Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 13 YEARS AND 2 MONTH.
ON 06/08/2024 MORE THAN 2.161.100
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
26-08-2019
When it Comes to Gamma Radiation, the Moon is Actually Brighter Than the Sun
When it Comes to Gamma Radiation, the Moon is Actually Brighter Than the Sun
The eerie, hellish glow coming from the Moon may seem unreal in this image, since it’s invisible to our eyes. But instruments that detect gamma rays tell us it’s real. More than just a grainy, red picture, it’s a vivid reminder that there’s more going on than meets human eyes.
It’s also a reminder that any humans that visit the Moon need to be protected from this high-energy radiation.
From Cosmic Rays to Gamma Rays
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope captured these images of the Moon’s gamma rays. In this part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the Moon is actually brighter than the Sun. That’s because the Sun produces most of its energy in other parts of the spectrum, though it does emit some gamma rays, especially during solar flares.
Most gamma rays in our Solar System come from distant sources like quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGN.) The Moon is an indirect source of gamma radiation, and produces gamma rays through its interaction with cosmic rays.
Cosmic rays are a type of high-energy radiation that for the most part is produced outside our Solar System. They’re produced by things like supernovae and active galactic nuclei. When cosmic rays strike matter, like the surface of the Moon in this instance, they create gamma rays.
An artist’s concept of an active galactic nuclei hosting an energetic blazar. Active galacitc nuclei are one source of cosmic rays. When those rays strike the Moon, gamma rays are created. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.
Two scientists at Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Mario Nicola Mazziotta and Francesco Loparco, have been studying the Moon’s gamma radiation as a means to understand cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are fast-moving particles, and they gain their acceleration from their sources, like the aforementioned supernovae and AGN.
“Cosmic rays are mostly protons accelerated by some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe, like the blast waves of exploding stars and jets produced when matter falls into black holes,” explained Mazziotta in a NASA press release.
The particles that make up cosmic rays are electrically charged. When they strike a magnetic field, like the Earth’s magnetosphere, they’re mostly deflected. But the Moon lacks a magnetic field. As a result, even the weakest cosmic rays strike the Moon’s surface directly, and that produces gamma rays. The Moon actually absorbs most of the gamma rays it creates, but some escape out into space.
And the Fermi Telescope can see them, turning the Moon into a kind of inadvertent particle detector.
The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (FGRST) has been at work for 11 years now. Mazziotta and Loparco have studied images of the Moon from the length of the telescope’s mission, and over that time, the view has improved.
“… the Moon would never go through its monthly cycle of phases and would always look full.”
Francesco Loparco, Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics.
The strength of the Moon’s gamma rays is not always consistent. It varies over time. Mazziotta and Loparco gathered together data of the Moon’s gamma rays that exceeded 31 million electron volts, which is 10 million times more powerful than visible light, and organized them over time. That resulted in the following image, which shows the view improving over time.
These images show the steadily improving view of the Moon’s gamma-ray glow from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Each 5-by-5-degree image is centered on the Moon and shows gamma rays with energies above 31 million electron volts, or tens of millions of times that of visible light. At these energies, the Moon is actually brighter than the Sun. Brighter colors indicate greater numbers of gamma rays. This image sequence shows how longer exposure, ranging from two to 128 months (10.7 years), improved the view. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration
“Seen at these energies, the Moon would never go through its monthly cycle of phases and would always look full,” said Loparco.
The fact that the Moon emits these gamma rays is cautionary. NASA’s Artemis Program will see more astronauts on the Moon for potentially longer periods of time than other Moon missions. They’ll have to be protected from both the cosmic rays that strike the Moon, and the Moon’s gamma rays that result.
A Complex Interaction
The interplay between cosmic rays, gamma rays, the Moon and the Sun can be complex. Gamma rays can have different energy levels. For instance, these FGRST images only capture gamma rays that exceeded 31 million electron volts (MeV) by a certain amount. But gamma rays can be far more energetic than that, and can be in the billions or even trillions of MeVs.
The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Observatory is not the only observatory to see the Moon’s gamma radiation. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory captured this image of the Moon’s gamma rays. Image Credit: By D. J. Thompson, D. L. Bertsch (NASA/GSFC), D. J. Morris (UNH), R. Mukherjee (NASA/GSFC/USRA) – ur=http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cgro/epo/news/gammoon.html., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19838942
Since the electrical charge of cosmic rays means they can be deflected by magnetic fields, and the Sun has a powerful magnetic field, only the most powerful ones can strike the Sun. In turn, these powerful cosmic rays strike the dense part of the Sun’s atmosphere and create very powerful gamma rays. So the Sun is actually brighter in gamma rays above 1 billion electron volts than the Moon is.
The Sun’s 11-year cycle also affects the cosmic rays that strike the Moon, and the gamma rays that result. During that cycle, the Sun experiences variations in its magnetic field. As a result, sometimes more cosmic rays strike the Moon than other times. This variability in cosmic rays striking the lunar surface creates a variability in lunar gamma rays. According to Fermi data, it can vary by 20%.
The Sun’s magnetic field varies in both strength and complexity during its 11-year cycle. This comparison shows the relative complexity of the solar magnetic field between January 2011 (left) and July 2014. In January 2011, three years after solar minimum, the field is still relatively simple, with open field lines concentrated near the poles. At solar maximum, in July 2014, the structure is much more complex, with closed and open field lines poking out all over.
Gamma rays coming from the Moon, and the cosmic rays that cause them, both pose a threat to astronauts because both are ionizing radiation with great penetrating power. It takes a lot of shielding to prevent them from striking astronauts. Materials with high atomic numbers are effective shields. Lead (atomic number 82) is a good shield because it’s also very dense.
For lower energy gamma rays, the risk to astronauts is due to exposure over time. Think of an x-ray technician vs. an x-ray patient. A patient’s lifetime exposure to x-rays is not very high, so a patient accepts the risk. For the technician however, things are different. They’re exposed each work day, so they leave the room and are shielded from the x-rays by materials like lead.
It’s similar for astronauts. The more time they spend on the Moon in a gamma ray/cosmic ray environment, the more they need to limit their exposure. Not only by shielding, but by timing.
Trying to Understand the Moon’s Radiation Environment
This Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope data is helping scientists understand the gamma ray/cosmic ray risk on the Moon. If there are times when the Moon emits 20% less gamma radiation because of the Sun’s 11-year cycle, then it may be sensible to make use of that time.
If we saw the sky in gamma rays, the same way the Fermi Space Telescope does, it would be unrecognizable. This image was constructed from six years of Fermi observations. It shows the entire sky at energies between 50 billion (GeV) and 2 trillion electron volts (TeV). The bright band in the middle is the central plane of the Milky Way. Some of the brightest sources are pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants within our galaxy, as well as distant galaxies called blazars powered by supermassive black holes. Labels show the highest-energy sources, all located within our galaxy and emitting gamma rays exceeding 1 TeV. Image Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration
Exposure to radiation is one of the main barriers to space travel and long-term space missions. Earth’s magnetosphere and atmosphere are both radiation shields. But even in Low-Earth Orbit, astronauts risk exposure to greater radiation.
