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Webcam caught mysterious ball of light flying over Mount Merapi volcano in Indonesia
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By NASA
NASA, ESA, and M. Wong (University of California – Berkeley); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released on Nov. 3, 2023, in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the “Great Red Spot.” Though the storm appears red to the human eye, in this ultraviolet image it appears darker because high altitude haze particles absorb light at these wavelengths. The reddish, wavy polar hazes are absorbing slightly less of this light due to differences in either particle size, composition, or altitude.
Learn more about Hubble and how this type of data can help us learn more about our universe.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Wong (University of California – Berkeley); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
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By NASA
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander getting encapsulated in SpaceX’s rocket fairing ahead of the planned liftoff for 1:11 a.m. EST Jan. 15 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in FloridaSpaceX As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the agency is preparing to fly ten instruments aboard Firefly Aerospace’s first delivery to the Moon. These science payloads and technology demonstrations will help advance our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions on the Moon and beyond, for the benefit of all.
Firefly’s lunar lander, named Blue Ghost, is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday, Jan.15, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a 45-day cruise phase, Blue Ghost is targeted to land near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a basin approximately 340 miles wide (550 kilometers) located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.
How can we enable more precise navigation on the Moon? How do spacecraft interact with the lunar surface? How does Earth’s magnetic field influence the effects of space weather on our home planet? NASA’s instruments on this flight will conduct first-of-their-kind demonstrations to help answer these questions and more, including testing regolith sampling technologies, lunar subsurface drilling capabilities, increasing precision of positioning and navigation abilities, testing radiation tolerant computing, and learning how to mitigate lunar dust during lunar landings.
The ten NASA payloads aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander include:
Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) will measure heat flow from the Moon’s interior by measuring the thermal gradient, or changes in temperature at various depths, and thermal conductivity, or the subsurface material’s ability to let heat pass through it. LISTER will take several measurements up to 10 feet deep using pneumatic drilling technology with a custom heat flow needle instrument at its tip. Data from LISTER will help scientists retrace the Moon’s thermal history and understand how it formed and cooled. Lead organization: Texas Tech University
Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) is designed to collect regolith samples from the lunar surface using a burst of compressed gas to drive the regolith into a sample chamber (sieving) for collection and analysis by various instruments. Additional instrumentation will then transmit the results back to Earth. The LPV payload is designed to help increase the science return from planetary missions by testing low-cost technologies for collecting regolith samples in-situ. Lead organization: Honeybee Robotics
Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) serves as a target for lasers on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon by reflecting very short laser pulses from Earth-based Lunar Laser Ranging Observatories. The laser pulse transit time to the Moon and back is used to determine the distance. Data from NGLR could improve the accuracy of our lunar coordinate system and contribute to our understanding of the inner structure of the Moon and fundamental physics questions. Lead organization: University of Maryland
Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) will determine how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon’s environment throughout the lunar day. RAC will measure accumulation rates of lunar regolith on surfaces (for example, solar cells, optical systems, coatings, and sensors) through imaging to determine their ability to repel or shed lunar dust. The data captured will help test, improve, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, and habitats from abrasive regolith. Lead organization: Aegis Aerospace
Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC) will demonstrate a computer that can recover from faults caused by ionizing radiation. Several RadPC prototypes have been tested aboard the International Space Station and Earth-orbiting satellites, but this flight will provide the biggest trial yet by demonstrating the computer’s ability to withstand space radiation as it passes through Earth’s radiation belts, while in transit to the Moon, and on the lunar surface. Lead organization: Montana State University
Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) is an active dust mitigation technology that uses electric fields to move and prevent hazardous lunar dust accumulation on surfaces. EDS is designed to lift, transport, and remove particles from surfaces with no moving parts. Multiple tests will demonstrate the feasibility of the self-cleaning glasses and thermal radiator surfaces on the Moon. In the event the surfaces do not receive dust during landing, EDS has the capability to re-dust itself using the same technology. Lead organization: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) will capture a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field that drives geomagnetic disturbances and storms. Deployed and operated on the lunar surface, this instrument will provide the first global images showing the edge of Earth’s magnetic field for critical insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces surrounding our planet impact Earth. Lead organizations: Boston University, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and Johns Hopkins University
Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) will characterize the structure and composition of the Moon’s mantle by measuring electric and magnetic fields. This investigation will help determine the Moon’s temperature structure and thermal evolution to understand how the Moon has cooled and chemically differentiated since it formed. Lead organization: Southwest Research Institute
Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) will demonstrate the possibility of acquiring and tracking signals from GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) constellations, specifically GPS and Galileo, during transit to the Moon, during lunar orbit, and on the lunar surface. If successful, LuGRE will be the first pathfinder for future lunar spacecraft to use existing Earth-based navigation constellations to autonomously and accurately estimate their position, velocity, and time. Lead organizations: NASA Goddard, Italian Space Agency
Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) will use stereo imaging photogrammetry to capture the impact of the rocket exhaust plume on lunar regolith as the lander descends on the Moon’s surface. The high-resolution stereo images will aid in creating models to predict lunar regolith erosion, which is an important task as bigger, heavier spacecraft and hardware are delivered to the Moon in close proximity to each other. This instrument also flew on Intuitive Machines’ first CLPS delivery. Lead organization: NASA’s Langley Research Center
Through the CLPS initiative, NASA purchases lunar landing and surface operations services from American companies. The agency uses CLPS to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to advance capabilities for science, exploration, or commercial development of the Moon. By supporting a robust cadence of lunar deliveries, NASA will continue to enable a growing lunar economy while leveraging the entrepreneurial innovation of the commercial space industry.
