'not only NO, but FUCK NO'
Q
kek
quints of justice
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
February 3, 2026
Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb
Oh what a tangled web a planetary nebula can weave. The Red Spider Planetary Nebula shows the complex structure that can result when a normal star ejects its outer gases and becomes a white dwarf star. Officially tagged NGC 6537, this two-lobed symmetric planetary nebula houses one of the hottest white dwarfs ever observed, probably as part of a binary star system. Internal winds flowing out from the central stars, have been measured in excess of 1,000 kilometers per second. These winds expand the nebula, flow along the nebula's walls, and cause waves of hot gas and dust to collide. Atoms caught in these colliding shocks radiate light shown in the featured false-color infrared picture by the James Webb Space Telescope. The Red Spider Nebula lies toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). Its distance is not well known but has been estimated by some to be about 4,000 light-years.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxMRZbd91Y4
Flaring Sunspots Almost Facing Earth, Galactic Core Nova | S0 News and frens
Feb.3.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-0IhWTpHs0
https://watchers.news/2026/02/03/cme-produced-by-x8-1-flare-forecast-to-reach-earth-on-february-5-causing-g1-geomagnetic-storm/
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/solar-flares-sunspot-4366_uk_6981be5ce4b0e2ea3d3f2627
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sun-solar-flares-glancing-blow-trigger-northern-lights-rare-mid-latitude-show-1775922
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/sun-solar-flares-which-areas-have-been-hit-with-radio-disturbances-article-153550565
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne0hg9SV7IE (Dobsonian Power: DANGER FROM THE SUN!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vyxVOJcKnk (Stefan Burns: A Modern Carrington Event and a MASSIVE Tech Collapse Could Actually Happen…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lohbqn7vWfI (Tamitha Skov: A Big Flare Blast with a Glancing Storm Blow | Space Weather Spotlight 03 February 2026)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAaWcREBSw (MrMBB333: CARRINGTON SUNSPOTS - IS HISTORY ABOUT TO REPEAT?)
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2018365902383902991
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/2018408990426722765
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/2018447604686946519
https://x.com/schumannbot/status/2018685949560214000
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-northern-lights-possible-tonight-feb-3
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/nasas-imap-active-link-real-time-data-now-available
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=03&month=02&year=2026
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ovw
3I/ATLAS Was Seen Months Earlier Than Reported But Not Recognized For What It Was
February 3, 2026
Archived observations from May and June 2025 reveal a critical delay between detection and understanding
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was not first seen on July 1, 2025. It was first recognized on that date.
Publicly available archival data now confirms that automated survey instruments detected the object as early as May 2025, with additional observations logged throughout June.
At the time, those detections were cataloged as routine transient signals—fast-moving points of light that did not immediately trigger classification as an interstellar visitor.
According to publicly released survey records, early observations showed an object with unusual velocity and trajectory, but insufficient context existed to flag it as extraordinary.
The data streams feeding automated pipelines focused on near-Earth objects, comets, and asteroids assumed to be gravitationally bound to the Sun. Anything outside those expectations required follow-up analysis that did not occur immediately.
This delay was not the result of missing data. It was the result of interpretation.
During May and June 2025, telescope systems collected positional and brightness measurements, but the object’s hyperbolic trajectory was not recognized in real time.
Without a clear orbital solution, early detections were effectively filed away—stored, but not understood.
It was only after additional observations accumulated that analysts were able to reconstruct the object’s path and determine that it could not have originated within the solar system.
On July 1, 2025, scientists publicly confirmed that the object—later designated 3I/ATLAS—was interstellar in origin.
By then, weeks had already passed.
That lag matters. In astronomy, early observation windows are critical. They provide baseline measurements before solar heating alters an object’s surface chemistry and structure.
For 3I/ATLAS, those early weeks may have contained information that can never be recovered in its original state.
The delayed recognition also meant that follow-up observations from major space-based observatories were not immediately prioritized.
When instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope and SPHEREx later focused on the object, they were observing a body that had already undergone thermal evolution closer to the Sun.
According to scientists reviewing the timeline, the issue was not technological failure but systemic design.
Automated detection systems are optimized to find threats and familiar categories, not to question foundational assumptions about what might be passing through the solar system.
