UFOs - Documenting The Evidence

Don't Just Believe Me, But Do Look At The Evidence. By Paul Dean. Contact: pj_dean@hotmail.com

NORAD And The UFO Smokescreen  - Part 1

About a year ago, I took the plunge and begun the near-impossible task of ascertaining what role joint US/Canadian North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) has maintained regarding the UFO matter. Sure enough, just as I had suspected, there is a paper trail dating back decades, and much of it makes for rather awkward reading. Furthermore, I have been working with David Charmichael, a brilliant British citizen who has been aggressively asking NORAD, and its parent agency Northern Command (NORTHCOM), one of ten Unified Combatant Commands organised directly under the Secretary of Defence and Joint Chiefs of Staff, for some honest answers regarding the oddities they track on vast radar systems, and other UFO-related matters. Together he and I have discovered much.

For those that don’t know, NORAD, as its current Fact Sheet states, is:

         “...charged with the missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America. Aerospace warning includes the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands. Aerospace control includes ensuring air sovereignty and air defence of the airspace of Canada and the United States.”. 

Put simply, NORAD uses myriad primary and secondary radars to build up an integrated, recognised air and aerospace picture, even out into sub-space, of what is flying around about the USA and Canada. NORAD has generally maintained that the only “UFOs” they detect and track are simply strayed aircraft, hostile formations of Russian combat aircraft and such. NORAD do not have any interest, or, any knowledge, of  our sort of “UFO” events.
Unfortunately for NORAD, however, if one goes by what the contents of their own declassified paperwork says, the overwhelming evidence is that they have not been honest, and this dishonesty has been going on since the 1950’s. But first, let’s see what official concoctions NORAD has come up with over the long years.
The Official Stance         
In a reply letter dated 10th November, 1975, Colonel Terrence C. James, NORAD Headquarters, Ent Air Force Base, to researcher Robert Todd, it was stated:
“…this command has no present activity in investigating UFOs, nor does any area of the United States government that I’m aware of.”
Another letter from NORAD HQ, dated 28^th, November, 1975, also to Robert Todd, said:
“We do not undertake investigative measures… …our interests are satisfied in near real time, and no formal documentation is created by this command.”
In a 19 December 1995 letter to researcher Dr. Armen Victorian, NORAD’s Directorate of Information clarified their terminology, while distancing themselves, as one would expect, from the core UFO issue:
“Historically, the term UFO was used by the Air Force starting in 1947 and ending in 1969 with the shelving of the Project Blue Book. We all know what the term UFO means, we just don’t use it... …The specific term “UFO” is not used by this command even though you could say that this term would equate to Unknown Track Report: either an Uncorrelated Event or an Unknown Track, since an unidentified flying object could be considered either.”
These official statements may sound legitimate at face value, but, in fact, they fly in the face of various documents begrudgingly released by the US military over five long decades. 


For Restricted Readership        
Since 1954, the “Joint Army Navy Air Force Protocol 146” (JANAP 146) procedures, promulgated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have issued a series of “Communications Instructions for Vital Intelligence Sightings”, more commonly referred to as simply “CIRVIS”. The timely reporting of UFO’s by militaryand civilian pilots, as well as other professionals, is clearly laid down in these CIRVIS procedures, and, first on the addressing distribution list is none other than the Commander-in-Chief, NORAD (CINCNORAD). For example, the February 1959 version of JANAP CIRVIS procedures, published as JANAP 146(D), states, in part, under the “Information to be Reported and When to Report” section on Page 8:
(1)  While airborne and from land based observers.

(a) Hostile or unidentified single aircraft or formations of aircraft which appear to be directed against the United States or Canada or their forces.

(b) Missiles.

(c) Unidentified flying objects.

(d) Hostile or unidentified submarines.

(e) Hostile or unidentified group or groups of military surface vessels…”

(f) Individual surface vessels, submarines, or aircraft of unconventional design, or engaged in suspicious activity or observed in a location or on a course which may be interpreted as constituting a threat to the United States, Canada or their forces.

(g) Any unexplained or unusual activity which may indicate a possible attack against or through Canada or the United States, including the presence of any unidentified or other suspicious ground parties in the Polar Region or other remote or sparsely populated areas.”
Note, that “Unidentified Flying Objects” is listed as distinct from single aircraft, formations of aircraft, missiles, etc. Below is an image of this page from JANAP 146(D) CIRVIS. 

Of even more interest are these two procedural statements, on Page 12:

“c. A post-landing report is desired immediately after landing by CINCNORAD or RCAF-ADC to amplify the airborne report(s).”
And,
“(1) Post-landing reports should be addressed to CINCNORAD, Ent AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado, or, RCAF-ADC, St. Hubert, Quebec…”
CINCNORAD is merely Commander-in-Chief, NORAD, and, RCAF-ADC is Royal Canadian Air Force, Air Defence Command. Below is an image of the page. 

 Thus it is established that NORAD, even so long ago, was very much concerning itself with serious UFO sightings made by US or Canadian forces, and any claims to the contrary are absolute nonsense.
Now, I can already hear the “But, that was in 1959! What about something current?!”.
The 2008 “Air Force Instruction 10-206 Operational Reporting” instruction contains the second most current CIRVIS sightings procedures, which still include “Unidentified Flying Objects” as separate from aircraft, missiles, etc. On Page 36, it is stated, with regards to the addressee of such “vital” reports:
“5.3. Submitted To:
5.3.1. Airborne reports: US, Canadian military, or civilian communications facility.
5.3.2. Post-landing reports: Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Cheyenne Mt, Colorado, or HQ Northern NORAD Region, North Bay, Ontario, Canada, whichever is more convenient. If landing outside Canadian or US territories, submit reports through the nearest Canadian military or diplomatic representative or US.”
So much for NORAD not being in the US military’s “UFO loop”. 


