Tootfinder

400 years ago #OTD the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini a.k.a. #Cassini I (because they would become an astro-dynasty) was born: while #meridiana of Bologna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Petronio,_Bologna

Madleen
Thinking of everyone on the Madleen. I hope they're okay.
And thinking in a different way of all the politicians who are or aren't going to do anything about Israel's illegal hijacking.
#Madleen #Israel #law

Juno Observations of Io's Alfvén Wing From 23 Io Radii: #Alfvén wing at a distance of ∼23 #Io radii south of the moon during perijove 62. Evidence for this passage was clearly seen in the #Juno plasma wave, magnetometer, and plasma data. The plasma wave signature was an intensification of quasi-electrostatic waves below about 1 kHz with a weaker magnetic component, all lasting for about two minutes. A strong perturbation of the magnetic field consistent with strong field-aligned currents was observed at the edges of the Alfvén wing. Ions in the range below about 1 keV/q were slowed within the Alfvén wing. As with other measurements in Io's Alfvén wing, we observe evidence of filamentation. The power in the Alfvén wing based on the measured Poynting flux is estimated to be ∼500–1,500 × 109 W."

True #PolarWander Driven by Artificial Water Impoundment - 1835–2011: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL115468 -> Water storage in dams has caused minute shifts in Earth’s poles: https://news.agu.org/press-release/water-storage-in-dams-has-caused-minute-shifts-in-earths-poles/

Nottingham, short visit rent or housesit, anyone know a place?
Nottingham-related #AskFedi: anyone know of a Nottingham-area house or flat that's going to be empty over part or all of the summer? and that's potentially rentable for not too much for a few days, or wants house-sitting for a while?
It would be so that me and a friend/colleague could go and use the space to do some writing work together. We are reliable conscientious old(ish) people who'd leave it clean and not be any bother :-)
Boosts very welcome.
#Nottingham #AskFedi

A timelapse of #interstellar comet ATLAS in the sky from the VLT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXJ221XXPvM. And there are already three papers: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02757 (Discovery and Preliminary Characterization of a Third Interstellar Object: 3I/ATLAS), https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05252 (Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: discovery and physical description) and https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05226 (Initial VLT/MUSE spectroscopy of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS).

Exoplanet Atmospheric Refraction Effects in the #Kepler Sample: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02126 -> "We present an analysis on the detection viability of refraction effects in Kepler's exoplanet atmospheres using binning techniques for their light curves in order to compare against simulated refraction effects. We split the Kepler exoplanets into sub-populations according to orbital period and planetary radius, then search for out-of-transit changes in the relative flux associated with atmospheric refraction of starlight. The presence of refraction effects - or lack thereof - may be used to measure and set limits on the bulk properties of an atmosphere, including mean molecular weight or the presence of hazes.
In this work, we use the presence of refraction effects to test whether exoplanets above the period-radius valley have H/He atmospheres, which high levels of stellar radiation could evaporate away, in turn leaving rocky cores below the valley. We find strong observational evidence of refraction effects for exoplanets above the period-radius valley based on Kepler photometry, however those related to optically thin H/He atmospheres are not common in the observed planetary population. This result may be attributed to signal dampening caused by clouds and hazes, consistent with the optically thick and intrinsically hotter atmospheres of Kepler exoplanets caused by relatively close host star proximity."

EP 250108a/SN 2025kg - observations of the most nearby Broad-Line Type Ic #Supernova following an Einstein Probe Fast X-ray Transient / The kangaroo's first hop - the early fast cooling phase of EP250108a/SN 2025kg: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.08889 / https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.08886 -> Supernova’s ‘Trapped’ Jet Reveals Source of Fast X-ray Transient / International Gemini Observatory and SOAR Discover Surprising Link Between Fast X-ray Transients and the Explosive Death of Massive Stars: https://keckobservatory.org/fxt/ / https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2520/ - mysterious cosmic explosion is traced to a massive stellar explosion / a breakthrough in astronomy’s understanding of how stars larger than our Sun explode.

