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.
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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!!!
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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 Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
28-03-2020
UFOs and the theoretical spacetime-bending technology behind them
UFOs and the theoretical spacetime-bending technology behind them
A spacecraft bending time and space in a warp bubble would eliminate the need for speed
Last year the US Navy confirmed that UFOs exist, meaning someone has access to advanced technology to build them. Declassified government research into warp drives provides insight into how UFOs could theoretically bend spacetime as a means of propulsion.
Slowly but surely, the confirmed existence of UFOs is entering the public consciousness.
Leaked video footage depicts Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) making seemingly impossible maneuvers while the Air Force pilots recording the craft looked on in wonder, literally shouting, “Wow! What is that, man? Look at that flying!”
We need to be talking about this more: "To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences, a group dedicated to pursuing research into UFOs and extraterrestrial life that was co-founded by rocker Tom DeLonge of Blink 182, helped bring attention to the videos."
More palatable, perhaps, than claiming these UFOs come from ETs, is the probability that they were built by humans as part of some black budget secret space program.
When you stop to think about the magnitude of what that actually means, you realize that there is advanced technology out there that is way beyond anything that is commercially available at present.
The Navy has confirmed that the UFOs seen in leaked video footage are real UAP, senators have been briefed on UFO sightings, and between 2007 and 2012 the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) spent $22 million dollars on research into warp drives, antigravity, wormholes, extra dimension manipulation, and whole lot more!
“The warp drive involves local manipulation of the fabric of space in the immediate vicinity of а spacecraft”
Therein it explains how an advanced technology could theoretically bend space and time around a craft as a form of propulsion called a warp drive — which doesn’t violate the cosmic speed limit.
“Physicists have discovered two loopholes to Einstein’s ultimate speed limit: the Einstein-Rosen bridge (commonly referred to as а ‘wormhole’) and the warp drive,” the paper reads.
“Fundamentally, both ideas involve manipulation of spacetime itself in some exotic way that allows for faster-than-light (FTL) travel.”
“A manipulation of spacetime itself in some exotic way that allows for faster-than-light travel”
— Declassified DIA-funded research
According to the paper’s authors, Dr. Richard Obousy and Dr. Eric Davis, “If one is to realistically entertain the notion of interstellar exploration in time frames of а human lifespan, а dramatic shift in the traditional approach to spacecraft propulsion is necessary.”
In the paper, the authors back up the claim made by Miguel Alcubierre in 1994 that by manipulating extra dimensions, a warp drive could bend space around a craft by contracting space in front of it while expanding space behind it.
More palatable, perhaps, than claiming these UFOs come from ETs, is the probability that they were built by humans as part of some black budget secret space program.
When you stop to think about the magnitude of what that actually means, you realize that there is advanced technology out there that is way beyond anything that is commercially available at present.
The Navy has confirmed that the UFOs seen in leaked video footage are real UAP, senators have been briefed on UFO sightings, and between 2007 and 2012 the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) spent $22 million dollars on research into warp drives, antigravity, wormholes, extra dimension manipulation, and whole lot more!
“The warp drive involves local manipulation of the fabric of space in the immediate vicinity of а spacecraft”
Therein it explains how an advanced technology could theoretically bend space and time around a craft as a form of propulsion called a warp drive — which doesn’t violate the cosmic speed limit.
“Physicists have discovered two loopholes to Einstein’s ultimate speed limit: the Einstein-Rosen bridge (commonly referred to as а ‘wormhole’) and the warp drive,” the paper reads.
“Fundamentally, both ideas involve manipulation of spacetime itself in some exotic way that allows for faster-than-light (FTL) travel.”
“A manipulation of spacetime itself in some exotic way that allows for faster-than-light travel” — Declassified DIA-funded research
According to the paper’s authors, Dr. Richard Obousy and Dr. Eric Davis, “If one is to realistically entertain the notion of interstellar exploration in time frames of а human lifespan, а dramatic shift in the traditional approach to spacecraft propulsion is necessary.”
In the paper, the authors back up the claim made by Miguel Alcubierre in 1994 that by manipulating extra dimensions, a warp drive could bend space around a craft by contracting space in front of it while expanding space behind it.
“The warp drive involves local manipulation of the fabric of space in the immediate vicinity of а spacecraft. The basic idea is to create an asymmetric bubble of space that is contracting in front of the spacecraft while expanding behind it,” the authors write.
By warping space and moving through time, the craft wouldn’t be in violation of the galactic speed limit — the speed of light.
“The ‘spacecraft ‘ remains stationary inside this ‘warp bubble’ and the movement of space itself facilitates the relative motion of the spacecraft”
— Declassified DIA-funded research
Accelerating too fast will crush you and your craft from the G-Force, but keeping your craft in a warp bubble would eliminate the need — the need for speed.
This is one explanation why UAP would a more accurate description because these things wouldn’t really “fly” at super speeds so much as they would be warping time and space.
“Using this form of locomotion, the ‘spacecraft ‘ remains stationary inside this ‘warp bubble’ and the movement of space itself facilitates the relative motion of the spacecraft.
“The most attractive feature of the Warp drive is that the theory of relativity places no known restrictions оn the motion of space itself, thus allowing for а convenient circumvention of the speed of light barrier,” according to the DIA-funded research.
But in order for any of this to happen, one must have access to, and know how to use, very advanced technology. The paper talks about this technology in a theoretical sense, but can you imagine if the theory has already been put to the test and proven?
“The most attractive feature of the Warp drive is that the theory of relativity places no known restrictions оn the motion of space itself”
— Declassified DIA-funded research
Remember, UFOs exist, and we don’t know what technologies they use. This is one possible explanation.
According to the authors, the technology involved in a warp drive would have be able to manipulate extra dimensions in order to gain control of dark energy.
“If an advanced technology was able to influence the radius of an extra dimension, then it would acquire direct control over dark energy, and hence the expansion and contraction of space itself,” according to the paper.
Interestingly, “If one were to adjust the radius of the extra dimension in the direct vicinity of а spacecraft, then the dark energy density would also change only in the vicinity of the spacecraft, as would the expansion of space.”
The authors point out, “It is important at this point to appreciate that globally, the universe would continue to expand at the гаtе we observe today, but that only in the proximity of the spacecraft would space bе “stimulated” to expand at some modified rate.”
The researchers concluded back in 2010 that “As tremendous а feat as this may sound, at this early stage in the research it is one of the only viable mechanisms to generate а warp drive.”
“UFOs are not in fact UFOs at all; they are time machines. And they aren’t made by aliens; they’re made by humans in the future — the very near future”
— Austin Steinbart
The seemingly impossible maneuvers of UFOs can be explained if you think of the UFO as a time machine instead of something being propelled at great speeds.
According to Austin Steinbart, who claims on his YouTube channel to have begun working for the DIA at the age of 17, “UFOs are not in fact UFOs at all; they are time machines. And they aren’t made by aliens; they’re made by humans in the future — the very near future.”
Steinbart says that the military has been ordered to ignore UFOs since the 1950s in order to avoid an “adverse Butterfly Effect.”
Whether you believe Steinbart or not, his assertion that UFOs are time machines has been made by others, and it correlates the theoretical research funded by the DIA — only Steinbart claims that the research is operational and has been for some time.
Michael Masters, professor of biological anthropology at Montana Tech, also made the claim in his book, “Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon,” that many UFOs are actually made by humans in the future, whom he calls “extratempestrials.”
Although scientists say that warp drives are theoretically possible, “further advances in quantum physics, quantum mechanics and metamaterials” are still needed to make them a reality, according to Joseph Agnew – an undergraduate engineer and research assistant from the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Propulsion Research Center (PRC).
Whatever you want to call them, the existence of UAP has publicly been confirmed by the US Navy.
Somebody made them, and spacetime-bending warp drives are just one component of a whole slough of government research into the subject.
It gets even crazier when you start looking at government research into stargates, wormholes, and antigravity!
An engineer shares his independent forensic analysis of the Tic Tac shaped Nimitz UFO video with The Sociable, highlighting advanced technologies involving warp drives, altered spacetime, and vacuum energy.
Engineer, peer-reviewed author, and Lyft driver Michael Boyd has prepared an independent forensic analysis of the To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA) video depicting Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) taken off the coast of San Diego by US Navy pilots from the USS Nimitz in 2004.
Boyd, who patented a device and method to generate and capture gravito-magnetic energy, suspects that the video may have been altered prior to going public, and he is concerned that the Navy may have provoked the UAP into firing an electromagnetic pulse at a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet jet.
Before diving into the technical analysis of the Tic Tac shaped Nimitz UAP, aka FLIR1, here are some of Boyd’s forensic findings:
Infrared (IR) shows evidence of an alteration of spacetime in areas around the craft due to the presence of what appears to be dark balloon-shaped spots.
Empirical evidence suggests the craft is using advanced propulsion technologies that are capable of gravitational time dilation, drawing energy from the vacuum, and utilizing wormholes.
