Here are 7 of the most-viewed news and feature stories of this past year.

1.  Scientists reveal secrets of lost continent Zealandia.

In February, scientists were discussing whether a submerged realm called Zealandia should be recognized as a full-fledged Earth continent. In October, a team of researchers returned from an expedition to Zealandia and reported their results.

A rainbow seen from the research ship JOIDES Resolution, during the Zealandia expedition.

Image by Tim Fulton via International Ocean Discovery Program/ JRSO/ NSF.

2. Close shave from an undetected asteroid.

Whoosh! Astronomers discovered a small asteroid – now designated as asteroid 2017 OO1 – on July 23. That was 3 days after it passed 1/3 the moon’s distance from Earth. More.

Artist’s concept of an asteroid passing near Earth.

3. When’s the next U.S. total solar eclipse? 

After 2017’s awesome total solar eclipse on August 21, the next total solar eclipse visible from North America will be April 8, 2024. More.

Image via Fred Espenak at the NASA Eclipse Web Site.

4. Biblical signs in the sky on September 23, 2017?

A mirror in the sky to “signs” from the Bible’s Book of Revelation? Possibly. But this same sky scene has been seen 4 other times in the past 1,000 years. An astronomer explains.

Green arrows show the “9” stars of Leo.Blue arrows show the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Red arrow is Jupiter. Violet arrow is the moon (shown enlarged). The sun is at Virgo’s shoulder.

Image via Christopher M. Graney.

5. Mysterious rock-comet 3200 Phaethon.

This asteroid-comet hybrid was closest to Earth December 16. Its presence near Earth may be why the Geminid meteors put on a good show in 2017. Info and images of the rock-comet here.

6. History of global temperature 1880-2016.

Take 14 seconds to watch the change in Earth’s surface temperature from 1880 through 2016. More.

7. And, lastly, the ever-popular … Betelgeuse will explode someday.

Someday, the star Betelgeuse will run out of fuel, collapse under its own weight, and then rebound in a spectacular supernova explosion. Someday … but probably not soon. More.

Betelgeuse imaged in ultraviolet light by the Hubble Space Telescope and subsequently enhanced by NASA. The bright white spot is likely one of this star’s poles.

Image via NASA/ESA.

Bottom line: EarthSky’s 7 most-viewed news and feature stories of 2017. Happy new year to our readers, and thank you for visiting EarthSky!

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

31-12-2017 om 19:30 geschreven door peter  

Here are the most popular photo galleries from 2017:

1. Moon sweeps past Venus and Mars.

As 2017 opened, the young moon swept past dazzling Venus in the west after sunset. Mars was there, too, and, for those with optical aid, Neptune! Go to gallery.

As seen from the Northern Hemisphere, the moon, Venus and Mars arced up and to the left of the sunset Sunday evening, January 1, 2017.

Photo by Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan Parsippany, New Jersey. More photos here.

2. February 10-11 lunar eclipse.

A penumbral eclipse is subtle, but has a quiet beauty all its own. Go to gallery.

February 10, 2017 full moon rising over northeast Oklahoma, with a tinge of Earth’s penumbral shadow visible.

Photo by Mike O’Neal. More photos.

3. Moon and Jupiter.

Wonderful photos of the moon and Jupiter on June 3, 2017, from around the world. Go to gallery.

Moon and Jupiter on June 3, 2017 from Deirdre Horan in Dublin, Ireland. More photos.

4. Summer full moon. 

EarthSky friends are moon-lovers! Favorite photos of the July 2017 full moon from EarthSky friends around the world. Go to gallery.

John Ashley at Glacier National Park, Montana, wrote: “The July 2017 full moon rises over Mount Saint Nicholas on its way into a warm summer dusk. Video on my FB page at JohnAshleyFineArt. More photos. ”

5. Total solar eclipse.

We received many more wonderful photos of the August 21 eclipse than for any prior event. Go to gallery.

Sue Waddell contributed this eclipse composite from Eastview, Kentucky, where there was a 98.3% eclipse. More photos.

6. Orionid meteor shower.

October’s Orionid meteor shower didn’t disappoint. Go to gallery.

Composite image of meteors seen on the morning of October 21, 2017 from Simon Lee Waldram of Fuerteshoot in Spain. More photos.

7. A grand year for the Geminids.

December’s Geminid meteor shower was thought to have a better-than-average chance of producing a rich display, since the Geminids’ parent body – a strange rock-comet called 3200 Phaethon – is nearby. And so it was! Go to gallery.

“The Geminids are good,” reported veteran meteor observer Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, who captured this fireball on the morning of December 14 around 4 a.m. More photos.

Bottom line: Favorite Earthsky photo galleries of 2017.

{http://earthsky.org/ }

31-12-2017 om 18:45 geschreven door peter  

Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

Science fiction has taught us to expect our first contact with alien life to be a momentous event, with radio signals from another civilization filling our airwaves and perhaps even the arrival of an alien spaceship or two. Reality is somewhat less exciting, and scientists have long expected our first discovery of extraterrestrial life to be on the microscopic scale. Now, the Russian space agency claims they may have stumbled upon just that, and it may have been hiding under our noses the entire time.

Russian cosmonauts have reportedly discovered tiny bacteria on a swab collected from outside the International Space Station, and they’re confident that the organisms didn’t originate on our planet. If the discovery can be confirmed, it would be the very first concrete evidence of extraterrestrial life. That’s a pretty big deal.

The swabs, which were collected years ago but seemingly overlooked, contained living bacteria which may have come from outer space. “Somehow these swabs reveal bacteria that were absent during the launch of the ISS module,” Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov explains. “That is, they have come from outer space and settled along the external surface. They are being studied so far and it seems that they pose no danger.”

Along with the purported alien bacteria, other bacteria thought to have originated on Earth was also found on the swabs. Surviving in the vacuum of space is no easy feat, and intense temperature fluctuations failed to kill the bacteria over the course of three years, which is mighty impressive. It’s unclear exactly how the researchers were able to differentiate between terrestrial bacteria and the alien bacteria that appeared within the same samples.

The bacteria was brought back to Earth on the swabs and is now being studied, though the Russian space agency says it shouldn’t be considered dangerous. The group apparently didn’t actually know the bacteria was present on the swab samples until it was returned to Earth for closer examination.

There will surely be plenty of scientific interest and certainly debate over where the bacteria originated, but if you’ve seen sci-fi movies you already know that the bacteria will become sentient and lead to the total destruction of the Earth within a few weeks anyway, so get your affairs in order.

{ http://bgr.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 17:32 geschreven door peter  

MIT Astronomer's 'Zoo Theory' Explains Why Aliens Have Not Made Contact With Earth

It may be an old theory that was first proposed almost 45 years ago. But with SpaceX’s recent rocket launch sending many Los Angeles residents into a frenzy due to what they thought was a UFO sighting, and reports claiming that the U.S. government was secretly involved for years in the study of such phenomena, the so-called “Zoo Theory” is again making headlines for its unusual explanation as to why there has yet to be a confirmed UFO or alien sighting to this day.

The Zoo Theory was first proposed in 1973, when Massachusetts Institute of Technology radio astronomer John A. Ball wrote that aliens behave in a similar way to zookeepers, avoiding actual contact with humans to allow them to function normally and perform their everyday tasks. As Newsweek explained, the theory suggests that aliens are quietly watching us behind the scenes, but not interfering with the evolution of humanity because we are “too unevolved and uncivilized” to pose a significant threat or distraction to extraterrestrial beings.

In a 2016 article, Science Alert opined that the Zoo Theory is plausible, as there is a chance that life on other planets, if it does exist, evolved at a much faster pace than life evolved on Earth. That could lead to some interesting hypotheses about how these highly-evolved, possibly older civilizations could be much more technologically advanced than humanity currently is.

“An OC [other civilization] that is, say, a century younger than we are might not be able to communicate over interstellar distances; a century ago we couldn’t,” Ball wrote.

“And an OC a millennium older than we are would probably be using a technology for interstellar communications, such as modulated gamma rays, that we humans haven’t yet learned how to do.”

Stunning ‘Zoo Theory’ by MIT Radio Astronomer proves ‘Why have not made contact with Aliens’ https://t.co/wSeCWiiRfCpic.twitter.com/D94xnzu2zV

— Science Examiner (@ScienceExaminer) December 31, 2017

As further noted by Newsweek, the Zoo Theory is just one of many that explain why we have yet to confirm alien life on other planets, though other theories are leaning toward the possibility of non-intelligent life, as opposed to extraterrestrial beings that boast of advanced technology. Scientists have been exploring worlds such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, in hopes of confirming whether the necessary ingredients of life are present. But while there could be a chance Enceladus, which is notable for its subsurface ocean, is habitable, experts believe that the moon might only be able to support microbial forms of life.

Despite the best efforts of scientists to confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life, recent efforts have not come anywhere close to proving that we aren’t the only form of intelligent life in the universe. Last month, a team of scientists conducted the first extensive search for radio signals from alien life, only to come up empty due to a lack of signals from distances of 50 parsecs (963 trillion miles) from Earth in all directions. According to Cosmos, the researchers concluded that the chances of signals from high-duty-cycle radio transmitters ever being detected within that 50-parsec distance are less than 0.1 percent.

