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...
23-09-2019
Milky Way’s Black Hole Lets Out Two Giant Never-Before-Seen Radioactive Burps
Milky Way’s Black Hole Lets Out Two Giant Never-Before-Seen Radioactive Burps
In the 1980’s, astronomers detected mysterious filaments weaving throughout the center of the Milky Way. These filaments, called synchrotron emissions, stretch hundreds light years through deep space and have remained one of the universes many enigmas since their discovery. Now, new observations may shed some light, or at least further describe, these mysterious filaments. They seem to be part of giant, radioactive black hole burps.
The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s MeerKAT telescope recently observed two bizarre cones of radioactivity expanding outwards 700 light years from either side of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature. Astronomers believe that these two bubbles of radioactivity are the result of a violent explosion in in Sgr A* after it devoured a particularly large and impressive meal. In other words, they’re burps.
There’s a star-devouring monster at the center of that thing.
Astronomers say that the event that caused these burps could be responsible for accelerating the electrons into making the synchrotron emissions found in the mysterious deep space filaments. It’s a solid hypothesis as the filaments seem to be linked to the burps.
Physicist Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University, who was one of the scientists to discover the filaments, says:
“The radio bubbles discovered with MeerKAT now shed light on the origin of the filaments. Almost all of the more than 100 filaments are confined by the radio bubbles.”
The radio burps form a nearly perfectly symmetrical hourglass on either side of the galactic plane approximately 1,400 light years in length. Astronomers say the unusual symmetry of the structure gives a clue as to how long ago the event which put a rumbling in the black hole’s tummy took place. Astronomer William Cotton from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory says:
“The shape and symmetry of what we have observed strongly suggests that a staggeringly powerful event happened a few million years ago very near our galaxy’s central black hole.”
Man, when you really think about it, it’s all just cosmic burps.
The eruption was likely due to a large amount of interstellar gas being devoured by the supermassive black hole. Like chugging cheap beer. Another possible cause is that a burst of star formations triggered a series of shock waves that rippled through Sgr A*. Like getting punched in the belly after chugging cheap beer. William Cotton says:
“In effect, this inflated energetic bubbles in the hot, ionized gas near the galactic center, energizing it and generating radio waves which we could eventually detect here on Earth.”
The more we look at the center of the Milky Way the more weird stuff we seem to find. And the more we look at black holes the more active they seem to be. Which is slightly off-putting. But it’s at least pretty cool. I mean, it’s the coolest incident of violent burping I’ve ever heard about.
While some world leaders are arguing over what to do about an attack on Saudi oil production facilities that may or may not be linked to Iran, someone (or some ‘thing’) is already making its presence felt by the Iranian military in a big and mysterious way. An unusual video was uploaded on Instagram recently which seems to show an unidentified flying object being fired upon and eluding the shots. The alleged location and identity of the shooters puts it at one of the most dangerous spots in the world and may show a UFO eluding one of the top militaries in the world.
“Endless shooting range for hunting unidentified bird in the night sky, Iran, Saravan. Team # # We_Won’t_ Alone presents you an incredible video of shooting a very bright anonymous object in the dark of night. The shelling is said to have been carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has never stepped back in protecting Iran’s borders. Interestingly enough, the shooters load and unload their guns and machine guns many times, but it does not appear to be intended to be stopped and is trying to escape the battle madly. The clash occurred last night in eastern Iran, the border town of Saravan, in the Mashkad area.”
That description is from a Pictame post that refers to an Instagram post with a video (see it here) by @we.are.not_alone uploaded on September 8 of what looks like anti-aircraft attack on a UFO by what the poster says is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the Iranian National Guard which occurred on September 7. (You can also see it on their Twitter feed here.) The location is the Iranian city of Saravan located on the border with Pakistan, in the border area of Sistan and Iranian Baluchistan.
Without any additional information or confirmation – the only (so far) media source to cover it was the Daily Star – this is the kind of UFO report that’s easy to forget and move on.
Except …
The Iranian video hits the news at the same time as the reports at Motherboard and other sites that the U.S. Navy has for the first time reportedly verified the authenticity of a series of the three videos leaked to the public showing US fighter pilots chasing UFOs.
“The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena.”
Combine that with US officials blaming Iran for the Saudi oil facilities bombings and the explanations that the incredibly fast object in the Iranian video might be aliens. Could the video instead be showing a new drone or aircraft technology that the US has developed and Iran fears it can’t shoot down, so it attacks somewhere else to deflect the enemy’s attention away from its own lands?
Then there’s the possibility that it’s not US technology but Pakistan’s or an ally of Pakistan.
This all adds up to … something we need to keep an eye on? And possibly worry about?
Do you remember the mysterious hole that suddenly appeared in the Soyuz MS-09 capsule attached to the International Space Station? You can bet NASA astronauts and other ISS residents do. To refresh your member, it started in August 2018 when NASA ground officials detected a small leak in the ISS, which they initiallyblamed on a tiny meteorite. Inspections by the crew traced it to the Soyuz capsule, and the hole was inspected and then plugged without determining a cause. However, a spacewalk inspection of the exterior showedsigns of drillingand a previously-applied patch made of a mysterious yellow substance. The Soyuz capsule was deemed safe to return to Earth because the part with the hole gets ejected before the descent through the atmosphere. Unfortunately, that destroyed the visible evidence. However #2, an investigation of the records of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the contractor who worked on the Soyuz found that indeed the hole was caused by a drill on the ground and was patched to pass inspection. To determine if it was deliberate sabotage or an accident, the case became acriminal investigation with the usual denials and fingerprinting in Russia, and worried discussions in the U.S. about how soon some other means of shuttling crews would become available. Whew!
Too bad it couldn’t have been re-purposed.
That brings us to two new reports by Sputnik News. In the first, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin announced that the “causes” of the hole had been found. Tem ne meniye (that’s Google Translate Russian for ‘however’) …
“It was in the household compartment [of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft], it already burned down long ago when the ship was descending. We took all the samples. What happened is clear to us, but we won’t tell you anything. We may have some secrets.”
Really? Is that what he said to NASA too? In the second, Sputnik News reveals one person who was told everything.
“The president has been briefed on the results of the investigation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin knows who made the hole and why. Perhaps President Trump can work out a deal to get him to spill the borscht about the botched coverup. Do we have any secrets Putin doesn’t know already?
Never mind.
It could have been worse.
It sounds like time is of the essence for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to get approval to transport astronauts to the ISS. Perhaps President Trump can work out a deal to get him to speed things up. What does Musk need? Money? Publicity? What do you get to bribe for the guy who has everything?
What’s 426 feet wide, travels 55,000 miles per hour, and can sneak up on you before you know it?
Apparently 2019 OK, a potentially deadly asteroid which remained unnoticed until within 24 hours of its near-miss with Earth earlier this year, according to newly released emails.
The story was reported by BuzzFeed, who obtained internal NASA emails about the incident via Freedom of Information Act Request.
“Spotted just 24 hours before a relatively narrow miss with Earth, the incident reveals holes in NASA’s surveillance network to observe incoming space rocks, ” BuzzFeed writers Dan Vergano and Jason Leopold reported. Apparently the object was first observed by a Brazilian observatory, which notified the U.S. space agency.
The fact that 2019 OK passed within just 40,500 miles of Earth is certainly a wakeup call. However, does the news mean it’s time to appoint new experts to sit at the helm of Earth’s planetary defense systems?
Not quite.
Asteroid detection is a burgeoning field, not only due to advancements in science and technology, but mainly out of necessity. In the eventual sense, a space object large enough to be able to cause widespread damage will strike the Earth–it’s not a matter of if, but simply one of when.
If we are to be able to prepare for this eventuality at all, Earthlings have no option but to find the best ways of detecting potential threats of this kind before they happen.
While the fact that 2019 OK managed to sneak up on us is legitimately concerning, let’s not forget the fact that it was spotted. Also, in a similar set of circumstances that occurred back in June, the University of Hawaii managed to detect a car-sized asteroid with the help of its ATLAS and Pan-STARRS survey telescopes, which are located near Puerto Rico.
