TYB
Presidential stogies for everyone!
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
January 23, 2026
Planetary Nebula Abell 7
Very faint planetary nebula Abell 7 is about 1,800 light-years distant. It lies just south of Orion in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation Lepus, The Hare. Posing with scattered Milky Way stars, its generally simple spherical shape about 8 light-years in diameter is revealed in this deep telescopic image. The beautiful and complex shapes seen within the cosmic cloud are visually enhanced by the use of long exposures and narrowband filters that capture emission from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Otherwise Abell 7 would be much too faint to be appreciated by eye. A planetary nebula represents a very brief final phase in stellar evolution that our own Sun will experience 5 billion years hence, as the nebula's central, once sun-like star shrugs off its outer layers. Abell 7 itself is estimated to be 20,000 years old. But its central star, seen here as a fading white dwarf, is some 10 billion years old.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j_MDxuPjgc
Ocean Collapse, Unusual USA Quake, Solar Watch | S0 News and frens
Jan.23.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhQZZKobjU8
https://x.com/SunWeatherMan/status/2014530155700769108
https://x.com/TamithaSkov/status/2014547228271247553
https://x.com/SchumannBotDE/status/2014715105066291472
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2014391104888832449
https://x.com/NWSSWPC/status/2014713988484104352
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgQWyL0Q_As (Dutchsinse: 1/22/2026 Earthquake Unrest spreading Large activity West Coast – BE PREPARED this week)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtynal3PbuM (Ray's Astrophotography: Is Earth Starting a Magnetic Pole Reversal? What They Don’t Explain)
https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-secretary-prepares-unleash-backup-generation-ahead-winter-storm-fern
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php#page=ovw
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-northern-lights-possible-tonight-jan-23-25
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaas-compact-coronagraph-observes-stormy-sun
https://spaceweather.com/
gave him his trademark suit colors instead of the MIB look
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/did-3i-atlas-originate-in-the-solar-system-69a30ac26318
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/scientific-integrity-theft-by-artificial-intelligence-dc61c69c63f9
https://medium.com/@liena.dreams/3i-atlas-meets-jupiter-preview-of-the-march-rendezvous-310d1deed6ba
https://www.iflscience.com/comet-3iatlas-dramatically-changed-activity-after-perihelion-with-massive-release-of-organic-molecules-82319
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVSgII8RkKs (Dobsonian Power: 3I/ATLAS JET HITTING THE EARTH!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxsIZ4vVImo (Danny Jones: The 12,000-Year Solar Cycle that Resets Earth's Civilizations | Stefan Burns)
https://x.com/drew4worldruler/status/2014494735671476521
https://x.com/ZensaiLove/status/2014481411806273826
https://x.com/Tuberoot/status/2014435409091297728
Did 3I/ATLAS Originate in the Solar System?
January 23, 2026
If 3I/ATLAS is technological in origin, it may have started its journey in the Solar system.
This possibility alleviates the tension between its large mass (over a billion tons) and high appearance rate (once per 5 years) of 3I/ATLAS relative to the expected visitation rate based on the mass reservoir of icy rocks in interstellar space, as discussed in my first paper on 3I/ATLAS here.
This could also explain the geometric anomalies associated with the alignment between the path of 3I/ATLAS and the ecliptic plane, the alignment of its rotation axis and the Sun, the appearance of a symmetric system of mini-jets and an anti-tail jet emanating from it, its high nickel-to-iron ratio, as well as the other anomalies listed here.
One answer to Enrico Fermi’s question: “where is everybody?” is that they are already in the solar system.
Our most advanced survey telescopes, including the flagship NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory, can only detect the reflection of sunlight from kilometer-scale objects (ten time longer than our tallest rocket, Starship, including its booster) out to about 20 times the Earth-Sun separation (AU).
This implies that we would be unaware of a base of technological objects beyond the orbit of Neptune at 30 AU. The Sun is our local lamppost and we can only find “keys” that are big enough and close enough to this lamppost.
