Star Wars & Comets - US Space Force

[Djchrismac]

I have split this off into a separate topic. Earlier posts:

Something else to consider that trippingthelight and I have been discussing, is Comet C/2019 Y1 ATLAS and since we know how much global trauma previous strikes or close fly-bys have had on humanity, we are now on comet watch. As previous encounters have shown, anything could happen with that tail:

http://www.cometwatch.co.uk/

https://heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?ci ... 270&tz=CET

https://theskylive.com/c2019y1-info

I'm pretty sure we will be safe but it is always worth keeping an eye to the sky (and your nose to the ground). Could this be yet another reason for global lockdown?

Here is an interesting update:

Update: 6 April: disintegration of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)? As if the mere mention of the word ‘bright’ in connection with a comet is tempting fate, astronomers Quanzhi Ye (University of Maryland) and Qicheng Zhang (Caltech) have reported a possible major disruption of the comet’s nucleus in observations made on 5 April with the 0.6-metre Ningbo Education Xinjiang Telescope (NEXT) at Mount Nanshan, Xinjiang, China. Follow-up observations by I. A. Steele, R. J. Smith and J. Marchant (Liverpool JMU) with the Liverpool 2.0-metre Telescope on La Palma confirm the nuclear elongation.

https://astronomynow.com/2020/04/02/get ... pring-sky/

I wouldn't be surprised if those in control had something to do with this.

Update: 6 April: disintegration of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)? As if the mere mention of the word ‘bright’ in connection with a comet is tempting fate, astronomers Quanzhi Ye (University of Maryland) and Qicheng Zhang (Caltech) have reported a possible major disruption of the comet’s nucleus in observations made on 5 April with the 0.6-metre Ningbo Education Xinjiang Telescope (NEXT) at Mount Nanshan, Xinjiang, China. Follow-up observations by I. A. Steele, R. J. Smith and J. Marchant (Liverpool JMU) with the Liverpool 2.0-metre Telescope on La Palma confirm the nuclear elongation.

Meanwhile, in other news.........

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52057696 <--- 27 March 2020

The US military's newest branch has launched its first satellite, despite a short delay in the countdown.

A rocket carrying a US Space Force communications satellite lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday.

An inaccurate reading on hydraulic equipment stopped the clock for 80 minutes before the issue was resolved.

US President Donald Trump established the Space Force, which is focused on warfare in space, in December 2019.

"It is a really, really important launch," he said. "It's the very first launch for the US Space Force.

"There are critical things, or mission essential things, that the US Department of Defence does every day. Even in the face of a global pandemic we must continue to perform mission essential tasks.

curiouser and curiouser

US Space Force and the Space Fence

"The approximately $1 billion satellite is the sixth and final one in the U.S. military's Advanced Extremely High Frequency series. Upgraded from the older Milstar satellites, the constellation has provided secure communication from 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) up for nearly a decade."
https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... llite.html

AEHF = Advanced Extremely High Frequency
The AEHF system is a joint service communications system that will provide survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. It is the follow-on to the Milstar system. The AEHF system uplinks and crosslinks will operate in the extremely high frequency (EHF) range and downlinks in the super-high frequency (SHF) range.[4]

AEHF satellites use many narrow spot beams directed towards the Earth to relay communications to and from users. Crosslinks between the satellites allow them to relay communications directly rather than via a ground station. The satellites are designed to provide jam-resistant communications with a low probability of interception. They incorporate frequency-hopping radio technology, as well as phased array antennas that can adapt their radiation patterns in order to block out potential sources of jamming.

Bands

Prior to the AEHF, U.S. and allied military satellite communications systems fell into one of three categories:[10]

* Wideband: maximum bandwidth among fixed and semifixed earth stations
* Protected: survivable against electronic warfare and other attacks, even if bandwidth is sacrificed
* Narrowband: principally for tactical use, sacrificing bandwidth for simplicity, reliability, and light weight of terrestrial equipment.

AEHF, however, converges the role of its wideband Defense Satellite Communications System and protected MILSTAR predecessors, while increasing bandwidth over both. There will still need to be specialized satellite communications for extremely high data rate space sensors, such as geospatial and signals intelligence satellites, but their downlinked data will typically go to a specialized receiver and be processed into smaller amounts; the processed data will flow through AEHF.

Electronics

Uplinks and crosslinks are in the extremely high frequency (EHF) while the downlinks use the super high frequency (SHF). The variety of frequencies used, as well as the desire to have tightly focused downlinks for security, require a range of antennas, seen in the picture:

2 SHF downlink phased arrays
2 satellite-to-satellite crosslinks
2 uplink/downlink nulling antennas
1 uplink EHF phased array
6 uplink/downlink gimbaled dish antenna
1 uplink/downlink earth coverage horns

Phased array technology is new in communications satellites, but increases reliability by removing the mechanical movement required for gimbaled, motor-driven antennas.

The low gain earth coverage antennas send information anywhere in a third of the Earth covered by each satellite's footprint. Phased array antennas provide super high-gain earth coverages, enabling worldwide unscheduled access for all users, including small portable terminals and submarines. The six medium resolution coverage antennas (MRCA), are highly directional "spot" coverage; they can be time-shared to cover up to 24 targets. The two high-resolution coverage area antennas enable operations in the presence of in-beam jamming; the nulling antennas are part of the electronic defense that helps discriminate true signals from electronic attack.[11]

Another change from existing satellites is using solid-state transmitters rather than the traveling wave tubes used in most high-power military SHF/EHF applications. TWTs have a fixed power output; the newer devices allow varying the transmitted power, both for lowering the probability of intercept and for overall power efficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_ ... _Frequency

What else do we know that is a mixed frequency phased array radar network that does a whole lot more than advertised?








Pentagon Activates Space Command to Prepare for War in the Final Frontier

"Although space is a warfighting domain, our goal is actually to deter a conflict from extending into space; the best way I know how to do that is to be prepared to fight and win if deterrence were to fail," Raymond told reporters at the Pentagon. "The scope, scale and complexity of the threat to our space capabilities is real, and it's concerning. We no longer have the luxury of operating in a peaceful and benign domain."

...

The new command will have service components from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and will be organized into two operational elements.

The Combined Force Space Component Command, which Raymond commanded before taking over Space Command, will be elevated to a "combined command to help us integrate with allies more effectively, and that command is going to be focused on integrating space capabilities around the globe throughout all of our ... coalition partners," he said.

Historically, the U.S. hasn't needed to have allies in space, Raymond said.

"Now we are working very closely with ... France, Germany and Japan," he said. "We exercise together, we train together, we conduct war games together ... so this is a big growth area for us."

The second component is the Joint Task Force for Space Defense, a new organization that will focus on protecting and defending the space domain, Raymond said, adding that he will have a better idea of the new command's size once the manpower validation process is complete.

