
Why a ‘V' and ‘X' can be seen on the moon overnight
These rare celestial events form when sunlight hits specific craters on the moon's surface at just the right angle.
The lunar V is created by light illuminating the Ukert crater, while the lunar X is formed from the Bianchini, La Caille, and Purbach craters.
Observation of the lunar X and V requires a telescope or binoculars, pointed at the moon's terminator, the line separating its light and dark sides.
The phenomenon is expected to appear from 4:41 am on 3 July, with clear skies anticipated over most of the British Isles.
A giant glowing X and V will appear on the Moon's surface tonight

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The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
Mystery 12-mile-wide ‘fuzzy object with a tail' spotted blazing through our solar system at 37 miles a SECOND, Nasa says
A MYSTERIOUS cosmic object has been spotted zooming through our solar system - and astronomers say it is only the third of its kind. The "fuzzy" object with a "short tail" is no fur-ball alien, but instead a large icy comet from interstellar space. 6 6 6 6 The celestial visitor is only the third interstellar object on record to grace our solar system, and is also likely the largest yet detected. It follows the rare visits from the famous 1I/ʻOumuamua asteroid in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. "The fact that we see some fuzziness suggests that it is mostly ice rather than mostly rock," Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told AFP. Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation, added: "It looks kind of fuzzy... It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail." The 12-mile-wide comet, known originally as A11pl3Z before it was confirmed to be of interstellar origin, is blazing through the solar system at great speed. While astronomers are still refining their calculations, the object appears to be zooming more than 60 kilometers (37 miles) a second. 6 The comet poses no threat to Earth, said Richard Moissl, head of planetary defense at the European Space Agency (ESA). It's closest approach of Earth, which is projected to occur in late October, will see it pass "just inside the orbit of Mars," according to Moissl. It will pass our blue dot no closer than 240 million kilometres – over 1.5 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. By the time it does make its closest path of Earth, it will be hidden by the Sun - meaning stargazers will have no chance of spotting it in the night sky. Incredible moment a fireball comet is spotted racing past stunning aurora towards Earth While it is expected to reappear by early December, this will only offer astronomers another window for study. The comet was first spotted on 1 July by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile. Its unusual trajectory immediately raised suspicions that the comet came from an unknown world in interstellar space. Its current path "means it's not orbiting our star, but coming from interstellar space and flying off to there again," according to Moissl. What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet? Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa... Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth) Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it'll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn't vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth's atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing) ESA's Planetary Defence Office, tasked with safeguarding Earth from potential asteroid and comet impacts, alerted astronomers who can now track the comet's path. These efforts are part of ESA's broader mission to detect, track, and characterise near-Earth objects. "What makes interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS so extraordinary is their absolutely foreign nature," ESA wrote in a recent blog post. "They are remnants of other planetary systems, carrying with them clues about the formation of worlds far beyond our own. "It may be thousands of years until humans visit a planet in another solar system and interstellar comets offer the tantalising opportunity for us to touch something truly otherworldly." That's why the space agency is preparing the Comet Interceptor mission for 2029. ESA is set to send a spacecraft into a parking orbit in space to wait for a suitable target comet – or even a rare interstellar object - to retrieve samples from. 6


The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Minister demands overhaul of UK's leading AI institute
The technology secretary has demanded an overhaul of the UK's leading artificial intelligence institute in a wide-ranging letter that calls for a switch in focus to defence and national security, as well as leadership changes. Peter Kyle said it was clear further action was needed to ensure the government-backed Alan Turing Institute met its full potential. In a letter to ATI's chair, seen by the Guardian, Kyle said the institute should be changed to prioritise defence, national security and 'sovereign capabilities' – a reference to nation states being able to control their own AI technology. The call for new priorities implies a downgrading of ATI's focus on health and the environment, which are two of three core subjects for the institute, alongside defence and security, under its 'Turing 2.0' strategy. 'Moving forward, defence and national security projects should form a core of ATI's activities, and relationships with the UK's security, defence, and intelligence communities should be strengthened accordingly,' Kyle wrote. Making clear that the Turing 2.0 strategy did not meet government requirements, Kyle indicated that he expected leadership changes at ATI. 'To realise this vision, it is imperative that the ATI's leadership reflects the institute's reformed focus,' he wrote. 'While we acknowledge the success of the current leadership in delivering reform at the institute during a difficult period, careful consideration should be given to the importance of an executive team who possesses a relevant background and sector knowledge to lead this transition.' ATI is chaired by Doug Gurr, the former head of Amazon's UK operations and interim chair of the UK's competition watchdog. The institute is going through a restructuring under the chief executive, Jean Innes,which one in five staff have said puts ATI's credibility in 'serious jeopardy'. At the end of last year, ATI employed 440 staff, but it has since launched a redundancy process. Although the institute is nominally independent, it recently secured £100m from the government in a five-year funding deal. The letter said ATI's 'longer-term funding arrangement' could be reviewed next year. The government would maintain its current level of research and development from national security and defence for the next three years, Kyle wrote, and would increase the number of defence and national security staff embedded in the institute. Dame Wendy Hall, a professor of computer science at the University of Southampton and the co-chair of a 2017 government AI review, said ATI would cease to be a national institute under the government's proposed changes. Sign up to TechScape A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives after newsletter promotion 'If the institute focuses on defence and security it ceases to be a national institute on AI,' Hall said. 'It's not broad enough. If the government wants an AI institute that does defence and security then it should just call it that.' In February, the government indicated a focus on national security with its AI strategy by renaming its AI Safety Institute, established under the premiership of Rishi Sunak, the AI Security Institute. Kyle's letter also referred to the government's 50-point AI action plan as a 'testament' to the UK's AI ambitions, The plan's targets include a 20-fold increase in the amount of AI computing power under public control by 2030, and embedding AI in the public sector. ATI has been approached for comment.


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Scientists tracking ‘interstellar' object that has come to us from another solar system
Astronomers may have just discovered a new interstellar object passing through our solar system. The object, a celestial body from another star system, was discovered on Tuesday by the University of Hawaii's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, team. At this point, it remains unclear what the object may be or look like as it moves near Jupiter. Now, scientists are checking to confirm their findings. 'ESA's Planetary Defenders are observing the object, provisionally known as #A11pl3Z, right now using telescopes around the world,' the European Space Agency said in a social media post on Wednesday. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration told The Associated Press that it is monitoring the situation. David Rankin, of the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, said in posts on BlueSky that follow-up observations were made not long after the discovery. A precovery — observations from archival images in which the object was not originally discovered — from CalTech's Zwicky Transient Facility hinted at the presence of an interstellar object. 'After a few more precovery observations, and follow-ups, it became clear this object is on a hyperbolic trajectory through the solar system,' Rankin wrote. Since then, new observations have been 'rolling in,' helping astronomers to better determine its orbit. Rankin noted that the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system was 'Oumuamua, which was spotted in 2017. Up to one-quarter mile-long and 10 times as long as it is wide, its resembles a rocky cigar with a reddish hue. Its aspect ratio, which is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date, even led to speculation that it could be an alien spacecraft. Observations then suggested that it had been wandering through our Milky Way galaxy for hundreds of millions of years before its encounter with our star system, according to NASA. The second known object was Comet 2I/Borisov, found in 2019. It is the first confirmed interstellar comet, and was later captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists believe that many more such objects regularly pass by the Earth, with a number of them flying relatively near to us each year. However, many of them go undetected because they are hard to spot and it is difficult to know for sure where they have come from. Researchers hope to eventually learn more about them and even use them as evidence for distant star systems and planets.