« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 09:05:03 pm »
Jalopnik Satellite Constellations May Ruin Up To 96% Of Astronomy Pictures Even From Telescopes In Space Nicholas Werner Mon, December 8, 2025 at 11:25 PM EST 3 min read
NASA rendering of satellite constellation contamination on a photo of a distant galaxy - NASA / Borlaff, Marcum, Howell (Nature, 2025)
There's been a lot of concern lately about how much these newfangled satellite constellations will ruin ground-based astronomy. Passing satellites leave streaks of light pollution on an observatory's long-exposure image of space; while it was possible in the olden times to wait for one to transit through, the sheer number of satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) now is making that harder and harder. Well, don't you worry, because it turns out, it's worse than we thought. According to a new study released by NASA, these constellations will also affect space-based telescopes, such as Hubble among many others.
It couldn't be that bad, could it? It could. NASA's report, published in Nature, predicts that around 40% of all Hubble images will have at least one satellite streak in them. That's not the half of it (literally), since the report predicts that three other space telescopes would experience a 96% contamination rate, all but rendering these expensive and brilliant machines useless. That would be a disaster for astronomy. It's kind of hard to pierce the veil of the heavens when the image looks worse than an old 8mm film strip.
How we got here, and what to do
NASA renderings of satellite constellation contamination on different space telescopes - NASA / Borlaff, Marcum, Howell (Nature, 2025)
NASA ran its analysis on the assumption that all currently proposed satellites will launch successfully. That would bring the total number in LEO to a truly incomprehensible 560,000. For reference, there are only about 20,000 tracked objects in LEO now, and even that's a massive increase just since Starlink first launched in 2019. Essentially, SpaceX reduced the cost of launching stuff into orbit with its Falcon 9 rocket, which has made all this possible. Now everyone's trying to get their own constellations of small satellites into orbit, from Amazon to China. That race has left scientists in the dust.
Obviously, this all puts ground-based observatories in an even worse position. The brand-new Vera C. Rubin Observatory is one of the most powerful cameras ever built; in its first year, it intends to gather more data than every other telescope in history, combined. That astonishing feat is in jeopardy: NASA's study states that even if the total satellite count stays under 50,000, that will still ruin up to 80% of Rubin's photos. And unlike its space-based brethren, Rubin can't move around.
The report ends by reiterating some previously published solutions to the problem, though implementation is a long ways away. But as more and more beloved space images become contaminated, maybe public pressure will build to implement some of them. Vantablack paint on satellites? It would help! But even that's not enough on its own. The worst case scenario would be that only the distant James Webb Space Telescope, far beyond LEO, would be able to take useable pictures consistently.
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 08:59:02 pm »
Nautilus Exploding Stars Like We’ve Never Seen Them Molly Glick Mon, December 8, 2025 at 10:00 PM EST 2 min read
Lead image: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
When dying stars called white dwarfs rob a stellar neighbor’s hydrogen, the growing stash of hot gas can trigger a violent eruption from the white dwarf’s surface. This may go on for days, or even months.
These dramatic outbursts are known as novae, and it’s tricky to figure out how exactly they kick off. When scientists try to glimpse them with telescopes, they can look like a flash of light. Yet these mysterious, gaseous gusts somehow create intense shock waves that can trigger high-energy radiation like gamma rays, and astronomers are eager to figure out how this cosmic chain of events unfolds. Now, one team has gotten an exceptionally sharp look at nascent novae.
By merging light from multiple telescopes—the same technique used to snap the first image of a black hole—researchers imaged two novae that exploded in 2021: Nova V1674 Herculis, a roughly day-long blast that was one of the quickest ever recorded, and Nova V1405 Cassiopeiae. These clear views offered never-before-seen insights, which the scientists reported in the journal Nature Astronomy. The images were captured by an array of six telescopes at the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy in California.
A NOVEL NOVA: An artist’s impression of Nova V1674 Herculis. Image by The CHARA Array.
