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Tag Archives: skies
Boeing says farewell to ‘Queen of the Skies’ with last 747 delivery
(CNN) — More than half a century since the original jumbo jet ushered in a glamorous new jet age, helping bringing affordable air travel to millions of passengers, the last-ever Boeing 747 was scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday, marking the start of the final chapter for the much-loved airplane.
In a ceremony that will be broadcast live online at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, the aircraft will be handed over at Boeing’s plant in Everett, Washington, to its new owner, US air cargo operator Atlas Air.
While the final 747 won’t be carrying paying passengers, its delivery is another milestone for the distinctive double-decker “Queen of the Skies,” which revolutionized intercontinental travel while also appearing in James Bond films and even giving piggyback rides to the Space Shuttle.
With the last passenger 747 having entered service more than five years ago, the end of the 747’s enduring career now moves even closer, hastened by airlines switching their preferences to smaller and more economical aircraft.
Tuesday’s delivery is a moment long anticipated by the global aviation community. Expectant airplane enthusiasts have followed every step of the final 747’s construction, ever since Boeing announced in July 2020 that it was ceasing production of its one-time flagship.
One small significant detail didn’t go unnoticed: a decal right next to the nose paying homage to Joe Sutter, chief engineer of the Boeing 747 program, who died in 2016 and is considered by many as the “father” of this famous aircraft.
Swan song
Interestingly for a jet that predates the Apollo Moon landings (it hit the skies a few months earlier, in February 1969), the Boeing 747’s production line has outlasted that of one of its most direct recent competitors, the Airbus A380, which was produced between 2003 and 2021.
It was the introduction of the European double-decker plane in the early 2000s which prompted Boeing to announce, in 2005, one last version of the 747 design that by that time was already starting to show its age.
The B747-8I (or B747-8 Intercontinental), as this last variant of the venerable jumbo jet is called, proved to be a swan song for large four-engined airliners.
Even though the A380 is currently enjoying a revival, with airlines rushing to bring stored airframes back to service in response to the post-Covid air traffic recovery, these giants of the skies struggle to compete with the operational flexibility and fuel economies of smaller twin-engined jets.
As of December 2022, there are only 44 passenger versions of the 747 still in service, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. That total is down from more than 130 in service as passenger jets at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic crippled demand for air travel, especially on international routes on which the 747 and other widebody jets were primarily used. Most of those passenger versions of the jets were grounded during the early months of the pandemic and never returned to service.
Lufthansa remains the largest operator of the passenger version of the B747-8, with 19 in its current fleet and potential commitments to keep the jumbo flying passengers for years, possibly decades to come.
World’s largest building
The 747 has proven more popular among cargo operators. There are still 314 747 freighters in use, according to Cirium, many of which were initially used as passenger jets before being renovated into freighters.
Features such as the distinctive nose-loading capability, and the cockpit’s elevated position, leaving the whole length of the lower fuselage available to carry large-volume items, have made it a cargo favorite.
Tuesday’s delivery also brings questions about what will happen to Boeing’s vast Everett factory, in which the 747 has been produced since 1967.
This facility was purpose-built for the Boeing 747 and is, according to the company, the largest building in the world by volume. It’s since served as the main production location for Boeing’s wide-body airliners, the 767, 777 and 787 (the best-selling narrow-body 737, however, is produced at Renton, another location in the Seattle area).
Developments in the last few years have been shifting the company’s industrial center of gravity elsewhere.
In addition to losing the B747, Everett recently lost the 787 production line, after Boeing decided to consolidate production at its plant in Charleston, South Carolina.
Boeing continues to make the B767 at Everett, a relatively old model with limited commercial perspectives, as well as the B777, which is currently seeing low production rates, in anticipation of its new version, the B777X. The latter, however, has suffered several delays and it is currently going through a certification and development process that is proving to be much lengthier and complex than expected.
US presidential planes
While Boeing hasn’t disclosed much publicly about what it intends to do with the facilities that housed the Boeing 747 final assembly line, in the run up to the final jumbo delivery reports have emerged that they may be used to work on stored B787 Dreamliners.
What’s more, according to these same sources, Boeing may also produce additional B737s in Everett. Production of this bestselling model currently takes place at another facility in Renton, further south in the Greater Seattle area.
Despite the fanfare of January 31, there’s still two more Boeing 747 deliveries pending — and they’re by no means an ordinary.
