Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS NEARLY 13 YEARS AND 4 MONTH.
ON /30/09/2024 MORE THAN 2.230.520
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
09-12-2017
Coen Vermeeren, docent Lucht- en Ruimtevaart Technologie aan de TU Delft, vertelt over UFO’s en ET’s
Coen Vermeeren, docent Lucht- en Ruimtevaart Technologie aan de TU Delft, vertelt over UFO’s en ET’s
Een interessant interview/gesprek van Jesse en zijn moeder met Coen Vermeeren. Hij geeft dit interview vanuit zijn privé persoon maar is daarnaast ook hoofddocent Lucht- en Ruimtevaart Technologie aan de Technische Universiteit van Delft. Wat hem een interessante, serieuze en professionele achtergrond geeft voor dit onderwerp.
Hij vertelt in dit interview openhartig over zijn visie op, en eigen ervaringen met UFO’s, buitenaardse wezens en aanverwante onderwerpen.
Coen Vermeeren heeft ook een boek geschreven over UFO’s. Dit boek heet UFO’s Bestaan Gewoon – Een Wetenschappelijk Visie.
Wanneer gaat het echte ufo-dossier open? Valt er iets zinnigs te zeggen over zo’n beladen onderwerp als ufo’s?
Verstandige mensen geloven er niet in. Maar waarom eigenlijk niet?
Als je je verdiept in de uitgebreide literatuur, de vele getuigenverslagen en officiële rapporten, dan valt één ding op: we weten inmiddels ongelooflijk veel van ufo’s!
Waarom spreken we er dan niet over? Zijn we bang de feiten onder ogen te zien?
Gedegen rapportages van experts, getrainde waarnemers, verantwoordelijke bestuurders en onverschrokken wetenschappers.
Pleidooi voor een wetenschappelijke houding t.o.v. onverklaarbare verschijnselen.
Er zijn op YouTube ook nog andere interessante interviews met Coen Vermeeren te vinden bijvoorbeeld dit interview van hem over UFO’s bij KRO’s Brandpunt. Ook heeft hij een interessante website voor de mensen die meer willen weten: coenvermeeren.nl.
Buitenaardsen zien ons als beschaving die hulp nodig heeft. Ruimtewetenschapper openhartig in De Reünie
Buitenaardsen zien ons als beschaving die hulp nodig heeft. Ruimtewetenschapper openhartig in De Reünie
UFO’s en wetenschap moet samengaan, maar men wil dat niet. Dat zegt lucht- en ruimtevaartdeskundige Coen Vermeeren. “Men wil het niet in de mainstream science.”
Volgens dr.ir Vermeeren weten we van heel veel getuigen dat het wel in het geheim gebeurt. “Er wordt absoluut onderzoek naar gedaan. Al heel lang.”
En met heel veel resultaten die ze niet met ons willen delen, voegt hij toe.
10 tot 12 bollen
De getuigenissen van astronauten die hebben gezegd dat er objecten met hen meevlogen naar de maan ziet Vermeeren als het beste bewijs voor het bestaan van UFO’s.
In het tv-programma De Reünie vertelt hij dat hij al meerdere keren zelf een UFO heeft gezien. Een paar jaar geleden zag hij in zijn achtertuin zo’n 10 tot 12 bollen ontstaan in de lucht.
“Die gingen heel hard door de lucht en wisselden van plaats,” licht hij toe. “Dat kan niet. En ineens waren ze foetsie, weg.”
Daar zijn ze
“Daar zijn ze, zijn de legendarische woorden die ik toen sprak,” vervolgt hij.
Presentator Ajouad El Miloudi vraagt Vermeeren of hij zou instappen op het moment dat er een UFO in zijn achtertuin zou landen. “Onmiddellijk,” klinkt het.
“Ik zou oneindig veel vragen hebben over wie ze zijn en wat ze hier komen doen,” zegt hij.
Zaadje geplant
Vermeeren denkt dat buitenaardsen ons zien als een beschaving die hulp nodig heeft. “Omdat wij onze planeet compleet aan het verwoesten zijn.”
Hij wist El Miloudi uiteindelijk niet te overtuigen, maar presentatrice Anita Witzier liet weten dat bij haar het zaadje geplant is.
If you were alive in the 1970s and had any level of interest in the pervasive culture of UFOs, then you totally owned a dog-eared paperback copy of Erich von Daniken's ancient astronaut expose, Chariots of the Gods?
First published in 1968, the pioneering book ignited a worldwide craze for flying saucers, crop circles, extraterrestrial abductions, and ufology that slingshotted into the Swingin' '70s. No self-respecting stargazer or sci-fi conventioneer was without this bible of the bizarre, which postulated that our planet had been a stopover point thousands of years ago for interstellar visitors who shared futuristic technology with ancient civilizations.
Von Daniken theorized that many of Earth's most amazing structures and landmarks like the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, the Moai of Easter Island, the Nazca lines in Peru, and cart-ruts in Malta and Australia had been influenced or utilized by these benevolent beings from beyond.
He also hypothesized that artwork throughout the world could be interpreted as depicting helmeted astronauts, fantastic air and space vehicles, intricate spaceports, and complex machines far outside any known human technologies of the time.
Controversial yet captivating, with significant pseudoscience at its core, Chariots of the Gods was eventually translated into 28 languages with total worldwide sales of 16 million copies.
The Swiss author went on to write another 32 sequels and companion novels on the spacey subject (selling a staggering 63 million copies) and his works have spawned multiple documentaries, Hollywood films, video games, and TV shows -- most notably the Ancient Aliens series on the History Channel. Chariots of the Gods and its legacy remain some of the most copied and referred-to texts within the UFO community, and next year the novel celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special deluxe edition from Berkley Publsihing.
Here's the official press release:
Berkley is thrilled to be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the classic CHARIOTS OF THE GODS by Erich von Däniken in July 2018 by re-releasing the groundbreaking book that introduced the theory that ancient Earth established contact with aliens in a beautiful anniversary edition with a new foreword and afterword by the author.Here, von Däniken examines ancient ruins, lost cities, spaceports, and a myriad of hard scientific facts that point to extraterrestrial intervention in human history. Most incredible of all, however, is von Däniken's theory that we are the descendants of these galactic pioneers--and he reveals the archaeological discoveries that prove it.
