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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
January 16, 2026
NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminescence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HRuaZCaY5Y
Sunspots Surging, Oregon Quake, Field Model | S0 News and frens
Jan.16.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlYm-5jeFE0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgRA_H9MKM0 (Stefan Burns: They Won't Tell You But I WILL 💥 BIG EARTHQUAKES COMING)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVb4az7Cs3E (ThorNews: 6.0 Earthquake off the Coast of Oregon & Large Earth facing Coronal Hole)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgXAky5yVPA (Dutschsinse: 1/15/2026 – Noteworthy M6.0 Earthquake off the West Coast / Oregon USA)
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-northern-lights-possible-tonight-jan-16-through-18
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2012172841924649110
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2012172841924649110
https://x.com/RealDutchsinse/status/2011906929082159528
https://x.com/SchumannBotDE/status/2012163272011546964
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/
Say goodbye to Comet 3I/ATLAS! Watch it head for interstellar space in real-time with this free livestream today
January 16, 2026
Tune in today (Jan. 16) to bid farewell to interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, courtesy of a livestream from the Virtual Telescope Project featuring live views of the enigmatic visitor as it continues its one-way journey out of our solar system.
Friday's livestream will begin at 5 p.m. EST (2100 GMT), with views of 3I/ATLAS being provided by a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain robotic telescope located at the organization's facility in Manciano, Italy, weather permitting.
"This is a very precious opportunity to personally see, in real-time, the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, one of the most important discoveries of the last decade," said Virtual Telescope Project founder Gianluca Masi in a recent post on the website.
3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025 and was quickly confirmed to be just the third interstellar object to visit our solar system based on an analysis of its trajectory, which proved that it was not gravitationally bound to our parent star.
The alien comet made its closest approach to the sun on Oct. 29 during an event called perihelion, prior to which it had brightened more than had been expected by scientists.
The comet was hidden from view in the weeks surrounding perihelion, as it passed on the far side of the sun relative to Earth.
3I/ATLAS later made its closest approach to our Blue Marble on Dec. 19, when it passed 168 million miles (270 million kilometers) from our planet.
Its next milestone will involve a much closer pass of Jupiter in March later this year, when it will buzz the gas giant at a distance of approximately 33.4 million miles (53.7 million km).
Following this final planetary flyby, 3I/ATLAS will embark on a silent journey lasting several thousand years as it coasts beyond the orbit of the outermost icy planets, before careening through the icy shell of the Oort cloud to return to the cold embrace of interstellar space.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/comets/say-goodbye-to-comet-3i-atlas-watch-it-head-for-interstellar-space-in-real-time-with-this-free-jan-16-livestream
https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQLcLAfilkQ
https://medium.com/@liena.dreams/3i-atlas-spectrum-became-undetectable-4444e3f76806
https://medium.com/@jmarilacroix/3i-atlas-the-magnetic-moon-and-a-convenient-composition-90759b8357cc
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/new-pear-shaped-anomaly-seen-36563478
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2026/01/16/comet-3iatlas-makes-its-final-appearance-this-saturday—heres-how-to-see-it/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH5wUCaUl8U (Dobsonian Power: 3I/ATLAS ANOMALIES RISING AGAIN! NOT A COMET!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnhgI3MI3DQ (Verdad Oculta: HIDDEN TRUTH - 3I/ATLAS SHIP OR COMET - Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA7RuUo_trw ((Not atlas)) Chuck's Astrophotography Live: GIANT 24-inch Telescope at Starfront Observatories)
NASA Adds Two F-15 Aircraft to Support Supersonic Flight Research
Jan 15, 2026
Two retired U.S. Air Force F-15 jets have joined the flight research fleet at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, transitioning from military service to a new role enabling breakthrough advancements in aerospace.
The F-15s will support supersonic flight research for NASA’s Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities project, including testing for the Quesst mission’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft.
One of the aircraft will return to the air as an active NASA research aircraft. The second will be used for parts to support long-term fleet sustainment.
“These two aircraft will enable successful data collection and chase plane capabilities for the X-59 through the life of the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project” said Troy Asher, director for flight operations at NASA Armstrong.
“They will also enable us to resume operations with various external partners, including the Department of War and commercial aviation companies.”
