The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
11-05-2018
Graancirkelseizoen begonnen in Groot-Brittannië. Dit zijn beelden van de eerste formatie
Graancirkelseizoen begonnen in Groot-Brittannië. Dit zijn beelden van de eerste formatie
Het graancirkelseizoen is officieel begonnen. In Groot-Brittannië is door onderzoekers de eerste formatie van het jaar gevonden.
Het patroon doet denken aan een vierpotig insect, mogelijk een waterloper. De graanformatie is ontdekt in Wiltshire.
Relatief laat
Het graancirkelseizoen is relatief laat begonnen. In 2013 begon het seizoen nog later: toen duurde het tot juni voordat de eerste graancirkel werd ontdekt in Groot-Brittannië.
De graancirkel is woensdag gemeld en er zijn al enkele foto’s van verschenen op de website Crop Circle Connector.
36 graancirkels
In mei 2017 verscheen in hetzelfde gebied ook al een graanformatie. De politie zal het waarschijnlijk druk gaan krijgen de komende maanden.
Vorig jaar werden er in totaal 36 graancirkels in kaart gebracht.
Bekijk hieronder een filmpje van de nieuwe formatie:
APOCALYPTISCHE GELUIDEN KONDIGEN AARDBEVING EN VULKAANUITBARSTING HAWAII AAN ( VIDEO )
APOCALYPTISCHE GELUIDEN KONDIGEN AARDBEVING EN VULKAANUITBARSTING HAWAII AAN ( VIDEO )
Afgelopen week verschenen er berichten over hoe het leek alsof de aarde op Hawaii van binnenuit werd opengescheurd.
Waar echter niemand het over heeft, is dat vlakbij de Kilauea vulkaan apocalyptische trompetgeluiden werden gehoord kort voor de uitbarsting.
Het raadsel van de vreemde geluiden die door mensen wereldwijd worden waargenomen is nog lang niet opgelost, maar iedere keer weer worden dit soort geluiden in verband gebracht met de eindtijd.
Dit zal waarschijnlijk voornamelijk komen omdat dit soort geluiden vaak wordt omschreven als trompetgeluiden, iets dat ook in de bijbel in verband wordt gebracht met eindtijden, zoals wij schreven in een eerder artikel:
In de tijd waarin er in de Kolbrin bijbel wordt gesproken van de Verwoester. Ook in de Kolbrin Bijbel wordt gesproken over vreemde geluiden: “Zij zullen de trompetten horen en de strijdkreet van de Verwoester” en “De ster zong zoals nog nooit eerder was voorgekomen". Maar, ze komen ook voor in de christelijke bijbel:
Het achtste hoofdstuk van het laatste Bijbelboek Openbaring beschrijft 7 engelen die op 7 bazuinen blazen, die ieder catastrofale gebeurtenissen op Aarde in gang lijken te zetten, zoals aardbevingen, oorlogen en insectenplagen.
Ongeveer een maand vóór de recente aardbeving en vulkaanuitbarsting werd er op Hawaii een dergelijk trompet-achtig geluid gehoord, waar toen nog uitgebreid over werd bericht in de mainstream media van Engeland tot Rusland.
Hier is de opname van het bepaalde geluid:
De locatie waar dit geluid werd waargenomen wordt aangegeven op het volgende kaartje:
Dit is slechts luttele kilometers verwijderd van de vulkaan waar ongeveer een maand later de uitbarsting plaatsvond die wordt omschreven als het van binnenuit openscheuren van de aarde.
Is dit alles toeval of vormen de trompetgeluiden, samen met de enorm heftige aardveranderingen, onderdeel van de symptomen
Een combinatie van een aardbeving en een vulkaanuitbarsting en daarvoor trompetgeluiden is te omschrijven als zeer zeldzaam.
Net zoals het feit dat de aarde langzamer gaat draaien zoals eind vorig jaar bekend werd. Iets dat volgens de wetenschap veroorzaakt zou worden door de maan, maar wat waarschijnlijk wordt veroorzaakt door de aanwezigheid van één of meerdere grote hemellichamen bij ons in de buurt.
Daarnaast hebben we gezien dat de zon zich vreemd gedraagt, dat de aarde wordt gebombardeerd met schadelijke straling en dat het aardmagnetisch veld dat ons moet beschermen in rap tempo afneemt.
Maar al dat soort dingen zijn toeval en hebben absoluut niets met elkaar te maken, zeggen de mensen die blijven ontkennen dat de Verwoester in aantocht is.
Oogverblindend mooi: Californische kust kleurt felblauw en dit is waarom- HLN.be
Oogverblindend mooi: Californische kust kleurt felblauw en dit is waarom- HLN.be
WETENSCHAP & PLANEET Een streling voor het oog, waar je gebiologeerd naar kan blijven kijken. Aan het strand van de Californische kust werd het zeewater gisteren opgelicht door gloeiend plankton.
Bioluminescentie, doopte de wetenschap dat betoverende fenomeen. Lichtgevend plankton laat zich niet voortdurend zien; de aanmaak van de chemische stoffen om te kunnen gloeien kost immers te veel energie. Over de precieze redenen waarom de organismen soms schitterende stofjes het water inspuiten, tasten onderzoekers nog in het duister. Hoogstwaarschijnlijk heeft het te maken met aantrekking, afstoting, camouflage of communicatie. Getuigen van het lichtspektakel langs de Amerikaanse westkust waren gisteren allesbehalve licht onder de indruk van de natuurpracht. Ze deelden massaal foto’s van het blauwe schouwspel op Instagram en Twitter, en lieten zo de rest van de wereld ook meegenieten.
The waves in SD are glowing blue at night right now. This is a random occurrence, no one know what causes the bioluminescent phytoplankton to wake up, can happen at any time and is rare.
A red tide is causing the surf to glow in parts of California. An algae bloom filled with bioluminescent phytoplankton has been lighting up the ocean from La Jolla to Encinitas since Monday.
While the big three major world religions get all of the publicity, there are plenty of other spiritual collectives between them and atheism. One group that attracts a lot of paranormal fans are the UFO religions whose members subscribe to the existence of extraterrestrials traveling to Earth in unidentified flying objects, often to take part in the evolution of humanity. Two such groups coincidentally popped up in the news recently, proving that they’re not as obscure as some might think (or hope).
A hearing was held in Boston this week in the case of Olga Paule Perrier-Bilbo, a French national who wants to become an American citizen … except for the part about taking an oath of citizenship that ends with the words “So help me God.” Perrier-Bilbo’s objection comes from her membership in the Raëlian movement, which is a UFO religion founded in 1974 by French car racing journalist Claude Vorilhon, who changed his name to Raël after being contacted by an ET in a spacecraft who claimed to have selected him to deliver a new origin message to humanity and start a religion based on it.
In his first book, Le Livre qui dit la vérité (“The Book Which Tells the Truth“), Vorilhon says the alien’s species sent scientists called Elohim (“those who came from the sky”) who created all life on Earth through DNA manipulation. The alien, also an Elohim, took Vorilhon or Raël to their planet where he allegedly met Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, who told him to be more like the aliens, who were peace-loving and had no money, sickness or wars. Raël’s followers support human genetic engineering, genetically-modified foods and other futuristic technology.
Perrier-Bilbo just wants to be a good Raëlian-American and she was given the opportunity to take a modified oath in a private ceremony, but in this litigious, political and social media world, that wasn’t enough.
“My hope is for the phrase, ‘So help me God’ to be stricken from future naturalization ceremonies and for this lawsuit to encourage other atheists or agnostics who want to defend the constitution to fight against this anti-constitutional oath.”
As of this writing, the results of the hearing are not known.
Meanwhile, members of the Aetherius Society announced its “Operation Prayer Power” pilgrimage in July to Holdstone Down in north Devon, England, where its founder, George King, claimed to have met Jesus in 1958 and received some shocking news:
“I knew, although he didn’t tell me, I knew he was Jesus and he had come from the planet Venus – I didn’t have to be told, I just knew this.”