Check out SYFY WIRE's exclusive interview below with von Daniken, who makes his home in Switzerland, discussing the current state of ufology, how modern archaeologists and historians have debunked some of his groundbreaking theories, and what he hopes new generations of readers will take from his monumental book.
How do you see the status of UFO culture today as opposed to its peak intensity in the '70s and '80s?
Erich von Daniken: The spirit of time has changed. Although UFOs are for many persons something which does not exist and has to be ridiculed, many famous persons around the world accept the facts of UFO and even say this in public.
With science fiction so popular in entertainment offerings, how doesChariots of the Gods fit into the scene today?
Prometheus from Ridley Scott is a Chariots of the Gods theme. So are many other science fiction series, like for example Stargate from Roland Emmerich.
Did you ever meet Leonard Nimoy and what are your memories of Chariots of the Gods being featured on In the Search Of Ancient Astronauts show?
Unfortunately I never had the chance to meet Leonard Nimoy. The TV-Series Ancient Aliens from the History Channel is a full Erich von Däniken-documentary. It mostly has to do with my books. I am – so to say – the godfather of the series. Giorgio Tsoukalos who presents the series brilliantly has grown up with my knowledge and was my student. We are very good friends.
What are some of your favorite alien invasion or extraterrestrial abduction movies or TV shows?
The best movie in this connection is definitely 2001 and 2010: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. And in the Stargate TV series there are many elements from my books.
What do you hope a new generation of readers might absorb and understand from Chariots of the Gods?
They will realize, that humanity was never alone and that we are the offsprings of an extraterrestrial space family. And, of course, in the future it will be absolutely clear that the reason for so many religions comes from the deep past and has to do with extra-terrestrials.
Have you changed any of your theories or positions on ancient astronauts and extraterrestrial visitors since Chariots was published?
The general theory is in the meantime absolutely confirmed and provable. On the other hand, there were some mistakes in my earlier books. This is the normal way in scientific works.
How do you hope the book will be remembered today, and another 50 years from now for its 100th anniversary?
As a modest man, I don’t know what the future will bring. Of course, I hope, to be not completely forgotten.
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De mensheid is nooit alleen geweest op aarde. UFO-expert Erich von Däniken blikt na 50 jaar terug
De mensheid is nooit alleen geweest op aarde. UFO-expert Erich von Däniken blikt na 50 jaar terug
In 1968 publiceerde schrijver Erich von Däniken zijn beroemde boek Waren de goden kosmonauten?waarvan inmiddels 16 miljoen exemplaren zijn verkocht.
In het boek theoretiseert hij dat veel bouwwerken op aarde – waaronder de Egyptische piramides, Stonehenge, de moai op Paaseiland, de Nazcalijnen in Peru en vreemde karrensporen op Malta en in Australië – zijn achtergelaten door buitenaardse wezens.
Op oude rotstekeningen van over de hele wereld zag hij astronauten met helmen, ruimtevoertuigen en complexe machines waar mensen in die tijd nog niet over beschikten.
Openlijk
Volgend jaar komt er een speciale jubileumeditie van het boek uit, om het 50-jarige bestaan ervan te vieren. De editie bevat onder meer een nieuw voor- en nawoord.
“De tijden zijn veranderd,” zegt Von Däniken in een interview met nieuwssite SYFY WIRE.
“Hoewel velen niet in UFO’s geloven, accepteren veel beroemdheden de feiten over UFO’s en praten ze hier zelfs openlijk over,” vervolgt hij.
Nooit alleen
Hij hoopt dat mensen die het boek hebben gelezen zullen beseffen dat de mensheid nooit alleen is geweest en dat we de nazaten zijn van een buitenaardse ruimtefamilie.
“In de toekomst zal duidelijk worden dat de reden waarom we zoveel religies hebben te maken heeft met het verre verleden en buitenaardsen,” zegt hij.
Vijftig jaar na dato staat Von Däniken nog altijd achter de uitspraken die hij in zijn boek heeft gedaan.
Absoluut bevestigd
“De algemene theorie over buitenaardse bezoekers is ondertussen absoluut bevestigd en bewijsbaar,” aldus de schrijver.
Hij erkent dat in eerdere boeken enkele fouten stonden. “Maar dit is de manier waarop de wetenschap werkt,” besluit hij.
The mysterious flying object burst out into the night sky out of nowhere, before exploding behind the cover of clouds.
Many locals managed to capture the bizarre fireball on video and shared it online to uncover the truth about the incident.
One family in Riverview managed to film the object on a security camera mounted outside their house. Elsewhere, the fireball was caught on a dashcam near Little Road and 54 outside Trinity.
Under mounting pressure from the public, NASA were forced to reveal that the object was in fact a speeding meteor and not an alien UFO.
FOURTRAXER YOUTUBE
NASA have confirmed that the fireball was indeed not from Earth
The American space agency told ABC Ation News that the flaming asteroid fragment burst into the atmosphere and broke up over the Gulf of Mexico.
It was like a bright spark as if someone was welding in the sky
Matt Hinkle, Witness
NASA tracked the 10inch-wide meteor some 35 miles west of Naples where it crash landed into the Gulf.
The non-profit American Meteor Society (AMS) also reviewed over 55 witness reports from locals who were caught off-guard by the meteor.
Ryan Cooper, who saw the meteor over West Palmetto, said: “It looked like the second video but 10 times closer! It was an amazing site for sure.
FOURTRAXER YOUTUBE
The 'UFO sighting' was in fact a 10-inch wide meteorite crash landing into the Gulf of Mexico
“I could even see pieces breaking off of it! So many colors! Sadly no video or pictures.”
In another report, Matt Hinkle added: “I saw it in Port Charlotte. Was at Murdoc Walmart. It was like a bright spark as if someone was welding in the sky. Very cool sight to witness.”
The news comes just days ahead of the annual Geminid meteor shower, where up to 120 meteors an hour are expected to break out in the night sky.
Jane Houston-Jones form NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said: “The Gemini’s peak on the morning of December 14 and are active from December 4 to December 17.
“The peak lasts for a full 24 hours, meaning more world-wide meteor watchers will get to see the spectacle.”
A fireball streaked over Florida on the evening of Dec. 5, with people thinking that it might be a UFO. NASA has tried to dispel such rumors by explaining what the people saw.
( Bill Ingalls | Getty Images )
A fireball streaked over Florida on the evening of Dec. 5, lighting up the night sky before disappearing behind the clouds.