If we’re going to have a human presence on the Moon, it’s imperative that we understand the radiation environment there. NASA has been looking into the lunar radiation environment as far back as 2005 in anticipation of a human outpost on the Moon. When they launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in 2009, it contained an instrument called the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER).
CRaTER’s job is to characterize the Moon’s radiation environment and the biological impact it will have on astronauts. It uses plastics to mimic human tissue and placed them behind different shielding materials. At the time, Harlan Spence, the Principal Investigator CRaTER said, “Not only will we measure the radiation, we will use plastics that mimic human tissue to look at how these highly energetic particles penetrate and interact with the human body.”
The Fermi images of the Moon’s gamma rays are another piece of the radiation puzzle. And that’s a puzzle that has to be solved before there’s a realistic hope of a long-term lunar base, or crewed missions to Mars.
On Earth, methane gas is often associated with microbial life. Scientists find methane in Mars’ atmosphere, too. Could it be life-related? We still don’t know, but a new study shows wind erosion is likely not the cause.
Mars is a rocky world, and some scientists have theorized that erosion by wind causes Mars rocks to produce methane. But a new study from Newcastle University refutes that.
What is producing methane on Mars? That is a question that scientists have been trying to answer for quite some time now. There are various possibilities, both geological and biological, but narrowing them down has been a challenge. Could it really be a sign of … life? Now, a new study has shown that at least one of the geological scenarios is very unlikely: wind erosion of rocks.
Researchers at Newcastle University in the U.K. published their peer-reviewed findings in Scientific Reports on June 3, 2019, and a new press release was issued on August 12, 2019. From the article abstract:
Seasonal changes in methane background levels and methane spikes have been detected in situ a metre above the martian surface, and larger methane plumes detected via ground-based remote sensing, however their origin have not yet been adequately explained. Proposed methane sources include the UV irradiation of meteoritic-derived organic matter, hydrothermal reactions with olivine, organic breakdown via meteoroid impact, release from gas hydrates, biological production, or the release of methane from fluid inclusions in basalt during aeolian erosion. Here we quantify for the first time the potential importance of aeolian abrasion as a mechanism for releasing trapped methane from within rocks, by coupling estimates of present day surface wind abrasion with the methane contents of a variety of martian meteorites, analogue terrestrial basalts and analogue terrestrial sedimentary rocks. We demonstrate that the abrasion of basalt under present day Martian rates of aeolian erosion is highly unlikely to produce detectable changes in methane concentrations in the atmosphere. We further show that, although there is a greater potential for methane production from the aeolian abrasion of certain sedimentary rocks, to produce the magnitude of methane concentrations analysed by the Curiosity rover they would have to contain methane in similar concentrations as economic reserved of biogenic/thermogenic deposits on Earth. Therefore we suggest that aeolian abrasion is an unlikely origin of the methane detected in the martian atmosphere, and that other methane sources are required.
A history of key methane measurements on Mars from 1999 to 2018.
One of the more recent theories was that wind erosion of rocks could produce the methane detected in the lower atmosphere. But the team’s findings showed that it wouldn’t be able to produce methane in the amounts observed, according to Jon Telling, a geochemist at Newcastle University:
The questions are – where is this methane coming from, and is the source biological? That’s a massive question and to get to the answer we need to rule out lots of other factors first.
We realized one potential source of the methane that people hadn’t really looked at in any detail before was wind erosion, releasing gases trapped within rocks. High resolution imagery from orbit over the last decade have shown that winds on Mars can drive much higher local rates of sand movement, and hence potential rates of sand erosion, than previously recognised.
In fact, in a few cases, the rate of erosion is estimated to be comparable to those of cold and arid sand dune fields on Earth.
Using the data available, we estimated rates of erosion on the surface of Mars and how important it could be in releasing methane.
And taking all that into account we found it was very unlikely to be the source.
What’s important about this is that it strengthens the argument that the methane must be coming from a different source. Whether or not that’s biological, we still don’t know.
Artist’s concept of ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter, part of the ExoMars mission, analyzing the Martian atmosphere.
Observations from both orbiting spacecraft and the Curiosity rover, as well as telescopes on Earth, have shown that methane levels in the Martian atmosphere appear to be seasonal, peaking in the summer and fading again in the winter. Just why that is isn’t known yet, but it indicates a regular process is occurring, whether geological or biological. Oddly, ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) hasn’t detected any methane yet, although that is one of its main objectives. But that may simply be because of the seasonality of the methane, or because TGO focuses its observations on the upper levels of the atmosphere, and most of the other methane detections have been closer to the ground.
Most scientists now think the methane originates from underground, perhaps as ice clathrates that thaw in the summer and release methane, or maybe a biological source that responds to the warmer temperatures. Even if the methane is bound up in clathrates, the actual origin of it could still be either geological of biological (ancient life). Or it may be produced by warm groundwater interacting with olivine in rocks. If so, that would indicate that there is still some residual geological activity below Mars’ surface, and that itself could provide a habitable environment for microorganisms, even if they didn’t actually produce the methane. Other causes, such as meteorites or comets, probably wouldn’t produce enough of the gas to match observations, either, according to recent studies.
Last April, a new report showed that a spike in methane levels was detected at the same time – for the first time – by both the Curiosity rover and the orbiting Mars Express back in 2013. And last June, Curiosity detected its largest-evermeasurement of methane so far. Why are there these peaks in methane emissions, only for the gas to virtually disappear afterwards? There is still a lot we don’t know, as Emmal Safi, a postdoctoral researcher at Newcastle University, indicated:
It’s still an open question. Our paper is just a little part of a much bigger story.
Ultimately, what we’re trying to discover is if there’s the possibility of life existing on planets other than our own, either living now or maybe life in the past that is now preserved as fossils or chemical signatures.
Illustration depicting what processes could create and destroy methane on Mars. The methane most likely originates from below the surface and is released into the atmosphere through subsurface cracks.
The idea that Mars’ methane might come from life is an exciting one, of course, since most of the methane on Earth is produced by living organisms. But non-biological explanations would need to be eliminated first. The research from Newcastle University shows that at least one of the possible geological explanations for the methane is unlikely, but there is still a lot of work for scientists to do to determine just what is producing it.
Bottom line:This new study would seem to eliminate one possible source of Mars’ methane: wind erosion of rocks on the surface. This bolsters the probability that the methane originates from underground.
On tall ice structures high in the Chilean Andes, researchers found algae growing on snow. They don’t entirely understand how the algae are able to bloom.
These elongated, thin blades of hardened snow or ice are called nieves penitentes. They’re found closely spaced and pointing towards the general direction of the sun. Recently, researchers were surprised to find patches of red ice on the sides of some of the penitentes, which turned out to be a unique snow algae.
