Less often, there are reported incidents involving witnesses from multiple sources, such as commercial airliners, military aircraft, and even involvement by the likes of NORAD. Add to the mix the fact that the observed “mystery aircraft” in question has no active transponder, and couldn’t be detected on radar, and you have a genuine mystery.

This rare criteria for a “good” unidentified aircraft report is precisely what has surfaced, in relation to an incident that occurred back in October over the California/Oregon border. The story, which first appeared on Reddit, might have been dismissed as largely speculative or hearsay, had it not been for the fact that Tyler Rogoway, writer for The Drive, had heard about the incident previously from associates of his in the aviation industry; obviously, the story had already created a buzz, and rather than just appearing on an unsubstantiated Reddit thread, it seemed the existing talk over the incident was leaking there, too.

The story, according to the initial Reddit thread, goes like this:

“Just landed in Seattle coming from the bay area. Beginning over Southern Oregon we kept overhearing Seattle Center attempting to track an airplane with no transponder who wasn’t talking. A handful of crews were able to track it visually, best they could tell it was between FL350-370 [35,000-37,000 feet], northbound. Nobody close enough to see the type.

Last we heard it was over the Willamette valley northbound and some fighters, perhaps out of PDX [Portland International Airport], were scrambled to go take a peek. Center had trouble tracking it on primary radar.

Strange! My theory is they were running drugs to Canada. No news yet, not that I could find.

**Update 0500z. Called SEA ARTCC. The gentleman I spoke with said that they initially got alerted to the aircraft from Oakland Center who was painting it on primary [illuminating it with radar, but without transponder information]. For whatever reason they couldn’t track it themselves on primary, and that’s when I overheard them using airline aircraft to track it visually. The last airplane to see it had to descend into Portland and lost sight of it. The fighters were scrambled out of PDX but flew around for a while and did not find it. And that’s that.”

The report above gives few details about the aircraft itself, and due to the fact that craft was unresponsive via radio and radar systems, the pilots had been communicating with the pilots and crew of other commercial aircraft in the vicinity to try and obtain visual confirmation.

Few details about its appearance were related, apart from the fact that it was a “white airplane,” and appeared to be flying the same speed, or slightly faster, than other aircraft in the vicinity. However, one description of the aircraft’s flight behavior did describe a sharp turn that it made, which seemed to be outside the range of maneuverability of conventional aircraft. If true, this detail might support the notion of it having a military origin.

Recordings of the communication between commercial aircraft in the area and Seattle ATC has been made available here, which detail the confused pilots as they attempted to track the mystery aircraft.

Tyler Rogoway contacted the 142nd Fighter Wing based at Portland International Airport, the FAA, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on behalf of The Drivein order to try and obtain confirmation of the incident. As Rogoway notes, “NORAD’s reply was quick and clear. An incident involving multiple airline crews, air traffic control, and F-15Cs from the 142nd Fighter Wing based out of Portland did occur.”

NORAD further commented that, “airliner pilots were asked by FAA air traffic controllers to help track and possibly identify a ‘white aircraft’ traveling in the flightlevels nearby—roughly between 35,000 and 40,000 feet based on the radio recordings,” as evidenced by the recordings that were later released. Perhaps most compelling of all, however, had been the group of F-15s that were scrambled out of Portland, which presumably had been sent to intercept the mystery aircraft.

The FAA and 142nd Fighter Wing were less responsive following the incident, and primary details obtained are based on recordings of flight communications, and the NORAD statement.

On an interesting note, one Reddit poster, claiming to be an air traffic control operator, shared this interesting story:

“[O]ur QA department was working on this today, and got a call from the commander of the 142FW at PDX and was basically told to knock it off, and we know nothing.”

This statement cannot be verified, of course, but if true, might further suggest a military origin for the aircraft.

At present, and with so few details on hand, it is difficult to assess just what the nature of this incident entails, and whether the “mystery plane” was anything out of the ordinary. Current theories range from a possible drug smuggling operation (which seems unlikely, considering that the incident began at around 4:30 PM local time, thus having occurred in broad daylight), to a possible military test craft. Whatever it may have been, the incident represents one of those rare cases where corroborative data between multiple sources, both civilian and military, do at least confirm the incident, and the general description of the mystery plane in question.

For details on a similar incident, as reported to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), see my earlier article on a bizarre “flying egg” that was observed several years ago near Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the meantime, anyone with further details on the October 2017 incident related here, or with similar stories or observations about unrelated incidents, can reach me via email here.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

17-11-2017 om 00:24 geschreven door peter  

Alabama residents don’t need anything more (no pun intended) to worry about right now and they certainly don’t need any more (see previous note) unwanted publicity, but they’re demanding answers from NASA, the military, local officials and anyone else who will listen to their reports of a mysterious loud boom that thousands heard on November 14th, 2017. Should they be worried? Praying? Digging a bunker? Moving?

“Birmingham area law enforcement agencies said they’ve received reports, and so has St. Clair County EMA. The areas that experienced whatever it was include Arab, Oxford, Anniston, Hayden, Kimberly, Center Point, Jasper and Gardendale just to name a few.”

Al.com reported that the boom occurred around 2:39 p.m. EST (1:39 CST – the rest of you can figure out what time that was in your area) and social media was immediately flooded with “What was that? #WhatWasThat #LoudBoom” comments and speculations. St. Clair County and Birmingham are heavily populated areas near the center of the state. Reports from government organizations soon followed. The National Weather Service seemed to be first with a statement that:

“loud boom heard: we do not see anything indicating large fire/smoke on radar or satellite; nothing on USGS indicating an earthquake. We don’t have an answer, and can only hypothesize with you. 1) sonic boom from aircraft; 2) meteorite w/ current Leonid shower?”

