TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
March 14, 2026
A Year for K2-315b
Want to visit a planet that has 3.14 days in a year? Then plan a trip to K2-315b, an earth-sized planet orbiting around a cool, red, M dwarf star about once every 3.14 days. The exoplanet's discovery, based on publicly available data from the planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope's extended K2 mission, was announced in 2020. K2-315b's measured orbital period in days is nearly equal to the extremely popular irrational number Pi. That puts the exoplanet so close to its parent star that its surface is likely very warm, baking-hot in fact. And this Pi planet is over 185 light-years away. So instead of trying to arrange for an interstellar vacation to K2-315b, there may be easier and more comfortable ways for you to celebrate Pi day on planet Earth.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14GDpdAURQA
Solar Storm, Severe Plasma Event | S0 News and Saturday morning frens
Mar.14.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjM_TkKKQtI
https://www.discovermagazine.com/intense-space-weather-forces-nasa-s-van-allen-probe-back-to-earth-nearly-a-decade-early-48809
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/volunteers-find-oddly-high-solar-flare-rates/
https://patch.com/california/sanramon/quake-strikes-east-bay-did-you-feel-it
https://bizneworleans.com/louisiana-earthquake-swarm-prompts-tulane-monitoring/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/de/earthquakes-volcanoes/news/297576/Volcano-earthquake-report-for-Saturday-14-Mar-2026.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpny15mjN-U (TheEarthMaster: Cascadia Tremor counts elevated today. Uptick in Aurora activity tonight. Friday Night update)
https://x.com/SunWeatherMan/status/2032617778046447642
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/2032749951524945953
https://x.com/ssgeos/status/2032455131594183163
https://x.com/schumannbot/status/2032819066440761506
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental
https://spaceweather.com/
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
GREAT COMET 2026 IS ALREADY BRIGHT — I took a PICTURE of Comet 3I ATLAS Too
March 13, 2026
In tonight’s observation, I captured something surprising.
Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) — a Kreutz sungrazing comet expected to dive extremely close to the Sun in April 2026 — is already appearing bright, even though it is still about 1.24 AU from Earth.
At the same time, I also imaged the interstellar object Comet 3I/ATLAS. Unlike the sungrazer, 3I appears extremely faint in my telescope images.
This video shows both observations side-by-side and explains why one comet is already bright while the other remains barely visible.
These early images may give us clues about how Great Comet 2026 could evolve as it approaches the Sun.
In this video
• My telescope images of Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS)
• A comparison with interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
• Why sungrazing comets can brighten rapidly
• What might happen as the comet approaches perihelion on April 4, 2026
Sungrazing comets are known for dramatic behavior. Some brighten spectacularly, while others break apart near the Sun.
We may be witnessing the early stages of something remarkable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ErN0pw4mc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX6dt_5Mt30 (Chuck's Astro: Live: Let's Find Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchoś))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zOZPDuaMRo (John Michael Godier: An Intriguing Conundrum Regarding Life on Mars and More)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-TAy1sQ-3s (Sen4K: Earth in 4K from the ISS 🌍 Lightning, Cities & Volcanoes | This Week in Orbit)
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/first-discovery-of-a-magnetars-birth-may-not-explain-all-fast-radio-bursts-75a3ba558c4d
https://x.com/CrazySwedeX/status/2032769587557658962
https://x.com/MiuUniverse/status/2032633701314736186
https://x.com/JinxedHorizon/status/2032587062449418413
Full send
WATCH: Catch the Gamma Normid Meteor Shower tonight
March 14, 2026
According to the Severe Weather and Information Centre SA (SWAICSA), a quiet but beautiful celestial show, also referred to as the Gamma Normid meteor shower, will reach its peak tonight, March 14.
Although The South African Weather Service (SAWS) issued a yellow level 4 warning for disruptive rain with isolated showers and scattered thundershowers in the north-eastern parts of the country, stargazers elsewhere in South Africa may experience this cosmic show.
“This lesser-known meteor shower occurs when earth passes through a stream of tiny debris left behind by an ancient comet.
