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Good News. Comet Encke Only Threw a Handful of Giant Space Rocks in our Direction

As comets journey alongside their orbit they dump materials alongside the best way. A stream of particles referred to as the Taurid swarm has been conserving astronomers consideration. It’s thought the particles is the stays of comet Encke which has additionally been fuelling the Taurid meteor bathe. The swarm is believed to be composed of principally innocent, tiny objects however there was concern that there could also be some bigger, kilometre dimension chunks. Fortunately, new observations reveal there are of the order of 9-14 of those 1km rocks.
Planets, minor planets, asteroids and naturally comets are the occupants of our Photo voltaic System. The comets are small objects composed largely of ice and dirt or rocky materials. An exquisite and correct description of those icy wanderers is soiled snowballs. Think about choosing up a handful of snow and ice on a wintry day, you might be more likely to get bits of soil and stone blended in with the snow and it’s this that earns them this identify. They originate from the distant components of the Photo voltaic System, notably the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. As they strategy the Solar, the heat causes the ice to sublimate to a gasoline creating the gaseous coma and lengthy tail. Because the come travels alongside its orbit, the sublimation of ice releases mud and particles alongside the trail.

One such comet is named Comet Encke, a brief interval comet with an orbital interval of three.3 years. It was first detected in 1786 by Pierre Mechain and its orbit calculated by Johnann Franz Encke within the late nineteenth Century. While most comets originate from the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud, Encke appears to have discovered its method nearer to the Solar making frequent predictable visits. Like all comets, Encke deposits particles alongside the best way and this results in the Taurid meteor bathe which is seen in late October/early November.

A group of astronomers utilizing the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) telescope explored swathes of sky to research the stream of particles which is assumed to have drifted from the principle Taurid stream. Considered the stays of Comet Encke, this drifting swarm has been lengthy puzzled astronomers and raised considerations of potential rocks heading to Earth. That’s, till now.
The research follows from earlier efforts to analyse the swarm and had recognized a major variety of kilometre-class rocks. Objects of this dimension would pose a major menace to Earth. Again in 2013 we have been reminded of such risks by the Chelyabinsk asteroid that exploded over Russia and injured over 1,600 individuals.

Credit: Alex Alishevskikh
The group introduced their findings on the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences annual assembly. They confirmed that opposite to the expectations, there are solely a handful of the asteroids possibly as much as 14 that are of kilometre dimension. Assistant analysis scientists Quanzhi Ye defined ‘Judging from our findings, the mum or dad object that initially created the swarm was in all probability nearer to 10 kilometres in diameter somewhat than a large 100 kilometre object. We nonetheless have to be vigilant about asteroid impacts however we are able to in all probability sleep higher now understanding these outcomes.’
Learning options just like the Taurid swarm allow us to study extra about smaller objects within the Photo voltaic System and the way they break aside over time. The research can even assist future asteroid detection and defence planning workout routines for when actual threats are recognized. As for the Taurid swarm, observe up observations will likely be accomplished in future years when the swarm passes shut by Earth once more.
Supply : New study eases concerns over possible “doomsday” asteroid swarm
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GOP widens UC antisemitism investigations, hitting UCLA, UC San Francisco medical schools

