" Titan, Saturn's largest moon, moves away from its planet a hundred times faster than previously believed: about 11 centimeters each year. The discovery - published in the journal Nature Astronomy - not only modifies the hypotheses made so far on the birth and evolution of the Saturn system, but questions the classic theory of tides, used for more than fifty years to study the orbital migration of moons. Instead confirming a new theory - that of "resonance locking" - which could now be applied to study the evolution of other planetary systems, including extrasolar, and binary star systems. An international team of researchers that includes four scholars of the University of Bologna has obtained these results starting from the analysis of the data of the Cassini-Huygens mission: a project born from the collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency ( Asi). Cassini spent more than 13 years in orbit around Saturn to study its characteristics, its magnificent rings and its numerous moons, concluding the mission in 2017 with a spectacular dive into the atmosphere of the planet. "

I have already posted some news concerning the SWAN comet. Now for all those who live in European areas it is possible to see it. The news is very recent that the "super bright fireball" has reached the surprising magnitude of 5.3, so much so that it can be observed with the naked eye (magnitude measures the degree of brightness of a celestial body). On Wednesday 13th it reached the distance closest to Earth (perigee) and at the end of the month the one closest to the sun (perihelion). In these days Swan has "reached" our HEMISPHERE and therefore we too can finally see it. From the Italian and surrounding areas, it became visible from 8 May to low dawn on the east and north-east horizon. Starting on Monday 18, we will be able to observe it both in the evening in the Northwest, immediately after sunset (around 9.50pm), and just before sunrise in the Northeast. The most intense show will be from May 27 when it reaches perihelion. A high brightness is expected such that it can be observed with a simple binoculars or (hopefully) even with the naked eye.

The World Magnetic Model is normally updated every five years, but in recent times it has had to be modified more frequently due to an extraordinary phenomenon recorded right under the core of the Earth. In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers proposed a lawsuit for the Earth's magnetic north pole moving at extraordinary speeds to Siberia. They have come to believe that two massive "negative magnetic flux" spots under Canada and Siberia, very close to the Earth's core, are responsible for the staggering, "remarkably linear" movement, which has even led them to introduce an unscheduled update of the World Magnetic Model (WMM) last year. In the study conducted by Philip Livermore of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, the research team analyzed the high resolution geomagnetic data collected over the past two decades to finally find two large magnetic patches under the locations above mentioned. Scientists say that if viewed in isolation the two blobs could explain the recent wandering of the north pole, because they serve as "two ends of a nearly vertical linear field conduit, along which the north magnetic pole can easily travel", such as the the investigation report goes. Speaking to Newsweek, Livermore commented that patches are largely areas where the magnetic field comes out of the Earth's core "like a bundle of spaghetti." It referred to the patches in question, or "lobes", as a by-product of the process. "Magnetic field spots are constantly moving at all times - over a hundred years of time - but the Canadian lobe seems to be moving particularly fast," he noted. The team's models indicated that the north pole will continue to move along its path to Siberia, crawling between 242 and 410 miles over the next decade, with the process triggered by the lengthening and use of the Canadian "patch". The latter is the result of changes to the flow pattern in the Earth's core since about 1970. As the Canadian patch gradually weakened, the attraction of the Siberian patch strengthened over time, causing magnetic north to be attracted to it literally like a magnet. He also stressed the importance of keeping WMM editions up to date with changes in magnetic north pole speed. "It is quite possible that annual updates will be needed in the coming years, it is difficult to say for sure," he said. Normally, the model is updated once every five years, while the position of the magnetic north pole as such was first recorded in 1831.

After the disappointing Atlas that promised to become the comet of the year for its brightness and beauty (unfortunately it split into two parts), another "ice iceberg" is arriving from the interstellar space which seems to promise a wonderful show. We are talking about the SWAN comet, discovered in April by an Australian amateur astronomer. Currently the comet is visible with binoculars in the skies of the southern hemisphere with a magnitude of about 9. If its brightness continues at this rate the magnitude (which decreases as an object is gradually brighter) could reach up to 3 , making SWAN visible even to the naked eye since mid-May, thus becoming a spectacular comet that will illuminate the Earth. The foliage of this fascinating piece of ice is a bright green color, while already showing a long (and unexpected) blue ion tail.

At the North Pole there is a hot record: the temperature has even reached 20 degrees more than the climatic averages that are normally found in the Arctic Circle. The maps of the American GFS (Global forecast system) weather center show that the North Pole in this period is affected by a flow of 'hot' air coming from Asia and directed to the Arctic area. The consequences of high temperatures are the feared acceleration of the melting of ice, and other environmental repercussions such as the return of cold in Canada and the USA. The high pressure from Asia managed to reach the arctic areas, also affecting Siberia. But it is worrying about the melting rate of Arctic ice, which is already below average, and is now even thinner. The serious natural and environmental repercussions have been reported for years. One of these consequences could be an 'escape' of the freezing air from the Arctic area, which could affect North America, thus bringing the winter back to some states in Canada and the United States. Another risk would be the encounter between these cold currents and those warmer, uphill, coming from the Gulf of Mexico, which would trigger the sadly famous 'super-cells' in the central US states, which would be lashed by the various tornadoes that could form.

In these hours an asteroid of about 5 kilometers in size is passing more than 6 million kilometers from Earth. 1998 OR2, as the celestial body was called, obviously will not have any influence on Earth and Moon included. It will reach a brightness of little more than the tenth magnitude, therefore largely invisible to the human eye without tools. Because the extraterrestrial fireball will transit at an orbital speed of about 9 kilometers per second. With the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, it is checking its approach path, which will reach the minimum distance from our planet, or approximately 6 million kilometers ( sixteen times the average distance between Earth and the Moon) around noon Italian time. Foto by Radio tracking Doppler - ARECIBO

It was soaked and covered in mud and hungry, cold and fifty thousand light-years away from home. A foreign sun gave an icy blue light and the double gravity of what it was used to, made every movement an agony of effort. But after tens of thousands of years, this angle of war had not changed. It was convenient for those of aviation, with their polished spaceships and their super weapons; but when it comes down to it, it is still up to the ground soldier, the infantry, to take a stand and hold it, with blood, palm to palm. Like this fucking planet of a star never heard of until they sent it to us. And now it was sacred ground because the enemy had also arrived. The enemy, the only other intelligent race in the Galaxy ... lousy cruel, loathsome monsters. The first contact had taken place near the center of the galaxy, after the slow and difficult colonization of a few thousand planets; and it had been war immediately; they had started shooting without even attempting a deal, a peaceful solution. And now, planet by planet, we had to fight, with teeth and nails. He was soaked and covered in mud and was hungry, cold and the day was bruised and swept by a violent wind that hurt his eyes. But the enemies tried to infiltrate and every outpost was vital. He was on the alert, the rifle ready. Fifty thousand light-years away from home, fighting over a foreign world and wondering if he would ever make it back home. And then he saw one of them crawling towards him. He took aim and fired. The enemy let out that strange, chilling verse that they all made, then he didn't move anymore. The verse, the sight of the corpse made him shiver. Over time, many had become accustomed to it, they didn't care anymore; but he doesn't. They were too lousy creatures, with only two arms and two legs, that skin of a sickening white and without scales.( Author. Frederick Brown, 1954)