How would we know about a population of Trans-Neptunian Technological Objects (TNTOs)?
One way to know about TNTOs is if some of them visit the inner solar system occasionally.
The civilization that operates the technological base in the solar system could hitchhike natural icebergs in the Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud (as discussed in my previous essay here) and propel them to cruise through the inner solar system under the camouflage of fast-moving natural objects.
Before my morning jog at sunrise, I received an email from my brilliant collaborator on a recent 3I/ATLAS paper (published here), Mauro Barbieri, who shared his insights on this possibility:
“Dear Dr. Loeb,
I would like to say that every post of yours is very inspiring and I appreciate a lot the effort you are making to expose the mediocrity of “mainstream” science that doesn’t accept original critical thinking.
Your recent posts made me think of the possible origin of 3I/ATLAS, that I would like to share with you. Those are some thoughts, about the possible place of origin and about the limitation in the observation of interstellar objects (a sort of Lutz Kelker bias about the distance distribution of stars).
If 3I/ATLAS came from another star system, the mission would span millions or billions of years. The builders would need lifespans comparable to the journey time to manage both travel and data reception… Mobile, intelligent organisms need high-energy throughput, which means shorter lifespans.
What if artificial objects were launched from our own Oort Cloud instead? Travel times for 3I/ATLAS become manageable: 80 years from the inner Oort Cloud (1000 AU). These are timescales compatible with biological life or multi-generational missions.
An Oort Cloud base makes strategic sense. It offers a stable observation platform, resources from comets, concealment among billions of similar objects. It is close enough to watch the inner system but far enough to avoid detection.
1/2
The most plausible model combines both: an interstellar mission establishes a forward base in the Oort Cloud.
Hence an Oort Cloud base becomes a forward operating base rather than the point of origin which is actually standard practice for exploration (ex. Antarctic research stations vs. home countries).
The base operates on century timescales rather than millennia. Probes like 3I/ATLAS could be manufactured locally and launched with recent targeting data.
Here is the critical point: we are almost completely blind beyond 20 AU.
Most interstellar objects pass through the outer solar system with perihelia at 50–200 AU, completely invisible to us. We only detect the tiny fraction that comes close to the Sun.
There could be hundreds or thousands of interstellar objects (ISOs) within 100 AU right now that we can’t see.
There is a deeper and circular problem here: our ignorance is structural, not merely technical. The very mechanism that allows us to detect ISOs at close solar approaches, systematically excludes the vast majority of the population from observation.
To know if what we are seeing is strange, we need to know what we are not seeing. But what we are not seeing is, by definition, invisible to us.
If another civilization wanted to observe a planetary system covertly, they would position probes at 50–200 AU stable, cold, and invisible. We would only detect malfunctions, deliberate contact attempts, or orbital decay cases.
This makes 3I/ATLAS with its 1.36 AU perihelion anomalous. Why come so close? The fact that we detected it at all might be significant.
This possibility weakens the Fermi Paradox. The question “where is everybody?” assumes we could see their probes, but if they are systematically beyond our detection range, their absence from our observations means nothing.
The space beyond 20 AU could be crowded with artificial objects we cannot see. Our detection bias creates enormous room for hidden observers. If 3I/ATLAS is artificial, its visibility, not just its properties, require explanation.
Mauro Barbieri”
In case the starting velocities of hitchhiked solar-system objects are smaller than implied, there might be some hint of non-gravitational acceleration for them at large distances. This argues for monitoring 3I/ATLAS for as long as possible.
But there might also be light at the end of the tunnel. In case any of the technological objects orbiting the Sun produces light, it might be more detectable than expected from the reflection of sunlight off its surface.
As suggested in a peer-reviewed paper I co-authored with Ed Turner in 2011 (accessible here), it is possible to distinguish a source of artificial light from a natural large rock that reflects sunlight by the fact that its brightness would change inversely with distance square, like the brightness of a light-bulb.
