NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

December 8, 2025

Flying Over the Earth at Night

Many wonders are visible when flying over the Earth at night. Such visual spectacles occur every day for astronauts in low Earth orbit, but the featured video captured several from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011 and set them to rousing music. Passing below are white clouds, orange city lights, lightning flashes in thunderstorms, and dark blue seas. On the horizon is the golden haze of Earth's thin atmosphere, frequently decorated by dancing auroras as the video progresses. The green parts of auroras typically remain below the space station, but the station flies right through the red and purple auroral peaks. Solar panels of the ISS are seen around the frame edges. The ominous wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequence is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth, a dawn that occurs every 90 minutes.

Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: This Wednesday (December 10) at 7 pm

https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=44722

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

>>23955128 lb

>X1 Solar Flare, Solar Storms Begin Tomorrow

Sun unleashes intense X-class solar flare, triggering radio blackouts across Australia

December 8, 2025

The sun erupted with a powerful X1.1-class solar flare in the early hours of this morning (Dec. 8), briefly knocking out radio communications across Australia and parts of southeast Asia.

The impulsive eruption, which peaked at 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT), came from sunspot region AR4298 as it makes its way towards the sun's western limb. It will rotate out of view in the next couple of days.

A coronal mass ejection (CME) — a plume of plasma and magnetic field — was hurled into space alongside the eruption. However, early analyses of satellite coronagraph imagery suggest this CME is not Earth-directed.

The solar flare occurred during an already active week on the sun. Several CMEs from earlier solar flares are forecast to impact Earth between Dec. 8-9, prompting space weather forecasters at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center and the U.K. Met Office to issue geomagnetic storm watches, including a chance of strong-moderate (G2-G3) level storming, which could see northern lights visible at high to mid-latitudes.

https://www.space.com/astronomy/sun/sun-unleashes-intense-x-class-solar-flare-triggering-radio-blackouts-across-australia

https://www.space.com/stargazing/a-green-flash-at-sunset-space-photo-of-the-day-for-dec-8-2025

https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-will-the-northern-lights-be-visible-tonight

https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/x11-flare-was-observed-080501-utc

https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/1997864204351807549

https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/1998026764266938695

https://spaceweathernews.com/

https://spaceweather.com/

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/3i-atlas-comet-carries-key-molecule-life-another-star-1761190

https://medium.com/@datastar/what-alma-really-found-in-3i-atlas-and-why-its-more-important-than-aliens-69204bc736e7

https://www.pravda.ru/videochannel/2315653-trump-nlo-disclosure/

https://x.com/drew4worldruler/status/1997839260318126323

https://x.com/RedCollie1/status/1997443439705858277

https://x.com/SwRI/status/1998044960780628209

https://www.swri.org/newsroom/press-releases/swri-researchers-use-punch-track-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas?&utm_medium=smutm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=punch-atlas-pr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_4iGdVlG3o (Ray's Astrophotography: LIVE: Comet 3I ATLAS This Morning – Real Capture From My Telescope)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuvXEmgcffQ (Chuck's Astrophotography: Live: 3I/ATLAS and Galaxies)

3I/ATLAS Comet Carries Key Molecule For Life From Another Star

08 December 2025, 12:39 PM GMT==

An extraordinary visitor from beyond our solar system, the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, is baffling scientists as it streams out carbon-rich chemical compounds at a rate rarely seen in our own cosmic backyard.

What makes this icy relic truly remarkable is the sheer amount of methanol it's belching out—a key ingredient for prebiotic chemistry and a compound never before detected in another interstellar object.

This is only the third time we've observed an object from another star system passing through our solar neighbourhood, following the mysterious 1I/'Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019, and 3I/ATLAS is proving to be unlike any native comet we know.

The comet was first spotted in July 2025 by the NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope in Chile. As it journeyed towards the Sun, a massive cloud of water vapour and gas rapidly formed around it.

Crucially, this envelope contained significantly greater amounts of carbon dioxide than what is typically found in solar system comets.

Scientists also noted its light was surprisingly redder than usual, suggesting an unusual surface chemistry, and it began releasing gases while still relatively far from the Sun, an indication that it may not have passed close to another star for hundreds of millions of years, or since it left its home star system.

