Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS.
ON 06/04/2024 MORE THAN 1.951.050
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
29-12-2018
The truth about the UFO above the Pentagon 2018
The truth about the UFO above the Pentagon 2018
So after I saw this footage and found out there are two sources I was pretty impressed...until I saw the dates when the channels have been created and the uploading date....I'm quite sure a youtube channel created both accounts, plus if there was a huge UFO over the Pentagon don't you think probably more people would record it?
Just a week before NASA’s New Horizons mission is scheduled to arrive at the most far-flung object ever studied, mission scientists have noticed something that raised their eyebrows. The object they’re planning to approach around New Years Eve is behaving strangely — and at this point, they can only guess as to why.
The New Horizons mission was first launched in 2006, as part of NASA’s plan to study the remote, icy regions of our solar system. In 2015, New Horizons completed a 6-month study of dwarf planet Pluto, but New Horizons has always had its sights set on probing deeper regions of the Kuiper Belt — an area beyond Neptune which NASA calls “a region of leftovers from the solar system’s early history.” In December the team behind the project revealed that they are headed deeper they intend to approach an object called KBO 2014 MU69, or “Ultima Thule” which is roughly 4 billion miles from the sun.
But on Sunday, the project scientists noticed something weird about Ultima Thule: it wasn’t reflecting light the way you would expect from an object of that nature.
An artists rendering of Ultima Thule, the object that New Horizons will fly by just after midnight on January 1, 2019.
Earlier images of Ultima Thule revealed that it’s actually two objects that are either joined at the hip or very closely orbiting one another. These objects reflect sunlight, you would expect light to pulsate as the strangely shaped object rotates and the light reflects differently off of it — these changes are also called a light curve. But Ultima Thule’s isn’t getting brighter or dimmer as it rotates.
So far, scientists have posed three potential explanations behind the missing light curve. Marc Buie, Ph.D., an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute who collaborates on the New Horizon missions, suggested that it might just be a matter of orientation. He proposed that the rotational pole of Ultimate Thule is just pointed at New Horizons, which would affect how much light actually reaches the spacecraft.
Mark Showalter, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Seti Institute suggested that the object might simply be obscured by a dust cloud. And finally, in a more out-there explanation, a New Horizons assistant project scientist Anne Verbiscer, Ph.D., added that Ultima Thule could potentially be surrounded by “many tiny tumbling moons,” which could interfere with Ultima Thule’s light curve.
Which one of these three ideas might it be? Alan Stern, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator tells Inverse isn’t ready to throw his weight behind any of the ideas just yet.
“We don’t know which is more likely or whether something else is up. Ultima is guarding her secrets well, but we’re getting closer and flyby is only a week away.”
How To Watch The Flyby During A Government Shutdown
Stern expects to get some answers once the probe actually gets close enough to see Ultima Thule for itself. New Horizons will pass 2,200 miles from Ultima Thule at approximately 12:33 a.m. EST on New Years Day. In the meantime, he added that the team is hard at work — even during Christmas Eve — preparing for their flyby. But largely as Stern indicated, the mission is proceeding as planned.
The Kuiper belt, a donut shaped area of the outer solar system
The only change will be that we won’t be able to watch the live coverage of the event on NASA TV because of the government shutdown, which commenced at midnight on December 21st. Instead, Stern added that they will be streaming their coverage on the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Youtube channel.
“The pace of activity here at mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory is intense and exciting,” Stern says. “Mission operations, encounter operations, navigation operations, and science team operations are all proceeding in parallel. We will soon know.”
Investigation Reveals Hole In Soyuz 'Was Drilled From The Inside'
Investigation Reveals Hole In Soyuz 'Was Drilled From The Inside'
Neither spacedebris nor a meteorite caused the hole in the Soyuz capsule. It was drilled from the inside. Now a Russian investigation is in progress.
On Thursday last week, the three ISS crew members Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Alexander Gerst and Sergej Prokopjew returned safely to Earth on board the Soyuz MS-09. Prokopiev has now confirmed that the hole was drilled from the inside, according to theAssociated Press. On the inside of the hole, there were traces of a drill. However, it is not yet clear when and by whom it was drilled.
The most probable cause of the leak is a minor accident during the construction of the space capsule. Instead of reporting the incident, a worker could have taped the hole. In the cold of space, the glue could have shrunk and finally been pushed out by the internal pressure of the space station.
Michael Tellinger Exposes the Hidden Controllers of Mankind (Video)
Michael Tellinger Exposes the Hidden Controllers of Mankind (Video)
Wars and conflicts continue to rage across the planet to the determent of anyone caught in the crossfire. No one would willingly live in a war-torn section of the world, yet so many people do.
Despite the greater detriment, there are those who do benefit from the world being in a constant state of conflict.
With a live audience, Michael Tellinger reveals the trinity of global control by explaining the origin of money and how it is used by the banking syndicates to control governments and populations.
Iets meer dan negen jaar geleden werd de wereld vlak voor Kerst opgeschrikt door een niet te verklaren piramidevormige ufo boven het Kremlin in Moskou.
Nu, bij deze gebeurtens, is het weer vlak voor Kerst en dit keer wordt er door talloze getuigen een piramidevormige ufo waargenomen boven het Pentagon.
Ondanks dat de waarneming boven Moskou negen jaar geleden plaatsvond, is niemand er nog is geslaagd om hier een verklaring voor te vinden.
Om te zien hoe het er in Moskou destijds uitzag, hierna nog eens de opname:
Nu zijn we negen jaar verder en wordt er boven het Pentagon in Amerika een vergelijkbaar object waargenomen.
Een lezer schrijft daarover het volgende:
Het is op 19 december al gebeurd, en ik dacht: jullie rapporteren er ook wel over, maar dat hebben jullie nog niet gedaan. Het gaat om een piramidevormige UFU boven het Pentagon. Eerder, in 2009 en opnieuw in 2013, is eenzelfde object ook al uitgebreid gefilmd boven het Kremlin in Moskou.