“The 4-meter diameter asteroid, named 2019 MO, was observed four times in a span of 30 minutes by the ATLAS Maunaloa facility, just after midnight Hawaiʻi time on the morning of Saturday, June 22,” a press release from the university stated. “At that time, the asteroid was only 500,000 km from Earth – or 1.3 times the distance to the Moon.”
Part of what makes these “near misses” so disturbing is that we’re seeing them at all. As our asteroid detection capabilities continue to improve, what we’re actually seeing is a better success rate at spotting these objects, whereas in the past they might not have been seen at all.
The really sobering idea is to think of how many more times in the past there were larger–or closer–objects that sped past Earth without us having so much as an idea.
According to NASA, “At the start of 2019, the number of discovered near-Earth asteroids totaled more than 19,000. An average of 30 new discoveries are added each week.”
That’s a lot of space rocks being detected.
In fact, by October 2016, NASA had reached a landmark number of 15,000 asteroids detected:
“The 15,000 milestone, reached on October 13, 2016, marked a 50 percent increase in the number of known near-Earth asteroids since 2013, when discoveries reached 10,000 in August of that year. More than 95 percent of these objects were discovered by NASA-funded surveys (primarily using ground-based telescopes) since 1998, when NASA initially established its Near-Earth Object Observations Program and began tracking and cataloguing them.”
It’s easy to see why people would be worked up about news of a “near-miss” like what happened with 2019 OK. However, rather than a failure on part of NASA and other space agencies around the world, if anything, it’s a clear indication that our planetary defense science is steadily improving.
Maybe we need to cut them some slack in the meantime; as these innovative defense systems continue to improve, they may also one day save the world and all life as we know it.
“The InSight fluxgate magnetometer has detected magnetic pulsations on the surface of Mars for the first time. The observations have implications to the wave sources in the induced magnetosphere and whether and how these waves can reach the surface.”
That type of report coming from your local police would cause some concern. Coming from the EPA or the military, it would be a cause for worry. Coming from Mars … it’s a mystery, but it’s definitely a sign of job security for space engineers. At the latest joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society, a NASA gave a presentation on findings by the Mars InSight lander, including the startling revelation that it has beendetecting mysterious long pulsations at the Martian midnight. In addition, another presentation reveals that it found strange electrical signs that may be coming from a 2.5-mile-thick layer under the surface that just might be water. Finally, the InSight and its engineers are celebrating because the lander received an Emmy! Wait, what?
Artist depiction of InSight on the Martian surface
(NASA/JPL)
“The nighttime continuous pulsations found by IFG are unexpected because they are distinct from what are typically observed on the Earth’s surface at the same local time. On the other hand, we have not found the Mars counterparts for many types of geomagnetic pulsations well known in Earth studies. We speculate that the observed magnetic pulsations by InSight to date are associated with fluctuations in the induced magnetotail and on the magnetospheric boundary. Under this scenario, the distinct field and plasma environment at Mars raises interesting questions about how these oscillations propagate through the magnetosphere and ionosphere and reach the surface.”
IFG is the InSight FluxGate, the magnetometer measuring the strength and variations of the surface magnetic field at the InSight landing site on the planet’s equator. The National Geographic story on the conference highlights the importance of InSight providing for the first time a surface analysis of Martian magnetism, which will help scientists determine why Mars lost its protective magnetic and perhaps reveal some warning signs as to if and when Earth might lose its own field. And why do these pulses happen at midnight?
National Geographic covered the second big story from InSight – it picked up magnetic signals from beneath the Martian surface that resemble those on Earth that indicate the presence of water … lots of water. That would bean that somewhere no deeper than 62 miles (100 km) is an aquifer or perhaps even a layer of water that can be drilled to from anywhere on Mars. Unfortunately, InSight’s drill only reaches 16 feet, so the first Martian well belongs to a future probe. If InSight is correct, it won’t need a diving rod.
What about the Emmy?
Oh, yeah. In a special presentation prior the big Emmy Awards show, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gave NASA the Outstanding Original Interactive Program award for its coverage of the Insight Lander’s entire life from conception to landing and beyond, using TV, social media and other methods to keep the world informed and involved with this exciting project.
When does the InSight show come on?
“Congrats to those who contributed to the news, web, education, television and social media coverage of this landing on the Red Planet.”
Does it sound like NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is more excited about the Emmy than InSight’s discovery of mysterious midnight magnetic pulses and a potential planet-wide water supply? Of course he is! InSight is never coming back to Earth so he gets to keep the statue in his office.
What started off as a joke had about 2 million people pledging to “Storm Area 51” this weekend, and even after the event was cancelled, authorities were still worried that tens of thousands of people may still show up at the gates of the highly guarded Area 51 Air Force base. In total, approximately 3,000 people showed up to the several alien-themed events that took place in the desert region, not far from the base.
With the “storm” weekend finally finished, a surprisingly low amount of visitors gathered at the gate to the base in the early morning hours of September 20th. Law enforcement officers blocked the road around a mile away from the gate and approximately 150 people walked the remainder of the way up to the back gate of Area 51. Around a dozen officers were present at the gate, as well as an officer with a police dog just in case anyone attempted to get a closer look at the base. At one point, around 20 people in the crowd acted as if they were going to “storm” the gates while the song “Final Countdown” played in the background, but everyone started laughing and nobody ended up “storming”.
A total of five people were arrested – three people (two males and one female) were arrested for trespassing; one person was arrested for indecent exposure for urinating near the gate to Area 51; and one was taken into custody for an alcohol-related incident.
As for the festivities, one event was a lot more successful than the other. “Storm Area 51 Basecamp”, which took place at the Alien Research Center in Hiko, was cancelled after just 500 people showed up on the first day. Keith Wright, who organised the event, said that they had expected 5,000 people to show up. “We put on a safe event for people that showed up,” he said, adding that they had to cancel it because “it costs tens of thousands of dollars to staff each day.”
“Alienstock” seemed to have been a much bigger success. Connie West, who runs the Little A’Le’Inn motel in Rachel, said that “This is the most fabulous time,” and “I’m just so grateful that people came.” The several thousand travelers who were camping on the grounds of the motel and in surrounding areas, were apparently really enjoying all of the musical talent West had brought in for the festivities.
In other news, the US military has issued an apology after posting a tweet that suggested that UFO enthusiasts should be worried that a B-2 nuclear-capable bomber was ready to protect the secrets of Area 51. The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (or DVIDS) tweeted a photo of a B-2 stealth bomber with a very stern warning that read, “The last thing #Millennials will see if they attempt the #area51raid today.”
All in all, it was a pretty quiet weekend considering that just a few weeks ago, the event was still scheduled to happen with around two million people pledging to storm the base. You can see some pictures here from the “storm” weekend.
An attendee is detained after briefly physically crossing a security line, as people gathered to “storm” Area 51.
Attendee Daniel Rodriguez wears at tinfoil hat as he and other Alien hunters gathered to “storm” Area 51 at an entrance near Rachel, Nevada.
Getty
Attendees depart after gathering to “storm” Area 51 at an entrance to the military facility.
Attendee Ellie Urquhart walks past a security line as people gather to “storm” Area 51.
Members of law enforcement stand near barb wire, as people gathered to “storm” Area 51, at an entrance to the military facility near Rachel, Nevada on September 20, 2019.
Attendees discuss with guards as they gather to “storm” Area 51.
Frightening extraterrestrial encounters reported by soldiers
Frightening extraterrestrial encounters reported by soldiers
The idea that unknown extraterrestrial beings are visiting the Earth for hidden purposes is something to think about.
Yet, if the following cases are to be believed, then that may very well be precisely what is happening.
Whilst it is terrifying to consider the intentions of alien beings who possibly observe us, it is even more frightening to consider how those they are tampering with are the very people we rely on to keep us safe.
Guys, I found this statue with a cat like face and ears way back in 2004, but the 1.5mb size high detail photo was soon taken down by NASA. NASA took the photo back in 2000 and when I found it in 2004, Youtube still didn't exist and I hadn't made my UFO website yet...so it was lost forever. However I found it again in a much smaller size photo on a NASA site. So, please check out my video below to learn its size. It will blow your mind! Scott C. Waring
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:Ruins, strange artifacts on other planets, moons, ed ( Fr, EN, NL )
Aliens visiting? Crashed UFO on Mars and one hovering over navy base in California spotted
Image courtesy: YouTube
Aliens visiting? Crashed UFO on Mars and one hovering over navy base in California spotted
The search for alien life has been going on for years and those involved in alien hunting or UFO hunting have many a times, come close enough to provide evidence justifying it.
