#lagrange cloud

[whirligig-girl]

The aliens arrived in their toroidal flying saucers--enormous gossamer-like structures big enough to put Jupiter in the hole. They projected bodies down to Earth on long threads, and complained.

"What happened?" they pleaded with our planetary scientists.

An awfully open-ended question, but the planetary scientists threw up their hands and explained the current state of the field, about the theory of planetary aggregation and various hypotheses to explain how each of the planets ended up where they are today. The aliens nodded along skeptically at times, but they seemed especially disappointed by the Lunar geologists.

"Excuse us," their leader said politely, rising into the sky towards geostationary orbit on a great thread.

And so it was for the next few decades that the aliens set to work correcting what they saw as the great mistakes of the solar system's formation. Perhaps Venus never cooled down enough to avoid a runaway greenhouse effect, or maybe something about its specific volatile mass had been off. Either way, it was the first to be treated. By the time it was done, perhaps 20 years in, it was a blue world with brown continents and white clouds. While another saucer had come to work its magic on Mars, the first saucer returned.

"Eh, we'll need you to give planet two a good head start with the whole biosphere thing. We hadn't bargained on life starting up there halfway through the lifespan of the Sun. If it's no trouble, that is."

A new habitable planet provided the space program no shortage of funding!

Mars was finished, just a few years later, a comparatively simpler job. The aliens advised humans not to interfere with this one just yet, to perhaps give it a few hundred megaannum or so for the life to diversify and develop before contaminating it.

But the saucers didn't leave. They seemed to drift throughout the inner solar system. They took some curious expeditions to Europa and Enceladus--robotic NASA spacecrafts recorded deep probing threads piercing the ice--but didn't seem impressed.

They kept returning to the Moon.

At last, the aliens projected down on their long threads to a university. "You're sure that's how it happened?" they said.

The lunar-planetary scientists showed the alien ambassadors rocks from the Apollo and Artemis expeditions, computer simulations of various types of giant impacts, of synestias and hours-long instant formations and debris disks and gas instability, of an oversized iron core and large low-shear-velocity-provinces.

"We think the water on Earth may even have been delivered through a giant impact from a KBO, though there's some concerns about isotopic ratios."

"No, no," said the alien. "The initial coorbital hypothesis is the correct one."

The alien sighed--it had picked up human body language well over the past 35 years--"This just won't do," it said. It left the building, shaking its head. "It just won't do."

The planetary scientists ran after the alien, as it started reeling its thread back. "Wait!" they said. "What are you going to do?"

"This Moon thing of yours just isn't big enough to hold onto an atmosphere. I'm afraid it's not good enough."

The aliens rose into the sky.

Within a few months the Moon had been lost from the sky, and a years later had been relocated to the L4 lagrange point. The aliens came back, apologetically. "Terribly sorry," they said, "We're in the final phases of the plan," they said.

The Earth Emergency Government representative stepped forward. "Final… phases?" he said.

"Theia was always meant to be a trojan of your Earth, you see. Something must have gone wrong when the gas disk dissipated."

"I don't understand," the representative said.

"My apologies," the alien said, "I'm used to dealing with your planetary researchers."

Many masses of threads now fell gracefully from the skies. When they touched down, they effortlessly bored deep holes. The ground shook. The representative's heart rate skyrocketed.

"It's just that we're going to have to repossess the planet Theia now."

[rowansender]

Rattenkönig Station

Rattenkönig Station hangs above the horizon plane of the Maelstrom. Balanced precariously in a neutral Lagrange Point, the station is a motionless filament of gold and black gossamer above churning chaos of a thousand gravity wells. The Maelstrom is a miraculous anomaly nature. Held within the swirling clouds of cosmic dust are an endless supply of derelict ships; the skeletons of a million fledgling, each caught in the web on their first flight.

Standing on the observation deck, crews of Rattenmensch stare down at the storm that stretches to the edge of view. The superstitious among them divine their fortune in the patterns of the clouds. The more cynical seek to glimpse an overlooked ship: an easy catch that they could take for themselves without a patron.

The great bell at the pinnacle of the station chimes and the holoprojections flare to life atop the misshapen scrap pedestals at the center of the observation deck. Most turn immediately, eager to seek their fortune and find the best deal amongst the available contracts. For others, it is only the flickering glare from the holos that drag them away from the Maelstrom.

——————

This is the introduction to Gravity Rats for the Eternal TTRPG Jam in April.

[vitalspace]

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

OverviewLaunch Date: December 25, 2021

Deployment Location: Lagrange Point 2 (L2), approximately 1.5 million kilometers (about 1 million miles) from Earth

Primary Mission: To explore the origins of the universe, from the Big Bang to the formation of planetary systems capable of supporting life.

