Tootfinder

And so the humongous flat antenna of the direct-to-cell comsat #BlueBird 6 has unfolded, "the Largest Commercial Communications Array Antenna Ever" as the AST press release https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260210108166/en/AST-SpaceMobile-Successfully-Completes-Unfolding-of-BlueBird-6-the-Largest-Commercial-Communications-Array-Antenna-Ever-Deployed-in-Low-Earth-Orbit crows: now it's now up to the astronomical community to observe it and determine its magnitude. Are the Block 2 BlueBirds worse than the already outrageously bright Block 1 satellites - or did the promised (!) countermeasures reduce their impact? In any case dozens more of these satellites are to be launched this year, followed by hundreds more ...

Linux Mint kan ik iedereen aanbevelen, nu op een oude laptop draaien en eerlijk gezegd is het een verademing ivm Windows 11 (dat ik ook gebruik op een andere laptop).
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/243498/linux-mint-223-verbetert-fo…

Linux Mint 22.3 verbetert foutopsporing en krijgt ondersteuning tot 2029
De nieuwe versie 22.3 van Linux-distributie Mint brengt onder meer gebruiksvriendelijkere tools voor het oplossen van problemen. Deze langetermijnrelease van Linux Mint krijgt tot 2029 ondersteuning. De Consumentenbond adviseert Mint als optie voor Windows-overstappers.

Possible identification of the Luna 9 Moon landing site using a novel machine learning algorithm: #Luna9 Spacecraft, 60 Years After It Vanished: https://www.iflscience.com/nasas-lunar-orbiter-may-have-spotted-long-lost-luna-9-spacecraft-60-years-after-it-vanished-82507

heise | Digitaler Euro soll 2029 kommen: Das ist der aktuelle Stand
Die technische Vorbereitung läuft, politisch ist nichts entschieden. Kosten, Datenschutz und Wettbewerb sorgen weiter für Streit. Überblick zum aktuellen Stand.

On 10 February 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a contract with OHB Italia for the development of the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses): #Ramses will rendezvous with the asteroid Apophis before its rare close encounter with Earth. RPS and MARIE to investigate asteroid Apophis' passage through Earth's magnetosphere: https://www.dlr.de/en/blog/archive/ramses-mission-rps-and-marie-to-investigate-asteroid-apophis-passage-through-earth-s-magnetosphere

Evidence of an Extended Alfvén Wing System at #Enceladus: Cassini's Multi-Instrument Observations: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025JA034657 -> Tiny Enceladus Exercises Giant Electromagnetic Influence at Saturn: https://www.europlanet.org/tiny-enceladus-exercises-giant-electromagnetic-influence-at-saturn/

In Antarctica, balloon lands after 23-day search for particles from outer space: #PUEO caught a ride aboard a NASA #balloon in search of high-energy #neutrinos.

New shirt in the mail just in time for a trip to LA this weekend!
#RideTheD

The chemical #habitability of Earth and rocky planets prescribed by core formation: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02775-z -> Researchers from ETH Zurich have demonstrated why only a small number of planets have the chemical requirements for life – and why the Earth is so fortunate: https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2026/02/why-only-a-small-number-of-planets-are-suitable-for-life.html

Abgesehen vom realen Risiko, dass die infantile Orange #Europa von Diensten der #Megacorps aus den #USA trennt, gibt's immer noch das Problem, dass sie für teilweise immer unzuverlässiger arbeitende Services immer…

This newly processed image from the NASA/ESA #Hubble Space Telescope is the clearest view yet of the #EggNebula: #PreplanetaryNebula, a structure of gas and dust created as a Sun-like star approaches the end of its life. The Egg that we see now will eventually hatch, revealing a white dwarf at its centre and leaving its shell to become a spectacular planetary nebula.

Microsoft zieht Standalone-Lizenzen für SharePoint und OneDrive ab – Neukunden ab Juni 2026, Ende aller Solo-Verträge bis 2029. Kleine Firmen werden gezwungen, teure Microsoft 365-Suiten zu buchen statt schlanker Einzelangebote, obwohl viele nur Storage brauchen. @… zeigt die bittere Realität: Aus für SharePoint und OneDrive: Microsoft zwingt Nutzer in te…

Radar-based observation of a lava tube on Venus: #Venus may have an underground tunnel carved by volcano eruptions: https://www.space.com/astronomy/venus/venus-may-have-an-underground-tunnel-carved-by-volcano-eruptions

Just that you know ... "Greater consumption of caffeinated #coffee and tea was associated with lower risk of dementia and modestly better cognitive function, with the most pronounced association at moderate intake levels" - so says the new study https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2844764?guestAccessKey=b5f53c96-c7a8-47fa-b807-8b464361c4d8 -> Daily cups of caffeinated coffee or mugs of tea may lower dementia risk: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/daily-coffee-tea-lower-dementia-risk -
a long-term observational study tracked self-reported coffee and tea consumption.