A strange triangular-shaped object has been found buried on the surface of the Red Planet and some believe it is a sign of a crashed UFO.
A video uploaded on YouTube by conspiracy theorist channel SecureTeam10 revealed the discovery.
The video narrator said: “There is no doubt that there is something of an almost perfect triangular-shaped nature, albeit a little dented up and a little warped, but it doesn’t look like it belongs there.”
Speaking about the close proximity of the “crashed UFO” to the “alien base”, he added: “When you find another object in the same general area that again looks out of place. We have found these domes on multiple planets and moons.”
“Even NASA and our own space agencies have talked about getting us to the moon and establishing bases have drawn up their plans using the exact same thing – domes,” he continued.
“Could that be what we’re seeing here? A camouflage among this crater field. Or is this some sort of ancient relic?” the narrator asked.
The search for alien life has been going on for years and those involved in alien hunting or UFO hunting have many a times, come close enough to provide evidence justifying it.
While many UFO/alien hunters from around the world have sworn that extraterrestrial life exists, NASA has dismissed these claims, leading alien hunters to believe that the space agency is deliberately trying to hide alien existence.
Meanwhile, the video also talks about images of a UFO spotted hovering in the air over the desert near the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California.
The images were apparently captured in 2007, but released recently by a man called Keith Bradshaw (pseudonym), who was 'too nervous' to show anyone until now.
According to reports, Keith says he went out to the desert after being told about the craft by a friend.
“This thing would wobble along close to the ground, very unstable," he told the Daily Star.
“Then it would freeze in position, go up to a certain height and sit there for a few minutes perfectly still. It made no noise that I could hear."
Keith said that he watched the craft for about ten minutes. He also claimed he saw the silver UFO while a number of military vehicles were parked nearby.
There was even a military helicopter flying around at the time.
“I don’t believe anyone could have been riding on the inside, but I got the idea the helicopter was somehow remotely controlling it," he said.
“It looked like whoever was controlling it was having fun with it, sometimes because they would do little tricks with it.”
(Video courtesy: secureteam10)
By opening the pictures up to the world, Keith hopes to open the conversation about whether we've been visited by extraterrestrials – or whether it was simply some new kind of military hardware that he witnessed.
As per a report in the Mirror, he provided the pictures to 54-year-old UFO sleuth Philip Mantle, who says he hasn't seen anything like this in over 40 years of research.
Mantle has described them as "the most controversial UFO photos on record" and adds experts are unable to agree if the photographs are real.
Aliens Blamed for Mysterious Cattle Mutilations in Eastern Oregon and Australia
Aliens Blamed for Mysterious Cattle Mutilations in Eastern Oregon and Australia
Silvies Valley Ranch
The five dead bulls were found on July 30 and 31, in a wooded area about 15 miles from U.S. 395, the nearest major road. Their genitals and tongues had been cleanly removed.
There are a number of things most cattle mutilation stories have in common. They generally happen at night. The cuts are surgically precise. There’s no blood. And they often happen in groups across a number of farms or ranches in an area. That was the case again recently in Oregon and Queensland, Australia, where multiple mysterious cattle mutilations were discovered in multiple locations. Both sets of incidents have one more thing in common – local law enforcement can’t solve the cases and the cattle owners are blaming … aliens!
“A lot of people lean toward the aliens. One caller had told us to look for basically a depression under the carcass. ‘Cause he said that the alien ships will kinda beam the cow up and do whatever they are going to do with it. Then they just drop them from a great height.”
Deputy Dan Jenkins of the Harney County Sheriff’s Office in Burns, Oregon, is one of those frustrated law enforcement officials. He told Oregon Public Radio (OPR) that he investigating the deaths this summer of five young purebred bulls at the massive Silvies Valley Ranch. He’s heard the stories of other mutilations of young bulls at a ranch in Pendleton and Princeton, both cities in eastern Oregon. Andie Davies in Princeton told OPR that her son, a butcher, was amazed at how clean the killer’s cuts were and Andie herself was baffled by the fact that there were no tracks – footprints, tires, horses, animals – around the fresh, mutilated corpse. Who – or what – is able to traverse this rough terrain to find, kill and mutilate these bulls without leaving a trace of their presence?
Where are the tracks?
“In the last three months we have lost 10 heads and five of them have definitely been under strange circumstances. About three weeks ago my husband was working near the river and noticed a dead cow. He realized the ubre was gone. At first we thought of a dog, but then we saw an ear removed and a circle around the muzzle where the tongue had been removed. Definitely not a person, whether it’s a sophisticated robot or aliens, we just don’t know.”
Down under at the Cloverly Station ranch near Mackay in Queensland, owner Judy Cook is just as baffled and ready to blame aliens or robots. “Ubre” is Spanish for udder, but there are other mysterious circumstances surrounding the multiple cattle mutilations that Cook and her husband have found on their remote ranch – which cannot be accessed by land without someone noticing it.
“It’s an hour’s drive from here and no one gets out without driving straight through the house. There were absolutely no bands, no blood, nothing. It’s amazing to think that there was no blood, no way to cut something with a knife so cleanly. The problem is that nothing approached and ate it; the dogs or the pigs, nothing really wants to take it.”
That’s another common trait of unsolved cattle mutilations – other animals, even scavengers, often don’t touch the corpses. Cook doesn’t want to sound like another angry rancher thinking more about the profits lost than finding what or who could have performed these cattle atrocities, so she’s consulted veterinarians, including one in the U.S. who has investigated similar cases, and they agree that even skilled large animal surgeons with the latest equipment could not make such precise cuts.
In the U.S., a map of cattle mutilations somewhat matches a map of UFO sightings along the 37th parallel – the so-called UFO Highway. However, eastern Oregon is a long way from there. It’s Bigfoot country, but a Venn diagram of Bigfoot sightings and mutilations wouldn’t have many in the overlapping part. And there’s no Bigfoot in Queensland. (Or is there?) Have aliens with a taste for fried ubre expanded their territory?
I don’t care how far it is. I’m pregnant and I have a craving for ubre.
Cattle mutilations are easy to blame on wolves, coyotes, humans – rustlers, people conducting strange rituals, etc. – and other creatures. Those owners tasked with protecting the rest of the herd and law enforcement officers trying to solve the mysterious crimes continue to be baffled and find it increasingly difficult to blame conventional causes. That’s so many are moving to believe what Andie Davis says:
“Definitely not a person, whether it’s a sophisticated robot or aliens, we just don’t know.”
An artist's depiction of the Chandrayaan-2 lander, Vikram, preparing to alight on the lunar surface. The procedure occurred on Sept. 6, 2019, but appears to have gone wrong, with the Indian space agency losing contact with the lander late in the maneuver.
As India attempted a daring moon landing last week — and in the wake of the apparent crash of its lander — NASA and U.S. companies have watched for any insights relevant to their own upcoming moon shots.
India's Chandrayaan-2 was an ambitious three-part mission, with an orbiter settled into circling the moon and a lander and rover that were meant to make a soft touchdown on Sept. 6. But late in the landing process, the Vikram lander went silent, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is running out of time to reconnect with the robot. If it cannot, the incident will mark the second lunar lander lost this year, joining Israel's Beresheet mission. For the U.S., which hasn't attempted to land on the moon since the Apollo program but wants to again soon, it's a stark reminder of the difficulty of spaceflight.
"For us from a management perspective, we just know this is hard," Camille Alleyne, deputy manager for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said during a panel yesterday (Sept. 12) at a symposium held in Huntsville, Alabama. The CLPS program wants to purchase landing services from U.S. companies to ferry science instruments. "It's clear that our contractor pool has a steep challenge on their hands."
Currently, two U.S. companies are taking part in the first round of CLPS missions, which are meant to land in 2021: Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines. Sharad Bhaskaran, mission director for Astrobotic, was also on the panel and had only praise for both Chandrayaan-2 and its Israeli predecessor.