On the other hand, an object that reflects sunlight dims inversely with heliocentric distance to the 4th power. Our paper showed that the deepest images from the Hubble Space Telescope would be sensitive to the light produced by a city like Tokyo at the distance of Pluto.
Of course, the spectrum of artificial light might deviate considerably from that of sunlight reflected by a rock, offering another way to verify its anomalous origin.
Mike Brown, the pioneering discoverer of many Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) who demoted Pluto’s status as a planet, visited my office at Harvard a decade ago.
I used this opportunity to ask Mike whether he checked if the brightness of all TNOs scales inversely with heliocentric distance to the 2nd or 4th power. He replied: “Why would I check… it must be the 4th power.”
As often the case in mainstream science, our ability to discover new knowledge is moderated by the arrogance of expertise. Learning requires humility, akin to a beginner’s mind.
If we ever discover an object that produces artificial light, we would be motivated to send our own spacecraft out there and answer Fermi’s question from up close. I would be the first in line to board that spacecraft.
2/2
Adding to the list of strangeness, the Virtual Telescope Project has been scheduled to view 3i atlas, has cancelled the last several opportunities and keeps rescheduling, and they're being kinda weird about it.
https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQLcLAfilkQ
Trump ordered the reptilians to do it
Full size image
Amazon is considered a spam link so I split it
https://m.media-amazon.
com/images/I/91rfrmZ1BqL.jpg
Winter Grips the Michigan Mitten
Jan 23, 2026
A winter chill descended on the Great Lakes region of North America in January 2026. Some of the effects were apparent in this satellite image as newly formed lake ice and a fresh layer of snow.
The image, acquired by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite, shows the region on the morning of January 20, 2026.
In the days prior, a winter storm blanketed many parts of western Michigan near the lake with nearly a foot of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
West of Walker, snowfall totals surpassed that amount, reaching nearly 14 inches (36 centimeters). The storm’s effects extended beyond Michigan as well, including blizzard conditions in parts of Ontario east of Lake Huron.
Lake effect snow is common in the Great Lakes area during late fall and winter, occurring when cold air moves over relatively warm, unfrozen water.
As the air picks up heat and moisture, it rises to form narrow cloud bands that can produce heavy snowfall. The air over Lake Erie was still moist enough for clouds to form, though the amount of open water on this lake has decreased sharply in recent days.
Around mid-month, during a period of unseasonably warm air temperatures, ice coverage dropped to cover about 2 percent of the lake, according to the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
It then spiked to nearly 85 percent on January 21 after temperatures plummeted.
The frigid temperatures were brought about by an Arctic cold front that moved across the region. In Cleveland, for instance, the weather service issued a cold weather advisory on January 19 for wind chills as low as minus 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
On that day, even colder wind chills were reported in the area around Chicago. Forecasts called for another round of cold Arctic air to spill over the Great Plains and Eastern U.S. over the coming weekend, accompanied by heavy snow.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/winter-grips-the-michigan-mitten/
Biomedical Science and Hardware Top Thursday’s Schedule
January 22, 2026
The Expedition 74 trio aboard the International Space Station checked out ultrasound gear, inspected advanced sample processing hardware, and tested muscle-stimulating electrodes on Thursday.
NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams spent the first half of his shift servicing medical gear throughout the orbital lab’s U.S. segment.
Williams first worked in the Columbus laboratory module configuring a computer tablet then installing new software to operate the EchoFinder-2 device.
EchoFinder-2 enables an astronaut to conduct ultrasound scans of the human body without support from doctors on the ground.
Next, he moved to the Kibo laboratory module and inspected sample holding cassettes and removed some of the internal hardware for stowage and return to Earth for analysis.
The cassettes contained protein crystals being examined for their potential to help develop pharmaceuticals in space superior to medicines manufactured on Earth.
Williams also continued packing a variety of cargo inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for retrieval and analysis back on Earth in the spring.