Even with the Zoo Theory in place, as well as the continued lack of evidence to support the belief that other planets can support alien life, whether intelligent or non-intelligent, some researchers are still confident in the possibility of confirming extraterrestrial life in the foreseeable future. Earlier this year, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute senior astronomer Seth Shostak spoke to Futurism, quipping that he “bet everybody a cup of coffee” that scientists will be able to confirm intelligent alien life within the next 20 years.

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{ http://w-e-a-t-h-e-r-s.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 17:19 geschreven door peter  

31-12-2017 om 12:55 geschreven door peter  

Strange Light in the sky off Newport Beach Coast California releases Bright Spheres

On October 21, 2017 the witness saw a huge bright light over his house in Long Beach, California.

At first he spotted two objects crossing paths with each other then focused on the larger one. As he zoomed in his camera the huge bright light started ejecting smaller spheres into the atmosphere.

The first ejection formed a triangular formation. As he kept filming the object the object started emitting many spheres in a steady stream.

There were at least 40 smaller spheres emitted from the main object. Interestingly the smaller spheres were only visible through his infrared camera. This was recorded with his full spectrum Canon SX60 with a monopod in his backyard in Long Beach CA.

On December 30, 2017, once again a strange light has been spotted off the coast of Newport Beach, California. This time the light in the form of a ‘hexagon’ appeared for approximately 30 minutes during the very early morning hours.

The first video shows the enhanced version of the November 21, 2017 sighting. Original video here.
The second video shows the December 30, 2017 sighting including an analysis of both events.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 12:30 geschreven door peter  

Most remarkable UFO sightings in December 2017

11th December 2017; lights in the sky – Liberty, Arizona

12th December 2017; lights in the sky – Rosarito, Mexico

21st December 2017; unknown objects in formation – Long Beach, California

31-12-2017 om 12:20 geschreven door peter  

Formerly Classified US Military Footage Apparently Shows Navy Pilots Tracking An Unidentified Flying Object

A previously classified footage has apparently revealed that the US fighter jets were sent to investigate a mysterious UFO as it hovered off the coast of San Diego.

The US Department of Defence (DoD) released a video that seems to show Navy pilots reacting with a surprise as they looked for the whitish oval object that glided over the Pacific Ocean.

A secret multimillion-dollar programme reportedly studied the footage. The programme was tasked with investigating UFO sighting reports.

The Pentagon confirmed reports that the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Programme (AATIP) ran from 2007 to 2012 with annual funding of $22m (£15m) for DoD budgets.

The released footage shows an encounter between a UFO, roughly the size of a commercial jet, and two Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets in 2004, from the aircraft carrier Nimitz.

Asked to investigate the object were Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Jim Slaight, who were on a routine training mission 100 miles out into the Pacific.

Naval cruiser USS Princeton detected the mysterious object appearing suddenly at 80,000 feet. The Naval cruiser had been tracking the UFO for two weeks.

In the video, a voice can be heard from one of the pilots saying “look at that thing, dude. It’s rotating.”

Commander Fravor told The New York Times the strange aerial thing was around 40ft long, had no plumes, wings or rotors. Fravor added that the object outpaced their F-18s and was big enough to churn the sea 50ft below it.

Fravor had no idea what he saw as the object accelerated like nothing he had ever seen.

The Navy superiors of the pilot did not investigate any further. Until today, the object has never been clearly identified.

The Pentagon said the AATIP was closed when defence officials shifted funding and attention to other priorities.

However, it was not clear whether officials continue to investigate UFO sighting reports. According to its backers, the programmed remains in existence without the public knowledge.

The initial funding of the programme came primarily at the request of former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who is known for his space phenomena enthusiasm.

Pentagon spokesperson Laura Ochoa said that the AATIP ended in the 2012 timeframe. She explained that it was determined that there were other issues in higher priority that merited funding and it was in the DoD’s best interest to make a change.

Asked if the department continued to investigate such case, she said that the DoD takes all threats and potential threats to their people, assets, and mission seriously and takes action to credible information.

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

31-12-2017 om 12:13 geschreven door peter  

Aliens are HERE? Most BAFFLING ‘UFO sightings and ET videos’ from 2017 REVEALED

ALIEN hunters claimed to have recorded baffling footage of extra-terrestrial beings and spacecraft in 2017 – but are these the most convincing?

31-12-2017 om 00:54 geschreven door peter  

“Look at that thing, dude.”

This could be the most famous quote in ufology for the year 2017. “Look at that thing, dude” was uttered by a pilot on one of the two infamous videos released this month by parties identifying them as evidence of UFO encounters by U.S. military personnel. The “parties” are now in question, as the Department of Defense has backed off on saying it was involved in the release, and Luis Elizonso, the former head of the $22 million semi-secret UFO department called Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program and a current member of Tom DeLonge’s To The Stars Academy, was found to have previously stated that he was going to use the videos for pilot training. Nonetheless, there’s no question that pilots dispatched on November 14th, 2004, by the USS Nimitz saw things they could not believe.

“There’s a whole fleet of them. Look on the S.A.”

The “S.A.” this pilot was referring to is the synthetic aperture radar, which was picking up the objects. And that’s where Raytheon comes in. Instrumentation inside the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets is manufactured by this massive government contractor, including the most important part of this whole story – the Raytheon Advanced Targeting Forward Look Infrared sensor (ATFLIR) which was mounted under one of the fighters and captured the video which prompted the “Look at that thing, dude.”

Raytheon ATFLIR (AN/ASQ-228)

Is Raytheon, normally pretty secretive about weapons contracts and equipment, upset to be linked to this UFO story?

“We might be the system that caught the first evidence of E.T. out there. But I’m not surprised we were able to see it. ATFLIR is designed to operate on targets that are traveling in excess of Mach 1. It’s a very agile optical system with a sensitive detector that can distinguish between the cold sky and the hot moving target quite easily.”

They’re not upset … they’re excited! At least Aaron Maestas, director of engineering and chief engineer for Surveillance and Targeting Systems at Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business, is. He is quoted on the company’s web site in an article entitled “The UFO Spotter: Navy Pilots Used Raytheon Tech to Track a Strange UFO,” which explains that ATFLIR (designated AN/ASQ-228 by the Navy) is a “single pod that combines mid-wave infrared targeting and navigation FLIRs, an electro-optical, or visual light, sensor, a laser rangefinder and target designator, and a laser spot-tracker. It can locate and designate targets day or night at ranges exceeding 40 nautical miles and altitudes surpassing 50,000 feet.”

Sounds impressive, but Dr. Steve Cummings, vice president of Technology Development and Execution at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems wants to see more data. His UFO spotter would have …

“Wide-area search of some form or another. I would want at least two sensors, like radar and [electro-optical/infrared], to search the skies…One way to actually verify these and be absolutely certain that this is not an anomaly is to get the same target, behaving the same way on multiple sensors.”

USS Nimitz

So, despite the fact that 12 pilots and weapons system operators in six different planes, along with radar operators on the USS Princeton in the Nimitz fleet, saw the UFOs, Cummings wants the next generation of UFO hunters to have better equipment.

From Raytheon, of course.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/}

30-12-2017 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

ER IS IETS GROOTS GAANDE IN DE RUIMTE ( VIDEO )

Afgelopen week stonden de mainstream media bol van de verhalen over mensen die dachten dat de gelanceerde Space X raket een grote UFO was. 

Het werkelijke verhaal is dat er iets groots gaande moet zijn in de ruimte waarvan de Space X raket een onderdeel vormt. 

Net voor kerst was de complete wereld in de ban van het volgende: 

Los Angeles werd gisteravond opgeschrikt door een vreemd verschijnsel. Bestuurders zetten hun auto's stil op snelwegen om foto's en video's te maken en bewoners tot in San Diego bij de Mexicaanse grens belden TV-stations om melding te doen van "een mysterieus licht aan de hemel."

De brandweer van Los Angeles was er snel bij om het mysterie op te helderen: het ging om een raket. Ruimtevaartbedrijf SpaceX had een Falcon9 vanaf Vandenberg Air Force Base gelanceerd. Aan boord waren tien communicatiesatellieten die succesvol hun baan om de aarde bereikten.

Deze SpaceX raket zou maar liefst tien satellieten de ruimte in brengen.

Rond precies dezelfde tijd schiet ook Japan een raket de ruimte in met een tweetal satellieten aan boord. Alhoewel dit ongeveer gelijktijdig gebeurt met de SpaceX lancering is het in Japan inmiddels al zaterdag.

Dan, enkele dagen later lanceren de Russen een raket met aan boord naar verluid één satelliet. Er is verder weinig te vinden in de media over deze lancering. 


Op vrijwel hetzelfde moment dat de Russen een raket lanceren, doen ook de Chinezen dat en ook deze raket zou een onbekend aantal satellieten de ruimte in brengen.