The US Geological Survey soon updated that report, saying seismic data from its Lakeview Retreat near Centreville, Ala., showed “a fairly loud boom occurring on or before 1:39 p.m. CST.” That report was confirmed by the Elginfield Infrasound Array at the University of Western Ontario which picked up the infrasound signal at 3:02 p.m. and observed it for 10 minutes.

Sound graph from the U.S. Geological Survey near Centreville, Ala.

(NASA)

Covering all the bases, NASA said it was either a bolide (exploding meteor), larger supersonic aircraft or a ground explosion. However, it downplayed pointing fingers at the recent Leonid meteor shower because those meteors are too small to produce audible sounds. Many eyewitnesses reported seeing at least one vapor trail, but there’s been no word of responsibility from the military and no further meteor reports.

That leaves … a good reason to hold an annual festival! The small town of Fyffe in the northeast corner of Alabama has been holding a yearly UFO (Unforgettable Family Outing) Festival every August to remember a series of unexplained UFO sightings on February 11–12, 1989, by over 50 people.

If there’s any state that needs something to celebrate right now, it’s Alabama. Maybe it’s time to call off the search, hire some bands, bring in the food trucks and hold a “Bama Boom, Brews and Burgers Bash.”

Where were you when the Big Boom of 2017 hit?

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

17-11-2017 om 00:18 geschreven door peter  

Some insane people think this weird triangle is a crashed alien ship on Mars

Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

Mars is one of the most studied and scrutinized of all the planets in our Solar System, and space agencies have sent probes, orbiters, and rovers to investigate it in unprecedented detail in recent years. Mankind has never found anything suggesting that life was once present on its surface, or that alien beings lived or even visited the martian surface at any point in the past, but that’s not stopping some independent alien sleuths from believing that something is still waiting to be discovered.

The latest example is a big ol’ triangle that, if you buy into the opinion of some amateur astronomers, is actually a crashed alien spaceship tucked away in a crater on Mars. The as-of-yet-unexplained shape is being hailed as proof that aliens exist, and that they’ve visited or perhaps even lived on the red planet in the distant past.

First widely reported by a popular YouTuber known as Secureteam, the “object” was found using Google Mars, which is a remarkably detailed map of the planet’s surface. You can view the map in infrared or visible light modes, as well as an elevation map, but it’s in the infrared image that the fringe of the UFO community believes the evidence lies. The image does appear to show something vaguely triangular, potentially buried under the sand and dust that has accumulated over millions or perhaps even billions of years.

Triangles are a big deal in UFO circles, as many of the more widely believed alien encounter stories have suggested that triangular crafts are being used by extraterrestrials. In that regard, the infrared image is pretty interesting, but it’s hardly proof, and the whole theory really starts to fall apart when you check out the elevation map.

When viewed like this, it quickly becomes clear that the “object” isn’t actually a solid flat triangle but rather a collection of smaller peaks and rocky formations, arranged in a way that roughly resembles two corners of a triangle and little more.

If you spend more than about five minutes on Google Mars you’ll surely find plenty of odd formations that you could argue are evidence of an alien ship, building, or something totally unexplained. Unfortunately, the randomness of nature tends to fool us into seeing something that’s not actually there.

• Aliens, 
• Mars, 
• UFO

{ http://bgr.com/ }

17-11-2017 om 00:10 geschreven door peter  

Another proof of alien life? Mysterious UFO spotted on German skies

By Nirmal Narayanan

A mysterious UFO has been spotted flying across the town of Hochen, West Germany, and it has baffled alien buffs all around the world. Local Police have revealed that they cannot explain the origin of the flying object, and they believe that it could be a celestial body.

As the video of the incident has now gone viral on social media sites, conspiracy theorists are claiming that this is a solid evidence of the presence of alien life.

According to reports, the UFO sightings were also visible in Italy and Switzerland too.

A perfect evidence of alien life?

Initially, the UFO was seen as a small white fireball, and later it grew larger, finally emerging as a blue glow. After some minutes, the strength of the light faded and started emerging as a white ball.

Soon after the incident, the local police received numerous calls from residents, and some of them were reportedly panicked due to fear of a possible alien invasion. As the local police too failed to give a convincing answer to the origin of UFO, people suspected that the end is near, but the night passed off uneventfully.

Christian Hoppe, the spokesperson of German Air Traffic Control said that the object is not certainly an aircraft.

On the other hand, a section of space buffs believes that this sighting is nothing but a part of Leonid meteor shower. If the UFO is a meteor, then it could have fallen somewhere, but police have received no clue of any damage. Sometimes, the meteor could have burned out entirely in the sky, leaving no traces to prove the fall.

{ http://www.ibtimes.sg/ }

16-11-2017 om 23:55 geschreven door peter  

SCIENTISTS HAVE SENT MESSAGES TO ADVANCED ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS—AND ARE HOPING FOR A REPLY IN 25 YEARS

BY HANNAH OSBORNE

Updated | A small group of scientists has unilaterally decided to send messages to any advanced alien civilization living in a star system 12.4 light years away (over 70 trillion miles). The message, which includes pieces of music, math and technology, was transmitted to the GJ273 system over three days in October and includes instructions about how they should reply to us on a day 25 years from now.

The decision to actively send messages to aliens is controversial. There are two main avenues of thinking—the first, known as SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is that we should actively look for alien life by listening out for signals, the second that we should be sending out messages so any advanced lifeform out there would be able to find us.

The latter—which has become known Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI)—has some fierce opponents, including renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. He says alerting aliens to our presence could be a fatal error:  "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he warned.

Another problem is deciding what we should say in a message to aliens. How can one small group of people be responsible for deciding how the whole of Earth is represented in a single message?

Artist impression of GJ 273b.

DANIELLE FUTSELAAR/METI

Despite these concerns, they forged ahead and it was announced the messages had been sent at Sónar, a festival of music, creativity and technology held in Barcelona, Spain. Sónar initially came up with the idea for the project, and asked METI and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) to collaborate on it.