Omdat er meerdere opnames zijn, ook van de UFO boven het Kremlin, lijken filmbewerkingen in deze gevallen uitgesloten. Ook een Russische politicus ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Pushkov ) heeft de UFO boven het Kremlin dus besproken in zijn politieke praatprogramma op de Russische televisie, en hij heeft het zeer serieus genomen.
De opname vanuit een auto, op 19 december, is naar mijn mening echt spectaculair. Ze rijden vlak langs het Pentagon en ze zeggen op een gegeven moment dat de UFO verdwenen is, terwijl op hetzelfde moment op hun opname, boven in beeld, je de gigantische UFO nog gewoon kan zien, maar ze kijken er onder door of ze herkennen de vorm even niet.
Volgens mij zijn deze beelden net zo spectaculair als indertijd de UFO boven de Rotskoepel op de Tempelberg in Jerusalem, alleen gaat het nu om een veel groter object dat ook veel langer is blijven hangen, met name indertijd in Moskou boven het Kremlin, en dit object is kennelijk geïnteresseerd in de beleidsmakers/machtscentra van de twee grootste kernmachten.
Tot zover de lezer.
Hier volgt een derde opname gemaakt van de vreemde ufo boven het Pentagon:
Zijn er lezers de gedachten hebben aangaande een verklaring van al het bovenstaande? We horen dat graag!
Videos of the UFO over Gatwick London Airport that caused closure discovered, Dec 2018, UFO Sighting News.
Videos of the UFO over Gatwick London Airport that caused closure discovered, Dec 2018, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Dec 2018 Location of sighting: Gatwick Airport, London, UK Photos of a UFO over Gatwick have been circulating the web, but no videos seemed to exist...until now. I found two video that show video fo Gatwick Airport on the day of the closure due to drones. The footage has a classic disk UFO about the size of two 727s in the sky on the far right of the screen. The UFO is big, but also seems to blend into the overcast clouds well. There is no doubt in my mind that this UFO was seen on Gatwick radar and that they panicked and made up the excuse of drones being seen. The size and shape of the UFO is very similar to the one that was seen over the Chinese airport back in 2010 that closed that airport too. Clearly the control tower didn't want to cause panic and instead decided to make up an excuse for the closure that the public would more easily accept. Scott C. Waring
I don't recognise the shape of these UFOs. I searched for the videos they spoke of and managed to find one. The UFOs travel in triangle formation and hang over an area. Its possible that aliens are trying to make themselves known to people slowly without causing fear. Helping people get use to the fact that aliens exist.
Scott C. Waring
News states:
On the evening of December 9th, Christian Jaramillo, traveling along Tijuana, baja California's Bulevar 2000, came across three highly luminous flying objects, of considerable dimensions, flying at low altitude. He was surprised by the scene, and did not hear the objects issue any noise whatsoever. "The witness pulled over to the side of the road, turned on his blinking lights, got out of the vehicle and started taking photos of the mysterious objects. There are two videos and three photographs altogether," said researcher Dino de Labra, who shared these image. The objects are above the public street lighting and were in the same place for nearly 15 minutes, according to the witness, prior to disappearing.
Rise in mysterious 'TR-3B UFO sightings' sparks PANIC over 'top-secret US military plans'
Rise in mysterious 'TR-3B UFO sightings' sparks PANIC over 'top-secret US military plans'
THERE has been a shocking rise in alleged TR-3B triangular UFO sightings across the world - with the most recent footage showing the bizarre aircraft close to a US airbase in Ohio.
A recent jump in the number of sightings of alleged TR-3B aircrafts has sparked a panic amongonline conspiracy communities. Experts fear that there “is something going on” amid concern over top-secret US military experiments or the involvement ofextraterrestrials. Michael, of the YouTube channel MrMBB333, posted the latest sighting of the alleged TR-3B in Toledo, Ohio.
Twitter: @jdillahuntVan veraf zag het licht er zo uit en deed het veel mensen aan ufo's en aliens denken.
New Yorkers keken even vreemd op toen ze ineens een felblauw licht zagen verschijnen boven de stad. Het vreemde licht bleek afkomstig te zijn van een explosie in een energiecentrale in het noorden van Queens en níet de aankondiging van een buitenaardse invasie, zoals sommige bezorgde burgers dachten.
De politie van New York bevestigt dat het licht afkomstig is van de explosie van een transformator bij energiecentrale Con Ed in Queens. Volgens een woordvoerder van het bedrijf Con Edison waar de explosie plaatsvond, waren er verschillende branden, maar heeft de brandweer die intussen onder controle. Er zouden volgens de politie geen gewonden gevallen zijn.
En voor de bezorgde burgers voegt ze er op Twitter nog even aan toe dat er “geen aliens geland zijn in de Bronx.”
ADVISORY: The lights you have seen throughout the city appear to have been from a transformer explosion at a Con Ed facility in Queens. The fire is under control, will update as more info becomes available. Follow @fdny, @NYPD114pct and @conedison.
Op de internationale luchthaven van LaGuardia, die in Queens ligt, was er volgens NBC kort stroomuitval als gevolg van het incident. Ook het treinverkeer ondervond hinder.
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The Unexplained Min Min Lights Of The Outback (VIDEO)
The Unexplained Min Min Lights Of The Outback (VIDEO)
Although the Min Min Lights are witnessed throughout the Australian outback, they take their name from a small settlement near the town of Boulia where they were witnessed by a stockman traveling through the area in 1918. These glowing orbs, of a variety of colors of red, blue, green, yellow, and white have been witnessed since the early years of the twentieth century. And they very much continue today.
These strange lights can also be found in the myths and folklore of indigenous Aboriginal tribes of the area. This suggests they have been present long before the early-1900s. Interestingly, many other tribes around the world have traditions and legends, untampered with for thousands of years, that speak of similar lights. What’s more, they, like the tribes of the outback, believe these strange lights are spirits of their descendants. Is this simply an ancient belief used to make sense of strange sightings going back thousands of years? Or might these legends contain more truth than most would think? Might they, if only in part, help explain this strange phenomenon?
