A former Wales football player captured a very interesting video of a mysterious glowing orb in the night sky. Simon Church was outside enjoying the starry night when he noticed a bright round object floating through the sky before completely disappearing.

He posted the video to his Twitter account with the caption, “Just seen the craziest thing whilst having a look at Venus tonight. It was way [too] high to be a drone and then just disappeared,” and with the hashtags #ufo, #ufosighting, #crazy, and #whatdoyouthink. He tried to make light of the situation, joking that he may have been going crazy after going into a national Coronavirus lockdown, “It was moving quickly then just disappeared surely can’t be going mad after day 2 of isolation…,” he wrote.

Simon Church

So far, more than 20,000 people have viewed the footage with several people giving their opinions on what Church captured on video. One user wrote, “That’s the real deal. Congratulations amazing capture,” while another posted, “Deffo ufo. If [you’re] in Wales near St Athan it is UK Area 51.”

Others weren’t so convinced that it was of extraterrestrial origin as some suggested that it was a Chinese lantern, the International Space Station, or satellites. Church even admitted that it was more than likely the ISS, “After watching it there it must [have] been the space station cool to watch but gutted it’s not Mars Attacks,” he wrote.

The footballer attempted to get a better view of the object by zooming in on it but unfortunately it just made the footage grainier. So, did Church actually capture a UFO on video or was it the ISS? You can decide for yourself as the video can be seen on his Twitter account as well as here.

This isn’t the first time in recent months that a professional football player has been linked with UFOs and aliens. Just a few months ago, Diego Maradona claimed that he had been abducted by aliens. In an interview with Argentine sports channel TyC Sports, he was asked if he believed in UFOs and that’s when he made the surprising claim. “Why make things up? Once, after a few too many drinks, I was missing from home for three days,” he stated, adding, “I got home and said that UFOs had taken me. I said, ‘They took me, I can’t tell you about it’.” While it’s not certain whether he just had a drunken three-day blackout or if he really was abducted by extraterrestrials, it’s definitely an interesting claim to say the least.

This bizarre object stunned footballer Simon Church 

(Image: Twitter/@churchy18)

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-03-2020 om 16:47 geschreven door peter  

Mention the notorious MIB and most people will instantly think of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones – such is the incredible success of the Men in Black movie franchise, which began back in the 1990s. Of course, those with an interest in the paranormal mysteries of our world will know that the movies were based upon real reports of encounters with mysterious, dangerous men dressed in black, ones who were intent on silencing people who had encountered UFOs, aliens, and even the likes of Bigfoot and the Mothman. There is, however, one big difference between Hollywood’s MIB and those of the real world. Smith and Jones characters – J and K – are the employees of a secret agency that oversees the alien presence on our planet. In other words, they are what we might accurately term ufological 007s. In reality, however, the Men in Black are clearly not government agents: they don’t even look human. That’s because they’re not.

“Pauline,” who I interviewed in 2013, had a very strange encounter with a Man in Black back in October 1973, when she was living in Pasadena, California. It’s notable, and probably relevant, for me to reveal that a major UFO wave was going on at that time, and all across the United States. While hiking in the California hills one Sunday morning, Pauline encountered a classic, silver-colored flying saucer-style UFO which, at first, at least, was high in the sky. Suddenly, it dropped to around fifty or sixty above her, hanging there in an odd, wobbling fashion. Amazed, Pauline could only stare as the silent craft bobbed around – like a boat on churning waters – and then shot away at high speed.

Pauline raced home and excitedly told her family of what had just taken place. They, apparently, weren’t the only ones who knew what had occurred on the fateful morning in 1973. Three days later, and after sunset, Pauline had a visitor. Not a welcome one, I should stress. It was a Man in Black, a skinny – almost emaciated – old man, dressed in a shabby black suit, looking pale and ill, and wearing an old, 1950s-style fedora hat. Pauline said that she felt her mind was briefly enslaved, as the MIB near-hypnotically asked her to invite him into her home. In a slight daze, and to her eternal cost, she did exactly that. She retreated to the couch, stumbling slightly and feeling ice-cold. The old man followed her, and stood in the living-room, looming over her, as he warned her – in no uncertain terms – never to discuss her close encounter again. Ever.