They sent out messages to GJ273—or Luyten’s Star—a red dwarf with a potentially habitable exoplanet called GJ273b. The message was beamed towards the system on October 16, 17, and 18. It took 11 minutes each day, with the total transmission lasting 33 minutes.

The message starts with basic principles then builds up to more complicated concepts. It also makes a direct link between the type of radio signal sent and the scientific content included, providing clues so the aliens can interpret the messages accurately. Repeating the message three times should mean the extraterrestrials can correct for any errors introduced over the messages' long journey through space.

Another feature of the message is a “cosmic clock” that shows the passage of time. Each of the three messages sent over three days has a slightly different clock indicating how a specific period of time has passed since the last was sent.

The next phase of the project—named Sonar Calling GJ273b—will see an expanded message sent to the same star. Included in this message to any alien lifeforms listening is the date when astronomers will be listening out for a reply: June 21, 2043.

The GJ273 system.

SÓNAR INTERNATIONAL

In an email interview, Douglas Vakoch, president of METI, tells Newsweek about the initiative and why they went ahead.

There is an argument against sending messages—do you think your announcement will upset some people within the SETI community?

Everyone engaged in SETI is already endorsing transmissions to extraterrestrials through their actions. If we detect a signal from aliens through a SETI program, there’s no way to prevent a cacophony of responses from Earth. And these wouldn’t be responses to a possibly habitable exoplanet, but to a star system where we know there is intelligent life. There’s no way to enforce the SETI protocols that call for consultation before replying. Once the news gets out that we’ve detected extraterrestrials, anyone with a transmitter can say whatever they want.

Do you think some people (non scientists) will be worried we've sent messages to aliens?

When we’re not clear how risky an activity is, we rely on the most vivid images that come to mind to help us decide. Cognitive psychologists call it the availability heuristic. We rely on the images that are most available to us—the vivid ones—and take that as the truth. What could be more vivid than the image of an alien invasion? But once we step back, take a breath, and analyze the situation, we realize there’s no added danger of an alien attack if we let them know we’re interested in having an interstellar conversation. When people learn more about the project, they’ll realize we have nothing to fear.

So why shouldn’t we be worried?

{ http://www.newsweek.com/ }

16-11-2017 om 23:45 geschreven door peter  

Airliners And F-15s Involved In Bizarre Encounter With Mystery Aircraft Over Oregon

The FAA, the USAF, and air traffic control recordings all confirm the bizarre event did indeed occur last October.

16-11-2017 om 23:33 geschreven door peter  

Close Encounters Today: A Global UFO Update

Posted by: Joe Posner 

Based on recent data collected, as you read this, a close encounter could very well be happening somewhere in the world. The number of experiencers ranges from a single witness to hundreds. Some are reported, others are secrets taken to the grave. With reported close encounters as an ongoing phenomenon and because of multiple factors, ironically many due to the advances in technology, it has become harder than ever for anyone, private or government, to accurately separate an experience that is being misinterpreted from an authentic close encounter.

It has been 45 years since the world was first introduced to Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s “close encounter” system of classification in his book, “The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry”. Of course Steven Spielberg’s movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” made the system of classification a global house-hold terminology, still holding-up to this day to best categorize the types of UFO/alien encounters being experienced.

SIGHTINGS

J. Allen Hynek

(image: Northwestern University)

No current update on close encounters would be complete without an overview referencing the long history of these phenomena, which arguably stretches back to biblical times and beyond, with references to “beings from the sky” prolific throughout many of the ancient cultures and mythologies. The Nazca Lines in Peru is one such example of this compelling circumstantial evidence. Confirmed UFO encounters amidst the era of manned flight began during World War II with countless reports of a “foo fighter” phenomena, a term used by U.S. military squadrons.

Of course it was the Kenneth Arnold incident that would forever change America. On June 26, 1947, on an unusually sunny Washington day, private pilot Arnold was flying his small single engine plane from Chehalis, Washington to Yakima, Washington. At one point Arnold turned and saw nine shiny objects in the sky, flying past Mount Rainer at approximately 1,200 miles an hour. That is much faster than any conventional aircraft in 1947. When Arnold later compared their actions in the sky to saucers skipping on water, the press ran with “flying saucers” and a new era was born. While many regard this as modern America’s first UFO incident, two other lesser-known events took place in the previous century. While the 1800’s may not entirely be considered ‘modern America’, the incidents warrant mentioning; on June 1, 1853, at dawn, countless students and faculty of Burritt College in Tennessee observed two massive floating objects perform various maneuvers in the morning sky, including one of the objects morphing its shape; and in 1896/1897 a rash of sightings occurred across the U.S. originating from Sacramento, California and culminating on April 17, 1897 in Aurora, Texas, where the entire community supposedly not only witnessed the crashing of a UFO near their town, but also buried the extraterrestrial pilot in their town’s cemetery.

Closely following the Kenneth Arnold Incident, an event took place involving a supposed flying saucer that remains one of the best known, and most controversial, UFO stories to date. On July 8, 1947 Walter Haut, the Roswell Army Air Field public information officer issued a press release. It stated that the 509th Operations Group had retrieved a flying disc that had apparently crashed, near Roswell, on a ranch. The local media ran a front-page story in their newspaper, which quickly spread across the country and around the world in record time, and that was without the Internet. However, the military jumped-in and made a huge effort to correct the story, hosting a press event now stating that the crash was of a weather balloon and not a “flying saucer”. With that, after creating a brief stir, the story faded from view. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that UFOlogists rediscovered the Roswell incident with great interest. While stories eventually circulated involving alien bodies recovered from the crashed UFO, proof that the Roswell crash actually involved an alien craft remains elusive.