The UAP appears to be hitting the Nimitz aircraft with an electromagnetic pulse.
The video on YouTube may have been altered from its original version.
The forensic analysis by Boyd is based on his own “personal experience with infrared imaging technology and quantum gravitation phenomena,” as well as research by Dr. Hal Puthoff, with whom Boyd says he was in contact from January 3-13, 2020.
The following version of the report has been edited for brevity, but is otherwise verbatim what Boyd had written. Anything not written by Boyd will be in italics.
Report on independent forensic analysis of the official footage captured by a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet present at the 2004 Nimitz UAP incident off the coast of San Diego for metric effects on physical processes in an altered spacetime as interpreted by a remote (unaltered spacetime) observer
The TTSA website claims the “FLIR1” is the second of three US military videos of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) that has been through the official declassification review process of the United States government and approved for public release.
The US Navy Media email address secnavpa.fct@navy.mil was used to send a copy of this report to the Navy through the Secretary’s Office. The President of the United States was sent a hard copy.
The YouTube video https://youtu.be/6rWOtrke0HY was accessed on January 19, 2020 for purposes of this report.
I am uncomfortable with the authenticity of claims that this is official footage and that it was unaltered prior to its release. I request a complete and unedited copy of the US Navy’s video be released for further research and analysis.
My analysis is limited therefore to the video data provided in that YouTube video [below].
“Propulsion systems that harness the power of gravitation and/or vacuum energy”
I observed a dark torus shaped balloon rotating counterclockwise above UAP that appears cooler on IR than the other regions. Also I observed a large dark region to left of the UAP and a small dark oval shaped balloon rotating to the right and below UAP.
A balloon shaped brighter region to right of the UAP appearing warmer on IR was observed. Also observed was a balloon shaped brighter region with moving darker regions to right of and under the UAP directly to the right of the small dark oval shaped balloon. See slides 14 –17, 28 — 29, and 31 – 35 [below].
Slide 17
“I have an unmet need for reassurance of future nonviolent interaction with UAPs”
In slide 19 the IR detector array appears to be saturated by heating in detector array fanout. The detector array is packaged and housed in cryogenic cooled vacuum chamber that would be expected to be impervious to electro-magnetic pulses. In slides 20 and 30 the IR detector array appears to blackout.
Slide 20
“These slides make me feel uncomfortable”
In slides 21 through 28 partial saturation of the detectors’ background signal was observed, significantly reducing the detector responsivity. These slides make me feel uncomfortable.
I have an unmet need for reassurance of future nonviolent interaction with UAPs. I request the support for further failure analysis and for development of protocols for remedial measures.
Slide 21
“Propulsion systems that harness the power of gravitation and/or vacuum energy”
In slides 31 through 40 high acceleration of the UAP is observed and the UAP appears to harness a loop de loop to increase its acceleration to sub-relativistic speed.
This makes me feel optimistic to met [sic] the unmet need for propulsion systems that harness the power of gravitation and/or vacuum energy for the wellbeing of humanity.
Slide 32
According to Boyd, it’s important to understand concepts such as time dilation and G force in order to understand this technology. He summarized to The Sociable:
“Greater G force means time dilates, length shrinks “gravitational” energy while lower G force means time shrinks, length dilates “anti-gravitational” energy. This is based on principals of General Relativity, Einstein’s theory of geometric gravitation and the data.”
“The dark balloon shaped region over the top of the UAP appears to be a region of expanded spacetime. The other balloon shaped regions on the right of the UAP are also regions of altered spacetime used to open a wormhole on the left of the UAP. These regions appear to be utilized to create a gravitational winding, spring-like force that propels the craft to the left at the entrance to the wormhole.”
“The UAP appears to be hitting the Nimitz aircraft with an electromagnetic pulse that charged the IR detector array fanout on the back of the array causing it to saturate. The image observed shows the fanout behind the array in that frame. I don’t know what the Nimitz aircraft did to the UAP that would be considered hostile by the UAP.”
“I observed a frame where there was two IR sensor display images on top of each other with one slightly askew from the other. I also feeling suspicious there is more footage they recorded during this event that was not released based on verbal hearsay evidence of former Navy personnel.”
For more background information, Boyd told The Sociable that Dr. Hal Puthoff, Co-founder and VP of TTSA, had provided him with a copy of Dr. Puthoff’s research paper, “Advanced space propulsion based on vacuum (spacetime metric) engineering,” and part of Dr. Puthoff’s paper was written into the introduction of Boyd’s forensic analysis.
When reached for comment, Dr. Puthoff told The Sociable, “I shared that paper with a number of individuals who requested it, but I don’t specifically recall whether Michael Boyd was one of them (though likely so). I’ve not seen his analysis.”
Editor’s note: Boyd said that he holds shares in TTSA and he provided documentation of his correspondence with Dr. Puthoff shortly after this article was published.
Slides 6-11 from Boyd’s analysis show mathematically how UAP technology may be possible:
Slide 10
If you are looking for another perspective on the Tic Tac UAP, Dr. Jack Sarfatti has contributed greatly to explaining the physics that go into it. You can check out his interview on the Stardrive Report here.
There is zero G-force inside Tic Tac at all times even when it appears to make a U turn at thousands of miles per hour. The apparent G-force seen by Commander David Fravor, Kevin Day et-al is a...
On Thursday (March 26), a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched the sixth and final Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-6) military communications satellite to Earth orbit, acing the first-ever mission for the U.S. Space Force.
The Atlas V was cleared to fly even though many activities around the nation and the world — including other rocket launches — have been grounded by the coronavirus pandemic. The launch was approved because the $1.4 billion AEHF-6 satellite is essential to national security, U.S. military officials said.
"Even in the face of a global pandemic, like the current COVID-19 crisis, we must continue to perform mission-essential tasks," Lt. Gen. John F. Thompson, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, said in an interview with United Launch Alliance representatives that aired during the AEHF-6 launch webcast.
(COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As of Friday, March 27, COVID-19 had killed more than 25,000 people worldwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.)
AEHF-6 "is designated mission-essential, and it's because the AEHF constellation supports the president of the United States, other national leaders and the joint forces with critical strategic communications around the planet," Thompson said. "And this particular launch extends that capability out into the timeframe beyond 2030."
But Thompson also stressed that COVID-19 was very much on the minds of the AEHF-6 launch team, which took "every precaution to ensure our workforce is safe."
The six-satellite AEHF constellation circles Earth in geostationary orbit, about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above the planet. From that lofty perch, the spacecraft provide secure, jam-proof communications between government officials and warfighters on the ground.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the $15 billion AEHF network, which is a follow-on to the U.S. Air Force's Milstar communications constellation. The other five AEHF satellites launched in August 2010, May 2012, September 2013, October 2018 and August 2019. The spacecraft have a design lifetime of 14 years.
The AEHF satellites aren't the only space assets that have been deemed critical to U.S. national security. A variety of satellites meet that description, and the Space Force is committed to keeping all of them up and running despite the coronavirus outbreak, said Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, chief of space operations for the new military branch, which was officially established in December 2019. (The Space Force, by the way, resides within the U.S. Air Force, much as the Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy.)
Why is the US Space Force launching a rocket during the COVID-19 outbreak?
"I'm especially proud of our military professionals who continue to ensure that the vital space systems remain operational in support of our nation," Raymond said in a video tweeted out by the Space Force on Friday. "Thanks to their professionalism and dedication to duty, critical capabilities such as the Global Positioning System and satellite communications are available 24/7 to enable civil authorities and safeguard our national defense."
Thursday's launch provided some rare action for space fans in these strange lockdown days. The next high-profile liftoff firmly on the docket is the April 9 launch of three new International Space Station crewmembers, who will ride to orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The coronavirus pandemic has delayed a number of other planned missions, resulting in a schedule littered with "TBDs."
Rocket Engineer Whistleblower Reveals Secret E.T. Technology at Area 51
Rocket Engineer Whistleblower Reveals Secret E.T. Technology at Area 51
Genius David Adair reveals his trip to Area 51 where he was asked to examin a huge engine that had come off an extraterrestrial craft. What he discovered shocked the scientists. This engine was conscious and directly communicated with the mind.
Presented by David Adair Filmed by Zohar Entertainment Group
Something Weird is Happening with the Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Something Weird is Happening with the Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
When astronomers see something in the universe that at first glance seems like one-of-a-kind, it's bound to stir up a lot of excitement and attention. This mysterious visitor from the depths of space first caught skywatchers' attention in late August 2019 when it was officially discovered whizzing through the Solar System on a trajectory that indicated an interstellar origin.
After analyzing the object, astronomers identified it as a comet named Comet 21/Borisov which is the first identified comet and the second observed interstellar interloper after the infamousʻOumuamua to arrive here from another star.
NASA states that they don't know from where or when the comet started heading toward our Sun, but it won't hang around for long. The Sun's gravity is slightly deflecting its trajectory, but can't capture it because of the shape of its orbit and high velocity of about 100,000 miles per hour.
