Are Aliens Ignoring Us? Maybe We're Already Their Captives in a 'Galactic Zoo'

That Earth would be the lone planet to evolve and host intelligent life among potentially billions of planets in our galaxy alone seems very unlikely. But if there are intelligent extraterrestrials out there, where are they, and why haven't we found them yet? This conundrum, posed in 1950 by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, is known as Fermi's Paradox, and it still stymies experts today.

Fermi didn't live to see evidence of the first exoplanets, which were discovered decades after his death. Since 2014, NASA's Kepler space telescope has confirmed the existence of hundreds of distant worlds, and its findings have hinted at potentially 2,300 more. And yet, despite these exciting exoplanet discoveries, contact with extraterrestrials seems no closer now than it did in Fermi's day.

Under alien observation?

One explanation that scientists explored at the METI meeting, is that aliens are aware of Earth and are observing us as we would observe animals kept in a zoo, METI President Douglas Vakoch said in a workshop. If this is the case, humans should increase their efforts to create messages capable of reaching our "keepers," to demonstrate our intelligence, Vakoch explained.

For example, if a captive zebra were to suddenly tap out a pattern of prime numbers, humans would be required to re-evaluate their understanding of zebra cognition, "and we would be compelled to respond," according to EarthSky.

But what if we're not part of a vast alien zoo — what if, instead, humanity has been evaluated by alien civilizations, and subsequently "quarantined" from our galactic neighbors?

It's possible that extraterrestrials are actively isolating us from contact for our own good, because interacting with aliens would be "culturally disruptive" for Earth, meeting co-chair Jean-Pierre Rospars, honorary research director at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), said in a workshop.

Of course, it's also likely that we haven't heard from aliens because they're locked under a layer of ice in subsurface oceans; trapped on massive "super-Earth" worlds by gravity's intense pull; or dead because their advanced civilizations have already destroyed themselves — as humanity might — through runaway consumption of their planet's natural resources.

Though, maybe if we want to hear from aliens we just need to relax and be patient. After all, Earth has been around for 4.6 billion years, while extraterrestrial research is less than 100 years old, Paris-Match reported.

• Greetings, Earthlings! 8 Ways Aliens Could Contact Us
• 7 Huge Misconceptions about Aliens
• 4 Places Where Alien Life May Lurk in the Solar System

Originally published on Live Science.

{ https://www.space.com/news }

27-03-2019 om 22:13 geschreven door peter  

Wetenschappers observeren voor het eerst rechtstreeks planeet buiten ons zonnestelsel - HLN.be

Bron: Sky News, Medium

HR8799e werd voor het eerst gespot in 2010 en bevindt zich op 129 lichtjaar van onze Aarde, dat is 1.220.434.230.962.923 kilometer van ons verwijderd. Nooit eerder slaagden wetenschappers erin om rechtstreekse observaties te doen van een planeet buiten ons zonnestelsel. Dat komt door het verblindende licht van de sterren waarrond ze draaien.

Lees ook

IN BEELD. De een-na-grootste meteoorexplosie in de laatste 30 jaar, en niemand die ’m zag

Licht

Deze keer lukte het wél, met een techniek die het licht van verscheidene telescopen combineerde. Via zogenaamde ‘optische interferometrie’ konden de vier telescopen van de Very Large Telescope (VLT) – een geavanceerd astronomisch observatorium in de Atacamawoestijn in Chili – gecombineerd worden tot één super-telescoop: Gravity. Dat beeldvormingssysteem was zó gevoelig en precies dat het in staat was om het licht van de planeet en het licht van zijn ster uit elkaar te halen.

Wat de wetenschappers zagen, was iets wat ze nooit eerder hadden gezien. HR8799e bleek groter en jonger te zijn dan de planeten in ons eigen zonnestelsel. Het was een bal van gas en in zijn atmosfeer woedde een gigantische en krachtige storm. De oppervlakte werd gedomineerd werd door wolken van ijzer en silicaten (de grondstof van glas). (lees hieronder verder)

RV 

De Very Large Telescope (VLT) in de woestijn van Chili.

 ESO/P. Horálek

“Onze observaties suggereren dat het om een bal gas gaat die van binnenuit verlicht wordt”, aldus teamleider Sylvestre Lacour van het Observatoire de Paris in Frankrijk en het Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. “Stralen warm licht wervelen door stormachtige donkere wolken.”

Volgens de man zou de heel jonge planeet een “dynamische atmosfeer” hebben en complexe fysische en chemische processen ondergaan. Hij zou nog ‘maar’ 30 miljoen jaar oud zijn en de wetenschap een kijk geven op hoe planeten en planetaire systemen gevormd worden.

Niet bewoonbaar

Voor alle duidelijkheid: de planeet is nog in de verste verten niet bewoonbaar. Door de energie die vrijkwam bij zijn ontstaan en een krachtig broeikaseffect loopt de temperatuur er op tot ongeveer 1.000 graden Celcius. De atmosfeer zit bovendien vol koolstofmonoxide.

De bevindingen werden beschreven in het vakblad Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

27-03-2019 om 21:58 geschreven door peter  

Doorbraak in Indiase ruimteprogramma met neerhalen van satelliet - HLN.be

Bron: AFP/DPA

Modi deed de aankondiging in een televisietoespraak. “Onze wetenschappers hebben een satelliet in een lage baan om de aarde op een afstand van 300 kilometer neergehaald”, zei de hindoeïstische nationalistische leider.

Hij benadrukte dat niemand zich bedreigd hoefde te voelen door de test. “Ons doel is om vrede te brengen en niet om een oorlogssfeer te creëren, dit is niet gericht tegen welk land dan ook”, zei hij.

Volgens de premier is India nog maar het vierde land dat zo’n antisatellietwapen gebruikt, na de Verenigde Staten, Rusland en China. “India heeft een ongeziene prestatie geleverd geleverd vandaag”, zei Modi. “India heeft zijn naam geregistreerd als ruimtevaartmacht.”

Volgende maand vinden in India parlementsverkiezingen plaats. 

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

27-03-2019 om 21:51 geschreven door peter  

Massive Greenland glacier said to be one of the main contributors to global sea level rise is GROWING again due to cooling local temperatures - but NASA warns it’s only temporary

• In 2012, Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier was retreating about 1.8 miles annually
• A new study found it started growing again at about same rate in past two years
• Natural cyclical cooling of North Atlantic water likely caused it to reverse course
• Scientists say it's only temporary, as surrounding waters will soon be warming 

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A major Greenland glacier that was one of the fastest shrinking ice and snow masses on Earth is growing again, a new NASA study finds.

The Jakobshavn (YA-cob-shawv-en) glacier around 2012 was retreating about 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) and thinning nearly 130 feet (almost 40 meters) annually. 

But it started growing again at about the same rate in the past two years, according to a study in Monday's Nature Geoscience. 

Study authors and outside scientists think this is temporary.

Scroll down for video 

Patches of bare land at the Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland are shown. The major glacier that was one of the fastest shrinking ice and snow masses on Earth is growing again, a new NASA study finds

'That was kind of a surprise. We kind of got used to a runaway system,' said Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland ice and climate scientist Jason Box. 

'The good news is that it's a reminder that it's not necessarily going that fast. But it is going.'

Box, who wasn't part of the study, said Jakobshavn is 'arguably the most important Greenland glacier because it discharges the most ice in the northern hemisphere. For all of Greenland, it is king.'

A natural cyclical cooling of North Atlantic waters likely caused the glacier to reverse course, said study lead author Ala Khazendar, a NASA glaciologist on the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project. 

Khazendar and colleagues say this coincides with a flip of the North Atlantic Oscillation - a natural and temporary cooling and warming of parts of the ocean that is like a distant cousin to El Nino in the Pacific.

The water in Disko Bay, where Jakobshavn hits the ocean, is about 3.6 degrees cooler (2 degrees Celsius) than a few years ago, study authors said.

While this is 'good news' on a temporary basis, this is bad news on the long term because it tells scientists that ocean temperature is a bigger player in glacier retreats and advances than previously thought, said NASA climate scientist Josh Willis, a study co-author. 

Over the decades the water has been and will be warming from man-made climate change, he said, noting that about 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases goes into the oceans.

'In the long run we'll probably have to raise our predictions of sea level rise again,' Willis said.

Think of the ocean temperatures near Greenland like an escalator that's rising slowly from global warming, Khazendar said. But the natural North Atlantic Oscillation sometimes is like jumping down a few steps or jumping up a few steps. 

The water can get cooler and have effects, but in the long run it is getting warmer and the melting will be worse, he said.

Four outside scientists said the study and results make sense.

University of Washington ice scientist Ian Joughin, who wasn't part of the study and predicted such a change seven years ago, said it would be a 'grave mistake' to interpret the latest data as contradicting climate change science.