CONTACT

While a ‘close encounter of the third kind’ technically includes all manner of direct extraterrestrial contact, many in the UFOlogy community wanted to more specifically categorize the type of extraterrestrial contact. What resulted was the adding of two new close encounter classifications; the ‘fourth’ and ‘fifth’ kinds that covers ‘abductions’. Though these terms are not universally recognized.

Betty and Barney Hill marker.

(Credit: Kathleen Marden)

One of the first alien abduction cases in modern culture that defined the phenomena was the 1961 case of Barney and Betty Hill, which was majorly publicized. At the time, Barney and Betty Hill were like any other married couple with one possible exception: they had an interracial marriage at a time when such things were not common. On September 9, the Hills were driving at night, in their rural New Hampshire community. On a secluded country road, Betty observed what she thought was a falling star. She encouraged Barney to stop the car so they could investigate. Betty followed the “odd shaped” object with her binoculars. It flashed multi-colored lights. Curiosity getting the best of them, they drove to another location. In an area near Indian Head, the object came down and hovered about 100 feet over the Hill’s car, that was now stopped in the middle of the highway. Barney saw the object as a giant pancake. Using binoculars, Betty saw 8 to 11 figures looking out the saucer’s window. Suddenly a loud buzzing was heard that vibrated both the car and their bodies. They drove away, later claiming to have had a distortion of time experience. Some time after this event, under hypnosis, Barney and Betty separately revealed supposed terrifying experiences aboard the aliens’ craft that produced tormented dreams for years. Their story later became a popular 1966 book, as well as a 1975 TV movie starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons. The first modern abduction story is amazing and like the majority of abduction cases, somewhat difficult to prove, despite the credibility of the Hills.

Travis Walton

(Credit: OpenMinds.tv/Peter Beste)

Another famous close encounter of the third kind took place in Arizona, on November 5, 1975. Logger Travis Walton was part of a five man lumbering crew in Sitgreaves National Forest, a stone’s throw from Snowflake, Arizona. At one point, the crew spotted a saucer-shaped craft, emitting a high-pitched sound, hovering above the ground a hundred feet or so away. Travis states he left the logging truck to further investigate. After being hit by an intense beam of bright light, Walton was knocked to the ground. According to him, his logging buddies freaked, racing off in the truck and leaving him behind. After this, Travis went missing for five days. While people were out in the woods looking for him, Walton claims he woke up in a hospital bed, with three short, bald beings peering down at him. After a clear plastic mask was put on his face, he passed out. The next thing he remembered he was walking along the road as the UFO departed. The Walton abduction received extraordinary press, the story eventually becoming a book and a movie.

Close encounters of the third kind, specifically abductions, are the most difficult to assess, primarily due to the lack of direct and forensic evidence, the majority of the time only leaving testimonial and circumstantial evidence to support the encounter, many times fragmented and unclear, typically collected through hypnotic regression. Though difficult to find corroborating evidence, similar to close encounters of the first and second kinds, a significant percentage of abduction experiencers are proven to be of sound mind and body and are upstanding citizens and individuals of impeccable reputation and credibility.

A DECADE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Here is a smattering of some of the most intriguing close encounters from around the world that have taken place in the last decade:

INDIA

In the airspace above Kolkata in the early morning of October 29, 2007, hundreds of witnesses observed a fast moving UFO that was also able to morph its shape from a sphere into a triangle and then into a straight line. The object emitted a brilliant light that produced a halo with a full spectrum of colors. As it continued to move over the area, hundreds of more witnesses encountered the UFO, resulting on countless photos and videos. Shibani Banerjee went through a complete spectrum of emotions as she experienced the encounter, “At first I was like everyone else around me, thrilled and excited by what we were seeing, like children seeing fireworks for the first time. Than, as if I hit a brick wall, a horrible ominous feeling came over me and of what this thing could be. I retreated along with others, at first slowly walking which then turned into a hysterical run.” The UFO disappeared into the horizon at an impossible rate of speed leaving local and government authorities at a loss for what it was.

TURKEY

For a few days in 2007, four months in 2008 and again in 2009, UFOs besieged a wide area of western Turkey near Istanbul, along the Sea of Marmara. “The UFOs were so frequent and obvious, I brought my video camera to work and was able to easily capture the objects as they flew overhead”, stated Yalcin Yalman, a security guard handling the nightshift at the Yeni Kent Compound in Kumburgaz. Government authorities visually confirmed each time the UFOs appeared but were unable to identify what the objects were. Haktan Akdogon and other scientific analysts at the Sirius UFO Space Science Research Center had thoroughly analyzed all footage filmed by Mr. Yalman and were able to rule-out all logical explanations, stating, “we came to a definite conclusion with no doubts that these are 100% genuine”, adding about the footage, “the most significant UFO videos ever!”

CHINA

On July 7, 2010, at Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou, China, a UFO was spotted hovering in the airport airspace at approximately 8:40 p.m. In response, authorities had to cease all airport operations, diverting inbound flights to Ningbo and Wuxi Airports and/or delaying countless planes and halting all adjacent ground traffic. A brief video of the object was later shown on Chinese TV. While the UFO was visibly seen by countless witnesses and recorded by multiple means, it did not appear on radar.

Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou, China

(Credit: Xiaoshan Airport)

A Chinese aircraft engineer, who was among the thousands that witnessed the event, was adamant that the object could not have been any type of man-made aircraft. Several theories were floated, from the absurd to the plausible, including the planet Venus, a rocket launch or a helicopter with flashing lights. While analysts and skeptics were quick to dismiss the incident, multiple news and media outlets shifted and retracted their stories about government investigations into the incident, seemingly as a result of government pressure, with come Chinese officials going on record stating they knew what the object was but could not comment further due to national security. Lou Jinhong and his associates with the Shanghai UFO Investigative Research Center, had been interviewing witnesses and reviewing footage and photographs in an attempt to make some sort of definitive conclusion on what the object was. Both this organization, as well as conventional authorities, have been unable to determine the object’s true identity.

