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...
24-03-2019
NASA May Send a Smallsat Mission to the Gint Asteroid Pallas
NASA May Send a Smallsat Mission to the Giant Asteroid Pallas
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — NASA is considering funding a mission that would send a satellite the size of a mini-fridge to the asteroid belt to examine an unexplored world, a massive asteroid scientists call Pallas.
The decision will be announced in mid-April. If the mission, dubbed Athena for the Greek goddess the asteroid is named for, is approved, it would follow in the path of NASA's Dawn mission. That spacecraft explored two other giant objects in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, before its mission ended this fall.
"Pallas is really the only other object in the main asteroid belt that's like Vesta and Ceres … not just an asteroid, but a protoplanet, a real world," Joseph O'Rourke, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University and principal investigator on the Athena mission proposal, told Space.com at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference being held here this week. "I see this as a way to go do a lot of the same science that Dawn did, but at a dramatically cheaper price, and Pallas is the sort of place that might be worth sending a much bigger mission to someday."
If selected, the mission would launch in August 2022, riding piggyback with NASA's Psyche mission that is bound for an asteroid made nearly entirely of metal. "We would race Psyche to Mars, use Mars as a gravity assist, and then catch Pallas," O'Rourke said. The Pallas flyby would come about a year after the launch.
During the maneuver, Athena would take an extremely precise measurement of just how massive Pallas is and snap a bunch of images of the asteroid, which scientists could then use to piece together how water and impacts may be shaping its surface. "There's hints on the ground that it might have bright spots like Ceres," O'Rourke said, referring to features Dawn scientists believe may represent salty patches on that asteroid's surface. "So it could potentially be a place with a lot of interesting chemistry going on."
With a price tag about a tenth the size of the $467 million Dawn mission, and a single flyby instead of long-term visits, Athena likely won't produce as comprehensive a package of science results as the Dawn mission has. But it should be enough to begin to understand this little-known world, according to O'Rourke. "This mission is going to pluck a lot of the low-hanging fruits scientifically," he said. "Hopefully, it will showcase the fact that we're beginning a new era of planetary exploration," in which cheap probes can precede flagship missions.
The Athena team would also post all its images soon after downloading them from the spacecraft. "In fact, one of my biggest worries about the mission is that the mission team will get scooped on the science," O'Rourke said. "Everyone will be able to make our discoveries right along with us, so we'd better be ready to bang out some papers."
NASA's decision, whether it chooses Athena or not, will come just a few months after the first tiny satellites to venture beyond Earth's orbit proved just how valuable small spacecraft can be to planetary scientists. Two cubesats the size of bread boxes hitchhiked with NASA's Mars InSight lander as the Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission. The little satellites captured stunning images of the Red Planet and in November, they acted as communications relays, saving scientists from hours of agony about whether the main spacecraft had touched down safely.
Shadowy outlines of the terrain in Vesta's northern region are visible in this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The image comes from the last sequence of images Dawn obtained of the giant asteroid Vesta as it departed the giant asteroid. The view looks down at Vesta's north pole, which is in the middle of the image.
Athena would be larger — the size of a miniature refrigerator and about 400 lbs. (180 kilograms) — but would still represent a new mindset for planetary science, one that relies on dramatically less complicated spacecraft than traditional missions.
"I think the asteroid belt is a really great target for smallsats because there are so many targets that are interesting, we're not going to send these half-billion-dollar-plus missions to every single one," O'Rourke said. "So we have to get good at building these small flight systems that are versatile and can be used to explore."
The Joint European Torus tokamak generator, as seen from the inside. (Credit: EUROfusion)
Nuclear fusion has long been considered the “holy grail” of energy research. It represents a nearly limitless source of energy that is clean, safe and self-sustaining. Ever since its existence was first theorized in the 1920s by English physicist Arthur Eddington, nuclear fusion has captured the imaginations of scientists and science-fiction writers alike.
Fusion, at its core, is a simple concept. Take two hydrogen isotopes and smash them together with overwhelming force. The two atoms overcome their natural repulsion and fuse, yielding a reaction that produces an enormous amount of energy.
But a big payoff requires an equally large investment, and for decades we have wrestled with the problem of energizing and holding on to the hydrogen fuel as it reaches temperatures in excess of 150 million degrees Fahrenheit. To date, the most successful fusion experiments have succeeded in heating plasma to over 900 million degrees Fahrenheit, and held onto a plasma for three and a half minutes, although not at the same time, and with different reactors.
The most recent advancements have come from Germany, where the Wendelstein 7-X reactor recently came online with a successful test run reaching almost 180 million degrees, and China, where the EAST reactorsustained a fusion plasma for 102 seconds, although at lower temperatures.
Still, even with these steps forward, researchers have said for decades that we’re still 30 years away from a working fusion reactor. Even as scientists take steps toward their holy grail, it becomes ever more clear that we don’t even yet know what we don’t know.
The first plasma achieved with hydrogen at the Wendelstein 7-X reactor. Temperatures in the reactor were in excess of 170 million degrees Fahrenheit.
(Credit: IPP)
For Every Answer, More Questions
The Wendelstein 7-X and EAST reactor experiments were dubbed “breakthroughs,” which is an adjective commonly applied to fusion experiments. Exciting as these examples may be, when considered within the scale of the problem, they are only baby steps. It is clear that it will take more than one, or a dozen, such “breakthroughs” to achieve fusion.
“I don’t think we’re at that place where we know what we need to do in order to get over the threshold,” says Mark Herrmann, director of the National Ignition Facility in California. “We’re still learning what the science is. We may have eliminated some perturbations, but if we eliminate those, is there another thing hiding behind them? And there almost certainly is, and we don’t know how hard that will be to tackle.”
We will almost certainly get a better perspective on the unknown problems facing fusion sometime in the next decade when an internationally-backed reactor, intended to be the largest in the world, comes to fruition. Called ITER, the facility would combine all we have learned about fusion into one reactor.
It represents our current best hope for reliably reaching the break-even point, or the critical temperature and density where fusion reactions produce more power than is used to create them. At the break-even point, the energy given off when two atoms fuse is enough to cause other atoms to fuse together, creating a self-sustaining cycle, making a fusion power plant possible.
Perhaps inevitably, however, ITER has fallen prey to setbacks and design disputes that have slowed construction. The U.S. has even threatened to cut its funding for the project. It is these sorts of budgetary and policy hesitations that could ensure we continue saying fusion is 30 years away, for the next three decades.
In the face of more immediate challenges, from health epidemics to terrorism, securing funding for a scientific long bet is a hard sell. A decades-long series of “breakthroughs” that lead only to more challenges, compounded by pervasive setbacks, have diluted the fantastic promise of a working fusion reactor.
What Exactly Is Fusion?
Reliably reaching the break-even point is a twofold problem: getting the reaction started and keeping it going. In order to generate power from a fusion reaction, you must first inject it with sufficient energy to catalyze nuclear fusion at a meaningful rate. Once you have crossed this line, the burning plasma must then be contained securely lest it become unstable, causing the reaction to fizzle.
To solve the issue of containment, most devices use powerful magnetic fields to suspend the plasma in midair to prevent the scorching temperatures from melting the reactor walls. Looking something like a giant doughnut, these “magnetic containment devices” house a ring of plasma bound by magnetism where fusion will begin to occur if a high enough temperature is achieved. Russian physicists first proposed the design in the 1950s, although it would be decades before they actually achieved fusion with them.
A magnetic confinement fusion device, the Wendelstein 7-X, under construction.
(Credit: IPP)
To create a truly stable plasma with such a device, two magnetic fields are required: one that wraps around the plasma and one that follows it in the direction of the ring. There are currently two types of magnetic confinement devices in use: the tokamak and the stellarator.
