Thank you baker
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
December 18, 2025
Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini
Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant, is the brightest celestial beacon at the center of this composite night skyscape. The scene was constructed by selecting the 40 exposures containing meteors from about 500 exposures made on the nights of December 13 and 14, near peak activity for this year's annual Geminid meteor shower. With each selected exposure registered in the night sky above Alentejo, Portugal, planet Earth, it does look like the meteors are streaming away from Jupiter. But the apparent radiant of the Geminid meteors is actually closer to bright star Castor, in the shower's eponymous constellation Gemini. In this frame that's just a little above and left of the Solar System's most massive planet. Still, the parent body of Geminid meteors is known to be rocky, near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon. And the orbit of Phaethon itself is influenced by the gravitational attraction exerted by massive Jupiter, in concert with planets of the inner Solar System.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Disaster Cycle and Pole Shift - 4x Speed, Solar Watch | S0 News and frens
Dec.18.2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-jYlXf8x1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_8T9AW7pc (THE DISASTER CYCLE (Final Trailer))
https://x.com/schumannbot/status/2001653727015686593
https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/will-2026-still-bring-strong-auroras-what-the-suns-recent-activity-tells-us
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-will-the-northern-lights-be-visible-tonight
https://www.ndtv.com/science/earth-has-just-3-days-to-prevent-satellite-chaos-from-solar-storm-9834479
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3pHR86GqMY (Adapt 2030: Earth's Skies Are Electrifying Plasma Petroglyphs Return)
https://x.com/adapt2030
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRJTWf3tHiA (Stefan Burns: THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY 💥 Solar "Dark Scar" Opens Up as Plasma Filaments Go WILD)
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/3i-atlas-maintained-a-sunward-jet-after-its-gravitational-deflection-by-16-degrees-at-perihelion-e6810be9b3d8
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/the-15-anomalies-of-3i-atlas-should-we-pay-attention-to-them-if-they-were-not-forecasted-77375f9974d5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVMROyOo0r4 (Queen City News: 3I/Atlas: Comet Or Alien Craft? Conversation With Harvard Professor Dr. Avi Loeb - We Are Not Alone)
https://www.space.com/astronomy/comets/what-time-will-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-be-closest-to-earth-on-dec-19
https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/11/19/interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-aka-c-2025-n1-atlas-closest-approach-to-the-earth-online-observation-19-dec-2025/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ficGuvPxV0s
https://www.ufonews.co/post/3i-atlas-changed-color-3x-since-discovery-changes-again-as-it-approaches-earth
https://x.com/DobsonianPower/status/2001494501970575547
https://x.com/ProjectChaney/status/2001428092137398772
https://x.com/AJamesMcCarthy/status/2001437868892598382
https://x.com/NASAJPL/status/2001389397535789248
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2001410519773659373
https://x.com/AstronomyVibes/status/2001474665861255624
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbI1U6gWEbQ (BP Earthwatch: 3I Atlas and the Return of the Gods)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RYeA07qYkQ (David Sereda: This is it part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03VQeMy2qtA part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96VQKxOxL4E part 3
https://rumble.com/v7355n4-dan-cooper-venusians-3i-atlas-and-the-deep-state-abdicating-power.html
3I/ATLAS Maintained a Sunward Jet After Its Gravitational Deflection by 16 Degrees at Perihelion
December 17, 2025
The near alignment of the rotation axis of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS with the sunward direction at large distances (as discussed here and here) could have been spoiled after perihelion.
The rotation axis can remain fixed if no torque acts on 3I/ATLAS. However, the direction of motion of 3I/ATLAS was shifted by the following angle (in radians) at perihelion:
2GM/(b*v²)= 0.286=16.4 degrees, where G is Newton’s constant, M is the mass of the Sun, b=202 million kilometers is the perihelion distance and v=68 kilometers per second is the perihelion speed.
Remarkably, this deflection angle is twice the opening angle of the anti-tail jet, which was observed to span about 8 degrees out to a distance of order a million kilometers in the latest images of 3I/ATLAS from December 15, 2025 (as discussed here).
If one edge of the jet’s cone overlapped with the sunward direction before perihelion, then the other edge of an identical jet cone on the opposite pole of 3I/ATLAS overlaps with the sunward direction after perihelion.
As 3I/ATLAS approach perigee on December 19, 2025, the time is ripe to summarize all the anomalies of 3I/ATLAS, organized by themes:
Geometric Coincidences:
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The retrograde trajectory of 3I/ATLAS is aligned to within 5 degrees with the ecliptic plane of the planets around the Sun, with a probability of 0.2% (as discussed here). This suggests that the trajectory may have been planned.
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The arrival time of 3I/ATLAS was fine-tuned to bring it to 29 and 54 million kilometers from Mars and Jupiter, respectively, and be unobservable from Earth at perihelion (as discussed here).
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The forecasted perijove distance of 3I/ATLAS during its encounter with Jupiter on March 16, 2026 is 53.6 million kilometers, close to Jupiter’s Hill radius, 53.5 million kilometers (as discussed here). This match includes the non-gravitational acceleration that 3I/ATLAS displayed near perihelion. The rare coincidence might mean that 3I/ATLAS intends to release technological devices at Jupiter’s Lagrange points — where fuel requirements are minimal.
