12-12-2017 om 18:12 geschreven door peter  

Living on thin air: microbe mystery solved

DEBORAH SMITH

A discovery that microbes in Antarctica can scavenge hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the air to stay alive in such extreme conditions has implications for the search for life on other planets.

Robinson Ridge, one of the two sites in Antarctica where microbes were collected.

UNSW-Sydney led scientists have discovered that microbes in Antarctica have a previously unknown ability to scavenge hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the air to stay alive in the extreme conditions.

The find has implications for the search for life on other planets, suggesting extra-terrestrial microbes could also rely on trace atmospheric gases for survival.

“Antarctica is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Yet the cold, dark and dry desert regions are home to a surprisingly rich diversity of microbial communities,” says study senior author and UNSW scientist Associate Professor Belinda Ferrari.

“The big question has been how the microbes can survive when there is little water, the soils are very low in organic carbon and there is very little capacity to produce energy from the sun via photosynthesis during the winter darkness.

“We found that the Antarctic microbes have evolved mechanisms to live on air instead, and they can get most of the energy and carbon they need by scavenging trace atmospheric gases, including hydrogen and carbon monoxide,” she says.

The Australasian-based study, by researchers at UNSW, Monash University, the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics at the University of Queensland, GNS Science in New Zealand, and the Australian Antarctic Division, is published in the journal Nature.

Soil samples were collected from two coastal ice-free sites in different regions of eastern Antarctica. One was Robinson Ridge, 10 kilometres from Casey Station, in Wilkes Land. The other was Adams Flat, 242 kilometres from Davis Station in Princes Elizabeth Land.

Adams Flat, one of two sites in Antarctica where microbes were collected.

Photo: Phil O'Brien

“Both areas are pristine polar deserts devoid of any vascular plants,” says Associate Professor Ferrari, of the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences.

The researchers studied the microbial DNA in the surface soil from both sites and reconstructed the genomes of 23 of the microbes that lived there, including some of the first genomes of two groups of previously unknown bacteria called WPS-2 and AD3.

They found the dominant species in the soils had genes which gave them a high affinity for hydrogen and carbon monoxide, allowing them to remove the trace gases from the air at a high enough rate to sustain their predicted energy needs and support primary production.

“This new understanding about how life can still exist in physically extreme and nutrient-starved environments like Antarctica opens up the possibility of atmospheric gases supporting life on other planets,” says Associate Professor Ferrari.

Most organisms use energy from the sun or the earth to grow. More research is needed to see if this novel use of atmospheric gases as an alternative energy source is more widespread in Antarctica and elsewhere, the scientists say.

{ https://unsw.edu.au/ }

12-12-2017 om 18:06 geschreven door peter  

12-12-2017 om 17:57 geschreven door peter  

ZO ZAL DE MENSHEID DE BUITENAARDSEN  BEGROETEN

Wanneer de machthebbers op aarde de keuze hebben tussen het vriendschappelijk benaderen van ons bezoekende buitenaardsen of het ontketenen van een oorlog, zullen ze altijd voor het laatste kiezen. 

Wat dat betreft is er helemaal niets veranderd sinds de tijd van het Wilde Westen, waar men eerst schoot en pas later vragen stelde. 

Er zijn inmiddels talloze films en boeken verschenen over buitenaardse invasies en het is een onderwerp dat de meeste mensen ook niet onbekend zal voor komen. Daarnaast is er natuurlijk de elite en hun plannen om de mensheid te dwingen tot de New World Order door het kunstmatig creëren van een dergelijke invasie, waardoor de mensheid een gemeenschappelijke vijand heeft. Dit is het beruchte Project Blue Beam.

Naast dat alles zijn er ook nog de echte buitenaardsen en ondanks dat ze hier altijd al hebben rondgelopen, doen we net alsof ze niet bestaan.

Maar, hoe zouden de mensen op deze aarde werkelijk reageren als er een vloot buitenaardse schepen zou worden waargenomen die linea recta richting aarde koersen? Zouden wij ze met open armen ontvangen of bombarderen met kernwapens?

Als we de Engelse voormalige leger UFO specialist Nick Pope mogen geloven, het laatste.

Zo vertelt Nick Pope in een recent interview dat een invasie van buitenaardsen helemaal niet denkbeeldig is en dat wij er goed aan zouden doen om ons daaop voor te bereiden. Dat niet alleen, maar dat we er ook maar beter van uit kunnen gaan dat ze kwade bedoelingen hebben.

Gebaseerd op zijn ervaringen in het Engelse leger en de manier waarop men daar denkt, heeft hij een scenario gemaakt van wat hij denkt dat er zou gebeuren als er een vloot buitenaardse ruimteschepen waargenomen zou worden.

