AkaSci

What we know, 3pm on Wednesday:

[In 4 parts]

—CA's Prop 50 wins
—VA Dems flip Gov, LG, AG
—Dems defend NJ-Gov
—Dems gain leg seats in VA & NJ
—Dems win NJ & VA trifectas
—Mamdani wins
—PA Dems win state supreme court
—ME anti-mail voting measure loses
—GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices

Pic of the Black sea nettle, Chrysaora achlyos Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/jellies This giant jelly has a distinctive purplish bell and long, lacy mouth-arms that can reach 20 feet (6 m). Its tentacles can extend even longer, reaching 25 feet (7.6 m) or more.

Happy World Jellyfish Day!
🪼🪼
Jellyfish are invertebrates, not fish.
Jellyfish go back over 500 million years.
There are over 2,000 known species of jellyfish.
One species of jellyfish possesses a property like no other animal - immortality!
...
Much more at fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1154...
#Science

Check out this hilarious series of Halloween Costume ideas from the Newsom Press Office.
🎃🦇🤣
#UsPol #Halloween

Volunteers Step In to Help Understaffed NOAA Track Hurricane Melissa

NOAA’s hurricane research division staff has been cut from 52 in 2020 to 28 in 2025, almost a 50% cut. They’ve resorted to using volunteers to man the critical radar and dropsonde stations on Hurricane Hunter flights. Senseless cuts in an era of climate change making the strongest storms stronger.

Another artistic image of comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) taken by Alan Dyer from southern Alberta.

Alan is an astrophotographer, lecturer, planetarium producer and author of the eBook "How to Photograph and Process Nightscapes and Time-Lapses."

Check out his other works at www.amazingsky.com
#Astronomy

Dense, toxic smog envelopes the town of Donora, Pa. Note that this picture was taken around noon. Photo credit: Bettmann.

#ResistanceRoots
#ResistanceEarth

Today in history, 1948: Dense smog claims 11 elderly victims in Donora, Pa. Fog had trapped toxic pollutants from a zinc smelting plant close to the ground, making thousands sick. The tragedy led to the passage of the 1955 Clean Air Act. /1

After Covid-19, can mRNA vaccines help with cancer as well? The pandemic put the technology, long in development, to the test. Here’s a look at the status of its application to cancer and when it might reach patients.

mRNA vaccines and cancer.
#Cancer #Vaccines 🧪 #Scicomm
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

Animals that eat poisons and don’t die Critters consuming species that contain deadly toxins have evolved a suite of clever strategies to keep out of harm’s way

Lots of animals eat poisonous plants and critters and survive. How do they do it? I looked into this mystery in my latest for @knowablemag.bsky.social:

knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

1. Handrawn diagram of the 4 node ARPENT in Nov 1969, with some added annotations by me 2. First ARPANET IMP log message. This IMP Log excerpt, kept at UCLA, describes setting up a message transmission from the UCLA SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the SRI SDS 940 Host computer. 3. Photo of the front panel of the very first Interface Message Processor (IMP). This was used at the UCLA site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_Message_Processor 4. Pic of plaque at SRI from IEEE - "Inception of the ARPANET, 1969 SRI was one of the first two nodes, with the University of California at Los Angeles, on the ARPANET, the first digital global network based on packet switching and demand access. The first documented ARPANET connection was from UCLA to SRI on 29 October 1969 at 10:30 p.m. The ARPANET’s technology and deployment laid the foundation for the development of the Internet." This milestone's plaque can be seen in the Visitors Lobby of SRI International Building A, 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025 (GPS: 37.45758, -122.17642), which is open to the public 7am-6pm on weekdays. It is the 1st of 3 Milestone plaques mounted on the left wall. The dedication of this Milestone took place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on September 16, 2009, with Internet Pioneer Vint Cerf amongst those officiating. Source: https://ethw.org/Milestones:Inception_of_the_ARPANET,_1969

OTD on Oct 29, 1969, ARPANET was born, which led to the development of today's Internet.