Hubble revealed that the heart of the comet, a loose agglomeration of ices and dust particles, is likely no more than about 3,200 feet across, about the length of nine football fields.
Now, this month, astronomers checking in on the object found that something weird was happening.
In the next video, nemesis maturity explains what going on with this mysterious interstellar visitor.
Studying the End of the World: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Throughout the history of civilization, the concept of the apocalypse has been ever present, in one way or another. The envisioned revelation, the feared end of the world that will herald an age of purification through horrific and chaotic means, has been a part of every major religion and belief throughout the centuries. But one of the most interesting prophecies relates to the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which are described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation.
“…and behold, a black horse…”
Today we’re bringing you this concept in detail. Together we will envision this end of the world, this crumbling of civilizations at the hands of War, Famine, Pestilence, and Disease, and dissect this prophecy and its various interpretations throughout history.
Could there be a speck of truth in this vision? Did the Four Horsemen already thunder across the fields of the earth? Let’s find out.
When Seven Trumpets Shall Sound! The Origins of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
In the New Testament – the second part of the Bible – and in its last book, which is called the Book of Revelation, written by John the Theologian of Patmos, there is a chapter which relates to us the story of a doomsday revelation, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which descend on the earth to decimate the population.
Each of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent different aspects of the cleansing of the earth, by Russian painter Viktor Vasnetsov.
The most straightforward and widely agreed interpretation of this chapter is the description of a period in history when a large part of earth’s population would perish through a combination of wars, diseases, and hunger. In the Bible, these hardships are described as horsemen, riding in succession at the behest of Jesus, in the form of the Lamb of God. This title comes from the Bible, John 1:29, when John the Baptist exclaims: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
The chapter begins by describing a divine scroll, held by God in his right hand, and sealed with seven seals. Their opening, and the subsequent apocalypse, would usher the second coming of Jesus.
Each one of these seven seals represent a different aspect of the apocalypse: the first four relate to the horsemen, the fifth releases the martyr’s cries for the God’s wrath , the sixth ushers a series of cataclysmic natural disasters, while the seventh calls forth the seven angelic trumpeters, who carry seven vials of plagues and divine wrath, which they pour out on the sinful and the wicked. The Lamb of God, being worthy to open the first four seals, does so, and summons forth, one after another, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, setting in motion the ferocious cleansing of the earth.
“And I saw and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
– Revelation, 6:2
Throughout history, various sources often explained the first rider in various different ways, since his role is the only one not explicitly stated. While most interpreters agreed that the white rider symbolizes disease and pestilence, it wasn’t always the usual claim. There is a widely attested description that places this white horseman as a metaphor for righteousness.
In a world where sin is rampant, a righteous harbinger of justice and righteousness would seem a fitting purifier in an apocalypse. The crown that was “given unto him” could signify the rule of justice above all, or symbolize a truly just leader, if such a one can exist.
But the symbolism of disease and pestilence could still be the most plausible description. The aspect of a conqueror is cognate with the sweeping of a major plague (the Great Plague is a good example) and the crown would symbolize the ultimate rule of death above all else.
The first horseman, the White Rider, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
But as the time progressed, and by the time of the beginning of the 16th century, many have come to interpret the white rider as the personification of the Second Coming of Christ, or even Christ himself. At the time of the major crisis and the break of Western Christianity with the reforms of Martin Luther, this came as a most logical and accepted explanation.
The white color of the horse and the rider was quickly connected with divine purity and absence of sin, and the bow he carried as the tool of divine punishment. Likewise, the white rider was interpreted as the Holy Spirit – pure and just.
Another popular view is much simpler – the white horseman could just be the personification of mass conquest. The passage, relating to the rider that “went forth conquering, and to conquer” could simply be that – a descent of a prophesied conqueror that will enslave the populace of the earth.
The Red Horseman of the Apocalypse
“And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
– Revelation 6:4
The Red Horseman is widely connected with war. The translations often correlate in the descriptions: the horse is “fiery” red, and the rider bears an upright sword in preparation for battle. The red color is thought to symbolize the fire and blood of warfare, and the rider’s ability to make men kill one another clearly symbolizes constant and global warfare .
The second horseman, the Red Rider, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
War as an apocalyptic aspect was always present throughout time and is the most straightforward herald of death.
In Matthew, 24:6-7, Christ states:“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…” This quote clearly relates to the ever-present aspect of warfare as a symbol of the final revelation.
Another interesting quote could also be adapted to the Red Horseman and warfare as the aspect of evil and the Antichrist:
“From the eternal sea he rises, creating armies on either shore, turning man against his brother, until man exists no more.”
The red horseman could also signify the sin of hatred and aggression as a contributing factor to the prophesized end of the world. And in a paradoxical turn of events, the Lamb of God releases that same aggression to smite the wicked with fire and sword. The prophecy of constant warfare that is supposed to descend on earth is clearly described with the red rider having divine authority to take peace from the earth .
The Black Horseman of the Apocalypse
“And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”
– Revelation 6:5-6
Another easily interpreted figure, the black horseman was almost always universally described as a personification of Famine. The horse’s black color was widely attributed to negative aspects – mourning, carrion ravens, night, desolation, and bleakness – all of which are aspects of famine as well. The rider is said to carry in his hands a pair of balances.
This is the chosen translation of the original word – the Greek zugón – which generally means a “yoke”, as in a burden and a yoke for oxen. Both description carry negative connotations. The yoke is synonymous with servitude and slavery, and the pair of scales signifies the rationing and measuring of food. This was the common ancient practice of ascribing value to things.
The passage states that a single penny (orig. denarius) would be sufficient to acquire only a meager ration of wheat, and even less of barley. This is clearly an ancient view of what a famine would look like, since wheat was a staple of the diet and without it bread was lost.
The final part of the passage states that while the prices of wheat and barley are affected, the ones of oil and wine are not to be changed. This was interpreted in several different ways, and could signify a paradoxical aspect, in which the staple foods are gone, while wine remains – furthering the famine while leaving the luxuries which cannot feed a man.
One popular interpretation states that the black horseman signifies the Imperial, ruling oppression of the lower class. The rich rulers hold the scales and dispense what meager rations they deem sufficient, while the luxuries remain abundant and out of reach for the poor. A growing divide between classes and fellow men could be a perfect aspect of an end time revelation.
The Pale Horseman of the Apocalypse
“And I looked and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
- Revelation 6:8
The final, fourth horseman serves as a sort of epilogue, a dramatic crescendo that culminates with the most powerful and feared rider – Death itself. In the entire chapter, he is the only rider who was named, and the only one without a weapon – for he himself is a weapon. The rider and the horse are depicted as pallid, bearing the sickly and lifeless color of a corpse, and the ability to extinguish all manner of earthly life through various natural means.
The pale rider contains elements of all preceding ones and could be termed the most significant of the four. In his wake follows hell, the final culmination of all things horrific, seemingly ready to swallow all the wicked that will perish in the apocalypse.
The fourth horseman, Death, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The part that states that power was given unto them over the fourth of the earth could be interpreted in various ways. While it could be that all four riders would wreak havoc over a quarter of the planet, it could also signify that each of the four would have a single quarter of the earth.
The passage states that the rider would kill with the beasts of the earth . This could be a hint to the animals and the nature that promptly retake the regions which are depopulated, signifying the ultimate reign of wild nature over the man.
Death Rides a Pale Horse – Apocalypse in Art
The prophecy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse has long been the subject of inspiration for many artists, who chose that influential and critical subject as the source for monumental artworks. Throughout time, many artists portrayed the horsemen in the way they interpreted them, which also provides good insight into the prophecy.
One of the more popular depictions was made in 1887, by the renowned Russian painter Viktor Vasnetsov. His large painting, “Воины Апокалипсиса” , is a colorful and detailed, contemporary depiction of Death, War, Conquest, and Famine. They are given modern attributes and were intended to reflect on the populace of the time.
Some of the earlier, medieval depictions are much more dramatic and almost unsettling, certainly aimed at putting fear into the more doubtful believers. One such depiction was made between 1496 and 1498, by Albrecht Dürer, the renowned artist of the German Renaissance. His dramatic woodcut represents the four horsemen as elderly, ghastly, and emaciated men, whose equally unsettling stallions are trampling the sinful and gluttonous people below.
Woodcut by Albrecht Dürer of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
A similar woodcut was made between 1851 and 1860, by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, a German painter, who portrayed a savage and merciless massacre of sinners by the four riders, all under the watchful eyes of the Lamb of God.
Until Man Exists No More
To date, the story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse remains as a stark vision of the paradoxical, inherent nature of man. From its earliest forms it served as a warning for the wicked to change their ways, a plea for temperance and peace, for moderation and humility.
Yet we see that in the 21st century, much that was described in the Book of Revelation has come to pass. From countless famines, to plagues and pestilences, to endless wars and decadence – the apocalypse seems to have occurred several times over. Or is it yet to come?