Zo denkt Nick dat buitenaardsen hier zouden komen om ons tot slaaf te maken of misschien dat ze ons beschouwen als een soort ongedierte of als interessante objecten in een dierentuin. Dat is de reden dat hij van mening is dat wij ons als aarde moeten voorbereiden op het ergste scenario en dat ze hier dus niet komen voor een vriendelijk bezoek.

Wat daarnaast een belangrijke rol zal spelen, is dat ze technologisch waarschijnlijk veel verder gevorderd zullen zijn dan wij, wat het nog een stuk lastiger, zo niet onmogelijk, maakt om een dergelijke vijand te bestrijden.

Hieronder is een nagemaakt officieel document, met daarop alle stappen die in dit geval de Engelse overheid zou ondernemen volgens Nick Pope.

Nick Pope ziet geen positief scenario wanneer buitenaardsen ons zouden bezoeken en gaat bij voorbaat uit van kwade bedoelingen. De vraag is natuurlijk als die buitenaardsen werkelijk kwaadgezind zouden zijn en beschikken over vergevorderde technologie, wat de aarde dan in 's hemelsnaam tegen een dergelijke vloot zou kunnen uitrichten?

Het is alsof een wilde uit het oerwoud met pijl en boog een Apache gevechtshelikopter tegemoet treedt. 

Een andere mogelijkheid is natuurlijk dat Nick Pope nooit werkelijk het leger heeft verlaten, maar de opdracht heeft gekregen om de bevolking voor te bereiden op een nep buitenaardse invasie die uiteraard kwaadgezind moet zijn omdat we een vijand nodig hebben.

De werkelijkheid is dat wij mensen niet eens merken dat er buitenaardsen of half buitenaardsen in ons midden lopen. De werkelijkheid is dat wanneer buitenaardsen echt kwaad in de zin zouden hebben gehad wij dit allang gemerkt zouden hebben.

De enigen die gegarandeerd kwaad in de zin hebben, zijn de "menselijke" machthebbers op deze wereld.

{ http://www.niburu.co/ }

12-12-2017 om 17:45 geschreven door peter  

HEBBEN WIJ PER ONGELUK DE BINNENKANT VAN DE AARDE KAPOT GRMAAKT...

Zoals zo vaak staan wetenschappers voor raadsels wanneer er dingen gebeuren die niet in de handboeken staan. 

Men heeft geen flauw idee waardoor het vreemde gebrom dat diep vanuit de aarde lijkt te komen, wordt veroorzaakt, maar is er misschien een reden waar niemand aan heeft gedacht?

In recente nieuwsberichten werd melding gemaakt van het feit dat wetenschappers voor een raadsel staan aangaande een vreemd gebrom dat diep vanuit de aarde lijkt te komen. 

Het gebrom is niet nieuw, want ze zijn al sinds 1959 hiermee bezig en nu zijn ze er eindelijk in geslaagd om het geluid vast te leggen met behulp van seismische instrumenten op de bodem van de zee. Wij mensen kunnen dit geluid niet horen omdat de frequentie te laag is.

Ondanks dat men geprobeerd heeft een logische verklaring voor die geluiden te vinden, is er tot nu toe niet één die het kan verklaren. Het wordt niet veroorzaakt door atmosferische storingen of door golven, maar door wat dan wel?

Kenmerkend is dat het over de gehele wereld voor komt, het niet aan een bepaalde locatie gebonden is en het permanent/constant aanwezig is.

Stel dat dit geluid wordt veroorzaakt door iets wat wij als mens hebben gedaan en waar waarschijnlijk nog nooit iemand over heeft nagedacht? Grote problemen zijn wel vaker opgelost door een totaal andere invalshoek of denkwijze dan gebruikelijk.

In eerste instantie wordt iemand vaak voor knettergek verklaard, zoals ons ook nogal eens overkomt, en later blijkt het dan toch te kloppen. Een beetje in diezelfde trant zijn de gedachten welke door een lezer aan ons werden gestuurd (dank!), met een bijzonder suggestie.

Op het eerste gezicht denk je misschien: dat bestaat niet, maar het is wel een verklaring en dat is meer dan waar wetenschappers tot nu toe mee komen. Volgens deze lezer zit het antwoord misschien wel in petroleum.

Waarbij we petroleum dan moeten lezen in de grotere definitie van het woord:

In de bredere zin is petroleum een synoniem voor ruwe olie of aardolie.

Het volgende is wat de lezer schrijft:

Zoals jullie ondertussen wel weten, denk ik teveel na.

Petroleum komt zogezegd van planten en dieren die miljoenen jaren geleden gestorven zijn. Als dat zo is, waarom word er nu door de natuur/aarde geen petroleum gemaakt van dode planten en dieren die gestorven zijn?