The differences between the two are relatively small, but they could be instrumental in determining their future success. The main disparity in their design arises from how they generate the poloidal magnetic field — the one that wraps around the plasma. Tokamaks generate the field by running a current through the plasma itself, while stellarators use magnets on the outside of the device to create a helix-shaped field that wraps around the plasma.
According to Hutch Neilson of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, stellarators are considered more stable overall, but are more difficult to build and suffer from a lack of research. Tokamaks, on the other hand, are much better understood and easier to build, although they have some inherent instability issues.
At the moment, there is no clear winner in the race between the two, as neither appears to be close to the “holy grail.” So, due to lack of a victor, researchers are building both.
“There is a lack of a solution at this time, so looking at two very realistic and promising configurations for closing that gap is the responsible thing to do,” says Neilson.
One of five sections that comprise the outer vessel of Wendelstein 7-X, photographed during production.
(Credit: Wolfgang Filser/IPP)
Currently, the largest fusion reactor in the world is the Joint European Torus (JET), a tokamak based in England and supported by the European Union. JET was commissioned in the 1970s and first came online in 1983 and successfully produced plasma, the first step in achieving fusion.
With a series of upgrades beginning in the late 1980s, JET became the world’s largest fusion generator, and currently holds the record for the most energy produced in a fusion reaction at 16 megawatts. Even so, it has not yet reached the break-even point.
ITER Offers a Way
To reach this all-important milestone, we will likely have to wait for ITER.Latin for “the way,” ITER will be the largest and most powerful fusion generator in the world, and is expected to to cross the break-even point. ITER is projected to produce 500 MW of power with an input of 50 MW, and be able to hold plasma for half an hour or more.That’s enough energy to power roughly 50,000 households.
Based on the tokamak design, the project is the result of a collaboration between the European Union and six other countries, including the U.S., that have pooled resources and expertise to build a reactor that is expected to be the gateway to useable fusion energy.
One of the cables used to create the toroidal magnetic field within ITER.
(Credit: ITER Organization)
One of the main issues facing current generators is one of size, says Duarte Borba, a researcher at EUROfusion, and ITER will attempt to overcome this shortfall. As reactors get larger, they become more stable and can achieve higher temperatures, the two key factors in creating fusion.
ITER is meant to be the successor to JET, and will take the technology developed there and apply it on a much larger scale. This includes JET’s tungsten and beryllium divertors, which capture energy in the reactor, as well as the capability to fully control the system remotely. ITER will also use superconducting magnets to create its magnetic field, as opposed to ones made of copper, according to Borba.
Such magnets will reduce the amount of energy consumed by the device and will allow for longer, more sustained plasma production. JET can currently only produce plasma in bursts, as it cannot sustain the high levels of energy use for very long.
Collaboration Is Key
The most important development made by JET and implemented with ITER may not even be scientific, but rather bureaucratic in nature, says Borba. As a project supported by multiple nations, JET forged the path for organizing and implementing a large-scale, decades-long project.
With a projected price tag of $15 billion and a daunting shopping list of complex components, ITER could only exist today as a collaborative effort. Each of the member nations contributes researchers and components, with the hope that the potential benefits will be shared by all.
An illustration showing which countries are responsible for manufacturing various parts of the ITER reactor.
(Credit: ITER Organization)
However, the democratic nature of ITER has significantly slowed down its construction. The goal is to have all of the parts arrive at the same time, but allocating each part to a different country brings in political and economic variables that throw the timing off. When ITER first received formal approval in 2006, it was slated to first achieve fusion in 2016, a date which has since been pushed back at least 10 years. Issues with component construction and design disagreements have been blamed for the delays.
A Worldwide Effort
To achieve a fusion power plant capable of addressing our energy needs, ITER alone is still not enough, according to Neilson. Even though it represents a significant advancement in reactor design, ITER isn’t the end game for fusion research.
If everything goes to plan, ITER will pave the way for another reactor, called DEMO, which will expand the technologies perfected by ITER to an industrial scale, and hopefully prove that nuclear fusion is a viable source of energy.
In the meantime, the new crop of fusion reactors appearing around the world will continue to play crucial roles in the chase for fusion. Far from being redundant, their supplemental research will attack the problem from different angles.
While ITER addresses the issue of scale, fusion projects in Asia are attempting to hold on to plasmas for longer and longer as they probe the benefits of superconducting magnets, Neilson said. Meanwhile, in Germany, the Wendelstein 7-X is pushing the boundaries of the stellarator design, possibly sidestepping issues of stability entirely. Nuclear fusion research has been a mild success in terms of international cooperation, with a growing number of countries determined to contribute their own piece of the puzzle.
Today, there are nuclear fusion experiments operating in the U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, India, France, Japan and several other countries. More reactors are being planned or are currently under construction. Even with the surge of interest, it’s still not enough, says Neilson.
“For a problem as dense and challenging as fusion, you want to have many more experiments trying out different parts of the problem than we actually have,” says Neilson.
More Than a Scientific Problem
Ultimately, the question may be one of funding. Multiple sources said they were confident that their research could progress faster if they received more support. Funding challenges certainly aren’t new in scientific research, but nuclear fusion is particularly difficult due to its near-generational timescale. Although the potential benefits are apparent, and would indeed address issues of energy scarcity and environmental change that are relevant today, the day when we see a payoff from fusion research is still far in the future.
Our desire for an immediate return on our investments dampens our enthusiasm for fusion research, says Laban Coblentz, the head of Communication at ITER.
“We want our football coaches to perform in two years or they’re out, our politicians have two or four or six years and they’re out — there’s very little time to return on investment,” he said. “So when somebody says we’ll have this ready for you in 10 years, that’s a tough narrative to tell.”
In the U.S., fusion research receives less than $600 million in funding a year, including our contributions to ITER. This is a relatively small sum when compared to the $3 billion the Department of Energy requested for energy research in 2013. Overall, energy research represented 8 percent of the total funding the U.S. gave out for research that year.
“If you look at it in terms of energy budgets, or what’s spent on military development, it’s not really a lot of money that’s going to this,” says Thomas Pedersen, division head at the Max-Planck Institut für Plasmaphysik. “If you compare us to other research projects, it seems very expensive, but if you compare it to what goes into oil production or windmills or subsidies for renewables, its much, much less than that.”
The JET reactor, as seen from above.
(Credit: EUROfusion)
Pedersen looks at fusion research in terms of expected inputs and gains. Research into solar and wind power may be relatively cheap, but the payoff pales in comparison to a working nuclear fusion generator.
Always 30 Years Away
However, the finish line has been visible for some time now, a mountaintop that seems to recede with every step forward. It is the path that is obscured, blocked by obstacles that are not only technological, but also political and economic in nature. Coblentz, Neilson and Borba expressed no doubts that fusion is an achievable goal. When we reach it however, may be largely dependent on how much we want it.
Soviet physicist, Lev Artsimovich, the “Father of the Tokamak” may have summed it up best:
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:SF-snufjes }, Robotics and A.I. Artificiel Intelligence ( E, F en NL )
Ancient Alaska Pyramid Can Power Canada!
Ancient Alaska Pyramid Can Power Canada!
Linda Moulton Howe has been following an incredible story about a buried dark pyramid in Alaska. The top of the pyramid is about 150 feet underground but they’ve been researching this structure it seems for many years as you’ll hear about in her latest youtube video posted recently. You’ll find some very interesting information in her video. Here’s some of the most interesting highlights.
