March 20, 2023
A starburst of bright lights was seen tearing across Californias sky, mystifying onlookers. It was actually flaming chunks of space debris, says an astrophysicist
Streaks of light traveling across the sky over the Sacramento, California, on Friday night, March 17, 2023.Jaime Hernandez via AP Bright lights streaking across the sky in Sacramento, California, mystified onlookers on Friday. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said the lights were likely flaming pieces of space debris. Such pieces have been falling back to earth regularly for over 50 years, said McDowell. A series of streaking lights across California's skies had onlookers speculating about aliens and UFOs. It turned out to be bits of flaming space debris re-entering the atmosphere. For 40 seconds on Friday, people in Sacramento, California, saw what looked like a group of shooting stars, per the Associated Press.Jaime Hernandez, who was celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the King Cong Brewing Company in Sacramento, told the AP that it was unlike like anything he had seen before. "Mainly, we were in shock, but amazed that we got to witness it," Hernandez told the AP. "None of us had ever seen anything like it."He filmed the phenomenon, and the brewery posted his video on its Instagram page. "This flew over the brewery tonight," the brewery wrote in its caption. "What do you guys think? #UFO"  View this post on Instagram A post shared by King Cong Brewing Company (@kingcongbrewing)  But astrophysicists had a scientific explanation for the lights. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told The New York Times that the lights were likely pieces of communication equipment that were thrown out from the International Space Station in February 2020. The pieces, which were traveling across the sky at 17,000 miles per hour, were part of a discarded 700-pound communications antenna, McDowell said. They burst into flames upon re-entering the atmosphere at high speeds, he added."What you're seeing is some actually very small objects releasing a lot of energy, very high up, traveling extremely fast," McDowell told The Times.Space debris falling back to earth is a more common occurrence than most would think, he said. Pieces of space debris that size have been falling back to earth every few weeks for over 50 years."They don't happen very often over any one given place, so it's always new to the people who see it," McDowell told The Times. "For me, it's just another Tuesday."He predicts that these pieces seen over California will land in the area around Yosemite National Park.Privateer, a company that tracks about 48,000 man-made objects in space, told The Times that there is a lot of man-made waste material in space. He says that of all the objects that his company tracks, 90% are garbage. "Humanity is not slowing down in launching stuff into space," the company's co-founder Moriba Jah told The Times. "On average, right now we're launching more than 12 satellites every week."McDowell and representatives for NASA and the King Cong Brewing Company did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment outside regular business hours. Read the original article on Insider
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SkyPixel 9th Annual Photo & Video Contest Winners Announced
Mar 19, 2024
Competition Receives a Record Number of Submissions that Highlight the Power of Innovation SHENZHEN, China, March 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SkyPixel, one of the world's most popular online communities for aerial photography and videography, today announces the winners of the SkyPixel 9th Annual Photo & Video Contest. Co-organized with DJI, this year's competition attracted over 130,000 submissions – a 100% increase from the previous year. The contest welcomed submissions from across the creator community, which includes professionals, aerial enthusiasts, and creative newcomers, showcasing their personal histories through the art of visual innovation. A Contest Shaped by You The SkyPixel Annual Photo & Video Contest is a testament to the power of innovation led imagery, honoring stories that shape the art of image capture both on solid ground and amidst the clouds. SkyPixel has cultivated a community-driven platform that reflects the dreams and aspirations of creators worldwide, and the annual competition has been a conduit for people who love image creation to express themselves as it authentically reflects the desires and aspirations of creators worldwide. Industry-Leading Judges The 9th Annual Photo & Video Contest was assessed by a Judging Panel of incredible professionals in the industry. In photography, seasoned experts include Wen Huang, a World Press Photo judge and Senior Editor, and Anne Farrar, Assistant Photography Chief Editor at National Geographic, Nan Li, the Photo Director of Southern Weekly, and Daniel Kordan, a renowned landscape photographer. In the video category, the judges include Michael Fitzmaurice, the Aerial Director of Photography of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," and Xiaoshi Zhao, known for his award-winning work on "Forever Enthralled." Bing Xi, a prominent figure in the Chinese TVC industry, and celebrated filmmaker Brandon Li round out the panel. After careful deliberation, the panel proudly presents the final winners for the year. 9th Annual Best Work Prize – Video: "Haines Alaska Through the Eyes of Luke Bredar" by Luke Bredar This year's video judging panel, which includes award-winning Cinematographers and Directors of Photography, chose Luke Bredar's video, "Haines Alaska Through the Eyes of Luke Bredar." This short film mixes heart-pounding action shots of a skier racing down a snowy mountaintop landscapes with breathtaking shots of Alaska's mountainous, winter terrain. Luke Bredar details the thought process behind the short film, "The motivation behind creating this video was to evoke themes of otherworldliness, objective risk, the interplay between risk and the essence of human spirit, solitude, impermanence, self-sufficiency, and the journey of incomplete wandering intertwined with heartbreak." This short film is an epic story made in collaboration with Matchstick Productions. Bredar explains how he pursues a better visual presentation through his creative process "I think to myself. How would my child self want to see this filmed? And I almost always get a clear vision in response. There are a myriad of challenges shooting aerial cinematography in mountain environments, but they are all ...Full story available on Benzinga.com
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