King was apparently chosen for this meeting because in 1955 he founded the Aetherius Society after claiming he received a telepathic communication from Aetherius, an alien intelligence representing an “Interplanetary Parliament” that existed on Venus, as well as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. King, who died in 1997, was said to have delivered more telepathic messages with predictions of UFO sightings. The religion itself borrows from yoga, Eastern mantra and New Age and promotes spiritual self-advancement and world service. Not a bad mission.
Another benefit for Aetherians is that Holdstone Down isn’t the only “holy mountain.” Besides Yes Tor, also in Devon, there’s Castle Peak in Colorado, Mount Ramshead in New South Wales, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Le Nid d’Aigle in France. If you’re going to make a pilgrimage, it’s nice to go to beautiful spots.
Of course, no matter where they go, the “cosmic mission” of George King and the Aetherians always gets overshadowed by that “Jesus is from Venus” thing, which is why they were once again in the news.
Will we ever be able to accept the beliefs of others and get along?
When we think of stars, we tend to conceive of them of immovable, fixed objects, but stars travel through space just like planets and other objects do. The Earth and all the other planets in our solar system rotate around the Sun, but the Sun also rotates around the center of the Milky Way galaxy once every 225-250 million years. All stars orbit something. Well, except for certain “rogue” stars astronomer are beginning to discover. Rogue stars, also known as intergalactic stars, are stars which have escaped the gravitational pulls of their home galaxies and travel independently through intergalactic voids. Yeah, they’re pretty terrifying.
Many of those rogue stars are ejected when galaxies collide with one another.
One particular rogue star, the dwarf star Gliese 710, is especially terrifying. It’s been known for some time that Gliese 710 will eventually pass through our solar system as it careens through the universe, potentially causing a lot of damage to anything unlucky enough to be in its way. Now, new calculations using the most accurate map of the stars ever created have revealed that Gliese 710 might arrive much sooner than we realized. How worried should we be?
It all depends on your timeline.
Well, unless you’re an immortal or plan on becoming immortal, you shouldn’t be too worried. Based on the newest calculations, it turns out Gliese 710 won’t come crashing through our solar system for another 1.29 million years. Plenty of time to finish The Foundation series. 1.29 million years might sound like a long time, but the previous estimate was 1.36 million years – a difference of 60,000 years. Think how many people could escape in 60,000 years. Of course, that is if any people are left in the solar system at all. Hopefully humanity will have found a way out of this hellish simulation by then.
If not, Gliese 710 could cause a torrential rain of icy meteors to pelt the Earth into oblivion. The rogue star is set to pass through the Oort Cloud, a ring of icy comets, meteors, and planetesimals at the farthest edge of our solar system. This could potentially cause millions of asteroids to be ejected towards the center of the solar system, pelting unfortunate planets into Swiss cheese like a cosmic hailstorm. Maybe immortality isn’t so great after all.
What’s red in the daytime, and glows an eerie blue at night? Although it may sound like some illuminated prop from the forthcoming film Solo: A Star Wars Story, theanswer to this oceanic riddle has less to do with science fiction, and everything to do with one of nature’s little marvels: bioluminescent phytoplankton.
Nighttime beachgoers in San Diego have recently been treated to this unusual spectacle, as the recent arrival of a red tide has resulted in natural luminous phenomena that occur as plantlike microorganisms present in ocean waves tumble downward with the incoming tide, producing a visible glow.
According to NOAA, there are two main varieties of phytoplankton: diatoms and dinoflagellates, the latter being the type that are presently seen along San Diego’s shoreline.
“Dinoflagellates use a whip-like tail, or flagella, to move through the water and their bodies are covered with complex shells. Diatoms also have shells, but they are made of a different substance and their structure is rigid and made of interlocking parts. Diatoms do not rely on flagella to move through the water and instead rely on ocean currents to travel through the water.”
The appearance of these phytoplankton has to do with the occurrence of red tides, where oceanic algal blooms–sometimes harmful ones–grow in such abundance that they become overrun in certain coastal environments. This can have dangerous effects on not just the indigenous marine life in affected areas, but also humans. Illnesses that are known to occur in conjunction with these potentially toxic algal blooms have been known to cause debilitating illness or even death.
There are a variety of unique luminous displays that occur in nature, particularly with bioluminescent marine life. However, it may be the case that not all oceanic luminous displays necessarily have biological origins. On April 29, 1982, a most unusual visual display occurred in the China Sea, which resulted in a six-page report on the incident. The details of this nighttime encounter, presented here in abbreviated form, consisted of parallel bands of phosphorescence that appeared to be rushing toward the ship at an estimated speed of 40 miles per hour.
Upon contact with the luminous bands, they appeared to separate into rotating “wheels”, which became oriented roughly in quadrant formation around the ship. It is particularly noteworthy, however, that these luminous manifestations were seen above the surface of the water. Each of the spinning wheels appeared to be 50-100 cm above the water, with beams of light being cast from these formations which the sailing vessel’s crew described as having “stretched to the horizon” as they rotated. Additional luminous phenomena were reported during this incident, which appeared to be composed of “worm-like segments” of light.
Other key features of the incident involved the presence of atmospheric electrical activity (i.e. lightning) throughout the incident; at various intervals, it was further noted that shining an Aldis lamp at portions of the luminous manifestations had no effect, while flashing it caused the intermittent disappearance of the phenomenon altogether (this is similar to reports of what are believed to be natural plasmas that appear at locations like Hessdalen, Norway, which have been known to interact similarly with flashing lights aimed in their direction).
The symmetrical, and at times nearly kaleidoscopic displays presented in the case above, documented in the Marine Observer in 1983, are certainly perplexing. While dissimilar in variety to the unusual illuminations that are presently occurring off the San Diego coast, each represents a unique manifestation of natural luminous phenomenon that occasionally apear in or around our oceans.
What’s red in the daytime, and glows an eerie blue at night? Although it may sound like some illuminated prop from the forthcoming film Solo: A Star Wars Story, theanswer to this oceanic riddle has less to do with science fiction, and everything to do with one of nature’s little marvels: bioluminescent phytoplankton.
Nighttime beachgoers in San Diego have recently been treated to this unusual spectacle, as the recent arrival of a red tide has resulted in natural luminous phenomena that occur as plantlike microorganisms present in ocean waves tumble downward with the incoming tide, producing a visible glow.
According to NOAA, there are two main varieties of phytoplankton: diatoms and dinoflagellates, the latter being the type that are presently seen along San Diego’s shoreline.
“Dinoflagellates use a whip-like tail, or flagella, to move through the water and their bodies are covered with complex shells. Diatoms also have shells, but they are made of a different substance and their structure is rigid and made of interlocking parts. Diatoms do not rely on flagella to move through the water and instead rely on ocean currents to travel through the water.”
The appearance of these phytoplankton has to do with the occurrence of red tides, where oceanic algal blooms–sometimes harmful ones–grow in such abundance that they become overrun in certain coastal environments. This can have dangerous effects on not just the indigenous marine life in affected areas, but also humans. Illnesses that are known to occur in conjunction with these potentially toxic algal blooms have been known to cause debilitating illness or even death.
There are a variety of unique luminous displays that occur in nature, particularly with bioluminescent marine life. However, it may be the case that not all oceanic luminous displays necessarily have biological origins. On April 29, 1982, a most unusual visual display occurred in the China Sea, which resulted in a six-page report on the incident. The details of this nighttime encounter, presented here in abbreviated form, consisted of parallel bands of phosphorescence that appeared to be rushing toward the ship at an estimated speed of 40 miles per hour.
Upon contact with the luminous bands, they appeared to separate into rotating “wheels”, which became oriented roughly in quadrant formation around the ship. It is particularly noteworthy, however, that these luminous manifestations were seen above the surface of the water. Each of the spinning wheels appeared to be 50-100 cm above the water, with beams of light being cast from these formations which the sailing vessel’s crew described as having “stretched to the horizon” as they rotated. Additional luminous phenomena were reported during this incident, which appeared to be composed of “worm-like segments” of light.