Back in 2012, Linda received an email from one of her whistleblowers who was a retired US Army counterintelligence Warrant Officer Officer named Douglass Mutschler. Mutschler had heard about this buried Alaska pyramid in 1992 while stationed in Anchorage He was told it was discovered in 1992 while US scientists had setup listening equipment in Alaska to study the vibrations from a Chinese nuclear test on May 22nd 1992. Analyzing the data they got while studying the signals from the nuclear test uncovered a buried pyramid in Alaska.
Mutschler knew there was a no fly zone 60 miles west of Mt Denali so he thought it might be located in this area. A short time later while on a mission to Fort Meade in Maryland he began to dig a little into the matter after he had finished with his current project. He asked the librarian if she had any files on underground archeology sites in Alaska. She showed him to a couple of combination safes with files on Alaska. He sat down and began to read but within a very short period of time he felt he was being watched. He turned around and two goons were right behind him looking at him and said “You Don’t Have the Need to Know that information”. He replied he was just looking for something and they said, “We know what you’re looking for and you’re going to have to leave now. They don’t want us messing with them up there.”
You can hear the entire interesting exchange at about the 10 minute mark in the video.
Linda got more information for another whistleblower. This information shows this pyramid was known about far before 1992! She got information from a man who said his father worked at the Western Electric Company from 1959 to 1961. One of his assignments was to travel by bus to a site in Alaska via a bus with blacked out windows. He then went down an elevator shaft 700 feet to the corner of a 550 foot high dark black pyramid. His father told him the US government was trying to get energy to go through the corners of the pyramid and up the middle out the top! Apparently the shape of this pyramid is very special and even when models are made at those exact angles they create power! The electrical engineer made models and when he got the exact angles correct he was able to make power! So this pyramid was probably already being studied in the 1950s or earlier.
Another whistleblower reported to Linda some additional information. This man was a retired pilot who was taken up to the site by another pilot. The pilot told him this buried pyramid was as super secret as the Manhattan project! Nobody is supposed to know the place exists. The pilot said it’s some kind of a power generator that is thousands of years old. They don’t where it came from or who made it. It produces enough energy to power all of Alaska and the entire country of Canada also!
Clearly we’re all being kept as free range slaves without access to this free energy technology. None of us should be paying for electricity! Tweet this article to Trump @potus and @realdonaldtrump and tell him when is he going to make Make America Great Again with Free Energy like they’ve discovered in Alaska! Or did he get blackmailed to keep us slaves? I’m very disappointed in President Trump regarding not one word about free energy. Free energy destroys the deep state’s slavery system. Now that the Mueller hoax is over, it’s time to get busy putting out the truth Mr. President!
BUTTE – Many people believe UFOs visit Earth from other planets far, far away. A Montana Tech professor believes UFOs are much closer to home.
“The phenomenon may be our own distant descendants coming back through time to study us in their own evolutionary past,” said Michael P. Masters.
Could UFOs be time travelers from our own future ?
Image Credit: PD Max Pixel
Masters writes about this theory in his newly released book, “Identified Flying Objects.” With a doctorate in anthropology from Ohio State University, Masters uses science to explain why people who report close encounters with aliens always describe them the same way.
“The extra-tempestrial are ubiquitously reported as being bipedal, upright-walking, five fingers on each hand and foot, bi-lateral symmetry that they have two eyes, a mouth a nose, they can communicate with us in our own languages,” said Masters.
Masters understands this study may be considered fringe science, but he defends the research in the book.
“I stand by the product. I’m happy to talk about it with anyone. It’s written for my academic peers as much as it is for anyone in the UFO community,” he said.
Here’s the point in the story where the journalist makes a flippant comment about little green men to show he doesn’t take it that seriously, but the U.S. Defense Department spent $22 million investigating the UFO phenomenon, and that’s why Dr. Masters believes it’s time scientists take a serious approach to the study of this phenomenon.
“The hope is we can begin a new dialogue, get past some of the stigma and not have to defend this as science because it is very scientific as well,” said Masters.
Masters has been on several radio and television programs here and abroad to discuss his book. He will appear on the national radio show Coast to Coast next week.
UFO’s zijn tijdmachines uit de toekomst. Professor doet opzienbarende uitspraken
UFO’s zijn tijdmachines uit de toekomst. Professor doet opzienbarende uitspraken
Een professor van Montana Tech, een Amerikaanse universiteit, stelt dat onze planeet al is bezocht door UFO’s.
Het zijn volgens Michael P. Masters onze verre nazaten die terug in de tijd zijn gereisd om ons te bestuderen.
Hij schrijft over zijn theorie in zijn nieuwe boek ‘Identified Flying Objects’.
Eigen taal
Aan de hand van wetenschappelijk onderzoek legt Masters uit waarom mensen ontmoetingen met aliens altijd hetzelfde omschrijven.
De aliens zijn altijd tweevoetig, hebben vijf vingers aan iedere hand, twee ogen, een mond en neus, en ze kunnen met ons communiceren in onze eigen taal, aldus de hoogleraar.
Masters is niet bang voor kritiek en staat volledig achter zijn onderzoek.
Hoog tijd
“Ik wil er gerust met iedereen over praten. Het is geschreven voor zowel mijn academische collega’s als de UFO-gemeenschap,” zei hij.
Het Amerikaanse ministerie van Defensie investeerde jaarlijks 22 miljoen dollar in onderzoek naar het UFO-fenomeen en om die reden vindt dr. Masters het hoog tijd dat wetenschappers dit fenomeen serieus gaan benaderen.
Stigma
“Ik hoop dat we het stigma kunnen doorbreken en ons onderzoek niet steeds hoeven te verdedigen, omdat dit heel erg wetenschappelijk van aard is,” aldus de professor.
Masters is te gast geweest in diverse radio- en tv-programma’s om zijn boek te bespreken.
While it hasn’t happened yet, at least one politician in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington – an alleged hotbed of Bigfoot sightings – is pushing for Sasquatch to be named the official State Cryptid, making it the first to carry that title in the U.S. Jealous? New Jersey, shouldn’t the Jersey Devil be the first? Michigan – how about the Dogman? West Virginia – isn’t Mothman more worthy of this honor? How about the rest of you? New Hampshire – why not replace that tired old slogan with ‘Live Free With a Wood Devil’? Do you even know what your state’s most popular cryptid is? Now there’s help. A new map of the U.S. lists the most famous cryptids and mythical creatures in each state, along with illustrations to help seekers and public relations people identify them for possible official state honors.
The American Bestiary map and project was commissioned by CashNetUSA and is well-researched and fair — eliminating clear hoaxes and awarding multi-state cyrptids (Bigfoot, for instance) to the state with the most references. The information on each creature (and ins some cases, aliens) includes links for more details. The artwork is creative, informative and fun. While some are well-known, even outside the paranormal world, the map is giving others some much-deserved attention. For example:
“According to the legend there’s a fairly straightforward explanation for Sink Hole Sam, Kansas’s aquatic answer to the exogorth from Star Wars; it’s just a foopengerkle… whatever that is. Locals have speculated that the eel-like creature had been living in a prehistoric underground cavern that had filled with water from a sinkhole. This flooding allowed the creature to finally escape. Fishermen reported seeing something that was 15 feet in length and as round as an “automobile tire.””
“Despite having far more terrifying features than any self-respecting monster actually needs, the Snallygaster remains popular three centuries after it was first spotted; it even has a guest role in the Harry Potter universe. Early settlers told tales of a demonic, bird-like creature with a metallic beak filled with teeth. In 1909, locals reported seeing a bird-like monster with; “enormous wings, a long-pointed bill, claws like steel hooks and an eye in the center of its forehead”.”
“What happened to Sam Harris? Sightings of a previously unseen pig-man shortly after the teenager’s disappearance on the Halloween of 1951 conjure just two alternatives: either young Harris transformed into a pigman, or a preexisting pigman ate him. Whatever happened to Sam; years after his disappearance, some high school students reported a monster emerging from the woods. It walked like a man, but was covered in white fur, and had a pig’s face.”