A new study found snow algae on nieves penitentes [Spanish for "penitent-shaped snows”] at high elevations in the Chilean Andes.
Steven Schmidt is a University of Colorado, Boulder professor, specializing in microbial ecology. He’s one of the paper’s authors. He told GlacierHub.
The expedition was an epic and very arduous trip to a remote mountain. The original goal was to sample a lake below a remnant glacier high on the mountain, but the lake was frozen solid and the winds were horrendous, so we worked lower on the mountain and carried out the first-ever search for life on nieves penitentes.
Nieves penitentesform when windblown snow banks build up and melt due to a combination of high radiation, low humidity, and dry winds. The snow melts into the pinnacle-shape which earned penitentes their name: they are said to resemble monks in white robes paying penance. Penitentes are important to the dry, high-altitude areas where they’re found, because they can be a periodic source of meltwater for the rocky ground.
Schmidt described how the researchers were surprised to find patches of red ice on the sides of some of the penitentes. He told GlacierHub:
We took samples from these patches and later found that they contained some unique snow algae and a thriving community of other microbes.
The study was published the peer-reviewed journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research on June 12, 2019.
Matthew Davey, a plant and algal physiologist at Cambridge University, who was not involved in the study, told GlacierHub:
Snow algae are microscopic plant-like organisms that are able to live on and within the snowpack.
Snow algae is also known as watermelon snow because of the color it creates on the surface of snow and ice. The snow’s watermelon hue is caused by an abundance of natural reddish pigments called carotenoids which also shield the algae from ultraviolet light, drought, and cold, contributing to their ability to survive in extreme environments.
Researchers don’t entirely understand how the algae bloom in high density given the low temperatures and high light levels they live with. Davey explained:
There is evidence that they can be deposited by wind, they could already be in the rock surface from previous years or they could be brought by animals. Once the snow has melted slightly, so there is liquid water, the algae can reproduce and bloom within days or weeks. During this time they can start green, then turn red, or stay green or stay red – it depends on the algal species.
The samples of snow algae were collected from penitentes on the Chilean side of Volcán Llullaillaco. It is the second tallest active volcano in the world after Ojos del Salado and it sits on Chile’s border with Argentina. The penitentes were between 1-1.5 meters tall (about 39 to 60 inches tall). The presence of snow algae on penitentes is notable because the algae can change the albedo of ice and increase melting rates.
The study describes the environment that the samples were collected in as “perhaps the best earthly analog for surface and near-surface soils on Mars,” opening the door for implications in astrobiological research. The high elevation where the snow algae was found is responsible for the conditions that create an almost extraterrestrial environment; there are very high levels of ultraviolet radiation, intense daily freeze-thaw cycles, and one of the driest climates on the planet.
Penitente-like structures were recently found on Pluto and possibly on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. In the context of these discoveries, Schmidt said that “penitentes and the harsh environment that surrounds them provide a new terrestrial analog for astrobiological studies of life beyond Earth.” The finding in the new study that “penitentes are oases of life in the otherwise barren expanses” pushes the boundaries of the current understanding of the cold-dry limits of life.
The surface of Pluto’s Tartarus Dorsa region, where penitentes were also found.
Scientists suddenly have a whole lot more data on one of the strangest and most recent mysteries in the cosmos, so-called fast radio bursts. First discovered in 2007, these fleeting blasts of radio waves originate thousands, millions or even billions of light-years from Earth.
FRBs have influenced the design of new radio telescopes like the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). And now a team of Canadian and American researchers using CHIME has reported a major new set of FRB detections that could fine-tune our understanding of where these enigmatic signals come from and what produces them.
The group says it's discovered eight new bursts that repeat.
Watch this:Repeating radio signals coming from space
"Repeating FRBs are highly valuable from an observational perspective since their repeating nature make them better candidates for localizing their host galaxies and multi-wavelength follow-up observations that can help determine if FRBs emit at wavelengths other than radio," said Ryan McKinven, one of the researchers who is based at the University of Toronto and co-author of a paper about the FRBs.
Those follow-up observations could provide details about the origins of the strange bursts, he added. A larger sample size of repeating FRBs to study could also help scientists answer one of the obvious questions about non-repeating FRBs: Could they actually be repeating FRBs that just haven't been recorded as repeating yet?
While dozens of FRBs have been detected and cataloged over the past 12 years, few of those deep space signals had been known to repeat themselves. Two have been documented so far in published, peer-reviewed journals. Two others -- one via a Russian radio telescope, the other via Australia -- have been reported but not yet reviewed.
So with this batch of bursts, the number of reported repeaters has tripled -- from four to 12.
"Discovering different types of FRBs at an unexpected rate, we will soon open new windows into understanding the cosmological origin of these high-energy astrophysical phenomena," said co-author Masoud Rafiei-Ravandi of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
In addition to the sheer number of repeating FRBs discovered in one haul, one of the newfound repeaters appears to be much closer to Earth than the handful of fast radio bursts that have been traced back to a source galaxy. So far, traceable FRBs seem to come from sources on the other side of the universe -- we're talking billions of light-years away.
However, in the new paper, the authors suggest that one of the repeating FRBs could actually originate near the edge of our own Milky Way galaxy but caution that more study is needed to better localize the signal.
"Knowing that we are observing every patch of sky visible to CHIME once every day, it was only a matter of time before we detected a very nearby source," co-author Pragya Chawla of McGill University said.
Studying relatively nearby FRBs will hopefully allow scientists to get a better idea of just what the heck is throwing off these signals, which could be anything from far-fetched notions like alien starships to the less fantastic but more powerful sources, like neutron stars.
Mystery sunken 3,000BC temple dubbed ‘Spanish Stonehenge’ appears after drought dries up reservoir
Mystery sunken 3,000BC temple dubbed ‘Spanish Stonehenge’ appears after drought dries up reservoir
Sean Keach, Digital Technology and Science Editor
AN ANCIENT sunken temple in Spain that dates back 5,000 years has been revealed thanks to a drought.
Dubbed the 'Spanish Stonehenge', this collection of 144 standing stones may have once been a site of ritual worship.
The mysterious site has been revealed thanks to a droughtCredit: Rubén Ortega Martín/Raíces de Peralêda
Some of the stones stand two metres high, and are engraved with serpents.
The giant megaliths are arranged in circles but – just like Stonehenge – no one knows who put them there, and why.
The lost site was submerged back in 1963, after the building of a dam created a reservoir in the area.
But warm weather and large amounts of water extraction saw the stones re-emerge from the deep.
Some of the stones stand up to two metres tall
Credit: Rubén Ortega Martín/Raíces de Peralêda
The 'Spanish Stonehenge' has been lost for 60 years, and could date back to 3,000 BCCredit: Rubén Ortega Martín/Raíces de Peralêda
"We grew up hearing about the legend of the treasure hidden beneath the lake and now we finally get to view them," said local official Angel Castaño, speaking to Spain's The Local.
"There certainly may have been treasures buried beneath the stones once upon a time.