The aircraft came from the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field. After completing their final flights with the Air Force, the two aircraft arrived at NASA Armstrong Dec. 22, 2025.
“NASA has been flying F-15s since some of the earliest models came out in the early 1970s,” Asher said. “Dozens of scientific experiments have been flown over the decades on NASA’s F-15s and have made a significant contribution to aeronautics and high-speed flight research.”
The F-15s allow NASA to operate in high-speed, high-altitude flight-testing environments. The aircraft can carry experimental hardware externally – under its wings or slung under the center – and can be modified to support flight research.
Now that these aircraft have joined NASA’s fleet, the team at Armstrong can modify their software, systems, and flight controls to suit mission needs.
The F-15’s ground clearance allows researchers to install instruments and experiments that would not fit beneath many other aircraft.
NASA has already been operating two F-15s modified so their pilots can operate more comfortably at up to 60,000 feet, the top of the flight envelop for the X-59, which will cruise at 55,000 feet.
The new F-15 that will fly for NASA will receive the same modification, allowing for operations at altitudes most standard aircraft cannot reach.
The combination of capability, capacity, and adaptability makes the F-15s uniquely suited for flight research at NASA Armstrong.
“The priority is for them to successfully support the X-59 through completion of that mission,” Asher said. “And over the longer term, these aircraft will help position NASA to continue supporting advanced aeronautics research and partnerships.”
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-adds-two-f-15-aircraft-to-support-supersonic-flight-research/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/science-overview/science-explainers/what-is-webb-revealing-about-the-trappist-1-system/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/trappist-1-system-artists-concept/
What is Webb Revealing About the TRAPPIST-1 System?
January 16, 2026
After scientists using the ground-based Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) spotted what looked like three planets orbiting a red dwarf star in 2015, follow-up observations with space telescopes brought clarity: There are actually at least seven Earth-sized rocky worlds orbiting the star.
Named after the telescope, scientists have continued to observe the TRAPPIST-1 system with various space telescopes across different wavelengths of light, making it one of the most studied planetary systems aside from our own.
With NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a new chapter of the TRAPPIST-1 tale is underway — exciting and intriguing astronomers and the public alike.
Why is TRAPPIST-1 interesting? How are scientists using Webb to learn about the planets?
The TRAPPIST-1 system offers scientists the opportunity to study a relatively close planetary system that is both similar to and distinct from our own solar system.
Based on NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope data, astronomers measured the planets’ sizes and masses, and calculated their densities. They discovered that all seven exoplanets (b to h) are Earth-sized and probably rocky like Earth.
However, the TRAPPIST-1 system does have qualities that differ from our own solar system, which make it favorable for study at a relatively close distance of 40-light years.
Compactness. All seven planets orbit closer to their star than Mercury (the innermost planet in our solar system) does to the Sun.
Orbital period. The planets’ orbital periods range from 1.5 to roughly 19 days. Data from the planets’ multiple transits across the face of their star can be collected over a short period of time.
Host star size. The ultra-cool red dwarf star is approximately 12 percent the radius of the Sun (so just slightly larger than Jupiter), making it easier to study the planets as they transit since they cover a larger fraction of the star’s surface than they would if the star was larger.
Spitzer data also indicated that three of the TRAPPIST-1 planets (e, f, and g) are in the habitable zone. This area around the host star is where the conditions are just right for liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface.
Whether these planets could have liquid water depends in part if they can hold an atmosphere. Astronomers used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to inspect their atmospheres, which ruled out the presence of puffy hydrogen-rich atmospheres similar to that of Neptune for some of the planets.
When Webb launched in 2021, it moved past the wavelength and stability limits of earlier observatories, opening up atmospheric study in a way they couldn’t.
Webb’s position around L2, infrared sensitivity, and larger mirror make it the only telescope able to continuously lock onto an observational target, collect the optimal wavelengths of light, and observe the faint signals at a precision needed for exoplanet atmosphere characterization.
Since direct imaging of these planets is not possible because of how close they are to their host star, scientists use different approaches to learn about the system.
Each method provides one piece of the puzzle that is necessary to determine whether the TRAPPIST-1 planets have atmospheres.
Collectively, the data from Webb is providing scientists the ability to investigate the system’s formation and consider how common these environments are.
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What has Webb revealed about the TRAPPIST-1 system and its planets? And what do we still not know?