“Unknown Objects”           
It isn’t just the above mentioned CIRVIS procedures which raise questions. NORAD’s Operational Instruction Index 0-2, coded “RCCOI 0-2” and dated 7^th of March, 1978, inventories a number of instructional publications vital to the overall mission success of NORAD Regional and Sector Operations Centers. Page 2 of the index lists a 9th of May, 1977 instruction titled “Possible Unknowns, Unknowns, Special Tracks and Unknown Objects Actions”. The  Below the list is imaged. 

There a numerous such NORAD indexes that contain references to classified publications., and through diligent research, some of these publications have been released. The above mentioned instruction, coded 55-8, contains a section, on Page 6, titled “Unknown Objects”, and states, on part:
“...Unknown object reporting will be accomplished using the same procedures as for Unknown Track reporting. NORAD Form 61 will be used even though such observations may not result in track establishment.”

This makes very clear that “unknown objects” are of concern to NORAD, despite what the United States government has ceaselessly said to the public. The page in question is imaged below.

         While these procedural and instructional records are significant, there is far more material which catches NORAD out red-handed being involved with localized and serious UFO events. In my next post, Part 2 of this series, I will be highlighting such material which provides ample evidence that NORAD know far more about the UFO issue than they are prepared to discuss.  

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23-05-2016 om 20:52 geschreven door peter  

23-05-2016 om 20:51 geschreven door peter  

UFOs - Documenting The Evidence

Don't Just Believe Me, But Do Look At The Evidence. By Paul Dean. Contact: pj_dean@hotmail.com

NORAD And The UFO Smokescreen - Part 3

This blogpost is the third in a series which aims to link, through official and documented record, the UFO matter with the huge North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). For over 50 years, NORAD’s stance on so-called “UFOs” – and I don’t mean merely stray aircraft – is that they know nothing, see nothing and hold nothing on record. However, myriad US military documents prove that NORAD has not been entirely honest. In this post I will highlight two especially unusual occasions where they were certainly involved. But, beforehand, if my readers need to catch up, I have linked is Part 1 and Part 2.


UFOs Are Tracked On NORAD Systems: And That’s Fact        
Now down to business. A little known fact concerning the infamous Japan Airlines sighting in 1986 is that NORAD almost definitely played a role in the extraordinary event, completely aside from the FAA and even the USAF. For those that do not know about this case, I will only briefly summarise it. On November 17^th, 1986, Japan Airlines (JAL) cargo flight 1628 was flying at nearly 900 kilometres an hour over Alaska. Just after sunset, the three crew witnessed a series of UFO encounters that last for 31 minutes, and, the entire fiasco was watched on both FAA primary radar, and, USAF primary radar. The case made headlines around the world. In 2000, John Callahan, Chief of the FAA’s Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations division confirmed the seriousness of the event, and the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency and the President’s Scientific Staff. He also came forward with more FAA evidence, on top of the hundreds of pages of official documentation already released.
 NORAD’s involvement has been overlooked in this case, I believe. At the heart of the matter, we know for an absolute fact that both the primary radar at the FAA’s Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (AARTCC), and the primary radar at the USAF’s Elmendorf Air Force Base Regional Operations Command Center (ROCC) picked up “surge primary returns” next to the JAL flight. As these returns were being watched on the screens, the crew were discussing with the FAA, over radio, the worrisome traffic they had around them. It’s a classic radar-visual case, pure and simply. The actual voice tapes of this event are available, and one can actually hear the gravity of the situation in the voices of the pilot, as well as those of the air traffic controllers at FAA AARTCC and USAF ROCC. The important thing here is that there may have been, in some no-doubt complex way, a third set of air traffic controllers, using a third system, watching the event. In the official FAA voice tape transcript the USAF’s ROCC controller says, at 5:38:51:
“Ah, I’m gonna talk to my other radar man here has gotta, he’s got some other equipment watching this aircraft.”
 The passage of speech is somewhat broken, but he clearly says “my other radar man here” and“some other equipment”. Considering it is a USAF controller who was talking, one can’t help but question who “my other radar man” could be, and, what “other equipment” was “watching” the UFOs around the JAL flight? It turns out it was probably NORAD. Elmendorf Air Force Base had, in the 1980’s, a more classified system operated by NORAD, which complimented the USAF hardware. The two merged in Year 2000, but, back in 1986, NORAD’s presence wasn’t exactly advertised at the time of the JAL 1628 UFO sightings. In fact, when one reads that dismal FAA paperwork on the incident, even the USAF’s involvement, let alone NORAD’s, was barely mentioned, despite the fact that they were watching the same thing on their screens, and stating such to the FAA controllers and the JAL pilots.
Whatever the exact situation, speculation that NORAD was involved in this event is strengthened when one reads a particular FAA document from the FAA’s JAL 1628 report. After one of the post-landing interviews between the JAL crew and FAA Special Agents James Derry and Ronald Mickle, Special Agent Derry wrote a one page statement. The final paragraph states:
“Upon completion of my discussion with the crew, I called Captain Stevens (Duty Officer to NORAD) and asked if he had any questions other than what I had asked. He said he had no other questions, but they also showed two targets on radar (one was JAL). He stated that they would give all data to Intelligence in the morning. I then asked Bobby Lamkin by phone if the Air Force was holding the data and he said yes”
Below is an image of this document. 