"I think both the SpaceIL and the ISRO missions were huge successes," Bhaskaran said. "Our challenge is to learn from those missions, understand what happened, make sure that we don't make the same mistakes. If there are design changes we can make at this stage, we will make those. But I felt personally those were huge successes."
ISRO has said that even without a successful landed component, the Chandrayaan-2 mission has completed between 90% and 95% of its objectives. And the mission will likely produce plenty of science to come through the orbiter, judging by the success of its predecessor, which carried the instrument that identified water ice below the lunar surface inside dark craters near the south pole.
NASA's own moon orbiter may provide vital information for both ISRO and future American lunar landing attempts. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon since 2009, is scheduled to fly over the Vikram lander's targeted touchdown site on Sept. 17.
The spacecraft's photos could help ISRO diagnose the current status of the lander and aid the agency's continuing efforts to establish contact with it. In the wake of Beresheet's crash in April, the LRO also photographed that site.
But the LRO was also close enough during Vikram's landing attempt to gather data about the maneuver using its Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project instrument, Jay Jenkins, program executive for the Office of Exploration at NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said during the panel.
"As a matter of fact, during the descent of Chandrayaan-2, the LAMP instrument was observing the changes in the exosphere as a result of the rocket effluence coming down," he said. The exosphere is the moon's very thin would-be atmosphere; the rockets would have been attempting to slow the spacecraft enough for a soft landing. "So we're really eager to see how those observations turn out."
With Chandrayaan-2, India was attempting a feat that NASA has not tried in decades; its last soft landing on the moon was in 1972. Since then, the agency has concentrated on sending landers and rovers to Mars instead. And given NASA's focus on enlisting the commercial space industry in its endeavors, that leaves a tantalizing opportunity for U.S. companies to dream of succeeding at what Israel and India could not quite execute.
"I think those were very strong motivators for us to continue our mission and to be the first successful American landing since Apollo," Bhaskaran said.
The colored image allowed astronomers to spot a comet tail, which is the product of gases flowing off its surface. This tail is unique among the suspected interstellar visitors to our solar system. Of course, there have only been two such guests so far — this comet, named Comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), and 'Oumuamua, which is a long asteroid or space rock with no obvious gases flowing from its surface.
Astronomers nabbed the view the night of Sept. 9-10 using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini North Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea.
"This image was possible because of Gemini's ability to rapidly adjust observations and observe objects like this, which have very short windows of visibility," Andrew Stephens, who coordinated the observations at the Gemini Observatory, said in a statement. "However, we really had to scramble for this one since we got the final details at 3:00 a.m. [local time] and were observing it by 4:45!"
The comet was discovered by Russian amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov on Aug. 30. Right now its path in the Earth's sky brings it close to the sun, making it difficult to observe because it is best visible in twilight. In the next few months, the comet is expected to move further away from the sun — making it easier to see.
For these new Gemini observations, the astronomical team obtained them thanks to a target-of-opportunity program led by Piotr Guzik and Michal Drahus at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. A research paper, led by Guzik, was uploaded to the preprint server Arxiv on Thursday (Sept. 12) and has been submitted to a journal for publication. (Papers on arXiv are not yet peer-reviewed.)
Astronomers aren't certain if this comet originated from outside our solar system, because its path through space isn't well defined. So far, however, the data suggests that its path is a hyperbola — meaning that it is dipping into the solar system before flying out again. Most comets and asteroids tracked in the solar system have elliptical orbits, which range from nearly circular to egg-shaped to long-looped orbits.
It's always nice to see old friends, and NASA's asteroid-monitoring team has a busy schedule this weekend (Sept. 13 and 14) doing just that.
NASA's first appointment of the night is with an asteroid dubbed 2010 CO1, which will make its closest approach to Earth at 11:42 p.m. EDT (0342 GMT on Sept. 14). Then, less than a day later, at 7:54 p.m. EDT on Sept. 14 (2354 GMT), a second asteroid called 2000 QW7 will fly past Earth. Neither has any chance of hitting Earth.
"These asteroids have been well observed," Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA, said in a statement. "Both of these asteroids are passing at about 14 lunar distances from the Earth, or about 3.5 million miles away, but small asteroids pass by Earth this close all the time."
2010 CO1, which is between 400 feet and 850 feet across (120 to 260 meters) is a relatively frequent visitor and last made a close approach last fall, skimming past Earth on Sept. 11. And we'll see it again next year, on Sept. 16. Annual visits will continue until 2023, after which the asteroid will stay farther away from Earth until 2061.
But it's been much longer since scientists got a good look at 2000 QW7, which hasn't made a close approach since the flyby during which it was first identified, in September 2000. It won't make another close approach until 2038. This space rock is about twice the size, at 950 feet to 2,100 feet across (290 to 650 m).
Both of these asteroids are in or near NASA's medium category of asteroids, which begins at rocks at least 460 feet (140 m) across — large enough that if one hit, it could have catastrophic local consequences. NASA's large category begins at 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) across, substantial enough that if an impact occurred it could have global consequences.
NASA and other space agencies identify and track asteroids so that, if one does turn out to be on a collision course with Earth, humans could have enough warning to potentially do something about it. But for these two asteroids, that isn't a problem — scientists already have enough information about their orbits to know that they'll pass right on by.
Has the Biblical Moses Been Identified in Secular Egyptian Records?
Moses was a prophet and a leader according to Abrahamic religions, but many scholars view him as a legendary figure rather than a real historic person. They do concede that a Moses-like figure could have existed in history, so is it possible to track this person down through historic records? It is the view of this writer that this is very possible and that in fact the Moses figure can be traced as that of the primary confidant of none other than Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut. The trail begins with Th Exodus.
The Exodus and Moses Birth
What is the date of the Exodus ? To find Moses in the Egyptian records, the first requirement is to fix the date of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.
If we use the Bible as our primary source, we know that this occurred during the ‘ New Kingdom ’ period of Egypt, when the powerful Egyptian families of the south reasserted themselves and drove out the Hyksos invaders , who had been entrenched in the power centers of northern Egypt for over 100 years.
The Hyksos’ stay in Egypt is known in history as the ‘Second Intermediate Period’. However, there is a difference of opinion among biblical scholars as to when, during the New Kingdom, the Exodus occurred. So, can we find anything to help us pin it down?
If one accepts the biblical dating of Solomon’s time , we know that he started building his famous temple in 960 BC, and the text of 1 Kings 6 v1 states that this was 480 years since the Exodus . Thus, we can fix a date for the Exodus of 1440 BC, when Moses was 80 years old. This would mean that he was born around 1520 BC and is an adult in the court between 1500 and 1480 BC.
Where Does the Name Moses Come From?
1500 – 1480 BC is the time of the pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, and she had a close confidant, described by the well-known Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley in her book on Hatshepsut, as the ‘Greatest of the Great’.
The father of Hatshepsut was Thutmose l , and his name means ‘son of Thoth’, the god of wisdom, ‘mose’ meaning ‘son’. This is a common use of the word ‘mose’ as in ‘Ra meeses’, son of the sun god Ra, etc.
The biblical text tells us that it was the pharaoh’s daughter who named Moses. Exodus 2 v 10 states that, “she called him Moses because she said, ‘I drew him out of the water’”.
But we will not find a Prince Moses in the court in Egypt because another bible reference, Hebrews 11 v 24, states that “ Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter”.
Instead, we find that the close confidant of the queen is a man called ‘ Senenmut’. This appears to be a unique name, and one of its meanings is ‘mother’s brother’. Hatshepsut was born in the early 1530s, so they were close in age, so such a name makes sense.
Why Would the Royal Heiress Adopt a Slave Child?
If Hatshepsut is the woman who rescued and adopted Moses, what would make a woman of such high standing adopt a slave child? After her mother, Hatshepsut was the highest woman in the land, and such a woman would not consider saving the life of a slave child, let alone adopt him as her son. But when we look at the past, it is hard for us to remember that the people we are observing are just like us. They have thoughts and feelings like us, and Hatshepsut, at the time she found the abandoned baby in the basket, was a little girl, with the instincts to protect the helpless that we see so often in children. The text of Exodus 2 v 6 says “she saw the child, he was crying, and she took pity on him”.
Hatshepsut knew that he was a Hebrew child, as the rest of the verse tells us. But she was too young to look ahead and understand the enormity of her action. Almost immediately she must have formed an attachment to him, and as he grew the attachment grew, and her loyalty to him would alter the course of her life.
