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Mysterious Signs and Wonders: ‘Monstrous’ Gamma-ray Burst Brightest Seen Since ‘Human Civilization Began’, Pointed Directly at Earth

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A gamma-ray burst, which lit up our galaxy last October, was the “brightest burst” ever seen and a once-in-10,000-year explosion, according to NASA.

Astronomers have been studying the extragalactic burst, nicknamed BOAT for the “brightest of all time,” for months after it triggered detectors on numerous spacecraft. NASA revealed astronomers’ conclusions Wednesday, calling the Oct. 9 blast the brightest since the start of mankind.

“It is just an absolutely monstrous burst. It is extremely extraordinary; we’ve never seen anything remotely close to it,” Eric Burns, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, told reporters at the 20th meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s High Energy Astrophysics Division in Hawaii.

“The BOAT is a once-in-10,000-year event,” Burns added. “So, there’s a reasonable chance this is the brightest gamma-ray burst to hit Earth since human civilization began.”

While the burst — known as GRB 221009A — was so bright it blinded most gamma-ray instruments in space, scientists were able to reconstruct the information from data collected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The results were confirmed with data and analysis from Russian and Chinese teams. Together, they concluded that the burst was 70 times brighter than any others seen.

(Read more from “Signs And Wonder: ‘Monstrous’ Gamma-ray Burst Brightest Seen Since ‘Human Civilization Began'” HERE)

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Mysterious Gamma Ray Burst Puzzles Astronomers

By JENNIFER OUELLETTE. [W]e now have new data from follow-up observations in several new papers published in a special focus issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The findings confirmed that GRB 221009A was indeed the BOAT (“brightest of all time”), appearing especially bright because its narrow jet was pointing directly at Earth. “It’s probably the brightest event to hit Earth since human civilization began,” Eric Burns, an astronomer at Louisiana State University, told New Scientist. “The energy of this thing is so extreme that if you took the entire sun and you converted all of it into pure energy, it still wouldn’t match this event. There’s just nothing comparable.”

But the various analyses also yielded several surprising results that puzzle astronomers and may lead to a significant overhaul of our current models of gamma-ray bursts. For instance, a supernova should have occurred a few weeks after the initial burst, but astronomers have yet to detect one. Radio data from observations of the afterglow didn’t match predictions of existing models, and astronomers detected rare extended rings of X-ray light echoes from the initial blast in distant dust clouds. (Read more about the gamma-ray burst HERE)

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Elon Musk Hit Back at Ex-NASA Astronaut, Saying SpaceX’s Starlink Should Not Be Used to Help Fight the War in Ukraine

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Elon Musk on Sunday lashed out at a former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly over the use of Starlink in Ukraine during the war with Russia.

SpaceX said in recent weeks that Ukraine can’t use its Starlink internet service for military purposes, such as to pilot drones, and has taken steps to prevent this, per Reuters.

Kelly tagged Musk in a tweet on Saturday, asking him to “restore the full functionality” of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites in Ukraine. Although SpaceX has limited Ukraine’s ability to use Starlink for military purposes, the service is still accessible for commercial use.

“Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help,” Kelly tweeted.

Musk told Kelly he was smart enough to “not swallow media & other propaganda bs.” He called Starlink the “communication backbone” of Ukraine, something he has said before. “But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3,” Musk tweeted. (Read more from “Elon Musk Hit Back at Ex-NASA Astronaut, Saying SpaceX’s Starlink Should Not Be Used to Help Fight the War in Ukraine” HERE)

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NASA Astronaut Says Science ‘Doesn’t Contradict’ Christianity

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A former NASA astronaut said he believes the study of nature and science are intertwined with Scripture at the opening of a new exhibit at the Museum of the Bible about the Good Book’s role in the relationship between science and Christianity.

Jeff Williams, a retired NASA astronaut who traveled to space on four separate occasions, told The Christian Post during a visit to the exhibit, titled “Scripture and Science: Our Universe, Ourselves, Our Place” that he spent 534 days in space from 2000 to 2016. . .

Williams, who has been heavily involved in scientific research relating to astronomical studies for roughly 26 years, said the new exhibit reaffirmed his belief that science goes hand-in-hand with Christianity, each complimenting the other.

“Science does not contradict Christianity. There is no contradiction. The contradiction comes into your philosophy going into your science,” said Williams. “And your philosophy acknowledges a God that has either revealed Himself specifically in the scriptures of the Bible or your philosophy discounts or doesn’t allow a God. Then, you have to explain the existence of everything by chance over time.” . . .