The MIB then turned around and headed to the door. At that exact same moment, Pauline felt her mental faculties return to normal and she raced after him, just as he exited the door and closed it behind him. Pauline threw the door open wide, only to find the old Man in Black gone. In his place, however, was something else: it was a large, black dog with bright red eyes. It snapped and snarled in Pauline’s direction and in what was clearly a deeply malevolent, dangerous fashion. She stared in horror as the glowing-eyed monster prowled around the yard, clearly intent on adding to the malevolent atmosphere that was already firmly in place. Suddenly, and as if out of nowhere, a black Cadillac – that looked decades-old in design – appeared and screeched to a halt outside of Pauline’s home. It should be noted, here, that the MIB almost always drive such cars of that particular type, age and color.

Pauline watched, shocked and scared, as the back door on the driver’s-side opened and the fiendish black hound bounded across the front yard and leapt into the back of the Cadillac, which shot away at high speed! Today, Pauline – now a grandmother and someone who is fairly comfortable about sharing her bizarre experience – is of a firm opinion that the aged MIB and the red-eyed beast were one and the same. As Pauline sees it, something unexplained, but also something which could take on “different disguises” as it saw fit. As controversial as that might sound, let’s not forget that we saw in a previous chapter how, in England of centuries ago, so-called phantom black dogs were said to possess the ability to shapeshift into human form and vice-versa.

Moving on, but still focused on Pasadena, California – interestingly enough – there is the very strange story of the “Maxwell” family, who I met and spoke with in 2014. In the summer of 1987, they spent a week vacationing in and around San Francisco, staying with friends in Menlo Park. On their way back home, they traveled along California’s famous Highway 101, which provides a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, and for mile upon mile. They chose to drive through the night, when the highway would be at its least busy; thinking that it would be to their benefit. How completely and utterly wrong they were. As fate would destine to have it, after a couple of hours of driving, the family of four spotted a strange light in the sky. It was described as a bright green ball of light, about the size of a beach-ball, one which paced their car and that stayed with them for a couple of miles, at a height of around sixty feet. There was nothing frightening about the encounter. Rather, they were all amazed and excited. It wasn’t long, however, before things got very disturbing.

The day after the Maxwell’s got home was a Sunday, meaning they had an extra day before returning to work and school. It was while one of the teenage children was sat on the porch and playing music on an old Walkman that she caught sight of a man on the other side of the road. He was dressed completely in black, aside from a white shirt. He even wore black gloves, on what was a bright, summery day. The girl was particularly disturbed by the fact that the man sported a weird grin and was staring right at her. So unsettled was she that she went back into the home and told her father of what had just happened. He quickly went to the door but – no surprise – the MIB was gone.

Later that same night, the girl had a frightening and graphic dream – if that is all it was – of the very same Man in Black standing next to her bed and staring at her in malevolent style. She woke suddenly, around 3:00 a.m., soaked in sweat. On the following night, the girl’s younger brother had a similar dream. And, two days later the husband and wife saw a pair of creepy, pale MIB clearly watching, and following, them in a local supermarket. Oddly, as the husband, angry and confused by what was going on, decided to confront them, they headed quickly to another aisle and vanished – as in literally. They were nowhere to be seen.

Matters reached their conclusion on the next night, when Mr. Maxwell was woken up by the sounds of loud scratching at the front-door; scratching which strongly suggested some form of wild animal was trying to get in the home. He decided to try and catch the beast off-guard and raced into the backyard and to a gate that gave access to a small alley between his and the house next door. He crept along, reached the front of the house, and peered at the front-door. To his horror, there was no monster, but a man – in black, it scarcely needs saying – crouched down and pawing at the door in deranged style.

Mr. Maxwell shouted in his direction, at which point the MIB stopped what it was doing, stood up to a height of around seven-feet, and stared directly at him. Then, in an instant, the figure dropped to the floor, took on a wolf-like appearance, and bounded off into the darkness, leaving a shell-shocked and trauma-filled witness behind it. The MIB that became a wolf was not seen again and the Maxwell’s did not experience anything else untoward. The strange series of events was finally at its end.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-03-2020 om 16:25 geschreven door peter  

Many people may not realize it, but far above our heads, out in space in orbit around our planet away from where the eye can see is a giant junkyard. There, clogging our orbit is all manner of debris, including nonfunctional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, spent rocket stages, derelict satellites, and a hodgepodge of millions and millions of pieces of miscellaneous junk we have discarded into space. It spreads out in a vast sea of garbage which, although luckily invisible to us on the ground, creates a hazard for spacecraft and satellites. Yet, according to some wild stories, there is more than just garbage up there spinning about our planet past where the eye can see, and one of the strangest of these is a supposed broken alien spaceship complete with entombed alien bodies orbiting the earth.