Data has been successfully collected for all seven planets. As of December 2025, the science community has reported on their Webb observations for four of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets: b, c, d, and e.
So far, Webb hasn’t seen signs of thick atmospheres on TRAPPIST-1 b and TRAPPIST-1 c. The current data for b suggests it may be a bare rock with no atmosphere.
If c does have an atmosphere, it’s very thin. For TRAPPIST-1 d and TRAPPIST-1 e, the data is still under study. For now, scientists have ruled out that these two planets have thick hydrogen atmospheres.
While scientists expected the red dwarf host star to be active, its activity is much more intense than originally predicted.
TRAPPIST-1’s stellar flares and star spots make it challenging to distinguish between signals from the planets’ atmospheres and “contamination” from the star’s activity.
To mitigate such challenging conditions, astronomers will have to take more observations than anticipated.
Advances in our scientific understanding are often gradual, and the study of the TRAPPIST-1 system is no exception.
To become more certain in the atmospheric characterization of these planets will require follow-up observations of potentially hundreds of transits with Webb over several years.
Will Webb be able to search for signs of life in the TRAPPIST-1 system?
Webb will help scientists determine which planets do or don’t have atmospheres, therefore helping scientists understand some of the dynamics of atmosphere loss and retention.
If any of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system have atmospheres, Webb can begin to study their chemical compositions, which could offer tentative clues about habitability. However, Webb is not likely to detect biosignatures on these planets.
How does the TRAPPIST-1 system tie into the broader story of exoplanets?
TRAPPIST-1 is an exciting case study, serving as a rich data point that ties into our larger interest in exoplanets.
The currently underway Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program is a Webb-Hubble collaboration to answer whether planets around red dwarf stars (like TRAPPIST-1’s star) are able to retain atmospheres.
Astronomers will learn even more about the population of Earth-sized exoplanets with the future Habitable Worlds Observatory, and will continue studying TRAPPIST-1 and other planetary systems with the European Southern Observatory’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope.
The scientific tale of TRAPPIST-1 is still being written. Each observation by Webb brings forth new information, gradually building our knowledge and shaping how we perceive these distant worlds, and driving our shared sense of excitement for what’s yet to come.
We can’t help but wonder: What will we discover next about this system?
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Hubble Observes Ghostly Cloud Alive with Star Formation
Jan 16, 2026
While this eerie NASA Hubble Space Telescope image may look ghostly, it’s actually full of new life. Lupus 3 is a star-forming cloud about 500 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.
White wisps of gas swirl throughout the region, and in the lower-left corner resides a dark dust cloud. Bright T Tauri stars shine at the left, bottom right, and upper center, while other young stellar objects dot the image.
T Tauri stars are actively forming stars in a specific stage of formation. In this stage, the enveloping gas and dust dissipates from radiation and stellar winds, or outflows of particles from the emerging star.
T Tauri stars are typically less than 10 million years old and vary in brightness both randomly and periodically due to the environment and nature of a forming star.
The random variations may be due to instabilities in the accretion disk of dust and gas around the star, material from that disk falling onto the star and being consumed, and flares on the star’s surface.
The more regular, periodic changes may be caused by giant sunspots rotating in and out of view.
T Tauri stars are in the process of contracting under the force of gravity as they become main sequence stars which fuse hydrogen to helium in their cores. Studying these stars can help astronomers better understand the star formation process.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-observes-ghostly-cloud-alive-with-star-formation/
Blooming Seas Around the Chatham Islands
Jan 16, 2026
At about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of New Zealand’s South Island, the sparsely populated Chatham Islands are rugged, remote, and often inconspicuous.
In January 2026, however, a ring of bright green and blue swirls in the ocean put a natural spotlight on the far-flung specks of land.
A bloom of phytoplankton—tiny photosynthetic organisms that become visible to satellites when their numbers explode—encircled the Chatham Islands in austral summer.
Surface currents and eddies carried the floating organisms into intricate wisps and swirls. The VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite captured this image of the display on January 10, 2026.
The Chatham Islands sit on the Chatham Rise, an underwater plateau that extends eastward from the South Island of New Zealand. The top of the rise is relatively shallow and separates areas of deeper water to the north and south.
These seafloor contours make blooms common along the Chatham Rise, where cold, nutrient-rich currents from the Antarctic and warm, nutrient-poor water from the subtropics converge.