NORAD On Alert          
Another incident where NORAD paperwork connects them, very strongly I might add, to serious UFO events, is the extraordinary October-November, 1975 “over flights” of a dozen US military bases by unknown aircraft, variously described as mundane helicopters right through to totally unfamiliar and oddly performing craft that appeared repeatedly on ground-based radar and utterly eluded USAF authorities for weeks. These events were highlighted in Barry Greenwood and Lawrence Fawcett’s game-changing 1984 book “Clear Intent”, later published with the title “UFO Cover Up: What the Government Won’t Say”. I will not even attempt here to give an overview of the wave of UFO activity that occurred at that time. What does need to be said though is that hundreds and hundreds of pages of official documents were released from nearly two dozen commands and agencies within the US military throughout 1976 to 1983. Barry Greenwood and Robert Todd accessed most of them, and Barry fondly tells me how stunned he was – time after time – that such raw intelligence and front-line reporting was being furnished to him. These researchers cannot be thanked enough for their work.

Amongst those piles of gold, was a four page release of “incident” summaries extracted from both the NORAD Command Directors Log and the 24^th NORAD Region Senior Director’s Log. The time period for released material was from the 29^th of October to the 10^th of November, 1975. The actual documents were released to researcher Todd Zechel on the 4^th of October, 1977. Despite the fact these are quite well known, I wish to highlight some of the contents, and provide imagery of the offending pages. The first page details various worrisome intrusions by “unknown helicopters” over Loring Air Force Base, Maine, Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan, and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana – all of which maintained mission-ready nuclear weapons.

See below. 

The stakes are raised on page 2 of the release where the 24th NORAD Region Senior Director's Log (Malmstrom AFB, Montana) The most alarming incident summaries are probably:
“7 Nov 75 (1035Z) - Received a call from the 341st Strategic Air Command Post (SAC CP), saying that the following missile locationsreported seeing a large red to orange to yellow object:  M-1, L-3, LIMA and L-6.  The general object location would be 10 miles south of Moore, Montana, and 20 miles east of Buffalo, Montana.  Commander and Deputy for Operations (DO) informed.”
And, for the actual word “UFO”,
“7 Nov 75 (1429Z) - From SAC CP:  As the sun rose, the UFOs disappeared.  Commander and DO notified.”

         On page 3, the continuing NORAD summaries mention the term “UFO” five times, plus radar tracks of “unknowns”, “objects”, plus the inspection of such events by fighter jets, which met with failure.

The page is imaged below.

The final page summarises a continuation of similar events that kept plaguing nuclear-weapon equipped bases along the US-Canadian untill mid-November. One piece of text, which brought Minot Air Force Base into the spectacle states:

“10 Nov 75 (1125Z) - UFO sighting reported by Minot Air Force Station, a bright  star-like object in the west, moving east, about the size of a car.  First seen approximately 1015Z.     Approximately 1120Z, the object passed over the radar station, 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet high, no noise heard.  Three people from the site or local area saw the object.  NCOC notified.”

Finally, this 4 page NORAD release was finalised with some interesting statements which eluded to more material that related to the over flights of these bases, and, thus, Todd Zechel's FOI request. The text indicates that more documents of NORAD providence are in existence, but that they are not fit for release to the public due to legal exemptions. Specifically:
“2.  HQ USAF/DADF also forwarded a copy of NORAD document for a review for possible downgrade and release.  We have determined the document if properly and currently classified and is exempt from disclosure under Public Law 90-23, 5 USC 552b(1).”
These pages were signed off by one Colonel Terrance C. James, USAF, Director of Administration. The USAF and NORAD run administrative and functional operations hand-in-hand, thus, a USAF Colonel was able to clear this material for release. Also, aside from the above releases, there were actually a great deal more documents of NORAD providence, or, that mentioned NORAD, released to the likes of Barry Greenwood, Robert Todd, Lawrence Fawcett, Todd Zechel and others in that extraordinary period of FOI openness. In one, which Barry Greenwood has on file, the Commander-in-Chief of NORAD sent a four-part message to various NORAD units on November 11, 1975 summarizing the events:
“Since 28 Oct 75 numerous reports of suspicious objects have been received at the NORAD CU; reliable military personnel at Loring AFB, Maine, Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan, Malmstrom AFB, Mt, Minot AFB, ND, and Canadian Forces Station, Falconbridge, Ontario, Canada have visually sighted suspicious objects.”
Regardless of who released what, clearly any NORAD Log Extracts that contain the phraseology like  “UFOs”, radar tracks of low-flying “unknowns”, “objects” and “unknown helicopters” indeed fall within our area of interest. NORAD, as well as other US military branches, stated that these incidents were “isolated”, but even the most bone-headed skeptic would not accept that. In my next blog post I will be discussing more about NORAD's capabilities and mission, and the current and ongoing efforts by myself and UK researcher David Charmichael to get to the bottom of how NORAD currently handles the UFO matter. Stay tuned.

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23-05-2016 om 20:49 geschreven door peter  

23-05-2016 om 19:10 geschreven door peter  

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23-05-2016 om 19:07 geschreven door peter  

23-05-2016 om 18:59 geschreven door peter  

Triangle UFO Over Lake Tahoe, CA On May 18, 2016, Photos, UFO Sighting News

Date of sighting:  May 18, 2016
Location of sighting: Lake Tahoe, California, USA

This UFO is hovering low over Lake Tahoe and it easy blends into the shadows of the tree line, so its no wonder he didn't see it right away. Lake Tahoe has many mysteries about its deep, cold water. This UFO probably came from below the lake.

I remember famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once said to have had a brush with something horrific in a deepwater dive at Tahoe in the mid-1970s. "The world isn't ready for what was down there," he stated. Cousteau never released any photographs or data from the dive, adding to the mystery and legend. But I have long believed that he may have found alien structures deep below its surface. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

Eyewitness states: 
Was just taking a picture outside my hotel room and was going to send it to a friend as I was looking at the photo I noticed something over the tree top line and when I blew the picture up I noticed the object. 