Some science experiments returning to the ground include material samples exposed to the external space environment, liquid crystal films developed in microgravity, and stem cells programmed to turn into brain and cardiac cells.
Dragon, while docked to the Harmony module’s forward port, will also fire its engines one more time on Friday boosting the station’s orbit.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, station Commander and Flight Engineer respectively, joined each other and tested muscle-stimulating electrodes for operability.
The duo first gathered and examined the electrodes then attached them to their legs and back for testing. Next, they sent electrical signals to the electrodes to stimulate the muscles and ensure the devices provide balanced muscle contractions.
The devices complement space workouts reducing exercise times and enhancing muscle activation in weightlessness.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/01/22/biomedical-science-and-hardware-top-thursdays-schedule/
NASA’s Day of Remembrance 2026
Jan 22, 2026
The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial is seen during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.
Each January, NASA pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.
We celebrate their lives, their bravery, and contributions to human spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-day-of-remembrance-2026/
https://apnews.com/article/space-shuttle-challenger-anniversary-nasa-47bf5099895ebc93f446f1e978f0f8c5
https://www.rocketcitynow.com/article/news/local/nasa-honors-fallen-astronauts-with-ceremonies-across-us-on-day-of-remembrance/525-051a5e10-4c0c-42af-a3e9-6a994fc3d0bb
https://www.floridatoday.com/picture-gallery/tech/science/space/2026/01/23/apollo-1-film-screening-on-astronaut-nasa-day-of-remembrance/88302557007/
Jared Isaacman Commits $30 Million to Advance Children's and Community Health in Pennsylvania
Jan 22, 2026, 09:05 ET
Funding to Support Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, UPMC Children's Hospital Foundation, and The Guthrie Clinic
PHILADELPHIA and PITTSBURGH and SAYRE, Pa., Jan. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ – Jared Isaacman today announced a $30 million commitment to three leading Pennsylvania health systems—Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), UPMC Children's Hospital Foundation, and The Guthrie Clinic—underscoring his long-standing dedication to children's health and the well-being of communities across the Commonwealth.
The contributions will support pediatric care, critical health services, and long-term investments in medical innovation and patient access, strengthening each institution's ability to serve families throughout Pennsylvania and beyond.
"Pennsylvania is my home," said Isaacman. "My children are growing up here and I want the best possible care for the community. I saw how access to strong hospitals and pediatric care can change the course of a family's life.
Supporting institutions that care for children and strengthen public health across the Commonwealth is deeply personal to me."
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Isaacman's gift will advance the hospital's mission of providing world-class pediatric care close to home through the naming of the existing Specialty Care & Surgery Center in Brandywine Valley.
The contribution will support the facility's growth and renovation, with completion projected for late 2026.
"Philanthropy plays an important role in helping CHOP expand our reach so we can give every child a chance at a healthy future," said Madeline Bell, CEO of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"Jared Isaacman's gift will help us build on this commitment and care for even more children in Delaware and Chester counties. We are deeply grateful to him and his family for their partnership and for supporting our mission of providing exceptional care to every child, close to home."
UPMC Children's Hospital Foundation
Isaacman's gift through UPMC Children's Hospital Foundation will support the expansion of the UPMC Children's Heart Institute, one of the nation's leading pediatric heart and heart-surgery programs.
The new state-of-the-art facility will consolidate services into a single location, enabling a seamless continuum of care, dedicated specialty staff, and advanced medical technology.
"We're incredibly grateful for Jared Isaacman's generosity and the impact this gift will have on pediatric heart care in Pittsburgh, across Pennsylvania, and for children around the world," said Rachel Petrucelli, president of UPMC Children's Hospital Foundation.
"The expanded UPMC Children's Heart Institute will deliver care that is more innovative, integrated, and accessible for every child who needs it."
