Storms on Both U.S. Coasts for Thanksgiving Travelers

Satellites in space are keeping an eye on the U.S. ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. NOAA’s GOES East satellite showed two storm systems for pre-Thanksgiving travelers on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. One system was exiting the northeastern U.S. while the other was affecting the Pacific Northwest.

On Nov. 22 at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 UTC) NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this visible image of the U.S. showing storm systems on the East and West coasts for Thanksgiving travelers.

Credits: NOAA/UWM-CIMSS

On Nov. 22 at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 UTC) NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this visible image of the U.S. showing storm systems on the East and West coasts for Thanksgiving travelers. In the northeastern U.S. clouds associated with a cold front were covering the New England states in the image. Clouds associated with a system in the Pacific Northwest were seen over Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado.

Pre-Thanksgiving travelers in the northern Plains and Upper Great Lakes will experience arctic air that is expected to bring periods of snow, blustery winds and cold wind chills. The National Weather Service said that light snow is also possible in New England and the Ohio Valley.

NOAA’s National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center (WPC) in College Park Md. said that “more heavy rain is expected for the Northwest and another cold front will sweep through the central and eastern states.”

On the U.S. West coast, active weather will remain north of San Francisco through Thanksgiving as a result of persistent onshore flow and deep moisture moving inland. 

WPC said that this flow will create a heavy rainfall event along and west of the Cascades Mountain range, with the potential for amounts in excess of three inches possible, particularly for western Washington.

The northern Rockies are also expected to receive moderate to heavy rain as the moisture moves farther inland. Snow will be confined only the highest mountain locations, mainly above tree line. The WPC cautions that “some instances of flooding will also be possible across parts of the Pacific Northwest.”

In the southwestern U.S, an upper level ridge or elongated area of high pressure will continue to bring warm and dry conditions. Lower elevations in the areas of the desert southwest are expected to have hot high temperatures near 90 degrees Fahrenheit. 

For travelers east of the Rockies, a cold front is exiting the U.S. East Coast on Nov. 22, and will usher in cooler temperatures to much of the eastern U.S. In the southeastern U.S., a stalling cold front is expected to bring showers and a few thunderstorms across Florida and the southeast over the next couple of days.

Putin brings Iran and Turkey together in bold Syria peace plan

Russian leader meets Iranian and Turkish counterparts amid flurry of diplomatic activity, with US and EU sidelined

A peace settlement to end the six-year Syrian civil war will require compromise by all sides, including the Assad government, Vladimir Putin has said as the presidents of Iran and Turkey arrived in the Black Sea resort of Sochi amid some of the most audacious Russian diplomatic activity in decades.

The summit between the three powers, all deeply involved in the conflict, is designed to pave the way for a settlement likely to leave Syria’s Russian- and Iranian-backed president, Bashar al-Assad, in power within a reformed Syrian constitution.

It follows the near-collapse of the Syrian opposition since Moscow’s armed intervention in 2015 and the military defeat of Islamic State in all of the major towns and cities that were under its control.

“The militants in Syria have sustained a decisive blow and now there is a realistic chance to end the multi-year civil war,” Putin declared as he hosted Iran’s Hassan Rouhani and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğanin Sochi.

“The Syrian people will have to determine their own future and agree on the principles of their own statehood. It is obvious that the process of reform will not be easy and will require compromises and concessions from all participants, including of course the government of Syria.”

Putin hosted Assad in Sochi on Monday and extracted a more emollient tone than normal. He insisted on Wednesday that Assad was committed to a peace process, constitutional reform and free elections.

 Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Monday. Photograph: via Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

The Russian leader also held a frantic round of telephone diplomacy with other world leaders including Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu

 and Donald Trump.

Putin urged Iran and Turkey to start a discussion with him on the reconstruction of Syria. “Given the colossal scale of the destruction it would be possible to think together about the development of a comprehensive program for Syria,” he said.

He claimed military de-escalation zones had reduced the levels of violence and hundreds of thousands of refugees were returning home.

The three-way summit endorsed his plan for a Syrian national dialogue congress to be held in Russia in December. The meeting is intended to help frame a constitution for an integrated Syria, including the terms of presidential elections in which Assad would be entitled to stand.

