While the great unwashed Facebook hordes were storming Area 51 in Nevada, something equally strange transpired over Minnesota in an area known locally as “Spot 51”. Friday, September 20th, Todd Mitchell, owner of Country Campground in Detroit Lakes, MN, ran his 24-hour security video camera just like any other evening. But this night he wondered if it might document something more exciting than camper arrivals, perhaps some dramatic lightning strikes from an incoming thunderstorm. What he didn’t know was he had recorded something even more extraordinary.

Later when Mitchell reviewed his footage, he forgot all about the lightning when he noticed what appeared to be a fuzzy, black object flitting erratically among the storm clouds, trailing what could be easily mistaken for dark fumes behind it. To the viewer’s eye, it sure looks like a skybound smoke monster, repeatedly performing feats of aerial acrobatics before it vanishes into thin air. Or perhaps it’s an alien spaceship suffering the effects of a faulty exhaust system. Or maybe someone just let the air out of one prime specimen of Charles Fort’s normally invisible sky jellyfish. Any of those options qualify the strange object as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

Mitchell provided the footage to his TV news station, noting that on a local map, the Detroit Lakes Chamber of Commerce identifies Country Campground as “Spot 51”. The video combined with that revelation resulted in yucks and ample banter at the end of WDAY’s Sept. 25th evening news broadcast. But at least they didn’t play the X-Files theme music.

Looks like I spoke to soon! They saved the X-Files theme music for the second report. To their credit, the TV crew visited the scene, interviewed Mitchell, and even delved into the county’s UFO-related history.

Some may propose that the object Mitchell captured is merely a bug on the lens or some other equally pedestrian explanation. I contacted witness Todd Mitchell and he provided a link to three video clips, which he has uploaded to YouTube for your examination.

Mitchell acknowledges that some of the office to the back of the camera is reflected by the double pane window he shoots the video through. He identifies the small lights to the left and the center of the screen as the reflection of his “Dish Network rack system”. To the far right side, there is additional room reflection.

In Part 1, the video seemed perfectly normal until Mitchell drew my attention, about 10 seconds in, to a tiny, barely perceivable black dot off to the right of the screen, in the part of the sky just above a small tree. The dot moves slowly upward in a more-or-less straight line. Of all three of the objects appearing in these video clips, this one most clearly seems to demonstrate the crawling movement of a bug. It traverses the screen smoothly, seemingly unaffected by wind shear or changes in sky composition, as if creeping across a  perfectly flat surface.

In Part 2, we see much more erratic moment, that is also consistent with bugs flying close to the lens. However, the smokey trailing effect following the movement is interesting, but may just indicate video blurring caused by extreme speed.

Part 3, is the most curious because at the last moment some commenters point out that the object seems to weave through a cloud.

When I asked Mitchell if he had ever experienced anything strange or paranormal before his response was, “Oh, heck, no!” “There’s a lot of things that you can generally explain or guess at. But for this I have no guesses,” he says.

When Mitchell’s footage went public, a Native American man stopped by the campground for a visit. He came to share with Mitchell the possibility that perhaps the mysterious sky dweller Mitchell captured on video was a sacred Thunder Being — a bringer of life, a protector of humanity, and an important part of the man’s native heritage. Mitchell intends to review past footage to see if there is any correlation between thunderstorms and the appearance of the strange objects. If there is some relationship to thunderstorms, perhaps that will help explain the similarities between Mitchell’s footage and another strange object spotted in Nebraska during a thunderstorm in 2015.

So what’s your take, is this simply the work of displaced insects attracted to the lights of the campground or could it be something far stranger?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

27-09-2019 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

New Evidence of the Sahara’s Age

The Sahara Desert is vast, generously dusty, and surprisingly shy about its age. New research looking into what appears to be dust that the Sahara blew over to the Canary Islands is providing the first direct evidence from dry land that the age of the Sahara matches that found in deep-sea sediments: at least 4.6 million years old.

“People have been trying to figure it out for several decades,” said Daniel Muhs, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado. “More recent studies said it was the beginning of the Pleistocene (about 2.6 million years ago). Then others say a few thousand years ago.” Added to this is a model suggesting the Sahara Desert first appeared as far back as seven million years ago.