Top image: 1796 painting "Death on a Pale Horse" artist depiction of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Soon The Pale Green Horse of The Four Horsemen Will Arrive
Soon The Pale Green Horse of The Four Horsemen Will Arrive
The Four Horsemen are figures in Christian theology, appearing in the New Testament's final book, Revelation, an apocalypse written by John of Patmos, as well as in the Old Testament's prophetic Book of Zechariah, and in the Book of Ezekiel, where they are named as punishments from God.
In John's revelation:
The first horseman is on a white horse, carrying a bow, and given a crown, riding forward as a figure of Conques perhaps invoking Pestilence, Deadly Epidemic.
The second carries a sword and rides a red horse and is the creator of War.
The third is a food merchant riding upon a black horse, symbolizing Famine.
The fourth and final horse is pale green, and upon it rides Death accompanied by Hades. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth.
With the current corona (covid 19) virus, the fight against this invisible enemy, despite the attempts to stop the invisible enemy the rider on the red horse slays a great number of people.
Next the rider on the black horse arrives, with the world under lockdown and a looming recession, resulting in high unemployment and bankruptcy of many factories and stores which may lead to a shortage of food supplies ultimately resulting in anarchy then Death accompanied by Hades arrive upon the pale green horse.
Just for a moment, imagine a universe awash with life, where we humans are not the only intelligent beings around. What might these alien races look like? Could we communicate with them, or even recognise them as intelligent? And what would they make of our violent and dangerous species?
Might they take one look, and decide not to bother with such primitive beings? A planetary nursery filled with spiteful, galactic infants. On the other hand, in our imaginary scenario, they may enrich us with scientific knowledge beyond our imagination. Or could an encounter with aliens have a more destructive outcome? It could be a bad day for human kind.
But relax, it’s just make believe, it could never happen, could it? A mysterious crash in Roswell, New Mexico during the 1940s convinced many that our planet is being visited by space aliens. Crop circles in Britain have only added fuel to the fire. Few scientists doubt that life indeed exists elsewhere, but some believe we’re more likely to make contact via radio waves. Join the search for extra-terrestrials and hear from scientists who think we are on the verge of making contact.
Bizarre UFOs filmed releasing orbs over St. Petersburg, Russia 25-Mar-2020
Bizarre UFOs filmed releasing orbs over St. Petersburg, Russia 25-Mar-2020
This UFO video was taken over a period of time starting at 8:26PM over St. Petersburg, Russia. At first we see the object in a straight line but after some time the objects group together and begin to drop Orbs to the ground below, upon doing this the witness zooms in on the object and it is in the classic tight triangle formation and just stays there for a while.
Nilometers: Ancient Egypt’s Ingenious Invention Used Until Modern Times
Nilometers: Ancient Egypt’s Ingenious Invention Used Until Modern Times
For thousands of years, nilometers measured the water level of the Nile Riverduring the annual flood season. This, in turn, was used to predict the fortunes of the annual harvest, the taxes to be imposed (which determined the revenues of the state), as well as the prices of foodstuffs. Therefore, the nilometer was a vital instrument for the ancientEgyptiancivilization. The significance of the nilometer is evident in the fact that even after Egypt was conquered by foreign powers, nilometers continued to be utilized. As a matter of fact, the nilometer only became obsolete during the 20 th century, when the Aswan High Dam was completed.
The Nilometers of the Nile
It is well-known that the Nile was the lifeline of ancient Egypt. The Greek historian Herodotus, for instance, referred to Egypt as the “gift of the Nile.” The river not only enabled intensive cultivation along its banks but was also used as a means of transport. The annual flooding of the Nile was the river’s most important natural phenomenon, as it helped to fertilize the agricultural land in the delta by depositing millions of tons of silt each year. In addition, the inundation of the Nile also served to determine when certain religious and civil festivals were to be celebrated, thereby regulating the rhythm of life in ancient Egypt.
The annual flood season of the Nile lasted from July to October and was caused by the summer monsoon rains over the Ethiopian Plateau. The rainwater flows from the highlands into the Nile via its tributaries, including the Blue Nile and the Atbarah River. The water level of the Nile reaches its peak around the end of August, and this level is maintained till early October, after which it gradually goes down.
In addition to the timing of the annual flood, the amount of water brought by the floods was also a crucial aspect of this natural phenomenon. Too much or too little water would have had a negative impact on the lives of those who depended on the river. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians invented the nilometer, a device that measured the water level of the Nile during the annual flooding.
Drawing of a measuring shaft inside of a nilometer from page 88 of “Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travelers and a travel-book for the library,” 1862).
As the nilometer was such an extremely important instrument, it would be reasonable to expect that many of them were built by the ancient Egyptians. Today, however, there are not many examples of the device remaining. According to an article published by National Geographic in 2016, “fewer than two dozen of the devices are known to exist”. It seems likely that some nilometers were destroyed by natural disasters, and not rebuilt. Others were simply not maintained, and left to fall into ruin.
This is the case, for instance, of the nilometer of Helwan, a city to the south of Cairo, on the bank of the Nile opposite the ruins of Memphis. This nilometer is recorded to have been restored or built in 699 AD, about half a century after the Muslim conquest of Egypt. By 714 AD, however, the nilometer was in such a bad state that the Umayyad caliph, Al-Walid I, ordered the governor of Egypt to build a new nilometer.
The Roda Island Nilometer
The new nilometer was built on Roda (or Rhoda / Rawdah) Island, not far from Fustat, Egypt’s capital at that point in time. The island has been an important location since pharaonic times, and served many functions over its long history, including a port, an arsenal, a fortress and a rich garden.
The island’s nilometer, which may be referred to as the Roda nilometer, is located on the southern tip of the island, and is perhaps the most famous example of this ancient device. It may be mentioned the original 8 th century nilometer was destroyed by a flood around 850 AD. A new one, however, was built shortly after the disaster, and is the one that is still standing today.
The current Roda nilometer was designed by the astronomer Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farqhani (known also as Alfraganus in the West). The nilometer has been restored on various occasions, for instance, once between 872 and 873 AD, and again in 1092 AD. Restoration had also been carried out during the Ottoman period, as well as in more recent times.
Ceiling of the nilometer building, an Umayyad era Egyptian water measurement construction, used to measure the level of the Nile, located on Roda Island, River Nile, Cairo, Egypt.
The Roda nilometer consists of two main elements – a well and a column. The well is a 10 m (32.8 ft) wide and square-hole-dug to a depth of 13 m (42.7 ft). One of the challenges that faced the builders of this nilometer was the nature of the ground that they had to work with. In order to create the well, at least 1300 m 3 (4265 ft) of earth and clay had to be removed.
Having done that, the builders needed to stabilize the structure, and to prevent it from sinking into the clay. This was achieved by raising the structure on a foundation of thick tree trunks. The well is lined with stone, and is accessible via a staircase on its interior walls. The well, which is circular at the bottom, but rectangular at the top, has three stories, each having an opening turned towards a different direction. These openings are connected to the Nile through tunnels, and therefore allow water to enter the well during the annual flood season.
How Much was a Good Flood?
The octagonal column is the part of the nilometer that is used to measure the water level of the Nile during its inundation. This column is made of marble, and is set in the center of the well. It is topped with a Corinthian column, and held in place by a wooden beam on the top that spans the nilometer. The column is graded, and is divided into 19 Egyptian cubits, each cubit being about 50 m (164 ft). Therefore, this nilometer was able to measure floods up to about 9.5 m (31.2 ft).
19 cubits of water, however, meant that Egypt was facing severe flooding. When such a situation occurred, children wearing yellow turbans would run in the streets to alert the population of Cairo of the impending disaster. On the other hand, 12 cubits of water was too little, and was a sign that the country would be facing a famine that year. 16 cubits was the ideal amount of flood water that was needed for a bountiful harvest. The Nile’s flood level can also be read using the staircase on the well’s interior walls. The staircase consists of 45 steps, each of which is 24 cm (9.4 in) high. Therefore, the level of the flood waters can be easily calculated by this means.
It may be mentioned that the definition of a ‘good flood level’ was not the same through the ages. The Greek geographer Strabo, for example, wrote that before the time of Petronius (the Roman prefect of Egypt in the 20s BC), “the crop was the largest and the rise the highest when the Nile would rise to fourteen cubits, and when it would rise to only eight a famine would ensue;”. During the time of Petronius, however, “when the nilometer registered only twelve cubits, the crop was the largest, and once, when it registered only eight cubits, no one felt hunger.”
The Roda nilometer was once covered by a conical dome, which was unfortunately destroyed during the French occupation of Egypt. Fortunately, the scientific mission that accompanied the French expedition made careful and thorough descriptions of the Roda nilometer, including its architecture. Thanks to these records, it was possible to make a reconstruction of the dome. The current structure dates to the reign of Farouk I, the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan.
Reconstructed conical structure over the nilometer on the southern tip of Roda Island on the Nile River at Cairo.
One of the differences between the Roda nilometer and its predecessors from the pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods is that the former was not within the compound of a religious structure. Although there is a mosque near the Roda nilometer, this was only built later on, i.e. during the 11 th century.