In a joint statement, every living former head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate SMD — the agency's top science leadership position — has condemned the White House's proposed 47% cuts to #NASA science activities in the White House’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal: https://www.planetary.org/press-releases/nasa-science-chiefs-letter-press-release

47 Tuc in Rubin Data Preview 1 - Exploring Early LSST Data and Science Potential: #Rubin Observatory is Just Getting Started: https://www.universetoday.com/articles/globular-clusters-the-vera-rubin-observatory-is-just-getting-started (based on ComCam images just released in bulk).

Rising surface salinity and declining sea ice - a new Southern Ocean state revealed by satellites: #salinity across the circumpolar Southern Ocean since 2015. This shift has weakened upper-ocean stratification, coinciding with a dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice coverage. Additionally, rising salinity facilitated the reemergence of the Maud Rise polynya in the Weddell Sea, a phenomenon last observed in the mid-1970s. Crucially, we demonstrate that satellites can now monitor these changes in real time, providing essential evidence of the Southern Ocean’s potential transition toward persistently reduced sea ice coverage" -> A change in the Southern Ocean structure can have climate implications: https://www.icm.csic.es/en/news/change-southern-ocean-structure-can-have-climate-implications (the original version of this press release was full of errors as https://bsky.app/profile/mkreutzfeldt.bsky.social/post/3ltednz76r226 has documented but - as https://bsky.app/profile/micefearboggis.bsky.social/post/3ltemt57qhc2u points out - the correction was done in a most intransparent way).

Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades / Observed trend in Earth energy imbalance may provide a constraint for low climate sensitivity models: #Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models forecast – and the rate has doubled in 20 years: https://theconversation.com/earth-is-trapping-much-more-heat-than-climate-models-forecast-and-the-rate-has-doubled-in-20-years-258822

Evolution of Cluster Alignments as Evidence of Large-scale Structure Formation in the Universe: #GalaxyClusters trace invisible highways of dark matter stretching up to a billion light years across the universe; even more remarkable, the clusters point the way to their neighbors.

A New High-latitude H I Cloud Complex Entrained in the Northern Fermi Bubble: #FermiBubbles, revealing the Milky Way’s most extreme outflows are younger and more complex than ever imagined.

A beautifully-made union banner from the May Day march :-)
#Nottingham

masks at protests / demographics 2/n
I wonder about the influence of employment, as well. If you're at risk every work day, I could well imagine it seeming pointless to start being careful the rest of the time, and maybe just too cognitively dissonant to consider.
I remember in 2020, someone I knew was working at Waterstones, and they were forbidden to mask up at work - even though 2020 was before the whole "covid is over" thing.
I also remember reading about someone - maybe a nurse? that _kind_ of job, anyway - who'd started wearing a fitted mask while the default in their workplace was baggy blues, and iirc was formally rebuked. It wasn't allowed.
If for whatever reason you're unable to hold down a typical job, you might not have much cash for _getting_ things like masks, but you're also not under that same kind of economic pressure to put yourself at risk.
#masks #work #CovidIsntOver

Both #stratosphere balloons launched today in Bochum, Germany, could be recovered quickly (one from a tree, the other from a field) and the storage cards are in good shape, with 50 GBytes of data including e.g. hi-res video of the explosion of one of the balloons. Stay tuned ...

The trajectories of two #stratosphere balloons launched within 1/2 hour from a school in Bochum, Germany (lower left), today: at first they took quite similar paths, including a sharp turn, then they decided to make mosre turns but at different times. Both are on the ground now, no word yet from the recovery teams.

Some impressions from the double #stratosphere balloon launch in Bochum, Germany, today - more pictures in the album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=dan.fischer.393&set=a.10230589908466338

There is a tiny chance that a very short impact flash occurred on #Saturn on July 5th 2025, between 09:00 and 09:15 UT. It is very important we could get other videos of Saturn taken during that time frame: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10093114884107100&set=a.808337092584972 - keep your Saturn videos taken on 2025.07.05 09h00UT-09:15UT (only original videos could confirm an impact).

masks at protests / demographics
Interestingly, at the May Day gathering I was the only one in a mask.
Thinking about the contrast with the trans protest the other week, where "good" (fitted not floppy) masks were dotted about throughout the crowd, and felt normalised.
Today's march was a less crowded event than the trans protest, so pretty low-risk for covid transmission anyway. But then when we got to the mini-fair after the march, indoors at the Friends' Meeting House, I didn't see anyone masking indoors either.
I wonder about the demographics of that difference. Seems like there's a traditional union/Labour left who share the mainstream denial of present-day covid, and a statistically more disabled & marginalised cohort where trans awareness and disability/illness awareness overlap.
#masks #CovidIsntOver