“The carrot-headed aliens who visited a pair of night-fishermen on the Pascagoula River in a glowing egg-shaped spaceship may just have been symptoms of the witness’s hunger. Or they might have been robots; either way, they’ve not returned, having apparently been satisfied by the experiments they conducted on the two perfectly sober men. The fishermen claimed they heard a “zipping” sound and saw a glowing object hovering above the ground. Then three robot like aliens, that were just over 5 feet tall, exited from the craft.”
There’s 46 more stories and illustrations awaiting you at :
Welcome to Friday Futures, our weekly guide to the latest visions of The Future from around the web. This week: the sea could be the best source of fuel; levitation by light; AI and science; DNA as a computer; DNA regenerates limbs.
1. The oceans could be the real source of renewable fuel
The ocean may soon be a valuable source of renewable energy.
A team of scientists at Stanford have figured out a way to make hydrogen fuel out of saltwater. The discovery could open up the world’s oceans as a potential source of energy.
Stanford University
A team of scientists at Stanford have figured out a way to make hydrogen fuel out of saltwater. The discovery could open up the world's oceans as a potential source of energy. Researchers view electrolysis, or the act of splitting water into hydrogen and gas, as a promising new source of renewable energy. But it comes with many roadblocks; a major one being that only purified water can be used in electrolysis. Seawater tends to corrode water-splitting systems.
Unfortunately, purified water is in itself a scarce resource. Which is why Stanford chemistry professor Hongjie Dai and her team sought out to discover a way to keep salt water from breaking down devices used for water-splitting. "We barely have enough water for our current needs in California," said Dai in a press release.
The Stanford team layered nickel-iron hydroxide and nickel sulfide on top of a nickel foam core, essentially creating a barrier that would slow down the decay of the underlying metal. By acting as a conductor, the nickel foam transports energy from the power source and the nickel-iron hydroxide sparks the electrolysis. What happens without the nickel coating? The water-splitting device lasts roughly 12 hours, unable to withstand seawater corrosion. But with the nickel layer, the device can keep going for more than a thousand hours.
We're still far away from harnessing ocean water as a new renewable energy source. The new discovery hasn't been attempted outside of Stanford's research labs. But scientists are hoping it will pave the way for increased use of hydrogen fuel.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say they’ve found a way to levitate and propel objects using only light — though, for the time being, the work remains theoretical.
Scientists say their new "levitation" tech could send a spacecraft to the nearest star in just 20 years.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say they’ve found a way to levitate and propel objects using only light — though, for the time being, the work remains theoretical.
They hope the technique could be used for “trajectory control of ultra-light spacecraft and even laser-propelled light sails for space exploration,” according to a paper published in the journal Nature Photonics Monday. That means no fuel needed — just a powerful laser fired at a spacecraft from back on Earth.
Optical Tweezers
The Caltech scientists devised the so-called “photonic levitation and propulsion” system by designing a complex pattern that could be etched into an object’s surface. The way the concentrated light beam reflected from the etching causes the object to “self-stabilize,” they say, as it attempts to stay inside the focused laser beam.
The first breakthrough that laid the groundwork for the new research were the development of “optical tweezers” — scientific instruments that use a powerful laser beam to attract or push away microscopic objects. The big downside: they can only manipulate tiny objects at only microscopic distances.
Ognjen Ilic, post-doctoral scholar and first author of the new study, puts the tweezer concept and its limitations in much simpler terms: “One can levitate a ping pong ball using a steady stream of air from a hair dryer,” he said in a statement. “But it wouldn’t work if the ping pong ball were too big, or if it were too far away from the hair dryer, and so on.”
From Micrometers To Meters
In the paper, the Caltech researchers argue that their light manipulation theoretically could work with an object of any size, from micrometers to spaceship size.
Though the theory is still untested in the real world, the researchers say that if it pans out, it could send a spacecraft to the nearest star outside our solar system in just 20 years.
“There is an audaciously interesting application to use this technique as a means for propulsion of a new generation of spacecraft,” said Harry Atwater, professor at the Caltech Division of Engineering and Applied Science. “We’re a long way from actually doing that, but we are in the process of testing out the principles.”
The Square Kilometer Array, a radio telescope slated to switch on in the mid-2020s, will generate about as much data traffic each year as the entire internet.
Computer scientists at Caltech have designed DNA molecules that can carry out reprogrammable computations, for the first time creating so-called algorithmic self-assembly in which the same “hardware” can be configured to run different “software.”
Harvard researchers say they’ve identified a “DNA switch” enabling animals to regrow entire portions of their bodies — a finding that, with a few important caveats, could pave the way to helping human lost limb regeneration.
8. And of course, the dating app based on the contents of your fridge
The first time John Stonehill was invited back to his girlfriend’s house, he headed straight for the refrigerator. It was stainless steel with a water and ice dispenser.
We take light for granted and often forget just how weird and powerful the sometimes-wave, sometimes-particle is. Never mind that our entire existence is dependent on light, there’s a whole host of other wacky applications that science is only beginning to get get a grasp on. For example, new research from the California Institute of Technology has apparently found a way to levitate macro-scale objects using noting but light. Scientists at Caltech say that, once implemented, this technology would allow a spacecraft to surf its way on a beam of light to the nearest planet outside our solar system in as little as 20 years.
The new research is only theoretical at this point, but it builds off decades of previous work using light to manipulate very small objects. The first so-called “optical tweezers,” which use the radiative pressure of focused light beams to manipulate nano-scale objects, led to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. The principle is more or less the same, but but there’s a big difference between moving microscopic objects microscopic distances, and launching interstellar spacecraft. Ognjen Ilic, postdoctoral scholar at Caltech and author of the new paper, says:
“One can levitate a ping pong ball using a steady stream of air from a hair dryer. But it wouldn’t work if the ping pong ball were too big, or if it were too far away from the hair dryer, and so on.”
The key to the new research is in creating nano-scale reflection patterns on the surface of the objects to be levitated. By giving the surface of the object the right pattern it will interact with the light beam in such a way that it will continually spin itself back into the beam of light, creating a feedback loop of sorts with the radiative pressure of light all the way to another star system. While previous theoretical concepts for light sails relied on incredibly powerful lasers to do the heavy lifting, this method would encode the objects surface with what it needs to stay stable, and would work with a light source even millions of miles away.
Of course, this is still theoretical. They haven’t started building light sails yet, and actual real world demonstrations will be needed. Still, it’s pretty exciting. Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech says:
“We have come up with a method that could levitate macroscopic objects. There is an audaciously interesting application to use this technique as a means for propulsion of a new generation of spacecraft. We’re a long way from actually doing that, but we are in the process of testing out the principles.”
It probably won’t look like this.
If it works, this technology would allow starships to travel at close to the speed of light and would open up a whole new realm of possibilities for the future of sustained interstellar travel. Just think, we’ve spent so much time lighting stuff on fire, trying to squeeze out the little bit of propulsion we could from it, when all we really needed was a big flashlight.
What do magnetic and glassy impact-related spherules, nanodiamonds, carbon spherules, biomass burning, and anomalous levels of platinum and chromium in ancient sediment layers all have in common?
Here’s a hint: it involves a controversial theory about an ancient cataclysmic event… and one that is gaining new support, after an international team of scientists found compelling new evidence for its cause in South America.
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis contends that around 12,800 years ago, a disintegrating comet or asteroid led to an impact event—or maybe several—along with possible airbursts which resulted in widespread fires and climate changes identified in relation to the Younger Dryas Climate Event.