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

23-05-2016 om 17:07 geschreven door peter  

Argentina: Locals Witness UFO and Alien in El Dorado May 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News

Date of sighting: May 20, 2016
Location of sighting: Argentina
News source: http://inexplicata.blogspot.tw

This is cool. This week in a small village in Argentina, residents witnessed a UFO that landed in the area and an alien was seen walking about. This is highly unusual and has not happened very often except in secluded areas with small populations. Last time was at an elementary school in Africa. 

For aliens to risk their safety by walking around and examining the area, there must be something important about to happen in that area. Aliens live extended lives, even some that are immortal, but less they die in an accident. They calculate the risks and if the risk is too high, they don't do it. For them to do this, something more important than their own lives was at stake here. Otherwise they could have landed in a wooded area of a mountain hundreds of miles from the nearest human, but they didn't. They chose this village. Maybe an ancient clan of their species once had a base far below ground in the area and they are seeking its location. Thousand of years can cause them to forget exact locations. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com


Inexplicata news states:
Argentina: Locals Allegedly Witness UFO and Alien in El Dorado In the city of Santa Cruz, residents of the El Dorado District, El Bastión sector, claim having seen a UFO, alleging that an extraterrestrial creature. They believe the entity descended from its "craft" and that it made an effort to get back on board when detected by locals. The event took place at 10:00 in the evening. Local residents went as far as to note that the entity climbed through the trees. Students manage to photograph a gleaming light over their neighborhood. "Three students," alleges the news report, "were witnesses to the sighting from EL Dorado as they returned home from school. It all began with a bright light in the sky, when the unimaginable occurred." "Something came down, straight down," explains a female witness. "A light came straight down, more or less, and they say it lost itself in that tree. It tried to get into that house over there." Another woman adds: "A very loud sound was heard. All the signals (sic) went out. There was no way to record that sound. Suddenly it fell down and disappeared. I don't know what it could have been." "It happened at ten o'clock,"continues the narration, "local residents say they saw a UFO in the sky, which crashed on Calle #2 of the district. They even described a strange being that climbed up a tree. (A child can be heard, saying, "some eyes looked at me!"). "It was small and gooey," adds another young woman, speaking to a reporter. "It extended its arms and climbed a tree. That's when all the neighbors came out, but nothing could be found." The owner of the property remarks: "They said it had long fingers, and climbed right over there," gesturing at her fence.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

23-05-2016 om 17:03 geschreven door peter  

UFOs And Government Secrecy

Author and Researcher Grant Cameron is a leading expert on the clandestine world of the UFO cover-up. Grant Cameron does more than demonstrate the reality of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth. Through tenacious investigations and impeccable research, Grant Cameron shines a light into the CIA, NSA, Air Force, Navy, and other inside groups that have managed this secret for decades. His conclusions are inescapable and shocking: this is a secret that the insiders themselves struggle to understand and contain. Includes recorded interviews with top White House officials and impressive NASA Space Shuttle photographs of authentic UFOs in Earths orbit.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

23-05-2016 om 16:53 geschreven door peter  

911 UFO Recordings!

Welcome to the Open Minds UFO Report! We bring you the latest UFO news on a weekly basis, with interviews from news makers and UFO researchers. You won’t want to miss an episode!

Stories in this week’s show:
– Listen: 911 operator tapes describe 1994 Michigan UFO flap
– New Jersey witness says UFO lights connected by black bar
– Government insider looks for UFOs, doesn’t find them at Area 51

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23-05-2016 om 16:50 geschreven door peter  

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NASA/JPL-CALTECH

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TheMostHorrificAlienPlanetsInOurGalaxy:Photos

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The 'Star Wars' Worlds That Exist In Our Galaxy

At a distant star called Kepler-223, four gas giant planets orbit close in to their sun. It couldn’t be more different from our own solar system today, where all the big planets hang out far away. But could Kepler-223 be how our solar system was long ago?

ANALYSIS: Forget Tatooine, This Exoplanet Has THREE Suns

Based on observations from the Kepler space telescope, a new study suggests yes. Perhaps Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were created close in to the sun. Over time, their gravities working together helped pull them away from the disc of gas and dust surrounding our sun. Once the giant planets cleared, this created room for the small planets living near the sun today: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

“Exactly how and where planets form is an outstanding question in planetary science,” said lead author Sean Mills, a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, in a statement. “Our work essentially tests a model for planet formation for a type of planet we don’t have in our solar system.”

ANALYSIS: Star’s Wobble Could Reveal ‘Earth-Like’ Exoplanet

The new study comes from a combination of Kepler data — which showed how the four planets affect each other’s movements and block light from the star — and simulations of how planets migrate.

There are differences from our own solar system, however. Kepler-223 is older (4.6 billion years) and so its planets have stayed in place much longer than ours, if they did migrate.

ANALYSIS: 100 Years Ago an Exoplanet was Unknowingly Discovered

But there is something interesting about this system. The four planets are in resonance with each other, meaning that they orbit in a simple ratio to each other (such as 2 orbits for every 1). This is the first time four planets have been seen in resonance.

Saturn’s moons Io, Europa and Ganymede are in resonance.

MARK SHOWALTER, SETI INSTITUTE

“These resonances are extremely fragile,” said study co-author Daniel Fabrycky, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, in the same statement. “If bodies were flying around and hitting each other, then they would have dislodged the planets from the resonance.”

So in our own solar system, perhaps the four gas giants were in resonance — but then were hurled into new orbits over time after hitting asteroids, planets in formation and other debris in the inner solar system.

ANALYSIS: Kepler-78b: Mystery Exoplanet Shouldn’t Even Exist

One key mystery, if that is the case, is how come there was so much intervening debris in our solar system, but Kepler-223 stayed stable for much longer. More study will be needed to better figure this out.