CHILE

In April of 2013, on a clear sunny day in the isolated Atacama Desert community, countless workers of the Collahuasi copper mine and their friends and families encountered a glowing flying disc maneuver in the skies above them. Several of the witnesses took photos and video of the object as it ascended, descended and moved horizontally at extraordinary speeds, unlike any aircraft today. At one point, the object hovered in one area as if intending to land, then suddenly disappeared into the east. It was later discovered that during the brief time it hovered in one place, an apparent abduction had also taken place. Initially, both the authorities, as well as the corporation that owned the mine and surrounding properties, were suppressing all information and documentation concerning this incident. Several months later, some of the video and photos that had been taken were leaked and the government and corporation had no choice but to comment on the “sighting” aspect of the incident only, declaring an investigation is taking place. Even with this announcement and the ongoing investigation, authorities sought to control all information concerning the event until they knew what they were dealing with and maintained a controlled press blackout.

The first image captured by the miners.

(Credit: CEFAA)

Over a year later and over a thousand miles away, another UFO incident occurred in Chile on November 2014, as a Chilean Navy helicopter was performing routine coastal patrol. The military aircraft visually documented the UFO with state-of-the-art recording technology while it flew in front of them at the same rate of speed for over nine minutes, until they had to break-off to return to base. Shortly after the government went public with this incident earlier this year.

AFRICA

On the evening of December 13^th, 2016, a pilot flying from Cape Town International Airport to Port Elizabeth International Airport encountered a glowing green object increasing in speed and altitude past the cockpit of their airplane, reaching to about a thousand feet into clouds above them and then returning towards earth at high speed past the cockpit of their plane. The incident forced the NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) to investigate the matter, conducting searches in case the unidentified aircraft had gone down for whatever reason. No aircraft was ever found. Everything from weather balloons to drones to green parachute flares to space debris and meteorites were ruled out in this case, the object classified as unidentified.

UNITED STATES

And of course it is no surprise that the U.S. continues to be at or near the top of the list for countries that continue to report close encounter events. In fact, according to the 2017 book, “UFO Sightings Desk Reference”, written by two UFO experts, Linda Miller Costa and Cheryl Costa—one a former aerospace analyst and the other a former librarian at the National Academy of Sciences and NASA, sightings have spiked across the U.S. in general. In 2015 alone, there were 11,868 reported sightings, significantly up from the 3,479 logged in 2001—and those are just the reported ones. Rather then even attempt to detail the specifics from so many encounters, here is the list of states that continue to have the most UFO sightings, in order from the most to least, with California leading with the most reports:

1. California
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Washington
5. Pennsylvania
6. New York
7. Arizona
8. Illinois
9. Michigan
10. Ohio

AN ACCOUNTING

For years now there has been much debate on whether close encounters worldwide are on the decline, have remained steady or are actually on the rise. However a recent 2017 independent report and assessment done by Statistician/PhD student Sam Monfort with Human Factors and Applied Cognition at George Mason University, revealed that UFOs sightings have been steadily rising with 104,947 reported sightings on record over the past 100-plus years. Monfort utilized data from the previously mentioned National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC). According to Monfort’s assessment, sightings have spiked dramatically over the past 30-plus years, with the reported number jumping from around 5,000 in 1980, to roughly 45,000 in 2010. Some sociologists and psychologists speculate that the perception of there being a decline in UFO reports is due to an overall dismissal of such eye-opening news as a product of mass desensitizing, cynicism, pessimism and apathy around the world. They suggest that this is primarily because of the effects of the digital age (Internet, smartphone, etc.) and constant over-exposure to violence and other negative depictions in media, as well as an overall loss of confidence in media.

Of course the majority of close encounters of the ‘third kind’ that include alien abductions are a different matter all together, with many of the encounters never associated with actually seeing a UFO prior to the actual encounter. Additionally, a huge percentage of abductions are never reported for a variety of psychological, sociological and cultural/religious reasons, with a significant estimated percentage never knowing or realizing that they had been abducted to begin with.

One thing is for certain regarding close encounter experiences; it is most certainly an equal opportunity phenomena around the world, being experienced equally by every age group, sex, social class, culture and belief system. And while the phenomena continues to elusively proliferate, we are yet to have globally come to any absolute agreed-upon consensus of what these phenomena are and why they continue to occur, remaining just as mysterious as ever.

{http://www.openminds.tv/ }

16-11-2017 om 23:13 geschreven door peter  

Scientists just sent a message to a possible alien civilization, and it could have disastrous consequences

Humans, generally speaking, are incredibly interested in the potential existence of intelligent alien life. The idea that an alien civilization exists somewhere in the cosmos has always fascinated us, but we’v yet to find any evidence that our dreams are more than fantasy. Now, scientists have taken a big step towards contacting extraterrestrials, sending a message to a nearby star system that may well host an advanced civilization, but not everyone thinks that was such a good idea.

A group of scientists hungry for evidence of aliens took it upon themselves to send a message to the system called GJ273, which resides approximately 12.4 light-years away from Earth. That’s a pretty sizable distance, but the signal will eventually get there, and if ET is listening they’ll most certainly know it’s not an accident.

The message, which reportedly included samples of music, language, and math, also included a request that anyone who gets it should attempt to respond. If the scientists strike gold, a message would likely be headed back our direction by around 2042, and astronomers will be listening closely for any sign of it.

However, many scientists have voiced their displeasure at the idea that mankind might proactively contact an alien civilization, especially one that has mastered spaceflight. Without having any idea of whether or not our needle-in-a-haystack signal is retrieved by a peaceful alien race or a hostile one, many fear that we could be setting the stage for the ultimate destruction of mankind and perhaps Earth as we know it.

