water was delivered to Earth after it formed and where that water originated.
"We think LSST may produce a sample of about 10,000 comets over its 10-year lifetime,” said Zeljko Ivezic, Director of the Rubin Observatory Construction Project. “I wish you a lot of fun!"
Citizen scientists working on NASA’s Sungrazer Project have already discovered thousands of comets… which make up most of the comets that have ever been imaged!
The comets found by the Sungrazer Project are on special orbits that take them near the Sun. Comet Catchers, on the other hand, will look in the opposite direction – away from the Sun.
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/catch-a-comet-using-early-data-from-the-vera-rubin-observatory/
NASA Celebrates Five Years of Artemis Accords, Welcomes 3 New Nations
Nov 20, 2025
October marked the fifth anniversary of NASA and the original founders signing the Artemis Accords, as well as the recognition of Hungary, Malaysia and the Philippines joining the expanding coalition dedicated to the peaceful exploration of space.
The number of countries involved now totals 59. “NASA welcomes the newest signatories, whose participation strengthens the global commitment to responsible exploration,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.
“Their decision to sign the Artemis Accords affirms a shared commitment to safe, transparent, and peaceful exploration — at a time when others seek to weaponize the final frontier. Together we are building the foundation for the Golden Age of space exploration.”
Both Malaysia and the Philippines signed the Artemis Accords as part of President Trump’s visit to Kuala Lumpur for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit. The separate signings were announced by the White House on Oct. 26.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó of Hungary signed the Artemis Accords on Oct. 22 while in Washington during an official visit, in the lead up to President Trump’s meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Hungary’s signing came three months after Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut Tibor Kapu launched to space in a mission aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.
The private astronauts, part of the NASA-supported Axiom Mission 4 crew, spent about two weeks conducting science, outreach, and commercial activities, alongside NASA astronauts.
Five years of progress
On Oct. 13, 2020, during the first Trump Administration, the United States, led by NASA and the U.S. Department of State, joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies.
Since then, the Artemis Accords have grown into an international coalition. What began with a handful of founding nations has multiplied with seven countries signing in 2025 alone.
The surge in participation highlights an increased global commitment to shaping a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space.
In September, NASA co-chaired the Artemis Accords Principals’ Meeting in Sydney alongside the space agencies of Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
The gathering brought together dozens of signatory nations to deepen dialogue and strengthen shared commitments to the sustainable and responsible use of space. Global space leaders discussed the following topics:
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Non-interference in each other’s space activities, including transparency on expected launch dates, general nature of activities, and landing location
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Orbital debris mitigation
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Interoperability of systems for safer and more efficient operations
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Release of scientific data
At the meeting, NASA committed to hosting an Artemis Accords workshop in 2026 for signatories focused on transparency and the sharing of data.
The agency has taken additional steps since the accords were established to release more information about lunar missions, promoting openness and preventing harmful interference.
The progress made by signatories, and their continued commitment to implementing the accords’ principles, is essential to advancing sustainable exploration of the Moon under the Artemis campaign, Mars, and beyond.
Following a call to Artemis Accords signatories, four CubeSats from South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and Germany, will fly on Artemis II.
More nations are expected to sign the accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA and its partners continue to advance the principles of the accords.
https://www.nasa.gov/organizations/oiir/artemis-accords/nasa-celebrates-five-years-of-artemis-accords-welcomes-3-new-nations/
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/
NASA moves ahead with major cuts at Goddard Space Flight Center
Updated Fri, November 21st 2025 at 7:23 AM
Top leadership at NASA is moving forward with a controversial plan that will close 13 buildings and over 100 labs at the Goddard Space Flight Center by March as part of a long-term effort to reduce the campus footprint by 25%.
NASA said the move is intended to “more efficiently utilize” existing buildings, potentially saving $10 million a year and avoiding tens of millions in deferred maintenance costs.
However, critics warn that the accelerated timeline could undermine Goddard’s scientific capacity, impacting research and projects that rely on these facilities.
Earlier this year, NASA began offering staff buyouts and early retirement programs, and the Trump administration has proposed cutting NASA’s funding by 24% next year to streamline operations.
This is raising concerns for Prince George’s County's economy. The timing couldn’t be worse.
The region has already seen the loss of Six Flags America, the Washington Commanders’ move, and uncertainty now surrounds the planned FBI headquarters in Greenbelt.
County Council Vice Chair Krystal Oriadha voiced concern over the economic impact of the closures.
“We are not going to be able to transfer a lot of the equipment, the infrastructure," Oriadha said.
"When you talk about how many people that we are losing to other countries when it comes to our researchers and our scientists that have been working for the U.S. for years, I think this is gonna cost us so much more than what they are pretending this is gonna save.”
County leaders said this development is a wake-up call that Prince George’s County needs a stronger, more resilient economic plan.
Oriadha noted that local officials are exploring National Harbor-style developments in Landover and Bowie to help replace lost economic anchors such as the stadium and amusement park.
As NASA proceeds with its plan, the community and local leadership are highlighting the urgent need for economic diversification and long-term planning in the county as 2026 approaches.
https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/nasa-major-cuts-at-goddard-space-flight-center-space-travel-research-aerospace-engineering-stem-scientists-astronauts-flight-tests-campus-maryland-dmv-washington
James Webb Space Telescope Captures Stunning Images of “Repetitive, Predictable Structures” in a Rare Star System
November 21, 2025
Remarkable new images from the James Webb Space Telescope have captured the first-ever view of four dust spirals surrounding the Wolf-Rayet stars in the Apep system.