Wat ik me dan ook afvraag, als al die planten en dieren na al die miljoenen jaren, kilometers onder de grond zitten als petroleum, hoe kan het dan, dat er zoveel dino skeletten en plantenfossielen aan de oppervlakte gevonden worden? Zouden die ook niet kilometers diep moeten zitten?

Wetenschappers breken er momenteel hun hoofd over, waar het geluid vandaan komt dat ze opvangen uit de aarde.

Ik heb jullie dit al eens gezegd, wat als petroleum dient om de binnenmantel soepel te doen draaien, rond de buitenmantel, of omgekeerd?

Dus dan zou het geluid dat wetenschappers nu horen, het resultaat kunnen zijn van het wegpompen van een beschermlaag,zoals olie uit een motor verwijderen. Of de lucht uit je banden laten lopen, op je velgen rondrijden klinkt ook niet echt goed.

Vergezocht en onmogelijk? Misschien, maar toch zeker de moeite waard om eens over dit soort dingen na te denken. Want wij hebben werkelijk geen flauw benul wat voor schade wij ondergronds aanrichten door het permanent wegpompen van olie. En ook weten we niet hoe de aarde eruit ziet, hoe deze is gemaakt, hoe deze ronddraait/of deze ronddraait. Wij denken dat te weten omdat ons dat op school wordt geleerd en omdat "experts" ons dat vertellen, maar werkelijk en hard bewijs daarvoor is echt moeilijk te vinden.

Tot dusver klinkt de verklaring van de lezer een stuk beter dan wat vaag gewauwel over atmosferische storingen. Nadenken kunnen ze wel onze lezers en dat is iets om trots op te zijn.

{ http://www.niburu.co/ }

12-12-2017 om 17:40 geschreven door peter  

Bacteria discovery in Antarctica prompts rethink of humanity’s search for alien life

PLANETS that were once not even considered candidates to host alien life might be reanalysed to find habitable regions after the discovery of unique bacteria.

Nick Whigham@NWWHIGHAM

Using maths to find alien life

BACTERIA discovered in the icy continent of Antarctica is set to change the way humanity looks for alien life on other planets.

To date, our search for habitable worlds which could host alien life has been guided by what we know about life-conducive conditions on Earth. But in a new breakthrough, researchers have discovered a bacterium in Antarctica that can survive solely off chemicals in the air.

The microscopic organisms can survive just of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide — opening up new possibilities about the existence of extraterrestrial life forms living in harsh conditions.

Antarctica is among the most extreme environments on our planet and it was previously thought the stresses of freezing temperatures, limited carbon, nitrogen and water availability along with strong UV radiation restricted life.

But new research reported in the journal Nature has shown the desert soils of Antarctica harbour surprisingly rich microbial communities.

“Here we provide evidence that atmospheric trace gases are the primary energy sources of two Antarctic surface soil communities,” researchers wrote.

“We propose that atmospheric H2, CO2 and CO provide dependable sources of energy and carbon to support these communities, which suggests that atmospheric energy sources can provide an alternative basis for ecosystem function to solar or geological energy sources.”

Essentially, the bacteria can survive with little sunlight, no geothermal energy and extremely limited nutrients.

The discovery was the result of DNA sequencing and analysis of soil samples collected from the icy continent.

“Although more extensive sampling is required to verify whether this process is widespread in terrestrial Antarctica and other oligotrophic habitats, our results provide new understanding of the minimal nutritional requirements for life and open the possibility that atmospheric gases support life on other planets,” researchers said.

Astronomers have historically sought out the potential presence of water when looking for planets which could support life but the bacteria findings show it’s not the only indicator  }for life.

Exoplanets that were once not even considered to be candidates to hold life might be reanalysed to find habitable regions, said lead researcher Dr Belinda Ferrari.

“This new understanding about how life can still exist in physically extreme and nutrient-starved environments like Antarctica opens up the possibility of atmospheric gases supporting life on other planets,” she said.

{ http://www.news.com.au/ }

12-12-2017 om 12:58 geschreven door peter  

Has an alien probe entered our solar system? Mystery object to be scanned for alien tech

Is it possible that we’ve missed welcoming an alien visitor into our solar system?

According to experts, it’s possible that an alien probe from a distant solar system may have entered our solar system, disguised as a ‘comet’.

The mystery comet dubbed as Oumuamua is currently being investigated by astronomers for signs of extraterrestrial technology, as there are doubts among experts that the cigar-shaped comet isn’t just a comet.

Now, alien-hunting scientists led by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner are set to scan the enigmatic object before it sails beyond Earth’s telescopes. They are looking for signs of advanced, or alien, technology.

Oumuamua is the first interstellar object to have entered our solar system.

An artist’s rendering of the asteroid.

Photo credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Alien-hunting scientists say they are looking for ‘radio singles’ claiming that the mystery visitor from another solar system could, in fact, be an alien probe, exploring the cosmos.