"But for us now, the treasures are the stones themselves."
Angel is now leading a "race against time" to preserve the site before the rains come – and submerge the temple again.
The site is believed to have been created in the second and third millenia BC
And it's said that it was used as a sun temple on the banks of the River Tagus.
It was last seen by locals six decades ago, and formed part of local legends.
"The site would have been created over thousands of years, using granite transported from kilometres away," Angel explained.
"Like Stonehenge, they formed a sun temple and burial ground.
"They seemed to have a religious but also economic purpose, being at one of the few points of the river where it was possible to cross.
"So it was a sort of trading hub."
Angel and a group of local residents are campaigning to move the stones to a site on dry land.
Otherwise, the waters will rise again and the stones will be lost.
"We have had no rain this summer, so the drought but also a policy of extracting water to send to Portugal has combined to lower the water table and reveal the stones," Angel explained.
"But that can all changed very quickly."
The site was thought to be condemned to the history books in the 1960s when a Spanish general ordered the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Peraleda de la Mata, near Cáceres in Extremadura
“If we miss this chance it could be years before they are revealed again.
"And the stones, which are granite and therefore porous, are already showing signs of erosion and cracking, so if we don't act now it could be too late."
Experts now hope to preserve the stones – by moving them to dry land using machines
Credit: Rubén Ortega Martín/Raíces de Peralêda
What is Stonehenge?
What you need to know about Britain's most mysterious monument
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire
It's a ring of standing stones that measure around 13 feet high and seven feet wide
Each stone weighs roughly 25 tons
Experts say that the monument was constructed between 3000 and 2000 BC
In 1882, it was legally protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument
And in 1986, the site and surroundings became a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Stonehenge itself is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage
But the land around Stonehenge is owned by the National Trust
Part of what makes Stonehenge so mysterious is that it was produced by a culture with no written records
Scientists regularly debate over how and why Stonehenge was built, and what it was used for
One theory suggests Stonehenge was a sacred burial site
Another proposes that it was used for celestial and astronomical alignments
And some think it was an ancient place of healing
It used to be believed that it was created as a Druid temple
But we now know that Stonehenge predated the Druids by around 2000 years
The site was reportedly first uncovered by the Ancient Romans.
However, they weren't rediscovered until German priest and archaeologist Hugo Obermaier visited in the 1920s.
He excavated the site and reportedly took treasures back to Germany.
But the stones themselves remained, and disappeared under a reservoir after the building of a dam in 1963.
"It isn't a difficult thing to move them, we have machinery now to do that," said Angel.
"Let's just hope that there is the political will to save them while we can."
Two Colossal Crystal Pyramids Found in Center of The Bermuda Triangle
Two Colossal Crystal Pyramids Found in Center of The Bermuda Triangle
With the help of today’s advanced technology, Dr. Meyer Verlag has managed to discover two huge pyramids at the bottom of the ocean.
These pyramids are extremely large. To give you an idea, they are 3 times larger than the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.
It seems that these pyramids are constructed of a type of crystal that could not be identified.
They are about 2000 meters deep at the bottom of the ocean.
According to researcher Meyer Verlag, these crystal pyramids may be the reason why there are so many mysterious disappearances in that area.
There is also a theory that these crystal pyramids belong to the ancient city of Atlantis.
Scientists are optimistic and believe that these pyramids will be investigated very closely in the near future.
And this can give us some very important answers regarding the mysterious disappearances of the Bermuda triangle or even about the lost city of Atlantis.
Archaeologists Who Discovered Giant Skeletons Were Threatened: “You’re playing with fire”
Archaeologists Who Discovered Giant Skeletons Were Threatened: “You’re playing with fire”
Since ancient times there are stories and stories about giants. These creatures were so large that the earth shook as they walk.
There are reports about a very controversial case that took place in Romania in the 1940s.
At that time, a team of foreign archaeologists discovered a lot of precious artifacts that it seems to have belonged to the Dacian leader, Burebista.
From the accounts of that time, it seems that one of the archaeologists by the name of Ionita Florea, discovered a huge skull.
The skull was about five times larger than a human skull. Shortly after the discovery of the giant skull, Ionita Florea was removed from the team, and foreign archaeologists have managed to uncover 80 more giant skeletons.
These giant skeletons were hidden or destroyed. It is not known exactly where the skeletons are.
Another very strange case was when the inhabitants of the village of Scaieni in Romania discovered a cemetery full of giant skeletons, when they were trying to plant an apple orchard.
In 2009, a television channel began a thorough investigation of the phenomena in the Bucegi Mountains.
But the entire team of researchers and journalists were threatened by telephone by several people who did not reveal their identity.
These people wanted at all costs that this investigation be stopped immediately.
These unknown persons threatened with death the entire team investigating Bucegi Mountains. It seems that the entire operation that investigated the phenomena in the Bucegi mountains was stopped shortly.
And none of the team members ever wanted to make a statement. Watch the following video:
Researchers have made incredible advancements in the detection and study of exoplanets in recent years, spotting literally thousands of new planets and learning tantalizing details about them. Scientists can often tell how warm a planet’s surface is, what its atmosphere is made of, and whether or not it could hold liquid water on its surface.
All of this information helps in the never-ending search for extraterrestrial life, but what if an intelligent race of aliens were looking at us? Would they be able to see that Earth is habitable, or perhaps even detect the presence of life here from a distance? A new study published in Scienceattempts to answer that question, and the answer is just as complicated as you’d expect.
The idea here is that by modeling what a distant civilization would see when looking at Earth, we might get a better idea of what traits to seek out when searching for life-supporting exoplanets of our own. To build this model of a “distant Earth,” the research team collected nearly 10,000 images of Earth snapped from NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite and used them to build a two-dimensional picture of the light reflecting off of Earth across multiple wavelengths.
This, the researchers say, offers a reasonable estimate of what an intelligent civilization might see when observing our planet at a distance of many light-years. The image might look like little more than a colorful blob, but it’s actually a rough outline of Earth’s continents and oceans.
The scientists suggest that, if we could interpret the light curves of exoplanets in the same way, we may be able to estimate an Earth-like planet’s potential to support life.
“The analysis of light curves in this work have implications for determining geological features and climate systems on exoplanet,” Siteng Fan, lead author of the work, told Universe Today. “We found that the variation of light curve of Earth is dominated by clouds and land/ocean, which are both crucial to the life on Earth. Therefore, Earth-like exoplanets which harbor this kind of features would be more likely to host life.”
Next year is going to be a pretty big deal for scientists studying Mars, with both NASA’s Mars 2020 mission and the ExoMars rover mission kicking off in the summer. NASA, the European Space Agency, and Russia’s Roscosmos are all doing their best to plan for the landing of their respective rovers, and they recently gathered in a place that looks a lot like Mars to test a few new ideas.
The international group of researchers met in Australia and set their sights on the dry and dusty conditions of the Australian Outback, which is a decent analog for the Red Planet.
