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)

In the coming years the moon will see a consistent series of robotic and human explorations preparatory to building the first permanent base on the lunar soil. So a high-tech company is preparing a series of small satellites but with high performance levels to be inserted in the lunar orbit. These will be used to relaunch the data communications (voice, data, video, web) from the rover and tomorrow from the fixed installations, both robotic and with human presence. The particularity of these satellites is given by the possibility of recovering them from their orbits and inserting them in other orbits with greater ease. The program includes a network of satellites capable of covering the entire surface of the moon, as if it were a GPS network. more info Argotech online

If anyone still had doubts about climate change this hailstorm fell on 02 July 2019. The height of the hail mantle was 1.5 meters. Given the brevity of the phenomenon, its intensity and location according to some, the phenomenon was similar to a microburst of which you see the diagram in the photo.

There is a fake photo that has been running for many years on the net and, according to those who spread it in a culpable way, it would take three planets over the three Pyramids of Giza. It is a good gym for archaeoastronomist apprentices (or even for those with experience) to exercise critical sense and use their knowledge to expose this fake. Here are some demonstrations of the falsity of this photo. But first a little history: The photo was released in August 2012 and intended to announce that on December 3 of that year there would be precisely the planetary alignment in the photo that involved the planets Mercury, Saturn and Venus, claiming that the event is repeated every 2737 years. This already explains how the photo is false: the event had yet to take place! The planets are therefore not photographed but drawn. Probably born in the New Age context (we all remember the great outcry for that year, right?), The image chose to represent the planetary conjunction above the Pyramids. The photo has been reproposed practically almost every year, or at intervals of 2, in order to generate money through clickbaiting Having ascertained that the photo is a "fake" (in the sense that it is a drawing), we see some reasons for the falsity of this image that would resume Mercury, Venus and Saturn: 1) Mercury is at most about 22 ° from the Sun and therefore can only be seen during sunrise or sunset. In the photo the uniform blue sky is not compatible with this data 2) The difference in brightness between Venus and Saturn is 40 times, while the three dots in the photos are quite similar to each other 3) A large-field photograph cannot be taken in which Saturn or Mercury appear so bright, without other stars being visible. There is no trace in this photo, so it is not a real photo. 4) The photo was taken from South to North and to the North the planets are never seen from those latitudes 5) There is also a perspective problem: aligned planets are very suggestive but ... aligned when seen from where? It is clear that if you approach the Pyramids or move, the alignment shown in the photo will cease. Then? The particular point from which the photo was taken should have something special, but this is not talked about. And if it has nothing and you can move freely, then we can resume an alignment practically every time three planets appear in the sky: it will be more or less always possible to be able to place them prospectively each on top of a pyramid. So be careful not to take everything that is spread in ret with a sensationalistic tone, because in this way you will avoid running into buffaloes and various misinformation

34 years after the nuclear sun turned on in Chernobyl the situation has not changed as the short memory of mankind shows. At the beginning of the current month of April there was a fire in the contaminated bushes that have grown in the area since it was declared off limits for human life. The radioactive cloud that was triggered by the fires between 7 and 14 April hit the 'exclusion zone' of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and did not just pass through Ukraine but reached much of Europe. Although the rate of occurrence was higher than normal, it would not be dangerous. This is revealed by a study by the French research centre ISRN. ISRN has made an estimate modelling the radioactivity removed by fire, which "would be of the order of 200 GBq released between 3 April 2020 at 12:00 and 13 April 2020 at 12:00". "The simulations carried out - writes IRSN - show a good agreement between the measurements provided by the Ukrainians and the modelling results. On this basis, the ISRN simulations indicate that the air masses from the area of the fires that occurred on 5 and 6 April were able to reach France on the evening of 7 April 2020". And again: "As of 14 April, these air masses still covered half the territory. The levels of radioactivity expected in France are extremely low, below 1 µBq / m 3 in caesium 137. The emissions occurring between 9 April and 11 April 2020 are the most significant according to modelling. The weather conditions prevailing until 14 April have favoured the transport of air masses from the area of these discharges to Belarus, southern Ukraine, eastern Romania and Bulgaria". And these air masses "reached with lower concentrations the Balkans and Italy, but not France". "In Kiev - writes ISRN - the largest volume of caesium 137 in the air was recorded for the period from 9 to 11 April 2020 with a measurement at 470 micro becquerel / cubic meter (µBq / m 3 ) (sample taken from 9 to 10 April) and another at 700 µBq / m 3 (sample taken from 10 to 11 April). A value of 1,200 µBq / m 3 in the night from 4 to 5 April 2020 was also reported by the State Scientific and Technical Centre for Nuclear and Radiological Safety of Ukraine, but has not been confirmed. These values are significantly higher than the values normally measured in caesium 137 in the air in Kiev 4 and attest to the passage of air masses marked by radioactivity. However, they remain moderate and without health consequences. In the exclusion zone of Chernobyl there is much higher air contamination due to the proximity of the measuring devices to the burnt area". The levels reached 1000 uBq in Kopachi '11 April, 2,600 in Chernobyl/Kirov on the same day, 42,000 in the Krohodsky Peninsula on 12 April, up to 180,000 near the power plant (also due to the very high background radiation in the area). "Low radiation" However, IRSN minimizes the radiological impact. "For a firefighter who intervened for 100 hours in the exclusion zone in an environment with a volume activity of 1 Bq / m 3 (or 1,000,000 µBq / m 3 ) caesium 137 and 1Bq / m 3 strontium 90 (higher hypothesis than the measurements made in the area), the calculated dose corresponding to the inhalation of radioactive smoke from the fire is about 13 micro sievert (µSv). It should be noted that this dose is much lower than that resulting from the external exposure of firefighters to radiation emitted from contaminated soil, which, in the exclusion zone, is often much higher at 1 µSv / h. This is consistent with estimates made in the past by Ukrainian scientists indicating that the doses received by firefighters due to inhalation of smoke following fires are of the order of 1% of the dose received from exposure to soil radiation". The study continues: "For a resident of Kiev exposed for a few days to levels of radioactivity comparable to those measured by Ukrainian organizations in the city - it is stated - the dose received by an adult by inhalation is less than 1 nano sievert (1 nSv = 0.001 µSv) which is an extremely low value". Contaminated food The IRSN completed its assessment by considering the exposure due to ingestion of contaminated food in Ukraine, close to the disaster areas, from the radioactive ashes transported in the smoke plume. The assessment was carried out assuming the consumption of 500 grams of leafy vegetables (worst case) per day for two months 9 . "The dose for the adult - concludes IRSN - would reach after 30 months of consumption 30 µSv for strontium 90 and 15 µSv for caesium 137. This exposure remains low".This does not mean that low values are not detrimental to that part of the population that has a naturally increased sensitivity to the toxic elements released.