“Approached But Never Identified!”
Sightings of these strange lights are quite literally in their hundreds. Indeed, as you approach, a sign declares “For the next 120 km you are in land of the Min Min Light”. These lights, according to this large orange sign at the roadside, “at times follows travelers for long distances”. And just to add more mystery to these very real sightings it states the lights have “been approached but never identified”.
While many in the UFO community have an interest in these strange aerial shows for obvious reasons, indigenous tribes state they are the “spirits of their ancestors” who roam the outback. As European “settlers” encroached on these areas more and more in the early decades of the twentieth century, it would appear sightings of these strange glowing orbs began to increase. This is an interesting point. Did they actually increase? Or were there simply more reports because of the increase of European settlers who were not at all familiar with these strange glows? Or, if we accept the beliefs of the Aboriginal tribes of the area, that these lights are the spirits of long-deceased tribes’ people, is the increase in sightings a sign of a disturbance of their realm by the modern world?
Perhaps a side-note point of interest here would be the similar case of Clifford Muchena, who in La Rochelle near Mutare, Zimbabwe, appeared to have an extremely close-up experience with a glowing orb. One that the witness would describe as a “ball of fire” that went on to climb the side of the buildings as if inspecting them. Interestingly, local legends – themselves passed down from long-established tribes of the area – state these orbs are “shavi”, a spirit who is lost.
The Encounter Of Henry Lamond
There are several specific accounts worth looking at. The case of Henry Lamond, for example, who in 1937 claimed to have been riding his horse through the region when what he believed to be a car approached him out of the distance. It was a little after 2 am, which caused him to wonder what someone would be doing this far out at this time of night. He continued on regardless. Although cars “were not rare” you still didn’t see too many out in the harsh environment of the outback. Then, however, things changed.
“Suddenly, I realized it was not a car light” he would state years later. The object was one obvious ball of light which “didn’t divide into two headlights” as he had expected it to do as it came closer and into focus. Furthermore, the light was much too high from the ground to be a car light. There was, he would state, “something eerie about it”.
It was moving around ten miles per hour and hovered at around ten feet. From his perspective, the light was approximately the size “of a new-risen moon”. He continued in the direction he was heading, and the mystery light did likewise. Then, at a distance of around 200 yards, “it just faded and died away”. He would describe its disappearance akin to “the gradual fading of the wires in an electric bulb”.
Does this suggest a physical object, for sake of argument, a large bulb-type object that simply “switched off” leaving the previously glowing “elements” still in sight for several seconds? Or might the strange light have a more otherworldly explanation?
Remnants Of Alien Abduction Cases? A similar incident, although more in the modern age is that of James Birch. Birch, from the nearby town of Kimberley, would experience the incident while driving back home one evening. He would claim that local legends, like that of the tribes of the area, stated the strange lights were “old people’s spirit’s looking after the country”.
This particular evening following a hunting trip, a strange light appeared in the distance. He, along with his fellow hunters were all in instant awe of the enchanting light. What happened next, though, has echoes of alien abduction cases.
Without realizing it, having been heading into town only moments earlier, they were now following the strange light “going back into the bush”. It isn’t clear if there was any missing time, although there must have been at least some minimal unaccounted-for moments as they couldn’t recall turning their vehicle around. What might have happened to cause their memories to blank out? And why were they suddenly heading in the opposite direction? Was their change of direction a conscious decision? Or was it a result of some kind of close contact?
Our next account is altogether more spine-tingling with definite hints of the paranormal. And adds yet another layer of mystery and dark intrigue to these most bizarre glowing orbs.
The “Near Miss” Of Bill Bowyang
If we go back to 1937 for a moment, there is another strange incident from Bill Bowyang, a newspaper columnist of his day. He and several others were on a camping expedition in the area when they had a most bizarre encounter. One evening, a strange light was visible ahead of them. It moved around slightly, as though “someone were waving a lantern” in the distance. However, the higher this strange light would rise into the air, the more obvious it was that whatever was behind the glow, it was unlikely a person.
Bowyang, now extremely intrigued got up and urged his group that they should follow the light. However, several of them suddenly grew frightened, refusing to go with him. They would claim it to be a “ghost light” that would “lead them to their doom”, possibly to the depths of a rocky chasm. However, despite this, and despite being the only person wishing to do so, he went ahead to investigate what was behind these mysterious glows.
He continued on into the darkness, eager to see what the cause of the light was. When he got to around twenty yards of the “huge ball of glowing embers” it suddenly moved to one side.
That’s when a voice called to him from behind warning that a huge fall was only yards away. He did indeed stop himself. However, in front of him he could see “the strange light had drifted out over the great chasm”. If he had taken just several more steps, he would have fallen to his death. The light would float back to him several times, as if enticing him to follow. When he began to move away, the light suddenly “dropped from sight”.
A Dark Intelligence From Elsewhere Or A Natural Phenomenon? Such encounters as those experienced by Bill Bowyang and James Birch would suggest a definite intelligence surrounding the lights. Particularly in Birch’s case, who would completely turn his vehicle around. And followed the lights with no memory of having done so. If we accept there is an intelligence of sorts behind these lights, then, what kind of intelligence are talking of? Is it an entity that we would describe as an extraterrestrial? And are these lights some kind of strange vehicle unknown to us? Or are they a “spiritual intelligence”, perhaps an entity from another realm or even dimension?
There are several explanations for the strange lights, although none of them addresses the apparent “mental control” they can assert over those who see them. Perhaps unbelievably to some, the “swamp gas” theory makes an appearance as an alternative explanation. As do “bioluminescent insects” or “a flock of fireflies”. Perhaps one of the most interesting theories comes from neuroscientist, Jack Pettigrew. He believes the Min Min Lights could be a “nocturnal form of the rare Fata Morgana”. This is a natural phenomenon. In specific conditions, it sends light traveling over huge distances, essentially, making objects appear closer than they actually are. It can also make things appear to float.