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Analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope image from July 21, 2025 (as discussed here) suggests that the anti-tail before perihelion must have been in the form of a tightly collimated jet that is about ten times longer than it is wide. This is similar to the tight collimation observed in the latest post-perihelion images. It is difficult to understand how the sublimation of pockets of ice as a result of illumination by sunlight would lead to tightly collimated jets out to a million kilometers. No known comet exhibited a physical sunward jet of this length. For a technological object, a beam of particles might be used to mitigate the risk from the solar wind that would otherwise impact its surface at a relative speed of order 500 kilometers per second and release a hundred thousand times more energy per unit mass than explosives.
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At large distances, the rotation axis of 3I/ATLAS was aligned to within 8 degrees with the sunward direction when it entered the solar system (as reported here). The probability for that is 0.5%.
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The observed wobble of the pre-perihelion jet in the direction of the Sun (as reported here during July and August 2025) requires the base of the jet to be within 8 degrees from the sun-facing pole, with probability of 0.5%.
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The existence of a prominent jet towards the Sun on the way of 3I/ATLAS out of the solar system requires a similar coincidence near the opposite pole of the rotation axis. The fact that a tightly collimated jet appears as the sunward anti-tail both before and after perihelion (while reversing direction at perihelion relative to the direction of motion), has a tiny probability of occurring at random, equal to the square of 0.5% or 0.000025.
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The launch base of the post-perihelion anti-tail jet resided on the nightside of 3I/ATLAS before perihelion and the base of the pre-perihelion anti-tail jet is now on the nightside of 3I/ATLAS after perihelion. For these bases to be active only when facing the Sun, they must be well insulated on the nightside for a period longer than several months. However, heat would naturally flow by conduction throughout the body of a natural comet, making this insulation requirement difficult to satisfy.
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The gravitational deflection of 3I/ATLAS by 16 degrees at perihelion, is exactly twice the opening angle of the anti-tail jet. This coincidence allows the wobbling jet around the rotation axis to generate an anti-tail in the direction of the Sun before perihelion and a counter jet on the opposite pole after perihelion, with a jet opening angle of 8 degrees on both poles.
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3I/ATLAS arrived from a direction coincident with the radio “Wow! Signal” to within 9 degrees, with a probability of 0.6% (as discussed here).
Composition Anomalies of the Gas Shed by 3I/ATLAS:
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The gas plume surrounding 3I/ATLAS contains much more nickel than iron, as found in industrially-produced nickel alloys, and a nickel to cyanide ratio that is orders of magnitude larger than for thousands of known comets, including 2I/Borisov (see here). This might indicate a technological origin for these abundances.
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The gas plume surrounding 3I/ATLAS contains only 4% water by mass, whereas water is a dominant constituent in familiar solar-system comets (as discussed here). The plume might have resulted from the sunlight releasing the ices and dust that accumulated on the surface of a technological object during its journey through cold dense clouds of the interstellar medium.
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Unusual Physical Properties:
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The nucleus of 3I/ATLAS is much more massive than 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, while moving faster than both (as discussed here and here). There might not be enough rocky material in interstellar space to deliver a natural iceberg of this mass once per decade to the inner solar system (as discussed here). This suggests that 3I/ATLAS may have targeted the inner solar system rather than being drawn at random from the reservoir of interstellar icebergs.
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3I/ATLAS shows extreme negative polarization, unprecedented for all known comets, including 2I/Borisov (as discussed here). This unusual polarization may be related to its unusual anti-tail.
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Near perihelion, 3I/ATLAS brightened faster than any known comet and was bluer than the Sun (as discussed here).
It is important to keep in mind that other technological civilizations could have used the foundation of a natural object to plant technological devices within it (as discussed here).
Whether we encounter a “Trojan Horse” can be decided only through a careful study of the anomalies that distinguish 3I/ATLAS from familiar comets.
As announced here, the International Asteroid Warning Network is conducting a Planetary Defense campaign to collect as much data as possible on 3I/ATLAS between November 27, 2025 and January 27, 2026.
Once this data is made public, I will update my rank for 3I/ATLAS on the Loeb Classification Scale (as quantified here and here).
In a new paper that I co-authored with the brilliant PhD student Oem Trivedi (posted today here), we provided the mathematical framework for updating the Loeb scale of interstellar objects over time.
Irrespective of the true nature of 3I/ATLAS, my New Year’s resolution is simple. Starting on the early morning of December 19, 2025, I will keep looking up in the direction 3I/ATLAS during my future daily jogs before sunrise.
3/3
BIG!
https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/12/18/senate-confirms-jared-isaacman-as-15th-nasa-administrator/
https://aldailynews.com/u-s-senate-confirms-isaacman-to-lead-nasa-earning-britts-support/
https://twitter.com/NASASpox/status/2001387052911526221
https://x.com/rookisaacman
Senate confirms Jared Isaacman as 15th NASA Administrator
December 18, 2025
Jared Isaacman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be NASA’s newest administrator on Wednesday afternoon.
The commercial astronaut, entrepreneur, and philanthropist received 67 votes of approval with 30 senators voting against his confirmation.