Pentagon officials recently reached an agreement with the National Reconnaissance Office that ensures that the DoD intelligence agency "in higher states of conflict ... will respond to the direction of the U.S. Space Command commander," Raymond said.

"We are the best in the world at space today," he said. "I'm convinced that we need to keep the domain safe for all to use. ... I am convinced that our way of life and our way of war depend on space capabilities."
https://www.military.com/daily-news/201 ... ntier.html

"Our way of war", says it all really.

These 23 Air Force Missions Are Transferring to the Space Force
...
Here are the units moving into the Space Force (* indicates a partial mission transfer regarding the size of a flight, branch or division or above):

* At Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado: 17th Test Squadron; National Security Space Institute; Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 4; 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group Staff & Detachment 5

* At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio: 18th Intel Squadron; Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Sensors Directorate*; AFRL Research Lab Mission Execution*; Counter-Space Analysis Squadron; Space Analysis Squadron.

* At Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado: 25th Space Range Squadron; 527th Space Aggressor Squadron; 705th Combat Training Squadron OL-A; 16th AF/Advanced Programs*; Detachment 1, USAF Warfare Center.

* At Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico: AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate*; the AFRL Electro-Optical Division* (partially based at the base, but also in Maui, Hawaii); the Space Safety Division of the Air Force Safety Center.

Remaining units include: the 328th Weapons Squadron, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; 7th Intel Squadron* and 32nd Intel Squadron*, both at Fort Meade, Maryland; the 566th Intel Squadron* at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado; the 533rd Training Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and the AFRL Rocket Propulsion Division* at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

***(It is interesting to note the locations of the majority of these bases, around the Rocky Mountains, high in elevation (safest location during earth changes), remote, also nearer places where Missing 411 cases are grouped, making me wonder if this is a continuation of the war between the LM and children of the SM, the parasitical elite?)

Here's a look at other developments occurring throughout the Space Force and the military's space portfolio:

Space Fence Becomes Operational

On March 27, the USSF officially said its Space Fence radar system, located on Kwajalein Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands, is ready for use. The service declared initial operating capability, or IOC, for the system, which can "detect and track orbiting objects such as commercial and military satellites, depleted rocket boosters and space debris in low, medium, and geosynchronous Earth orbit" that will boost overall space awareness within the Space Surveillance Network (SSN).

As reported by Space News, the $1.5 billion radar can track very small objects, even some the size of a marble. Members of the 20th Space Control Squadron (SPCS), Detachment 4, at the Space Fence Operations Center in Huntsville, Alabama, can operate that system, which then feeds the data to the 18 SPCS at Vandenberg.

SSN tracking information can be found on www.space-track.org.

Disruptive Anti-Satellite Actions on the Rise

Disguising information and communications through GPS spoofing, jamming connections, and even dazzling -- or blinding satellites with lasers -- are all on the rise as more countries launch technologies into the space domain, according to a new Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis.

Countries, including big players like the U.S., Russia and China, which are already running interference on one another in space, are gradually normalizing these non-kinetic ways to disrupt operations, according to the March 30 report, "Space Threat Assessment 2020."

Actions like dazzling "are an interesting form of attack [because] it could be used as part of a gray zone strategy for a country to try to stay below the threshold of ... conflict" without causing collateral damage, said Todd Harrison, director of both the Aerospace Security Project and Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS.

"Those are some of the areas that I feel that we're vulnerable to right now. They're also difficult to defend against," he told reporters during a briefing on the report. "Those are really concerning forms of attack, and we are seeing countries like Russia and China really double down their investments in those areas."

The report warned of increased co-orbital adversary activity, such as close inspection of satellites in geostationary orbit, and that "the rate of satellite jamming and spoofing incidents will only increase as these capabilities continue to proliferate and become more sophisticated in the coming years."

It follows another study released this week by the Secure World Foundation, which stated countries around the world should not discount that some bad actors may be stepping up both offensive and defensive measures in space.

"The evidence shows significant research and development of a broad range of kinetic (destructive) and non-kinetic counter-space capabilities in multiple countries," according to the annual Global Counterspace Capabilities study, as reported by Space News.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... force.html

Looks like the Star Wars soap opera era is about to begin, once this virus psyop finishes.

[Djchrismac]

https://www.universetoday.com/145036/co ... -for-2020/

February 25, 2020 by David Dickinson
Comet Y4 Atlas in Outburst: First Good Comet for 2020?

Good news: Though we’ve been going through a cometary dry spell as of late, we may have our first good naked eye comet for 2020: Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS.

Discovered by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey on the evening of December 28th, 2019, Comet Y4 ATLAS was the last comet discovery of 2019. Though it was only at magnitude +19.6 at the time of discovery, the orbit of Y4 ATLAS is intriguing, bringing it in just 0.262 AU (39.2 million kilometers or 24.4 million miles) from the Sun in late May 2020. That’s interior to Mercury at perihelion, at 0.307 AU from the Sun. This comet also grabbed observer’s attention in January 2020 when it jumped 5 magnitudes to +12, or 100-fold in brightness.
The orbit of Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS, shown near perihelion. Credit: NASA/JPL.

Generally speaking, 3 telling factors separate the great comets from the herd of faint comets that are discovered every year:

-1. Is it discovered while it’s still in the distant solar system, say, beyond the orbit of Jupiter or Saturn?

-2. Is it due to pass close to Earth?

-3. Will it enter the inner solar system (as in interior to the orbit of Mars) near perihelion?

The saga of comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in the late 1990s gave us dramatic and contrasting examples of these rules. Hale-Bopp was discovered years prior while still in the distant solar system, suggesting it was a large and potentially bright object. But while we were all anxiously awaiting Hale-Bopp, Hyakutake came seemingly out of nowhere, and put on an amazing show as it passed just 0.1 Astronomical Units (AU) or 9.3 million miles from the Earth.

On an estimated 5,467 year orbit, Comet Y4 ATLAS last visited the inner solar system sometime back in the late 4th millennium BC, and will next grace our skies in the late 76th century AD. The comet’s orbit is inclined 45 degrees relative to the ecliptic, and it just passed opposition on February 17th. At its closest, the comet will be moving at 2 degrees per day through the sky in late May, about four times the apparent diameter of the Full Moon.

The best shot at seeing the comet is mid-May at dusk for northern hemisphere observers, as the comet heads towards perihelion. Unfortunately at its brightest, the comet is bashful in late May through early June, hugging the horizon at dawn.

This comet’s orbit is also similar to the Great Comet of 1844-1845 (C/1844 Y1). Perhaps, the two are fragments of a larger comet. Back in the day, that particular comet attained near +1st magnitude in late 1844 going into 1845. The Great Comet of 1844 was, like many comets of the day, independently discovered by several southern hemisphere observers nearly simultaneously, and even spotted by sailors aboard a British vessel offshore from New Zealand. It seems that the 19th century was replete with “Great Comets…”
Comet Y4 ATLAS (lower left) heads towards the Owl Nebula (M97, upper right) this past weekend. Image credit and copyright: Michael Jäger.