The challenges of controlling a mobile robot on another planet are many, but the scientists are doing their best to plan ahead, especially when it comes to search for evidence of life on Mars.
“The Pilbara Outback is home to the oldest confirmed fossilized lifeforms on Earth, called stromatolites,” Ken Farley of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. “If we can better understand how these fossils came to be here – and the nearby geological signposts that help point the way to them – we’ll be that much more prepared when hunting for signs of life on Mars.”
Practicing the ability to spot areas where clues about ancient life on Mars may be hiding could come in handy for both teams during their respective missions, but there’s no guarantee that either mission will lead to the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
Both the Mars 2020 mission and the ExoMars rover mission are expected to launch in July of 2020, with NASA’s spacecraft arriving at the Red Planet in February 2021 and the ExoMars rover touching down sometime in March 2021.
Souvent on croise des personnes sceptiques, remettant en cause l’aventure spatiale. Pourtant l’ensemble de l’oeuvre est très facilement sous la main. Mais se plonger dans le travail colossal de cette entreprise demande toujours trop d’effort pour les détraqueurs. Un grand classique est le passage de le Ceinture de Van Halen par les missions Apollo. Beaucoup disent que c’est impossible. Sauf que le sujet a été traité comme jamais et qu’il est encore traité aujourd’hui : un essais complet a été fait sur la futur capsule pour Mars ( on en parle pas sur le petit écran mais des rapports et des photos sortent chaque mois et pendant qu’on se tourne les pouces les mecs on fait une mission complète dans la ceinture de Van Halen, non habité, pour mesurer la réaction et les taux de radiation de cette futur capsule ). Mais revenant à Apollo, voici toutes les références si l’on vous ressort ce sujet … Voilà je vous ai tout mis avec les liens qui vont bien comme ça ça clos le débat.
APOLLO : LA CEINTURE DE VAN ALLEN :
Voici quelques éléments pour le sujet qui nous intéresse aujourd’hui : comment les missions Apolloont résolu le passage de la ceinture de Van Allen ?
Rapport de la NASA des doses radiactive des équipages des missions Appolo lors du passage de la ceinture de Van Allen. (réf 1)
Les doses radioactives reçues lors des missions lunaires, incluant la traversée de la ceinture de Van Allen et l’exposition aux rayonnements cosmiques, furent relativement faibles. On peut noter dans ce tableau que les astronautes d’Apollo 14 furent les plus exposés avec une dose absorbée au niveau de la peau de 1,14 rads soit 11,4 milligrays.
Dosimètre personnel de Collins.
Si l’on considère un facteur de pondération pour la peau de 0,01 et un facteur de pondération pour les rayonnements de 20 (cas le plus pénalisant), les astronautes d’Apollo 14 ont reçu une dose de 2,24 millisieverts.
Si l’on se réfère à un tableau de radiation classique dans le milieu médical, Apollo 14 a reçu une radiation équivalente à une radio de la poitrine … Par comparaison, la limite annuelle pour les travailleurs du secteur nucléaire en France est de 20 millisieverts. (réf.2)
SYNTHÈSE TECHNIQUE COMPLÈTE SUR LES RADIATIONS LORS DES MISSIONS APOLLO :
Cette synthèse nous fait un point sur les radiations lors du passage de la ceinture de Van Allen, sur les radiations relevées dans le module lunaire et lors des sorties ELM.
Ce document fait également un bref descriptif des instruments utilisés pour faire les mesures. Ciquez sur l’image ci-dessous pour télécharger.
La ceinture de Van Allen : note technique de Mars 1973 de la NASA faisant la synthèse des missions Apollo vis à vis des doses de radiation des équipages d’Apollo. Cliquez sur l’image pour accéder à la note technique originale.
TRAJECTOIRE DU PASSAGE DE LA CEINTURE DE VAN ALLEN POUR APOLLO 11.
Une maquette d’ingénierie grandeur nature chez Michoud Assembly Facility pour la contruction de la futur Saturn V. Le recours à la maquette est essentiel sur ces projets R&D. Saturn avait besoin non seulement d’experts en fusées, mais également d’équipes de construction pour construire certains des plus grands bâtiments du monde.
(NASA).
Étages de la fusée Saturn V en cours d’assemblage à Michoud Assembly Facility
(NASA).
Les ingénieurs d’IBM travaillent à l’intérieur de l’unité Instrument de Saturn V, le «cerveau» responsable du guidage et de la navigation. La structure en anneau s’intègre entre le troisième étage le plus élevé du véhicule et le vaisseau spatial Apollo. (NASA).
LIENS & RÉFÉRENCES SUR APOLLO & LE PASSAGE DE LA CEINTURE DE VAN ALLEN :
For an asteroid, Ryugu has surprisingly little dust on its surface
For an asteroid, Ryugu has surprisingly little dust on its surface
The space rock may hide the fine debris inside larger rocks or eject it into space
Germany’s MASCOT probe took this photo just before landing on the asteroid Ryugu. The craft found a landscape of crumbly and jagged rocks, but not much actual dust.
Ryugu is a neat freak. The surface of the small, near-Earth asteroid is surprisingly free of dust, observations from Germany’s MASCOT lander show.
The asteroid, thought to have formed from the breakup of a larger body around 700 million years ago, has no atmosphere to protect it from interplanetary dust streaming through the solar system(SN: 4/27/19, p. 4). These miniature missiles pummel exposed space rocks at high speed, breaking down their surfaces into thin layers of dust and dirt, such as those found on the moon and the asteroid Vesta.
But when MASCOT bounced across Ryugu in October 2018 (SN Online: 9/24/18), the lander took high-resolution photos that show no sign of any dust-sized particles, down to a resolution of about 100 micrometers, about the thickness of a sheet of paper, researchers report in the Aug. 23 Science.
“After a few tens of millions of years, you should have dust on the surface,” says planetary scientist Ralf Jaumann of the German Aerospace Center in Berlin. “If it’s not there, you should have some kind of physical, geological processes which clean up these bodies.”
The MASCOT lander took many pictures as it bounced over Ryugu’s surface, and revealed a rugged terrain largely free of dust.R. JAUMANN ET AL/SCIENCE 2019
Ryugu could hide its dust in larger, porous rocks or deep in its interior, Jaumann and colleagues say. Shaking due to a meteorite impact may shuffle the particles into bigger surface rocks or down through small surface cracks to the asteroid’s center and out of sight, the way small nuts end up at the bottom of a cup of trail mix.
Or Ryugu could spray dust into space when sunlight heats patches of trapped ice and releases volatile gases. A similar asteroid, Bennu, seems to spew plumes of small rocks into space, according to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft (SN: 4/13/19, p. 10). But Jaumann thinks that explanation is less likely for Ryugu. Observations from the Japanese Hayabusa2 craft, which has been orbiting Ryugu since June 2018 and brought MASCOT along, suggest that Ryugu has less water in its minerals than Bennu (SN: 1/19/19, p. 6).