What's happening, Joughin said, is 'to a large extent, a temporary blip. Downturns do occur in the stock market, but overall the long term trajectory is up. This is really the same thing.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

27-03-2019 om 21:38 geschreven door peter  

BY SETH BORENSTEIN

This 2016 photo provided by NASA shows patches of bare land at the Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland. The major Greenland glacier that was one of the fastest shrinking ice and snow masses on Earth is growing again, a new NASA study finds. The Jakobshavn glacier around 2012 was retreating about 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) and thinning nearly 130 feet (almost 40 meters) annually. But the last two years it started growing again at about the same rate, according to a study released on Monday, March 25, 2019, in Nature Geoscience. Study authors and outside scientists think this is temporary.

(NASA via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A major Greenland glacier that was one of the fastest shrinking ice and snow masses on Earth is growing again, a new NASA study finds.

The Jakobshavn (YA-cob-shawv-en) glacier around 2012 was retreating about 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) and thinning nearly 130 feet (almost 40 meters) annually. But it started growing again at about the same rate in the past two years, according to a study in Monday’s Nature Geoscience . Study authors and outside scientists think this is temporary.

“That was kind of a surprise. We kind of got used to a runaway system,” said Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland ice and climate scientist Jason Box. “The good news is that it’s a reminder that it’s not necessarily going that fast. But it is going.”

Box, who wasn’t part of the study, said Jakobshavn is “arguably the most important Greenland glacier because it discharges the most ice in the northern hemisphere. For all of Greenland, it is king.”

A natural cyclical cooling of North Atlantic waters likely caused the glacier to reverse course, said study lead author Ala Khazendar, a NASA glaciologist on the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project. Khazendar and colleagues say this coincides with a flip of the North Atlantic Oscillation — a natural and temporary cooling and warming of parts of the ocean that is like a distant cousin to El Nino in the Pacific.

The water in Disko Bay, where Jakobshavn hits the ocean, is about 3.6 degrees cooler (2 degrees Celsius) than a few years ago, study authors said.

While this is “good news” on a temporary basis, this is bad news on the long term because it tells scientists that ocean temperature is a bigger player in glacier retreats and advances than previously thought, said NASA climate scientist Josh Willis, a study co-author. Over the decades the water has been and will be warming from man-made climate change, he said, noting that about 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases goes into the oceans.

“In the long run we’ll probably have to raise our predictions of sea level rise again,” Willis said.

Think of the ocean temperatures near Greenland like an escalator that’s rising slowly from global warming, Khazendar said. But the natural North Atlantic Oscillation sometimes is like jumping down a few steps or jumping up a few steps. The water can get cooler and have effects, but in the long run it is getting warmer and the melting will be worse, he said.

Four outside scientists said the study and results make sense.

University of Washington ice scientist Ian Joughin, who wasn’t part of the study and predicted such a change seven years ago, said it would be a “grave mistake” to interpret the latest data as contradicting climate change science.

What’s happening, Joughin said, is “to a large extent, a temporary blip. Downturns do occur in the stock market, but overall the long term trajectory is up. This is really the same thing.”

• Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears .
• The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

{ https://apnews.com/ }

27-03-2019 om 21:26 geschreven door peter  

27-03-2019 om 21:18 geschreven door peter  

CRIMINELE OVERHEDEN HOUDEN BUITENAARDSE ZEGENINGEN VOOR ONS VERBORGEN ( VIDEO )

De wereld zou al lang een veel betere plaats kunnen zijn als overheden en dan met name de Amerikaanse, de kennis van buitenaardsen met het volk zouden delen. 

Er zou dan gratis schone energie zijn, water en voedsel voor de hele wereldbevolking en enge ziektes konden worden genezen.

Mensen die zelf dingen hebben gezien en meegemaakt en vinden dat ze hun mond open moeten doen en hun kennis delen met de wereld. 

Eén van die mensen is Emery Smith, de man die jarenlang heeft gewerkt bij en voor de Amerikaanse luchtmacht. 

Smith heeft een opleiding genoten tot operatie assistent en volgde talloze andere paramedische opleidingen. Maar zijn specialiteit was naast bovengenoemde zaken, het voorbereiden van weefselonderzoek, 

Zo kreeg hij delen van lichamen en moest daar bepaalde zaken van ontleden en voor onderzoek opsturen naar een andere afdeling zonder dat hij in het begin zelf ook maar enig idee had van wie die lichaamsdelen waren of wat er onderzocht zou worden. 

Tijdens dat soort activiteiten die veelal werden uitgevoerd in ondergrondse laboratoria van de luchtmacht, kwam Smith ook in aanraking met andere dingen die tot op de dag van vandaag geheim zijn, zoals nulpunt energie, antizwaartekracht en holografische technieken. 

Het meeste van de technologie die hij zag was afkomstig van reverse engineering. Techniek, nagebouwd van buitenaardsen en veelal afkomstig uit neergestorte ufo’s. 

Het gemene is natuurlijk zoals altijd, dat overheden dit soort dingen voor zichzelf houden en niet delen met de bevolking. Wanneer ze dit wel zouden doen, volgens Smith, dan hadden wij de mogelijkheid om allerlei nare ziektes te genezen, gratis energie en genoeg water en voedsel om de gehele wereldbevolking te voorzien. 

Door de jaren heen is Emery Smith precies te weten gekomen hoe alles in elkaar steekt met betrekking tot de buitenaardsen. Dit alles vertelt hij in onderstaand interview dat absoluut de moeite van het bekijken waard is. 

Het neemt je mee naar een andere wereld en ineens zijn andere dimensie en teleporatie geen vreemde begrippen meer. Het is er allemaal, om ons heen en dichterbij dan we denken. 

En ook hier komt ter sprake waar wij al heel lang over schrijven en dat is de geheime ruimtevloot. Waar wij als publiek kijken naar een ruimteprogramma waar raketten nog steeds met donderend geraas en voorzien van fossiele brandstoffen de ruimte in worden gestuurd, terwijl de geheime ruimtevloot over de meest moderne buitenaardse technieken beschikt. 

Wat Smith zegt is dat we eigenlijk geen moeite hoeven doen voor Disclosure, want dat door de veranderingen van het weer op aarde het ijs in poolstreken bijvoorbeeld zal smelten, waardoor enorme ruimteschepen tevoorschijn zullen komen, waar op een gegeven moment voor de autoriteiten geen ontkennen meer aan zal zijn omdat de hele wereld hiervan getuige is. 


Het is natuurlijk altijd lastig om te beoordelen of iemand de waarheid vertelt of niet. 

In het geval van Emery Smith volgt hierna een recente verklaring van David Wilcock waarin deze uitlegt dat hij Smith al tien jaar kent en dat hij ervan overtuigd is dat de verhalen zoals Smith die vertelt, op waarheid berusten. Gedurende 10 jaar is de man niet afgeweken van zijn getuigenverslagen.

De naam Smith valt vaak samen met die van Corey Goode, ook een goede bekende van Wilcox, waar wel de nodige twijfel over bestaat, zoals wij in een eerder artikel schreven. 

{ http://niburu.co/ }

27-03-2019 om 20:45 geschreven door peter  

Russian Strange Ray of Light Emerges From The Sky Captured on Camera

Russian photographer Zhiganov, who initially planned to photograph some of his friends lounging in a hot tub with the aurora overhead in the city of Aptity, Russia quickly changed when he noticed a strange phenomenon, explained as a vertical aurora, in the sky upon he started to film it.

“It was the first time I ever saw an aurora in such a rarified form” Zhiganov said but I wonder whether it was an aurora or some sort of a laser/plasma beam since it turned into an enormous bright sphere that moved across the surface until it disappeared.

Here is the amazing video and please decide for yourself whether it is a rare vertical aurora or not.

 UFO Sightings Blogspot

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

27-03-2019 om 20:27 geschreven door peter  

The Secret Space Program Gary McKinnon 1st Interview in Years by Richard Dolan

UK citizen Gary McKinnon is the most famous UFO “hacker” of all time. Arrested in 2002, he was in danger of extradition to the US for ten years.

What he found was apparent evidence of a secret space program, including references to “non-terrestrial officers” and ship to ship transfers of vessels not in the U.S. military inventory.

Moreover, a high-resolution photograph, taken from space, of a smooth, cigar-shaped craft. Gary also talks about the repercussions of being sought by the U.S. government, his depression, suicidal thoughts, and more.

Richard Dolan who interviews Gary is one of the world’s leading researchers and writers on the subject of UFOs and believes that they constitute the greatest mystery of our time.

UFO Sightings Blogspot

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

27-03-2019 om 20:19 geschreven door peter  

UFO Disclosure: They’re Here! And They've Crashed on Earth Many Times!