Here’s our look at dates with celestial destiny for Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS through its 2020 apparition. Unless otherwise noted, we say ‘near’ for a pass of less than one angular degree:

February

25-Near the Owl Nebula (Messier 97) and the galaxy Messier 108 in the constellation of Ursa Major the Great Bear.

March

17-Passes 3 degrees from the galaxies Messier 81 and Messier 82.

29-Reaches its farthest point north, at less than 22 degrees from the North Celestial Pole, making the comet circumpolar north of latitude 22 degrees north (the northern half of Asia, and all of Europe and North America).

30-Passes into the constellation of Camelopardalis the Camel Leopard.

April

3-Passes 3 degrees from the galaxy NGC 2403.

15-May break +10th magnitude.

May

12-Crosses into the constellation of Perseus the Hero.

15-Tops +6th magnitude.

16-Crosses the galactic plane southward.

23-The comet’s ecliptic longitude equals the Sun’s, as the comet flips over from evening to low in the morning sky.

24-Closest to Earth, at 0.781 AU distant. **(this is very far away by passing comet standards)

25-Passes the +3.8 magnitude star Omicron Persei.

26-Crosses into the constellation of Taurus the Bull.

28-Passes 11 degrees from the Sun as seen from Earth.

29-Passes near the Pleiades open star cluster Messier 45.

31-Reaches perihelion at 0.262 AU from the Sun.

June

1-Crosses the ecliptic southward.

14-Crosses into the constellation of Orion the Hunter.

15-Drops below +6th magnitude.

16-Passes near the +3.7 magnitude star Pi Orionis.

July

1-Drops below +10 magnitude.

Observing and imaging comets is as easy as sweeping the target field and looking for a suspect fuzzball that refuses to snap into a sharp focus. As Y4 ATLAS nears the Sun in May, it might just sprout a dust tail or a twin ion tail as well. Y4 ATLAS now vies with T2 PanSTARRS for one of the top comets to follow in 2020.

[Djchrismac]

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... ye-object/

Find out when and where to see Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) — and stay tuned to see how bright (or not) this comet gets.
Update April 7, 2020 — Possible Breakup



No, no, no. Say it ain't so. In a recent Astronomical Telegram, astronomers Quanzhi Ye (University of Maryland) and Qicheng Zhang (Caltech) report that photographs taken on April 2nd and April 5th of the comet revealed a marked change in the appearance of its core or pseudo-nucleus from starlike and compact to elongated and fuzzy. A second team of astronomers led by I. A. Steele (Liverpool John Moores University) confirmed the discovery. This change in appearance is "consistent with a sudden decline or cessation of dust production, as would be expected from a major disruption of the nucleus," wrote Zhang and Ye.



An elongated nucleus is often a bad sign and could mean the comet's headed for disintegration much like what happened to Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1) prior to its September 2011 perihelion passage when its core crumbled and the object rapidly dissipated. Addition evidence of ATLAS's breakup comes from an unexpected shift in the direction of its orbital motion caused by "non-gravitational" forces. Fragmentation exposes fresh ice to sunlight which quickly vaporizes. The expanding gases act like a natural rocket engine and gently push the comet from its appointed path.

No cause has been assigned to the fragmentation but recent studies indicate that accelerating spin may play a significant role in nuclear breakups. Jets of gas blasting away from the comet can spin it up, stressing the icy body until it develops cracks that lead to a breakup.


Nick Haigh of Southampton, UK used a 12-inch Skywatcher 300p with an ASI1600MM camera and 682 10-second exposures on April 6th to make this amazing photo showing what appear to be three separate fragments in Comet ATLAS's formerly single nucleus.
Nick Haigh

In late March Comet ATLAS began to plateau in brightness; now it appears to be slowly fading. The latest estimates place the comet around magnitude 8.5–9. I strongly encourage you to observe it at every opportunity and share your observations in the comments area. Observers with larger instruments working at high magnification may be able to discern larger nuclear fragments. I spotted the comet with my 15-inch scope in bright moonlight on April 8.14 UT and observed that the brightness and density of the nuclear region had declined from an observation made 10 days ago.

While it's possible ATLAS has lost only a single small fragment and will soldier on to perihelion and naked-eye visibility, the optics aren't looking good at the moment. Full Moon occurs on April 7th but a dark-sky window returns as soon as the 9th. Seize the night to enjoy Comet ATLAS at every opportunity before it (possibly) is no more.

The original article, published March 27th, appears below:


Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) displays an 8.5-magnitude coma and a short, spiky tail on March 21, 2020. Discovered last December, the comet has brightened rapidly in recent weeks. North is up. Chris Schur

Not since Comet 46P/Wirtanen passed near the Pleiades star cluster in December 2018 has a naked-eye comet graced the night sky. That may soon change. On December 28, 2019, astronomers with the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey discovered a 20th-magnitude comet in Ursa Major that was subsequently named Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4).


Comet ATLAS’s orbit is tilted 45° with respect to the plane of the planets. Closest approach to the Earth occurs on May 23rd (116.7 million kilometers), prior to its May 31st perihelion.
NASA / JPL Horizons

Once a reasonable orbit was determined, Comet ATLAS proved a close match to the Great Comet of 1844 (C/1844 Y1). Both have periods around 4,000 years, approach within 0.25 astronomical unit (a.u.), or 37.4 million kilometers, of the Sun at perihelion, and are inclined 45° to the ecliptic. These and other orbital similarities were strong enough to conclude that both objects were fragments of a single, much larger comet that broke apart about 5,000 years ago. For all we know there may be additional fragments en route for future appearances.


Glowing aqua from carbon and cyanogen emissions and sprouting a 15′ long tail, Comet ATLAS passes near Rho (ρ) Ursae Majoris on March 22nd. Its coma has ballooned in recent days to 15′ across, which at its current distance is equal to half the size of the Sun. South is up.
Gerald Rhemann

Because the Great Comet reached 2nd magnitude and grew a 10° tail in January 1845 many of us wondered if its sibling might be capable of doing the same. The answer is a qualified "yes." But one thing is certain — the comet is brightening exponentially.

A Brightening Comet

Back on February 16th, Comet Atlas was a 14th-magnitude wisp 30″ across and barely brighter than the sky background through my 15-inch telescope. Three weeks later on March 6th the coma had grown to about 5′ and become more compact with a magnitude of 11. By mid-March I snared it with a pair of 10×50 binoculars at magnitude 9 from a dark-sky site. Other observers have reported a similar rapid uptick.

To highlight Comet ATLAS's motion, 151 images taken on March 18th were combined to create this video.
Khalid Baheyeldin

How Bright Will Comet ATLAS Be?