While some people immediately thought that the fireball was a UFO, NASA has tried to dispel such rumors by explaining exactly what the fireball was.
Florida Fireball: UFO, Or Something Else?
Florida residents saw a fireball travel through the sky before it exploded behind clouds, with the phenomenon caught on video through mobile phones, security cameras, and dash cameras.
NASA received over 60 reports of the phenomenon, and has tried to quell the theories that it was a UFO that signals the start of an alien invasion. It was a bolide, the space agency claims, which is a ball of rock that explodes into flames as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
According to scientists, the blazing object was most likely a tiny asteroid that is about the size of a bowling ball. They believe that the fireball was a piece of a bigger asteroid that broke into pieces over the Gulf of Mexico.
Analyzing the fireball's trajectory, scientists believe that any pieces that survived the friction with Earth's atmosphere landed in the ocean, about 45 miles off the Florida coast.
The American Meteor Society, a nonprofit group that observes and collects data on meteoric events, received more than 55 reports about the Florida fireball. In a map that it compiled, the group found that the fireball was seen by people as far north in Jacksonville and as far west in West Palm Beach.
Fireballs In The Sky: Not As Rare As You Think
People don't get to see fireballs lighting up the night sky often, but it actually happens more frequently than most would think. About 500,000 fireballs pass through the Earth per year, but many go unnoticed because some are too small and some appear during the day.
Just last month, a fireball was caught on video blazing a trail over Phoenix. As with the Florida fireball, many residents were able to capture the phenomenon on video, and similarly resulted in theories of a UFO when it was also nothing more than a bolide.
There was even another Florida fireball just about a year ago. It was not a UFO, but rather a bolide.
What is uncommon to see in the night sky, however, was a glowing ball that appeared over Siberia. It was not a bolide, and also certainly not a UFO, but rather a phenomenon resulting from a ballistic missile launch.
A new tool will soon help protect astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from the perils of space junk whizzing past at phenomenal velocities.
Credit: NASA.
Ever since humans have started sending ‘stuff’ into space, Earth’s low orbit has steadily grown into a cosmic dumpster. Suffice to say, objects like pieces of defunct satellites or shrapnel from exploding military rockets (yes, some people were this bright) can cause significant economic damage and could even claim human lives. Four times in its history the ISS crew has retreated to the docked Soyuz lifeboat due to a potential impact.
NASA is monitoring some of the biggest pieces of junk out there, including 20,000 objects as big or bigger than a baseball and 50,000 objects or so as big as a marble. Smaller pieces of debris, however, are virtually undetectable right now, but NASA estimates there are millions of objects that are 50 microns to 1 millimeter in diameter. That might not seem like such a big deal but consider that these tiny debris travel at 17,500 miles per hour. At these velocities, even an object with a tiny mass can exert a powerful kinetic energy capable of significant damage upon impact.
Damage to Sentinel-1A from a collision with a 1mm object.
Credit: ESA.
I can sense the junk
Space junk is an ever growing problem.
Credit: Quark Mag.
To address a growing space junk problem, NASA is sending a nifty gadget called the Space Debris Sensor (SDS) with the upcoming SpaceX re-supply mission, scheduled for Dec. 12.
The device measures about one square meter. It will be mounted on an external payload site facing the velocity vector of the ISS (towards its ‘front’) where it will remain for at least 3 years. The location on the Columbus module is the same previously used by the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF) which included two debris measurement sensors, exposed from February 2008 to September 2009.
SDS is comprised of two distinct and important layers. The first layer consists of a thin section of Kapton, which is a polyimide film that remains stable at extreme temperatures. Some 15 cm behind it lies the second Kapton layer which is dotted with sensors and wires.
Schematic of SDS.
Credit: NASA.
With this configuration, the sensor can record size, speed, direction, or energy of any small debris it comes in contact with. This data is then beamed back to Earth where scientists at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico and at the University of Kent in the UK are focused on interpreting it.
Armed with real-time impact data, researchers can then get a far better sense of how common small debris are and how their population changes with time. Ultimately, such knowledge will prove handy in future missions, manned or otherwise, enabling scientists to better plan ahead.
“[O]nce you know the hazard you can adjust the design of future missions to protect them from impacts, or you are more persuasive when telling satellite manufacturers they have to create less debris in future,” Dr. Mark Burchell, one of the co-investigators and collaborators on the SDS from the University of Kent, told Universe Today. “Or you know if you really need to get rid of old satellites/ junk before it breaks up and showers earth orbit with small mm scale debris.”
At the moment there is no real solution to space junk. However, there are some scientists working on ideas.
In 2012, Swiss scientists launched a pilot program called the CleanSpace One which is basically a ‘space janitor’. The satellite will track and offset debris so that their trajectory puts them on a collision course with Earth’s atmosphere, to burn up on re-entry. Japan has a mission called Kounotori 6 which can tether space junk with electromagnetic forces. Astroscale, a Japanese startup, plans is to launch a satellite called ELSA-1 that will track debris and stick to it with glue. Other ideas are even wilder, like using lasers to vaporize the surfaces of small junk pieces, forming miniature trusters to force debris down towards the atmosphere. One recent project that the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently working on involves using powerful magnetic beams from a chaser satellite to nudge redundant satellites out of orbit.
Most people are familiar with the so-called “Out of Africa” (OoA) hypothesis according to which our early Homo sapiens ancestors dispersed around the world by leaving an African hotspot 60,000 years ago. But the story of how our species came to conquer the world has far more complex beginnings, scientists say.
Modern humans left Africa in multiple minor waves prior to a great migration which occurred 60,000-50,000 years ago.
Credit: Pixabay.
In the past fifteen years, a great deal of archaeological and paleontological evidence, as well as genetic findings, have placed a question mark on the “Out of Africa” hypothesis. Homo sapiens fossils dated between 70,000 to 120,000 years old were discovered in China and southeast Asia, and some even as far as Australia dated to 60,000 years ago. Human fossils found in the Skhul and Qafzeh caves in Israel that predate the OoA timeframe are also worthy examples. If humans had barely begun to exit Africa 60,000 years ago, how can we explain these other findings?
At the same time, such fossils are few and far between, whereas there’s a treasure trove of fossils and artifacts that document a human dispersal out of Africa around 60,000 to 50,000 years ago.