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

27-03-2019 om 20:12 geschreven door peter  

What do anthropology and UFOs have in common? In his new book, a noted anthropologist looks at the physical descriptions of the bodies and behaviors of extraterrestrials and theorizes that the reason they resemble us so much is that they’re our descendants from a future time and UFOs are actually time machines transporting them back for some kind of strange family reunion. Is this the future version of genealogical DNA tests?

“The phenomenon may be our own distant descendants coming back through time to study us in their own evolutionary past. 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.”

In a recent appearance on KXLF (“Montana’s News Leader”) and in previous interviews like this one by Darkness Radio and on his website, Montana Tech professor of anthropology Dr. Michael P. Masters summarizes his new book, “Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon,” and his quest to “begin a new and more informed discussion among believers and skeptics alike.” That quest is to use the analytical techniques of an anthropologist who normally looks at human ancestors who partially resemble us and apply them to a study of other human-like species we know only through eyewitness accounts of alleged encounters – extraterrestrials. The end result is that Masters’ analysis suggests we should stop using the description “extraterrestrials” and instead start calling at least some of these future visitors extra-tempestrials.

“As an anthropologist who has worked on and directed numerous archaeological digs in Africa, France, and throughout the United States, it is easy to conceptualize just how much more could be learned about our own evolutionary history, if we currently possessed the technology to visit past periods of time.”

Dr. Masters sees the accounts of alien sightings and particularly alien abductions and the subsequent probings and analyses as indications that the visitors are anthropologists like himself, studying their ancestors with a tool he would love to have – a time machine. Imagine how much more we would know of ourselves, our planet and our universe if we could physically travel back millions of years to observe and possibly (let’s not ignore the “butterfly effect”) examine them.

“Many changes characterize human evolution, but it is primarily tenacious shifts toward habitual upright walking, changes in brain size and shape, facial reduction, reduced body hair, higher intelligence, and the development of increasingly complex tools and culture that most define our lineage. These changes occurred throughout hominin evolution, and have persisted in spite of marked modification to our subsistence strategy, climate, ecology, environment, and system of social, economic, and political organization.”

The is Dr. Masters’ ‘If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck’ line of abductive reasoning. Through millions of years of evolution and sometimes catastrophic environmental events, humans haven’t changed much physically. It’s the subtle changes that translate into leaps in intelligence and behavior. It makes sense that future humans would want more information on their lesser-developed ancestors too (there goes our self-esteem and superiority complex). In a similar manner, we obviously would like to find out what we’re going to become. Masters warns that this would be difficult.

“Modern and past human groups would only be capable of comprehending the biology, culture, and technology of these extratempestrials in a limited capacity, as we represent a far more primitive stage of their remote ancestral past.”

See the resemblance?

This theory of extratempestrials obviously adds a twist to the the idea of ancient astronauts, with the ‘aliens’ being future humans helping their primitive ancestors build pyramids in return for remembering them with statues and paintings and not destroying the Earth and ruining their future lives. That sounds like the positive conclusion Masters draws from his theory.

“Coupled with a thorough understanding of the past and modern human condition, these accounts point to the continuation of established biological and cultural trends here on Earth, long into the distant future.”

We’ll still be here, we’ll still be walking upright, we’ll become smart enough to invent time machines and we won’t turn out too badly.

Next time you meet an ‘alien’, tell them “You’re welcome.”

{https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

27-03-2019 om 19:47 geschreven door peter  

Ryan Sprague is a lead investigator and co-host of the CW television series, Roswell: Mysteries Decoded and the author of Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon. He is also the creator and host of the Somewhere in the Skies podcast on the eOne Podcast network. As a UFO journalist, Ryan has interviewed witnesses from all walks of life about UFO sightings and encounters. He has also interviewed military and intelligence officials about UFOs, writing for such news sites as Open Minds Magazine, Rogue Planet, Omni Reboot, and Futurism. Speaking on the UFO topic, he has been featured on ABC News, Fox News, Science Channel, and is a regular on Travel Channel’s series, Mysteries at the Museum. He is currently working on his second book. 

Here, Ryan talks to me about what he has and hasn’t learned from his years in a field that can be inspiring and maddening in equal measure…

RG: Your podcast recently celebrated its 100^th episode. Is it a challenge to deliver quality content every week? How do you select your topics?

It’s definitely challenging, but the reward far outweighs the challenge. I get messages from listeners from all over the world almost on a daily basis. Some good, some bad, but almost always constructive. I value my listeners’ opinions because, ultimately, the show is for them and not for me. My goal was to shake things up with the show; ask new questions of the UFO phenomenon. So, I wanted to bring unique voices to the UFO discourse. I’ve met so many new people and have learned so much from simply stepping outside the echo chamber.

RG: What inspires you most about UFOlogy?

The staggering amount of people who have witnessed the phenomena firsthand. Also, the attention that “Ufology” has gotten these past few years (yes, no matter what anyone says, To the Stars Academy has played a huge part in that). The topic is certainly seeing a resurgence, and even mainstream scientists and academics are taking it more seriously. I need not look further than at least three college/university-level professors who now teach UFOs in their curriculum. The conversation is growing both in terms of how many people are interested and even in the complexity of the phenomena.

Tom DeLonge’s To the Stars Academy of Arts and sciences is spending big money to position itself in the public eye as the go-to organisation for UFO truth.

RG: What annoys you most about UFOlogy?

The divide. There’s room for everyone at the saucer-shaped table, so instead of talking down to one another, in terms of research, approaches, or beliefs, we should engage in healthy debate, take what we want from one another’s work, and build off of it. I’ve personally gleaned something from every person I’ve talked to about UFOs, even if it involved me learning that someone was straight up lying to my face, hoaxing, or simply a fantasist. At least I learned to move on from them and focus on the work at hand.

RG: Who are your top three UFOlogical heroes or role models, and why?

The first would have to be my mentor, both in UFO research and my other passion in life, theater. And that is Peter Robbins. He welcomed me with open arms into a world I never knew existed. He is a man of many words and those words pack a punch. We spend hours at our favorite diner in Manhattan, chatting about UFOs, the theater world, and everything in between. They’ve been some of my most memorable moments of living in New York City for the last decade or so, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Left to right: Stanton Friedman, Cheryl Costa, and Peter Robbins.

My second UFO hero would have to be Cheryl Costa. Her dedication and resilience continue to marvel me. She created the most comprehensive reference book on UFOs ever written, and I know her work has only just begun. While I focus my research on individuals and stories, she enhances witness testimony with hard data. It’s a task that not many could wrap their head around, let alone put in to such a comprehensive format for the public at large. Lest we forget, she had a very credible and serious interview about UFOs in the New York Times prior to the Secret Pentagon UFO Program story broke.  Costa remains one of the most important researchers this field has ever had.

Stanton T. Friedman would be my final choice. The time he has dedicated to unraveling the UFO mystery is beyond commendable. He has paved the way for so many of us. His contributions to individual cases, to the field, and to the topic overall, are undeniable, and he remains one of the most level-headed, eloquent, and damn nicest people this field has ever produced.

RG: What is your own personal goal in this field? Do you have a vision for what you’d like to accomplish?

My goal is and always has been the same: to make the topic of UFOs accessible to younger people and to legitimize it in any way I can. If I find answers along the way, that’s great. But I’m more interested in the journey than the destination. And that journey has opened my eyes, my mind, and my perspective on this mystery, and so many others. It’s a very personal journey, but I also really enjoy picking up hitchhikers along the way!

Ryan Sprague in the CW’s ‘Roswell: Mysteries Decoded’ (2019), with co-host Jennifer Marshall.

RG: Some scholars have suggested that UFOlogy, or the UFO subculture, has clear religious aspects. Do you see any parallels between the pursuit of UFOs and the pursuit of God?

Absolutely. I often look at the work of Carl Jung when it comes to this intersectionality. He once stated, “By ‘self,’ we mean psychic wholeness, but what realities underlie this concept we do not know… in religious experience man comes face to face with a psychically overwhelming Other.” To me, this means that belief strengthens faith and vice versa. And a huge part of the UFO phenomenon also involves belief. But when it comes to staring up at that UFO, we each bring something truly unique and powerful to the interpretation of what we’re experiencing. In religion, we perceive a divine being as something all powerful and we give it meaning beyond that which we know to be true. We often do this with UFOs as well. We do not know what they are or what they represent entirely, but we give it meaning according to our own life experiences. They are so intrinsically linked, that perhaps we are, as many have contemplated, looking at a modern myth—a technological AND spiritual modern-day religion. I strongly urge all those interested in UFOs to read the recent offering by Diana Walsh Pasulka. After interviewing her on the podcast and reading her book, American Cosmic, I think she’s on to something groundbreaking and revelatory.