While a hundredfold increase in brightness in a month makes a comet lover's heart palpitate, it could also mean that the comet's volatile ices are rapidly vaporizing as it nears the Sun. Once those materials are depleted some astronomers expect Comet ATLAS's brightness curve to flatten out, a common occurrence in comets that have rarely or never come close to the Sun before. Long-period comets that approach within 1 a.u. of our star have been known to split apart, disintegrate, and disappear. Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) offers a classic example. Shortly before its November 2013 perihelion, the comet crumbled into a cloud of dust and ice, dashing hopes for the spectacle so many of us had anticipated.


Comet ATLAS finder chart
The chart shows the position of Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) through April 24th at 0h UT for the dates shown. Click the image for a black-and-white PDF of the chart. As the comet approaches perihelion, we'll be providing updated charts.
Sky & Telescope

According to NASA’s JPL Horizons the comet could reach magnitude –5, exceeding Venus in brightness at perihelion on May 31st. Because it will lie 13° southwest of the Sun at that time, it might be possible to see the object in broad daylight with a properly shielded telescope.

That prediction may be overly optimistic however. In a March 19th notice from the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT), Director Daniel Green applied a formula based on the behavior of previous long-period, Sun-hugging comets and derived a more conservative peak magnitude of –0.3.

It's good news either way. In both predictions Comet ATLAS will reach naked-eye brightness in mid-May before it's lost in the solar glare. The JPL Horizons formula predicts a peak magnitude between 1 and 2, while Green anticipates that number to be between 2 and 3. During the first half of May the comet will appear low in the evening sky at dusk and early nightfall as it tracks through Perseus. Binoculars should reveal a bright, strongly condensed coma followed by dust and gas tails pointing away from the Sun. With a little luck we might even see the tail without optical aid.

After rounding the Sun, Comet ATLAS returns to view around June 15th at dawn in Orion for Southern Hemisphere skywatchers. Initially glowing at magnitude 3 or 4, the comet will fade quickly — assuming it survives a sizzling perihelic encounter!

How to See Comet ATLAS


On March 21.2 UT I observed Comet ATLAS in 10×50 binoculars . The sketch conveys its faint, diffuse appearance at the time. I estimated the comet's magnitude at 8.5 with a coma diameter of 12′ and DC (degree of condensation) of 2.
Bob King

For now, observers in the Northern Hemisphere can follow the comet from Ursa Major through Camelopardalis with a 6-inch or larger telescope. While visible in binoculars the comet is still quite diffuse and takes some effort to see. That should change soon.

In a telescope, Comet ATLAS shows a large, diffuse coma with a small, more compact knot at the center dotted with a faint, starlike nucleus. If you have a Swan band filter, which enhances carbon emissions from gas-rich comets, you'll find that Comet ATLAS responds well. I noted a distinct increase in the comet's contrast and visibility through the filter this month.

And what would comet-watching be without a picturesque "deep-sky drive-by" or two? Watch for Comet ATLAS to buzz within a degree of the galaxy NGC 2366 on April 3rd and pass directly in front of the pretty open cluster NGC 1545 in Perseus on May 14th.


Comet ATLAS's trajectory is shown here starting several years before discovery (nested loops, left), and during the current apparition with markers every seven days, going several years into the future (nested loops, right).
Tom Ruen

The comet remains a circumpolar object for much of the U.S. and Europe until about two weeks before perihelion, when best viewing will be during the early evening hours. If the comet is especially dusty, we'll likely see a more spectacular tail instead of a bright, spiked fuzz ball. Be hopeful, but as always when it comes to these fragile objects, temper your expectations.

As Comet ATLAS approaches perihelion, I'll update with new maps and information. I'd love to hear what you're seeing and encourage you to share your observations and thoughts in the comments section. We all need some good news right now given the havoc wrought by the coronavirus. Comets have traditionally been viewed as bearers of malevolence throughout much of human history. In a twist of irony this latest emissary from the remote depths of the solar system may offer a needed dose of wonder.

[Djchrismac]

https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-falli ... hotos.html

It's official: Comet Atlas has broken apart.

Just a month ago, it looked like the icy wanderer, officially known as C/2019 Y4 Atlas, might put on a dazzling sky show around the time of its closest approach to the sun, or perihelion, which occurs on May 31.

But relatively lackluster behavior soon dimmed such hopes. And optimism surrounding the comet is now pretty much extinguished, for it's no longer in one piece.

Comet Atlas "has shattered both its and our hearts," astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, the founder and director of the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, said in an emailed statement on Sunday (April 12). "Its nucleus disintegrated, and last night I could see three, possibly four main fragments."

[Ilkka]

Comet Atlas "has shattered both its and our hearts," astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, the founder and director of the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, said in an emailed statement on Sunday (April 12).

Well, that one really took it seriously if they are "heartbroken" about a comet.

BTW liked the SP picture me and my brothers have been using that quote "Aaand it's gone" for many things over the past years since airing of that episode. Hilarious it was.

[trippingthelight]

Apologies if this is mentioned somehwere, i searched but could find no mention.

What is the name of the rocket launching those AEHF-6 satellites?


https://everydayastronaut.com/aehf-6-v- ... h-preview/

Rocket: Atlas V 551

multiple '11's around too (if that's your thing). Atlas V '551' and the '83'rd flight for an Atlas V rocket.

So, a rocket named Atlas launches with very unusual timing during a global 'pandemic' which puts world in lockdown. Meanwhile a comet named Atlas is visible and breaks up a little after said rocket launch. Does anyone know where Bruce Willis is?

I found this on another forum, so no credit to me

In addition to looking like a star falling from the heavens looking like a torch (and an asteroid could possibly do that), comets normally appear with cyanogen. Astronomers state hydrogen cyanide on comets may be their source of cyanogen gas.

Interestingly, the cyanogen gas mixes with water to form hydrogen cyanide, which has an almond odor and bitter taste, and reportedly causes death at concentrations over 5 parts per million.

Like other cyanides, cyanogen is very toxic, as it readily undergoes reduction to cyanide, which poisons the cytochrome c oxidase complex, thus interrupting the mitochondrial electron transfer chain. Cyanogen gas is an irritant to the eyes and respiratory system. Inhalation can lead to headache, dizziness, rapid pulse, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness, convulsions, and death, depending on exposure. Lethal dose through inhalation typically ranges from 100 to 150 milligrams (1.5 to 2.3 grains). Inhalation of 900 ppm over a period of 10 minutes is considered lethal.

[Djchrismac]

Apologies if this is mentioned somehwere, i searched but could find no mention.

What is the name of the rocket launching those AEHF-6 satellites?


https://everydayastronaut.com/aehf-6-v- ... h-preview/

Rocket: Atlas V 551

multiple '11's around too (if that's your thing). Atlas V '551' and the '83'rd flight for an Atlas V rocket.

