TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
February 1, 2026
Galle: Happy Face Crater on Mars
Mars has put on a happy face. The Martian crater Galle is famous because it has internal markings that make it look like a face that is both smiling and winking. These markings were originally discovered in the 1970s in pictures taken by the Viking Orbiter. The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft that orbited Mars from 1996 to 2006 captured the featured picture. Happy Face Crater and its iconic features were formed by chance billions of years ago when a city-sized asteroid slammed into the Martian surface. All rocky planets and moons in our Solar System show impact craters, with the highest number of craters found on Earth's Moon and the planet Mercury. Earth and Venus would show the most, though, were it not for weather and erosion.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVm9XWj3GAo
Solar Flares Surge to Life, Unstable Earth | S0 News and frens
Feb.1.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp3ZR4RntnE
https://watchers.news/2026/02/01/major-x1-0-flare-erupts-from-region-4366-earth-directed-cmes-possible-in-days-ahead/
https://x.com/SunWeatherMan/status/2017955507420430737
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2017967012581179525
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2017656358192222479
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/2017863344623935985
https://x.com/LAKSuperiorFoto/status/2017618295248097616
https://x.com/SolarHam/status/2017613155522789797
https://x.com/SchumannBotDE/status/2017961456378024209
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVdpGP-3WA (Stefan Burns: This Could be the Birth of the Mega-Sunspot We've Been Waiting For…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9IEha3iifs (Ryaan Hall Y'all: The January 31, 2026 Major Winter Storm Coverage, As It Happened…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6gnqtEPVV8 (Max Velocity - Severe Weather Center: This Winter Is About To Change In A BIG Way…)
https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/strong-flare-0733-et-1-february
https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/r2-moderate-radio-blackout-observed-01-feb
https://www.spaceweather.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-experimental
https://spaceweather.com/
https://medium.com/@lanierwilson/3i-atlas-and-the-game-of-cosmic-chicken-330e619a6d61
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/imagining-the-alien-561c92b4e645
https://medium.com/@datastar/the-interstellar-permafrost-hypothesis-why-3i-atlas-behaves-like-nothing-weve-seen-before-d4184a908173
https://usaherald.com/seven-months-late-nasa-acknowledges-interstellar-object-3i-atlas-was-hidden-in-its-own-data/
https://usaherald.com/what-nasas-early-3i-atlas-hydrogen-map-got-wrong-as-new-data-forces-a-reassessment/
https://x.com/frankdedeken/status/2017926557180793110
https://x.com/admpubmx/status/2017840976815857870
https://x.com/OMApproach/status/2017411412973199788
https://x.com/drew4worldruler/status/2017512917113913393
https://x.com/newpreraph/status/2017911895995408664
https://x.com/Ammar1176708/status/2017793188371616015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5GI5MOwjk8 (Ray's Astrophotography: Growing Sunspot AR 4366 Comet 3I:ATLAS Update & Backyard Telescope Setup — I Took a Picture)
3I/ATLAS and the Game of Cosmic Chicken
February 1, 2026
Our government and its scientific agencies seem dead set against the possibility that 3I/ATLAS may be a non-natural object. Perhaps an alien starship. This attitude seems to be firmly entrenched.
But Where is Everybody?
But where is everybody? Enrico Fermi — 1950 — The Fermi Paradox
This question has been around for a long time. Its attachment to Dr. Fermi seems to be a fluke of history. He apparently blurted it out during a lunch bull session with some fellow Manhattan Project veterans.
That being said, his timing was impeccable. In the heady period in America just after World War II, the question was going to be associated with somebody.
Pretty much any way you cut it, America won World War II. Without timely American intervention, Germany and Japan may well have prevailed and our world would be a very different place.
As well as winning the war, America won the peace. Of the major combatants, only America emerged unscathed. Our infrastructure was not devastated. On the contrary we were poised to explode with a standard of living never before imagined.
We pretty much dictated how the post war financial world would function, at Breton Woods New Hampshire, in 1944. The dollar was established as the world’s reserve currency. Our economy was, and still is, the wonder of the world.
Part of the war booty we carted off from the ruins of Germany were most of the principal scientists involved in Hitler’s rocket program, that produced the V1 and V2 rockets which so bedeviled London late in the war.
First among them was Werner von Braun, who later figured prominently in the Gemini and Apollo programs that took us to the moon. I kind of idolized Dr. von Braun, being too young to have absorbed the hatred of Nazi Germany that affected my elders.
The Battle of Los Angeles — 1942
On February 24–25, 1942, there was no NASA and hardly anybody was thinking much about traveling to the moon and the stars. My elders were preoccupied with survival.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had galvanized America and squelched our isolationist tendencies. Americans were terrified that an invasion of the west coast by Japan was immanent, and our Pacific fleet was thought to have been decimated.
On February 23, a lone Japanese submarine sailed through the Santa Barbara Channel and attempted to destroy a Richfield tank of aviation fuel at Ellwood Field.
While the damage inflicted was minimal, the submarine achieved its evident goal of spreading fear along the American west coast.
On the night of February 24, lights appeared in the sky over Los Angeles. They were definitely not American aircraft. Turned out they weren’t Japanese either. Nevertheless, Los Angelinos were treated to an aerial show of searchlights and anti-aircraft fire for several hours.
In the aftermath, the Secretary of the Navy went to great lengths to poo-poo the whole thing as a case of mass hysteria triggered by a weather balloon.
Whatever the truth may have been, the incident was an early example of the lengths to which our government would go to divert the public from obsessing over unexplained aerial phenomena.
That made perfectly good sense in the middle of a war.
The practice has continued to this day. Most of that time America hasn’t been engaged in a war.
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The War America Wasn’t Engaged In
We euphemistically called it the cold war. And yeah, it flared up from time to time, like in Korea and Vietnam, but mostly we went about our business.
In the 1950s, sometimes we’d have to crawl under our school desks to practice what we’d do in case of a nuclear attack. Like that would have made much difference? But I guess the facade of doing something calmed people’s fears.
That being said, our government regarded the war as ongoing and requiring precautions reminiscent of World War II. One such precaution was to actively debunk unusual aerial phenomena.
The rationale seemed to be something like our government needed to be seen by the American public as in control of our skies, just like during the battle of Los Angeles.
And there have been many documented cases, which continue to this day, when America has clearly not been in control of our airspace.
With the advent of perestroika and glasnost in the declining days of the Soviet Union, it became clear to all that America was really not in much danger from the Russians.
Then in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed entirely. But by then, the debunking of aerial phenomena had become the kneejerk reaction of our government. And the majority of the body politic expected it. So on and on it has gone.
What Could Change Our Attitude?
I believe that there is one thing, and maybe only one thing, that will do that. That is, essentially, that a delegation of extra terrestrials lands on the White House lawn and politely requests Take us to your leader.