Proponents of the theory also believe climate changes occurring at this time may have been a contributing factor in megafaunal extinctions, along with existing evidence of human predation, which began to occur several thousands of years ago. However, archaeological evidence also seems to indicate that human populations were affected at the same time; presumably a result of the same environmental changes.
Evidence for large scale climate changes related to these proposed impacts or air bursts had been found already on several continents. However, a new study titled “Sedimentary record from Patagonia, southern Chile supports cosmic-impact triggering of biomass burning, climate change, and megafaunal extinctions at 12.8 ka,” argues that features remarkably similar to existing North American sites associated with the Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) were found at the South American archaeological and paleontological site of Pilauco Bajo.
According to the new paper’s extract:
“In the most extensive investigation south of the equator, we report on a ~12,800-year-old sequence at Pilauco, Chile (~40°S), that exhibits peak YD boundary concentrations of platinum, gold, high-temperature iron- and chromium-rich spherules, and native iron particles rarely found in nature.”
As I noted elsewhere in relation to the new Chilean discoveries, “The significance of the platinum concentrations and other metallic signatures at the Chilean site presents another unique identifier, with relevance to previous studies that located an anomalous abundance of the rare earth metal at several YDB sites, as well as within ice core samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Christopher R. Moore, Ph.D. of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, who contributed to the recent Chilean study, was the lead author of a paper published in Scientific Reports in 2017 which first identified this platinum anomaly.”
UC Santa Barbara geology professor emeritus James Kennett, also a co-author on the new paper, says at least one of the discoveries made at Pilauco, Chile, was unique to the site. Kennett was particularly interested in an abundance of chromium found in the YD boundary at the new location, since it is an element that is not commonly found at similar sites located in the Northern Hemisphere.
However, Kennett told UC Santa Barbara’s The Current that “volcanic rocks in the southern Andes can be rich in chromium,” which he and other scientists conducting research on the site felt could explain the prevalence of the material.
“Thus, the cometary objects must have hit South America as well,” Kennett concludes. The paper appeared on March 13 in Scientific Reports and can be viewed online here.
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis remains controversial, largely due to the fact that its deterrents feel that the Younger Dryas can be explained more simply as a climate event unto itself. Critics primarily argue that meltwater from the glaciers at the end of the Pleistocene spilled into the Atlantic as global temperatures began to naturally warm, causing a cooling effect that disrupted ocean currents that led to further cooling prevalent throughout the Northern Hemispheres. Further, it has been noted that periods of cold reversal similar to the Dryas appear in the geological record toward the end of past ice ages as well; it seems unlikely that a cosmic impact event would occur at the end of every ice age.
Nonetheless, the accumulation of new evidence over the last few years makes the once unlikely theory of a cosmic impact 12,800 years ago now something worthy of a second look. Hence, the question is perhaps not so much one of “where is the evidence,” but instead who is willing to look at it?
Residents in the city of Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, were left shocked and confused when they witnessed what they thought was a UFO in the sky. Near the border of Oman, people noticed a “whirlpool hole” in an otherwise heavily clouded sky, as if someone had punched a large hole above their heads.
Ebrahim Al Jarwan, who is an astronomer and meteorologist, was able to capture the strange phenomena on video and posted it to Twitter. This natural phenomena is known as a “hole punch cloud” or “fallstreak hole”. One user commented that it looked as though “God has thrown a stone into a lake”, while others wondered if it was made by a UFO. When a large circular patch of clear sky suddenly appears, surrounded by lots of clouds, it’s not surprising that some people believed that an unidentified flying object may have peaked through the clouds, therefore creating the hole.
Hole punch cloud
Meteorologists, however, were quick to point out that it was a hole punch cloud that is normally created in mid-to-high level clouds and made from super-cooled water droplets (water that’s below 0 degrees Celsius but is not yet frozen) and they are actually caused by aircrafts, including commercial jet airliners, private jets, military jets, and turbo props.
As planes fly through the layer of clouds, the air expands and cools off as it passes over the propeller or wings of the aircraft. This sudden change in temperature causes the super-cooled water droplets to freeze, creating ice crystals which are then heavy enough to drop from the layer of clouds. That’s what causes the large hole to form. Andrew Heymsfield, who is from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, confirmed this by telling EarthSky, “The whole idea of jet aircraft making these features has to do with cooling of air over the wings that generates ice.”
Heymsfield’s team also found that when aircrafts create the large holes in the clouds, and after the droplets of water freeze to ice, they then turn into snow as they fall to the ground. Occasionally, within an hour of a hole punch cloud appearing, it can reach up to 30 miles wide because other water droplets beside the original ones begin to freeze. In fact, hole punch clouds can keep expanding for several hours after initially forming.
Hole punch cloud
And while scientists know what hole punch clouds are and what causes them to appear, not everyone knows about them because they’re a rare occurrence. This is why so many people who haven’t seen them before often mistake them for UFOs.
Video of dramatic close encounter with the Black F-117 Nighthawk
Video of dramatic close encounter with the Black F-117 Nighthawk
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is an American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft that was developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF).
The Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. Its maiden flight took place in 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada, and the aircraft achieved initial operating capability status in 1983.
The Nighthawk was shrouded in secrecy until it was revealed to the public in 1988.
The black F-117 Nighthawk was officially retired in 2008 but this incredible video recorded in February 2019 proves that some of these aircraft still remain in service today.
Cloaked UFO Hovering Over United Arab Emirates On March 17, 2019, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Cloaked UFO Hovering Over United Arab Emirates On March 17, 2019, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: March 17, 2019 Location of sighting: United Arab Emerates This week in the UAE an eyewitness Tweeted about seeing a hole in the clouds above him and asked what it might be? Thats easy to answer, its a clocked alien craft. They are over the UAE to observe one of the richest countries in the world for their oil and wealth. If you look closely at the hole, you will see and inner and outer ring. This means the UFO is still there right now as this photo was taken. Thats right, it hasn't flown away, its still there. Did you also notice that the center of the circle has a pushed down lower area of clouds? Because the ships lower part shoved the clouds out of the way to make room for the UFO. UFOs can create clouds and even make holes through them, but one thing they can't do...fill in the inside of the ship with clouds. LOL, I don't think they would like that too much. I consider UFO observations like this to be an intrusion on the publics privacy. Much how apps on your phone can track you and record the information you look at on the net? Or how Mark Zuckerbergs' company Facebook would track your likes, comments, and personal info and sell it off to some freak company we never heard of, without our permission. Well, the aliens are doing the same. They are watching, recording and gathering more data on you than you knew existed. All without your permission to do so. That is a crime that has continued for thousands of years on Earth and still does. I call that a crime against humanity. Scott C. Waring
إبراهيم الجروان@ibrahimaljarwan
شوهدت هذه الظاهرة النادرة والجميلة صباح اليوم في مدينة العين
If the Space Force Won’t Fight Aliens, Who the Hell Will?
If the Space Force Won’t Fight Aliens, Who the Hell Will?
by Kyle Mizokami
Late last week, military news site Task & Purpose confirmed a disturbing fact: the newly created U.S. Space Force has no intention of fighting aliens. Despite the recent uptick of military UFO sightings, the Pentagon appears uninterested (at least officially) in the possibility of hostile aliens. But if an alien invasion does take place, which arm of the Pentagon would respond? The answer: probably all of them.
During a recent Pentagon roundtable, Task & Purpose’s Pentagon reporter Jeff Schogol asked if the Space Force “is concerned about threats posed by extraterrestrial intelligence.” The official answer he got back? “No.”
Schogol’s question was asked with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but the revelation last year that U.S. Navy fighter jets encountered alleged UFO craft in 2004 and again in 2015—in both instances appearing on radar and leaving behind video evidence—makes one wonder.