“For nearly 70 years, the United States has been at the forefront of space exploration. President Trump knows how critical it is to reinvigorate NASA as we aim to reach new heights in the greatest frontier ever known, and that’s why he chose exactly the right man for the job,” wrote Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) in a social media post shortly after the vote.
“I’m proud to see [Jared Isaccman] confirmed as our NASA administrator and confident he will work tirelessly to ensure America wins the 21st century space race.”
Messages of support came in swiftly for Isaacman, ranging from industry members to special interest groups, like the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Planetary Society.
“After nearly a year of historic disruptions to the agency’s workforce, facilities, and budget, Mr. Isaacman has the opportunity to stabilize and reinvigorate the U.S. space program,” the Planetary Society wrote in a social media statement.
“Congress is on a path to provide Mr. Isaacman with a restored budget that better funds national priorities: returning humans to the Moon, maintaining U.S. leadership in space science and exploration, and training the next generation of scientists and aerospace engineers.
“This is a remarkable statement of support for NASA’s mission, and Mr. Isaacman publicly committed to make full use of the funds that Congress provides.”
A date for Isaacman’s official swearing in ceremony hasn’t been announced, but is expected soon, potentially before the Christmas holiday.
Isaacman was first announced as President Donald Trump’s pick for the position of NASA Administrator on Dec. 4, 2024, and sat for his first confirmation hearing on April 9.
About a month and a half later, the President withdrew that nomination amid the backdrop of a very public falling out with SpaceX founder and one of Trump’s biggest political donors, Elon Musk.
Isaacman was renominated to the position on Nov. 4 and had a second confirmation hearing less than a month later.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy was named acting administrator replacing the interim Administrator, Janet Petro, who returned to her role as director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“Congratulations to Jared Isaacman on his confirmation as NASA Administrator,” Duffy wrote in a social media post. “It’s been an honor to help drive [The President’s]’ vision for American leadership in space.
I wish Jared success as he begins his tenure and leads NASA as we go back to the Moon in 2028 and beat China.”
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A busy time ahead
Isaacman will step into the Administrator role at an inflection point for the agency with Congress and the Trump Administration pushing different directions for the agency. Also a reduction in the NASA workforce and brutal budget cuts will create a challenging environment.
Most immediately, NASA is on the cusp of launching the Artemis 2 mission, the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, which will fly around the Moon and back to Earth on a 10-day mission, as soon as early February.
Across his two confirmation hearings, Isaacman faced numerous questions about his views on the Artemis program, which uses the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for lunar expeditions.
In his list of questions for the record following Isaacman’s second nomination hearing, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) pushed Isaacman on his support for using the SLS rocket through the Artemis 5 mission.
She noted that he’d previously talked about the potential for using commercial heavy lift rockets on the Artemis 4 and Artemis 5 missions.
“SLS is the fastest path to achieving America’s near-term lunar objectives through Artemis 5,” Isaacman wrote in response.
“Pivoting to another architecture earlier than contemplated in the One Big Beautiful Bill could place the nation at an unacceptable risk of a strategic capability gap. I will, of course, follow the law.”
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) asked Isaacman about the initiative started by Duffy to reopen the competition for the Artemis 3 Human Landing System (HLS) contract.
NASA confirmed that it had received proposals for expedited landing options from SpaceX and Blue Origin and would see input from the broader industry in time.
“If confirmed, I fully intend to solicit feedback from all commercial partners on ways to reduce requirements and remove obstacles that impede America’s near-term lunar objectives,” Isaacman wrote in response.
“This applies not only to Blue Origin and SpaceX, but to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop, and every other vendor contributing to Artemis and NASA’s broader mission.
“As I stated during the hearing, America is best served when both HLS providers are able to compete–and as a nation, we must select the first landing system ready to ensure the United States returns to the Moon before China.”
Isaacman also faces challenges with NASA’s science budget. The President’s Budget Request, issued earlier this year, proposed deep cuts to science, with the Earth science portion taking a heavy reduction.
Asked by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) about the President’s proposal to eliminate the Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) and reduce the funding to the NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) program, Isaacman said the following:
“If confirmed, I can commit to being an advocate for science and a strong American workforce and will do all I can to maximize the scientific value of every dollar provided by Congress.”
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NASA Astronaut Lee Morin to Retire After 30 Years of Innovation
Dec 18, 2025
NASA astronaut and retired United States Navy Capt. Lee Morin has retired from the agency after 30 years of service.
He served as a mission specialist on STS-110 and went on to oversee the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory and technology development for the International Space Station and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, as well as its Artemis campaign.
“Lee’s contributions throughout his career are immense and immeasurable,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“His expertise and enthusiasm followed him whether he was working with the agency’s most seasoned engineers, or an intern just starting out. We’ll feel the impact of his innovations for decades to come, and I cannot thank him enough for his service.”
The New Hampshire native and physician flew aboard space shuttle Atlantis in support of STS-110 in 2002.
The mission delivered the cornerstone truss to the space station. It also marked the first time the station’s robotic arm was used to assist spacewalkers, and the first spacewalks conducted from the station’s Quest airlock.