So, What Do We Know of Hatshepsut?
We know that Hatshepsut married her brother, Thutmose II, becoming his ‘Great Royal Wife’, his principal queen. She bears him two daughters but no sons and, following his death after a reign of only 13 years, his son by a harem woman is made the pharaoh, becoming Thutmose III .
This new pharaoh is an infant and Hatshepsut is made regent. She is effectively the ruler of the land, holding all the power already, and so it seems odd to Egyptologists that after just two years she makes herself pharaoh.
Did she have ambitions to put her adopted son on the throne? This she could do if she were pharaoh, but not if she were only regent. She reigns as the senior pharaoh, jointly with Thutmose III for 22 successful years, until her death.
She rules the country well. She sets up trading expeditions with the lands south of Egypt. She keeps a firm grip on Nubia, Egypt’s southern neighbor from which vast resources are acquired, including gold, cattle, slaves, and soldiers. She carries out extensive building works, both in Waset, the ancient name for Luxor, and around the country.
Life-sized statue of Hatshepsut. She is shown wearing the nemes-headcloth and shendyt-kilt, which are both traditional for an Egyptian king. The statue is more feminine, given the body structure.
She extends the Temple of Amun in Waset, erecting 4 huge obelisks in his honor, two of which are still there, one still standing. It bears engravings as clear as they were when it was erected 3,500 years ago, reading – “Raised for the glory my father Amun that I may be given life”. She builds a magnificent mortuary temple for herself , where the gods are honored, known as the Temple of Deir el Bahri, which still stands and is visited by thousands of tourists every year.
What Happened to Hatshepsut’s Memory After Her Death?
Hatshepsut ruled her country well and was buried honorably, probably with her father Thutmose l in tomb KV 20, a tomb she had built for a double burial.
After the death of his stepmother, Thutmose III continued his long reign of over 50 years, spending much of that time campaigning in the Levant, defeating the power of the Hittites to the northwest and the Mittani to the northeast and bringing the wealthy city states of Canaan firmly under Egyptian control. He is known as the ‘Napoleon of Egypt’ for his success as a military man.
But 30 years after her death, all records of Hatshepsut came under attack. Her statues were removed from the temples, smashed and buried in a pit, and her reliefs were excised from the walls of the temples. In subsequent years, Hatshepsut’s name was omitted from the King Lists , a thing done to no other pharaoh except the great heretic pharaoh Akenaten but not to the one previous female pharaoh Sobekneferu who reigned briefly at the end of the 12th Dynasty.
Removing all record of Hatshepsut’s name was intended, by the Egyptians, as the ultimate punishment, known as ‘damnatio memoriae’. All records of a person removed from history as if they had never lived resulted in the death of their soul for eternity. This effectively removed Hatshepsut from Egyptian history until all memory of her and why she had been so hated was lost.
She was forgotten for over 1,000 years, until vague references to her were found by the priest Manetho in 300 BC when he was asked by the Greeks in power at that time to search out and list the pharaohs of Egyptian history. He found references to a female pharaoh called Amensis, who was identified by later Egyptologists as Hatshepsut, and recorded her as the fifth pharaoh of the New Kingdom Dynasty, but nothing more was known of her.
It was thought that Hatshepsut’s mummy had been lost, but it has recently been identified lying abandoned in the tomb of her royal nurse Sitre, tomb KV 60. It was identified by a tooth fragment known to belong to Hatshepsut, and the mummy appeared to have been left without ceremony, perhaps in haste to hide it from those who would have destroyed it. The Egyptians believed that the preservation of the body was essential to survival in the afterlife, hence the lengths they went to, to preserve them. It was the ultimate punishment to destroy a person’s body.
So, Who Would Have Tried to Remove Hatshepsut From History?
The action against Hatshepsut’s (and Senemut’s) memory occurs either late in the reign of Thutmose III, when his son Amenhotep II was sharing the throne, or after Thutmose’s death, when Amenhotep II was reigning alone. It seems therefore to be Amenhotep II who is responsible for this destruction.
He would be at the correct time to see the return of Moses demanding the release of the Hebrew slaves. The story of the Exodus describes great hardship for Egypt, and one can understand Amenhotep’s fury against both Hatshepsut and Senenmut and wishing to destroy their memory. Being wiped out of history for the Egyptians was tantamount to eternal damnation.
When Were Hatshepsut’s Statues Discovered and What Did They Reveal?
During the 1800s, wealthy gentlemen such as James Breasted went to Egypt specifically with the hope of finding evidence to prove the biblical record . These men effectively established the science of Egyptology.
But at that time, the statues of Hatshepsut still lay buried in the pit where they were thrown 30 years after her death. They remained there undiscovered until found by Herbert Winlock an American Egyptologist employed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Boston, United States in 1927, by which time the world at large was no longer interested in trying to prove the Bible. But not only was a hoard of statues of Hatshepsut discovered just east of the first court of her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri. Another pit was found, containing over 20 hard stone statues of Senenmut, a huge number for a non-royal. In fact, to date, 26 hard stone statues of Senenmut have been identified which causes Egyptologists to wonder what was it about this man that he was given such status.
Kneeling statue of Senenmut, Chief Steward of Queen Hatshepsut.
The first thing to confront us when looking at the records of Senenmut are the many beautiful statues of him as a young lad holding Hatshepsut’s elder daughter, the Princess Neferure . She is there wrapped in his cloak as a baby as he sits on the ground.
He is holding her in his arms the way a woman would hold a child. In some examples he sits on a chair holding her on his lap. Some are of him standing holding Neferure as a toddler, but altogether they show a level of intimacy between the two of them, as we would have in photos taken of our children together.
He is said to be the tutor to Neferure, but statues of a royal child being held like this had never been made before this date. And this is breaking protocol because a non-royal is not allowed to touch a royal child in this way.
And we know that Senenmut is not royal because he names his parents in one of his tombs, and they have no titles at all, showing that they are of humble origin. But the extraordinary thing about Senenmut is that he is treated as a royal.
He has two beautiful tombs built for himself, one, TT 353 has the oldest known star chart, a work of great expertise, on the ceiling. And this tomb is actually within the sacred precinct of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple. This is a sacred space and to have Senenmut’s tomb in such a place, sacred in itself, but also the personal space of the pharaoh, shows a degree of closeness between them that is shocking, unless there is an explanation for it.
The other tomb TT 71 has decorations described by the Egyptologist Peter Dorman in the book ‘ Hatshepsut from Queen to Pharaoh’ , page 131 as being clearly done “by artists from the royal ateliers”. Dorman also dismisses the suggestion that Senenmut may have been Hatshepsut’s lover. In this tomb TT 71, a sarcophagus belonging to Senenmut was found. It is made of quartzite, a material only allowed to be used by the royals.
We know that Moses neither dies nor is buried in Egypt. And Senenmut is not buried in either of his tombs but disappears from Egyptian records.
Besides the statues of Senenmut holding the infant princess, there are many statues made of him making offerings to the gods. These statues were made to stand in the presence of the gods, and again, it is not permitted for a non-royal to enter the presence of the gods; having your statue there was the equivalent of you being there in person.
Here again he is treated as a royal. And all these statues are of a very young man, so it must be Hatshepsut who ordered these statues to be made. To be in the presence of the gods was a very favored position, because you would receive the continual blessings of the gods.
We also find a number of reliefs carved in the most sacred space of all in the Deir el Bahri Temple, in the sanctuary of Amun itself. One is even carved in the back wall of the sanctuary, where the ceremonial boat which carried the idol of Amun was placed overnight before its return journey to Waset. For the images of a common citizen to be placed in such a sacred space, breaks every rule in the book, but Hatshepsut must have done this, and done it because Senenmut was the son she had adopted, and she was ambitious for him to rise high in Egypt.
During the course of his years at the court of Hatshepsut, Senenmut is acknowledged by experts in Egyptology, to have held many of the highest titles in the land, showing that he truly was the ‘Greatest of the Great’, in Hatshepsut’s court.
Senemut’s high standing in the court during the reign of Hatshepsut, coupled with him being wiped from the Egyptian historical narrative, and the correlation between the biblical and Egyptian dating, would suggest therefore that he was the person we know from the Bible as Moses.