3I/ATLAS exposed that limitation.
ANALYSIS
The May–June 2025 detection gap highlights a broader vulnerability in planetary science and planetary defense: humanity is excellent at collecting data, but slower at recognizing when that data does not fit existing models.
Interstellar objects move faster, arrive from unexpected angles, and do not behave like native comets or asteroids. Without algorithms explicitly tuned to flag those differences, early detections risk being overlooked until valuable time has passed.
In the case of 3I/ATLAS, the delay did not create immediate danger. But it did reduce scientific opportunity—and revealed that future interstellar visitors may be present in data archives long before anyone realizes their significance.
The uncomfortable implication is clear: discovery does not happen when something is seen. It happens when humans understand what they are looking at.
As scientists continue to study 3I/ATLAS, the object’s true legacy may extend beyond its chemistry or structure.
It may instead be remembered as the moment humanity realized that seeing is not the same as knowing—and that the next interstellar visitor could already be in our data, waiting to be understood.
https://usaherald.com/3i-atlas-was-seen-months-earlier-than-reported-but-not-recognized-for-what-it-was/
https://usaherald.com/does-interstellar-object-3i-atlas-carry-the-chemical-fingerprints-of-life/
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/history-awaits-on-3i-atlas-8fd6f1e66564
https://x.com/Defence12543/status/2018660769995669828
https://x.com/RedPandaKoala/status/2018614024821412165
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nidb5Yb_qQ (Angry Astronaut: FINALLY! 3I Atlas nucleus photographed by James Webb, and an astonishing discovery is made!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf2N4OrccRI (Dobsonian Power: THEY'RE INSIDE 3I/ATLAS NUCLEUS!)
my money is on the Globetrotters
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/03/nasa-conducts-artemis-ii-fuel-test-eyes-march-for-launch-opportunity/
https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/curious-universe/how-nasa-will-study-the-moon/
https://x.com/Astro_ChrisW/status/2018365716181705015
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2018578937115271660
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycqk3uN_N6g
extra Artemis II
https://www.newsmax.com/scitech/nasa-artemis-2-delay/2026/02/03/id/1244629/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/03/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-test-terminated-at-t-515/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/03/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-entering-terminal-count-at-t-10-minutes/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/02/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-closeout-crew-departs-launch-complex-39b/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/02/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-launch-abort-system-hatch-closed/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/02/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-closeout-work-in-white-room-continues/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/02/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-crew-module-hatch-preparations-and-closure/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/02/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-all-sls-stages-in-replenish-mode/
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-to-answer-questions-from-students-in-pennsylvania/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/02/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-tanking-operations-progressing/
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-orion-spacecraft-at-launch-pad/
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-discuss-early-results-of-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal/
NASA Conducts Artemis II Fuel Test, Eyes March for Launch Opportunity
February 3, 2026
NASA concluded a wet dress rehearsal for the agency’s Artemis II test flight early Tuesday morning, successfully loading cryogenic propellant into the SLS (Space Launch System) tanks, sending a team out to the launch pad to closeout Orion, and safely draining the rocket.
The wet dress rehearsal was a prelaunch test to fuel the rocket, designed to identify any issues and resolve them before attempting a launch. 
Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test and met many of the planned objectives. To allow teams to review data and conduct a second wet dress rehearsal, NASA now will target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the flight test.
Moving off a February launch window also means the Artemis II astronauts will be released from quarantine, which they entered in Houston on Jan. 21.
As a result, they will not travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday as tentatively planned. Crew will enter quarantine again about two weeks out from the next targeted launch opportunity.
NASA began the approximately 49-hour countdown at 8:13 p.m. EST on Jan. 31. Leading up to, and throughout tanking operations on Feb. 2, engineers monitored how cold weather at Kennedy impacted systems and put procedures in place to keep hardware safe. 
Cold temperatures caused a late start to tanking operations, as it took time to bring some interfaces to acceptable temperatures before propellant loading operations began.  
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During tanking, engineers spent several hours troubleshooting a liquid hydrogen leak in an interface used to route the cryogenic propellant into the rocket’s core stage, putting them behind in the countdown. 
Attempts to resolve the issue involved stopping the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage, allowing the interface to warm up for the seals to reseat, and adjusting the flow of the propellant. 
