The new nature of warfare in many parts of the world has made it increasingly difficult to identify who is a target and who is an innocent civilian. Terrorist groups, in particular, often have no reservations about placing their leadership among civilian populations or even schoolchildren in order to shield them from attacks. To combat this, the U.S. and its allies have been testing new methods of “reducing collateral damage,” or “blowing up innocent people” to use a non-sterilized term.

An MQ-1 Predator drone outfitted with a Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire Missile

While this has most often meant reducing the explosive payloads of traditional munitions, it turns out that the CIA has been using a terrifying and highly advanced new weapon which could radically change the nature of warfare as we know it. According to a Wall Street Journal report published today, it turns out the CIA has been using a high-precision kinetic warhead known as the RX9 packed with “a halo of six long blades that are stowed inside and then deploy through the skin of the missile seconds before impact, shredding anything in its tracks.” Yikes. Military news site Task and Purpose writes that “this is basically like dropping a rocket-assisted meteor full of swords on someone.”

Details about the RX9 are still scarce, and The Wall Street Journal has not disclosed its source for the existence of the RX9 but writes that it can confirm the CIA and Department of Defense are indeed using the weapon.

A typical Hellfire missile, believed to be the platform for this kinetic blade warhead.

There is some suspected evidence of its use, too. In 2017, Al-Qaeda second-in-command Abu Khayr al-Masri was killed in a precise drone strike by something which smashed right through the top of his car and yet caused very little other damage. Photos of the smashed car show 4 distinct ‘slice’ marks in the windshield and roof of the car; could they have been made by an RX9’s halo of six long blades as they shredded whatever was in its tracks in the car? Ouch.

Just wait until these things start being dropped from space. By soulless AIs. I don’t know of any deterrent more effective than the fear of a freakin’ sword falling from the heavens directly on one’s head after being dropped by an omniscient non-physical entity. It’s got a mythological ring to it. Still, while these secret missiles might prevent civilian casualties and sound objectively rad, they’re still instruments of death. How impersonal can we make killing from a distance until warfare loses all of its meaning?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

10-05-2019 om 18:07 geschreven door peter  

For the past several months, I’ve been conducting interviews with leading UFO researchers from countries around the world in an effort to paint a clearer picture of global UFOlogy today.

This week, our global UFO trek transports us to the idyllic setting of Norway, and to filmmaker Terje Toftenes, who has explored the UFO enigma in his acclaimed documentaries The Portal: The Hessdalen Light Phenomenon and The Day Before Disclosure.

Terje Toftnes

RG: Who have been the defining figures in Norwegian UFOlogy over the past 70 years, for better or for worse, and why?

TT: As the main investigator of the Hessdalen UFO-phenomenon and an internationally established lecturer on these topics, Dr. Erling Strand is certainly a defining figure in Norwegian UFOlogy. Also important are Mentz Kaarbø and Ole Brænne for their role as editors of the only Norwegian UFO magazine since the seventies. Being the present leader of Norwegian UFO Center, Oftedal is a significant figure. This list should also include individuals such as Kenneth Jacobsen and Arnulf Løken, who are long-time leaders of local UFO groups. Also worthy of inclusion are Bjørnar Hvidsten, an Oslo-based event organiser and UFO activist, and Terje Wulfsberg, a Westcoast-based event organiser and UFO activist. I would also include myself as the producer of two internationally rewarded documentaries on the UFO subject: The Portal – The Hessdalen Light Phenomenon and The Day Before Disclosure, both of which are available on Vimeo through my website.

Dr. Erling Strand, of Project Hessdalen.

RG: Aside from the anomalous lights often sighted around Hessdalen, what do you consider to be the most compelling Norwegian UFO incident on record, and why?

TT: There are so many, from the “Ghost Rockets” of the 1940s, to several reports of close encounters with landed craft and face-to-face meetings with ETs. Many retired airliner pilots I have met with have told me privately about numerous incidents with UFOs during their careers.

RG: Why is Hessdalen so important? What clues, if any, might it offer as to the underlying nature of the UFO enigma?

TT: Hessdalen received national attention from February 1981, as reports came of daily observations of lights and structured craft moving up and down the small valley. For more information about this, I would recommend my documentary, The Portal. Hessdalen has been visited by many researchers and scientists from all over the world, among them Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who proclaimed that Hessdalen was a “UFO-laboratory” due to the high frequency of observations there in the 1980s.

A famous time-lapse image of the mysterious Hessdalen lights.

RG: Is Hessdalen still an active area for UFO sightings?

TT: Yes, still active but not as much so as in the 1980s and 1990s.

RG: What is the Norwegian government’s official stance on UFOs? When was the last time it issued a statement on the subject?

TT: The subject of UFOs doesn’t seem to be a noticeable to our government, and I cannot recall any comments made by any officials.

The Norwegian Ministry of Defence building in Oslo.

RG: Does the Norwegian Ministry of Defence have an official UFO investigations unit?

TT: Not to my knowledge.

RG: Has the Norwegian government shown more or less transparency on the UFO subject than the US government?

TT: No files have been released from our government. It’s simply not a topic here.

RG: Does Norway have a national UFO investigations organisation today, and how many smaller Norwegian UFO groups are you aware of?

TT: We have a group called Norwegian UFO center that collects reports and presents them in their magazine, together with articles on the subject. It is published four times a year. Some smaller private groups of engaged people have been organised over the years, but nothing significant. Actually, just recently, in May 2019, we had a full-day conference on the UFO subject in Oslo, and it gathered 100 attendees. Not bad!

RG: What are the most active regions of Norway for UFO sighting reports hotspots?

TT: Hessdalen is probably still the place, and, as far as I know, some fjords on the west coast.

RG: Have you personally had any UFO sightings?

TT: Once, in Hessdalen. Around midnight, sitting on a mountain top with several people. Two bright lights appeared right above us, hovering side-by-side for 20 seconds before they shot into the stars. No sound. Pretty amazing!

RG: How long have you been involved in the UFO subject; roughly how many cases have you personally investigated; and what conclusions, if any, have you drawn about the underlying nature of UFO phenomena?

TT: I have been interested in the subject since I was a 12-year-old boy in 1962 and came across a book on my father’s bookshelf: George Adamski’s The Flying saucers have landed. He bought it in 1954 after a UFO incident on a Norwegian airfield where he worked at the time. A large disc had hovered over the remote military airfield and was seen on radar and by many of the personnel there. This incident triggered my father’s interest, and later my own. I have pursued the subject all my life and I’m convinced of its legitimacy and importance. I believe we are being visited—or, perhaps more accurately, monitored—by many ET groups. All the ongoing craziness on this planet must be of great anthropological interest to anyone out there watching. I also believe that an apparent alien hybridisation programme is a key part of this story, which is still unfolding. Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs, John Mack, Barbara Lamb and many others have done a great job exploring this.

But, as Edgar Mitchell once pointed out to me: “Beware, you are entering a minefield!” So much dis-and-mis-information; so many wild conspiracy theories; so many self-proclaimed experts and prophets with and big egos, and so on… these are choppy waters to sail. The truth is out there—unfortunately, it’s not always down here. That’s one of the reasons the media has kept its distance, as a great deal of UFO reports are hard to verify. Quoting someone who is later proved to be a fraud does not well serve the publishing businesses. I can understand the editors’ reluctance. It can be very unclear at times what one should believe or not.

RG: How can Norwegian UFOlogy, and UFOlogy in general, better itself?

TT: It depends on what your goals are. Are UFOs something we “need” to force on the general public, or is this a phenomenon that by itself attracts the people who are ready for it? I kind of feel the latter is where I stand at the moment. What we can best do is to help make credible information available, but people must decide for themselves whether or not they wish to engage with it. It is an evolutionary process; one that that cannot be pushed too much. It must follow a natural flow. We cannot save the planet by yelling out that UFOs are real, but by presenting credible information through quality presentations, we can create a curiosity for this and other “paranormal” phenomena, showing that they are not paranormal at all, but actually completely normal and explicable. Mainstream science has just not arrived here yet. Discovering that we are not alone in the universe and becoming a part of a galactic brotherhood is likely to be a natural part of our evolution and it will come when the world is ready for it. But we probably have to grow up first as a civilisation, and to discipline our barbaric nature, which still haunts us and keeps visitors at safe distance. Meantime, we UFO-nerds can enjoy the ride.

• To learn more, visit Terje Toftenes’ website, New Paradigm Films. Also visit the Norwegian UFO Center.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

10-05-2019 om 17:58 geschreven door peter  

A screenshot from a video of a ‘Tic Tac’ UFO recorded by US Navy pilots in 2004

One of the foremost authorities on British UFO research has come forward to urge the British government to re-open its investigation of anomalous aerial phenomena. Nick Pope, former head of the Ministry of Defence UFO desk, has publicly called for the MoD to restart its research into unidentified flying objects and other aerial anomalies. Will the Ministry of Defence take heed?