The study was published in Nature.

Tags STARS STAR PLANETS EXOPLANETS EXOPLANET CURRENT EVENTS SPACE

{ http://news.discovery.com/ }

23-05-2016 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers Capture Image Of Universe 13 Billion Years Ago, “Where No Human Has Seen Before”

 

Hubble

IN BRIEF

An international team of astronomers at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii have confirmed their observation of a galaxy from 13 billion years ago, offering insight on the ionization of hydrogen gas, a cosmic phenomenon that began the birth of the known universe.

A team of scientists just captured an image of the faintest galaxy ever observed. It is considered to be a toddler in the aged (and rather senior) universe. The image was captured at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and the study is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Using the data from the previous observations, and an optical phenomenon known as  gravitational lensing, in which the gravity of massive objects between the observer and the subject (like a supermassive black hole drifting through the cosmos between Earth and a distant galaxy) magnifies the view of the subject.

In this case, the galaxy was found to be hiding behind another. The experts assert that without this phenomenon, it would’ve been impossible to see the galaxy at all.

The galaxy under scrutiny is relatively young, estimated to be from 13 billion years ago. The team infers that the system has a very low stellar mass, one that is just “one percent of one percent of the Milky Way.” Nonetheless, its discovery is providing relevant insights about the origins of the cosmos.

In a press release, lead author of the study Kuang-Han Huang says the galaxy exists at the end of the reionization epoch of the universe, a time when the hydrogen gases spewed out from the Big Bang were transitioning from neutral to ionized. This process is when the stars lit up for the first time.

“It’s a very, very small galaxy, and at such a great distance, it’s a clue in answering one of the fundamental questions astronomy is trying to understand: What is causing the hydrogen gas at the very beginning of the universe to go from neutral to ionized about 13 billion years ago,” saya Keck astronomer Marc Kassis. “That’s when stars turned on and matter became more complex.”

Source: Keck Observatory

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22-05-2016 om 23:47 geschreven door peter  

Complex Life May Have Emerged A Billion Years Earlier Than We Thought

 Organic fragments that Chinese scientists say are proof that multi-celled life on Earth began around a billion years earlier than previously thought. Photograph: Maoyan Zhu/AFP/Getty Images 

IN BRIEF

Researchers at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology have found fossils dating back 1.5 billion years ago, and they believe they are multicellular organisms. This challenges the idea that complex life started only around half a billion years ago.

DISCOVERY CHALLENGES HISTORY BOOKS

Researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology claim that a fossil they found in Hebei Province’s Yanshan region in China shows that multicellular life actually have started on Earth 1.5 billion years ago—a billion years earlier than previous studies dictate.

“Our discovery pushes back nearly one billion years the appearance of macroscopic, multicellular eukaryotes compared to previous research,” Maoyan Zhu, a professor at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology.

Prior to this discovery, it was believed that only single-celled organisms existed for billions of years, a period referred to as the “boring billion” due to the lack of any significant evolutionary progress in this era.

After then, there was a great leap into complex life, resulting in the vast (and fast) evolutionary branching out of species. But when exactly this started remains unknown; however, the new study offers better insights into just how far back life goes.

The team says they gathered 167 measurable fossils, the largest of them measuring 30cm by 8cm. One third of the specimens were in one of four regular shapes, indicating complexity.

These are “compelling evidence for the early evolution of organisms large enough to be visible with the naked eye,” Zhu says. “This totally renews current knowledge on the early history of life.”

Previously, eukaryotes of comparable size had not been known to appear in the fossil record until about 600m years ago, when a multitude of soft-bodied creatures inhabited the world’s oceans. Prior to this, for the first 10 million centuries after the initial evolution of complex cells, the cells didn’t really do all that much evolving.

University of Bristol Palaeobiology professor Phil Donoghue says the discovery could be momentous: “They are not the oldest eukaryotes, but they are certainly the oldest demonstrably multicellular eukaryotes.”

SCIENCE MEETS RESISTANCE, AS IT SHOULD

As with most discoveries big enough to potentially rewrite history, the discovery is not exempt from resistance.

University of Oxford senior researcher Jonathan Antcliffe thinks the specimens are more likely colonies of bacteria, rather than eukaryotic. “There is nothing here to suggest that the specimens are eukaryotic, as opposed to bacterial,” he notes.

A researcher from the University of Poitiers in France, Abderrazak El Albani, whose discovery of a fossil supposedly of a 2.1-billion year old multicellular organism was also met with skepticism, thinks the evidence presented by the Nanjing team is also unsatisfactory for evaluation, as it could not clearly distinguish whether the specimens were multicellular, eukaryotic, or complex.

Source: The Guardian

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22-05-2016 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

Mysterie van het "Egyptische Atlantis": tentoonstelling toont gezonken stad die 1300 jaar op zeebodem lag - HLN.be

Door: Dimitri Antonissen 

VIDEO Meer dan 1300 jaar was het niet meer dan een legende: een gezonken Egyptische stad die ergens op de bodem van de Middellandse Zee verborgen moest liggen. Het "Egyptische Atlantis" werd ze in verhalen genoemd. Ooit moest Thonis-Heracleion de belangrijkste Egyptische havenstad zijn geweest. Tot een natuurramp de stad -en al haar monumenten- deed zinken. De legende blijkt nu écht te zijn. Een Franse onderwaterarcheoloog herontdekte de stad in 2000, en een prestigieuze tentoonstelling in het British Museum toont voor het eerst de schatten die de "duikende" Indiana Jones kon blootleggen. HLN was dit weekend bij de pas geopende tentoonstelling.

Voorzicht maken duikers riemen vast aan het 5 meter hoge beeld om het uit het slib te halen © British Museum.