Or the equivalent. Is that harsh? Having seen the derision and ridicule heaped upon the heads of those who dare to disagree, I don’t think so. 3I/ATLAS may exhibit irrefutable evidence of being non-natural, and NASA will continue calling it a comet.
And the legions of debunkers will continue to terrorize those of us who beg to disagree.
What I guess I’m saying is that to change our societal attitudes, ET has to acknowledge us. To treat us as something important. Like humans are always portrayed in science fiction.
Cosmic Chicken
But where is everybody? Enrico Fermi — 1950 — The Fermi Paradox
I used to think I knew what Fermi meant by his outburst. Maybe I still think that. I think he was complaining about the evident cosmic silence and the uncertainty it engenders.
Humans don’t really like uncertainty even though it is a feature of the scientific world view. In science, every evident fact is at the mercy of the next experiment. Fermi was firmly embedded in that world. But maybe he was frustrated by it sometimes.
Anyway, my idea is that where is everybody can be taken in another way, as a challenge directed at the cosmos, at those intelligences we are sure are out there somewhere, but who refuse to acknowledge our existence in any way we can understand.
I hold that we are engaged in a game of Cosmic Chicken. The game of Cosmic Chicken is played much like the old couple in the silly story who engage in a game of silence while their door stands open.
The first one to speak has to get up and bar the door. Burglars come upon the scene and, seeing the open door, enter and start robbing them blind. Finally the old man can’t stand it anymore and starts yelling at the burglars.
The old woman just calmly says Good man you’ve spoke the foremost word. Get up and bar the door.
Now we the public have no good idea if anybody else besides us is playing.
I think we are getting a pretty good idea that there are others besides us out there, but they may well never feel moved to acknowledge our importance in any tangible way.
Ultimately, We May Just Have to Speak the Foremost Word.
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Red Panda Koala
@RedPandaKoala
Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb met with Jeffrey Epstein in 2015
Avi Loeb heads the Gallileo Project which investigates UFOs and recently was promoting the idea that the comet 3I/Atlas might be an alien mothership
11:34 PM · Jan 31, 2026
https://x.com/RedPandaKoala/status/2017864054254256462
https://x.com/Occultjourneys/status/2017833022373171587
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00337558.pdf
Countdown Begins for Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal
January 31, 2026
The countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal is underway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The countdown clock began at 8:13 p.m. EST, or L-48 hours, 40 minutes before the opening of a simulated launch window at 9 pm. Mon, Feb. 2. The test is expected to go until approximately 1 a.m. Feb. 3.
This test will run the launch team, as well as supporting teams in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and other supporting NASA centers, through a full range of operations, including loading cryogenic liquid propellant into the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s tanks, conducting a launch countdown, demonstrating the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and draining the tanks to practice scrub procedures. These steps ensure the team is fully prepared for launch day.
A 24/7 live stream of the rocket at the pad continues online. NASA will provide a separate feed during tanking activities, as well as real-time blog post updates regarding the test during the fueling day.
Countdown Milestones
The countdown contains “L minus” and “T minus” times. “L minus” indicates how far away we are from liftoff in hours and minutes. “T minus” time is a sequence of events that are built into the countdown.
Pauses in the countdown, or “holds,” are built into the countdown to allow the launch team to target a precise launch window, and to provide a cushion of time for certain tasks and procedures without impacting the overall schedule.
During planned holds in the countdown process, the countdown clock is intentionally stopped and the T- time also stops. The L- time, however, continues to advance.
During the rehearsal, the team will execute a detailed countdown sequence. They will pause at T-1 minute and 30 seconds for up to three minutes, then resume until T-33 seconds before launch and pause again.
After that, they will recycle the clock back to T-10 minutes and conduct a second terminal countdown to approximately T-33 seconds before ending the sequence.
This process simulates real-world conditions, including scenarios where a launch might be scrubbed due to technical or weather issues. At the end of the test, the team will drain the propellant and review all data before setting an official target launch date.
While the Artemis II crew members are not participating in the wet dress rehearsal, crew milestones occurring during launch day will be incorporated into the test timeline and the Artemis closeout crew will practice their closeout operations, which include closing the Orion crew module and launch abort system hatches.
Below are some of the key events that take place at each milestone after the countdown
begins. All times are approximate for when these milestones are expected to occur.
cont.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/01/31/countdown-begins-for-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal/
https://www.dailywire.com/news/for-saturday-the-grand-return-nasas-quest-to-shatter-distance-records-and-reclaim-the-moon
Community Message From NASA Planetary Science Analysis/Assessment Group Chairs (AGs)
January 31, 2026
The following was sent out today by the chairs of NASA’s NASA Planetary Science Analysis/Assessment Groups:
“The recent decision by NASA’s Planetary Science Division to cease financial support for planetary science Analysis/Assessment Groups (AGs), effective the end of April 2026, is deeply disappointing.
That support enabled, among other things, day-to-day leadership of the AGs, in-person meetings of the science community (including NASA officials), and websites for the dissemination of information and reports to the science community and the public.” (more below)
Nonetheless, we are committed to continuing to represent the interests of the planetary science community with respect to workforce development/networking, maintaining our international reputation for high standards of scientific research and discovery, providing expert feedback on NASA’s deep space and human exploration plans, and supporting flight mission priorities as outlined in our Decadal Survey.
This change also presents new opportunities to expand the topics we address and how we communicate more broadly. We strongly believe that our work will remain relevant and valuable to all of our stakeholders, including NASA.
Each AG is working to establish new mechanisms of support for continuing our work and making it available to each other, NASA, the US taxpayers, and their elected representatives.
Some of the AG approaches may be coordinated, and others may depend on our individual needs. Look for announcements in the coming weeks and months as we establish new mailing lists, and be sure to sign up to stay informed about our activities.
The AG Chairs
Yang Liu, ExMAG
Ben Greenhagen, LEAG
Julie Stopar, MAPSIT
Vicky Hamilton, MEPAG
Stephen Parman, MExAG
Morgan Cable and Carol Paty, OPAG
Terik Daly, SBAG
Debra Buczkowski, VEXAG
https://nasawatch.com/space-science-news/community-message-from-nasa-planetary-science-analysis-assessment-group-chairs-ags/
https://nasawatch.com/space-science-news/no-more-support-for-nasa-smd-planetary-science-division-analysis-and-assessment-groups/
Gladys West, GPS pioneer and one of NASA's famed 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 95
February 1, 2026
A "hidden figure" of GPS development has passed away.
Gladys West, 95, died Saturday of natural causes, according to a family X post cited by National Public Radio (NPR).
West "passed peacefully alongside her family and friends and is now in heaven with her loved ones," the X post read.
West, a Black woman, went from a childhood in the Jim Crow era of segregation to an adulthood formulating pioneering models for the shape of the Earth—which helps inform the technology of global positioning systems (GPS) for navigation.