The well-mixed water, coupled with long daylight hours, can boost phytoplankton populations.
With phytoplankton at the base of the food web, the waters around the Chatham Islands support productive fisheries, with valuable species such as pāua, rock lobster, and blue cod.
The region is also home to an array of marine mammals, including five seal species and 25 whale and dolphin species.
Amid this abundance, however, the islands are a hotspot for whale and dolphin strandings, in which hundreds of animals are sometimes beached.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/blooming-seas-around-the-chatham-islands/
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-data-helps-maine-oyster-farmers-choose-where-to-grow/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0044848625010191?via%3Dihub
NASA Data Helps Maine Oyster Farmers Choose Where to Grow
Jan 15, 2026
When oyster farmer Luke Saindon went looking for a place to grow shellfish in Maine, he knew that picking the wrong patch of water could sink the farm before it began.
So Saindon did something oyster farmers couldn’t have done a generation ago: He used NASA satellite data to view the coastline from space.
“Starting a farm is a big venture,” said Saindon, the director for The World Is Your Oyster farm in Wiscasset, Maine. “If you choose the wrong spot, you can blow through a lot of money without ever bringing oysters to market.”
NASA satellites had been passing over these waters for years, recording temperatures and other conditions.
Using a site-selection tool created by University of Maine researchers, Saindon examined satellite maps showing where water temperatures and food levels might be best for growing oysters.
The maps pointed him toward a wide, shallow bay near his home. Four years later, the farm is still there — and the oysters are thriving.
Saindon believes that using the satellite data to select his oyster farm site resulted in faster-than-average growth rates.
“This is an example of how NASA’s Earth science program supports our nation,” said Chris Neigh, the Landsat 8 and 9 project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“We collect global data, but its value grows when it’s used locally to help communities work smarter and make their livelihoods more sustainable.”
From orbit to oyster
That same satellite-based approach is now the foundation of a study published Jan. 15 in the journal Aquaculture.
Led by University of Maine scientists Thomas Kiffney and Damian Brady, the research demonstrates how temperature data from Landsat — the joint NASA and U.S. Geological Survey mission — combined with European Sentinel-2 satellite estimates of oyster food availability, namely plankton, can predict how quickly eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) reach market size.
The team built a satellite data–driven model of how oysters divide their energy among growth, survival, and reproduction.
Feed the model sea surface temperature and satellite estimates of chlorophyll and particulate organic matter — signals of how much plankton and other edible particles are in the water — and it predicts how fast oysters will grow, a big step beyond just spotting good or bad sites for farms.
“By showing where oysters grow faster, the model can help farmers plan ahead,” Kiffney said. “That could mean better decisions about when to seed, when to harvest, and how much product to expect, all of which reduces financial risk.”
That kind of insight is increasingly valuable in Maine, where oyster farming has grown rapidly over the last decade. From 2011 to 2021, the industry’s value increased 78%, rising from about $2.5 million to more than $10 million.
As the sector scales up, understanding the finer details of Maine’s coastal waters has become essential — and that’s where NASA satellites come in.
The stakes are considerable. “It takes two to three years of scoping in order to get your permit to grow, and then it can take two years for those oysters to reach market,” Brady said.
“So if you’ve chosen the wrong site, you're four years in the hole right off the bat.”
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Sharper eyes on coast
Maine’s coastline measures about 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) if you follow the tide line. It is a coast of drowned valleys and glacier-scoured granite.
Water depth, temperature, and circulation can shift dramatically within a few miles. This complexity makes oyster site selection notoriously difficult, and some satellites that see the coast in broad strokes miss the small, patchy places where oysters live.
“What makes Landsat so powerful for aquaculture is its ability to see finer-scale patterns along the coast,” where farmers put oyster cages in the water, Neigh said.
Landsat 8 and 9’s pixels — 98 to 328 feet (30 to 100 meters) across — are able to distinguish more subtle temperature differences between neighboring coves.
For a cold-blooded oyster, those distinctions can translate into months of growth. Warm water accelerates feeding and shell development. Cold water slows both.
A challenge for satellites is clouds. Maine’s sky is frequently overcast, and together Landsat 8 and 9 pass over any given point only every eight days.