One of the more vocal opponents of the effort is world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking, who has suggested that yelling into the void may bring dire results. Likening the arrival of an alien race to Earth to that of Europeans arriving in America, Hawking warns that a more advanced species could do whatever they wanted to our planet with little regard for mankind’s fate.

The signals, which were sent in mid-Otober, should arrive at their destination many years from now, and if we indeed to hear back, it will be a momentous occasion. Let’s just hope we don’t annoy them if they’re having a bad day.

Watch interviews and in-depth news coverage from "Daily Vice" on go90." data-reactid="32" style="text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;">Watch interviews and in-depth news coverage from "Daily Vice" on go90.

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See the original version of this article on BGR.com

{ https://www.yahoo.com/ }

16-11-2017 om 23:02 geschreven door peter  

NASA scientists say we’ll find Alien life within 20 years

The US space agency has revealed that we will find aliens sooner than we think.

Despite the fact that there are millions of people around the globe who are convinced we are being visited by beings not from Earth, and that thousands of years ago, ancient civilization had contact with beings from elsewhere in the cosmos, officially speaking, aliens are an enigma for the human race.

However, according to NASA, we may confirm aliens are real as soon as 20 years time.

As noted by Anthony Del Genio, a member of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies:

“Before we search for alien life, we’re trying to understand what types of planets could have a climate that’s favorable to life. We’re utilizing the identical climate models that we use to predict 21st-century climate change on Earth to do simulations of specific exoplanets that have been found and possible ones.”

In a recently published video—How to Find a Living Planet—NASA explains that the discovery of water on distant alien worlds may be a key to finding alien life.

The Space Agency explains in the video that: “No matter where we look, whether it’s a desert or Antarctica or the deepest parts of the ocean or the deepest parts of Earth’s crust that we’ve explored, as long as there’s a tiny speck of liquid water, there’s life.

“And because of that, it’s been central to NASA’s search for habitable environments elsewhere. It’s why experts get excited about water spewing up from the icy moons of Europa and Enceladus in our outer solar system. Not only could they have water, they could have global oceans like the ones we have here on Earth.”

According to Del Genio, our civilization will confirm aliens are real in as soon as 20 years: “I think that in 20 years we will have found one candidate that might be it.”

But NASA notes it’s not only looking for water on alien worlds.

It’s imperative that we identify certain atmospheric gasses as well notes NASA.

In particular, scientists will focus on identifying alien environments that show traces of both oxygen and methane. As noted by scientists, when you spot these two gases in the same atmosphere, ‘you’ve got something special.’

‘There are methods to build up oxygen and methane in a planetary atmosphere, but the only way you could have both in the same atmosphere at the same time is if you produce them both super rapidly,’ said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Scientists say that the best ‘current’ bet for finding traces of alien life is within our solar system, with experts setting their sights on Enceladus and Europa, Saturn and Jupiter’s moons respectively.

Featured image credit: Shutterstock

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

16-11-2017 om 22:49 geschreven door peter  

Mystery of Pluto's Super-Cold Weather Solved

16-11-2017 om 22:32 geschreven door peter  

The dwarf planet may be the only place in the solar system to have its temperature regulated by solids, not gases

BY LISA GROSSMAN 

 

HEAT SHIELD  Layers of haze in Pluto’s atmosphere, shown here in an image from the New Horizons spacecraft, could radiate heat away from the dwarf planet and cool it down.

SWRI/JHUAPL/NASA

Blame Pluto’s haze for the dwarf planet’s unexpected chilliness. Clusters of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere radiate heat back into space, keeping the dwarf planet cool, a new study suggests. Pluto may be the only world in the solar system whose atmospheric temperature is controlled by solid particles, rather than gas, researchers report in the Nov. 16 Nature.

Most planets’ temperatures are set by the gas content of their atmospheres, since certain gases trap heat from the sun more efficiently than others (SN Online: 6/8/15). Based on the nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide in Pluto’s atmosphere, scientists predicted the dwarf planet’s upper atmosphere would be a brisk –173° Celsius.

But when the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto in 2015, the probe found temperatures closer to –203° — with no obvious explanation.

The spacecraft found another surprising feature: Pluto’s atmosphere is separated into about 20 distinct haze layers. Solid hydrocarbon particles tens of nanometers wide clump together in the atmosphere to form the haze before eventually settling onto Pluto’s surface (SN: 4/15/17, p. 14).

This haze could be what’s keeping the atmosphere cool, Xi Zhang of the University of California, Santa Cruz and his colleagues say. The team calculated that those hydrocarbon clumps could absorb heat from the sun as well as from gases in the atmosphere and radiate it back into space. Ultimately, the haze would cool the atmosphere instead of warming it.

That makes Pluto unique in the solar system, the researchers say. Other hazy worlds, like Saturn’s moon Titan, still have temperatures that are mostly determined by gas.

“On Pluto, almost the whole game is haze,” says planetary scientist Robert West of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who wrote a commentary on the new work, also published in the Nov. 16 Nature. “That was a real surprise.”

West thinks Zhang and colleagues’ argument “sounds convincing.” But he’s reserving judgement until the James Webb Space Telescope, due to launch in 2019, can see if Pluto glows brighter than expected in infrared wavelengths, a sign that the planet is wrapped in a radiating haze. “That will make it a closed case.”

Citations

X. Zhang, D.F. Strobel and H. Imanaka. Haze heats Pluto’s atmosphere yet explains its cold temperature. Nature. Vol. 551, November 16, 2017, p. 352. doi: 10.1038/nature24465.

R. West. Haze cools Pluto’s atmosphere. Nature. Vol. 551, November 16, 2017, p. 302.   

Further Reading

A. Yeager. How Pluto’s haze could explain its red spots. Science News. Vol. 191, April 15, 2017, p. 14.

C. Crockett. Get your Pluto trivia down cold. Science News Online, March 17, 2016.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

16-11-2017 om 22:14 geschreven door peter  

A ‘Second Earth’ found 11 light years away could be our best bet for Alien life

Could this be our galaxy’s best bet for extraterrestrial life? Astronomers have recently spotted an alien world the same size and temperature as our own, a mere ’11 light years away’ and claim it may be the ‘closest known home for alien life’.