The authors noted that Nova V1674 Herculis involved two colliding outflows of gas. This upends the longstanding theory that novae emerge from a single outflow. Meanwhile, Nova V1405 Cassiopeiae held onto its outer layers for more than 50 days before they blew off—this marked the first delayed nova explosion ever seen by scientists. Both novae seem to have produced gamma rays, according to additional analysis from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
“Novae, once seen as simple explosions, are turning out to be much richer and more fascinating than we imagined,” said study lead author Elias Aydi, an astronomer at Texas Tech University, in a statement.
Read more: “The Universe Has Already Made Almost All the Stars It Will Ever Make”
These unprecedented observations will help scientists better grasp the chaotic lives and deaths of stars, including the high-energy radiation released during their demise.
“This is an extraordinary leap forward,” said study co-author John Monnier, an astronomer at the University of Michigan. “The fact that we can now watch stars explode and immediately see the structure of the material being blasted into space is remarkable. It opens a new window into some of the most dramatic events in the universe.”
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 08:16:55 pm »
Chron New NASA data reveals 3I/ATLAS is one of the most mysterious comets ever found Ariana Garcia Mon, December 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM EST 3 min read
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Nov. 30, with its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. (NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory). Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI))
New observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, an object that originated around another star, are revealing just how unusual it really is.
As the comet heads toward its closest pass by Earth, a team led by NASA astrochemist Martin Cordiner used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to study the gases streaming off its surface. They found extremely high amounts of methanol and hydrogen cyanide, two molecules tied to the chemistry that helps form the building blocks of life.
"Molecules like hydrogen cyanide and methanol are at trace abundances and not the dominant constituents of our own comets," Cordiner told New Scientist. "Here we see that, actually, in this alien comet they're very abundant."
ALMA's data showed that both chemicals are coming from the comet's solid core, but methanol is also being released from icy grains floating in the cloud of dust and gas surrounding it. About eight percent of all the vapor coming off 3I/ATLAS is methanol-roughly four times the amount typically found in comets from our solar system. The team described the production of both chemicals as "among the most enriched values measured in any comet."
Cordiner noted that this strong chemical activity hints at even more complex reactions happening inside or around the comet. "It seems really chemically implausible that you could go on a path to very high chemical complexity without producing methanol," he said.
Because interstellar comets are leftovers from other planetary systems, these findings offer a rare glimpse into the chemistry of worlds that formed around other stars. Some scientists have even suggested that objects like 3I/ATLAS could have carried life's ingredients to Earth long ago.
In November, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) used five of its science instruments to observe 3I/ATLAS. (ESA/Juice/NavCam)
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who has long argued-controversially-that 3I/ATLAS might be alien technology, responded to the new data in a characteristically bold way. "The anomalously large ratio of methanol to hydrogen-cyanide production by 3I/ATLAS suggests a friendly nature for this interstellar visitor," he wrote in one of his latest blog posts.
While scientists examine the comet's chemistry, telescopes across the solar system are capturing dramatic new images. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope photographed 3I/ATLAS on Nov. 30 from about 178 million miles away, its second look since the comet's discovery in July.
The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft also observed the comet between Nov. 2 and Nov. 25, catching it in what the agency described as a "very active state" after its closest approach to the Sun on October 30. An image taken on Nov. 2-two days before JUICE passed within roughly 41 million miles-shows the comet glowing with a bright coma and sporting two distinct tails, one made of electrically charged gas and the other of drifting dust.
These new views follow NASA's Nov. 19 release of never-before-seen images of 3I/ATLAS. The comet poses no threat to Earth and will make its closest pass-about 170 million miles away-on Dec. 19.
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 08:12:15 pm »
Space The Subaru Telescope just made its 1st discoveries: a 'failed star' and an exoplanet Julian Dossett Mon, December 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM EST 2 min read
A photo from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. | Credit: T. Currie/Subaru Telescope, UTSA
While our ability to view distant worlds with advanced telescopes has come a long way in a short time, we can still only photograph a tiny fraction of the planets throughout our cosmos with the technology we have today.