Pettigrew’s theories make a lot of sense. Other than the strange mental control mentioned earlier. Is this simply the pure fright in people, meaning their mind’s shut out such memories? Or is there really more to the Min Min Lights than just simple illusion?
Check out the short video below. It looks at this most fascinating phenomena a little further.
Earlier this month, scientists announced that dwarf planet Ceres has more carbon-rich organics than previously thought, both on and below its surface. Here’s why that’s exciting.
False-color image of dwarf planet Ceres – largest body in the asteroid belt – from the Dawn spacecraft. The image shows Ceres’ famous bright spots, and the false color highlights differences in surface materials.
Carbonis one of the most common elements in the universe and is the basis of organic biology on Earth. It can be found throughout the solar system, even in meteorites that bounce to Earth’s surface from other parts of space. Now scientists have found that another body in the solar system – the dwarf planet Ceres– is much richer in carbon that previously thought. Those results werepublishedin apeer-reviewedarticle in Nature Astronomy on December 10, 2018.
Astronomer Simone Marchi at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) was the lead author of the new paper. He said:
Ceres is like a chemical factory. Among inner solar system bodies, Ceres has a unique mineralogy, which appears to contain up to 20 percent carbon by mass in its near surface. Our analysis shows that carbon-rich compounds are intimately mixed with products of rock-water interactions, such as clays.
Why is the presence of carbon so intriguing? Carbon isn’t by itself necessarily the product of or connected to life, although it does serve as the basis for organic chemistry and biology on Earth. When combined with oxygen and hydrogen, carbon can form many groups of important biological compounds including sugars, alcohols and fats. Its presence on Ceres is evidence that the basic ingredients for life – including carbon – can be found in many different places, not only in our solar system but throughout the universe.
More specifically, the new findings show that Ceres was, and still is, rich in amorphous carbon – a carbon-rich organic material – which is significant in terms of how carbon is distributed throughout the solar system. (Organic materials are any molecules that contain carbon – they can be formed on their own without life but are also building blocks of life). The new data suggests that Ceres contains several times more amorphous carbon on its surface and in its subsurface than even the most carbon-rich meteorites.
While Ceres contains more carbon than meteorites, the study also shows that 50 to 60 percent of Ceres’ upper crust may have a composition similar to primitive carbonaceous chondrite meteorites – some of the most complex of all meteorites.
Close-up view inside Urvara crater on Ceres. The 6,500-foot (1981-meter) central ridge is made from materials uplifted from deep below the surface, which experienced rock-water chemical interactions.
Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA.
As Marchi explained:
Our results imply that either Ceres accreted ultra-carbon-rich materials or that carbon was concentrated in its crust. Both potential scenarios are important, because Ceres’ mineralogical composition indicates a global-scale event of rock-water alteration, which could provide conditions favorable to organic chemistry.
In other words, the carbon on Ceres may originate from when Ceres first formed or from incoming impacts of other asteroids. Scientists don’t know yet which scenario is correct. But regardless, the evidence for chemical reactions with water is intriguing, since that can eventually lead to the formation of the building blocks of life, even if not life itself.
Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet but is also the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft recently finished its mission at Ceres on November 1, 2018, studying its geology and sending back incredible high-resolution images of its surface from orbit. One big surprise was the “bright spots” – light-colored deposits, now determined to be sodium carbonate salts – on the darker rocky surface. Scientists think they were formed when when water came up to the surface from deeper below and then evaporated in Ceres’ extremely tenuous and sporadic water vapor “atmosphere.”
The best-known bright spots are those in Occator Crater, which stand out starkly against the darker rocky surface.
High-resolution view of Cerealia Facula – a sodium carbonate (salt) deposit – in Occator Crater.
Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Roman Tkachenko.
Whether Ceres ever had conditions suitable for life to evolve is still unknown, although there is also evidence that it has, or at least once had, water below the surface – maybe even a subsurface ocean. This water produced chemical reactions when it came in contact with minerals in rocks. There is also evidence for past cryovolcanic activity – cryovolcanoes, which erupt water, ammonia or methane rather than molten rock. It’s even possible that the subsurface environment was once warm and wet enough for basic biological chemistry to actually begin, although no direct signs of that have been discovered yet.
Bottom line: As the largest object in the asteroid belt, Ceres is a fascinating world, and has been more geologically active than previously thought. The fact that Ceres is rich in organic carbon is a big part of its geological history and now scientists are beginning to understand what that means not only for the widespread presence of carbon in the solar system but also how organic chemistry can – at least sometimes – lead to the development of life itself.
A Massive City And Several Pyramid-Shaped Structures Found Beneath Lake Fuxian In China
A Massive City And Several Pyramid-Shaped Structures Found Beneath Lake Fuxian In China
Archeologists have recently discovered the remains of a group of large ancient buildings at the bottom of Fuxian Lake in Yunnan Province, China.
Also found were placed stones with carvings that can be classified as mysterious. These findings question previous assumptions by experts. According to Chinese newspaper outlets, recorded in historical documents was a city named Yuyuan. Yuyuan was founded in the Fuxian Lake demographic during the Western Han Dynasty from 206 BC to 24 AD. Yuyuan disappeared from the historical record during the Sui and Tang Dynasty from 589 AD to 907 AD. Urban legend claims the city sank to the bottom of Fuxian Lake.
An Ancient Undocumented City
These recent findings suggest otherwise since the remains of the buildings were made of stone. Yuyuan buildings were found to be mostly built with wood.
Through Sonar surveys, it was revealed that the architecture found at the bottom of Fuxian Lake covered around 2.4 square kilometers. This constitutes a large city that was never documented in history.
A Pyramid and Enigmatic Carvings
Also found at the bottom were the remains of a pyramid thought to be more complex than the famous Egyptian pyramids.
One of the many stones found has gathered some special attention. On the top right section of the stone is a small circle that was carved with seven radial lines surrounding it. This carving resembles the sun. A smaller circle is carved on the left side of the same stone, but with only four radial lines. These types of carvings are considered rare by experts and are estimated to be over 1,800 years old. No such similar carvings are known in that time frame.