Nick Pope

Nick Pope served at the Ministry of Defence from 1991 to 2006 where he was tasked with investigating reports of UFOs to determine if they posed any risk to British defense. In reality, as our own Nick Redfern has pointed out, Pope was likely merely there to serve as a lightning rod to attract reports which were then actually investigated by members of the Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS) with security clearances.

Still, like Tom DeLonge, Pope was given a level of access to information and institutions that few civilians ever do – even if either one or both were merely part of a government disinformation or public appeasement campaign of some kind. Like DeLonge, Pope also now makes quite a bit of money and publicity off of his legit UFO researcher cred, regardless of if he ever came across any ‘real’ proof of anything anomalous.

Thus, make of it what you will when Pope pops up in the news with some big development. This week, Pope is making the rounds in the British tabloids with his call for the MoD to follow the lead of the U.S. Navy and draft a new policy for documenting and reporting UFOs. “I strongly support the US Navy’s policy, which is a sensible response to the defence, national security and air safety issues raised by the phenomenon – whatever its true nature,” Pope told Metro. “I hope the US policy initiative will lead to the UK following suit. It’s time either to re-open the MoD’s UFO project or put some new reporting arrangements in place.”

Footage alleged to show U.S. Navy aircraft tracking advanced unknown objects surfaced in 2017, bringing the topic of disclosure into the public eye.

Pope even drafted a set of guidelines of his own for reporting unidentified aerial phenomena, writing that the MoD should create a new dedicated unit for collecting these reports:

A new MoD unit should be set up to investigate all such occurrences. All aircrew of all branches of the military who see such objects/phenomena, all civilian aircrew, all radar operators who detect uncorrelated targets, and any other military, MoD or defence contractor witnesses should make a full report to this unit as soon as possible.

Pope writes that the MoD should take each report seriously, cross-checking each with military, civilian, and space radar operated by the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at RAF Fylingdales. Given the number of times the Royal Air Force has been scrambled in response to unidentified objects lately, I’d say they likely already do, but who knows?

A Eurofighter Typhoon at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, England.

Will the MoD follow the U.S. Navy and publicly release new guidelines for reporting UFOs? If all of this is in fact a matter of national security in the U.K. and U.S., why is it receiving so much press? Wouldn’t these two governments want to suppress knowledge and reports of incursions into their airspace by unknown incredibly advanced aircraft?

Maybe all of this is misinformation designed to muddy the waters. If the public is convinced these incursions are being committed by inter-dimensional beings or aliens, no one will freak out that the Russians or Chinese or whoever are flying reality-bending aircraft above our heads. Is any of this leading to any ‘real’ disclosure, or this yet another smokescreen?

Nick Pope's guidelines for the reporting of unidentified aerial phenomena

1. A recent US Navy policy initiative concerning “unidentified aircraft” making incursions into military-controlled ranges and designated airspace has highlighted the need for similar policy guidance in the UK.
2. Current reporting is patchy. The 2009 termination of the MoD’s UFO research and investigation program may have created a false perception that military authorities were unconcerned by such reports. The term “UFO” is, in and of itself, unhelpful, in view of the pop culture baggage associated with it. Military and civilian pilots have thus been deterred from making reports, resulting in potentially significant occurrences going unreported. On occasion, to avoid such loaded terminology, phrases such as “unusual aircraft” or “unconventional helicopter” have been used, or – as in the case of recent incidents at Gatwick Airport – sightings have been attributed to drones, which may or may not be the explanation in this instance. To ensure continuity of terminology, the term UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) should be used.
3. The recent US Navy initiative has brought the requirement into focus, in parallel with US Department of Defense acknowledgement of some aspects of their AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program) program. This is a program designed to assess “foreign advanced aerospace weapon threats from the present out to the next 40 years”, and which included the study of “anomalous events, such as sightings of aerodynamic vehicles in extreme manoeuvres, with unique phenomenology, reported by US Navy pilots or other credible sources.” A new MoD unit should be set up to investigate all such occurrences. All aircrew of all branches of the military who see such objects/phenomena, all civilian aircrew, all radar operators who detect uncorrelated targets, and any other military, MoD or defence contractor witnesses shokd make a full report to this unit as soon as possible.
4. The MoD should investigate each occurrence thoroughly, cross-checking visual sightings with military and civilian radar data, and the space-tracking radar at the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at RAF Fylingdales
5. Self-evidently, HMG, the MoD, HM Armed Forces and the CAA need to be aware of all activity in the UK Air Defence Region, because of the clear defence, national security and air safety issues raised. Unusual aerial activity (actual or perceived) may have a number of different causes, including:

• Foreign (or non-state actor) military activity, involving aircraft, missiles or drones engaged in operational activity, flight testing, espionage, terrorism, narcotics smuggling, or attempts to assess the capabilities of our air defence network by means of unauthorized penetrations aimed at eliciting a military response.
• ‘Black projects’ involving prototype technologies operated by another part of HM Armed Forces, allied nations, or defence contractors, in circumstances where the project may be highly classified, with information held only by a very few individuals with the appropriate security clearances and ‘need to know’.
• Drone activity from commercial companies or private individuals engaged in legitimate or illegitimate aerial photography, or in deliberately dangerous and/or disruptive activity.
• Misidentifications of known objects or phenomena.
• Radar anomalies.
• Hoaxes.
• Psychological delusions.
• As yet unknown causes.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

10-05-2019 om 17:35 geschreven door peter  

Google Attacks My Discovery Of A UFO Over Cape Of Good Hope, South Africa, Deleting It. UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: 2011
Location of discovery: Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
Google Earth Coordinates (deleted): 34°21'12.33"S 18°29'24.02"E

Guys, I found this UFO way back in 2011 and had it on my old channel, but I just transitioned from a windows computer to an Apple computer and was still learning the ropes. So there was no sound on it. It was taken by others and some said it was a fake because of no sound. Its 100% real and I know because I made the video in 2011 on my old channel UFOTeamTNT. 

This UFO is the exact same craft worked on by Area S4 Nuclear engineer Bob Lazar. This leads me to believe that there is a USAF top secret base in the area of Cape of Good Hope.

The fact that the UFO was deleted within 4 weeks of announcing it to the world is evidence that Google Headquarters is infiltrated by aliens trying to control the minds of the public by controlling what we see and don't see on Google maps, searches and more. Thats right. I am accusing the higher ups in Google of actually being alien species that believe they are our overlords. Please watch the video below to see the original and learn why Google deleted it. 

Scott C. Waring-Taiwan UFO Researcher

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

10-05-2019 om 17:17 geschreven door peter  

10-05-2019 om 01:49 geschreven door peter  

Four Glowing UFOs Seen During Day Over Majave Desert, California, Dec 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: December 2018

Location of sighting: Giant Rock, Mojave desert, California, USA

 

The eyewitness said the group was meditating and then the UFOs appeared. Meditation does work, but only if its done with 100% relaxed mental state. Its hard to achieve for me, but has worked. 

 

I have seen a similar sighting long ago here in Taiwan. Seen from the mountain my son goes to school on. Its called Yuming Mountain in Taipei, Taiwan. Back in 2004 a similar sighting occurred, glowing UFOs were seen in a similar formation, but for a longer amount of time. Watch the videos and compare. They are the same craft in both videos. 

 

It is my belief that these UFOs appeared from above at high speed and stopped in their position. Waiting...for the underground base to bring them in. Which happens so fast, that the UFOs seem to shrink and vanish. But in reality, they were transported underground to the alien base 4-6km below. So, we now know there is an alien base below Giant Rock. 

Scott C. Waring

Eyewitness states: 

These light orbs suddenly appeared following a large group meditation at Giant Rock, in the Mojave desert.

 

BELOW IS THE 2004 UFO SIGHTING SEEN DURING A WEDDING ON TOP OF YUMING MOUNTAIN, TAIPEI, TAIWAN.

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

10-05-2019 om 01:39 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers still hope to catch a star going supernova and a bumpy neutron star, among others

BY LISA GROSSMAN 

 

BANG, CRASH  Physicists using the LIGO and Virgo observatories are catching all sorts of cosmic collisions, including of pairs of neutron stars (illustrated). But scientists hope to bag even more exotic quarry.

NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER/CI LAB

Seekers of gravitational waves are on a cosmic scavenger hunt.

Since the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory turned on in 2015, physicists have caught these ripples in spacetime from several exotic gravitational beasts — and scientists want more.

This week, LIGO and its partner observatory Virgo announced five new possible gravitational wave detections in a single month, making what was once a decades-long goal almost commonplace (SN Online: 5/2/19).