Other key features of the incident involved the presence of atmospheric electrical activity (i.e. lightning) throughout the incident; at various intervals, it was further noted that shining an Aldis lamp at portions of the luminous manifestations had no effect, while flashing it caused the intermittent disappearance of the phenomenon altogether (this is similar to reports of what are believed to be natural plasmas that appear at locations like Hessdalen, Norway, which have been known to interact similarly with flashing lights aimed in their direction).
The symmetrical, and at times nearly kaleidoscopic displays presented in the case above, documented in the Marine Observer in 1983, are certainly perplexing. While dissimilar in variety to the unusual illuminations that are presently occurring off the San Diego coast, each represents a unique manifestation of natural luminous phenomenon that occasionally apear in or around our oceans.
I’m not entirely sure why, but just recently a 71-year-old statement on UFOs has been circulating here and there on the Net. It cropped up just a couple of days ago in the comments section of one of my Facebook posts. And it also popped up on the website of a radio show I was on recently. It’s also a statement that has caused some confusion and outright mistakes. Basically, it’s one person’s theory on what is behind the UFO phenomenon. The writer makes a lot of controversial claims that take matters far away from the regular “nuts and bolts” aspect of Ufology. As for why some people have gotten all excited about it, there’s no doubt that it’s because the statement is available at the FBI’s website, The Vault.
The statement at issue – titled “A Memorandum of Importance” – was prepared in early July 1947. And, as the writer noted: “This Memorandum is respectfully addressed to certain scientists of distinction to important aeronautical and military authorities, to a number of public officials and to a few publications.” He or she continues: “The writer has little expectation that anything of import will be accomplished by this gesture. The more fact that the data herein were obtained by so-called supernormal means is probably sufficient to insure its disregard by nearly all the persons addressed; nevertheless it seems a public duty to make it available. (The present writer has several university degrees and was formerly a university department head).”
Our source warns: “A very serious situation may develop at any time with regard to the ‘flying saucers.’ If one of these should be attacked, the attacking plane will almost certainly be destroyed. In the public mind this might create near panic and international suspicion. The principal data concerning these craft is now at hand and must be offered, no matter how fantastic and unintelligible it may seem to minds not previously instructed in thinking of this type.” We are then given a list of nine issues that the writer claimed knowledge of:
“1. Part of the disks carry crews, others are under remote control.
2. Their mission is peaceful. The visitors contemplate settling on this plane.
3. These Visitors are human-like but much larger in size.
4. They are NOT excarnate earth people, but come from their own world.
5. They do NOT come from any ‘planet’ as we use the word, but from an etheric planet which interpentrates with our own and is not perceptible to us.
6. The bodies of the visitors, and the craft also, automatically “materialize on entering the vibratory rate of our dense matter. (Cp. ‘apports.’)
7. The disks possess a type of radiant energy, or a ray, which will easily disintegrate any attacking ship. They re-enter the etheric at will, and so simply disappear from our vision, without trace.
8. The region from which they come is NOT the ‘astral plane’, but corresponds to the Lokas or Tales. Students of esoteric matters will understand these terms.
9. They probably cannot be reached by radio, but probably can be by radar, if a signal system can be devised for that apparatus.”
We are then told: “We give information and warning, and can do no more. Let the newcomers be treated with every kindness.” There’s no doubt that the statement is an interesting one. After all, it was written only around two weeks after the historic Flying Saucer encounter of Kenneth Arnold, near Mt. Rainier, Washington State, on June 24, 1947. And, it’s intriguing because the source’s words cover things which are far removed from the likes of “rocket ships” and “Martians” and other sci-fi-themed issues that were popular in the ’40s. Now, I don’t know if the writer of the statement was onto something or not. But, here’s the important thing: as I said at the beginning of this article, I have seen people recently put a lot of faith in this statement, purely because it’s on the FBI’s website.
The fact is that the FBI declassified its UFO files – under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act – way back in the 1970s. The statement above was included in that approximately 1,700-pages of declassified material. And, the statement was available to anyone and everyone, post-1976. In other words, there’s nothing new about this at all. And you can access it at this PDF link, and by scrolling down to page 22. But, let’s put things in perspective: the FBI got a lot of correspondence in the summer of 1947 (when the Flying Saucer craze was at its height), much of which revolved around not just sightings of UFOs, but theories for what they might be, too. There’s no evidence at all that this statement was acted on by the FBI, aside from sharing it with the military and filing it away.
All of which brings us to today. One guy very recently sent me a draft of an article he was preparing on this July 1947 statement. I was amazed to see that he had spectacularly misread it and thought it was an official FBI document, rather than what it really is: a statement prepared by a member of the American public and retyped by an FBI secretary for internal purposes! So, if you happen to see this particular one-page document over the next few days and weeks, by all means take a good look at it. It does, admittedly, make for thought-provoking reading. But, just because someone’s theory for the UFO phenomenon reached the eyes of the FBI, and was kept on-file by the FBI too, doesn’t mean it’s the truth behind the mystery of Flying Saucers. In ’47, the FBI was absolutely swamped with letters from people giving their views on UFOs. The July 1947 statement is just one of many.
A Video Showing Cluster OF UFOS Over Middlesbrough Sparks Online Debate
A Video Showing Cluster OF UFOS Over Middlesbrough Sparks Online Debate
The video shows strange flying objects, which left a question whether it’s a military activity, a weather balloon, or evidence of space alien.
The object in question has a shape similar to a jet, and a cluster of four other UFOs surrounded it, which appear to be connected. The film of the UFOs was reportedly captured on April 5.
According to the report of the witness, they noticed some dark objects in the sky while walking home from a house of their friend around 7 pm.
The witness initially thought it was a flock of birds, but soon realised it appeared to be some kind of military plane flying in a slightly curved path with four small, round objects following it.
The witness managed to get their phone out and began recording. They reportedly observed it for approximately one and a half minutes before losing sight of the UFOs in the distance.
The witness reportedly heard just the sound of the plane as it passed over them.
The Hidden Underbelly 2.0 shared the film on YouTube, which caused fierce debate among the viewers.
Many think it is a weather balloon while others believe it is a fighter jet and some say it is something more mysterious.
Voor het eerst een koolstofrijke planetoïde ontdekt in de Kuipergordel
Voor het eerst een koolstofrijke planetoïde ontdekt in de Kuipergordel
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Deze ruimtesteen is een eind van huis!
Waarnemingen met de Hubble-ruimtetelescoop deden al vermoedden dat het Kuipergordelobject 2004 EW95 bijzonder was. En vervolgwaarnemingen met de Very Large Telescope tonen nu aan dat deze hier inderdaad eigenlijk niet thuishoort. 2004 EW95 blijkt een koolstofrijke planetoïde te zijn: de eerste die in de Kuipergordel is aangetroffen!
Migratie De planetoïde moet in het binnenste deel van het zonnestelsel zijn ontstaan (in de planetoïdengordel tussen Mars en Jupiter) en sindsdien naar buiten zijn gemigreerd. Uiteindelijk is deze zo terecht gekomen in de Kuipergordel die miljarden kilometers verder weg, aan de rand van het zonnestelsel resideert.
Theorie De ontdekking van de ware aard van 2004 EW95 onderschrijft een theorie die onderzoekers er al een tijdje op nahouden, maar tot op heden niet goed konden staven. Volgens deze theorie trokken de gasreuzen die ons zonnestelsel rijk is, kort na hun ontstaan door het zonnestelsel heen. Met hun zwaartekracht moeten ze voor een hoop beroering gezorgd hebben en de banen van tal van kleine rotsachtige hemellichamen in de binnenste delen van het zonnestelsel hebben verstoord. Astronomen vermoeden dan ook dat een klein percentage van deze ruimtestenen uiteindelijk in de Kuipergordel is beland. “Gezien de huidige verblijfplaats van 2004 EW95 in de ijzige buitenwijken van het zonnestelsel, impliceert dit dat het object in de begintijd van het zonnestelsel door een migrerende planeet naar zijn huidige baan is geslingerd,” aldus onderzoeker Tom Seccull. Onderzoeker Olivier Hainaut: “De ontdekking van een koolstofhoudende planetoïde in de Kuipergordel is een belangrijke bevestiging van één van de fundamentele voorspellingen van de dynamische modellen van het vroege zonnestelsel.”
