TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
June 8, 2026
Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time
What happens to a comet as it leaves our inner Solar System? Now, the arrival of a comet into the inner Solar System is typically heralded with great fanfare and high hopes that the comet will become bright and photogenic. But on the way out, the comet's nucleus is less warmed by the Sun, less gas and dust are expelled, the bright coma around the nucleus shrinks and fades, and the tail length drops off. Many comets will then return to the outer Solar System and only return in hundreds or thousands of years. In contrast, some comets like Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) receive a gravitational kick from the planets and so will never return. Pictured, Comet R3 PanSTARRs was imaged deeply many nights in early to mid-May near Cerro Paranal in Chile. Later images appear closer to the top and clearly show the shrinking ion tail.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEjgwg3FjaQ
>It's coming back in a big way.
>Space is critical to our NAT SEC.
>Was terminated for a specific reason.
Do it, Q.
Solar Storm Approaches, Micronova, Pole Shift | S0 News and magic manic panic Monday frens
June.8.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9nGUhd0bl8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFShi1Yfosk (Dutchsinse: 6/07/2026 – Very Large M8.2 (M7.8) Earthquake and Tsunami Threat in West Pacific Philippines)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsftUFcDXg8 (On the Pulse with Silki: MASSIVE MEGA Earthquake HITS Philippines ! Tsunami WARNING issued ! Buildings collapse !)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F6BM64szo8 (Moar Silki: BREAKING UPDATE: TSUNAMIS HIT and HUGE Earthquake spreads DESTRUCTION in the Philippines)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RzNPiSmKrI (EarthMaster: 8.1 Earthquake Philippines… Breaking EQ NEWS Sunday 6/7/2026)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QayYe8hhpWA (Moar EarthMaster: Large amount of Aftershocks from 7.8 EQ Philippines. 6.5 Earthquake the largest aftershock)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42NpCC-3X-M (Tamitha Skov: Is the Storm Here Yet? | Solar Storm Forecast Live Briefing 8 June 2026 (UTC))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWAz91X2Xko (Storm-HQ: Alabama & Texas in Chaos!🌊 Massive Flash Floods Hit Huntsville — Homes Submerged & Vehicles Trapped)
https://watchers.news/2026/06/07/g3-strong-geomagnetic-storm-watch-in-effect-for-june-8-as-cme-heads-toward-earth/
https://watchers.news/2026/06/08/enhanced-risk-issued-for-severe-storms-across-northern-plains-tornadoes-very-large-hail-and-damaging-winds-forecast/
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/world/2026/06/08/philippines-earthquake-tsunami-warning-photos/90457373007/
https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2026/06/08/philippines-department-of-education-schools-hit-by-mindanao-earthquake-rise-to-8642
https://www.geo.tv/latest/667797-philippines-hit-by-78-earthquake-which-neighbouring-regions-could-be-next
https://meteoagent.com/schumann-resonance-forecast
https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/incoming-cme-could-spark-impressive-northern-lights-over-the-northern-us-june-8
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes-volcanoes/news.html
https://www.tornadohq.com/
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=08&month=06&year=2026
it was the best of times, and the even better than the best of times
o7
gonna be a crazy week!
Could the Milky Way's missing mass be hiding in a swarm of interstellar comets?
June 7, 2026
3I/ATLAS has caused quite a stir over the last year, inviting astronomers to update what they know about other solar systems as well as our own. However, this third interstellar visitor may have an unexpected impact on our understanding of dark matter.
A new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server from researchers at the University of Hamburg, attempts to calculate the impact that the presence of large amounts of interstellar objects, or ISOs, would have on our calculation of dark matter in our galaxy.
Part of our calculation of dark matter is based on what's known as "missing mass." This value is based on a property known as the Galactic rotation curve—basically, the speed at which stars orbit the center of the Milky Way.
The actual value for the curve is much higher than would be expected just from the number of stars that we can see, so something else must be contributing to the mass that can account for that increased rotational speed.