“We’re just beginning to see the field of gravitational wave astronomy open,” LIGO spokesperson Patrick Brady from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee said May 2 in a news conference. “Opening up a new window on the universe like this will hopefully bring us a whole new perspective on what’s out there.”

The speed and pitch of gravitational wave signals allow astronomers to make out what’s stirring up the waves. Here are the sources of gravitational waves that scientists that already have in their nets, and what they’re still hoping to find.

1. Pairs of colliding black holes

Status: Found

LIGO’s first catch was a pair of colliding black holes, each around 30 times the mass of the sun (SN: 3/5/16, p. 6). The experiment detected vibrations from the merging black holes on September 14, 2015, four days before the official start of observations for the freshly upgraded LIGO.

That first discovery proved that massive, moving objects do in fact shake spacetime to produce gravitational waves, as Einstein predicted a century earlier. Not only that, the find proved that experiments on Earth could detect those waves, something of which Einstein was skeptical. Three of LIGO’s founders were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2017 for the detection (SN: 10/28/17, p. 6).

In total, LIGO and Virgo have detected gravitational waves from 10 confirmed pairs of colliding black holes, plus another three candidates netted in the last month.

2. Pairs of colliding neutron stars

Status: Found

It was thought that a pair of merging neutron stars, the dense stellar corpses of massive stars that died in a supernova, could also set off gravitational waves. Then, in August 2017, the LIGO-Virgo team caught the first known instance of such an event, and a second on April 25 (SN: 11/11/17, p. 6).

MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR GRAVITATIONAL PHYSICS

Follow-up observations with telescopes that are sensitive to light across the electromagnetic spectrum revealed hidden details of that first neutron star crash, including that the collision forged precious elements like gold, silver and platinum.

3. A neutron star crashing into a black hole

Status: Maybe

Another type of merger that could spawn ripples in spacetime is like the chocolate-vanilla swirl at an ice cream stand: one black hole and one neutron star merging into a single object. The observatories saw a possible signature of this kind of merger on April 26, but the signal was too weak for scientists to be sure.

If the team confirms that that signal really represents a black hole and neutron star swirl, it would prove that the two kinds of objects can live side by side. Before merging, the black hole and neutron star would have had to orbit each other in a close binary system.

“We’d be surprised if they didn’t exist, but we haven’t seen one” of these combinations, says LIGO team member Christopher Berry of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Studying such a system could help illuminate the mysterious material called nuclear pasta that makes up neutron stars (SN: 10/27/18, p. 8). “Neutron stars are kind of like giant atomic nuclei. They’re nothing like what we can create on Earth,” Berry says. The neutron star merger spotted in 2017 gave some details of the stars’ makeup (SN: 12/23/17, p. 7), including their maximum mass and squishiness. Spying a black hole-neutron star merger could show how a neutron star deforms near the extreme gravity of a black hole, another piece in the puzzle of how nuclear pasta behaves.

4. A collision involving an intermediate-mass black hole

Status: Not yet

All the black holes that LIGO and Virgo have detected so far have been stellar mass, which means that they typically weigh less than 100 times the mass of the sun. Physicists also know of supermassive black holes that weigh millions or billions times the mass of the sun (SN: 4/27/19, p. 6). But it’s not clear if there are black holes with masses in between.

Such intermediate-mass black holes “could be the link between stellar mass black holes and supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies,” Virgo team member Giovanni Andrea Prodi of the University of Trento in Italy said May 2 at a news conference.

Previous research has seen hints of such middleweight black holes, but a collision detected with gravitational waves would be more definitive proof. If they don’t exist, “that’s really interesting,” Berry says, because it would mean supermassive black holes must have been born bigger than physicists can explain (SN Online: 3/16/18).

5. A bumpy neutron star

Status: Not yet

Another way to steal the secrets of neutron stars’ mysterious nuclear pasta is to detect miniature “mountains” on their surfaces. All massive objects that accelerate generate gravitational waves, but most of them are too faint to detect. Physicists think that a lone neutron star with a slight imperfection on it, like a bump about a millimeter high, would emit detectable gravitational waves as it spins. Such waves could help tell how stiff the neutron star material can be, in order to support the bumps.

Unlike most other sources on this list, bumpy neutron stars would produce continuous gravitational waves, detected as a constant “hum” by the observatories.

6. Supernova explosions

Status: Not yet

LIGO and Virgo might also be able to pick up gravitational waves from supernova explosions, the bright cataclysms at the end of massive stars’ lives.

Supernovas emit many types of light and particles, including ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos that are born deep in the heart of the explosions (SN: 2/18/17, p. 20).  But scientists still don’t know exactly what makes a star explode as a supernova in the first place.

STARBURST SNAPS Astronomers got a good look at a nearby supernova in 1987 when a star exploded in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud (shown in this image from NASA’s Kuiper Airborne Observatory). Scientists could one day spot a supernova explosion using gravitational wave observatories, shedding light on the powerful event.

NASA’S AMES RESEARCH CENTER

What they do know is that during a supernova explosion, the central core of the star collapses, and the resulting proto-neutron star gathers material from the remainder of the collapsing core. The turbulence at the surface of the proto-neutron star makes it vibrate like a bell, sending off gravitational waves. That specific gravitational wave signal is strongly related to the strength of the turbulence and the structure of the nascent neutron star, astrophysicist David Radice of Princeton University and colleagues report April 29 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“Gravitational waves, neutrinos, and light from the next galactic supernova could allow us to understand the structure of the exploding star, and the nature of the mechanism powering its explosion,” Radice says.

The catch is that a supernova would have to be fairly close, in our own Milky Way galaxy, for the current LIGO detectors to catch it. And astronomers don’t know when the next supernova will happen (SN: 2/18/17, p. 24).

“The expected detection rate is only about two per century, so we will need to be really lucky, or very patient,” Radice says.

7. Waves triggered by the Big Bang

Status: Not yet

Physicists expect that many small gravitational waves from all over the universe crash into Earth all the time. These waves make up a random background of gravitational waves, like a jumble of voices in a crowded room.

Physicists think that at least some of those voices come from the Big Bang. Detecting relic gravitational waves generated by the Big Bang itself would mean seeing back further in the universe’s history than ever before. But it will be difficult to tease that signal apart from all the others.

“As you get a more sensitive detector, you may be able to pick out individual voices,” Berry says. “It’s currently an unsolved problem.”

8. New sources?

Status: Not yet

There’s still the possibility that detectors will catch gravitational waves from a source that scientists don’t recognize. Each time researchers have looked at the universe in a new way, they’ve discovered something that they didn’t predict, Berry says. “Now we’re looking in gravitational waves, a completely different kind of radiation,” he says. “It might be a bit arrogant to think we know everything that’s out there.”

Citations

• LIGO Caltech. LIGO and Virgo detect neutron star smash-ups. May 2, 2019.
• D. Radice et al. Characterizing gravitational wave signal from core-collapse supernovae. Astrophysical Journal Letters. Published online April 29, 2019. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab191a.

Further Reading

• E. Conover. LIGO and Virgo made 5 likely gravitational wave detection in a month. Science News Online, May 2, 2019.
• L. Grossman and E. Conover. The first picture of a black hole opens a new era of astrophysics. Science News. Vol. 195, April 27, 2019, p. 6.
• E. Conover. Scientists’ collection of gravitational waves just got a lot bigger. Science News. Vol. 195, January 19, 2019, p. 10.
• E. Conover. Nuclear pasta in neutron stars may be the strongest material in the universe. Science News. Vol. 194, October 27, 2018, p. 8.
• L. Grossman. Astronomers can’t figure out why some black holes got so big so fast. Science News Online, March 16, 2018.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

10-05-2019 om 01:28 geschreven door peter  

NASA Is Developing 'Soft Robots' to Help Explore Other Worlds

10-05-2019 om 01:06 geschreven door peter  

Off the Coast of Portugal, the Earth's Crust Might Be Peeling in Two

By Yasemin Saplakoglu 

Part of Earth's crust may be peeling into two layers, a never-seen-before phenomenon.

(Image: © Shutterstock)

In 1969, a giant earthquake off the coast of Portugal kicked up a tsunami that killed over a dozen people. Some 200 years prior, an even larger earthquake hit the same area, killing around 100,000 people and destroying the city of Lisbon.

Two earthquakes in the same spot over a couple hundred years is not cause for alarm. But what puzzled seismologists about these tremors was that they began in relatively flat beds of the ocean — away from any faults or cracks in the Earth's crust where tectonic plates slip past each other, releasing energy and causing earthquakes.

So what's causing the rumbles under a seemingly quiet area? [In Photos: Ocean Hidden Beneath Earth's Crust]

One idea is that a tectonic plate is peeling into two layers — the top peeling off the bottom layer — a phenomenon that has never been observed before, a group of scientists reported in April at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly held in Vienna. This peeling may be creating a new subduction zone, or an area in which one tectonic plate is rammed beneath another, according to their abstract.