Het bestuderen van 2004 EW95 was trouwens nog wel een hele opgave. Het object is met een omvang van zo’n 300 kilometer best flink, maar bevindt zich wel op zo’n 4 miljard kilometer afstand van de aarde. Bovendien is het koolstofrijke oppervlak heel donker. “Het is alsof je een reusachtige berg steenkool waarneemt tegen de pikdonkere achtergrond van de nachthemel,” aldus onderzoeker Thomas Puzia. En die berg steenkool beweegt dan ook nog eens. “We moesten een behoorlijk geavanceerde gegevensverwerkingstechniek gebruiken om zoveel mogelijk uit de gegevens te halen,” stelt Secull. Maar het is gelukt; uiteindelijk vonden de onderzoekers aanwijzingen dat de planetoïde ijzeroxiden en fylosilicaten bevat: twee materialen die nog niet eerder in de Kuipergordel zijn gevonden en er sterk op wijzen dat de planetoïde in het binnenste deel van het zonnestelsel is ontstaan.
Breakthrough Listen breidt jacht op buitenaards leven uit
Breakthrough Listen breidt jacht op buitenaards leven uit
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Er zal de komende tijd naar miljoenen sterren in onze Melkweg geluisterd worden.
Dat heeft Breakthrough Listen – een initiatief van Breakthrough Initiatives, zie kader – bekend gemaakt. De CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope in Australië zal het oor te luisteren leggen. Gehoopt wordt dat de telescoop nabij één of meerdere sterren signalen vindt die gecreëerd zijn door geavanceerde buitenaardse beschavingen.
Breakthrough Initiatives is een onderzoeksprogramma dat is opgericht door de steenrijke investeerder Yuri Milner. Het onderzoeksprogramma moet op termijn uitwijzen of buitenaards leven bestaat en waar het uithangt. Daartoe zijn binnen het onderzoeksprogramma verschillende takken van sport opgezet. Breakthrough Listen zoekt bijvoorbeeld – net als SETI – naar buitenaardse radiosignalen. Daarnaast is er ook nog Breakthrough Message dat juist signalen uit wil zenden, zodat aliens ons kunnen vinden. Ook bekend is Breakthrough Starshot: een ambitieuze missie die moet uitmonden in een scheervlucht langs de dichtstbijzijnde ster en de daaromheen cirkelende potentieel leefbare planeet Proxima b.
Het is niet voor het eerst dat Breakthrough Listen de hulp van de Parkes Radio Telescope inschakelt. In 2016 ging de telescoop al op zoek naar signalen rondom nabije sterren. Nu richt de telescoop zich echter op een veel groter aantal sterren, te vinden in de schijf van onze Melkweg. Daarnaast zal ook een deel van het galactisch centrum worden onderzocht en wordt er tevens geluisterd naar sterren in nabije dwergsterrenstelsels, zoals de Magelhaense Wolken.
Ontvanger Het is een behoorlijk omvangrijk onderzoek: uiteindelijk zal de telescoop naar de omgeving van miljoenen sterren gaan luisteren. Het is allemaal mogelijk dankzij een nieuwe ontvanger die op de telescoop is geïnstalleerd. Eerdere ontvangers konden enkel een signaal afkomstig van één punt in het heelal ontvangen. Maar het nieuwe instrument kan meerdere signalen tegelijkertijd ontvangen, waardoor het mogelijk is een veel groter gebied te onderzoeken.
“WE HOPEN BEWIJS TE VINDEN DAT ONZE PLANEET – ONDER DE HONDERDEN MILJARDEN PLANETEN DIE ER IN ONS STERRENSTELSEL ZIJN – NIET DE ENIGE IS WAAROP INTELLIGENT LEVEN IS ONTSTAAN”
Dataset Breakthrough Listen heeft dit jaar gedurende 1500 uur de beschikking over de Parkes Radio Telescope. Het zal naar verwachting resulteren in een dataset van zo’n 100 petabytes. En in die enorme dataset zal vervolgens gezocht moeten worden naar buitenaardse signalen. De grootste uitdaging daarbij is het onderscheiden van signalen afkomstig van de aarde zelf (denk aan signalen van telefoons, vliegtuigen en satellieten) en signalen die uit de ruimte komen en mogelijk afkomstig zijn van buitenaardse wezens.
In de dataset zal tevens gezocht worden naar Fast Radio Bursts (FRB). Dit zijn korte, heldere radiopulsen die al herhaaldelijk zijn waargenomen, maar waarvan we nog steeds niet goed weten waar ze door veroorzaakt worden. De zoektocht naar buitenaards leven blijft echter prioriteit nummer 1, aldus onderzoeker Danny Price, verbonden aan de Universiteit van Californië (Berkeley). “We hopen bewijs te vinden dat onze planeet – onder de honderden miljarden planeten die er in ons sterrenstelsel zijn – niet de enige is waarop intelligent leven is ontstaan.”
Astronomen onthullen wat er gebeurt als onze zon doodgaat
Astronomen onthullen wat er gebeurt als onze zon doodgaat
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Er ontstaat een zichtbare planetaire nevel.
De meeste onderzoekers zijn het erover eens: onze zon heeft nog zo’n 5 miljard jaar te leven. En dan zal de ster sterven. Maar wat er daarna precies gaat gebeuren: dat was niet helemaal duidelijk. Een nieuw onderzoek – verschenen in het blad Nature Astronomy – brengt daar verandering in. Met behulp van een model onthullen onderzoekers dat er na de dood van de zon een planetaire nevel zal ontstaan.
Planetaire nevel Een planetaire nevel is een enorme heldere ring die bestaat uit gas en stof. De ring ontstaat wanneer de ster in een overgangsfase zit en transformeert van een rode reus naar een witte dwerg. We spreken van een rode reus als de dode ster zijn buitenste lagen de ruimte in heeft geblazen. “Hierdoor komt de kern van de ster bloot te liggen die in dit stadium van het leven van de ster bijna door zijn brandstof heen is en uiteindelijk stilvalt,” legt onderzoeker Albert Zijlstra uit. Maar gedurende een korte periode – grofweg 10.000 jaar – is deze hete kern nog in staat om de weggestoten buitenste lagen van de ster te laten schijnen. “Dat is wat de planetaire nevel zichtbaar maakt.”
Zichtbare nevel Zo’n 90% van alle sterren vormt aan het eind van het leven zo’n planetaire nevel. Maar lang wisten onderzoekers niet goed of onze zon er ook eentje kon genereren. Sommige onderzoekers dachten namelijk dat onze zon een te lage massa had om een zichtbare planetaire nevel te creëren. Maar Zijlstra en collega’s stellen nu dus dat onze zon er ook toe in staat is. Het nieuwe model onthult namelijk dat sterren nadat ze hun buitenste lagen hebben afgestoten drie keer sneller opwarmen dan gedacht. Hierdoor is het ook voor sterren met weinig massa – zoals de zon – mogelijk om een heldere planetaire nevel te vormen.
Het wil niet zeggen dat alle sterren een planetaire nevel kunnen genereren. Onze zon is zo ongeveer de lichtste ster die nog in staat is om een zichtbare planetaire nevel te maken. Sterren die slechts een paar procent kleiner zijn, kunnen het niet.
Middeleeuwse astronomen kunnen het bestaan van planeet X bewijzen
Middeleeuwse astronomen kunnen het bestaan van planeet X bewijzen
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Mogelijk hebben zij al kometen gespot met vreemde banen die alleen te verklaren zijn als planeet X bestaat.
