Free Republic

NOAA’s GOES-19, equipped with the world’s first operational space-based coronagraph, is beginning to monitor solar activity and space weather. CCOR-1 observations will soon aid in warning systems for solar disruptions that affect Earth. Credit: NOAA/NASA NOAA’s new Compact Coronagraph, CCOR-1, onboard the GOES-19 satellite, has begun transmitting its first images, revealing solar activities like coronal mass ejections (CMEs). NOAA has released the first images from the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR-1), a powerful solar telescope aboard the new GOES-19 satellite. CCOR-1, the world’s first operational space-based coronagraph, began observing the sun’s corona—the faint, outermost layer of the solar atmosphere—on September 19, 2024....

Recent research led by the University of Maryland using the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope has revealed that the Taurid swarm, a stream of space debris from the comet Encke, poses less of a threat than previously believed. Credit: SciTechDaily.com ======================================================================== New research indicates that the Taurid swarm contains fewer large asteroids than anticipated, suggesting a lower threat level. This finding from observations using the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope informs both planetary defense strategies and our understanding of how comets and asteroids evolve. Discovering the Taurid Swarm’s Secrets Astronomers have promising news about potentially hazardous asteroids near Earth: there aren’t as...

Scientists have recently unlocked the secrets of the world's oldest map, a 3,000-year-old clay tablet known as the Imago Mundi, which is believed to show the location of Noah’s Ark. The ancient Babylonian artifact, etched with cuneiform—a script using wedge-shaped symbols—has puzzled archaeologists for centuries. Discovered in what is now Iraq in 1882, the tablet is housed at the British Museum, where it has become one of its famous collections. The Imago Mundi depicts a circular world map, illustrating early Babylonian ideas about the world's creation. The map is thought to show the entire known world at the time, with...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to answer nearly half of the calls for aid and assistance it recently received during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, a report released this week shows. During a recent week, FEMA’s call centers were so overwhelmed, almost half of all callers never connected with a federal working, according to data released this week. And it took federal agents on average more than an hour to actually pick up those calls that were answered. The damning report comes as the Harris-Biden administration has been slammed by conservatives for its response to disaster relief after Hurricanes Helene...

This year's ozone hole over the Antarctic is one of the smallest ever recorded and scientists say the ozone layer should fully recover by 2066. Image courtesy of NOAA Climate.gov Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A hole in the atmosphere's ozone layer is the seventh-smallest since recovery began in 1992, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday. The hole annually opens over the Antarctic at the southern pole and is much smaller than in most prior years, the NOAA announced. NOAA and NASA scientists estimate the ozone layer could fully recover by 2066 and no longer have a hole opening...

A multi-day severe weather threat kicks off this week heading into Halloween, bringing with it the potential for damaging winds, hail and severe thunderstorms for the Central U.S. A cold front begins its trek across the central and southern Plains this week. Warmer temperatures will converge along the cold front, creating possible thunderstorm development. The biggest potential for extreme weather is set to unfold Wednesday before the front marches into the Northeast by Halloween night. “I think one of the interesting things here is that this is a fall front, but the placement of severe weather is closer to what...

From the left: Progressive Moment Is Done “The progressive moment is well and truly over,” argues the Liberal Patriot’s Ruy Teixeira — because many of its ideas “were pretty terrible and most voters, outside the precincts of the progressive left itself, were never very interested in them.” For example, “loosening restrictions on illegal immigration was a terrible idea and voters hate it.” So too with “promoting lax law enforcement and tolerance of social disorder,” “insisting that everyone should look at all issues through the lens of identity politics” and “telling people fossil fuels are evil and they must stop using...

CHIMNEY ROCK, West Virginia — Blue-collar workers prevailed over bureaucracy in Hurricane Helene-ravaged North Carolina by rebuilding a highway at breakneck speed on their own terms – allowing residents to finally return home. Coal miners from West Virginia – whom locals have lovingly dubbed the “West Virginia Boys” – moved a mountain in just three days to reopen a 2.7-mile stretch of Highway 64 between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock washed away by Helene. Chimney Rock residents who fled the hurricane one month ago will now be able to return home for the first time within a few days, months...

CDR Poole has been assigned to the Office of Naval Re-search (ONR) since November 2001, working with the Naval Research Science and Technology Action Team (NRSTAT), ONR-Global and, currently, the Tech Solutions Program. A native of Albany, New York, Rich currently resides in Washington, DC. Mr. Christley is a retired Senior Chief Petty Officer who served from 1962 to 1982 on seven submarines ranging from diesel boats to fast attacks and missile submarines. After working in the field of submarine noise reduction until 1997, he started a third career in fine arts. Jim presently resides with his wife Peggy in...

VIDEO AT LINK............. Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Environmental authorities in Canada are trying to solve the mystery of unidentified white blobs that have been washing up on Newfoundland beaches. The white masses, which range in size from a coin to a dinner plate, started showing up on area beaches in September, and locals shared photos of the unidentified objects in the Beachcombers of Newfoundland and Labrador Facebook group. Some suggested the blobs could be ambergris or another fluid originating from a whale, but opinions are split. Environment and Climate Change Canada officials said to CBS News the "mystery substance" is...