However, astronomers in Hawaii just spotted a pair of exciting discoveries — a huge exoplanet and a brown dwarf — using Japan’s Subaru Telescope, which sits atop Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.
These new celestial discoveries represent the first findings from OASIS (Observing Accelerators with SCExAO Imaging Survey), a program that relies on the Subaru Telescope, as well as data from other sources.
"The program uses measurements from two European Space Agency missions — Hipparcos and Gaia — to identify stars being tugged by the gravity of unseen companions," a spokesperson from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) wrote in a statement.
The exoplanet that the astronomers found is called HIP 54515 b. It's 271 light-years away from Earth and orbits a star in the Leo constellation. NAOJ says the planet is almost 18 times the mass of Jupiter and that it orbits its star from a vantage point that’s roughly the same as Neptune's distance from the sun.
This gif shows the exoplanet the Subaru Telescope found. | Credit: T. Currie/Subaru Telescope, UTSA
The brown dwarf, called HIP 71618 B, is 169 light-years away in the Bootes constellation. The term "brown dwarf" refers to a curious celestial object that has a mass somewhere between a planet and a star. Scientists often call brown dwarfs "failed stars," because these objects form in a similar way to stars but never accumulate quite enough mass to make the cut.
The discovery of the brown dwarf is especially exciting, because it has the right properties to test out NASA's new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will launch in 2026 or 2027.
To test the Roman Space Telescope, NASA needs an object with pretty tight specifications. NAOJ says this brown dwarf checks all the boxes. "Roman will carry out a technology demonstration to test coronagraph systems that future telescopes will need to photograph Earth-like planets around other stars — planets that are ten billion times fainter than their host stars," NAOJ wrote.
The Subaru Telescope is located in Mauna Kea Hawaii. | Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
So, with this new discovery, NAOJ says, Roman will have the right candidate for a technology demonstration.
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 08:04:07 pm »
Space Scientists discover cosmic 'scar' in interstellar clouds left by a close shave between our sun and 2 intruder stars Robert Lea Mon, December 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM EST 5 min read
Map of the local interstellar clouds just outside Earth's solar system, with blue arrows showing in what directions these clouds are moving. The yellow arrow indicates the direction of the sun's own motion. | Credit: NASA/Adler/U. Chicago/Wesleyan
Astronomers have discovered that the sun had a close encounter with two blazingly hot massive stars around 4.4 million years ago. The discovery was made thanks to a "scar" left by the event in swirling clouds of gas and dust just beyond the solar system. Not only does this research reveal more about the solar system's immediate celestial environment, but it could also shed light on how surrounding features in that environment played a role in the evolution of life on Earth.
To make this discovery, the team of astronomers had to take into account the motions of these "local interstellar clouds," which stretch out for around 30 light-years, the sun, and the intruder stars, which now dwell 400 light-years from Earth in the front and rear "legs" of the constellation Canis Major (the Great Dog). That's tricky because the sun alone is rocketing through space at 58,000 miles per hour (93,000 km/h), or about 75 times as fast as the speed of sound at sea level here on Earth.
"It's kind of a jigsaw puzzle where all the different pieces are moving," team leader Michael Shull of the University of Colorado Boulder said in a statement. "The sun is moving. Stars are racing away from us. The clouds are drifting away."
Beyond the local interstellar clouds and their wispy clumps of hydrogen and helium atoms in the form of gas and dust, the solar system sits within a region of the Milky Way that is relatively devoid of such matter, called the "local hot bubble."
Understanding these regions could be important in comprehending how life was afforded the conditions it needed to prosper on Earth.
"The fact that the sun is inside this set of clouds that can shield us from that ionizing radiation may be an important piece of what makes Earth habitable today," Shull explained.