If the unidentified flying objects described by Navy pilots, as well as military and civilian personnel for the past seventy years, are really of extraterrestrial origin and unfriendly, how would the Pentagon deal with them?
If UFOs suddenly descended from the skies, toasting the Statue of Liberty, the Great Mall of America, and the Golden Gate Bridge with death rays, the Pentagon would need to convene some sort of study group to quickly determine what kind of threat it was dealing with. If that happens, forget the Air Force.
Ironically, the service that would most likely take the lead is the U.S. Navy.
Why the Navy? Aliens would likely come from vast distances, traveling light years in long distance voyages, to smash puny humans. The U.S. Navy is unique among the services in planning similar, though much, much shorter voyages. Both submarines and UFOs deal with pressure—in the case of submarines the pressure is on the outside, while in space the pressure is on the inside of the vehicle. From an operational and technical standpoint, aliens and sailors have a few things in common.
Would all of this firepower matter in a fight with aliens?
Image: U.S. Navy (Getty)
There are other reasons the Navy might take the lead. Seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and if aliens operated from the water (remember, the 2004 sighting included reports of a 737-sized object on the surface of the ocean) the Navy is unique in having manned aircraft, surface ships, and submarines prowling above, on, and below the surface of the ocean. The Navy could also sail to the most remote locations in the world’s oceans, establishing a military presence for weeks or months, to investigate and monitor for enemy activity.
The Air Force could operate against aliens, but the service’s fighters and bombers could only remain on station for mere minutes or hours before returning to base. Against a terrestrial threat this isn’t really a big deal, but against an alien threat we know nothing about—and according to the 2004 incident, theoretically capable of traveling extraordinary distances in a blink of an eye—such a force will be less useful.
If humans could lure aliens into a set-piece battle the Air Force could bring a lot of firepower, but how one lures aliens into battle is anyone’s guess. In the meantime the Space Force, nestled under control of the Air Force, would contribute to the alien war by maintaining the U.S. military’s network of position, navigation, and timing/GPS satellites, communication satellites, and other space-based assets.
US Army Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles exercising in Estonia, 2017.
Photo: Sean Gallup (Getty)
The Army would be the service responsible if aliens attempted a landing in the United States, or presumably one of our allies. The Army’s 10 combat divisions would spring into action, attempting to destroy the aliens with fire and maneuver. It would be in many ways similar to countering an airborne landing, with the Army attempting to destroy the alien’s landing zone and prevent the flow of alien reinforcements. The Marines could also get in on the alien fighting, particularly overseas in Asia, Europe, or even the Middle East—though one would like to think aliens would be smart enough to avoid that region and the prospect of their own 18-year war altogether.
Of course, all of this is contingent on the U.S. military being on par with alien technology... which, frankly, is extremely unlikely. The universe is billions of years old, and other races could easily have a head start of a million years or more on us. And certainly, any species capable of interstellar flight is far more technologically advanced.
Consider that a handful of 21st century tanks could crush an army from the 11th century, or even the 19th century for that matter. Even a difference of a thousand years would be ample enough to ensure humanity’s defeat from even a minor alien expedition/hunting trip/bachelor party.
The entire U.S. military could have the same effectiveness against aliens as cavemen—or in this case cosplayers pretending to be cavemen at Comicon—would have against the U.S. military
Image: Daniel Zuchnick (Getty)
If aliens do exist, ultimately it may not matter if they are hostile or not. Our destruction at their hands would be about as inevitable as destruction from an extinction-level meteor impact. They could even be friendly, the combination of advanced, destructive technology and violent tendencies leading to intelligent life self-screening itself from interstellar travel. (That would be bad news for humanity.) The “UFOs” people are seeing could even be top secret U.S. government craft. The aliens could be us. In the end, maybe it doesn’t matter if the Pentagon has a plan to fight aliens after all.
Carbon monoxide detectors could warn of extraterrestrial life
Carbon monoxide detectors could warn of extraterrestrial life
For some distant worlds, carbon monoxide may actually be compatible with a robust microbial biosphere
AUTHOR:SARAH SIMPSON
Carbon monoxide detectors in our homes warn of a dangerous buildup of that colorless, odorless gas we normally associate with death. Astronomers, too, have generally assumed that a build-up of carbon monoxide in a planet’s atmosphere would be a sure sign of lifelessness. Now, a UC Riverside-led research team is arguing the opposite: celestial carbon monoxide detectors may actually alert us to a distant world teeming with simple life forms.
Edward Schwieterman, a postdoctoral researcher in UCR’s Department of Earth Sciences.
“With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope two years from now, astronomers will be able to analyze the atmospheres of some rocky exoplanets,” said Edward Schwieterman, the study’s lead author and a NASA Postdoctoral Program fellow in UCR’s Department of Earth Sciences. “It would be a shame to overlook an inhabited world because we did not consider all the possibilities.”
In a study published today in The Astrophysical Journal, Schwieterman’s team used computer models of chemistry in the biosphere and atmosphere to identify two intriguing scenarios in which carbon monoxide readily accumulates in the atmospheres of living planets.
In the first scenario, the team found answers in our own planet’s deep past. On the modern, oxygen-rich Earth, carbon monoxide cannot accumulate because the gas is quickly destroyed by chemical reactions in the atmosphere. But three billion years ago, the world was a very different place. The oceans were already teeming with microbial life, but the atmosphere was nearly devoid of oxygen and the sun was much dimmer.
The team’s models reveal that this ancient version of inhabited Earth could maintain carbon monoxide levels of roughly 100 parts per million (ppm)—several orders of magnitude greater the parts-per-billion traces of the gas in the atmosphere today.
“That means we could expect high carbon monoxide abundances in the atmospheres of inhabited but oxygen-poor exoplanets orbiting stars like our own sun,” said Timothy Lyons, one of the study’s co-authors, a professor of biogeochemistry in UCR’s Department of Earth Science, and director of the UCR Alternative Earths Astrobiology Center. “This is a perfect example of our team’s mission to use the Earth’s past as a guide in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.”
A rocky planet orbiting Proxima Centauri might sustain liquid water (artist’s depiction). Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STSc)
A second scenario is even more favorable for the buildup of carbon monoxide: the photochemistry around red dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri, the star nearest our sun at 4.2 light years away. The team’s models predict that if a planet around such a star were inhabited and rich in oxygen, then we should expect the abundance of carbon monoxide to be extremely high—anywhere from hundreds of ppm to several percent.
“Given the different astrophysical context for these planets, we should not be surprised to find microbial biospheres promoting high levels of carbon monoxide,” Schwieterman said. “However, these would certainly not be good places for human or animal life as we know it on Earth.”
Earth-sized, rocky planets have been discovered orbiting in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri and other similar stars, meaning they could harbor liquid water, an essential ingredient for life. Such planets are likely targets for further characterization by the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in March 2021.
The current study is one component of a broad effort to prepare for these future missions by cataloguing different combinations of atmospheric gases that might be evidence of an inhabited world—so-called biosignature gases. Some gases, such as carbon monoxide, had been proposed previously as ‘antibiosignatures’— evidence that a planet is not inhabited —if remotely detectable at sufficient abundance. But those assumptions only apply in specific cases.
Carbon monoxide features prominently in oxygen-rich atmospheres in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star like Proxima Centauri.
“Although other studies have done exoplanet photochemical modeling that includes carbon monoxide, no one had focused on carbon monoxide on Earth-like exoplanets in such a systematic way,” Schwieterman said. “Now we have a guidebook for determining what levels of carbon monoxide are compatible with a photosynthetic biosphere.”