Astronomers from the University of Grenoble in France have discovered an alien world named Ross 128b, orbiting a red dwarf star, some 11 light years away. According to experts, this not-so-distant planet may be our best bet yet, for finding alien life.

The recently discovered planet is believed to be the same size as Earth, and also an eerily similar surface temperature. Scientists believe this planet may the ‘the closest known comfortable abode for possible life,’ according to a new study.

Despite the fact that it would take us nearly 141,000 years to travel to the planet using our current spaceships, the planet is located relatively close in cosmic terms, only 11 light years away, which makes it the second closest Earth-like planet in our close proximity.

The red dwarf star Ross 128 sits in the constellation Virgo, the virgin. Image Credit: Sky Survey 2.

Experts have said that despite the fact that its located 11 light years away from us, the planet is actually moving towards us and is expected to become our closest cosmic neighbor in around 79,000 years.

The planet was spotted by astronomers collaborating with the European Southern Observatory’s High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument, located at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Astronomers report that the low-mass exoplanet orbits its star, a weak red dwarf every 9.9 days.

The planet which has already been dubbed as ‘the second Earth’ is believed to be temperate and have a surface temperature very close to Earth.

Ross128 is considered the quietest nearby star to host such a planet.

This discovery is based on more than a decade of HARPS intensive monitoring together with state-of-the-art data reduction and analysis techniques. Only HARPS has demonstrated such a precision and it remains the best planet hunter of its kind, 15 years after it began operations,’ said Study co-author Dr. Nicola Astudillo-Defru, of the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

Image Credit: Daily Mail

Lead author Dr. Xavier Bonfils, of Université Grenoble in France, said in an interview with National Geographic: “There wasn’t a ‘eureka’ moment here where we were able to suddenly say, wow, we have a planet. We accumulated data over many years, and only gradually the signal built up and became significant.”

The discovery of Ross128 raises hopes that mankind will soon discover whether or not we are alone in the universe.

The discovery of Ross128 comes after NASA researchers have claimed that mankind will most likely find alien life within the next 20 years.

In a recently published video—How to Find a Living Planet—NASA explains that the discovery of water on distant alien worlds may be a key to finding alien life.

The Space Agency explains in the video that: “No matter where we look, whether it’s a desert or Antarctica or the deepest parts of the ocean or the deepest parts of Earth’s crust that we’ve explored, as long as there’s a tiny speck of liquid water, there’s life.

Interestingly, astronomers are now working to find out whether or not Rss128b is located within its stars habitable zone. The habitable zone of a star is a region in space within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure.

Source: New Earth-Size Planet Found Around Nearby Star

Reference: The galaxy’s best bet for alien life? 

Featured image credit: Shutterstock

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

16-11-2017 om 21:41 geschreven door peter  

Layers of hydrocarbon haze could explain why Pluto’s so super-cold

 BY TIBI PUIU

Plutonian landscapes in twilight, under a hazy sky.

Credit: NASA/JHU APL/SwR.

Orbiting the sun over 40 times farther away than the Earth, it’s no wonder that Pluto is so incredibly cold. But when New Horizon made its historic flyby of the dwarf planet, NASA scientists were dumbfounded to find Pluto was even colder than expected — about 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) colder. A new hypothesis suggests that a haze of solid hydrocarbons might be regulating Pluto’s temperature. If this hypothesis is confirmed, it would signify a new regime of planetary climate; something that’s never been witnessed before.

Pluto might not be a planet but at least it’s still cool

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, led by planetary scientist Xi Zhang, believe they’ve found the culprit for Pluto’s anonymously cold atmosphere. The New Horizons spacecraft revealed that the dwarf planet is surrounded by 20 or so layers of haze arranged like the skin of an onion. The haze is made of soot-like solid particles.

Scientists had known for decades that Pluto has an atmosphere and that it might be hazy, but it wasn’t until recently that they began to comprehend this stunningly complex atmospheric mechanism.

Zhang and colleagues devised a mathematical model that investigated whether or not the nanoparticles could be influencing Pluto’s atmospheric temperature. Indeed they can, the model suggested, whose results were almost a perfect match with New Horizon’s empirical observations.

The particles are no bigger than 150 nanometers in diameter and are thought to consist of hydrogen cyanide, acetylene, and other organic compounds, similar to the ones found around Saturn’s moon Titan. These particles might have a significant cooling effect on Pluto by absorbing infrared radiation, thereby reducing atmospheric temperature.

 “Basically, we needed a strong coolant to explain why Pluto is so cold,” Zhang toldNew Scientist. “We found that the abundant haze particles can strongly cool the atmosphere by re-emitting infrared radiation to space, a process not considered in previous theories.”

“In the infrared range of radiation, a slightly larger amount of energy is radiated back to space by the haze particles, cooling the atmosphere overall,” he added.

From six billion miles away, Earth-based detectors aren’t sensitive enough to identify Pluto’s near-infrared radiation, which could be one of the reasons why the haze wasn’t discovered sooner. Fortunately, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2019, will be equipped with the proper tools to investigate Pluto’s infrared radiation.

If the researchers’ hypothesis holds water, this would make Pluto the only solar system planetary body whose temperature isn’t principally controlled by gases.

Scientific reference: 

X Zhang, D F Strobel and H Imanaka, Nature, 2017, DOI: 10.1038/nature24465.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

16-11-2017 om 21:31 geschreven door peter  

NASA releases atmospheric simulation of this year’s hurricane season

BY ALEXANDRU MICU

A gorgeous new animation published by NASA depicts sea salt, dust, and smoke movements in the atmosphere during this year’s hurricane season.