Unlocking the Mysteries of 3I/ATLAS: An Alien Chemical Signature

To investigate this spectacular, deep-space interloper, NASA's Martin Cordiner and his team at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland turned the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile toward the rogue comet to uncover its secrets.

They were astonished to discover that 3I/ATLAS is producing substantial quantities of hydrogen cyanide gas, and an even greater volume of gaseous methanol.

'Molecules like hydrogen cyanide and methanol are at trace abundances and not the dominant constituents of our own comets,' Cordiner explained. 'Here we see that, actually, in this alien comet they're very abundant.'

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>>23955934

The team tracked the hydrogen cyanide to the comet's rocky core, where it was being produced at a rate of approximately a quarter to a half a kilogram per second.

Methanol was also detected in the core, but it was also being created in significant quantities in the comet's coma—the long, hazy tail of dust and gas that extends for many kilometres away from the nucleus itself.

The methanol production dwarfs that of hydrogen cyanide, clocking in at around 40 kilograms per second.

This makes up roughly 8 per cent of the total vapour streaming from the comet, which is an enormous figure compared to the typical 2 per cent seen in standard solar system comets.

The differences in location for these two molecules also suggests that the comet's nucleus is not uniform, which could eventually tell us about how it formed, says Cordiner.

The Chemical Blueprint: Why 3I/ATLAS Matters for Life

The discovery of such high methanol levels isn't just a scientific curiosity; it has profound implications for the search for life's origins across the Galaxy.

While methanol is a relatively simple carbon-containing compound, it's considered a key stepping stone to generating the more complex molecules that are absolutely essential for life to begin.

Cordiner is convinced of its significance, noting: 'It seems really chemically implausible that you could go on a path to very high chemical complexity without producing methanol'.

This suggests that wherever complex chemistry is happening in the cosmos, methanol is likely a major intermediary product.

The findings also lend weight to a theory proposed by Josep Trigo-Rodríguez at the Institute of Space Sciences in Spain.

He and his colleagues had previously predicted that a comet rich in metals like iron should also produce relatively large amounts of methanol.

This is because the Sun's heat would free up liquid water within the nucleus, allowing it to chemically react with iron compounds in a process that generates methanol.

Therefore, the evidence of abundant methanol streaming from the 3I/ATLAS coma could be a strong indicator that this comet is relatively metal rich, he says.

In essence, this mysterious, deep-space wanderer isn't just passing through; it's providing astronomers with a chemical blueprint unlike any other, offering a unique opportunity to study the prebiotic chemical conditions of a completely alien star system.

Ultimately, 3I/ATLAS is more than just a passing rock; it is a cosmic time capsule. Its bizarre chemical signature confirms that the essential building blocks of life are not unique to our quiet corner of the Galaxy but are being forged in star systems light-years away.

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Many Americans Think Apollo Landings Were Faked

December 7, 2025

It looks like a lot of Americans still believe in a bunch of conspiracies (surprise surprise) including the whole Apollo Moon landing thing. NASA will launch Artemis II to circle the Moon in 2026.

The Artemis III landing on the Moon will be in 2028 or whenever. News and rumor – and fears and hopes – all collide (badly) in today’s news bubble.

It is going to be a challenge for NASA to put forth – not just the play-by-play of these missions – but also the rationale and (gulp) even the proof that they are real.

I recall experiencing the 1969 landing. The world stopped and watched in awe. Will that happen again more than half a century later as we return?

Recently I posted a revision of an earlier post “Doing Something Again For The First Time” (Update)“: “75% – 3/4 of the people on this planet have never seen humans walk on another world.

We’re suddenly in a race to go back to the Moon and we are not clearly in the lead. The next time humans walk on the Moon will be the first time this happens as far as most of humanity is concerned.”

Well, I forgot to factor in the people (across age groups) who think we never went in the first place. So I guess for them Artemis III (or a Chinese mission) will be their first lunar landing too.

The Conservative Manhattan Institute’s recent Report on Republicans’ opinions survey says: “Moon landing: A similarly sized chunk of the Current GOP (36%) believes that the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked by NASA.