As these small particles slam into our atmosphere at incredible speeds, they burn up and create bright streaks of light we call meteors or ‘shooting stars’, SWAICSA said.
According to the centre, South Africa is well positioned to experience the meteor shower, weather permitting, since the Gamma Normid meteor shower appears to originate from the constellation Norma, which is situated in the southern sky.
What you might see:
This is not one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, but under dark skies (away from city lights) observers may see around 5 to 10 meteors per hour at the peak.
They are often fast and sharp streaks of light, appearing suddenly and disappearing just as quickly – a brief flash from a grain of cosmic dust burning up high above Earth.
Best viewing tips:
-
Find a dark location away from city lights
-
Allow 20 to 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark
-
Lie back or use a reclining chair for a wide view of the sky
-
Dress warmly and enjoy the quiet night sky.
-
Look up after midnight until just before dawn.
Where to look:
SWAICSA advises stargazer’s to look toward the southern sky.
“Watch a wide dark area overhead and be patient. Meteors can appear anywhere across the sky, not only near the constellation Norma.
For a few hours tonight, invisible cosmic debris turns into steaks of light across the heavens – a reminder that our planet is constantly travelling through a vast and ancient universe.”
Catch a shooting star tonight. Step outside and look up!
https://www.citizen.co.za/lowvelder/news-headlines/local-news/2026/03/14/watch-catch-the-gamma-normid-meteor-shower-tonight/
https://twitter.com/SAWeatherServic/status/2032755575495221279
https://twitter.com/PaulGoldEagle/status/2032491388349424073
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01syN4N7GKQ
Week Wraps with Space Biology, Spacewalk Preps, and Space Station Reboost
March 13, 2026 1:37PM
Science hardware maintenance filled the day for the Expedition 74 crew following the release of two cargo spacecraft in less than a week at the International Space Station.
The orbital residents also continued more reviews for next week’s spacewalk, kept up their ongoing human research program, and readied another spacecraft for departure.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft completed its resupply mission to the orbital outpost when the Candarm2 robotic arm released it into Earth orbit at 7:06 a.m. EDT on Thursday, March 12. It will reenter the atmosphere for a fiery, but safe demise above the South Pacific Ocean on Saturday.
JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft left the space station on Friday, March 6, when the Canadarm2 released it.
HTV-X1 will orbit Earth for several more weeks of remotely controlled science experiments before an atmospheric reentry above the South Pacific.
Working inside the orbiting lab’s Kibo laboratory module, NASA flight engineers Chris Williams and Jack Hathaway completed the workweek servicing a variety of research gear ensuring continuous operations of microgravity science.
Williams swapped a large centrifuge for a smaller centrifuge inside Kibo’s Saibo rack to support future biology experiments.
Hathaway replaced an obsolete high-definition video camera with an upgraded one inside Kibo’s airlock that will be placed outside of the station to capture Earth imagery and spacecraft arriving and departing at the orbital outpost.
Williams then joined NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir at the end of their shift and called down to mission controllers to discuss procedures for a spacewalk scheduled on Wednesday, March 18.
The team reviewed the spacewalking tools and tasks necessary to install a modification kit and route cables on the port side of the orbital outpost.
The external maintenance work will enable the next roll-out solar array to be installed on a future spacewalk after it is delivered on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Earlier, Meir began her shift with flight engineer Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) in the Columbus laboratory module and helped her set up the PhysioTool health monitoring experiment.
Meir helped Adenot attach portable sensors on her body measuring a variety of health parameters including heart, lung, and brain activity. Results may enable more comprehensive biomedical data of the effects of living and working in weightlessness.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev wrapped up a weeklong cardiac study observing how weightlessness impacts a crew member’s circulatory system.
The station commander and flight engineer, respectively, once again attached sensors on their forehead, fingers, and toes that sent their blood flow data by Bluetooth adaptor to a laptop computer for analysis.
Kud-Sverchkov started his shift checking the operation of lights throughout the station’s Roscosmos segment. Mikaev prepared the trash-packed Progress 92 cargo spacecraft for its upcoming departure by disconnecting docking components and closing the hatch.
Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev kicked off his shift replacing orbital plumbing components and checking their functionality inside the Zarya module.
Next, Fedyaev transferred fluids between tanks and removed air bubbles as part of maintenance for the Zvezda service module’s Elektron oxygen generator.
Finally, the two-time station resident filmed his crewmates as they were going about science, maintenance, and exercise activities to document life onboard the International Space Station.
The International Space Station is orbiting higher today after the Progress 93 cargo spacecraft, docked to the Zvezda service module’s aft port, fired its engines for 10 minutes, 30 seconds at 11:58 a.m. EDT.
The reboost increased the space station’s altitude by half a mile at apogee and nine-tenths of a mile at perigee, leaving the station in an orbit of 266 x 257 statute miles.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/03/13/week-wraps-with-space-biology-spacewalk-preps-and-space-station-reboost/
https://x.com/Astro_Jessica/status/2032222708457750939
NASA Administrator teases further Artemis program updates in one-on-one interview
March 14, 2026
NASA has it’s sights set on launching the Artemis 2 mission no earlier than April 1. The determination came following the conclusion of a two-day, agency-level review of the Moon-bound flight, which took place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission analysis, called a flight readiness review (FRR), pulled together the mission management team, leadership from multiple NASA centers and the four crew members to discuss all of the various potential risks to the mission and how they would be addressed, should they arise.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongsideCanadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be the first to fly an Orion spacecraft — named ‘Integrity’ — which is set to fly around Moon and back during a planned 10-day mission.
Prior to jumping into the second day of the FRR, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman sat down with Spaceflight Now to discuss the state of the Artemis program, roughly two weeks after he announced major changes to the architecture.
Isaacman discusses the progress towards the reimagined Artemis 3 mission, launching in mid-2027; concerns raised by the NASA Office of Inspector General’s latest report; NASA’s workforce goals; and the needle-moving undertakings that the agency is focused on in the years to come.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/03/14/nasa-administrator-teases-further-artemis-program-updates-in-one-on-one-interview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Y0qUQUbrk
extra Artemis II
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/nasas-artemis-ii-moon-mission-daily-agenda/
https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/03/13/nasa-ready-for-another-shot-at-launching-artemis-2-moon-mission/
Extra Extra! Extra Data Stream Added to the Daily Minor Planet!
Mar 13, 2026
The Daily Minor Planet citizen science project is expanding! In addition to data received nightly from the Catalina Sky Survey's Mt. Lemmon telescope in Arizona, the project’s science team is now processing images from the Bok 2.3-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
The Bok is a mighty telescope run by the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory that is used to survey for new near-Earth objects (NEOs) – asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit.
Data from the Bok telescope peers deeper than the data from the Mt. Lemmon telescope–it reveals objects roughly two to three times as faint.
Software often struggles with such faint objects, but humans shine at pattern recognition in this kind of data, making your contributions to this search more valuable than ever.
Another important feature of the new data is that it mostly comes from the ecliptic, the band of sky where asteroids and comets preferentially travel.
The project team expects this deeper, ecliptic-focused coverage to substantially increase the number of main-belt asteroids they can recover and confirm and bring fresh waves of near-Earth asteroid candidates.
Keep an eye out for new Bok subject sets as they are added. They'll be a little more challenging and a lot more rewarding!
The Daily Minor Planet is a regularly updated citizen science project hosted by the Zooniverse using nightly data collected by the Catalina Sky Survey. Anyone with a laptop or smartphone can join.
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/extra-extra-extra-data-stream-added-to-the-daily-minor-planet/
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/fulsdavid/the-daily-minor-planet
>99.999% sure they were using in game system for comms prior
probably using a lot of games with internal comms.
USBR Challenges
Crack the Case Challenge
Mar 13, 2026
NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) assists in the use of crowdsourcing across the federal government.
CoECI’s NASA Tournament Lab offers the contract capability to run external crowdsourced challenges on behalf of NASA and other agencies.
This three-phase challenge invites geophysicists, sensing specialists, nondestructive testing experts, and creative problem-solvers (including AI/ML practitioners) from any field to develop novel methods for detecting subsurface cracks in embankment dams.