To investigate this influence, Shull and colleagues set about modelling the forces that have shaped our region of the Milky Way. This involved looking closely at two stars in Canis Major known as Epsilon Canis Majoris, or Adhara, and Beta Canis Majoris, or Mirzam. The team found that it is likely these two stars would have raced past the sun roughly 4.4 million years ago, coming as close as 30 light-years to our star. While that is a tremendous distance in terrestrial terms, equivalent to around 175 trillion miles (281 trillion km), it is a close passage in cosmic terms and in a galaxy that is 105,700 light-years wide.
Such a close pass would have made these stars quite visible from Earth, scientists say. "If you think back 4.4 million years, these two stars would have been anywhere from four to six times brighter than Sirius is today, far and away the brightest stars in the sky," Shull said.
These stars are each much larger than the sun, about 13 times as massive as our star. They are also far hotter than the sun, with temperatures up to 45,000 degrees Fahrenheit (25,000 degrees Celsius), making the 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius) temperature of the sun look relatively balmy. When these massive, powerful, but short-lived stars passed through our cosmic backyard, they emitted powerful ultraviolet radiation that ripped away electrons from atoms in the local interstellar clouds, a process called "ionization." The removal of negatively charged electrons left these hydrogen and helium atoms with a positive charge — the "scar" that the team was able to detect.
The team's research solves a long-standing mystery about the local interstellar clouds, which emerged when astronomers previously found that 20% of the hydrogen atoms and 40% of the helium atoms in these clumps of gas and dust had been ionized, an unusually high level of ionization, especially for helium.
The local hot bubble a void of gas and dust in the Milky Way in which the sun sits | Credit: CfA, Leah Hustak (STScI)
The team theorizes that these stars had assistance in the ionization of these clouds from at least four other sources of ultraviolet radiation. These include three white dwarf stars, the type of stellar remnant left over when stars around the size of the sun die, and the local hot bubble itself.
That is because this underdense region of gas and dust is believed to have been cleared by the explosive supernova deaths of between 10 and 20 stars. Those supernovas heated the gas, causing the local hot bubble to emit ionizing radiation in the form of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation, roasting the local interstellar clouds around the solar system.
The ionization of these clouds won't last forever, fading as the hydrogen and helium atoms regain their neutral electrical charge by picking up loose electrons. This process could take around a few million years.
Epsilon and Beta Canis Majoris are also living on borrowed time. While the 4.6 billion-year-old sun will live around another 5 billion years before sputtering out as a white dwarf, massive stars like these burn through their fuel for nuclear fusion much faster. It is likely that both Epsilon and Beta Canis Majoris will go supernova in the next few million years.
While they are too distant to pose any risk to Earth, the explosive deaths of these stars could provide a spectacular show for any lifeforms still left on Earth. "A supernova blowing up that close will light up the sky," Shull said. "It'll be very, very bright but far enough away that it won’t be lethal."
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 07:53:19 pm »
Space One of the most promising Earth-like worlds may not have an atmosphere after all Sharmila Kuthunur Mon, December 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM EST 4 min read
Seven Earth-like planets orbit the Trappist-1 star, but could any of them host life?. | Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
New observations of one of the famous TRAPPIST-1 planets are once again teasing scientists with tantalizing clues about a world that may — or may not — harbor an atmosphere capable of sustaining life-friendly liquid water.
TRAPPIST-1e is one of seven Earth-size exoplanets tightly packed around a cool red dwarf star smaller and dimmer than our sun that's about 40 light-years away. It orbits in the system's "habitable zone," where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist — but that's only if the planet has an atmosphere. Early James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations even hinted at a possible atmosphere, revealing faint signatures of methane, which, on Earth, results from living organisms and is tied to complex chemistry on Saturn's haze-shrouded moon Titan.
But those first glimmers, scientists now say, were likely misleading.
"Based on our most recent work, we suggest that the previously reported tentative hint of an atmosphere is more likely to be 'noise' from the host star," Sukrit Ranjan, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said in a statement. "However, this does not mean that TRAPPIST-1e does not have an atmosphere — we just need more data."