Desert dust from Africa is transported west to the Canary Islands and

the CapeVerde Islands every year. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of “Calima” (dust storm) event on 8 March 2006, taken from the Terra satellite. 

Source: 

• http://www.ineffableisland.com/2019/09/new-evidence-of-saharas-age.html

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 23:19 geschreven door peter  

Police Officers Witness Alien Craft Over Ohio

APRIL 25, 2001 ……..WAYNESVILLE OHIO

On Tuesday, April 25, 2001, a very strange object is reported by civilians and law enforcement officers in the evening skies near Waynesville, Ohio in Warren County.

From their residence near the 4600 Block of Wilkerson Road, a husband and wife are the first to report a circular lighted object hovering silently in the sky to the south of their location.

The big light of the UFO, pulsating or changing in both color and brightness, was said to be encased within a structure that resembled gridwork or cabling.

The couple advised the Lebanon City Police Department of the object around 10:15 p.m. and the Warren County Communications Center dispatched a Waynesville police officer to the location.

Upon arrival at the scene, the Waynesville officer confirmed the unidentifiable nature of the object and also reported that a second UFO was also in the area.

LOCAL: WHAT IS IT!

Unit #2W30: I have NO IDEA, and you wouldn’t believe it if you came out and saw it! There’s two of them, just sitting stationary and blinking, I mean about five different colors, right here on Wilkerson, just off of South Main Street…

FEMALE OFFICER: This is 480-16

Unit #2W30: I’m not kidding! Go ahead.

FEMALE OFFICER: Okay, we’re on the backside of that, here in the lot because I couldn’t stand it no more. Where is it at, is it in the air?

They’re high up, they look like uh, they’re up there but with our binoculars though, the ones he’s got here, you can see them pretty clearly. There’s probably five different colors, there’s two of them and they’ve stayed in the exact same spot the whole time.

They’re not stars, I can tell you that.

As other officers respond to the location and continue to view the abnormalities, dispatchers at the Warren County Communications Center telephone a base operator at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton/Fairborne, Ohio and also places a call to Airborne Express at the Wilmington Airport in Clinton County, Ohio.

Both flight control facilities deny any knowledge of or responsibility for air traffic in the Waynesville, Ohio vicinity during the incident.

While the Waynesville police officers view the object from Wilkerson Road looking south, a police dispatcher also observes the same object from her position at the Warren County Communications Center in Lebanon, Ohio, looking north toward Waynesville. From review of the police tapes, it can be estimated that the primary object may have been in a general location between Waynesville and Lebanon near the intersections of Pekin Road and Route 42.

An officer with the Caesar’s Creek State Police also notes the UFO from his location to the east of Waynesville. A third UFO is sighted in the area during the event, and the police witnesses repeatedly affirm a cogent distinction between the suspected UFOs and routine stars and airplanes. The objects move off by receding further into the distance as other officers from the Ohio State Patrol arrive on the scene.

Dispatchers at the Ohio State Patrol and the Warren County Communications Center express frustration at having to handle this situation and their inability to address the reports and eyewitness confirmation from their officers.

The next evening, Wednesday, April 25, UFOs are again reported in the same area at 9:48 p.m., viewed from Wilkerson Road and also by officers observing from a location near the Waynesville Airport. Disturbingly, another unusual object is seen in the area seven hours later and reportedly pursues a motorist near Genntown, Ohio (about 5-miles from Waynesville).

A female complainant advises the Ohio State Patrol of her ‘extreme concern’ regarding a triangular object with “super bright lights” that pursued her automobile while traveling on Route 122 at 5:00 a.m., April 26.

These and other details were acquired from eyewitness interviews, analysis of various police reports and evaluation of police tapes acquired through the Warren County Director of Emergency Services. Additional data was gathered through field investigation conducted on April 27th and April 28th.

Consideration has been given to the possibility that this situation was engendered by a misperception of routine stars and planets by both civilians and police officers on both evenings. This theory was first advanced by Peter Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center, who was advised of the incident by the Ohio State Patrol while the sighting was in progress.

The star ‘Sirius’ was identified by Davenport as a likely candidate for misperception, but after sober review of the police tapes acquired from the Warren County Department of Emergency Services, this attempt at explanation is not looked upon favorably.

NOTE: The above image is CGI.