Scientists have long held that dark matter is the contributing factor in this mass. But since it doesn't, or very rarely, interact with anything other than gravity, it's not like we can actually "see" it, making it hard to study.
Current estimates of the value of dark matter in the galaxy from the Gaia mission put its concentration at roughly 0.44 gigaelectron volts per cubic centimeter. But what if there were another explanation for some of that missing mass?
ISOs themselves have mass—and are also visible via other means. So far we've seen only three of them: 1I/'Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov and 3I/ATLAS, the largest of the bunch clocking in at a radius of somewhere between 0.16 and 2.8 km.
Since mass increases with the cube of radius, that difference in value has a massive impact on the estimated weight of this largest interstellar visitor.
But we also know that there are likely billions, if not trillions, of other interstellar objects floating out in the galaxy right now.
The question the researchers were attempting to answer was simple: What percentage of the "missing mass" of the galaxy could be floating interstellar objects that we just can't see using our normal observational techniques?
To determine this value, they ran a statistical process known as a Poisson distribution to calculate the local density of wandering rocks similar in size to 3I/ATLAS.
And they found there could be a fair number of them floating in our general area of the galaxy.
Taking that process a step further, they then calculated the percentage of the "missing mass" in the galaxy that could be attributed to these ISOs.
It turns out they could account for approximately 13% to 45% of the mass of the galaxy currently attributed to dark matter.
Admittedly, there are some weaknesses in this extrapolation process. The main one is that they are literally extrapolating a sample size of 1—3I/ATLAS—to an entire galactic population of ISOs.
The authors themselves even admit that the upper bound on the calculation, where ISOs would account for up to half the missing mass, requires an "overly optimistic" amount of matter to be thrown into interstellar space.
However, the underlying math is sound, and it has implications for some existing and upcoming surveys.
Direct dark matter detection experiments such as LZ and XENONnT rely on the local dark matter density to calculate the expected flux of weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, passing through their vats of xenon.
If that number is even just 18% lower than originally expected by the experiment designers, the sensitivities of the instruments might have to be readjusted.
Luckily, we won't have to wait long to get more evidence to prove or disprove this theory. Next-generation sky surveys are coming online that are expected to find dozens, or potentially even hundreds, of new interstellar objects.
Once we have a better grasp of the size and shape of ISOs, we'll have a better sense of what contribution, if any, they make to the missing mass of our galaxy—and whether our understanding of dark matter is correct.
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-milky-mass-swarm-interstellar-comets.html
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04801
other space objects and people with telescopes
https://theskylive.com/220p-info
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/on-disclosure-day-keep-your-inspiration-from-the-stars-and-your-common-sense-down-to-earth-4f7ddf55eed4
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/does-the-universe-contain-negative-mass-particles-2e8fa80239d5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWx5_TNqGDA (Paranatural: I Recorded the Night Sky for a Week | This is what I Saw)
NASA
@NASA
Coming soon: one of history’s most complex missions
Tune in on Tuesday, June 9, at 11am ET, to meet the astronauts flying aboard Artemis III, the mission that will test docking capabilities with commercial landers in low Earth orbit — an important step to crewed lunar landings.
12:42 PM · Jun 7, 2026
https://x.com/NASA/status/206370825575954035
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-iii/
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/is-this-the-next-artemis-crew-a-look-at-the-astronauts-on-nasas-shortlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fLROeRhqZM (Meet the astronauts of Artemis III!)
extra NASA
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/nasa-explores-modernizing-its-aging-data-center-facilities/
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/digging-back-in-time-in-the-uae/
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-incus-satellites-progress-toward-launch/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/swift/swift-boost-mission/cast/
Prada and Axiom Space unveil lunar cooling suit for NASA
Mon, June 8, 2026 at 8:10 AM PDT
Prada and Axiom Space unveiled the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment on Sunday, a body-hugging undersuit designed to regulate temperature and manage breathing for NASA astronauts during lunar surface operations.
The garment, known as the LCVG, is engineered as the inner layer of Axiom Space's Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit, called the AxEMU.
