Scientists have discovered over 6,000 planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. More than half of these planets were discovered thanks to data from NASA's retired Kepler mission and NASA's current TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission. However, the enormous treasure trove of data from these missions still contains many yet-to-be-discovered planets. All of the data from both missions is publicly available in NASA archives, and many teams around the world have used that data to find new planets using a number of techniques.

In 2021, a team from NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley created ExoMiner, a piece of open-source software that used artificial intelligence (AI) to validate 370 new exoplanets from Kepler data. Now, the team has created a new version of the model trained on both Kepler and TESS data, called ExoMiner++.

The new algorithm, which is discussed in a recent paper published in The Astronomical Journal, identified 7,000 targets as exoplanet candidates from TESS on an initial run. An exoplanet candidate is a signal that is likely to be a planet but requires follow-up observations from additional telescopes to confirm.

ExoMiner++ can be freely downloaded from GitHub, allowing any researcher to use the tool to hunt for planets in TESS's growing public data archive.

"Open-source software like ExoMiner accelerates scientific discovery," said Kevin Murphy, NASA's chief science data officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "When researchers freely share the tools they've developed, it lets others replicate the results and dig deeper into the data, which is why open data and code are important pillars of gold-standard science."

ExoMiner++ sifts through observations of possible transits to predict which ones are caused by exoplanets and which ones are caused by other astronomical events, such as eclipsing binary stars. "When you have hundreds of thousands of signals, like in this case, it's the ideal place to deploy these deep learning technologies," said Miguel Martinho, a KBR employee at NASA Ames who serves as the co-investigator for ExoMiner++.

23-01-2026 om 18:09 geschreven door peter  

De geheimen van de reuzenplaneet Saturnus

©The Daily Digest

De bewaker van het buitenste zonnestelsel
Als zesde planeet vanaf de zon en het meest in het oog springende hemellichaam van het zonnestelsel, overstijgt Saturnus zijn eenvoudige omschrijving. Zijn ringen, bestaande uit stukken ijs en gesteente die in perfecte banen zweven, hebben generaties astronomen gefascineerd, van Galileo tot moderne ruimtesondes, en onthullen een wereld vol gigantische stormen, bijzondere manen en raadselachtige zwaartekrachtverschijnselen.

©The Daily Digest

Een gasreus van immense omvang
Met een doorsnee van ongeveer 120.500 kilometer is Saturnus negen keer breder dan de aarde. National Geographic benadrukt dat het een ‘gasreus’ is, die voornamelijk uit waterstof en helium bestaat. Zijn massa is 95 keer zo groot als die van de aarde, maar door de lage gemiddelde dichtheid zou hij in theorie kunnen drijven in een enorme oceaan.

©The Daily Digest

De planeet met de beroemde ringen
De ringen van Saturnus zijn niet massief. Volgens NASA bestaan ze uit ‘miljarden stukjes ijs, steen en stof’. Ze reiken tot 280.000 kilometer vanaf de planeet, maar hun gemiddelde dikte bedraagt slechts enkele honderden meters. Deze kwetsbaarheid maakt ze tot een schitterende, maar vergankelijke structuur.

©The Daily Digest

Het raadsel van het ontstaan
Jarenlang hebben wetenschappers gediscussieerd over het ontstaan van de ringen. National Geographic meldt dat het mogelijk overblijfselen zijn van manen die door de zwaartekracht van Saturnus zijn vernietigd. Gegevens van Cassini wijzen erop dat de ringen tussen 100 en 400 miljoen jaar oud zijn, relatief jong op astronomische schaal.

©The Daily Digest

Een korte dag en een lang jaar
Op Saturnus duurt een dag slechts 10,7 uur. Zijn baan om de zon is echter traag: een Saturnusjaar duurt ongeveer 29,5 aardse jaren. Deze combinatie zorgt voor krachtige winden en hardnekkige atmosferische patronen die decennia standhouden.

©The Daily Digest

Extreme winden en heftig weer
De atmosfeer van Saturnus kent winden tot wel 1800 km/u, aldus NASA. Gele, gouden en bruine wolkenbanden trekken over de planeet. National Geographic wijst op enorme stormen die de hele planeet kunnen omspannen en zelfs vanaf de aarde zichtbaar zijn met telescopen.

©The Daily Digest

De beroemde zeshoek op de noordpool
Een van de opvallendste verschijnselen is de zeshoekige structuur op de noordpool. Ontdekt door Voyager en verder onderzocht door Cassini, heeft dit stabiele geometrische patroon een breedte van zo’n 30.000 kilometer. NASA beschrijft het als een ‘zeszijdige straalstroom’, uniek in het zonnestelsel.

©The Daily Digest

Een planeet zonder vaste bodem
In tegenstelling tot de aarde heeft Saturnus geen vast oppervlak om op te landen. National Geographic geeft aan dat de druk en temperatuur toenemen naarmate men afdaalt in zijn atmosfeer, tot de gassen veranderen in dichte vloeistoffen. Elke sonde zou worden verpletterd lang voordat een denkbare kern wordt bereikt.

©The Daily Digest

Het verborgen binnenste
Wetenschappers vermoeden dat Saturnus een vaste kern heeft van gesteente en ijs. NASA schat dat deze een massa heeft van 10 tot 20 keer die van de aarde. Rondom deze kern bevindt zich metallic waterstof, die verantwoordelijk is voor het sterke magnetische veld.

©The Daily Digest

Een opmerkelijk magneetveld
Het magneetveld van Saturnus is minder krachtig dan dat van Jupiter, maar bijzonder symmetrisch. Volgens NASA is het bijna perfect uitgelijnd met de rotatieas van de planeet. Deze bijzonderheid vormt een uitdaging voor klassieke modellen van het ontstaan van magnetische velden bij planeten.

©The Daily Digest

Meer dan 140 bekende manen
Saturnus vormt een waar miniplanetenstelsel. Tot 2023 waren er meer dan 140 manen bevestigd. National Geographic merkt op dat sommige manen nauwelijks meer zijn dan grillige rotsblokken, terwijl andere, zoals Titan, qua complexiteit met planeten kunnen wedijveren.

©The Daily Digest

Titan, een maan met een atmosfeer
Titan is het pronkstuk onder de manen van Saturnus. Het is de op een na grootste maan in het zonnestelsel en de enige met een dikke atmosfeer. NASA verklaart dat ‘Titan een van de meest aardachtige werelden is’, hoewel de chemie wordt gedomineerd door koolwaterstoffen.

©The Daily Digest

Meren van methaan en ethaan
Op Titan komen zeeën en meren voor, maar deze bestaan niet uit water. National Geographic beschrijft dat ze gevormd worden door vloeibaar methaan en ethaan. Deze vloeistoffen maken deel uit van een klimaatsysteem dat vergelijkbaar is met de waterkringloop op aarde, maar werkt bij temperaturen rond de −180 °C.

©The Daily Digest

Enceladus en zijn geisers
Een andere belangrijke maan is Enceladus. Cassini ontdekte geisers van zout water die de ruimte in worden gespoten. NASA meldt dat deze uitbarstingen essentiële bouwstenen voor leven bevatten. Onder het ijs zou zich een wereldwijde oceaan kunnen bevinden.

©The Daily Digest

Een natuurlijk laboratorium voor de wetenschap
Saturnus biedt mogelijkheden om fundamentele processen te onderzoeken: planeetvorming, atmosferische dynamiek en de evolutie van ringen. National Geographic geeft aan dat waarnemingen van deze planeet inzicht bieden in het verleden van het zonnestelsel, toen de reuzenplaneten het jonge systeem domineerden.

©The Daily Digest

De Cassini-Huygens missie
Tussen 2004 en 2017 veranderde Cassini ons beeld van Saturnus volledig. NASA omschrijft deze missie als een ‘spectaculair succes’. Meer dan 450.000 beelden en waardevolle data over de ringen, manen en atmosfeer werden verzameld.

©The Daily Digest

Het geplande einde van een ruimtesonde
Cassini beëindigde zijn missie door zichzelf in Saturnus te storten, om te voorkomen dat mogelijk bewoonbare manen besmet zouden raken. Volgens NASA was dit de ‘grand finale’. Tijdens deze afdaling werden nooit eerder verkregen gegevens over de bovenste atmosfeer verzameld.

©The Daily Digest

Een planeet zichtbaar vanaf aarde
Saturnus is met het blote oog te zien vanaf onze planeet. Zijn heldere gloed en geelachtige kleur maakten hem al in de oudheid herkenbaar. National Geographic geeft aan dat oude beschavingen hem al kenden als een dwalende ster, lang voordat de pracht van zijn ringen werd ontdekt.

©The Daily Digest

Een reus die nog steeds raadsels biedt
Ondanks decennia van onderzoek zijn er nog steeds onbeantwoorde vragen over Saturnus. Hoe lang blijven zijn ringen bestaan? Wat gebeurt er precies in het binnenste? National Geographic benadrukt dat elke ontdekking weer nieuwe raadsels oproept, waardoor deze ringplaneet ons blijft fascineren.

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{ The Daily Digest }

23-01-2026 om 17:19 geschreven door peter  

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

23-01-2026 om 15:30 geschreven door peter  

Network of Home Computers Detected 100 Potential Alien Signals

{ https://futurism.com/ }

22-01-2026 om 22:35 geschreven door peter  

NASA Scientist Proposes Theory of Alien Civilizations Throughout Milky Way

By Frank Landymore

Assuming our solar system’s newest interstellar object isn’t an alien mothership sent here to menace us, humankind still hasn’t spotted any signs of extraterrestrial life, let alone intelligence — which, given how incalculably vast the universe is, is strange. With all the potential homes for potential alien civilizations, why aren’t we seeing any evidence of them?