But West didn't really describe herself as one of the four billion users of GPS. When an NPR affiliate asked about it in 2020, West said she used GPS on a "minimal" basis. "I prefer maps," she added.
West (then Gladys Mae Brown) was born Oct. 27, 1930 south of Richmond, Virginia in rural Sutherland, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Her parents had a small farm, as well as other jobs.
Most of the population of the region was made up of tenant farmers known as sharecroppers. West initially expected her career would lead her to the farm, or to take on the work her mother had, at a tobacco-processing plant. School proved otherwise.
West became valedictorian of her high school graduating class, then went to the historically Black Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) on a full scholarship.
She earned a bachelor degree, then a masters degree, of science in mathematics. She also taught in Virginia's schools, which were racially segregated at the time, Britannica noted.
A year after she graduated in 1955, the same year as when President Dwight Eisenhower banned racial discrimination in hiring, West began working at what was then called the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia.
"There were three other Black professionals," West told NPR. "We were respectful to the leaders and tried to treat them the way we wanted them to treat us, if we were in the same position."
West stayed on the job at Dahlgren for 42 years, according to the Department of Defense (DoD).
Her work includes participating in a 1960s study that showed the motion of Pluto is regular compared with Neptune, and foundational work that assisted with the development of GPS in the 1970s and 1980s.
"West used complex algorithms to account for variations in gravitational, tidal and other forces that distort Earth's shape," DoD stated.
"She programmed the IBM 7030 computer, also known as Stretch, to deliver increasingly refined calculations for an extremely accurate model of the Earth's shape, optimized for what ultimately became the GPS orbit used by satellites."
West's career was not widely known until the 2016 publication of the book "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly, and the Hollywood movie based on the book that same year.
After then, however, awards mounted. The DoD said some of West's accolades included:
Induction into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2018.
The Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
The Prince Philip Medal by the United Kingdom's Royal Academy of Engineering in 2021.
The National Museum of the Surface Navy's Freedom of the Seas Exploration and Innovation Award in 2021.
West was predeceased in 2024 by her husband of 57 years, Ira, who she met on the job at the Naval Proving Ground, NPR's report said. The Wests had three children and seven grandchildren.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/gladys-west-gps-pioneer-and-one-of-nasas-famed-hidden-figures-dies-at-95
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/23/nx-s1-5685027/gladys-west-gps-mathematician
https://x.com/DrGladysBWest/status/2012977324329714095
See the full 'Snow Moon' chill in the eastern sky at sunset tonight
February 1, 2026
Look to the east at sunset tonight to see the full "Snow Moon" rise among the stars of the constellation Cancer, the Crab, as the gas giant Jupiter shines close at hand in the winter sky.
February's full moon reaches 100% illumination at exactly 5:09 p.m. EST (1009 GMT) on Feb. 1, when it will appear opposite the sun in Earth's sky, fully illuminated by its light from our perspective. Local moonrise and moonset times depend on your location.
This month's full moon is known as the Snow Moon, in reference to the heavy snowfall that is common around this time of year.
It is also commonly known as the "Bear Moon" to reflect the period when cubs are born and the "Hunger Moon" to evoke the lack of food in the lean winter month, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
When and where
The lunar disk will appear fully lit as it looms over the eastern horizon at sunset on Feb. 1 for stargazers in the U.S. To find out the exact moonrise and moonset times from your location you can use TimeandDate's helpful calculator.
You may notice the Snow Moon adopt a yellow-orange hue while close to the horizon, before taking on its usual silvery glow as it soars higher overhead into the January night sky.
The effect occurs due to the process known as Rayleigh Scattering, wherein Earth's atmosphere deflects blue wavelengths of moonlight while allowing the longer red wavelengths to travel through relatively undisturbed.
Each month's full moon is a perfect opportunity to explore the aftermath of cataclysmic asteroid impacts on the lunar surface by observing surface features called "ejecta rays".
As the sun lines up opposite the moon, it illuminates streaks of reflective material that was dredged up and cast out far across the lunar surface during crater-forming events.
The most impressive of these bright streaks can be traced back to the 53-mile-wide (85-kilometer-wide) Tycho crater, which can be found marking the region close to the south lunar pole.
Every large crater on the moon once boasted similar ejecta rays of its own, which have since had their reflective properties dulled by prolonged exposure to the sun's light.
The craters themselves are best viewed during the weeks surrounding a full moon phase, as they rest close to the line separating night from day on the lunar surface known as the "terminator", when sections of their rims and interiors will be thrown into shadow by the angle of the sun and moon.
Jupiter will be visible as a steady point of light to the moon's upper right on the night of Feb. 1, with Castor and Pollux — the brightest stars of the constellation Gemini — shining to its left.
The familiar stars of the constellation Orion can be found slightly to the right in the southeastern sky around this time, with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, glowing directly beneath.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/see-the-full-snow-moon-chill-in-the-eastern-sky-at-sunset-tonight
Apollo humanoid robots prepare to transition from factory floors to space
Feb 01, 2026 10:27 AM EST
Humanoid robots are transitioning from research laboratories to practical applications, serving as versatile tools in both automotive manufacturing and long-duration space mission planning.
The Apollo humanoid robot, created by Apptronik, is the result of a decade of collaboration with NASA. Standing 5 feet 8 inches and weighing 160 pounds, the robot utilizes architecture derived from NASA’s Valkyrie project.
“Apollo is really the culmination of all of the lessons learned from over a decade working in humanoids,” said Nick Paine, Apptronik’s cofounder and chief technology officer.
While it is currently deployed in Mercedes-Benz factories for logistics tasks, its design is intended to eventually operate within the specific constraints of spacecraft and extraterrestrial environments.
Humanoid designs allow robots to use human tools
NASA’s interest in humanoids like Apollo stems from the "generic robotic archetype" they provide. Because space stations and lunar habitats are built for human dimensions, a humanoid form can utilize existing tools and interfaces.
This allows the robot to function as an avatar, where an operator can perform complex external maintenance from a safe internal location.
Modern robotic legs improve mobility in space stations
The lineage of space humanoids includes Robonaut 2, which operated on the International Space Station from 2011 to 2018. While Robonaut 2 demonstrated dexterous hand maneuvers, its initial lack of legs limited its mobility.
Modern systems like Apollo incorporate advanced actuators and legs, allowing for the independent movement necessary for traversing varied environments.
Humanoid robots will maintain future planetary outposts
For future missions to the moon and Mars, humanoid robots are viewed as essential for maintaining infrastructure during periods when no humans are present.
These robots can stay with deployed systems to perform routine maintenance and repairs, reducing the risk and resource requirements for human crews who would otherwise need to manage these tasks.
Advanced actuators translate commands into precise movements
A core component of the shared heritage between Apptronik and NASA is liquid-cooled robotic actuator technology.