During the mission, Morin performed two spacewalks, spending a total of 14 hours and 9 minutes working outside the station. He accumulated 10 days and 19 hours in space.
“Lee’s footprint on human spaceflight can be felt by every astronaut in our corps,” said Chief Astronaut Scott Tingle.
“He set the new standard for the way spacecraft cockpits are designed and built, resulting in more efficient astronaut training and safer spaceflight overall.
I have long admired his drive to always try something new. I’m proud to call him my lifelong friend and wish him nothing but the best.”
After his spaceflight, Morin used his experience to improve how astronauts interact with spacecraft systems. He helped design the software displays used during missions aboard the space station and Orion spacecraft.
As lead astronaut on a team that created a standardized graphical interface for space station crews, Morin ensured early missions had clear, consistent displays and procedures.
His work bridged the gap between engineering and usability, earning recognition from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for innovations that continue to make spaceflight safer and more efficient.
“Working with the brilliant teams here at NASA has been the honor of a lifetime,” Morin said.
“Throughout my career I’ve had the honor of seeing some of the greatest achievements in human spaceflight, and I couldn’t have done it without the support of the countless mentors, collaborators, and friends I’ve met along the way.
While I’m departing the agency, I will remain an avid follower to see where human spaceflight goes next, and I am humbled and proud to say that I got to be a part of where it all began.”
Morin was selected as an astronaut in 1996. He holds multiple degrees, including master’s degrees in biochemistry, public health, and physics.
He earned his medical degree from New York University. Before he came to NASA, he served as a Naval flight surgeon, diving medical officer, and held key roles in aerospace medicine.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-lee-morin-to-retire-after-30-years-of-innovation/
bring the cars with it, please
NASA’s Fermi Spots Young Star Cluster Blowing Gamma-Ray Bubbles
Dec 18, 2025
For the first time, astronomers using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have traced a budding outflow of gas from a cluster of young stars in our galaxy — insights that help us understand how the universe has evolved as NASA explores the secrets of the cosmos for the benefit of all.
The cluster, called Westerlund 1, is located about 12,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Ara. It’s the closest, most massive, and most luminous super star cluster in the Milky Way.
The only reason Westerlund 1 isn’t visible to the unaided eye is because it’s surrounded by thick clouds of dust. Its outflow extends below the plane of the galaxy and is filled with high-speed, hard-to-study particles called cosmic rays.
“Understanding cosmic ray outflows is crucial to better comprehending the long-term evolution of the Milky Way,” said Marianne Lemoine-Goumard, an astrophysicist at the University of Bordeaux in France.
“We think these particles carry a large amount of the energy released within clusters. They could help drive galactic winds, regulate star formation, and distribute chemical elements within the galaxy.”
A paper detailing the results published Dec. 9 in Nature Communications. Lemoine-Goumard led the research with Lucia Härer and Lars Mohrmann, both at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.
Super star clusters like Westerlund 1 contain more than 10,000 times our Sun’s mass. They are also more luminous and contain higher numbers of rare, massive stars than other clusters.
Scientists think that supernova explosions and stellar winds within star clusters push ambient gas outward, propelling cosmic rays to near light speed. About 90% of these particles are hydrogen nuclei, or protons, and the remainder are electrons and the nuclei of heavier elements.
Because cosmic ray particles are electrically charged, they change course when they encounter magnetic fields.
This means scientists can’t trace them back to their sources. Gamma rays, however, travel in a straight line. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and cosmic rays produce gamma rays when they interact with matter in their environment.
Most gamma-ray observations of stellar clusters have limited resolution, so astronomers effectively see them as indistinct areas of emission. Because Westerlund 1 is so close and bright, however, it’s easier to study.
In 2022, scientists using a group of telescopes in Namibia operated by the Max Planck Institute called the High Energy Spectroscopic System detected a distinct ring of gamma rays around Westerlund 1 with energies trillions of times higher than visible light.
Lemoine-Goumard, Härer, and Mohrmann wondered if the cluster’s unique properties might allow them to see other details by looking back through nearly two decades of Fermi data at slightly lower energies — millions to billions of times the energy of visible light.
Fermi’s sensitivity and resolution allowed the researchers to filter out other gamma-ray sources like rapidly spinning stellar remnants called pulsars, background radiation, and Westerlund 1 itself.
What was left was a bubble of gamma rays extending over 650 light-years from the cluster below the plane of the Milky Way. That means the outflow is about 200 times larger than Westerlund 1 itself.
The researchers call this a nascent, or early stage, outflow because it was likely recently produced by massive young stars within the cluster and hasn’t yet had time to break out of the galactic disk. Eventually it will stream into the galactic halo, the hot gas surrounding the Milky Way.
Westerlund 1 is located slightly below the galactic plane, so the researchers think the gas expanded asymmetrically, following the path of least resistance into a zone of lower density below the disk.
“One of the next steps is to model how the cosmic rays travel across this distance and how they create a changing gamma-ray energy spectrum,” Härer said.
“We’d also like to look for similar features in other star clusters. We got very lucky with Westerlund 1, though, since it’s so massive, bright, and close. But now we know what to look for, and we might find something even more surprising.”