There’s another possible explanation for Bennu’s dust sprays, says OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona in Tucson. He thinks frequent temperature changes on Bennu’s surface as the different sides of the asteroid rotate in and out of sunlight could make the asteroid’s larger rocks fracture like a snapped cracker, spraying crumbs into space.
If something similar happens on Ryugu, “then Ryugu should also be ejecting particles,” he says. Hayabusa2 may just not be in the right position to see the sprays. “It would be very cool if we saw it.”
But snapping rocks might create more dust, not less, he notes. An answer to the mystery may not come until after Hayabusa2 returns to Earth with samples of Ryugu’s surface and subsurface in late 2020 (SN: 8/17/19, p. 14).
If you’re looking for something that deserves to be blamed for all of the bad news lately, scientists have for the first time ever witnessed a black hole consuming a neutron star with a satisfied belch and a lip-smacking smile. OK, they couldn’t quite see those last two and it happened 900 million years ago, but it’s definitive proof of a long-held theory and that means it could happen again … and again and again. Is this how it will all end? Did it really cause ripples in space and time? Is the grass greener on the other side of the black hole?
“This is a huge milestone—if it stands up.”
The “milestone” astrophysicist Patrick Brady, spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), is referring to in the announcement in Science is the discovery of gravitational waves (so the answer to the “ripples in time and space” question is ‘yes’) which have been traced to the collision of a black hole and a neutron star 900 million light-years away – a collision which left only the black hole standing. The discovery was made by LIGO – which gets credit for the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015 – and Virgo, a gravitational wave detector near Pisa, Italy, and involved close to 1700 scientists between the two organizations.
Aerial view of the LIGO Hanford Observatory.
“We’ve never detected a neutron star and a black hole together. If it turns out to be right, then we’ve confirmed a new type of star system. It’s that fundamental.”
Ryan Foley, an astronomer at UC Santa Cruz, told Vice that the discovery last week of a gravitational wave called S190814bvset off a wave of excitement and the search for its source, the so-called “optical counterpart” that is the bright light caused by a neutron star crashing into something. Those somethings are normally other neutron stars … but not this time. A small optical counterpart would confirm that the black hole swallowed the neutron star rather than shredding it to pieces — an event that Foley, Brady and other scientists are cautiously optimistic about.
“The neutron star/black hole system is particularly exciting because we haven’t seen any case of that before, and there’s a lot of interesting stuff we could learn if we did detect it.”
Artist’s depiction of the aftermath of a black hole hating a neutron star
The “interesting stuff” includes how atoms are built and other secrets of subatomic physics and the expansion rate of the universe. Proving most astronomers are big kids at heart (and well behind the rest of the world in their video games), Simon Stevenson, an astronomer with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, described to CBS what all of this will look like.
“We will either see a neutron star being ripped apart by a black hole, or getting swallowed whole like Pac-Man swallowing a ghost. Either way, we are in for a show!”
Sounds like they will be too busy to play a game of Fortnite and pick up some new analogies.
The team behind NASA's InSight lander has informally named a rock on Mars “Rolling Stones Rock” after the band.
A little larger than a golf ball, the rock appeared to have rolled about 3 feet (1 meter) on Nov. 26, 2018, propelled by InSight's retrorockets as the spacecraft touched down to study the Red Planet's deep interior.
In images taken by InSight the next day, several divots in the orange-red soil can be seen trailing "Rolling Stones Rock." It's the farthest NASA has seen a rock roll while landing a spacecraft on another planet.
NASA will use its robotic missions to Mars to help prepare for eventual human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon, NASA's Artemis program is the next step in human exploration. It is a part of NASA's broader Moon to Mars exploration approach, which will quickly and sustainably explore the Moon and enable humanity's next giant leap to Mars.
Linda Moulton Howe: Invisible Flying Object That Sounds Like a Jet Interrupts Beam of High Power Laser Pointer
Linda Moulton Howe: Invisible Flying Object That Sounds Like a Jet Interrupts Beam of High Power Laser Pointer
Lately, many strange and unknown flying objects have been observed in the sky. Now, according to the latest reports and published by Linda Moulton Howe, people heard strange jet-like sounds but their were no planes, even according to two witnesses, the invisible craft interrupted the beam of high power laser pointers.
Image: Transparent ‘invisible’ craft photographed in the sky above Kaufman, Texas on July 19, 2016.
On August 14, 2019, a scientist in San Diego, California, who has heard loud jet noises in clear sky and two times flashed a powerful laser in direction of unexplained jet noise and saw the beam interrupted by something invisible.
Earlier this month, a Boeing employee witnessed the same phenomenon.
Boeing employee: “I took my high power laser pointer and shot it up in the direction of the unexplained loud jet sound. … On two separate occasions, I have seen the beam interrupted momentarily — It seems to me there is a real physical object moving through the air that is simply not visible.”
In both cases the laser beam was interrupted – Does that mean that there is a real physical object moving through the air that is simply not visible?
In the next video Linda Moulton Howe talks on the invisible flying object reported by the Boeing employee. (Report starts at the 9.50 mark in the video.)
Pristine wall art and delicate pots have been found inside a stunning thousand-year-old imperial tomb unearthed by Chinese builders of a school sports field.
The underground chamber - believed to be one of several rooms - was located underneath Xiaojingyu Elementary School in the city of Taiyuan.
The school field was undergoing renovations, with workers sinking new foundations when they unintentionally punched through the ceiling of the burial chambers.
They are believed to date back to the Tang Dynasty, one of the greatest empires in the medieval world that ruled from 618 to 907 AD.
Pristine wall art and delicate pots have been found inside a stunning thousand-year-old imperial tomb unearthed by Chinese builders of a school sports field
Officials said the perfectly preserved murals and pottery appeared to be from the middle of the Tang Dynasty.
A cultural relics expert told local media the work bears the style of a roughly half-century period known as 'Sheng Tang', when the dynasty flourished between 713 and 766 AD.
A tombstone inside the burial chamber suggested the individual laid to rest underground was 'not a commoner'.
Their exact identity remains shrouded in mystery, however.
The underground chamber - believed to be one of several rooms - was located underneath Xiaojingyu Elementary School in the city of Taiyuan
They are believed to date back to the first century Tang dynasty, one of the greatest empires in the medieval world
A tombstone inside the burial chamber suggested the individual laid to rest underground was 'not a commoner', but their identity remains shrouded in mystery
The Tang era is seen by many historians as an era of progress as well as the greatest period for Chinese poetry.
Chinese civilisation flourishing during the first half of the dynasty before the empire eventually collapsed under social unrest.
Construction work at Xiaojingyu Elementary School, which is in Taiyuan's Wanbailin District, has been halted since the discovery.
An official said further excavations into the tomb would not be easy due to the primary school's teaching buildings nearby.
The work will require extensive negotiations with the school, which could be asked to relocate and have its building demolished.