Developed through NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts, these actuators translate commands into precise movements.
This technology allows robots to handle the monotonous or physically demanding tasks that are common in both industrial and space settings.
Strategic partnerships expand autonomous capabilities for Apollo
Apptronik has partnered with Google DeepMind to enhance Apollo's AI capabilities, focusing on improving the robot's ability to perform useful work autonomously.
With over $400 million in funding as of 2025, the company is scaling production of these units. This commercial growth provides a mature technology base that NASA can leverage for future flight-certified hardware.
Factory work prepares robots for difficult space tasks
In current factory applications, Apollo handles tasks such as moving boxes from shelves to pallets. This Earth-based work serves as a testing ground for the reliability needed in space.
By mastering logistics in controlled environments, the robot prepares for the "dull, dirty, and dangerous" tasks inherent in long-duration space exploration and habitat management.
Robotics technology will graduate to less structured settings
While currently focused on industrial and space applications, the technology within Apollo is designed to evolve.
Developers expect that as these systems mature and their AI improves, they will move from factories and space stations into less structured environments.
This progression ensures that the hardware remains functional as mission requirements become more complex.
https://interestingengineering.com/photo-story/apollo-humanoid-robots-factory-work-to-space#slide-7
https://www.livescience.com/space/cosmology/astronomers-spot-2-warped-supernovas-whose-light-both-has-and-hasnt-reached-earth
https://jwst-venus.github.io/news/news_20260107.html
Astronomers spot 'time-warped' supernovas whose light both has and hasn't reached Earth
January 31, 2026
Two incredibly rare supernovas that erupted billions of years ago provide a unique opportunity to explain cosmology's biggest mystery — How fast is the universe expanding?
But there's a twist: Even though astronomers have already observed these exploding stars, we will have to wait up to 60 years for their light to reach us again.
A phenomenon called gravitational lensing has split the light from these obliterated stars into multiple images, each of which travels a different path through space-time to reach us.
As a result, researchers will one day be able to measure the delay between these ghostly images to offer an unprecedented constraint on the expansion rate of the universe — a problem that has long bedeviled scientists, as the universe appears to be expanding at different rates depending on where they look.
Conor Larison, a postdoctoral researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute, presented the discovery of the two gravitationally lensed supernovas, named SN Ares and SN Athena, at a news conference at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix.
Cosmic magnifying glasses reveal the invisible
These supernova observations are among the first results from the Vast Exploration for Nascent, Unexplored Sources (VENUS) treasury program.
The VENUS survey employs the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe 60 dense galaxy clusters, which act as cosmic lenses that split and focus the light from extremely distant, otherwise invisible sources such as supernovas.
This cosmic phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, is a direct consequence of gravity's effect on the fabric of space-time and was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of relativity.
It occurs when a massive celestial object, like a galaxy cluster, bends the light from a more distant source that's located behind it, thus magnifying the object.
"Strong gravitational lensing transforms galaxy clusters into nature's most powerful telescopes," Seiji Fujimoto, principal investigator of the VENUS program and an astrophysicist at the University of Toronto, said in a statement.
"VENUS was designed to maximally find the rarest events in the distant Universe, and these lensed [supernovas] are exactly the kind of phenomena that only this approach can reveal."
SN Ares is the first lensed supernova discovered via the VENUS program. The explosion occurred almost 10 billion years ago, when the universe was around one-third its current age. The warp in space-time caused by a foreground galaxy cluster, MJ0308, split the light from SN Ares into three images.
One image has already reached our telescopes. But the light from the other two images passes much closer to the massive center of MJ0308, so it experiences a much greater slowdown due to gravitational time dilation.
Therefore, the other two images of SN Ares will arrive in approximately 60 years — an unprecedented delay.
"Such a long anticipated delay between images of a strongly lensed supernova has never been seen before and could be the chance for a predictive experiment that could put unbelievably precise constraints on cosmological evolution," Larison said in a statement.
In the meantime, a delayed image of SN Athena, which erupted as a supernova when the universe was about half its current age, is anticipated to arrive in the next one to two years.
Although it won't be as cosmologically precise as its mythological half brother Ares, Athena will reveal how accurate our predictive powers have become.
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A sorely needed natural experiment
The predicted reappearance of these supernovas, compared with their actual arrival times in the future, will provide precise constraints on the expansion rate of the universe, a value known as the Hubble constant.
Curiously, when cosmologists measure the Hubble constant, they obtain different values based on the measurement method — a disparity known as the Hubble tension.
Calculations based on the cosmic microwave background — the oldest light in the universe, emitted when the cosmos was only 380,000 years old — yield a universal expansion rate of 67 kilometers per second per megaparsec.
Yet calculations based on the Hubble Space Telescope's observations of pulsating Cepheid stars, used as "standard candles" for their specific luminosity patterns, yield a value of 73 kilometers per second per megaparsec.
Within the observable sphere of the cosmos, the delayed images from SN Ares and SN Athena may help reconcile the Hubble tension.
"If we can measure the difference in when these images arrive, we recover a measurement of the physical scale of the lensing system which spans the Universe between the supernova and us here on Earth," Larison told Live Science via email.
"Any distance measurement we can make like this in the Universe tells us how the Universe has been evolving over cosmic time, as these distances directly depend on this evolution."
Equally importantly, the lensed supernovas allow astronomers to make this measurement in a "single, self-consistent step," Larison added.
The time delays from these supernovas also allow an independent measurement method — unrelated to the cosmic microwave background or standard candles like Cepheid stars — at a time when such a measurement is "sorely needed" to test "possible unknown systematics” governing cosmological expansion.
From Big Bang to big mystery
Coincidentally, 60 years have passed since the first formal suggestion to use lensed supernovas as a tool to explore the universe's expansion. However, fewer than 10 such supernovas had been discovered before the VENUS program observations.
"Since VENUS started last July, we have discovered 8 new lensed supernovae over 43 observations, almost doubling the known sample in a remarkably fast time frame," Larison told Live Science.
"It seems that, although lensed supernovae are certainly rare, the real limitation has been in observing capabilities. It is really only with JWST that we are achieving the depth and wavelength coverage necessary to find these en masse, which is exactly what VENUS was designed to do."
As a result, lensed supernovas may be the most exciting prospects in long-baseline cosmology, the study of how the universe has changed throughout its 13.8 billion years of existence.
The answer is up in the air; there's no guarantee that the expansion of the universe will continue to accelerate, especially as dark energy may be weakening.
If it is, then the current expansion of the cosmos could one day become a contraction, having profound consequences on the ultimate fate of the universe.
Ultimately, SN Ares and SN Athena may hint at the potential death of the universe and whether it ends with a roar or a whimper — will the cosmos collapse in a Big Crunch, or expand indefinitely into the thin, cold darkness of a Big Freeze?