RG: There are many hypotheses to account for the UFO enigma, including man-made secret technologies, exotic natural phenomena, mass hallucination and delusion, and, of course, extraterrestrial intelligences. Which theory do you feel is most credible, and why?

This may sound non-committal, but I honestly believe it to be all of these and none of these. The more I look in to UFO phenomena, the more I’m convinced we are not dealing with simple nuts-and-bolts saucers from another planet. The phenomenon is deeply malleable and it is ever-evolving. Some UFOs are most definitely man-made and natural phenomena. Some “UFO flaps” could easily be mass hysteria while some could have been an invasion on a miniature scale. Each of the theories has some merit in my eyes because I’m still stumbling my way through all this, just like everyone else. The one thing I can say to anyone out there who may just be dipping their toes in the UFO waters is this: if anyone claims to have a single definitive answer to the UFO phenomena, run. Run as fast as you can and don’t look back. Look forward to those who are still theorizing. We are on the timetable of the phenomena. Always have been. Probably always will be.

RG: You’ve been studying UFOs for a significant portion of your life; do you feel you’re any closer to understanding the phenomena today than you were, say, 10 years ago? Where do you see the UFO field 10 years from now?

My sobering answer is no. I don’t think I’m any closer, but I do think I’ve personally made great strides in understanding certain cases, incidents, and how to conduct my own research. If I could go back ten years, I’d tell myself to be more patient and more empathetic. I think my lack of knowledge early on led me to cast judgment very quickly on certain cases. And now, almost a decade later, I am realizing that things aren’t always as they seem. Some cases have become more credible for me and some have unfortunately been cast in to bowels of hoaxes, fabrications, or misidentifications. I was extremely skeptical when I first started out. I’ve definitely become more open to the phenomena and those experiencing it. In ten years’ time, I hope we have a convergence of science and witness testimony, where both can be satisfied with some semblance of an answer to all this.

RG: What’s next for you? What other projects are in the pipeline?

Right now, I’m working on some television projects with the wonderful people I worked with on Roswell: Mysteries Decoded. Let’s just say that our investigation into this seventy-two year old case isn’t over. And there are plenty of more mysteries we hope to decode in the very near future. Other than that, the podcast continues weekly, along with my Youtube channel. And I am working on a follow-up book that takes me places I’ve never been before, both with UFOs and possibly interconnected phenomena. It’s a challenge and a journey I’ve set for myself, and one I hope people will want to join me in along the way. Expect my book some time in 2020. I also have some speaking engagements coming up, including Alien Con in Los Angeles! More info on all of my projects and the podcast and book can be found at www.somewhereintheskies.com

{https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

27-03-2019 om 19:38 geschreven door peter  

NASA

Scientists claim they have seen 'evidence' of mushrooms growing on Mars

“Is there evidence of life on Mars? An international team of research scientists, in a just published monograph titled “Evidence of Life on Mars? –consisting of a scholarly review of nearly 200 peer reviewed scientific studies– answer this age old question with a resounding “yes.” And they’ve included pictures of Martian specimens, photographed by NASA, which they say support their claims.”

What would you say if a team of legitimate scientists released a research paper claiming they have analyzed numerous photographs of Mars taken by the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers and concluded that there are mushrooms, algae, lichens and fungi growing not just on the surface of the planet but also on the surface of the rovers themselves? As the cry of “Pareidolia!” (assigning human-related characteristics to objects) rises from the skeptical and educated masses, study co-author and research team member Dr. Regina Dass of the Department of Microbiology at the School of Life Sciences in India responds in a press release with:

Experts think the white specimens in this Nasa image from Mars are fungi

“There are no geological or other abiogenic forces on Earth which can produce sedimentary structures, by the hundreds, which have mushroom shapes, stems, stalks, and shed what looks like spores on the surrounding surface. In fact, fifteen specimens were photographed by NASA growing out of the ground in just three days!”

With an exclamation point yet! That press release is referring to “Evidence of Life on Mars?”, a study published in the Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews which includes the images taken by the rovers which show the life forms. (Read the study and view the images here.) This isn’t one of those pay-for-publishing-without-peer-review journals either. The editors were so concerned about “negative blow back” that they gave the study to fourteen experts (eight Senior Editors and six independent scientists) for review, and eleven recommended publication.

NASA has made no comments so far on this controversial paper. That doesn’t surprise co-author Dr. Giorgio Bianciardi of the Department of Medical Science at Siena University. He recalls the equally controversial findings from the 1976 Mars Viking landings.

“Biological activity on Mars was first detected in 1976. NASA dismissed that evidence then inexplicably refused to equip any subsequent mission with life detection technology. As we detail in our review, there is now considerable evidence supporting Viking’s original findings of life on Mars.”

NASA generally attribute strange anomalies in Martian photographs to shadows and eroded rocks and says that the methane detected on the planet could have come from other sources besides decaying life forms. The authors agree, saying: “Similarities in morphology are not proof of life.” However, co-author, Dr. Nicolo Cantasano, a geobiologist at Italy’s National Research Council in Rome, reveals the thig however spotted in at least two of the photographs.

“However, wind would not account for what appears to be masses of black fungi growing on the rovers, and what appears to be white fungi, or bio-corrosion within a sheltered compartment atop the rover Curiosity.”

The study uses those photos to point out what astronauts on the International Space Station already know … there’s no way to completely sterilize spacecrafts and the fungi could very well have been brought there on the rovers. However Number 2 – if this is the case, it at least confirms that mushrooms and fungi can grow in the harsh Martian environment. It could also reveal where the ground mushrooms came from – chucks of fungi-loaded Earth hurled into space when it was hit by massive asteroids.

The researchers admit that the only way to prove their speculations is to bring Martian soil back to Earth and urge NASA to pursue this more vigorously. They also admit the obvious:

“In many respects the observations presented here could be described as circumstantial and do not rise to the level of “extraordinary evidence” thus precluding “extraordinary claims.” Although, collectively, the evidence, in total, weighs in favor of biology, we can only conclude that the question of life on Mars remains unanswered.””

Does the evidence – photographs that look like mushrooms – really weigh in favor of biology?

Will the possibility of  ‘shrooms on Mars entice more people to apply for the trip?

Will you?

NASA

The study states that some experts believe this image shows lichens growing on Mars

AFP OR LICENSORS

Artist's impression of the Mars Express

{https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

27-03-2019 om 19:24 geschreven door peter  

Huge UFO filmed over Las Vegas 26-Mar-2019

These bright lights were filmed over Las Vegas, Nevada on 26th March 2019.

Witness report:

 We finished football practice heading back to car when we noticed the two lights in the sky. Viewed 2 very bright lights in sky. Orange bright.

Source: MUFON

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

27-03-2019 om 17:20 geschreven door peter  

Anthropology Expert Claims UFOs are Time Machines Of Our Distant Descendants

Most people think UFOs visit Earth from other planets way too far than we could imagine. However, a professor at Montana Tech believes otherwise.

Michael P. Masters says UFOs are much closer to home. He explains the phenomenon may be our race coming from the future and traveling through time to study their evolutionary past.

Masters reveals this theory in his newly released book “Identified Flying Objects.” Masters says he uses the science of his explanation about the reason people who report close encounters with aliens always describe these ETs the same way.

Masters states the alleged aliens are reported as having five fingers on each hand and foot, bi-lateral symmetry with two eyes, a mouth, a nose, as being bipedal, upright-walking and they can communicate with us using our languages.

Masters, who has a doctorate in anthropology from Ohio State University, understands this study may be called fringe science.  However, in the book, he defends the research.

Maters stresses he stands by the product and happy to talk about it with anyone. He explains the study is written for his academic peers much as it is for anyone in the UFO community.

Most people make flippant comments about little green men to show they don’t take it seriously, but the American Defense Department spent $22 million investigating the UFO phenomenon. Dr. Masters believes it is the right time scientists take a serious approach to the study of the phenomenon.

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

27-03-2019 om 17:17 geschreven door peter  

Would Aliens Save or Destroy Us? Seven Possible Scenarios for Extraterrestrial Contact

Would aliens want to help us or hurt us? In a paper by researchers Seth D. Bauma and Jacob D. Haqq-Misra of Pennsylvania State University and NASA's Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, the prospect of extraterrestrial contact is analyzed from every conceivable angle.