These are the two new US presidential planes, which are technically called VC-25, even if they’re popularly referred to as “Air Force One” (a call sign that is only used when the US President is on board).
These two planes have already been built, having originally been destined for Russian airline Transaero, which went bankrupt in 2015. The two future Air Force Ones are currently undergoing an extensive program of modifications to prepare them for presidential service.
CNN’s Chris Isidore contributed to this story.
Exotic green comet not seen since stone age returns to skies above Earth | Astronomy
An exotic green comet that has not passed Earth since the time of the Neanderthals has reappeared in the sky ready for its closest approach to the planet next week.
Discovered last March by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in California, comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was calculated to orbit the sun every 50,000 years, meaning it last tore past our home planet in the stone age.
The comet, which comes from the Oort cloud at the edge of the solar system, will come closest to Earth on Wednesday and Thursday next week when it shoots past the planet at a distance of 2.5 light minutes – a mere 27m miles.
Comets are balls of primordial dust and ice that swing around the sun in giant elliptical orbits. As they approach the sun, the bodies warm up, turning surface ice into gas and dislodging dust. Together, this creates the cloud or coma which surrounds the comet’s hard nucleus and the dusty tail that stretches out behind.
Images already taken of comet C/2022 E3 reveal a subtle green glow that is thought to arise from the presence of diatomic carbon – pairs of carbon atoms that are bound together – in the head of the comet. The molecule emits green light when excited by the ultraviolet rays in solar radiation.
Astronomers armed with telescopes have captured stunning pictures of the comet in the past month, showing the body’s head, dust tail and the longer, more tenuous ion tail.
But the cosmic ice ball has recently become bright enough to see with the naked eye, at least in very dark, rural areas with minimal light pollution.
Since mid-January, the comet has been easier to spot with a telescope or binoculars. It is visible in the northern hemisphere, clouds permitting, as the sky darkens in the evening, below and to the left of the handle of the Plough constellation.
It is heading for a fly-by of the pole star, the brightest star in Ursa Minor, next week.
The window for spotting the comet does not stay open long. While the best views may be had about 1 and 2 February, by the middle of the month the comet will have dimmed again and slipped from view as it hurtles back out into the solar system on its return trip to the Oort cloud.
Ukrainians cheer the new year as Russian drones are blasted from the skies
KYIV/DONETSK PROVINCE FRONT LINE, Ukraine, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Ukrainians cheered from their balconies while their air defences blasted Russian missiles and drones out of the sky in the first hours of 2023, as Moscow saw in the new year by attacking civilian targets across Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Air Force command said it had destroyed 45 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight — 32 of them on Sunday after midnight and 13 late on Saturday. That was on top of 31 missile attacks and 12 air strikes across the country in the past 24 hours.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled no let-up to his assault on Ukraine, in a grim and defiant New Year’s speech that contrasted with a hopeful message of gratitude and unity from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
As sirens blared in Kyiv, some people shouted from their balconies, “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!”
Fragments from the late-night attack caused minimal damage in the capital’s centre, and preliminarily reports indicated there were no wounded or casualties, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media. Attacks earlier on Saturday had hit residential buildings and a hotel in the capital, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20.
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Twitter: “Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the new year. But Putin still does not seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron.”
At the front line in Urkaine’s eastern Donetsk Province, troops toasted the new year. Soldier Pavlo Pryzhehodskiy, 27, played a song on guitar he had written at the front after 12 of his comrades were killed in a single night.
“It is sad that instead of meeting friends, celebrating and giving gifts to one another people were forced to seek shelter, some were killed,” he told Reuters. “It is a huge tragedy. It is a huge tragedy that cannot ever be forgiven. That is why the New Year is sad.”
In a nearby front line trench, soldier Oleh Zahrodskiy, 49, said he had signed up as a volunteer after his son was called up to fight as a reservist. His son was now in a hospital in the southern city of Dnipro, fighting for his life with a brain injury, while his father manned the front.
“It is very tough now,” he said, holding back tears.
‘HAPPY NEW YEAR’
Andrii Nebytov, chief of Kyiv’s police, posted a photo on his Telegram messaging app, showing what was described as a piece of drone used in an attack on the capital, with a hand-written sign on it in Russian saying “Happy New Year”.