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Galactic Monsters Grew in Cocoons Like Giant Bugs, Scientists Say
Feb 1, 2026 10:30 AM EST
"They look like a [developing] butterfly or something in this young state that kind of grows wrapped in some sort of gas that also feeds it."
How the most massive objects in the universe first formed is one of the biggest headscratchers in astrophysics.
With more advanced telescopes, astronomers have found fully formed galaxies and colossal black holes earlier and earlier in the cosmos, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
This shouldn’t be enough time for these structures to reach their incredible size; to astronomers, it’s like stumbling on a fully-grown oak tree that’s only a year old.
The dilemma was put into hyperdrive by the James Webb Space Telescope’s discovery of extremely bright “Little Red Dots” that were present when the universe was less than a billion years old, and are nowhere to be seen today.
Though they’re suspected to be some kind of compact galaxy, they would be almost impossibly dense at the mass they appear to have, wall-to-wall with stars, according to Vadim Rusakov, an astronomer at the University of Manchester and lead author of a new study investigating the red objects published in the journal Nature.
“They would need to produce stars at 100 percent efficiency, and that’s not what we’re used to seeing,” he told Ars Technica. “Galaxies cannot produce stars at more than 20 percent efficiency, at least that’s what our current knowledge is.”
Another proposed explanation is that they’re some kind of supermassive black hole. But this, too, is fraught: the red dots show no signs of the x-ray emissions produced by these objects.
And if they were black holes, they would be “overmassive,” weighing nearly as much as their entire surrounding galaxy, something that’s never been observed in a conventional galaxy.
How such an enormous monstrosity could form when the universe was still in its infancy is equally baffling.
Thankfully, there may be a very tidy explanation.
In his study, Rusakov and his team found that the gasses observed in the Little Red Dots, which astronomers use to infer the mass of invisible black holes, weren’t moving as quickly as once thought.
If so, that means that the black holes are around 100 times less massive than previously estimated.
The upshot is that the supposedly “overmassive” behemoths are actually just young supermassive black holes. But if that’s the case, why don’t they resemble any black holes that we’re seeing today?
The astronomers suggests that we may be witnessing a previously unknown “cocoon” stage of their evolution, during which they feed off of a dense, protective shell of ionized gas.
“They look like a [developing] butterfly or something in this young state that kind of grows wrapped in some sort of gas that also feeds it,” Rusakov told Ars.
“It’s definitely new in the sense people didn’t predict there should be such a cocoon phase in the supermassive black holes’ lifecycle.”
In addition to feeding the black hole, the cocoon would also block the x-ray emissions we would expect to see, explaining their absence.
It’s probably one of the tidiest solutions out there to the Little Red Dots mystery, though there are more than a few. Other research suggests that they’re galaxies which are unusually tiny because they haven’t spun up to speed.
An even bolder hypothesis proposes they’re “black hole stars” consisting of a black hole core surrounded by a sphere of gas so dense that it resembles the outer layers of a star.
But if Rusakov and his team are on the right track, it raises another significant question that’s been haunting astronomers. “Does the galaxy start with the supermassive black hole or with the stars?” Rusakov pondered. “Is that a chicken or the egg?”
“We don’t know exactly what happens in this first sort of stage of galaxy formation,” he added. “But our model gives us a new way to look at this kind of object.
In our mature cosmos, black holes are formed from the collapse of dying star, but in the earliest moments of its existence, the extreme conditions may have given birth to these objects all around, long before the first stars would be born.
https://futurism.com/space/james-webb-red-dots
Flotus is vanity fair(est)
Putin envoy hails ‘constructive’ talks with US delegation
31 Jan, 2026 17:55
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev has said he held a “constructive” meeting with a US delegation in Florida ahead of a new round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations planned for Sunday.
Dmitriev arrived in the US earlier on Saturday, with Moscow issuing no prior announcement. He teased the visit by posting a social media map showing his plane approaching Miami.
“Constructive meeting with the US peacemaking delegation. Productive discussion also on the U.S.–Russia Economic Working Group,” Dmitriev wrote on X.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff also described the meeting in Florida on Saturday as “productive,” saying it formed part of Washington’s mediation efforts to end the Ukraine conflict.
In a separate post on X, he said the talks encouraged Washington that Moscow was “working toward securing peace,” and thanked President Donald Trump for what he called “critical leadership” in pursuing a lasting settlement.
According to Witkoff, he was joined at the meeting by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Jared Kushner, and White House Senior Advisor Josh Gruenbaum.
The visit came ahead of a new round of US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi. The previous round, held on January 23-24, marked the first trilateral format and was described by all sides as “very constructive.”
Following those talks, negotiators acknowledged that territorial issues remain the main obstacle to a peace agreement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “it’s still a bridge we haven’t crossed,” adding that “there’s active work going on to try and see if both sides’ views on that can be reconciled.”
Moscow insists any settlement must include Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donbass regions that voted to join Russia in 2022 referendums and recognition of the country’s new borders, including Crimea. Kiev has rejected any territorial concessions.
While the upcoming Abu Dhabi talks have been described as trilateral, Rubio said earlier that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – Washington’s main negotiators in the Ukraine peace process – will not attend, though “there might be a US presence.”
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said on Friday he was unsure whether Sunday’s meeting with Russian negotiators would go ahead, claiming the date or venue could change amid rising US-Iran tensions after Washington deployed a naval “armada” to pressure Tehran into nuclear talks.
No official changes have been announced, however. Russian officials have long questioned Kiev’s commitment to peace, accusing it of refusing to compromise while making unacceptable demands.
Moscow has said it remains open to a diplomatic settlement but warned it would achieve its objectives militarily if talks fail, noting it continues to have the battlefield initiative.
On Friday, it agreed to suspend long-range strikes on Kiev at the personal request of US President Donald Trump to create “favorable conditions” for the next round of talks.
https://www.rt.com/russia/631802-dmitriev-miami-ukraine-talks/
https://twitter.com/kadmitriev/status/2017648246282129774
Timeline set for upcoming Russia-Ukraine-US talks – Zelensky
1 Feb, 2026 13:44
The next round of US-mediated Moscow–Kiev talks is scheduled to take place on February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi, rather than this Sunday as previously planned, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has announced in a post on his Telegram channel.
The Kremlin has yet to comment on any change of schedule.
The initial round, held on January 23-24, marked the first trilateral format since the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022 and was described by all sides as “very constructive.”
The issue of territorial concessions, however, remained the main sticking point, as Ukraine refused to recognize Russia’s new borders.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the reason for the rescheduling of the talks remains unclear, noting that it followed a “surprise” meeting over the weekend between Russian and US negotiators in Florida.
Neither side disclosed details of the discussions. However, US envoy Steve Witkoff later wrote on social media: “We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev also called the meeting “constructive.”
While the upcoming Abu Dhabi talks have been described as trilateral, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier that both envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner – Washington’s main negotiators in the Ukraine peace process – would not attend the next round of talks, though “there might be a US presence.”