[Credit: Seth D. Baum, Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, & Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman]

Here are seven of the most interesting possibilities:

1) Detection without any direct contact

While this seems to be the least exciting option, detection of extraterrestrial intelligence alone would actually have a complex impact on humanity. In the realm of philosophy and psychology, knowing that we are not alone in the universe would change the way we view humanity and our place in the universe. The authors of the paper argue that the impact would be primarily positive, as humans are generally eager for answers to these curious, and sometimes existential, questions. They acknowledge, however, that some would argue that there would be negative consequences as well, particularly in the discovery's effects on religion, particularly Christianity. SETI astrobiologist Paul Davies claimed that, since certain religions are predicated on the notion that humans are uniquely "saved" by a Messiah, religion can only be reconciled with the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrials by acknowledging the existence of other iterations of Messiahs on other planets, or explaining why humans are worthy of being saved while the aliens are not. Similarly, creationist Ken Ham recently stated that intelligent aliens most likely do not exist, but if they do, then they are going to Hell, as Jesus is specifically the savior of humanity. This is a common belief within the Christian religion, but not a universal one. Outer Places interviewed a pastor in Roswell, New Mexico who disagreed with this view: "We don't know the story of other life forms... ours is a story of sin and salvation... but certainly we would believe that God is capable of writing... any story that God wants."

But even if the discovery of extraterrestrial life seemed to have a negative impact on those who subscribed to certain religions, the authors of the paper argue that blaming this crisis directly on the discovery is the result of a "philosophical mistake," as the extraterrestrials exist whether we discover them or not. Either way, the comfortable notion of our uniqueness in the universe is false, this discovery would only make the pious aware of that fact: "It is the existence of ETI that challenges such worldviews and not the act of detection. If ETI do in fact exist, then the harm has already been done in the sense that such worldviews are already invalid. Detection simply alerts us to this invalidity."

2) They help us with literally everything

If the extraterrestrials are more advanced than us, and they are interested in helping us, then they would open our civilization to a whole host of possibilities. They could teach us more about math and science, provide solutions for seemingly intractable problems like hunger, poverty, disease, etc. While this option may seem like wishful thinking, it is consistent with the Sustainability solution to the Fermi paradox. The Fermi paradox essentially asks: if there are intelligent aliens in the universe, where are they? If there are technologically advanced beings who have achieved interstellar travel, why haven't they tried to colonize Earth yet? The Sustainability solution asserts that it is in the nature of intelligent beings to expand exponentially, and as a result they do not last very long as this rate of expansion is unsustainable. The inverse states that, if there are intelligent beings that have been in existence long enough to overlap with us,  then they would likely follow certain habits of sustainable populations. They would see value in and protect their ecosystem, and therefore would be unlikely to colonize for resources. They would also be less likely to expand for expansion's sake, and instead only explore out of curiosity. If they have no need or desire to colonize or conquer us, then it is more likely that they would be cooperative and helpful. 

3) The aliens try to colonize or destroy us, but we turn the tables on them

This option is fairly self-explanatory; like in the book/movie/television show War of the Worlds, the film Independence Day, and countless other works of science fiction, the aliens attempt to harm us but are thwarted, either by our human pluckiness or sheer luck. For example, they could be unprepared for the microbial infections found on Earth, like in War of the Worlds. This would mostly be beneficial as a moral victory, although there is also a possibility that we could benefit in other ways, such as reverse engineering their advanced technology.

4) They kill us with the extraterrestrial equivalent of smallpox blankets

While we often think of alien invasion as a deliberate destruction of humanity, there is a chance that they could hurt us completely unintentionally by bringing unknown diseases to our planet for which our immune systems have no defense. Similarly, they could destroy our ecosystem even further by bringing invasive species, or destabilize society in a more subtle manner by bringing us advanced technology that we're simply not ready for.

5) Aliens are just like us, in the worst possible way

It's possible that at some point in a species' evolution, they become more moral and less selfish. But if that happens, we haven't seen it yet. As a result, it seems likely that selfishness is an inherent quality to intelligent beings. Geographer Jared Diamond discussed the reasons he believes that optimistic scenarios for extraterrestrial contact are unlikely: "The astronomers and others hope that the extraterrestrials, delighted to discover fellow intelligent beings, will sit down for a friendly chat. Perhaps the astronomers are right; that's the best-case scenario. A less pleasant prospect is that the extraterrestrials might behave the way we intelligent beings have behaved whenever we have discovered other previously unknown intelligent beings on earth, like unfamiliar humans or chimpanzees and gorillas. Just as we did to those beings, the extraterrestrials might proceed to kill, infect, dissect, conquer, displace or enslave us, stuff us as specimens for their museums or pickle our skulls and use us for medical research. My own view is that those astronomers now preparing again to beam radio signals out to hoped-for extraterrestrials are naïve, even dangerous."

The authors of the paper concede that some astronomers believe that aliens would be friendly, but go on to say that just as many believe that aliens may attempt to colonize or enslave us, use us as a source of food, harm us in an attempt to evangelize, or even keep us for entertainment purposes, such as in zoos or gladiator arenas.

6) They destroy us for the most random of reasons

This scenario involves aliens that are universalist in their ethics, or beings that have certain principles that have inherent value in themselves, and are not dependent on whether they are beneficial to their particular species (humans do not generally fall in this category). We associate universalism with benevolent, peaceful beings, as they would have no particular reason to harm us simply for being "other" to them. However, whether they intend to harm us or not would be completely dependent on their specific value system. The authors use the example of the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which aliens are attempting to destroy Earth simply because they value infrastructure, and our planet is in the way of a hyperspace bypass.

7) They destroy us because they think we're kind of terrible

This one is also relatively self-explanatory. Whether they believe we are a threat to their species or not, if they are universalist then they may destroy us if they believe that we are a threat to other civilizations as a result of our tendency to step on any civilization that is less technologically advanced than we are, or a liability to the universe in general as a result of our tendency to destroy ecosystems.

{ https://www.outerplaces.com/ }

27-03-2019 om 01:53 geschreven door peter  

Would Aliens Save or Destroy Us? Seven Possible Scenarios for Extraterrestrial Contact

Would aliens want to help us or hurt us? In a paper by researchers Seth D. Bauma and Jacob D. Haqq-Misra of Pennsylvania State University and NASA's Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, the prospect of extraterrestrial contact is analyzed from every conceivable angle.

[Credit: Seth D. Baum, Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, & Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman]

Here are seven of the most interesting possibilities:

1) Detection without any direct contact

While this seems to be the least exciting option, detection of extraterrestrial intelligence alone would actually have a complex impact on humanity. In the realm of philosophy and psychology, knowing that we are not alone in the universe would change the way we view humanity and our place in the universe. The authors of the paper argue that the impact would be primarily positive, as humans are generally eager for answers to these curious, and sometimes existential, questions. They acknowledge, however, that some would argue that there would be negative consequences as well, particularly in the discovery's effects on religion, particularly Christianity. SETI astrobiologist Paul Davies claimed that, since certain religions are predicated on the notion that humans are uniquely "saved" by a Messiah, religion can only be reconciled with the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrials by acknowledging the existence of other iterations of Messiahs on other planets, or explaining why humans are worthy of being saved while the aliens are not. Similarly, creationist Ken Ham recently stated that intelligent aliens most likely do not exist, but if they do, then they are going to Hell, as Jesus is specifically the savior of humanity. This is a common belief within the Christian religion, but not a universal one. Outer Places interviewed a pastor in Roswell, New Mexico who disagreed with this view: "We don't know the story of other life forms... ours is a story of sin and salvation... but certainly we would believe that God is capable of writing... any story that God wants."

But even if the discovery of extraterrestrial life seemed to have a negative impact on those who subscribed to certain religions, the authors of the paper argue that blaming this crisis directly on the discovery is the result of a "philosophical mistake," as the extraterrestrials exist whether we discover them or not. Either way, the comfortable notion of our uniqueness in the universe is false, this discovery would only make the pious aware of that fact: "It is the existence of ETI that challenges such worldviews and not the act of detection. If ETI do in fact exist, then the harm has already been done in the sense that such worldviews are already invalid. Detection simply alerts us to this invalidity."

2) They help us with literally everything

If the extraterrestrials are more advanced than us, and they are interested in helping us, then they would open our civilization to a whole host of possibilities. They could teach us more about math and science, provide solutions for seemingly intractable problems like hunger, poverty, disease, etc. While this option may seem like wishful thinking, it is consistent with the Sustainability solution to the Fermi paradox. The Fermi paradox essentially asks: if there are intelligent aliens in the universe, where are they? If there are technologically advanced beings who have achieved interstellar travel, why haven't they tried to colonize Earth yet? The Sustainability solution asserts that it is in the nature of intelligent beings to expand exponentially, and as a result they do not last very long as this rate of expansion is unsustainable. The inverse states that, if there are intelligent beings that have been in existence long enough to overlap with us,  then they would likely follow certain habits of sustainable populations. They would see value in and protect their ecosystem, and therefore would be unlikely to colonize for resources. They would also be less likely to expand for expansion's sake, and instead only explore out of curiosity. If they have no need or desire to colonize or conquer us, then it is more likely that they would be cooperative and helpful. 