The peeling is likely driven by a water-absorbing layer in the middle of the tectonic plate, according to National Geographic. This layer might have undergone a geological process called serpentinization, in which water that seeps in through cracks causes a layer to transform into soft green minerals. Now, this transformed layer might be causing enough weakness in the plate for the bottom layer to peel away from the top layer. That peeling could lead to deep fractures that trigger a tiny subduction zone, National Geographic reported. 

This group isn't the first to propose this idea, but it's the first to provide some data on it. They tested their hypothesis with two-dimensional models, and their preliminary results showed that this type of activity is indeed possible — but is still yet to be proven. 

This research has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

• Photos: The Devastating Damage from Indonesia Earthquake and ...
• Images: Rare Footage of the Devastation of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
• Nepal Earthquake Photos: Odd Effects of Kathmandu Temblor
• Originally published on Live Science.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

10-05-2019 om 00:50 geschreven door peter  

Algae 'Bioreactor' on Space Station Could Make Oxygen, Food for Astronauts

10-05-2019 om 00:40 geschreven door peter  

Could There Be Life on Mars Today?

By Mike Wall 

Mars is cold and dry, but it may not be dead.

Mars, as imaged by NASA's Viking 1 orbiter in the 1970s.

(Image: © NASA/JPL/USGS)

The search for life on Mars shouldn't focus exclusively on the distant past, some researchers say.

Four billion years ago, the Martian surface was apparently quite habitable, featuring rivers, lakes and even a deep ocean. Indeed, some astrobiologists view ancient Mars as an even better cradle for life than Earth was, and they suspect that life on our planet may have come here long ago aboard Mars rocks blasted into space by a powerful impact.

Things changed when Mars lost its global magnetic field. Charged particles streaming from the sun were then free to strip away the once-thick Martian atmosphere, and strip it they did. This process had transformed Mars into the cold, dry world we know today by about 3.7 billion years ago, observations by NASA's MAVEN orbiter suggest. (Earth still has its global magnetic field, explaining how our planet remains so livable.)

• Related: The Search for Life on Mars (a Photo Timeline)

But this turn of events doesn't necessarily mean that Mars is a dead planet today.

"If Mars had life 4 billion years ago, Mars still has life. Nothing has happened on Mars that would've wiped out life," said Michael Finney, co-founder of The Genome Partnership, a nonprofit organization that runs the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conferences.

"So, if there were life on Mars, it may have moved around, it may have gone into hiding a bit, but it's probably still there," Finney said last month during a panel discussion at the Breakthrough Discuss conference at the University of California, Berkeley.

Going underground?

One of the most promising hiding places is the Martian underground. Though the Red Planet's surface has no liquid water these days — apart, possibly, from temporary flows on warm slopes now and again — there's likely lots of the wet stuff in buried aquifers. For example, observations by Europe's Mars Express orbiter suggest that a big lake may lurk beneath the Red Planet's south pole.

Earth's diverse residents advertise their presence in dramatic and obvious ways; an advanced alien civilization could probably figure out pretty quickly, just by scanning our atmosphere, that our planet is inhabited. 

We don't see any such clear-cut evidence in the Martian air, but scientists have spotted some intriguing hints recently. For example, NASA's Curiosity rover has rolled through two plumes of methane inside the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater, which the six-wheeled robot has been exploring since its 2012 touchdown. The rover mission also determined that baseline methane concentrations in Gale's air go through cycles seasonally.

More than 90% of Earth's atmospheric methane is produced by microbes and other organisms, so it's possible the gas is a signature of modern Martian life.

But the jury is most definitely still out on that. Abiotic processes can generate methane, too; the reaction of hot water with certain types of rock is one example. And even if the Mars methane is biogenic, the creatures that created it could be long dead. Scientists think the Red Planet methane plumes leaked out from underground, and there's no telling how long the gas lay trapped down there before making its way to the surface.

• Related: 5 Bold Claims of Alien Life

Looking for DNA

NASA's 2020 Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch next summer, will hunt for signs of long-dead Red Planet life. So will the European-Russian ExoMars rover, a mission that will lift off at about the same time.

But some researchers are pushing to expand the hunt to extant Martian life. One of them is molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun, who's based at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. 

Ruvkun is one of three principal investigators on the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes (SETG) project, which is developing an instrument to detect past or present DNA- or RNA-based life on Mars and other alien worlds. 

He was on the Breakthrough Discuss panel with Finney and several other researchers, and he also gave a talk at the conference laying out the case for putting the SETG instrument on future Mars rovers and other robotic explorers.

Part of that case centers on panspermia, the idea that life has spread widely throughout the solar system, and perhaps the galaxy, by either natural or artificial means. If life did indeed come to Earth from somewhere else, there's a good chance it once flourished on Mars as well, the thinking goes. The Red Planet could have been the source, or it may have been "seeded" as Earth was.

Ruvkun views panspermia as very likely; during his Breakthrough Discuss talk, he described himself as "a religious fanatic" about the idea. Ruvkun cited as supporting evidence the very early emergence of ATP synthase, the enzyme that makes the energy-storage molecule adenosine triphosphate.

ATP synthase goes all the way back to the base of the tree of life on Earth, meaning this intricate and complex molecule was up and running by about 4 billion years ago, Ruvkun said. 

"It's not just that life kind of got up to kind of working," he said. "It's like it got to being super highly evolved very fast. That's why panspermia is so attractive."

If panspermia is indeed a thing, then any life-forms we find on Mars — or anywhere else in our solar system — will likely be related to us, Ruvkun and others have reasoned. That is, such organisms will use DNA or RNA as their genetic molecule. So, we should go hunt for this stuff.

"It seems really idiotic to not look for DNA on Mars," Ruvkun said during his talk. "It's an experiment that's worth doing, we would say."

• Related: Ancient Mars Could Have Supported Life (Photos)

Not just Mars

Mars isn't the only place in our solar system where alien life might flourish today. Indeed, most astrobiologists would put the Red Planet down the list a bit, behind the Jupiter moon Europa and the Saturn satellites Enceladus and Titan.

Europa and Enceladus harbor deep oceans of salty liquid water beneath their icy shells. Titan is thought to have a buried water ocean as well, and it also sports lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons on its surface. (NASA is developing an ocean-characterizing Europa flyby mission that will launch in the early to mid-2020s. The agency also aims to send a life-hunting lander to the moon's surface in the near future. And a Titan mission is one of two finalists for a NASA "New Frontiers" launch in 2025, along with a comet sample-return project. We should learn which one NASA picks by the end of the year.)

Even hellish Venus, a climate-change cautionary tale for Earth, might still harbor some habitable redoubts, scientists say.

Like Mars, Venus once had plentiful surface water, but a runaway greenhouse effect baked the stuff away and left the planet with surface temperatures high enough to melt lead. However, conditions appear to be pretty clement about 30 miles (50 km) above the Venusian surface.

Penny Boston, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's Ames Research Center in California, said she thinks the chances of modern-day Venus life are low because of the "dewatering" of the planet.

Regardless, the possible existence of cloud-dwelling life on Venus "definitely needs to be interrogated," Boston said during the same Breakthrough Discuss panel discussion.

• The 6 Most Likely Places to Find Alien Life
• 7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars
• 7 Theories on the Origin of Life
• 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/ }

10-05-2019 om 00:31 geschreven door peter  

Animation simulating an object’s collision with a magma-covered proto-Earth, resulting in the formation of the moon.

Via 2019 Natsuki Hosono, Hirotaka Nakayama, 4D2U Project, Naoj

For more than a century, scientists have struggled to explain how the Earth’s moon formed. The most widely-accepted explanation is that the moon formed from the debris left over after a Mars-sized object, known as Theia, slammed into the early Earth and ejected enough debris to form the moon.

The problem is that when this idea was tested, computer simulations indicated that the moon would be made primarily from the same stuff as the impacting object. Yet the opposite is true. We know from analyzing rocks brought back from Apollo missions that the moon consists mainly of material from Earth.

A new study published April 29, 2019, in Nature Geoscience by a team of scientists from Japan and the U.S. has offered an explanation for the discrepancy.

The key, according to Yale geophysicist Shun-ichiro Karato, who is a study co-author, is that the early, proto-Earth — about 50 million years after the formation of the sun — was covered by a sea of hot magma, while the impacting object was likely made of solid material. The impact splashed magma out into space, and that material formed the moon.

Snapshots of numerical modeling of the moon’s formation by a giant impact. The central part of the image is a proto-Earth; red points indicate materials from the ocean of magma in a proto-Earth; blue points indicate the impactor materials.

Image via Yale.