Een paar jaar geleden stelden twee astronomen dat ons zonnestelsel waarschijnlijk een negende planeet telt: planeet X. Deze planeet zou zo’n tien keer zwaarder zijn dan de aarde en aan de rand van ons zonnestelsel huizen. Het bestaan van de planeet werd onder meer afgeleid uit de vreemde banen van een handvol kometen. Hoewel er sindsdien met man en macht naar de planeet gezocht is, is deze nog niet direct waargenomen. En dus blijft planeet X een hypothese.
Middeleeuwen Maar wellicht kunnen Middeleeuwse astronomen daar verandering in brengen. Dat stellen Britse onderzoekers. Hoewel de Middeleeuwen vaak worden gezien als een periode waarin de wetenschap weinig voorstelde, waren er wel degelijk mensen met een grote interesse in astronomie. Zij bestudeerden het heelal en noteerden wat ze zagen. Verschillende Middeleeuwse geschriften maken dan ook melding van kometen die langs vlogen. En die meldingen kunnen we gebruiken om te achterhalen of planeet X bestaat.
Voorbode Verschillende Middeleeuwse bronnen maken melding van kometen die helderder waren dan sterren. Het bewijst dat men in de Middeleeuwen het heelal al nauwlettend in de gaten hield. De Middeleeuwse mensen wisten waarschijnlijk niet dat ze naar een brok ijs zaten te kijken. In plaats daarvan werden ze gezien als voorboden van de dood van koningen, de val van koninkrijken, oorlog, hongersdood, ziekte, enzovoort.
Hoe dan? Aangenomen wordt dat planeet X – als deze bestaat – vrij zwaar is en met zijn zwaartekracht van invloed is op de banen van sommige kometen. Die impact is misschien klein, maar over een lange periode zou het effect ervan letterlijk zichtbaar moeten worden en wel doordat een komeet zich op een heel andere plek bevindt en op een heel ander moment vanaf de aarde zichtbaar is dan in een scenario waarin planeet X geen rol speelt.
Simulaties De onderzoekers stellen dan ook voor om de banen van alle ons bekende kometen in aan- en afwezigheid van planeet X te simuleren en zo te achterhalen waar zij zich in de Middeleeuwen bevonden. Vervolgens kan er gekeken worden welke simulaties overeenkomen met wat astronomen in de Middeleeuwen werkelijk zagen. “Elke sterke indicatie dat een negende planeet nodig is om de waarnemingen van kometen in de Middeleeuwen passend te maken, is een uniek resultaat en zal zeker een opmerkelijke impact hebben op ons begrip van het zonnestelsel,” aldus onderzoeker Pedro Lacerda.
De komende tijd zal moeten blijken of men in de Middeleeuwen – zonder dat in de gaten te hebben – getuige is geweest van de zwaartekrachtswerking van een planeet die we in 2018 officieel nog niet ontdekt hebben. “Het is fantastisch om in staat te zijn om de data die ongeveer 1000 jaar oud is, te gebruiken om een moderne theorie te onderzoeken,” aldus Lacerda. Het voorstel van Lacerda en collega’s is van harte welkom. Pogingen om planeet X op te sporen en dus het bestaan ervan te bewijzen, zijn tot op heden op niets uitgelopen.
Previously unseen documents reveal how officials at the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence handled the 'UFO mania' of the late 1990
A former official at the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence has shed new light on the circumstances surrounding a secret government UFO study that was conducted during the 1990s.
In 1996, the MoD commissioned a defense contractor to produce a comprehensive report on U.K. UFO sightings. The report was compiled at a time of huge public interest in UFOs fueled by the wildly popular “X-Files” TV series and 1997’s 50th anniversary of the purported UFO incident in Roswell, New Mexico.
Careful to avoid using the term UFO, the report described sightings as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
Code-named Project Condign, the report analyzed a database of sightings between 1987 and 1997 and was delivered to officials in 2000. The study, entitled ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in the UK Air Defence Region,’ found that that sightings could be explained by a variety of known phenomena, both man-made and natural. The incidence of relatively rare natural phenomena was also noted. “No evidence exists to associate the phenomena with any particular nation,” it said.
Project Condign has been compared to Project Blue Book, a U.S. Air Force effort to investigate UFOs that closed in 1969.
Nick Pope, a former MoD UFO investigator who is now an author and journalist, told Fox News that he was involved in setting up the study with his counterpart in the Ministry’s Defence Intelligence Staff. “The reason for the study was that while we'd been investigating UFO sightings on a case-by-case basis for decades, we'd done very little trend analysis,” he explained, via an emailed statement. “Project Condign was supposed to rectify this and be a proper intelligence assessment that would look for patterns in data we already had.”
“We were trying to draw everything together and say in relation to UFOs: 'OK, what's our best assessment of what we're dealing with, what are the threats, and what are the opportunities?',” he added.
Initial discussions about the study started in 1993, according to Pope, who had left the MoD’s UFO project by the time work on the report itself started.
“The study was highly classified and extremely sensitive, not least because the MoD consistently told parliament, the media and the public that UFOs were of limited interest and ‘no defense significance’,” Pope said. “Our concern was that if the existence of the study became known, it would have exposed an internal position on the phenomenon that was different from our public position.”
The report only entered the public domain in 2006 following a Freedom of Information request from academic Dr. David Clarke. The identity of the report’s author has not been revealed.
A new set of previously-unseen documents recently obtained by Clarke, a principal research fellow at the U.K’s Sheffield Hallam University, have thrust Project Condign into the spotlight once again. The records show how over-worked MoD officials were keen to reduce their commitment to investigating reports of UFO sightings. With its findings, Project Condign duly laid the foundations for the MoD to start scaling back its UFO-related operations. The Ministry’s DI55 department, which had secretly collected data on potential UFO sightings since 1967, closed at the end of 2000. The MoD’s UFO Desk closed in 2009.
Pope found the final Project Condign report disappointing. “In places it looked like a conclusion-led study where data had been used to support a personal opinion,” he said, but acknowledged the challenges involved in compiling such a confidential report.
“The problem with an intelligence study like Project Condign is that it's so secret and sensitive that those involved don't reach out to subject matter experts outside the intelligence community,” he explained, adding that consultation with the U.K.’s Met Office weather service, other scientists and academics would have been helpful.
The report also suggested that atmospheric plasma may account for some UFO sightings, which Pope sees as confusing. “In speculating about exotic atmospheric plasma phenomena the report's author had made the classic mistake of trying to explain one mystery in terms of another,” he said.
The former MoD employee was also surprised by the discussion of “novel military applications” that could be supported by greater understanding of the UFO phenomenon. “This was essentially a reference to weaponization, including the construction of a directed energy weapon,” he said.
In a statement provided earlier this week to Fox News, the MoD explained that all its historic files that refer to UFOs have either been released, or are in the process of being released to the U.K.’s National Archives. “The MOD continues to have no opinion on the existence, or otherwise, of extra-terrestrial life and does not investigate reported unidentified flying object sightings,” it said.
This is not actually a UFO, it’s a group of starlings
(Stock image, Rex)
concealing evidence that UFOs are real? Almost certainly not, but three ‘missing’ documents are stirring up the usual conspiracy theories about flying saucers." data-reactid="31" style="text-align: justify;">Is the Ministry of Defence concealing evidence that UFOs are real? Almost certainly not, but three ‘missing’ documents are stirring up the usual conspiracy theories about flying saucers.
The documents were ‘missed out’ when the Ministry of Defence agreed to open up its ‘X Files’ – or at least that’s what former MoD employee (and UFO fan) Nick Pope reckons.
Rendlesham Forest incident in 1980 – often described as ‘Britain’s Roswell’." data-reactid="33" style="text-align: justify;">The documents released so far have shed light on incidents such as the Rendlesham Forest incident in 1980 – often described as ‘Britain’s Roswell’.
But so far, they’ve not contained any ‘proof’ of alien life – and Pope says that the failure to release the last three files is stoking conspiracy theories.
Nick Pope said, ‘Having worked on the Ministry of Defence’s UFO project and having written many of the documents that have already been released, I’m extremely disappointed that ten years after the release of the first files, the project is still incomplete.