Learn more about CLPS and Artemis at: http://www.nasa.gov/clps
Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
natalia.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
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By USH
During a live Fox News broadcast covering the intense Palisades wildfire in California, an unusual event captured viewers' attention. A camera aimed at the blazing inferno recorded a mysterious spherical object emerging suddenly from the middle of the flames. This object moved at a remarkable speed before vanishing over the treetops, leaving many wondering about its origin and purpose.
The object does not appear to be debris carried aloft by the fire’s updraft. Its trajectory and speed seem too controlled and deliberate to be a random effect of the wildfire. Additionally, the object shows no signs of explosion or disintegration, characteristics that might be expected if it were merely a piece of material affected by the intense heat.
Observers have ruled out common explanations such as birds, planes, or helicopters. The object’s rapid movement and apparent change in direction suggest advanced maneuverability, sparking comparisons to UFOs/UAPs.
With the growing number of reported sightings involving drones, orbs, and UFOs, the appearance of this potential UFO or drone in such an environment is especially intriguing. Could this object represent evidence of advanced technology monitoring Earth's natural disasters? Or is it an entirely natural but poorly understood phenomenon?
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By USH
The ongoing mystery surrounding recent drone sightings has become increasingly complex, with conflicting reports making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. However, a new and intriguing element has emerged alongside these drones sightings: numerous accounts of mysterious orbs, potentially of alien origin, flying at both low and high altitudes.
Reports of mysterious orbs have been increasing in recent weeks. These orbs have been sighted at both high altitudes and closer to urban areas.
Orb sighting over New Jersey on December 17, 2024Watch video UFO Sightings Daily
Pilots have reported encounters to air traffic control. Listen to conversations between pilots and traffic control.
And a passenger aboard United Airlines flight UA2359 from Chicago to Newark recently captured footage of these mysterious orbs. The video, shared online by the user “EasilyAmusedEE” on December 16, 2024, shows objects at altitudes between 40,000 and 50,000 feet—far beyond the capabilities of consumer drones. The footage was reportedly taken using an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Video plane passenger films unknown orbs.
About the drone sightings: Meanwhile, eyewitness accounts describe these so-called drones as crafts that emit no noise, suggesting advanced technology. Additionally, there are claims that these crafts seem to intentionally draw attention, as they have reportedly interfered with cars (lamps flickering), electronics, streetlights (lamps flickering), and even fully charged batteries, which are said to be instantly drained in their presence.
Video shows among other (drone/orb) sightings, cars lamps flickering, streetlights lamps flickering, fully charged batteries drained.
This surge in Orb sightings raises more questions. Are these orbs extraterrestrial in origin? Could they be deliberately associated with the drone phenomena, or is their timing coincidental? Some suggest the possibility of a false flag operation, hinting at a deeper and potentially misleading agenda by the U.S. government.
Whether these drones and Orbs sightings point to advanced human technology, extraterrestrial activity, or a mix of both, one thing is clear: there is something significant going on.View the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
Jovian Vortex Hunters Spun Up Over New Paper
Jumping Jupiter! The results are in, storm chasers! Thanks to your help over the last two years the Jovian Vortex Hunter project has published a catalog of 7222 vortices, which you can download here. Each vortex is an enormous swirling windstorm in Jupiter’s atmosphere–terrifying yet beautiful to behold.
The vortices are labeled by color (“white” is most common, then “dark”, then “red”).
The catalog reveals distributions of vortex sizes, aspect ratios, and locations on the planet. For example, your work showed that white and dark vortices are preferentially found near the poles. These distributions help researchers derive general parameters about Jupiter’s atmosphere that can give us insights about its internal processes and the atmospheres of other planets.
Over 5,000 of you helped build this catalog by performing over a million classifications of images of Jupiter from the JunoCam instrument on NASA’s Juno mission. The details of the catalog are now published in this paper in the Planetary Science Journal. You can also learn more about this amazing volunteer effort in a video you can find on the Jovian Vortex Hunter Results webpage.Thanks to your efforts, The Jovian Vortex Hunter project is out of data. But you can work with JunoCam data in a different way by participating in NASA’s JunoCam citizen science project.
A set of really cool vortices–spinning storms–found by Jovian Vortex Hunters. Data from the JunoCam instrument on NASA’s Juno mission.
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Last Updated Dec 17, 2024 Editor Bill Keeter Related Terms
Citizen Science Planetary Science Division View the full article
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