Some statistics about all robotic #LunarLanding attempts so far from 1965 to 2025 compiled from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_the_Moon and https://scicomm.xyz/@AkaSci@fosstodon.org/114636519291241321 in which I only count those for which descent to the surface had been initiated, not missions lost at launch or on the way - in a nutshell ~70% of all landings by government agencies went well (essentially the same rate 60 years ago and now!) but only ~30% by private companies. Here goes ...
There have been two separate periods of soft lunar landing attempts of ca. a dozen years each, from 1965 to 1976 and 2013 to 2025 (ongoing) with a huge gap between them.
In the first interval there were 20 attempts with 13 successes (Luna 9, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 24 and Surveyor 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7), one partial success (Luna 23, counting as 50%) and 6 failures (Luna 5, 7, 8, 15 and 18 and Surveyor 4), so the success rate was 13.5/20 = 68 %. All missions were by - the Soviet and U.S. - governments.
In the second interval there were so far 14 attempts with 6 full successes (Chang'e-3, 4, 5 and 6, Vikram 2 and Blue Ghost), three partial successes (SLIM, IM-1 and 2, counting as 75%, 50% and 25%, respectively) and 5 failures (Beresheet, Vikram 1, Hakuto-R 1 and 2 and Luna 25) so the success rate was 7.5 / 14 = 54%.
But looking only at the government missions it was 72%, slighly up from 50 years ago. While for the commercial attempts it was only 29%. In total the success rate was 19 (18 government-run) missions out of 34 (28) attempts or 62% but 69% for governments only. And if you throw in the 6 Apollo landings, the total success rate rises to 68% and the government-only rate goes even up to 75%.

Deep learning inference with the #EventHorizonTelescope I. Calibration improvements and a comprehensive synthetic data library / II. The ZINGULARITY framework for Bayesian artificial neural networks / III. ZINGULARITY results from the 2017 observations and predictions for future array expansions: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/06/aa53784-25/aa53784-25.html / https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/06/aa53785-25/aa53785-25.html / https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/06/aa53786-25/aa53786-25.html -> Self-learning neural network cracks iconic black holes: https://www.astronomie.nl/nieuws/en/self-learning-neural-network-cracks-iconic-black-holes-4528

Nottingham May Day march
Lining up for the march now. More banners popping up! UCU, Unite, XR, Defend Ukraine, No Cuts, a handmade placard about Sherwood Library. I brought a rainbow flag myself.
#Nottingham #MayDay2025

Completion of scientific balloon flight BS25-02 - Preliminary experiment (III-1) - toward a precise verification of #GeneralRelativity based on laser frequency transfer: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/004025.html

Planets similar in size are often dissimilar in interior: #planets with similar radii, we show that their masses and interior structures are often disparate, indicating that even within the same system, similarity in radii is not necessarily a good proxy for similarity in composition or the physical nature of the planets."

Dark matter spiral arms in Milky Way-like halos: #DarkMatter trailing galaxy arms: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/simulations-find-ghostly-whirls-of-dark-matter-trailing-galaxy-arms/

Jupiter's Auroral Ionosphere - Juno Microwave Radiometer Observations of Energetic Electron Precipitation Events: #Juno: https://astrobites.org/2025/06/05/juno_microwave_jupiter/

Monitoring changes in nighttime lights and anthropogenic CO2 emissions during geopolitical conflicts from a remote sensing perspective: #ALAN

The signal from #Hakuto-R Mission 2 #Resilience live as received by the big #Bochum dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkRSWm0vAaM

How the Bochum dish lost the signal from #Resilience at 19:15:33 UTC which would be 1 to 2 minutes before the nominal landing time. It never came back - while on the webcast, which just aborted, they didn't say *anything* and refer to a news briefing in a few hours. Same crisis (non-)communication as two years ago, I'm afraid ...