“Many of the scientists in the age of science — who we all read about in our textbooks about the laws of physics and chemistry — were believers first. They were theologians first. People like Kepler and Newton and Faraday and Maxwell, and many others. They were driven by their faith and their understanding of their calling before God to fulfill that calling.” (Read more from “NASA Astronaut Says Science ‘Doesn’t Contradict’ Christianity” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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NASA to Launch Telescope Stronger Than Hubble That Can See Back in Time

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During the winter holidays, Jews celebrate a miraculous, unquenchable light and Christians celebrate the incarnation of God revealed by the light of a star. It’s fitting, therefore, that on December 22 NASA will launch a new satellite capable of seeing the first starlight from just after the Big Bang—a light, and an event, that tell us about the creation of the universe and, in their own ways, reveal God to the world.

NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope will be carried into space this week from French Guiana on the back of an Ariane 5 rocket. The $10 billion, 21-foot telescope features a massive umbrella-like sun shield. It also boasts 15 times the range of motion and six times the light-gathering capability of the Hubble Space Telescope—NASA’s next best instrument for peering deep into space and far back in time.

From the first astronomical investigations about the early history of the universe, light, and other forms of radiant energy, have yielded the most important clues about cosmic origins. During the 1920s, astronomers discovered that the wavelengths of light coming from distant galaxies were stretched out, or “red-shifted,” as if the galaxies were moving away from us. Just as sound coming from a train whistle drops in pitch as the result of the sound waves being stretched out as the train recedes, light coming from a distant galaxy changes color (becomes more red) as light waves are elongated as galaxies move away from Earth.

Soon after the discovery of the red shift, Belgian priest-physicist Georges Lemaître and Caltech astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that galaxies farther away from Earth were receding faster than those close at hand. That suggested a spherical expansion of the universe in all directions of space like a balloon inflating from a singular explosive beginning—from a “Big Bang.”

Then in 1965, physicists discovered a different kind of light they thought provided further evidence of the Big Bang. While working at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, physicists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson inadvertently discovered an extremely low-energy radiation on their highly sensitive, large antennas. This radiant energy, now known as the Cosmic Background Radiation, is postulated to be a remnant of the earliest moments after the Big Bang when the universe was immensely hot and densely compacted. (Read more from “NASA to Launch Telescope Stronger Than Hubble That Can See Back in Time” HERE)

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NASA To Nudge Asteroid To Keep It From Threatening Earth

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The U.S. space agency plans to conduct a mission next month to deflect a pair of asteroids far out in deep space to keep them from threatening Earth.

Dubbed the DART Mission, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) will send spacecraft to a pair of asteroids — the Didymos binary — on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

NASA considers any near-Earth object (NEO) as “potentially hazardous” if it comes within 0.05 astronomical units (4.6 million miles) and measures more than 460 feet in diameter, said the Mail. “According to the U.S. space agency, there are just over 25,000 NEOs, but many more are waiting to be discovered.”

“DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique, which involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an asteroid in space to change its motion,” NASA said in a statement. (Read more from “NASA To Nudge Asteroid To Keep It From Threatening Earth” HERE)

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NASA Abandons Actual Space Mission To Focus On Implementing Critical Race Theory (VIDEO)

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled an initiative called “Mission Equity” on Monday that seeks to “streamline its programs, procurements, grants, regulations and policies to remove systemic inequitable barriers and challenges facing underserved communities.”

“NASA is a 21st-century agency with 22nd-century goals. To be successful, it’s critical that NASA takes a comprehensive approach to address the challenges to equity we see today,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said in a statement. “The agency’s new Mission Equity is a bold and necessary challenge for NASA to ensure our programs are accessible to all Americans and, especially, those living in historically underserved communities across the country. Because when NASA opens doors to talent previously left untapped, the universe is the limit.”

In order to streamline the critical race theory-aligned initiative, NASA released a public information request titled “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities in NASA Programs, Contracts, and Grants.” . . .

NASA is only the latest federal agency to push leftist doctrine. Since May, the Central Intelligence Agency has been releasing videos that push gender theory and radical feminism. In March, the Department of Defense launched a partisan attack on Fox News host Tucker Carlson due to his disagreement over identity politics infiltrating the military, and the Pentagon hired a “diversity and inclusion chief” who was eventually reassigned due to a social media conflict of interest. (Read more from “NASA Abandons Actual Space Mission To Focus On Implementing Critical Race Theory (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Potential Biden NASA Pick Has Ties to Chinese Company Blacklisted by Pentagon

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President Joe Biden’s potential pick to lead NASA has a history of investments tied to a Chinese technology giant and has advocated for cooperating with China in space.