3) The aliens try to colonize or destroy us, but we turn the tables on them

This option is fairly self-explanatory; like in the book/movie/television show War of the Worlds, the film Independence Day, and countless other works of science fiction, the aliens attempt to harm us but are thwarted, either by our human pluckiness or sheer luck. For example, they could be unprepared for the microbial infections found on Earth, like in War of the Worlds. This would mostly be beneficial as a moral victory, although there is also a possibility that we could benefit in other ways, such as reverse engineering their advanced technology.

4) They kill us with the extraterrestrial equivalent of smallpox blankets

While we often think of alien invasion as a deliberate destruction of humanity, there is a chance that they could hurt us completely unintentionally by bringing unknown diseases to our planet for which our immune systems have no defense. Similarly, they could destroy our ecosystem even further by bringing invasive species, or destabilize society in a more subtle manner by bringing us advanced technology that we're simply not ready for.

5) Aliens are just like us, in the worst possible way

It's possible that at some point in a species' evolution, they become more moral and less selfish. But if that happens, we haven't seen it yet. As a result, it seems likely that selfishness is an inherent quality to intelligent beings. Geographer Jared Diamond discussed the reasons he believes that optimistic scenarios for extraterrestrial contact are unlikely: "The astronomers and others hope that the extraterrestrials, delighted to discover fellow intelligent beings, will sit down for a friendly chat. Perhaps the astronomers are right; that's the best-case scenario. A less pleasant prospect is that the extraterrestrials might behave the way we intelligent beings have behaved whenever we have discovered other previously unknown intelligent beings on earth, like unfamiliar humans or chimpanzees and gorillas. Just as we did to those beings, the extraterrestrials might proceed to kill, infect, dissect, conquer, displace or enslave us, stuff us as specimens for their museums or pickle our skulls and use us for medical research. My own view is that those astronomers now preparing again to beam radio signals out to hoped-for extraterrestrials are naïve, even dangerous."

The authors of the paper concede that some astronomers believe that aliens would be friendly, but go on to say that just as many believe that aliens may attempt to colonize or enslave us, use us as a source of food, harm us in an attempt to evangelize, or even keep us for entertainment purposes, such as in zoos or gladiator arenas.

6) They destroy us for the most random of reasons

This scenario involves aliens that are universalist in their ethics, or beings that have certain principles that have inherent value in themselves, and are not dependent on whether they are beneficial to their particular species (humans do not generally fall in this category). We associate universalism with benevolent, peaceful beings, as they would have no particular reason to harm us simply for being "other" to them. However, whether they intend to harm us or not would be completely dependent on their specific value system. The authors use the example of the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which aliens are attempting to destroy Earth simply because they value infrastructure, and our planet is in the way of a hyperspace bypass.

7) They destroy us because they think we're kind of terrible

This one is also relatively self-explanatory. Whether they believe we are a threat to their species or not, if they are universalist then they may destroy us if they believe that we are a threat to other civilizations as a result of our tendency to step on any civilization that is less technologically advanced than we are, or a liability to the universe in general as a result of our tendency to destroy ecosystems.

{ https://www.outerplaces.com/ }

27-03-2019 om 01:53 geschreven door peter  

The Top 10 Most Credible UFO Mysteries Since 1980

Patrick Beger

Since the 1940s, the United States government has created at least four secret government-funded programs designed to gather intel on UFOs and determine if they are a threat to national security. Several other countries have followed suit as well including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. So it’s no secret that UFOs have been a serious concern for governments across the world for decades. And if you think UFOs are just a thing of the past — The New York Times revealed in December of 2017 that the United States spent 22 million dollars between 2007 and 2012 on a secret government program called the “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program”, making it the 4th secret US government project designed specifically to study UFOs.

With all that studying going on, perhaps there is something to the UFO phenomenon. However, it is worth noting that an unidentified flying object is just that —unidentified. In fact, here is a list of 10 UFO sightings that baffled credible observers but were later identified. This article is some of the most well documented UFO events in recent history that still remain a mystery, with a special thank you to Leslie Kean for her book, UFOs Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On The Record, where much of this information has been sourced from.

---

1. Rendlesham Forest — 1980

Considered to be the Roswell of the UK, it is safe to say something extremely strange happened on the early morning following Christmas day in Rendlesham Forest, just outside the RAF Bentwaters / Woodbridge complex in England. The book UFOs Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On The Record documents Sergeant James Penniston account of what happened, who at the time, held a top-secret U.S. and NATO security clearance. Shortly after midnight on December 26th, Penniston was briefed that some lights had been seen in Rendlesham Forest. He then ordered Airman First Class Edward Cabansag and Airman First Class John F. Burroughs to respond with him.

“When we arrived near the suspected crash site it quickly became apparent that we were not dealing with a plane crash or anything else we’d ever responded to… As we approached on foot, a silhouetted triangular craft about 9 feet long by 6.5 feet high came into view… there were blue and yellow lights swirling around the exterior as though part of the surface and the air around us were electrically charged.”

After determining the object did not appear to present a threat, Penniston was able to complete a thorough on-site investigation, including photos and notebook entries. He was even able to touch the craft.

“I put my hand on the craft, and it was warm to the touch. The surface was smooth, like glass, but it had the quality of metal… After roughly forty-five minutes, the light from the craft began to intensify. Burroughs and I then took a defensive position away from the craft as it lifted off the ground without any noise or air disturbance. It maneuvered through the trees and shot off at an unbelievable rate of speed. It was gone in the blink of an eye.”

To the great surprise of Colonel Charles Halt, deputy base commander of RAF Bentwaters, the object returned on December 27th, allowing himself and four other military personnel to observe and record the object. A formal report was filed of the incident but an official explanation was never provided.

The suggestion from the government at the time was that the witnesses were seeing light from a nearby lighthouse. However, in 2015, the BBC reported that Col Halt gathered written statements from radar operators at RAF Bentwaters and nearby Wattisham airfield that the unknown object was tracked on radar. He mentioned that some former service people did not want to speak until after they retired but have now provided written statements to him.

“I have confirmation that (Bentwaters radar operators)… saw the object go across the scope of their 60 mile (96Km) scope in two or three seconds, thousands of miles an hour, he came back across their scope again, stopped near the water tower, they watched it and observed it go into the forest where we were,” said Col Halt.

2. Japan Air Lines Flight #1628 – 1986

John Callahan was the division chief of the Accidents, Evaluations, and Investigations Division of the FAA in Washington from 1981 to 1988. In his own words

“… I was involved with an investigation of an extraordinary event but was asked not to talk about it. Since retiring, I decided that the public had a right to this information, and that they could handle it.”

On November 7th, 1986, a Japanese 747 cargo jet with a pilot, copilot, and flight engineer were flying from Iceland to Anchorage just after 5 pm when they all saw a gigantic, round object, much larger than their cargo jet with colored lights flashing around it. Captain Kenju Terauchi, a pilot for 29 years, also saw two smaller objects but described the largest “spaceship” — as he called it — to be at least the size of an aircraft carrier because he had it on his radar which provided range marks. The object proceeded to fly level with the 747 until it suddenly approached very close. Following the directives of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Terachi dropped his jet 4,000 feet and even made a 360-degree turn to avoid the objects, but they continued to follow, even appearing in front of his cockpit.

Over the next half-hour, the UFO could appear eight miles in front of him, and in one radar sweep ten seconds later, it could be seven miles behind him. Captain Terauchi said the technology was “unthinkable… because the UFOs appeared to have control over both inertia and gravity.”

The largest object was captured on three separate radars, between the FAA, Air Force, and in the radar screen in the cockpit of JAL flight 1628. Captain Terauchi said all three objects followed his jet for 400 miles and the FAA flight control reports confirm that the object followed JAL Flight 1628 for at least 32 minutes. At one point, the object was seen on radar to be as close as five miles to the jet.

In the following days and months, the entire crew was interviewed by FAA officials extensively, each of them providing independent descriptions and drawings of the “spaceships” and their extraordinary behavior. FAA investigators found the crew, who’s experience totals more than 46 years, to be “normal, professional, rational, {and had} no drug or alcohol involvement.”

John Callahan, who was involved in the investigation of this incident, was called to FAA headquarters to provide a briefing to scientists of President Reagan and CIA officials. In Callahan’s words, after reviewing the information, including radar trackings, a CIA official told him,

“This event never happened; we were never here. We’re confiscating all this data, and you are all sworn to secrecy.” Like any sane person would, Callahan asked what the CIA officers thought it was, and he was told it was a UFO, and that “If we were to tell the American public there are UFOs, they would panic”.

3. The Belgian Wave — 1989

Throughout 1989 and 1991, extraordinary UFOs were observed above Belgium — resulting in a two-year span of active UFO reports which are now referred to as “The Belgium Wave”. Of the 2,000 reported cases registered during this time, 650 were investigated and more than 500 remain unexplained.

