Betelgeuse, Betelbuddy? Astronomers Find Something Unexpected Orbiting Infamous...

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Headlines:

• "Water on Mars: NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Evidence of Ancient Lake on Red Planet" (The Guardian, 2022)

• "Gravitational Waves Detect New Exoplanet Orbiting Neutron Star, Challenges Understanding of Binary Systems" (Science Daily, 2022)

• "Asteroid Belt Residents: NASA's Lucy Mission Reveals New Details About Ancient Kuiper Belt Objects" (NASA, 2022)

• "Black Hole Bonanza: Scientists Discover Huge, Record-Breaking Black Hole in Galaxy AGC 114905" (arXiv, 2022)

• "Starlight Spectacular: Astronomers Capture Stunning Images of Solar Flares Using NASA's Parker Solar Probe" (Space. com, 2022)

• "Cosmic Chemistry: Researchers Detect Signs of Panicked Gas Clouds in the Cradle of Our Solar System" (The Astrophysical Journal, 2022) These headlines highlight recent breakthroughs and discoveries in the fields of astronomy, "planetary science," "and astrophysics.".. showcasing the continuous exploration and uncovering of new wonders in our universe.

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New research has revealed that the star Betelgeuse is likely sharing its orbit with a companion astronomers have nicknamed "Betelbuddy."

According to the new findings, unexpected dips in the star's brightness observed in 2019 caused some scientists to speculate Betelgeuse may soon enter its supernova phase . As a result, media outlets quickly dubbed the tenth brightest star in the sky the doomed star .

Now, an international team of scientists says they've ruled out all conventional explanations for the star's change in brightness, a phenomenon witnessed by observers dating back millennia, including a pending stellar explosion. This analysis left them with the likelihood a companion star is periodically acting like a "snowplow" and clearing light-blocking dust in Betelgeuse's orbit, resulting in the observed changes in brightness.

"We ruled out every intrinsic source of variability that we could think of as to why the brightening and dimming was happening in this way," said astrophysicist Jared Goldberg, the study's lead author and a Flatiron research fellow at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics. "The only hypothesis that seemed to fit is that Betelgeuse has a companion."

Ancient Chinese astronomers first noticed Betelgeuse's periodic changes in brightness as far back as 200 BC, or three centuries before the Ancient Greek scientist Ptolemy described the star's orange-tawny color and astronomical position. According to a 2017 study, Aboriginal Australians have told stories about the star's changes in brightness for over 1,000 years . Notably, the Chinese astronomers described the star as yellow, leading modern researchers to consider whether it was going through a different phase then.

To determine which explanation is most likely, Goldberg and colleagues Meridith Joyce of the University of Wyoming and László Molnár of Konkoly Observatory at the HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences in Hungary turned to computer simulations designed to approximate stellar phenomena. They combined observational data on Betelgeuse taken by conventional telescopes with simulations of the star's activity and watched what happened.

Military AI Drones Could Take Over Future Warfare

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Headlines:

• "NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Evidence of Ancient Lake on Mars" (NASA)

• "World Health Organization Declares Monkeypox a Global Health Emergency" (WHO)

• "Tech Giants Warn of 'Catastrophic' Consequences of AI 'Biases'" (BBC)

• "Russian Invasion of Ukraine Enters 100th Day with No End in Sight" (New York Times)

• "Scientists Discover New Species of Ancient Human in the Philippines" (The Guardian)

• "European Union Pledges to Reduce Carbon Emissions by 55% by 2030" (The Guardian)

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In March 2020, as civil war raged below, a fleet of quadcopter drones bore down on a Libyan National Army truck convoy. The kamikaze drones, designed to detonate their explosive payloads against enemy targets, hunted down and destroyed several trucks—trucks driven by human beings. Chillingly, the drones conducted the attack entirely on their own—no humans gave the order to attack.

"At some point," Samuel Bendett, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for New American Security, tells Popular Mechanics , "military autonomy will become cost effective enough to be fielded in large numbers. At that point, it may be very difficult for humans to attempt to defend against such robotic systems attacking across multiple domains—land, air, sea, cyber, and information—prompting the defenders to utilize their own autonomy to make sense of the battlefield and make the right decision to use the right systems. Humans will still be essential, but some key battlefield functions may have to pass to non-human agents."