excellent analysis of covid state of play
From Julia Doubleday.
"Each time a new wave crops up, the media scrambles to let the public know that COVID is spreading “again” ... But each time, it fails to inform the public that nearly half of COVID cases are asymptomatic, that COVID looks different in different patients, that vaccines do not prevent infections, that rapid tests have high false negative rates, and that COVID is fully airborne.
"Taken together, the virus I’m describing is much more difficult to control than the one the press presents. The press frames the virus as something that can be halted by familiarizing yourself with the symptoms, staying home once you feel sick and test positive, and avoided altogether by simply getting vaccinated or keeping ones’ distance from sick people. ...
"The misinformation that reigns in liberal spaces is not the result of accidental miscommunication. People don’t know that the virus is asymptomatic 40% of the time because there is simply no universe where that virus is controllable without an elimination strategy, or a day-to-day mitigation strategy."
#covid #misinformation #denial #CovidIsAirborne

free webinar on patient-led research into Long Covid & ME/CFS, Wed 9 July 2025
"Patient-Led Research Fund Webinar 2025 ...
"Come see the results and latest progress from the 10 studies funded by the Patient-Led Research Fund — biomedical research projects selected by a panel of patient-researchers with both scientific expertise and lived experience of Long COVID and/or ME/CFS.
"Wednesday, July 9
10:00 am – 1:30 pm PT
1:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET"
(which I think is 6pm-9.30pm UK time)
#MECFS #LongCovid #research

The #Resilience post-crash (?) press conference will stream momentarily on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yr1a-hf7SQ - apparently with English translation.

ODIN - Star Formation Histories Reveal Formative #Starbursts Experienced by Lyα-emitting Galaxies at Cosmic Noon: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adbf8c -> Looking Deeply Into the Universe’s Past, Scientists Detect Bursts of New Stars: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/looking-deeply-universes-past-scientists-detect-bursts-new-stars - prodigious star formation by special galaxies reveals the Milky Way’s origin story.

In the press release #Resilience mission failed and over: the lander crashed because of insufficient braking which in turn was caused by a problem with the laser altimeter. (This explains why LOS - probably by the impact - came over a minute too early.)

Sue Parfitt / Palestine Action / UK censorship
"An 83-year-old retired priest has been arrested for defying a newly enforced ban on pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action, just hours after the group was formally outlawed by the UK government.
"The Reverend Sue Parfitt, from Bristol, was detained for holding a placard that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” She was among more than 27 people arrested on Saturday for acts of defiance against the proscription."
#SueParfitt #PalestineAction #UKPol #UK #censorship

A transiting giant planet in orbit around a 0.2-solar-mass host star: #planet orbiting tiny star challenges theories on planet formation: https://warwick.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/discovery_of_giant_planet_orbiting_tiny_star_challenges_theories_on_planet_formation and https://www.news.uliege.be/cms/c_20434166/en/a-giant-planet-around-a-tiny-star-a-discovery-that-challenges-planet-formation-theories

COSMOS2025 - The COSMOS-Web galaxy catalog of photometry, morphology, redshifts, and physical parameters from JWST, HST, and ground-based imaging: #COSMOSWeb Unveils Largest Look Ever Into the Deep Universe: https://cosmos.astro.caltech.edu/news/87 -> thread https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jffd7lmmxzgstwjoad664sz4/post/3lqungqbyys2h with more links.

Ice sublimation in the dynamic HD 100453 disk reveals a rich reservoir of inherited complex organics: #Disk: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/key-building-block-life-discovered-planet-forming-disk - CfA astronomers have helped discover rare types of methanol, a building block required for life as we know it to form.

Evidence for a composite volcano on the rim of Jezero crater on Mars: #Mars — and its Habitability: https://cos.gatech.edu/news/volcano-hidden-plain-sight-could-help-date-mars-and-its-habitability

Magnetic Reconnection–driven Energization of Protons up to ∼400 keV at the Near-Sun Heliospheric Current Sheet: #reconnection in the nascent solar wind: https://www.swri.org/newsroom/press-releases/swri-led-research-finds-particles-energized-magnetic-reconnection-the-nascent-solar-wind

housing ownership law possibilities
Should we maybe have a law that says any one person or entity can only own a max of 2 houses? Or that you can only own 1 not being lived in by your immediate family?
I can see several reasonable use cases for having 1 extra house, including when an old person dies and the family takes a while to decide what's happening with their previous house. And we could debate those cases, and maybe even decide it's not worth arguing over 2 or 3 extra, because that isn't the biggest problem.
But I think we could possibly mostly agree that having one person or company own 5 or 10 or 50 or 500 houses just to extract profit from them is not good for overall wellbeing.
#housing #law #HouseOwnership #HousingMarket #renting #RentalMarket

