Astronomers have confirmed that ASASSN-24fw dimmed by an extraordinary 97% over a period of more than nine months, starting in late 2024 making it one of the longest and deepest stellar eclipses ever recorded. The star, located in the Monoceros constellation, was monitored through sky surveys that track brightness changes in stars over time. The data clearly shows a prolonged and structured drop in light, far beyond what a normal planet could cause. Scientists say the most likely explanation is a massive ringed object passing in front of the star either a brown dwarf or a super Jupiter–type planet. Unlike typical transits that last hours or days, this event stretched across months, pointing to something enormous in size. The ring system itself is estimated to span about 16 million miles (25 million km), making it one of the largest ever inferred. As different parts of the rings moved across the star, they created layered dimming patterns, which allowed astronomers to study the...
Iran’s deadliest civilian casualty incident in the ongoing U.S.–Israel military offensive may have occurred **when a girls’ elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, was destroyed in a strike that Iranian officials say killed at least 165 people, most of them young schoolgirls. Iranian state media and government sources say dozens more were wounded in the devastating blast.
The strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School — reported during a morning bombing campaign by joint U.S. and Israeli forces — has triggered mass funerals in Minab, where mourners chanted slogans and displayed photos of the victims.
Iranian political leaders have condemned the attack as a war crime, with the foreign minister sharing images of graves being prepared for the young victims and promising that such “crimes against the Iranian people will not go unanswered.”
The Ministry of Health and local officials say 96 others were wounded in the blast that struck the school during class hours. This incident is widely described in Iranian reporting as the single deadliest attack on civilians since hostilities began.
Iranian authorities publicly blamed the strike on a U.S. and Israeli air attack — part of a wider bombing campaign that unfolded as tensions surged between Tehran and Western forces. Iran’s foreign ministry said the attack demonstrated indiscriminate targeting of civilians.
However, both the United States and Israel have denied deliberately targeting a school:
• A U.S. official said American forces “would not deliberately target a school” and that reports of civilian harm are being investigated.
• Israeli officials said they were unaware of strikes in the Minab school area at the time.
Neither side has definitively claimed responsibility for the strike.
The United Nations and humanitarian groups have expressed alarm over the attack. The director-general of UNESCO said that attacks on schools and children are a grave violation of international humanitarian law that protects civilians and educational facilities during conflicts.
Prominent advocates, including Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, have condemned the deaths of the young girls, emphasizing that children and schools must never be targets in war.
Whether or not Minab’s girls’ school was intentionally targeted, the reported death toll — widely cited as at least 165 — has shocked observers worldwide. It has become a central point of controversy in the ongoing conflict, raising fundamental questions about:
• The conduct of military operations in populated areas
• The protection of civilians under international law
• The political meaning of war when children are among the dead
Iran’s mass funerals and official rhetoric suggest the country is framing the attack as evidence that foreign military actions are indiscriminately affecting ordinary citizens.
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