Teams successfully filled all tanks in both the core stage and interim cryogenic propulsion stage before a team of five was sent to the launch pad to finish Orion closeout operations. 
Engineers conducted a first run at terminal countdown operations during the test, counting down to approximately 5 minutes left in the countdown, before the ground launch sequencer automatically stopped the countdown due to a spike in the liquid hydrogen leak rate.
In addition to the liquid hydrogen leak, a valve associated with Orion crew module hatch pressurization, which recently was replaced, required retorquing, and closeout operations took longer than planned.
Cold weather that affected several cameras and other equipment didn’t impede wet dress rehearsal activities, but would have required additional attention on launch day.
Finally, engineers have been troubleshooting dropouts of audio communication channels across ground teams in the past few weeks leading up to the test. Several dropouts reoccurred during the wet dress rehearsal. 
The team carried out updated procedures to purge the Orion service module’s cavities with breathing air during closeout crew operations rather than gaseous nitrogen to ensure the team assisting the crew into their seats and closing Orion’s hatches can safely operate in the White Room.
With March as the potential launch window, teams will fully review data from the test, mitigate each issue, and return to testing ahead of setting an official target launch date.
Crew safety will remain the highest priority, ensuring NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, return home at the end of their mission.
In addition to a statement from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman released Tuesday, agency leaders will discuss initial results from the wet dress rehearsal during a news conference at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Previously, NASA was targeting the news conference to begin at 12 p.m. The agency will stream the news conference live on its YouTube channel.
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Cracking Antarctic Sea Ice
Feb 03, 2026
'Tis the season for long and ruler-straight cracks in McMurdo Sound's sea ice. Though natural breaks in sea ice are called leads, the better term for the human-made fracture seen in these satellite images is a ship channel.
In the austral summer, usually in January, an icebreaker rams a path through the fast ice—a type of sea ice that is anchored to the shore—that often covers McMurdo Sound.
This annual effort allows cargo ships to reach McMurdo Station, a research base operated by the United States Antarctic Program.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star completed the task in January 2026, arriving after breaking a path through several miles of ice between the Ross Sea and an ice pier at McMurdo. Most of the channel was cut between January 19 and 20.
The animation above, made of images captured by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 and 9, offers satellite views of the icebreaker's work. Images were captured on January 2, 7, 19, 20, 23, 25, and 27.
The nearly 120-meter (400-foot) vessel weighs 13,500 tons and has thick steel-plated hulls. With 75,000 shaft horsepower, it's the world's most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker.
The ship sometimes conducts search-and-rescue missions as well.
On January 17, the day marking its 50th year of service, the Polar Star responded to a call from an Australian cruise ship in the Ross Sea hampered by thick, pack ice—a type of sea ice unattached to the shoreline that drifts.
After making two close passes to break up the ice and clear a path, the Polar Star escorted the cruise ship 4 nautical miles (7 kilometers) to open water in the Ross Sea, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Established in 1955, McMurdo Station is the southernmost point on Earth accessible by ship. With a population that swells to 1,200 in the summer, it is the largest research station in Antarctica, hosting a harbor, two airfields, and a helicopter pad.
Though once powered by a portable nuclear reactor known as "Nukey Poo," the base now runs on energy from diesel electric generators and a wind farm on Crater Hill.
With the ship passage open, McMurdo Station is slated to receive two large deliveries this summer. The Stena Polaris, a tanker, arrived on January 20 with 5 million gallons of diesel fuel.
Plantijngracht, a cargo ship, will arrive later with food, supplies, and parts of a new floating pier that will replace the traditional ice pier that military engineers have constructed each winter to give ships somewhere to unload cargo.
The U.S. National Science Foundation manages McMurdo Station and much of the science conducted there. NASA has also been involved in several projects at the base over the years.
For instance, NASA's McMurdo Ground Station, a Near Space Network facility, is used to download data from polar-orbiting satellites such as Landsat 9 and SMAP.
The agency also flew its Operation Ice Bridge airborne campaign from McMurdo in 2013 and regularly launches research balloons from the station as part of its scientific ballooning program.
The Polar Star typically remains at McMurdo through March to keep the ship passage clear and returns to its home port of Seattle in April.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/cracking-antarctic-sea-ice/