X-Ray Polarization of the Magnetar 1E 1841−045 / IXPE Detection of Highly Polarized X-Rays from the Magnetar 1E 1841-045: #Magnetar Outburst: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/ixpe/nasas-ixpe-obtains-first-x-ray-polarization-measurement-of-magnetar-outburst/

The #interstellar #comet #ATLAS with a 2-meter telescope, from the AT "Deep g'-band Imaging of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS from the Two-meter Twin Telescope (TTT)" https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=17264 - other observations were reported in https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=17263 ("Interstellar Interloper C/2025 N1 is Active"), and there are a short JPL video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vzafaw0t08 and ESA and NASA press releases in https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_tracks_rare_interstellar_comet and https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/planetary-defense/2025/07/02/nasa-discovers-interstellar-comet-moving-through-solar-system/

Thread from @… on new covid variant Nimbus:
#covid #Nimbus #CovidIsntOver

The ALMA-CRISTAL survey - gas, dust, and stars in star-forming galaxies when the Universe was ~1 Gyr old -> Survey overview and case studies: #ALMA Reveals Stunning Details of Infant #Galaxies in the Early Universe: #Universe was just a toddler.

At the top of the hour on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEswYc8aFcw a *very* special live event in which music meets space science - in Bochum (Germany), Jaipur (India) and Alexandria (Egypt) ... simultaneously! We just had the - highly successful - premiere, now comes the online encore for the world.

Trump’s Budget Would Gut NASA Science — Zurbuchen Breaks His Silence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_8wplP-_aQ

The #asteroid discoveries during the commissioning of the #Rubin Observatory - 343,760 observations under station code X05, corresponding to 2103 unique objects, were submitted of which 2096 were indeed unknown, including 5 #NEOs - explained in great detail in https://minorplanetcenter.net/media/newsletters/MPC_Newsletter_Jun2025.pdf on pages 1-5.

Water ice in the #DebrisDisk around HD 181327: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08863 -> NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-119

The Growing Impact of Unintended #Starlink Broadband Emission on Radio Astronomy in the SKA-Low Frequency Range: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02831 -> "We report 112,534 individual detections of 1,806 unique Starlink satellites, some emitting broadband emission and others narrowband emission. [...] It is shown that in the worst cases, some datasets have a detectable Starlink satellite in ~30% of all images acquired. Emission from Starlink satellites is detected in primary and secondary frequency ranges protected by the International Telecommunication Union".

Enhanced magnetic activity in rapidly rotating #binary stars: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.19967 -> Pairs of stars that orbit each other exhibit unexpected magnetic activity: https://science.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/pairs-stars-orbit-each-other-exhibit-unexpected-magnetic-activity

The Striated Solar Photosphere Observed at 0.03" Resolution: #Sun: https://nso.edu/press-release/magnetic-curtains-on-the-sun-nsf-inouye-solar-telescope-reveals-ultra-fine-striations-in-solar-surface/ - NSF Inouye Solar Telescope Reveals Ultra-Fine Striations in Solar Surface.

TDCOSMO 2025 - cosmological constraints from strong lensing time delays: #H0 = 72-73, surprise, not) -> thread https://x.com/DScol/status/1930244844385120688

The VIIRS-DNB radiance product is insufficient to assess the effect of “cool pavement” materials on nighttime radiances of treated areas: #LightPollution

PSZ2 G181.06 48.47 - X-Ray Exploration of / Radio Analysis of / Weak-lensing Analysis and Merging Scenario Reconstruction of a Low-mass Cluster with Exceptionally Distant Radio Relics: #GalaxyClusters on Course to Crash Again, NASA's Chandra Finds: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/g181/ / https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/galaxy-clusters-on-course-to-crash-again-nasas-chandra-finds/

Evidence of haze control of Pluto’s atmospheric heat balance from JWST/MIRI thermal light curves: #Pluto

"Space: 2075": #Space2075

Sorcha - a Solar System Survey Simulator for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time: #Rubin Observatory will discover millions of solar system objects: https://www.geekwire.com/2025/sorcha-software-rubin-observatory-millions/

The most energetic transients - tidal disruptions of high-mass stars: #ExtremeNuclearTransients (ENTs) are the most energetic transients yet observed.

