Watching solstices, equinoxes from space | Earth | EarthSky
http://earthsky.org/space/watching-solstices-and-equinoxes-from-space

Winter Solstice today, at 10:44 UT
APOD: 2016 December 21 - Traces of the Sun
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161221.html

PANIC lander could revolutionize asteroid research - SpaceFlight Insider
http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/...ions/solar-system/panic-lander-revolutionize-asteroid-research/

A U.S.-German team of researchers has proposed to develop a micro-scale, low-cost surface lander for the in situ characterization of an asteroid.
The tiny spacecraft, called the Pico Autonomous Near-Earth Asteroid In Situ Characterizer (PANIC), could be a breakthrough for the scientific
community, offering simple and cheap solutions for asteroid research.

The concept of the PANIC mission envisions a tetrahedron-shaped lander with an edge length of just 13.78 inches (35 centimeters) and a total mass
of some 26.5 pounds (12 kilograms). The spacecraft’s size and structure will allow it to host four scientific instruments. The lander itself will
be delivered to an asteroid aboard an interplanetary probe, and once on the surface of a space rock, it will utilize hopping as a locomotion
mechanism in microgravity. According to the authors of the paper describing the PANIC mission concept, one of the biggest advantages of the project
would be its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.00105v1.pdf

A positive leap second must be introduced on December 31, 2016
http://www.astro.oma.be/en/a-positive-leap-second-must-be-introduced-on-december-31-2016/

The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) informs us that a positive
leap second must be introduced on December 31, 2016.

Famous red star Betelgeuse is spinning faster than expected; may have swallowed a companion 100,000 years ago
http://phys.org/news/2016-12-famous-red-star-betelgeuse-faster.html

Astronomer J. Craig Wheeler of The University of Texas at Austin thinks that Betelgeuse, the bright red star marking the shoulder of Orion,
the hunter, may have had a past that is more interesting than meets the eye. Working with an international group of undergraduate students,
Wheeler has found evidence that the red supergiant star may have been born with a companion star, and later swallowed that star. The research
is published today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

A new clue to the future of Betelgeuse involves its rotation. When a star inflates to become a supergiant, its rotation should slow down.
"It's like the classic spinning ice skater—not bringing her arms in, but opening her arms up," Wheeler said. As the skater opens her arms,
she slows down. So, too, should Betelgeuse's rotation have slowed as the star expanded. But that is not what Wheeler's team found.

OT
Blade Runner 2049 Announcement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haXvp8M9Cog&feature=youtu.be

ALPHA observes light spectrum of antimatter for first time
http://phys.org/news/2016-12-alpha-spectrum-antimatter.html

In a paper published today in the journal Nature, the ALPHA collaboration reports the first ever measurement on the optical
spectrum of an antimatter atom. This achievement features technological developments that open up a completely new era in
high-precision antimatter research. It is the result of over 20 years of work by the CERN antimatter community.
"Using a laser to observe a transition in antihydrogen and comparing it to hydrogen to see if they obey the same laws
of physics has always been a key goal of antimatter research," said Jeffrey Hangst, Spokesperson of the ALPHA collaboration.

Breakthrough in Antimatter Physics Has Some Dreaming of Starships | Daily Planet | Air & Space Magazine
http://www.airspacemag.com/...breakthrough-antimatter-physics-has-some-dreaming-starships-180961497/

Could antimatter engines power interstellar travel? Experts are divided after antimatter research took a large step forward today.
Researchers publishing in the journal Nature have measured the spectrum of antihydrogen—the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen—for
the first time, which should allow physicists to investigate more precisely how this exotic material differs from hydrogen. The
ultimate goal is learning why antimatter is so scarce in the universe, when models suggest that the Big Bang should have produced
equal amounts of matter and antimatter.

Co-author Jeffrey Hangst, a physics professor at Aarhus University, called the research at CERN a breakthrough. Six years ago, his
consortium discovered how to trap a single atom of antihydrogen in a magnetic field; now they can trap 15 atoms simultaneously. Yet
the painstaking trapping process has Hangst convinced that antimatter engines are impossible. Today it takes a huge accelerator to
produce just a few atoms, nowhere near the amount needed for an antimatter-powered rocket.

Cosmic ‘Winter’ Wonderland | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/cosmic-winter-wonderland.html

Although there are no seasons in space, this cosmic vista invokes thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. It is, in fact,
a region called NGC 6357 where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the cloud that surrounds them.

This composite image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ROSAT telescope (purple), infrared data
from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (orange), and optical data from the SuperCosmos Sky Survey (blue) made by the United Kingdom
Infrared Telescope.

Located in our galaxy about 5,500 light years from Earth, NGC 6357 is actually a “cluster of clusters,” containing at least three
clusters of young stars, including many hot, massive, luminous stars. The X-rays from Chandra and ROSAT reveal hundreds of point
sources, which are the young stars in NGC 6357, as well as diffuse X-ray emission from hot gas. There are bubbles, or cavities,
that have been created by radiation and material blowing away from the surfaces of massive stars, plus supernova explosions.

Anomalies during JWST Vibration Test Status
Status JWST/NASA
http://jwst.nasa.gov/vibrationTestStatus.html

During the vibration testing on December 3, at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, accelerometers attached to the telescope
detected anomalous readings during a particular test. Further tests to identify the source of the anomaly are underway. The engineering team
investigating the vibe anomaly has made numerous detailed visual inspections of the Webb telescope and has found no visible signs of damage.
They are continuing their analysis of accelerometer data to better determine the source of the anomaly. They have conducted a low-level vibration
of the hardware to measure its responses, and are comparing the results with data obtained prior to the anomaly. Engineers are currently running
diagnostics to determine the cause and to assess any potential impacts. We will provide updates as they are available.

Crash Course
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20510/crash-course

It may look as though Saturn's moon Mimas is crashing through the rings in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, but Mimas is actually 45 000 kilometers
away from the rings. There is a strong connection between the icy moon and Saturn's rings, though. Gravity links them together and shapes the way they both move.

The gravitational pull of Mimas (396 kilometers across) creates waves in Saturn's rings that are visible in some Cassini images. Mimas' gravity also helps create
the Cassini Division (not pictured here), which separates the A and B rings. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Mimas. North on Mimas is up and
rotated 15 degrees to the right. The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 23, 2016. The view was acquired at
a distance of approximately 183 000 kilometers from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 29 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer per pixel.