“Since it started operations 17 years ago, Fermi has continued to advance our understanding of the universe around us,” said Elizabeth Hays, Fermi’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“From activity in distant galaxies to lightning storms in our own atmosphere, the gamma-ray sky continues to astound us.”
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/fermi/nasas-fermi-spots-young-star-cluster-blowing-gamma-ray-bubbles/
Hi ya! Hyha
Dec 17, 2025
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is currently trekking towards exciting new terrain.
After roughly four months of climbing up and over the rim of Jezero crater, the rover is taking a charming tour of the plains just beyond the western crater rim, fittingly named “Lac de Charmes.”
This area just beyond Jezero’s rim will be the prime place to search for pre-Jezero ancient bedrock and Jezero impactites — rocks produced or affected by the impact event that created Jezero crater.
The formation of a complex crater like Jezero is, well… complex.
Scientists who study impact craters like to split the formation process into three stages: contact & compression (when the impactor hits), excavation (when materials are thrown out of the crater), and modification (when gravity causes everything to collapse).
This process happens incredibly fast, fracturing the impacted rock and even melting some of the target material. Sometimes on Earth, the classic “bowl” shaped crater has been completely weathered and unrecognizable, so geologists are able to identify craters by the remnants of their impactites. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more complicated — Jezero crater’s rim is located on the rim of another, even bigger basin called Isidis.
That means there is an opportunity to have impactites from both cratering events exposed in and just around the rim — some of which could be several billions of years old! We may have already encountered one of these blocks on our trek towards Lac de Charmes.
In the foreground of this image taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument on the rover, there is a potential impactite called a “megablock” that the team has named “Hyha.” We can actually see this block from orbit, it is that large!
The team is excited to continue exploring these ancient rocks as we take our next steps off Jezero’s rim.
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/hi-ya-hyha/
Today’s Advanced Exercise, Physics Research Benefits Earth and Space Industries
December 17, 2025
Exercise and physics research were the top scientific duties aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday advancing human health and industries both on the ground and in space.
The Expedition 74 crew members also continued working on spacesuits and practiced an emergency drill.
Doctors continuously monitor astronauts’ health using sensors, tests, and sample collections to understand the long-term effects of spaceflight, helping to keep crews fit for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond while also advancing medical treatments on Earth.
A key part of this effort is exercise to prevent space-caused muscle and bone loss. During workouts and daily activities, astronauts periodically wear the sensor-packed Bio-Monitor vest and headband that monitors heart health, respiratory health, and more for up to 48 hours.
The data can be monitored by doctors on Earth in real-time or downloaded to the ground for later review.
NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams put on the Bio-Monitor wearables early Wednesday beginning a two-day health monitoring session.
Afterward, he exercised on the advanced resistive exercise device (ARED)—that mimics free weights on Earth—then jogged on the COLBERT treadmill helping counter the effects of microgravity and providing doctors insight into his heart, lung, muscle, and bone health in weightlessness.
The Bio-Monitor, a Canadian Space Agency-designed biomedical device, has been in operational use aboard the station since January 2019.
Williams later assisted NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman inside the Quest airlock as she installed charged lithium-ion batteries into a pair of spacesuits.
Station Commander Mike Fincke worked throughout Wednesday servicing a variety of exercise gear and science hardware. He first installed kinematics hardware on the ARED that monitors the muscle and bone forces crews experience when exercising in space.
Researchers use the visual data to adjust workout programs to maximize crew fitness in microgravity. Next, he swapped a pair of hard drives and injected gas into the experimental Zero Boil-Off Tank being tested for its ability to preserve cryogenic fluids in spacecraft fuel tanks.
Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) started his shift inside the Kibo laboratory module checking for gas leaks inside combustion research hardware.
Next, he powered on a fluorescence microscope to observe changes in the formation of flat liquid crystal films in microgravity.
Results from the study may advance screen displays for touchpads and instrumentation panels benefitting both Earth and space hardware.
At the end of their shift, all four astronauts joined the cosmonauts from Roscosmos—Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev, and Oleg Platonov—and conducted an emergency drill.
The orbital septet practiced their responses to unlikely events such as a depressurization, a chemical leak, or a fire onboard the orbital outpost.
The seven crewmates used computer tablets and reviewed the procedures and communication protocols they would use in coordination with mission controllers on the ground.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/12/17/todays-advanced-exercise-physics-research-benefits-earth-and-space-industries/
Massive Stars Make Their Mark in Hubble Image
Dec 17, 2025
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a glittering blue dwarf galaxy called Markarian 178 (Mrk 178).
The galaxy, which is substantially smaller than our own Milky Way, lies 13 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear).
Mrk 178 is one of more than 1,500 Markarian galaxies. These galaxies get their name from the Armenian astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian, who compiled a list of galaxies that were surprisingly bright in ultraviolet light.
While the bulk of the galaxy is blue due to an abundance of young, hot stars with little dust shrouding them, Mrk 178 gets a red hue from a collection of rare massive Wolf–Rayet stars.
These stars are concentrated in the brightest, reddish region near the galaxy’s edge. Wolf–Rayet stars cast off their atmospheres through powerful winds, and the bright emission lines from their hot stellar winds are etched upon the galaxy’s spectrum. Both ionized hydrogen and oxygen lines are particularly strong and appear as a red color in this photo.