The new paper uses detailed computer simulations to test whether TRAPPIST-1e could realistically maintain a methane-rich, Titan-like atmosphere. The results suggest methane on a world orbiting a small, active red dwarf star like TRAPPIST-1 would be destroyed much faster than on Titan — too quickly for any plausible geological process to replenish it.
The latest findings build on twopapers published in September that analyzed the JWST's 2023 observations of TRAPPIST-1e. During four separate transits when the planet crossed the face of its star, the JWST's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument recorded subtle changes in starlight that could, in principle, reveal atmospheric chemicals. The data were consistent with an atmosphere dominated by nitrogen and methane and lacking carbon dioxide, effectively ruling out a Venus- or Mars-like atmosphere.
But the signals varied significantly from transit to transit, hinting that the measurements were being contaminated by the star itself. TRAPPIST-1 is smaller, cooler and far dimmer than our sun, cool enough that gas molecules, including methane, can form in the star's own atmosphere.
"We reported hints of methane, but the question is, 'is the methane attributable to molecules in the atmosphere of the planet or in the host star?'" Ranjan said in the statement.
In the paper, Ranjan and his team modeled how long methane could realistically survive in TRAPPIST-1e's environment. They found that while Titan's methane can persist for 10 million to 100 million years, methane on TRAPPIST-1e would last only about 200,000 years. The planet receives far more ultraviolet radiation than Titan, causing methane to be broken apart thousands of times faster, the study notes.
That makes it extraordinarily unlikely that scientists would catch the planet during a methane-rich phase unless methane were being replenished at extreme, continuous rates, the researchers say. Maintaining Titan-like levels would require TRAPPIST-1e to outproduce Titan in methane generation, an implausible scenario that would demand nonstop global volcanism, catastrophic methane release from an icy interior, or constant planetary resurfacing. Even under generous assumptions, these processes cannot fully account for the required methane supply, the study notes.
As a result, the team concludes that more rigorous analysis and additional observations are needed to determine whether TRAPPIST-1e has any atmosphere at all, and whether the JWST's tentative methane hints originate from the planet or are simply artifacts of the star.
"The basic thesis for TRAPPIST-1e is this: If it has an atmosphere, it's habitable," Ranjan said in the statement. "But right now, the first-order question must be, 'Does an atmosphere even exist?'"
Despite the challenges, TRAPPIST-1e remains one of the most promising potentially habitable worlds beyond our solar system. However, JWST, designed before the first exoplanet was discovered, is operating at the limits of its sensitivity when probing the atmospheres of Earth-sized planets.
Future instruments may help disentangle the confusing signals. NASA's upcoming Pandora mission, scheduled for launch in 2026, will observe stars and planets simultaneously to better separate stellar and atmospheric features.
The researchers are also planning a rare dual-transit observation in which TRAPPIST-1e and the innermost planet TRAPPIST-1b cross the star together. TRAPPIST-1b is known to lack an atmosphere, so comparing its "clean" signal to TRAPPIST-1e's could reveal which features belong to the star and which — if any — arise from TRAPPIST-1e's atmosphere, scientists say.
"These observations will allow us to separate what the star is doing from what is going on in the planet's atmosphere — should it have one," said Ranjan.
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 07:40:48 pm »
Space Which exoplanet in the TRAPPIST-1 system could be habitable? Scientists are modeling the star to find out Samantha Mathewson Mon, December 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM EST 2 min read
An artist's impression of TRAPPIST-1, which is believed to release powerful flares that may have stripped the inner worlds of their atmospheres, while one of its seven exoplanets may lie in the habitable zone and retain a thin atmosphere. | Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Frequent flares from the nearby star TRAPPIST-1 could offer new clues in the search for habitable planets beyond Earth.