“This wreckage is not at the front, where fierce battles are taking place, this is here, on a sports grounds, where children play,” Nebytov said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had targeted production, storage and launch sites of Ukrainian drones with long range missiles on New Year’s Eve.
[1/11] Women hold bengal fires next to a Christmas tree during a celebration the New Year eve before a curfew, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in front of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine December 31, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Russia has flattened Ukrainian cities and killed thousands of civilians since Putin ordered his invasion in February, claiming Ukraine was an artificial state whose pro-Western outlook threatened Russia’s security. Moscow has since claimed to have annexed around a fifth of Ukraine.
Ukraine has fought back with Western military support, driving Russian forces from more than half the territory they seized. In recent weeks, the front lines have been largely static, with thousands of soldiers dying in intense trench warfare as Moscow defends its grip on captured territory.
Since October, Russia has launched mass missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, casting cities into darkness and cold as winter sets in. Moscow says the strikes aim to reduce Ukraine’s ability to fight; Kyiv says they have no military purpose and are intended to hurt civilians, a war crime.
“The main thing is the fate of Russia,” a stern-faced Putin said in his New Year’s Eve address, speaking in front of a group of people dressed in military uniform instead of the normal backdrop of the Kremlin walls. “Defence of the fatherland is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral, historical righteousness is on our side.”
Zelenskiy delivered his own address in near darkness, in front of a fluttering Ukrainian flag. He described the year past as a national awakening.
“We were told: you have no other option but to surrender. We say: we have no other option than to win,” he said.
“This year has struck our hearts. We’ve cried out all the tears. We’ve shouted all the prayers,” Zelenskiy said. “We fight and will continue to fight. For the sake of the key word: ‘victory’.”
The latest air strikes damaged infrastructure in Sumy, in the northeast of the country, Khmelnytskyi in the west and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in southeast and south, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.
“Let the day be quiet,” Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region said early on Sunday, after reporting heavy shelling of several communities in the region overnight that wounded one.
Grid operator Ukrenergo said on Sunday the past day had been “difficult” for its workers but the electricity situation was “under control” and emergency outages were not being implemented.
Separately, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the southern Russian region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, said overnight shelling of the outskirts of Shebekino town had damaged houses but there were no casualties.
Russian media also reported multiple Ukrainian attacks on the Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with local officials saying at least nine people were wounded.
Russia’s RIA state news agency cited a local doctor as saying six people were killed when a hospital in Donetsk was attacked on Saturday. Proxy authorities in Donetsk also said one person had been killed by Ukrainian shelling.
Reuters could not verify the reports. There was no immediate response from Kyiv, which rarely comments on attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine.
Reporting by Gleb Garanich, Valentyn Ogirenko, Dan Peleshchuk and Sergiy Karazy in Kyiv and Herbert Villarraga at the front line in Donetsk province; Writing by Peter Graff, Lidia Kelly and Dan Peleschuk
Editing by Kim Coghill and Frances Kerry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
‘Vanishing stars’ citizen-science project opens the skies to the public
Stars aren’t supposed to simply disappear, yet countless bright objects that once appeared in the sky in the 1950s no longer do.
To try to solve the mystery, scientists have turned to a growing field known as citizen science, in which everyday individuals of all ages around the globe can take part in research projects that aim to answer real scientific questions about our surroundings, be it on Earth or in space. The Vanishing & Appearing Sources During a Century of Observations (VASCO) citizen science project, which began in 2017, dives into the archives to see how the stars are changing.
“In the citizen science project, we compare images from the 1950s with modern images of the sky,” Beatriz Villarroel, the principal investigator of the VASCO project, an astrophysicist at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Sweden, and lead author on a new paper describing the project, told Space.com in an email. “The ultimate goal is to identify an object that is clearly visible in several old images, but no longer visible today.”
Related: Hubble Space Telescope photo reveals stunning mix of young and old stars
So volunteers with the project are examining 150,000 candidate “vanishing stars” that come from a 2020 study (opens in new tab) to see whether objects in the 1950s images can be found in modern images. The project has examined 15,593 candidate image pairs within the data, or approximately 10% of all the candidates, and have identified 798 objects they classify as “vanished.”
The “vanished” stars might turn out to be anything from a flaring star or a supernova to the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst.