Massive stars enter the Wolf–Rayet phase of their evolution just before they collapse into black holes or neutron stars.
Because Wolf–Rayet stars last for only a few million years, researchers know that something must have triggered a recent burst of star formation in Mrk 178.
At first glance, it’s not clear what could be the cause — Mrk 178 doesn’t seem to have any close galactic neighbors that may have stirred up its gas to form new stars.
Instead, researchers suspect that a gas cloud crashed into Mrk 178, or that the intergalactic medium disturbed its gas as the galaxy moved through space.
Either disturbance could light up this tiny galaxy with a ripple of bright new stars.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/massive-stars-make-their-mark-in-hubble-image/
https://www.planetary.org/articles/which-stars-could-host-alien-life
Which stars could host alien life?
December 17, 2025
The Sun will not look different to the naked eye when, about a billion years from now, it turns our planet into a barren desert.
Its big change will come much later, as our star evolves into a red giant and swells to engulf Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth.
Instead, the Sun is simply — slowly — getting brighter. Eventually, it’ll shine intensely enough to boil all the water off the surface of Earth.
Astronomers often say that we know of only one world in the entire Cosmos that hosts life: Earth. But we also know of only one star.
The Sun, a middle-aged star of a type that is a minority in the galaxy, is our sole example of a star with an inhabited world.
If planets are the stage that life plays out on, stars set the scene.
Every star in the Universe creates a different environment for its worlds, and over the past few decades, scientists have begun to explore which are harsh, deadly, or cozy.
One day, these discoveries could tell us how common life might be throughout the Universe.
Rough starts
The first challenge for any would-be habitable planet is surviving its star’s youth. Before a star begins fusing hydrogen and settles into “adulthood,” it churns with stormy weather.
Younger stars tend to emit stronger UV radiation and fire off more frequent, intense flares. This bombardment can wear away a planet’s atmosphere and break up key chemical ingredients of life.
Even a star like the Sun poses a danger when young.
If Earth did not have the right kind of chemical makeup and magnetic shielding, the Sun would have stripped away our atmosphere long before life had a chance to develop.
This is part of why it is so hard to say if a given world is habitable or not: it matters not only what the system is like today, but also what it was like in the past.
The picture becomes clearer once a star begins fusing hydrogen. During this phase, many stars will shine steadily and only gradually brighten over time.
This phase is what Earth has to thank for the last several billion years of temperate weather. For that entire period, we have been in the Sun’s “habitable zone,” the range of orbits where a planet can absorb the right amount of energy to maintain liquid water on its surface.
In other words, Earth has been threading the needle between too-hot and too-cold around the Sun, and that has given life here the stability it needs to thrive.
Live fast, die young
But some stars don’t stay adults for billions of years. The more massive a star is, the faster it evolves.
Extremely massive stars fuse hydrogen for only millions of years before they explode as supernovae. Other heavyweight stars might not end with a bang, but they will still age faster than the amount of time life as we know it needs to develop.
The shortest-lived stars that have some chance at forming life may be “F-type” stars, which are only a little more massive than the Sun. These stars fuse hydrogen for at least two billion years — roughly twice as long as life took to develop on Earth.
Lower-mass stars, on the other hand, can steadily fuse hydrogen for hundreds of billions of years.
These “M-type” stars (also known as red dwarfs) are the most common kind of star throughout the galaxy. Though they offer plenty of time for life to evolve, they also pose dangers of their own.
Featherweight but fierce
Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, may be the most famous M star of all time.
Astronomers discovered an Earth-sized world around it in 2016, and they have been debating whether the planet is barren or habitable ever since. The answer may come down to the hospitality of its star.
M stars are stormy, in similar fashion to the newborn Sun. Since M stars are dimmer, though, their habitable zones are closer in and more exposed to UV radiation.
Every year, Proxima Centauri produces several “superflares” that are more energetic than the largest outbursts ever recorded from the Sun.
Studies have shown that these superflares could be powerful enough to kill even radiation-resistant microbes.
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Still, no one knows for sure whether or not the planet around Proxima Centauri is habitable. Scientists are trying to learn more about the star, the planet, and how the two interact.
Some astronomers argue that a world with the right geology and magnetic field might be able to remain cozy around an M star like Proxima.
UV is not all sunburns and death rays, either. High-energy radiation might be essential to driving the reactions that form the building blocks of life, like RNA.
This is why some scientists define a “UV habitable zone”: the region around a star where UV exposure is not so strong that it destroys life, but not so weak that it can’t help stir things up.
Second chances
Once most stars stop fusing hydrogen, they move through a series of other stages that drastically change their sizes and temperatures. This chaotic environment might end any life that had already developed somewhere around the star.
But for worlds that were previously wastelands, older stars could offer a new lease on life. Such stars will tend to shine brighter, pushing their habitable zones out into the once-frigid reaches of their systems.
That means when Earth is a charred crisp, the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn could be melting into temperate oceans.
Europa would likely not last more than a few hundred million years like this, but some of Saturn’s moons, like Titan, could end up with oceans of liquid water and ammonia for longer.