The most plausible explanation is that humans indeed embarked on a massive wave of migration around that time, possibly spurred by a changing climate. However, before this truly massive undertaking, early hunter-gatherers must have migrated in smaller waves.
The baby steps
This is the conclusion of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the University of Hawai’i at Manoa who reviewed the plethora of new discoveries reported from Asia over the past decade.
“The initial dispersals out of Africa prior to 60,000 years ago were likely by small groups of foragers, and at least some of these early dispersals left low-level genetic traces in modern human populations. A later, major ‘Out of Africa’ event most likely occurred around 60,000 years ago or thereafter,” explains Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in a statement.
Various migratory pathways associated with modern humans dispersing across Asia during the Late Pleistocene.
Credit: Bae et al. 2017.
Human migrations across the Old World are further complicated by the numerous proven interbreeding events. We now know for sure that humans not only interbred with Neanderthals but also with other close relatives like the Denisovans and a mysterious unidentified population of pre-modern hominins. All non-Subsaharan humans alive today have 1-4% Neanderthal heritage, while modern Melanesians have an average of 5% Denisovan heritage. Though not included in this present review, there’s evidence that around 2% of the Papua New Guinean genome contains traces of modern human dispersals earlier than 60,000 years.
These interactions suggest that humans interacted closely with different hominin populations present in Asia during the Late Pleistocene.
“Indeed, what we are seeing in the behavioral record is that the spread of so-called modern human behaviors did not occur in a simple time-transgressive process from west to east. Rather, ecological variation needs to be considered in concert with behavioral variation between the different hominin populations present in Asia during the Late Pleistocene,” explains Christopher Bae of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
The authors plan on conducting new research in areas across Asia which have yet to be investigated. There are still many unanswered questions but more multidisciplinary research might help fill the gaps in the evolutionary records. For instance, why did these initial minor dispersals fail? Were early populations assimilated by the later and larger migratory wave or did they just disappear in isolation? These are certainly exciting times to be a researcher in the field, that’s for sure, concludes Bae.
Scientific reference:
C.J. Bae at University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Honolulu, HI el al., “On the origin of modern humans: Asian perspectives,”Science(2017).
If you turned off every video game system, car stereo, and TV on the planet, and if everyone held their breath and didn’t make a peep, there would still be a sound, though you couldn’t exactly hear it. You may not know it, but the Earth is always emitting a low hum, which geophysicists call the free oscillation of the Earth. In a recent study, geophysicists have measured Earth’s background hum on the ocean floor for the first time. That’s right, the Earth makes noises constantly, even when it’s not rumbling or cracking.
Sure, our planet experiences earthquakes as a result of the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, which float around on the mantle andcollide, shear, and pull apart from each other. But this more subtle vibration, whose source scientists have been trying to track down for over 50 years, is not as violent as these more familiar seismic forces.
In a study published November 14 in Geophysical Research Letters, an international team of European geophysicists, led by Martha Deen, a geophysics Ph.D. student at the Paris Institute of Earth Physics in Paris, France, report that they’ve used seismometers at the bottom of the Indian Ocean to make the first direct observations of the Earth’s hum from the bottom of the ocean.
Earth's tectonic plates produce powerful seismic events like mountain building, but they're also the sites of gentle background humming.
This is important for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a big deal that they measured a signal from the ocean floor. While scientists have previously measured this background vibration on land, the ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth, so if seismologists want to study this phenomenon, they need to figure out how to do it in the ocean.
This leads to the second reason this discovery is significant: It’s really hard to get a clean reading of the hum from the ocean floor. Measuring the background hum there is complicated because the ocean, which is constantly in motion, creates lots of undesirable noise. Therefore, Deen and her colleagues had to use signals from multiple seismometers that they’d placed at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and remove all the noise from waves, earthquakes, and other glitch signals.
After all that correction, they were left with a signal that hums with a period of more than 30 seconds. That means each wave occurs every 30 seconds or more, as compared to a middle A on a piano, which has a period of 0.00227 seconds. To put it simply, the Earth’s free oscillation produces an incredibly low-frequency sound, which is why we don’t have a recording that we can hear.
Even if we can’t hear it, though, it’s significant. Recording the signal is an important step toward figuring out what actually produces it. Hypotheses for what causes the hum include atmospheric disturbances and ocean waves, but so far there’s no definitive answer. This study could help pave the way for one.
Abstract:The Earth’s hum is the permanent free oscillations of the Earth recorded in the absence of earthquakes, at periods above 30 s. We present the first observations of its fundamental spheroidal eigenmodes on broadband ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) in the Indian Ocean. At the ocean bottom, the effects of ocean infragravity waves (compliance) and seafloor currents (tilt) overshadow the hum. In our experiment, data are also affected by electronic glitches. We remove these signals from the seismic trace by subtracting average glitch signals; performing a linear regression; and using frequency-dependent response functions between pressure, horizontal, and vertical seismic components. This reduces the long period noise on the OBS to the level of a good land station. Finally, by windowing the autocorrelation to include only the direct arrival, the first and second orbits around the Earth, and by calculating its Fourier transform, we clearly observe the eigenmodes at the ocean bottom.
WETENSCHAP & PLANEETHet is een vraag die de wetenschap intussen al even bezighoudt: van waar komt het vreemde gezoem dat uit het diepste van onze aarde lijkt te komen? Een studie van het Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris onder leiding van Martha Deen hoopt nieuw licht op de zaak te werpen.
Het is al langer bekend dat de aarde constant een vibratie met een lage frequentie uitstoot. De eerste pogingen om het gezoem waar te nemen dateren al van 1959, maar het duurde nog tot 1998 voor de wetenschap erin slaagde om het bestaan ervan te bewijzen. Dat gebeurde met seismografen op het land. Deen slaagde er nu voor het eerst in om het signaal ook op de bodem van de zee te detecteren en dat kan verstrekkende gevolgen hebben voor het onderzoek.
Haar team verzamelde eerst gegevens van 57 seismografen in de Indische Oceaan, ten oosten van Madagaskar. Dat gebeurde tussen 2012 en 2013. Met een combinatie van technieken verwijderden de onderzoekers vervolgens interferentie van water, stromingen en elektronische storingen. Ze kwamen zo tot de conclusie dat de natuurlijke vibratie van de aarde piekt op frequenties tussen 2,9 en 4,5 millihertz. Die zijn niet met het blote oor hoorbaar, omdat ze zo’n 10.000 keer zachter zijn dan onze gehoordrempel, die op 20 hertz ligt.