In 1979, the Soviet astrophysicist Sergei Boshich came forward with the spectacular claim that he had found evidence of what he called a crippled alien spacecraft that had broken up into pieces and was hovering in orbit. By his estimates, he had thus far managed to track 10 pieces of wreckage from the spacecraft, several of which he estimated as being around 100 feet in length. Boshich said he had calculated the trajectories of the debris and come to the conclusion that they had scattered from some sort of space explosion on December 18, 1955, and even more bizarre was that it was his assertion that this mysterious derelict craft was likely now a tomb containing the bodies of the ship’s occupants. It sounds like the rantings of a conspiracy nutcase, but there were allegedly others who backed up these findings, including one Soviet astrophysicist and science fiction writer Aleksandr Kazantsev, who would say “Its size would suggest several floors, possibly five. We believe that alien bodies will still be on board.”

The scientists were quick to rule out the possibility that it could be space junk originating from Earth, as the purported explosion predated the first human object in space, which would have been the Sputnik 1 launched in 1957. They also denied that it could be a meteor, as it was maintaining a steady orbit rather than the falling of a meteor. According to Boshich and his team of scientists, all evidence pointed to an alien craft that had blown up in space, and one Moscow physicist, Dr Vladimir Azhazha, would say:

Meteors do not have orbits. They plummet aimlessly, hurtling erratically through space. And they do not explode spontaneously. All the evidence we have gathered over the past decade points to one thing — a crippled alien craft. It must hold secrets we have not even dreamed of. A rescue mission should be launched. The vessel, or what is left of it, should be reassembled here on Earth. The benefits to mankind could be stupendous.

Apparently the discovery generated interest from the Americans as well, and according to the story there was some degree of cooperation among them to come up with a plan to salvage the crippled spacecraft and possibly even board it. One problem was that the Soviets were being very secretive with the information they had, which generated skepticism from British scientists. One British scientist would say:

There are more than 4,000 pieces of wreckage orbiting the Earth. Each has a catalogue number to identify it. We would like to know the catalogue number of this wreck. It is possible to date wreckage after a considerable number of observations. Like the Americans, we would be interested to look at this if the Russians make the information available.

Quite interesting is what was pointed out in a 1969 article in the magazine Icarus, in which astronomer John Bagby claimed to have found 10 moonlets in orbit around the earth, which he had calculated had spread from a single source on the date December 18, 1955, the same day as was claimed by Boshich 10 years later. The story of what had gone on to be called “The Boshich Wreckage” was printed in various news sources at the time, and generated a fair amount of speculation and conspiracies. One was that, although there was no official confirmation that an actual salvage mission had actually been launched, the Americans and Soviets had secretly gone and done it. Another theory was that this was all a smokescreen put out by the Soviets to cause misinformation in the Cold War of the period, a total fabrication quite possibly based on the article in Icarus.

Of course there is also the possibility that the whole story is a big sham to begin with. Although the discovery was printed in a wide variety of publications, it all originated with an article in the British tabloid newspaper Reveille, which is in many ways sort of like The National Enquirer and not known for being a particularly trustworthy news source. It furthermore seems that there is no real confirmation that any of this ever happened at all, and so rather than some conspiracy maybe it was all just made up by some bored newspaper writer. What is going on with this all? Was it ever really real in any sense, and if so, how? Was this some conspiracy launched by the Russians to mess with the United States, a real crashed UFO floating around in space, a cover-up, or just an entertaining yarn? Whatever it may be, it is certainly a curious little account, and one wonders just what became of this all in the end.