The school field was undergoing renovations, with workers sinking new foundations when they unintentionally punched through the ceiling of the burial chambers
The eighth century heralded the second important epoch in Tang history, which is ranked as the classical period of Chinese art and literature, as it set the high standard to which later poets, painters, and sculptors aspired
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE TANG DYNASTY?
After 300 years of division and fragmentation following the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220 AD, China was once again unified under the Sui dynasty (581–618).
The political and governmental institutions established during this brief period lay the foundation for the growth and prosperity of the succeeding Tang dynasty.
Marked by strong and benevolent rule, successful diplomatic relationships, economic expansion, and a cultural efflorescence of cosmopolitan style, Tang China emerged as one of the greatest empires in the medieval world.
Merchants, clerics, and envoys from India, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Korea, and Japan thronged the streets of Chang’an, the capital, and foreign tongues were a common part of daily life.
In the beginning decades of the Tang, especially under the leadership of Emperor Taizong (r. 626–49), China subdued its nomadic neighbors from the north and northwest, securing peace and safety on overland trade routes reaching as far as Syria and Rome.
The seventh century was a time of momentous social change; the official examination system enabled educated men without family connections to serve as government officials.
This new social elite gradually replaced the old aristocracy, and the recruitment of gentlemen from the south contributed to the cultural amalgamation that had already begun in the sixth century.
The eighth century heralded the second important epoch in Tang history, achieved largely during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–56), called minghuang—the Brilliant Monarch.
It is rightfully ranked as the classical period of Chinese art and literature, as it set the high standard to which later poets, painters, and sculptors aspired.
Construction workers at an elementary school in school in China thought they were renovating the school’s sports field. Instead they ended up up unearthing a mysterious 1,000-year-old tomb filled with pottery and art from the Tang dynasty of imperial China.
The tomb was discovered underneath Xiaojingyu Elementary School in the city of Taiyuan. Workers were setting new foundations for structures in the sports field when they accidentally punched through the ceiling of the 1,000 year old tomb. Which probably came as a decent surprise. The tomb is believed to be one of several rooms in a larger underground complex.
Inscriptions on in the mysterious tomb indicate that it belonged to someone of influence, but the exact identity of the eternal resident is still unknown. Archaeologists who have examined the ornate underground tomb say that it most likely dates back to the rule of the Tang dynasty, a golden age and high point of imperial China, which lasted from 618 to 907 AD.
According to the Daily Mail, a “cultural expert” told local media that the artwork bears the very specific style of a roughly 50-year period known as Sheng Tang, when the Tang dynasty flourished between 713 and 766 AD.
Mural from the Tang dynasty similar to those found in the newly discovered tomb.
The Tang dynasty period was one of immense progress until it collapse.d after social unrest during. At its height, Tang China was a period of social progress and imperial expansion. During the Tang dynasty, China stretched its economic influence across the world, trading with other empires even as far as Rome and Syria and merchants, envoys, and travelers from other nations were a common sight in the capital. It was also a period of progress in education and art. The Tang period of imperial China was the first to enable educated men without family connections to serve as government officials. The Tang dynasty is also seen by historians as the high water mark for classical Chinese literature and art. The tomb found in Taiyuan was probably built during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, who was called minghuang or “brilliant monarch.”
Engraved brick from the Tang dynasty.
Since the discovery of the tomb, construction work at Xiaojingyu Elementary School has been halted. Officials say that further excavations will be difficult due to the proximity of the school’s teaching buildings. According to the officials, negotiations with the school may result in the school having to be relocated and its buildings torn down. Fairly ironic for what started as a renovation project.
But, even if the school is shut down for a little while, it might end up having a net positive impact on the children’s education. I know if, when I was a kid, a thousand-year-old tomb from Imperial China destroyed my school, I’d want to know everything there was to know about imperial China. That’s how you get kids interested in history.
According to new evidence obtained from excavations, archaeologists say that the ancient city of Troy in northwestern Turkey may have been more than six centuries older than previously thought. Rüstem Aslan, who is from the Archaeology Department of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (ÇOMU), said that because of fires, earthquakes, and wars, the ancient city of Troy had been destroyed and re-established numerous times throughout the years.
In the last 150 years or so, ten layers of settlements had been uncovered and they were named “Troy I” to “Troy XI”. This year, however, they discovered an eleventh layer of settlement that they named “Troy o”. “We found traces of burns, pottery and wooden beams in the Troy o layer,” Aslan told the Daily Sabah.
Ancient city of Troy
The items recovered were of great significance as they prove that the city’s history dates back to approximately 5,500 years ago in around 3500 BC. Prior to this year’s significant discovery of an eleventh layer, the previous layers of the settlements were from the ancient Greek to Byzantine time periods between 3000 BC and 1300 AD.
The ancient city of Troy can be found on the mounds of Hisarlik, looking over to the Turkish Aegean coastal plain. It is known as one of the most famous and most visited archaeological sites in the entire world. Excavations of the ancient city began in 1870 by a German businessman named Heinrich Schliemann, who is very well known in the field of archaeology.
Troy was famously known in the Greek Trojan War when Spartan and Achaean warriors from Greece laid siege on the city in the 13th century BC. It was written about in the famous poem called The Iliad by the Greek poet Homer.
Trojan horse of Troy
As for more recent times, in order to celebrate the 20thanniversary o+f being declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Turkish government declared the year 2018 the “Year of Troy”. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have toured the famous archaeological site, which also includes a Troy Museum that opened in 2018 and houses around 2000 artifacts representing the ancient city. You can see more pictures here of the archaeological site of Troy.
APAnne McClain verbleef zes maanden in het Internationaal ruimtestation (ISS). Daar zou ze het bankaccount van haar ex gehackt hebben.
Het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartagentschap NASA heeft officieel een onderzoek opgestart naar een mogelijk misdrijf dat in de ruimte zou gepleegd zijn. Het gaat wellicht om het eerste ruimtemisdrijf ooit, zo meldt de krant New York Times.
De astronaute Anne McClain zou zich op onrechtmatige wijze toegang hebben verschaft tot de bankrekening van haar ex-vrouw. Ze zou dat gedaan hebben tijdens haar zes maanden durende missie in het internationaal ruimtestation ISS. Toen Summer Worden, de ex van McClain, dat ontdekte, diende ze een klacht in bij de Federal Trade Commission. Ook bij de algemene inspectie van NASA werd intussen een klacht neergelegd.
Volgens New York Times is er wellicht geen geld van de rekening gehaald. De astronaute wordt wel beschuldigd van identiteitsfraude. Ook wordt aangehaald dat McClain mogelijk op zoek was naar bewarend materiaal om Worden de voogdij over hun zoon te ontzeggen. McClain, die in juni naar de aarde terugkeerde, zegt via haar advocaat dat ze niets verkeerd heeft gedaan. Ze zegt dat ze in het ISS enkel de gemeenschappelijke rekening van het koppel bekeek, omdat ze wilde nagaan of alles in orde was met de - nog steeds verstrengelde - financiën van het ex-koppel. Zo wilde ze zeker weten of er nog wel genoeg geld aanwezig was voor de opvoeding van hun kind. McClain zegt dat dit tijdens de relatie ook al gebeurde en dat ze gewoon gebruik maakte van het wachtwoord dat ze toen van Worden had gekregen.