Yet another covid connection, great work trippingthelight, I wasn't aware of this until now.

So, a rocket named Atlas launches with very unusual timing during a global 'pandemic' which puts world in lockdown. Meanwhile a comet named Atlas is visible and breaks up a little after said rocket launch. Does anyone know where Bruce Willis is?

I'm glad I wasn't the only one wondering if the break-up of Comet Atlas was something to do with the Secret Space Force flexing their muscles! Thanks for posting the quote from the other forum, I have found another interesting connection:

Why is this comet also called Comet Atlas when ATLAS is the name of the early warning system of objects that could hit earth?

https://centralbankinginsanity.wordpres ... -wormwood/



And some more:

Atlas Comet (C/2019 Y4), COVID-19, and my observations Anonymous 04/13/20(Mon)22:39:52 No.24699971 Archived▶>>24700012 >>24700094 >>24700377 >>24700489 >>24700651 >>24700955 >>24700965

So I had one of those "the pieces fit moments." Sharing:

1. 16AUG2019: MSM barfs out story about Trump wanting to buy Greenland

2. 20DEC2019: United States Space Force founded and begins "formal" operation

3. 28DEC2019: Reported Comet C/2019 Y4 discovered by ATLAS survey (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System)

4. 31DEC2019 China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province. A novel coronavirus was eventually identified.

5. 26FEB2020 COVID-19 has first reported case in USA. After that the country goes into lock down mode with many states enacting stay at home orders for the coming weeks.

6. 26MAR2020: YouTube video that showed craft orbiting the moon (was deemed "fake", or was it?)

7. 01APR2020 Trailer for movie Greenland comes out. Stars Gerard Butler, movie is about a meteor extinction event, and the bunkers to save humanity are in Greenland. Movie was listed in post production 14AUG2019 (very close to the "USA wants to buy Greenland" story; classic psyops)

8. 06APR2020 the Trump administration took things a step further by signing an executive order that formally recognizes the rights of private interests to claim resources in space. This order, titled “Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources,” effectively ends the decades-long debate that began with the signing of The Outer Space Treaty in 1967.

8. 11APR2020 C/2019 Y4 appears to be breaking up.

9. 13APR2020 Gov. Cuomo declares "Worse is over" for COVID-19. 7 States Ally to Reopen Economy

So did the Space Force destroy C/2019 Y4? Was this a test for humanity to move forward? Was the COVID-19 a mere distraction (not saying there wasn't a "virus" but used as a diversion, a magicians trick). The truth is always hidden in plain sight...

https://boards.4channel.org/x/thread/24 ... servations

Lots of food for thought there. In addition to the Greenland info, this has been bugging me for some time and it must be related:

http://www.spaceportscotland.org/

Spaceport receives go-ahead on Scottish peninsula

Site between Tongue and Durness could be up and running by early 2020s

A peninsula on Scotland’s north coast has been chosen for the site of the UK’s first spaceport.

Vertical rocket and satellite launches are planned from the A’Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland which the UK Space Agency said would pave the way for spaceflights.

The agency said the site, between Tongue and Durness, was chosen as it is the best place in the UK to reach highly sought-after satellite orbits with vertically launched rockets.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), a Scottish government agency, will be given £2.5m from the UK government to develop the spaceport which could be up and running by the early 2020s.

Sutherland is the first verical launch site to be awarded grant money, ahead of other vertical sites at Unst, Shetland, and North Uist in the Western Isles.

The government also announced a new £2million development fund for “horizontal launch” spaceports across the UK at sites such as Prestwick in Ayrshire, Cornwall’s Newquay, Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute and Llanbedr, Gwynedd, Wales, subject to a successful business case.

The cash is aimed at boosting their suborbital flight, satellite launch and spaceplane ambitions.

The space agency says the spaceflight market is potentially worth £3.8bn to the UK economy over the next decade.

Agency chief executive Graham Turnock said the spaceport grant would “help kick-start an exciting new era for the UK space industry”.

The consortium behind the Sutherland spaceport proposal includes US aerospace firm Lockheed Martin.

The HIE chief executive, Charlotte Wright, said: “The decision to support the UK’s first spaceport in Sutherland is tremendous news for our region and for Scotland as a whole.

“The international space sector is growing and we want to ensure the region is ready to reap the economic benefits that will be generated from this fantastic opportunity.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... -peninsula

The north west coast of Scotland is notorious for bad weather, rain, wind and worse, even with geoengineering in place replicating the climate and weather patterns as best it can. Look at Florida, you cannot get a more different location!

Something fishy is going on that's for sure and I still cannot get the thought of what Bruce said a few years ago out of my head, the rumour in the scientific underground of a return of the gods. That would explain the rush for an operational space force, space fence and more.

Was Atlas really a comet or something else entirely?

[Djchrismac]

https://spaceweather.com/

INTRODUCING COMET SWAN:

Warning: This story may give you a sense of déjà vu. A new comet has been discovered, and in late May it will pass by the sun near the orbit of Mercury. No, it's not Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4), which is currently falling apart on a similar trajectory. Instead, this is Comet SWAN (C/2020 F8):



Michael Mattiazzo of Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia, took the picture on April 13th. "This is a 5 minute exposure through my 11-inch Celestron telescope," says Mattiazzo. "A visual observation using 15x70mm binoculars gave a magnitude of 8.1."

Mattiazzo discovered the comet two days earlier when he was looking at data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). It suddenly appeared in images from SOHO's SWAN instrument. "This is my 8th discovery credit for SWAN comets since 2004 and I do check the data on most days," says Mattiazzo.

Post-discovery images taken by Italian astronomer Ernest Guido and colleagues confirm that the comet is bright (8th magnitude), green, and has a long tail:



"We took this picture on April 11th--the same day Mattiazzo found the comet in SWAN data," says Guido. "We couldn't see it from Italy, so we used a remote-controlled 0.1 meter telescope in Australia."

SOHO's SWAN instrument was not designed to find comets. Its job is to survey the solar system for hydrogen. When the solar wind blows into a cloud of hydrogen-bearing compounds, the impact produces UV photons that SWAN can photograph.

"For SWAN to see a comet, it means the comet must be producing a fairly significant amount of hydrogen," explains Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. "This is usually in the form of water-ice."

"It's extremely likely that Comet SWAN is in 'outburst' mode," he continues. "That is, some major eruption happened to this otherwise small and faint comet, releasing a massive cloud of hydrogen-rich volatiles. SWAN is picking up on this sudden dump of hydrogen into the inner solar system."



If the outburst continues, Comet SWAN could become visible to the naked eye next month. Preliminary light curves suggest that it could reach 3rd magnitude--dim, but visible without optics. However, Battams, who correctly predicted the demise of Comet ATLAS, is not so sure.