The Guthrie Clinic
Isaacman's support of The Guthrie Clinic will bolster emergency services across north-central Pennsylvania, strengthening Guthrie's role as a trusted provider in rural and underserved communities.
"Mr. Isaacman's generous support for Guthrie's emergency care transformation will allow us to serve more patients, enhance our facilities, and better support our caregivers through additional staffing and security," said Dr. Edmund Sabanegh, president and CEO of The Guthrie Clinic.
"We are deeply grateful for this gift and for Mr. Isaacman's commitment to rural healthcare."
Isaacman's philanthropic efforts reflect a broader commitment to strengthening essential institutions, advancing innovation in healthcare, and ensuring that children and families—regardless of geography—have access to high-quality medical care.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jared-isaacman-commits-30-million-to-advance-childrens-and-community-health-in-pennsylvania-302666818.html
NASA has lost a spacecraft around Mars. Is MAVEN gone for good?
January 22, 2026
A pioneering spacecraft has gone missing around Mars, and NASA says the mission is probably unrecoverable.
The first sign of trouble came in December, when the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter passed behind the red planet and then failed to establish contact when it should have reappeared.
Now, NASA reports that efforts to track down and regain control of the spacecraft have failed and are “very unlikely” ever to succeed.
This is the first time NASA has accidentally, physically lost a spacecraft orbiting around another planet.
A previous Mars mission called Mars Global Surveyor ended in 2007 due to a software malfunction, but the spacecraft still remained in its planned orbit.
Thankfully, neither it nor MAVEN ran into trouble before they could fulfill their main mission: MAVEN was designed to last only two years, but has been operating for over a decade.
That would explain why efforts to find MAVEN have failed. NASA has even instructed Curiosity to aim its camera at the sky in hopes of spotting MAVEN overhead — twice — but neither time was the spacecraft where it should have been.
Unfortunately, this incident comes at one of the worst possible times. The Sun was aligned perfectly between Earth and Mars for the first half of January, blocking all communications with spacecraft there.
Though NASA is able to try contacting MAVEN again now, Louise Prockter, director of NASA’s planetary science division, recently stated that it looked “very unlikely” they would be able to recover the mission.
What comes next
If MAVEN’s mission is declared over, other spacecraft slated for Mars could help pick up where it leaves off.
NASA’s ESCAPADE probes launched last year to study how Mars loses its atmosphere to space, though the low-cost mission is small compared to MAVEN.
The U.S. Congress has also funded a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter that could launch as early as 2028.
Neither of these missions would fully replace MAVEN’s scientific legacy.
MAVEN has revealed how Mars responds to solar storms, explored what sort of radiation future crewed missions to Mars may one day contend with, and mapped the red planet’s auroras and winds.
The mission has built our most detailed picture yet of how and why Mars lost nearly all of its atmosphere.
If MAVEN can somehow be recovered, it has enough fuel to keep exploring Mars for at least another four years. No matter what happens, though, nothing can change the discoveries MAVEN has already made.
The mission has been a spectacular success. It has taught us not only about how Mars lost its atmosphere, but how that process might unfold on potentially habitable worlds across the Cosmos.
https://www.planetary.org/articles/nasa-has-lost-a-spacecraft-around-mars
The NASA CIO Still Has A Lot Of Things To Fix
January 22, 2026
According to this GAO report: “Chief Information Officer Open Recommendations: National Aeronautics and Space Administration“:
“NASA needs to take additional steps to secure the information systems it uses to carry out its mission, including improving its risk management program.” … “we recommended that the agency develop an implementation plan with time frames to update its spacecraft acquisition policies and standards to incorporate essential controls required to protect against cyber threats.”
“NASA needs to better manage and track its IT resources” “In addition to GAO’s recommendations, the NASA Inspector General also has multiple open recommendations in the area of cybersecurity.”
https://nasawatch.com/internet-policies/the-nasa-cio-still-has-a-lot-of-things-to-fix/
Chief Information Officer Open Recommendations: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Highlights
What GAO Found
In January 2026, GAO identified 30 open recommendations under the purview of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Chief Information Officer (CIO), from previously issued work.