It all started when two federal policemen were patrolling a road between Eupen and the German border on November 29th, 1989, where they reported seeing a field lit with such intense light that they could read a newspaper in their car. They also observed a triangular object with a red light in the center and three major spotlights on the corners which hovered silently.

Over the next two hours, the policemen observed two more craft of similar description around the town of Eupen and witnessed red light beams emitting from a craft and retracting. Hundreds of civilians also reported seeing the same objects and radar registrations from that night were analyzed by Major General Wilfried De Brouwer, which implied that “the reported objects committed an infraction against the existing aviation rules.” 13 total policemen saw the objects and seventy official reports were fully investigated — none of which could be explained by conventional flight technology. The U.S. embassy also confirmed that they were not flying any experimental aircraft in the area that night.

Surprisingly, the reports didn’t stop that night either. After this event on November 29th, four more sightings of similar craft were reported on December 1st and on December 11th, twenty-one witnesses reported seeing a triangular craft, one of which was captured on color slides and analyzed by two members of the French national space research center CNES, and a former senior scientist with NASA. The slides were determined to be untampered with and showed a craft moving slowly with what appeared to be a magnetic field around it.

It appears that Belgium had an uptick in sightings in 2018 as well, but Patrick Ferryn, president of Cobeps, a Belgian committee for the study of space phenomenon, stated “this is definitely not a new wave of the Belgian wave of UFOs… Then the quantity of sightings was higher, more frequent and concentrated on one region of Belgium and all the descriptions were similar rather than the very different descriptions of last year.”

4. Montreal Hotel UFO — 1990

Imagine its November 7th, 1990, and you’re swimming in a rooftop pool at the Montreal Hotel. You look up and see a round, metallic object projecting bright light beams. Naturally, you might tell the lifeguard — as a woman in this particular situation did. The lifeguard then called the hotel security guard, who called the police and a journalist from La Presse newspaper.

After they arrived to observe the object, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the military, and even NASA were called to record this sighting that lasted almost three hours, from 7:20 pm to 10:10 pm, making this UFO event one of the most remarkable and well documented. Although some skeptics say it was the Northern Lights, Montreal UFO researcher Bernard Guenette and former NASA scientist Richard Haines produced a 25-page report on the incidentwhich concluded that “the evidence for the existence of a highly unusual, hovering, silent, large object is indisputable.” The object that caused the lights was estimated to be around 540 meters wide (1770 feet) but no official explanation has ever been provided.

This case appeared on “Northern Mysteries” in 2006, a Canadian documentary series.

5. The Phoenix Lights — 1997

On March 13th, 1997, what is considered to be one of the largest — if not the largest — UFO sightings ever recorded, occurred over Phoenix, Arizona. “Hundreds of people reported an enormous object, or objects, in the night sky”, reported USA Today, in June of 1997. A little after 8 pm on that night in March, the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, Washington received a call from a retired police officer in Paulden, 60 miles north of Phoenix, to report a cluster of 5 red lights in the sky heading south. A couple of minutes later, another call came in from the city of Prescott, 15 miles south of Paulden. Only a minute later, phones rang off the hook with calls from Phoenix and surrounding cities, with reports of an enormous V-shaped object with 7 lights.

Of the hundreds, if not thousands of eyewitnesses, (some of which captured video), there is general agreement on three major points: one, the object was massive, some saying several football fields long; second, it was silent, and third; it was moving very slowly, about 30 miles per hour or sometimes not moving at all. Air traffic controllers in the region stated that they could see the lights, but did not return anything on radar. During the time of the sighting, the governor of Arizona, Fife Symington, also saw the object. In his own words, he stated,

“In 1997, during my second term as governor of Arizona, I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality. I witnessed a massive delta-shaped, craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking. I was absolutely stunned because I was turning to the west looking for the distant Phoenix Lights.

To my astonishment this apparition appeared; this dramatically large, very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights was traveling through the Arizona sky. As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any man-made object I’d ever seen. And it was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don’t fly in formation.”

Symington was referring to the official explanation the air force provided of military flares but concluded that “I was never happy with the Air Force’s silly explanation. There might very well have been military flares in the sky that evening, but what I and hundreds of others saw, had nothing to do with that.”

6. Highland Illinois UFO — 2000

Not too long after calendars entered a new millennium, the town of Highland, Illinois was quickly distracted by a UFO that was seen in three different counties by residents as well as police officers.

One of the first people to see the object was local business owner Melvin Noll, who was standing outside of his miniature golf-course in Highland around 4 am on January 5th, when he saw a curious light in the sky that he originally thought was a bright star. It then descended from the sky and that is when he realized it was definitely something else.

“To me, it looked like a two-story house. It was the size of a football field,” Noll said.

“It was two different floors. It had big windows — three on the lower deck and three on the top deck. Way up on top, there was like a penthouse with a dim light in it. Underneath, it had red lights in a diamond shape,” Noll said.

Noll mentioned that it flew so close to him that “if somebody had looked out one of the windows, I could have seen it.” No one did, however, Noll did not see any wings or engine on the craft and noted that it moved silently. Once the craft came to a halt in the air, “that is when it scared me,” Noll said. It then continued slowly to the Southwest toward Lebanon, Illinois, at which point Noll went straight to Highland Police Department to file a report.

Although Noll was concerned that the police wouldn’t take him seriously; they did, and his sighting was quickly confirmed by Craig Stevens of the Millstadt Police Department who was tracking the object that morning and described it as “kind of V-shaped”. Soon, area police officers in Lebanon, Shiloh, Millstadt, and Dupo saw the object too.

Police radio calls to dispatch were recorded, including Lebanon Police Officer Ed Barton who stated, “Be advised. There’s a very bright, white light east of town… and it keeps changing colors. I’ll go over there and see if maybe it’s an aircraft. Doesn’t look like an aircraft though.” … “That’s affirmative. It’s not the moon and it’s not a star.” … “Would you contact Scott Air Force Base and see if they have anything flying in this area please?”

Ultimately, police dispatch did contact Scott Air Force Base that night about the object, but officials said they knew nothing about it and no official investigation was ever conducted.

The story was picked up by media across the country and was featured on a variety of television programs including The History Channel and National Geographic. Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens even wrote a song about it called “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland Illinois”.

7. The USS Nimitz UFO Incident — 2004

In November of 2004, a guided missile cruiser called USS Princeton had been tracking mysterious aircraft intermittently for two weeks off the coast of California near Catalina Island. Navy Chief Petty Officer, Kevin Day, who was stationed on the Princeton, stated that he noticed radar traces of eight to ten objects in a loose formation, 28,000 feet in the air and in the direct vicinity of Catalina Island. In an interview with George Knapp, on Coast to Coast AM, officer Day said he was startled by their slow speed of 100 knots, but his sightings were confirmed on radar by other vessels in the area.

When the objects were spotted again a few days later, an officer on thePrinceton contacted two U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets from theUSS Nimitz that were flying a combat exercise at the time. The pilots were instructed to change their course to investigate the unidentified radar spots. When the pilots arrived at the target site, they did not see anything or observe anything on radar, at which point the Princeton’s radar observed that the objects dropped from 28,000 ft to near sea level in less than a second. The pilots then looked down and observed churning water and frothy waves as if the waves were breaking over an object below the surface. A few seconds later, they observed an unusual object with erratic movements above the churning water.

Lead Super Hornet pilot, Commander David Fravor, described the object as a large, bright, white, Tic Tac, 30 to 46 feet long with no windshield, no wings, and no visible engine or exhaust. After he began a circular descent toward the object, it began to ascend almost as if to meet him half-way. Commander Fravor then plunged toward the object in an aggressive maneuver, at which point the UFO accelerated out of sight in less than two seconds, leaving the pilots feeling “pretty weirded out”.

Following this encounter, the Princeton reported that the object reappeared on radar 60 miles away from the new rendezvous point of the fighter jets, which would have required the object to travel over 2,400 miles an hour to cover that distance in the reported time. After the pilots returned to the Nimitz, a second team of F/A-18 Super Hornets took off with an advanced infrared camera and captured an object on video. This video was later released in the bombshell report from the New York Times in December of 2017 titled “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O Program”, which showed an unidentified flying object flying at high speed and apparently rotating without any visible wings or exhaust.

No official explanation has been provided.

8. Chicago O’Hare Airport — 2006

On November 7th, 2006, a disc-shaped object was seen hovering over the United Airlines terminal at the Chicago O’Hare airport for about five minutes before rocketing into the sky leaving a hole in the clouds. A United Airlines ramp worker was one of the first to notice the object around 4:30 pm and a pilot quickly made a call over in-bound ground radio for all grounded planes once he observed the object hovering at around 1,500 feet above the ground. Some witnesses believed it was rotating while others didn’t, but one thing they did agree on was that the object was silent and it was definitely there.