To work around this, the research team analyzed 10 years of Landsat data (2013–2023) and built seasonal “climatologies,” or average temperature patterns for every 98-foot (30-meter) pixel along the coast.
Sentinel-2 imagery added estimates of chlorophyll and particulate organic matter, the drifting microscopic food that oysters pull from the water column with rhythmic contractions of their gills.
Field tests at multiple sites showed the technique’s accuracy. “We validated the model against seven years of field data,” Brady said.
“It’s a strong indication that these remotely sensed products can inform not just where to grow, but how long it will take to harvest.”
Turning satellite science into tools for growers
The University of Maine team is now developing an online tool to put this model into practice. A grower will be able to click on a coastal location and receive an estimate for time-to-market.
The researchers also assist with workshops through Maine’s Aquaculture in Shared Waters program, teaching farmers how to interpret temperature and water clarity data and apply them to their own sites.
For farmers like Saindon, that translates into something simpler: confidence and efficiency. “Having these kinds of tools lowers the barrier for new people to get into aquaculture,” he said. “It gives you peace of mind that you’re not just guessing.”
The Maine project is helping pave the way for other NASA missions. The PACE satellite (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) launched in 2024 and is now delivering hyperspectral observations of coastal waters.
Where earlier sensors could estimate how much plankton was present, PACE can begin to identify the different plankton species themselves.
For oysters, mussels, and other filter feeders, that specificity matters. Not all plankton are equal food: Different kinds offer different nutrition, and some plankton are harmful to oysters.
A next step will be turning that richer picture of coastal life into forecasts people working on the water can use, helping farmers trade some of the coast’s mystery for evidence they can apply to their harvest.
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https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/after-a-month-of-no-answer-nasa-will-try-hailing-its-silent-maven-mars-orbiter-today
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasa-to-resume-search-for-missing-mars-orbiter-but-prospects-of-re-establishing-communication-with-it-seem-slim-180988019/
After a month of no answer, NASA will try hailing its silent MAVEN Mars orbiter today
January 16, 2026
After waiting out a planned two-week communication blackout, NASA is set to listen again for a Mars orbiter that abruptly went silent more than a month ago.
The renewed contact attempt for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, comes after the end of a solar conjunction today (Jan. 16) — a period when the sun sits between Earth and Mars and charged solar particles can interfere with or corrupt radio signals.
Communications with spacecraft are typically suspended during these events to avoid sending partial or distorted commands that could trigger unintended, potentially dangerous behavior.
"NASA will not have contact with any Mars missions until Friday, Jan. 16," the agency said in a Dec. 23 statement. "Once the solar conjunction window is over, NASA plans to resume its efforts to reestablish communications with MAVEN."
NASA lost contact with MAVEN on Dec. 6, after the spacecraft passed behind Mars — a routine maneuver during which the planet temporarily and predictably blocks communications with Earth.
When MAVEN emerged again, however, the agency's Deep Space Network was unable to reconnect with it. Telemetry received before the blackout showed all systems operating normally, NASA said in a Dec. 9 statement.
However, analysis of a fragment of tracking data recovered from Dec. 6 suggested MAVEN "was rotating in an unexpected manner when it emerged from behind Mars" and was no longer in its planned orbit, NASA said in a Dec. 15 update.
MAVEN has remained silent since Dec. 6 despite repeated attempts to contact it, according to NASA.
As part of the recovery effort, the Curiosity rover attempted twice to image MAVEN when it was expected to pass overhead, "but MAVEN was not detected," the agency said in its most recent update, issued Dec. 23.
Due to the solar conjunction, NASA paused communications with all Mars missions on Dec. 29 and planned to restart them on Jan. 16.
"We will start looking again, but at this point it's looking very unlikely that we are going to be able to recover the spacecraft," Louise Prockter, director of NASA's planetary science division, said Jan. 13 during a meeting of the Small Bodies Assessment Group in Maryland, SpaceNews reported.
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Launched in November 2013, MAVEN entered orbit around Mars in September 2014 to study the planet's upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.
Originally designed to operate for just one year, MAVEN celebrated its 10th anniversary in September 2024. The mission has helped scientists understand how Mars lost its once-thick atmosphere, and has also collected extensive data on Martian dust storms, winds and auroras.