Each of these recommendations relates to a GAO High-Risk area: (1) Ensuring the Cybersecurity of the Nation or (2) Improving IT Acquisitions and Management.
For example, GAO previously recommended that NASA prepare and approve an organization-wide cybersecurity risk assessment.
Further, GAO recommended that NASA fully implement all event logging requirements as directed by the Office of Management and Budget.
In addition, GAO recommended that NASA develop an implementation plan with time frames to update its spacecraft acquisition policies and standards to incorporate essential controls required to protect against cyber threats.
GAO also previously recommended that the agency complete annual reviews of its IT portfolio consistent with federal requirements. The CIO's continued attention to these recommendations will help ensure the secure and effective use of IT at the agency.
Why GAO Did This Study
CIO open recommendations are outstanding GAO recommendations that warrant the attention of agency CIOs because their implementation could significantly improve government IT operations by securing IT systems, identifying cost savings, improving major government programs, eliminating mismanagement of IT programs and processes, or ensuring that IT programs comply with laws, among others.
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108705
The Future of LEAG – Lunar Exploration Analysis Group
January 22, 2026
Keith’s note; last week NASA decided to halt support for MD Planetary Science Division Analysis and Assessment Groups.
The following email was shared widely by Benjamin Greenhagen, Ph.D Chair, Lunar Exploration Analysis Group LEAG Community:
“It will be harder for us to sustain two-way communication between the community and NASA decision makers without meeting support and travel grants, but we will.
LEAG will continue to organize events and invite NASA leadership” Full email below.
NASA PSD Director Louise Prockter recently met with the AG Chairs and notified us that NASA would be ending support for the AGs at the end of April. She asked us to convey the following information to our communities:
“NASA’s Planetary Science Division will no longer be able to formally support the Planetary Science Analysis and Assessment Groups (AGs) after April 2026.
A letter to the community, from the Planetary Science Division Director, about this decision and path forward has been published online at: https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-science/resources/psd-director-letter-to-the-community/.”
If you have not yet read Louise’s letter, please do so.
This was a surprising decision. It seemed likely that support for the AGs would be reduced in some manner; however, I did not think support would be eliminated.
With all due respect for PSD, I don’t think this was the correct decision. And I don’t believe that this was the only possible decision.
I think that community engagement, analysis, and consensus building are essential to NASA executing our nation’s priorities of advancing lunar science, exploration, and critical technologies.
I take it to heart when NASA says we are all the Artemis Generation, and we are going. When something is this important, you focus on what you will do to support and foster it rather than what you can’t do.
-
It will be harder for us to sustain two-way communication between the community and NASA decision makers without meeting support and travel grants, but we will. LEAG will continue to organize events and invite NASA leadership.
We will work with professional societies, institutions, and other organizations regarding opportunities for in-person community engagement. The first of these will be at LPSC 2026.
We will host a 2026 LEAG annual meeting; however, support through NASA’s future competitive community meetings solicitation or another entity may be required to enable an in-person component.
-
It will be harder for us to provide agile analysis to NASA on critical topics, but we will. The recent reorganization of LEAG to include standing working groups focused on science, exploration, and technology join the LEAG Commercial Advisory Board in providing a deeper pool of engaged community members ready to respond to community-driven priorities and topics. We will share the products of these analyses with the community and NASA stakeholders.
We will also engage with NASA towards facilitating community analyses and assessments through future solicited opportunities.
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It will be harder for us to curate community consensus and maintain a repository of community documents, but we will. We expect that LEAG will need to migrate to a new website and listserv.
We will work with our longtime partner LPI on how to best achieve this. We will identify partners for long-term hosting of all original community documents.
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It will be easier for us to engage in activities outside our current NASA-approved terms of reference, and we will. NASA support necessarily restricts activities, and there will be new opportunities to expand LEAG.