Dat het signaal op de bodem van de zee werd waargenomen en dat de aarde voor 70 procent met water bedekt is, suggereert dat het gezoem over de hele aardoppervlakte voorkomt. Deen hoopt dat de ontdekking het onderzoek een nieuwe impuls kan geven en dichter bij de bron van het geluid kan brengen. De resultaten van haar onderzoek publiceerde ze in Geophysical Research Letters. (lees hieronder verder)
FacebookOnderzoekster Martha Deen.
Ze gelooft ook dat het ons kan helpen om de binnenkant van onze planeet nog gedetailleerder in kaart te brengen. Tot nu toe gebeurde dat tijdens aardbevingen, maar die zijn beperkt tot gelimiteerde plaatsen en tijdstippen waar ze vaak voorkomen. Door het gezoem te gebruiken als basis voor seismische golven kan dat probleem omzeild worden. Omdat het de hele tijd wordt gegenereerd en overal op de planeet.
Across the world, the sky is quaking with mysterious, explosive booms leaving residents rattled and baffling experts trying to determine their origins.
More than 64 different incidents involving loud, unexplained booms worldwide have been reported in 2017, according to a recent NY Post report.
The most recently reported skyquake in the U.S. occurred near Daytona Beach, Florida, on Dec. 3, prompting nearby residents to search for answers on social media.
Birmingham, Alabama, residents experienced a similar event last month, which local media dubbed the "Bama Boom."
The "Bama Boom" occurred on Tuesday, Nov. 14, around 1:30 p.m. local time, according to Fox News.
National Weather Service officials in Birmingham tweeted shortly after the boom was reported, stating: "Loud boom heard: we do not see anything indicating large fire/smoke on radar or satellite; nothing on USGS indicating an earthquake."
Some of the possible explanations for loud booms could be lightning from distant thunderstorms, large meteors entering the atmosphere, earthquakes, mining operations such as blasting and super-sonic aircraft.
"Shallow, brittle earthquakes and underground mine bumps can do this, causing both shaking from below and sound in the air," AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews said. "Then there are both natural and man-made causes originating in the atmosphere."
Supersonic aircraft would be a strong candidate as to the cause, Andrews said. Natural causes could be a meteor surviving entry into the atmosphere or particularly exceptional lightning, given that a thunderstorm is occurring.
A similar occurrence to the "Bama Boom" was reported in June earlier this year along the San Diego coastline, rattling doors and windows.
After initially denying any involvement, a Navy spokesman told the San Diego Union-Tribune that several jets went supersonic, causing the boom.
"Those two aircraft went supersonic about 35 miles from the coast," Kakiel told the Union-Tribune. "Usually you don't hear the side booms travel that far. It was kind of surprising to us."
Since June, there have been several new reports of loud mystery booms in the San Diego area, most recently in early November, according to NBC San Diego.
The November news report suggested a meteorological phenomenon of clashing air masses might be another potential source of the strange rumblings.
"The event may have been caused by a meteorological phenomenon generated by the contrast of hot and cold air masses," according to the report.
In addition to different air masses colliding, Andrews said temperature and atmospheric stability can greatly impact sound as it travels, serving to both amplify the wave and allow it to travel over a longer distance.
He said atmospheric stability, temperature, air masses and topography can alter and affect how sound travels in any given area.
"You could have sounds that are being channeled away from their origin, increasing in loudness and changing in their patterns," he said.
The origin of a sound might be relatively simple, but it produces a more mysterious rumbling as it moves farther away from the source.
The local Birmingham NWS office had no answer to what caused the "Bama Boom" but suggested it could have been caused by supersonic aviation or a meteorite surviving an atmospheric entry as the event occurred near the peak of the Leonid meteor shower.
NASA scientists had no answers as to the cause, adding that the Leonids are too small to make it through the atmosphere to cause the boom reported, according to Al.com.
Days later, another strange boom with mysterious origins was reported in the Denver, Colorado, area, according to a local CBS station.
A follow-up report from the same Colorado news station stated an over-pressurized storage tank erupted at a nearby oil and gas facility around the time of the reports. That was offered as the most likely cause, according to the report.
However, not all origins of the reported sounds have been so easily uncovered. Andrews stressed there are likely many causes both natural and man-made that can be attributed to these types of events around the world.
"With that said, the universe almost surely has many secrets yet to be unlocked," Andrews said.
Mysterieuze luchtbevingen worden overal ter wereld gemeld en stellen experts voor een raadsel. Wat zit hierachter?
Mysterieuze luchtbevingen worden overal ter wereld gemeld en stellen experts voor een raadsel. Wat zit hierachter?
Overal ter wereld worden mysterieuze knallen gehoord die lokale bewoners de schrik van hun leven bezorgen en die experts voor een raadsel stellen.
Er hebben zich dit jaar inmiddels tientallen incidenten voorgedaan. De meest recente luchtbeving is op 3 december gemeld in de buurt van Daytona Beach in Florida.
Inwoners van de plaats vroegen zich op social media af wat er aan de hand was.
Bama Boom
In Birmingham in de staat Alabama gebeurde afgelopen maand iets soortgelijks en lokale media spraken daar van de ‘Bama Boom’.
Mogelijke verklaringen voor harde knallen zijn bliksem, grote meteoren die de atmosfeer binnendringen, aardbevingen, mijnbouwactiviteiten en supersonische vliegtuigen.
Ondiepe aardbevingen en ondergrondse mijnbouwactiviteiten kunnen dit veroorzaken, waarbij de grond schudt en in de lucht knallen zijn te horen, aldus meteoroloog Jim Andrews.
In juni dit jaar werd langs de kust van San Diego ook een soort ‘Bama Boom’ gehoord. De knal deed ramen en deuren trillen.
Mysterieuze knallen
De marine ontkende in eerste instantie bij het voorval betrokken te zijn geweest, maar een woordvoerder zei later dat meerdere straaljagers in het gebied door de geluidsbarrière waren gegaan.
Sinds juni zijn er echter nieuwe meldingen binnengekomen van harde, mysterieuze knallen in en rond San Diego. Het meest recente geval dateert van november, meldde NBC San Diego.
De zender suggereert dat botsende luchtmassa’s verantwoordelijk konden zijn geweest voor het vreemde gerommel.