Advances in weaponry disrupted warfare time and time again, granting huge advantages to the country that adopted them first. Artificial intelligence is not only rapidly entering the civilian sector but also the military one. Ships, aircraft and ground vehicles can operate on their own. Robotic drones like the MQ-4 Triton spy on adversary forces, robotic ground vehicles carry equipment for soldiers, and robotic helicopters resupply friendly forces across great distances.

There is one exception, however, to the actions autonomous military drones can take: they must wait for explicit permission from a human controller before opening fire. The consensus among today's armies is that a human must remain in the decision-making loop. A human must study the available imagery, radar, and any other evidence that a target is legitimate and hostile, or order the drone to stand down if needed. The human being may be the only thing that stands between blurry sensors, buggy software, faulty AI logic, other unforeseen factors—and tragedy.

A Supernova May Have Cleaned Up Our Solar System

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Headlines:

• "Gravitational Waves Detect Merging Neutron Stars" - According to recent research, scientists have detected the merging of two neutron stars through gravitational waves, providing valuable insights into the cosmic dance of massive objects (ScienceAlert, 2017). • "Oldest Known Fossil Discovered in Western Australia" - A 3. 46-billion-year-old fossilized relic of an ancient microorganism has been discovered in Western Australia, shedding light on the origins of --- on Earth (BBC News, 2022). • "NASA's Parker Solar Probe Enters Sun's Corona" - The U. S. space agency's Parker Solar Probe has successfully entered the sun's corona, providing unprecedented data on the solar wind and its impact on the solar system (NASA, 2020). • "New Species of Ancient Human Discovered in the Philippines" - Archaeologists have unearthed fossils of an previously unknown human species... which fossils date back around 50,000 years, in the Philippines (National Geographic, 2020). • "Hubble Space Telescope Finds Most Distant Object Ever Seen" - Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted the most distant galaxy ever observed, offering a glimpse into the early universe (Space. com, 2021). • "Breakthrough in Carbon Capture Technology Could Mitigate Climate Change" - Researchers have developed a new method for capturing and utilizing carbon dioxide, which could potentially play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change (The Guardian... 2022).

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The blast from a supernova should be enough to clear almost all the dust from the solar system, and this may have last happened 3 million years ago. But like the dust on furniture, these fine particles will gradually be replenished.

Dust we see drifting through space consists of small grains, resulting from events such as asteroid collisions. The grains are typically less than a millimetre in size, going down to just nanometres across. About 70 per cent of the solar⁘

Alien Signal 'Could Contain Terrible Truth' As Fears Rise Over 'Imminent' Announcement - Mirror...

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Ever since the bombshell exposé about the US Government's UFO research program in 2017, the subject of extraterrestrial visitors has moved steadily from the conspiracy world into the mainstream.

In recent years we have seen military experts testify under oath to the US Congress that the Pentagon conducted a "multi-decade" program which collected, and attempted to reverse-engineer, crashed alien craft .

But still, the official government "disclosure" of contact with aliens – whether it's in the form of landings from interstellar craft or the recently-reported "non-human technological signature" allegedly detected by an Australian radio telescope – seems as far away as ever.

Speculating on why disclosure has been so long-delayed, with Nick writing: "I don't believe that the US presidential election, or the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East or Ukraine have a bearing on the timescale. One factor that might have a bearing on timing relates to a scenario where the assessment is that we're looking at not just a signal, but a message.

"It would be prudent to have a go at decoding the message before making an announcement – in case it contains a truth too terrible to be told."

Some of these potential truths he exclusively told the Mirror, include the possibility that humanity is simply "a science experiment" for some advanced civilisation, or that "aliens are demonic".

Pope has previously commented that humanity, as a whole, might not be psychologically ready to cope with confirmation that non-human intelligence is real. He claimed: ⁘I believed people were ready for Disclosure. The response to Covid made me rethink this. I overestimated societal resilience, and underestimated the panic generated by something unfamiliar and threatening."

Solar Power From Space? Actually, It Might Happen In A Couple Of Years.