The third #interstellar object - formerly known as #A11pl3Z - has just been named 3I/ATLAS: #comet after all!

Faced with the growing risk that #LightPollution represents for the development of astronomy in Chile, international observatories with a presence in the country have formed a joint organization dedicated to protecting the dark skies of northern Chile: https://giantmagellan.org/2025/06/03/dark-skies-council-international-astronomical-observatories-join-forces-to-protect-chiles-skies/ - the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), the Giant Magellan Telescope, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and Carnegie Science’s Las Campanas Observatory (LCO), signed an agreement to create the Dark Skies Council; through this alliance, the institutions will work in a coordinated manner to protect Chile’s privileged skies.

The role of the Lorentz force in sunspot equilibrium: #sunspots - 400-year-old mystery now solved by astrophysicists at the Freiburg Institute of Solar Physics (KIS): https://www.leibniz-kis.de/en/news/article/die-stabilitaet-von-sonnenflecken-wissenschaftler-und-wissenschaftlerinnen-am-institut-fuer-sonnenphysik-kis-in-freiburg-loesen-ein-400-jahre-altes-raetsel/

Carbonate formation and fluctuating habitability on Mars: #Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover data may explain why planet was likely harsh desert for most of recent past.

The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon in the Standard Model - an update: #muon: https://nachrichten.idw-online.de/2025/06/03/muon-g-2-collaboration-announces-most-precise-measurement-of-the-anomalous-magnetic-moment-of-the-muon

Picture-perfect launch of #Meteosat Third Generation Sounder with the Sentinel 4 payload - minutes after deployment the satellite has already been heard from.

MTG-S1 and Sentinel-4 launch to change how we see our atmosphere: #MTGS1 satellite has been designed to generate a completely new type of data product, especially suited to nowcasting rapidly evolving storms, with three-dimensional views of the atmosphere, while Copernicus Sentinel-4, which consists of an instrument mounted on the MTG-S1 satellite, will be the first mission to monitor European air quality from geostationary orbit.

A clear #sunset on 29 June in Bochum, Germany - with two #sunspots quite evident at times and a strong #GreenRim near the end of the show: more timesteps in https://www.facebook.com/dan.fischer.393/posts/pfbid0vbP2AxckiSgX6hjVwNxJCuJ49mvcqMrJnP3EfDSjnzBKaJKfRnSTuYtzMnUm4Mrjl

High-velocity #MolecularClouds in M83: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/addab7 -> Milky Way-like galaxy M83 consumes high-speed clouds: https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/z0508_00416.html & https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/research-provides-new-insight-into-how-galaxies-evolve-over-time/ - unusually fast clouds of gas around nearby galaxy suggest extragalactic origin.

"Patricia #Espenak announced in an email that Fred passed away yesterday afternoon," Michael Zeiler just wrote on the Solar Eclipse Mailing List: "Fred was in hospice at their home in Portal, Arizona. Pat was holding his hand when he passed away and is devastated.
Fred had an extremely consequential life and was a giant in the solar eclipse community. Let‘s remember his enthusiasm for nature‘s greatest spectacle, his warm friendship to many of us, his generosity in sharing his knowledge, and his impact on all of us."
Obituaries: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/fred-espenak-1953-2025/ and https://www.astronomy.com/observing/fred-espenak-dies-at-71/

Now settled into low-Earth orbit, #SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) has begun delivering its sky survey data to a public archive on a weekly basis, allowing anyone to use the data to probe the secrets of the cosmos: https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/spherex-universe-map/

The Detection-vs-Retrieval Challenge - #Titan as an Exoplanet: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12144 -> Titan is the Perfect Benchmark for Studying Exoplanet Atmospheres: https://www.universetoday.com/articles/titan-is-the-perfect-benchmark-for-studying-exoplanet-atmospheres

Temporal variation in the cloud-top temperature of #Venus revealed by meteorological satellites: https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40623-025-02223-8 -> Meteorological satellites observe temperatures on Venus: https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/z0508_00415.html - the forecast is bright for future, long-term multiband monitoring of planets.