Potential expansions could include areas of the international community, advocacy, and community support. How do you think LEAG should evolve?
We will proceed cautiously, as any expansion of LEAG activities carries a cost and benefit, and careful analysis and discussions are needed as we create and amend our new charter.
NASA support for LEAG has evolved significantly since our founding in 2004. LEAG will take up Louise’s charge to evolve and innovate in this next phase.
To make this successful, we will need a high level of community support and engagement. If you know of resources available to help sustain LEAG, please reach out directly or via our anonymous “suggestion box”: https://forms.gle/AAZVocaTKTvDQ6gR7.
https://nasawatch.com/space-science-news/the-future-of-leag-lunar-exploration-analysis-group/
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-science/resources/psd-director-letter-to-the-community/
NASA reveals most scientifically accurate movies of all time
January 23, 2026
'Metropolis' accurately anticipated the ethical concern surrounding machines
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared its top picks for scientifically most-accurate movies after analysing over a century of cinema.
The American space agency said that its picks were based on the accurate portrayal of science and technology with careful experimentation, skepticism, and problem solving, instead of accuracy in predicting the future.
The following are NASA’s top picks for the most scientifically accurate movies:
Metropolis (1927)
Metropolis was a German sci-fi film showcasing the class divisions within a society. It features a futuristic city with society divided in two classes: opulent elites and downtrodden working class.
NASA said Metropolis accurately anticipated the ethical concern surrounding machines and replacing human labour.
Woman in the Moon (1929)
Another German sci-fi movie that featured a love triangle. Prominent scientific themes of the movie include zero gravity, countdowns and rocketry.
For context, the movie was released nearly 50 years before humanity could land a man on the moon in 1969.
The Thing From Another World (1951)
It was a classic black-and-white sci-fi film that featured plant-like aliens, scientists and Air Force personnel at a remote Arctic outpost.
The accurate scientific reasoning and experimentation to counter the threat of alien-like plants made it a top pick for NASA’s most accurate scientific movies.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
It featured an alien who lands on Earth (in Washington USA) with a robot named Gort.
The aliens threaten humanity to abandon violence and catastrophic weapons or face the wrath of extraterrestrial life.
NASA praised it for portraying aliens as advanced but logical beings.
Gattaca (1997)
This movie portrays a futuristic theme where humans are divided into naturally born and genetically engineered groups.
It showcases a society where humans are judged based on their DNA, where genetically engineered people feel privileged.
Though the technology is speculative, NASA praised the movie for realistic portrayal of DNA-based discrimination.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/646789-nasa-reveals-most-scientifically-accurate-movies-of-all-time
https://dailytimes.com.pk/1440201/nasa-names-cinemas-most-science-true-films/
NASA’s Chandra Releases Deep Cut From Catalog of Cosmic Recordings
23-Jan-2026 10:40 AM EST
A new image of the Galactic Center, the region around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy called Sagittarius A*, shows the power of the Chandra Source Catalog.
In this image that spans just about 60 light-years across, a veritable pinprick on the entire sky, Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources that emit X-rays.
This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time.
BYLINE: Megan Watzke
Newswise — Like a recording artist who has had a long career, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has a “back catalog” of cosmic recordings that is impossible to replicate.
To access these X-ray tracks, or observations, the ultimate compendium has been developed: the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC).
The CSC contains the X-ray data detected up to the end of 2020 by Chandra, the world’s premier X-ray telescope and one of NASA’s “Great Observatories.”
The latest version of the CSC, known as CSC 2.1, contains over 400,000 unique compact and extended sources and over 1.3 million individual detections in X-ray light.
Within the CSC, there is a wealth of information gleaned from the Chandra observations – from precise positions on the sky to information about the X-ray energies detected.
This allows scientists using other telescopes – both on the ground and in space including NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes – to combine this unique X-ray data with information from other types of light.
To illustrate the richness of the CSC, a new image of the Galactic Center, the region around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is being released.