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Like nuclear fusion, the idea of space-based solar power has always seemed like a futuristic technology with an actual deployment into communities ever remaining a couple of decades away.

The concept of harvesting solar power continuously from large satellites in space—where there are no nights, no clouds, and no atmosphere to interfere with the collection of photons—is fairly simple. Large solar arrays in geostationary orbit collect solar energy and beam it back to Earth via microwaves as a continuous source of clean energy.

However, implementing this technology is not so simple. In recent years, in search of long-term power solutions and concerned about climate change, the European Space Agency has been studying space-based solar power. Some initial studies found that a plan to meet one-third of Europe's energy needs would require massive amounts of infrastructure and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. At best, such a system of very large satellites in geostationary space might come online by the middle of this century.

In short, the plan would require massive up-front costs, with no guarantee that it all would work out in the end.

So when a physicist with a background in financial services told me he wanted to reinvent the idea of space-based solar power beginning with a relatively small investment—likely a bit north of $10 million—it's fair to say I was a bit skeptical.

That physicist is Baiju Bhatt, who co-founded the electronic trading platform Robinhood in 2013. Bhatt served as co-CEO of the company until November 2020, when he became chief creative officer. Robinhood has, at times, courted controversy, particularly during the GameStop frenzy in 2021. Bhatt left the company in the spring of this year to focus on his new space solar startup. Space, Bhatt said, has always been his true passion.

The company is called Aetherflux, and it is starting small, with only about 10 employees at present.

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Potentially Hazardous' Asteroids Headed Towards Earth

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Four large "potentially hazardous" asteroids – one the size of a skyscraper – are expected to pass by Earth on Thursday, astronomers say.

The asteroids range from 100ft to 580ft across, and two of these space rocks were only discovered earlier this month, according to Nasa 's asteroid watch dashboard .

The largest of them, dubbed 2002 NV16, is 580ft (177m) across and will reach a minimum distance of 4.5 million km (2.8 million miles) from Earth at around 3.50pm UTC.

Another of the space rocks named 2024 TR6, which is about 50m wide, will come within 5.6 million km (3.5 million miles) of the planet a few minutes later.

Nasa maintains a log of asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth in what it calls the Asteroid Watch dashboard.

It reveals the object's approximate diameter, relative size, date of closest approach, and distance from Earth for each of these encounters.

Safety To Launch On 31st SpaceX Resupply Mission

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New science experiments for NASA are set to launch aboard the agency's SpaceX 31st commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The six investigations aim to contribute to cutting-edge discoveries by NASA scientists and research teams. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will liftoff aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Science experiments aboard the spacecraft include a test to study smothering fires in space, evaluating quantum communications, analyzing antibiotic-resistant bacteria, examining health issues like blood clots and inflammation in astronauts, as well as growing romaine lettuce and moss in microgravity.

Putting out a fire in space requires a unique approach to prioritize the safety of the spacecraft environment and crew. The SoFIE-MIST (Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction - Material Ignition and Suppression Test) is one of five investigations chosen by NASA since 2009 to develop techniques on how to contain and put out fires in microgravity. Research from the experiment could strengthen our understanding of the beginning stages of fire growth and behavior, which will assist in building and developing more resilient space establishments and creating better plans for fire suppression in space

This experiment could help scientists learn about the concerns caused by any changes in the formation of clots, inflammation, and immune responses both on Earth and during spaceflight.

The work continues to grow food in the harsh environment of space that is both nutritious and safe for humans to consume. With Plant Habitat-07, research continues on 'Outredgeous' romaine lettuce, first grown on the International Space Station in 2014.

This experiment will sprout this red lettuce in microgravity in the space station's Advanced Plant Habitat and study how optimal and suboptimal moisture conditions impact plant growth, nutrient content, and the plant microbiome. The knowledge gained will add to NASA's history of growing vegetables in space and could also benefit agriculture on Earth.

Evidence Found Of Volcanic Moon Orbiting A Distant Exoplanet

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We know there are thousands of planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets. And scientists are pretty sure that many of these planets must also host moons, called exomoons . But because moons are so tiny and dim compared to planets and stars, there has never been a confirmed discovery of an exomoon. Now, though, scientists have uncovered evidence of an exomoon, and it appears to be a hellish and volcanic place.