Beyond science, MAVEN plays a critical operational role as a communications relay, transmitting data between Earth and surface missions such as NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
While other orbiters — NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Mars Express — can also provide relay support, MAVEN carries a significant share of the communications workload.
With MAVEN offline, NASA said it has adjusted rover operations to rely more heavily on the remaining orbiters, scheduling additional passes to support surface activities and modifying daily plans for Curiosity and Perseverance to continue science operations.
MAVEN's silence is particularly concerning given its history of technical challenges. In 2022, the spacecraft spent about three months in safe mode after problems with its onboard inertial measurement units, or IMUs, which determine its orientation in space.
Following earlier issues with its primary IMU, the mission switched to a backup unit that experienced accelerated wear, leaving MAVEN unable to fully rely on either system.
To reduce dependence on aging hardware, the mission team accelerated development of an "all-stellar" navigation mode, which allows MAVEN to orient itself by tracking stars.
While less precise than IMU-based navigation, the system is sufficient for routine operations, though not for delicate maneuvers.
The three-month outage and an extended recovery period in 2022 also forced MAVEN to miss observations of several powerful solar flares and temporarily limited its role as a communications relay, reducing science output both from MAVEN and from Mars missions overall.
Despite its age, MAVEN has enough fuel to remain in orbit until at least 2030, and the mission was formally extended in 2022 through September 2025.
If efforts to contact MAVEN continue to come up empty, it would deal another blow to the Mars science community, which is already contending with the potential cancellation of the flagship Mars Sample Return program — a long-delayed mission designed to return Martian rocks collected by the Perseverance rover and return them to Earth, with MAVEN intended to serve as a crucial communications relay.
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Congress passes bill to fund U.S. science agencies, rebuffing Trump's requested cuts
Jan. 15, 2026, 4:12 PM PST
In a rebuff of the Trump administration’s proposal to drastically cut funding for federal science agencies, the Senate voted on Thursday to provide billions of dollars more to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the National Science Foundation than the president had asked for.
In an 82-15 vote, the Senate approved a minibus budget bill to fund agencies involved in science and the environment, among other issues, through Sept. 30. The bill passed in the House last week by a vote of 397 to 28.
Had Congress followed the Trump administration’s budget request, it would have slashed the National Science Foundation’s budget by 57%, and funding for the portion of NASA dedicated to science research by about 47%, according to a bill summary from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
NOAA, which oversees the National Weather Service, faced a 27% cut, according to congressional testimony last summer.
The bill will now go to President Donald Trump to sign.
Although it does reduce overall spending, the bill’s bipartisan support suggests that most members of Congress chose to preserve the status quo or implement relatively modest cuts.
The package even includes notable boosts for a few science programs that the Trump administration had singled out for elimination in its budget request, such as NOAA’s satellite program.
It also provides funding to boost National Weather Service staffing, which the administration cut significantly via buyout offers and its firing of probationary workers.
The bill was a bipartisan measure led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Murray.
In floor remarks on Monday, Collins called herself a “strong supporter of the NSF,” referring to the National Science Foundation, which provides about a quarter of federal funding for basic science research, according to its website.
“I’m pleased that we restored funding that was proposed to be cut, and I’m also delighted that we dealt with an issue that has been a very high priority for me, and that is how we handle indirect research costs,” Collins said.
Indirect research costs are a funding category that covers items like equipment, operations, maintenance, accounting and personnel.
The Trump administration earlier this year attempted to set a new, lower limit on the amount of money that could be spent on those costs, but the budget package will prevent agencies from doing so.
In a bill summary, Murray highlighted that the legislation provided $1.67 billion more than Trump had asked for NOAA and $5.63 billion more for NASA.
“We rejected Trump’s plan to slash the funding for scientific research and the National Science Foundation’s budget by 57%, cut NASA’s science budget in half and devastate NOAA and climate research that all of us rely on for accurate weather forecasting,” she said in a floor speech on Monday.
“These bills reassert Congress’s power over key spending decisions,” Murray added.
When asked if the president would sign the bill, the White House directed NBC News to a statement earlier this month from the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The statement said that the administration supported the bill and noted that it decreased overall spending and would help the nation achieve “energy dominance,” among other goals.
“If this bill were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he sign it into law,” the statement said.
Congress is slated to take up more minibus bills soon — for agencies involved in labor, health care, national security and other issues.