The research also contributes to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, as well, according to Jamal Mimouni, an astrophysicist at the University of Constantine 1 in Algeria and a co-author on the paper, who noted that traditionally, SETI has been led by scientists who focus on radio astronomy. VASCO takes a different approach, considering “vanishing stars” a potential sign of advanced civilizations.
“It may be said to be another twist to SETI,” he told Space.com in an email. The search comes closer to home, as well, he said. “We are also interested in searching for ET artifacts in orbit around the Earth, by looking for fast solar reflections (glints) from satellites and space debris in pre-Sputnik images.”
And the VASCO project isn’t only for adults. An off-shoot project, VASCO-Kids, allows younger astronomy fans to take part in scientific studies as well.
“The goal of VASCO-Kids is to popularize the global VASCO project around the world targeting pupils and kids of young age in general, and it also aims to use this project as a powerful support for kids’ education in astronomy,” Echeima Amine-Khodja, a veteran amateur astronomer who recently finished her master’s in astrophysics from University Constantine 1 and who has worked with VASCO and VASCO-Kids for two years, told Space.com in an email.
Since VASCO is available to the public, the web interface (opens in new tab) is designed to be user-friendly to allow individuals from all scientific backgrounds to examine images for “vanishing” stars. VASCO-Kids is an example of public engagement for younger audiences who get to use the web interface to assist in the project.
The VASCO citizen science project has already earned some accolades in the scientific community. Villarroel received the L’Oreal-UNESCO’s For Women in Science prize in Sweden in 2021 for her work on the VASCO project, and then the L’Oreal-UNESCO’s For Women in Science “International Rising Talents” prize in 2022, making her the first Swede to receive the award. Several studies based on VASCO searches have also been either submitted or published in several journals, including The Astronomical Journal, Acta Astronautica and Scientific Reports (opens in new tab).
As VASCO continues, the project looks to improve its methods, including by strengthening the artificial intelligence the project uses and by gathering infrared and optical images of some of the “most interesting candidates.”
“Being part of the VASCO citizen science project helps the person to learn more and develop new skills and practice scientific research like a real scientist,” Hichem Guergouri, an astrophysicist at the CERIST research institute in Algeria and a co-author of the paper, told Space.com in an email. “The results that we may find from the citizen science project could even lead to some amazing big new discoveries which anyone would love to have their names part of, so I encourage everyone to join the VASCO citizen science project.”
The project is described in a paper published Oct. 27 in the journal Universe, and their project can be found at their website.
Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Here Are 3 That Will Hit the Skies Soon
The flying-car sector has been caught in a holding pattern between pie-in-the-sky promises and a marketable reality for decades. But the industry may be approaching a tipping point, with three outfits now close to ushering the concept—and to be clear, we’re not talking eVTOL aircraft, but road-legal cars with wings or rotors—into production.
Unlike eVTOLs, flying cars actually fit into existing regulatory structures. Of the three models being readied for market, two will initially be sold as kits, which requires a less arduous approval process. The $300,000 Liberty Sport, from Dutch operation PAL-V International, is testing to be sanctioned by the European Aviation Safety Agency as a turnkey flying machine (a process that will take at least 18 months) and will require a gyrocopter license to pilot. With first deliveries projected for 2024, the three-wheeler will offer twin 100 hp Rotax engine—only one of which will be used during road operation—allowing it to operate over cities where single-engined aircraft are banned.
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On the street, Klein Vision’s AirCar resembles a futuristic Italian hypercar (and will be built to M1 European standards for low-volume-production passenger vehicles), but at the touch of a button the tail extends and wings unfold from a hidden compartment. After the four-wheel prototype won approval from Slovakian regulators as an experimental aircraft, the company began working on a second iteration, now with a 280 hp aviation engine from South Africa–based Adept Airmotive. A basic pilot’s license will be required to fly the aircraft, which will have a cruising speed of 186 mph and be priced to compete with general aviation four-seaters such as the Cessna 172 and Cirrus SR22. Klein Vision’s next step will be to develop a complete, certified model under European CS-23 light-aircraft rules, which the company says will take at least two years to reach market.
Samson Sky, in Oregon, expects to begin deliveries of its Switchblade flying car in 2024, after 14 years in development. The three-wheeler offers what founder Sam Bousfield calls a Skybrid system—a gas engine that generates power for one electric motor that drives the prop and for another motor (or possibly two) for the wheels. Starting at an estimated $170,000, the Switchblade will be sold as a kit under the Federal Aviation Administration’s experimental/homebuilt category but is being designed and tested to meet the more rigorous small-plane certification standards. Bousfield claims over 2,100 orders are in hand from 53 countries.