You’ve probably heard of the name for this conundrum: the Fermi Paradox. And you’ve probably heard of more than a few solutions to it, too.

There’s the infamous zoo hypothesis, which supposes that advanced aliens know about our planet but stay away to let us evolve naturally. 

Or maybe you subscribe to spookier ones like the vulnerable worlds hypothesis, which holds that there may be a certain type of ominous technological innovation that humankind doesn’t even know about yet which always destroys any civilization advanced enough to develop it.

Or perhaps the universe is a kind of dark forest, with plenty of alien civilizations, but all too scared to show themselves out of fear of being annihilated by an even more advanced and bloodthirsty interstellar species. 

But here comes the party pooper. In a new yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper, NASA astrophysicist Robin Corbet proposes an outlook of “radical mundanity” that basically banishes these fun ideas back to the realm of speculative scifi. The Milky Way actually contains a modest amount of civilizations, according to this hypothesis, which was spotlighted by The Guardian — but the aliens aren’t busy tunneling wormholes or probing singularities. Instead, they’re only slightly more technologically advanced than we are, get bogged down by the same limitations when trying to look for fellow intelligent beings, and eventually give up on exploring the cosmos.

“The idea is that they’re more advanced, but not much more advanced. It’s like having an iPhone 42 rather than an iPhone 17,” Corbet, a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told the newspaper. “This feels more possible, more natural, because it’s not proposing anything very extreme.”

This mundane view explains why we aren’t seeing any technosignatures, or evidence of alien technology from afar. The aliens just don’t have what it takes to build huge megastructures that we could see with our telescopes, like a Dyson swarm that enshrouds a star to harvest its energy.

And while they might have the technological capability to travel to other stars, perhaps even with robotic probes, it’d be a painstakingly slow and enormously expensive undertaking, just like it would be for us. And so, finding no other civilizations along the way, they decide it’s not worth the cost. Ditto for powering a huge beacon for beaming a “we’re here!” signal out into the cosmos.

“They don’t have faster-than-light, they don’t have machines based on dark energy or dark matter, or black holes,” Corbet told The Guardian. “They’re not harnessing new laws of physics.”

It’s a sobering rebuff to some of our more fantastical theories of life in the cosmos. But not everyone’s a fan. Michael Garrett, the director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, told The Guardian he liked the “fresh perspective,” but not much else.

“It projects a very human-like apathy on to the rest of the cosmos,” Garrett said. “I find it hard to believe that all intelligent life would be so uniformly dull.”

In fact, his personal hypothesis, detailed in a study accepted for publication in Acta Astronautica, couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to Corbet’s.

“I lean towards a more adventurous explanation of the Fermi paradox: that other, post-biological civilisations advance so rapidly that they slip beyond our capacity to perceive them,” Garrett told The Guardian. “I hope I’m right, but I could very well be wrong. Nature always has some kind of surprise for us around the corner.”

More on space:

• Scientist Says Galaxies Shining With Radio Signals Could Indicate Numerous Advanced Civilizations

{ https://futurism.com/ }

22-01-2026 om 22:25 geschreven door peter  

Soon we will witness a truly spectacular event. For the first time since 1972, a rocket carrying four astronauts will embark on a journey to the Moon. We will explain when the Artemis II flight is scheduled to take place and how it will proceed.

Launch windows for the flight to the Moon

NASA cannot launch a mission to the Moon at any given time. The launch date is determined by orbital mechanics and the relative positions of celestial bodies, which allows the Moon’s gravity to be used to return the spacecraft with astronauts to Earth without using its main engine (this reduces the risks for the expedition).

The closest launch windows for the Artemis II flight to the Moon will be open from February 6 to 8 and February 10 to 11. If the SLS rocket cannot be launched within these time frames, the next launch windows will be open on the following dates:

• March – 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th.
• April – 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 30th.

It is interesting to note that almost all of the upcoming ballistic windows suggest that Artemis II will only be launched at night. Theoretically, the mission could be launched at dawn at the end of the ballistic window on April 1. The window on April 30 provides an opportunity to launch shortly before sunset.

The exact launch date will depend not only on the technical readiness of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, but also on several external factors, such as weather conditions, wind speed, and cloud cover. Solar activity will also be taken into account. The Artemis II flight will take place outside the Earth’s magnetic field. If, during the launch period, the Sun produces powerful flares or there is a high probability of them occurring, NASA will almost certainly postpone the flight.

Artemis II launch

Now let’s talk in more detail about how the Artemis II flight itself will proceed. Approximately 3.5 hours before launch, the four astronauts will board the Orion spacecraft, after which technicians will close the spacecraft hatch. The first stage engines of the SLS rocket will be activated 6 seconds before launch – at this stage, the launch can still be canceled. Once the side solid rocket boosters ignite, this will no longer be possible.

The separation of the SLS solid rocket boosters will occur at 129 seconds into the flight, when the rocket will be at an altitude of 47.5 km. Approximately one minute after that, the “tower” – a solid rocket motor installed at the top of the nose cone – will be jettisoned. It is used as an emergency rescue system: in the event of an emergency, the rocket must “pull out” the capsule with the astronauts and take it away from the SLS. The separation will occur at an altitude of 87 km, which is slightly below the Kármán line, accepted as the boundary of outer space.

At 495 seconds into the flight, the first stage will separate. At this point, Orion will still be on a suborbital trajectory. When the spacecraft reaches apogee, the upper stage of the SLS will be activated. An hour later, another altitude increase maneuver will be performed. They will bring Orion into an elongated near-Earth orbit with a perigee altitude of 185 km and an apogee altitude of 70,000 km. For comparison, the ISS is in a circular orbit at an altitude of approximately 415 km.

In orbit around Earth

Upon completion of the maneuvers, Orion will separate from the upper stage, after which the next stage of the flight will begin, lasting 23 hours. Initially, the astronauts will switch the spacecraft to manual control and perform a series of approaches to the upper stage of the SLS. These operations will provide a unique experience that cannot be gained on Earth and will yield valuable data that will be useful in planning future missions involving docking and undocking in lunar orbit.

After completing the rendezvous, the crew will return control of Orion to mission controllers and spend the remaining time checking the functionality of all spacecraft components. Key attention will be paid to the life support system. The astronauts will also test communications and navigation. Orion will briefly leave the coverage area of GPS and TDRS satellites, which will allow NASA to test the technical capabilities of its Deep Space Network.

At this stage, a payload will also be deployed – several CubeSats provided by countries that are parties to the Artemis Accords.

If the checks do not reveal any significant problems, NASA will give the green light to the next stage of the mission – the flight to the Moon. On the second day, Orion will activate its main engine and perform a maneuver that will send it towards our planet’s satellite. The spacecraft will follow a trajectory resembling a giant figure eight. As for the upper stage of the SLS, NASA will also activate its engine and direct it into the atmosphere above an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean to prevent it from becoming space debris.

Flight to the Moon and back

During the flight to the Moon, the spacecraft will perform three minor course corrections. Before the crew goes to sleep on the fifth day of the flight, Orion will enter the Moon’s sphere of influence, where its gravitational pull will become stronger than Earth’s gravitational pull.

The exact distance at which the Artemis II crew will fly past the Moon will depend on the launch date. In each of the possible ballistic windows, the Moon will be in a different location, and the flyby distance will vary accordingly: it can range from 6,500 to 13,000 km. This is hundreds of thousands of kilometers closer than any human has come to our planet’s satellite since 1972. At this distance, the Moon will appear to the crew to be the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.

The closest approach will occur when Orion flies over the far side of the Moon. At that moment, depending on the launch time, the crew will lose contact with Earth for 30 to 50 minutes. During this interval, the astronauts will take photographs and videos of the far side of the Moon, as well as conduct observations. At approximately this time, the Artemis II crew is expected to break the record for distance from Earth, set by Apollo 13.

The Artemis II flight path is designed so that the crew will not need to perform any maneuvers using the main engine, eliminating the risk of an accident and the possibility of them getting “stuck” near the Moon. When the spacecraft rounds the Moon and leaves its sphere of influence, Earth’s gravity will “catch” it and direct it toward our planet. As during the flight to the Moon, the crew will perform three small course corrections during this leg for more accurate guidance. The last maneuver will be performed on the 10th day of the flight, five hours before landing.

Shortly before entering the atmosphere, the astronauts will separate the Orion service module. This will expose the heat shield of the crew capsule. At its peak, it will be exposed to temperatures of up to 2,800 °C. This is about a thousand degrees higher than missions returning from the ISS. This difference is because Orion will enter the Earth’s atmosphere at a much higher second cosmic velocity. As the heated plasma completely envelops the spacecraft, NASA will lose all contact with it for several minutes.

If everything goes well, Orion will first deploy two brake parachutes, followed by three main parachutes. The capsule with four astronauts will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, after which it will be picked up by ships.

After returning

The Artemis II mission is largely a test mission. It is intended to demonstrate the reliability of Orion and its ability to support interplanetary missions. The flight will also have enormous symbolic significance. For the first time in more than half a century, humans will leave the vicinity of our planet. The Artemis II mission could help to increase the popularity of space exploration.

Artemis II will pave the way for the next mission, Artemis III, which plans to land two astronauts on the south pole of the Moon. It is currently scheduled for 2027. However, in reality, the date will almost certainly change, as many elements of the expedition are not yet ready – from the Starship HLS spacecraft to the lunar spacesuits. However, the success of Artemis II may serve as a significant stimulus to accelerate its preparation.