Through this multi-phase challenge, teams will embark on a structured journey that moves from concept to development and ultimately to real-world demonstration.
In Phase 1, teams will articulate and frame their solution approach and execution vision. During Phase 2, selected teams will detail and validate their designs.
Finally, in Phase 3, the selected teams will demonstrate the most promising solutions in conditions that reflect real embankment dam environments.
Each phase intentionally builds on the last, increasing in technical rigor and realism while maintaining focus on practical deployment and impact.
Together, the phases are designed to support teams in transforming strong ideas into credible, implementable solutions that advance the state of embankment dam crack detection.
Award: $400,000 in total prizes across all three phases
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/prizes-challenges-crowdsourcing-program/center-of-excellence-for-collaborative-innovation-coeci/usbr-crack-the-case-challenge/
https://www.herox.com/CrackTheCase
Halt the Hitchhiker: Invasive Species Challenge
Mar 13, 2026
NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) assists in the use of crowdsourcing across the federal government.
CoECI’s NASA Tournament Lab offers the contract capability to run external crowdsourced challenges on behalf of NASA and other agencies.
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is sponsoring a 3-phase prize challenge (managed by yet2) for innovative solutions to eliminate the risk of aquatic invasive species (AIS) being transported in raw water entering and exiting watercraft ballast compartments.
The goal is to identify novel approaches that can kill, exclude, or inactivate AIS such as quagga, zebra, and golden mussels, thereby protecting Reclamation’s water delivery and hydropower infrastructure.
Award: $550,000 in total prizes across all phases
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/prizes-challenges-crowdsourcing-program/center-of-excellence-for-collaborative-innovation-coeci/usbr-halt-the-hitchhiker-invasive-species-challenge/
https://haltthehitchhiker.yet2.com/
NASA Volunteers Study Biofilm Adaptability in Space
Mar 13, 2026
Biofilms are communities of microorganisms that stick to one another and also adhere to a nearby surface. They are intricately associated with life on Earth, enabling functions essential to human and plant systems.
NASA's Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) Analysis Working Groups study biofilms and many other biological phenomena in an environment that’s important to NASA: the environment of deep space. It’s not well understood how well biofilms react to the many stresses of spaceflight.
Now, a new study, performed in part by NASA volunteers, describes how biofilms adapt to space environments, exploring how biofilms may benefit human and plant health in space.
The volunteers, led by Dr. Katherine Baxter (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Nicholas Brereton (University College Dublin), are part of the Microbes Analysis Working Group.
Their findings reframe biofilms from infection risks to essential structures supporting human gut health, immunity, and plant nutrient uptake. The group’s work synthesizes how spaceflight stressors alter biofilm architecture and host interaction.
Interested in collaborating with others to help terrestrial life thrive in space? You can join the OSDR-Analysis Working Groups and help plan the future of human space exploration.
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/nasa-volunteers-study-biofilm-adaptability-in-space/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-025-00875-8
Good Morning, Moon
Mar 13, 2026
Early morning sunlight illuminates the western wall of this unnamed crater, leaving deep shadows on the ground and in the interior.
The image was taken on August 30, 2023, by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera). LROC is a system of three cameras and one of the seven instruments aboard NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) mission, which launched in June 2009 and continues in orbit around the Moon.
LRO’s primary mission was to make a 3D map of the lunar surface to help identify future landing sites and resources such as polar ice, to investigate the radiation environment, and to prove new technologies, all in anticipation of future robotic and human exploration.
In 2011, LRO data led to production of the highest-resolution, near-topographical map of the Moon, and an interactive mosaic of the lunar North Pole was published in 2014.
In addition, LRO has taken high-resolution photographs of myriad lunar landing sites from NASA’s Apollo missions and others. LRO also conducted the first demonstration of laser communication with a lunar satellite.
This image is the NASA Science Image of the Month for March 2026. Each month, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate chooses an image to feature, offering desktop wallpaper downloads, as well as links to related topics, activities, and games.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/good-morning-moon/
https://science.nasa.gov/multimedia/2026-nasa-science-calendar/