Andy Wall, PAL-V’s sales director, asserts that the Liberty “can [operate] independent of airport infrastructure” and that its annual production could ramp up to 10,000 units—which suggests, when the industry really takes off, something of a free-for-all: cars transforming into planes and taking to the skies wherever, whenever. But it’s most likely that owners will keep their machines at home in the garage and drive to the nearest dedicated airfield for takeoff. And besides, not everyone is convinced the flying car will reach anything near ubiquitous levels of adoption.
“There are too many compromises,” says Richard Aboulafia, managing director of Washington, DC–based consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, of the flying-car form factor. “This is a niche, and a small one at that.” That is strongly refuted by Samson Sky’s Bousfield, who says, “I don’t see this as a niche. This is the future.”
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Space X Falcon 9 rocket’s vapor trail seen over New Jersey skies
News 12 New Jersey viewers sent the station photos and video of a ball of light that was seen throughout the state on Saturday night.
This light was seen over the skies of New Jersey just before 8 p.m. The light was seen from Maplewood to Wantage in Sussex County.
Viewers told News 12 New Jersey they saw it in West Milford as well.
The light was seen in Ocean and Monmouth counties as one viewer sent video from Island Beach State Park.
A News 12 New Jersey viewer told the station that it was also seen in Marlboro.
Space X Falcon 9 rocket’s vapor trail seen over Marlboro. Photo courtesy of Virginia Klein.
Space X Falcon 9 rocket’s vapor trail seen over Marlboro. Photo courtesy of News 12 New Jersey viewer Virginia Klein.
The light was not a UFO, but it was due to a Space X rocket launch: A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Its vapor trail was visible along the East Coast.
Clear skies on Saturday night made it easy for residents to see it from all parts of the Garden State.
Space X Falcon 9 rocket’s vapor trail seen over Toms River. Photo courtesy of viewer News 12 New Jersey viewer Michele Arocha’s husband.
Space X Falcon 9 rocket’s vapor trail seen over Clifton. Photo courtesy of viewer News 12 New Jersey viewer JoAnn.
Space X Falcon 9 rocket’s vapor trail seen over Cartaret. Photo courtesy of viewer News 12 New Jersey viewer Joanne Best Pollman.
Blazing fireball illuminates skies over Scotland and Northern Ireland
A bright fireball streaked across the sky late at night on Sept. 14 in the U.K..
At first, some observers thought the whizzing ball of light could have been a piece of space junk, perhaps from one of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. But after some speedy calculations, the U.K. Meteor Network determined that the fireball was caused by a small space rock entering Earth’s atmosphere.
“We’ve analysed it from many more angles. It is definitely a meteor. Probably a small piece of an asteroid that’s broken off an asteroid. It came in at an asteroidal orbit,” John Maclean, an astronomer at the U.K. Meteor Network, told The Guardian. The U.K. Meteor Network is a group of citizen scientists who analyze footage of possible meteors using 172 cameras placed around Britain.
The meteor zipped into the atmosphere at 31,764 mph (51,1119 km/h), according to the Network.
Related: How many meteorites hit Earth every year?
Based on the meteor’s angle of entry into Earth’s atmosphere, scientists at the Network suspect that the space rock plummeted at an angle that carried it over Wales, the Irish Sea and Belfast, Ireland. If the object didn’t completely disintegrate in the atmosphere, tiny meteorites may have rained down into the Atlantic Ocean near the Scottish island of Islay.
Steve Owens, an astronomer and Science Operations Manager at the Glasgow Science Centre in Scotland, told BBC News that Wednesday’s fireball was likely caused by a space rock the size of a golf ball.
Video of the fireball, shared by the U.K. Meteor Network on Twitter (opens in new tab), showed the meteor blazing in skies over Paisley, Scotland, at 10 p.m. local time.
One of the best videos of the fireball seen tonight. We are investigating to ascertain what the object was. meteor or space debris. https://t.co/Ko1lKRoPutSeptember 14, 2022
“Normally these little shooting stars burn up and everything vanishes and evaporates in the atmosphere, but the thing last night was bigger than a little bit of dust which causes normal shooting stars,” Owens told BBC News.