KEN PFEIFR WORLD UFO PHOTOS AND NEWS

HTTP://WWW.WORLDUFOPHOTOS.ORG

HTTP://WWW.WORLDUFOPHOTOSANDNEWS.ORG

HTTP://WWW.KENPFEIFERDISCOVERIES.COM

THANKS TO HTTP://WWW.UFOCASEBOOK.COM

Source: 

• http://worldufophotosandnews.org/?p=24947

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 22:56 geschreven door peter  

UFO Sightings Not Less, But Reporting Them Is...But The Time Of Change Is Nearing, UFO Sighting News.

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

UFO Over Scotland Creates Rainbow, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: March 2017
Location of sighting: Scotland
News source: 

• https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-39254354
  
  

Here is an older sighting that I had never seen before, so I will post it here. A UFO cloud was seen back in March of 2017 over Scotland and as it passed over a hill...a colorful thick rainbow appeared linking the ground to the UFO. I believe that the UFO was of course beaming people and supplies down to an underground base about 4-6km below the ground. An incredible once in a lifetime sighting. In my 15 years of reporting UFOs, I have never seen a UFO that created a rainbow. I have seen them in the rainbow or near it, but this is a first. 
Scott C. Waring

selection video peter2011

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 22:20 geschreven door peter  

Identical elongated UFOs have been filmed over France and Costa Rica respectively on September 22, 2019 and May 7, 2019.

While UFO is a descriptive term for an unknown type of flying craft it is noteworthy that sightings of cigar-shaped UFOs traveling in our atmosphere or traveling in space f.e. next to Orion Nebula have been reported much more than any other type of UFOs over the years.

Both videos show the objects in real time as well as in still and enlarged images.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 22:05 geschreven door peter  

(Jean-Pierre Luminet)

First-ever direct image of a black hole, M87*.

(EHT Collaboration)

{ https://futurism.com/the-byte }

27-09-2019 om 00:46 geschreven door peter  

‘Stealth Supersonic Spy Jet’ Spotted Near Oregon Air Base Leaves Conspiracy Theorists Guessing

{ https://sputniknews.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

Photo: Saucer-Shaped UFO Spotted in Daytime Over Doolin, Ireland

The Irish driver noticed a thick and black disk hiding in the clouds.

© PHOTO: ETDATABASE.COM/MUFON #103466

The Irish driver noticed a thick and black disk hiding in the clouds

The purported alien space ship had visible those classic saucer-shaped features. Notably, the UFO was pictured seemingly tilted - according to hunters for an extraterrestrial - crucial sign that the object was flying when it was accidentally captured on camera.

According to UFO pundit Scott C. Waring, the owner of the thematic online source which broke this news, the sighting of such aerial phenomena has become statistically rare recently, because "In a world where everyone is looking down at their phone, its no wonder why sightings are down this year...few people bother looking up at the sky".

{ https://sputniknews.com/ }

27-09-2019 om 00:20 geschreven door peter  

By Lisa Grossman

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

26-09-2019 om 23:17 geschreven door peter  

What were the mystery fireballs of Devon? Police launch urgent search after 'two fireballs tear through sky' sparking 999 calls over fears of a plane crash

• Two bright lights spotted over south coast of England early this morning 
• Sparked several 999 calls from witnesses concerned it was a plane crash
• Devon and Cornwall police have searched the area and are 'satisfied' it was not a plane crash but more likely an asteroid

By WILLIAM COLE FOR MAILONLINE

Police in Devon are investigating a mysterious bright object spotted falling across the night sky over the south coast.

Two 'fireballs' sparked several 999 calls, with witnesses suspecting there could have been a plane crash.

Plymouth police reached out to the public to try and establish the cause, questioning whether it might have been asteroids breaking up in the atmosphere.

'Did anybody else see two glowing objects falling southwesterly direction out towards Plymouth sound? I know I have been up all night, but that was odd. Asteroid?' the force tweeted.

Plymouth police reached out to the public to attempt to identify a mysterious bright object spotted falling across the night sky over the south coast, questioning whether it might have been asteroids breaking up in the atmosphere

Another officer responded with a picture they managed to take of the bright light at around 5.52am this morning.

