Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
Cheops explores mysterious warm mini-Neptunes
-
Similar Topics
-
By USH
UVB-76, widely known by its nickname "The Buzzer," is a mysterious shortwave Russian radio station radio broadcasts in the world. It began broadcasting in the mid-1970s and is still active today, broadcasting cryptic signals at 4625 kHz.
This Russian shortwave station usual broadcast consists of a monotonous buzzing tone that occasionally breaks for cryptic voice messages in Russian. The station is widely believed to be operated by the Russian military, possibly as part of the Strategic Rocket Forces’ communication network.
The use of shortwave radio enables the signal to travel vast distances, potentially covering all of Russia and extending far beyond its borders.
Due to the high transmission power of UVB-76’s antenna, some theorize that the station’s signals could even reach outer space. This possibility opens the door to even more extraordinary speculation: that satellites might receive these signals and relay them to submarines, remote military units, or even unidentified aerial phenomena (UFOs). One theory even posits that UVB-76 could be part of an experimental system designed to scan or communicate with extraterrestrial life.
Under normal circumstances, UVB-76’s broadcasts are infrequent and minimal, just the repetitive buzz and the rare coded message. However, something highly unusual happened just ten hours ago. Within a single day, the station transmitted four coded voice messages, an event considered extremely rare and potentially significant.
These are the messages: NZHTI - 33 702 - NEPTUN - 66-52-20-75 NZHTI - 8002 361 - TIMUS - 56-85 NZHTI - 7000 0 8002 - LISOPLASH - 67-203-0808-0809 NZHTI - 62 505 - NUTOBAKS - 78 15 92 71
While the true meaning of these messages remains classified or unknown, some analysts believe they could be activation codes, operational signals, or test messages for military units. The repeated prefix "NZHTI" could be a call sign or an authentication marker. The names—NEPTUN, TIMUS, LISOPLASH, and NUTOBAKS, might refer to code-named operations, geographic regions, or military assets. The numeric sequences could represent coordinates, timestamps, or identification numbers.
Given the timing and unusual frequency of these messages, some suspect that UVB-76 is ramping up activity in preparation for a significant event. While there's no confirmation of any immediate threat, the sudden uptick in coded communications suggests that something serious could be developing.
Many experts believe UVB-76 is maintained as a wartime contingency channel, ready to relay commands in the event of nuclear war or a catastrophic loss of national communications. Its consistent presence, even during peacetime, supports the theory that it serves as an emergency or fail-safe communication method for defense forces.
The sudden surge of messages within one day suggests that something serious is happening, or about to. But who are they intended for? And more importantly, what comes next?" View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Video: 00:09:17 Meet Aleš Svoboda— A skilled pilot with over 1500 flight hours, Aleš holds a PhD in aircraft and rocket technology and has commanded Quick Reaction Alerts. From flying high to training underwater, he’s always ready to take on new challenges—now including astronaut reserve training with ESA.
In this miniseries, we take you on a journey through the ESA Astronaut Reserve, diving into the first part of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany. Our “ARTists” are immersing themselves in everything from ESA and the International Space Station programme to the European space industry and institutions. They’re gaining hands-on experience in technical skills like spacecraft systems and robotics, alongside human behaviour, scientific lessons, scuba diving, and survival training.
ESA’s Astronaut Reserve Training programme is all about building Europe’s next generation of space explorers—preparing them for the opportunities of future missions in Earth orbit and beyond.
This interview was recorded in November 2024.
You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms.
Keep exploring with ESA Explores!
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Video: 00:08:54 Meet Amelie Schoenenwald— biotechnologist, business expert, and PhD in structural biology. Whether in the lab or the great outdoors, she thrives in extreme environments, ready to embrace the adventure of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve.
In this miniseries, we take you on a journey through the ESA Astronaut Reserve, diving into the first part of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany. Our “ARTists” are immersing themselves in everything from ESA and the International Space Station programme to the European space industry and institutions. They’re gaining hands-on experience in technical skills like spacecraft systems and robotics, alongside human behaviour, scientific lessons, scuba diving, and survival training.
ESA’s Astronaut Reserve Training programme is all about building Europe’s next generation of space explorers—preparing them for the opportunities of future missions in Earth orbit and beyond.
This interview was recorded in November 2024.
Learn more about Amelie’s favourite space mission.
You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms.
Keep exploring with ESA Explores!
View the full article
-
By NASA
Explore This Section Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read NASA Webb Explores Effect of Strong Magnetic Fields on Star Formation
An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope array puts the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the Sagittarius C region in context. Full image below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford) Follow-up research on a 2023 image of the Sagittarius C stellar nursery in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has revealed ejections from still-forming protostars and insights into the impact of strong magnetic fields on interstellar gas and the life cycle of stars.
“A big question in the Central Molecular Zone of our galaxy has been, if there is so much dense gas and cosmic dust here, and we know that stars form in such clouds, why are so few stars born here?” said astrophysicist John Bally of the University of Colorado Boulder, one of the principal investigators. “Now, for the first time, we are seeing directly that strong magnetic fields may play an important role in suppressing star formation, even at small scales.”
Detailed study of stars in this crowded, dusty region has been limited, but Webb’s advanced near-infrared instruments have allowed astronomers to see through the clouds to study young stars like never before.