Karato and his collaborators set out to test a new model, based on the collision of a proto-Earth covered with an ocean of magma and a solid impacting object.

The model showed that after the collision, the magma is heated much more than solids from the impacting object. The magma then expands in volume and goes into orbit to form the moon, the researchers say. This explains why there is much more Earth material in the moon’s makeup. Previous models did not account for the different degree of heating between the proto-Earth silicate and the impactor.

Karato said in a statement:

In our model, about 80 percent of the moon is made of proto-Earth materials. In most of the previous models, about 80 percent of the moon is made of the impactor. This is a big difference.

Karato said the new model confirms previous theories about how the moon formed, without the need to propose unconventional collision conditions — something theorists have had to do until now.

Bottom line: The moon formed from a splash of magma when a large object crashed into a proto-Earth covered in a fiery ocean, according to a new study.

• Source: Terrestrial magma ocean origin of the Moon
• Via Yale University

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

09-05-2019 om 22:31 geschreven door peter  

Distant water exoplanets might have oceans thousands of miles deep. That’s in contrast to Earth’s ocean, which is about 6.8 miles (about 11 km) deep at its deepest point.

Artist’s concept of a water world exoplanet as described in a new study. If they do exist, these distant water worlds might have global oceans much, much deeper than any in our solar system.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Water worlds – planets or moons with global oceans – used to be considered part of science fiction, but we are starting to learn now that, not only do they exist, they might actually be fairly common. In our own solar system, the moons Europa, Enceladus, Titan and Ganymede are known or suspected to have such oceans beneath their outer ice crust. Even Pluto is now thought to have one! Perhaps other worlds in our solar system have water we haven’t found yet. Scientists also think they’re getting closer to finding exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars – that are water worlds as well, including planets with global or near-global oceans on their surfaces.

Now, a new study suggests that some exoplanet water worlds could have oceans much deeper than any in our solar system. Unfathomably deep, even, as in hundreds or thousands of miles deep. The new research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 29, 2019, by Harvard University astronomer Li Zeng and his colleagues. Zeng explained that, according to the team’s computer simulations, some planets may have incredibly deep oceans:

Hundreds or thousands of kilometers … Unfathomable. Bottomless. Very deep.

Earth’s oceans are nowhere near as deep. The average ocean depth on Earth is about about 2.2 miles (3.5 km). The maximum depth is 6.8 miles (about 11 km) at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

The data the team gathered from their computer simulations suggests that water worlds are probably common in our galaxy, particularly in sub-Neptune-sized planets – or mini-Neptunes – that have radii two to four times that of Earth but are smaller than Neptune. These planets are most likely to have deep global oceans, rather than thick atmospheres like gas dwarfs, ice giants or gas giants. Moons like Europa and Enceladus have deep subsurface oceans, for their size, but those are still not nearly as deep as the oceans that would exist on sub-Neptune worlds.

Other kinds of water worlds may be rocky exoplanets with global surface oceans, more similar to Earth. This artist’s concept is of Kepler-22b, a super-Earth and the first exoplanet that NASA’s Kepler mission confirmed to orbit in a star’s habitable zone.

Image via NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech.

These sub-Neptune worlds are one of two primary kinds of exoplanets found so far. The others are super-Earths, between one and four times the size of Earth, which are dense and rocky. There aren’t any super-Earths in our solar system, with the possible exception of Planet Nine (if it is ever found). The sub-Neptunes have much lower densities, and astronomers haven’t been sure if they are gas dwarfs, like Jupiter or Saturn but smaller, with a rocky core and a thick hydrogen atmosphere. Or did their low density mean they contained a lot of water?

Normally, they would be assumed to be gas dwarfs, since water worlds would need to be beyond the “snowline” in a planetary system, where temperatures are cold enough for water or ice, and many sub-Neptunes are very close to their stars. But the new computer simulations suggest that is not always the case, that many sub-Neptunes have much smaller atmospheres as related to their size, more like smaller terrestrial planets like Earth or Venus. Their atmospheres would be nowhere near as thick or deep as other gas dwarf-type sub-Neptunes.

As outlined in the new paper:

The discovery of numerous exoplanet systems containing diverse populations of planets orbiting very close to their host stars challenges the planet formation theories based on the solar system. Here, we focus on the planets with radii of 2-4 Earths, whose compositions are debated. They are thought to be either gas dwarfs consisting of rocky cores embedded in hydrogen-rich gas envelopes or water worlds containing significant amounts of water-dominated fluid/ice in addition to rock and gas. We argue that these planets are water worlds.

Yet another kind of hypothesized water world – an “eyeball” planet – where there is an ocean only on the star-facing side. The rest of the surface is ice.

Image via eburacum45/DeviantArt.

But if there are water world sub-Neptunes close to their stars, how did they form? The findings suggest that they first formed farther out from their stars, and then gradually drifted in closer over time. As Zeng said in Gizmodo:

A water world close to its star must have formed much farther away and then moved closer as its orbit shrank. The planet’s composition was set when it was farther away on a colder orbit. The process of orbital shrinking is called ‘migration’ and it is driven by the gravity of the disk of gas from which the planets formed. If water worlds are common that provides a really strong confirmation that migration really does happen and is a key process in how planets form, both around other stars and in our own solar system.

The research indicates that many sub-Neptunes are quite wet, but just how wet are they? The results show that at least 25 percent of their mass would water or ice, and perhaps up to 50 percent. That’s a staggering amount. We think of Earth as being a water world, but its mass is actually only 0.025 percent water, by comparison. Some water worlds may have so much water that they are completely water-logged, fluid all the way down into the deepest parts of the planet.

Jupiter’s moon Europa is a water world, with a deep global ocean beneath its outer ice crust. This view is from the Galileo spacecraft in the 1990s.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute.

The pressures far down in some of those oceans could also be like nothing on Earth, similar to a million times the atmospheric surface pressure that we experience. In those extreme environments, liquid water would be compressed into uniquely high-pressure phases of ice, such as Ice VII or superionic ice. These ices don’t occur naturally on Earth, but have been created in the laboratory. As Zeng said:

These high-pressure ices are essentially like silicate-rocks within Earth’s deep mantle, they’re hot and hard. These are utterly different worlds compared to our own Earth.

The computer models also took into account other variables, including the abundance of nebular gases, water-rich ices, rocky materials consisting primarily of iron and nickel and influences by complex chemical processes driven by temperature, cooling rates, evaporation, condensation, density and distance to host star. As Zeng noted:

Statistically speaking, these water worlds may be more abundant than Earth-like rocky planets. Perhaps every typical Sun-like star has one or more of these water worlds [and maybe] our solar system is less typical. Generally speaking, this type of planetary system architecture with close-in rocky super-Earths and water-rich sub-Neptunes may be more common in the Milky Way than our type of solar system.

Earth is of course the best-known water world, with oceans that cover about 70% of the surface. That amount of water pales in comparison to what may exist on the water worlds discussed in the new paper, however.

Image via NASA.

So with all that water, could these planets be potential homes for life? Yes, there’s a lot of water, but what about the chemical elements and nutrients needed, as found on the on the ocean floors of Earth, and maybe Europa and Enceladus? According to Anders Sandberg, a senior research fellow at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute (FHI), these kinds of water worlds may not be ideal, although they would still be much better than gas dwarfs:

While water worlds are not entirely perfect for life since the heavier elements may be buried under hundreds of kilometers of high-pressure ice, they are likely far better than gas dwarfs.

If the water worlds described in this study do indeed exist, it would open a whole new chapter in exoplanetary exploration. These worlds would be unlike any ever seen before, sort of like taking parts of Earth, ocean moons and gaseous planets and combining them, but on a much larger scale. The water worlds in this study are essentially water worlds on steroids.

Bottom line: If the findings in this new study are accurate, then our galaxy may be full of water worlds. Unlike Earth, these would be larger planets with global oceans that are not only deeper than any in our solar system, but mind-bogglingly deep.

• Source: Growth model interpretation of planet size distribution
• Via Gizmodo

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

09-05-2019 om 22:21 geschreven door peter  

Fake killer asteroid destroys New York City in NASA planetary defense simulation

 BY TIBI PUIU

Credit: Kevin Gill, Flickr.

A 60-meter fictional asteroid slammed into the heart of New York City with a force 1,000 times more powerful than the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The blast obliterated buildings from Central Park to lower Manhattan, causing up to 1.3 million fatalities. Luckily, this was just a drill — the culmination of a week-long exercise held in Washington last week which tested various planetary defense strategies at our disposal in the event of an asteroid threat. The findings suggest that we are still woefully unprepared to deal with threats from the sky.

Asteroids are one of the few extreme natural disasters that can be prevented

Dozens of astronomers, scholars, and disaster relief experts gathered at the biennial Planetary Defense Conference held last week. The main objective of the gathering was to assess the response ability of space missions and to what degree evacuation plans can mitigate the damage caused by a hypothetical asteroid impact.