Around more slowly evolving stars, this phase of habitability could last up to several billion years.
That’s not to say humanity should plan a move to Enceladus. Older stars like red giants are constantly throwing off their outer layers, and worlds would need magnetic shielding to keep them from losing their atmospheres.
If they’re lucky, these worlds would only face a new set of challenges when their star reaches its next and final phase: a white dwarf.
About 97% of stars (including our own) will eventually become white dwarfs. It is the typical endpoint of a star’s life, shrunken to a ball about as large as Earth but thousands of times denser.
Though white dwarfs are super hot, their small size means they shine dimly. Their habitable zones tend to be about dozens of times closer in than Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
It is at least theoretically possible for worlds around white dwarfs to host life, but it would be tricky. Planets would have to migrate to the new close-in habitable zone from more distant orbits.
Rocky planets are unlikely to survive the trip with any surface water and atmosphere intact, though giant planets would fare better.
If the moons of these giant planets don’t get torn apart by gravitational forces or thrown out of the system entirely, they might be hospitable in their close huddle around a white dwarf.
Life could have a last gasp around the dying remains of a star — at least for a few billion years.
A Universe of stars
These are only a handful of the many different kinds of stars. There are failed stars, called brown dwarfs, that host worlds where life could be powered by tidal heating.
There are stars made up of more heavy elements, or less, which changes how they evolve and the sorts of planets they host. Some worlds orbit multiple stars, which may or may not leave them struggling to maintain stable climates.
The list goes on.
Only a small fraction of these stars, like those about to go supernova, can be completely ruled out as hospitable.
The rest leave only one way to truly confirm their habitability: to discover life not just on another planet, but around another star.
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Can Warp Drives Be Engineered? This Former NASA Researcher Thinks So
Dec 16, 2025
Warp drives are science fiction technology that allow spaceships to travel faster than the speed of light.
Physicists have tried to make sense of this by contracting the space in front and expanding the space behind the ship.
In a new paper, a former NASA scientist outlines how we can engineer such warp drives. Really? Let’s take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlfeDPMLQ8I
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/ae237a
extra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjxZL2T5EFw (What is time, really?)
Looks like it was scrubbed
New Shepard’s Crewed NS-37 Mission Targets Liftoff on December 18
Dec 17, 2025
New Shepard NS-37 is GO for launch from Launch Site One tomorrow, including the first wheelchair user to go to space, expanding the boundaries of human spaceflight.
We are monitoring forecasted upper-level winds in West Texas. The launch window opens at 10:00 AM CST / 16:00 UTC. Join us for the live webcast beginning at T-40 minutes.
Dec. 11, 2025
Blue Origin announced its next New Shepard crewed flight, NS-37, will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Thursday, December 18.
The launch window opens at 8:30 AM CST / 14:30 UTC. The webcast on BlueOrigin.com will start at T-40 minutes.
Additionally, Blue Origin released the NS-37 mission patch. A few of the symbols embedded include:
The DNA symbolizes the importance and impact of science to Neal Milch.
The hippo represents Michaela (Michi) Benthaus' favorite animal. Her plush hippo, which comforted her in the hospital after her accident, will join her in space. The tennis ball symbolizes another of Michi's competitive passions.
A baobab tree, iconic to South Africa, represents Adonis Pouroulis' roots.
A spiral galaxy symbolizes Joey Hyde's astrophysics research.
A dog-bone shape, stars in the crew capsule windows represent the number 201, and "K" are in memoriam of Jason Stansell's brother.
The shards represent Blue Origin's commitment to breaking down the barriers to accessing space, including cost, nationality, and ability.
For more information on the crew, please see our previous NS-37 blog post below.
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-ns-37-mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSDhe8y_8t0
United Launch Alliance Enables Expansion of Amazon Leo Constellation through Fourth Successful Launch
December 16, 2025
Atlas V has precisely delivered more than 100 operational satellites for Amazon Leo internet network
ULA Atlas V launched another 27 operational broadband satellites for the Amazon Leo constellation, bringing the total number of satellites launched by ULA to 108.
With a total of 47 launches between ULA’s Atlas and Vulcan vehicles, ULA is launching the majority of Amazon’s initial satellite constellation of more than 3,000 satellites.
ULA’s Atlas V and Vulcan rockets are catalysts to connecting the world, one launch at a time.
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., (Dec. 16, 2025) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Leo 4 mission for Amazon lifted off on Dec. 16 at 3:28 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This mission demonstrates the strong partnership between ULA and Amazon to accurately and rapidly launch and deliver innovation solutions for global connectivity.
“One of our primary missions at ULA is to be a catalyst in connecting the world,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Atlas and Vulcan programs.
“Partnering with Amazon contributes to their mission of bridging the global digital gap. We thank the Amazon Leo team for their continued collaboration.”
The Amazon Leo 4 launch deployed another batch of operational satellites into low Earth orbit.
There are multiple remaining Amazon Leo missions on the Atlas V rocket, as well as 38 high-cadence, rapid fire launches on the next-generation Vulcan rocket.
Through the world’s largest commercial launch agreement, ULA will deliver more than half of Amazon’s initial constellation 3,000 plus satellites.