Meteors like the one that sparked Wednesday’s fireball aren’t uncommon on Earth, but because so much of the planet is covered by ocean, most of these fiery rocks blaze and flame out over the open sea, where humans don’t see them. In fact, NASA’s Planetary Defense Office says that small rocks like Wednesday night’s bombard Earth’s atmosphere every day and simply disintegrate. Over the past 20 years, U.S. government sensors have spotted nearly 600 fireballs caused by asteroids measuring up to several meters long, according to NASA..
Both NASA and the European Space Agency monitor the skies every night for asteroids that could potentially collide with Earth. Called Near Earth Objects, (NEOs), these rocks orbit the sun just like the solar system’s planets and come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit. Since NASA started monitoring NEOs in 1998, they’ve spotted more than 19,000 asteroids. Roughly half of those are larger than 460 feet (140 m). Fortunately, no known NEO poses a threat to Earth in the next 100 years, according to NASA.
Originally published on Live Science.
Large Satellite Could Be Bad for Astronomers Observing Skies
A huge satellite is about to take flight, spreading its giant antenna array to potentially block astronomers’ views of the cosmos. AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 is scheduled for launch on Saturday to test the company’s broadband network technology, but the prototype satellite is extremely bright and could interfere with celestial observations.
BlueWalker is scheduled to ride to low Earth orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 7:51 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in low Earth orbit, the satellite will test out the Texas-based company’s ability to directly beam internet connectivity from space to people’s cellphones. The Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile Abel Avellan recently boasted on Twitter, “Made in TX— size matters!” when referring to the satellite. And indeed it does, as this bad boy sports a 693 square foot array of antennas (64 square meters) that will unfold in space. With its antenna fully unfurled, the satellite is expected to be among the brightest objects in the night sky, according to Sky and Telescope.
As it points towards Earth, the satellite’s giant array will reflect sunlight back to our planet, potentially causing bright streaks across astronomical images and interfering with scientific data. Even worse is that if the test satellite succeeds in its mission, the company could send more than 100 of its satellites to orbit by the end of 2024 to build out a full internet constellation. The operational satellites, which are to be named BlueBirds, could cause even more interference as they are expected to be of similar size to BlueWalker 3.
Astronomers have expressed concern over the satellite’s brightness as it joins the hoards of commercial satellite constellations currently being built in low Earth orbit. From the location of Rubin Observatory on Cerro Pachon in Chile, the BlueWalker satellite will be as bright as the star Vega near zenith in twilight, according to Connie Walker, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab. “These new satellites are expected to saturate Rubin observations,” Walker told Gizmodo in an email.
In an effort to understand the extent of this threat, NSF’s NOIRLab and the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference have called on astronomers from around the world to take brightness observations of the satellite once it’s in orbit. “[Low Earth orbit satellites] disproportionately affect science programs that require twilight observations, such as searches for Earth-threatening asteroids and comets, outer Solar System objects, and visible-light counterparts of fleeting gravitational-wave sources,” NSF wrote in a report.
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BlueWalker is launching to space along with 60 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which have already caused disruption of astronomical observations. Elon Musk’s private space company is seeking to launch a whopping 42,000 satellites to low Earth orbit to build a broadband internet megaconstellation. Although SpaceX has only received approval for 12,000 satellites by the Federal Communications Commission thus far. But the company has been in talks with IAU to figure out ways to dim the brightness of their satellites so that they don’t interfere with images of the cosmos.
The advancement in technology brings on an exciting era for our connectivity, so hopefully it doesn’t come at the cost of our ability to stare at celestial objects and gather valuable data about the universe.
More: SpaceX Launches 3,000th Starlink Satellite as Elon’s Internet Constellation Continues to Grow
Mosquito Fire fouls air quality, turns Tahoe skies orange
The Mosquito Fire burning in Placer and El Dorado counties torched buildings in Volcanoville. California’s heat wave is waning, but the risk of new fires starting and spreading quickly will persist. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Placer and El Dorado counties due to the Mosquito Fire and in Riverside County due to the Fairview Fire.
We’ll be reporting on all the latest news on the Mosquito Fire and other major California wildfires throughout the day.
Little wind reported at the Mosquito Fire’s start
Weather readings clocked wind gusts at 4 mph when the Mosquito fire was first reported at 6:22 p.m. Tuesday. The temperature was 97 degrees at a weather gauge near Foresthill Union Elementary school, down from an earlier high of 101.