In Birmingham weten ze onderhand nog steeds niet wat de oorzaak is van de ‘Bama Boom’. Het geluid zou kunnen zijn veroorzaakt door een supersonisch vliegtuig of een meteoriet, aangezien de knal werd gehoord toen de meteorenzwerm Leoniden piekte.
Geheimen
NASA-wetenschappers konden het mysterie niet oplossen en voegden toe dat de Leoniden te klein zijn om de reis door de atmosfeer te overleven en een knal te kunnen veroorzaken, meldde AI.com.
Enkele dagen later werd opnieuw een mysterieuze knal gehoord in het gebied rond Denver in Colorado. Later bleek dat er een opslagtank was ontploft in een industriegebied.
Niet alle geluiden zijn echter zo gemakkelijk te verklaren. Het universum heeft vrijwel zeker nog veel geheimen voor ons in petto, besloot Andrews.
It seems far too easy for many people to think of the Earth as a fixed, lifeless ball of matter onto which we can project our will, but science clearly shows the Earth is quite ‘alive’ with many different natural processes and signs of ‘life.’ Plate tectonics are perhaps the most visible and dramatic of these, constantly reshaping the face of our planet in fiery displays of violent omnipotence. In recent years, scientists have detected a weak low-frequency vibration similar to seismic waves that seems independent of tectonic activity. A number of theories have been proposed for this “hum” including atmospheric disturbances to the rumble of massive underwater waves passing over the seafloor, but so far identifying a definitive source has eluded scientists because of the difficulty in locating and recording the hum.
Could underwater waves be the cause of the hum?
To aid in the search for the source of the Earth’s deep hum, geophysicists from the Paris Institute of Earth Physics collected seismic data from 57 different monitoring stations on the bottom of the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. The recordings were then processed using sophisticated software which allowed researchers to remove oceanic background noises and electronic glitches. For the first time, researchers were able to record and measure the low-frequency hum, but if you were hoping to be able to listen to the hum, you’re out of luck: the study found it peaks between between 2.9 and 4.5 millihertz, far below the lower human frequency threshold of around 20 hertz.
Too bad we can’t hear the song of the Earth.
Their research has been published in Geophysical Research Letters. While it’s a little disappointing that the hum is far too low for humans to hear, knowing that there’s a strange frequency being given off by the center of the Earth is pretty rad in itself. It’s almost like we detected our planet’s pulse or heartbeat. It’s even better knowing that its cause is still ultimately a mystery. The authors of this study believe their data could help understand some of the processes occurring deep below the surface of the Earth, possibly even allowing them to map the Earth’s core down to 500 kilometers (300 miles). Those pesky Morlocks are soon gonna learn who’s boss.
Mysterious Object Flying Slowly Over Russia Is Being Considered As Best Evidence for Aliens Ever Recorded On Video
Mysterious Object Flying Slowly Over Russia Is Being Considered As Best Evidence for Aliens Ever Recorded On Video
A mysterious triangular object having one light at each corner has been identified as a TR-3B. It was filmed flying slowly over Russia in what UFO conspiracy theorists claim the best evidence of space aliens ever recorded.
The footage shows a shape flying across the skies. It was posted on the dark web and has been circulated among underground UFO groups.
The video was also recently shared on YouTube, which shows an object with three lights moving very slowly through the air and almost floating in the sky.
Many UFO enthusiasts believe that it is physically impossible for any known aircraft to move at such slow speeds.
The aircraft has been described as a black triangle, or a TR-3B, a class of UFO that has been observed during the 20th and 21st centuries. These objects have been linked to a rumoured US Air Force Aurora aircraft development program.
Most reports of black triangles come from Britain and the United States, but they are increasingly being reported in other parts of the world.
Reports describe this UFO class as large, silent, black triangular objects floating or slowly moving at low altitudes above cities and highways.
Sightings of the object usually take place at night, and they are often described as having pulsing, coloured lights visible at each corner of the triangle.
Military Whistleblower Proves His Claim of Observing A UFO Near RAF Base
Military Whistleblower Proves His Claim of Observing A UFO Near RAF Base
An ex-airman established his claims of seeing an unidentified object near an RAF base through a lie detector test.
Larry Warren, 56, claimed that he had seen aliens hovering underneath a craft in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, in 1980.
The incident has since been called “Britain’s Roswell” and has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories for decades.
Warren, assigned to the US Air Force at RAF Bentwaters, managed to pass every question on the polygraph test and now hopes those who doubted his accounts would turn into believers.
Former police detective Gary Heseltine, who investigated the 7/7 bombings, said the result has finally vindicated Larry. Heseltine, the editor of the UFO Truth Magazine, shared the development to his readers.
Heseltine announced that Larry Warren, who has been considered as the original whistleblower from the military of the most famous and unsolved old case in Britain, recently agreed to undertake a professional polygraph test with one of the leading experts in the UK.
Heseltine said that Warren undertook the test where he was questioned about his general honesty and integrity about his involvement.
He stressed that Larry Warren has successfully passed the tests on all counts.
The incident happened more than three consecutive nights, and three Air Force men were dispatched to investigate.
One of the men was Kim Pennington, who got near enough to touch the side of the UFO.
Pennington and one other airman created sketches of the craft for witness statements.
Two nights later, Deputy Base Commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt saw strange flashing lights in the trees.
One of the beams reportedly hit the ground just a few feet away and struck weapons storage bunkers at the NATO base.
The event led to allegations that weapons of mass destruction were stored in that facility, something the US and UK governments will neither confirm nor deny.
What are they hiding? Double sonic boom heard over 'alien UFO base' Area 51
What are they hiding? Double sonic boom heard over 'alien UFO base' Area 51
UFO truth seekers believe a double sonic boom being heard over the mysterious Area 51 military could be a sign of something other worldly being hidden in the classified location.
Alien conspiracy theorists are convinced there is more than meets the eye at Area 51.
A video showing the strange noises over the Nevada US Air Force base posted on YouTube by channel UFO Seekers has racked up more than 40,000 hits already.
In the clip, F-22 fighter jets can be seen flying over the infamous airspace.
The stealth planes leave strange trails as they cut through the Nevada skies at speeds of up to 1,500mph, Dailystar.co.uk reports.
Then, as one accelerates away, a frighteningly loud double booming sound can be heard.