Carvings found on one of the stones in the underwater ruins in Fuxian Lake
Also found on the stones were carvings resembling masks. These masks do not resemble masks that were made for humans based on the teeth marks.
Experts are stumped as to what these findings mean, as more research is needed.
A Massive City And Several Pyramid-Shaped Structures Found Beneath Lake Fuxian In China
A Massive City And Several Pyramid-Shaped Structures Found Beneath Lake Fuxian In China
Archeologists have recently discovered the remains of a group of large ancient buildings at the bottom of Fuxian Lake in Yunnan Province, China.
Also found were placed stones with carvings that can be classified as mysterious. These findings question previous assumptions by experts. According to Chinese newspaper outlets, recorded in historical documents was a city named Yuyuan. Yuyuan was founded in the Fuxian Lake demographic during the Western Han Dynasty from 206 BC to 24 AD. Yuyuan disappeared from the historical record during the Sui and Tang Dynasty from 589 AD to 907 AD. Urban legend claims the city sank to the bottom of Fuxian Lake.
An Ancient Undocumented City
These recent findings suggest otherwise since the remains of the buildings were made of stone. Yuyuan buildings were found to be mostly built with wood.
Through Sonar surveys, it was revealed that the architecture found at the bottom of Fuxian Lake covered around 2.4 square kilometers. This constitutes a large city that was never documented in history.
A Pyramid and Enigmatic Carvings
Also found at the bottom were the remains of a pyramid thought to be more complex than the famous Egyptian pyramids.
One of the many stones found has gathered some special attention. On the top right section of the stone is a small circle that was carved with seven radial lines surrounding it. This carving resembles the sun. A smaller circle is carved on the left side of the same stone, but with only four radial lines. These types of carvings are considered rare by experts and are estimated to be over 1,800 years old. No such similar carvings are known in that time frame.
Carvings found on one of the stones in the underwater ruins in Fuxian Lake
Also found on the stones were carvings resembling masks. These masks do not resemble masks that were made for humans based on the teeth marks.
Experts are stumped as to what these findings mean, as more research is needed.
Hubble spots a strange new type of celestial object
Hubble spots a strange new type of celestial object
Astronomers have discovered a brand new type of celestial object: an active binary asteroid, meaning it's made of two rocks orbiting each other while leaving a trail of gas like a comet
(Credit: ESA/Hubble, L. Calçada)
Astronomers have discovered a brand new type of object in our solar system: an active binary asteroid. That means the object, named Body 288P, is the first known hybrid of two rare types of asteroid: a binary that's made up of two rocks orbiting each other, and an active asteroid that acts more like a comet, leaving a trail of gas and dust in its wake. Traditionally, the line between asteroids and comets was fairly clear: asteroids are chunks of rock and metal, while comets are icier, causing them to leave a vapor tail when the Sun heats them up. But the more we study these objects, the more that line blurs. Active asteroids kick up clouds of dust and gas, giving them the appearance of comets, but these are rare, with currently only about 20 known examples. When they orbit within the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter, these objects are called main-belt comets. Body 288P was discovered in 2011, and images captured by the Hubble Telescope back then indicated that it was active. But at that time, the asteroid was too far from Earth to get a good look. In September 2016 the asteroid was on its closest approach to the Sun, and as it passed within 200 million km of Earth, astronomers from the Max Planck Institute used Hubble to peer closer. And that's when it became clear that it was made up of not one, but two separate pieces. That makes 288P the first binary main-belt comet.
These observations revealed some of 288P's many quirks. Most binary asteroids are made up of one larger body with a smaller "moon" orbiting it, but 288P's pieces are roughly the same size, each measuring about 1 km (0.62 mi) wide. And they're much further apart than usual, orbiting each other at a distance of about 100 km (62 mi). According to the Max Planck astronomers, rapid rotation may have caused 288P to break up in the first place, but the fact that the object is still active suggests that this would be a relatively recent development, occurring around 5,000 years ago. Then, the gases it spews likely drove the two pieces apart to their current distant orbit. "288P's activity probably played a decisive role in its further evolution," says Jessica Agarwal, main author of the study. "The most probable formation scenario of 288P is a breakup due to fast rotation. After that, the two fragments may have been moved further apart by sublimation torques." Among the many thousands of pieces of debris floating around out there, Body 288P is a completely unique object. Further study is required to figure out how common binary main-belt comets might be, and what clues they can reveal about the origins of the Solar System. The research was published in the journal Nature. Check out 288P in action in the video below.
If we can compare a rock to a virus - which appears to come alive when infecting a cell, and appears to be dead when doing nothing - then we must begin to suspect that there is something life-like in non-biological things like clouds and hills.
According to two papers published in Cell on January 11, 2018, the making of memories and the processes of learning resemble, of all things, a viral infection Viruses are tiny infectious agents that invade cells, bringing foreign genetic material with them.
One question raised - Are viruses really the border between life and non-life?
( See link for more information.)
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A transformer explosion in Queens sent an eerie blue light flooding the night sky over New York City on Thursday evening as the power in the houses flickered and LaGuardia Airport was plunged into darkness.
Con Edison says a brief electrical fire with transformers broke out at the substation on 20th Avenue and 32nd Street in Astoria, leading to a drop in transmission in the area.
The explosion lit the sky so brightly that it seemed for a short time that it was daytime in neighborhoods like Astoria and Woodside, the residents reported. Smoke originated from the source of blue light, visible all the way to Manhattan.
don@GRAVE5_
yo wtf is happening #Astoria Queens rn explosion?? who you fooling
The skies over New York City turned bright blue Thursday night after a transformer explosion in Queens.
"The lights you have seen throughout the city appear to have been from a transformer explosion at a Con Ed facility in Queens," NYPD posted on Twitter. https://abcn.ws/2ERthJq
The Mars Express orbiter has taken some stunning photos of Korolev Crater, an ice-filled crater near the Martian north pole. It looks from a distance like a snowy winter landscape on Earth.
A stunning perspective view of the ice-filled Korolev Crater, as seen by Mars Express.