Again, younger men are more likely to hold this view (51% of men under 50 vs. 38% of women under 50). There are stark racial divides: while only 31% of white GOP voters believe the conspiracy, this rises to 59% among Hispanic Republicans and 63% among black Republicans.”

Based on personal experience I suspect that the Moon landing deniers exist in similarly large numbers among Democrats and Independents and across all age groups.

https://nasawatch.com/artemis/many-americans-think-apollo-landings-were-faked/

NASA spacecraft were vulnerable to hacking for 3 years and nobody knew. AI found and fixed the flaw in 4 days

December 8, 2025

Communications between Earth and NASA spacecraft were critically vulnerable to hacking for years until an AI found the flaw and fixed it in just four days.

The vulnerability was sniffed out by an AI cybersecurity algorithm developed by California-based start-up AISLE and resides in the CryptoLib security software that protects spacecraft-to-ground communications.

The vulnerability could have enabled hackers to seize control over countless space missions including NASA's Mars rovers, according to the cybersecurity researchers.

"For three years, the security system meant to protect spacecraft-to-ground communications contained a vulnerability that could undermine that protection." the AISLE cyber-security researchers wrote in a blog post on the company's website describing the vulnerability.

"A vulnerability in this software poses a threat to billions of dollars in space infrastructure and the scientific missions they enable."

The researchers said the vulnerability was found in the authentication system and could have been exploited through compromised operator credentials.

For example, the attackers could have gained access to user names and passwords of NASA employees through social engineering, methods such as phishing or infecting computers with viruses uploaded to USB drives and left where personnel could find them.

"The vulnerability transforms what should be routine authentication configuration into a weapon," the researchers wrote. "An attacker … can inject arbitrary commands that execute with full system privileges."

In other words, an attacker could remotely hijack the spacecraft or just intercept the data it is exchanging with ground control.

Fortunately, to gain access to the spacecraft through the CryptoLib vulnerability would require the attackers to, at some point, have local access to the system, which "reduces the attack surface compared to a remotely exploitable flaw," the researchers said in the blog post.

The researchers said that the vulnerability survived in the authentication software despite multiple human reviews of the code over the three years it existed.

AISLE's AI-powered "autonomous analyzer" discovered and helped fix the problem in four days, highlighting the potential these tools have in terms of detecting cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

"Automated analysis tools are becoming essential," the researchers wrote. "Human review remains valuable, but autonomous analyzers can systematically examine entire codebases, flag suspicious patterns, and operate continuously as code evolves."

https://www.space.com/technology/nasa-spacecraft-were-vulnerable-to-hacking-for-3-years-and-nobody-knew-ai-found-and-fixed-the-flaw-in-4-days

https://aisle.com/blog/command-injection-in-nasa-cryptolib-cve-2025-59534

>>23956023

Got the wikileaks sauce?

Watch 3 astronauts head home to Earth from the International Space Station tonight

December 8, 2025

Three astronauts will head back to Earth from the International Space Station tonight (Dec. 8), and you can watch their homecoming live.

NASA's Jonny Kim and Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are scheduled to leave the orbiting lab in a Soyuz spacecraft today at 8:41 p.m. EST (0141 GMT on Dec. 9) and touch down about 3.5 hours later.

You can watch the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency.

The livestream will begin today at 4:45 pm EST (2145 GMT) to cover the closing of the hatches between the Soyuz and the International Space Station (ISS), which is expected to occur around 5:10 p.m. EST (2210 GMT).

The webcast will pick up again at 8:15 p.m. EST (0115 GMT) for undocking, then again at 10:30 p.m. EST (0330 GMT) for deorbit and landing coverage.

If all goes to plan, the Soyuz carrying Kim and his cosmonaut colleagues will land Tuesday (Dec. 9) at 12:04 a.m. EST (0504 GMT) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, near the city of Dzhezkazgan.

Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky arrived at the ISS on April 8. Their 245-day mission is the first spaceflight for Kim and Zubritsky and the third for Ryzhikov, the commander of the station's Expedition 73 mission.