The participants, which included experts from  NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other federal agencies, were warned 8 years in advance that a 140- to 160-meter asteroid (500- to 850-foot-wide) was going to collide with Earth, somewhere near Denver, Colorado.

In this fictional scenario, NASA collaborates with the world’s foremost space agencies from Europe, Russia, China, and Japan to launch six spacecraft tasked with deflecting the killer asteroid by slamming into it. This approach, known as the kinetic impact technique, will actually be tested by NASA in the real world in 2021 with a mission called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). Some alternatives include gravitationally tugging the asteroid using a nearby spacecraft, painting the asteroid white to change the amount of radiation it absorbs from the sun and thereby shifting its trajectory, and blasting the space rock with nuclear weapons.

Each day of the conference, the clock was advanced by months or years and the participants had to make new decisions based on the updated situation of the simulation. Not long before the conference was supposed to end, the participants were announced that their efforts resulted in the deflection of the asteroid. However, the impact also knocked off a 60-meter fragment from the asteroid that continued its trajectory towards Earth.

Map of the damage zones from the 60-meter asteroid fragment impacting Manhattan. Red zone is the site of total annihilation, in orange buildings collapse and clothing would catch fire, while the outer zone could cause second-degree burns.

Credit: NASA.

On the last day of the conference and ten days before impact in the simulation’s time frame, the participants announced that the asteroid would make a direct hit on Central Park, in the heart of Manhattan, at 43,000 miles per hour. The situation was dire and the only thing the experts could do was to call for the evacuation of 10 million people living in a metropolis bottlenecked by bridges and tunnels. Although there are evacuation plans in place for New York, none is designed to take on this scale so authorities in the simulation quickly became overwhelmed.

“I think the exercise illustrated how time is the most valuable asset when it comes to asteroid hazards,” said Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a participant in the simulation. “In reality, having many decades of warning gives us multiple options and multiple tries to prevent catastrophe.”

Fortunately, a scenario in which an asteroid would hit a major city is extremely unlikely. Instead, an asteroid would likely hit the ocean, which covers most of the planet’s surface. What’s more, there is no known asteroid with a significant probability of impacting Earth in the next century. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t prepare considering the catastrophic potential of an asteroid impact. According to researchers, there are 25,000 near-Earth asteroids as big as the space rock used in the simulation, two-thirds of which are not tracked.

At the conference, NASA stressed that the biggest takeaway from such a simulation is that asteroids represent a real threat to planetary security. Although most people associate asteroid impacts with Hollywood blockbusters, their devastating power is as real as it gets. Unlike the dinosaurs, however, we have the tools to avert our annihilation as long as we prepare properly.

According to NASA and FEMA, the best asteroid defense strategy is finding and deflecting a threat before it ever comes near Earth. In the future, NASA hopes to send a spacecraft to visit asteroid Apophis, which will narrowly miss Earth by just 19,000 miles in 2029.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

09-05-2019 om 22:00 geschreven door peter  

With New Gravitational-Wave Detectors, More Cosmic Mysteries Will Be Solved

09-05-2019 om 21:51 geschreven door peter  

Ontbrekend stuk van Stonehenge na 60 jaar weer terecht - HLN.be

Bron: BBC, Telegraph

Het gaat om een onderdeel van iets meer dan een meter lang, dat verdwenen was na de archeologische opgravingen in 1958. Bij die werken was ook Robert Phillips, nu 89, betrokken. Hij verborg de staaf in zijn kantoor om het pas nu terug te schenken. ‘English Heritage’ hoopt dat de stenen staaf kan helpen bepalen waar de wereldberoemde stenen oorspronkelijk vandaan komen.

61 jaar geleden trokken archeologen een omgevallen trilithon - een structuur van twee verticale stenen waarop een derde horizontaal rust - weer recht. Een van de verticale stenen vertoonde scheuren. Als versterking werden drie gaten in de stenen geboord waarin metalen staven werden aangebracht. De herstellingswerken werden gemaskeerd met fragmenten sarsen-steen, gevonden bij de opgravingen.

Maar Phillips, een Brit die inmiddels in Florida woont, nam een van de drie kernen van ongeveer een meter lang mee naar huis. Hij bewaarde de stenen staaf eerst in een plastic koker in zijn kantoor in Basingstoke, op 80 km van Londen. Later bevestigde hij het aan de muur van zijn huis in de VS. Het is uitzonderlijk goed bewaard. Het is niet bekend waar de andere twee staven gebleven zijn.

Aan de vooravond van zijn 90ste verjaardag besloot hij nu het alsnog terug te geven aan ‘English Heritage’. Het blijft nog altijd een raadsel hoe de sarsen-stenen van 25 ton duizenden jaren geleden naar hun eindlocatie bij Amesbury konden worden gesleept, zonder de moderne technologie van vandaag. Misschien kan het langwerpige stuk van Phillips het mysterie helpen ontrafelen, of toch de precieze herkomst van de grotere exemplaren tussen de stenen bepalen.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

09-05-2019 om 21:20 geschreven door peter  

Marsrover InSight maakt tweede selfie: vuil en enkele onderdelen lichter - HLN.be

Bron: NASA

Net zoals op aarde kan het op Mars wel eens stormen, zo’n storm gaat daar vooral gepaard met heel wat stof. Iets wat NASA’s vorige Marslander Opportunity (enkele keren) aan den lijve moest ondervinden. 
Opportunity was het onbemande robotwagentje dat in 2003 richting de rode planeet werd gestuurd om daar op verkenning te gaan. Veertien jaar later, in de zomer van 2018, ging het contact tussen aarde en de Marsrover voorgoed verloren te wijten aan zo’n stofstorm die enkele weken aanhield. Tenslotte trok NASA in februari 2019 definitief de stekker uit de Marsmissie Opportunity. 

Gelukkig was er destijds al een tweede Marslander geland op de planeet: InSight. En uit een recente selfie die de robot maakte, blijkt nu dat InSight ook al te maken kreeg met een kleine storm.

Lees ook

IN BEELD. Zo ziet zonsopgang en zonsondergang op Mars eruit

Eerste selfie

Op 6 december 2018 maakte de tweede Marslander (InSight) een eerste selfie op de rode planeet. Op die manier wisten onderzoekers van NASA zeker dat de robot zijn bestemming heelhuids bereikt had. De tweede foto dateert van 6 mei 2019 – vijf maanden na landing – en het verschil is groot. Terwijl de robot op de eerste foto nog blinkt, wordt hij op het tweede exemplaar bedekt met een dikke laag stof.

Dat kan problematisch zijn vermits het stof de zonnepanelen van de Marslander bedekt. Die zonnepanelen wekken de energie op waarop de robot teert. Gelukkig heeft de robot niet veel energie nodig om te overleven. Enkel in extreme gevallen, wanneer de stofstormen enkele weken aanhouden, kan het fataal aflopen. 

(Lees verder onder de foto’s)

NASA 

De Marslander InSight maakte 6 december 2018 een eerste selfie.

NASA 

Op de tweede selfie zijn de zonnepanelen van InSight bedekt met een dikke stoflaag.

Goed nieuws

Al kunnen de buitenaardse stormen – met windsnelheden van wel 72 kilometer per uur - de verkenners van NASA de kop kosten, ze hebben hun nut ook al bewezen. De krachtige wind blaast het stof immers ook terug weg van de zonnepanelen. Zo zorgde een windhoos er in februari nog voor dat 0,7 procent meer energie werd opgewekt met het ene zonnepaneel, zelfs 2.7 procent met het tweede.

Bovendien heeft die wind de levensduur van Opportunity met maar liefst dertien jaar en negen maanden verlengd. De missie zou oorspronkelijk slechts drie maanden duren omdat astronomen verwachtten dat de zonnepanelen, bedekt met stof, daarna geen energie meer zouden opwekken. Het stof werd echter keer op keer weggeblazen. 

Ontbrekende onderdelen

Wie trouwens opmerkte dat er enkele onderdelen van InSight ontbreken op de tweede foto – daarop heeft de Marslander geen seisometer en hitteschild meer – moet zich geen zorgen maken. Enkele dagen na zijn landing plaatste de Marsrover een seismometer, die trillingen in de bodem meet, op het oppervlak van de planeet.

Vervolgens plaatste InSight een hitteschild op Mars. Dat schild verdween bijna vijf meter diep in de bodem van de planeet. Daar moet het berekenen hoeveel warmte er precies uit het binnenste van de planeet komt. 