Because air is so hard to see, NASA uses aerosol particles to track movements in the atmosphere. By combining raw satellite data with mathematical models of atmospheric phenomena, NASA researchers can see how smoke, dust, and sea salt are transported across the globe — allowing the agency a glimpse into weather patterns that would otherwise remain hidden to our view.

For example, tracking how sea salt (blue-white) evaporates from oceans will showcase the evolution of all of 2017’s hurricanes. The animation also captures the massive wildfires in the Pacific Northwest on the smoke layer of the simulation (gray). Particles released in these fires made it all the way from Oregon to Washington, though the south, eventually reaching the UK (in early September).

Dust (brown) also makes an appearance, most notably piggybacking on storm systems out of the Sahara and towards the Americas. Unlike sea salt, however, it doesn’t last too long in the eye of the storm. Here, dust particles are captured by cloud droplets and rain down on the ocean.

Advances in computing speed allow scientists to include more details of these physical processes in their simulations than ever before. So in time, they’re only going to become more complex and will more closely reflect reality.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

16-11-2017 om 21:20 geschreven door peter  

Four Major Fireballs within Ten Hours

Vincent Perlerin 

Germany, France, Ohio and Arizona

It was a busy night for the AMS and IMO (International Meteor Organization) that started early around 16:50 Universal Time (UT) with a fireball in the skies over Germany. Over 1180 witnesses reported to the AMS/IMO database within the first few hours of the event. Les than five hours later, near the weastern shores of France witness reported another significant fireball at 21:30 UT.

While excited fireball observers in Germany, France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and Italy were filling out their forms, two significant fireballs fell over the United States during the hours of 01:40 and 03:30 UTC. The first over Arizona and the second over Ohio.

In total the AMS/IMO collected, grouped and analyzed over 1320 witness reports spanning these 4 fireballs in the 10 hours that followed the events.

Taurid or not Taurid: that is the question

Are the events related or simply coincidence. Could these events be part of the Taurid meteor shower which peaked this past Saturday? Associated with the comet Encke, the Taurids are actually two separate showers, with a Southern and a Northern component. Both branches of the Taurids are most notable for colorful fireballs and are often responsible for an increased number of fireball reports from September through November.

The first analysis conducted by former IMO president Dr. Juergen Rendtel of the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam from the raw data shows that the events that occurred over Arizona and France cannot be linked to the Taurids: the Arizona event was moving from North-West to South-East while the French event was moving from North-East to South-West. However, the events over Germany and Ohio fit the Taurids direction (East->West) and the low inclination angle at the time of the sightings! Note that the East-West direction is related to the Taurids only because the fireball occurred in the local evening. Later in the night or towards the morning the direction is different, of course.

Nov 14^th 16:48 UT – Blue Fireball over Germany

The fireball that flew over Germany on Nov 14^th around 16:48 UT is the most reported fireball event from Europe since the AMS and the IMO launched the international version of the AMS fireball form. Translated in 31 languages, this form potentially allows the whole population of the globe to report such events. So far, we received over 820 reports about this event from at least 7 different versions of the form: not only from the AMS and the IMO versions but also from the forms we customized for local organizations such as the French Networks Reforme and Vigie-Ciel, the Swiss organization Fachgruppe Meteorastronomie, the german organization Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V. and even from the Italian Network PRISMA.

Below is the 3D trajectory of the event (available in KML format from the Event#4299-2017 page):

This event has been caught on several dash cams:

Nov 14^th 21:32 UT over France

The French event occurred over the city of Bordeaux (West of France) and it has been reported so far from about 20 witnesses. This event has been caught on cam by the french camera network FRIPON that is a member of the citizen science project Vigie-Ciel and by the French allsky amateur network BOAM.

We should receive more details about this event anytime soon. As stated above, this event doesn’t seem like being part of the Taurid Meteor Shower. The event has been caught by 10 cameras of the French Network (Toulouse, Angers, Talence, Sabres, Carcassonne, Aurillac, Hendaye, Saint Bonnet Vert, Coulounieix-Chamiers and Mauroux).

Event#4312-2017 – Allsky Cam photo from BOAM (thank you to Tioga Gulon)

Nov 15^th 03:28 UT over Arizona

The AMS received 85 reports so far about this event that occurred over Arizona. We didn’t receive reports only from Arizona but also from California, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.

This event has been caught on at least two dash cams shared via the AMS Fireball report:

As stated above, the first estimated 3D trajectory doesn’t make this fireball a good candidate for the Taurid Meteor Shower. Traveling from North-West to South-East, the visible path of the fireball ended somewhere east of Happy Jack, AZ.

Nov 15^th 01:49 UT over Ohio

We received 34 reports so far about this event that occurred over Ohio but was also reported from Michiga, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Just like the German event, this fireball was travelling East to West. The first estimation of the 3D trajectory shows that the visible path of the fireball ended somewhere over Greenfield, OH.

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive any photo or video of this event yet. If you witnessed one of this event and/or if you have a video or a photo, please

Submit an Official Fireball Report.

{ http://www.amsmeteors.org/ }

16-11-2017 om 21:13 geschreven door peter  

Has Britain's most baffling alien abduction UFO case involving police man been solved?

EXCLUSIVE: It was on a cold morning in November 1980 that PC Alan Godfrey, now 70, came face-to-face with a UFO.

16-11-2017 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

16-11-2017 om 18:43 geschreven door peter  

16-11-2017 om 18:38 geschreven door peter  

16-11-2017 om 18:35 geschreven door peter  

DE MEEST SPECTACULAIRE UFO FOTO'S OOIT GENOMEN OP EEN BEKENDE UFO HOTSPOT

{ http://niburu.co/ }

16-11-2017 om 18:29 geschreven door peter