• Posted in Articles, Questions

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{ https://universemagazine.com/en/news-en/science-en/ }

22-01-2026 om 21:23 geschreven door peter  

The star J0705+0612 was a mystery to scientists for some time. Similar to our Sun, it suddenly dimmed. Now scientists know that the reason for this is a dust cloud containing large amounts of metal and orbiting this star.

Unexpected occultationof a star

Strong winds of evaporated metals were discovered in the enormous cloud that obscured the star’s light for nearly nine months. This discovery, made using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, part of the Gemini International Observatory, provides a rare glimpse into the chaotic and dynamic processes that still shape planetary systems long after their formation.

In September 2024, a star 3,000 light-years away suddenly became 40 times dimmer than usual and remained so until May 2025. The star J0705+0612 is similar to our Sun, so the sharp decline in its brightness caught the attention of Nadia Zakamska, a professor of astrophysics at Johns Hopkins University. “Stars like the sun don’t just stop shining for no reason,” she says, “so dramatic dimming events like this are very rare.”

Identifying the cause of dimming

Recognizing the opportunity to study this phenomenon over many months, Zakamska and her team began observations using the Gemini South telescope located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, as well as the 3.5-meter Apache Point Observatory telescope and the 6.5-meter Magellan telescope.

By combining their observations with archival data on J0705+0612, the team determined that the star was occulted, or temporarily obscured, by a huge, slow-moving cloud of gas and dust. They estimate that the cloud is about two billion kilometers from its parent star and has a diameter of about 200 million kilometers.

The data indicate that this cloud is gravitationally bound to a secondary object, which itself orbits the star at the outer limits of the planetary system. Although the nature of this object remains unknown, it is thought to be massive enough to hold the cloud together. Observations limit its mass to at least several times that of Jupiter, although it may be larger. Possibilities range from a planet to a brown dwarf to a very low-mass star.

If the mysterious object is a star, the cloud will be classified as a secondary disk — a disk of debris orbiting around the less massive member of a binary system. If the object is a planet, it will be a circumplanetary disk. In any case, direct observation of a star obscured by a disk surrounding a secondary object is an extremely rare phenomenon, with only a few known examples.

Cloud composition analysis

To study the cloud’s composition, the team used Gemini South’s most advanced instrument, the Gemini High-resolution Optical Spectrograph (GHOST). In March 2025, GHOST observed the occultation for just over two hours, breaking down the star’s light into a spectrum that revealed the chemical elements present in the intervening material.

GHOST data detected several metals — elements heavier than helium — in the cloud. More remarkably, the high precision of the spectra allowed the team to directly measure how the gas moves in three dimensions. This is the first time astronomers have measured the internal motions of gas in a rotating disk around a secondary object, such as a planet or low-mass star. The observations reveal a dynamic environment with winds of gaseous metals, including iron and calcium.

“The sensitivity of GHOST allowed us not only to detect gas in this cloud, but also to actually measure how it moves,” says Zakamska. “This is something we have never been able to do before in such a system.”

How did the dust cloud form?

Precise measurements of wind speed and direction show that the cloud is moving separately from its parent star. This, combined with the duration of the occultation, further confirms that the occulting object is a disk around a secondary object and that it is orbiting outside the parent star’s stellar system.

The source emits excess infrared radiation, usually associated with disks around young stars. However, J0705+0612 is more than two billion years old, which means that the disk is unlikely to be the remnants of debris from the early stages of planet formation in the system. So how did it form?

Astronomers suggest that it was formed after two planets collided at the outer edges of this star’s planetary system, ejecting dust, rocks, and debris that formed a massive cloud passing in front of the star.

This discovery highlights how new technologies can provide new insights into the Universe. GHOST has opened a new window for studying hidden phenomena in distant star systems, and the data obtained provide valuable clues about the long-term evolution of planetary systems and how disks around old stars may form.

Scientists say that the case of star J0705+0612 shows that even in mature planetary systems, dramatic, large-scale collisions can still occur.

• According to phys.org

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

22-01-2026 om 18:40 geschreven door peter  

NASA has dropped a major hint at the medical emergency that triggered a historic evacuation of astronauts from the International Space Station.

During their first public appearance since returning to Earth, the astronauts revealed that a portable ultrasound machine was 'super handy' during the crisis.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, pilot for the ill–fated Crew–11 mission, said that the machine had been used when medical issues arose on January 7.

'Having a portable ultrasound machine helped us in this situation; we were able to take a look at things that we didn't have,' he explained.

While Mr Fincke did not elaborate on the medical emergency, the fact that an ultrasound was used suggests two likely reasons.

Firstly, ultrasound scans are often used to examine how astronauts' cardiac systems are functioning in low gravity. 

The other main use for ultrasound in space is to monitor astronauts' eye health. 

However, ultrasound can also be used as a general diagnostic tool in a vast number of medical cases – so it remains unclear what the medical emergency was, or how ultrasound proved useful. 

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke (pictured), pilot for the ill–fated Crew–11 mission, has shared a major hint as to why the space agency was forced to evacuate the ISS 

The members of Crew–11 were forced to return to Earth a month ahead of schedule due to an unspecified medical emergency. Left to Right: Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui

During the press conference, Mr Fincke explained that the crew had lots of experience using the ultrasound machine to track changes in the human body, so 'when we had this emergency, the ultrasound machine came in super handy'.

The Crew–11 pilot even went so far as to claim that all future spaceflights should be equipped with portable ultrasound machines. 

'Of course, we didn't have other big machines that we have here on planet Earth,' he said. 

'We do try to make sure that everybody before we fly are really, really not prone to surprises. But sometimes things happen and surprises happen, and the team was ready … preparation was super important.'

The Crew-11 astronautas splashed back to Earth last Thursday, following NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of spaceflight, and the first time that the ISS has ever been evacuated.

The medical issue was first reported on January 8, when a planned spacewalk was unexpectedly cancelled. 

Just days later, on January 10, NASA had set the timeline to bring the crew home a month ahead of schedule.   

That crew included NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. 

The ISS is equipped with a modified off–the–shelf ultrasound machine called Ultrasound 2 that is primarily used for cardiac and ocular scans. Pictured: NASA astronaut Mike Fossum uses the Ultrasound 2 to scan the heart of crewmate Satoshi Furukawa

Health issues that can arise on the ISS

• Blood clots
• Bone and muscle atrophy
• Loss of vision 
• Radiation damage
• Circadian rhythm disruption
• Accelerated ageing 
• General health decline 

Prior to their departure, NASA's chief health and medical officer, Dr James Polk, said that the astronaut was 'absolutely stable' and that this was not an 'emergent evacuation'.

Dr Polk added: 'We're not immediately disembarking and getting the astronaut down, but it leaves that lingering risk and lingering question as to what that diagnosis is, and that means there is some lingering risk for that astronaut onboard.'

NASA has remained extremely reticent to discuss any of the details of the medical emergency or which member of the crew it might have affected.

However, this latest update from Mr Fincke is the first clue as to what might have happened.

Ultrasound imaging sends a beam of soundwaves into the body and records how they bounce back to a receiver.

As the sound moves at different speeds through different types of tissue, you can 'see' inside the body without using any invasive methods. 

Since 2011, the ISS has carried a modified off–the–shelf ultrasound machine called Ultrasound 2 that is used in both biomedical research and routine health checkups.

On Earth, sound has a huge array of uses, ranging from diagnosing gallbladder diseases and kidney stones to checking the health and gender of unborn babies.

One of the main uses for the ultrasound scanner is to monitor the cardiac and vascular health of astronauts, who are more at risk of conditions like blood clots, hardening arteries, and changes in blood pressure.

Pictured: NASA astronaut Kevin Ford (right) trains with the Ultrasound 2 on Earth

However, on the ISS, Ultrasound 2 is generally used for two main medical issues - cardiac and ocular problems. 

In a constant state of free–fall induced microgravity, blood tends to drift up from the astronauts' feet and collect around their head and chest.

This creates a significantly increased risk of developing blood clots that can be life–threatening if they migrate into the heart or lungs.

In 2020, a NASA astronaut developed a large clot in their internal jugular vein during spaceflight and was forced to stretch the station's dwindling supply of blood thinners to last more than 40 days until supplies could be sent. 

The other main use for ultrasound in space is to monitor astronauts' eye health.

As fluids build up in the head, they can cause swelling that triggers a collection of changes in the eye and brain called 'spaceflight–associated neuro–ocular syndrome'.

Increased pressure around the optic nerve causes swelling in the connection between the eye and the brain, and flattening of the back of the eye.

This can lead to blurred vision and long–term damage to an astronaut's vision. 

NASA also uses the ultrasound scanner for monthly ocular health checks to ensure astronauts' vision is not being damaged by the buildup of fluids in the head. Pictured: NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao performs an ultrasound examination of the eye on cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov

Once a month, astronauts on the ISS are required to use Ultrasound 2 to perform ocular scans to keep track of this condition.

Read More

• Once bitten, twice shy? NASA astronaut who spent 9 months stuck in space dramatically RETIRES 

NASA's Zena Cardman, who commanded the crew's early return flight with SpaceX, said that the space station is set up as well as it can be for medical emergencies.

She added that NASA 'made all the right decisions' in cancelling the spacewalk, which would have been her first, and prioritising the crew's well–being. 

Likewise, Japan's Kimiya Yui said he was surprised how well all the preflight training paid off in dealing with the health concerns.

Mr Yui said: 'We can handle any kind of difficult situation. This is actually very, very good experience for the future of human spaceflight.'

The Daily Mail has contacted NASA for comment.  