Former senator Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) is reportedly jockeying to lead America’s space agency under Biden. Sources close to Nelson say that his closed-door campaign for the position is more than a rumor. As a former career astronaut, Nelson would seem a natural to lead the agency, but Nelson’s financial and political ties to China could complicate his potential confirmation.

Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) criticized Nelson on the campaign trail for holding between $3,003 and $45,000 in a mutual fund invested in China Mobile, a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company. At the time, Nelson dismissed the revelation as unimportant compared with Scott’s own investments. China Mobile is China’s largest telecommunications provider, and the Department of Defense in November blacklisted the company, along with 19 other major Chinese companies, for its ties to the Chinese military. Adjacent state-owned Chinese businesses have developed 5G satellite technology that NASA may need to make note of in its daily operations. . .

Beyond financial interests, Nelson touts a long track record of championing closer ties with China in space. In 2004, Nelson met with both the Chinese ambassador and Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei in an intimate meeting to discuss space issues and the potential for Sino-American cooperation in space. Nelson was among the first Americans to congratulate Yang on his successful launch, saying that he hoped China could emerge as a key partner in American space initiatives, while some Republicans remained troubled by China’s growing space ambitions. Nelson told the Chinese ambassador that he wanted closer ties with Beijing in space efforts, even going as far as supporting a joint mission to Mars with China in their 2004 meeting. (Read more from “Potential Biden NASA Pick Has Ties to Chinese Company Blacklisted by Pentagon” HERE)

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NASA Astronauts Splash Down in SpaceX Capsule as Historic Mission Returns to Earth

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NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Sunday, ending a historic two-month trip to space.

The mission marked the first time that astronauts have launched from American soil since the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011. . .

The spacecraft, named “Endeavour” by the astronauts, left the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday. Hurley and Behnken, both veterans of Space Shuttle missions, had boarded the orbiting space lab May 31 following the eagerly-anticipated launch of the Demo-2 mission from Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

With wind at 2 knots, weather conditions for the capsule’s return to Earth were ideal. The capsule was hoisted aboard the SpaceX recovery ship Go Navigator and its hatch was opened at 3:59 p.m. EDT. Behnken was the first to exit the capsule, giving a thumbs up to the recovery team. Hurley followed shortly after, also giving a thumbs up.

(Read more from “NASA Astronauts Splash Down in SpaceX Capsule as Historic Mission Returns to Earth” HERE)

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NASA, Scientists Crush Climate Change Hysteria Around Amazon Fires — Here’s the Truth

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While climate change alarmists spread fear over wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, data from NASA shows there is no reason for concern — or there should have been concern in past years.

From media outlets to politicians, the wildfires have sparked a wave of misinformation and hysteria. The wildfires are so frightening because the Amazon produces 20 percent of the world’s oxygen, they claim. Others alleged the fires could speed up climate change.

And even though fires are common, NASA analysis shows that current fire activity is at or below average.

As of August 16, 2019, an analysis of NASA satellite data indicated that total fire activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average in comparison to the past 15 years. (The Amazon spreads across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and parts of other countries.)

Though activity appears to be above average in the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, it has so far appeared below average in Mato Grosso and Pará, according to estimates from the Global Fire Emissions Database, a research project that compiles and analyzes NASA data.

(Read more from “NASA, Scientists Crush Climate Change Hysteria Around Amazon Fires — Here’s the Truth” HERE)

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NASA Astronaut Accused of Committing the First Ever Crime in Space

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Anne McClain is a decorated NASA astronaut who has spent more than 200 days in space. Now, she stands accused of committing the first ever crime in space.

McClain’s estranged spouse, former Air Force intelligence officer Summer Worden, has filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and NASA’s Office of Inspector General accusing McClain of identity theft and improperly accessing her private financial information, the New York Times reported. . .

Worden told the Times she learned McClain accessed her accounts because McClain had intimate knowledge of her spending. To confirm her suspicions, Worden had her bank locate computers that had accessed her account; one such access point came from a computer registered with NASA. . .

Instead, McClain claims she was doing what she has always done: checking her family’s finances to ensure there were sufficient funds in the account to pay bills and care for the son that McClain and Worden have raised together.

McClain and Hardin are in the midst of a heated custody battle over their 6-year-old son, who was conceived via in vitro fertilization and carried by a surrogate. Their divorce is set to be finalized in October, NBC News reported. (Read more from “Decorated NASA Astronaut Accused of Committing the First Ever Crime in Space” HERE)

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