De vier grootste en machtigste landen ter wereld, Amerika, Rusland, China en Japan, lanceren allemaal in een tijdsbestek van enkele dagen een raket de ruimte in.

De reden weten we niet, maar wel dat dit absoluut geen toeval is en dat er iets groots gaande is in de ruimte, waardoor ze nu allemaal plotseling satellieten daar naartoe moeten brengen. 

Het is niet dat we niet genoeg satellieten in de ruimte om de aarde hebben, dat er nu met spoed door deze vier landen een aantal nieuwe bij gelanceerd moeten worden. Er speelt iets anders, maar wat, dat is de grote vraag.

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30-12-2017 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

The red giant Pi1 Gruis. Astronomers used ESO’s Very Large Telescope with the PIONIER instrument to see the convective cells on its surface. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star’s diameter and about 75 million miles (120 million km) across.

Image via ESO.

With just a few exceptions, throughout the ages, whether using the eye alone or telescopes, astronomers have seen stars as pinpoints. Stars are really great balls of roiling gases, shining powerfully into space via thermonuclear reactions taking place in their interiors. But all stars besides our sun are so very distant that, even with telescopes, we’ve had very few direct glimpses of their surface features. Now, for the first time, astronomers have directly observed granulation patterns, caused by massive convection currents rising from the star’s interior, on the surface of a star outside our solar system. It’s no coincidence the star is a huge one, the aging red giant Pi1 Gruis, whose diameter is about 700 times that of our sun. The astronomers have seen the giant convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star. These new results are being published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

These astronomers used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope to make this observation, along with an instrument called PIONIER (Precision Integrated-Optics Near-infrared Imaging ExpeRiment). They said in their statement from ESO:

Located 530 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Grus (The Crane), Pi1 Gruis is a cool red giant. It has about the same mass as our sun, but is 700 times larger and several thousand times as bright. Our sun will swell to become a similar red giant star in about five billion years.

An international team of astronomers led by Claudia Paladini of ESO … found that the surface of this red giant has just a few convective cells, or granules, that are each about 75 million miles (120 million km) across — about a quarter of the star’s diameter. Just one of these granules would extend from the sun to beyond Venus. The surfaces — known as photospheres — of many giant stars are obscured by dust, which hinders observations. However, in the case of Pi1 Gruis, although dust is present far from the star, it does not have a significant effect on the new infrared observations.

When Pi1 Gruis ran out of hydrogen to burn long ago, this ancient star ceased the first stage of its nuclear fusion program. It shrank as it ran out of energy, causing it to heat up to over 100 million degrees. These extreme temperatures fueled the star’s next phase as it began to fuse helium into heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen. This intensely hot core then expelled the star’s outer layers, causing it to balloon to hundreds of times larger than its original size. The star we see today is a variable red giant.

Until now, the surface of one of these stars has never before been imaged in detail.

A piece of our sun’s surface, showing a sunspot and solar granulation. In part because the sun is more compact than Pi1 Gruis, it has millions of convective cells, instead of just a few.

Image via the Hinode spacecraft.

In many ways, Pi1 Gruis is like our sun; both are stars, after all, and subject to many of the same processes. But, as with people, stars can be very different from each other. Pi1 Gruis has slightly more mass than our sun (about 1.5 solar masses), and a much larger volume, because it’s in a more advanced stage of its evolution. That may be why – in contrast to Pi1 Gruis’ few, very large convective cells – our sun’s photosphere contains about two million convective cells, with typical diameters of just 1,000 miles (1,500 km). The ESO statement explained:

The vast size differences in the convective cells of these two stars can be explained in part by their varying surface gravities. Pi1 Gruis is just 1.5 times the mass of the sun but much larger, resulting in a much lower surface gravity and just a few, extremely large, granules.

Doubtless if we could see Pi1 Gruis’ surface in even more detail, we’d be boggled at its beauty and complexity. That’s certainly the case with our own sun, whose surface has been revealed to us in recent decades by spacecraft, such as NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which captured the images to make the mesmerizing video below:

ESO also pointed out that the stage of life at which we see Pi1 Gruis is short-lived, on the timescale of stars:

While stars more massive than eight solar masses end their lives in dramatic supernovae explosions, less massive stars like this one gradually expel their outer layers, resulting in beautiful planetary nebulae. Previous studies of Pi1 Gruis found a shell of material 0.9 light-years away from the central star, thought to have been ejected around 20,000 years ago. This relatively short period in a star’s life lasts just a few tens of thousands of years – compared to the overall lifetime of several billion – and these observations reveal a new method for probing this fleeting red giant phase.

The video below, from ESO, zooms in on Pi1 Gruis.

Bottom line: For the 1st time, astronomers have seen giant bubbles roiling up to the surface of a star beyond our solar system. The star is an aging red giant, Pi1 Gruis, located about 530 light-years away.

Source: Large granulation cells on the surface of the giant star Pi1 Gruis

Via ESO

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

30-12-2017 om 23:31 geschreven door peter  

Evidence of life processes found in fossils in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks. Scientists say this work suggests life in our universe is widespread.

J. William Schopf and colleagues from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin analyzed the microfossils with a cutting-edge technique called secondary ion mass spectroscopy.

Image via UCLA.

This month, scientists from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin–Madison announced the results of their analysis of rock samples found decades ago in Western Australia. They say the rocks contain fossils of 3.465-billion-year-old microorganisms, the oldest ones known. The study’s lead author – paleontologist J. William Schopf of UCLA – collected the fossils in 1982 and interpreted them then as early life. Critics had argued they were just odd minerals that only looked like biological specimens. The new study shows that two of the species appear to have performed a primitive form of photosynthesis, another apparently produced methane gas, and two others appear to have consumed methane and used it to build their cell walls. Thus, according to these scientists, the new findings show the microfossils are indeed biological.

Plus, they said, the fossils provide:

… strong evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in the universe is common.

Their work was published December 18, 2017 in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

These scientists say their work strengthens the case for life existing elsewhere in the universe because, they say, it shows a diverse group of organisms had already evolved extremely early in the Earth’s history. That early earthly life — combined with our knowledge of the vast number of stars in the universe and the growing understanding that planets orbit so many of them — suggests life is common in the universe. Schopf commented in a statement:

… it would be extremely unlikely that life formed quickly on Earth, but did not arise anywhere else.

The microfossils came from the Apex Chert, a rock formation in Western Australia. This area is among the oldest and best-preserved rock deposits in the world.

Image via John Valley/ UW-Madison.

An epoxy mount containing a sliver of a nearly 3.5-billion-year-old rock from Australia’s Apex Chert deposit.

Image by Jeff Miller/ UW-Madison.

The scientists say their study is the most detailed ever conducted on microorganisms preserved in such ancient fossils. They said their study is:

… the first to establish what kind of biological microbial organisms they are, and how advanced or primitive they are.

The study describes 11 microbial specimens from five separate taxa. According to these scientists, some represent now-extinct bacteria and microbes from a domain of life called Archaea, while others are similar to microbial species still found today.

The scientists analyzed the microorganisms at the Wisconsin Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer Lab (WiscSIMS) in Madison. It is one of just a few places in the world where this type of work can be done. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy revealed the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 isotopes in the fossils.

The scientists then were able to use this information to determine how the microorganisms lived. The study’s co-author, geoscientist John Valley of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said:

The differences in carbon isotope ratios correlate with their shapes. Their C-13-to-C-12 ratios are characteristic of biology and metabolic function.

When these fossils were formed, these scientists said, there was very little oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere. In fact, oxygen would have been poisonous to these microorganisms, and would have killed them, they said. Oxygen first appeared on Earth approximately half a billion years later, before its concentration in our atmosphere increased rapidly starting about 2 billion years ago. Thus, at the time these ancient microorganisms were alive, advanced photosynthesis didn’t exist yet.

The scientists also said the very existence of the rocks they analyzed is remarkable. That’s because the average lifetime of a rock exposed on Earth’s surface is about 200 million years. William Schopf commented that, when he began his career, there was no fossil evidence of life dating back farther than 500 million years ago. He added:

The rocks we studied are about as far back as rocks go.

An example of one of the microfossils discovered in a sample of rock recovered from the Apex Chert. A new study used sophisticated chemical analysis to confirm the microscopic structures found in the rock are biological.

Image via J. William Schopf via UW-Madison.

Schopf also said:

By 3.465 billion years ago, life was already diverse on Earth; that’s clear — primitive photosynthesizers, methane producers, methane users. These are the first data that show the very diverse organisms at that time in Earth’s history, and our previous research has shown that there were sulfur users 3.4 billion years ago as well.

This tells us life had to have begun substantially earlier and it confirms that it was not difficult for primitive life to form and to evolve into more advanced microorganisms.

Schopf said scientists still don’t know how much earlier life might have begun. But, he said:

… if the conditions are right, it looks like life in the universe should be widespread.

Geoscientist John Valley, left, and research scientist Kouki Kitajima collaborate in the Wisconsin Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer Lab (WiscSIMS). 

Photo via Jeff Miller/ University of Wisconsin.

Bottom line: Scientists analyzed fossil microorganism specimens from 3.465 billion years ago, providing strong evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in the universe is common.

