naked

BRITS will have a brilliant view of Saturn tonight – and it’ll be looking pretty unusual to boot.

This week marks Saturn’s opposition, which is a premium stargazing (or rather, planet-gazing) event.

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During the opposition, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth.

And Saturn will be visible opposite the Sun in the sky so it’s fully illuminated.

That means it’ll be at its brightest point of the year.

So if you want to spy it, you’ll have your best chance tonight – assuming that it’s not cloudy.

It should rise after sunset and be visible all night.

This event will make Saturn easily visible to the naked eye,” said the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

“Appearing as pale yellow and rising in the east, located in the constellation of Pisces.”

Interestingly, this is a particularly special event because Saturn’s rings will be difficult to see.

They’re tilted at a severe angle to us, as we passed through their “plane” back in March.

We do that roughly every 13 to 15 years.

During a few weeks either side of that crossing, you can’t see the rings unless you have a very good telescope.

And even though we’re well on from March, the rings are still very severely tilted.

In fact, they’re just two degrees off dead straight to us.

“Saturn’s beautiful rings won’t be fully visible due to Saturn’s rotation turning edge-on to us,” Royal Observatory Greenwich said.

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“So unfortunately the rings will appear very narrow.”

If you miss Saturn (or you really enjoy it) then there’s another opposition opportunity just a couple of days later.

Neptune can be seen at opposition on September 23 – that’s the Tuesday.

“The planet will be visible with a telescope, rising in the east and setting in the west at sunrise,” Royal Observatory Greenwich explained.

“Neptune, the farthest planet in our Solar System at 4.3 billion kilometres away, will be at its closest point to Earth, shining blue and brighter than any other time of the year.”

But it won’t be easy to see.

Neptune is extremely far away – much further than Saturn.

So you’ll need a very good telescope to spy it.

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“Even with an optical aid, Neptune appears faint and you’ll need a high magnification to get a clear view,” the observatory added.

Plane spotters in Fort Worth, Texas, caught a glimpse of something rare yesterday, one of the U.S. Air Force’s four E-4B Nightwatch jets flying completely stripped of paint and with much of its skin covered in a green zinc chromate coating. The Boeing 747-200-based E-4Bs are commonly called ‘doomsday planes’ as they serve as secure flying command posts for the president and other senior military officials so they can perform their duties, including directing nuclear strikes, even during the most serious crises.

Aviation photographer Tori Mae Fontana was kind enough to share pictures of the ‘naked’ E-4B with TWZ, which she captured as the aircraft left Meacham International Airport in Fort Worth yesterday. The jet used the callsign Spice 98 for the flight.

“So it was here at International Aerospace Coatings (IAC),” Fontana told TWZ. “They have painted E-4s before. I know they have previously had a Boeing contract. I am assuming it’s still current.”

Boeing, among others, uses green zinc chromate coatings to protect the skins of unpainted planes, typically before delivery. The standard paint scheme for the Nightwatch aircraft, also known as National Airborne Operations Centers (NAOC), is overall white with a blue cheat line on either side of the fuselage, as well as a blue section extending from the top of the nose to above the cockpit. Even without their normal paint job, the E-4Bs are readily identifiable by the large satellite communications (SATCOM) enclosure on top of the forward end of the fuselage, as well as other distinctive antennas on their dorsal spine and elsewhere along the fuselage. The jets also have an aerial refueling receptacle on the nose.

TWZ has reached out to the Air Force for more information, including whether there are any plans for a new paint scheme for this particular aircraft.

“I am also assuming it went back to San Antonio because Boeing has the contract for the E-4 maintenance,” Fontana added.

Online flight data shows that at least one E-4B, with the serial number 73-1676, has been at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, since September 2024. That aircraft was tracked flying on August 23 and again on August 28 using the Spice 98 callsign. Boeing performs depot maintenance on the Nightwatch jets, as well as the Air Force’s two Boeing 747-200-based VC-25A Air Force One aircraft, at Kelly Field, which sits adjacent to Lackland Air Force Base.

E-4B NAOC 73-1676 as Spice-98 is up on its second test flight following programmed depot maintenance at Lackland AFB, aka Kelly Field. It arrived in September of 2024 and the first flight was 5 days ago. pic.twitter.com/ss7S6RRwGh

— MeNMyRC (@MeNMyRC1) August 28, 2025

Ensuring the readiness of the E-4B fleet, as well as keeping their highly sensitive systems up to date, is extremely important given the critical role the jets play as part of the U.S. government’s broader continuity of government plans. Those mechanisms are in place to ensure that national-level authorities, including the ability to launch nuclear retaliatory strikes, remain functional in the face of any contingency, as you can read more about here.

At the same time, sustaining the heavily modified E-4Bs has become increasingly challenging, due in large part to the age of the underlying Boeing 747-200 airliners they were converted from. Three of the E-4Bs started their Air Force careers as E-4A Advanced Airborne Command Posts (AACP), which began entering service in the 1970s. Those aircraft were later upgraded to the NAOC configuration in the 1980s, and were eventually joined by the fourth aircraft. The very last 747-200 rolled off Boeing’s production line in 1987, and few are still flying in any configuration globally today. Boeing ended production of the 747 series entirely in 2022.

The Air Force is now in the process of acquiring E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) jets to replace the aging E-4Bs. The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is converting those aircraft from newer 747-8 airframes acquired secondhand from Korean Air. SNC is doing the SAOC work at a facility in Dayton, Ohio, and announced earlier this month that it had begun some degree of “early risk reduction flight testing” to help “ensure on-time delivery of new aircraft to the USAF.”