EXPLAINED: THE $100 BILLION INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SITS 250 MILES ABOVE THE EARTH

The International Space Station (ISS) is a $100 billion (£80 billion) science and engineering laboratory that orbits 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

It has been permanently staffed by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since November 2000. 

Crews have come mainly from the US and Russia, but the Japanese space agency JAXA and European space agency ESA have also sent astronauts. 

The International Space Station has been continuously occupied for more than 20 years and has been expended with multiple new modules added and upgrades to systems 

Research conducted aboard the ISS often requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit, such as low-gravity or oxygen.

ISS studies have investigated human research, space medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, astronomy and meteorology.

The US space agency, NASA, spends about $3 billion (£2.4 billion) a year on the space station program, with the remaining funding coming from international partners, including Europe, Russia and Japan.

So far 244 individuals from 19 countries have visited the station, and among them eight private citizens who spent up to $50 million for their visit.

There is an ongoing debate about the future of the station beyond 2025, when it is thought some of the original structure will reach 'end of life'.

Russia, a major partner in the station, plans to launch its own orbital platform around then, with Axiom Space, a private firm, planning to send its own modules for purely commercial use to the station at the same time. 

NASA, ESA, JAXA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working together to build a space station in orbit around the moon, and Russia and China are working on a similar project, that would also include a base on the surface. 

LIVE: NASA's ISS change of command ceremony goes ahead early for medical evacuation

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

22-01-2026 om 15:38 geschreven door peter  

By: William Harris & Patrick J. Kiger

When we were kids, we were amazed that Superman could travel "faster than a speeding bullet." We could even picture him, chasing down a projectile fired from a weapon, his right arm outstretched, his cape rippling behind him. If he traveled at half the bullet's speed, the rate at which the bullet moved away from him would halve. If he did indeed travel faster than the bullet, he would overtake it and lead the way. Go, Superman!

In other words, Superman's aerial antics obeyed Newton's views of space and time: that the positions and motions of objects in space should all be measurable relative to an absolute, nonmoving frame of reference [source: Rynasiewicz].

In the early 1900s, scientists held firm to the Newtonian view of the world. Then a German-born mathematician and physicist by the name of Albert Einstein came along and changed everything. In 1905, Einstein published his theory of special relativity, which put forth a startling idea: There is no preferred frame of reference. Everything, even time, is relative.

Two important principles underpinned his theory. The first stated that the same laws of physics apply equally in all constantly moving frames of reference. The second said that the speed of light — about 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second) — is constant and independent of the observer's motion or the source of light. According to Einstein, if Superman were to chase a light beam at half the speed of light, the beam would continue to move away from him at exactly the same speed [source: Stein, AMNH.org].

These concepts seem deceptively simple, but they have some mind-bending implications. One of the biggest is represented by Einstein's famous equation, E = mc², where E is energy, m is mass and c is the speed of light.

According to this equation, mass and energy are the same physical entity and can be changed into each other. Because of this equivalence, the energy an object has due to its motion will increase its mass. In other words, the faster an object moves, the greater its mass. This only becomes noticeable when an object moves really quickly. If it moves at 10 percent the speed of light, for example, its mass will only be 0.5 percent more than normal. But if it moves at 90 percent the speed of light, its mass will double [source: LBL.gov].

As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass rises precipitously. If an object tries to travel 186,000 miles per second, its mass becomes infinite, and so does the energy required to move it. For this reason, no normal object can travel as fast or faster than the speed of light.

That answers our question, but let's have a little fun and modify the question slightly.£

What If We Could Travel Faster Than Light?

Almost As Fast As the Speed of Light?

We covered the original question, but what if we tweaked it to say, "What if you traveled almost as fast as the speed of light?" In that case, you would experience some interesting effects. One famous result is something physicists call time dilation, which describes how time runs more slowly for objects moving very rapidly. If you flew on a rocket traveling 90 percent of light-speed, the passage of time for you would be halved. Your watch would advance only 10 minutes, while more than 20 minutes would pass for an Earthbound observer [source: May]

You would also experience some strange visual consequences. One such consequence is called aberration, and it refers to how your entire field of view would shrink down to a tiny, tunnel-shaped "window" out in front of your spacecraft. This happens because photons (those exceedingly tiny packets of light) — even photons behind you — appear to come in from the forward direction.

In addition, you would notice an extreme Doppler effect, which would cause light waves from stars in front of you to crowd together, making the objects appear blue. Light waves from stars behind you would spread apart and appear red. The faster you go, the more extreme this phenomenon becomes until all visible light from stars in front of the spacecraft and stars to the rear become completely shifted out of the known visible spectrum (the colors humans can see). When these stars move out of your perceptible wavelength, they simply appear to fade to black or vanish against the background.

Of course, if you want to travel faster than a speeding photon, you'll need more than the same rocket technology we've been using for decades.

In a March 2021 paper published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, astrophysicist Erik Lentz of the University of Göttingen in Germany proposed the idea of rearranging space-time to create a warp bubble, inside which a spacecraft might be able to travel at faster-than-light speeds.

What Is Hyperspace? Exploring the Science Behind FTL

Speed of Light FAQ

• Is there anything faster than the speed of light?

No, there isn’t. As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass rises steeply - so much so that the object’s mass becomes infinite and so does the energy required to make it move. Since such a case remains impossible, no known object can travel as fast or faster than the speed of light.

• How fast is the speed of light in miles?

The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792 kilometers per second, which translates to 186,282 miles per second. Hypothetically, this means that if an object could travel at the speed of light, it could go around the Earth 7.5 times in one second.

• Why is "c" the speed of light?

In Einstein's equation, the speed of light in a vacuum is represented by a lowercase “c” for "constant" or from the Latin term “celeritas”, which means "speed" to the power of two (squared).

What is the speed of light on Earth?

The speed of light can slow depending on what it’s traveling through. Light bends when it comes in contact with any matter - even dust - causing a slight decrease in speed. That said, light traveling through Earth's atmosphere moves almost as fast as the speed of light in a vacuum.

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• How Light Works

SOURCES

• American Museum of Natural History. "A Matter of Time. " Amnh.org. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/time/a-matter-of-time
• Brandeker, Alexis. "What would a relativistic interstellar traveler see?" Usenet Physics FAQ. May 2002. (Feb. 16, 2022J) http://www.desy.de/user/projects/Physics/Relativity/SR/Spaceship/spaceship.html
• Carl Sagan's Cosmos. "Travels in Space and Time." YouTube. Video uploaded Nov. 27, 2006 (Feb. 16, 2022 ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t8hUaaZVJg
• Hawking, Stephen. "The Illustrated Brief History of Time. " Bantam. 1996. (Feb. 16. 2022) https://bit.ly/367UGpZ
• EurekAlert! "Breaking the warp barrier for faster-than-light travel. " Eurekalert.org. March 9, 2021. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/642756
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "Mass, Energy, the Speed of Light – It's Not Intuitive! " Lbl.gov. 1996. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://www2.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/teachers/massenergy.pdf
• Lemonick, Michael D. "Will We Ever Travel at the Speed of Light?" Time. Apr. 10, 2000. (Feb. 16, 2022), 2011) http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,996616,00.html
• May, Andrew. "What is time dilation? " LiveScience. Nov. 17, 2021. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://www.livescience.com/what-is-time-dilation
• NOVA Physics + Math. "Carl Sagan Ponders Time Travel." NOVA. Oct. 12, 1999. (Feb. 16, 2022) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/Sagan-Time-Travel.html
• Ptak, Andy. "The Speed of Light in a Rocket." NASA's Imagine the Universe: Ask An Astrophysicist. Jan. 2, 1997. (Feb. 16, 2022) http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970102c.html
• Rynasiewicz, Robert, "Newton's Views on Space, Time, and Motion."Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Summer 2014. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=newton-stm
• Stein, Vicky. "Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. " Space.com. Sept. 20, 2021. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.html
• Van Zyl, Miezam (project editor)."Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide." Dorling Kindersley Limited. 2020. (Feb. 16, 2022) https://bit.ly/33q5Mpm.

What if We Could Travel Faster than Light Speed?

{ https://science.howstuffworks.com/ }

21-01-2026 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

The internet has once again become a battleground for science fiction. At the beginning of the year, a rumor spread rapidly online: allegedly, on August 12, 2026, Earth will completely lose its gravity for seven seconds. This, they say, will lead to mass casualties. What’s more, NASA is already spending an astronomical $89 billion of taxpayer money on the mysterious Project Anchor to combat the consequences. The conspiracy theory became so widespread that people even stopped listening to scientists who claimed that it was impossible. Therefore, the space agency was forced to intervene to calm the audience.

Official denial

A NASA representative gave a comprehensive response to fact-checkers, calling this theory complete nonsense. “The Earth will not lose its gravity because it is directly related to the planet’s mass,” the spokesperson said.

For gravity to disappear, Earth would have to suddenly lose all its mass — from its core to its atmosphere. If this were to happen, problems would begin well before the hypothetical date, and they would be much more serious long before gravity was completely lost.

Where do such myths come from?

The rumor seems to have arisen from a combination of two facts: a real astronomical phenomenon — the total solar eclipse on August 12, 2026 — and a misunderstanding of physics. The Sun and Moon actually create tidal forces, but these have a minimal effect on the Earth’s surface and are entirely predictable. These forces cannot possibly “turn off” the planet’s global gravity.

What should you really pay attention to?

So, we won’t be experiencing seven seconds of weightlessness. But a total solar eclipse is a real and exciting event. NASA emphasizes that it is important to observe it as safely as possible. You can only look at the Sun without special protective glasses for a brief moment during the total phase, when the Moon completely covers the solar disk. As soon as even the smallest edge of the Sun appears, you must immediately use eye protection.