At 10:30 pm PST, SRI programmer Bill Duvall and UCLA student programmer Charley Kline made the first successful host-to-host login connection.
👏
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
#History

1. Handrawn diagram of the 4 node ARPENT in Nov 1969, with some added annotations by me 2. First ARPANET IMP log message. This IMP Log excerpt, kept at UCLA, describes setting up a message transmission from the UCLA SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the SRI SDS 940 Host computer. 3. Photo of the front panel of the very first Interface Message Processor (IMP). This was used at the UCLA site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_Message_Processor 4. Pic of plaque at SRI from IEEE - "Inception of the ARPANET, 1969 SRI was one of the first two nodes, with the University of California at Los Angeles, on the ARPANET, the first digital global network based on packet switching and demand access. The first documented ARPANET connection was from UCLA to SRI on 29 October 1969 at 10:30 p.m. The ARPANET’s technology and deployment laid the foundation for the development of the Internet." This milestone's plaque can be seen in the Visitors Lobby of SRI International Building A, 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025 (GPS: 37.45758, -122.17642), which is open to the public 7am-6pm on weekdays. It is the 1st of 3 Milestone plaques mounted on the left wall. The dedication of this Milestone took place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on September 16, 2009, with Internet Pioneer Vint Cerf amongst those officiating. Source: https://ethw.org/Milestones:Inception_of_the_ARPANET,_1969

OTD on Oct 29, 1969, ARPANET was born, which led to the development of today's Internet.

At 10:30 pm PST, SRI programmer Bill Duvall and UCLA student programmer Charley Kline made the first successful host-to-host login connection.
👏
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
#History

Still from a time-lapse video of comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) by Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann. Shows the long wispy tail of the comet. The long exposure is marred by LEO satellites criss-crossing the image.

The horror of the night sky being destroyed by Starlink (and other LEO) satellites.

Still from time-lapse video of comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) by Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann.

Video at spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload...
Cleaned up images at skyweek.wordpress.com/2025/10/
#Astronomy #Comet

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) seen from high elevation with an orange backlit cloud layer below it, dark and starry skies above it and a golden glowing sea at the bottom. Commentary by Marina Pol on X: Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), Gran Canaria and Tenerife. We went up to avoid the low clouds and there were also high ones. We took advantage of the windows we had and enjoyed the views and the good transparency, despite the pesky clouds.

One more outstanding and artistic shot of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) by astro-photographer Marina Prol from the Canary Islands, taken on October 25.
☄️
www.marinaprol.com/astroandnigh...
Credit: Marina Prol
#Astronomy

1. Pic taken from the eye of Hurricane Melissa at night. The eyewall is dark, the top of the wall is grey, stars can be seen in the sky above https://x.com/MyRadarWX/status/1982699961461748196 https://x.com/MatthewCappucci/status/1982700357366030538 2. Pic of hurricane hunter aircraft taking off from the airport https://x.com/juststormchasin/status/1982578135590928392 Matthew Cappucci wrote: THE EYE OF MELISSA: On the entirety of planet Earth, there's no place else experiencing the type of indescribable weird, eeriness that's found within the eye of a high-end hurricane. It's poetically sinister; destruction juxtaposed with peace. A timeless "time out" of sorts where, for just a moment, everything is calm and quaint – though, on all sides, you're surrounded by imminent devastation. It's like an alternate reality that only lasts a few moments. I capture this photo overnight Sunday night into Monday as Melissa approached Category 4 strength. I was onboard the NOAA Hurricane Hunters aircraft as it sampled data in the core of Hurricane Melissa south of Jamaica. In this photo, you can see it all – clear, start-studded skies overhead, reminiscent of a warm summer's night. But, curving around me, you see the eyewall – a 140-150 buzzsaw of mayhem, madness and destruction. That eyewall contains hell on Earth, and yet I was in a 12 mile-wide safe haven. The eyewall is the innermost ring of extreme winds that surrounds a hurricane's center. Picture the center of a sink drain; fluid is spiraling inward. Warm, moist air rushes toward the middle, sapping heat energy from the ocean below. It screams inwards and upwards, forming a ring of thunderstorms 50,000 feet high. Winds in the eyewall reach ridiculous speeds; over the open ocean, wind over 150 mph will be possible by Tuesday. ...

