Posts by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
(DIR) Post #AYd90nVXQPourtRDv6 by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2023-08-11T17:39:26Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
Taohan Lin and Nataliya Rybnikova used nighttime-lights data from space to track resulting GDP losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the event shows that the method is as valid during disasters as during normal times. #ALAN2023
(DIR) Post #AYw99337vCTGWxREA4 by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2023-08-20T21:10:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
A view of wildfire near the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife in the Canary Islands earlier today. As the climate continues to warm, wildfire increasingly threatens the sites of many astronomical observatories in the world.
(DIR) Post #AalneHDsgYg4rUXC2S by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2023-10-14T18:49:34Z
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#Eclipse2023 in Bluff was a smashing success. 😎
(DIR) Post #AdSrCQhKhTOeYxxceW by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-01-02T19:06:07Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Happy Perihelion Day 2024! The Earth is closest to the Sun today for the entire year. The Sun is also apparently larger in the sky on this day than on any other day of the year. This comparison of two images made on the days of closest and farthest approach in 2005 show the apparent size difference at the two extremes of our orbit.📷: Anthony Ayiomamitis#PerihelionDay #Astronomy
(DIR) Post #AhlOIaAzTZcasWtjBQ by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-05-10T19:50:13Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Debris from the 26th February re-entry of a #SpaceX Dragon trunk has evidently been found on a farm in #Saskatchewan.https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353#Space #Satellites #SpaceDebris #Canada #SpaceEnvironment #SpaceSustainability
(DIR) Post #AiDdozpgYobfSIizOy by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-05-22T20:18:20Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
#TIL that fortunately someone has already invented a term that was on my mind but for which no word seemed to already exist. Thank you, Urban Dictionary: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Spacewashing#Spacewashing #Space #SpaceSustainability
(DIR) Post #Ak6gQQ5nyeM0EBeQC0 by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-07-19T21:32:19Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
"The May 2024 geomagnetic storm was the first major storm to occur during a new paradigm in low Earth orbit satellite operations dominated by commercial small satellites."https://www.space.com/may-solar-storm-largest-mass-migration-satellites#Space #SpaceSustainability #SolarStorm
(DIR) Post #Ak84g5HjhP4oNyC4f2 by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-07-20T17:43:01Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Great, a whole raft of space trash between here and the #Moon radiating RF energy like crazy. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3270910/chinese-scientists-propose-information-superhighway-between-earth-and-moon#Space #CislunarSpace #SpaceSustainability #China
(DIR) Post #AklGuh6UfBcOLa6afI by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-08-08T11:59:57Z
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Now megaconstellation deployment *itself* generates debris: "A Chinese launch to deploy a first batch of communications satellites has created more than 50 pieces of debris which could threaten spacecraft in low Earth orbit." https://spacenews.com/chinese-megaconstellation-launch-creates-field-of-space-debris/#Space #Satellites #Megaconstellations #SpaceDebris #SpaceSustainability
(DIR) Post #AltyMmM8cq6xq6Fvvc by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-09-11T16:21:30Z
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As these objects are comparable in size to the prototype #BlueWalker3 (which reached magnitude zero under certain conditions), expect them to be of the same order.https://news.satnews.com/2024/09/09/spacex-to-launch-ast-spacemobile-bluebird-satellites-each-the-largest-communications-array-ever-deployed-in-low-earth-orbit/#Satellites #Space #ASTSpaceMobile
(DIR) Post #An0F9nzx4aUdWVoyOW by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-10-14T06:58:25Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) during twilight this evening. The two brightest stars here are 110 and 109 Virginis (upper/lower), at mags. +4.4 and +3.7, respectively. The nucleus was a little brighter than 109, so somewhere around +3 without atmospheric extinction. Tail again >5° in photos, but visually was more like 2-3°.#Astronomy #Astrophotography #comet2023a3
(DIR) Post #Ao7FR9yxTnQ7ZmN70y by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2024-11-16T19:34:29Z
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Concerning news involving a major U.S. #defense contractor whose property occupies a considerable volume of LEO #space. Although I'm not sure what's more concerning: alleged "multiple, high level conversations" with the leader of a significant U.S. adversary, or threatening to "nuke" his enemies for making the allegations.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0l3wl76gzo?xtor=AL-72-#SpaceX #ElonMusk
(DIR) Post #AqZuOkgi3ZWblF4J6G by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-01-28T22:35:58Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
A reminder that broadband-from-space isn't about bridging the global digital divide or serving poor people. It's just another for-profit enterprise that seeks to exploit a public commons for private gain."#Starlink has refused to comply with the country’s BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) – 30 per cent ownership to local historically disadvantaged people."https://technext24.com/2025/01/28/starlink-south-africa-waive-bee-policy/#Space #SouthAfrica
(DIR) Post #Aqc4Q3aqdiziXhVWxU by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-01-30T16:07:52Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@amerika It's fair that the public know what companies actually do versus what they say.