Brynn #Tannehill: ‘#Trump Has Already Rigged the #2028PresidentialElection’
Regardless of how people vote, the chances of a

'Trump Has Already Rigged the 2028 Presidential Election': US Defence Insider
Regardless of how people vote, the chances of a Democrat Government coming to power in 2029 is now virtually nil, argues Brynn Tannehill

And now on #Ariane flight VA267 - of the first Ariane 6 with 4 boosters.

Satellite executives, investors, and researchers say Elon Musk's aim to launch space data centers by around 2029 is highly ambitious, but the idea is plausible (Tim Bradshaw/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/a5cf86ec-47cb-448f-b4a3-56ca6390ad8e

Prospects for #Comet C/2026 A1 MAPS - a comet with a narrow tail in the evening twilight, with uncertain but potentially high brightness? https://hdr-astrophotography.com -> Tail simulations for comet MAPS: https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/message/34888 - in order not to depend on a single prediction, i have simulated different scenarii.

The nature of ASASSN-24fw’s #occultation - modelling the event as dimming by optically thick rings around a substellar companion: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/546/3/staf2251/8471205?login=false -> Unseen planet or brown dwarf may have hidden 'rare' fading star: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/unseen-planet-or-brown-dwarf-may-have-hidden-rare-fading-star

ReveaLLAGN 1 - JWST Emission-Line Spectra Reveal Low-Luminosity #AGN with UV-Deficient SEDs and Warm Molecular Gas: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16977 -> James Webb Space Telescope uncovers secret supermassive black holes that escape traditional detection: https://www.space.com/astronomy/james-webb-space-telescope/james-webb-space-telescope-uncovers-secret-supermassive-black-holes-that-escape-traditional-detection

A fast powerful X-ray transient from possible tidal disruption of a white dwarf: #WhiteDdwarf: https://english.news.cn/20260212/bb2ae2bbd6944d1dbc8164a22ae38cfd/c.html

A surprisingly large asymmetric ejection from #Mira A: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.03159 -> Well-known star has become a heart-shaped cosmic lighthouse: https://www.chalmers.se/en/current/news/see-heart-shaped-cosmic-lighthouse/

The recording of the independent webcast #Vulcan launch - in which they are discussing the SRB nozzle malfunction from t 2:25 onwards (i.e. starting at 1:13:30), eventually showing lots of different angles on the debris falling from the rocket. ULA hasn't said yet whether the payload has reached the proper orbit, by the way.

RE: #Mengzhou abort test - see also https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/allgemeines-live-blog-ab-dem-4-februar-2026/#Feb12 for more visuals, links zu video clips and articles.

Booster separation during the #Vulcan launch ... but as ULA is just confirming in https://x.com/ulalaunch/status/2021893224907083949 and e.g. https://bsky.app/profile/derek.space/post/3menpvsm7wk2u and https://bsky.app/profile/gewoonlukas.bsky.social/post/3menp65czzc2c had already noted one of the boosters had suffered some anomaly - which however didn't affect the mission.

As a pre-show you can also watch the #Proton-M launch of an Electron weather satellite at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwiBFPB0Vgs - lift-off planned for 8:52 UTC i.e. in a few minutes.

The should be a #Vulcan launch at 9:22 UTC today, with the webcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFw6xy2zGCo beginning in 1/2 hour - see https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/vulcan-ussf-87 for what it's about as well es updates.

#Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) and #Galaxy NGC 55
Date: 11 02 2026 UT 18:39
Location: Farm Tivoli, #Namibia
Telescope: ASA Astrograph 12" f3.6
Camera: ZWO ASI 6200 MM Pro
Mount: ASA DDM 85
Exp.Time: LRGB 10/2/2/2 min.
Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger

Jupiter-like uniform metal enrichment in a system of multiple giant #exoplanets: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08227 -> How big can a planet be? With very large gas giants, it can be hard to tell: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1115679

JWST’s PEARLS - a Candidate Massive Binary Star System in a #Lensed Galaxy at Redshift 0.94: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae2003 -> JWST Spies a Potential Microlensed Massive Binary Star System: https://aasnova.org/2026/02/11/jwst-spies-a-potential-microlensed-massive-binary-star-system/

Bright [C II]158 μm Streamers as a Beacon for Giant Galaxy Formation in SPT2349-56 at z = 4.3: #GiantGalaxies could form just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang: https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2026/forming-massive-galaxies-in-the-early-universe - new radio observations of molecular gas reveal how dozens of galaxies rapidly merge together in the early Universe.

Estimating Electron Densities in the Middle Solar Corona using White-light and Radio Observations: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09819 -> "Traditionally, routine estimates of coronal density have relied exclusively on white-light observations. However, these density estimates, obtained by inverting the white-light data, require simplifying assumptions, which may affect the robustness of the measurements. [...] In this study, we estimate the coronal electron densities in the middle corona [...] using low-frequency radio observations from the recently commissioned Long Wavelength Array at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO-LWA)."

Origin of Hyperion and Saturn's Rings in A Two-Stage Saturnian System Instability: #Saturn

A Merger within a Merger - Chandra Pinpoints the Short #GRB230906A in a Peculiar Environment: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae2a2f -> NASA Discovers Crash of Extreme Stars in Unexpected Site: https://chandra.si.edu/press/26_releases/press_031026.html / https://chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/photo/2026/nsmerger/ -> How the Most Energetic Explosions in the Universe Are Formed: https://chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/blog/node/951

Gaia-GIC-1 - An Evolving Catastrophic #Planetesimal Collision Candidate: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3ddc -> UW astronomers collect rare evidence of two planets colliding: https://www.washington.edu/news/2026/03/11/uw-astronomers-spot-planet-collision-evidence/

Witnessing Magnetic Reconnection in Tangled Superpenumbral Fibrils around a Sunspot: #Sunspot: https://aasnova.org/2026/03/11/astronomers-see-braided-magnetic-fields-above-a-sunspot/

Habitability of Tidally Heated H2-Dominated Exomoons around Free-Floating Planets: #exomoons habitable for billions of years: https://idw-online.de/de/news867330

Spitzer HST parallaxes of 13 late T and Y dwarfs: #BrownDwarfs in the solar neighborhood (d < 20pc). By combining archival Spitzer data with our own Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations, we achieve parallax uncertainties typically around 10%. Using Spitzer and HST photometry we compare our targets with other known late T and Y dwarfs in the Solar neighborhood, confirming that there is large intrinsic scatter in the near- and mid-infrared absolute magnitudes and colors of this population, further highlighting the diversity observed spectroscopically by several James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) programs."

Lense-Thirring precessing magnetar engine drives a superluminous supernova: #magnetar, confirming link to some of universe’s brightest exploding stars: https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/03/11/astronomers-capture-birth-of-a-magnetar-confirming-link-to-some-of-universes-brightest-exploding-stars/

Hidden Vela #Supercluster Revealed by First Hybrid Redshift & Peculiar Velocity Reconstruction: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.09339 -> Vela - the True Scale of a Hidden Giant Structure Revealed: https://www.sarao.ac.za/news/vela-the-true-scale-of-a-hidden-giant-structure-revealed/

Integration and testing of the #Dragonfly Titan helicopter, the activities involved in assembling the mission’s rotorcraft lander and testing it for the rigors of launch and extreme conditions of space, is officially underway in clean rooms and control rooms at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/dragonfly/2026/03/10/nasas-dragonfly-mission-begins-rotorcraft-integration-testing-stage/

On the Deepest Search for #GalacticCenter Pulsars and an Examination of an Intriguing #MillisecondPulsar Candidate: #Pulsar in the Milky Way’s Center: https://news.columbia.edu/news/researchers-announce-discovery-possible-pulsar-milky-ways-center - confirming a pulsar star would enable unprecedented tests of General Relativity. Such a discovery would revolutionize physics.

The #Kreutz #comet #MAPS "has become more than 1 mag brighter between March 6 and 9" and stands at 10.5 mag. right now: https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/message/35019 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2374472359736249 with the latest picture by Jäger & Rhemann here - less than 4 weeks til perihelion, and the brightness continues to rise with a strong n~8 ...