By the time they touch down on Tuesday morning, the trio will have orbited Earth 3,920 times together and traveled nearly 104 million miles (167 million kilometers), according to a NASA statement.

After Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky depart, there will be seven people left on board the ISS — Oleg Platonov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev of Roscosmos; NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke and Chris Williams; and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui.

Williams, Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev are new arrivals, reaching the station on Thanksgiving Day.

Their launch was more eventful than Roscosmos officials had planned; shortly after their Soyuz rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the pad's service platform crashed into the flame trench.

It's unclear how long it will take to repair that pad, which is currently the only one capable of launching Russian astronaut and cargo missions to the ISS.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/watch-3-astronauts-head-home-to-earth-from-the-international-space-station-tonight

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-astronaut-jonny-kim-crewmates-return/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg6ua4104IA

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tim-peake-10-year-anniversary-36363949

EXCLUSIVE: Astronaut Tim Peake - 'We could travel London to Sydney in 45 minutes via space'

04:00, 08 Dec 2025

Performing a clumsy but weightless backwards somersault, astronaut Major Tim Peake declared with undisguised glee that life in orbit was “absolutely spectacular.”

The first Brit to visit the International Space Station and complete a spacewalk, through him we could all vicariously live out our dreams of becoming astronauts.

A decade later, now 53, he’s lost none of the boyish enthusiasm that won our hearts, telling The Mirror: “The extraordinary view of the planet earth is probably by far the most special thing about being in space.

It’s awe inspiring, seeing the Milky Way rise - 200 billion stars of our own galaxy that’s incredibly special as well.”

Next Monday at 11.03am - marking the exact moment 10 years ago on December 15 2015 that Tim blasted into space - a mass paper rocket launch will be staged at London’s Science Museum.

Schools across the UK will also be invited to join in a lesson with Tim, broadcast live from the museum, following a day of free activities hosted there by the astronaut on Sunday.

Tim says: “There will be explosive live shows and kids can learn how to send a rocket up into space.”

The first astronaut to run the equivalent of the London Marathon in space, Tim recalls blasting off from the launch site in Kazakhstan as if it was yesterday.

Waving to the throngs of people who had gathered for the launch, he walked side by side with Russian commander Yuri Malenchko and American NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, before they stepped inside the Soyuz rocket.

But, as the hatch door closed, they were plunged into silence. “There was a real switch going from all that buzz and activity to going up inside the rocket,” says Tim.

“Inside the capsule, when the hatch closes - that’s the moment when everything shifts. It’s just three people crammed in like sardines in a tin waiting for the blue touchpaper to light.

That’s the time when you shut everything else out and you just focus on what you’ve been training for, for so many years.”

Inside the Soyuz there’s the descent module for launch and re-entry, and the orbital module - a cramped, bell-shaped capsule, providing tightly seated living space for the crew.

It took six hours for the 7 tonne Soyuz to reach the 400 tonne Space Station, arriving at 5.33pm.

But the astronauts didn’t open the hatch until 7.58pm. Only once they were sure the connection between the two crafts was airtight, did they enter the Space Station, which would become Tim’s home for the next six months.

Orbiting the earth presented Tim - who lives in Chichester with his wife Rebecca, 51, and their sons Thomas, 16, and Oliver, 14 - with a treasure chest of unearthly delights.

His most memorable was undoubtedly the space walk. “I’ll never forget it,” he says. "It's one thing to dock in space, which is like a moment out of Moonraker, but it’s another to put on a space suit and go outside.

The feeling of danger is palpable. You’re in this environment you’re not supposed to be in - but it’s also incredibly beautiful, peaceful and tranquil being surrounded by the universe.

To be out there floating around in space is the most special experience ever. Being in space taught me that this planet is the most beautiful planet I've ever seen, and set in the backdrop of the infinite universe it makes you realise we need to look after it.”

Taking part in more than 250 scientific experiments during his mission, he also engaged 2 million schoolchildren across Europe in at least 30 projects.

Now retired, but still an ambassador for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) he is passionate about inspiring the next generation of explorers, engineers and scientists.

Running the London Marathon strapped to the Space Station’s treadmill by a bungee cord attached to a harness, so he didn’t float away, was another intergalactic feat.