Pope claims that three documents have shuttled back and forth between the MoD and the National Archives.
Sometimes referred to as the “British Roswell,” the 1980 incident in Rendlesham Forest outside Suffolk, England, remains one of the U.K.’s most compelling stories of a UFO encounter
(Rex)
Pope said, ‘A lot of people think the government is covering up the truth about UFOs and this unfortunate situation is only adding fuel to the fire with regard to these conspiracy theories.’
Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University claims that there might be a very real reason why there is no ‘smoking gun’ in the Ministry of Defence’s ‘X-Files’.
Clarke says that government efforts to investigate UFOs in 1997 deliberately focused on other explanations – and that officials deliberately destroyed files after a report which discounted the possibility of alien sightings, the Guardian reports. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/06/documents-reveal-how-mod-played-down-ufo-thesis-in-x-files-study
Messages between analysts and the Defence Intelligence Service said that investigations should focus on foreign powers and technology, and that it ‘It shouldn’t be driven by a UFO thesis’.
The report, completed in 2000, gave the Ministry of Defence grounds for a new policy where it no longer accepted reports of alien sightings.
But Defence Intelligence Service officials then destroyed the database, Clarke discovered after filing Freedom of Information requests.
Bizarre viral video claims to show 'UFO' sucking energy from a lightning bolt
Bizarre viral video claims to show 'UFO' sucking energy from a lightning bolt
(Credit: SecureTeam 10, Youtube)
A bizarre YouTube video posted by conspiracy theory channel SecureTeam10 has gone viral as it purportedly shows a UFO sucking energy from a lightning bolt.
The video, entitled "They Dwell in the Lightning," appears to show an object in the sky near a lightning bolt in the Czech Republic. The video was posted 5 days ago and has already racked up nearly 500,000 views.
The herky-jerky footage purportedly shows a "triangular-shaped UFO" following the lightning bolt with ease. Commenters on the video are mixed about what they are seeing, with some claiming it is indeed a UFO, while others believe it's a hoax.
[T]they" are clearly recharging their "batteries" using natural sources of lightning's energy.," one commenter wrote.
"Aliens aren't real, they were invented by Hollywood in the 40's," another wrote.
Several even made references to the "Back to the Future" movies because of a bolt of lightning provided energy to Marty McFly's car. "Doc Brown did it in back to the future, now aliens using bolts to power their vehicles," one commenter wrote.
SecureTeam10, which has its videos narrated by "Tyler Glockner," is known for posting conspiracy theory videos.
In the past, the YouTube channel has posted videos purporting to contain an "alien tank"found on the Moon and a giant hole found on Mars could be the work of aliens.
Neither of these instances has ever been confirmed by NASA or any other government agency.
A 2013 map of the background radiation left over from the Big Bang, taken by the ESA's Planck spacecraft, captured the oldest light in the universe. This information helps astronomers determine the age of the universe.
Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration.
The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. At its simplest, it says the universe as we know it started with a small singularity, then inflated over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today.
Because current instruments don't allow astronomers to peer back at the universe's birth, much of what we understand about the Big Bang Theory comes from mathematical formulas and models. Astronomers can, however, see the "echo" of the expansion through a phenomenon known as the cosmic microwave background.
While the majority of the astronomical community accepts the theory, there are some theorists who have alternative explanations besides the Big Bang — such as eternal inflation or an oscillating universe.
The phrase "Big Bang Theory" has been popular among astrophysicists for decades, but it hit the mainstream in 2007 when a comedy show with the same name premiered on CBS. The show follows the home and academic life of several researchers (including an astrophysicist).
The first second, and the birth of light
In the first second after the universe began, the surrounding temperature was about 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 billion Celsius), according to NASA. The cosmos contained a vast array of fundamental particles such as neutrons, electrons and protons. These decayed or combined as the universe got cooler.
This early soup would have been impossible to look at, because light could not carry inside of it. "The free electrons would have caused light (photons) to scatter the way sunlight scatters from the water droplets in clouds," NASA stated. Over time, however, the free electrons met up with nuclei and created neutral atoms. This allowed light to shine through about 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
This early light — sometimes called the "afterglow" of the Big Bang — is more properly known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It was first predicted by Ralph Alpher and other scientists in 1948, but was found only by accident almost 20 years later. [Images: Peering Back to the Big Bang & Early Universe]
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, both of Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, were building a radio receiver in 1965 and picking up higher-than-expected temperatures, according to NASA. At first, they thought the anomaly was due to pigeons and their dung, but even after cleaning up the mess and killing pigeons that tried to roost inside the antenna, the anomaly persisted.
Simultaneously, a Princeton University team (led by Robert Dicke) was trying to find evidence of the CMB, and realized that Penzias and Wilson had stumbled upon it. The teams each published papers in the Astrophysical Journal in 1965.
Determining the age of the universe
The cosmic microwave background has been observed on many missions. One of the most famous space-faring missions was NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which mapped the sky in the 1990s.
Several other missions have followed in COBE's footsteps, such as the BOOMERanG experiment (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics), NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and the European Space Agency's Planck satellite.
Planck's observations, first released in 2013, mapped the background in unprecedented detail and revealed that the universe was older than previously thought: 13.82 billion years old, rather than 13.7 billion years old. [Related: How Old is the Universe?] (The research observatory's mission is ongoing and new maps of the CMB are released periodically.)
Examining the CMB also gives astronomers clues as to the composition of the universe. Researchers think most of the cosmos is made up of matter and energy that cannot be "sensed" with conventional instruments, leading to the names dark matter and dark energy. Only 5 percent of the universe is made up of matter such as planets, stars and galaxies.
Gravitational waves controversy
While astronomers could see the universe's beginnings, they've also been seeking out proof of its rapid inflation. Theory says that in the first second after the universe was born, our cosmos ballooned faster than the speed of light. That, by the way, does not violate Albert Einstein's speed limit since he said that light is the maximum anything can travel within the universe. That did not apply to the inflation of the universe itself.
"We're very confident that the signal that we're seeing is real, and it's on the sky," lead researcher John Kovac, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Space.com in March 2014.
But by June, the same team said that their findings could have been altered by galactic dust getting in the way of their field of view.
"The basic takeaway has not changed; we have high confidence in our results," Kovac said in a press conference reported by the New York Times. "New information from Planck makes it look like pre-Planckian predictions of dust were too low," he added.
The results from Planck were put online in pre-published form in September. By January 2015, researchers from both teams working together "confirmed that the Bicep signal was mostly, if not all, stardust," the New York Times said in another article.
This graphic shows a timeline of the universe based on the Big Bang theory and inflation models.
Credit: NASA/WMAP
Separately, gravitational waves have been confirmed when talking about the movements and collisions of black holes that are a few tens of masses larger than our sun. These waves have been detected multiple times by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) since 2016. As LIGO becomes more sensitive, it is anticipated that discovering black hole-related gravitational waves will be a fairly frequent event.
Faster inflation, multiverses and charting the start
The universe is not only expanding, but getting faster as it inflates. This means that with time, nobody will be able to spot other galaxies from Earth, or any other vantage point within our galaxy.
"We will see distant galaxies moving away from us, but their speed is increasing with time," Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb said in a March 2014 Space.com article.
"So, if you wait long enough, eventually, a distant galaxy will reach the speed of light. What that means is that even light won't be able to bridge the gap that's being opened between that galaxy and us. There's no way for extraterrestrials on that galaxy to communicate with us, to send any signals that will reach us, once their galaxy is moving faster than light relative to us."
Some physicists also suggest that the universe we experience is just one of many. In the "multiverse" model, different universes would coexist with each other like bubbles lying side by side. The theory suggests that in that first big push of inflation, different parts of space-time grew at different rates. This could have carved off different sections — different universes — with potentially different laws of physics.
"It's hard to build models of inflation that don't lead to a multiverse," Alan Guth, a theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said during a news conference in March 2014 concerning the gravitational waves discovery. (Guth is not affiliated with that study.)