In addition to Schwieterman and Lyons, the paper’s authors are Christopher Reinhard from the Georgia Institute of Technology; Stephanie Olson, a former UCR graduate student now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago; Kazumi Ozaki, a former NASA Postdoctoral Program fellow at Georgia Tech now from Toho University in Japan; Chester E. Harman from Columbia University, and Peng K. Hong from Chiba Institute of Technology. This project was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
Koolmonoxide in de atmosfeer van exoplaneten kan wijzen op buitenaards leven
Koolmonoxide in de atmosfeer van exoplaneten kan wijzen op buitenaards leven
Vivian Lammerse
Onze aarde bestond ook ooit uit grote hoeveelheden koolmonoxide.
Bij koolmonoxide denk je nou niet meteen aan het bestaan van leven. Sterker nog; het kleur- en geurloze gas is levensgevaarlijk. Ook astronomen hebben aangenomen dat opeenhopingen van koolmonoxide in de atmosfeer van een planeet een teken is van een levenloze toestand. Maar een onderzoeksteam bewijst in eennieuwe studie juist het tegenovergestelde. De aanwezigheid van het gas kan volgens de onderzoekers wijzen op een wereld vol met eenvoudige levensvormen.
James Webb ruimtetelescoop De onderzoekers bereiden zich voor op de komst van de James Webb ruimtetelescoop, die – naar verwachting – in 2021 gelanceerd gaat worden. De telescoop zal onder andere een grote rol gaan spelen in de zoektocht naar buitenaards leven. Zo gaat de telescoop de atmosfeer van exoplaneten uitpluizen en daarin zoeken naar signalen van leven. “Het zou een schande zijn om een bewoonde wereld over het hoofd te zien, omdat we niet alle mogelijkheden in overweging hebben genomen,” zegt onderzoeker Edward Schwieterman.
Aarde De onderzoekers namen daarom ook koolmonoxide mee in hun beraad en ontwikkelden computermodellen. En daar kwam iets opmerkelijks uit. Zo vonden de onderzoekers bewijs dat in het diepe verleden van onze eigen planeet, de aarde koolmonoxide herbergde. Nu, in onze zuurstofrijke omgeving, kan het gas zich niet ophopen omdat het in onze atmosfeer gelijk door chemische reacties wordt vernietigd. Maar drie miljard jaar geleden was de wereld een hele andere plaats. In de oceanen krioelden al microbieel leven, terwijl er in de atmosfeer nog geen zuurstof bestond. De modellen van de onderzoekers onthullen dat het koolmonoxide-level van onze aarde destijds tot wel 100 ppm kon oplopen. “Dit betekent dat we hoge koolmonoxide-gehaltes kunnen verwachten in de atmosfeer van bewoonde, maar zuurstofarme exoplaneten die om sterren cirkelen die lijken op onze zon,” vat onderzoeker Timothy Lyons samen.
Proxima Centauri Daarnaast concluderen de onderzoekers nog iets anders. Zo namen ze in hun studie ook rode dwergen zoals Proxima Centauri onder de loep. De modellen van de onderzoekers suggereren dat als een planeet rond zo’n dergelijke ster bewoond en rijk aan zuurstof is, er waarschijnlijk ook hoge gehaltes koolmonoxide in de atmosfeer te vinden zijn. “Gezien de verschillende astrofysische context van deze planeten, zouden we niet verrast moeten zijn om microbiële biosferen te vinden die hoge niveaus van koolmonoxide herbergen,” zegt Schwieterman. Echter hoeven we in dat geval niet te rekenen op de aanwezigheid van mensen of dieren zoals op aarde.
In de leefbare zone van Proxima Centauri zijn rotsachtige planeten ontdekt, wat kan betekenen dat deze planeten vloeibaar water herbergen; een essentieel ingrediënt voor leven. Deze exoplaneten staan al op de agenda van de James Webb ruimtetelescoop, die over twee jaar het luchtruim kiest. Meer weten over deze missie? Lees alles over de James Webb telescoop op onze thema-pagina.
De studie bewijst maar weer dat we niet zomaar zaken zonder goed onderzoek moeten uitsluiten. “Hoewel ook andere onderzoeken koolmonoxide meenamen in de modellen, heeft nog nooit iemand zich op zo’n systematische manier geconcentreerd op de aanwezigheid van het gas op aardachtige planeten,” zegt Schwieterman. “Het is een perfect voorbeeld van de missie van ons team om het verleden van de aarde als leidraad te gebruiken bij het zoeken naar leven elders in het universum.”
Exomars landing platform arrives in Europe with name
Welcome to Europe, Kazachok
Exomars landing platform arrives in Europe with name
The platform destined to land on the Red Planet as part of the next ExoMars mission has arrived in Europe for final assembly and testing – and been given a name.
An announcement was made by the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos of its new name: ‘Kazachok’.
The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos and comprises two missions. The Trace Gas Orbiter is already circling Mars examining the planet’s atmosphere, while the second mission – comprising a surface science platform and a rover – is foreseen for launch in 2020.
ExoMars rover
Last month, the rover was named ‘Rosalind Franklin’ after the prominent scientist behind the discovery of the structure of DNA. Now the surface platform also has a name. Kazachock literally means little Cossack, and it is a lively folk dance.
Once on the martian surface, Rosalind the rover will drive off the Kazachok platform to perform scientific investigations. Kazachok will remain stationary to investigate the climate, atmosphere, radiation and possible presence of subsurface water in the landing site.
Kazachok left Russia after being carefully packed to meet planetary protection requirements, making sure to not bring terrestrial biological contamination to Mars. It was shipped to Turin, Italy, on an Antonov plane along with ground support equipment and other structural elements.
Packed for Europe
The Italian division of Thales Alenia Space will perform final assembly and testing of the mission in close cooperation with ESA and the Russian Lavochkin Association, the developer and manufacturer of the descent module including the landing platform.
There will be more components arriving to Italy throughout the year, including avionics equipment, the carrier and rover modules and thermal protection systems for the landing platform.
Several test campaigns with ExoMars models are running in parallel in preparation for launch and landing.
Recent shock tests in Russia have successfully proved the mechanical compatibility between the spacecraft and the adapter for the Proton-M rocket that will set ExoMars on its way to Mars.
ExoMars landing platform in Italy
The ExoMars teams have also just completed the egress and locomotion tests with a full-sized model of the rover in Zurich, Switzerland.
There the rover drove off ramps and through all the terrain conditions that it might encounter on Mars: different types of soil, various obstacle shapes and sizes and all kind of slopes.
“We have now a very challenging schedule of deliveries and tests both in Italy and France. The coordination between the Russian and European teams is key to timely reach the Baikonur cosmodrome in 2020,” says François Spoto, ESA’s ExoMars team leader.
Nieuwe naam voor de ExoMars-lander bekend: Kazachok
Nieuwe naam voor de ExoMars-lander bekend: Kazachok
Vivian Lammerse
Samen met Rosalind de Marsrover reist hij volgend jaar af naar de rode planeet.
Volgend jaar gaat het dan echt beginnen: dan zal de ExoMars-missie van start gaan. De missie bestaat uit zowel een Marslander (gebouwd door de Russen) en een Marsrover (gebouwd door ESA). Een maand geleden maakte ESA al de naam bekend van de marsrover: zo is deze tot Rosalind Franklin gedoopt, vernoemd naar de wetenschapper die de structuur van DNA onthulde. En nu laten ook de Russen weten met welke naam hun lander voortaan door het leven zal gaan.
Naam De lander heeft de naam Kazachok gekregen, wat letterlijk ‘kleine kozak’ betekent. Daarnaast is Kazachok een vrolijke volksdans. De lander is ondertussen naar Italië verscheept voor de eindmontage en de laatste testen, voordat deze volgend jaar het luchtruim kiest.