Yuri Milner is the tycoon behind the project Breakthrough Listen—a $100 million (£75m) search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

According to reports from the Atlantic, Mr. Milner received last week an email from one of his chief scientists, where he mentioned the enigmatic object sailing through our solar system.

“The more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilization,” Professor Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department and one of Milner’s advisers on Breakthrough Listen, wrote in the email.

According to Professor Loeb, the mysterious elongated shape of the comet is odd for a space rock but perfect for a space probe traveling between solar systems.

Now, the Breakthrough Listen project has announced it will scan ‘Oumuamua this week for signs of radio signals.

‘Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft since this would minimize friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust,’ the research firm said in a statement.

‘While a natural origin is more likely, there is currently no consensus on what that origin might have been, and Breakthrough Listen is well positioned to explore the possibility that ‘Oumuamua could be an artifact.’

To search Oumuamua for alien technology, scientists will use the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

Despite the fact that the enigmatic object is now located at twice the distance between our planet and the Sun, the Green Bank Telescope can pick up the slightest signal, if of course there is anything to pick up.

Researchers from the Breakthrough Listen project want to gather as much info as they can about the object before it leaves our solar system. In 2018, the mystery object will fly past Jupiter and will arrive at Pluto by the 2020s.

“‘Oumuamua’s presence within our solar system affords Breakthrough Listen an opportunity to reach unprecedented sensitivities to possible artificial transmitters and demonstrate our ability to track nearby, fast-moving objects,” said Listen’s Andrew Siemion, Director of Berkeley SETI Research Center. “Whether this object turns out to be artificial or natural, it’s a great target for Listen.”

Experts at Breakthrough Listen have also made it clear that even if no signal or other evidence of extraterrestrial technology is heard, Listen observations will cover portions of the radio spectrum in which the object has not yet been observed, and could provide important information about the possibility of water/ice, or the chemistry of a coma (gaseous envelope), neither of which have yet been identified.

Source: BREAKTHROUGH LISTEN TO OBSERVE INTERSTELLAR OBJECT OUMUAMUA

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

12-12-2017 om 12:29 geschreven door peter  

Earlier this year, our solar system got a visitor the likes of which it has never seen. Astronomers first spotted the object on October 18th using the PanSTARRS 1 telescope in Maui. At first, the visitor appeared to be a the first known comet to originate from outside our solar system, but further observations revealed it to be much stranger. Nevertheless, it was clear that the speeding visitor came from interstellar space, so the object was given the name ‘Oumuamua from the Hawaiian meaning “a messenger from afar arriving first.” Further analysis by the European Southern Observatory found the object to be perhaps not quite a comet, not quite an asteroid, and cigar-shaped. Based on the light bouncing off of it (or lack thereof), astronomers estimate the object to be among the darkest objects ever observed in space, absorbing 96% of the light that touches its surface.

Telescopic imagery of ‘Oumuamua (dot in center) passing through our solar system.

Given the strange nature of the object, it wasn’t long before speculation ran wild that we might have just encountered our first extraterrestrial spacecraft. Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, writes “the more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilization.” In particular, scientists are struck by the long cylindrical shape of the object; ‘Oumuamua is estimated to be between 100 and 400 meters long with much smaller diameter. Such cylinder shapes are perfect for aerospace applications – just look at our own space shuttles and rockets – but are seldom seen in naturally occurring space objects like comets or asteroids which tend to be more spheroid.

But who knows how many types of weird asteroids we’ve yet to discover? There’s no telling what ‘Oumuamua could be.

With so much weirdness surrounding ‘Oumuamua, the Breakthrough Listen initiative has decided the object could be its best bet for discovering proof of an alien intelligence. Breakthrough Listen hails itself as “the largest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth” and shares facilities and researchers with SETI. In a press release issued this morning, Breakthrough Listen announced that even if the possibility of ‘Oumuamua being an alien ‘artifact’ is low, it’s worth checking out:

Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimize friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust. While a natural origin is more likely, there is currently no consensus on what that origin might have been, and Breakthrough Listen is well positioned to explore the possibility that ‘Oumuamua could be an artifact.

Even if the chances that ‘Oumuamua could be an alien craft are tiny, any possibility greater than 0% is exciting. Could this be it? Are we finally be close to getting a glimpse of a civilization far more advanced than our own? I sure hope so. If this festering dung heap of a civilization is the best the Universe has got, maybe it’s best that we’re all alone out here. Breakthrough Listen’s observations of ‘Oumuamua begin tomorrow at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. Fingers crossed.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

12-12-2017 om 01:39 geschreven door peter  

'Prepare for invasion' Ex-MoD UFO chief drafts WAR PLAN for future ALIEN assault

A FORMER investigator for the Ministry of Defence has drafted a war plan reflecting how he believes the UK and US should respond to being attacked by aliens.