The Force Incident Manager for Devon and Cornwall Police said: 'We have had further reports of seeing an object in the sky from some distance away with a trajectory towards the ground, with an item falling off it at some point.

'There have been reports it broke into two and this has come from numerous people. 

'We’ve got two aircrafts in the air looking and doing aerial searches of the area. At the moment we are saying it is the Yelverton/Tavistock/Prince Town area.'

Sightings were also reported across the South Coast of England, London and Wales in the minutes before 6am.

In a further update, officers in Devon have ruled out the possibility of a plane crash due to a lack of debris, suggesting it was more likely a meteor shower.

Insp John Shuttleworth said: 'We are as satisfied as we can be that this has not been a light aircraft crash and no persons have been injured.

'The expert opinion of trained search officers is that if there had been an aircraft crash, assets in the air would have seen some debris.

'There have also been a couple of reports from the Cardiff and Dorset areas of people watching meteor showers across the South West.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-09-2019 om 23:05 geschreven door peter  

Is The Secret US Spaceship Actually A Military Vessel To Control Space?

By Paul Antonopoulos

WASHINGTON DC – On September 7, the US mini space shuttle X-37B completed two years in orbit. Today it is one of the most enigmatic space apparatuses, as very little information about its mission is known.

Some experts are confident that this spacecraft pursues purely military purposes.

The NASA space agency and the US company Boeing began to carry out the project related to the construction of the X-37 in 1999. At the beginning of the works, its manufacturers considered that the device would be dedicated to repair satellites located at an altitude of up to 700 kilometers. Later however, the military fully classified this project and commissioned it to carry out the Advanced Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

This spacecraft’s previous mission ended in May 2017 after remaining 718 days in orbit. On October 7, 2017, the X-37B made its fifth flight in space and is still there today.

Secret Mission

Although the device has been in orbit for two years, experts can only make assumptions about the tasks this shuttle can perform in space. According to one version, the US military conducts experiments aboard the X-37B. In particular, NASA investigates the influence the space environment has on different materials.

The director of the Space Policy Institute, Ivan Moiseev, explained to Sputnik that this device was created especially for use by the Pentagon. According to the agency’s interlocutor, the X-37B carries smaller intelligence satellites.

Why does X-37B ‘scare’ Washington’s enemies?

“[…] Our enemies do not know where they will be later, as this occurs on the hidden side of the earth. We know that this lack of knowledge makes them crazy and I am really happy about it,” emphasized the employee quoted by various averages.

Answer from Russia

Ivan Moiseev recalled that the spacecraft’s current orbit passes over the equator, and it is unlikely that the spacecraft will actively change its position using its aerodynamic characteristics.

“To change its tilt and stand on Russia, the X-37B needs to expend a lot of energy that it cannot generate by itself,” he explains.

Moreover, nowadays Russia is one of the largest space powers in the world. Its advanced space control systems can track the flight of US satellites and easily detect all their movements.

“Watching the X-37B is an easier task for us. It’s so big that you just have to turn right or left and then we can figure it out,” Russian Aerospace Forces Major General Anatoly Nesterechuk said.

Not only does Russia now have surveillance satellites, it also has X-37B-like ship-fighting devices. These systems can neutralize them if they pose a threat to your national security.

{ https://www.fort-russ.com/ }

26-09-2019 om 22:45 geschreven door peter  

NASA news: What is this giant black hole on Jupiter? JunoCam snaps stunning pictures

NASA’S Juno spacecraft snapped this incredible image of a giant black hole cropping up on the surface of Jupiter – but what is this dark spot blemishing the Gas Giant?

Io is the innermost of the four moons, followed by Europa, Callisto and Ganymede.

From its position above Jupiter, Juno witnessed the moon slip in-between its host planet and the Sun.

{ https://www.express.co.uk/ }

26-09-2019 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

Alien life: Moon ‘fishing net’ for extraterrestrial evidence, Harvard astronomers claim

ALIEN life evidence may be accumulating on the lunar surface, an esteemed Harvard professor has proposed.

By TOM FISH

The Moon may provide the most efficient method of obtaining evidence for alien life, a groundbreaking new scientific paper has proposed. Harvard astronomers Professor Abraham Loeb and Manasvi Lingam suggest in a new paper how the lunar surface could act as a “fishing net” for interstellar objects. Such objects from outside our solar system could collected over time on the lunar surface and potentially store the building blocks of life from the habitable environments around other stars.