Source:

SIMS analyses of the oldest known assemblage of microfossils document their taxon-correlated carbon isotope compositions

Via UCLA and UW-Madison

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

30-12-2017 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

2017 YZ4: NEWLY-DISCOVERED ASTEROID APPROACHES EARTH

Updated | On Christmas Day, astronomers at the Mount Lemmon Survey near Tucson, Arizona, discovered an asteroid fast approaching Earth. The newly named 2017 YZ4 skimmed past the planet at 10:50 a.m. ET (7:50 a.m. PT) today. 

Fast and furious

The previously unknown rock hurtled through space at almost 21,500 miles per hour. It flew past the Earth closer than the moon. It is believed to measure between 22.6 and 49 feet in diameter according to observation news website The Watchers.

The asteroid’s trajectory is marked in green. The orbit of the moon is drawn in gray.

NASA

Lindley Johnson, Planetary Defense Officer at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C, tells Newsweek: “2017 YZ4 is the 52nd known asteroid to fly by Earth within one lunar distance this year and the first since two such asteroids flew past us on November 21. They varied from 1 to 80 meters [3 to 260 feet] in size.”

Unusually close flyby

The asteroid 2017 YZ4 hurtled through space at almost 21,500 miles per hour. The previously unknown rock flew past the Earth closer than the moon.

JUDY SCHMIDT/JENS MEYER/NASA/FLICKR

Astronomers estimate it reached less than 139,000 miles of Earth. That’s only just longer than half the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Even at its closest, 2017 YZ4 was incredibly unlikely to breach the Earth’s atmosphere. However, it came unusually close for a celestial boulder.

NASA considers it a Near-Earth Asteroid. This designation is reserved for any asteroid closer than six million miles to Earth.

Johnson tells Newsweek, “As of December 25, there are 17,506 known Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), in orbits around the Sun that could come close to our planet; 17,400 are asteroids and 106 are comets.

“This year, we’ve discovered 1,996 Near-Earth Asteroids so far. There were 1887 such objects discovered in 2016 and 1,566 in 2015.”

Celestial objects pass by the Earth regularly. Few, however, pass so close to home. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory compiles a list of upcoming near-Earth flybys that can help you make sure you build an underground fallout shelter on time. Or, of course, just get out your telescope.

Over the 2018, the next closest asteroid to fly past Earth will be 2017 DR109. Don’t start building your underground shelter just yet, as the hunk of rock shouldn’t get closer than 880,000 miles from Earth. That is roughly three-and-a-half times the distance to the moon.

On Friday April 13, 2029, an asteroid called 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) will come far closer to Earth than 2017 YZ4. It will fly past at only one-tenth the distance to the moon. Apophis is named for the Egyptian god of evil and destruction living in eternal darkness.

Don’t be fooled by the name, however. While this is a remarkably close encounter, Apophis is unlikely to actually hit Earth.

There are many more asteroids waiting to be discovered, Johnson explains. “Near-Earth Asteroids are never ‘new,’” he says. “They’ve been there for many millennia. We just haven’t discovered them all yet.”

Busy winter skies

This has been a big month for stargazers, with 2017’s only supermoon and the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids brought us a “potentially hazardous” 3200 Phaethon asteroid, imaged in new detail by the newly restored Arecibo Observatory Planetary Radar in Puerto Rico. The second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world was damaged by Hurricane Maria earlier this year.

View image on Twitter

NASA

✔@NASA

The most powerful astronomical radar system on our planet recently provided the highest-resolution images to date of a near-Earth asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, during its Dec. close approach to Earth, ~1.1 million miles away: http://go.nasa.gov/2BkdwWD 

2:04 AM - Dec 23, 2017

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This article has been updated to reflect 2017 YZ4’s journey past Earth and to include upcoming asteroid events in addition to comment from NASA’s Lindley Johnson.

30-12-2017 om 22:45 geschreven door peter  

Check out 100 facts about the Universe that will make your jaw drop

As most of you probably know, our Solar system is composed of the sun and everything else that orbits our star; planets, dwarf planets, moons, and space rocks.

Astronomers believe that the ‘edge’ of our solar system is located around 15 billion kilometers from our Sun.

The planets of our solar system have been of extreme interest for ancient civilizations throughout thousands of years and followed them across the sky and recorded their positions and even based every-day life in accordance to them and the stars.

There are countless things that few people know about the solar system, in this article we will introduce you furthermore to the solar system with a few facts, so let’s start.

According to astronomical research, our solar system formed 4.6 billion of years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant molecular cloud.

Our Sun needs 240 million years to complete one single orbit around the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

According to astronomers, ever since our Sun was formed, it completed nineteen orbits around the galactic center.

Did you know that our star, the Sun, rotates counterclockwise?

The Earth compared to the Sun.

The surface temperature of our Sun is about 5505 degrees Celsius.

Since its formation, our Sun has used up about half of the hydrogen in its core. This means it has still a lot of fuel to burn, so don’t worry.

The vast majority of the solar system’s mass is within the Sun over 99 percent, while the remaining mass is contained on Jupiter.

According to astronomical calculations, Jupiter’s magnetic field is approximately fourteen times stronger than that of Earth.

Remeber that massive Storm on Jupiter? Well, this gigantic storm is one of the biggest mysteries of astronomy. Experts have almost no information about it. Everything about is a mystery. What powers it, what caused it and why it’s…red?

Did you know that the great red spot on the surface of Jupiter is in fact an anti-cyclonic storm? It is believed to have started some 300-400 years ago.

The solid objects of the solar system; planets, moons, etc., comprise 0.0001% of the Solar System’s total mass.

A comparison between our sun and Canis Majoris.

Even though our Sun is gigantic, it is small if we compare it to VY Canis Majoris; a red hypergiant located in the constellation Canis Major. This star is so big that If it would be placed in our Solar System, the surface of VY Canis Majoris would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter. VY Canis Majoris is so big that astronomers estimate it to be 1,000,000,000 bigger than our Sun.

Did you know that Jupiter saved the Earth? Lexells Comet was traveling towards Earth following a trajectory that would make it impact our planet. However, thanks to the intense gravitational pull that Jupiter has, the comet was pulled towards the planet.

Our Sun is composed of roughly 98% hydrogen and helium.

We practically live WITHIN our Sun. This is because the Sun’s outer atmosphere extends far beyond it is visible surface; it is enormous. Earth orbits within this delicate atmosphere.

Practically a million of Earths’ could fit into the Sun.

This wide-field view of the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri was created from photographic images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star appears so big just because of the scattering of light by the telescope’s optics as well as in the photographic emulsion. Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to the Solar System. Image released Oct. 17, 2012. 

CREDIT: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

As most of us have probably learned in school, the distance from the Sun to Earth is one Astronomical Unit or AU.

The Heliosphere which is the Sun’s outer atmosphere is considered to extend to around 100 Astronomical Units; One Astronomical Unit equals 149 597 871 kilometers.

Scientists suggest that the limit of the Heliosphere, referred to as Heliopause is located fifteen billion kilometers from our Sun.

Experts believe that the Sun’s atmosphere extends billions of kilometers downwind, as they believe Sun’s atmosphere has in fact a “teardrop” shape.

Compared to the rest of our solar system, the Sun’s mass is only one trillionth of a percent of the entire volume of our Solar system.

Astronomers believe that within our solar system alone are more than ten thousand objects that may be large enough to have been rounded by their own gravity.

If we were to look at the universe from an outside perspective, we would see that our solar system is located in the Orion arm, which in turn is located around 26,000 light years away from the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

As most of you already know, there are eight planets in our solar system, but hundreds of unidentified objects that lurk in the outermost region of our cosmic neighborhood.

The moon is considered the closest astronomical object to Earth. Why haven’t we visited it more often?

A comparison between Earth and Jupiter.

Out of the eight planets in our solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are composed mostly out of rock and metal. Oh and there’s a planet missing between Mars and Jupiter.

Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn are mostly made out of hydrogen and helium. They are Gas Giants.

According to astronomers, Neptune has the fastest winds in the Solar System; The winds on the surface of Neptune can reach up to 2100 kilometers per hour, scientists have yet to determine the reason.

Uranus is the coldest planet in our solar system with temperatures that can drop to a freezing -224 degrees Celsius.

Jupiter is the fastest planet in our Solar System. It takes Jupiter little under ten hours to complete a full rotation around its axis.

Comets are usually referred to as “Dirty Snowballs” because of their composition, ice, and rock.

According to astronomical observations, there are 176 known natural satellites that orbit planets in our solar system out of which 168 moons orbit full-size planets. 8 moons orbit dwarf planets.

Jupiter is the planet that has the most amount of moons; a total of 63 confirmed satellites have been discovered, and some astronomers argue they may be even more moons hiding around the gas giant.

Jupiter, being the largest planet in our solar system is considered to have the largest ocean in the solar system; astronomers believe that it is about 40,000 km deep.

Astronomers have discovered several objects that orbit the sun that are located considerably further than Pluto. One such object is believed to be Planet X, a theoretical planet that should be there, but astronomers have still not found.