12-12-2017 om 01:30 geschreven door peter  

C-17 Globemaster IIIs.

(skeeze/Pixabay)

Flashing lights seen across the country this weekend prompted people to send videos and messages to local media asking if there were UFOs in the sky may be explained.

Joint Base Charleston told Charleston-based WLTX  that those lights were a group of C-17 cargo jets that were flying in formation from Charleston to Nevada on Saturday and Sunday.

A spokesman for the base told WLTX that a group of 17 jets from the 437th Airlift Wing took off from their base around 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, and were joined on the way by other air military installations and groups, including the 82nd Airborne.

In all, there were more than 40 C-17s from 10 bases and more than 20 C-130s from three bases that partook in a training exercise involving HALO drops, or high-altitude military parachuting.

The exercise was a final training exercise for the U.S. Air Force Weapons School located at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, a representative said, to allow mobility Air Force students to apply what they’ve learned over the last five months.

Witnesses called and wrote into Denver TV station KUSA to say they saw a string of slow-moving lights that appeared to be flying at a low altitude.

They asked if they were UFOs, or—one of the more creative explanations— if they were Santa’s scout elves on their way back to the North Pole.“Much more creative solutions for what the answer turned out to be,” KUSA reporter Jacob Rodriguez wrote.

A video of the lights, uploaded to YouTube by Denver’s South Metro fire’s representative, has since been removed. The video was taken from his home in Littleton, Colorado, KUSA reported.

From NTD.tv

{ https://www.theepochtimes.com/ }

12-12-2017 om 01:06 geschreven door peter  

Relativity's Video of a 3D-Printed Rocket Engine Feels Like the Future

"Time to freak out, people," says the project's financial backer.

By Eileen Guo

Rocket engine start-up Relativity Space shared a video of its 3D-printed rocket engine this week that’s stunning, for what it represents for the future of manufacturing and space travel.

The engine, named the Aeon 1, goes from ignition to full thrust in milliseconds. The entire video (embedded below) only last 10 seconds. While Elon Musk is working on the BFR, Relativity’s 3D printed engine is still a BFD for the future of space.

Relativity claims that the Aeon 1 engine takes far less time to create than a traditional rocket because it’s 3D printed — around one month instead of six for production, according to this chart that they shared — and has far less individual parts per engine. “Our process reduces the number of component interfaces, making full robotic automation of engine production possible,” the company says.

Relativity was founded in December 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, aerospace engineers and veterans of space companies Blue Origin and SpaceX, respectively. It first graduated from startup accelerator Y Combinator, before raising eight figures of funding – more than $10 million – led by Social Capital, the Palo Alto, California-based venture capital firm.

Relativity aims to decrease the price of rocket launches from $100 million to $10 million in four years, 3D print the first rocket — a 90-foot-tall, 7-foot-wide, able to carry 2,000 pounds into orbit — by 2020, and to launch that rocket into space by 2021.

“The 3D printing and automation of rockets is inevitable,” Ellis told Bloomberg in October.

Current 3D printing technology is actually slower than traditional welding, so his “inevitability” may take some time to be realized. To get there, Relativity first had to develop its own 3D printer. Enter Stargate, a giant machine with 18-foot long arms, specifically designed with Relativity’s rockets in mind. Relativity says that it is the world’s largest 3D printer to work with metal.

If the technology continues to develop, Ellis and Noone hope to cut down the development time of a rocket from the many months – and hundreds of workers – currently required to just one month, and with minimal labor.

They’re still some way off from that goal, but that’s why the first video of their test at NASA Stennis was so exciting. Exclaimed Chamath Palihapitiya, the CEO of Social Capital: “Time to freak out, people.”

Chamath Palihapitiya

✔@chamath

Time to freak out people. We 3D printed this engine - took more than 1000 parts down to 3. This company is literally at the bleeding edge... https://twitter.com/relativityspace/status/939220138116636672 …

10:17 PM - Dec 9, 2017

•  2525 Replies
• 300300 Retweets
•  940940 likes

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If you liked this article, check out this video: "SpaceX Falcon 9 Blooper Landing"

Photos via Relativity Space

12-12-2017 om 00:50 geschreven door peter  

12-12-2017 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

Man says he captured UFO on camera on NW Side of San Antonio

{ http://www.ktxs.com/ }

12-12-2017 om 00:09 geschreven door peter  

New Optical Illusion Discovered by Japanese Scientist Is Totally Baffling

Don't worry, your brain's not broken.

By Peter Hess

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

11-12-2017 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

Martian atmosphere is not threatened by solar wind

BY TIBI PUIU

Atmospheric pressure on Mars is just 1% that found on Earth.