"It's not impossible, so I think there's still certainly research that needs to be done. But most models of inflation do lead to a multiverse, and evidence for inflation will be pushing us in the direction of taking [the idea of a] multiverse seriously."
While we can understand how the universe we see came to be, it's possible that the Big Bang was not the first inflationary period the universe experienced. Some scientists believe we live in a cosmos that goes through regular cycles of inflation and deflation, and that we just happen to be living in one of these phases.
Our universe may live in one bubble that is sitting in a network of bubble universes in space.
Credit: Sandy MacKenzie | Shutterstock
Is our universe unique? From science fiction to science fact, there is a concept that suggests that there could be other universes besides our own, where all the choices you made in this life played out in alternate realities. The concept is known as a "parallel universe," and is a facet of the astronomical theory of the multiverse.
The idea is pervasive in comic books, video games, television and movies. Franchises ranging from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to "Star Trek" to "Doctor Who" to "Digemon" use the idea to extend plotlines. (A fuller list of parallel universes in fiction is at the bottom of the article.)
There actually is quite a bit of evidence out there for a multiverse. First, it is useful to understand how our universe is believed to have come to be.
Arguing for a multiverse
Around 13.7 billion years ago, simply speaking, everything we know of in the cosmos was an infinitesimal singularity. Then, according to the Big Bang theory, some unknown trigger caused it to expand and inflate in three-dimensional space. As the immense energy of this initial expansion cooled, light began to shine through. Eventually, the small particles began to form into the larger pieces of matter we know today, such as galaxies, stars and planets.
One big question with this theory is: are we the only universe out there? With our current technology, we are limited to observations within this universe because the universe is curved and we are inside the fishbowl, unable to see the outside of it (if there is an outside.)
We don't know what the shape of space-time is exactly. One prominent theory is that it is flat and goes on forever. This would present the possibility of many universes being out there. But with that topic in mind, it's possible that universes can start repeating themselves. That's because particles can only be put together in so many ways. More about that in a moment.
2. Bubble universes.
Another theory for multiple universes comes from "eternal inflation." Based on research from Tufts University cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin, when looking at space-time as a whole, some areas of space stop inflating like the Big Bang inflated our own universe. Others, however, will keep getting larger. So if we picture our own universe as a bubble, it is sitting in a network of bubble universes of space. What's interesting about this theory is the other universes could have very different laws of physics than our own, since they are not linked.
3. Daughter universes.
Or perhaps multiple universes can follow the theory of quantum mechanics (how subatomic particles behave), as part of the "daughter universe" theory. If you follow the laws of probability, it suggests that for every outcome that could come from one of your decisions, there would be a range of universes — each of which saw one outcome come to be. So in one universe, you took that job to China. In another, perhaps you were on your way and your plane landed somewhere different, and you decided to stay. And so on.
4. Mathematical universes.
Another possible avenue is exploring mathematical universes, which, simply put, explain that the structure of mathematics may change depending in which universe you reside. "A mathematical structure is something that you can describe in a way that's completely independent of human baggage," said theory-proposer Max Tegmark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as quoted in the 2012 article. "I really believe that there is this universe out there that can exist independently of me that would continue to exist even if there were no humans."
5. Parallel universes.
And last but not least as the idea of parallel universes. Going back to the idea that space-time is flat, the number of possible particle configurations in multiple universes would be limited to 10^10^122 distinct possibilities, to be exact. So, with an infinite number of cosmic patches, the particle arrangements within them must repeat — infinitely many times over. This means there are infinitely many "parallel universes": cosmic patches exactly the same as ours (containing someone exactly like you), as well as patches that differ by just one particle's position, patches that differ by two particles' positions, and so on down to patches that are totally different from ours.
Famously, physicist's Stephen Hawking's last paper before his death also dealt with the multiverse. The paper was published in May 2018, just a few months after Hawking's demise. About the theory, he told Cambridge University in an interview published in The Washington Post, "We are not down to a single, unique universe, but our findings imply a significant reduction of the multiverse to a much smaller range of possible universes."
Arguing against a parallel universe
Not everyone agrees with the parallel universe theory, however. A 2015 article on Medium by astrophysicist Ethan Siegal agreed that space-time could go on forever in theory, but said that there are some limitations with that idea.
The key problem is the universe is just under 14 billion years old. So our universe's age itself is obviously not infinite, but a finite amount. This would (simply put) limit the number of possibilities for particles to rearrange themselves, and sadly make it less possible that your alternate self did get on that plane after all to see China.
Also, the expansion at the beginning of the universe took place exponentially because there was so much "energy inherent to space itself," he said. But over time, that inflation obviously slowed — those particles of matter created at the Big Bang are not continuing to expand, he pointed out. Among his conclusions: that means that multiverses would have different rates of inflation and different times (longer or shorter) for inflation. This decreases the possibilities of universes similar to our own.
"Even setting aside issues that there may be an infinite number of possible values for fundamental constants, particles and interactions, and even setting aside interpretation issues such as whether the many-worlds-interpretation actually describes our physical reality," Siegal said, "the fact of the matter is that the number of possible outcomes rises so quickly — so much faster than merely exponentially — that unless inflation has been occurring for a truly infinite amount of time, there are no parallel universes identical to this one."
But rather than seeing this lack of other universes as a limitation, Siegal instead takes the philosophy that it shows how important it is to celebrate being unique. He advises to make the choices that work for you, which "leave you with no regrets." That's because there are no other realities where the choices of your dream self play out; you, therefore, are the only person that can make those choices happen.
Parallel universes in science fiction
Here are some of the more prominent uses of parallel universes in science fiction. (This is by no means a complete list, but a sampling of some of the more-quoted examples.)
Marvel Comics and DC Comics feature stories set in parallel universes that are part of the multiverse.
Many anime series, such as "Digimon," "Dragon Ball" and "Sonic the Hedgehog" feature alternate versions of their characters from other universes.
Parallel universes appear in games such as "Dungeons & Dragons," "BioShock Infinite," the "Final Fantasy" franchise, "Half-Life," "League of Legends," "Mortal Kombat" and "The Legend of Zelda."
"Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" (1884), by Edwin A. Abbott, is a story about a two-dimensional world that includes living geometric figures such as circles, triangles and squares. The novel also includes other universes such as Lineland, Spaceland and Pointland. This book was adapted into a feature film in 2007.
"Men Like Gods" (1923), an H.G. Wells novel, included a "paratime" machine and explored the multiverse.
"The Chronicles of Narnia" (1950-56), a C.S. Lewis book series, features several children who move between our world and the world of Narnia, where there are talking animals. Some of these books were released as feature films earlier in the 2000s.
An episode of "Star Trek" featured a "mirror universe" in which the characters were more ruthless and warlike. The concept was repeated in nearly every subsequent "Star Trek" series. In 2009, the "Star Trek" universe got a reboot in a movie that put the characters from the 1960s original series in an alternate universe. The movie starred Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto and set off a series of other "Star Trek" films.
In "The Dark Tower," a Stephen King series that began in 1982, travellers go through portals to different levels of the titular tower (in other words, parallel Earths). Part of the series was adapted into a feature film in 2017.
The "Back to the Future" movie series (which began in 1985) follows the adventures of the McFly family, including visits to 1885, 1955 and 2015. The second film in particular shows the drawbacks of an alternate reality, when one character uses it to get rich by nefarious means. The series starred Michael J. Fox.
In the "His Dark Materials" series by Philip Pullman, children move between multiple worlds. The first book, "The Golden Compass," was adapted into a film in in 2007.
"Sliding Doors" (1998) is a film that showed two parallel universes depending on whether the main character caught a train or not. It starred Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah.
"Run Lola Run" (1998) is a film starring Franka Potente. The film shows multiple alternatives as a woman tries to get 100,000 Deutsche marks in only 20 minutes to save her boyfriend's life.
"Timeline" (1999) by Michael Crichton follows historians who go back in time to the Middle Ages. (While the book is mostly a time travel book, the multiverse is used in it as well.) A film based on the book was released in 2003.