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

09-05-2019 om 21:12 geschreven door peter  

Indigenous Elder Shares Story About The “Star People” That Crashed On His Reservation

 By Arjun Walia

I recently came across the work of Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke, who brings to the field of ufology degrees in history, English, psychology, and educational leadership and a background as a teacher, university professor, junior college and university administrator, licensed therapist and psychologist, and social science researcher. She is a Professor Emeritus at Montana State University and  former Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Education. Dr. Clarke, who is Cherokee/Choctaw, has worked with indigenous people for most of her career, and has some amazing stories to tell.

Here is a great quote at the beginning of her book, Encounters With Star People, Untold Stories of American Indians.

I first learned about the “Star People” when my grandmother told me the ancient legends of my people. My childhood reality included narratives that traced the origins of the indigenous people of the Americas to Pleiades; stories of little people who intervened in people’s lives; and legends about the magical gift of the DNA of the “Star People” that flowed in the veins of the indigenous tribes of the Earth. I embraced the stories of the celestial visitors who lived among the Indian people as part of my heritage.

In her book, she shares many stories, and one of them comes from a gentleman named Harrison. She writes:

Located in the states of North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, the Northern Plains Indian Tribes have many accounts about UFOs. The story in this chapter is told by a well-respected elder of a Northern Plains tribe. His encounter predates the crash at Roswell. Since I recorded this story, Harrison has passed, but the time I spent with them over the years, changed my life.

Harrison told a story of how his grandfather took him on a spaceship in the summer of 1945. He said he was 12 at the time, and explained how the Army Corps of Engineers came to the reservation around the summer of 1947 to survey the river and surrounding area “for the reservoir.” So originally, there was no reservoir. The Corps confiscated the land and in return gave Harrison’s grandfather a worthless piece of land on the other side of that butte.

I spent every summer on his place from the time I was six years old. Mom and pop both worked for the tribe and they didn’t want me home alone during the summers. So every May I packed two paper bags: one with a change of clothes and the other with books, marbles, and my toy gun. My folks dropped me off to live with Gramps from June to late August. I loved my summers here, even the isolation. I was the only child for miles. I rode horses and herded cattle. Helped with the chores. Whatever I could do. As I got older, there were bigger chores and more responsibility. There was no TV or videos like kids have today. At night Gramps amused me with the ancient myths and legends of our people.

Clarke’s relationship with Harrison grew over the years, and the two of them met when his school district requested her assistance in applying for a federal grant. Harrison was her contact and was responsible for escorting her around the reservation.

She explains, “It took nearly 25 years of visits before Harrison asked me if I believed in Star People.” She replied with a yes, and then he said, “Someone told me you collect stories about the Star People, I find that unusual.”

She replied,

I’ve been collecting stories for a few years. I grew up hearing the ancient stories of the Star People from my grandmother. Everywhere I go, if I am among indigenous people, I ask them about their stories of UFOs and Star People. Perhaps someday I will write a book. I’ve heard some amazing accounts from American Indians.

Harrison then offered to take her to her Grandfathers place, where he shared an incredible story that took place on his Grandfather’s ranch before the Army Corps of Engineers became involved.

He told a story his grandfather told him about a spaceship that crashed on the property. Harrison said:

I saw the ship, I went aboard it. It was a long cylinder about 30 feet wide and 60 feet long. I measured it by pacing it off. Most of it stuck inside a butte, close to the water level. It was well camouflaged. You can’t see the butte now, it was covered by water when the Corps of Engineers flooded the valley creating the reservoir.”

He goes on to explain:

The crash shook the ground so hard that Gramps thought the house was going to collapse. You can still see a crack in the foundation of the log cabin that Gramps said occurred when the spaceship crashed. The horses were so frightened that it took a month to round them up, and even then they were constantly trying to escape. At first, Gramps thought it was an earthquake, but when he cleared, he saw the craft. It hit with such force that only a small section stuck out of the butte, but Gramps not only had a keen eye, he knew this land like the back of his hand. The smallest disturbance caught his attention. For the longest time he sat on the butte watching for any sign of life. He kept a vigil for days. Finally after a week or so, he ventured to the place of impact.”

His grandfather told him that the “star men” who crashed and survived there lived in their craft for approximately 5 months before another ship came and rescued them.

At the time of the crash, the closest ranch to our place was 10 miles away, and as fate would have it those neighbours had moved out of state days before the crash occurred. Gramps delighted in keeping the star men’s presence a secret.

Harrison explained that the first time his grandfather approached them, he did so by taking them an offering of food. They told him they do not eat flesh. He described them as taller than humans, at least 7-8 feet tall and very white. Harrison said:

He described them as being so white that you could almost see inside them. I’m not sure what he meant by that except he said their skin was thin. They had long slender fingers, much longer than humans. Their hair was white. When the sun shined on it, Gramps said it looked like a halo surrounded their heads. He said that sometimes they looked like the angels depicted in the paintings of his bible, except they did not wear gowns. Their eyes, too. He said they changed color depending on the light.

Furthermore, Harrison’s grandfather described to him what they wore:

He was particularly interested in their clothes. They wore a one-piece light green outfit. He told me there were times he saw them wading in the river, and when he approached them their suits were dry. He told me he wished he had a suit like that. When I think of the old man and how he viewed the star visitors, he did his best to describe what he saw. I’m sure if the same thing occurred today, the observers might offer a more sophisticated perspective.

Harrison went on to explain that there were fourteen of them, and how his “Gramps” wasn’t sure if all survived the crash. Harrison says that when he arrived in the summer, after the visitors had left, he went on board the craft and there were seventeen seats.

As far as why they were here, Harrison said:

“Gramps said that he often saw the Star People picking up rocks and plants. At first, when they saw him, they vanished before his eyes. He never discovered an explanation for that, but he wished that he had that power,” Harrison laughed. “Gramps thought that was the ultimate trait-simply to vanish in thin air when you wanted. I can’t imagine how he planned to use it. As time passed, Gramps said the star men realized he meant no harm and they didn’t disappear when he approached. Overtime, it became clear to him that they were concerned about their craft. They did not want it discovered.”

His grandfather told him that the beings lived there from late November until April. According to him, another spaceship appeared on April 17th, 1945 and he never saw them again.

He knew they were waiting for a rescue craft, so he expected it. He told me their spaceship was one of four exploring the Earth. They had been dropped off by a bigger ship that was circling Earth. The big ship would return for them but not for some time. They just had to wait. They were not afraid they would be discovered, they could make themselves invisible, but they could not do the same with their spaceship.

He said that his grandfather witnessed the pick-up.

He watched as they prepared to leave. Each of the stranded star travellers came to him and bowed before they left. He understood they appreciated his discretion.

As far as why they were here:

Gramps said they were voyagers and traveled the universe observing life on other worlds. They had been coming to Earth for thousands of years observing, collecting and noting changes. One day, they took him aboard their craft and showed him pictures from their home. As he described it, I suspect it was some kind of a TV or computer, but in my grandfather’s day there was no such thing, so he was enthralled by what he called “a picture machine.” He talked about flashing pictures that showed a place different from Earth. It reminded him of the Bad-lands, but with no vegetation. Their houses were underground. He asked them if it was Heaven, and they told him they did not have a place such as heaven. He was fascinated by the picture machine and went back several times to view the pictures. Apparently, the star visitors told him they liked the green of Earth, and they thought the Red Willow that grew along the banks of the river was quite beautiful in April. They loved the water. On their world, water was underground: nothing on the surface. My grandfather frequently collected geodes for them. They were amazed when he broke them open to reveal the crystallized cities inside. They were apparently pleased to add them to their collection. Gramps also taught them the medicinal uses of the red willow and how to propagate it from a small sample.

As far as the craft goes, it was left there, it it was well camouflaged to the point that nobody would really be able to recognize it with the naked eye unless they knew specifically what they were looking for. When he went inside the craft (Harrison), he explained that when you sat in a chair, it “melted” around him, as if it was alive. It enveloped the body like a warm hug, and then released you when you wanted to get up. The craft also had what looked to be hieroglyphics.

Eventually, the Army Corps of Engineers came and built their dam, which flooded the area where the craft was. He suspects they took the craft.

The Takeaway

Stories like these are fascinating to say the least, especially for those who are already aware of the UFO/extraterrestrial phenomenon and the growing amount of credibility the field is receiving. It adds a lot more credibility to these stories, but I’m not trying to prove anything here, just simply sharing a story from a in interesting source.

Richard Wagamese is known as one of Canada’s foremost authors and storytellers from the Wabaseemoong First Nation in Northwestern Ontario. He is one of few indigenous scholars left on the planet today that have taken an active effort in retracing their roots and preserving their heritage and stories, which were passed down generation after generation through oral traditions.