The privately funded large space telescope #Lazuli now has a company (SSTL) that will build the spacecraft bus and a university (UofA) building two of its three instruments: https://www.sstl.co.uk/media-hub/latest-news/2026/sstl-joins-the-eric-and-wendy-schmidt-observatory-system’s-lazuli and https://news.arizona.edu/news/u-build-instruments-new-space-telescope

The Constraint of Crewed Mars Missions Based on Current Radiation Dose Measurements: #Mars: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/The_radiation_paradox_why_solar_maximum_is_the_safest_time_to_travel_to_Mars

Finally an #ArtemisII update on https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/08/nasa-conducts-repairs-analysis-ahead-of-next-artemis-ii-fueling-test/ - "technicians have replaced two seals in an area where operators saw higher than allowable hydrogen gas concentrations during the test. Engineers are analyzing the removed seals and developing plans to address all issues ahead of the next rehearsal." No date for that new wet dress rehearsal has been set, and a launch date will be determined only after it is over.

Significant #fireball over Germany this evening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQFVOHSBGDw. Many visual reports, too: https://fireball.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2026/1467

The planets #Venus and #Saturn in #conjunction 1/2 hour ago over Bochum, Germany - easily caught with a hand-held bridge camera at 1/4 and 1/3.2 second, f/2.8 and ISO 800 but marginal even in 11x70 binoculars: bad sky transparency, caused mostly by Sahara dust AFAIK took its toll. At these images with the best *photographic* contrast the Sun was 8 1/2° below the horizon while Saturn and Venus were 3 1/4° and 3 3/4° high, with the latter 83 times brighter.

Still Accelerating - Type Ia supernova #cosmology is robust to host galaxy age evolution: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13785 -> Standardizing Standard Candles - Exploring the (lack of a) Bias in Cosmological Distance Measurements: https://astrobites.org/2026/03/07/supernovaagebias_rebuttal/

#LittleRedDot variability over a century reveals black hole envelope via a giant Einstein cross: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05180 -> One image tracks the same cosmic object across space and time. It's all down to a strange quirk of physics: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/rxc-j2211-0350-little-red-dots

The #Crew12 NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will hold a live interview at the top of the hour from Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of their mission to the International Space Station: stream at https://www.youtube.com/live/3CuHCROAwRI

Abundant hydrocarbons in a buried #GalacticNucleus with signs of carbonaceous grain and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon processing: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04967 -> JWST reveals exceptional richness of organic molecules: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/news/jwst-reveals-exceptional-richness-organic-molecules

Does the Measured Abundance Suggest a Biological Origin for the Ancient Alkanes Preserved in a Martian Mudstone? #Mars Organics: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/science-news/2026/02/06/nasa-study-non-biologic-processes-dont-fully-explain-mars-organics/

So here is the context of the crazy 1985 magazine illustrration: you find the complete article at https://archive.org/details/Unix_World_Vol02_02.pdf/page/n29/mode/2up h/t Ralf Bülow on X

CH3OH and HCN in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Mapped with the ALMA Atacama Compact Array - Distinct Outgassing Behaviors and a Remarkably High CH3OH/HCN Production Rate Ratio: #3IATLAS: https://public.nrao.edu/news/alma-detects-extremely-abundant-alcohol-in-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas/ - astronomers capture a chemical snapshot of planet formation beyond our solar system.

So there is an upcoming novel about #asteroid #2024YR4 which has just sold its movie rights: #TheLastOrbit eventually figure out that it's not only no risk for Earth anymore (as has been known for a year now, of course) but also not for the Moon. Talk about bad timing ... ;-)

Direct detection of an asteroid’s heliocentric deflection - the Didymos system after DART: #DART Mission Changed Orbit of #Asteroid #Didymos Around Sun: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/dart/nasas-dart-mission-changed-orbit-of-asteroid-didymos-around-sun/

The oldest Milky Way stars - new constraints on the age of the #Universe and the Hubble constant: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/03/aa57038-25/aa57038-25.html -> How old is the Universe? The oldest stars give us a clue: https://www.aip.de/en/news/how-old-is-the-universe/

GWTC-4.0 - an Introduction to Version 4.0 of the #GravitationalWave Transient Catalog: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae0c06 -> The latest crop of space-time wobbles includes a variety of heavy, fast-spinning, and lopsided colliding black holes: https://physics.mit.edu/news/new-catalog-more-than-doubles-the-number-of-gravitational-wave-detections-made-by-ligo-virgo-and-kagra-observatories/ / New catalog of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observations published: https://www.aei.mpg.de/1415736/new-catalog-of-ligo-virgo-kagra-observations-published - the latest catalog, GWTC-4, includes 128 new candidates from the fourth observing run, more than doubling the previous total.