“The extreme environment of the galactic center is a fascinating place to put star formation theories to the test, and the infrared capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provide the opportunity to build on past important observations from ground-based telescopes like ALMA and MeerKAT,” said Samuel Crowe, another principal investigator on the research, a senior undergraduate at the University of Virginia and a 2025 Rhodes Scholar.
Bally and Crowe each led a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Image A: Milky Way Center (MeerKAT and Webb)
An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT (formerly the Karoo Array Telescope) radio telescope array puts the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the Sagittarius C region in context. Like a super-long exposure photograph, MeerKAT shows the bubble-like remnants of supernovas that exploded over millennia, capturing the dynamic nature of the Milky Way’s chaotic core. At the center of the MeerKAT image the region surrounding the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole blazes bright. Huge vertical filamentary structures echo those captured on a smaller scale by Webb in Sagittarius C’s blue-green hydrogen cloud. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford) Image B: Milky Way Center (MeerKAT and Webb), Labeled
The star-forming region Sagittarius C, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, is about 200 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. The spectral index at the lower left shows how color was assigned to the radio data to create the image. On the negative end, there is non-thermal emission, stimulated by electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines. On the positive side, thermal emission is coming from hot, ionized plasma. For Webb, color is assigned by shifting the infrared spectrum to visible light colors. The shortest infrared wavelengths are bluer, and the longer wavelengths appear more red. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford) Using Infrared to Reveal Forming Stars
In Sagittarius C’s brightest cluster, the researchers confirmed the tentative finding from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) that two massive stars are forming there. Along with infrared data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope and SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) mission, as well as the Herschel Space Observatory, they used Webb to determine that each of the massive protostars is already more than 20 times the mass of the Sun. Webb also revealed the bright outflows powered by each protostar.
Even more challenging is finding low-mass protostars, still shrouded in cocoons of cosmic dust. Researchers compared Webb’s data with ALMA’s past observations to identify five likely low-mass protostar candidates.
The team also identified 88 features that appear to be shocked hydrogen gas, where material being blasted out in jets from young stars impacts the surrounding gas cloud. Analysis of these features led to the discovery of a new star-forming cloud, distinct from the main Sagittarius C cloud, hosting at least two protostars powering their own jets.
“Outflows from forming stars in Sagittarius C have been hinted at in past observations, but this is the first time we’ve been able to confirm them in infrared light. It’s very exciting to see, because there is still a lot we don’t know about star formation, especially in the Central Molecular Zone, and it’s so important to how the universe works,” said Crowe.
Magnetic Fields and Star Formation
Webb’s 2023 image of Sagittarius C showed dozens of distinctive filaments in a region of hot hydrogen plasma surrounding the main star-forming cloud. New analysis by Bally and his team has led them to hypothesize that the filaments are shaped by magnetic fields, which have also been observed in the past by the ground-based observatories ALMA and MeerKAT (formerly the Karoo Array Telescope).
“The motion of gas swirling in the extreme tidal forces of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, can stretch and amplify the surrounding magnetic fields. Those fields, in turn, are shaping the plasma in Sagittarius C,” said Bally.
The researchers think that the magnetic forces in the galactic center may be strong enough to keep the plasma from spreading, instead confining it into the concentrated filaments seen in the Webb image. These strong magnetic fields may also resist the gravity that would typically cause dense clouds of gas and dust to collapse and forge stars, explaining Sagittarius C’s lower-than-expected star formation rate.
“This is an exciting area for future research, as the influence of strong magnetic fields, in the center of our galaxy or other galaxies, on stellar ecology has not been fully considered,” said Crowe.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Downloads
Click any image to open a larger version.
View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
View/Download the science paper led by Bally from the The Astrophysical Journal.
View/Download the science paper led by Crowe from the The Astrophysical Journal.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Leah Ramsay – lramsay@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
Read more: press releases about the center of the Milky Way
NASA’s Universe of Learning: ViewSpace Interactive image tour of the center of the Milky Way
Learn more about the Milky Way and Sagittarius Constellation
More Webb News
More Webb Images
Webb Science Themes
Webb Mission Page
Related For Kids
What Is a Nebula?
What Is a Galaxy?
What is the Webb Telescope?
SpacePlace for Kids
En Español
¿Qué es una nebulosa?
¿Qué es una galaxia?
Ciencia de la NASA
NASA en español
Space Place para niños
Keep Exploring Related Topics
James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Stars
Galaxies
Universe
Share
Details
Last Updated Apr 02, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Goddard Space Flight Center Protostars Science & Research Stars The Milky Way The Universe View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Video: 00:15:30 Meet Arnaud Prost—aerospace engineer, professional diver, and member of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve. From flying aircraft to getting a taste of spacewalk simulation, his passion for exploration knows no bounds.
In this miniseries, we take you on a journey through the ESA Astronaut Reserve, diving into the first part of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany. Our “ARTists” are immersing themselves in everything from ESA and the International Space Station programme to the European space industry and institutions. They’re gaining hands-on experience in technical skills like spacecraft systems and robotics, alongside human behaviour, scientific lessons, scuba diving, and survival training.
ESA’s Astronaut Reserve Training programme is all about building Europe’s next generation of space explorers—preparing them for the opportunities of future missions in Earth orbit and beyond.
This interview was recorded in November 2024.
You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms.
Keep exploring with ESA Explores!
Learn more about Arnaud’s PANGAEA training here.
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.