RELATED ARTICLES

• 
  London meteor: Locals stunned as fireball lights up London sky
• 
  Black hole mystery: NASA is on the hunt for undiscovered black holes

The pair wrote in their paper: “The lack of a lunar atmosphere guarantees that these messengers will not burn up on their way but instead reach the lunar surface.

Will the unique qualities of the lunar surface enable new frontiers in astronomy?

Professor Abraham Loeb

“In addition, the geological inactivity of the Moon implies that the record deposited on its surface will be preserved and not get mixed with the deep lunar interior.

“Serving as a natural mailbox, the lunar surface collected all impacting objects over the past few billions of years.

“Most of this ‘mail’ originated from our neighbourhood within the Solar System.”

• READ MORE: See the astronomy photography of the year

Alien life news: Might ET evidence be accumulating on the lunar surface? 

Alien life news: Harvard's Professor Abraham Loeb the lunar surface could act as a “fishing net” (Image: Getty)(Image: Getty)

Space scientists now know the Solar System also intercepts external objects from interstellar space.

These range from dust particles to free-floating planets and stars.

The first interstellar object, the 200m long cigar-shaped `Oumuamua, made headlines around the world when it was first reported in 2017.

And earlier this year another was tentatively discovered in the form of one metre-size meteor from outside the Solar system, after burning-up in our atmosphere in 2014.

On the assumption these interstellar enter the Solar System on random trajectories, Professor Loeb and his team estimated the amount of interstellar material collected on the surface of the Moon over its history.

• READ MORE: Telescope captures multicolour photo of first-ever interstellar comet

RELATED ARTICLES

• 
  Moon mystery: China's Chang'e-4 rover discovers ‘gel-like’ substance
• 
  Chang’e-4: Chinese lunar rover photographs ‘gel-like’ lunar substance

And although Moon rocks were famously returned to Earth by the NASA Apollo mission, they were likely contaminated by human hands.

This, they argue is the reason why evidence of interstellar impactors carrying the building blocks of extraterrestrial life has yet to be discovered on the lunar surface.

Professor Loeb wrote in Scientific American: “The fundamental question is whether distant life resembles the biochemical structures we find on Earth.

“Similarities might imply that there exists a unique chemical path for life everywhere or that life was transferred between systems.

• READ MORE: Astronomers spy black hole SWALLOWING neuton star

Alien life news: Alien objects could collect over time on the lunar surface 

(Image: Getty)

Alien life news: Harvard astronomer Professor Abraham Loeb has long been associated with academic alien research

 (Image: Getty)

TRENDING

• 
  California earthquake warning: Big one 'could hit tomorrow’ - Geologist claim
• 
  London meteor: Locals stunned as fireball lights up London sky
• 
  Deadly walrus 'sinks' Russian ship on horror Arctic expedition as scientists flee for life

“Either way, a lunar study shortcuts the need to send spacecrafts on extremely long missions to visit other star systems.

Getting similar information from a trip to the nearest star system: Alpha Centauri A, B or C, would take nearly nine years even if the spacecraft were to travel at the maximum speed allowed in nature, the speed of light.

Chemical rockets, meanwhile, could make this journey only after a hundred thousand years, of order the time that elapsed since the first modern humans began migrating out of Africa.

The Harvard astronomers conclude: “Excavating the lunar surface for physical evidence of etraterrestrial life is dramatically faster.”

RELATED ARTICLES

• NASA InSight: Space agency names Mars rock after Rolling Stones
• Space agency satellite forced to dodge SpaceX ‘mega constellation’
• NASA news: NuSTAR spies ‘exciting’ X-rays resulting from 'black hole'

{ https://www.express.co.uk/ }

26-09-2019 om 21:45 geschreven door peter  

Here’s a piece of one of the new 3-D models just created to help ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover explore Mars in 2021. The models are so detailed that they show, for example, as dune ripples inside craters, as you see here.

Image via TU Dortmund/ NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Europlanet.