An eerie starry view from the eye of Hurricane #Melissa taken last night by meteorologist Matthew Cappucci onboard a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft. The Lockheed P-3 Orion (tail N42RF) took off from Lakeland Linder Intl Airport east of Tampa.
🌀
Credit: Matthew Cappucci and Alina Cooper

1. Satellite image of White House, outline of new ballroom building and approx dimensions of various structures 2. Side view drawing of proposed ballroom building

The 90,000 sq ft floor space is very likely across 2 (or more) levels.
The floor below the ballroom will have guest suites, conf rooms and who knows what else.
A 2nd floor will be added to the East Colonnade.

Zohran at the podium looking to the left.

Zohran, Bernie and AOC holding hands on stage.

Zohran on stage with people seated on the sage behind me.

"No longer should we think about our political process as settling for the lesser of two evils. We can demand a greater good.

And in doing so, we can make City Hall a place from which New Yorkers expect change, not failure."

Wide shot of a packed stadium.

Good evening from Queens.

New York is not for sale.

Commentary by Petr Horále - Last night was incredible. I have just moved to Sweden, where I organize astrophotography workshop for a group, and this is the view of nature offered over Suotojärvi Lake. The comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon was seemingly swimming in bright Aurora Borealis. The comet was so bright that we could see it with our naked eyes, even very low over the horizon. Captured after 20:30 UTC, Used Nikon Z6III, Nikkor 135mm, f1.8, ISO 3200, 4s exposure foreground, 15x4s comet from tripod (stacked).

Yet another spectacular image of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) over Suotojärvi Lake, northern Sweden, taken by Petr Horálek on October 24, with the sky lit up by the dazzling red and green Aurora Borealis.
☄️😮
www.petrhoralek.com?p=25820
#Astronomy

Commentary by Petr Horále - Last night was incredible. I have just moved to Sweden, where I organize astrophotography workshop for a group, and this is the view of nature offered over Suotojärvi Lake. The comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon was seemingly swimming in bright Aurora Borealis. The comet was so bright that we could see it with our naked eyes, even very low over the horizon. Captured after 20:30 UTC, Used Nikon Z6III, Nikkor 135mm, f1.8, ISO 3200, 4s exposure foreground, 15x4s comet from tripod (stacked).

Another fabulous shot of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) over Suotojärvi Lake, Sweden, by Petr Horálek, with the colorful Aurora Borealis lighting up the sky.

More at www.petrhoralek.com?p=25820 and
fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1154...
#Astronomy

1. Satellite image of Hurricane Melissa and surrounding area this morning with a sharp eye 2. Graph of Hurricane Melissa wind speeds - past actual values and future predictions.

Overnight, Hurricane #Melissa, now sporting a distinct eye, grew from Cat 1 (90 mph wind speeds) to Cat 4 (140 mph).

Landfall in Jamaica - Tuesday morning.

Catastrophic amounts of rain, 40+ inches in some areas in Jamaica, storm surges, life-threatening flooding and landslides.
www.nhc.noaa.gov

Illustration of elongation angle between a telescope, the Sun and the Comet.

Elongation is the angle between the observer-sun line and the observer-comet line.
Observations cannot be made if the angle is too small due to interference from the Sun.
The minimum angle supported varies by telescope.
Elongation does not sound like an intuitive name for this feature.

1. Table from paper of various spacecraft (and earth) and observation parameters during their closest approach of the comet. 2. Map of the solar system and locations of 3I/ATLAS, the inner planets and various spacecraft on Nov 4, with some added annotations by me https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-system/#/c_2025_n1?rate=0&time=2025-11-04T16:17:20.000+00:00 

Many spacecraft will get a chance to observe Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.

ESA Juice will collect imaging and spectral data from ~0.4 AU distance.