Credit: YouTube.

In many respects, Mars is but a shell of its former self. About 3-4 billion years ago, it boasted a hot climate that could sustain an active hydrological cycle. There were heavy rains, rivers of flowing waters, even vast oceans. All of these require a thick atmosphere. Today, however, the atmosphere is roughly 100 times less dense than Earth’s, and the Red Planet is still continuously losing gas — expending about 100 grams of its atmosphere into outer space every second.

Solar wind is regarded as an important factor that can explain this atmospheric loss. However, a grad student at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, has come to results that say otherwise. According to Robin Ramstad, who studied for his Master of Science degree in Engineering Physics at the university, Mars’ atmosphere is adequately protected from the effects of solar wind despite lacking an Earth-like magnetic dipole.

Thin air

Here on Earth, the motion of molten iron alloys in the planet’s outer core acts like a geodynamo which generates a massive magnetic field. Scientists call our planet’s magnetic field the magnetosphere. It extends for several tens of thousands of kilometers into space, well above the atmosphere, sheltering the planet from the charged particles of solar winds and cosmic rays that would otherwise strip away the upper atmosphere, including the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Earth isn’t unique in this respect. Jupiter has masses of liquid metallic hydrogen in its outer mantle, creating the largest planetary magnetic field in the solar system. Uranus generates a global magnetosphere closer to the surface, which leads to some very strange quadrupole field effects —  rather than just a north and a south, there are another two poles lurking in a quadrupole field. Mars also used to have a magnetic field but lost it half a billion years after its formation.

Artist impression of Mars covered in a primitive ocean.

Credit: NASA/GSFC.

Solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. First described as a phenomenon in 1859, it has been observed only in the 1960s. According to one mainstream theory, it’s also responsible for the erosion of the early Martian atmosphere, which caused the greenhouse effect to collapse on the planet. At the same time, solar wind interacts with the ionized upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere, and induces a magnetosphere.

“It has long been thought that this induced magnetosphere is insufficient to protect the Martian atmosphere,” says Robin Ramstad. “However our measurements show something different.”

Left: Charged particles from the sun (the solar wind) form an induced magnetosphere round Mars, which unlike the sun does not have its own intrinsic magnetic field (artwork: Anastasia Grigoryeva) Larger file
Right: Robin Ramstad points out the position of the Swedish instrument ASPERA-3 on a model of the Mars Express spacecraft (photo: Anastasia Grigoryeva)

Ramstad studied data beamed back to Earth by the Mars Express orbiter. The spacecraft has an ion mass analyzer mounted that measured ion escape from Mars since 2004.

The researcher combined and compared measurements of the ion escape under varying solar wind conditions and levels of ionizing solar radiation. His results suggest that solar wind has an effect on the ion escape rate, but it’s rather negligible. Instead, the ion escape rate is more dependent on EUV (extreme ultraviolet) radiation which has a large effect on the total amount of escaped atmosphere.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-12-2017 om 23:42 geschreven door peter  

Time Travel: Theories, Paradoxes & Possibilities

Alternate time travel theories

While Einstein's theories appear to make time travel difficult, some groups have proposed alternate solutions to jump back and forth in time.

Infinite cylinder

Astronomer Frank Tipler proposed a mechanism (sometimes known as a Tipler Cylinder) where one would take matter that is 10 times the sun's mass, then roll it into very long but very dense cylinder.

After spinning this up a few billion revolutions per minute, a spaceship nearby — following a very precise spiral around this cylinder — could get itself on a "closed, time-like curve", according to the Anderson Institute. There are limitations with this method, however, including the fact that the cylinder needs to be infinitely long for this to work.

Black holes

Another possibility would be to move a ship rapidly around a black hole, or to artificially create that condition with a huge, rotating structure.

"Around and around they'd go, experiencing just half the time of everyone far away from the black hole. The ship and its crew would be traveling through time," physicist Stephen Hawking wrote in the Daily Mail in 2010.

"Imagine they circled the black hole for five of their years. Ten years would pass elsewhere. When they got home, everyone on Earth would have aged five years more than they had."

However, he added, the crew would need to travel around the speed of light for this to work. Physicist Amos Iron at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel pointed out another limitation if one used a machine: it might fall apart before being able to rotate that quickly.

Cosmic strings

Another theory for potential time travelers involves something called cosmic strings — narrow tubes of energy stretched across the entire length of the ever-expanding universe. These thin regions, left over from the early cosmos, are predicted to contain huge amounts of mass and therefore could warp the space-time around them.

Cosmic strings are either infinite or they’re in loops, with no ends, scientists say. The approach of two such strings parallel to each other would bend space-time so vigorously and in such a particular configuration that might make time travel possible, in theory.