#GlobalWarming Has Accelerated Significantly: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2025GL118804 -> Significant acceleration of global warming since 2015: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/significant-acceleration-of-global-warming-since-2015

An anomaly onboard the #Proba3 mission’s Coronagraph spacecraft led to loss of contact between the spacecraft and ground control: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Work_ongoing_to_restore_contact_with_Proba-3_s_Coronagraph - the root cause of the anomaly is under investigation and mission teams are working hard to recover the situation.

Improved measurements of the age of JWST #galaxies at z = 6 − 10: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/546/2/stag089/8426287?login=false -> Do we actually know how old the Universe is? https://astrobites.org/2026/03/05/how_old_is_the_universe/

Characteristics of Natural Remanence Records in Fine-Grained Particles Returned From Asteroid Ryugu: #Ryugu by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@PlanetariumBochum/116185089574467129
Comet West 50 years ago - it's time for such a show again in the northern hemisphere!

Evidence of Recent Material Transport within a Binary Asteroid System: #DART Mission Data Reveals that Asteroids Throw ‘Cosmic Snowballs’ at Each Other: https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/news/jessica-sunshine-tony-farnham-new-nasa-dart-mission-data-reveals-asteroids-throw-cosmic-snowballs - astronomers found evidence that rocks continuously travel between Didymos and its smaller moon Dimorphos, reshaping our understanding of how near-Earth asteroids evolve over time.

A catalog to unite them all - #REGALADE, a revised galaxy compilation for the advanced detector era: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/02/aa56896-25/aa56896-25.html -> 80 million galaxies - gigantic astronomical catalog viewable online: https://www.heise.de/en/news/80-million-galaxies-Gigantic-astronomical-catalog-viewable-online-11202479.html

High-precision Relativistic Timescales for #Cislunar Navigation: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae25ff -> interview with the author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKU1vsHsdY4

3D Reconstruction of #DART Ejecta at #Dimorphos Reveals an Anisotropic, Filamentary Structure: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ae2c64 -> Pulling Back the Curtain on DART Ejecta: https://aasnova.org/2026/03/06/pulling-back-the-curtain-on-dart-ejecta/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@europeanspaceflight/116182982779024614
Two tiny German satellites (PocketQubes) will be among the payloads, ERMINAZ-1U and ERMINAZ-1V: see https://forum.amsat-dl.org/index.php?thread/4540-erminaz-1v-and-erminaz-1u/ and https://destevez.net/2024/06/decoding-erminaz/ for details.

Light curve of the defective #Proba3 satellite in the sky, from the video https://x.com/s2a_systems/status/2030056859353194647 - the "CSC shows currently a repeating rotation pattern of approximately 1150 seconds."

RE: https://vox.ominous.net/@occult/116103841606429399
Extra points for anyone who can explain what she is *doing* here! I cannot ...

Ubiquitous High-frequency Waves and Disturbances in the Active Region Corona Observed with Cryo-NIRSP: #CORONA STAYS SO HOT AND HOW THE SOLAR WIND IS LAUNCHED INTO SPACE.

RE: #PrimordialBlackHoles near the end!

Martian ionospheric response during the may 2024 solar #superstorm: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69468-z -> ESA’s Mars orbiters watch solar superstorm hit the Red Planet: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/ESA_s_Mars_orbiters_watch_solar_superstorm_hit_the_Red_Planet

The Stochastic Siren - Astrophysical Gravitational-Wave Background Measurements of the #HubbleConstant: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.01997 -> Illinois and UChicago physicists develop a new method to measure the expansion rate of the universe: https://physics.illinois.edu/news/Hubble-tension-expansion-rate-of-universe

Exo–IPM Scattering as a Hidden Gatekeeper of Narrowband Technosignatures: #SETI Might Have Been Missing Alien Signals: https://www.seti.org/news/why-seti-might-have-been-missing-alien-signals/ - turbulent plasma near distant stars could blur ultra-narrow signals before they leave their home star systems, making them difficult to detect.