Zelensky added in his Sunday post that “Ukraine is ready” for substantive discussions and is interested in achieving an outcome that would bring the conflict closer to an end.
Russia normally declines to publicly comment about details of sensitive negotiations, arguing that Ukraine-style “megaphone diplomacy” is counterproductive. Moscow has maintained that it would prefer to achieve its goals diplomatically but is prepared to do so militarily if talks fail.
Moscow insists any settlement must include Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk that voted to join Russia in 2022 referendums and recognition of the country’s new borders, including Crimea. Kiev has rejected these demands and insisted on regaining the territories, despite continuously losing ground to Russian forces.
The next round of Washington-mediated peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev are slated for next week in Abu Dhabi, the Ukrainian leader has said
https://www.rt.com/russia/631833-russia-ukraine_us-talks-timeline/
Zelensky hints at staying in power
1 Feb, 2026 13:03
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has suggested he may seek another term as president, while his government has moved to extend martial law and general mobilization for another three months, again preventing national elections.
In a wide-ranging interview with Czech public broadcaster Cesky rozhlas, published on Friday, Zelensky acknowledged growing domestic strain, including battlefield manpower shortages, while urging draft-age men living abroad to consider returning to help ease pressure on frontline troops. He has also said peace talks with Russia backed by the US and Europe were in their “hardest” phase.
Asked directly whether he would seek another term, Zelensky said, “I don’t know. It depends on how this war ends.” Pressed on whether he had thought about running again, he added, “Sometimes I do.”
The comments came as Ukraine’s parliament approved Zelensky’s bills in January to extend martial law and general mobilization for another 90 days, running from early February until May and again barring elections.
Critics say the repeated extensions have kept Zelensky in power beyond his term, which expired in May 2024. Moscow has called him “illegitimate,” while US President Donald Trump last year branded him “a dictator without elections.”
In December, Zelensky claimed elections would require legal changes and security guarantees from Kiev’s Western backers. Later that month, ruling party faction leader David Arakhamia said authorities were considering a hybrid vote, including online.
Surveys by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology showed trust in Zelensky declining last year amid a corruption scandal, while Western media said the Energoatom case damaged his standing.
Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief who now serves as ambassador to the UK, was polling ahead of Zelensky in a hypothetical presidential vote, Ipsos reported in January.
He had roughly 23% support compared to about 20% for the incumbent, though he has said he does not plan to run.
Reports of political maneuvering have also dogged Zelensky’s office. In October, Politico described what it called a “stealthy albeit rough” effort by Zelensky’s team to prepare for elections while sidelining rivals through legal cases.
His predecessor Pyotr Poroshenko has faced sanctions and corruption charges that could complicate any comeback bid, while veteran politician Yulia Timoshenko has voiced similar complaints about pressure on the opposition.
https://www.rt.com/russia/631833-russia-ukraine_us-talks-timeline/
Ukraine strikes Russian repair base, drone control points in overnight assault (MAP)
01/02/2026
Ukrainian forces struck a Russian repair base, multiple drone control points, and command posts overnight on 1 February, targeting both occupied territories and Russian soil, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported.
The strikes are part of Ukraine's ongoing campaign to degrade Russia's offensive capabilities as intense fighting continues near the strategic cities of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast, where Russia has been attempting to encircle Ukrainian defenders from all four directions.
Repair base and drone control points hit
In temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukrainian forces struck a repair base belonging to a Russian engineer-sapper regiment near Rozivka, the General Staff said.
Near Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast - where Ukrainian troops have been repelling dozens of Russian assaults daily - Ukrainian units hit an enemy UAV control point, a company command-observation post, and a concentration of Russian personnel.
Strikes inside Russia
Ukrainian forces also struck targets inside Russia. In Kursk Oblast, near the settlement of Nekislitsa, Ukrainian units hit another Russian drone control point.
In Bryansk Oblast, near Troyebortnoye, Ukrainian forces struck a concentration of enemy personnel. The General Staff said Russian losses and the full extent of damage are still being assessed.
"Ukraine's Defense Forces will continue to systematically carry out measures aimed at weakening the offensive capabilities and reducing the combat potential of the Russian aggressor," the General Staff said.
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/01/ukraine-strikes-russian-repair-base-drone-control-points-in-overnight-assault-map/
other Russia and Ukraine
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/tragedy-near-ukraine-s-pavlohrad-russian-1769961637.html
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4086579-russian-drone-hits-maternity-hospital-in-zaporizhzhia.html
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4086549-two-injured-as-russian-forces-attack-kharkiv-region-with-guided-aerial-bomb-drones.html
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/two-dead-after-russian-drone-attack-hits-1769934461.html
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4086527-ukrainian-air-defenses-neutralize-76-out-of-90-russian-drones-overnight.html
https://112.ua/en/rosia-atakuvala-harkiv-dronami-31-poranenij-sered-nih-vagitna-zinka-ta-ditina-137046
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/01/spacex-begins-blocking-russian-drones-exploiting-starlink-over-ukraine/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-meets-us-defense-officials-in-washington-amid-iran-tensions/
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-885223
https://worldisraelnews.com/idf-chief-made-secret-washington-visit-as-iran-threat-escalates/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/katz-holds-meeting-with-idf-chief-after-latters-talks-with-us-officials-on-iran/
other Israel
https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/us-iran-military-strikes
https://www.timesofisrael.com/daily-briefing-feb-1-rafah-crossing-is-readied-for-gazans-to-pass-through/
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/defense/artc-idf-destroys-weapons-tunnel-in-gaza-s-khan-yunis-live-blog
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2026-02-01/ty-article-live/.premium/idf-fire-kills-30-palestinians-in-gaza-wounds-30-since-morning-health-ministry-says/0000019c-1758-d005-a1dc-3fdb76080000
https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/idf-uncovers-hamas-tunnel-network-as-ceasefire-tensions-mount-in-gaza/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-terror-operative-killed-after-crossing-gaza-ceasefire-line-posing-threat-to-troops/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/family-of-reservist-officer-killed-in-allenby-crossing-attack-seeking-compensation-from-jordan/
https://www.jns.org/idf-slays-hezbollah-terrorist-in-lebanon/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-ground-troops-demolished-hezbollah-weapons-depot-anti-tank-missile-storage-facility-in-south-lebanon/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/01/google-ai-israel-military/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/421771
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjpjiv2lbx
https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/ryspuq2l11g
https://www.jns.org/foreign-forces-in-gaza-will-fail/
Israel’s army chief meets US defense officials in Washington amid Iran tensions
February 1, 2026 6:23 pm
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir was in Washington, DC, over the weekend for a series of discussions with American defense officials regarding Iran, The Times of Israel has learned.