The two aviators who were missing after a Navy Growler crashed east of Mount Rainier last week have died, officials said Sunday. The announcement comes five days after the EA-18G Growler crashed Tuesday afternoon near White Pass during a training flight. Authorities located the wreckage a day later. No information was provided as of Sunday evening about whether the aviators’ remains had been found. Based in Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, the pair belonged to Electronic Attack Squadron 130, known as the “Zappers.” “It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” said Cmdr....

HOUSTON — A helicopter crashed into a radio tower, killing multiple people, including a child, near downtown Houston Sunday night, according to the Houston Fire Department. HFD received a report around 7:55 p.m. of the crash near Engelke Street near Ennis Street and Navigation Boulevard, causing the fire to break out. What we know right now Crash happened around 7:55 p.m. near Engelke Street near Ennis Street in the Second Ward Four people, including a child, on board the R44 aircraft died in the crash, their identities have not been released The helicopter was coming from Ellington Airport, but its...

I'm in one of the world's volcanic hotspots, northeast Iceland, near the Krafla volcano. A short distance away I can see the rim of the volcano's crater lake, while to the south steam vents and mud pools bubble away. Krafla has erupted around 30 times in the last 1,000 years, and most recently in the mid-1980s. Bjorn Guðmundsson leads me to a grassy hillside. He is running a team of international scientists who plan to drill into Krafla's magma. “We’re standing on the spot where we are going to drill,” he says. The Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT) intends to advance...

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Oregon said a small, white animal spotted earlier this month in Portland was safely captured and positively identified as an Arctic fox. The Bird Alliance of Oregon said the female Arctic fox was brought into its Wildlife Care Center, but officials still do not know how she ended up in the Portland area. "Arctic foxes don't naturally occur in Oregon, so this species is considered an exotic animal here," rescuers wrote on social media. "Its native habitat is in the far north in places like Greenland, Svalbard, northern Russia, Canada and Alaska." Rescuers...

Once again, I will post this in its entirety for those who are not following Wendy on X/Twitter (she is @wendyp4545). This gives us a look into conditions prevailing in NC before the hurricanes and floods decimated the western part of the state, as well as eastern Tennessee. This also offers a look at the behavior of the state and federal governments, and especially North Carolina’s DemocRat Governor, Roy Cooper. Frankly, this is disgusting. Your government is working against you. To the Litigation Attorneys representing all of the people in North Carolina who lost everything because of the flood and...

NASA and NOAA have declared the Sun’s solar maximum, noting increased sunspot activity and heightened solar events that influence Earth’s space weather. This period is linked to significant geomagnetic storms and aurora displays, with potential disruptions to satellites and communication systems. Solar Maximum Announced by NASA and NOAA.. During a teleconference on Tuesday, officials from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the international Solar Cycle Prediction Panel declared that the Sun has entered its solar maximum period. This phase, characterized by heightened magnetic activity, could continue for the next year. The solar cycle is an approximately 11-year...

Meteorologists say they’ve been getting death threats for debunking wild conspiracy theories that they and the government are somehow behind the devastating hurricanes ravaging the US. “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes,” Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, wrote on X earlier this week alongside a screenshot of one threat she’d received. “I can’t believe I just had to type that.” The post aimed at Nickolaou, who works at the WLNS TV station, had called for others to “stop the breathing of those that made them and their affiliates.” Meanwhile, Washington, DC-based meteorologist Matthew Cappucci said he has received hundreds of messages...

For days, residents of Florida's Gulf Coast were warned to evacuate as Hurricane Milton approached - less than two weeks after the south-eastern US was thrashed by Hurricane Helene. But from her home in Tampa, squarely in the path of the coming storm, Chynna Perkins decided to stay. By Thursday morning, she said she, her husband Sterling and their pets had weathered the storm but lost power. As the storm came and went, Perkins talked the BBC through her situation with a series of voice notes and calls, describing how Milton barrelled through her neighbourhood of West Tampa. Her decision...

Another Miami Dolphins WAG is wading into politics. Devon Mostert, wife of running back Raheem Mostert, blasted Kamala Harris for sparring with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene — going so far as to call the vice president “textbook trash.” Mostert fired off a handful of bombastic Instagram Stories after Harris alleged that DeSantis snubbed her call after Helene made landfall in the Sunshine State on Sept. 26. SNIP “In case you missed it, Kam Kam went on a media rant yesterday about how selfish and utterly responsible DeSantis is. The math ain’t mathing, sis,” Devon’s...

Greek-American meteorologist Katie Nickolaou revealed that she and her colleagues have received death threats from hurricane conspiracy theorists through social media. Michigan-based Nickolaou, told The Guardian that she and her colleagues have borne the brunt of much of these conspiracies, having received messages claiming there are category 6 hurricanes, that meteorologists or the government are creating and directing hurricanes and even that scientists should be killed and radar equipment be demolished. “I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation, we have just been putting out fires of wrong information everywhere,” Nickolaou said. Conspiracy theorists claim meteorologists control hurricanes “I...