On the other hand, pharaonic and Greco-Roman nilometers were commonly associated with temples, and were therefore under the control of priests. By accurately predicting the flood level of the Nile, the priests must have looked as though they were performing magic, and would have surely impressed the general population.
One of the temples in which a nilometer has been found is the Temple of Kom Ombo, located 48 km (30 mi) to the north of Aswan. This temple was built during the Ptolemaic period, and is unusual for being a double temple. This means that the temple was dedicated equally to two gods – Sobek and Horus, which is reflected in the temple’s perfect symmetry along its main axis. In any case, the nilometer is located within the compound of the temple, though not in the temple itself.
The Kom Ombo nilometer is noticeably different from its counterpart in Roda. Unlike the latter, the former does not have a column. Instead, the Kom Ombo nilometer consists only of a well. Like the well of the Roda nilometer, the one at Kom Ombo also has steps along the walls of its interior, which allowed the flood level of the Nile to be read. A tunnel with an opening in the well connects the nilometer to the Nile, which lies beyond the temple’s walls. At ground level, the nilometer is identified by a small cylindrical wall.
One of the most important nilometers in Egypt is the one in Elephantine, an island opposite the city of Aswan. For much of Egypt’s ancient history, Elephantine was the country’s southernmost city. Therefore, it was here that the first measurements of the Nile’s flood level for the season would be made. Although the current Elephantine nilometer dates to the Roman period, archaeologists believe that this is a restoration, and that the original pieces were replaced at some point in time. It has also been speculated that the original device may have been the oldest nilometer in Egypt.
Nilometer on the southeast side of Elephantine Island in Aswan, Egypt.
Strabo provides a detailed description of the Elephantine nilometer, which is as follows, “ the nilometer is a well on the bank of the Nile constructed with close-fitting stones, in which are marks showing the greatest, least, and mean rises of the Nile; for the water in the well rises and lowers with the river. Accordingly, there are marks on the wall of the well, measures of the complete rises and of the others. So when watchers inspect these, they give out word to the rest of the people, so that they may know; for long beforehand they know from such signs and the days what the future rise will be, and reveal it beforehand. This is useful, not only to the farmers with regard to the water-distribution, embankments, canals, and other things of this kind, but also to the prefects, with regard to the revenues; for the greater rises indicate that the revenues also will be greater.”
Whilst Egypt came to be ruled by different powers over the course of its long history, the nilometer continued to serve its function. In fact, the collection of taxes based on the level of the Nile’s flooding is recorded to have lasted until the middle of the 20 th century. The nilometer eventually became obsolete when the construction of the Aswan High Dam was completed in 1970 (and formally dedicated in the following year).
The building of the dam marked a big shift in the relationship between the Nile and the people who lived along its banks. For the first time in Egypt’s history, it was man who controlled the annual flooding of the Nile. The Aswan High Dam allowed the floodwaters to be stored in a reservoir, and released only when needed. On the other hand, one of the negative effects of the Aswan High Dam is that silt, which was brought by the annual floods, no longer reached Egypt’s agricultural lands, thereby gradually reducing their fertility.
Although nilometers no longer serve their original function, they have not been abandoned. Instead, they have found new life as both cultural heritage and tourist attractions. The Roda nilometer, for example, has been nominated by the Egyptian government as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , and is currently on its Tentative List.
Top image: The inside of measuring shaft of the Roda nilometer. (Baldiri / CC BY-SA 3.0 )
Ancient Egyptian Blue Pigment Revolutionizes Biomedicine
Ancient Egyptian Blue Pigment Revolutionizes Biomedicine
A German research team has produced new nanosheets for near infrared imaging from ancient ‘Egyptian blue pigment’.
In October 2018, I wrote an Ancient Origins article about Egyptian blue, a brilliant blue color first created in ancient Egypt over 4000 years ago and used to adorn the crown of the world famous bust of Nefertiti. A team of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California has now found the ancient color holds unique qualities that can not only reduce building energy consumption and boost solar energy output, but it also “increases the output of certain types of solar cells, through strong infra-red emissions.”
The international research team was led by Dr Sebastian Kruss from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Göttingen , and in a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications detailing their production of a new “nanomaterial” based on the Egyptian blue pigment. The researchers say Egyptian blue is ideally suited for applications in imaging using “near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and microscopy,” which according to Zeiss is based on the absorption of electromagnetic (EM) radiation when light interacts with a sample and a detector measures its transmittance and absorbance.
The Science Of Egyptian Blue Pigment
Egyptian blue, or properly, “calcium copper silicate,” is one of the earliest artificial pigments created by humans and the oldest known sample is from about 5000 years old, discovered in a tomb painting dated to the reign of Ka-Sen, the last pharaoh of the First Dynasty.
By the time of the New Kingdom, Egyptian blue pigment was an extremely popular and painted onto statues, tomb paintings and sarcophagi. It was also used to produce a ceramic glaze known as ‘Egyptian faience’. And the manufacture of Egyptian blue spread beyond Egypt’s borders across Greece and Rome, leaving its trace on statues from the Parthenon in Athens, and according to an article in Art in Society , 19th century archaeologists discovered Egyptian blue pigment on wall paintings during excavations at Pompeii.
Egyptian blue pigment shabti figures on display in the Egyptian exhibit at the Louvre in France in 2006.
Dr. Kruss said microscopy and optical imaging are important tools in basic research and biomedicine, when light relating substances are excited and release “fluorophores” and these substances stain tiny structures in samples, enabling clear resolution using modern microscopes.
Most fluorophores shine in the range of light in the near infrared spectrum with a wavelength starting at “800 nanometers,” penetrating deep into tissue, therefore, fewer distortions are found in images. And so far, according to the new paper, there are only a few known fluorophores that work in the near infrared spectrum.
Ancient Egyptian Blue Nanosheets
The research team’s big achievement was in exfoliating extremely thin layers from grains of calcium copper silicate, Egyptian blue pigment, and these particular nanosheets are “100,000 times thinner than a human hair” and in the near infrared range, which according to Dr Sebastian Kruss, makes them “ideal for optical imaging.”
Near-infrared image of nanosheets taken from a plant.
Egyptian blue emits infrared light when red light is shone onto it, and while it’s an extraordinarily powerful and long-lived light, it cannot be seen by the naked eye, being too deep in the infrared range of the light spectrum.
The scientists followed the movement of individual nanosheets in order to visualize mechanical processes in the structure of animal and plant tissues, for example, in the cell nuclei of the fruit fly. Furthermore, the researchers integrated the nanosheets into plants and identified them without a microscope, which the paper says promises future applications in the agricultural industry. And Dr Kruss said the potential for state-of-the-art microscopy from this material means that new findings in biomedical research can be expected in the future.
Egyptian blue has a new role in advanced biomedical imaging with its near-infrared radiation being able to penetrate through tissue more effectively than other wavelengths, and for this same reason, because Egyptian blue splits into ‘nanosheets’ – a thousand times thinner than a human hair – if stirred in warm ater for several days, it might serve as a future communication system as its emissions are similar to those used in remote controls and telecommunication devices.
Top image: Egyptian blue pigment: the researchers obtained the nanosheets from this powder. ( University of Göttingen
One large object did not shelter in place over the weekend. NASA
Public health officials advise keeping 6 feet (2 meters) of distance from others during the coronavirus pandemic to avoid potential risks. Astronomers also have a standard distance at which an asteroid is considered "potentially hazardous," and on Sunday a space rock as wide as a football field whipped by us 50 times closer than that threshold.
We obviously have enough to worry about right now, so you can breathe easier knowing that despite coming very close by space standards, there was never any threat the asteroid known simply as 2020 FL2 was going to hit Earth. It passed by Sunday at a distance of 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometers).
Northolt Branch Obs@NBObservatories
Apollo-type asteroid 2020 FL2. Diamter 15-34m. First observed at Purple Mountain Observatory. Close approach, yesterday, 145,000km. 2020 FL2 was moving at a rapid 1,800 arc-minutes per hour. #SpotTheAsteroid@AsteroidDay@NEOShieldTeam@QHYCCD@RoyalAstroSoc
For a little context, NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is located about 932,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth, the moon is 239,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) away and many large satellites orbit at an altitude of 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers). The threshold at which a large asteroid comes close enough to earn the label "potentially hazardous" and warrant monitoring by astronomers is about 4.5 million miles (7.2 million kilometers).
So 2020 FL2's close flyby is kind of like the solar system equivalent of tying a bunch of boats together for a spring break party during a time when everyone with a brain is calling for social distancing to stop the spread of a pandemic. The difference, I suppose, is that the huge asteroid flying above us at 45,000 mph (72,420 km/h) doesn't actually pose a threat to anyone.
John Huddy@JohnHuddyTV
Miami party boat and yacht charters still operating. Plenty of jam packed yachts on Biscayne Bay yesterday. Social distancing be damned indeed.