Time machines

It is generally understood that traveling forward or back in time would require a device — a time machine — to take you there. Time machine research often involves bending space-time so far that time lines turn back on themselves to form a loop, technically known as a "closed time-like curve."

To accomplish this, time machines often are thought to need an exotic form of matter with so-called "negative energy density." Such exotic matter has bizarre properties, including moving in the opposite direction of normal matter when pushed. Such matter could theoretically exist, but if it did, it might be present only in quantities too small for the construction of a time machine.

However, time-travel research suggests time machines are possible without exotic matter. The work begins with a doughnut-shaped hole enveloped within a sphere of normal matter. Inside this doughnut-shaped vacuum, space-time could get bent upon itself using focused gravitational fields to form a closed time-like curve. To go back in time, a traveler would race around inside the doughnut, going further back into the past with each lap. This theory has a number of obstacles, however. The gravitational fields required to make such a closed time-like curve would have to be very strong, and manipulating them would have to be very precise. [Related: Warp Speed, Scotty? Star Trek's FTL Drive May Actually Work]

Grandfather paradox

Besides the physics problems, time travel may also come with some unique situations. A classic example is the grandfather paradox, in which a time traveler goes back and kills his parents or his grandfather — the major plot line in the "Terminator" movies — or otherwise interferes in their relationship — think "Back to the Future" — so that he is never born or his life is forever altered.

If that were to happen, some physicists say, you would be not be born in one parallel universe but still born in another. Others say that the photons that make up light prefer self-consistency in timelines, which would interfere with your evil, suicidal plan.

Some scientists disagree with the options mentioned above and say time travel is impossible no matter what your method. The faster-than-light one in particular drew derision from American Museum of Natural History astrophysicist Charles Lu.

That "simply, mathematically, doesn't work," he said in a past interview with sister site LiveScience.

Also, humans may not be able to withstand time travel at all. Traveling nearly the speed of light would only take a centrifuge, but that would be lethal, said Jeff Tollaksen, a professor of physics at Chapman University, in 2012.

Using gravity would also be deadly. To experience time dilation, one could stand on a neutron star, but the forces a person would experience would rip you apart first.

Time travel in fiction

Two 2015 articles by Space.com described different ways in which time travel works in fiction, and the best time-travel machines ever. Some methods used in fiction include:

One-way travel to the future: 

The traveler leaves home, but the people he or she left behind might age or be dead by the time the traveler returns. Examples: "Interstellar" (2014), "Ikarie XB-1" (1963)

Time travel by moving through higher dimensions:

 In "Interstellar" (2014), there are "tesseracts" available in which astronauts can travel because the vessel represents time as a dimension of space. A similar concept is expressed in Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" (2018, based on the book series that started in 1963), where time is folded by means of a tesseract. The book, however, uses supernatural beings to make the travel possible.

Travelling the space-time vortex: 

The famous "Doctor Who" (1963-present) TARDIS ("Time And Relative Dimension In Space") uses an extra-dimensional vortex to go through time, while the travelers inside feel time passing normally.

Instantaneous time jumping: 

Examples include "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (2006), the DeLorean from "Back To The Future" (1985), and the Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine from "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" (1959-64).

Time travelling while standing still: 

Both the "Time Machine" (1895 book) and Hermione Granger's Time-Turner from "Harry Potter" keep the traveler still while they move through time.

Slow time travel: 

In "Primer" (2004), a traveler stays in a box while time traveling. For each minute they want to go back in time, they need to stay in the box for a minute. If they want to go back a day in time, they have to stay there for 24 hours.

Traveling faster than light: 

In "Superman: The Movie" (1979), Superman flies faster than light to go back in time and rescue Lois Lane before she is killed. The concept was also used in the 1980 novel "Timescape" by Gregory Benford, in which the protagonist sends (hypothetical) faster-than-light tachyon particles back to Earth in 1962 to warn of disaster. In several "Star Trek" episodes and movies, the Enterprise travels through time by going faster than light. In the comic book and TV series "The Flash," the super-speedster uses a cosmic treadmill to travel through time.

Difficult methods to categorize: 

There's a rocket sled in "Timecop" (1994) that pops in and out of view when it's being used, which has led to much speculation about what's going on. There's also the Time Displacement Equipment in "The Terminator" movie series, which shows off how to fight a war in four dimensions (including time).

So is time travel possible?

While time travel does not appear possible — at least, possible in the sense that the humans would survive it — with the physics that we use today, the field is constantly changing. Advances in quantum theories could perhaps provide some understanding of how to overcome time travel paradoxes.

One possibility, although it would not necessarily lead to time travel, is solving the mystery of how certain particles can communicate instantaneously with each other faster than the speed of light.

In the meantime, however, interested time travelers can at least experience it vicariously through movies, television and books.