The Kuiper Belt is one of the two main reservoirs of cometary material and is believed to extend to over fifty astronomical units. Astronomers also considered it as one of the most distant regions in our solar system.

The Oort comet cloud is believed to extend to 50,000 Astronomical Units from the Sun.

Astronomers estimate that the Oort cloud contains TRILLIONS of icy bodies.

According to experts, at the outer edge of the Oort cloud, distant cosmic bodies are believed to have more gravitational influence from nearby stars than from the Sun.

Saturn could actually “float”, well at least partially, since the overall density of Saturn is 0.69 – seventy percent the density of water.

Saturn isn’t the only planet that has rings, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also possess beautiful rings.

Jupiter’s dark rings are mostly made out of dust particles and are thus very hard to detect. Astronomers believe that within these rings are particles ejected by Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io.

Astronomers have found that the ring system of Uranus is similar to Jupiter’s, although the content of Uranus ring system is mostly composed of a material that resulted from collisions of relatively small “satellites”.

Saturn is cool. In fact, the planet has another gigantic ring, discovered in 2009; it can only be seen via infrared.

Did you now that the Solar System’s favorite planet Pluto was actually discovered by accident in 1930 after astronomers noted small and unexpected variation from the predicted orbit of Uranus and decided to look into this; thus Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto.

Pluto was considered the ninth planet of our solar system for seventy-six years, it was demoted to a dwarf planet and has been our favorite dwarf planet since 2006.

Pluto is extremely small. Mainstream scholars estimate that Pluto is just over 2,253 kilometers across, smaller than the United States of America.

Despite the fact that Mercury is the closest planet to orbit the Sun, it isn’t the hottest. Because of the fact that Mercury does not have an atmosphere, there is nothing that would keep the Sun’s heat on the planet.

According to astronomers, the hottest Planet in our solar system is Venus. The second closest planet to the Sun has a very thick atmosphere; astronomers estimate it to be a hundred times thicker than Earth’s atmosphere. Due to this, massive amounts of heat from the Sun is retained on the planet, and astronomers calculate that the average temperature on Venus is over 468 degrees Celsius. This makes the exploration of Venus really difficult.

Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, researchers believe that near Mercury’s poles Ice can be found

Did you know that Venus is the only planet in our Solar System that spins in the opposite direction of every other planet? Venus is a true rebel. Now I say why they say women are from Venus. Here’s a fun fact: A single day on Venus is, in fact, longer than its year; It takes Venus much more time to rotate on its own axis than to orbit our Sun.

Saturn’s moon Titan has a remarkably similar atmosphere to Earth’s atmosphere. Titan’s atmosphere is twenty percent more extensive than Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists suggest that given the similarities to Earth, may have biologic activity; making it an ideal place to search for life outside Earth.

Ganymede, Jupiter’s natural satellite is considered the largest natural satellite in our Solar system and has a diameter of  5,268 km which is 8 percent larger than that of the planet Mercury.

The diameter of Ganymede is 2% larger than that of Saturn’s Titan which is the second largest moon.

Did you know that Ganymede, the largest and most massive moon of Jupiter, has the highest mass of all planetary satellites? It has 2.02 times the mass of the Earth’s moon.

Ganymede is the only moon in the Solar System known to possess a magnetosphere which is an area of space near an astronomical object in which charged particles are controlled by that object’s magnetic field.

Saturn’s moon Mimas is one of the most heavily cratered objects in our Solar System, it also eerily resembles the “Death Star” (the fictional space station known from the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) due to the gigantic impact crater on its surface, a 130 kilometers across.

Mimas is the smallest astronomical body that is known to be rounded in shape because of self-gravitation.

Asteroid 243 Ida has a satellite orbiting it called Dactyl. 243 Ida is also one of the most cratered objects in the solar system.

The largest dwarf planet that orbits our Sun is called Eris, orbiting the Sun at three times the distance of Pluto.

Eris was discovered recently (2005), and is the ninth most massive body known to directly orbit the Sun.

Eris is estimated to be 27 percent more massive than Pluto but there are uncertainties about its size; to properly calculate it, more research is needed.

Dysnomia is so far the only known natural moon of Eris, its diameter is estimated to be between 350 and 490 km.

Saturn’s moon Hyperion is the largest non-spherical moon in our Solar System.

In its composition, Hyperion is half as dense as water meaning that it would actually float if placed in water (hypothetically).

Astronomers believe that Hyperion is a fragment of a much larger object that was broken up in the distant past thus obtaining its irregular shape.

Hyperions surface contains a large amount of deep, sharp craters that together with its irregular shape, give the moon the appearance of a giant sponge.

Ceres is so far the only known dwarf planet located in the inner part of the solar system and is closer to the Sun than Neptune.

It is considered the largest asteroid in the inner part of our solar system.

Researchers estimate that Ceres contains an internal ocean of liquid water under its surface.

This dwarf planet contains more fresh water under its surface than all of the freshwater on Earth combined.

Sedna, a large planetoid is the first dwarf planet discovered in the Oort cloud.

In visible light, Sedna is one of the reddest objects in the solar system.

Sedna is one of the most distant objects known in the Solar System.

Sedna has the longest known orbital period in the Solar System, its orbit takes around 11,400 years to complete.

2012 VP113 is a planetoid that has the largest known perihelion – (closest approach to the Sun). Researchers suggest that 2012 VP113 is about half the size of Sedna.

There are four objects in our solar system that have perihelia larger than 47 Astronomical Units; Sedna, 2010 GB174, 2004 XR190 and 2004 VN112.

Olympus Mons, located on Mars is actually the largest Volcanic mountain to have been discovered in our Solar System.

Mars has water; Scientists have discovered the traces of water on Mars but not in liquid form.

Comet Hyakutake is believed to have had the longest ever discovered tail, over 570 million km in length.

Did you know that Uranus is the only known planet in our Solar System that actually rotates on its side? Guess what, if you were to scream in space, no one would actually hear you scream. This is because there is no air in space, which means that nothing could carry your voice, so, even if you would actually scream or talk, no one would actually be able to hear you.

Researchers have a hard time explaining the Moons of Mars; Deimos and Phobos, some even theorize that these moons were trapped in Mars’ orbit.

Phobos will probably one day impact into Mars. Because of its extremely low orbit, tidal forces are slowly lowering the orbit of Phobos. Astronomers have estimated that in about 50 million years, this moon will crash into the red planet.

Curiously, Mercury and Venus are two planets in our solar system that do not have moons orbiting them.

Did you know that Earth’s moon has water; and it is called Lunar water more accurately. Astronomers suggest that water in the form of ice can be present in craters on the Moon.

We’ve explored our solar system significantly in recent years. But despite this fact, Mercury is the least explored of the planets in our solar system.

Did you know that there are more than 500,000 minor planets that have been discovered and cataloged by the Minor Planet Center?

Venus apart from being the hottest planet is also the most dangerous planet since in its atmosphere is filled with sulfuric acid.

Despite the fact that there is a great possibility that hundreds of dwarf planets exist in the Kuiper belt, the International Astronomical Union has only accepted four:  Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake.

Astronomers believe that more than 50 tons of space rock and dust fall on Earth each day.

One day on Mercury equals to 58 days on Earth.

The gravity on our planet is six times stronger than on the surface of the Moon; this means that you would weigh less on the Moon than on Earth.

The magnetosphere is one of the central reasons why life can exist on our planet. The magnetosphere helps divert harmful radiation from the Sun away from Earth.

Experts do not understand Saturn’s rings completely, Some astronomers believe they could be extremely old and may have existed since the beginning of the solar system. However, there are others who believe they could be relatively new… compared to the age of the planet.

Astronomers believe that there is a very high chance that there is life on Saturn’s moon, Enceladus.

Mars, the planet that is very similar to Earth has the largest dust storms in the Solar system, they can ever last for months and cover the entire planet.

I have no more facts to write about… just kidding, here is one more:

There are relatively few stars within ten light years of the Sun, as the closest is the triple star system Alpha Centauri located around 4.4 light years away.

Let me know if I missed something that is worth including into the article, and share your thoughts.

Reference and source:

• Space.com

about.education

• Encyclopedia.com
• Science National Geographic
• Solar System NASA
• Windows2universe

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30-12-2017 om 22:06 geschreven door peter  

NASA is planning the first interstellar journey in history to search for Aliens

NASA has set their sights on Alpha Centauri, the star closest to our Solar System, and wants the mission to take place in 2069 and look for signs of alien life.

After reaching the moon (again) and actually getting to Mars, the American Space agency wants to turn mankind into an interstellar species.

Despite the fact that the ‘mission’ does not have a name yet and most of the technology necessary to take us there does not even exist, the projected launch date would coincide with the centenary of the arrival of mankind to the Moon.

NASA is yet to develop the necessary technology to travel to Alpha Centauri in a reasonable time.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Initially, scientists say that a spaceship which would need to travel at a minimum of 10 percent of the speed of light would be required to get us there.

The Alpha Centauri constellation is located 4.4 light-years away, and even if one-tenth of the speed of light were achieved, we would be able to visit the star system after a 44-year journey, reaching our nearest neighbor in 2113.