Lawmakers are supposed to approve spending by Jan. 30, when the stopgap funding measure that ended the 43-day government shutdown expires.
In Thursday's remarks, Collins said her goal was to get bills signed before that deadline and avoid “disastrous government shutdowns that are totally unnecessary and so harmful.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/congress-passes-bill-fund-us-science-agencies-rebuffing-trumps-request-rcna254291
https://aviationweek.com/space/budget-policy-regulation/senate-passes-244b-nasa-spending-bill
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy26_cjs_conference_bill_summarypdf.pdf
https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/us-science-leadership-survives-existential-threat-from-trump-budget-as-cantwell-rallies-colleagues-to-reject-gutting-nasa-nsf-and-nist
https://nasawatch.com/congress/maryland-senators-take-on-space-budget/
https://nasawatch.com/congress/diving-catch-to-save-u-s-science/
https://www.planetary.org/articles/advocacy-success-fy2026-nasa-budget
British humanoid robot designs space habitat in world first
Fri, 16 January 2026 at 7:00 am GMT-8
British humanoid robot designs space habitat in world first. A British-built humanoid robot has become the first of her kind to design a home for future space habitats.
Ai-Da, a robot artist created by Oxford art expert turned robotics pioneer Aidan Meller, has designed a modular “Space Pod” for both humans and robots to live in. The concept has been unveiled at the Utzon Center in Denmark, as part of a new exhibition titled I’m not a robot.
Ai-Da uses camera eyes, artificial intelligence algorithms, and a robotic arm to draw and paint in real time. Now she has become the first humanoid to present the design of a home.
Meller first had the inspiration for Ai-Da when his son made a Lego robot. He then teamed with the machine learning department at Oxford and PhD students from Birmingham University and robotics firm Engineered Arts to bring the AI artist to life.
While Ai-Da’s designs are intended for future bases on the Moon and Mars, they could also be built as prototypes on Earth. The Space Pod is conceived as a simple, modular unit, designed to connect with others via corridors and to accommodate both humans and humanoid
robots.
As robots move from tools to collaborators, Ai-Da’s work suggests that the future of architecture - on Earth and beyond – may be shaped by minds that are not entirely human.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/british-humanoid-robot-designs-space-150000252.html
A Giraffe Face… in Space? This New Deep-Space Image Is Breaking Social Media
January 16, 2026 at 08:45
A haunting dark nebula captured recently in the night sky over Texas has drawn attention for its uncanny resemblance to a galloping giraffe.
The image, taken by astrophotographer Greg Meyer, shows the nebula’s long filaments stretching like a neck through a dense field of stars, deep within the constellation Cassiopeia.
Known formally as LDN 1245, this shadowy structure is part of a category of celestial features called dark nebulae. What makes this image striking is the almost whimsical illusion it presents.
The Nebula That Eats Light
Greg Meyer, who gathered the image data over several months, relied on precise equipment and techniques to make the invisible visible.
He completed the capture at the Starfront Observatory in Rockwood, Texas, between October 2025 and January 2026, using long exposures to reveal the fine structure of the dust cloud.
According to Space.com, Meyer spent more than 25 hours collecting light data to create the final result.
Unlike bright or emission nebulae, dark nebulae like LDN 1245 don’t produce their own glow. Instead, their dense material blocks the light of stars behind them.
This makes them incredibly difficult to photograph. Meyer’s image reveals LDN 1245 as a vast smoke-like form that appears to drift through space — a feature emphasized by its complete lack of internal light.
As reported, the nebula is made up of “dense, opaque knots of material” that cause dramatic silhouettes in the night sky.
These knots absorb and scatter starlight from behind them, making LDN 1245 appear almost like a shadow cast across the stars. It’s this natural obstruction that gives rise to the giraffe-like visual.
The Image’s Technical Precision
To capture such a subtle structure, Meyer used a Sky-Watcher Esprit 120 mm telescope and a dedicated astronomy camera.
The setup was equipped with RGB filters to collect accurate color data, later processed using PixInsight, Photoshop, and Lightroom. This workflow allowed him to pull detail from areas with extremely low light.
In a statement shared on the astrophotography platform Astrobin, Meyer explained:
“Along the edges the scene shifts into faint reflection nebulosity,” he added, “Here the dust becomes visible because it scatters light from nearby stars, which often gives a gentle blue tone.”