The meetings in the United States came as US President Donald Trump continued to threaten military action against Iran against the backdrop of the regime’s killing of protesters, and as Tehran makes efforts to rebuild its nuclear and missile programs following the June 2025 war with Israel.
News of the whirlwind visit was only permitted for publication on Sunday morning, as the Israel Defense Forces remained on high alert amid the high tensions with Iran.
A report by Army Radio on Sunday claimed that Zamir said in a recent security assessment that an American strike in Iran could take place within a period between “two weeks and two months.”
The US has been moving military assets to the Middle East, boosting available firepower and defensive capabilities in the region. On Friday, an American missile destroyer docked at Israel’s Red Sea port city of Eilat.
Joining Zamir in the US for the meetings were Maj. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate and former defense attaché to the US; incoming Israeli Air Force chief Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler; Brig. Gen. Amit Adler, head of the IDF’s Tevel international cooperation unit; and Brig. Gen. Manny Liberty, head of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Operational Division.
After returning to Israel, Zamir sat down with Defense Minister Israel Katz for a meeting.
“Following the series of meetings the IDF chief of staff recently held in the United States, the two are discussing, among other things, the regional situation assessment and the IDF’s operational readiness for any scenario,” Katz’s office said in a statement.
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Last week, Zamir met with US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper in Israel, as part of efforts between the militaries to coordinate ahead of a possible American strike in Iran.
The chief of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, also visited Washington for talks with the US administration the same week.
The IDF has sought sufficient advance warning from the US before any potential strikes in Iran, to allow it to prepare defensively and to be ready to alert the public.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that American airstrikes on Iran are not imminent since the US military was still deploying additional air defense systems to the Middle East to bolster protection for Israel and its Arab allies.
According to the report, which cited US officials, the Pentagon was moving THAAD and Patriot air defenses to bases with US personnel across the Middle East.
US air defenses, in addition to those operated by Israel, were crucial to protecting the country during the 12-day war with Iran in 2025 and two previous missile and drone attacks launched by the Islamic Republic in 2024.
News of Zamir’s visit to Washington surfaced the same day Iran appeared to backtrack on plans to conduct a military exercise in the Strait of Hormuz, days after US Central Command warned against “unsafe and unprofessional behavior near American forces,” which it said “increases risks of collision, escalation, and destabilization.”
An Iranian official told Reuters Sunday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval forces had no plan to carry out live-fire exercises in the strait, a key transit hub for global energy supplies, contradicting US claims and media reports.
“There was no plan for the Guards to hold military exercises there, and there was no official announcement about it. Only media reports, which were wrong,” the official said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had criticized CENTCOM’s warning Friday. “The US military is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their own turf,” he wrote on X.
The European Union followed the Trump administration’s example late last week in declaring the IRGC a terrorist organization. The US designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2019.
The EU’s decision sparked diplomatic retaliation from Iran, which on Sunday declared European countries’ armies to be “terrorist groups.”
Dressed in a Guards uniform in a show of solidarity, Iran’s Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that under “Article 7 of the Law on Countermeasures Against the Declaration of the IRGC as a Terrorist Organization, the armies of European countries are considered terrorist groups.”
Amid reports of hiking tensions, Iran’s security official said Saturday that progress had been made toward negotiations with the US, even as the Islamic Republic’s army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.
Trump confirmed the two sides were talking, while keeping the threat of an attack in the foreground.
“Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing,” said Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Larijani spoke a day after the Kremlin said he had held talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that a broader conflict would hurt both Iran and the United States.
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https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202602011665
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-us-warning-iran-say-no-plans-to-carry-out-live-fire-exercises-in-strait-of-hormuz/
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/891338/khamenei-warns-of-us-ambitions-in-iran-amid-trumps-mixed-signals
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/891348/iran-fm-signals-openness-to-talks-amid-us-tensions-warns-against-miscalculations
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/irans-fm-confident-nuclear-deal-can-be-reached-with-us-amid-fruitful-mediation/
https://news.az/news/iranian-drone-conducts-reconnaissance-over-gulf-of-oman-amid-military-drills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeANZIfik9A
Khamenei warns of regional war as Trump says 'big ships' head toward Iran
February 1, 2026
Summary
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Iran’s Supreme Leader said if the US launches a war, it would not stay confined to Iran and would likely escalate into a broader regional conflict.
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Persian Gulf states have cautioned Iran that they may step in if they are hit amid any escalation between Tehran and Washington, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported.
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Trump said Iran is negotiating with the US and a deadline has been conveyed, while Iranian leaders insist talks cannot be forced through threats and warn of a decisive response to any attack.
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After the EU designated the IRGC a terrorist organization, Iran’s parliament said it would treat EU armies as “terrorist groups” and considered expelling European military attaches.
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Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani contacted Persian Gulf states and warned Tehran could target US embassies there if Washington strikes, as Qatar pushed de-escalation and Saudi rejected use of its airspace for attacks.
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Authorities expanded security deployments across major cities, arrested activists, and issued harsh legal threats, including possible moharebeh charges carrying the death penalty.
5 minutes ago
'Finish the job': new WSJ report points to execution of injured protesters
For families searching for wounded protesters in Iran’s latest crackdown, hospitals have offered no refuge—only dead ends.
One such case was described by the Wall Street Journal in a report on Sunday, which recounted the final hours of a teenage protester identified as Sam, shot and then taken away while still alive.
According to the paper, a medic told Sam’s family that he was “in critical condition being treated for a single gunshot wound in the back of his head,” before security forces arrived and removed him along with other patients.
The medic urged the family to look elsewhere. “The medic advised them to check the morgues,” Sam’s father, Parviz, said, according to the report.
They found him days later. “They found him inside a body bag on Jan. 11 with a second bullet wound that tore through half of his face and made him almost unrecognizable,” Parviz told the Journal.
The second shot—delivered after medical care had begun—was not an act of mercy. It was finalization.
3 hours ago
Iran releases names of 2,986 killed in unrest
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s office said on Sunday it was releasing the names of 2,986 people it said were killed in the recent unrest, describing all the victims as “children of this land.”
The presidential office said the list was published under a policy of transparency and accountability and on Pezeshkian’s orders, after the names were compiled by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization and cross-checked with the national civil registry.
More than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history, according to documents reviewed by Iran International.
3 hours ago
Millions wagered on Polymarket over possible US strikes on Iran
Millions of dollars have been wagered on Polymarket prediction markets on the timing of a possible US military strike against Iran and on the potential ousting of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to market data and reports.
Polymarket, a blockchain-based platform where users can buy and sell outcome-based contracts using cryptocurrency or traditional payment methods, shows heavy trading in contracts tied to whether and when the United States might carry out aerial, drone or missile strikes on Iranian soil or at Iranian embassies, with volumes in the tens of millions of dollars.
Some bettors have lost substantial sums as timelines they wagered on passed without a strike occurring.