Placer County firefighters were already battling a new fire that started earlier Tuesday and several miles north. The Hill Fire reached about 11 acres and led authorities to evacuate people out of the Giant Gap, Big Reservoir, Shirttail Creek and Morning Star Lake campgrounds.
Berkeley says Mosquito Fire is threatening the Blodgett Forest Research Station
Berkeley Forests staff said on Friday that they have confirmed with on-the-ground fire personnel that the Mosquito Fire is burning within the boundaries of Blodgett Forest Research Station.
All Blodgett Forest personnel were evacuated and marked safe before the fire entered the property. “Although the fire has not yet burned in this area, it will likely reach this portion of the property in the coming day,” the agency said in a bulletin. “Fire personnel have indicated that structure protection is their priority at this time.”
Abysmal air quality turns skies orange in Tahoe region
Ash and particulate matter coming off the fast-moving Mosquito fire has turned air quality hazardous and painted skies a hazy orange.
AlertWildfire cameras show shades of orange, pink and gray covering the North Tahoe region and closer to where the wildfire is burning in Placer and El Dorado counties.
An Alertwildfire camera shows an eerily orange sky north of Auburn, Calif. on September 9, 2022.
Wildfire Camera/AlertwildfireAs a result of the extreme fire behavior small particles of dust, soot and ash are capitulated into the air. In the regions surrounding the blaze air quality index levels are more than 300, which can trigger serious health effects.
The extreme scene comes two years after dozens of lightning-sparked wildfires burned throughout the state, skies turned an apocalyptic-orange in places far from the flames, like San Francisco.
Hurricane Kay producing extreme weather in California
Hurricane Kay remnants are likely to bring tropical-like humidity to the Bay Area over the weekend, with a possibility of some rain, but in Southern California the tropical system is kicking up extreme weather.
Kay is moving northward off the coast of the Baja California peninsula and has already brought upwards of two-tenths of an inch of rain to San Diego County’s Laguna Mountains and the Cleveland National Forest. There are risks for torrential downpours and flash flooding in the coming days for the canyon passes and roadways near cities like Murrieta and Escondido.
Highway 193 shut down due to Mosquito Fire
California State Route 193, which runs through Placer and El Dorado counties, has been closed due to the Mosquito Fire, according to an update from Caltrans. The expected reopening time for the highway, which is located inside the mandatory evacuation area, is unknown at this time. “Please avoid the area if possible to allow emergency crews access,” the agency said.
Mosquito Fire explodes to nearly 30,000 acres
The Mosquito Fire burning in Placer and El Dorado counties grew to 29,585 acres in size late Friday morning, according to information posted by the U.S. Forest Service.
Wildfire smoke, cloud cover could reduce solar production up to 60%
The grid could see up to a 60% reduction in solar production — about 5,000 to 6,000 megawatts — due to wildfire smoke and cloud cover Friday, grid operator COO Mark Rothleder said in a Friday morning press call.
On Thursday, the grid saw a 30% reduction in solar production — about 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts — because of cloud cover and smoke, Rothleder said. Demand peaked Thursday around 48,300 megawatts, significantly lower than the 50,000+ megawatts of demand seen in prior days of the heat wave.
Demand is expected to peak Friday at 46,118 megawatts, with the grid having current capacity of 54,739 megawatts, as of 10:50 a.m.
Forestville couple forced to flee Mosquito Fire fears for fate of their home, and their cats
As the Mosquito Fire sparked and then exploded into a massive inferno in California’s Gold Country foothills Wednesday, Mary Garbe was celebrating her 68th birthday in her Forestville mobile home, the fire was heavy on her mind.
But when local Sheriff deputies arrived the next day urging them to evacuate, she told her husband, Ken, 72, she wouldn’t go.
Their seven cats, including five kittens, still hadn’t returned home. She didn’t want to leave them behind.
“I’m not going,” she told her husband, Ken. “They’re going to have to handcuff me.”
By Friday morning, the smoke grew heavier, the air choking them as the temperatures pushing into triple digits and her husband convinced her to leave.
“I just kept yakking at her,” he said. They left their front door open, in hopes the cats would return, grabbed their important documents, a safe filled with the last of their money and headed to the Baptist church in Auburn which had opened as an evacuation center, joining thousands of residents forced to flee their homes.