The dramatic transition of the extreme red supergiant WOH G64 to a yellow hypergiant: #stars

New observations of the #NearEarthAsteroid #2024YR4 with the #Webb Telescope are now also, like the recently discovered precovery positions, firmly excluding a crash into the Moon: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/planetary-defense/2026/03/05/new-nasa-asteroid-observations-eliminate-chance-of-2032-lunar-impact/ - all the studies (and speculations) about consequences for Earth of such a lunar impact are now merely an exercise. But one day ... ;-)

Short-Term Variability of Jupiter's Satellite Footprints as Spotted by JWST: #Jupiter

The seismic diversity of four successive #SolarCycle minima as observed by the Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network (BiSON): https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/547/1/stag277/8472642 -> Forty years of data give unique insight into Sun’s inner life: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/forty-years-of-data-give-unique-insight-into-suns-inner-life - scientists reveal that even small differences in solar magnetic activity produce detectable changes inside the Sun.

So the new #Kreutz #comet #MAPS is *still* following the constant rapid rise in brightness it has shown since discovery: a dumb extrapolation - https://cobs.si/analysis/?comet=2688&from_date=2026-01-15 00:00&to_date=2026-04-30 00:00&observation_type=V&observation_type=C&plot_x_value=1&plot_y_value=1&fit_option=1&exclude_faint=on&exclude_issue=on&observer=&association=&country=&compare_values=compare - has it get 10,000-times brighter than the Sun at its extremely close perihelion which makes so sense at all, of course, physically.
"It must therefore be assumed that this increase in activity will level off significantly in the near future," writes https://fg-kometen.vdsastro.de/koj_2026/c2026a1/26a1eaus.htm: "More likely are parameters m m0=12.0 mag / n=4 (or even lower), which would still result in a (very short-term) maximum brightness of about –9 mag (but this would probably still be significantly too bright) – always assuming that the comet survives its perihelion passage unscathed."
For other views see http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005600/CBET005663.txt and https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17626 and https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10236580364221799 and https://cometografia.es/cometa-kreutz-2026-a1-maps-analisis/ - and the actual brightness is tracked at https://cobs.si/obs_list?id=2688 where it has reached ~11.5 mag. now.

A particularly spectacular #JellyfishEffect - #Falcon9 launch from #CapeCanaveral: a realtime video of its formation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n19M0opzSE, a timelapse at https://www.facebook.com/reel/1687387959309966, a webcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU_V0DIkXJw with stills at https://bsky.app/profile/nasaspaceflight.com/post/3mga7rwfzjs2u and more pictures in
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2029173176123449567
https://www.facebook.com/MattDevittWeather/posts/pfbid032FFwnAhw4QUPDso2uotpMv5xnZYbGoDmZcx7UGzQ82Uin9T8vAnmMsR6NZaxZPYsl
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623482615358856/
https://www.facebook.com/LaunchPhoto/posts/pfbid02avAUHt1edWKdPAFASkUGq7HWtyD6L7AxnETXuxxfnUm17WsTnMm4ctoYQFGp2hWNl
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623523352021449/
https://www.facebook.com/rkashka/posts/pfbid02XfzeHSxsD84hT8e7dKQ3a2sroV3dgpeefELmCHVBUMMnFzet8YwGAqefFqmRp8dGl
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623573082016476/
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0yJ1yaNYNy92SamPfMnsGmY96F4oYR8zDrzWUf9vR2FPisxhAcZ9tGrbWsJJ9ccCtl&id=100082997509705
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623475792026205/
https://www.facebook.com/internationalspacestation83/posts/pfbid0iUCxC19qkZfnSt1VkZoh6agXygZqBS4HAtQ64KDP547WiEM7tB1fELCcXJSVVdbYl
https://www.facebook.com/groups/spacexgroup/posts/10165280564121318/
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid021uiBj7WSK4R7ghscKjV8pKU5dGroAnjthmpvD7d2FXxSUgrNvzLwWFRc2M4cGTUfl&id=61584464880089
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623417872031997/
https://www.facebook.com/Launchheaven/posts/pfbid0NrnQHDb6nMT4ELxUeCxMcYyfyUfbraiyvEkcJSkmd5oC9aXbGvncvWiKLfSH4218l
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623436118696839/
https://bsky.app/profile/wordsmithfl.bsky.social/post/3mga7d6bczc2b
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623436242030160/
https://bsky.app/profile/herrea.bsky.social/post/3mga53echrs2a
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623440722029712/
https://x.com/johnkrausphotos/status/2029180436929200188
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623402792033505/
https://x.com/nyoomtm/status/2029149765947035696
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623442242029560/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaceLaunchSchedule/posts/1623411748699276/
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10226811626871617
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10164745548921477
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10163648738894793
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=911907484916077