This means we need to ramp up our tech game. In order for mankind to really become an interstellar species, colonize other planets and moons, first in our solar system, we need to develop a technology that’s affordable, reusable, and fast. Really fast.

According to the New Scientist, NASA is considering sending tiny laser-powered probes that, in theory, can travel at a quarter of the speed of light. Other techniques under consideration include the use of nuclear reactions, or through collisions between antimatter and matter.

However, there are other options experts will consider. But, time is ticking so NASA will need all the help it can get to make a trip to Alpha Centauri a reality.

Perhaps the best way to start their journey to our closest cosmic neighbor is by developing a technology that would get us to Mars in a matter of weeks, then days.

Getting to Mars, and creating a transportation system between the two planets could serve as a starting point for further technology in development, and it would make traveling to Mars something routine.

As reported by Newsweek, NASA’s revolutionary mission in 2069 will visit Proxima B, a planet that was discovered not long ago and may be a world very similar to Earth. Interestingly, the manager of the Innovation Foundry at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Anthony Freeman called the entire project “very nebulous.”

Proxima Centauri B is an exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the closest star to the Sun—the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, which is in a triple star system. The planet—which has been hailed as Earth’s twin in the past—is located around 4.2 light-years from Earth, which makes it the closest known exoplanet to the Solar System.

In comparison, the only man-made spacecraft that has reached interstellar space is Voyager-1, which is currently traveling at LESS than 1 percent of 1 percent of the speed of life, reports Newsweek.

IF Voyager-1 had the ability to travel at 10 percent the speed of light, it would make it to Alpha Centauri in about 44 years.

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30-12-2017 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

If Humanity Discovered That Earth Would Be Destroyed In 400 years, What Would Be Humanity’s Response?

Oh, Snap…

A rogue planet ejected from its home solar system billions of years ago has wandered through interstellar space until it crossed our solar system’s gravity well. This slight trajectory deflection has put it on a direct path for impact with Earth. Scientists detected havoc in the Oort cloud out past Pluto. The Oort cloud is in chaos. Using our best minds and observatories we determined that the object is in the magnitude in size of Jupiter. Since it is travelling at a relativistic speed we have 400 years until Earth is no more.

Would the world band together and try to figure out a way to save humanity or would it be too far away and we would just let future generations figure out the solution?

The first astronomers to detect the upcoming event might not even recognize the danger. Anything that will take 400 years to hit us will be passing through a variety of gravitational fields and will be aiming at a location that might seemingly have nothing to do with Earth.

But at some point, someone would run the numbers and discover that yes indeed, we were facing the possibility of a celestial collision. At this point, they would only be thinking in terms of probabilities and not certainties. But after they shared their findings with other astronomers, gradually a general consensus would form, that the celestial body did not represent a mere possibility of colliding with Earth, but that it almost certainly would.

By this time, the astronomers had made no attempt to hide their work so far, the news would have already hit the Internet. But very few lay people would be able to follow the math, so there might be a series of confused news articles talking about something hitting something else someday.

But gradually the articles would gain coherence, the Wikipedia entry would become clearer and more persuasive. Counter-arguments and competing mathematics would be discredited, and a general sense of disturbance would begin to spread through the planet.

The governments of the world, while saying nothing publicly, would have long-since been in communication with the astronomers, and done their own verification of the science. In addition, they would have analyzed the possible effects of an impact, the probable number of deaths, the time it might take for human civilization and economies to recover. They would have considered the options of attempting somehow to divert the oncoming celestial body, the size of the required explosion, the mass and trajectory of debris, and other details. Finally, they would reach the inescapable conclusion that the impact could not be prevented and that the destruction would be too great for any kind of recovery. In 400 years the planet would be totally destroyed, with no hope that any life would survive.

During these considerations, NASA would for several months already have been calculating the possibility of resettling a portion of humanity onto another planetary body in the solar system. They would estimate the likelihood that the destruction of Earth would affect the orbits of other planets, or that debris from the impact might fly into any prospective resettlement area.

Official government spokespeople would have no comment yet. If asked, they would simply reply that they didn’t want to “get ahead of the science,” and that “so far, nothing is known for certain.” But they’d affirm that they’d have more to say when the scientific questions had been better understood.

At this point, only a very small minority of people would be expressing any sort of outrage at their government’s silence, or at the existence of the threat itself. Those people would be quite vocal, but the Internet buzz and radio talk-show hosts would always say something along the lines of, “even if it’s real, it’s 400 years in the future. Relax.” And that would echo the sentiments of many Americans, if not people throughout the world.

Eventually, the United States, China, Russia, and the European Union would make a joint announcement. The leaders of those nations, speaking together at the United Nations building in New York City, would announce a plan to create a series of large-scale, self-sufficient settlements on several planets and moons throughout the solar system. The impending threat against the Earth would not be mentioned. When asked if there was a connection between the colonial project and the threat of destruction, the reply would be that this project was a normal outgrowth of the space programs of all developed nations, and should be welcomed as a sign of ongoing human progress.

Gradually, budgeting for the various components of the colonial enterprise would be established. Research would proceed on a number of fronts, including the construction of space elevators along the equator, habitats capable of transporting large numbers of people across interplanetary distances, and larger habitats capable of maintaining those people indefinitely at specific locations throughout the solar system. There would also be a new focus on asteroid mining and bulk transportation of non-living cargo between planets. As reported in the news, each colony would need a permanent source of raw materials, ongoing protection of necessary atmospheric conditions, and a long-term effort to transform each colonial planet and moon into an Earth-like body with appropriate atmospheric and ecological conditions. Those terraforming efforts, however, would be acknowledged to require thousands of years, and would not be a major part of the requirements for the initial set of colonial outposts.

The first colonies would be established on Mars. Many lives would be lost in those initial efforts. But the governments of the world would praise those who sacrificed their lives and would redouble the effort to address the remaining technical problems. The colonial projects would go forward, government spokespeople would say, in spite of any obstacles.

After Mars, Jupiter would also be home to many colonies, in the form of orbiting stations. These stations would have a modular construction so that they could be continually expanded. Over the next hundred years, a ring of such constructions would gradually form around the planet, syphoning its material needs largely from Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere. The water of Ganymede and the Earth itself would begin to be harvested for use by all colonial projects.

The first wave of colonists would be highly trained specialists, capable of building the colonial infrastructure and then setting up the requirements of actual habitation.

The next wave, however, would be taken from the impoverished countries of the world. In exchange for risking their lives, they would be given commercial opportunities in the new colonies. Like the early Martian colonies, many participants in this second wave would perish as well, until each colony was securely established and tested under proper load.

The third wave would consist of the populations of wealthy nations. Tens of millions of people would migrate to thriving economies ready to receive them. The occasional atmospheric accident would be hushed up as quietly as possible. But the governments of the world would provide whatever incentives were necessary in order to keep up migration rates.

Eventually, after half the world’s population had been resettled, the governments would acknowledge publicly for the first time that within another 200 years the planet would be destroyed by a celestial collision. They would put forward the colonies as a perfectly reasonable option and offer further economic incentives for people to migrate. They would also impose new laws restricting childbirth on Earth. Later, the restrictions would be tightened until all new Earth-based pregnancies were outlawed. An underclass of undocumented natives would spring up, living largely off the grid, and difficult to gather into the migratory waves.

By now the government officials would all have migrated to the colonies themselves, remotely overseeing a set of small, isolated, local governments on Earth. Among the off-world governments, there would be ongoing negotiations, attempting to unite them all into one; but these would be slow and unpromising, given religious, tribal, and political histories on Earth. But the United Nations would be quite strong and would play a large role in ongoing decision-making for the colonies as well as for the remaining local governments on Earth.

By the time of the destruction, only a few hundred million people would remain on Earth. The impact would be streamed live to viewers in every colony. Everyone, everywhere, would feel the loss as a tragic event; and would feel the uncertainty of their own future. How could these little colonies, these little bubbles of air, with no history, ever hope to have a future? And this uncertainty would become an inspiration to young people that would rally an inventiveness and resourcefulness throughout the colonies, and would lead them to make great leaps of technological advancement and to overcome the remaining obstacles to humanity’s continued survival.

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30-12-2017 om 18:44 geschreven door peter  

10 Reasons That We Still Haven’t Found Aliens

The Fermi Paradox, first introduced by physicist Enrico Fermi, asks the question, “Where is everybody?” Or, more specifically, “Where are all the aliens?”

When we factor in the size of the universe, the number of Earth-like planets, and a range of other variables (as outlined in the Drake equation), there should be tens of thousands or more extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy. And with the galaxy being around 10 billion years old, scientists say that intelligent worlds have had plenty of time to contact one another. So if aliens should statistically exist, why haven’t we encountered any yet?

10. Earth Is Special

The Rare Earth Hypothesis suggests that the chain of events that created life on this planet was so complex that only a biological perfect storm could recreate it elsewhere. While there may be Earth-like planets, none of them have exactly what it takes for intelligent life to develop. In other words, we haven’t met any aliens, because none are out there, or they are so few and far between that contact is highly improbable.