It circulates cold water through a network of tubes routed across the body's major muscle groups, carrying metabolic heat away to the suit's portable life-support system, where it is expelled into space, the company said.
A separate loop of tubes delivers fresh oxygen across an astronaut's face, washing away exhaled carbon dioxide before the gas routes back through a CO2 scrubber and recirculates.
The LCVG also features a fully redundant cooling circuit, providing a backup if the primary loop fails.
Rather than threading tubes through mesh material as in earlier designs — a labor-intensive approach — Prada's engineers wove cooling-liquid channels directly into the fabric structure itself, a manufacturing advance that Space.com noted draws on the fashion house's expertise in engineered knitting and 3D modeling.
Prada's knowledge of high-performance materials also supported the identification and sourcing of specialized fibers that allow the garment to be worn across long-duration missions, Axiom Space said.
"Every minute astronauts spend outside their vehicle, the LCVG is working to keep them safe," Russell Ralston, Axiom Space senior vice president of spacecraft development, said in a statement.
"It manages their thermal environment, supports their breathing, and does it all while they're pushing their bodies to the limit."
The LCVG is intended for use during NASA's Artemis IV mission, the first Artemis mission slated to land astronauts on the lunar surface.
At the lunar South Pole, where the mission is targeted, portions of the terrain alternate between direct exposure to the sun and deep shadow, producing temperature swings exceeding 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
The LCVG reveal follows an earlier phase of the Axiom Space-Prada collaboration.
In 2024, the two companies unveiled the AxEMU's outer layer, with Prada's design work helping produce a suit exterior built to withstand the thermal and micrometeoroid environment of the lunar South Pole, Axiom Space said.
"By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxury craftsmanship and advanced product development, we have developed a garment that neither company could have created independently," Axiom Space CEO and President Jonathan Cirtain said in a statement.
Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group chief marketing officer and head of sustainability, said the company looked forward to continuing the collaboration "pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers together."
https://tech.yahoo.com/science/articles/prada-axiom-space-unveil-lunar-151019036.html
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/its-very-aesthetically-pleasing-prada-and-axiom-just-revealed-the-stylish-cooling-suit-artemis-astronuats-will-wear-under-their-spacesuit-on-the-moon
https://www.axiomspace.com/release/axiom-space-prada-unveil-inner-layer-of-next-gen-lunar-spacesuit
extra NASA / space
https://thedebrief.org/the-outer-space-treaty-was-designed-for-the-cold-war-researchers-say-it-cant-handle-whats-coming-next/
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/space-technologies/articles/10.3389/frspt.2026.1748406/full
https://www.floridaweekly.com/articles/fort-myers-arts-and-entertainment-news/fort-myers/bonita-springs/the-secret-story-of-the-space-pen/
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/spacecraft-developer-quantum-space-to-go-public-in-12-billion-spac-deal-4730436
https://spacedaily.com/j-the-1983-made-for-tv-film-the-day-after-was-watched-by-an-estimated-100-million-americans-on-a-single-sunday-night-and-ronald-reagan-wrote-in-his-diary-that-it-left-him-greatly-depressed-a-reaction/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOPaaHSjMcw (The Day After Full Film)
Air Force, Space Force seek to hire thousands of civilian employees
June 8, 2026
AFMC, the largest mission in the Air Force by funding, is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The Air Force and the Space Force are back in hiring mode.
The Air Force fiscal year 2027 budget request funds an increase of 4,115 civilian “full time equivalents” job positions, while the Space Force FY27 budget request funds about 1,912 additional civilian positions, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Air Force said Monday, June 8.
The numbers confirmed a recent report in Air and Space Forces Magazine.
The magazine said some 70% of the requested civilian positions in the budget request seek to fill vacancies created by the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump administration project that said it sought to cut waste across the federal government.
“It is important to note that an FTE is a funding construct, not a specific person or position,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told the Dayton Daily News. “Therefore, the increase doesn’t necessarily equate to an exact number of hires.”
The request is a marked turnaround from the department’s efforts last year to cut jobs.