Key Advancements and Technologies

Large Mirror Size

Primary Mirror: The JWST features a 6.5-meter (21.3 feet) primary mirror, composed of 18 hexagonal segments made of beryllium coated with gold. This is significantly larger than the Hubble Space Telescope’s 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirror, allowing JWST to collect more light and see fainter objects.

Infrared Observation

Wavelength Range: JWST is primarily an infrared telescope, covering wavelengths from 0.6 to 28.5 micrometers. This allows it to peer through dust clouds and observe objects that are too faint or too cool to be seen in visible light, such as the first galaxies, star-forming regions, and exoplanets.

Advantage: Infrared observation is crucial for studying the early universe, as light from the first stars and galaxies is redshifted into the infrared spectrum.

Sunshield

Design: JWST is equipped with a five-layer sunshield the size of a tennis court. This sunshield protects the telescope from the Sun’s heat, allowing its instruments to operate at extremely low temperatures necessary for infrared observation.

Function: The sunshield keeps the telescope’s instruments at around -233 degrees Celsius (-388 degrees Fahrenheit).

Advanced Instruments

Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam): Captures detailed images in the near-infrared range.

Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec): Capable of observing 100 objects simultaneously in the near-infrared.

Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI): Extends JWST’s capabilities into the mid-infrared range.

Fine Guidance Sensor/Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS): Ensures precise pointing and supports exoplanet studies.

Major Scientific Goals

Observing the First Galaxies and Stars

JWST aims to look back over 13.5 billion years to observe the first galaxies and stars that formed after the Big Bang. By studying these early structures, scientists hope to understand the processes that led to galaxy formation and evolution.

Studying the Formation of Stars and Planets

The telescope will peer into dense clouds of gas and dust where stars and planetary systems are forming. This will provide insights into the birth of stars and the development of protoplanetary disks.

Examining Exoplanets and their Atmospheres

JWST will analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets in unprecedented detail, searching for signs of habitability and potential biomarkers. This includes studying the atmospheric composition, weather patterns, and surface conditions of distant worlds.

Understanding the Evolution of Our Solar SystemThe telescope will study objects within our solar system, such as comets, asteroids, and the outer planets, to gain a better understanding of its formation and evolution.

Impacts and Future Prospects

Enhanced Observational Capabilities: The JWST represents a significant leap in our ability to observe the universe. Its advanced technology allows us to see deeper into space and time than ever before, offering potential discoveries that could reshape our understanding of the cosmos.

Complementary to Hubble: While the Hubble Space Telescope has primarily focused on visible and ultraviolet light, JWST’s infrared capabilities complement Hubble’s observations, providing a more complete picture of astronomical phenomena.

Inspiration for Future Missions: The success and innovations of JWST pave the way for future space telescopes and astronomical instruments. Its design and technology will inform the development of subsequent missions, including those focused on even longer wavelengths or different scientific goals.

Conclusion

The James Webb Space Telescope is a monumental advancement in space astronomy, equipped with cutting-edge technology to explore the universe’s most fundamental questions. Its ability to observe in the infrared spectrum, coupled with its large mirror and sophisticated instruments, makes it a powerful tool for unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos. As it continues to deliver groundbreaking discoveries, JWST will significantly expand our knowledge and inspire future generations of astronomical research.

[1337dangerousexplorations]

Discovered not 1, not 2, but 3 Proto-Lagrange Clouds in the BLU EUQ NO-Y C1-1 system. I went weapons hot because it gave me false radar returns and I'm nowhere near humans of any kind, NPC or otherwise.

[cmdr-h-of-the-woods]

08/10/3309

I am making my way towards the NGC 752 open cluster. Today, I jumped into a system with two notable stellar phenomena! I’ve only been in one other system with those before, and I knew ahead of time that I was going to find them, but this was a complete surprise. This system has what the codex calls Proto-Lagrange clouds. In them, I found purple and green spiky bois (metallic crystals), and more curious mollusc gourds. This is eerie and fascinating at the same time.

[valerievarnuska]

The James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), also known simply as Webb, is the largest and most technically advanced space telescope ever built. Notably, it cost $10 billion to develop and build and was designed to be the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first advanced optical telescope launched into Earth's orbit. It can view objects beyond the HST’s capacity.

The National Research Council, a Canadian federal government agency committed to science and technology research and development, identifies the JWST as an important astronomy and astrophysics tool. The JWST is also a key asset for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the nation’s federal agency overseeing the nation's civil space program and aerospace research, as well as the scientific community, playing a pivotal role in the country’s ground and space astrophysics initiatives.