This story is a vivid example of how confusion over basic scientific concepts can give rise to large-scale hoaxes. Gravity is a fundamental and constant property of our planet, and the main cosmic show in August is not its disappearance, but an impressive eclipse that is well worth watching.

Earlier, we reported on the top five absurd space myths that people still believe in.

• According to ladbible.com

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

21-01-2026 om 20:36 geschreven door peter  

Astronaut Sunita Williams is now best known to the general public as one of the two crew members of the Starliner spacecraft who, due to its malfunction, were stuck on the ISS for almost a year. In fact, she has flown into space three times, but is now ending her career as a space traveler.

Circumstances of the astronaut’s resignation

Sunita Williams is retiring. The NASA astronaut has been in the news over the past couple of years mainly because she and Barry Wilmore were stranded on the International Space Station after significant technical problems were discovered on their Starliner spacecraft.

The space agency announced the news on Tuesday, saying her resignation took effect at the end of December. Williams’ partner on the failed Boeing capsule test flight, Barry Wilmore, left NASA last summer.

Williams and Wilmore flew to the space station in 2024, becoming the first people to travel on Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule. Their mission was supposed to last only a week, but it stretched out to more than nine months due to problems with Starliner. They finally returned home in March last year on a SpaceX spacecraft.

In the next few missions, Boeing’s Starliner will transport cargo to the ISS, not people. NASA wants to make sure that all of the capsule’s engine problems and other technical issues are resolved before putting anyone on board. A test launch is planned for later this year.

Sunita Williams’ achievements in space

In fact, Williams’ resignation cannot be called a failure. After all, she is already 60 years old, and even before her career at NASA, she managed to rise to the rank of captain in the US Navy as a combat helicopter pilot. She participated in several military missions.

This was followed by 27 years at NASA and three space flights totaling 608 days. At one point, Williams held the record for the longest time spent in space by a woman. She also made 10 spacewalks totaling 60 hours and 19 minutes.

Thus, Williams’ mission on Starliner was originally intended to be the culmination of her career. New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called her “a trailblazer in human spaceflight.” “Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement,” he added in a statement.

In fact, it is quite possible that Sunita Williams will fly into space again. Only not as a NASA astronaut, but as an employee of some private space company. At least, that’s what happened to her colleague Peggy Whitson.

• According to phys.org

• Posted in Launches, News

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21-01-2026 om 17:54 geschreven door peter  

Once bitten, twice shy? NASA astronaut who famously spent 9 months stuck in space dramatically RETIRES less than a year after returning to solid ground

• READ MORE: NASA's astronauts stun the world with their healthier appearance 

By SHIVALI BEST, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Suni Williams, a NASA astronaut who famously spent nine months stuck in space, has dramatically retired, less than one year after returning to solid ground. 

Ms Williams and fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore, returned to Earth on March 19 last year, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule which splashed down off the coast of Florida.

The pair had left Earth in June 2024, planning to undertake an eight–day test flight of the new Boeing Starliner capsule to the International Space Station (ISS).

However, after the Starliner capsule developed numerous technical issues during the flight, the astronauts were forced to wait until the next crew rotation to return to Earth.

In total, the pair spent 286 days in space – 278 days more than they had initially planned.

Despite the traumatic experience, Ms Wiliams maintains that 'space is my absolute favourite place to be'. 

'It's been an incredible honor to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times,' she said.

'The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe–inspiring and have made the next steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible. I hope the foundation we set has made these bold steps a little easier.'

Suni Williams, a NASAastronaut who famously spent nine months stuck in space, has dramatically retired, less than one year after returning to solid ground

The unexpectedly long visit to space appeared to take its toll on the 60–year–old. As the days rolled by, health experts and NASA insiders began to raise concerns that Ms Williams was rapidly losing weight

In total, Ms Williams spent 27 years in service, completing three missions aboard the ISS. 

'Suni Williams has been a trailblazer in human spaceflight, shaping the future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit,' said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.

'Her work advancing science and technology has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will continue to inspire generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what's possible. 

'Congratulations on your well–deserved retirement, and thank you for your service to NASA and our nation.' 

Ms Williams' 286–day stint on the ISS saw her total days logged in space skyrocket to 608 – second on the list of cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut.  

However, the unexpectedly long visit to space appeared to take its toll on the 60–year–old. 

As the days rolled by, health experts and NASA insiders began to raise concerns that Ms Williams was rapidly losing weight. 

Photos showed her looking gaunt upon returning to Earth, although Ms Williams maintained that she didn't actually lose any weight.

Ms Williams and fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore, returned to Earth on March 19 last year, aboard a SpaceXCrew Dragon capsule which splashed down off the coast of Florida

'I think things shift around quite a bit, you probably heard of a fluid shift,' she said.

'Folks in space you know, their heads look a little bit bigger because the fluid evens out along the body.'

Her retirement comes just months after her fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore, announced his own retirement.  

At the time of his announcement, several users on X speculated that the exended stint in space may have sparked the retirement.

'Smart move if you stranded me in space for 9 months I would not fly for you either,' one user tweeted.

Another added: 'Well hell can you blame him.

'They were stuck in space for damn near a year. I'd never take another mission after that.'

And one wrote: 'I bet he was no longer capable of passing physical from his extended sojourn.' 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

21-01-2026 om 17:22 geschreven door peter  

Why haven’t humans walked on the moon again?

The question is simple: why haven’t humans returned to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972? The main reason is money. After the first Moon landing in July 1969 with Apollo 11, there were only six more missions with the same goal.

Only five of those missions actually landed on the Moon. What once looked like a steady effort to explore the Moon is now seen, in 2026, as an unfinished goal with many cancelled missions. Apollo 17 is still the last time people went to the Moon, and that is likely to stay true for a while.

The Royal Museums Greenwich website also looked into this question and came to a similar answer: cost is the main reason for no new Moon landings. As they put it, "Going to the Moon in 1969" was "extremely expensive".

At first, the Kennedy administration planned to spend about $7 billion on the Moon program. But as the same website explains, the final cost ended up being $20 billion.

Today, most governments are not willing to spend so much money on a Moon mission that, for now, would mostly just make news and be remembered in history books. In the end, money matters most, and the world’s priorities have changed.

Shift in priorities

Another reason for fewer Moon missions is a change in thinking. In the 1960s and 1970s, countries competed and showed their ambition through space exploration. Now, most goals are closer to home, and money goes to more immediate needs.

More money is now spent on military technology, while research, education, and NASA’s budget in the United States have all been cut. This has also led to fewer new images of people walking on the Moon.

The next step in exploring the Moon may involve sending robots instead of astronauts. An article in the Encyclopedia Britannica says robotic landings are being considered. Robots need fewer supplies than people, who require "water, oxygen, food, and other essentials to survive."

Also, several countries and private companies are already working on robotic Moon projects that could help future missions with people, as the same article notes.

They won't land on the moon, but...

Still, in 2026, NASA astronauts will orbit the Moon again, but they won’t land. In late December 2025, Telemundo reported on the Artemis II mission, which could launch in early February 2026 if everything goes as planned. This 10-day trip around the Moon will be "the closest approach of humans to the Moon in over half a century."

This mission will test NASA’s Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Both have had major delays and gone over budget in the United States during the past decade.

{ The Daily Digest }

21-01-2026 om 16:33 geschreven door peter  

Sun unleashes powerful X-flare, CME hits Earth sparking severe geomagnetic storm

By Daisy Dobrijevic 

Aurora alert! The colossal solar storm could impact and trigger impressive northern lights.

Aurora alert! The colossal solar storm could impact and trigger impressive northern lights.

 (Image credit: Image inset left: NASA SDO, right: NOAA SWPC, graphic made in Canva Pro.)

The sun sure has woken up this week, unleashing a powerful X-class solar flare on Jan. 18 that hurled a colossal, fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward Earth. That CME has now arrived, triggering severe (G4) geomagnetic storm conditions far earlier than initially forecast.

The shock wave from the CME struck at 2:38 p.m. EST (1938 GMT) on Jan. 19, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, which confirmed that G4 storm levels were reached shortly after impact. The storm is ongoing, and space weather forecasters say CME passage will continue through the evening, keeping the door open for more aurora activity tonight.

Related: Northern lights may be visible in 24 states tonight as a massive CME slams into Earth

Why the CME's impact depends on its magnetic orientation

CME arrivals are notoriously difficult to forecast. Their speed, direction of travel and — most importantly — their magnetic orientation all determine how strongly (if at all) they will interact with Earth's magnetic field.

If the CME's magnetic field is oriented southward, a component known as the Bz, it can more easily link up with Earth's northward-pointing magnetic field, allowing energy to pour into our planet's magnetosphere and trigger geomagnetic storm conditions.

If the Bz is instead oriented northward, Earth's magnetic field largely deflects the incoming energy, effectively "closing the door," and what looked like a promising space weather event can end up being a bit of a nothing burger.

Some CMEs contain a mixture of southward and northward magnetic fields, which can lead to stop-start or fluctuating geomagnetic activity. These events keep space weather forecasters and aurora chasers very much on their toes.

Even now, after the CME has arrived, we won't fully understand its magnetic orientation until it's sampled in real time by solar wind monitoring spacecraft like DSCOVR and ACE, positioned upstream of Earth.

What's an X-class solar flare?

Solar flares are ranked in ascending strength from A, B, C and M up to X, with each letter representing a tenfold increase in intensity. X-class flares are the strongest eruptions and the number following the X indicates how powerful the event is. Today's flare was measured at X1.9, putting it in the upper tier of solar outbursts.