How do modern-day space explorers prepare to search an unknown terrain? Never mind that the explorers are robots, and that the preparers are space scientists and engineers. Next summer, an ambitious new mission to Mars is scheduled to launch. The ExoMars mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) will carry the robotic Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars. The rover will search for evidence of past Martian life in Oxia Planum, a large plain rich in clays and containing an old river delta. How do they prepare? A team of scientists at TU Dortmund University in Germany has created extremely detailed 3-D models of the landing location. These scientists said on September 16, 2019 that they want to use the models to understand the geography and geological characteristics of this unexplored region on Mars, and to help plan the path of the rover.

The 3-D models are called Digital Terrain Models (DTMs). They’re a variation of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) used by space scientists to understand planets, moons and asteroids. These particular maps have a resolution of about 25 centimeters per pixel. One of scientists, Kay Wohlfarth, presented them at last week’s international meeting of astronomers in Geneva, Switzerland.

So how were the models created?

One of the test 3-D models of terrain on Mars.

Image via TU Dortmund/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Europlanet Society.

Another test 3-D models of terrain on Mars.

Image via TU Dortmund/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Europlanet Society.

First, they use high-resolution imagery of Mars’ surface from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). That imagery is then applied to the classic stereo method of combining two images taken from slightly different angles, in order to create a 3D image of the landscape. But those kinds of stereo techniques can be limited when it comes to dusty and sandy surfaces – basically featureless – in locations like the Rosalind Franklin landing site, Oxia Planum. By necessity, the landing site is relatively flat to help ensure a safe landing.

The DTMs were then further enhanced by using a technique called Shape from Shading in which the intensity of reflected light in the image is translated into information on surface slopes. The slope data is combined with the stereo imagery, providing a much better estimate of the 3-D surface, while achieving the best resolution possible in the reconstructed landscape.

The resulting models give the scientists a much more detailed view of the landing region. As Wohlfarth explained:

With the technique, even small-scale details such as dune ripples inside craters and rough bedrock can be reproduced.

Artist’s illustration of the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars, part of ESA’s ExoMars mission.

Image via ESA/ATG medialab.

Marcel Hess, first author of the study, said:

We have taken special care over the interaction between light and the Martian surface. Areas that are tilted towards the sun appear brighter and areas that are facing away appear darker. Our approach uses a joint reflectance and atmospheric model that incorporates reflection by the surface as well as atmospheric effects that diffuse and scatter light.

These new models will be a great aid to the rover as it navigates the landscape, looking for the best places to study with its array of instruments. Not only will the rover examine rocks and soil, it will also be able to drill up to two meters (six feet) into the subsurface, searching for possible biosignatures, chemical traces of past life. Samples will be delivered to the on-board laboratory for analysis.

PanCam, with its stereo and high-resolution cameras, will provide detailed views of interesting features in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Spectrometers will determine what rocks are composed of, and how much they were affected by water.

The rover’s drill in a clean room on Earth, in the stowed position. The drill will be able to penetrate down to two meters (six feet) into the subsurface.

Image via ESA.

According to Jorge Vago, ESA’s ExoMars rover project scientist:

Our rover has really taken shape. We have an incredibly powerful scientific payload to explore the surface and subsurface of Mars on our quest to find biosignatures.

ExoMars will be an exciting mission, and along with NASA’s upcoming 2020 rover, the first since the Viking mission in the 1970s/1980s to look directly for evidence of life. The rover is expected to launch sometime between July 26 and August 13, 2020 on a Russian Proton-M launcher, arriving at Mars in March 2021.

More information about ExoMars mission is available on the mission website.

• Bottom line: New 3-D models of the Martian terrain will help the Rosalind Franklin rover search for life on Mars in 2021.
• Via Europlanet Society

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

26-09-2019 om 21:23 geschreven door peter  

Irish Teenager Invents Magnetic Liquid Trap That Can Remove 90% of Microplastics From Water

Teenager wins Google Science award for genius invention that could cheaply remove most microplastics from the ocean

Because microplastics are so small — some as tiny as grains of sand — scientists have had a hard time figuring out to remove them from the soil and the sea.

Now, an Irish teenager has come up with a promising solution for this seemingly impossible task — a magnetic liquid that attracts microplastics to itself.

18-year-old Fionn Ferreira was kayaking one day when he spotted a rock covered in oil from a recent spill. Clinging to the oil were a bunch of tiny pieces of plastic.