He completed the virtual course - in support of The Prince’s Trust (now The King’s Trust) - in 3 hours, 35 minutes and 21 seconds, while watching fellow runners pound the London streets below him via video link.

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>>23956110

Low gravity meant Tim’s legs only had to carry 80% of his actual weight. “You could say we’re cheating in a way, but the reality is that if you have all that weight on your collarbone it forces you into this forward position,” he explains.

“The treadmill was incredibly narrow, which meant I couldn’t run with my normal gait. It's a bit like when models walk down the catwalk and they have to put one foot in front of the other - you have to run a bit like that.

“For three and a half hours your blood circulation is cut off by wearing this ridiculous harness and you have to really focus on every foot you place being accurate, so you don’t trip up.

After about an hour, I was desperate to get off, so I got faster and faster, because I wanted to finish it as soon as possible. I’d say it is harder to run a marathon in space, but being able to watch the live London marathon at the same time really inspired me.”

His muscles also recovered quicker, because he floated off the treadmill without putting his full body weight on his tired legs. But he failed to beat his earthly time. When he ran the London Marathon in 1999 he finished in 3 hours and 18 minutes.

Waxing lyrical about wonders he saw from space - including the Sahara desert, the Amazon rainforest and the Himalayas - Tim says the juxtaposition between the awesome views and the everyday was mindblowing.

Tim, who joined the Army at 19, becoming a pilot in the Army Air Corps and then joining the European Space Agency astronaut corps in 2009, says:

“There’s almost this disconnect between normality and awe and wonder. On the one hand you’re working really hard and the next you pass by the window and suddenly see Earth beneath you.

“You see this magnificent view of the Aurora at night, or a thunderstorm - and it blows your mind.”

Orbiting around 250 miles above Earth, Tim loved looking down at the planet from the space station’s Cupola - a unique observation deck with seven windows - and shared his images and thoughts on social media.

“When you see the Aurora and the small strip of atmosphere that protects us from space, it gives you an appreciation of just what our planet is doing to protect us from a harsh environment.”

The strip of atmosphere, while remarkably thin, technically extends thousands of miles - blending into space and gradually fading.

“Back in the Apollo era - they said we came all this way to see what’s on the moon - but what we really discovered was planet Earth,” says Tim, who landed back on terra firma on June 18 2016.

Twenty five this year, the International Space Station will be deorbited in 2031. Advanced technology and high maintenance costs mean it will be replaced by multiple commercial space stations.

Tim says: “Space tourists have been spending 10 to 12 days on the ISS for the last 10 years. As it gets easier and cheaper to get to space, we’re seeing more and more people doing it.”

But while singer Katy Perry joined an all female crew to go into space in April this year, it will still be a while before ordinary people can fly to the moon and back, as it currently costs more than £40m.

In the meantime, there are still serious space missions in the offing. Artemis II is a NASA-led crewed mission that will send four astronauts on a 10-day flight around the Moon and back, with a launch targeted for early 2026.

The lunar flyby will be to test systems for future landings. China also has its own space station now.

Tim continues: “I’m a fan of using space for science and space for the benefit of everybody. I don't think there’s a huge public appetite for just watching people with high net worth having a quick six minutes of weightlessness in space.

Having said that, back in the 1920s and 30s, it was only very wealthy people flying across the Atlantic.

“Today it’s affordable for a much larger percentage of the population. In 100 years time we could be seeing a transportation system that would get you from London to Sydney in 45 minutes [via space] and it could be affordable for a large percentage of people.

We might look back at rich people and celebrities going to space and think it was just the start.”

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SpaceX Launches

Starlink Mission

December 8, 2025

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is targeting the launch of 29 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the X TV app.

This will be the 32nd flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, SES O3B mPOWER-A, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Merah Putih 2, Galileo L13, Koreasat-6A, and 20 Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-6-92

https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-11-15

https://www.floridatoday.com/live-story/tech/science/space/2025/12/07/spacex-launch-day-heres-information-on-todays-starlink-rocket-launch-from-nasa-kennedy-space-center/87645274007/