"I doubt that the comet will maintain its current impressive appearance, and will quite possibly fade away soon," he says. "But we've only been viewing it for a couple of days, so no one knows."

Comet SWAN is currently located in southern skies, best seen by telescopes in Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and South America. Preliminary orbital elements are available here. Stay tuned for updates.

-------------------------------------------

Curious about Swan symbolism?

-------------------------------------------

In addition to this, it is quite busy up there at present:

All Sky Fireball Network
Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Apr. 15, 2020, the network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 sporadics)



Near Earth Asteroids
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On April 15, 2020 there were 2018 potentially hazardous asteroids.

-------------------------------------------

Also, is it not the start of June that this whole virus nonsense is supposed to start calming down?

[Ilkka]

The north west coast of Scotland is notorious for bad weather, rain, wind and worse, even with geoengineering in place replicating the climate and weather patterns as best it can. Look at Florida, you cannot get a more different location!

Something fishy is going on that's for sure and I still cannot get the thought of what Bruce said a few years ago out of my head, the rumour in the scientific underground of a return of the gods. That would explain the rush for an operational space force, space fence and more.

Was Atlas really a comet or something else entirely?

I also remember Bruce saying something that the way to Hollow Earth is most likely somewhere under the ice in western Greenland. The other being under the ice in Antarctica, which already has some bases there, maybe the U.S. wants to own the land where they are based on. I believe you should check the underground mining operations from that area where they are supposedly making "spaceport", since if everything they let us know is backwards, then we should look if they are making a hole in the ground to get into Hollow Earth. I thought about that stuff a year or so ago, maybe they picked up my thoughts and started to act on it.

I thought I remembered Atlas being some mythological being looky here, from wikipedia:

In Greek mythology, Atlas (/ˈætləs/; Greek: Ἄτλας, Átlas) was a titan condemned to hold up the celestial heavens for eternity after the Titanomachy.

Related to "celestial heavens" as in space so why not name something after that it and maybe hide something in a plain sight, as you suggested it might've been something else than comet. Or perhaps there are alot more "comets" coming our way like that SWAN.

Also, is it not the start of June that this whole virus nonsense is supposed to start calming down?

In Finland they are saying that the "virus" thing is just picking up or another wave is just coming at summer time. I think that things are "calming up" like Teal'c said.

You wanna know what is the national bird of Finland? Well you guessed it, it is swan and specifically this guy named "Cygnus cygnus", common swan. Which in Finnish means "Singing (sing being rough translation but I think singing is better sounding) Swan", also that swan is mentioned in Finnish mythology "Kalevala" as sacred bird which is swimming in river of Tuonela (underworld which is where the dead ones go through), in this story one person tries to kill the swan and who is killed instead.

There is a fine if you kill swan in finland I dont know maybe a 1000 euros or something like that. I remember this one time when my friends dad saw one swan that flew into power lines and was instantly killed , he then called the police and asked that what to do and they practically said (I think not in so many words, but no one wants to waste a good meal) that he could go and get the bird and eat it, so he did. Not every day you can eat swan in Finland for free like that.

[Djchrismac]

I also remember Bruce saying something that the way to Hollow Earth is most likely somewhere under the ice in western Greenland. The other being under the ice in Antarctica, which already has some bases there, maybe the U.S. wants to own the land where they are based on. I believe you should check the underground mining operations from that area where they are supposedly making "spaceport", since if everything they let us know is backwards, then we should look if they are making a hole in the ground to get into Hollow Earth. I thought about that stuff a year or so ago, maybe they picked up my thoughts and started to act on it.

I believe the US already has the main entrances covered in the Arctic and Antarctic but you could be right, since the Etidorhpa entrance was the caves in Kentucky and others were known. I will look into it.

Related to "celestial heavens" as in space so why not name something after that it and maybe hide something in a plain sight, as you suggested it might've been something else than comet. Or perhaps there are alot more "comets" coming our way like that SWAN.

https://spaceweather.com/ is good for keeping up to date with what is out there at present and in relation to this I read earlier that end of solar minimum could be marked by not only sunspots happening again but a solar flare, which could prove dangerous for all of us, definitely worth considering.

You wanna know what is the national bird of Finland? Well you guessed it, it is swan and specifically this guy named "Cygnus cygnus", common swan. Which in Finnish means "Singing (sing being rough translation but I think singing is better sounding) Swan", also that swan is mentioned in Finnish mythology "Kalevala" as sacred bird which is swimming in river of Tuonela (underworld which is where the dead ones go through), in this story one person tries to kill the swan and who is killed instead.

There is a fine if you kill swan in finland I dont know maybe a 1000 euros or something like that. I remember this one time when my friends dad saw one swan that flew into power lines and was instantly killed , he then called the police and asked that what to do and they practically said (I think not in so many words, but no one wants to waste a good meal) that he could go and get the bird and eat it, so he did. Not every day you can eat swan in Finland for free like that.

Thanks for sharing Ilkka, it got me wondering as it is the same over here as Queen Liz(ard) owns all UK Swans so there is a history there, check this out:

https://royalcentral.co.uk/features/doe ... ns-129475/

Whether or not Her Majesty actually owns all of the swans in the United Kingdom has been a question asked by many. The short answer is yes, she does. The Queen specifically owns any unclaimed mute swan in open water in both England and Wales in ceremonial fashion. This has been a law since medieval times. Her ownership is shared with the Worshipful Company of Dyers, granted to them by the Crown in the 1400s. In fact, every year there is a census of all the swans in the River Thames. In the United Kingdom, this is called Swan Upping and occurs in the third week of July each year.

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/unite ... n-england/

Mighty, majestic and not to be messed with, swans in England are all owned by the Queen – or at least that’s what most people think. Find out the real story here…

Swans are incredible creatures, with their long, elegant necks and powerful wings. It’s no surprise they featured in Greek mythology with Zeus taking the form of a swan in order to seduce Leda. Perhaps this is how the species has become the subject of more modern myths, including how many people think the Queen owns all the swans in England. Contrary to popular belief, the Queen does not own all the swans in England, as five-year-old Lindsay Simpson from Petersfield, England, found out when she asked Queen Elizabeth II for a pet swan in 2017. She does own most of them, however.
Mute swans are heavy birds that need plenty of space to take off and land © Bergadder / Pixabay

In fact, the British monarch owns all unmarked mute swans in open water in the UK, but the Queen only exercises ownership on certain stretches and tributaries of the River Thames around Windsor.

Outside the royal household, only one group of people can legally hunt and eat unmarked mute swans, and that’s the fellows of St John’s, Cambridge. While the origins of this scholarly privilege are unclear, the college has swan traps built into the walls of the college along the river. Fortunately for the swans, these are no longer used and, according to St John’s, there is no record of swans being eaten at the college since 1896.