"Donnie Darko" (2001) is a film in which a high school student finds himself confronted with visions and tries to figure out their meaning. It starred Jake Gyllenhaal.
"The Long Earth" book series, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, discusses parallel universes that may be nearly the same as Earth.
"Stranger Things" (2016 to present) is a science fiction-horror television series that begins with the investigation of a young boy's disappearance in a small town. The series includes discussion of an alternate dimension called the Upside Down.
Listen To How Artificial intelligence Poses As A Human And Makes Phone Reservation
Listen To How Artificial intelligence Poses As A Human And Makes Phone Reservation
Listen To How Artificial intelligence Poses As A Human And Makes Phone Reservation
This is scary and awesome at the same time. Google’s new AI sounds like a human on the phone, and some experts say, we should be very worried.
During the last few years many companies have used the term “artificial intelligence” to talk about their virtual assistants, but let’s admit it, neither Siri nor other mobile phones ‘assistants’ really feel as smart as we expect.
However, the Google assistant has improved so much that ‘it’ can pass off as a human, and it’s kinda’ very scary and awesome at the same time.
Google’s AI
Google has recently presented the new version of Google Assistant, its intelligent virtual assistant, during the initial conference of Google I / O 2018.
Sundar Pichai wanted to demonstrate the capabilities of the platform, which now seems to be so far ahead of the competition that it tricks ordinary people into believing they are speaking with another human and not some creepy AI assistant.
During the demonstration, Google had the AI Assistant ask for an appointment in a hairdressing salon, and the conversation feels so natural that it is practically impossible to distinguish a real person from the AI.
Check out the video below and hold on to your seat.
If this isn’t scary then what is?
Bridget Carey✔@BridgetCarey
I am genuinely bothered and disturbed at how morally wrong it is for the Google Assistant voice to act like a human and deceive other humans on the other line of a phone call, using upspeek and other quirks of language. "Hi um, do you have anything available on uh May 3?" #io18
The intonation of the words by the AI, the expressions that it uses, the small doubts when “speaking,” simply put, Google has made a wonder.
However, many experts would definitely agree that what Google has achieved, as well as being surprising, is terrifying, especially if you have seen how science fiction movies involving artificial intelligence end.
It is noteworthy to mention that the new Google Assistant is still in development, so for now it has no arrival date to the public.
Now imagine combining Sophie, the creepy human robot, and Google’s AI assistant.
As noted by the verge, “if robots can freely pose as humans the scope for mischief is incredible; ranging from scam calls to automated hoaxes. One effect of AI phone calls might be to make us all a little bit ruder. If we can’t tell the difference between humans and machines on the phone, will we treat all phone conversations with suspicion?”
And they’ve got a point there, after all the possibilities are endless, despite the fact that there are more good sides than bad sides to it.
As our technology has become more sophisticated, so has the search for other potential life in the universe. Some NASA scientists are now estimating that we may have contact with extraterrestrial contact in as little 25 years.
Last year, scientists announced the discovery of a planet, a red dwarf 12.36 light years away; only four light years away from Earth located in the Alpha Centauri system. The planet is called Proxima Centauri, and it may be habitable. This discovery, along with recent discoveries of other potential exoplanets that can harbor life has led many leading astronomers to come to the conclusion that we likely are not alone in the universe.
A project aimed at listening for signals of other intelligent life, SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), has been active for several years analyzing signals from outer space of intelligent sourcing. A spin-off of the SETI project is called METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is focused on designing and transmitting messages to possible life-bearing planets. METI Project Scientists recently transmitted a signal to a relatively nearby star called Luyten’s Star (GJ 273). The signal sent to Luyten’s Star incorporates “a scientific and mathematical “tutorial,'” as well as 33 short musical compositions by artists in the Sónar community, according to Space.com.
Some new factors to consider based on advanced radio telescopes and on Kepler data, (Kepler is aspace observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars), is thathabitable exoplanets similar to Earth are much more common than originally thought, and the universe is more expansive than we have believed. We are learning more each day and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, planning to launch between March and June 2019, will exponentially add to our understanding.
Scientists from UC Berkeley and the University of Hawaii issued a study that 22 percent of sun-like stars may harbor planets roughly the size of Earth in their habitable zones that have been overlooked because these planets are harder to detect. One of the study’s co-authors, Andrew Howard, stated “With about 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, that’s about 20 billion such planets … That’s a few Earth-sized planets for every human being on the planet Earth.” Read about Earth-like exoplanets.
The estimates of potential earth-like planets vary among astronomers and exobiologists (those who study extraterrestrial life). NASA estimates conclude that there are probably more than 100 billion Earth-like planets based on the assumption that our universe has 500 billion billion stars similar to our own. That figure contemplates nearly identical conditions for life to evolve on these planets. Evidence derived from new powerful telescopes, including Kepler’s exploration of the Milky Way and various space probes in our own solar system, have shown that the water is more common place that thought and the organic building blocks of life are abundant.
These estimates are generally based upon a formula of probability created by astronomer Dr. Frank Drake in 1961. His “Drake Equation” sought to arrive at an estimate of the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.
It was based on:
N = The number of civilizations in The Milky Way Galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable.
R* = The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.
fp = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.
ne = The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.
fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.
fi = The fraction of life bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.
fc = The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.
L = The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
In addition to radio telescope scanning, analytics in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is significantly improving. A new capability based upon machine learning and artificial intelligence was created by researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada. The computing capability is believed to be up to 1,000 times faster at predicting whether a planet is potentially habitable. Researchers will also use the AI tool to study NASA's impending Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) which is set to launch in 2018.
Beyond the Milky Way, The numbers of planets that could support life, as we know it, are really mind-boggling. Astronomers at the University of Auckland claim that there are actually around 100 billion habitable, Earth-like planets in the Milky Way. Multiplied by the 500 billion plus galaxies in the universe, they estimate around 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (5×1022) habitable planets, or 50 sextillion in the universe. Of course, forms of life that could potentially evolve without Earth eco-systems would exponentially change that estimate to even a greater number.
There are a variety of projects dedicated to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) now scanning space with sensitive optical and acoustic technologies. Also, Gravitational Microlensing is being used for detection of planets using techniques measuring the bending of light emitted by a star as a result of gravity from orbiting objects.
There are those who say with all the possibilities of life out there – where is it and why have we not yet discovered it? This is commonly called the “Fermi Paradox” noting the contradiction between the high probability that life that is predicted to be in our universe, and the lack of evidence that advanced life exists anywhere else but Earth. But as such a young civilization that only discovered electricity in a recent era, there is not really much of a paradox. We are just at the doorstep of exploration and cannot not expect to know what we do not know yet. Man’s real quest for the stars has really just begun.
As mankind’s technology (especially artificial intelligence) and computing capabilities continue to grow, so will our ability to explore in greater detail the expansiveness of space and the multitude of galaxies. What was yesterday’s science fiction is now today’s reality. Someday, we may even have the capacity to travel beyond our dreams as humans, perhaps as cyborgs or replicating robotic probes. The continued discovery of Earth-like planets in our galaxy and beyond is another small step in our pondering of an understanding of what may be out there as we peer among the night sky.
Chuck Brooks is President of Brooks Consulting International. LinkedIn named Chuck as one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn” out of their 500 million members. He has published more than 150 articles and blogs on cybersecurity and technology issues. In both 2017 and 2016, he was named “Cybersecurity Marketer of the Year by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. Chuck’s professional industry affiliations include being the Chairman of CompTIA’s New and Emerging Technology Committee, and as a member of The AFCEA Cybersecurity Committee. In government, Chuck has served at The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the first Legislative Director of The Science & Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. He served as a top Advisor to the late Senator Arlen Specter on Capitol Hill covering security and technology issues on Capitol Hill. In academia, Chuck was an Adjunct Faculty Member at Johns Hopkins University where he taught a graduate course on homeland security for two years. He has an MA in International relations from the University of Chicago, a BA in Political Science from DePauw University, and a Certificate in International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
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