The biggest mission at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base saw a 25% jump in civilian employee retirements last year, according to the woman who in April became the top civilian executive at Air Force Materiel Command, Kathy Watern.
“We’ll find ways to replace the talent,” Watern told the Dayton Daily News in a March interview. “We have a big strategic hiring calendar.”
AFMC, the largest mission in the Air Force by funding, is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The Department of Defense’s Deferred Resignation Program and its Voluntary Early Retirement Authority saw thousands of civilian employees across the government move on to the next chapters of their careers in 2025.
Federal data and some national reports indicated that the DOD as a whole saw some 10% of its cadre of civilian employees move on last year. In all, the entire federal workforce shrank by 10.3% in 2025 or about 238,000 workers.
AFMC held a hiring event at Wright State University last month. Katrina Moschitto, who works in human resources for AFMC, said candidates would find openings at AFMC, Space Force, auditing agencies and a wide variety of organizations.
There were openings across the country, but the focus that day was jobs at Wright-Patterson. Nearly 850 applicants pre-registered for the one-day job fair, she said.
AFMC is responsible for equipping the Air Force and has 89,000 military and civilian professionals working for it.
Watern and Amanda Stroop, AFMC personnel demonstration programs branch chief, told the Dayton Daily News in 2025 that the command has more than 13,100 employees working on the base.
With about 38,000 military and civilian employees, Wright-Patterson is the largest concentration of employment in one location in the state of Ohio.
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/air-force-space-force-seek-to-hire-thousands-of-civilian-employees/article_213f6d8c-353d-54e2-990b-e59c040bacb9.html
ESA and EBRD to advance Earth observation for development and impact finance
08/06/2026
ESA / Applications / Observing the Earth
The European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), hailing a new era of cooperation with the aim of advancing the use of Earth observation data and services for development and impact finance initiatives.
The agreement, signed during the EBRD Annual Meeting in Latvia on Saturday, 6 June, sets out the intention for ESA and the EBRD to further explore areas of mutual interest for potential collaboration, following an exploratory period of about two years where initial pilot activities were initiated – such as engagement in the EBRD Green Cities programme.
The areas of joint effort will focus on using space-based Earth observation data to improve the efficiency and impact of development efforts and EBRD operations.
The collaboration will address issues including advancing the use of satellite date and services in development projects, from research and product development through to implementation, monitoring and impact assessment.
It will also promote joint knowledge sharing, capacity building, resource mobilisation and outreach activities to strengthen the application of Earth observation for sustainable development.
The letter of intent (LOI) with the EBRD was digitally signed by ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, and EBRD’s Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, Mark Bowman, earlier this month. T
his was followed by an in-person signature event at the EBRD’s annual meeting in Riga on Saturday, 6 June, with ESA’s Head of Climate Action, Sustainability and Science Department, Rune Floberghagen, confirming the partnership agreement alongside EBRD’s Managing Director for Policy, Strategy and Delivery, Melis Ekmen Tabojer.
ESA’s Simonetta Cheli said, “This partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development reflects the strength of European cooperation in addressing global challenges.
By working together, we can further unlock the potential of Earth observation data and services, ensuring they are fully integrated into development initiatives that deliver real-world impact.
ESA’s Earth observation programmes are designed precisely for this purpose: to turn space-based knowledge into actionable insights that support sustainable and inclusive development worldwide.”
The EBRD’s Mark Bowman said, “We are very pleased to formalise our shared intent to co-operate with the European Space Agency, following several pilot exercises.
Satellite data is extensively used in several sectors in which the Bank works - from assessing the effects of climate change to supporting infrastructure and agriculture projects.
We look forward to continuing to expand its application to our clients and countries of operation.”
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/ESA_and_EBRD_to_advance_Earth_observation_for_development_and_impact_finance
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/06/ESA_and_EBRD_sign_letter_of_intent_in_Riga
extra ESA
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/ESA_at_ILA_Berlin_International_Airshow_2026
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2026/06/08/irish-company-secures-1-million-contract-with-european-space-agency/