De lander is heelhuids aangekomen in Italië voor de laatste puntjes op de i.
Afbeelding: Roscosmos
Missies Het ExoMars-programma is een gezamenlijke onderneming van de Europese en Russische ruimtevaartorganisaties (ESA en Roscosmos) en bestaat uit twee missies. De Trace Gas Orbiter cirkelt op dit moment al rond Mars en onderzoekt de atmosfeer van de planeet. De tweede missie – bestaande uit Rosalind Franklin en Kazachok – zullen zich meer op het oppervlak van de rode planeet concentreren. Rosalind de rover zal tot twee meter onder het oppervlak op zoek gaan naar sporen van levensvormen die lang geleden op Mars leefden, of mogelijk tot op de dag van vandaag stand hebben weten te houden. Kozachok zal op één plek blijven om het klimaat, de atmosfeer en de mogelijke aanwezigheid van ondergrond water op de landingsplaats te onderzoeken.
Zoals gezegd wordt de missie in 2020 gelanceerd. Vervolgens komen Rosalind en Kazachok in 2021 op de rode planeet aan. De precieze landingsplek is zorgvuldig door de twee ruimtevaartorganisaties uitgezocht. Zo zullen de rover en de lander voet aan de grond zetten in een gebied dat Oxia Planum wordt genoemd. Oxia Planum bevindt zich nabij de evenaar van Mars en is een wat lager gelegen gebied. Observaties vanuit de ruimte onthullen dat Oxia Planum rijk is aan klei-achtige mineralen die ongeveer vier miljard jaar geleden zijn gevormd. Aangezien deze mineralen alleen in combinatie met water kunnen zijn ontstaan, gaan onderzoekers ervan uit dat Oxia Planum ooit behoorlijk wat water bevatte. Maar of dat ook echt zo blijkt te zijn? Rosalind en Kazachok zullen ons dat over twee jaar laten weten.
Niet Venus, maar Mercurius staat het dichtst bij de aarde
Niet Venus, maar Mercurius staat het dichtst bij de aarde
Vivian Lammerse
Mercurius zou zelfs de dichtstbijzijnde buur van elke planeet in ons zonnestelsel zijn.
Vraag een willekeurige astronoom welke planeet het dichtst bij de aarde staat en het antwoord dat je waarschijnlijk krijgt is Venus. Maar een nieuw onderzoek gepubliceerd in het tijdschriftPhysics Todayschoffelt die aanname onderuit. Met een nieuwe wiskundige methode bewijzen de onderzoekers dat Mercurius in feite ons naaste buur is. Sterker nog: Mercurius zou het dichtst in de buurt staan van elke andere planeet in ons zonnestelsel.
Fout Volgens de onderzoekers gaat het eigenlijk fout bij de berekening over de gemiddelde afstand tussen planeten. Meestal wordt de gemiddelde afstand namelijk berekend door de afstand van de planeet tot de zon te bepalen. Zo is de afstand van de aarde tot de zon vastgesteld op 1 AE (astronomische eenheid) en die van Venus op 0,72 AE. De afstand tussen de aarde en Venus is op die manier vastgesteld op 0,28 AE.
Venus Hoewel het klopt dat geen enkele andere planeet ons zo dicht nadert, zegt dit niets over de gemiddelde afstanden, zo stellen de onderzoekers in Physics Today. Wanneer Venus zich namelijk aan de andere kant van de zon bevindt, is de afstand tussen de aarde en Venus 1,72 AE. En dus stellen de onderzoekers dat gemiddeld gezien Venus helemaal niet het dichtst bij de aarde staat.
a: De uniforme probabilistische verdeling om de afstanden tussen planeten te bepalen. b: De nieuwe methode.
Afbeelding: Physics Today
Methode “Om de gemiddelde afstand tussen planeten nauwkeurig te bepalen, ontwierpen we de puntcirkelmethode,” leggen de onderzoekers in Physics Today uit. In deze methode wordt de gemiddelde afstand bepaald op basis van een aantal punten op elke baan (zie afbeelding hierboven). De onderzoekers berekenden met behulp van de nieuwe methode alle afstanden tussen de planeten opnieuw. En uit de resultaten blijkt dat Mercurius veel dichter bij de aarde staat dan Venus (1,04 AE en 1,14 AE respectievelijk).
Mercurius staat niet alleen het dichtst bij de aarde. De berekeningen laten namelijk zien dat Mercurius het dichtst bij elke planeet in ons zonnestelsel in de buurt staat. “Mercurius is dus zelfs de dichtstbijzijnde planeet van Neptunus,” besluiten de onderzoekers.
Evidence of Ancient Stone Cutting Technology? Where is this coming from?
Evidence of Ancient Stone Cutting Technology? Where is this coming from?
It is not surprising that the occasional eyebrow was raised in the past concerning the extent of the Egyptian masonry skills. Not only were the structures superior in a visionary capacity, but also in precision, design and execution.
The impressive cutting-in-stone technique reveals our ancestors were familiar with an extremely advanced technology we have long been unable to use. Large-sized holes found in ancient stone demanded engineering skills and proper cutting equipment. All kind of stones (even the hardest ones) were drilled for architectural, ritualistic or symbolic functions.
The methods employed by the Egyptians in cutting the hard stones which they so frequently worked, have long remained undetermined.
Various suggestions have been made, some very impractical; but no actual proofs of the tools employed, or the manner of using them, have been obtained.
Looking at these impressive cutting-in-stones technique one wonders if not plenty of our technologies which are thought to be modern have ancient roots or in some cases may have been lost and then reinvented.
CASTING A LONG SHADOW The Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft (whose shadow is visible at the top of the image) took this picture of the asteroid Ryugu on February 22 about one minute after touching down on its surface and then lifting off again.
JAXA, UNIV. OF TOKYO, KOCHI UNIV., RIKKYO UNIV., NAGOYA UNIV., CHIBA INST. OF TECHNOLOGY, MEIJI UNIV., UNIV. OF AIZU, AIST
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — The asteroid Ryugu is a chip off the old block. Planetary scientists on the Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft team have narrowed down the near-Earth asteroid’s parent body to one of two larger, more distant asteroids: Polana and Eulalia.
“Based on links to those specific asteroids, we can talk about the longer history of Ryugu,” said planetary scientist Seiji Sugita of the University of Tokyo in a March 19 news conference at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Ryugu’s small size, about 900 meters across, and its rubble-pile nature make scientists think the asteroid formed after the breakup of a larger body some 700 million years ago. Based on Ryugu’s orbit, which takes the space rock within 95,400 kilometers of Earth, astronomers think the asteroid probably came from the inner part of the solar system’s main asteroid belt, which sits between Mars and Jupiter. But it was hard to narrow down Ryugu’s origins any further until the Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrived at the asteroid in June 2018 (SN Online: 6/27/18).
Hayabusa2 showed that Ryugu is uniformly dark, one of the darkest known objects in the solar system. Its color best matches that of main-belt asteroids Polana, which is about 55 kilometers wide, and the 37-kilometer-wide Eulalia, Sugita said. He put the odds that Ryugu came from one of those two bodies at about 80 to 90 percent.
Ryugu’s chemistry suggests that its parent asteroid had some water in its rocks early on, but lost much of that water before the breakup that led to Ryugu. Pinning down the timing of Ryugu’s water history could help scientists understand how water may have been delivered to Earth by asteroids in the early solar system.
The real test of Ryugu’s origins will come when Hayabusa2 returns a sample of the asteroid to Earth in late 2020, and scientists can measure the space rock’s age (SN: 1/19/19, p. 20). An older Ryugu would suggest that the more ancient Polana is the parent, while a younger sample would point to Eulalia.
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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.