The major factor that makes Earth so hospitable to life is its long period of relatively stable climatic conditions, which is due to the planet’s unique orbit and position. Without our precise distance from the Sun and Moon, the planet would likely be too hot or cold, have too little oxygen, and be too unstable to support any life beyond bacteria.

Paleontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee were the first to introduce the Rare Earth Hypothesis. Even though nearly 15 years have passed since they publicized the theory, and Earth-like planets have since been detected, they are still confident that the odds of those worlds having life are extraordinarily low.

9. All Intelligent Life Hits A Stumbling Block

According to the Great Filter theory, alien life does exist, but intelligent life is incapable of technologically advancing enough for long-distance space communication or travel. Although our modern spaceships, satellites, and radios may make it seem like we’re getting closer, we’ll inevitably reach a barrier or catastrophe that will either wipe us out or cause technology to devolve.

We know cataclysmic natural disasters periodically strike Earth, so it’s possible that these types of events hit worlds everywhere, sending intelligent life back to the Stone Age before technology can adequately develop. Or, maybe we annihilate ourselves, such as through nuclear war. Whatever the filter is, it seems to mean nothing but bad news for humans. Not only will we never communicate with space beings—we’ll probably die trying.

However, there is one possible bright side. Some think that we are the first individuals to make it past the filter, so we’ll eventually be the first super-intelligent beings to roam space.

8. They’ve Moved Out Of The Universe

According to futurist John Smart’s Transcension Hypothesis, intelligent alien life once existed in our universe, yet it became so advanced that it moved on to greener pastures. More specifically, aliens became so evolved that they stopped looking at outer space and instead focused on inner space.

The concept can be compared to the miniaturization we’ve experienced in computers. What initially began as an enormous, room-filling technology progressively became smaller (even pocket-sized) while simultaneously growing in complexity and power. To Transcension supporters, intelligent life evolves in much the same way, constantly working toward a denser, more efficient use of space, time, energy, and matter (“STEM compression“). Eventually, we’ll be living and operating at the nano-scale until we become so small that we create and exist in a black hole outside this space-time continuum.

To Smart and others, black holes are the ultimate destination. They allow for ideal computing and learning, time travel, energy harvesting, and more. Civilizations that don’t achieve this destiny are failures.

Other cosmic beings may be working toward their own transcendence. Like humans, they might emit space broadcasts, but these types of signals are supposedly the work of immature civilizations and are unlikely to be successful. Also, based on Moore’s Law (that computing power doubles every two years), these beings would likely reach transcendence before exploring the cosmos.

7. Earth Isn’t As Great As We Think

Perhaps it’s hubris to think that aliens would even have an interest in us or our planet. Worlds far more interesting and life-supporting may exist, and intelligent beings would much rather spend their time focusing on super-habitable places rather than Earth. This theory is the complete opposite of the Rare Earth theory—Earth isn’t special at all.

An alien race capable of traveling or communicating across light years would no more care about chitchatting with us than a human would converse with a fly. Likewise, they’d undoubtedly have their own superior technologies and would not require any of our measly resources. If, however, they did need to harvest minerals or elements, they wouldn’t have to visit Earth. Those things are found floating all over space.

Furthermore, no matter how intelligent the beings, traveling across light years is no easy feat. What are the odds they’d invest all that energy coming here when there are 8.8 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way? For followers of this theory, to think Earth is everyone’s destination is to suffer from the same geocentrism that led to Galileo’s erroneous persecution.

6. We’re Living In A Virtual Reality

Arguably one of the most difficult to accept explanations to the Fermi Paradox is the Planetarium Hypothesis. Our world is a “form of virtual reality ‘planetarium,’ designed to give us the illusion the universe is empty.” We haven’t discovered any extraterrestrial life because those extraterrestrials haven’t designed that into the program.

The fundamentals of this theory date back to Descartes, who asked, “How can we know that the world around us is real—are we just a brain in a vat, which thinks it’s living in the real world?”

Instead of being brains in a vat, however, most modern supporters of this notion think we’re in a computer simulation designed by advanced aliens. These aliens are capable of harnessing enough energy to manipulate matter and energy on galactic scales. Why would the aliens want to watch us like ants in a farm? Maybe just for fun, or maybe they just made us to see if they could.

As unlikely as the Planetarium Hypothesis may sound, professional philosophers and physicists are serious about this idea. They say that we’re more likely to be artificial intelligences in a fabricated world than to have our own minds. Furthermore, we will likely discover the simulation, since we’ll inevitably notice a glitch in the system or devise an adequate test to prove the theory.

{ http://listverse.com/ }

30-12-2017 om 18:23 geschreven door peter  

L’incident OVNI de 2004 impliquait-il des extraterrestres ou un engin spatial antigravité russe?

 PAR MANUELRODRIGUEZ

Le 11 octobre, la star du Rock Tom DeLonge a animé une retransmission en direct du lancement officiel de son émission « To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science« . Au cours du lancement, il a présenté Luis Elizondo, un ancien agent des renseignements de carrière, qui a dirigé un programme d’enquête sur les menaces aériennes non identifiées au Pentagone, un programme qui a duré près de dix ans.

Les images filmées d’un incident d’OVNI du 14 novembre 2004 impliquant plusieurs jets F-18 de l’USS Nimitz ont été présentées et il a été annoncé que le Pentagone mettait à la disposition du public des dossiers officiels.

Les pilotes de la marine ont décrit l’OVNI comme défiant les lois de la physique et ne faisant pas partie d’un programme aérospatial conventionnel américain, comme l’a décrit Dave Fravor (Commander, US Navy ret.), l’un des pilotes qui ont été témoins de l’incident et qui a été mentionné dans un article de mars 2015:

À plusieurs reprises, à compter du 10 novembre [2004], l’agent de lutte contre les incendies et le chef principal du service de lutte contre les incendies, extrêmement expérimenté, avaient détecté de multiples retours descendant de loin au-dessus du volume de balayage du radar, soit quelque part à plus de 80 000 pieds. Les cibles, appelées Anomalous Aerial Vehicles (AAV), tomberaient de plus de 80 km pour planer à environ 50 pieds au-dessus de l’eau en quelques secondes.

Toujours au même endroit, un Lat/Long à environ 30NM au large de la côte de Baja, à environ 70nm au sud-ouest de Tijuana. À l’époque, le SPY-1 était le radar tactique le plus sophistiqué et le plus puissant de la planète. Grâce à lui, ils ont été en mesure de suivre ces avions pendant qu’ils descendaient, planaient en stationnaire et s’éloignaient ensuite à toute vitesse, vitesse de virage et accélération plus rapidement que n’importe quel avion ami ou menaçant connu. Impossible vitesse.

Un rapport sommaire officiel de l’incident de la Marine américaine avait déjà été publié en ligne. Néanmoins, la plupart des médias grand public ont simplement ignoré le lancement de DeLonge et la documentation abondante liée à l’incident des ovnis.

Tout cela a changé le 16 décembre 2017, lorsque le New York Times et Politico ont publié un article sur Elizondo et l’incident de 2004. Nous avons appris que le programme du Pentagone d’Elizondo a été officiellement financé de 2007 à 2012 grâce à une subvention de 22 millions de dollars créée par un groupe de membres du Congrès dirigé par l’ancien sénateur Harry Reid.

Les fonds ont été acheminés par l’intermédiaire de Robert Bigelow, l’ami milliardaire de Reid, qui dirige une société civile de l’aérospatiale, afin de construire des habitats humains extensibles pour les missions en orbite terrestre et dans l’espace lointain.

Il y a eu par la suite un tsunami de reportages dans les médias grand public sur le programme du Pentagone dirigé par Elizondo, le financement de 22 millions de dollars qu’il a reçu et l’incident de 2004. DeLonge et sa To The Stars Academy ont soudainement été des nouvelles majeures dans le monde entier.

Le ton de la couverture médiatique était respectueux et sérieux, comme l’illustre une entrevue de Tucker Carlson avec le pilote de la Marine lors de l’incident de 2004.

Les médias grand public disaient au public qu’il était temps de se débarrasser de l’association qui a longtemps empêché un examen sérieux du phénomène des ovnis.

Pourquoi deux mois de retard dans la couverture du témoignage d’Elizondo et de l’incident de 2004? Les histoires du New York Timeset de Politico ont-elles été conçues pour lancer un processus de divulgation officielle des informations officielles sur les ovnis, que DeLonge suggère depuis plus d’un an et demi avec le lancement de son projet multimédia « Sekret Machines » en avril 2016?

Il ne fait guère de doute que DeLonge a été aidé par un groupe d’initiés de haut niveau qui l’ont choisi comme véhicule pour révéler la vérité derrière le phénomène des OVNI. En mars 2016, DeLonge a donné un certain nombre d’entrevues au cours desquelles il a dit qu’on lui avait donné accès à dix initiés de haut niveau, y compris des généraux, qui avaient accepté de faire partie de son équipe consultative.