Mary wondered about her cats.
“I miss them,” she said.
Ken worried about the home.
“We’re going to be homeless if the trailer burns out, and 72 is too old to be homeless,” her husband said.
Federal grants available for Mosquito Fire
Gov. Gavin Newsom today said California has received a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support local agencies as they battle the Mosquito Fire. The grants “enable local, state and tribal agencies to apply for 75-percent reimbursement of their eligible fire suppression costs,” Newsom’s office said.
Wildfire smoke to push into Bay Area today and Saturday
Smoke from the Mosquito Fire has made it over to the Bay Area, bringing hazy skies with it.
“Today it’ll start to disperse out a little bit, but tonight we’ll get higher concentrations of smoke coming back into the Bay Area,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Sarah McCorkle.
Tropical Storm Kay in southern California has changed wind patterns to east-west, carrying the smoke from Mosquito Fire to the Bay Area, McCorkle said. The smoke could start veering north Saturday, McCorkle said.
Most of the smoke is at elevated levels, McCorkle said. Currently, air quality in the Bay Area ranges from “Good” to “Moderate” on the Air Quality Index, according to AirNow, a service operated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Terrible, no good, very bad air quality” across California
The Mosquito Fire is causing “terrible, no good, very bad air quality” across California’s Central Valley, according to Jeff Beamish, a meteorologist at Sonoma Tech. As of 9:45 am, he said that most regulatory and retail air monitors reported an unhealthy air quality index score from the region east of downtown Sacramento to Lake Tahoe. Cal Fire officials said they have been unable to accurately map the fire perimeter due to smoke conditions
Some 2,000 structures threatened by Mosquito Fire in El Dorado County
El Dorado County reports 2,000 structures imminently threatened by the Mosquito Fire, with another 11,500 in warning zones, with more than 17,000 residents affected. The fire continues to be fast-moving, forcing one evacuation shelter, Cool Community Church, to close after it fell into the evacuation warning zone.
Placer Sheriff reports 100-foot flames in Mosquito Fire
Flames as high as 100 feet shot through the trees as the Mosquito Fire tore through Foresthill, according to an update from the Placer Sheriff . “Fire crews worked hard to knock them down,” the office said in a tweet.
The fire has now expanded to 14,250 acres and is 0% contained, Cal Fire said. The fire has quadrupled in size and spread across El Dorado and Placer counties. “Assigned personnel continued to improve existing control line and build new control lines, and also assessed and prepared structures threatened by the fire,” the agency said in an update Friday. “The fire is burning in extremely difficult terrain including steep canyons where directly attacking the fire can be difficult.”
Hazardous air quality recorded near Mosquito Fire’s perimeter
Air quality index levels are fast-approaching 300 and above around the Mosquito Fire perimeter Friday morning, while more scattered 150-200 (unhealthy) levels are being measured all along the Northern Sierra. Prevailing winds at the higher levels of the atmosphere (15-20,000 feet) will shift and become easterly winds this afternoon thanks to the remnants of Kay to our south. This is important because the core of the pyrocumulus clouds fanning smoke from the fire are around that height.
So we can expect some of the particulates from the smoke to waft into the Sacramento Valley and parts of the Bay Area, decreasing air quality further on Friday.
The Chronicle’s Air Quality map showed unhealthy and very unhealthy air ringing Lake Tahoe as a result of the Mosquito Fire.
The ChronicleUnhealthy air swirls around Lake Tahoe
The Chronicle’s Air Quality map showed unhealthy — and in some places, very unhealthy — air quality around Lake Tahoe, likely due to the smoke billowing off the Mosquito Fire.
Patches of unhealthy or very unhealthy air were recorded across a vast swath of Northern California northeast of Sacramento.
Hellish images show Mosquito Fire raging across multiple counties
Images captured by wildfire cameras showed hellish plumes of smoke created by the fast-moving Mosquito Fire. Persistent hot, dry conditions were expected to help the fire grow at a rapid pace overnight.
Newsom declares state of emergency due to wildfires
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Placer and El Dorado counties due to the Mosquito Fire and in Riverside County due to the Fairview Fire on Thursday afternoon. Both wildfires are threatening multiple communities and have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. The declaration frees up state resources to help residents affected by the fire and to help firefighters battle the fires.