For two decades, ULA has served as the custodian of America’s national security space mission.
Our rockets fly to the most challenging and exotic orbits the nation requires, while delivering the most accurate payload insertions in the world.
ULA continues to carry this unique capability forward with the new Vulcan rocket, the latest and most advanced vehicle of this type.
Utilizing an innovative, modular architectural approach, Vulcan has expanded into the commercial LEO marketplace, providing efficient access to all orbits into the foreseeable future.
With even more innovative technology on our horizon, the sky is definitely not the limit.
https://newsroom.ulalaunch.com/releases/united-launch-alliance-enables-expansion-of-amazon-leo-constellation-through-fourth-successful-launch
https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-amazon-leo-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2CBckxxnHM
https://usaherald.com/nasa-releases-unprecedented-gamma-ray-data-ahead-of-3i-atlas-close-approach-on-december-19th-the-gamma-ray-3i-atlas-and-the-wow-signal-all-originating-from-the-same-constellation/
NASA Releases Unprecedented Gamma-Ray Data Ahead of 3I/ATLAS Close Approach On December 19th – The Gamma-Ray, 3I/ATLAS, And The ‘Wow Signal’ All Originating From The Same Constellation Region
December 18, 2025
Key Observations
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The object was already strange before anyone connected the dots.
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Then the dates started to line up.
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Now the timing has become impossible to ignore.
Three signals. One direction. And an interstellar visitor arriving right on time.
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was first detected on July 1, 2025, quietly entering our solar system from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
Less than 24 hours later, on July 2, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope recorded something unprecedented from that same region of sky: a gamma-ray burst that did not fade after seconds or minutes, but continued erupting in pulses for more than seven hours.
That event, now formally designated GRB 250702B, has since been confirmed as the longest-duration gamma-ray burst ever observed, defying every existing classification model used by astrophysicists.
What makes this sequence remarkable is not simply coincidence in timing or direction. It is the layered pattern that emerges when these facts are examined together, alongside the growing body of anomalies already associated with 3I/ATLAS.
According to Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, the object now exhibits fifteen distinct anomalies that place it well outside the behavior of any previously studied comet or asteroid.
My review of the discovery logs, orbital data, and subsequent imaging shows that these anomalies are not isolated curiosities. They are cumulative, persistent, and internally consistent.
The gamma-ray burst itself originated roughly eight billion light-years away, emerging from a dust-choked galaxy that blocked nearly all visible light.
Only infrared and high-energy X-ray wavelengths escaped, indicating a narrow, highly collimated jet of material traveling at more than 99 percent the speed of light and pointed, remarkably, in the general direction of our solar system.
Lead researchers have publicly stated that the event does not fit within known gamma-ray burst models, a conclusion published in late November but released to the public only days ago.
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That delayed disclosure is notable for another reason. It arrived just days before 3I/ATLAS is scheduled to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025.
Standing alone, none of these data points would justify alarm. Gamma-ray bursts happen daily across the universe. Interstellar objects pass through our solar system.
Astronomers have cataloged strange signals before. But investigative analysis is not about isolated facts; it is about pattern recognition. When multiple independent anomalies converge in timing, direction, and behavior, they warrant closer scrutiny.
Sagittarius is not an arbitrary patch of sky. It is the same region from which the famous 1977 “Wow! Signal” was detected, a narrowband radio signal so unusual that it has never been satisfactorily explained or repeated.
That signal, like the recent gamma-ray burst and like 3I/ATLAS itself, appeared without warning, from deep space, and challenged the prevailing assumptions of its era.
My examination of sky-coordinate overlays confirms that all three phenomena align broadly within the same celestial neighborhood.
Meanwhile, 3I/ATLAS continues to defy expectations in ways that are observable, repeatable, and documented. Its anti-tail points sunward, contrary to standard comet physics.
Its brightness fluctuates without correlating to solar heating curves. Its rotation appears controlled rather than chaotic. Its thermal and ultraviolet signatures suggest structured outgassing rather than random sublimation.
And critically, it has remained intact and stable through regions where similar objects would be expected to fragment or flare violently.
From a planetary-defense and national-security perspective, these characteristics matter. Objects that behave predictably are easier to model, track, and dismiss.
Objects that do not follow established physical frameworks demand more rigorous observation, not speculation, but also not complacency.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office and international monitoring networks exist precisely to evaluate low-probability, high-impact unknowns. 3I/ATLAS falls squarely into that category.
To be clear, no evidence proves that these events are causally linked. There is no data demonstrating that a gamma-ray burst eight billion light-years away is physically connected to an interstellar object passing through our solar system today.
What the evidence does show is a statistically unusual convergence of direction, timing, and anomaly density that challenges easy explanations. In legal-forensic terms, this is not a verdict; it is probable cause for continued investigation.
As Earth approaches its closest observational window with 3I/ATLAS, the stakes are not existential, but epistemic. This is about whether we are willing to follow the evidence where it leads, even when it leads outside the comfort zone of established models.
I have examined the frames, the timestamps, and the comparative data, and the conclusion is straightforward: something about this object does not fit neatly into what we already know.
The next few days will provide the clearest data we may ever obtain.
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