 

Op een oppervlakte van verschillende vierkante kilometer vonden Fransman Franck Goddio en zijn team van duikers een enorme verzameling sfinksen, gigantische standbeelden, gouden ringen, delicate bronzen beeldjes en de grootste verzameling Egyptische boten (69 scheepswrakken en 700 ankers) ooit ontdekt

Het is een indrukwekkend zicht, helemaal in het begin van de tentoonstelling: het vijf meter hoge standbeeld van de Egyptische god Hapy dat bezoekers verwelkomt. En toch is het niet het beeld zelf, maar de foto's en video's ernaast die het meest tot de verbeelding spreken. Op één foto is te zien hoe duikers voorzichtig riemen aanbrengen rond het nog half in het slib verzonken standbeeld. Een andere video toont hoe het daarna met een open vrachtwagen door de straten van Caïro wordt gereden. Na meer dan 1300 jaar op de zeebodem, voor het eerst terug aan wal. Maar er zijn ook foto's van een duiker die met zijn zaklamp hiërogliefen probeert te ontcijferen op een gigantisch stenen tablet. Of hoe het team een Egyptische tempel ontdekt op de bodem. Zo krijg je ook als bezoeker het Indiana-Jones-gevoel dat de onderwaterarcheologen gehad moeten hebben toen ze voor het eerst hun ontdekking deden. Op een oppervlakte van verschillende vierkante kilometer vonden Fransman Franck Goddio en zijn team van duikers een enorme verzameling sfinksen, gigantische standbeelden, gouden ringen, delicate bronzen beeldjes en de grootste verzameling Egyptische boten (69 scheepswrakken en 700 ankers) ooit ontdekt. Nog maar 5% van alles wat op de bodem ligt, is al bovengehaald. Maar de tentoonstelling toont een imposante eerste selectie.

Lees ook

• Heeft tiener écht Mayastad ontdekt? Of is het een wietplantage?

Weggezonken

Nog maar 5% van alles wat op de bodem ligt, is al bovengehaald © British Museum.

Uit de vondsten achterhaalden wetenschappers ook waarom Thonis-Heracleion verzwolgen werd door de zee. Het proces heet "bodemvervloeiing": de aarde gaat zich plots gedragen als een vloeistof. Een fenomeen dat meestal veroorzaakt wordt door een aardbeving. Dat blijkt ook bij de Egyptische stad het geval te zijn geweest. In de tweede eeuw voor Christus werd het gebied geteisterd door drie aardbevingen en overstromingen. Dat zette de bodemvervloeiing in gang die de stad langzaam deed wegzinken. Thonis-Heracleion verloor daardoor al snel zijn prominente status, maar een kleine groep bewoners probeerde er nog te blijven wonen. Tot uiteindelijk in 800 na christus de volledige stad kopje onder ging en al snel enkel nog in verhalen herinnerd werd. Om uiteindelijk pas deze eeuw terug boven water te worden gehaald.

Belangrijkste onderwaterarcheoloog

Verantwoordelijk daarvoor is de Franse onderwaterarcheoloog Franck Goddio (68). Hij deed in de Golf van Aboukir onderzoek naar Franse oorlogsschepen die in de 18de eeuw gezonken moesten zijn, toen hij per ongeluk op de archeologische schat stootte. Goddio geldt nu als één van de belangrijkste onderwaterarcheologen van deze eeuw. Naast deze vondst ontdekte hij eerder al het vlaggenschip van Napoleon Bonaparte, en verschillende andere belangrijke scheepswrakken. 

De tentoonstelling is nog tot 27 november te zien in het British Museum in Londen.

Meer info: britishmuseum.org

© British Museum.

© British Museum.

© British Museum.

{ http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/961/Wetenschap/index.dhtml }

22-05-2016 om 23:25 geschreven door peter  

Werd Mars miljarden jaren geleden getroffen door 120 meter hoge tsunami's? - HLN.be

  Bron: ANP

Een recent NASA-beeld van Mars. © ap.

WETENSCHAP De planeet Mars is miljarden jaren geleden mogelijk getroffen door twee enorme tsunami's. De golven zouden 120 meter hoog zijn geweest en honderden kilometers landinwaarts zijn gekomen. De muur van water zou zijn veroorzaakt door de inslag van zogenoemde meteoroïden, die tientallen kilometers grote kraters achterlieten.

{ http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/961/Wetenschap/index.dhtml }

22-05-2016 om 23:08 geschreven door peter  

22-05-2016 om 22:12 geschreven door peter  

New Study suggests Alien Civilizations may number in TRILLIONS

“We really do know that pretty much every star in the sky hosts at least one planet…” – astronomer Adam Frank.

If we’re the only place with intelligent life, then we’ve really won the mother of all lotteries.” -Seth Shostak, SETI Institute senior astronomer. Image Credit

Rejoice Alien hunters, the possibility that Earth is not the only planet inhabited by an intelligent civilization has gained more credibility thanks to a brand new study that coincides with NASA’s recent planetary discoveries. The new study, published in the Journal Astrobiology proposes that more planets in our galaxy harbor advanced civilizations than anyone previously imagined.

“We really do know that pretty much every star in the sky hosts at least one planet,” said astronomer Adam Frank co-author of the study.

Woodruff Sullivan and Adam Frank looked at NASA’s recent discoveries of potentially habitable worlds and considered the odds whether sophisticated civilizations could have inhabited them or still do.

“What we showed was the ‘floor’ on the probability for a civilization to form on any randomly chosen planet,” Frank, a University of Rochester physics and astronomy professor, told The Huffington Post in an email. “If we are the only civilization in cosmic history, then that what we calculated is the actual probability nature has set. But if the real probability is higher than that floor, then civilizations have happened before.” 