There is now also a CBET about the new interstellar #comet 3I/ATLAS: http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005500/CBET005578.txt - it comes with an even more precise orbit based on astrometry back to 5 June and predicts 13th magnitude with 60° elongation after perihelion in November. The current magnitude is about 17.7.

No certainty of a Milky Way–#Andromeda collision: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02563-1 -> Hubble and Gaia revisit fate of our galaxy: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Hubble_and_Gaia_revisit_fate_of_our_galaxy / Apocalypse When? Hubble Casts Doubt on Certainty of Galactic Collision: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/apocalypse-when-hubble-casts-doubt-on-certainty-of-galactic-collision/

MUSE observations that affirm the path to detonation of a Type Ia #supernova in a supernova remnant: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2511/eso2511a.pdf -> Double detonation - new image shows remains of star destroyed by pair of explosions: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2511/

What if we find nothing? Bayesian analysis of the statistical information of null results in future exoplanet habitability and #biosignature surveys: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.06779 -> interview with the first author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbnmxiTlBUo

Close-in planet induces flares on its host star / Searching for planet-induced radio signal from the young close-in planet host star HIP 67522: #planets can trigger own doom, suspect Cheops and TESS: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops/Clingy_planets_can_trigger_own_doom_suspect_Cheops_and_TESS

Astronomy as a strategic driver for sustainable development: #Astronomy for Development is to direct astronomy towards addressing urgent societal needs.

Prediction of Geoeffective CMEs Using SOHO Images and Deep Learning / First Observations of a Geomagnetic Superstorm With a Sub-L1 Monitor: #SolarStorms: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-missions-help-explain-predict-severity-of-solar-storms/

GOTO065054 593624 - an 8.5 mag amplitude dwarf nova identified in real time via Kilonova Seekers: #Kilonova Seekers - the GOTO project for real-time citizen science in time-domain astrophysics: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/533/2/2113/7735340?login=false -> A citizen science project has already identified 20 new astronomical discoveries: https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/citizen-science-project-identifies-20-new-astronomical-discoveries

The SDO HMI Sun at 22:23 UTC on 1 June - the two groups aren't that impressive anymore. And the X flare from the upper one did send a nice and fast CME that caused aurora in some world regions yesterday but so far Europe has been screwed ...

Two minutes til the Falcon 9 launch of #Meteosat Third Generation Sounder with the Sentinel 4 payload also aboard: webcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCTZj0hIAqE, more information at https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions/meteosat_third_generation/Watch_MTG-S1_and_Sentinel-4_launch_live and https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=mtgs1

The morning display of the #NoctilucentClouds on 30 June 2025 over Bochum, Germany, was impressive - and rich in all kinds of wave phenomena! Here is a small sample - see https://www.facebook.com/groups/nlcaroundtheworld/posts/1704146383554293/ for more and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=dan.fischer.393&set=a.10230510209273908 for the full series of the night.

The 43rd issue of The #Comet's Tale from the BAA is full of interesting articles: https://britastro.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/tail43.pdf (in https://britastro.org/section_information_/comet-section-overview/the-comets-tale all issues).

What a view! In the late evening of 29 June 2025 #NoctilucentClouds over Bochum, Germany, reached far towards the west - and touched the lunar crescent which in turn was sitting between Mars on the left and Regulus. What happened next / in the east: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=dan.fischer.393&set=a.10230510209273908

The SDO HMI - #Sun at 22:41 UTC on 30 May.

Today's solar activity - #Sun

This morning's #NLC show over Bochum, Germany: extended but not that bright, with only a few interesting details, selected here: See https://www.facebook.com/dan.fischer.393/posts/pfbid025vdCUuoc32qTjXDjTB6zXs9p3EXHSW6HkV4dAxsLirBMLTg2vNKQTykrU5Y5Hbzdl for the full series and https://www.facebook.com/groups/leuchtendenachtwolken/posts/3971122466444367/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/nlcaroundtheworld/posts/1703406993628232/ for other selections.

Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT 'EM) Survey - Confirmation of a Long-period Giant #Planet Discovered with a Single TESS Transit: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/add88b -> UNM astronomers confirm new gas giant exoplanet with help from citizen scientists worldwide: https://news.unm.edu/news/unm-astronomers-confirm-new-gas-giant-exoplanet-with-help-from-citizen-scientists-worldwide -> NASA exoplanet-hunting spacecraft and citizen scientists discover a cool new alien world: https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/nasa-exoplanet-hunting-spacecraft-and-citizen-scientists-discover-a-cool-new-alien-world

Evidence for a sub-Jovian planet in the young TWA 7 #disk : #Planet Imaged by NASA #Webb Is Lightest Ever Seen: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-126 and https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_finds_evidence_of_a_lightweight_planet_around_TWA_7

Observations of fine coronal structures with high-order solar adaptive optics: #AdaptiveOptics shows stunning details of our star’s atmosphere: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1085173

The details of the FY 2026 #NASA Budget Request are in: https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/ (May 30 documents) - and they are as devastating as feared. Lowlights - there are no highlights - are discussed by
https://bsky.app/profile/theplanetaryguy.bsky.social/post/3lqg6n4pdrc2h
https://bsky.app/profile/jtuttlekeane.bsky.social/post/3lqg7zzfgo224
https://bsky.app/profile/spacepolicyonline.bsky.social/post/3lqg6tjfthf2a
https://bsky.app/profile/carlrodriguez.bsky.social/post/3lqg7nttoek2c
https://bsky.app/profile/spacepolicyonline.bsky.social/post/3lqg7lr5kgh27
https://bsky.app/profile/leighfletcher.bsky.social/post/3lqg5x3if6s2i
https://bsky.app/profile/spacepolicyonline.bsky.social/post/3lqgagt4g6q2a
https://bsky.app/profile/spacetides.bsky.social/post/3lqg6eapuws2l
https://bsky.app/profile/jfoust.bsky.social/post/3lqg2wsbf7s2k
https://bsky.app/profile/tedpavlic.bsky.social/post/3lqg4ccpgnc25
https://bsky.app/profile/ohdearz.bsky.social/post/3lqgdmenyj22c4
https://bsky.app/profile/interplanetary.bsky.social/post/3lqgc5xvny22s
and in the articles https://spacenews.com/nasa-budget-would-cancel-dozens-of-science-missions-lay-off-thousands/ and https://www.science.org/content/article/dozens-active-and-planned-nasa-spacecraft-killed-trump-budget-request.
The NSF Budget Request is at least as disastrous:
https://bsky.app/profile/kgandersen.bsky.social/post/3lqg6c5nnas2h
https://bsky.app/profile/dangaristo.bsky.social/post/3lqg43xmdws2r
https://bsky.app/profile/carlrodriguez.bsky.social/post/3lqg6icalsc2t
https://bsky.app/profile/thirstygecko.bsky.social/post/3lqg6mojywk2s

Main belt asteroid mass estimation from high-precision astrometry: #Asteroid Masses: https://eos.org/articles/the-late-great-gaia-helps-reveal-asteroid-masses - astronomers are using data from the recently decommissioned star-mapping satellite to help determine masses and more accurate orbits of celestial bodies closer to home.

So far the 9th #Starship flight test is going close to nominal - the SuperHeavy booster was lost a bit early before its planned ditching, the Starship reach its suborbital trajectory without problems.

Lots of things going wrong now with flight test nine of the #Starship: first the payload doors didn't open and dummy satellites couldn't be deployed, then it sprung a leak, attitude control has been lost and the reentry in about 10 minutes will be at a radom angle and lead to a likely early loss of the vehicle. Which is still sending live video of its crazy ride over the Indian Ocean, though, thanks to Starlink ...

We're in for a great morning #NLC display in the coming hour: see e.g. https://webcam.wetternetz-hagen.de/webcam/Sternwarte-ERT/# for what a webcam in Hagen, Germany, is already seeing!

First direct observations of atmospheric sputtering at Mars: #Mars: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/maven/nasas-maven-makes-first-observation-of-atmospheric-sputtering-at-mars/

Launch of #Axiom4: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1937805773402460315. Video clip from ESA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WTTcuGJE4o. Docking planned for 11:00 UTC Thursday: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/06/25/ax-4-orbiting-toward-station-as-expedition-73-studies-pharma-blood-pressure/