(DIR) Post #AsOCVKGSCAUiouqRrU by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-03-24T16:11:24Z
0 likes, 2 repeats
New JWST image just dropped.This object is called Herbig-Haro 49/50. It's the outflow of a still-forming star hidden from view to the lower right of the orangish cone of material oriented diagonally in this image.As stars form they eject excess matter in the direction of their poles of rotation. That material encounters the interstellar medium in the vicinity and lights up in response. "Like the wake of a speeding boat, the bow shocks in this image have an arc-like appearance as the fast-moving jet from the young star slams into the surrounding dust and gas."Purely by coincidence, the outflow lines up with a distant background galaxy, which is the circular pinkish/blue object at upper left. More info about the image: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-telescope-unmasks-true-nature-of-the-cosmic-tornado/#Astronomy #Stars #StarFormation #Astrophysics #JWST #SpaceTelescope
(DIR) Post #At06KG55ZwsKMkXM6S by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-04-11T18:36:34Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
This proposal essentially ends U.S. leadership and dominance in space research and space-based astronomy. "NASA’s science budget could be cut nearly in half under an early version of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to Congress, a move that would terminate billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing and future missions."https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025/04/11/nasa-science-budget-cuts-trump/#UnitedStates #NASA #Research #Space
(DIR) Post #At7lpvP1S81pj6nZfE by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-04-15T18:52:36Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Here it comes, #Canada: "Pierre Poilievre has pledged to 'end the imposition of woke ideology in the allocation of federal funds for university research' should his party win the Canadian federal election on 28 April."https://www.science.org/content/article/canadian-election-top-conservative-candidate-vows-end-woke-ideology-science-funding#Science #StandUpForScience #Politics
(DIR) Post #Au0UM8ywUUXoNbFiM4 by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-05-11T20:08:20Z
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"The returned mass from human-made orbital objects has increased considerably in recent years, and the mass subject to destructive breakup in the upper atmosphere currently exceeds 600 metric tons per year." (with still-unknown consequences for the energy balance of the #atmosphere)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S246889672500028X#sec0016#Space #SpaceDebris #Climate
(DIR) Post #Au8isCgJE013k7Oibg by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-05-06T21:00:42Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I'm pleased to share this recently published paper led by University of San Francisco undergraduate student Alex Meza in which I played the smallest part. In it, we examine light pollution as a threat to #pollinators that support #Indigenous #FoodSecurity and sovereignty.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/add156#Wildlife #LightPollution #EcosystemServices
(DIR) Post #AvGZhYmhPH0v8lnops by JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
2025-06-18T15:31:39Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Another organism found to be navigating by the stars that could be confused by both #skyglow and #satellites.To the extent that other moth species might also be using stars as navigation guides, and to the extent that some of those species pollinate our food crops, #DarkSkies are more important than ever.https://www.sciencealert.com/tiny-moth-seen-navigating-by-the-stars-in-scientific-first#Animals #Insects #Pollinators #LightPollution