Named after James Webb, NASA’s Apollo program administrator from 1961 to 1968, the JWST is a NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) joint partnership program. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center oversaw the telescope's development, while Johns Hopkins University's Space Telescope Science Institute manages its operations. Additionally, Northrop Grumman, an American aerospace and defense company and the JWST project’s primary contractor, led the industry in the telescope’s development.

JWST was launched into space aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket on December 25th, 2021 from ESA’s rocket launch site at Kourou in France’s overseas department, French Guiana. Ariane 5 is a decommissioned European heavy-lift launch vehicle, previously operated by Arianespace, a French global pioneer in satellite launches, on behalf of the ESA.

The JWST took 30 days to travel about 1 million miles to its ultimate location, a region in space called Lagrange Point 2 (L2), where it arrived on January 24th, 2022. L2 is a point in space near Earth, positioned on the side opposite the Sun. This location enables the telescope to remain aligned with Earth while orbiting the Sun.

The telescope’s mirror is seven times larger than the HST’s, measuring 21.3 feet in diameter. It orbits the sun in a pattern called “Lissajous,” referring to a pattern created when two wavy lines (sinusoidal curves) cross each other at right angles.

Engineers equipped the telescope with 18 gold-plated mirrors that make up its primary mirror. They are gold-plated to protect them from thermal radiation in space. Having 18 separate mirrors results in a massive mirror that couldn’t fit in a rocket. They had to be folded to fit, and were then unfolded once the telescope reached its destination.

The human eye can only observe visible light, which falls in the frequency band known as the optical spectrum. However, the JWST can see a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum called infrared light. Infrared light allows sensors in a device to capture thermal images. The telescope primarily detects infrared light, and since its mirror is so large and there’s no atmosphere in space to obscure visibility, it can view cold, distant, and small objects.

As with the HST, the JWST probes the cosmos to unravel the universe’s history, attempting to understand phenomena like the Big Bang and how exoplanets - planets outside the solar system that orbit stars other than the sun - form. When the telescope was launched, NASA stated that it would focus on four main areas. These include the universe’s first light, the early universe’s galaxies’ assembly, planet formation, including early life origins, and stars’ and protoplanetary systems’ birth.

On July 12th, 2022, the JWST released its first images during a NASA live event. They included the Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula. The Carina Nebula is a vast gas and dust cloud 8,500 light years away from Earth, where stars constantly form and get destroyed. The Southern Ring Nebula is a large gas cloud around one destroyed star’s atmosphere located about 2,000 light years away from Earth. The telescope continues to take more images, providing deeper insights about the universe.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NOAA's GOES-19 satellite releases new coronagraph data to public

Near real-time preliminary data from NOAA's first Compact Coronagraph (CCOR-1), a powerful solar telescope onboard the GOES-19 satellite, are now publicly accessible. GOES-19, launched in June 2024, began providing the new data through the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) website as of February 25, 2025, and from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archive starting March 7, 2025.

CCOR-1 was designed to continuously monitor the faint outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, called the corona, to detect large, fast-moving plasma eruptions called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

As the first modern coronagraph for space weather forecasting, CCOR-1 will provide the primary observations used to predict impending geomagnetic storm conditions, allowing SWPC to issue improved watches and warnings one to three days in advance. This gives operators critical lead time to take precautionary actions to protect vital infrastructure, economic interests and national security.

Space weather events like CMEs can disrupt power grids, satellite operations, radio communications, and GPS navigation. Forecasts based on CCOR-1 images are critical for power grid managers so they can take preventive measures to ensure that power flows smoothly and to prevent transformer failures. Additionally, SWPC uses CCOR-1 data and imagery to develop watches and warnings that are invaluable to industries ranging from commercial aviation to precision agriculture, oil and gas exploration, and even national defense among others.

Thus, the CCOR-1 instrument is an important provider of data to ensure these critical systems are protected from severe space weather events.

Twice a day, there is a flash due to the Earth "photobombing" the CCOR-1 field of view. The flash, or "earthshine," is due to the strong reflection of sunlight from our oceans and clouds. Furthermore, the moon passes through the image approximately once a day and is brightly lit due to the same reflection off the planet's surface.

CCOR-1's data is delivered every 15 minutes, a significant improvement compared to the previous system, which utilized the LASCO coronagraph that often had delays of several hours. Since it was activated in September 2024, CCOR-1 has witnessed many space weather events, including the multiple CMEs that produced the powerful geomagnetic storm of October 10, 2024 and even images of comets, ranging from the luminous Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) to extremely faint objects.

GOES-19 will be assigned the operational role of NOAA's GOES East satellite on April 4, 2025. However, SWPC has already begun informally using CCOR-1 observations to inform and improve its space weather forecasts.