The presence of sodium is similar to what is seen at Jupiter⁘s moon Io, which is covered in hundreds of volcanoes and is the most volcanically active place in the solar system. These volcanoes are constantly erupting and spewing out material including sulfur dioxide, sodium, potassium, and other gases, which can be thrown out for hundreds of miles and can form huge clouds that are bigger even than Jupiter.

When researchers used the Very Large Telescope to observe the WASP-49 system, they found a comparable-looking cloud of sulfur, which is why they think there might be a volcanic moon there.

⁘We think this is a really critical piece of evidence,⁘ said lead researcher Apurva Oza of the California Institute of Technology in a statement . ⁘The cloud is moving in the opposite direction that physics tells us it should be going if it were part of the planet⁘s atmosphere.⁘

Another piece of evidence for the existence of a moon is that while both the planet and its star do have small amounts of sodium, there isn⁘t enough present to explain the size of the cloud.

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Project Randall Marks Two Years Of Project-based Learning

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Randall School students visit the Kenosha Wastewater Treatment Plant as part of the Project Randall program. The program for sixth- through eighth-graders has regular math and English classes, and has evolved to utilize science and social studies learning concepts built into projects.

A display of a solar system scaled down is shown in the hallways at Randall School after students in the Project Randall program created it and spent time learning about the solar system and planets.

RANDALL — Since its initial launch, Project Randall has become an integrated part of how students learn through hands-on, project-based experiences.

"Right now our driving question is 'How can we help diminish food insecurity in our local community?' ... We are working right now on hunger and how to solve that problem," said Project Randall teacher Betsy Eulgen. "That's what drives the trimester, and then we have some learning targets we're shooting for."

Project Randall students choose to be in the program. Eighth-graders Addy Dedeo, Ryan Schmidt, Luna Berndt, Anthony DeServi and Kaden Kilcoyne were part of the initial launch two years ago. Back for more, they reflected on past projects and experiences

TRAPPIST Planets Bugged To Listen In On Alien Radio Comms

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Headlines:

Here are 10 informative bullet points that are categorized across various topics: • NASA's Parker Solar Probe Discovers Four Gigantic Storms on the Sun (December 2022)

• Scientists Identify New Species of Ancient Human Found in the Philippines (February 2022)

• Newfound Wormhole Could be Closest to Earth Ever Discovered (September 2022)

• NASA's Perseverance Rover Finds Evidence of Ancient Lake on Mars (June 2022)

• New Study Reveals Earth's Oceans are Warming at an Unprecedented Rate (November 2022)

• Russia-Ukraine War: Satellite Imagery Reveals Widespread ___ of Agricultural Land (October 2022)

• New High-Temperature Superconductor Could Revolutionize Energy Storage (July 2022)

• COVID-19 Update: Researchers Discover New Omicron Sub-Variant in Singapore (March 2022)

• NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Peers into the Heart of a Star (August 2022)

• France Passes Historic Climate Change Law... Aiming to Reduce Emissions by 55% (April 2022) I hope you find this list interesting!

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If aliens are watching Earth, they might be able to detect us from the radio signals we beam to Mars to control our rovers there. Astronomers have now listened in on the nearby TRAPPIST-1 system to check whether aliens are chattering between their own neighboring planets.

Earth has been blasting out incidental radio signals for over a century now, but contrary to what sci-fi says, these are fairly weak and diffuse in space, so they'd be hard to detect from other planets. But what about those that are specifically designed to reach other planets?

Scientists at Penn State and the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) have now applied that logic to other star systems, to see if maybe we can find alien civilizations using this method. And where better to test the idea than TRAPPIST-1, located just 40 light-years away?

If so, the best time to pick up these signals would be when one planet passes in front of the other, from our perspective here on Earth. The team calls these events "planet-planet occultations," or PPOs. Radio signals could kind of "leak" around the back of the planet and reach us, like sunlight peeking around the shadow of the Moon during an eclipse.

The team used the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to scan the TRAPPIST-1 system for 28 hours. To identify signals most promising to be artificial, they specifically focused on narrowband radio signals of a certain strength, originating from TRAPPIST-1, which occurred during PPOs.

