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Watch 2 cosmonauts conduct spacewalk outside the ISS today – Space.com

Two Russian cosmonauts will perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) today (April 25), and you can watch the action live.

Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are scheduled to venture into the void at around 10:55 a.m. EDT today, then “spend about seven hours configuring hardware and installing experiments on the Roscosmos segment of the space station,” NASA officials said in an update on Wednesday (April 24). (Roscosmos is Russia’s space agency.)

You can watch it live here, courtesy of NASA; coverage will begin at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).

two astronauts in white spacesuits work outside the international space station — Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub work to inspect an external radiator on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module while conducting a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station on Oct. 25, 2023. (Image credit: NASA TV)

Today’s excursion will be the second spacewalk for Chub and the seventh for Kononenko. The duo conducted an extravehicular activity together in October 2023, during which they inspected a leaky radiator on the outside of Russia’s Nauka module.

Chub and Konenko launched to the ISS together back in September 2023, on a Soyuz spacecraft that also carried NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara. The liftoff kicked off the first spaceflight for Chub and O’Hara and the fifth for Kononenko.

Kononenko isn’t just an off-Earth veteran; he’s a record-breaker. The cosmonaut has spent more total time in space than anyone in history — 957 days as of today.

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Microbialites On The Shore Of Lake Salda In Turkey – Astrobiology – Astrobiology News

The rocks seen here along the shoreline of Lake Salda in Turkey were formed over time by microbes that trap minerals and sediments in the water. These so-called microbialites were once a major form of life on Earth and provide some of the oldest known fossilized records of life on our planet.

Studying these microbial fossils on Earth has helped scientists prepare for the mission.

Today, the Martian surface is devoid of lakes and rivers, but billions of years ago it may have looked like this aqueous location on Earth. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover landed in Jezero Crater, which scientists believe was home to a lake and river delta about 3.5 billion years ago.

Together, they could have collected and preserved ancient organic molecules and other potential signs of microbial life from the water and sediments that flowed into the crater billions of years ago.

NASA ID: PIA24374 Date Created:2021-01-27 Larger image

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Hubble Snaps Striking New Photo of UGC 9684 – Sci.News

NASA has released an incredibly beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy UGC 9684.

This Hubble image shows UGC 9684, a spiral galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation of Boötes. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

UGC 9684 resides approximately 240 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Boötes.

Also known as ECO 4872 or LEDA 53758, the spiral galaxy has a diameter of 90,000 light-years.

UGC 9684 is tilted diagonally and partially towards the viewer.

Its disk is cloudy and threaded with dust, without clear arms. Its bar extends across the disk from the glowing core.

“This Hubble image shows an impressive example of several classic galactic features, including a clear bar in the galaxy’s center, and a halo surrounding its disk,” the Hubble astronomers said.

“The impetus for the image was a study into the host galaxies of Type II supernovae.”

“These cataclysmic stellar explosions take place throughout the Universe, and are of great interest to astronomers, so automated surveys scan the night sky and attempt to catch sight of them.”

“The supernova which brought UGC 9684 to Hubble’s attention occurred during 2020,” they added.

“Named SN 2020pni, it has faded from view in this image, which was taken in 2023.”

“Remarkably, the 2020 supernova in this galaxy isn’t the only one that’s been seen there — four supernova-like events have been spotted in UGC 9684 since 2006, putting it up there with the most active supernova-producing galaxies.”

“It turns out that UGC 9684 is a quite active star-forming galaxy, calculated as producing one solar mass worth of stars every few years,” they said.

“This level of stellar formation makes UGC 9684 a veritable supernova factory, and a galaxy to watch for astronomers hoping to examine these exceptional events.”

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Sony Caves in War With Fans Over PSN Accounts for Helldivers 2 – Gizmodo

An image shows a Helldiver soldier giving a thumbs up.

Screenshot: Arrowhead Game Studios / Kotaku

PlayStation has announced that, after about three days of online yelling and reviewing bombing, it will no longer require Helldivers 2 players on PC to link their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account in order to continue accessing the popular sci-fi co-op shooter.

The Sony Theater U Neck Speaker Could Be Great, Except for That Pesky Wire

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In a tweet at midnight on May 5, PlayStation said it had heard all the “feedback” on linking a Steam and PSN account and decided…nah, never mind.

“Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update,” announced PlayStation. “The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.”

PlayStation said it was still “learning what is best for PC players” and suggested all the feedback the company received about the situation had been “invaluable.”

“Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans,” concluded PlayStation’s late-night tweet.

This reverse on account linking follows a horrible time for Arrowhead’s devs and community managers, who were forced to manage a massive digital war across Twitter, Reddit, and Discord. The CEO of Arrowhead spent most of the weekend apologizing on Twitter and talking to angry fans.

People were upset that the account linking announcement had come so long after the game’s launch—even if technically this was always the plan. Some wondered why, after months of being able to play online and use crossplay, they suddenly needed a free PSN account to play Helldivers 2 on Steam. Other players were upset that Helldivers 2 had been sold on Steam in countries that don’t have access to the PlayStation Network. This particular issue was only partially addressed by Sony in a FAQ posted online over the weekend. It also led to Helldivers 2 being removed from sale in some countries on Steam, a change that will likely be reverted soon.

It seems PlayStation has learned a valuable lesson: Don’t assume every player is reading the entire Steam store page when buying a game, and keep people in the loop on your plans that might, one day, cut them off from the game they bought.

This article originally appeared on Kotaku.