Meanwhile, a nearly identical coronagraph, CCOR-2, will be flown onboard NOAA's Space Weather Follow On—Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) mission which will operate closer to the sun at the sun-Earth Lagrange 1 point, approximately one million miles from Earth. Together the two instruments will provide resiliency of observations: if one were to fail, the other would continue to be accessible, ensuring continuous observations of the corona.

In addition to streaming the near-real-time images at SWPC, NOAA plans to archive images from CCOR-1 and CCOR-2 and make them available at NCEI's space weather product page for SWFO, where researchers and citizen scientists alike will be able to search for, display, and download them.

[lethe-the-shoggoth]

Oh, terraformed Mars. Greenhouse gasses raise the temperature and pressure, the ice caps melt, releasing more. Comets are ground into powder in orbit, scattered into the sky to rain down the seas. The seas decrease albedo, stabilizing the temperature. Orbital electromagnets provide something like a magnetosphere. Heavy cloud cover and a swarm of parasol sattelites at the sunwards Lagrange point do the rest. Average temperature still below zero, but a large band now gets above freezing.

It is a planetary Alaska. A Tundra World, with sedge and lily over permafrost at the frozen coasts of the north and south; boreal rainforests at the equator and sprawling ice caps snaking down from the northern ocean. It is a thing of stupendous beauty, but limited economic utility. I'm not sure the present political economy would fund the creation of what is basically a magnificent bauble. Although it could be a wonderful second home for arctic and subarctic peoples, it's probably a little chilly for billionaires. I'd love it there, though.

[ozma914]

Storm Report: Noble County Tornadoes, September 24

 So ... tornadoes.

I don't need to say "possible" tornadoes, because several people got videos and photos of the funnels and their damage. I headed up to dispatch, and so the photos I'm showing were taken from the dispatch window a short time after the fact.

It got pretty funky for awhile, but by the time I got to work the twisters were just crossing into LaGrange County, heading northeast. (If you're not from Indiana, LaGrange County is directly north of us in Noble County, and borders the Michigan state line.) We got a fair amount of rain, which is good for our drought, but I never noticed any thunder from here. I believe the closest the confirmed funnels got to us was five or six miles, and heading away.

It's a little hard to see through the window, but we got a rainbow, and a little later a double rainbow. This is looking northeast toward where the storms were going.

And this is looking pretty much straight east. The lighted rectangle is ... well, a rectangular light, behind me.

This is looking toward the east also, as the storms moved away from us. Those clouds are close to, or over, Ohio, which I believe also had a tornado warning. We were paying more attention at the time to the tornado cutting a swath through LaGrange County. There wasn't much warning, because the storm basically formed and dropped its funnels right over us. The damage was largely in the Ligonier area, northwest of Albion. It could have been worse: Many funnels that didn't reach the ground were also spotted.

 It's a little hard to see, but that's a large flock of birds that took off shortly after the storm passed. Maybe headed south, or maybe "anywhere but here".

And a final photo of the courthouse as the clouds clear, with the birds above. I've noticed that building has "moods" based on the lighting conditions, and this time around it was kind of spooky.

From what I'm hearing at this point it sounds like two tornadoes actually touched down, one in Noble County and one that caused damage all the way through LaGrange County. In Noble County some buildings were damaged, including a residence that lost its roof. The Ligonier area lost power, and we had to call out firefighters and the Noble County Highway Department to clear trees from roadways. Stop lights were out, power lines down--the usual.

For awhile we had six dispatchers in here, where normally we'd have two or three. All the emergency services were pretty busy, as you might imagine, and we stayed busy for awhile. Still, we had no reported injuries here in Noble, so there's that--but two people were injured in LaGrange County when the Amish buggy they were in was hit. (No, I haven't heard anything about the horse's condition.) This weekend the hurricane is reaching us, but only with gusty winds and some rain.

We and our books can be found ... everywhere:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

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Remember: If you have enough books, they can cushion you from strong winds.

[starstruckavenuewombat]

Waterfells on Paid ttthfy Raleigh Lagrange Rd. Raleigh Lagrange Ral Lagrange Macon Rd. Pppfff vvvghhyuu vills and cliffs and clouds entry and exit paid laid cccfggyhhhgvb laid stay must return to Candace Marie Hughes and earth and paid. On. Paid. VVoiced paid on. On. Paid. Mail KIY KEY card dh to Candace Marie Hughes and earth and paid. Paid. Parked. Paid.

[cmdr-h-of-the-woods]

07/12/3309

Another day, another colourful Lagrange cloud

[candacehughes123]

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