Social distancing be damned: Miami sandbar jampacked despite coronavirus orders
Social distancing be damned: Miami sandbar jampacked despite coronavirus orders
UPDATE: After this story published Saturday night, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced the closure of all marinas and boat ramps countywide. He added that the Miami-Dade Police Departm...
2020 FL2 was significantly bigger than most asteroids that pass within the moon's orbit, measuring at between 49 and 112 feet (15-34 meters) across. Normally the space rocks that come close are more like the size of a house appliance or a small vehicle and would likely burn up in our atmosphere if they did impact Earth.
This asteroid, however, is more on par with the asteroid that wasn't detected until it was exploding in the sky over Russia in 2013, blowing out thousands of windows in the process.
But again, asteroid 2020 FL2 has already passed by us safely. So please go back to whatever you were doing, as long as you don't do it within 6 feet of me or anyone I know.
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 FL2 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.38 LD / 0.00099 AU (148 101 km / 92 026 miles) on March 22, 2020. This is the 22nd known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and the 3rd this month.
For the millionth time, NASA has issued a statement assuring UFO buffs that what they've seen in an image is not, in fact, an alien.
This time, it was a tiny, pinwheel-shaped smudge in an image snapped by the agency's STEREO camera that captured the interest of extraterrestrial enthusiasts.
"The answer lies on the exact opposite side of the image," the STEREO team wrote in the statement. "At the same time as this strange-looking feature starts being visible, the very bright planet Venus enters the HI2-A field-of-view from the left. Notice that Venus and the feature stay in step almost exactly opposite each other across the middle of the detector."
The object, the note continues, is actually a reflection of the planet within the telescope's optics and is a common occurrence. You can actually see the same shape crop up on otherreadings here and here.
Internal reflections of the planet Earth, as seen in the HI2-B telescope on May 5, 2007. Also visible are the Moon, and the planet Mars. Click on the image to see the full-sized version.
The group also released a graphic explaining what exactly you're seeing in the image.
NASA
Maybe you'll have better luck next time, Agent Mulder.
Astronomers using the Hubble Telescope found that the region around a quasar’s black hole pushes out material at a few percent the speed of light. These quasar tsunamis wreak havoc on the galaxies in which the quasars live.
Artist’s concept of a distant quasar. They’re thought to have supermassive black holes at their cores; they generate energy via infalling matter. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that radiation pressure from a supermassive black hole pushes material away from its galaxy’s center at a fraction of the speed of light. The quasar winds are propelling hundreds of times our sun’s mass outward every year, affecting the whole galaxy as the material snowplows into surrounding gas and dust.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered the most energetic outflows ever witnessed in the universe. They emanate from quasars and tear across interstellar space like tsunamis, wreaking havoc on the galaxies in which the quasars live.
Quasars are extremely remote celestial objects, emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy. Quasars contain supermassive black holes fueled by infalling matter that can shine 1,000 times brighter than their host galaxies of hundreds of billions of stars.
As the black hole devours matter, hot gas encircles it and emits intense radiation, creating the quasar. Winds, driven by blistering radiation pressure from the vicinity of the black hole, push material away from the galaxy’s center. These outflows accelerate to breathtaking velocities that are a few percent of the speed of light. Principal investigator Nahum Arav of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, said:
No other phenomenon carries more mechanical energy. Over the lifetime of 10 million years, these outflows produce a million times more energy than a gamma-ray burst. The winds are pushing hundreds of solar masses of material each year. The amount of mechanical energy that these outflows carry is up to several hundreds of times higher than the luminosity of the entire Milky Way galaxy.
The quasar winds snowplow across the galaxy’s disk. Material that otherwise would have formed new stars is violently swept from the galaxy, causing star birth to cease. Radiation pushes the gas and dust to far greater distances than scientists previously thought, creating a galaxy-wide event.
As this cosmic tsunami slams into interstellar material, the temperature at the shock front spikes to billions of degrees, where material glows largely in X-rays, but also widely across the light spectrum. Anyone witnessing this event would see a brilliant celestial display. Arav said:
You’ll get lots of radiation first in X-rays and gamma rays, and afterwards it will percolate to visible and infrared light. You’d get a huge light show – like Christmas trees all over the galaxy.
Numerical simulations of galaxy evolution suggest that such outflows can explain some important cosmological puzzles, such as why astronomers observe so few large galaxies in the universe, and why there is a relationship between the mass of the galaxy and the mass of its central black hole. This study shows that such powerful quasar outflows should be prevalent in the early universe. Cosmologist Jeremiah P. Ostriker, of Columbia University in New York and Princeton University in New Jersey, commented:
Both theoreticians and observers have known for decades that there is some physical process that shuts off star formation in massive galaxies, but the nature of that process has been a mystery. Putting the observed outflows into our simulations solves these outstanding problems in galactic evolution.
Astronomers studied 13 quasar outflows, and they were able to clock the breakneck speed of gas being accelerated by the quasar wind by looking at spectral “fingerprints” of light from the glowing gas. The Hubble ultraviolet data show that these light absorption features created from material along the path of the light were shifted in the spectrum because of the fast motion of the gas across space. This is due to the Doppler effect, where the motion of an object compresses or stretches wavelengths of light depending on whether it is approaching or receding from us.
Aside from measuring the most energetic quasars ever observed, the team also discovered another outflow accelerating faster than any other. It increased from nearly 43 million miles per hour (70 million kilometers per hour) to roughly 46 million mph (74 million kph) in a three-year period. The scientists believe its acceleration will continue to increase over time. Team member Gerard Kriss of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, said:
Hubble’s ultraviolet observations allow us to follow the whole range of energy output from quasars, from cooler gas to the extremely hot, highly ionized gas in the more massive winds. These were previously only visible with much more difficult X-ray observations. Such powerful outflows may yield new insights into the link between the growth of a central supermassive black hole and the development of its entire host galaxy.
Bottom line: Astronomers using the Hubble Telescope found that the region around a quasar’s black hole pushes out material at a few percent the speed of light. These quasar tsunamis wreak havoc on the galaxies in which the quasars live.
The cosmological constant has plagued physicists for more than a century.
An illustration of galaxies bending the fabric of space-time (green), and the smooth effect of dark energy (purple), which dominates the effects of gravity.
A single number, called the cosmological constant, bridges the microscopic world of quantum mechanics and the macroscopic world of Einstein's theory of general relativity. But neither theory can agree on its value.
In fact, there's such a huge discrepancy between the observed value of this constant and what theory predicts that it is widely considered the worst prediction in the history of physics. Resolving the discrepancy may be the most important goal of theoretical physics this century.
Lucas Lombriser, an assistant professor of theoretical physics at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, has introduced a new way of evaluating Albert Einstein's equations of gravity to find a value for the cosmological constant that closely matches its observed value. He published his method online in the Oct. 10 issue of the journal Physics Letters B.
The story of the cosmological constant began more than a century ago when Einstein presented a set of equations, now known as the Einstein field equations, that became the framework of his theory of general relativity. The equations explain how matter and energy warp the fabric of space and time to create the force of gravity. At the time, both Einstein and astronomers agreed that the universe was fixed in size and that the overall space between galaxies did not change. However, when Einstein applied general relativity to the universe as a whole, his theory predicted an unstable universe that would either expand or contract. To force the universe to be static, Einstein tacked on the cosmological constant.
Nearly a decade later, another physicist, Edwin Hubble, discovered that our universe is not static, but expanding. The light from distant galaxies showed they were all moving away from each other. This revelation persuaded Einstein to abandon the cosmological constant from his field equations as it was no longer necessary to explain an expanding universe. Physics lore has it that Einstein later confessed that his introduction of the cosmological constant was perhaps his greatest blunder.
In 1998, observations of distant supernovas showed the universe wasn't just expanding, but the expansion was speeding up. Galaxies were accelerating away from each other as if some unknown force was overcoming gravity and shoving those galaxies apart. Physicists have named this enigmatic phenomenon dark energy, as its true nature remains a mystery.
In a twist of irony, physicists once again reintroduced the cosmological constant into Einstein's field equations to account for dark energy. In the current standard model of cosmology, known as ΛCDM (Lambda CDM), the cosmological constant is interchangeable with dark energy. Astronomers have even estimated its value based on observations of distant supernovas and fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. Although the value is absurdly small (on the order of 10^-52 per square meter), over the scale of the universe, it is significant enough to explain the accelerated expansion of space.
"The cosmological constant [or dark energy] currently constitutes about 70% of the energy content in our universe, which is what we can infer from the observed accelerated expansion that our universe is presently undergoing. Yet this constant is not understood," Lombriser said. "Attempts to explain it have failed, and there seems to be something fundamental that we are missing in how we understand the cosmos. Unraveling this puzzle is one of the major research areas in modern physics. It is generally anticipated that resolving the issue may lead us to a more fundamental understanding of physics."
The worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics
The cosmological constant is thought to represent what physicists call "vacuum energy." Quantum-field theory states that even in a completely empty vacuum of space, virtual particles pop in and out of existence and create energy — a seemingly absurd idea, but one that has been observed experimentally. The problem arises when physicists attempt to calculate its contribution to the cosmological constant. Their result differs from observations by a mind-boggling factor of 10^121 (that's 10 followed by 120 zeroes), the largest discrepancy between theory and experiment in all of physics.
Such a disparity has caused some physicists to doubt Einstein's original equations of gravity; some have even suggested alternative models of gravity. However, further evidence of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) have only strengthened general relativity and dismissed many of these alternative theories. Which is why instead of rethinking gravity, Lombriser took a different approach to solve this cosmic puzzle.
"The mechanism I propose does not modify Einstein's field equations," Lombriser said. Instead, "it adds an additional equation on top of Einstein's field equations."
The gravitational constant, which was first used in Isaac Newton's laws of gravity and now an essential part of Einstein's field equations, describes the magnitude of the gravitational force between objects. It is considered one of the fundamental constants of physics, eternally unchanged since the beginning of the universe. Lombriser has made the dramatic assumption that this constant can change.
In Lombriser's modification of general relativity, the gravitational constant remains the same within our observable universe but may vary beyond it. He suggests a multiverse scenario where there may be patches of the universe invisible to us that have different values for the fundamental constants.
This variation of gravity gave Lombriser an additional equation that relates the cosmological constant to the average sum of matter across space-time. After he accounted for the estimated mass of all the galaxies, stars and dark matter of the universe, he could solve that new equation to obtain a new value for the cosmological constant — one that closely agrees with observations.
Using a new parameter, ΩΛ (omega lambda), that expresses the fraction of the universe made of dark matter, he found the universe is made up of about 74% dark energy. This number closely matches the value of 68.5% estimated from observations — a tremendous improvement over the huge disparity found by quantum field theory.
Although Lombriser's framework might solve the cosmological constant problem, there’s currently no way to test it. But in the future, if experiments from other theories validate his equations, it could mean a major leap in our understanding of dark energy and provide a tool to solve other cosmic mysteries.
The Atmosphere of Uranus Is Literally Leaking Gas Into Space
MICHELLE STARR
Poor old Uranus just can't seem to catch a break. Something already tipped the planet on its side, so its orbit is perpendicular to those of the other Solar System planets. It probably smells terrible. And now scientists have discovered that the atmosphere of Uranus is leaking out into space.
Hidden in the data from Voyager 2's historic 1986 encounter with the icy planet, and undiscovered until now, was the presence of a plasmoid - a pocket of atmospheric material being funnelled away from Uranus by the planet's magnetic field.
It's the first time a plasmoid has been spotted in connection with an ice giant, and it doesn't just show us that Uranus' atmosphere is leaking. It's also revealing some of the dynamics of this planet's peculiar, twisted magnetic field.
Actually, leaky atmospheres aren't that uncommon. It's called atmospheric escape, and it's how Mars, for example, turned from what we think was quite a damp planet into a dusty barren wasteland. Venus is leaking hydrogen. Jupiter's moon Io and Saturn's moon Titan are leaking. Even Earth is losing about 90 tonnes of atmospheric material a day (don't worry, we have around 5,140 trillion tonnes, it will take a long time to completely disappear).
There are several mechanisms whereby this can occur, and one of those is through plasmoids. These are large, cylindrical bubbles of plasma - ionised gas - bound by magnetic field lines streaming away from the Sun, the region known as the magnetotail. The image above shows what that looks like for Earth.
Ions from the atmosphere are channelled along the magnetic field into this region. When the solar wind causes the magnetic field to break at the side facing the Sun - the bow shock - they whip around and reconnect in the tail, pinching off spinning plasmoids. Some of the ions bounce back towards the planet (producing, on Earth, auroras), and the plasmoid hurtles off in the opposite direction, taking the atmospheric ions with it.
For Earth, that's pretty straightforward and well understood. And there's evidence solar wind tears plasmoids off Mars on a daily basis in a slightly different fashion, since Mars doesn't have a global magnetic field.
But Uranus is a tricky beast of a planet, and let's be honest, its magnetic field is a straight-up mess.
Where Earth's magnetic field is more or less consistent with the planet's orientation, Uranus' is all twisted sideways, with the magnetic poles angled 59 degrees away from the geographic poles. And it's not even centred. If you were to draw a line between those two poles, it would miss the centre of Uranus by quite a large distance.
It was this mess of a magnetic field that drew the attention of astronomers Gina DiBraccio and Dan Gershman of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who were planning potential planetary missions and thought this particular oddity would be a good starting point.
They were studying the data collected by Voyager 2's magnetometer in January 1986 in higher resolution than any previous research when they noticed a wiggle in the data, a blip in the magnetic field.
They processed the data and came to the conclusion that, yep. Even though Uranus has a weirdly skewed, wobbly magnetic field, that blip did indeed represent a plasmoid, roughly 204,000 kilometres in length and 400,000 kilometres across (127,000 by 250,000 miles), likely full of ionised hydrogen, moving away from the planet.
And this reveals some new information about that magnetic field. According to the researchers' analysis, it shows that Uranus' magnetic field reconnects at the tail, like Earth's. It also suggests that internal forces play a role in the planet's magnetic dynamics.
And, of course, it reveals a mechanism whereby Uranus could be losing a substantial amount of mass, transported away by plasmoids.
The Voyager data used for this analysis is over two decades old, so the researchers suggest the best way to find out more is to send another probe to check it all out.
"The nature of magnetospheric circulation and mass-loss processes remain outstanding and essential topics at both Uranus and Neptune," they wrote in their paper.
"In order to definitively determine the relative contributions of planetary rotation and solar wind forcing in driving global plasma dynamics, new in situ measurements will be necessary. Until then, the enigmatic ice giant magnetospheres await further exploration."
Navy Seal Whistleblower! Inside Intel - New Project Camelot Interview!
Navy Seal Whistleblower! Inside Intel - New Project Camelot Interview!
Robert has a fascinating life story that brought him face to face with the Committee of 300, the ET Controllers and more. He was a Navy Seal who ended up working for Bush Sr. and John McCain and has traveled in some very dark circles.
Ancient Acoustic Levitation is Evident in Egyptian, Mayan, Incan and Indian Cultures
Ancient Acoustic Levitation is Evident in Egyptian, Mayan, Incan and Indian Cultures
COAST TO COAST AM –
Douglas Stearns argued that the ancients had access to advanced sound technology, which is expressed in the similar architecture and building techniques seen in Egyptian, Mayan, Incan, Indian, and other cultures separated by time and distance.
The ancients were masters of resonance and vibration, changing sound frequencies to alter the atomic forms of matter, he hypothesized, and this was how they created levitation or antigravity technology such as when the Egyptians moved giant and numerous blocks of stone to build the pyramids.
Buried inside data that NASA's iconic Voyager 2 spacecraft gathered at Uranus more than 30 years ago is the signature of a massive bubble that may have stolen a blob of the planet's gassy atmosphere.
That's according to scientists who analyzed archived Voyager 2 observations of the magnetic field around Uranus. These measurements had been studied before, but only using a relatively coarse view. In the new research, scientists instead looked at those measurements every two seconds. That detail showed what had previously been missed: an abrupt zigzag in the magnetic field readings that lasted just one minute of the spacecraft's 45-hour journey past Uranus.
The tiny wobble in the Voyager 2 data represents something much larger since the spacecraft was flying so fast. Specifically, the scientists behind the new research believe the zigzag marks a plasmoid, a type of structure that wasn't understood particularly well at the time of the flyby in January 1986.
But by now, plasmoids have earned scientists' respect. A plasmoid is a massive bubble of plasma, which is a soup of charged particles. Plasmoids can break off from the tip of the sleeve of magnetism surrounding a planet like a teardrop.
Scientists have studied these structures at Earth and nearby planets, but never at Uranus or its neighbor Neptune, since Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to date ever to visit those planets.
Scientists want to know about plasmoids because these structures can pull charged particles out of a planet's atmosphere and fling them into space. And if you change a planet's atmosphere, you change the planet itself. And Uranus' situation is particularly complicated because the planet rotates on its side and its magnetic field is skewed from both that axis and the plane all the planets lie in.
A Voyager 2 photo of Uranus taken on Jan. 14, 1986. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Because Voyager 2 flew straight through this plasmoid, scientists could use the archived data to measure the structure, which they believe was about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) across and could have stretched 127,000 miles (204,000 km) long, according to a NASA statement.
Ideally, scientists would piece together more observations of Uranus' magnetic field, enough to better understand how this phenomenon has shaped the planet over time. But that will require another spacecraft visit the strange sideways world.
The research is described in a paper published in August in the journal Geophysical Review Letters. NASA announced the finding on Wednesday (March 25).
Science fiction has always been a medium for futuristic imagination and while different colored aliens and intergalactic travel are yet to be discovered, there is an array of technologies that are no longer figments of the imagination thanks to the world of science fiction. Some of the creative inventions that have appeared in family-favorite movies like "Back to the Future" and "Total Recall," are now at the forefront of modern technology. Here are a few of our favorite technologies that went from science fiction to reality.