NASA Europa Clipper can potentially sample the plasma and dust tail from ~1 AU away.

fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1153...
arxiv.org/pdf/2508.15768
#Astronomy

Pics of the East Wing - 1. Map of the first floor of the East Wing. Click on the sections of the map on the website to see more photographs. 2. Pergola and garden in 2006 (Lafayette) 3. Obama and dog running in the East Colonnade, 2008 4. Holiday season pic of East Colonnade in 2008 5. Lobby of the East Wing in 2014, looking west 6. Artists impression of the horrific giant Ballroom that will replace the East Wing and its garden.

The horror, the horror!

www.tysto.com/ew1.htm
#Politics #UsPol #WhiteHouse #EastWing

Infographic depicting where and when ESA spacecraft will observe the interstellar com 3I/ATLAS

Juice will observe 3I/ATLAS from 2—25 November 2025, while the comet is near perihelion – its closest point to the Sun ☀️

That’s when comets are at their most active, often featuring a glowing coma around the nucleus and dramatic tails.

Pics of the East Wing - 1. Map of the first floor of the East Wing. Click on the sections of the map on the website to see more photographs. 2. Pergola and garden in 2006 (Lafayette) 3. Obama and dog running in the East Colonnade, 2008 4. Holiday season pic of East Colonnade in 2008 5. Lobby of the East Wing in 2014, looking west 6. Artists impression of the horrific giant Ballroom that will replace the East Wing and its garden.

The horror, the horror!

www.tysto.com/ew1.htm
#Politics #UsPol #WhiteHouse #EastWing

Comic. Confusion matrix showing renditions of different combinations, colored yellow, tan, or gray. [Air: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G] [Lead: gamma rays G, neutrons T, alpha particles G, light G, Sound Y, heat Y, swords G, toxic dust T, radio G, sharks G] [Water: gamma rays T, neutrons G, alpha particles G, light T, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks Y] [Vacuum: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound G, heat T, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G] [Oven mitts: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound T, heat G, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks Y] [Armor: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound Y, heat Y, swords G, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks T] [Biohazard suit: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust G, radio Y, sharks Y] [Faraday cage: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks Y] [Shark cage: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G]

Shielding Chart

xkcd.com/3158/

And their reflection!

Pic of the comet with the lake in the foreground and a crimson aurora lighting up the skyline. Instagram post by Petr: SOLAR WIND IN COMET'S TAIL AND EARTH'S SKY: Yesterday evening, a truly unusual view was possible to capture from Seč Lake, Czech Republic. CME from the Sun hit the Earth, producing a G2 geomagnetic storm, including faint auroras even in mid-latitudes. As the comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon approaches Earth (in 2 days), the same cloud from the sun affected even the complicated ion tail of the comet. I succeeded with deeper imaging to reveal that moment in the tail as well as the aurora itself. It doesn't happen every day to capture the invisible solar wind in two sky phenomena at the same moment! Camera: Canon Ra, Sigma Art 50mm, f 1.4, ISO 4000, 43x8s.

Yet another outstanding image of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) by Petr Horálek taken on October 18, from the shore of Seč Lake, Czech Republic.

The pic also captures the aurora caused by a G2 geomagnetic storm that day and the storm's effect on the comet's long ion tail.
☄️
www.petrhoralek.com
#Astronomy

1. The NISAR image taken by one of the WorldView Legion satellites 2. Same image with vector info showing orientation of NISAR relative to its imaging targets. Source: Vantor

An intriguing hi-res photograph of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite with its 12m antenna fully unfurled in space. The pic was taken on Aug 21 by one of the earth observation satellites in the Vantor (formerly Maxar) Constellation.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
#PlanetSci

AkaSci 🛰️ (@AkaSci@fosstodon.org) Attached: 1 image Comets C/2025 R2 (SWAN) and C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) will be closest to Earth around Oct 20 and will both be visible in the evening sky shortly after sunset over the next two weeks. See ...

Check out this thread for some more info on C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) and other comets in the evening sky over the next few weeks.
fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1153...
#Astronomy