The powerful flare from sunspot region AR4341 peaked at 1:09 p.m. EST (1809 GMT), according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. The eruption triggered strong (R3) radio blackouts across the sunlit side of Earth, with the most severe disruptions concentrated over the Americas.

What is a CME and how can it affect Earth?

A CME is a massive expulsion of plasma from the sun that carries a magnetic field. If a CME hits Earth's magnetosphere — the protective magnetic "bubble" generated by our planet — it can trigger a geomagnetic storm.

These geomagnetic storms vary in intensity and are therefore classified on a scale from minor (G1) to extreme (G5). Current forecasts from the U.K. Met Office suggest the incoming CME could produce strong (G3) to severe (G4) geomagnetic storm conditions.

Storms of this magnitude can disrupt satellite operations, degrade GPS navigation and increase atmospheric drag on spacecraft. They can also supercharge auroral activity, potentially pushing the northern lights far beyond their usual high-latitude haunts and into mid-latitude regions near 45° latitude.

• Editor's note: This article was updated on Jan. 19 at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) to reflect that the coronal mass ejection (CME) has arrived and triggered G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm conditions, according to NOAA. Forecasts and visibility potential may continue to evolve as the storm progresses.

{ https://www.space.com/space-exploration }

20-01-2026 om 21:52 geschreven door peter  

Less than a week ago, a unique discovery was made. Astronomers managed to find a comet from the Kreutz family at the greatest distance in history. The comet was given the temporary designation 6AC4721, and it is now the focus of attention for a large number of professionals and amateurs. Some comets from the Kreutz family become so spectacular that they are given the status of Great Comets. But will 6AC4721 succeed in doing so?

Unique discovery

On January 13, 2026, a new faint object with a magnitude of +17.8 was discovered using the 28-centimeter telescope at the AMACS1 observatory in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), operating as part of the MAPS program. The object was moving against the backdrop of stars. It was added to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) database under the temporary designation 6AC4721, where it awaits confirmation by other observatories. 

Its uniqueness became apparent quite quickly. Professionals and amateurs agree that it is a sun-grazing comet belonging to the Kreutz (or Kroyts) family, one of the families whose comets approach the Sun at an extremely close distance. In this case, it will remain approximately 760,000 kilometers from the center of the star, which is only ~64,000 km from the photosphere. So, comets from the Kreutz family are very rarely found using ground-based telescopes. Success in the case of 6AC4721 gives hope that the comet will be very bright in just a few weeks.

Usually, comets from the Kreutz family are discovered in images taken by space solar coronagraphs. In this sense, the SOHO observatory is unrivalled. Physically, such comets are often very small, literally a few dozen meters in size, and therefore impossible to see from a great distance. They only become visible when they approach the Sun, when the heated ice of the nucleus actively sublimates, and the comet grows a tail and coma.

What is even more striking is the time that will pass between the discovery of 6AC4721 and its passage through perihelion, the point in its orbit closest to the Sun. According to available data, the comet will be near our star on April 4, which means that almost three months will pass between its discovery and perihelion! Accordingly, the distance from the Sun of 2.056 astronomical units, at which the comet was first seen, is an absolute record for Kreutz comets. Previously, this record was held by the legendary comet C/1965 S1 (Ikeya–Seki), discovered 33 days before perihelion.

Surprisingly, despite more than 120 observations accumulated by January 19, the comet has not yet been given a permanent designation and is still listed on the MPC database’s page for possible new comets. Most likely, it will be the first comet registered in 2026, so it will be designated C/2026 A1.

Like a butterfly to the light

Being a sungrazing comet is very risky. These icy bodies often approach the Sun at a distance less than its radius. The intense stress from powerful gravity and heating often leads to the disintegration of the comet’s nucleus. However, at the same time, the comet puts on a real celestial show. 

It is believed that comets of the Kreutz family, to which 6AC4721 belongs, originate from a single large cometary body. Their orbits are very similar to the trajectory of the Great Comet, which was observed near the Sun in the winter of 372–371 BC. It probably fragmented, and the fragments continued to move along similar trajectories.

In 1106, a true queen of comets appeared — it could be seen near the Sun even during the day. Nowadays, scientists mostly agree that the Great Comet of 1106 came from the one seen in 372–371 BC. There’s evidence that it also broke up, creating a big subgroup of cometary bodies.

Heinrich Kreutz noticed the similarity between the orbits of the Great Comets of 1843 and 1843 and the orbit of the comet of 1106, and suggested that they had a common origin. Therefore, the comet family was named after Kreutz.

This family includes such famous comets as C/1965 S1 (Ikeya–Seki) and C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). However, their fates were different. The first one broke up into at least three pieces before reaching perihelion. The second one managed to survive its encounter with the Sun mainly thanks to its large nucleus, which was about 500 m in size.

For now, scientists predict an unenviable fate for 6AC4721: as it approaches perihelion, the comet will most likely disintegrate. But only time will tell what will actually happen. After all, this is the first comet in the Kreutz family to be caught at such a great distance, so its behavior is difficult to predict.

Will we be able to see this comet?

Bad news for the Northern Hemisphere: the orbits of the Kreutz family comets are such that they are mainly visible from the Southern Hemisphere. However, near its perihelion, 6AC4721 may still give us a chance. The best conditions will occur around April 4, but the window of opportunity will be very short. In addition, the comet will be at a very small angular distance from the Sun, which will make observation significantly more difficult.

If the comet does not disintegrate as it approaches the Sun and survives to perihelion, it could become very bright and, in this sense, the most interesting comet of 2026. In a favorable scenario, we will see spectacular images from astrophotographers and space coronagraphs, and we will be able to admire its magnificent tail.

Based on materials from the Telegram channel “Всесвіт у кишені” (Universe in Your Pocket) which is administered by the public organization of astronomy popularizers “Шлях до Всесвіту.” (Way to the Universe).

• Posted in News, Science

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20-01-2026 om 18:42 geschreven door peter  

On the night of January 19-20, residents of many regions of the Earth were able to see auroras. They were accompanied by the most powerful radiation storm of the 21st century.

On January 18, the Sun produced a powerful X1.9 class flare. It was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection — a cloud of plasma that was directed toward Earth. Experts predicted that it would reach our planet on January 20. In reality, the emission came much faster — already on the evening of January 19. The reason was that the speed of the solar wind turned out to be much higher than predicted.

Aurora borealis observed on January 19–20, 2026. The photo was taken in Greenland.

Source: Josefsen photo

After interacting with the Earth’s magnetosphere, the eruption resulted in a powerful G4-class geomagnetic storm. The resulting auroras were observed much further south than usual, including in Ukraine. Some photographs of this remarkable celestial spectacle were taken at around 30 degrees north latitude.

In theory, auroras could have been observed further south, but this was prevented by a change in the BZ index, which took on a positive value. This stopped their “advance”. Nevertheless, the storm that passed became one of the most powerful in the current cycle of solar activity.

The events of January 19–20 are also interesting as they were accompanied by a powerful radiation storm caused by an increase in the concentration of solar protons to record levels in the 21st century. Such events do not pose a threat to Earth, as charged particles are unable to reach the Earth’s surface. However, they can interfere with the operation of satellites, cause navigation errors, and disrupt radio communications. In addition, there is an increased radiation hazard for astronauts during spacewalks, as well as for passengers on transpolar flights.

The recent radiation storm was classified as S4 by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Although a higher level of S5 is theoretically possible, it has never been recorded in the history of observations. So S4 is the actual maximum. The last time the S4-class radiation storm was observed was in 2003. However, the recent storm exceeded it in strength.

AP

For more details on how auroras occur and where and when they can be observed, read our article.

• Posted in News, Science

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20-01-2026 om 18:29 geschreven door peter  

Story by Ivan Farkas

Astronomers have revealed the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) sharpest-ever image of the area around a black hole. The spectacular view could help solve a decades-long mystery while reversing a long-held belief about space's most extreme objects.

Since the 1990s, astronomers have observed a curious brightness in infrared wavelengths surrounding the active supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of some galaxies. Previously, they attributed these excess infrared emissions to the outflows — superheated streams of matter blasted from black holes.

But in a new study published Jan. 13 in the journal Nature Communications, an international team of researchers used JWST to look into the heart of the nearby Circinus galaxy, located only about 13 million light-years from Earth, to reveal the area around the galaxy's SMBH.

The data from JWST, paired with numerous ground-based observations, reveal that the infrared excess is coming from the disk of dusty material that's falling into the Circinus galaxy's central SMBH, rather than from material flowing away from it.

This galactic revelation can help astronomers better understand the growth and evolution of SMBHs, as well as these massive dark monsters' influence on their host galaxies.

Of doughnuts and disks

Active black holes like those at the centers of galaxies are fed by a giant ring of infalling gas and dust. As a black hole draws material from the inner wall of this "doughnut," known as a torus, the material forms a thinner accretion disk that spirals into the black hole like water spiraling into a drain.

An illustration of a supermassive black hole spewing an energetic outburst into space

(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))

The black hole's tidal forces accelerate the infalling matter to great speeds. The resulting friction within the disk causes the swirling matter to emit light that glows so brightly that it obscures astronomers' view of the inner region around the black hole.

Yet black holes are not vacuum cleaners, and even they have a feeding limit. So they blast some of the swirling material back into space, in the form of jets or "winds." Therefore, an understanding of the nature of a black hole's torus, accretion disk and outflows is key to knowing how black holes of various sizes accrete and expel matter to potentially shape their host galaxies by quenching or enhancing star formation across galactic scales.