“It got me thinking,” Ferreira told Business Insider. “In chemistry, like attracts like.”

Plastic and oil are nonpolar, making them likely to stick together in nature

Ferreira wondered if the effect could be recreated using ferrofluid, a magnetic, oil-based liquid invented by NASA in 1963 to keep rocket fuel moving in zero gravity.

Today ferrofluid is used to control vibrations in speakers and to seal off electronics to keep debris out.

Ferreira makes a more environmentally friendly version of the liquid than the kind used in rocket fuel, using recycled vegetable oil and magnetite powder, a mineral found naturally on Earth’s surface.

When he first drops the liquid into a container of water contaminated with microplastics, it disperses and turns the water black.

Then he dips a magnet in the water, which pulls out all the ferrofluid, plastic and all, leaving clear water behind.

“It got me thinking,” Ferreira told Business Insider. “In chemistry, like attracts like.”

The method removed 88% of the microplastics in his test samples.

The most difficult type of microplastic to remove was polypropylene, used to make all sorts of plastic packaging. Still, the ferrofluid removes 80% of polypropylene.

The easiest microplastics to remove were microfibers from plastic clothing such polyester, spandex and Lycra.

Washers and dryers are currently not equipped to filter these microfibers, which are a major source of ocean plastic pollution, so this is great news for that application.

Additionally, Ferreira‘s invention can be used at wastewater treatment plants as a sort of catch-all for microplastic pollution before it enters rivers, lakes and oceans.

Ferreira has won the Google Science  award, $50,000 and educational funding for his invention.

{ https://returntonow.net/ }

26-09-2019 om 20:58 geschreven door peter  

Thanks to 2019’s record drought in Europe, a 7,000-year-old circle of 150 upright stones is back on dry land in western Spain, after 50 years underwater.

This image shows the remains of the standing stones in July 28, 2019, after having been submerged since the 1960s.

Image via NASA Earth Observatory.

After 50 years underwater, Spain’s Dolmen of Guadalperal — a 7,000-year-old circle of 150 upright stones — is back on dry land, thanks to record heat and drought in Europe this summer.

The megalithic monuments – known as the Spanish Stonehenge, located several miles from the town Peraleda de la Mata – have been underwater since the 1963 construction of the Valdecañas Dam flooded this region of western Spain. In the summer of 2019, several areas of Europe experienced drought conditions, including Spain, which had its third-driest June of the century, along with above-average temperatures in July and August. The drought conditions were enough to expose the Dolmen of Guadalperal, so that some residents of the nearby town of Peraleda de la Mata were able to see it for the first time. Angel Castaño is president of Raíces de Peralêda, a local cultural association dedicated to preserving the monument. He told AtlasObscura.com:

All my life, people had told me about the dolmen. I had seen parts of it peeking out from the water before, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in full. It’s spectacular because you can appreciate the entire complex for the first time in decades.

When we saw it, we were completely thrilled. It felt like we had discovered a megalithic monument ourselves.

NASA Earth Observatory also reported on the reappearance of the Dolmen of Guadalperal, showing two different satellite images of it, captured in July 2013 and July 2019, by NASA’s Landsat 8 satellite. Note the changing water levels and the widening of the tan ring around the along the reservoir’s shoreline in the second image. These lighter colored sediments are the recently exposed lake bottom. A circle marks the Dolmen of Guadalperal.

July 24, 2013.

Image via Lauren Dauphin/NASA/USGS.

July 25, 2019.

Image via Lauren Dauphin/NASA/USGS.

The Dolmen of Guadalperal was found in 1926, part of a research and excavation campaign led by the German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier. Scientists believe it could have been a solar temple, as well as a burial enclave. Roman remains have been found there, including a coin, ceramic fragments and a grinding stone. Axes, ceramics, flint knives and a copper punch were found in a nearby dump. According to the Spanish media outlet Repelando, a settlement was also found nearby, thought to date back to the time of the monument’s construction. There were homes, charcoal and ash stains, lots of pottery, mills and stones to sharpen axes, among other objects, .

Since the 1960s, tips of the tallest megaliths have peaked out of the lake as water levels fluctuated. The monument consists of 150 granite stones or orthostates, placed in vertical arrangement that make up a circular chamber about 15 feet (five meters) in diameter, preceded by an access corridor about 70 feet (21 meters) long.