Image via ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
Mars is famous for its polar ice caps – composed of both water ice and carbon dioxide ice – which stand out starkly against the surrounding rust-colored terrain. But plentiful ice can be found outside of Mars’ main ice caps as well, including underground. One image in particular shows a beautiful example of such a Martian icy landscape – an “ice pond” in a crater near the north pole – very fitting for this time of year in the northern hemispheres of both Earth and Mars. That’s right … it’s winter in Mars’ northern hemisphere now, too. The Martian northern winter solstice came on October 16, 2018 (Mars seasonal calendar here).
The European Space Agency (ESA) acquired the image at top, and several other images on this page, via its Mars Express orbiter. The one above shows what at first looks like a scenic view of an untouched patch of Martian snow, but the brilliantly white feature is actually water ice, filling Mars’ Korolev Crater. The roundish mound of ice is captured in exquisite detail; notice the smaller patches of ice filling in crevices on the rugged edge of the crater rim. ESA posted the image on December 20, 2018.
Korolev Crater is about 51 miles (82 km) across and is located in the northern lowlands of Mars, just south of Olympia Undae – an expanse of dune-filled terrain that partially surrounds the north pole. The image shows a stunning oblique view of the crater, composed of five different “strips” combined to form a larger single image. Each strip was obtained during a different orbit by Mars Express. There are also context and topographic views of the crater.
The ice that fills the crater largely persists year-round – the central mound of ice maintains a thickness of 1.1 miles (1.8 km). The crater acts as a cold trap, where the air cools down and sinks as it moves over the ice deposit, creating a layer of cold air that sits directly above the ice itself. That cold layer keeps the ice stable and prevents it from evaporating or sublimating. The crater itself is quite deep, with the crater floor lying some 1.2 miles (2 km) beneath the crater rim.
Korolev Crater was also recently imaged – partially – by ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), part of the ExoMars mission. TGO arrived at Mars last spring, and is designed to search the Martian atmosphere for trace gases – tiny amounts of certain gases such as methane.
Ice is common on Mars – both on the surface and in the subsurface – including both water ice and carbon dioxide ice. NASA’s Phoenix lander dug into the frozen surface near the north pole back in 2008 and sampled some of the water ice directly, just a few inches below the surface. Phoenix also observed snow falling high up in the atmosphere, although it didn’t reach the ground. So there is snow on Mars as well, but it never accumulates enough to go skiing or sledding, unfortunately. On the other hand, ice-filled craters like Korolev might make somewhat-ideal skating rinks for some future Martian settlers!
An overhead view of Korolev Crater. Image via ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
Color-coded image showing the topography of Korolev Crater. Lower parts of the surface are shown in blues and purples, while higher-altitude regions are shown in whites, browns and reds, as indicated on the scale to the top right.
Image via ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
Part of the rim of Korolev Crater, as seen by the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) on Mars Express.
Image via ESA/Roscosmos/CaSSIS.
Korolev Crater was named after Sergei Korolev, a chief rocket engineer and spacecraft designer who was dubbed the father of Soviet space technology.
Mars Express was launched way back in 2003 and entered Mars orbit on December 25 of the same year – 15 years ago this week!
More information about Mars Express is available on the mission website.
Bottom line: The “frozen pond” in Korolev Crater is a beautiful example of how the cold, icy terrain on Mars can be reminiscent of similar places on Earth – a Martian winter wonderland.
An artist's illustration of the surface of the "super-Earth" planet candidate detected around Barnard's star, which lies just 6 light-years from the sun.
Credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO
In 2018, exoplanet scientists feasted on data from a nearby ice ball, the first exoplanet baby picture, a majority-metal blob the size of Earth and the home planet of a "Star Trek" fan favorite — not to mention the possible first-ever exomoon spotted. And a major exoplanet hunter sent back its first newfound planets. Read on for the strangest and most intriguing exoplanets found in the past year.
1. Frigid neighbor
An artist's impression of the newfound "super-Earth" world and its host star, the red dwarf Barnard’s star.
Credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO
Researchers spotted a likely super-Earth-size planet orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors — the dim, red Barnard's Star. The icy world, named Barnard's Star b, appears to be 3.2 times Earth's mass and orbits its star every 233 Earth days — because of this long orbit and the dimness of the star, it took a massive amount of data from seven different instruments to notice the tiny stellar wobble that indicates an orbiting planet. The planet's surface temperature is probably about minus 275 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 170 degrees Celsius).
This isn't the closest exoplanet to Earth, but it's nearly there — the only known closer planet is Proxima b, orbiting the star Proxima Centauri just 4.2 light-years from Earth. Besides Proxima Centauri and the binary stars of Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star is the closest star to Earth — and it's coming closer to us every day. In about 10,000 years, Barnard's Star will have moved closer to the solar system than the Alpha Centauri system. [Icy 'Super-Earth' Exoplanet Spotted Around Nearby Barnard's Star]
2. Baby picture
This photo from the SPHERE instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the act of formation, around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet is clearly visible as a bright point to the right of center, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the star.
Credit: A. Müller et al./ESO
Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, researchers snagged a glimpse of a huge alien world forming from the disk of dust and debris surrounding a dwarf star — the first-ever confirmed direct observation of an exoplanet this young.
The baby planet is growing up around a dwarf star called PDS 70, which is 370 light-years from Earth and is just 5.4 million years old. The planet is shaping up to be a big one — it's a gas giant, and it's already two or three times the size of Jupiter, researchers said. It orbits its star about the distance Uranus orbits from the sun. The planet's a toasty 1,800 degrees F (1,000 degrees C), still hot with the energy of its formation. [It's a Beautiful Baby Exoplanet! Historic Photo Is 1st View of Alien World Being Born]
3. Evaporating target
Artist's illustration of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's newest planet-hunting mission, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), returned its first exoplanet find: A super-Earth that's probably evaporating from the heat of its star. TESS works by analyzing tiny changes in stars' brightness that indicate a planet is passing by. It's first planet discovery is circling the star Pi Mensae, also known as HD 39391, which is about 59.5 light-years from Earth.