This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots.

| Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez (University of South Carolina), Deepashri Thatte (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: NSF's NOIRLab, CTIO

Resolving a long-standing mystery

The dense gas and bright starlight in Circinus previously prevented astronomers from viewing the galaxy's central region and SMBH in detail.

"In order to study the supermassive black hole, despite being unable to resolve it, they had to obtain the total intensity of the inner region of the galaxy over a large wavelength range and then feed that data into models," lead study author Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez, a galaxy evolution researcher at the University of South Carolina, said in a NASA statement.

Earlier models separately fit the observed spectra of the torus, accretion disk and outflows, but they couldn't resolve the region in its entirety. As a result, astronomers could not explain which part of the SMBH's surroundings caused the excess emissions in infrared light.

JWST's advanced capabilities allowed astronomers to peer through the dust and starlight of Circinus so they could get a sharper view of the SMBH's environment. To do so, they used an imaging technique known as interferometry.

Ground-based interferometry generally requires an array of telescopes or mirrors that work together to gather and combine light from a celestial object over a large area. By combining light from multiple sources, this method causes the electromagnetic waves that form that light to create interference patterns that astronomers can analyze to reveal the sizes, shapes and other characteristics of those objects.

Unlike these terrestrial facilities, however, the space-based JWST can operate as its own interferometer array via its aperture masking interferometer (AMI), a component of the telescope's Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument. Like a camera aperture, AMI is an opaque physical mask with seven small, hexagonal holes that control the amount and direction of light entering JWST's detectors.

Overall, AMI effectively doubles JWST's resolution. "This allows us to see images twice as sharp," Joel Sanchez-Bermudez, an astrophysicist at the National University of Mexico and co-author of the study, said in the statement. "Instead of Webb's 6.5-meter [21 feet] diameter, it's like we are observing this region with a 13-meter space telescope."

By doubling its resolution, JWST captured its sharpest-ever view of a 33-light-year-wide area at the center of Circinus. This unprecedented image allowed researchers to calculate that the majority — around 87% — of the excess infrared emissions come from the dusty disk that's actively feeding the central black hole; "the inner surface of the hole of the doughnut," Lopez-Rodriguez said via email. Whereas previous research had suggested that the excess may have come from hot dusty winds, or even the galaxy’s residual starlight, the team found that less than 1% of these emissions come from the energetic outflows streaming away from the SMBH.

The accretion may be extinguishing star formation in the center of Circinus, but confirming this will require a different type of JWST-based observation, Lopez-Rodriguez said.

An invaluable perspective

An illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope in orbit

(Image credit: Getty Images)

In addition to revealing previously hidden SMBH mechanics, this research highlights the potential of JWST-based interferometry for studying various celestial objects, including other active SMBHs at the cores of nearby galaxies. By increasing the sample size, astronomers hope to determine whether the infrared emissions from other SMBHs are due to their dusty disks or to their hot outflows.

"AMI has to be used — in order to get precious JWST time — on targets which cannot be done from the ground, or at wavelengths that are blocked by the Earth's atmosphere," study co-author Julien Girard, a senior research scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, told Live Science via email.

AMI-based observations can better illuminate our own solar system; they recently offered a detailed look at the volcanoes on Jupiter's hellish moon Io, Girard added. So AMI can observe diverse cosmic objects of varying shapes and sizes, from moons oozing with lava to black holes obscured by dust. In the future, it could help astronomers detect moons around prominent asteroids or reveal the orbits and masses of multistar systems, Girard added.

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20-01-2026 om 16:40 geschreven door peter  

NASA reveals the sharpest EVER look at the edge of a black hole — and it could solve a long–standing galactic mystery

• READ MORE: NASA debunks conspiracy theory claiming Earth will lose gravity

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

NASA has revealed the sharpest ever look at the edge of a black hole, and it could solve a decades–old galactic mystery.

Located 13 million light–years from Earth, the Circinus Galaxy is home to a supermassive black hole that is constantly blasting radiation into space.

The clouds of hot gas surrounding this black hole are so bright that seeing any real details has previously been all but impossible.

Now, NASA has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to unveil the strange and powerful forces on the very edge of this black hole.

Supermassive black holes like the one in Circinus remain active by constantly consuming matter from the surrounding galaxy.

Scientists had observed that this process creates a huge amount of infrared energy, but most telescopes weren't sensitive enough to see where it was coming from.

Previously, scientists thought most of this radiation was coming from the black hole's 'outflow' – a stream of superheated matter fired out from the core.

Now, these new observations from the JWST have turned that expectation on its head.

NASA has revealed the closest ever look at the edge of a black hole 13 million light–years from Earth, and it could help solve a decades–old galactic mystery. Pictured: The new James Webb Space Telescope image overlaid on the Hubble image 

A black hole is the ultra–dense heart of a dead star where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape.

Supermassive black holes, like the one in the Circinus Galaxy, become 'active' by consuming vast quantities of matter from their surrounding galaxy.

As this matter falls inwards, it forms a dense doughnut–shaped ring called a torus that orbits the black hole.

A supermassive black hole gathers material from the torus' inner walls to form an accretion disc, a swirling whirlpool of matter that circles the black hole like water going down a drain.

This accretion disk starts to get hotter through friction until it begins to glow bright enough to show up on our telescopes.

At the same time, that intense energy blasts a large portion of the infalling matter out of the black hole's poles in the form of an outflow or black hole jet.

Although astronomers' models make predictions about how these different parts should interact, it is extremely difficult to see this process in action.

The light from the accretion disk blocks out any details, while the incredibly dense torus hides the inner region of infalling matter from view.

The Circinus galaxy is home to an active supermassive black hole that constantly blasts infrared radiation into space. However, scientists have struggled to determine exactly where around the black hole this radiation comes from 

Scientists would try to fit the different wavelengths of light they observed to the emissions from different regions of the black hole, but not everything could be made to fit neatly.

Most notably, some telescopes could detect an excess of infrared light coming from somewhere in the black hole, but didn't have the resolution to work out where it was coming from.

Lead author Dr Enrique Lopez–Rodriguez, of the University of South Carolina, says: 'Since the 90s, it has not been possible to explain excess infrared emissions that come from hot dust at the cores of active galaxies, meaning the models only take into account either the torus or the outflows, but cannot explain that excess.'

Models assumed that most of the mass, and therefore most of the emissions, would be in the outflow.

But to test this, astronomers needed a way to both filter out the interfering starlight and distinguish the infrared emissions of the torus from those of the outflows.

Luckily, the JWST offered an innovative solution to both of these problems.

The scientists used a tool called the Aperture Masking Interferometer, which essentially converts JWST into several smaller telescopes that all work together.

On Earth, interferometers are usually many different radio or optical telescopes that work together as if they were a single, enormous observatory.

Using a new technique, scientists were able to determine that most of the radiation is coming from a swirling doughnut of matter known as the taurus, not from the jet of ejected matter as previous studies had believed  

The JWST can replicate this same trick by using a special cover with seven hexagonal holes.

Dr Lopez–Rodriguez told the Daily Mail: 'Interferometry is the technique that provides us with the highest angular resolution possible.

'Using aperture masking interferometry with the JWST is like observing with a 13–meter space telescope instead of a 6.5–meter one.'

Gathering data with this technique, the scientists were able to create an image of the central region.

This is the first extragalactic observation from an infrared interferometer in space, and offers an unprecedented look into the core of an active galaxy.

Contrary to previous estimates, around 87 per cent of the infrared emissions from hot dust in Circinus come from the areas closest to the black hole, while the outflow contributes less than one per cent.

This is a total reversal of what had been predicted by astronomers' best models for supermassive black holes.

However, while the mystery of Circinus' black hole has been solved, there are billions more supermassive black holes out there in the universe.

These images were possible thanks to a technique that converts the James Webb Space Telescope's mirror (artist's impression) into several smaller lenses that all work together to provide extreme resolution in a very small area

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• Black hole awakens after 100 million years of silence - and is erupting like a cosmic VOLCANO 

Circinus' accretion disc was only moderately bright, so it makes sense that the torus would dominate its emissions.

But for brighter black holes, the opposite might still be the case, and far more case studies will be needed.

With this research, astronomers found a technique to investigate any black holes they chose, so long as they are bright enough for the Aperture Masking Interferometer to be useful.

Dr Lopez–Rodriguez says: 'We need a statistical sample of black holes, perhaps a dozen or two dozen, to understand how mass in their accretion disks and their outflows relate to their power.'

BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE

Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light.

They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around.

How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole.

Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy.

Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses.

When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space. 

Sharpest Black Hole Image Ever Captured 😱 | XRISM

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20-01-2026 om 16:27 geschreven door peter  

NASA debunks wacky conspiracy theory claiming Earth will lose gravity for 7 seconds on August 12 – after it sent social media users into a frenzy

• READ MORE: Bermuda Triangle conspiracy theories reignite online

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

NASA has debunked a wild conspiracy theory doing the rounds on social media. 

The bizarre theory claims that on August 12, at exactly 14.33 GMT (9.33 ET), Earth will lose gravity for seven seconds. 

According to its proponents, this 'secret' was revealed in a NASA document named 'Project Anchor', leaked in November 2024.

And the disaster could lead to at least '40 million deaths from falls'.

Unsurprisingly, thousands of concerned viewers took to X to discuss the claims.  

'If this is fake, why does it have a date, a project name, and a budget?' one user asked on the platform.

While another concerned commenter added: 'There's gonna be a lot of injuries when everyone comes crashing back down then if it was to happen.'

Now, NASA's experts have put the case to bed once and for all – pointing out that the wacky theory fundamentally misunderstands how gravity works.