At the end of the hall, just at the entrance of the chamber, there is a menhir or standing stone, about 6 feet (2 meters) high, that contains the image of a snake. Research suggests this image represents the Tagus River – longest river in the Iberian peninsula – which passes through the area.

The Dolmen of Guadalperal are located in the town of Peraleda de la Mata in Spain.

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory:

Archeologists believe the Dolmen of Guadalperal was originally constructed as an enclosed space — a large stone house with a cap. The dolmen could have served as a tomb, a site for religious rituals, or a trading hub since it was relatively easy to cross the river at this location.

The most recent recorded exploration and excavation of the site was by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier in the 1920s. By the time Obermaier’s findings were published in the 1960s though, Valdecañas Reservoir was filled with water.

The Dolmen de Guadalperal was excavated and studied in the 1920s, drowned in the 1960s, and dry again in 2019.

Image via 1080 Wildlife Productions/ AtlasObscura.

• Bottom line: The Dolmen of Guadalperal – aka the Spanish Stonehenge, submerged for 50 years – is back on dry land, thanks to the hot and dry 2019 summer.
• Via NASA Earth Observatory

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

26-09-2019 om 20:46 geschreven door peter  

Rare Discovery! 3 Monster Black Holes Are About to Collide

26-09-2019 om 18:26 geschreven door peter  

Opnieuw mysterieus ruimte-object ontdekt dat van buiten ons zonnestelsel komt - HLN.be

2I/Borisov: zo heeft de Internationale Astronomische Unie (IAU) het ruimte-object genoemd, naar ontdekker Gennady Borisov. Die amateurastronoom uit de Krim spotte het als eerste op 30 augustus met een zelfgemaakt telescoop. Het object leek op een komeet.

Lees ook

Beruchte sigaarvormige ruimterots is géén ufo, maar wat dan wel?

Zekerheid

Na een week van observaties door astronomen van over de hele wereld, slaagde het Minor Planet Center van het Amerikaanse Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory erin om een voorlopige baan te berekenen van het object en dat wees erop dat het van buiten ons zonnestelsel kwam. Een conclusie die intussen met zekerheid bevestigd is.

Op basis van zijn helderheid vermoeden wetenschappers dat het object een diameter heeft van enkele kilometers. Dat is echter niet exact te bepalen omdat er rond de kern een aura zit.

2I/Borisov zou op 7 december op zijn dichtste punt bij de zon komen. Het object zou zich dan op 2 Astronomische Eenheden (300 miljoen kilometer) van de Aarde én van de zon bevinden. Ter vergelijking: dat is twee keer de afstand van de Aarde tot de zon.

Het object zou op zijn helderst zijn in december en januari en te zien aan de zuidelijke hemel. Daarna zal het zich weer verder van ons verwijderen en voorgoed uit ons zonnestelsel verdwijnen. (lees hieronder verder)

Het is nog maar de tweede keer dat wetenschappers een object waarnemen in ons zonnestelsel dat daar niet uit afkomstig is. In 2017 werd 1I/Oumuamua ontdekt en dat was meteen wereldnieuws. Er werd volop gespeculeerd over wat het precies kon zijn en daarbij werd zelfs geopperd dat het om een buitenaards ruimteschip ging. Maar tot nu toe heeft men nog niet met zekerheid kunnen vaststellen wat het precies is. Hetzelfde geldt voorlopig voor 2I/Borisov.

Waarneembaar

2I/Borisov zal wel langer waarneembaar zijn dan 1I/Oumuamua – verscheidene maanden – en dat is een vooruitzicht dat wetenschappers plezier doet. Ze hopen dat ze de mysterieuze bezoeker van ons zonnestelsel daardoor grondiger zullen kunnen bestuderen.

De nieuwe vondst doet vermoeden dat er nog meer van dergelijke objecten zijn en die zouden een nieuwe manier kunnen bieden om processen in andere sterrenstelsels te onderzoeken.

Video-selectie, door peter2011

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

26-09-2019 om 17:26 geschreven door peter  

Is The London Hammer An Ancient, Out Of Place Artifact?

By: Lisa Trank  

{ https://www.gaia.com/ }

26-09-2019 om 14:22 geschreven door peter