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Timelapse: Northern Lights visible in Sonoma County

Timelapse: Northern Lights visible in Sonoma County

Yahoo2 days ago

(KRON) — The aurora borealis was visible in the northernmost region of the Bay Area Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Local photographer Alexander Glavtchev sent these images of last night's Northern Lights from Windsor, Calif. Watch the video at the top of this story for a timelapse of the event.
There's another chance the northern lights will be visible in northern Sonoma County between Sunday night and early Monday morning. Stargazers in the city won't be able to view the lights. However, the lights may be visible online using AlertWidlfire cameras.
The Northern Lights occur when energetic particles from the sun collide with atoms and molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, creating glowing colorful skies, according to NASA.
Video: Second cliff rescue at San Francisco's Battery Crosby in two days
'Auroras, also known as the northern or southern lights, are colorful and dynamic displays that glow in the night sky,' the NASA website reads. 'Auroras occur in an upper layer of Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere, but they typically originate with activity on the sun. Occasionally, during explosions called coronal mass ejections, the sun releases charged particles that speed across the solar system.'
The best regions for viewing tonight's aurora borealis are highlighted in a map provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The Indian pilot set for a historic space journey on Axiom-4
The Indian pilot set for a historic space journey on Axiom-4

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

The Indian pilot set for a historic space journey on Axiom-4

The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), set to take off from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida next week, will be piloted by an Indian as it soars towards the International Space Station (ISS). Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian air force is among the four-member multi-country crew of Ax-4 that will be spending two weeks on the ISS. The flight, scheduled for 10 June at 08:22 EDT (12:22GMT; 17:52IST), has generated a huge interest in India as Group Captain Shukla will only be the second Indian ever to travel to space and the first to visit the ISS. The trip comes 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly to space aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984. He spent nearly eight days there. Ax-4 is led by former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson - a space veteran who has been commander of ISS twice, spent hundreds of days in space and done 10 space walks. The team also includes Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary - just like the Indian astronaut, they will also be taking their countries back to space after more than four decades. Experts say the pilot's role is key, as he would serve as second-in-command to the mission commander, assisting with spacecraft operations during launch, docking, undocking and return to Earth. The astronauts, who have been in quarantine since 25 May to prepare for the trip, addressed a press conference on Tuesday night where they showed-off Joy - a small, white toy swan they said would be "the fifth crew member" on Ax-4. "We are good for the launch, we have completed all the training and the team has bonded well," Commander Whitson said. Describing the past year as "nothing short of transformative" for him, Group Captain Shukla said he did not have words to describe his excitement. "It has been an amazing journey so far, but the best is yet to come," he said. "As I go into space, I carry not just instruments and equipment, I carry hopes and dreams of a billion hearts. "I request all Indians to pray for the success of our mission," he added. The 39-year-old was among four Indian air force officers shortlisted last year to travel on the country's first-ever human space flight, scheduled for 2027. The Gaganyaan mission aims to send three astronauts to an orbit of 400km and bring them back after three days. India has also announced ambitious plans to set up a space station by 2035 and send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040. India's space agency Isro has been carrying out a number of tests to prepare for Gaganyaan. In December, it plans to send a female humanoid robot to space as part of the tests. So, officials say the weekend's mission comes as a "unique exciting opportunity" for Isro and has generated a lot of interest in India. 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A Long-Time Meteorologist Shared A Chilling Example Of How Trump's Budget Cuts Will Hurt Weather Predictions
A Long-Time Meteorologist Shared A Chilling Example Of How Trump's Budget Cuts Will Hurt Weather Predictions

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time2 hours ago

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A Long-Time Meteorologist Shared A Chilling Example Of How Trump's Budget Cuts Will Hurt Weather Predictions