In this image that spans just about 60 light-years across, a veritable pinprick on the entire sky, Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources that emit X-rays.
This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time.
Another new representation of the vast scope of the Chanda Source Catalog is found in a just-released sonification, the translation of astronomical data into sound.
This sonification encompasses the new map that includes 22 years of Chandra observations across the sky, beginning from its launch through its observations in 2021.
Because many X-ray sources have been observed multiple times over the life of the Chandra mission, this sonification represents those repeat X-ray sightings over time through different notes.
In the view of the sky, projected in a similar way to how the Earth is often depicted in world maps, the core of the Milky Way is in the center and the Galactic plane is horizontal across the middle of the image.
A circle appears at the position of each detection and the size of the circle is determined by the number of detections in that location over time. A year counter appears at the top of the frame.
Since Chandra continues to be fully operational, the text changes to “… and beyond” after 2021 as the telescope continues to collect observations. During the video, a collage of images produced by Chandra fades in as a background.
In the final frames of the video, thumbnail images representing the thousands of Chandra observations taken over the lifetime of the mission appear behind the sky map.
The most recent version of the Chandra Source Catalog can be accessed at https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/csc/
https://www.newswise.com/articles/nasa-s-chandra-releases-deep-cut-from-catalog-of-cosmic-recordings
https://x.com/TrumpLasVegas/status/1275883895901179904
Astrophysicists discover largest sulfur-containing molecular compound in space
Jan 23, 2026
The discovery of a 13-atom sulfur ring in deep space links simple cosmic chemistry to the complex organic building blocks of life's origins.
(Nanowerk News) Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), in collaboration with astrophysicists from the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, have identified the largest sulfur-bearing molecule ever found in space: 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione (C₆H₆S). They made this breakthrough by combining laboratory experiments with astronomical observations.
The molecule resides in the molecular cloud G+0.693–0.027, about 27,000 light-years from Earth near the center of the Milky Way.
With a stable six-membered ring and a total of 13 atoms, it far exceeds the size of all previously detected sulfur-containing compounds in space.
“This is the first unambiguous detection of a complex, ring-shaped sulfur-containing molecule in interstellar space—and a crucial step toward understanding the chemical link between space and the building blocks of life”, says Mitsunori Araki, scientist at MPE and lead author of the study (Nature Astronomy, "Sulfur-Bearing Cyclic Hydrocarbons in Space").
Until now, astronomers had only detected small sulfur compounds—mostly with six atoms or fewer—in interstellar space.
Large, complex sulfur-containing molecules were expected, particularly due to sulfur’s essential role in proteins and enzymes, yet these larger molecules had remained elusive.
This gap between interstellar chemistry and the organic inventory found in comets and meteorites had been a central mystery in astrochemistry.
The newly discovered C₆H₆S is structurally related to molecules found in extraterrestrial samples—and is the first of its kind definitively detected in space.
It establishes a direct chemical “bridge” between the interstellar medium and our own solar system.
The team synthesized the molecule in the lab by applying a 1,000-volt electrical discharge to the evil smelling liquid thiophenol (C₆H₅SH).
Using a self-developed spectrometer, they precisely measured the radio emission frequencies of C₆H₆S, producing a unique “radio fingerprint” with more than seven significant digits.
This signature was then matched to astronomical data from a large observational survey led by CAB, collected with the IRAM 30m and the Yebes 40-meter radio telescopes in Spain.
“Our results show that a 13-atom molecule structurally similar to those in comets already exists in a young, starless molecular cloud. This proves that the chemical groundwork for life begins long before stars form”, says Valerio Lattanzi, Scientist at MPE.
The discovery suggests that many more complex sulfur-bearing molecules likely remain undetected—and that the fundamental ingredients of life may have formed in the depths of interstellar space, long before Earth came into existence.
https://www.nanowerk.com/news2/space/newsid=68528.php
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02749-7
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