When the E-4Cs may begin entering operational service is unclear. Questions also remain about how big the SAOC fleet may be in the end. SNC has previously said it negotiated the purchase of five 747-8s from Korean Air, but past reports have indicated that the Air Force may want between eight and 10 of the jets in the end.

Part of this uncertainty is intertwined with the U.S. Navy’s plans to replace its E-6B Mercury aircraft, which are also ‘doomsday’ planes, but are not configured to act as much more than robust flying command centers like the E-4s. The E-6Bs currently serve as key airborne control nodes for the Navy and Air Force legs of America’s nuclear deterrence triad, mission sets referred to as Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) and Looking Glass, respectively. At present, the plan is for the E-130J Phoenix II aircraft that are set to replace the Mercury jets to be configured for the TACAMO mission only. This, in turn, has raised the possibility that the future SAOC fleet could take on the Looking Glass mission, at least to a degree.

Regardless, until the E-4Cs begin flying operationally, the E-4Bs will need to continue performing their essential role, and will need continued depot maintenance and other work to ensure they remain as ready and capable as possible.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Special thanks again to Tori Mae Fontana for sharing the images of the ‘naked’ E-4B with us.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Looks like whoever called the cops on Lil Nas X last week wasn’t exaggerating when they reported the Grammy winner as a “nude man walking in the street.”

Initial video posted last week by TMZ showed the performer wearing only tighty-whities and white cowboy boots, strolling and posing on an L.A. street just before sunrise — and just before his arrest on suspicion of charging at a police officer. But it turns out that’s not the exact condition he was in when law enforcement took him in.

In new video TMZ posted over the weekend, the “Old Town Road” singer can be seen walking down the middle of a street fully naked, having shed the boots and underpants that had barely covered his modesty. (That he disrobed explains how a concerned citizen-slash-amateur videographer was able to snatch his boots up from off the street and list them for sale on EBay, seeking $10,000 — or best offer.)

In the new footage, Lil Nas X recites some Nicki Minaj lyrics from the Kanye West tune “Monster” as he struts runway-style toward the person shooting the video, who appears to be in the driver’s seat of a car.

“And if I’m fake, I ain’t notice ‘cause my money ain’t / So let me get this straight, wait, I’m the rookie? / But my features and my shows 10 times your pay? / 50K for a verse, no album out,” Lil Nas X says in the video.

An LAPD spokesperson told The Times last week that the 26-year-old, who was arrested around 6 a.m. Thursday, initially was taken to a hospital for a possible overdose. Lil Nas X was booked a little over five hours later and ultimately spent the weekend in a Van Nuys jail pending a court date Monday to set bail.

Both the LAPD and Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene on Thursday. LAFD did not give The Times additional information about the singer’s condition.

The performer, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer after he allegedly charged at officers who responded to the call. Although TMZ reported that he was being held on a misdemeanor, online arrest records list him as being held on a felony count.

Representatives for Lil Nas X did not respond immediately to The Times’ request for comment Monday.

His arrest came soon after he apparently wiped his Instagram grid of old photos and posted a couple dozen new ones, including a selfie posted Tuesday of himself wearing a fur coat, bright red lipstick and both a cowboy hat and crown. “OH NO sHES GONE MAD! CRAZY I TELL U!,” he captioned the post.

In another photo, Lil Nas X posed in front of a backlit mirror in a gold gown, white cowboy boots and a tiara.

“And just like that she’s back,” he wrote in that caption. “We’ve all waited so long. When dreamworld needed her the most.”

Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario, Christopher Buchanan and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

Fans of the controversial reality show don’t have long to wait

Paramount+ has confirmed the release date for Dating Naked UK season 2 as Rylan Clark returns to screens.

Dating Naked made its UK debut in 2024, featuring a group of singletons seeking to find their ideal partner. But the reality dating show comes with a major twist.

Contestants appear completely naked. The divisive dating programme originally launched in America where it proved popular with fans before making its way to Paramount+.

And it has sparked fierce debate upon its British launch due to participants appearing entirely naked. A second series is now approaching, and supporters won’t be waiting much longer as Paramount+ has given a major release date update.

Dating Naked UK’s second season will debut its first two episodes on Paramount+ on August 29. From then, two instalments will drop each week, totalling 10 hour-long programmes.

Presenter Rylan will once again take charge as ten fresh singles strip off in pursuit of romance. Paramount+ hints: “The UK’s most drawer-dropping dating show is back! Guided by host Rylan, ten new singles are ready to shed their inhibitions and their clothes, in their search for true love.”

It was previously reported that the reality dating programme had relocated for its latest run, now filming in Panama, Central America. Host Rylan earlier revealed to the Daily Star: “There are going to be some big changes.

“It’s really exciting. The location is changing. What we’ve got lined up is going to be brilliant. There will be lots of twists and turns.

“If the daters watched the first season and think they know how the show works, they’re wrong. We want to keep them on their toes. We don’t want them to know what’s coming next”.

The debut series of the provocative programme quickly became a fan favourite and one of the most-watched shows on Paramount+.

On IMDB, an enthusiast commented: “Maybe it’s just the fact that the way show everything but I like this much better than other similar shows with clothes. Them being nude adds a humorous side and it’s intriguing to see how they behave.”

Another viewer expressed: “I watched it because it was controversial, and surprisingly I enjoyed this show.”

You can catch up with Dating Naked season one on Paramount Plus or stream it on Prime Video.

Dating Naked UK season 2 hits screens on August 29 on Paramount+.