So what exactly are ‘mute swans’? They’re the iconic species of swan with white feathers and orange beaks native to Eurasia – and seasonally, to some of Africa’s northern reaches – which were originally introduced to North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The mute swan gets its name because it’s relatively quiet compared to other species of swan.

The term ‘swan song’ comes from the idea that mute swans become more vocal in their dying days, a belief shared by the ancient Greek philosophers: Aristotle, Plato and Socrates.

In 1993, the medieval post of Keeper of the Queen’s Swans had its responsibilities split into Warden of the Swans and Marker of the Swans. Together, these two ceremonial officials of the royal household organise and conduct the annual swan-upping ceremony, where swans and cygnets on the River Thames are rounded up, counted and examined for injuries before being released back into the wild.

Besides the monarch, only the Worshipful Companies of Vintners and Dyers (two of the most ancient Livery Companies of the City of London), still observe the tradition of owning swans on the River Thames. Swan-uppers from these livery companies join the Warden and Marker of the Swans on the annual swan-upping ceremony every July.

Zeus eh? Now THAT is an interesting connection, i'll have to look into it later. There are even more interesting connections for me to check out:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... 180964249/

Queen of the United Kingdom; Head of the Commonwealth; Defender of the Faith; Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces; Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter; Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle; all titles held by Elizabeth II. Not included in this illustrious list is one of her lesser-used ones, the Seigneur of the Swans, a holdover from an era centuries ago when the (literally) regal avians denoted class, wealth and status. The strange and ancient relationship between the swan and the British crown manifests itself to this day in a tradition known as “Swan Upping.”

Some 40 miles west of London, the Queen’s Swan Uppers arrive at Mapledurham Lock on the River Thames. They’re traveling in traditional wooden rowing skiffs, each with three or four crewmen in smart blue or red blazers with royal insignia. Some have white swan feathers pushed into the peak of their caps. Royal pennants showing swans against blue and red backgrounds flutter from the boats.



The blue flags represent two of London’s ancient trade guilds, the Worshipful Companies of Dyers and Vintners. The guilds are some of the richest and most powerful organizations in London, and since at least the 15th century have been granted the right to own mute swans on the Thames. (Mute swans have the elegantly curved necks, orange beaks and white feathers that most people think of when they picture swans.) The red flags are for the Queen’s Swan Warden, the man charged with counting all the mute swans on the Thames between Sunbury Lock in West London and Abingdon in Oxfordshire, a 79-mile stretch of river that takes five days to navigate.

The traditional cry of: “All up!” goes up from one of the skiffs; a female swan and her cygnets (baby swans) have been spotted gliding over the water. The boats maneuver to corral the birds towards the bank where Uppers, as the crew is known, jump out and grab them, restraining the adult’s powerful legs behind her so she can be examined. The birds are counted, weighed and checked for injury and ownership marks. The Dyers and Vintners companies use rings to mark their birds, while the Crown’s swans are unmarked. Today, the practice serves as a conservation tool to track swan populations and the health of the Thames, but once upon a time it was the way in which the crown exerted its control over the swan population on the river.

Swans—who owns them, who breeds them and who eats them—is an issue for the British that has generated legal statutes, sparked courtroom battles and engaged town councils in bitter arguments since the Middle Ages.

There is a legend that the mute swan was introduced to Britain by Richard I in the 12th century, who brought them back from his campaigns during the Crusades. Today, ornithologists believe the bird is probably native to the country, with archaeological evidence for the presence of swans dating back as far back as the late glacial period, 10,000 years ago.

Since ancient times, swans have been associated with tranquility and nobility, featuring in myths and stories around the world. Their high status is likely to have come about because of their perceived beauty and natural behavior; they are solitary birds, strong and aggressively protective of their young but at the same time graceful and elegant on the water.



Ask a local in a British pub about swans and you might well be told that the Queen owns all the swans in the country and that only she is allowed to eat them. This popular misconception, often repeated as common knowledge in the U.K., has a kernel of historical truth that tells the story of the swan as status symbol in Medieval England.

Swans were luxury goods in Europe from at least the 12th century onward; the Medieval equivalent of flashing a Rolex or driving a Lamborghini. Owning swans signaled nobility, along with flying a hawk, running hounds or riding a battle-trained destrier. Swans were eaten as a special dish at feasts, served as a centerpiece in their skin and feathers with a lump of blazing incense in the beak. They were particularly associated with Christmas, when they would be served in large numbers at royal feasts; forty swans were ordered for Henry III’s Christmas celebrations in 1247 at Winchester, for example.

In 1496 the Secretary to the Venetian Ambassador wrote that it was “a truly beautiful thing to behold one or two thousand tame swans upon the River Thames”. A century later, during reign of Elizabeth I, German lawyer and travel writer Paul Hentzner described colonies of swans living “in great security, nobody daring to molest, much less kill, any of them, under penalty of a large fine.”

To protect swans as an exclusive commodity, in 1482 the crown ordained that only landowners of a certain income could keep the birds. Ownership of swans was recorded by a code of marks nicked into the beak of the bird; an intricate system of these ‘swan marks’ developed. Only those who owned the right to use an official swan mark could own swans, and marks were restricted and expensive to purchase. Any swans that didn’t bear a mark were automatically the property of the crown. This effectively meant that only the monarch, wealthy landowners and some large institutions like trade guilds, cathedrals and universities could afford swan ownership.


Roll showing private swan marks, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire (The National Archives)

Local councils appointed swan collectors to round up wild swans to add to official flocks (the local equivalent of the royal ‘upping’) and held ‘Swanmoots’, specially convened swan courts that heard cases related to swan ownership. The penalties for ignoring or defacing swan marks were harsh. In 1570, the Order of Swannes, a legal document setting out the rules relating to the birds, recorded that “if any person do raze out, counterfeit or alter the mark of any swan [they …] shall suffer one year’s imprisonment.” There were similar tough sentences for stealing eggs or killing adult birds.

The prestige of swan ownership went far beyond their appeal as a delicacy. They were impressive enough as the centerpiece of a feast, but a swan in itself was not particularly expensive. The real desirability came from the right to own swans at all, because purchasing a swan mark was so expensive. To have a “game” of swans elegantly sculling around the lake of your stately pile required funds and status.

The rules relating to swans prevented ordinary people from interacting with them at all, beyond being able to see them on the river. If you weren’t an officially recognized swan keeper it was forbidden to sell swans, to drive them away from your land, to mark them or even to hunt with dogs or lay nets and traps on the river at certain times of year in case swans were injured.

The right to own swans was granted to the Vintners and Dyers city livery companies in the 15th century. The exact reason for the dispensation has not been recorded, but it is likely to have been a sweetener to strengthen relationships between the crown and the powerful trade guilds.