The UCLA and UC San Francisco medical schools have been given two weeks to submit years of internal documents to a Republican-led congressional committee about alleged antisemitism and how the schools responded, widening the federal government’s far-reaching investigations into the University of California.
The demands from House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) cited reports of Jewish people “experiencing hostility and fear” at each campus and that universities had not proved that they “meaningfully responded.”
Walberg’s letters said the committee would be investigating whether the schools violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
The additional investigation comes as top UC officials and the Justice Department have begun negotiations over allegations that the UCLA campus overall has been hostile to Jewish students, staff and faculty. The federal government has suspended more than $500 million in health, medical and energy research grants from UCLA and is seeking $1 billion and major campus changes before restoring the funds.
The Trump administration cited alleged Title VI violations when pulling the money.
The House committee said Monday it wanted “all documents and communications” since Sept. 1, 2021, tied to complaints of antisemitic incidents at UCLA and UC San Fransisco. A similar letter was also sent to the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
Some UCLA medical school faculty are members of a broader campus organization, the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group, that has aired complaints publicly for months at UC regents meetings about antisemitism.
The group’s chair, medical school assistant clinical professor of psychiatry Kira Stein, is mentioned in the Monday letter to UCLA as a faculty member who has reported anti-Jewish incidents.
“Federal lawmakers, in their letter released today, echoed what many of us have experienced firsthand: Antisemitism at UCLA is common, corrosive, and continues to be met with silence and inaction from the university administration and local leaders,” Stein said in a statement Monday.
The committee has asked for communications with UCLA’s medical school dean, administrators who work on diversity or restorative justice-related programs, and several other positions as well as data on specific events and courses, including one on “structural racism and health equity.”
It also asked for emails from administrators “referring or relating to antisemitism or the terms Jewish, Israel, Israeli, Palestine, or Palestinian.” And it requests information about a January report focused on the medical school that a UCLA task force on anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism prepared.
That 35-page report said “students, residents and faculty in the David Geffen School of Medicine who express support for Palestinian human rights, and who offer any criticism of Israel’s violation of them, face harassment from within and outside the medical school.”
The House committee has asked for “all documents and communications since October 7, 2023 in the possession of the office of the executive vice chancellor” — UCLA Provost Darnell Hunt — related to that task force. Members of the task force have accused UCLA of not taking complaints of bias incidents against Muslims, Arab Americans and Palestinian Americans as seriously as it has reports of antisemitism.
Walberg said that, in addition to Title VI enforcement, he would use the documents to “aid the committee in considering whether potential legislative changes, including legislation to specifically address antisemitic discrimination, are needed.”
The UCLA medical school is also under a Department of Health and Human Services investigation over accusations that it “discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national origin in its admissions.” UCLA denied the charges and the department has not formally announced the results of its investigation that began in late March. But when it canceled hundreds of millions in grants to UCLA last month, the Trump administration said the action was due in part to its belief that the university illegally uses race in admissions.
In a Monday statement, a spokesperson for the UCLA medical school said it opposed antisemitism.
“Antisemitism has no place at UCLA’s medical school. Protecting the civil rights of our Jewish community members remains a top priority,” the statement said. “We are committed to fair processes in all our educational programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and continue to take specific steps to foster an environment free of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment.”
A spokesperson for UC San Francisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tense disagreements have erupted at the UCLA medical school between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students, faculty and staff since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza. Each has accused the other of discrimination, doxxing and harassment. Incidents at the school have been cited by two UCLA task forces, one that looked at antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias and the other that researched anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism.
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Abrego Garcia Detained Again After Administration Signaled It Would Re-Deport Him
A judge in Maryland barred the administration from immediately deporting Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia until he had a chance to challenge the move.
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Fed Chair Jerome Powell is worried about the job market. Here are 3 red flags for workers.

When Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday opened the door to cutting interest rates for the first time in nearly a year, he noted the tremors beginning to shake a main pillar of the U.S. economy: the labor market.
Concerns about the pace of job growth were heightened earlier this month after government data showed a sharp slowdown in hiring in July, along with much weaker payroll gains in May and June than previously thought. The disappointing numbers were alarming enough for President Trump to question their accuracy and to fire the head of the agency tasked with compiling the data.
Yet labor experts tell CBS News they weren’t surprised by the downturn, and caution that more pain could be in store for job seekers. Data released since the August 1 job numbers shows companies are delaying hiring as they adjust course to account for headwinds including fresh U.S. tariffs and the advent of artificial intelligence, they say.
“There’s a real cooling in the labor market,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president of executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, told CBS MoneyWatch. “We’re also having lots of individual conversations with companies that are letting us know to expect future layoffs.”
He added, “So for me, there is more reason to be pessimistic about the labor market than optimistic we’ll see some major bounce back.”
Here are three charts that could point to a serious downturn in the U.S. job market.
Fewer workers are getting hired
Overall, U.S. employers in 2025 have added fewer jobs on a monthly basis compared with the pace of gains in recent years, when companies sought to expand as the economy roared back from the pandemic. In 2024, employers hired an average of 168,000 workers each month, but that has slowed to an average of 35,000 over the past three months, Powell said on Friday.
The risk is that the labor market could weaken from here, which could lead to “sharply higher layoffs and rising unemployment,” Powell said.
The slowdown could spur the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate, policymakers’ main tool for energizing the economy and job growth, at its meeting next month for the first time since December 2024. Lowering rates could bolster the labor market because it would make it cheaper for consumers to borrow, driving spending, for businesses to invest, including by adding workers.
More long-term job seekers
Another troubling sign is a recent surge in long-term job seekers, or people who have been searching for a job for more than 27 weeks. In July, about 1.8 million Americans had been looking for work for more than 27 weeks, a jump of about 64% from three years earlier and 20% from a year ago.
It may not get easier to find work anytime soon, given signs from employers that they intend to continue to cut jobs, Challenger said.
“Don’t take the summer off” from looking for new work, he advised job-hunters. “It’s hard to imagine a scenario where the labor market will be better in three to six months.”
A jump in unemployed young workers
At the same time, young workers are also having more trouble finding their first jobs, which has been blamed on everything from slowing economic activity this year to employers adopting artificial intelligence in place of entry-level workers.
To be sure, the nation’s unemployment rate remains low, at 4.2%. Yet that statistic is backward-looking, reflecting the labor market’s strength in previous months — it says little about economic conditions moving forward.
Meanwhile, for new college graduates the current job market amounts to “a perfect storm,” said career coach Tracey Newell.
“Companies are limiting new entry-level roles, and AI is replacing many traditional ‘starter’ jobs,” she added, noting that it isn’t unusual for employers these days to receive hundreds of job applications for a single position.
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