But in a sign of the difficulties ahead, Erdoğan is insisting Syrian Kurds are excluded from the congress on the grounds that the Kurds are linked with Turkish Kurdish groups that Turkey says are terrorists. Syrian Kurds have been instrumental in the defeat of Isis as part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

Erdoğan was once one of the main backers of the splintered Syrian opposition but is now primarily focused on what Turkey sees as the Kurdish threat on its border.

Rouhani said the grounds for a political settlement had been laid but he argued it was “unacceptable” for foreign troops not invited into Syria by the government to remain in the country – a reference to US troops in the north-east of the country.

Separately, Israel is demanding that the Iranian military presence inside Syria is reined back, especially near the occupied Golan Heights.

The UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura will be briefed on Putin’s plans in Moscow on Thursday.

Simultaneously, Syrian opposition leaders are meeting in Saudi Arabia to choose a new negotiating team and platform for UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva that are due to restart on 28 November.

The reconstitution and expansion of the negotiating team has already led to mass resignations by prominent Syrian opposition figures including the former chair of the High Negotiations Committee, Riyad Hijab.

Those who have resigned complain that the international community, especially Russia, is trying to force them to accept that Assad can remain in office despite his brutal tactics in the civil war, including the UN-documented use of chemical weapons.

They also claim Putin, despite his denials, is undermining the UN peace process in favour of a separate peace track with Russian-selected delegates to the national dialogue congress.

De Mistura told the opposition delegates they could instil a new dynamic into the Geneva talks if they could agree “a cohesive, representative, strategically wise, effective team that reflects the diversity of the Syrian society and is ready to negotiate without preconditions, in the same way as the government will be expected to do.”

The flurry of diplomatic activity underlines the degree to which the US and the EU have been sidelined from the process.

Sources : agency 

Chinese FM sees Asia-Europe Meeting new path in int'l relations

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) represents a new path for international relations and communications among countries.

When addressing the 13th ASEM foreign ministers' meeting in the Myanmar capital, Wang said the Communist Party of China successfully held its 19th National Congress last month, mapping out a grand blueprint for the development of China in the next 30 years.

As China has entered a new era which will see the country foster closer connections with the world, China will continue to cooperate closely with all parties in Asia and Europe, and jointly strive for a brighter future, he said.

The Chinese top diplomat viewed the ASEM as a new path for countries in the world to develop relations and conduct communications.

Guided by the principle of pursuing dialogue rather than confrontation, forging partnerships instead of alliances, the ASEM nations have maintained stability in Asia and Europe in general, said Wang.

They have contributed to the Asia-Europe development by jointly participating in and promoting the process of globalization, and expanding global trade and investment, he added.

The Asian and European countries have stuck to multilateralism, committed themselves to improving and reforming the system of global governance, and dealt with challenges through cooperation, Wang said.

The Chinese foreign minister put forward a three-point proposal for future Asia-Erupe cooperation.

He urged for concerted efforts to uphold regional peace and stability, citing traditional and non-traditional security challenges in Asia and Europe.

Wang called on Asian and European countries to join hands to tap new growth drivers.

He also proposed the countries work together to explore sustainable governance models.

The Chinese foreign minister met with EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, and his counterparts from Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malta, Norway and Luxembourg on the sidelines of the ASEM meeting.

Source: Xinhua

The White House corrected a pool report to insist Trump isn't just golfing today

President Trump got a head start on the holiday weekend Wednesday when he arrived at Trump International Golf Club in sunny West Palm Beach to play 18 holes. But don't let his 77th visit to a golf club since becoming president fool you — it is absolutely not a "low-key day," his staff insists.

The White House made the specification that Trump, who is golfing, is not having a "low-key day" after Washington Post reporter Jenna Johnson sent this pool report 

Credid - the week america 

Solar System’s First Interstellar Visitor Dazzles Scientists

Astronomers recently scrambled to observe an intriguing asteroid that zipped through the solar system on a steep trajectory from interstellar space—the first confirmed object from another star. 

Artist’s concept of interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October 2017. The aspect ratio of up to 10:1 is unlike that of any object seen in our own solar system.