On the night of February 5, 2026, the #Rubin team submitted a large batch of approximately 20,000 #asteroid candidate discoveries to the #MinorPlanetCenter, corresponding to roughly 246,000 individual observations: https://minorplanetcenter.net/media/newsletters/MPC_Newsletter_Feb2026.pdf - the "MPC successfully processed the entire submission. This unusually large batch provided a valuable end-to end stress test of our pipeline and allowed us to identify a few bottlenecks and areas where performance and automation can be improved."

Bundle adjustment of Hayabusa2's ONC images and controlled color mosaic map of #Ryugu: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.12554 <- https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/WW3IH0

#Extremophile survives the transient pressures associated with impact-induced ejection from #Mars: #panspermia

Lyα Intensity Mapping in HETDEX - Galaxy-Lyα Intensity Cross-power Spectrum: #Universe: https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20260303

In this image, ESA’s #Euclid space telescope captures a panoramic view of a dying star: the Cat’s Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Hubble_Euclid_zoom_into_cosmic_eye - in the near-infrared and visible light view, the arcs and filaments of the nebula’s bright central region are situated within a halo of colourful fragments of gas zooming away from the star. The nebula stands out against a backdrop teeming with distant galaxies, demonstrating how local astrophysical beauty and the farthest reaches of the cosmos can be seen together in modern astronomical surveys.

While the camera still had no problem getting #Venus and #Saturn clearly this evening with the Sun 10° below the #Bochum horizon, the latter was not evident to the naked eye anymore (as it had been yesterday) at any solar depression - game over? Also the full moon rising, sadly long uneclipsed again. More pictures from this evening in https://www.facebook.com/dan.fischer.393/posts/pfbid037uKnrWeiChGm7m379BB3CyG5xj9byMqCziA4p1WNWrcdvkHbuuqfe3ea7ps5QDAYl

Discovery of the most compact 3 1-type quadruple star system TIC 120362137: #StarSystem Yet: https://gizmodo.com/4-body-problem-astronomers-spot-the-most-tightly-packed-quadruple-star-system-yet-2000728811

Here are recordings of seven webcasts of last night's total #LunarEclipse that actually worked (with the time stamp of totality beginning):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQLcLAfilkQ from 2:31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TywJ47LZ-Ic from 1:53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdASZ4AGXeY from 8:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQuzWYn2WJw from 2:35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeOlqcK5Edg from 2:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-_LYVuIEE from 0:47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGxr_kinPmk from 5:53
Many suffered from clouds - as did even Mauna Kea where a sensitive wide angle camera was eventually able to capture the sky around the dark Moon, however:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJV9EHB05qc (5th hour)
Here are various early timelapse attempts:
https://bsky.app/profile/astrodave.bsky.social/post/3mg5xbiwuvc22
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1999310513984541
https://scicomm.xyz/@david@theblower.au/116165095846134092
https://www.facebook.com/reel/905832598970486
https://bsky.app/profile/nasaspaceflight.com/post/3mg5venqfds2h
This one from an all-sky camera in Alaska features a lot of aurora, better to see during totality:
https://x.com/landon_wx/status/2028820535757472112
And finally one with the Moon setting before totality:
https://bsky.app/profile/naztronomy.com/post/3mg5tzlesxk2p

Moon rising and #Venus und #Saturn setting from #Bochum, Germany, today: the 2nd image coincided with 1.0-mag.-Saturn just having become visible to the naked eye, at an elevation of 6 3/4° with a solar depression of 9 3/4°. More pictures in the album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=dan.fischer.393&set=a.10233358390356655 from image 45.

Short-term survival of #tardigrades (Ramazzottius cf. varieornatus and Hypsibius exemplaris) in #martian #regolith simulants (MGS-1 and OUCM-1): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/shortterm-survival-of-tardigrades-ramazzottius-cf-varieornatus-and-hypsibius-exemplaris-in-martian-regolith-simulants-mgs1-and-oucm1/8A91986096FB533FB264DD056F549DF2 -> ‘Water bears’ reveal potential for adapting, protecting Martian resources: https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/water-bears-reveal-potential-adapting-protecting-martian-resources - microscopic tardigrades help inform how simulated Martian soil might support plant life and mitigate contaminants shedding from human explorers, researchers report -> Scientists Finally Found Something Tardigrades Can’t Survive: https://gizmodo.com/scientists-finally-found-something-tardigrades-cant-survive-2000728358 - tardigrades are practically invincible on Earth, so scientists looked to outer space in search of their kryptonite.