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool red dwarf, located about 40 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. It hosts seven Earth-size planets, three of which orbit in the so-called "habitable zone" where liquid water might exist. However, the small star is notoriously active, erupting with energy bursts roughly six times per day, which can threaten planetary atmospheres within the system and obstruct observations, according to a statement from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers tracked six flares observed in 2022 and 2023. These flares appear as a big flash detectable by the JWST's infrared sensors, revealing how much heat the star releases during an outburst. By combining these observations with computer simulations, the team reconstructed the physical processes driving each flare, allowing them to estimate the properties of the electron beams that trigger these stellar tantrums.
"If we can simulate these events using a computer model, we can reverse engineer how a flare might influence the radiation environment around each of these planets," Ward Howard, lead author of the study, said in the statement. This, in turn, can help determine which worlds might retain atmospheres capable of supporting life.
Surprisingly, the electron beams powering these flares appear about ten times weaker than those seen in similar stars. That doesn't mean they're harmless — each flare emits radiation across the spectrum, from visible light to ultraviolet radiation and powerful X-rays, all of which can erode or alter planetary atmospheres over time.
As a result, the researchers suggested that the innermost TRAPPIST-1 planets may have lost their atmospheres, potentially leaving them as bare rocks, while one planet in the habitable zone, TRAPPIST-1e, could still retain a thin, Earth-like atmosphere — a tentative sign that it might support conditions favorable to life.
By decoding TRAPPIST-1's flare behavior, scientists can refine predictions about which planetary atmospheres might survive its constant outbursts. Rather than mere observational nuisances or purely destructive forces, these eruptions can be read as messages from the star, offering key insights into the potential habitability of its planets and informing the broader search for life beyond Earth.
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 07:35:45 pm »
Popular Mechanics Archaeologists Were Digging Near an Ancient Theater and Found 5 Uncanny Ancient Faces Tim Newcomb Tue, December 9, 2025 at 8:30 AM EST 3 min read
Archaeologists Dug Up 5 Uncanny Ancient Faces Julian Ward - Getty Images
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
*Five theatrical masks discovered at an ancient Turkish site are dated to the time of the Roman Empire.
*The masks were found alongside a 5,000-seat theater built by the Romans in the first century C.E.
*An elderly philosopher depicted on one mask shows the diversity of programming within the ancient theater.
A series stone reliefs discovered in southern Turkey is truly befitting of the theater district they were found in. Archaeologists uncovered five distinctly theatrical mask-style reliefs sporting faces carved into stone at a nearly 2,000-year-old site.
While the ornate masks are newer than the 2,700-year-old ancient settlement of Kastabala, experts still believe they come from the first century C.E. and were designed alongside the Roman Empire’s 5,000-seat theater at the site.
“We unearthed masks in Kastabala in previous seasons as well,” Faris Demir, an archaeologist at Osmaniy Korkut Ata University, told Turkish-language Anadolu Agency. “We have also brought to light numerous architectural elements belonging to the stage building. These finds will make it possible to restore the structure.”
In all, the team has located 36 masks this year alone.
With excavation work focused within the ancient theater area, the continual uncovering of masks further cements the theatrical history of the site. Of the newly found reliefs, Demir said the face of an elderly philosopher was distinct within the bunch.
“Masks on stage buildings rarely depict philosophers” Demir observed, per Anatolian Archaeology. This led Demir to conclude that this space may have had uses beyond staged dramas, and may have also “hosted philosophical lectures, literary recitations, or public debates, enriching the city’s cultural life far beyond entertainment.”
Demir said that the masks feature styles found in both Eastern and Western design traditions, suggesting the intersections of cultures across the Roman Empire’s theatrical community.
Kastabala, also known as Hierapolis and Pyramus, is located near the Ceyhan River and enjoyed a deep and varied culture throughout the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, according to Arkeo News. Archaeologists excavating the ancient site over the years have previously dug up a sanctuary devoted to the deity Artemis Perasia (which inside featured the cult practice forcing priestesses to walk barefoot over hot coals), a temple dedicated to the Luwian goddess Kubaba dated to the sixth century B.C.E., a colonnaded boulevard that emphasizes to the city’s prominence, and a medieval fortress that showed the site’s use beyond the Roman Empire.