1. The mobile phone
The communicator was often used to communicate back to the USS Enterprise.
It's something that almost everyone has in their pockets. Mobile phones have become a necessity in modern life with a plethora of remarkable features. The first mobile phone was invented in 1973, the Motorola DynaTAC. It was a bulky thing that weighed 2.4 lbs. (1.1 kilograms) and had a talk time of about 35 minutes. It also cost thousands of dollars.
The Motorola DynaTAC was invented by Martin Cooper, who led a team that created the phone in just 90 days. A long-standing rumor was that Cooper got his inspiration from an episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk used his hand-held communications device. However, Cooper stated in a 2015 interview that the original inspiration was from a comic strip called Dick Tracy, in which the character used a "wrist two-way radio."
2. The universal translator
Star Trek characters would often come across alien life with different languages. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures/CBS Studios) (Image credit: Paramount Pictures/CBS Studios)
From: "Star Trek: The Original Series"
While exploring space, characters such as Captain Kirk and Spock would come across alien life who spoke a different language. To understand the galactic foreigners, the Star Trek characters used a device that immediately translated the alien's unusual language. Star Trek's universal communicator was first seen on screen as Spock tampered with it in order to communicate with a non-biological entity (Series 2 Episode 9, Metamorphosis).
Although the idea in Star Trek was to communicate with intelligent alien life, a device capable of breaking down language barriers would revolutionize real-time communication. Now, products such as Sourcenext's Pocketalk and Skype's new voice translation service are capable of providing instantaneous translation between languages. Flawless real-time communication is far off, but the technological advancements over the last decade mean this feat is within reach.
3. Teleportation
The transporter is an iconic feature of the original Star Trek series. (Image credit: Paramount/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo) (Image credit: Paramount/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo)
From: "Star Trek: The Original Series"
The idea behind "beaming" someone up was that a person could be broken down into an energy form (dematerialization) and then converted back into matter at their destination (rematerialization). Transporting people this way on Star Trek's USS Enterprise had been around since the very beginning of the series, debuting in the pilot episode.
Scientists haven't figured out how to teleport humans yet, but they can teleport balls of energy known as photons. In this case, teleportation is based on a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. This refers to a condition in quantum mechanics where two entangled particles may be very far from one another, yet remain connected so that actions performed on one affect the other, regardless of distance. The information exchange between the two photons occurs at least 10,000 times faster than the speed of light.
This hologram of Princess Leia features the iconic line, "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." (Image credit: Lucasfilm/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo) (Image credit: Lucasfilm/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo)
From: "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope"
Not long into the first Star Wars movie, Obi-Wan Kenobi receives a holographic message. By definition, a hologram is a 3D image created from the interference of light beams from a laser onto a 2D surface, and can only be seen in one angle.
In 2018, researchers from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, created a real hologram. Their technique, called volumetric display, works like an Etch-A-Sketch toy, but uses particles at high speeds. With lasers, researchers can trap particles and move them into a designated shape while another set of lasers emit red, green and blue light onto the particle and create an image. But so far, this can only happen on extremely small scales.
Even though using prosthetics had been common for a long time, Star Wars sparked an idea for bionic prosthetics. (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm) (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)
From: "Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back"
Imagine getting your hand chopped off by your own father and falling to the bottom of a floating building to then have your long-lost sister come and pick you up. It's unlikely in reality, but not in the Star Wars movies. After losing his hand, Luke Skywalker receives a bionic version that has all the functions of a normal hand. This scenario is now more feasible than the previous one.
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, have been developing a way for amputees to control each of their prosthetic fingers using an ultrasonic sensor. In the movie, Skywalker's prosthesis uses electromyogram sensors attached to his muscles. The sensors can be switched into different modes and are controlled by the flexing or contracting of his muscles. The prosthesis created by the Georgia Tech researchers, however, uses machine learning and ultrasound signals to detect fine finger-by-finger movement.
6. Digital Billboards
In Blade Runner, digital billboards were used to decorate the dystopian metropolis of Los Angeles. (Image credit: Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection/Alamy Stock Photo) (Image credit: Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection/Alamy Stock Photo)
From: "Blade Runner"
Director Ridley Scott presents a landscape shot of futuristic Los Angeles in the movie "Blade Runner." While scanning the skyscrapers, a huge, digital, almost-cinematic billboard appears on one of the buildings. This pre-internet concept sparked the imagination of Andrew Phipps Newman, the CEO of DOOH.com. DOOH — which stands for Digital Out Of Home — is a company dedicated to providing live, dynamic advertisements through the use of digital billboards. The company is now at the forefront of advertising as it offers a more enticing form; one that will make people stop and stare.
Digital billboards have come a long way since DOOH was founded in 2013. They have taken advantage of crowded cities, such as London and New York, to utilize this unique advertising tactic. Perhaps the more recent "Blade Runner 2049" will bring us even more new technologies.
The "Blade Runner" story heavily revolves around the idea of synthetic humans, which require artificial intelligence (AI). Some people might be worried about the potential fallout of giving computers intelligence, which has had disastrous consequences in many science-fiction works. But AI has some very useful applications in reality. For instance, astronomers have trained machines to find exoplanets using computer-based learning techniques. While sifting through copious amounts of data collected by missions such as NASA's Kepler and TESS missions, AI can identify the telltale signs of an exoplanet lurking in the data.
The inside design of the spacecraft in 2001: A Space Odyssey strikes an uncanny resemblance to the ISS. (Image credit: MGM/THE KOBAL COLLECTION) (Image credit: MGM/THE KOBAL COLLECTION)
From: "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Orbiting Earth in "2001: A Space Odyssey" is Space Station V, a large establishment located in low-Earth orbit where astronauts can bounce around in microgravity. Does this sound familiar?
The Space Station V provided inspiration for the International Space Station (ISS), which has been orbiting the Earth since 1998 and currently accommodates up to six astronauts at a time. Although Space Station V appears much more luxurious, the ISS has accomplished much more science. The ISS has been fundamental to microgravity research since the start of its construction in 1998.
The Space Station V wasn't just an out-of-this-world holiday experience, it was also employed as a pit-stop before traveling to the Moon and other long-duration space destinations. The proposed Deep Space Gateway would be a station orbiting the moon that would serve a similar purpose.
Tablets today are capable of recognizing fingerprints and even facial features of their owner for better security. (Image credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo) (Image credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo)
From: "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Tablets are wonderful handheld computers that can be controlled at the press of a finger. These handy devices are used by people across the globe, and even further upwards on the ISS. Apple claims to have invented the tablet with the release of its iPad. However, Samsung made an extremely interesting case in court that Apple was wrong: Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke did, by including the device in 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968.
In the film, Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole watch news updates from their flat-screen computers, which they called "newspads." Samsung claimed that these "newspads" were the original tablet, featured in a film over 40 years before the first iPad arrived in 2010. This argument was not successful though, as the judge ruled that Samsung could not utilize this particular piece of evidence.
10. Hoverboards
Marty McFly was able to hover over any surface, even water, with the hoverboard. (Image credit: Universal Pictures/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo) (Image credit: Universal Pictures/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo)
From: "Back to the Future Part II"
The Back to the Future trilogy is a highly enjoyable trio of time-traveling adventures, but it is Part II that presents the creators' vision of 2015. The film predicted a far more outlandish 2015 than what actually happened just five years ago, but it got one thing correct: hoverboards, just like the one Marty McFly "borrows" to make a quick escape.
Although they aren't as widespread as the film perceives, hoverboards now exist. The first real one was created in 2015 by Arx Pax, a company based in California. The company invented the Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA™) used to provide the levitation of a hoverboard. The board generates a magnetic field, which in turn creates an eddy current, which then creates another opposing magnetic field. These magnetic fields repel each other against a copper "hoverpark" that provides lift.
11. Driverless cars
Johnny Cab wasn't able to move unless he had the destination, ultimately leading to his demise. (Image credit: TriStar Pictures) (Image credit: TriStar Pictures)
From: "Total Recall"
In the 1990 film, set in 2084, Total Recall's main protagonist Douglas Quaid (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) finds himself in the middle of a sci-fi showdown on Mars. In one scene Quaid is on the run from the bad guys and jumps into a driverless car. In the front is "Johnny Cab," which is the car's on-board computer system. All Johnny needs is an address to take the car to its intended destination.
Although the driverless car wasn't seen in action before the protagonist yells profanities and takes over the driving, the idea of having a car that takes you to your destination using its onboard satellite navigation has become increasingly popular. The company at the forefront of driverless cars is Waymo, as they want to eradicate the human error and inattention that results in dangerous and fatal accidents.
In 2017, NASA stated its intentions to help in the production of driverless cars, as they would improve the technologies of robotic vehicles on extraterrestrial surfaces such as the Moon or Mars.
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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..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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