Maan
McClain is een gelauwerd militair en astronaut. In de Irakoorlog maakte ze meer dan achthonderd gevechtsvluchten. Ze staat ook op de kandidatenlijst van de NASA van astronauten die mogelijk als eerste vrouw op de maan zullen landen.
EPADe capsule van de Sojoez-MS-14 is onbemand, maar bevat wel de mensachtige robot Fiodor, die 1,80 meter groot is en bijna 160 kilogram weegt.
WETENSCHAPDe Russische Sojoez-capsule met aan boord de humanoïde robot Fiodor, is er niet in geslaagd om zich op het voorziene uur vast te hechten aan het internationaal ruimtestation ISS. Dat melden de Russische nieuwsagentschappen. Er zal wellicht maandagmorgen een nieuwe poging volgen.
De koppeling had vanmorgen om 7.30 uur (Belgische tijd) automatisch moeten gebeuren, maar voorlopig heeft die nog niet kunnen plaatsvinden. De capsule was tot op 96 meter van de aanmeerplek genaderd, maar begon daarna weg te driften. Momenteel bevindt ze zich op ongeveer 280 meter van het ISS, zo meldt een reporter van het persbureau Tass vanuit het controlecentrum. Het ruimtevaartuig heeft de manoeuvres voor het uitvoeren van de koppeling opnieuw moeten opstarten. Volgens het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartagentschap is het mislukken van de koppeling niet te wijten aan de capsule. Wel zou er een probleem zijn met Kurs, het naderings- en koppelingssysteem op het ruimtestation. Een volgende poging om aan te meren zal wellicht pas na 48 uur uitgevoerd kunnen worden, ten vroegste maandagmorgen dus. Tot die tijd zal de Sojoez-capsule, met aan boord Fiodor, op “veilige afstand” van het ISS blijven.
Skybot F-850 De capsule van de Sojoez-MS-14 is onbemand, maar bevat wel de mensachtige robot Fiodor, die 1,80 meter groot is en bijna 160 kilogram weegt. Fiodor - Skybot F-850 voor de vrienden - is een Russische voornaam, maar luidt in het Engels Fedor. Dat staat voor “Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research”.
De robot moet twee weken lang verschillende taken uitvoeren onder toezicht van de Russische kosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov. Hij zal de vaardigheden van Fiodor testen onder micro-zwaartekracht. Een van de belangrijkste vaardigheden van de robot is dat hij menselijke bewegingen kan imiteren, waardoor hij astronauten kan helpen of taken van hen kan overnemen. Zijn terugkeer is voorzien op 6 september om 20.13 uur Belgische tijd.
Fiodor heeft zelfs een eigen account op Instagram en Twitter, waarop hij een inkijk geeft in de dagelijkse beslommeringen van een humanoïde robot.
VIA REUTERSFiodor heeft net genoeg plaats in de Sojoez-capsule, die verder onbemand is.
Onbemande capsule
Rusland heeft sinds 2002 gebruik gemaakt van Sojoez-FG-draagraketten om mensen naar het ISS te brengen. Maar in 2020 wordt overgeschakeld op de draagraket Sojoez-2.1a, die ook al een Russische vrachtruimteschip van het type Progress gelanceerd heeft. Een lancering met een Progress mislukte, vandaar de test met een Sojoez-capsule die niet bemand is.
About 35 million years ago, an asteroidtraveling nearly 144,000 mph (231,000 km/h) smashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the modern-day town of Cape Charles, Virginia. The space rock vaporized instantly, but its impact triggered a gargantuan tsunami, cast up a monsoon of shattered rocks and molten glass that spanned hundreds of miles and carved out the single largest crater in the United States — the so-calledChesapeake Bay impact structure.
Today, that 25-mile-wide (40 kilometers) crater is buried half a mile below the rocky basement of Chesapeake Bay — the 200-mile-long (320 km) estuary linking Virginia and Maryland on the East Coast. That hasn't stopped scientists from trying to piece together the site's mysterious history since it was first discovered during a drilling project in 1990.
In a recent study of ocean sediment cores taken almost 250 miles (400 km) northeast of the impact site, researchers found traces of radioactive debris dating to the time of the strike, providing fresh evidence of the impact's age and destructive power.
When the Chesapeake Bay impactor smashed into the Atlantic, it showered the surrounding land and water with shards of molten glass (known as "tektites") for hundreds of miles in every direction. This rain of meteoric debris formed what scientists call the North American tektite strewn field, the study authors wrote, which stretches from Texas to Massachusetts to Barbados, covering about 4 million square miles (10 million square km) of terrain. By studying shards of meteoric rock buried deep within this sweeping field of impact wreckage, scientists can gather clues about the asteroid's key characteristics, including its age.
The Chesapeake Bay impactor threw molten debris over 4 million square miles (10 million square km) of land and water, from Massachusetts to Barbados.
(Image credit: GEBCO world map 2014)
In their recent study (published June 21 in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science), researchers from Arizona State University dated 21 microscopic shards of zircon — a durable gemstone that can survive underground for billions of years. These zircons were lodged in a sediment core taken from roughly 2,150 feet (655 meters) below the Atlantic Ocean. Not only is zircon commonly found in tektites, but it is also a choice mineral for radiometric dating, thanks to some of its radioactive elemental components.
In this case, the researchers used a dating technique called uranium–thorium–helium dating, which looks at how radioactive isotopes, or versions, of uranium and thorium decay into helium. By comparing the ratios of specific helium, thorium and uranium isotopes in each mineral sample, the researchers calculated approximately how long ago the zircon crystals solidified and started to decay.
The team found that the 21 crystals ranged widely in age, running the gamut from about 33 million to 300 million years old. The two youngest samples, which had an average age of about 35 million years old, fit in with previous studies' estimates for the time of the Chesapeake Bay impact. A closer examination showed that the zircons also bore a cloudy appearance and deformed surface, two signs the minerals were kicked through the air and water by a great impact.
The team concluded that these two young crystals were part of the Chesapeake impact's path of destruction, confirming that the impact occurred about 35 million years ago. Moreover, the researchers wrote, it showed that uranium–thorium–helium dating is a viable method for constraining the age of ancient impact events, giving scientists a fresh tool to reveal our planet's long and violent past.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
Druk op onderstaande knop om je bestand , jouw artikel naar mij te verzenden. INDIEN HET DE MOEITE WAARD IS, PLAATS IK HET OP DE BLOG ONDER DIVERSEN MET JOUW NAAM...
Druk op onderstaande knop om een berichtje achter te laten in mijn gastenboek
Alvast bedankt voor al jouw bezoekjes en jouw reacties. Nog een prettige dag verder!!!
Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.