Researchers had already found a gas giant with about 10 times Jupiter's mass, called Pi Mensae b, in the star's system, circling in an eccentric orbit that brings it up to three times as far from its star as Earth is from the sun. Now, it has a sibling: Pi Mensae c, which orbits 0.07 times the distance from Earth to the sun, or 1/50th the distance between Mercury and the sun. This newfound super-Earth is 2.14 times Earth's diameter and 4.82 times Earth's mass, and it likely has a rocky core and extended hydrogen and helium atmosphere, evaporating under its star's harsh radiation. (The researchers noted its density could also allow for a world made of water.) [NASA's New Planet Hunter Just Found Its 1st Alien World — an Evaporating 'Super-Earth']
4. Epic cannonball
A Mercury-like planet the size of Earth orbits 100 times closer to its star, K2-229, than Earth does the sun.
Credit: L. Calçada/ESO
This planet, called K2-229 b, is a metal-heavy, Mercury-like world a hair bigger than Earth. While planets like Earth, Venus and Mars have metallic cores that make up about a third of their masses, Mercury — and K2-229 b — have oversize metal cores taking up two-thirds of their masses. Researchers found the planet orbiting a star slightly cooler and smaller than the sun, 339 light-years from Earth.
K2-229 b orbits its star at 1/100th the distance between Earth and the sun, and its dayside temperature can reach 3,737 degrees F (2,058 degrees C). (Mercury, which orbits much farther out, reaches only 801 degrees F, or 427 degrees C.) K2-229 b was first spotted by the telltale wobble of its star, and then observed passing in front of the star, making it possible for researchers to glean its size. By studying the planet, researchers can learn more about where such worlds can form in star systems, or how rocky planets might evolve into cannonballs. [Newfound Alien Planet is a Metal-Heavy Cannonball]
5. (Very) distant kin
A central "lens" galaxy and four projections of the background quasar RX J1131-1231.
Credit: Xinyu Dai/Eduardo Guerras/University of Oklahoma
The relativistic bending of light around massive objects revealed the potential signature of trillions of free-floating planets between the size of the moon and Jupiter in a distant galaxy, marking the first evidence of planets outside the Milky Way. If that data holds true, it would suggest there might be 2,000 free-floating planets for every star in a galaxy.
When they spotted that signature, the researchers were relying on a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, where light from a background galaxy with a bright quasar at its core, 3.8 billion light-years from Earth, was bent around a foreground galaxy on its way past. By the way the light was bent — and the slight differences in four copies of the background galaxy seen ringing the foreground galaxy due to that bending — researchers were able to detect signs of the possible planets. [Einstein's Theory Helps ID First Exoplanets Outside Milky Way]
6. Spock's home
An artist's depiction of what the newly discovered planet orbiting 40 Eridani A, a star made famous by the series "Star Trek," might look like.
Credit: Don Davis
The beloved "Star Trek" character Spock canonically hails from the planet Vulcan, which series writers once placed at the real star 40 Eridani A (also called HD 26965), 16 light-years from Earth. This year, researchers found at least one planet around the star, about twice the size of Earth — a real-life Vulcan orbiting the star. The planet takes 42 days to whip around its star, and it's probably too close in to retain liquid water on its surface.
The star HD 26965 can be seen by skywatchers in the night sky, and it's an orange-ish star a bit smaller and cooler than the sun, but with a similar age and sunspot pattern. The star shares its system with two other stars, which would be visible from this newfound planet's surface. [Hey, Spock! Real-Life 'Planet Vulcan' Orbits Sun Featured in 'Star Trek']
7. Big brothers
An artist's illustration of the very young CI Tau system, which appears to harbor four gas-giant planets.
Credit: Amanda Smith, Institute of Astronomy
Researchers have spotted four gas giants circling the young star Cl Tau, which is about 500 light-years from Earth. The star is just 2 million years old, and one planet, called Cl Tau b — 10 times the mass of Jupiter — was already known to circle it once every nine days. But as it turns out, bulk runs in the family: New views from the ALMA telescope array in Chile have spotted evidence for three more planets circling the young star, with one at Jupiter's mass and the other two at Saturn's. Those three additional planets have created gaps in the star-forming disk of dust revealing their presence.
This is the first time astronomers have seen evidence of four gas giants around such a young star, and the planets are unexpectedly widely spread in their orbits — the farthest is 1,000 times farther from its star than the closest. It raises questions of how planets so far away could accumulate material quickly enough to get that big, and whether the innermost planet, Cl Tau b, was pushed inward by jostling relatives. [Record Breaker: 4 Huge Alien Planets Spotted Around Baby Star]
Honorary mention: First exomoon?
An artist’s illustration of the exoplanet Kepler-1625b with its large hypothesized moon. The pair have a similar mass and radius ratio to the Earth-moon system, but scaled up by a factor of 11.
Credit: Dan Durda
It isn't a planet, but we had to include this likely Neptune-size object — what seems to be the first-ever exomoon! The object, orbiting a Jupiter-size planet called Kepler-1625b, first showed itself in a strange signature in how its star dimmed when the planet passed by, as recorded by the Kepler Space Telescope. A follow-up view with the Hubble Space Telescope followed another transit, noticing something tugging gravitationally on the planet and dimming the star a little bit extra.
Could they just be a binary pair of planets? It depends on how you define it, the researchers said. The object has about 1.5 percent the mass of the planet it orbits, which is similar to the ratio of masses between our moon and Earth (1.2 percent). This object, though, orbits 1.9 million miles (3 million kilometers) from its planet, which is about eight times the Earth-moon distance. The moon is probably gaseous, and looms about twice as big as Earth's moon in Kepler-1625b's sky. [First Exomoon Found? Neptune-Sized World Possibly Spotted Orbiting Alien Planet]
Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains.