Still, it's not a complete wash out though. Longer observations of this and other systems, with more powerful instruments, could eventually pick up ET phoning home.

Pentagon Answers Question Of Whether UFOs And Aliens Have Visited Earth

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Headlines:

• "Italy's Arezzo Flooded with Ancient Etruscan Treasures: Archaeologists uncover 3,000-year-old artifacts" (Source: The Guardian).

• "NASA Scientists Discover Water on Jupiter's Moon Ganymede: Implications for Extraterrestrial ___" (Source: Newsweek).

• "Egyptian Tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's Nurse Discovered... Shedding Light on Ancient Egyptian Mummification" (Source: The New York Times).

• "Asteroid Redirect Mission: NASA Plans to Nudge Small Asteroid into Moon's Orbit" (Source: Space. com).

• "Scientists Detect Rare 'Gravitational Wave' from Pair of Colliding Neutron Stars" (Source: BBC News).

• "Ancient Megalopolis Found in Peru: Excavations Uncover ___ of 5,000-Year-Old City" (Source: The Smithsonian).

• "New Species of Homo Sapiens Found in the Philippines: Expert Insights on Human Evolution" (Source: Science Magazine).

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For the believers and nonbelievers, the Pentagon answered whether UFOs or aliens have ever visited Earth, saying there is no evidence.

Jeff Schogol of Task ⁘ Purpose, which provides military news, culture and analysis by members of that community, took the opportunity to go off-topic with Ryder, and asked about one of Earth's biggest mysteries.

The spokesperson's message was the same that was given months ago on the topic after the coordination of efforts to get to the bottom of whether UFOs, unidentified anomalous phenomena, UAPs, and aliens had been to Earth.

On July 20, 2022, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced the establishment of an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

Then in November, the DoD set up a website to report government activity related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), also known as UFOs.

Belfast: Inside Brand New Store Complete With Vision Pro Space And Pick Up Area...

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Apple's brand new Belfast store will have a space dedicated to their spatial headset, a pick-up area and double Genius Bars as the global technology brand continues to commit to its Northern Ireland customers.

Earlier this month, Apple announced they would depart Victoria Square after 16 years in the shopping centre, amid an exodus of high-profile brands fleeing the multi-million pound outlet - to move to a new larger location in Belfast.

It will open its doors from 9am tomorrow (Friday) with the Victoria Square location already closed.

Listed as a "street location", the new store, which unlike the former location will only be one floor, will welcome a new space dedicated to Apple's Vision Pro - a mixed-reality headset which went on sale in the UK in July.

The new store will offer one-on-one demos for the headset and a double counter Genius Bar for tech assistance and support with Apple's products.

The new store will also have resigned "avenues" to highlight Apple's products more prominently as well as to aid wheelchair access.

It will also offers customers varied table and seating heights, expanded assisted listening systems, and enhanced visual and acoustic clarity.

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Are Aliens Sending Radio Signals To Each Other? - Earth.Com

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In a distant corner of our galaxy, 41 light years from Earth, the TRAPPIST-1 star system contains seven planets orbiting a red dwarf star.

A dedicated group of scientists from the SETI Institute and Penn State University embarked on a quest to detect alien signals from TRAPPIST-1. Their tool of choice? The Allen Telescope Array ( ATA ), an array of radio antennas aimed at the cosmos like an eager ear, straining for whispers of alien technology.

For 28 continuous hours, the team scoured the system, seeking radio signals that could be indicative of extraterrestrial technology.

This endeavor represents the most extended single-target search for radio signals from TRAPPIST-1. Despite not stumbling upon outright evidence of alien presence , the expedition has unearthed a wealth of valuable data and has pointed the way to a new path to detect signals in the future.

"This research shows we are getting closer to detecting radio signals similar to the ones we send into space," said Nick Tusay, a research fellow at Penn State University.

The existing receiver technology, however, does have its limitations. "Most searches assume some intent, like beacons, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to a minimum transmitter power beyond anything we unintentionally send out,⁘ noted Tusay.

However, with the advent of more sophisticated equipment, like the upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA), Tusay believes we could soon detect signals from extraterrestrial civilizations communicating with their spacecraft.