The History Blog wrote that the city was founded roughly 2,700 years ago in the Late Hittite period. Kastabala joined the Roman Empire’s province of Cappadocia, leading to the creation of the first-century theater.
Demir hopes they can add the theater to the list of intriguing ancient finds saved by modern archaeology. “By the end of this project,” he said, “we will be able to restore the stage building and hand it down to future generations.”
« Last post by Buster's Uncle on December 09, 2025, 07:25:53 pm »
Popular Mechanics The Holy Grail of Shipwrecks Just Yielded Its First Treasure, With $17 Billion Still Under the Sea Tim Newcomb Mon, December 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM EST 3 min read
An Infamous Shipwreck Revealed Its First Treasure joecicak - Getty Images
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
*Experts brought to the surface the first treasures from the 1700s Spanish galleon the San José.
*Considered the Holy Grail of shipwrecks, the Colombian government is planning to preserve these first finds.
*Included in the haul is a cannon, two porcelain cups, and three gold and bronze coins.
The hauling up of the world’s most valuable shipwreck has to start somewhere. So crews have brought to the surface three small gold and bronze coins from the 1700s, pulled from the Spanish galleon the San José, considered the Holy Grail of all shipwrecks. But there’s plenty more still sitting 1,970 feet below the ocean’s surface off the coast of Colombia, as much as $17 billion worth.
The San José, sunk by the British Royal Navy in the Caribbean during the War of Spanish Succession in 1708, was full of value. The ship was laden with 10 years’ worth of gold, silver, and gems, tribute from Spanish colonies in Latin America headed back to the Spanish king. Experts have now pulled up the first pieces from the ship, including coins, a cannon, and porcelain cups.
An English cannon sent the ship—part of the Flota de Tierra Firme fleet that left Peru in 1707—to the ocean’s floor. where it laid dormant for hundreds of years. The Colombian government claims it found the ship in 2015. Current estimates of the on-board value have ranged from $10 billion to $17 billion in today’s currency, sparking a custody battle between the Spanish and Colombian government over who has the rights to the loot.
A recent study confirmed the presence of macuquinas coins—knowns as cobs in English—strewn across the wreck site around the San José. The Colombian Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Knowledge has taken the next steps to recover the treasure, using a robotic underwater vehicle to secure samples of the cargo.
The team used the equipment to search the structure of the vessel without disturbing the galleon, picking three coins, a bronze cannon (as well as fragments of wood, rope, and sediment from the cannon) and two porcelain cups—each with a different style. The team took the items to the Center for Archaeological and Historical Research and the National Museum of Colombia for preservation.
Alhena Caicedo Fernandez, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History said in a translated statement that collecting the objects “opens the possibility that citizen can approach, through material testimony, the history of the San José galleon.”
An estimated 200 tons of gold, silver, and uncut gemstones were aboard the ship, the result of 10 years of taxation saved up before the fleet’s planed voyage back to Spain. The macuquinas were the main currency in the Americas during the time, typically cut from gold or silver ingots, and were the primary way the Spanish transported large volumes of wealth from the Americas to Europe. These coin hoards likely formed part of the royal treasure dispatched from Peru. But when the fleet of 18 ships left Cartagena bound for Spain on June 8, 1708, it was attacked by five British warships. The cannon battle resulted in the explosion of the San José’s gunpowder stores, sinking the 150-foot-long ship.
The shipwreck—and treasured cargo—has sat on the ocean floor ever since. Now, bit by bit, it may reach the surface once more.
War is war.. destruction is destruction. You think this is obvious. But war is not destruction, it is victory. To achieve victory, simply appear to give your opponent what he wants and he will go away, or join you in your quest for additional power.
~Datatech Sinder Roze 'Information Burns'
Recent Posts