#2024YR4 - Identification of Possible Precoveries in 2016 IPTF Data: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00449 -> "These candidate detections, not accounting for any currently-undetected Yarkovsky forces, predict a perilune of 22001 /- 49 km and a perigee of 277534 /- 46 km (relative to the center of each respective body) representing an improvement of > 300 times in the approach distance uncertainty above the existing orbit solution and, if confirmed, decisively ruling out a lunar impact in 2032" -> https://groups.io/g/mpml/message/41437

A clear detection of #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) on the morning of March 2 "despite the 99% illuminated Moon, morning twilight and the comet at an altitude of 4.2 degrees": https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/message/34974 -> "The fact that the comet is showing this much detail under such bad conditions with such bad equipment and software bodes well for what we expect will be a very nice comet in the next few months."

No Observational Evidence for Dark Matter Nor a Large Metallicity Spread in the Extreme #MilkyWay Satellite Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae29b8 -> Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 - Dwarf Galaxy or Star Cluster? https://aasnova.org/2026/03/02/ursa-major-iii-unions-1-dwarf-galaxy-or-star-cluster/

Only a few regions on our planet - just west and east and especially inside of the dark zone in this NASA map which is mostly the Pacific Ocean - will have a good view of the full totality from 11:04 to 12:03 UTC of the #LunarEclipse today, but there will be webcasts galore to try out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TywJ47LZ-Ic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZCZcS45jg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeOlqcK5Edg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOgOLKgNyLo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtL3BA94t5g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJUW0Kx4Eg0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQLcLAfilkQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-_LYVuIEE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl9UAUiqNKM
Also https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10164029689080320 = a graphic, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd1R8rrAMzw = an animation, https://groups.io/g/mpml/message/41436 = satellites near the dark Moon, https://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2026Mar03Tprime.html and https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/march-2026-total-lunar-eclipse-your-questions-answered/ and https://solarsteam.siu.edu/3march2026_tle/ and https://www.timeanddate.com/live/eclipse-lunar-2026-march-3 and https://news.siu.edu/2026/02/022426-siu-to-host-viewing-party-for-march-3-total-lunar-eclipse.php and https://www.perthobservatory.com.au/astronomy-events/2026-total-lunar-eclipse = websites, https://scicomm.xyz/@AkaSci@fosstodon.org/116156904320261558 = a thread, https://www.space.com/news/live/total-lunar-eclipse-blood-moon-march-3-2026-live-updates = updates, and https://gizmodo.com/the-march-3-total-lunar-eclipse-sounds-amazing-but-theres-a-catch-2000726548 and https://www.geekwire.com/2026/total-lunar-eclipse-visibility-weather/ and https://www.astronomy.com/observing/how-to-watch-the-lunar-eclipse-online/ and https://www.space.com/stargazing/lunar-eclipses/watch-the-blood-moon-total-lunar-eclipse-on-march-3-with-these-free-livestreams = articles.

Thermal Stability of Ice at #Shackleton Crater - Implications for Water Ice Detection for the Chang’E-7 Mission: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ae3c86 -> Chinese scientists map ice "treasure map" for Chang'e-7 mission at moon's south pole: https://english.news.cn/20260227/404c567a54394e19a093832fb8d57929/c.html

The *other* potentially quite interesting April #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) has been recovered in morning twilight: https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/message/34973 - it "has brightened nicely since my last observation on February 9 when it was in evening twilight at magnitude 13.3, magnitude calculations on the mornings of February 27/28 found the comet at magnitude 11.1 and 10.7 but I am sure the coma is a lot bigger and not fully reflected in these magnitude measurements."

MeerKAT discovery of a high-redshift strongly-lensed hydroxyl #gigamaser: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13396 -> MeerKAT discovers record-breaking cosmic laser halfway across the universe: https://www.sarao.ac.za/news/meerkat-discovers-record-breaking-cosmic-laser-halfway-across-the-universe/

The British press is furious about the hoax of the #planet parade that didn't happen ... generated with https://stirring-fox-7e1fab.netlify.app ;-)