For the precocious hunter of off-Earth life, theDrake equationis the ever-ready, go-to toolkit for estimating just how (not) lonely humans are in the Milky Way galaxy. The equation was developed by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 in a slight hurry so that attendees of an upcoming conference would have something to confer about, and it breaks down the daunting question "Are we alone?" into more manageable, bite-size chunks.
The equation starts with some straightforward concepts, such as the rate of star formation and the fraction of stars hosting planets. But it quickly moves into tricky terrain, asking for numbers like what fraction of those planets that could host life actually end up evolving intelligent species and what fraction of those planets blast out friendly signals into the cosmos, inviting us Earthlings to a nice little chat. [10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]
The end result is supposed to be a single value (or, at worst, a range of values) that predicts the total number of intelligent and conversation-ready species in the galaxy. And if that seems a little unsettlingly bold, then at the very least, the Drake Equation serves as a philosophical device for instigating conversation. It also frames a proper scientific discussion about the ultimate question of finding and talking to alien species in the galaxy.
Except that it fails on both counts.
Know thine errors
The Drake equation is simple, but deceptively so. Frank's original recipe had only seven ingredients, and further enhancements from other researchers haven't drastically changed that number. So, you might naively think you need only measure or guess a heavy handful of parameters and you're good to go.
But reality isn't that simple. Estimates and measurements always have uncertainties. This concept is absolutely critical for scientific inquiry: What you know is far less important than how well you know it. The real meat of any scientific discussion is digging into the uncertainties and how they're estimated. To justify a bold claim, you need a very tight knowledge of the uncertainty. And to overthrow the claim, you don't have to attack it directly; you can simply call into question a statement's precision.
For the Drake equation, we simply have no idea about the uncertainties attached to any of the parameters. What fraction of planets where life could get started eventually develop life? Zero percent? 100 percent? Somewhere in between? Is it 50 percent plus or minus 5 percent? Or plus or minus 25 percent? Or plus 5 percent and minus 25 percent?
And it takes only one unknown uncertainty to sink the whole enterprise. You may chip away at the Drake equation over the course of decades, taking careful observation after careful observation, measuring star-formation rates, hunting for liquid water on planetary surfaces, the works. You may think you're making good progress on nailing down this prediction, but as long as a single parameter still has unknown uncertainty, you haven't made any progress.
That single unknown can undo the hard work poured into the entirety of the rest of the equation. Until you know all of it, you know none of it.
To produce a proper estimate using the Drake equation, you can't just plug in guesses; you have to provide ranges for each guess, essentially doubling your work. And because most of the parameters aren't even based on measurable quantities, the best you can do is throw your hands up in the air. [The Drake Equation Revisited: Interview with Planet Hunter Sara Seager]
Missing the point
Every few months, a new paper involving some variant of the Drake equation claims to put some "reasonable" estimates on the parameters and produce an answer. Sometimes, the papers claim that the galaxy is teeming with thousands of intelligent civilizations. Sometimes, the research says we're completely alone. When Drake and colleagues first turned the crank, they tossed out estimates of anywhere between 1,000 and 100,000,000 such civilizations. That's … not very helpful.
The Drake equation is simply a way of chopping up our ignorance, stuffing it into a mathematical meat grinder and making a sausage-guess. It doesn't have any predictive power greater than randomly pulling a number out of a hat. What if you didn't accurately estimate one of your uncertainties? The answer isn't reliable. What if you missed a parameter, some crucial element in the steps from stars to sentience? The answer isn't reliable. What if you had too many parameters, introducing an element that turned out not to matter? The answer isn't reliable.
The Drake equation makes a significant number of assumptions, and until those assumptions are verified, we can't trust the calculation's results.
Let's talk
OK, we can't treat the Drake equation as a physics equation; that is, we can't use it the same way we can handily use something like Newton's second lawor the equations from general relativity or Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism. That's fine. Perhaps the Drake equation's power is more as a philosophical treatment, to help guide our thinking and help us navigate the murky waters of a deep and fundamental existential question.
But what is the utility of introducing the Drake equation into such philosophical discussions? Do we really advance or sharpen our thinking? What is the advantage to replacing one big unknowable (the number of intelligent species Out There) with many smaller unknowables that aren’t easier to solve? Yes, breaking down a big problem into smaller ones is a common tactic in science. But that only works if the smaller problems are all individually easier to tackle.
There's a risk we will spend more time unhelpfully discussing the parameters of the model and less time gainfully trying to go out there and actually search for life. Debating over the particular value of, say, the number of life-bearing planets that will give rise to intelligence (a number which must be 100 percent made up) will not give us a clearer picture of the chances of chatting with another intelligent species — instead, we just end up clouding our perspective through an intrinsically warped formulation.
There are, today, ongoing searches to hunt for life outside the Earth. Planned missions to sample the icy moons of the outer worlds, moons which harbor vast liquid water oceans. Exoplanet hunters developing the technology to tease out the hints of biosignatures in alien worlds. Did the Drake equation, in any of its formulations, help frame or advance or assist those missions?
While the Drake equation may have spurred the early scientific discussion of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, it doesn't have much value beyond that. We can't use to it further our understanding, and we can't use it to properly guide our thinking. The huge uncertainties in the parameters, the unknown ways those uncertainties mix, and the absolute lack of any guidance in even choosing those parameters robs it of any predictive power. Prediction is at the heart of science. Prediction is what makes an idea useful. And if an idea isn’t useful, why keep it around?
Eerie Blue Light Explosion In New York Sky from Power Plant Explosion (Video)
Eerie Blue Light Explosion In New York Sky from Power Plant Explosion (Video)
An explosion at a Con Edison facility in Queens turned the sky blue above New York.
A transformer explosion at a power plant in the New York City neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, led to a blue light filling up the night sky.
CBSN managing editor Robert Gifford discusses what he saw in Manhattan, and CBS Newspath senior producer Heather Scott joins CBSN from Astoria, Queens.
I heard it, it sounded like a long buzz and the sky was shining bright neon colors. Ghost1142
Not a conspiracy theorist or anything but how would a ‘fire’ create that much light I understand like just 10-15 miles but 20 that just seems fishy. Ohame A.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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