A mechanic told the Chicago Tribune “But I know what I saw and what a lot of other people saw stood out clearly, and it definitely was not an (Earth) aircraft.”

Pilots waiting for takeoff could also see the object from their windows which looked roughly the size of a quarter or half-dollar at arm’s length — making it roughly 20 to 80 feet in diameter. The FAA and United Airlines first denied having any information about the incident, until a tape of the United supervisor’s call to the air traffic control tower was released after a Freedom of Information Request.

This story broke on the front page of The Chicago Tribune on January 1st, 2007, two months after the event, and quickly became the Tribune’s most read piece in the entire history of the newspaper’s website with over a million hits. Since the UFO wasn’t captured on radar, the FAA decided it was a weather phenomenon and declined to investigate. One of the original news reports on the event can be watched on YouTube.

9. The Stephenville Texas Sightings — 2008

In early January of 2008, just after 6 pm, over thirty people in the Stephenville, Texas area were taken aback when around sunset, they witnessed an object a mile long and half-mile wide, flying low and fast with very intense bright lights, but making no sound.

One particular witness was Claudette Odom, who was clearing brush near her house with her husband and two friends. Being on top of a hill, they had visibility of twenty miles in every direction. Claudette described watching the object in wonder as it approached Stephenville and then silently hovered outside of town. She then watched the lights shape into a massive arch, before forming a bright vertical line that split into two. As they were watching the object, they were startled by the explosive sound of two F-16s flying directly above them at low altitude toward the UFO.

Meanwhile 50-year-old pilot Steve Allen was at a campfire with some friends when he saw the object which he stated was a mile long and a half mile wide. Allen said the object traveled at amazing speed and made no sound.

“I don’t know if it was a biblical experience or somebody from a different universe or whatever but it was definitely not from around these parts,”

Allen told ABC News. He also described the same arch shape which transformed into a vertical shape before the lights “turned into just fire and it was gone”.

Adding more mystery to the situation, after the local Air Force base at Carswell Field near Fort Worth was contacted about the situation, they originally claimed they definitely did not have any fighter jets over Stephensville that night and suggested that the UFO witnesses may have just seen an optical illusion or two commercial airliners.

Claudette Odom didn’t buy that response. “I don’t know what they were trying to cover up. We saw what we saw. I knew they were fighter jets,” she told NPR.

Strangely, two weeks later, Air Force officials stated that they made a “communications error” and that they had numerous F-16s flying over Stephenville Texas on that evening. Local reporter Angelina Joiner who first broke the story to the Stephenville Empire-Tribune concluded that this only bolsters the witnesses stories, as they correctly identified the exact jets that were seen in the sky that evening.

An entire documentary was produced by the Discovery Channel on this event, which can be viewed on Youtube below:

10. The U.S. Navy “GO FAST” UFO — 2015

Just a few months after the bombshell New York Times report regarding the Pentagon’s secret Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program, a new video was released by To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) titled “GO FAST”, which showed U.S. Navy pilots encountering a UFO over the Atlantic Ocean in 2015. TTSA is a private scientific and research group co-founded by Tom Delonge of the pop-punk band Blink-182, as well as Jim Semivan, former senior intelligence member of the CIA, and Dr. Hal Putoff, a NASA and Department of Defense (DoD) advisor.

The video is a 35-second, authentic DoD video captured by an infrared camera aboard an F/A-18 fighter jet traveling at 25,000 feet.

One pilot can be heard saying “what the f — k is that thing” and “Wow, what is that, man? Look at that flying!”

It should be noted that the videos released by TTSA include pilots that are some of the most credible observers of aircraft in the world. The Department of Defense declined to comment on the video.

{ https://medium.com/ }

27-03-2019 om 01:37 geschreven door peter  

Sounds heard from deep space could be evidence of advanced alien technology

Some experts believe the fast radio bursts could be evidence of alien technology

Supernova remnants, one of the suggested sources for 13 FRBs discovered by a Canadian-led team.

File photograph: Nasa via The New York Times

Mysterious repeating energy bursts from deep space that some experts have suggested could be evidence of advanced aliens have been detected for the second time.

The repeating bursts are an example of what are known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), millisecond-long flashes of radio waves whose origin is unknown.

Most scientists believe they are generated by powerful astrophysical phenomena such as black holes or super-dense neutron stars. But a few scientists have suggested more outlandish theories.

Prof Avid Loeb, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in the US, argues that they could be evidence of incredibly advanced alien technology.

FRBs were first detected accidentally in 2007, when a burst signal was spotted in radio astronomy data collected in 2001.

The new discovery, reported in the journal Nature, was made by a Canadian-led team of astronomers on the hunt for FRBs.

Over a period of three weeks last summer, the team detected 13 FRBs using a new type of radio telescope, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (Chime).

One of the FRBs was repeating. Of the more than 60 FRBs detected to date, such repeating bursts have only been picked up once before, by the Areciboradio telescope in Puerto Rico in 2015.

Where the FRBs come from is not known, although they are thought to emanate from sources billions of light years away outside our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Chime astrophysicist Dr Ingrid Stairs, from the University of British Columbia, Canada, said: “Until now, there was only one known repeating FRB.

“Knowing that there is another suggests that there could be more out there. And with more repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to understand these cosmic puzzles – where they’re from and what causes them.”

‘Scattering’

Most of the 13 FRBs showed signs of “scattering”, suggesting their sources could be powerful astrophysical objects in locations with special characteristics, the scientists said.

Team member Dr Cherry Ng, from the University of Toronto, Canada, said: “That could mean in some sort of dense clump like a supernova remnant. Or near the central black hole in a galaxy. But it has to be in some special place to give us all the scattering that we see.”

In 2017 Prof Loeb and Harvard colleague Manasvi Lingham proposed that FRBs could be leakage from planet-sized alien transmitters.

Rather than being designed for communication, they would more likely be used to propel giant spaceships powered by light sails.

Prof Loeb, who discusses the idea in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, said: “An artificial origin is worth contemplating and checking.” – PA

{ https://www.irishtimes.com/news }

27-03-2019 om 00:43 geschreven door peter  

Birth of 'Great Dark Spot' Storm on Neptune Seen for 1st Time (Photo)

The find brings the total tally of observed Great Dark Spots on Neptune to six. The first two such disturbances were detected by NASA's Voyager 2 probe during its Neptune flyby in August 1989, which provided the first up-close look at the mysterious blue planet. Hubble discovered the other four spots.

Indeed, Hubble imagery has been key in characterizing these dramatic, otherworldly storms. For example, photos captured by the space telescope in 1994 revealed that the two tempests seen by Voyager 2 had dissipated, revealing that Great Dark Spots don't last very long, at least by giant-planet standards.

"It was certainly a surprise," Simon said. "We were used to looking at Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, which presumably had been there for more than 100 years."

The Great Red Spot, which has been observed continuously since at least 1830, is confined to a narrow latitude range by Jupiter's jet streams. But Neptune's Great Dark Spots wander around the planet much more freely before they're finally ripped apart by high-altitude winds, the researchers said.

Witnessing the birth of a Great Dark Spot sheds additional light on these mysterious features. For example, the association between the newborn storm and those bright white clouds, which are composed of frozen methane, suggests that the spots take shape deeper in Neptune's atmosphere than previously thought. The methane clouds likely float above Great Dark Spots the way "lenticular" clouds hover over tall mountains here on Earth, study team members said.

Simon conducted the new study with Michael Wong and Andrew Hsu, both of whom are at the University of California, Berkeley. In a second study — also published today, in the Astronomical Journal — the researchers used Hubble observations to estimate the frequency of Great Dark Spot formation on Neptune. 

The cyclic motion of the Great Red Spot imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. Unlike on Neptune, Thin jet streams on Jupiter keep the Great Red Spot from breaking apart and from changing latitude; it rotates around Jupiter but doesn’t move north or south.

Credit: NASA.

Such storms likely crop up every four to six years, the scientists found. And each Great Dark Spot probably lives for just two years or so, though some may reach the ripe old age of six. 

There's still a lot to learn about Great Dark Spots, however, such as their wind speeds. Further Hubble observations and analyses could help unlock these and other mysteries, study team members said.

A view of the first Great Dark Spot scientists observed on Neptune.

Credit: NASA.

"We have never directly measured winds within Neptune’s dark vortices, but we estimate the wind speeds are in the ballpark of 328 feet (100 meters) per second [223 mph, or 359 km/h], quite similar to wind speeds within Jupiter’s Great Red Spot," Wong said in the same statement.

• Photos of Neptune, The Mysterious Blue Planet
• Hubble in Pictures: Astronomers' Top Picks (Photos)
• Photos from NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 Probes

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now.

Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

27-03-2019 om 00:30 geschreven door peter