The heavily guarded Area 51, deep in the Nevada desert, is at the centre of many alien-related conspiracy theories.
These fighter jets are a distraction from the real testing within the site.
Conspiracy theorist
It is claimed that alien flying saucers crashed on Earth, such as the alleged 1947 Roswell incident, and that the wreckage and even corpses were taken to Area 51 for experimentation and to be analysed away from public view.
One theory suggests that USAF scientists have tried to emulate the alien technology to create their own top-secret spy craft capable of travelling into space at the base.
The new footage has sent alien conspiracy theorists into overdrive.
One viewer suggested that these fighter jets are a distraction from the real testing within the site.
And they even theorised the boom may not have come from the planes.
One YouTube poster said: "I think the regular fighter jets, F22's etc, were there as a distraction, to cover for the real testing of experimental hypersonic aircraft.
“The burst of flame you captured is possible evidence of some type of Scram/Ram Jet type technology, maybe the cause of the double sonic boom?”
Another added to the conspiracy, saying: “Still waiting for the day for NASA and the whole world to officially tell us that extraterrestrial aliens have been living with us this whole time and that they are real.”
Area 51 has been used by American aviation authorities since 1955 and is closed off to those without top-level security clearance.
However, the US Government did not even admit the base existed until 2013, in a series of documents released as part of a Freedom of Information request, and it is heavily protected by armed guards.
NASA's Curiosity rover spotted this wonderfully round pebble on Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Red circle by Amanda Kooser/CNET
If we ever found a real cannonball on Mars, it would make us question everything we know about the history of the Red Planet. That transformative moment hasn't happened yet.
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover Twitter account posted an intriguing message on Tuesday highlighting some spherical objects found on the planet:
Mars may be named for the god of war, but these weird things aren't cannonballs. They're pebbles.
The round 5mm concretion I found (L) contains calcium sulfate, sodium + magnesium, making it different from the hematite-rich "blueberries" (R) @MarsRovers Opportunity found. Cool!
The Curiosity image shows a delightfully round shape sitting on the dusty surface of Mars. Though the rover first snapped images of the area in late 2016 and early 2017, the photos are receiving renewed attention thanks to a Dec. 2 post on popular alien-theorist blog UFO Sightings Daily, which refers to the round shape as a "cannon ball" about the size of a softball and suggests it is evidence of a war on Mars.
NASA says the sphere is actually less than a quarter inch (5 millimeters) in size and is composed of calcium sulfate, sodium and magnesium.
The tweet also includes an image taken in 2004 by NASA's Opportunity rover, of a collection of spherules known as "blueberries," that shows how round concretions really aren't that odd on Mars. For reference, those hematite-rich spheres are only about the size of BB pellets. Erosion over time left the "blueberries" exposed.
Seeing strange things on Mars has been an entertaining pastime ever since 1976, when NASA's Viking 1 mission revealed a "face on Mars" that the space agency says is really just a regular old mesa. Since then, we've fancifully spotted everything from a "spoon" to an ancient god.
This is all a lot of fun, but, as the non-cannonball shows us, everything (so far) has a perfectly mundane explanation.
K2-18b and its neighbour, newly discovered K2-18c, orbit the red-dwarf star k2-18 locataed 111 light years away in the constellation Leo.
New research using data collected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could well be a scaled-up version of Earth.
Just as exciting, the same researchers also discovered for the first time that the planet has a neighbor.
"Being able to measure the mass and density of K2-18b was tremendous, but to discover a new exoplanet was lucky and equally exciting," says lead author Ryan Cloutier, a PhD student in U of T Scarborough's Centre for Planet Science, U of T's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Universite de Montreal Institute for research on exoplanets (iREx).
Both planets orbit K2-18, a red-dwarf star located about 111 light years away in the constellation Leo. When the planet K2-18b was first discovered in 2015, it was found to be orbiting within the star's habitable zone, making it an ideal candidate to have liquid surface water, a key element in harbouring conditions for life as we know it.
The data set used by the researchers came from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) using the ESO's 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory, in Chile. HARPS allows for measurements of radial velocities of stars, which can be affected by the presence of nearby planets, to be taken with the highest accuracy currently available. The instrument makes it possible to detect very small planets orbiting those stars.
In order to figure out whether K2-18b was a scaled-up version of Earth (mostly rock), or a scaled-down version of Neptune (mostly gas), researchers had to first figure out the planet's mass, using radial velocity measurements taken with HARPS.
"If you can get the mass and radius, you can measure the bulk density of the planet and that can tell you what the bulk of the planet is made of," says Cloutier.
After using a machine-learning approach to figure out the mass measurement, Cloutier and his team were able to determine the planet is either a mostly rocky planet with a small gaseous atmosphere - like Earth, but bigger - or a mostly water planet with a thick layer of ice on top of it.
"With the current data, we can't distinguish between those two possibilities," he says. "But with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) we can probe the atmosphere and see whether it has an extensive atmosphere or it's a planet covered in water."
The JWST, which will be launched in 2019, will be instrumental in collecting a range of data for studying the solar system, early universe and exoplanets.
"There's a lot of demand to use this telescope, so you have to be meticulous in choosing which exoplanets to look at," says Rene Doyon, a co-author on the paper who is also the principal investigator for NIRISS, the Canadian Space Agency instrument on board JWST.
"K2-18b is now one of the best targets for atmospheric study, it's going to the near top of the list."
It was while looking through the data of K2-18b that Cloutier noticed something unusual. In addition to a signal occurring every 39 days from the rotation of K2-18, and one taking place every 33 days from the orbit of K2-18b, he noticed a different signal occurring every nine days.
"When we first threw the data on the table we were trying to figure out what it was. You have to ensure the signal isn't just noise, and you need to do careful analysis to verify it, but seeing that initial signal was a good indication there was another planet," Cloutier says.
Cloutier collaborated with an international team of researchers from the Observatoire Astronomique de l'Universite? de Gene?ve, the Institute for research on exoplanets (iREx), Universite? de Grenoble, U of T Scarborough, and Universidade do Porto.
While the newly described planet K2-18c is closer to its star, and probably too hot to be in the habitable zone, like K2-18b it also appears to be a Super-Earth meaning it has a mass similar to Earth. Cloutier, who had set the goal of discovering a new exoplanet within his PhD, considers himself very lucky to have discovered it in this dataset.