Au milieu de l’année 2016, Wikileaks a publié des courriels montrant un lien clair entre la campagne présidentielle de Hillary Clinton et DeLonge par l’intermédiaire de son président de campagne, John Podesta. Cela corroborait la prétention de DeLonge d’être soutenue par des initiés de haut niveau, et confirmait le lien de l’US Air Force avec DeLonge via le major-général à la retraite McCasland, ancien chef d’un laboratoire de recherche très secret à la BFA Wright Paterson. Un autre major général retraité de l’USAF, Michael Carey, avait écrit un endossement de 4ème de couverture de Sekret Machines.

En effet, des références ultérieures d’OVNI par Clinton et Podesta, au cours de la campagne, semblaient jeter les bases de futures révélations d’une présidence Clinton qui iraient dans le sens de l’initiative de DeLonge. Le succès de la campagne présidentielle Trump a été un revers majeur dans ce qui semblait être une initiative de divulgation hautement orchestrée et qui pouvait être attribuée à l’USAF.

Cela suggère que DeLonge fait partie d’une initiative de divulgation sanctionnée par l’USAF et que tous les cas d’ovnis officiellement libérés sont conçus pour appuyer ses efforts. Cela nous donne un indice quant à l’origine probable des ovnis observés et enregistrés lors de l’incident de Nimitz en 2004, qui a été soigneusement choisi pour le lancement de l’Académie To The Stars par DeLonge en octobre 2017, ainsi que pour les articles subséquents du New York Times et de Politico.

Dans sa fiction de 2016, fondée sur le livre d’information Sekret Machines, DeLonge faisait référence à un programme spatial secret exploité dans la zone 51, au Nevada, qui mettait en vedette des embarcations en forme de triangle et de soucoupe capables de défier les lois de la physique grâce à leurs technologies antigravité. Il est important de souligner que les faits allégués dans le livre ont été présentés à DeLonge par son équipe consultative de 10 hommes, qui, selon lui, lui ont fourni la révélation la plus documentée qui n’ a pas encore émergé sur les sujets des OVNI, de la vie extraterrestre et des programmes spatiaux secrets.

Le lien avec l’incident de 2004 impliquant l’USS Nimitz devient maintenant pertinent. En publiant des informations officielles du Pentagone sur l’incident de 2004, l’intention était-elle de révéler l’existence d’OVNIs extraterrestres pilotés ou d’un programme spatial secret dirigé par un État rival?

La réponse trouvée dans Sekret Machines de DeLonge est que l’USAF et la Russie possèdent leur propre flotte d’engins spatiaux antigravité capables de défier les lois de la physique. Le programme spatial secret de la Russie est décrit tout au long du livre comme une menace claire en termes de survols du territoire américain et d’installations nucléaires, d’enlèvements de citoyens américains et d’actions militaires hostiles contre les moyens spatiaux américains.

Il y a peu de mention dans le livre de DeLonge de la vie extraterrestre autre qu’une référence vague aux anciens dieux qui ont trompé l’humanité par leurs technologies avancées, qui sont aujourd’hui semées aux grandes nations comme des pommes modernes de la discorde.

Le premier livre de Sekret Machines de DeLonge est un effort pour dépeindre le phénomène d’OVNI comme impliquant principalement des véhicules aérospatiaux avancés d’abord développés par l’Allemagne nazie pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, puis rétro-ingénierie par les Etats-Unis et la Russie avec l’aide de scientifiques allemands précédemment impliqués dans les programmes nazis.

Il convient de souligner que le niveau élevé de soutien de l’initié à DeLonge suggère que ses livres et initiatives font partie d’un processus de divulgation officiellement approuvé, qui est soutenu par l’USAF en particulier, et le Pentagone en général.

Tout cela suggère que l’incident de 2004 mettant en cause l’USS Nimitiz correspondra à un récit qui émerge lentement dans la série de livres Sekret Machines de DeLonge et à l’Académie To The Stars. Cela indique clairement que l’incident a été dépeint comme un engin antigravité russe qui a adopté une posture menaçante pour le groupement tactique de la Marine.

Il y a des avantages politiques évidents à représenter la Russie possédant un programme spatial secret qui menace les navires de guerre américains dans les eaux internationales. Cela permettrait au Pentagone de bénéficier d’augmentations substantielles du financement de son propre programme spatial secret géré par l’USAF, qui est tout aussi avancé que le programme russe, selon DeLonge.

Le fait de présenter les OVNI comme des menaces à la sécurité nationale posées par les Russes, avec leur alliance de plus en plus grande avec la Chine, permettrait de garder hautement confidentiels les programmes créés pour faire face à cette menace. En effet, le nom du projet du Pentagone d’Elizondo, le « Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program », fait allusion à un tel processus déjà en cours.

Enfin, révéler un lien russe avec l’incident de Nimitz en 2004, qu’il soit artificiel ou non, alimenterait l’hystérie antirusse générée par la communauté américaine du renseignement à l’occasion de l’élection de Donald Trump. Alimentés par cette hystérie de l’ingérence inconnue de la Russie dans le plus sacro-saint des processus politiques américains, de nombreux citoyens américains seraient vraisemblablement d’accord avec un nouveau discours médiatique selon lequel la Russie, avec le soutien croissant de la Chine, est devenue une menace mondiale majeure par le biais d’un programme spatial secret.

J’espère que je me trompe, mais il y a des signes évidents que les initiatives de divulgation Sekret Machines et To The Stars Academy de DeLonge se transforment en un « lieu de rencontre limité ». Une partie de la vérité sur les programmes spatiaux secrets et les technologies de pointe sera publiée, ce qui est une évolution bienvenue. Cependant, des informations importantes sur d’autres aspects clés du phénomène des OVNI, tels que la visite extraterrestre, un programme spatial secret allemand qui a survécu à la Seconde Guerre mondiale et un programme spatial de la Marine appelé Solar Warden, qui opère dans l’espace lointain, continueront d’être supprimées.

Het incident van het UFO 2004 is intrigerend, en het zou wel eens een ander onderdeel in de wereld, maar het is waarschijnlijk dat dit specifieke incident is zo gekozen dat Rusland uiteindelijk zou geïdentificeerd als de boosdoener voor politieke redenen. Ik ben er zeker van dat de grote Amerikaanse defensie-aannemers kwijlen bij het vooruitzicht van de bouw vloten van ruimtevaartuigen gewapend antigravity om een ​​Russische dreiging (en Chinese) kunstmatige nationale veiligheid van de Verenigde Staten door te voldoen een geheim ruimteprogramma.

Michael E. Salla, Ph. D.

Bron: 

http://exopolitics.org/did-2004-ufo-incident-involve-aliens-or-russian-antigravity-spacecraft/

L.  Vertaling Stopmensonges.com

{  https://ancienprofesseur.fr/  }

30-12-2017 om 17:54 geschreven door peter  

UFO' sighting over Tasmania sparks intelligent alien life theories on Facebook

The mystery of a fireball crossing the Tasmanian skyline has been solved, but not before Facebook users declared alien life had finally made it to Tasmania.

The federal government's air navigation services provider Airservices Australia confirmed the object captured on hundreds of mobile phones and cameras across southern Tasmania early on Tuesday morning was nothing more than an aircraft "as it passed over Australian airspace". But that assertion did not stop members of the public drawing their own conclusions and disparaging naysayers for their lack of faith.

Striking footage of the object filmed by Sorell resident Lee-Anne Peters caused a frenzy as Facebook users speculated on what it could be, with the International Space Station, meteorites, plane contrails, fairies and, of course, spacecraft from another galaxy among the mix of possibilities.

"It was very slow moving, not like the high jets I've seen before. I got out the binoculars and thought it must be a meteorite" Ms Peters said.

"I was sure it was something burning up from space … but now, I am sure it was just a plane with the sunrise highlighting its contrails" she said.

Despite Ms Peter's verdict, many Facebook users were quick to disagree — with some rejoicing in what the close encounter might mean.

"No longer will the population outcast you for believing in aliens," one Facebook user posted.
Professor Dickey posited another theory that the object in the video could be "high cloud, backlit by the rising sun", which might explain the brightly-lit trail.
Facebookers checking aircraft flight trackers narrowed it down to an Emirates Airbus A380 flight bound for Auckland which was scheduled to be in the airspace about the time the phenomenon occurred.
Another person suggested the "fireball" was caused by the dawn sunlight reflecting the "wind drag over the wings" of a plane.

The case of the Knowles family

Believers like Mary Rodwell say the 1988 experience of Faye Knowles and her three sons (and their two dogs) is one of the most significant "close encounter" testimonies ever.

"UFO ATTACK KNOWLES FAMILY NULLARBOR 20/1/1988"

Also reportedly involving several witnesses, the story goes involves the witnessing an egg-like, bright structure. They then went on a high-speed car chase against the object, climaxing with the family's car being lifted from the road as weird black dust, high-pitched sound and a horrible smell overwhelmed the car.
"I felt like my brain was being sucked out" said eldest son Patrick at the time. *dun dun DUN*

{ http://albozztv.blogspot.be/ }

30-12-2017 om 17:43 geschreven door peter