These shifts in light behavior are what bring texture and depth to an otherwise invisible region of space.
A Name Born From Pareidolia
Although officially listed in star catalogs as LDN 1245, many skywatchers have begun referring to the structure informally as the “Giraffe Nebula.”
Viewed from Earth, the nebula’s filaments appear to form the outline of a long-necked animal in full stride. Its “head” even seems to reach toward a nearby cluster of blue-white stars.
As stated by the same source, this example of pareidolia, seeing familiar forms in unrelated patterns, has become a common and playful element within the astrophotography community.
https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/01/giraffe-in-space-new-deep-space-image/
https://app.astrobin.com/i/mupoy1
FAA warns airlines about space debris risk
Jan. 15, 2026
The Federal Aviation Administration is warning airlines of the risk of space launch debris after a commercial flight had to divert because of debris one year ago.
NBC News' Aviation Analyst Jeff Guzzetti talks about what this could mean for air safety.
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/faa-warns-airlines-about-space-debris-risk-256073285739
https://www.yahoo.com/news/videos/faa-warns-airlines-space-debris-041211032.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBsF7_aVaJg
Shenzhou-20 astronauts meet press after returning from space
2026-01-16 16:45:00
BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) – The three astronauts from China's Shenzhou-20 crewed mission met the press in Beijing on Friday, their first public appearance after returning to Earth in November last year.
https://english.news.cn/20260116/9b739b92090c4a75a4918b72fd917f5e/c.html
(EyesOnSci)CHINA-SPACE STATION-SUN (CN)
17th January 2026, 00:15 GMT+11
BEIJING, Jan. 16, 2026 (Xinhua) – A stacked composite photo taken on Jan. 16, 2026 in China's capital Beijing shows the Chinese space station passing in front of the Sun.
https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/278812936/eyesonscichina-space-station-sun-cn
Beneath the ice: Satellites help map Antarctica's subglacial surface like never before
January 16, 2026
One of the least-mapped planetary surfaces in our solar system is closer to home than you might expect: the continent of Antarctica.
While Antarctica's icy surface is fairly well-studied, its subglacial bedrock landscape — located up to 3 miles (4.8 km) beneath the ice — is more difficult to discern.
Current methods of mapping require expensive ground-based and airborne surveys, and such activities are few and far between.
To create the most detailed map of Antarctica's subglacial topography yet, a team of researchers led by Helen Ockenden, of the University of Edinburgh and the Institut des Geosciences de l'Environnement in France, applied a modeling technique known as Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis (IFPA).
IFPA uses detailed satellite observations of the ice surface and the physics of ice flow to infer the topography that exists below the ice.
"Our IFPA map of Antarctica’s subglacial landscape reveals that an enormous level of detail about the subglacial topography of Antarctica can be inverted from satellite observations of the ice surface, especially when combined with ice thickness observations from geophysical surveys," wrote the team in a new paper on their research.
In creating the map, the researchers discovered previously unknown or poorly resolved geologic features, from steep-sided channels possibly linked to mountain drainage systems to deep valleys reminiscent of U-shaped glacial valleys elsewhere on Earth.
These features might provide insight to an ancient, pre-glacial Antarctica. Maps like these are key to understanding the movement of the ice above across the continent, which ultimately allows researchers to predict how Antarctic ice might contribute to global sea-level rise.
But while this new IFPA map reveals unprecedented details about Antarctica's hidden topography, there is still room for greater precision. The reconstruction resolves features at the mesoscale — about 1.2 to 18.6 miles (2 to 30 km) — meaning that smaller landforms remain beyond its reach.
"Our landscape classification and topographic map therefore serve as important guides toward more focused studies of Antarctica's subglacial landscape, informing where future detailed geophysical surveys should be targeted, as well as the extents and resolutions (e.g., flight-track spacing) required to capture the fine details required for ice flow modeling," the team wrote.
And there's no better time than the present to prepare those future surveys.
"The upcoming International Polar Year 2031-2033 presents a timely opportunity for international efforts to integrate expansive observation and modeling approaches to better understand ice sheet and bedrock properties, guided by methods similar to that of Ockenden et al," Duncan Young, of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, wrote in a "Perspective" piece accompanying the new study.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/detailed-mapping-of-antarctica-subglacial-topography
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady2532