An Emmy-winning TV meteorologist of over three decades is sounding the alarm on the Trump administration's unprecedented cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ahead of what is expected to be an intense 2025 hurricane season. Florida's John Morales, forecaster at Miami-based news station NBC 6, spoke about the changes Sunday by pointing to the accuracy of a report he was able to give six years ago. Morales played a clip of himself speaking about Hurricane Dorian, which followed the coastline up Florida and along the Southeastern U.S. in 2019. Initially, its movements made it appear like it was on track to smash right into South Florida. 'There is a lot of anxiety out there, because you don't see it turning,' he said at the time. 'It's going to turn,' he said calmly. As the broadcast cut back to a live feed, Morales recalled the confidence he had been able to project back then, despite fears from the community. 'I am here to tell you that I am not sure I can do that this year,' Morales told viewers. Related: A Republican's Response To A "Tax The Rich" Chant At His Town Hall Is Going Viral 'Because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general,' he went on, 'And I could talk about that for a long, long time, and how that is affecting the U.S. leadership in science over many years, and how we're losing that leadership and this is a multi-generational impact on science in this country.' He added, 'But, specifically, let's talk about the federal government cuts to the national weather service and to NOAA.' President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk's efforts to cut federal spending on what they consider 'waste, fraud, and abuse' led the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to eliminate hundreds of NOAA jobs this year, including many within the National Weather Service. Related: "I Am So Torn With What You Are Doing" — 11 Posts From MAGA Business Owners Who Are So Close To Getting It Project 2025 — the blueprint for a second Trump term that he has tried to denounce even as its plans become reality — outlines more extreme disruptions, including the total dismantling of NOAA. 'I think people are nervous and very scared to see what happens next,' a general forecaster at the National Weather Service told HuffPost back in March, after the job cuts, noting that hurricane season picks up in mid-summer. 'Everything people see on TV or hear from The Weather Channel, all that information comes from the National Weather Service,' the employee said. 'We're the ones behind the scenes that you may not see.' The administration did not boost confidence when it emerged that the new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which handles post-hurricane damage, said Monday that he was not aware the country had a hurricane season. (The agency later said the comment was a joke.) Morales told viewers on Sunday that NWS offices in Central and South Florida were 19% to 39% understaffed, and that there has been a 17% drop in weather balloon launches, resulting in less data. JohnMoralesTV / Via 'And what we're starting to see is that the quality of the forecasts is becoming degraded,' Morales said, adding that hurricane-hunting planes may also be affected. 'With less reconnaissance missions, we may be flying blind, and we may not exactly know how strong a hurricane is before reaching the coastline,' he said. The meteorologist had more to say in a written piece published over the weekend. During an extreme weather event, skeleton staff at the nation's weather agencies might be at risk of making mistakes or overlooking data simply due to exhaustion. 'Am I worried? You bet I am!' he wrote. He provided an example of how such mistakes can have a devastating impact: Hurricane Otis, which made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, in 2023. The storm had drastically more intense wind speeds than predicted, Morales said, in part because there had not been 'timely reconnaissance data' from hurricane-hunting flights. Morales urged viewers to contact their congressional representatives to demand an end to the cuts. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Also in In the News: People Can't Believe This "Disgusting" Donald Trump Jr. Post About Joe Biden's Cancer Diagnosis Is Real Also in In the News: Miss USA's 2024 "National Costume" Has Been Revealed, And It's Obviously An Interesting Choice Also in In the News: One Body Language Expert Spotted Something Very Telling When Donald Trump "Held His Own Hand" At His Recent Press Conference

Meteorologist Calls Out Trump On-Air Over ‘Sledge Hammer Attack' on Weather Research Funding
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Meteorologist Calls Out Trump On-Air Over ‘Sledge Hammer Attack' on Weather Research Funding

NBC 6 South Florida meteorologist John Morales outlined how President Donald Trump's drastic spending cuts on science and national weather services will likely impact how accurately weather broadcasters can convey forecasts to audiences. Before Morales laid out the details, he played a clip from a 2019 report he did on Hurricane Dorian, in which the storm traveled up the Florida coastline. At the time, Morales said locals had concerns that it would hit South Florida. In the video, he was able to assure watchers that weather patterns indicated the storm would veer away from the area. 'There is a lot of anxiety out there, because you don't see it turning,' he said during the old clip. However, he added in a calm manner that the hurricane is 'going to turn.' After the clip was over, Morales asked the viewers watching, 'Remember that?' as he set up his example. 'That was about six years ago. That was Hurricane Dorian as it was absolutely devastating the Northwest Bahamas as a Category 5. Sat over that region two days, was headed straight west. Lots of people in Florida were concerned the hurricane was heading here,' he recalled as he remarked on his 34 years covering weather in South Florida. 'Confidently, I went on TV and I told you, 'It's going to turn — you don't need to worry. It is going to turn.' And I am here to tell you that I'm not sure I can do that this year.'He went on to directly take shots at the negative consequences of Trump's move to slash funding for climate and weather research and for firing hundreds of scientists at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 'The cuts, the gutting, the sledge hammer attack on science in general, and I could talk about that for a long, long time and how that is effecting the U.S. leadership and science over many years and how we're losing that leadership, and this is a multi-generational impact on science and this country,' Morales said. During his message, the meteorologist showed an image of stats, which noted that the Central and South Florida National Weather Service is now 19 to 39% understaffed, there has been a 17% reduction in weather balloon launches across the United States and it's ultimately 'degraded forecast accuracy.' 'Let's talk about the federal government cuts to the National Weather Service and to NOAA. Did you know that Central and South Florida Weather Service offices are currently, basically 20 to 40% understaffed,' Morales said. 'From Tampa to Key West, including the Miami office, 20 to 40% understaffed. Now, this type of staffing shortage is having impacts across the nation because there's been a nearly 20% reduction in weather balloon releases, launches that carry those radio signs. And what we're starting to see is that the quality of the forecast is becoming degraded.' Since Trump announced his slew of funding cuts across government sectors, many meteorologists and climate scientists have started to protest Trump and his administration's controversial decisions. In an effort to provide viewers with an understanding of how government funding helps advance weather and climate research, which has led to an improvement to safety, more than 200 figures within the weather broadcasting industry came together to run a livestream for 100 hours as their way of protest. During the stream, which ran from May 28 to June 1, the professionals called out the risks that come with budget cuts to that specific area of science and research. 'Having reliable weather forecasts and climate projections is something that I think the American public has been able to take for granted for a very long time,' climate scientist Margaret Duffy said. 'These funding cuts directly affect the research that underlies those forecasts.' You can watch the full NBC 6 clip in the video above. The post Meteorologist Calls Out Trump On-Air Over 'Sledge Hammer Attack' on Weather Research Funding | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

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