According to Frank, the potential number of planets orbiting their host star within a habitable distance is staggering.

This raises hopes that one of those planets might host alien life, and with a bit of luck, we even might discover an advanced alien civilization inhabiting one of those planets.

“Even if you are pretty pessimistic and think that you’d have to search through 100 billion (habitable zone) planets before you found one where a civilization developed, then there have still been a trillion civilizations over cosmic history!” Frank wrote. “When I think about that, my mind reels — even if there is just a one in a 100 billion chance of evolution creating exo-civilizations, the universe still has made so many of them that we are swamped by histories other than our own.”

The Drake equation

One of the most famous equations dealing with the possibility of Alien life existing in the universe is the Drake Equation. It was created by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961, and it estimates the number of planets that may be home to advanced alien civilizations with the ability to communicate with other civilizations in the cosmos.

However, Frank and Sullivan modified the Drake equation implementing new data into it. Since the Drake equation analyzes the possibility od advanced civilizations existing in the Milky Way, the equation proposed by Frank and Sullivan calculate the possible number of advanced alien civilizations that have existed in our galaxy throughout the whole ‘known’ history of the universe.

The odds that no one is out there are very, very small. Image Credit

With all the suitable real estate that’s out there, if we’re the only place with intelligent life, then we’ve really won the mother of all lotteries.” –Seth Shostak, SETI Institute senior astronomer.

Scienitsts consider the following when attempting to come up with numbers of Extraterrestrial worlds:

N

The number of civilizations in Galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable.

R_*

The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life, in stars per year.

f_p

The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.

n_e

The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.

f_l

The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.

f_i

The fraction of life bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.

f_c

The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.

L

The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space, in years.

(Source)

Writing in the Astrobiology study, Frank and Sullivan state:

“ Recent advances in exoplanet studies provide strong constraints on all astrophysical terms in the Drake equation. Using these and modifying the form and intent of the Drake equation, we set a firm lower bound on the probability that one or more technological species have evolved anywhere and at any time in the history of the observable Universe.” (source)

The two researchers write about what they call: “the cosmic frequency of technological species.”

“The universe is more than 13 billion years old,” Sullivan, of the astronomy department and astrobiology program at the University of Washington, said in a statement. “That means that even if there have been 1,000 civilizations in our own galaxy, if they live only as long as we have been around — roughly 10,000 years — then all of them are likely already extinct. And others won’t evolve until we are long gone.

“For us to have much chance of finding another ‘contemporary’ active technological civilization, on average they must last much longer than our present lifetime,” Sullivan said. (source)

We have searched for traces of advanced alien civilizations, in hopes of finding out we are not alone for decades.

“With so many stars and planets filling the cosmos, it boggles the mind to think that we’re the only clever life to have made an appearance,” SETI Institute senior astronomer Seth Shostak told HuffPost in an email. “Frank and Sullivan use new research indicating that roughly one in five stars is orbited by a planet that could nurture biology. After that, it’s just a matter of counting up the tally of stars in the visible universe, and saying that — with all the suitable real estate that’s out there, if we’re the only place with intelligent life, then we’ve really won the mother of all lotteries.”

However, Shostak tells us not to be overly optimistic or pessimistic about the SETI Institutes search for intelligent signals from our cosmic neighbors.

“The odds that no one is out there are very, very small. It’s a bit like an ant coming out of its hive, seeing the enormous amount of real estate stretching in all directions and deciding that, if its home is the only ant hill, then its existence is a near-miracle,” said Shostak in an interview with HuffPost.

Journal reference:

HuffPost

www.astro.wisc.edu

A New Empirical Constraint on the Prevalence of Technological Species in the Universe.

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22-05-2016 om 21:58 geschreven door peter  

Experts say it’s too late to hide from Aliens

According to experts, we need to think to be more cautious about the messages we send to space in hopes of contacting our cosmic neighbors.

It’s too late to conceal ourselves in the universe say, researchers.

Scientists believe that if there is an alien civilization out there somewhere, they most likely already know we exist. That’s according to claims made by a group of researchers who think we need to be more careful next time when we send out messages out into space hoping that one day, our galactic neighbors will respond.

In an interview, Douglas Vakoch, president of the San Francisco-based non-profit Meti (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International said that the current signals that are being sent into space are far too simplistic. In fact, the messages might be considered as primitive by any alien civilization that intercepts the messages sent by earthlings, and therefore may not be easy to interpret the way we intended it.

“It’s too late to conceal ourselves in the universe, so we should decide how we want to represent ourselves, Vakoch told Forbes. Extraterrestrials may be waiting for a clear indication from us that we’re ready to start talking.”

That’s why his team at METI International have kickstarted a new campaign that aims to develop messages for extraterrestrial civilizations that are both informative and provocative.

Their plans are big, in fact, they want to send out the first radio transmission by the end of 2018, emphasizing on messages that will reveal basic mathematical and scientific concepts, which any alien civilization in the cosmos should be able to interpret.

‘It would be ideal to use a powerful transmitter like those used for planetary radar studies, such as Arecibo Observatory,’ said Vakoch.

Actually in the past, some similar signals have already been sent out into space, with perhaps the most famous one being sent out by the Arecibo radio telescope in 1974.

The binary digits in the message reveal information about our star system, the human species, and Earth’s biochemistry. But according to Vakoch, we need to include an instruction manual so to speak, so that extraterrestrials can decode the messages we send out more easily.

„There are a lot of hidden assumptions embedded in the ways we portray three-dimensional objects on two-dimensional surfaces,’ said Vakoch. Even if aliens use pictures, they may use a different set of conventions to map solid objects onto flat surfaces.“

During his interview with Fobes, Vakoch said that the messages we send out need to be more detailed. Instead of sending only a few details on the biochemistry of our planet, we should include the entire Periodic Table of Elements.