Having discovered the story of Hatshepsut and Senenmut, I decided to present it as an historical novel. It was published in October 2018 by Mirador. It is called ‘ The King and her children’ and is available from Waterstones and Amazon.
Top image: Moses crossing the Red Sea. Source: Davy Cheng / Adobe Stock.
“We have never seen anything like this in the 24 years we have studied the supermassive black hole. It’s usually a pretty quiet, wimpy black hole on a diet. We don’t know what is driving this big feast.”
Artist’s concept of an object called S0-2 orbiting our Milky Way’s supermassive black hole. Astronomers tracked this object for years, hoping to catch it falling over the hole’s event horizon. It did not fall in, but its close approach in 2018 might be one reason for the black hole’s growing appetite now.
UCLA astronomers announced on September 11, 2019, that, last May, they caught the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy having an unusually large meal of interstellar gas and dust. They caught the feast on May 13 (although of course it happened some 25,000 years ago earlier, since the center of the galaxy is about 25,000 light-years away). What they saw was this. The black hole – called Sagittarius A*, pronounced Sagittarius A-star – became extremely bright in May 2019, growing 75 times as bright for a few hours. Yet, as of now, the researchers don’t yet understand why. Why did the area just outside the black hole’s event horizon – its point of no return – suddenly become brighter? What did it ingest, and why at that time?
Astronomer Tuan Do is lead author of new research describing this event, published September 11 in Astrophysical Journal Letters. He also produced the timelapse in the tweet below, which depicts the brightness changes at Sgr A*. Andrea Ghez, of the UCLA Galactic Center Group, is co-senior author on the new paper. She said:
We have never seen anything like this in the 24 years we have studied the supermassive black hole. It’s usually a pretty quiet, wimpy black hole on a diet. We don’t know what is driving this big feast.
… analyzed more than 13,000 observations of the black hole from 133 nights since 2003. The images were gathered by the W. M. Keck Observatoryin Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The team found that on May 13, the area just outside the black hole’s ‘point of no return’ (so called because once matter enters, it can never escape) was twice as bright as the next-brightest observation.
They observed large changes on two other nights this year; all three of those changes were ‘unprecedented,’Ghez said.
They said the brightness surrounding the black hole always varies somewhat, but the extreme variations in brightness observed this year left them “stunned.”
So what is going on?
In an absolute sense, the increased brightness on a few nights in 2019 can be explained by radiation from gas and dust falling into the black hole. One hypothesis about the increased activity is that when a star called S0-2 made its closest approach to the black hole during the summer 2018, it launched a large quantity of gas that reached the black hole this year. Tuan Do, the study’s lead author, said:
The first image I saw that night, the black hole was so bright I initially mistook it for the star S0-2, because I had never seen Sagittarius A* that bright. But it quickly became clear the source had to be the black hole, which was really exciting.
Another possibility involves a bizarre object known as G2, which is most likely a pair of binary stars, which made its closest approach to the black hole in 2014. It’s possible the black hole could have stripped off the outer layer of G2, Ghez said, which could help explain the increased brightness just outside the black hole.
Morris said another possibility is that the brightening corresponds to the demise of large asteroids that have been drawn in to the black hole.
Tuan Do@quantumpenguin
Here's a timelapse of images over 2.5 hr from May from @keckobservatory of the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The black hole is always variable, but this was the brightest we've seen in the infrared so far. It was probably even brighter before we started observing that night!
The question for astronomers is, what does this activity mean? Is it simply an extraordinary singular event, or is it a precursor to significantly increased activity for Sgr A*? Mark Morris, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy, is another author on the paper. He said:
The big question is whether the black hole is entering a new phase – for example if the spigot has been turned up and the rate of gas falling down the black hole ‘drain’ has increased for an extended period – or whether we have just seen the fireworks from a few unusual blobs of gas falling in.
The team has continued to observe the area. They say they’ll try to settle the question based on what they see from new images. Ghez said:
We want to know how black holes grow and affect the evolution of galaxies and the universe. We want to know why the supermassive hole gets brighter and how it gets brighter.
The black hole is some 26,000 light-years away and poses no danger to our planet. Do said the radiation would have to be 10 billion times as bright as what the astronomers detected to affect life on Earth.
Astrophysical Journal Letters also published a second article by the researchers, describing speckle holography, the technique that enabled them to extract and use very faint information from 24 years of data they recorded from near the black hole.
Ghez’s research team reported July 25 in the journal Science the most comprehensive test of Einstein’s iconic general theory of relativity near the black hole. Their conclusion that Einstein’s theory passed the test and is correct, at least for now, was based on their study of S0-2 as it made a complete orbit around the black hole.
… studies more than 3,000 stars that orbit the supermassive black hole. Since 2004, the scientists have used a powerful technology that Ghez helped pioneer, called adaptive optics, which corrects the distorting effects of the Earth’s atmosphere in real time. But speckle holography enabled the researchers to improve the data from the decade before adaptive optics came into play. Reanalyzing data from those years helped the team conclude that they had not seen that level of brightness near the black hole in 24 years.
It was like doing LASIK surgery on our early images. We collected the data to answer one question and serendipitously unveiled other exciting scientific discoveries that we didn’t anticipate.
Bottom line: UCLA astronomers announced on September 11, 2019, that – in May – they caught the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy having an unusually large meal of interstellar gas and dust. Why did the area just outside the black hole’s event horizon – its point of no return – suddenly become dramatically brighter? What did it ingest, and why at that time?
It was exciting last week when scientists announced water vapor in a super-Earth’s atmosphere. But, even as the announcement came, other scientists were cautioning that the planet – K2-18b – is probably less like a super-Earth and more like a mini-Neptune.
Artist’s concept of K2-18b, as well as another planet in this system, K2-18c, with the parent star, a red dwarf, in the background.
A couple of days ago, EarthSky reportedthat for the first time ever, water vapor had been detected in the atmosphere of a potentially habitable super-Earth exoplanet. We weren’t alone in our report. As might be expected, the finding received a lot of attention from media. But, it turns out, that the story might not be quite as first reported and was mis-characterized to some extent.
The discovery was outlined in two different papers, the first one published on arXiv on September 10, 2019, and the second in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on September 11, 2019.
The papers detail the finding of water vapor in the atmosphere of K2-18b, an exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star – where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist – 110 light-years from Earth. It’s accurate that this is the first time that water vapor has been identified in the atmosphere of a smaller exoplanet (non-gas-giant) in the habitable zone of its star, but soon after the announcement, many planetary scientists critiqued how the discovery was covered in media and social media.
The water vapor detection itself is confirmed, but there is a lot of debate as to just what kind of planet K2-18b actually is, and how habitable it may be (or not).
Another artist’s concept of super-Earth K2-18b. Scientists have detected water vapor in its atmosphere, but is it habitable? Most scientists say it’s unlikely.
Some scientists, including in the Nature Astronomy paper, have referred to the planet as a super-Earth. A super-Earth is larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune – typically up to about a maximum of twice the size of Earth – and many have been discovered already. Most are thought to be rocky, like Earth, but there is a transition point – starting about 1.6 to 2 times Earth’s radius – where a planet can become a mini-gas-giant, or a mini-Neptune as they are usually called. They are larger than super-Earths, but still smaller than Neptune. Most scientists now consider K2-18b to be a mini-Neptune, not a super-Earth, with a deep atmosphere of hydrogen and/or helium, and possibly no solid surface at all.
K2-18b has a radius of about 2.7 times that of Earth, and a mass about nine times that of Earth. While some scientists would still consider that to be a possible super-Earth, most, it seems, would classify it as a mini-Neptune. All of this can be a bit confusing.
The 2017 study previously linked to considered that K2-18b might be either large and rocky or covered with water and/or ice. But that study didn’t account for atmospheric constraints, only mass and radius. As exoplanet scientist Erin May told me on Twitter:
My PhD partially focused on the distinction between these classes of planets. Many studies show that it’s extremely difficult to make a planet > than 2 Earth-radii without a large atmosphere. Mass & radius (density) alone are actually not very useful here. I’d also like to point out that from mass and radius alone, this planet should have never been considered a super-Earth. I think there’s a tendency to throw this term around because it’s more “exciting”, but we as astronomers need to keep our terminology straight.
Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), also told me:
If you believe the water feature, you have to believe it is an H/He dominated atmosphere so yes. And the source you cite is not “outdated” – at that time we just didn’t have atmospheric constraints, only mass and radius. Also: the very fact that we see a water feature *implies* a H/He dominated atmosphere. There is no way around it.
There is a good Twitter thread about all this here, from Jessie Christiansen, a research scientist at NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI):
Dr. Jessie Christiansen✔@aussiastronomer
GUYS. Two independent announcements today of the same thing: We have found water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18 b!
The Hubble Space Telescope spies a rare glimpse of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet that isn't much bigger than Earth. https://go.nature.com/2LsFk2E
In Nature Astronomy, using the Hubble data from Benneke's observing proposal, Tsiaras et al also report a water vapor detection on K2-18 b.
Alexandra Witze
✔@alexwitze
The planet is more of a mini-Neptune than a super-Earth: it's got a thick hydrogen atmosphere and if you want to find the water you'd have to go ballooning. But, the work is pushing the limits of understanding these alien worlds and how like (or unlike) Earth they may be.
So what about habitability? Since the planet is considered – by most scientists – to now be a mini-Neptune, this lowers the chances significantly. Water vapor itself, or even rain (as still considered possible in this planet’s atmosphere), is great, but life-as-we-know-it requires a rocky surface/interior for chemical nutrients, and bodies of liquid water. There may indeed be planets out there with life forms in only a gaseous atmosphere, but for Earth-kind of life at least, K2-18b would seem to be ill-suited for this.
There has been a lot of debate over whether K2-18b is a super-Earth or mini-Neptune. Most scientists now agree that it is a mini-Neptune, making habitability much less likely.
Finding evidence for water vapor on a distant exoplanet in its star’s habitable zone is exciting, but is not in itself proof of habitability. There are many factors that need to be considered, including composition of the planet and its atmosphere. However, K2-18b is the smallest exoplanet so far found to have water vapor in its atmosphere, which is a good sign: it supports the contention of scientists that even smaller planets with water vapor and/or liquid water will be found, worlds that are more Earth-like in terms of both size and composition. Upcoming space-based telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to study the atmospheres of planets like this, and smaller, in greater detail than ever before, and even search for biosignatures, which could be evidence for life.
Bottom line: The exoplanet K2-18b does have water vapor in its atmosphere, but the planet itself is probably very un-Earth-like.
Interstellar Object Heading Towards Earth Could Be Probe Sent by Aliens – Report
A space object that was discovered by Russian scientist Gennady Borisov in August 2019 and preliminarily designated as a comet by scientists might in reality turn out to be an alien spacecraft, one Californian researcher suggests.
A mysterious object heading through our Solar System could be an interstellar probe piloted by hyper-intelligent beings, a senior astronomer at the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in California, Dr Seth Shostak, told the Sun.
Слава@st_slava
Телескоп Джемини Север, расположенный на вершине вулкана Мауна-Кеа используя мультиобъектный спектрограф получил четыре снимка в красном и зеленом фильтрах уникальной межзвездной кометы C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), объединение которых позволило впервые увидеть «ледяную гостью» в цвете
Last week, scientists at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii obtained images of a new high-speed space body designated as C/2019 Q4 that was first spotted by Russian amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov. Although scientists believe that the space object, which was captured by the Gemini North Telescope's Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, is most likely a comet due to a pronounced tail emerging as a result of outgassing, Shostak thinks that we should not dismiss the possibility that the unidentified object might be an alien spacecraft.
"We can't rule out that this is an interstellar probe", Dr Shostak told the Sun. "If we get a closeup look, we may well see it has a metal exterior with portholes and little green faces looking out at us. However, I would bet next month's pay cheque this is a comet".
Dr Shostak, who is a leading scientist at the non-profit SETI Institute, which is dedicated to seeking out the origins of life in the universe and searching for potential extra-terrestrial signals, believes that the object should be checked for signs of radio signals and life by SETI’s powerful scanning equipment.
"I have suggested to our SETI team that we give this new object a look with the Allen Telescope Array", said the scientist. "So maybe we will check it out".
A similar procedure has previously been conducted in regards to another interstellar, cigar-shaped, object called Oumuamua, which made headlines in 2017 when it was noticed while leaving the Solar System. Although there were some suspicions that the object might have been an alien probe sent by a distant civilisation, these speculations were not confirmed in the end.
Dr Shostak nevertheless believes that there is life beyond our planet and that there have been visitors to the Earth in the past.
"I have no doubts that aliens are out there, we wouldn't be doing our work if I didn't believe that", said the scientists in an interview with The Sun. "It’s even possible they've visited Earth at some point, maybe a billion years ago, maybe 100million years ago. We may never know".
C/2019 Q4, which is currently on route from deep space, is expected to pass near Mars in October this year.
SpaceX launched its Starhopper rocket prototype on its highest flight ever on Aug. 27, 2019. The reusable hopping rocket flew from one pad to the other, with a targeted 500-foot (150 meters) ceiling at SpaceX's South Texas test site near Boca Chica Village.
SpaceX wants to buy out the properties of residents in a community located only a few miles away its Starhopper launch site in south Texas, according to a report.
The company's Starhopper flights made headlines this summer as the rocket prototype flew as high as 500 feet (about 150 meters) in altitude. Starhopper fits in well in with SpaceX's Mars exploration plans, as Starhopper is supposed to be an early prototype for the Starship vehicle that SpaceX hopes will bring people to the Red Planet in the coming decades.
But that testing has also produced an unintentional 100-acre brush fire and even explosion warnings in the launching region, which lies nearby the tiny hamlet of Boca Chica, according to Business Insider.
So, SpaceX sent buyout offers to at least 10 households in the community — which has a predominantly elderly population of only about 20 people — saying the company is concerned about "increased disruption to Boca Chica residents and our commitment to complying with public health and safety guidelines," according to the letter, which is written with SpaceX letterhead.
"We did not anticipate that local residents would experience significant disruption from our presence," SpaceX explains of its reasoning to use Cameron County as a potential spaceport location. "However, it has become clear that expansion of spaceflight activities, as well as compliance with Federal Aviation Administration and other public safety regulations, will make it increasingly more challenging to minimize disruption to residents of the village."
SpaceX is offering each household a fixed buyout price of three times the appraised property value, saying that it favors giving an identical deal to residents because it is "the fairest approach." The letter, which is dated Thursday (Sept. 12), adds that the offer is good for two weeks — or until Sept. 26.
To anyone who will accept the offer, SpaceX also plans to give those residents exclusive access to more Starship development events, through "future private VIP launch viewing events that are unavailable to the public."
A few residents told Business Insider they have no interest in accepting the buyout. For example, Maria Pointer, who runs a Facebook group about SpaceX that generally supports its work, said that the company does not understand that most residents cannot afford to buy properties nearby, even with SpaceX's offer to triple property values.
"They need to understand that most of this community has very limited income," she said. "We want to move on, just give us what we need to move on. I'm not going to go to a trailer or an apartment. I gave my life to this property. I gave it everything I had. Nobody else wanted to tame it."
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment. On Sept. 28 — two days after the offer deal closes — the company reportedly plans to give a presentation in an area nearby to provide an update about the Starship development program.
Since SpaceX is not a publicly owned company, outsiders can only get a partial view of its financial situation. The company's valuation was appraised at $33.3 billion in May, according to CNBC. SpaceX is engaged in multiple spaceflight projects, including Starship, creating a vast network of 5G satellites called Starlink, developing a Crew Dragon commercial crew vehicle for NASA, making cargo runs to the International Space Station, and hefting satellites using its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
BIZARRuim tweeduizend feestvierders hebben gisteren verzameld bij Area 51, de mysterieuze testlocatie van de geheime Amerikaanse luchtmacht, in de staat Nevada. Ze kwamen bijeen als reactie op het Facebook-initiatief ‘Storm Area 51’. Tot een bestorming kwam het niet, wel werden drie mensen gearresteerd.