Credits: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser

Now, new data reveal the interstellar interloper to be a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue. The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date. While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed.

The observations and analyses were funded in part by NASA and appear in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Nature. They suggest this unusual object had been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system.

“For decades we’ve theorized that such interstellar objects are out there, and now – for the first time – we have direct evidence they exist,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This history-making discovery is opening a new window to study formation of solar systems beyond our own.” 

Immediately after its discovery, telescopes around the world, including ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and other observatories around the world were called into action to measure the object’s orbit, brightness and color. Urgency for viewing from ground-based telescopes was vital to get the best data. 

Combining the images from the FORS instrument on the ESO telescope using four different filters with those of other large telescopes, a team of astronomers led by Karen Meech of the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii found that ‘Oumuamua varies in brightness by a factor of ten as it spins on its axis every 7.3 hours. No known asteroid or comet from our solar system varies so widely in brightness, with such a large ratio between length and width. The most elongated objects we have seen to date are no more than three times longer than they are wide.   

“This unusually big variation in brightness means that the object is highly elongated: about ten times as long as it is wide, with a complex, convoluted shape,” said Meech. We also found that it had a reddish color, similar to objects in the outer solar system, and confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it.”

These properties suggest that ‘Oumuamua is dense, comprised of rock and possibly metals, has no water or ice, and that its surface was reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over hundreds of millions of years. 

A few large ground-based telescopes continue to track the asteroid, though it’s rapidly fading as it recedes from our planet. Two of NASA’s space telescopes (Hubble and Spitzer) are tracking the object the week of Nov. 20. As of Nov. 20, ‘Oumuamua is travelling about 85,700 miles per hour (38.3 kilometers per second) relative to the Sun. Its location is approximately 124 million miles (200 million kilometers) from Earth -- the distance between Mars and Jupiter – though its outbound path is about 20 degrees above the plane of planets that orbit the Sun. The object passed Mars’s orbit around Nov. 1 and will pass Jupiter’s orbit in May of 2018. It will travel beyond Saturn’s orbit in January 2019; as it leaves our solar system, ‘Oumuamua will head for the constellation Pegasus.

Observations from large ground-based telescopes will continue until the object becomes too faint to be detected, sometime after mid-December. NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) continues to take all available tracking measurements to refine the trajectory of 1I/2017 U1 as it exits our solar system. 

This remarkable object was discovered Oct. 19by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope, funded by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations (NEOO) Program, which finds and tracks asteroids and comets in Earth’s neighborhood. NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson said, “We are fortunate that our sky survey telescope was looking in the right place at the right time to capture this historic moment. This serendipitous discovery is bonus science enabled by NASA’s efforts to find, track and characterize near-Earth objects that could potentially pose a threat to our planet.”  

Preliminary orbital calculations suggest that the object came from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation of Lyra. However, it took so long for the interstellar object to make the journey – even at the speed of about 59,000 miles per hour (26.4 kilometers per second) -- that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there about 300,000 years ago. 

While originally classified as a comet, observations from ESO and elsewhere revealed no signs of cometary activity after it slingshotted past the Sun on Sept. 9 at a blistering speed of 196,000 miles per hour (87.3 kilometers per second). 

The object has since been reclassified as interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which is responsible for granting official names to bodies in the solar system and beyond. In addition to the technical name, the Pan-STARRS team dubbed it ‘Oumuamua (pronounced oh MOO-uh MOO-uh), which is Hawaiian for “a messenger from afar arriving first.” 

Astronomers estimate that an interstellar asteroid similar to ‘Oumuamua passes through the inner solar system about once per year, but they are faint and hard to spot and have been missed until now. It is only recently that survey telescopes, such as Pan-STARRS, are powerful enough to have a chance to discover them. 

“What a fascinating discovery this is!” said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “It’s a strange visitor from a faraway star system, shaped like nothing we’ve ever seen in our own solar system neighborhood.”

Scientists were surprised and delighted to detect --for the first time-- an interstellar asteroid passing through our solar system. Additional observations brought more surprises: the object is cigar-shaped with a somewhat reddish hue. The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That is unlike any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date, and may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed.

Credits: NASA JPL

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