According to Wagamese,

“My people tell of Star People who came to us many generations ago. The Star People brought spiritual teachings and stories and maps of the cosmos and they offered these freely. They were kind, loving and set a great example. When they left us, my people say there was a loneliness like no other.” (source)

Scholars have estimated that, prior to the ‘discovery’ of the Americas by Europeans, the pre-contact era population could have been as high as 100 million people. American anthropologist and ethnohistorian Henry F. Dobyns, most known for his published research on American Indians and Hispanic peoples in Latin and North America, estimated that more than one hundred and twelve million people inhabited the Americas prior to European arrival. He estimated that ten million alone inhabited an area north of the Rio Grande before European contact. In 1983, he revised that number to upwards of eighteen million. (source)(source)(source)

The loss of knowledge came as a result of a massive genocide, a time that was foretold in indigenous prophecy.

There have been wounds of injustice, of oppression, of colonization, of greed, of superstition, all those things which injure the human heart. At the same time there’s been no way for this to be expressed, it’s been held inside. So this ancestral wound is this wound that’s been carried on from generation to generation to generation, this intergenerational trauma. But it was also prophesied  and promised that after a period of 500 years that a great, great spiritual spring time would emerge with such power and such intensity that all that had been covered in the cold bitter snow would be revealed and cleansed and purified. And that we would emerge galvanized, reunited as not only the reunion of the Condor and Eagle, but a reunion of the entire human family. This time is now. (source)

We are living in a special time, a time of mass awakening to various truths about our planet as well as the nature of reality. One of those truths is the fact that we are not alone, and that we’ve never been alone. These stories of visitors from other worlds are in the literature of indigenous cultures as well as various other cultures around the world like the Vedas, for example.

The realization that we are not alone, and never have been alone has tremendous implications for our planet.

{ https://www.collective-evolution.com/ }

09-05-2019 om 20:51 geschreven door peter  

09-05-2019 om 20:36 geschreven door peter  

LUISTER NAAR DE RADIOSIGNALEN VAN DEZE "KOMEET" ( VIDEO )

We hebben nu al enkele keren meegemaakt dat wat wanneer wij dachten dat het een komeet was, dit niet zo bleek te zijn. 

Kometen zenden normaal gesproken geen radiosignalen uit, maar luister zelf en bepaal of dit een komeet is of wat anders.

Niet zo lang geleden hadden we een komeet die vanuit een ander zonnestelsel langs kwam en waarbij de wetenschap duidelijk met de handen in het haar zat. 

We schreven daar eerder onder andere het volgende over: 

Eerder dit jaar hadden we te maken met een vreemd ruimteobject, dat werd omschreven en geclassificeerd als een komeet en dat van buiten ons zonnestelsel scheen te komen. 

Accordingly, the object A/2017 U1 receives the permanent designation 1I
and the name ʻOumuamua.  The name, which was chosen by the Pan-STARRS team, is
of Hawaiian origin and reflects the way this object is like a scout or
messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us (ʻou means reach out
for, and mua, with the second mua placing emphasis, means first, in advance of).

Volgens de European Southern Observatory (ESO) is Oumuamua een object dat we nog nooit eerder hebben gezien en bestaat het uit rots of metaal met een roodachtige kleur. 

Het object moet er ongeveer als volgt uit zien. Een ander fenomeen is dat het om haar eigen as lijkt te draaien en dat de lichtintensiteit varieert. 

Men probeert wanhopig om voor dit alles logische verklaringen te vinden, maar slaagt daar niet zo erg in. 

Men vermoedt dat het uit de buurt komt van de ster Vega, maar ook dat schijnt niet te kunnen omdat in de tijd dat Oumuamua daar is vertrokken, die ster op een heel andere plek stond. Nu denken ze dat het object misschien wel helemaal nergens thuishoort en als een soort los projectiel door de ruimte zwerft. 

De wetenschap zit (ook) wat dit object betreft met de handen in het haar, want niet één van de normale verklaringen past.

Waar we hier over praten, is een groot moederschip dat ons hier met een bezoek heeft vereerd. Dat is de enige logische verklaring en ook is er ook één die past in de omschrijving van het object en de gedragingen. 

Net zoals die vreemde komeet Oumuamua geen komeet is hebben wij nog een andere komeet die ook geen komeet is. 

In 2016 schreven wij over dit object het volgende omdat daar toen allerlei mysterieuze dingen gebeurden. 

Ogenschijnlijk kwam er enkele weken geleden een einde aan de Europese ruimtemissie naar de komeet 67P

Op 30 september 2016, om 12.38 uur crashte Rosetta gecontroleerd op de komeet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Om 13.20 uur (Nederlandse tijd), kwam de bevestiging binnen dat Rosetta gecrasht is. Deze vertraging werd veroorzaakt doordat het 40 minuten duurde voordat de data de aarde bereikte. De sonde werd in overeenstemming met internationale afspraken automatisch uitgezet vlak voor de landing, dit om te voorkomen dat de zender als een stoorzender in het zonnestelsel zou gaan werken en andere observaties zou gaan storen. De crash betekent het einde van de succesvolle missie van Rosetta. 

Echter, de dag voordat Rosetta crashte, zijn er toch nog wel een paar interessante opnames gemaakt waaruit blijkt dat die komeet toch wel even iets meer is dan men ons wil laten geloven. 

Zoals op de volgende opname te zien, hangt er een grote UFO boven de rotsmassa van komeet 67P.

Een stukje uit een eerder artikel: 

De bekende videomaker op Youtube BP Earthwatch ontving een e-mail met het volgende nogal schokkende bericht: 

Het bericht is afkomstig van iemand die werkt binnen ESA (European Space Agency). Deze zegt dat de belangstelling voor deze komeet zo’n twintig jaar geleden werd gewekt doordat NASA radiosignalen ontving, afkomstig van deze komeet. 

Dat niet alleen, maar ergens in de afgelopen twintig jaar schijnt 67P ook van koers te zijn veranderd. 

Veel wetenschappers hebben ook al hun verbazing uitgesproken over het uiterlijk van deze komeet omdat men een soort sneeuw en ijsklomp had verwacht. Iets waarbij in het geval van 67P absoluut geen sprake is. 

Besloten werd volgens de klokkenluider om deze “komeet” met een bezoek te vereren. Om de aandacht af te leiden en dit zo geruisloos mogelijk te doen, werd een samenwerking aangegaan tussen NASA en ESA, waarbij de laatste een missie zou organiseren onder de noemer van onderzoek naar een komeet. 

De klokkenluider zegt verder: "Jullie zijn toch niet zo gek om te geloven dat ze deze Rosetta missie die al in 2004 werd gelanceerd en miljarden Dollars kost, zomaar gaan doen om een stukje rots in de ruimte te onderzoeken? Nee, ze doen dit omdat er iets aan de hand is met 67P en omdat ze vandaar radiosignalen hebben opgevangen". 

Wat 67P ook moge zijn, volgens de klokkenluider is het zeker dat het geen komeet is. 

Dan, net voordat de Rosetta voor ons gewone mensen volledig uit beeld verdwijnt, een ruimteschip wat daar hangt wat minstens 100 meter lang is.

Een “komeet” waar onlangs nog antennes werden ontdekt, eerder ufo’s zijn waargenomen, vreemde constructies/gebouwen zijn ontdekt en die ook nog eens radiosignalen uitzendt. 

Waar het meer op lijkt, is dat men de verdere communicatie met buitenaardsen op komeet P67 volledig buiten het zicht van de bevolking wil houden. 

Zoals te doen gebruikelijk, zouden we daaraan toe willen voegen.

De originele NASA foto is hier te bekijken.

Deze komeet zendt ook permanent radiosignalen uit en ufoloog Scott Waring heeft die geluiden verzameld en in een video geplaatst. 

Een komeet zendt normaal gesproken geen signalen uit en Scott is er dan ook van overtuigd dat hier sprake is van buitenaardse boodschappen. 

Hij heeft de uitgezonden boodschap wat vertraagd op de band zodat “het zingen” van de “komeet” beter te horen is. 

Feit is dat deze komeet radiosignalen uitzendt die klinken als een soort boodschap. 

Feit is dat dit radiosignaal ononderbroken is uitgezonden sinds deze komeet 25 jaar geleden werd ontdekt. 

Feit is dat toen wetenschappers dit geluid hoorden, ze 20 jaar geleden besloten om een ruimtesonde te bouwen en dit signaal te gaan onderzoeken. 

Feit is dat het publiek nooit iets is verteld over dit radiosignaal totdat de ruimtesonde Rosetta enkele jaren geleden de komeet P67 bereikte. Toen kon men dit signaal niet langer verborgen houden en kreeg P67 de bijnaam “de zingende komeet”. 

Van wie de boodschap is en wat het ons probeert te vertellen weten we niet. 

Misschien zijn er lezers die na het beluisteren van de radiosignalen slimme ideeën/gedachten hebben. 

{ http://niburu.co/ }

09-05-2019 om 20:30 geschreven door peter