TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
December 9, 2025
The Heart of the Soul Nebula
This cosmic close-up looks deep inside the Soul Nebula. The dark and brooding dust clouds outlined by bright ridges of glowing gas are cataloged as IC 1871. About 25 light-years across, the telescopic field of view spans only a small part of the much larger Heart and Soul nebulae. At an estimated distance of 6,500 light-years, the star-forming complex lies within the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way, seen in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia). An example of triggered star formation, the dense star-forming clouds of IC 1871 are themselves sculpted by the intense winds and radiation of the region's massive young stars. This color image adopts a palette made popular in Hubble images of star-forming regions.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Solar Storm Tonight, Record Gamma Burst, Pole Shift News | S0 News and frens
Dec.9.2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL2JqLEwcZU
https://www.isro.gov.in/Aditya_L1_Landmark_solar_storm_study.html
https://www.ualberta.ca/en/folio/2025/12/uofa-led-satellite-mission-to-explore-how-space-radiation-affects-earths-climate.html
https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/northern-lights-may-be-visible-in-17-states-and-maybe-more-dec-8-9-2025
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-will-the-northern-lights-be-visible-tonight
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/1998151722095779858
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg3AEzIXeyk (MrMBB333: Whatever it was it looked SERIOUSLY big!)
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/solar-cycle-25/
https://spaceweather.com/
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
First X-Ray Detection of 3I/ATLAS
December 9, 2025
The first X-ray detection of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was just reported from the soft X-ray imaging telescope Xtend onboard the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission XRISM of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Xtend consists of an X-ray telescope that focuses incoming X-rays and an X-ray CCD camera that detects the signal and spans a wide field of view of 38.5 arcminutes on a side.
The XRISM satellite also includes the instrument Resolve, which performs high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy.
The new X-ray image spans a projected square of 3 million kilometers on a side around 3I/ATLAS and shows a faint emission glow extending out to 400,000 kilometers from its nucleus.
Before this report, 3I/ATLAS was only detected in the UV, visible, infrared, submillimeter and radio bands.
X-ray emission from Solar system comets was first discovered in 1996 around the Comet Hyakutake (as reported here) and was later confirmed in other comets (as discussed here).
No X-rays were previously detected from interstellar objects. Given its large mass and extended coma, 3I/ATLAS provided an ideal target for X-ray observations.
The X-ray satellite XRISM conducted a Target of Opportunity observation of 3I/ATLAS a month after its brightest phase of perihelion on October 29, 2025 when it was hidden behind the Sun from Earth-based satellites.
XRISM can only observe the sky at a separation larger than 60 degrees from the Sun, and so its observation of 3I/ATLAS was timed accordingly from 23:20 UTC on November 26 to 20:38 UTC on November 28, 2025, with a total exposure time of 17 hours.
3I/ATLAS drifted slowly across the constellation Virgo during the observation, and so the satellite’s altitude was adjusted 14 times (every three hours) to keep 3I/ATLAS near the center of the field of view of Xtend.
The resulting findings were posted here.
A preliminary analysis of the images centered on 3I/ATLAS revealed a faint X-ray glow extending over an angular scale of 5 arcminutes, corresponding to a separation of 400,000 kilometers from 3I/ATLAS.
This suggests that the glowing X-ray halo is associated with the plume of gas around 3I/ATLAS which was detected by the SPHEREx Space Observatory (here) and the Webb Space Telescope (here) in August 2025.
A natural origin for reported signal is X-ray emission by the plume of gas around 3I/ATLAS as it interacts with the solar wind. As the wind’s charged particles exchange charge with the gas cloud particles, they result in X-ray emission.
Indeed, the Xtend spectrum shows excess emission components associated with carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen beyond the background emission from the Milky-Way galaxy or the Earth’s atmospheric emission.
This is an important clue that the observed emission may indeed arise from charge-exchange interactions between the gas surrounding 3I/ATLAS and the solar wind.
This pioneering detection of X-ray from an interstellar object will no doubt be followed on by other research teams.
It would be particularly interesting to check if there are any other X-ray features different from the expected signatures of charge-exchange reactions with the solar wind.
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/first-x-ray-detection-of-3i-atlas-9c2e9daf2880
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/fake-ai-generated-channel-of-videos-about-3i-atlas-was-removed-by-youtube-d3e90cf0eb9d
https://medium.com/@liena.dreams/rotating-cupcake-inside-3i-atlas-what-the-brightest-core-really-looks-like-6bd7f34b6330
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCXE6KdMYaE (Danny Jones: Harvard Physicist Warns What is Actually Happening with 3i/Atlas | Avi Loeb)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJw7ISTfxfI (Dobsonian Power: CONFIRMED: MORE SCIENTISTS SHOW 3I/ATLAS NOT A COMET!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1e1RKo9pLI (3I/ATLAS: Farsight with Aziz Brown)
Godrules1
@GodRulesIRL
Bizarre CERN connection to 3I/ATLAS. On the very day we discovered 3I/ATLAS, they were running a very unique test with new ions at the LHC in a program called "ATLAS".