Swan remained a delicacy eaten as part of Christmas celebrations right up until the 18th century, but even after that, it was still only legal to kill and eat a swan if it had a legitimate swan mark. As such, it remained a luxury for the rich. During the Victorian period, swan fell out of fashion as a dish, and by the 20th century was rarely eaten.


"Swan Upping on the Thames", from Henry Robert Robertson's Life on the Upper Thames, 1875. (Public Domain)

It took until 1998 for the law to change so it was no longer treasonous to eat a swan in the U.K. But as a native species, mute swans are now protected as wild birds under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and under this law it is still illegal to keep or kill them.

For several decades swans were under threat from river pollution, dog attacks and increasing populations of predators like red kite and mink. From a population on the Thames of around 1,300 in the 1960s, numbers were down to just seven pairs of birds in 1985. But conservation work such as bans on poisonous lead fishing weights and the clean up of the river Thames in recent years appears to be turning this decline around.

At Mapledurham Lock, waiting for the boats to continue their journey, the Queen’s Swan Marker David Barber says the count this year is positive. “On the first day we counted 36 cygnets, and that’s double the amount on that day last year. Swan numbers are rising, and I put that down to the work we’re doing, talking to everyone from school children to fishing clubs to educate them about looking after swans.”

Although technically all unmarked swans on open water in the U.K. still belong to the crown, the Queen only exercises her swan ownership rights on this one stretch of the Thames. Likely, the reason is because historically only the swans near London were of practical use, and monitoring them is a labor-intensive activity.

The final count on the Thames this year came in at 134, a substantial increase on last year’s figure of 72. Swans still face threats from pollution, loss of riverside habitats and predators, but the signs are looking good that the population is returning to a healthy level, and that the birds will be a feature of the Thames for many more generations to come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Swan

Order of the Swan

The Order of the Swan (German: Schwanenorden) was a spiritual chivalric order of princes and nobles ruled by the House of Hohenzollern. It was founded on 29 September 1440 by Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg with reference to the medieval tale of the Swan Knight.

The association originally comprised, with Elector Frederick at their head, thirty men and seven women united to honor Virgin Mary. Its headquarters was the Romanesque St. Mary's pilgrimage church, the centre of a Premonstratensian monastery located on a hill near Brandenburg an der Havel. In 1459, the Hohenzollern margrave Albert Achilles established a filial at the St. Gumbertus church near his Ansbach Residence.

The order spread rapidly, numbering in 1464 about 330 members, as well as further branches established in the Franconian Principality of Ansbach and in the possessions of the Teutonic Order in East Prussia. Along with encouraging more enthusiastic homage to Virgin Mary, the order sought to foster perseverance in works of mercy. It was extinguished during the Protestant Reformation, since that movement discouraged devotions to Mary.

In 1843 the order was revived, perhaps as no more than an idea by King Frederick William IV of Prussia he never realised. In this incarnation, it was an association, open to men and women of all creeds, for the amelioration of physical and moral ills. Currently, a Schwanenritterorden charitable association exists in Nuremberg, under the patronage of the Hohenzollern prince Philip Kirill of Prussia.


Order badge on the epitaph of Six von Ehenheim (d. 1593), Feuchtwangen Abbey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_the_Swan

Knight of the Swan

Crusade cycle: La Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne
The Knight of the Swan story appears in the Old French chansons de geste of the first Crusade cycle, establishing a legendary ancestry of Godfrey of Bouillon, who in 1099 became ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Godfrey loomed large in the medieval Christian imagination, and his shadowy genealogy became a popular subject for writers of the period.

Hmm, the Crusades and Jerusalem are intrinsically linked since the Crusades were part of the Great Deception of Constantine to geographically relocate the important places of the ancient world and bible from the north west to the middle east. covering the tracks of Phoenicia and more. Another great lead to look into.

From the same article:

In Brabant the name of the Knight of the Swan is Helias. It has been suggested that this connects him to the Greek solar god, Helios,[15] but the name is in fact a common variant of the name of the prophet Elijah, who nevertheless was connected to the Greek solar god by orthodox worship because of his association to Mount Horeb and a fire chariot.

Further links to the Crusades and Jerusalem:

http://www.swanorder.org/

The Order of the Noble Companions of the Swan® is an International Order of Christian Chivalry and Knighthood dedicated to perpetuating the memory and exemplary life of Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, legendary Knight of the Swan, principal leader of the First Crusade to the Holy Land and Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Order continues the customs, traditions, duties and responsibilities embodied in the ancient and honored Code of Chivalry and their perpetuation and promulgation in the modern world through personal example and education of the general public.
​
The Order was originally established as a Companionate encompassing Knights and Dames of various Orders of Christian Chivalry and Knighthood, fraternally banded together in fellowship for the purpose of guiding and coordinating their philanthropic, charitable and educational endeavors. In 1984, it was chartered by the State of New Jersey within the United States of America as a non-profit educational corporation.

To better serve its stated purpose and serve the chivalric vocation, a proclamation was issued in 1987 that elevated the Companionate to that of an Order of Christian Chivalry and Knighthood. In 1989, the Order received the patronage and protection of the Chief and Head of the Name and Arms of the Royal and Serene House of Alabona-Ostrogojsk© as an Independent, International Order of Christian Chivalry and Knighthood, while maintaining its status as a non-profit educational corporation.

I think i'm going to have to investigate this shady character in more detail:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_of_Bouillon

Godfrey of Bouillon (French: Godefroy, Dutch: Godfried, German: Gottfried, Latin: Godefridus Bullionensis; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was one of the leaders of the First Crusade. He was the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. He is also known as the "baron of the Holy Sepulchre" and the "crusader king".

The second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, Godfrey became Lord of Bouillon (from which he took his byname) in 1076 and secured his rights to the Duchy of Lower Lorraine in 1087 as a reward to his service to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV during the Great Saxon Revolt.

Godfrey and his brothers Eustace and Baldwin joined the First Crusade in 1096. He saw minor action at Nicaea, Dorylaeum and Antioch, before playing a key role during the successful Siege of Jerusalem in 1099. Raymond of Toulouse declined the offer to become king of Jerusalem, and Godfrey accepted the rulership instead. He refused the title of king, however, as he believed that he ought not wear "a crown of gold" where Jesus Christ had worn "a crown of thorns". Godfrey secured his kingdom by defeating the Fatimids at Ascalon a month later, bringing the First Crusade to an end.

Godfrey only ruled Jerusalem for one year before his death in 1100. He was succeeded by his brother Baldwin, who was crowned the first King of Jerusalem.

That would be Jerusalem 2.0 of course, where the current city is located, incorrectly from the ancient geographical descriptions which do not match up in the slightest to the new and present location.

I gave a few other people some homework tonight, looks like you have given me some too Ilkka, serves me right!

[Ilkka]

I gave a few other people some homework tonight, looks like you have given me some too Ilkka, serves me right!

No problem. I just wonder why they look at swan like that though. Maybe we figure it out.