Snake-Like UFO Returns as New York Resident Captures the Latest One On Video Over Clayville

A conspiracy theorist has claimed that a snake-like UFO has been captured on camera for the first time in several weeks.

Last month, UFO conspiracy enthusiasts were rocked about the videos of cylindrical objects flying over the US.

With the last clip appeared on July 13, it seemed the sightings had dried up.

But now, a Clayville, New York resident in the US believes they may have recorded one on camera.

YouTube username beamsinvestgations1 posted the footage showing a black cylindrical UFO hovering in the sky. The incident reportedly happened on August 6.

The witness said it was a gigantic snake UFO moving like it was alive.

Online UFO conspiracy theorists said the UFO has segments or spheres with the mysterious articulated body.

It appears in the video the camera struggles to focus, but the object in question is said to be at a high altitude, so it must have been massive as the witness described.

Some UFO enthusiasts believe captures like this should be treated with great scientific importance, but academics do not seem to take such material seriously.

Sceptical observers of UFO sightings such as this one have claimed in the past that they could be just strange-shaped balloons across the sky.

Others think that this kind of objects may be advanced spacecraft of the United States Air Force.

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

26-08-2019 om 20:11 geschreven door peter  

26-08-2019 om 01:48 geschreven door peter  

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.

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 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.

“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.

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%.

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.

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.

More:

• Press Release: Moon Glows Brighter Than Sun in Images From NASA’s Fermi
• NASA: Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope
• NASA: Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Gamma Rays
• Press Release: NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope Sharpens its High-energy Vision
• Press Release: Understanding the Magnetic Sun
• NASA: The Radioactive Moon

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-08-2019 om 01:34 geschreven door peter  

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.

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.

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.

Image via ESA.

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.
• Source: Aeolian abrasion of rocks as a mechanism to produce methane in the Martian atmosphere
• Via Newcastle University

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

26-08-2019 om 01:03 geschreven door peter  

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.

Image via Steven Schmidt/GlacierHub.

• This article – written by Elza Bouhassira – is republished with permission from GlacierHub.

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 penitentes form 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.

Nieves penitentes at the research site.

Image via Steven Schmidt/GlacierHub.

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.

Red snow algae on nieves penitentes.

Image via Steven Schmidt/GlacierHub.

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.

Image via Steven Schmidt/GlacierHub.

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.

Image via NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.

Lead author Lara Vimercati reflected on the study’s broader implications. She said:

Our study shows how no matter how challenging the environmental conditions, life finds a way when there is availability of liquid water.

• Bottom line: Scientists found snow algae living in ice high in the Chilean Andes.
• Source: Nieves penitentes are a new habitat for snow algae in one of the most extreme high-elevation environments on Earth
• Via GlacierHub

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

26-08-2019 om 00:46 geschreven door peter  

The weird, repeating signals from deep space just tripled

Fast radio bursts are getting more attention from scientists, who can now detect more of them.

26-08-2019 om 00:31 geschreven door peter  

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.

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

"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

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."

Just last month, scientists announced plans to solve the mystery of the "Armenian Stonehenge" – believed to be even older than Stonehenge itself.

Recent research suggested that the origin of Stonehenge's ancient builders was Turkey.

And Stonehenge builders may have dragged the rocks into place on sledges greased up with pig fat.

What do you make of this mysterious site? Let us know in the comments!

{ https://www.thesun.co.uk/ }

25-08-2019 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

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.

Watch the following videos and see for yourself:

{ http://alienblog.net/ }

25-08-2019 om 22:50 geschreven door peter  

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:

Article created by Vlad © Alien Blog

{ http://alienblog.net/ }

25-08-2019 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

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 Science attempts 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.”

• Image Source: Reid Wiseman/NASA

{ https://bgr.com/ }

25-08-2019 om 22:10 geschreven door peter  

Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

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.

• Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

{ https://bgr.com/ }

25-08-2019 om 21:59 geschreven door peter  

{ https://aero-modelisme.com/ }

25-08-2019 om 21:40 geschreven door peter  

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.

R. JAUMANN ET AL/SCIENCE 2019

By Lisa Grossman

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

25-08-2019 om 21:19 geschreven door peter  

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.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

25-08-2019 om 20:36 geschreven door peter  

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.

  

25-08-2019 om 20:16 geschreven door peter  

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.
 

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?

Read full report at Earthfiles.com:

• https://www.earthfiles.com/2019/08/16/strange-jet-like-sky-sounds-but-no-planes/ 

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.)

https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

25-08-2019 om 17:29 geschreven door peter  

Chinese imperial tomb with wall art and clay pots dating back 1,300 years is found by builders working on a primary school's new playing field

• The underground chamber is believed to be one of several rooms in this facility
• It was located underneath Xiaojingyu Elementary School in the city of Taiyuan
• Its murals and pottery are thought to be from the middle of the Tang dynasty
• The exact identity of the person the chamber was built for remains a mystery 

By TIM COLLINS FOR MAILONLINE

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

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

25-08-2019 om 15:02 geschreven door peter  

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.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

25-08-2019 om 14:52 geschreven door peter  

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 13^th 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 20^thanniversary 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.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

25-08-2019 om 14:44 geschreven door peter  

NASA voert onderzoek naar mogelijk eerste misdrijf in de ruimte - HLN.be

Bron: Belga, De Morgen

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.

Lees ook

Amerikaanse astronaute beschuldigd van het hacken van bankaccount tijdens verblijf in de ruimte

Voogdij over zoon

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.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

25-08-2019 om 10:53 geschreven door peter