And that is only the tip of the iceberg of what I discovered.. Check this out here -
10:40 PM · Dec 1, 2025
https://x.com/GodRulesIRL/status/1995744859475304900
https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1998315993832071582
https://x.com/Ammar1176708
https://spacetracker.space/timeline
NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim, Crewmates Return from Space Station
Dec 09, 2025
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim returned to Earth on Tuesday alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, wrapping up an eight-month science mission aboard the International Space Station to benefit life on Earth and future space exploration.
They made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 12:03 a.m. EST (10:03 a.m. local time), southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, after departing the space station at 8:41 p.m. on Dec. 8, aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft.
Over the course of 245 days in space, the crew orbited Earth 3,920 times, traveling nearly 104 million miles. They launched to the space station on April 8.
This mission marked the first spaceflight for both Kim and Zubritsky, while Ryzhikov completed his third journey to space, logging a total of 603 days in space.
While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Kim contributed to a wide range of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations.
He studied the behavior of bioprinted tissues containing blood vessels in microgravity for an experiment helping advance space-based tissue production to treat patients on Earth.
He also evaluated the remote command of multiple robots in space for the Surface Avatar study, which could support the development of robotic assistants for future exploration missions.
Additionally, Kim worked on developing in-space manufacturing of DNA-mimicking nanomaterials, which could improve drug delivery technologies and support emerging therapeutics and regenerative medicine.
Following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Kim will then board a NASA aircraft bound for the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth.
The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit.
As commercial companies concentrate on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is focusing its resources on deep space missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis campaign in preparation for future human missions to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-jonny-kim-crewmates-return-from-space-station/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/12/09/soyuz-crew-lands-ending-eight-month-space-research-journey/
https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/expedition-73-image-gallery/
https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/expedition-74-image-gallery/
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/astronaut-and-cosmonauts-land-on-russian-soyuz-after-8-months-aboard-international-space-station
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiOsmOTCbFE
US Senate committee advances renomination of Jared Isaacman as head of NASA
December 8, 2025
NASA may finally be on the cusp of regaining official leadership.
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and sponsor of SpaceX's private Polaris spaceflight program, faced a key vote on Monday evening (Dec. 8) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which determined whether or not to send his nomination as NASA chief to the full Senate. And the vote passed.
"Mr. Isaacman, I know that you are as committed to American supremacy in the final frontier as is this committee and the entire Senate," Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in an emailed statement on Monday evening.
"My hope is that you will be confirmed and in this role before the end of this year."
The hearing began Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET (2230 GMT). The Senate committee had said the proceedings will be broadcast live, but that turned out not to be the case.
Isaacman has flown to space twice. He privately funded both missions, which launched groundbreaking spaceflights aboard SpaceX Crew Dragons.
The first, Inspiration4, was also the first all-civilian launch, while his second, Polaris Dawn, included the first civilian spacewalk.
In his nomination hearing before the committee last week, Isaacman faced questions scrutinizing his relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and probing his position on NASA's science and human spaceflight programs.
It was Isaacman's second such hearing before the committee, which had the opportunity to press similar questions to him in April, during his first round through the nomination process.
Despite a positive and mostly bipartisan reception by lawmakers, a vote for Isaacman's confirmation earlier this year was halted when President Trump withdrew his nomination in May.
Janet Petro, acting NASA Administrator at the time, later ceded the role to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy when Trump appointed him to the position in July.
Isaacman quietly stepped aside, but little movement was made over the summer to nominate a new NASA chief as Duffy juggled dual roles at the space agency and DOT.
Then, an early November report from Politico exposed a 62-page document, known as "Project Athena," outlining Isaacman's vision to outsource certain aspects of NASA to the commercial sector in order to operate a leaner, more efficient agency.
A day after that report published, Trump renominated Isaacman for NASA's acting administrator.
In addition to Isaacman, seven other federal appointments face votes this evening, including John DeLeeuw, of Texas, and Michael Graham, of Virginia, to the National Transportation Safety Board, Steven Haines, of Virginia, as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis, Robert Harvey, of Florida, as Federal Maritime Commissioner, Richard Kloster, of West Virginia, to the Surface Transportation Board, Adm. Kevin E. Lunday as Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and McCormack, of Virginia, as Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/watch-live-us-senate-vote-to-appoint-jared-isaacman-as-head-of-nasa-today
https://nasawatch.com/congress/isaacman-nomination-heads-to-full-senate/
https://www.rocketcitynow.com/article/news/national/senate-committee-advances-isaacman-as-nasa-chief/525-79684327-6851-4d7a-8e26-8c3d190389ed
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1998188749679652995