Further millions have been placed on contracts tied to the likelihood of Khamenei being removed from power, according to Polymarket’s listings.
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4 hours ago
Iran denies reports of IRGC military exercise in Strait of Hormuz - Reuters
An Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that media reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plans to hold a military exercise in the Strait of Hormuz are incorrect.
Iran's state-run Press TV reported on Thursday that the force would carry out drills in the strategic waterway on February 1 and February 2.
"There was no plan for the Guards to hold military exercises there and there was no official announcement about it. Only media reports which were wrong," the official said.
4 hours ago
Iran lawmakers don IRGC uniforms after EU terrorist designation
https://twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/2017939522558857404
5 hours ago
Iran prosecutor says police contained unrest without weapons
Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi praised police forces for what he called their role in containing recent unrest, saying officers acted “empty-handed” because they were not permitted to use weapons.
Speaking at a police gathering, Movahedi said security forces had brought the situation under control despite casualties among officers, and stressed close coordination between police and the judiciary.
More than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history, according to documents reviewed by Iran International.
5 hours ago
US must strengthen air defenses in Mideast before any Iran strike - WSJ
The United States needs to reinforce air defenses across the Middle East before launching any potential strike on Iran, as Washington prepares for possible retaliation by Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The report quoted US officials as saying that airstrikes on Iran are not imminent, as the Pentagon is still deploying additional air defense systems.
According to the report, the Pentagon is taking steps to better protect Israel, Arab allies, and US forces in the region, amid growing concern that Iran could respond with missile and drone attacks.
The Journal said US military planners view expanded air and missile defense coverage as critical to limiting damage and escalation if Iran retaliates against American or allied targets.
US officials told the Journal that while limited airstrikes on Iran could be carried out quickly, a larger operation would likely prompt a proportional response from Tehran, making robust air defenses essential.
The US already has naval destroyers capable of intercepting aerial threats in the region and has increased their presence.
The buildup comes as President Donald Trump has sent what he described as an “armada” to the Middle East, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group and F-35 fighter jets, while stopping short of saying whether he intends to use force.
6 hours ago
Iran lawmaker says succession plans in place if commanders are killed
Iran is not a country that can be brought down by the loss of a few commanders or a handful of military strikes, and replacements are ready, parliamentary deputy speaker Hamidreza Hajibabaei said on Saturday.
Hajibabaei said there is strong unity between parliament, the government and the armed forces, while stressing that criticism and differences are handled in expert meetings without allowing adversaries to exploit them.
He said Iran’s main economic problem is not a lack of resources but weaknesses in management and policymaking, adding that next year’s budget plans include wage rises, higher tax exemptions and provisions for essential goods to ease living costs.
He also said the world is moving toward a multipolar order and argued that Iran’s main battle is now in news and online space, warning officials against rhetoric that fuels public fear, despair or division.
6 hours ago
'All those killed in protests were enemies of God,' Tehran council head says
Tehran City Council head Mehdi Chamran said on Sunday that no protesters were killed in recent unrest and described those who died as “mohareb,” a term Iranian officials use for people they accuse of armed rebellion against God.
“In these protests we had no deaths, and only moharebs were present with guns and knives,” Chamran said.
More than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history, according to documents reviewed by Iran International.
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Four Moons Spotted Over Russia’s St. Petersburg In Rare Sky Phenomenon | Video
Last Updated: February 01, 2026, 21:29 IST
In a rare incident, the stargazers in Russia’s St. Petersburg were left mesmerised when they caught the glimpse of four moons known as Paraselenae.
Several images of the spectacular optical illusion, which creates the haunting impression of multiple moons flanking the Earth’s actual satellite, erupted on social media on Sunday.
A paraselene, also commonly known as a moon dog or mock moon, is produced by moonlight refracted through thin, hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals in high cirrus clouds.
It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon where bright spots or “mock moons" appear to the sides of the Moon, caused by light refracting through high-altitude hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.
According to NASA, they are seen at an angle of 22 degrees or more from the Moon. Compared to the bright lunar disk, paraselenae are faint and easier to spot when the Moon is low.
The paraselenae are positioned at the same elevation above the horizon as the Moon itself and the vertical extent depends on the wobbling of the ice crystals; larger crystals create taller paraselenae, skybrary reported.
https://www.news18.com/world/four-moons-spotted-over-russias-st-petersburg-in-rare-sky-phenomenon-video-ws-l-9872155.html
https://x.com/RT_com/status/2017881632040985055
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/2017689342454518047
Military seeks source of terrorists’ drones
February 1, 2026
The military high command has commenced a full-scale investigation into the use of drones by terrorists in Nigeria, amid growing concerns over the deployment of sophisticated aerial devices in recent attacks, particularly in the North East.
Michael Onoja, the director of Defence Media Operations (DDMO), disclosed this on Friday while briefing defence correspondents in Abuja.
Onoja said the investigation is being carried out in collaboration with other relevant security and intelligence agencies, with the aim of identifying the sources of the drones and cutting off supply routes to non-state actors.
According to him, agencies with the technical expertise to counter drone deployment have been fully engaged, and concrete actions are expected to emerge in the coming days or months.
“We have reached an advanced stage in taking measures, in conjunction with other federal government agencies, to trace where these drones are coming from.
“I believe that in the next couple of days or months, concrete action will emerge on what we intend to do,” Onoja said.
In recent months, terrorist groups operating in the North East have increasingly deployed drones to launch attacks on civilians and security personnel.
The development has sparked public debate and raised questions among security experts about how such devices are being procured and smuggled into the country.
Responding to allegations circulating on social media that soldiers manning checkpoints in Bauchi State were being forced to remit weekly sums of money to their commanders, Onoja dismissed the claims as unsubstantiated.
He stressed that the Nigerian military operates transparently and assured that any allegation backed by verifiable details would be thoroughly investigated.
On the return of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon, Onoja described the development as a clear indicator of improved security in previously volatile communities.
According to him, sustained military operations, in conjunction with the Federal Government’s stabilisation efforts, have created conditions conducive for displaced persons to return home safely.
“The military, in conjunction with the Federal Government, has done everything within its capacity to ensure the necessary security in those areas. The return of refugees is a clear measure of operational success,” he said.
Highlighting operational outcomes for the month under review, Onoja disclosed that troops across various theatres killed several terrorists, arrested 452 suspected terrorists, kidnappers and other criminal elements, and rescued about 284 kidnapped victims.
He added that 124 terrorists and their family members surrendered to troops during the period.
In the fight against oil theft and economic sabotage, Onoja said troops recovered 210,300 litres of crude oil, 66,725 litres of diesel, 660 litres of kerosene and 5,000 litres of petrol.
“A total of 53 illegal refining sites were also discovered and destroyed nationwide”, he added.
https://businessday.ng/news/article/military-seeks-source-of-terrorists-drones/