Op het zwaarbewaakte terrein zouden stiekem buitenaardse ruimteschepen en hun bemanning verstopt zijn. De initiatiefnemer van het evenement had mensen opgeroepen het complex gisteren te bestormen. In totaal zegden online ruim 2 miljoen mensen toe, maar in realiteit kwamen ‘maar’ ongeveer 2.300 mensen opdagen, aldus lokale media. Een bestorming bleef uit.
“Mensen droegen gekke kostuums bij de ingang van de basis”, zei een bezoeker. “Waarom zou je dat willen missen? Het is een ervaring die je maar één keer in je leven meemaakt.” Sommige feestgangers droegen ruimtepakken en maskers van buitenaardse wezens. Ook hadden sommigen spandoeken bij zich.
De festiviteiten zijn niet uitgelopen op een chaos, iets waar de Amerikaanse autoriteiten op voorhand bang voor waren. Zij waarschuwden mensen juist níet naar Area 51 te komen. Eén vrouw wist de streng beveiligde toegangspoort te passeren en werd tijdelijk vastgehouden, maar ze is inmiddels weer vrijgelaten. Twee bezoekers werden aangehouden voor aanstootgevend gedrag en alcoholmisbruik. “De mensen zijn hier vooral om te kijken wat er aan de hand is”, zei een veiligheidsagent. “Ze komen om plezier te hebben.”
De mysterieuze basis wordt volgens het Amerikaanse leger gebruikt voor het ontwikkelen van geheime militaire projecten. Maar er doen al decennia theorieën de ronde dat de VS op de basis de restanten van een UFO (en haar bemanning) verborgen houdt, en er ook op andere wijze contact onderhoudt met buitenaards leven. In 1947 zou bij de basis een vliegende schotel zijn neergestort. Het gebied is daarom uitgegroeid tot bedevaartsoord voor mensen die in UFO’s en aliens geloven. De weg die naar het gebied leidt, Highway 375, is omgedoopt tot de Extraterrestrial (buitenaardse) Highway.
Storm Area 51
Vanwege een uit de hand gelopen grap verzamelen zich uiteindelijk dus meer dan 2.000 mensen in de woestijn van Nevada, vlakbij Las Vegas. In juli maakte een Amerikaan op facebook het ‘Storm Area 51’-evenement aan om ‘de aliens te gaan zien’. Het motto was ’They Can’t Stop All of Us. Met andere woorden: als we met zoveel mogelijk mensen de basis bestormen, kunnen ze ons niet allemaal tegenhouden. Binnen de kortste keren gaven 2,1 miljoen mensen vanuit de hele wereld aan te komen voor de geplande bestorming op 20 september. Wat het Amerikaanse leger er toe bracht in een officiële verklaring te stellen “iedereen te ontraden de basis te betreden”. “We staan altijd klaar om de eigendommen van Amerika te beschermen.”
“We bereiden ons voor op het ergste”
Het weerhield de eerste Amerikanen zich er niet van zich eerder deze week alvast te melden. Verslaggevers van de Las Vegas Revie Journal zagen al meerdere ‘kampen’ langs snelweg 375 bij het plaatsje Rachel. Bezoekers zetten er hun tenten of campers neer, en lieten vlaggen met ‘alien-thema’s’ wapperen. Ken Faulhaver (64) zei tegen de krant: “We zijn hier voor het spektakel. We kopen wat bier en wat merchandise.” En: “Ik hoop dat de aliens komen om mee te feesten.” Bewoners van de dorpjes in het gebied vreesden dat er een massa mensen zou opdagen, zo vertelden ze aan verschillende persbureaus. “We bereiden ons voor op het ergste”, aldus een bewoner.
Dat is onder meer omdat festivalorganisatoren en andere commerciële partijen op het idee van de bestorming zijn gedoken. Op meerdere plekken in de regio zijn dezer dagen (muziek)evenementen onder namen als Area 51 Base Camp en Alienstock. Naast muziek staan er lezingen (over aliens) en films (ook over aliens) gepland.
Bier en vlaggen
Biermerk Budweiser sponsort een van de feesten en verkoopt ‘buitenaardse’ hoofddeksels. Ook maakte het merk een vlag (voor 75 dollar) die de aandacht moet trekken van UFO’s en hun bemanning. Fastfoodgigant Arby’s verkoopt vanuit een special opgezet restaurant “het beste vlees voor buitenaards leven”.
“Dit fenomeen is een perfecte combinatie van onze interesse in aliens, het buitenaardse, overheidssamenzweringen en de wens om te weten wat we nog niet weten”, zegt socioloog Michael Ian Borer van de Universiteit van Nevada tegen persbureau AP.
Are there relic alien spacecraft on asteroids close to Earth that may have been observing the planet for longer than humans have existed?
A thought-provoking, if unlikely-sounding new theory that near-Earth ‘companion’ asteroids may contain live or ancient robotic probes sent from faraway civilizations comes from Dr. James Benford at Microwave Sciences in Lafayette, California, whose paper "Looking for Lurkers: Co-Orbiters as SETI Observables," is published this week in the Astronomical Journal.
Before we dismiss it as crazy talk, consider that Benford thinks that by ruling-out the presence of alien probes and extraterrestrial archeology on rocks that are often close to Earth would bring us to a profound conclusion: there is no-one out there and we’re truly alone.
What are co-orbital objects?
In this context, a co-orbital is an asteroid that goes around the Sun on the same, or similar, orbital path to Earth. Co-orbital objects approach Earth very closely every year at distance is much shorter than anything except the moon.
Consequently, co-orbitals could be a great place to watch Earth from. Not only would any alien probes on co-orbital objects be concealed, but they would also be anchored and able to access solar energy. They could possibly sustain themselves for many thousands of years.
What are ‘lurkers?’
According to Benford, a lurker is a hidden, unknown and unnoticed observing probe, and they could have been sent to observe Earth long ago. “They may respond to an intentional signal and may not, depending on unknown alien motivations,” reads a news release covering Benford’s new paper. “Lurkers would likely be robotic, like our own Voyager and New Horizons probes.” The space probes currently the furthest from us, Voyagers 1 and 2 (launched in the late 1970s) and New Horizons (launched in 2006 and the fastest man-made object ever launched from Earth) have gotten much further than the outskirts of our own solar system.
There’s also obviously a limit to how long any alien space probes sent to study Earth could last. “Perhaps probes are waiting on these objects, listening to us and waiting for us to find them” reads the paper. “They may remain silent and simply report back to wherever they communicate to”. Benford suggests that if we did find such a “lurker” we could simply photograph it and send it in a message simply to say “we see you” and wake the probe from its passive state.
The idea is loosely inspired by the concept of using a Bracewell probe for allowing widely separated civilizations to communicate.
How crazy is this theory?
At first glance, it’s way out there, but Benford thinks that the process of looking for relic alien spacecraft in Earth’s cosmic backyard is critical in us understanding the possibility of extra-terrestrial intelligence in our galaxy. “If we find nothing there, this gives us a profound result: no one has come to look at the life of the Earth, which has been evident in our atmosphere in spectral lines over interstellar distances for over a billion years.” Spectral lines from light are used by astronomers to identify atoms, molecules and elements present in a planet.
Benford is arguing that if we find nothing on the co-orbital objects around Earth, then the chances of there being more advanced alien civilisations anywhere in our galaxy become more remote.
What is 2016 HO3?
Between 120 and 300 ft. in diameter and also known as ‘Earth's Constant Companion' by NASA, 2016 HO3 is the smallest, closest, and most stable known quasi-satellite of Earth. Discovered on April 27, 2016, by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, 2016 HO3 loops around the Earth every year during Earth’s orbit of the Sun. It’s been stable for at least 100 years and will remain so for many hundreds of years to come. However, 2016 HO3 is always at least nine million miles away, so never a threat to Earth.
Benford thinks we should study co-orbital objects both in the electromagnetic spectrum of microwaves and light, and also using planetary radar.
China’s plan to visit 2016 HO3
Getting to 2016 HO3 from Earth orbit requires relatively little rocket propulsion, so it’s no surprise that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has announced plans to send a probe. A robotic mission that would return samples could launch in 2024.
The search for extraterrestrial life is currently focused on distant exoplanets. It’s a sobering thought that asteroids in our own celestial backyard may have hosted alien probes sent to study Earth many thousands of years ago by extraterrestrial civilizations. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
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