However, not everyone is so optimistic about searching for aliens and hoping that one day, they contacted us or visited Earth.

In February, a leading scientists at Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) commented that if aliens did visit Earth, they would take control thanks to their advanced technology, giving them an edge and ultimately leading them to make the rules on Earth.

Astronomer and co-founder of the Seti Institute Jill Tarter told TechCrunch: ‘If they showed up on our doorstep that means they have technologies that are considerably advanced with respect to ours. And because of that, they’re going to be the ones that set the rules.’

However, there are hopes that Aliens Species are peaceful and intend no harm. She explained that if such an advanced alien species had developed the technology to travel long distances across space, they must have learned to behave in a peaceful manner.

Interestingly, according to NASA’s chief scientist Ellen Stofan, it’s very likely that in the next 20 to 30 years, we could find evidence of alien life forms.

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Featured image credit

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22-05-2016 om 21:46 geschreven door peter  

The discovery of the century: Have researchers found the mythical Hall of Records?

It is said that the Hall of Records holds the key to understanding our civilization and real history of humanity.

Mythologically, it is said to be a library buried somewhere in Egypt, and many people believe it could be located under the enigmatic Sphinx of Giza, watching tall and proud over the Pyramids of the Giza Plateau. A discovery of a vast underground library made in 2008, could forever change history and the origin of the Ancient Egyptian Civilization. 

The Hall of Records is said to house the knowledge of the Ancient Egyptians documented in ancient papyrus scrolls and is believed to account for the history of the lost continent of Atlantis, as well as its location. Compared in importance, the Egyptian Hall of Records is just as the Great Library of Alexandria, which housed Grecian Knowledge.

While mainstream scholars firmly state there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Hall of Records is real, scientists like Robert Schoch and Thomas Dobeck among other believe it could be located underneath the Sphinx.

In the book Message of the Sphinx, Graham Hancock, and Robert Bauval state that the Egyptian government together with American archeologists have blocked any investigations around or underneath the Sphinx, preventing anyone from locating the underground cavities and finding out what is located beneath the Sphinx.

While those who believe the Hall of Records exists was built by the ancient Egyptian civilization, there are others who think that the Hall existed but was not built by the Ancient Egyptians, but rather by a much older ancient civilization that predates the Ancient Egyptian.

However, what if the Hall fo Records was not located underneath the Sphinx? What if there is, in fact, a giant underground library somewhere in Egypt?

Suppressed by mainstream archeologists and scholars, there is an enormous underground library discovered in Egypt a while ago. It can easily be considered as one of the greatest discoveries of Ancient Egypt, yet only a few know about the existence of its existence. It is a discovery that could be considered as one of the most significant findings of the century, yet, for an unknown reason, most mainstream scholars, together with the Egyptian researchers have tried very hard to keep anyone far from it.

 The Lost Hall of Records, finally found?

Is it possible that this is the long-lost Hall of Records? Interestingly, the existence of the ‘underground library’ was mentioned by Herodotus and Strabo who had the pleasure of visiting and recording the legendary labyrinth before it vanished from history.

Among the first to mention its existence was Herodotus:

This I have actually seen, a work beyond words. For if anyone put together the buildings of the Greeks and display of their labours, they would seem lesser in both effort and expense to this labyrinth… Even the pyramids are beyond words, and each was equal to many and mighty works of the Greeks. Yet the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids.

Herodotus (‘Histories’, Book, II, 148),

According to writing by Herodotus I the IV century BC: the labyrinth was“situated a little above the lake of Moiris and nearly opposite to that which is called the City of Crocodiles” (‘Histories’, Book, II, 148).

Based on the descriptions of ancient texts such as those from Herodotus, and others who visited the magical labyrinth in the distant past, a 17th century German Jesuit scholar called  Athanasius Kircher, created the first pictorial reproduction of the enigmatic labyrinth just as Herodotusdescribed it: It has twelve courts covered in, with gates facing one another, six upon the North side and six upon the South, joining on one to another, and the same wall surrounds them all outside; and there are in it two kinds of chambers, the one kind below the ground and the other above upon these, three thousand in number, of each kind fifteen hundred. The upper set of chambers we ourselves saw […]

The incredible underground library could easily be what is referred to as the Hall of Records. Discovered in 2008 by a group of Belgian and Egyptian researchers, the underground temple consists of over 3000 rooms which are filled with incredible hieroglyphs and paintings, the enigmatic underground complex is located less than 100 kilometers from Cairo at Hawara, not far from the Pyramid of Amenemhat III.

This incredible discovery has been kept away from society under mysterious circumstances. The results of the expedition were published in 2008 shortly in the scientific journal of the NRIAG, and the results of the research were exchanged in a public lecture at the University of Ghent. Media from Belgium attended. However, the finding was quickly suppressed since the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (Egypt) put a hold to all further communications about the discovery due to Egyptian National Security sanctions.

In 2010, de Cordier opened a website, Labyrinth of Egypt in order to make the discovery available to the entire world. Even though researchers have confirmed the existence of the underground complex, major excavations need to take place in the future in order to explore the incredible finding. It is believed that the treasures of the underground Labyrinth could hold the answers to countless historical mysteries and the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Is this the long lost Hall of Records? Moreover, is it possible that because of its extreme importance, the government decided to deny further studies and excavations?

Interestingly, the discovery of the mystery underground library seems to fit perfectly into the accounts of the mythical Hall of Records.

Featured image Credit: http://blog.objectif3d.com/

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22-05-2016 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

Classic Flying Saucer Encounter In Utah

(Before It's News)

22-05-2016 om 19:01 geschreven door peter