The mid-infrared imagery is the culmination of years of data collected by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, supported by James Webb observations.
Previously, Webb could image only one of the shells, although all four were hypothesized to exist based on VLT data.
Apep’s Spiral Shells
“Looking at Webb’s new observations was like walking into a dark room and switching on the light — everything came into view,” said Yinuo Han, the lead author of one paper and co-author on the other describing the work.
“There is dust everywhere in Webb’s image, and the telescope shows that most of it was cast off in repetitive, predictable structures.”
They were formed over the course of centuries by emissions from the two stars, on a 190-year orbit in which they come into close contact for just 25 years, creating the dust seen in the images.
Two new papers, recently published in The Astrophysical Journal, bring into focus the remarkable story behind the new imagery.
Also in the mix is a third star that slices through the dust clouds on an even wider orbit. This is difficult to discern in the imagery (seen above), as all three appear as a single point of light.
The slicing is evident as a V shape, beginning at 10 o’clock and ending at 2 o’clock around the central point of light. VLT observations revealed the third star in 2018, but how it moved in the system was unknown until now.
“I was shocked when I saw the updated calculations play out in our simulations,” he said. “Webb gave us the ‘smoking gun’ to prove the third star is gravitationally bound to this system.”
An Unusual System
Correlating years of VLT observations with the Webb image allowed the researchers to refine the orbits of Wolf-Rayet stars.
“This is a one-of-a-kind system with an incredibly rare orbital period,” White said. “The next longest orbit for a dusty Wolf-Rayet binary is about 30 years. Most have orbits between two and 10 years.”
Wolf-Rayet stars are extremely rare, with scientists estimating that there may be only a thousand in our entire Galaxy, out of hundreds of billions of stars.
Apep is the only known example of two Wolf-Rayets forming a binary system, although a few hundred binaries containing a single Wolf-Rayet have been observed.
The Wolf-Rayet stars of the Apep system are currently somewhere between 10 and 20 times the mass of our sun, the researchers believe, yet at one time they likely were even more massive than the supergiant, which cuts a hole through their dust sheets, coming in somewhere between 40 and 50 times the mass of the Sun.
Producing the Dust Shells
The stellar winds produced by the two stars rush towards each other and mix when their orbits come into proximity. This results in 25 years of carbon-rich dust production, a period vastly longer than in most similar situations.
For example, the dust shells of Wolf-Rayet 140 only persist for months. The dust observed in Apep is blasting through space at 1,200 to 2,000 miles per second and at tremendous density.
The amorphous carbon composition of the dust enabled Webb to achieve a clear view of the phenomenon with the MIRI instrument.
“Carbon dust grains retain a higher temperature even as they coast far away from the star,” Han said, explaining how the dust shields were so apparent in the imagery.
While the team has accomplished a great deal towards understanding this highly unusual star system, they say their work is not yet complete.
“We solved several mysteries with Webb,” Han said. “The remaining mystery is the precise distance to the stars from Earth, which will require future observations.”
The papers, “The Formation and Evolution of Dust in the Colliding-wind Binary Apep Revealed by JWST” and “The Serpent Eating Its Own Tail: Dust Destruction in the Apep Colliding Wind Nebula,” both appeared in The Astrophysical Journal on November 19, 2025.
https://thedebrief.org/james-webb-space-telescope-captures-stunning-images-of-repetitive-predictable-structures-in-a-rare-star-system/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae12e5
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adfbe1
Earth from Space: The Danakil Depression
21/11/2025
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over one of Earth’s most extreme environments: the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia.
Zoom in or click on the circles to explore this image at its full 10 m resolution.
Located in northeastern Ethiopia, near the border with Eritrea, the Danakil Depression lies between the Danakil Alps on the east and the Ethiopian Plateau on the west.
It is a plain formed by the continental drift of three tectonic plates, thinning Earth’s crust as they pull apart.
This tectonic setting, called the Afar Triple Junction, is responsible for shaping the region's diverse geological features.
Due to its unique geology, Danakil’s landscape features a combination of salt flats, desert shrubland and active volcanoes, producing hot, acidic springs with vibrantly coloured mineral pools.
Danakil is known for being one of the lowest, hottest and driest places on Earth.
It sits at an average of 120 m below sea level, with annual temperatures sometimes reaching above 50°C. It receives very little rainfall, with most of it evaporating quickly.
This false-colour image from 7 August 2025 shows the northern part of the Danakil Depression.
The various shades of green reflect the different surface types, showing evidence of ancient marine and river systems across the whole image. Lighter greens denote older geology, while darker tones indicate younger terrains.
The pink expanse denotes a complex hydrothermal system formed by the hot springs and the acidic ponds in the area.
The green feature at its centre is Dallol, a depression hosting a cinder cone volcano. Dallol is frequently referred to as one of the most inhospitable and hottest inhabited places on Earth.
At the bottom of the image, two lakes – Karum and, further south, Bakili – can be seen in black, as the image was processed using Sentinel-2’s near-infrared channel which makes water bodies appear dark or black.
Southwest of Lake Karum rises Gada Ale, a 287-m-high stratovolcano built of lava and ash. Its gently sloping sides of basaltic lava appear in a dark hue, with the youngest flows being the darkest colours.
Due to its extreme conditions, visiting and studying this area can be quite challenging.
From their vantage point in space, Earth orbserving satellites, such as Copernicus Sentinel-2, are the perfect tool to systematically image and monitor such remote and unique environments.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/11/Earth_from_Space_The_Danakil_Depression