"It wasn't a eureka moment because we still had to go through a checklist of things to do in order to verify the data. Once all the boxes were checked it sunk in that, wow, this actually is a planet."
Images captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, reveal that the surface of Deimos is mostly smoooth, marred only by recent impact craters.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Mars is the only terrestrial planet to host multiple moons. The smaller of the two, the lumpy moon Deimos, bears more resemblance to an asteroid than to most of the moons in the solar system, a similarity that raises questions about its formation.
Discovery and nomenclature
On August 12, 1877, the focused search for Martian moons by American astronomer Asaph Hall resulted in the discovery of Deimos. Six days later, he identified the second Martian moon, Phobos.
The existence of the moons had been suggested years before, when Johannes Kepler proposed that since Earth hosted one moon and Jupiter four (as only the Galilean moons were known at the time), Mars might have two moons in orbit around it. However, no signs of such moons existed until Hall undertook his careful search.
Using a 26-inch refractor at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Hall made a methodical study of the region around the red planet. Peering closer to Mars than previous astronomers, he found Deimos circling only 14,576 miles (23,458 kilometers) from the center of the planet, traveling around its equator. Phobos orbited even closer in. Their close proximity and small size had kept them hidden in the glare from the planet.
Like many objects in the solar system, the Martian moons take their names from Greek mythology. In Homer's ancient poem, "The Iliad," Deimos (Flight) and Phobos (Fear) were the twin sons of Mars (Ares to the Greeks), and accompany him into battle.
Exploring the moons
Deep space mission planners are eying Deimos, a moon of Mars, as an exploration target for humans. Here, the path to reach the Martian moon is laid out.
Credit: Lockheed Martin
It took almost another century for scientists to begin to understand the two tiny Martian moons. In 1971, NASA's Mariner 9 spacecraft became the first manmade satellite to orbit another planet. Images from the craft revealed that both Deimos and Phobos have lumpy, potato-like shapes, rather than being spherical like Earth's moon. Observations of Deimos were limited by the tidal locking of the moon to the planet, resulting in the same side always facing outward.
As the exploration of continued, scientists were able to glean more information about the two tiny moons. The Viking orbiters flew by in the late 1970s, with the second orbiter passing within 19 miles (30 km) of Deimos. The Soviet Phobos 2 mission, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, and the European Mars Express all provided more clues about the two curious moons. Rovers from the planet's surface even got in on the act, with Spirit and Opportunity and Curiosity all providing images from the ground.
In 2024, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch the Mars Moons eXploration (MMX) mission to visit both Phobos and Deimos. MMX will land on the surface of Phobos and collect samples to be returned to Earth in 2029.
"Understanding how Phobos and Deimos formed has been a goal of the planetary science community for many years," David Lawrence, of the Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement. Lawrence leads the team to develop one of the instruments for MMX.
In 2016, a low-cost Mars orbiter mission called PADME (Phobos And Deimos and Mars Environment) was proposed to visit the moons. Among its major aims is to characterize where Deimos and Phobos came from — whether they were created at the same time as Mars, or captured from the asteroid belt, or somewhere else. PADME competed in NASA's Discovery Program but lost out to the Psyche and Lucy missions to visit asteroids.
NASA is considering sending humans to Mars in the 2030s, which led some scientists to suggest a mission to one of its moons instead might be beneficial. It would reduce the complication of landing on a surface with an atmosphere, although humans would need to be tethered to the surface of Deimos or Phobos if they wanted to stay put.
But future explorers may be in for a shock. Powerful solar eruptions could charge regions of the Martian moon to hundreds of volts, potentially affecting electronic equipment.
"We found that astronauts or rovers could accumulate significant electric charges when traversing the night side of Phobos — the side facing Mars during the Martian day," William Farrell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement. "While we don't expect these charges to be large enough to injure an astronaut, they are potentially large enough to affect sensitive equipment, so we would need to design spacesuits and equipment that minimizes any charging hazard."
Formation and composition
The dark moons are made up of material similar to Type I or II carbonaceous chondrites, the substance of asteroids and dwarf planets such as Ceres. They are tiny, with the smaller Deimos having a radius of only 3.9 miles (6.2 km). This, combined with their potato-like shape, hints that both moons might be asteroids, pushed by Jupiter from the asteroid belt and snatched up by the gravity of Mars.
But this is far from conclusive. The close orbit of Deimos is nearly circular. It travels around the equatorial plane of Mars in 30 hours, a little over a Martian day. To reach such a stable orbit would require braking by the atmosphere, but the atmosphere on the red planet is thinner than on Earth.
Another possible origin for the moons is that dust and rock could have accreted, or drawn together, while in orbit around Mars. A third possibility includes a collision, much like the one that formed Earth's moon, with most of the large debris being shed from the planet's orbit, leaving behind only Deimos and Phobos.
A recent proposal combines the last two possibilities. According to researchers, a collision once scattered debris into a ring around Mars. As Phobos approaches the red planet, it will be torn into a ring again, scientists predict.
"Solving the riddle of how Mars' moons came to be will help us better understand how planets formed around our sun and, in turn, around other stars," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), said in a statement.
From the surface of Mars, the tiny moon appears star-like. At full moon, Deimos shines about as brightly as Venus. When the moon eclipses the sun, it appears as a small dot crossing its surface.
But the pair won't shine in the sky forever. Within 100 million years, the closer Phobos will collide with the red planet. Deimos will suffer the opposite fate. Its orbit is slowly drawing it away from Mars, and eventually the moon will be cast off into space.
Deimos has a number of craters caused by impact from meteorites. But craters on Deimos look different from those on most bodies in the solar system. When a rock collides with another body, material from the impact tends to fly up in the air and fall back to the surface, creating ejecta deposits. But the small size of the moon means that objects only need to travel 13 mph (20 km/h) to fly off into space. Although the moon is covered with regolith that may lie as deep as 328 feet (100 meters), it is created by meteorites pulverized by impact, rather than by castoff material.
Only two of the craters on Deimos are named. In 1726, English author Jonathan Swift cited Kepler when he referred to two Martian moons in his fictional work, "Gulliver's Travels." A few years later, the French writer Voltaire referenced two moons in a short story. The two craters bear the names of these authors.
Facts about Deimos:
Radius of moon: 3.9 miles (6.2 km)
Semi-major axis around Mars (distance from planet's center): 14,576 miles (23,458 km)
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