11-12-2017 om 23:13 geschreven door peter  

Watch a Brilliant Fireball Light Up the Sky in This NJ Police Dash-Cam Video

11-12-2017 om 22:44 geschreven door peter  

{ http://scivenue.com/category/tech }

11-12-2017 om 22:26 geschreven door peter  

Action Dynamics of the Local Supercluster
by Daniel Pomarede
on Sketchfab

If you click play on the interactive above, you’ll see the motions of galaxies in our local supercluster, from 13 billion years ago to the present day.

Where’s our home galaxy, the Milky Way, in this interactive? Look below at the still graphic, for the yellow letters marked MW. Our Milky Way is part of what’s called the Local Group, which spans about 10 million light-years and contains several dozen galaxies. The Local Group, in turn, is part of the Virgo Supercluster, which spans just over 100 million light-years and is thought to contain at least 100 galaxy groups and clusters. The interactive above is part of a study by a team of astronomers from Maryland, Hawaii, Israel, and France. They say it’s the most detailed map ever of the orbits of galaxies in our extended local neighborhood. It shows the past motions of some 1,400 galaxies within 100 million light-years of our Milky Way.

The study called Action Dynamics of the Local Supercluster. It’s published in the December 4, 2017 issue of the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal.

Our home Milky Way galaxy (MW, yellow) and our companion Andromeda galaxy (M31, red) are participating in a downward flow away from a vast underdense region called the Local Void and toward the Virgo Cluster, represented by the large purple dot in this image. Most galaxies between us and the Virgo Cluster will eventually fall into the cluster but we lie slightly beyond the capture zone.

Image via R. Brent Tully/ Institute for Astronomy.

In the interactive, you’ll notice the galaxies are moving toward something, a gravitational attractor represented by the big red dot more or less in the center of the mapped area (and in purple in the still graphic just above). This attractor is the Virgo Cluster, a large cluster of galaxies at the heart of the Virgo Supercluster (all located in the direction to the constellation Virgo in our sky; hence their names).

The Virgo Cluster alone – which is about 50 million light-years from us, or in the midst of the Virgo Supercluster’s 100 million light-years – has 600 trillion times the mass of our sun. These astronomers explained in their statement that the Virgo Cluster is pulling other galaxies toward itself, and absorbing them:

Over a thousand galaxies have already fallen into the Virgo Cluster, while in the future all galaxies that are currently within 40 million light-years of the cluster will be captured. Our Milky Way galaxy lies just outside this capture zone. However the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, each with 2 trillion times the mass of the sun, are destined to collide and merge [with each other] in 5 billion years.

The study – and the interactive at top – are based on the measurement of 18,000 galaxy distances.

The astronomers’ statement explained the interactive this way:

With the interactive model, a viewer can pan, zoom, rotate, and pause/activate the time evolution of movement along orbits. The orbits are shown in a reference frame that removes the overall expansion of the universe.

So be sure to click on it, and play around with it!

Here’s an artist’s concept of the Virgo Supercluster, via Wikimedia Commons. Look toward the center to find our Local Group.

The lead author of this study is Ed Shaya of the University of Maryland in collaboration with Brent Tully of University of Hawaii, Yehuda Hoffman of Hebrew University in Israel, and Daniel Pomarede of University of Paris-Saclay in France. These scientists used what they said is a novel method for determining galaxy orbits, which they called numerical action.

Brent Tully said:

For the first time, we are not only visualizing the detailed structure of our Local Supercluster of galaxies but we are seeing how the structure developed over the history of the universe. An analogy is the study of the current geography of the Earth from the movement of plate tectonics.

The astronomers’ statement also explained:

These dramatic merger events are only part of a larger show. There are two overarching flow patterns within this volume of the universe. All galaxies in one hemisphere of the region – including our own Milky Way – are streaming toward a single flat sheet. In addition, essentially every galaxy over the whole volume is flowing, as a leaf would in a river, toward gravitational attractors at far greater distances …

Representations of the orbits in the Virgo Supercluster can also be seen in the video below:

Bottom line: A team of astronomers has made the most detailed map ever of the orbits of galaxies in our local supercluster. It shows the past motions of some 1,400 galaxies within 100 million light-years of our Milky Way.

Source: Action Dynamics of the Local Supercluster

Via University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

11-12-2017 om 21:48 geschreven door peter  

Why? Because we love Carl Sagan.

This video has been up on YouTube since 2011, but a friend posted it to my Facebook page this week. It’s wonderfully amusing, and also strangely compelling, maybe because listening to Carl Sagan’s voice is always such a pleasure.

Robert Price posted this video to YouTube. As he said:

For all the other words that aren’t [millions, billions, trillions or 1 quadrillion], please watch Cosmos.

Carl Sagan, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bottom line: All the illions from Cosmos, in order.

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

11-12-2017 om 21:17 geschreven door peter