NASA has debunked a wild conspiracy theory that the world will lose gravity for seven seconds on August 12

According to NASA, there is no way that the Earth can 'lose' gravity without losing mass, which means this theory is totally without basis 

Despite the conspiracy theorists' claims, there is absolutely no trace of any leaked document or mention of Project Anchor online prior to December last year.

A NASA spokesman told fact–checking website Snopes: 'The Earth will not lose gravity on August 12, 2026.

'Earth's gravity, or total gravitational force, is determined by its mass. 

'The only way for the Earth to lose gravity would be for the Earth system, the combined mass of its core, mantle, crust, ocean, terrestrial water, and atmosphere, to lose mass.'

Although the exact origins of the conspiracy are unknown, one of the earliest references is from an Instagram user named @mr_danya_of.

In a lengthy post, the user wrote: 'On August 12, 2026, the world will lose gravity for seven seconds. NASA knows. They're preparing but won't tell us why.'

They claimed that this would cause '40 million deaths from falls. Infrastructure destruction. Economic Collapse lasting over ten years. Mass panic.'

The post suggests that this disruption would be caused by 'the intersection of gravitational waves' produced by colliding black holes.

On social media, conspiracy theorists have been sent into a frenzy. One claimed that the 'details are way too specific to ignore' 

The post also included some of the supposed details of Project Anchor, claiming that it had a budget of '$89 billion' and was responsible for 'building underground bunkers'.

In their very next post, the user told an entirely fabricated story about 600 people disappearing from the town of Portlock, Alaska, in 2019.

In other posts, the user claimed to work at Google, a morgue, a crematorium, a hospice, as well as being a psychiatrist and a criminologist.

But these details were apparently lost on the numerous accounts that copied the exact text from the original post and spread it over social media.

As the conspiracy spread, other users added more details and embellishments.

For example, one user wrote: 'The Earth is expected to see "zero–gravity" condition on August 12, 2026, at 14.33 UTC, when a Total Eclipse of the Sun will pass over the Arctic Ocean.'

While another user posted a video to Instagram in which they suggested: 'Maybe that's why all these billionaires are building their bunkers.'

Soon, the conspiracy theorists began to turn on each other, accusing other users of being part of the conspiracy.

One concerned conspiracy theorist worried that there might be injuries when gravity returned 

However, it wasn't long before the conspiracy theorists turned on one another and accused other theorists of being part of a conspiracy 

Conspiracy theorists suggested that the disruption could be caused by gravitational waves produced by colliding black holes. While gravitational waves are real and do come from colliding black holes (artist's impression), they cannot cause Earth to 'lose' gravity 

One social media user wrote: 'Gravity as theory is hollow. Nice psyop though. The Deep State is keeping the rabbits busy digging a hole.'

'Makes for a great psyop to get everyone indoors without forcing a lockdown,' added another.

However, there is absolutely no basis in reality for any of these elaborate claims.

Although gravitational waves are real and are created by the collisions between black holes, they cannot cause Earth to 'lose' gravity.

Dr William Alston, a black hole expert from the University of Hertfordshire, told the Daily Mail: 'These ripples are so weak that we have had to build the most sensitive detection equipment to see them – known as the LIGO and Virgo observatories. 

'These ripples routinely pass through Earth and ourselves, very subtly squeezing and stretching us; however, this is so small – many times smaller than the size of an atom – that this change goes by completely unnoticed.'

Additionally, since gravitational waves move at the speed of light, Dr Alston says these theorists would need a 'physics-defying mechanism' to predict the date of their arrival. 

Likewise, while there will indeed be a solar eclipse on August 12, this will in no way affect Earth's gravity.

One user went so far as to claim that 'gravity as a theory is hollow', branding the idea of gravitational attraction as some sort of cover–up 

The date of the supposed gravitational switch coincides with a solar eclipse (pictured), but experts say this will not affect Earth's gravity 

Read More

• Ninety-five per cent of educated people believe alien life exists... they just won't admit it 

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon aligns with the sun, so that it appears obscured from our perspective.

The sun and moon do exert a gravitational pull on Earth, but this doesn't change during an eclipse.  

The NASA spokesman added: 'A total solar eclipse has no unusual impact on Earth's gravity.

'The gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon on the Earth, which doesn't impact Earth's total gravity, but does impact tidal forces, is well understood and is predictable decades in advance.'

WHAT MAKES SOMEONE BELIEVE IN CONSPIRACY THEORIES?

Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and certain psychological traits.

Narcissism and self-esteem levels have a large impact on a persons belief in conspiracy theories.  

The results showed that people who rated highly on the narcissism scale and who had low self-esteem were more likely to be conspiracy believers.

However, while low self-esteem, narcissism and belief in conspiracies are strongly linked, it is not clear that one - or a combination - causes the other.

But it hints at an interesting new angle to the world of conspiracy and those who reinforce belief. 

There are widely believed to be three main reasons as to why people believe in conspiracy theories. 

- The desire for control and security - Conspiracy theories can give their believers a sense of control and security.

- The desire to maintain a positive self-image - People who feel socially marginalised are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and it gives them a sense of worth in the UFO community.

-The desire for understanding and certainty - Seeking explanations for events is a natural human desire.

These three things tie in with the previously stated qualities and combine to create an avid conspiracy theorist. 

Viral video alleged NASA knows Earth will briefly lose gravity for seven seconds

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19-01-2026 om 20:42 geschreven door peter  

The countdown to the first moon mission in more than 50 years officially started Saturday, as NASA rolled out the massive rocket set to blast off in just weeks.

The 11million pound Artemis II rocket reached the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida after nearly 12-hour crawl from its home in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.

The 10-day manned mission to orbit the moon is set to launch as early as February 6, marking the first manned mission to leave low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Artemis II will not land on the moon, with NASA saying that the future Artemis III mission scheduled for 2027 will return humans to the lunar surface.

The space agency said Artemis, 'will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.'

The crawler-transporter 2 vehicle carried Artemis II's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft along a four-mile route from an assembly building to Launch Pad 39B.

At the launch pad, engineers will spend the next few days preparing SLS and Orion for a 'wet rehearsal' test that includes loading all the propellants that will blast the rocket into space.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the mission would fulfill 'a promise to the American people that we will return to the moon.'

Artemis II (Pictured) arrived at NASA's Launch Pad 39B Saturday evening as the space agency prepares for its first moon mission in 53 years

Pictured: The rocket will propel a four-person team, comprised of three NASA astronauts and an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, out of Earth's atmosphere as soon as February 6

From L-R: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen stands alongside NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman. Wiseman will also serve as the mission's commander. The group of four address reporters with the rocket and spacecraft directly behind them

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are scheduled to briefly orbit the Earth after detaching the Orion spacecraft from its rockets and then set off on their lunar flyby. 

With Artemis II now at the launching site, NASA will soon load over 700,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen into the SLS rocket, which are the propellants that ignite and blast the craft into orbit.

NASA will then run through a fake countdown to launch, practice holds and restarts, and then safely drain the tanks of the fuel until it's time for the real launch.

These rehearsals of the fueling procedures help check for any problems with the rocket, such as leaks in the rocket tanks or valves.

If any problems are spotted, NASA will likely need to run multiple rehearsals and possibly delay the launch to one of the many alternate dates already chosen by the space agency.

February 7, 8, 10, and 11 have been chosen as potential backup launch dates if problems or weather issues postpone the February 6 launch. If something prevents a launch in February, NASA has also picked out dates in early March and April.

In September 2025, former NASA Administrator Sean Duffy publicly announced that 'about a year and a half' after the Artemis II mission, the Artemis III astronaut mission would 'land and establish a long-term presence of life on the moon led by America'.

He continued by saying that what astronauts learn from the renewed missions to the moon will help in future efforts to 'put American boots on Mars'. 

Pictured: Early in the morning on Saturday, January 17, NASA begins to move the Artemis II rocket out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Next month, it will be used for the first manned mission to the moon since 1972

Over the first 24 to 48 hours in Earth orbit after blasting off, the four astronauts will conduct extensive tests of the Orion spacecraft's life support systems, guidance and navigation computers, and communications before attempting the moon mission. 

The journey to the moon is scheduled to take about three to four days, ending with the spacecraft conducting a lunar flyby, looping around the far side of the moon roughly 5,500 miles above the surface.

Artemis II won't enter orbit around the moon, allowing the crew to test deep-space operations and gather data while traveling farther from Earth than any previous human mission.

The moon's gravity will help slingshot the spacecraft back toward Earth on the return leg of the trip, which will take another three to four days.

Pictured: The Artemis II rocket sits in the Vehicle Assembly Building prior to its move

Pictured: The Orion spacecraft sits atop the Artemis II rocket. The spacecraft will carry the astronauts to the moon and back

Pictured: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stands with the four astronauts during a press briefing

Koch emphasized how important adaptability is for an astronaut, especially since none of them have been to the moon and it's been decades since a mission like this has been undertaken.

READ MORE

• Top astronaut removed from NASA mission after SpaceX 'classified' photos breach

'This idea that, yes, you train and prepare for everything, but the most important thing is that you're ready to take on what you haven't prepared for,' Koch said.

'The moon is like a witness plate for everything that's actually happened to Earth but has since been erased by our weathering processes and our tectonic processes and our other geologic processes,' the astronaut continued.

'We can actually learn more about solar system formation, more about how planets form maybe around other stars, more about the likelihood of life out there - starting with studying the moon.'

At the end of the mission, Artemis II will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, and the spacecraft and crew will be recovered with the help of the US Navy.

NASA mega-rocket for moon mission could launch in weeks

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19-01-2026 om 18:38 geschreven door peter