A special thanks to Steve Baxter for the cover artwork on this article.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-03-2020 om 16:10 geschreven door peter  

Although I’m not a fan of the History Channel’s show Project Blue Book, I had to watch the latest episode, as it was titled “Operation Mainbrace.” My dad, who was a U.K. Royal Air Force radar mechanic for three years, was directly involved in the radar aspects of several UFO events that occurred during the operation. For those who may not know, Mainbrace took place in September 1952 in the North Sea and the English Channel. It was a NATO operation designed to show the Russians what the West could do in the event that things threatened to turn bad. It was my dad’s decision to tell me – when I was a kid – about his UFO experiences and that’s what got me interested in the UFO mystery. As usual for Project Blue Book, the History Channel exaggerated the real story to a laughable degree. We are “treated” to (A) the sight of a gigantic UFO coming out of the raging, stormy waters, (B)  a U.S. Navy cover-up, and (C) mysterious activity deep under the churning depths. We even see an appearance from none other than John F. Kennedy – not as president, of course, but when he was a senator. I gave my dad a call this morning (March 25) to tell him about the show. He thought it sounded hilarious, and we had a good laugh about it.

The big irony is that there was no point in altering the Mainbrace story in a crazy and convoluted fashion. There were plenty of genuine, weird aspects to the Mainbrace story that could have made for a very cool episode. The show, however, has its own approach. Of the episodes I’ve seen so far (which is around 6 or 7 episodes) the production company insists on chopping and changing history to an incredible degree. For example, there were the episodes on (A) the Flatwoods Monster and (B) the Kelly-Hopkinsville “goblins” saga, both of the 1950s. They were two episodes I watched. Just like the Mainbrace episode, those two stories also had enough real, fantastic aspects attached to them. But, distortion was the name of the game – even though it was clearly not needed. With that said, let me acquaint you with some of the genuine encounters that occurred during Mainbrace – and how they would have been perfect for the show.

One of the men who was involved in Mainbrace was Ken Dayman, who worked on radar during the NATO exercise. He told me: ““We would do shifts, and I would read out the plots and the girls would then plot them on a big map. Well, over the course of two days in 1952, something strange happened. On the first day, somebody said: ‘Look, there’s something happening on the screen!’ There were about three or four of us watching as something was speeding across the screen; and this was fast, very fast. It looked like there were actually two objects and they were approaching from the North Sea and flew across Lincolnshire, Peterborough and then up the country at about 2,000 miles per hour. Well, an officer was called and he made some comment. But then our commanding officer arrived and reminded us not to talk about this as we’d signed the Official Secrets Act. But this happened over a couple of days and the UFOs were tracked by several shifts – not just ours.”

Now, let’s take a look at the story of William Maguire, who I was also able to interview personally. As Bill told me: “From the early part of 1950, I did my basic training for a few months, and the rest of the year I did technical training and worked on radar and became an instructor. By 1951 I was operative at RAF Sennen, near Land’s End in Cornwall. I was a junior NCO [Author’s Note: Non-Commissioned Officer], a corporal; but at the time of this incident in 1952, I was a senior aircraftsman; I was on the sports committee and helped edit the station magazine. Most of my five years in the RAF was peace and quiet.”

Bill continued: “We would be called out to go to different RAF stations when they required an accurate reading of their radar instruments from experienced people. So, I was all over the damned place. Usually, it was made clear to us where we were going. You’d get a travel warrant and there’s a truck waiting and usually it’s got windows you can see out of; but in this case they were closed. Well, we were driven to a location which I believe was very close to RAF Sandwich in Kent and this was night-time. I’d been to Sandwich before, but the actual location was just a field – sort of nowhere. I have a feeling that this particular place is not in any book. It was very hush-hush. The machinery looked quite standard – all to do with detection and observation – but what did surprise me as an experienced radar operator was the extent of the machines. They were able to see right across to Eastern Europe and parts of Russia and way over to Sweden, which I hadn’t realized at that time we could do. My memory was that everything was in a complete flap. Normally, in a military situation everything is ordered, regular and set out. But here was a situation that was plainly out of control. Mechanics were flying about all over the place.”

Bill concluded: “The mechanics were being blamed for not calibrating the instruments properly; we were being blamed for not interpreting the readings properly. But the obvious answer staring us in the face, on every single instrument on the base, was the fact that there was sitting up at an unbelievable height, this enormous thing with the equivalent mass of a warship and it just stood there…and stood there…and stood there.”

Now, we come to another amazing story that occurred at the height of Mainbrace. It all went down at Royal Air Force Topcliffe in Yorkshire, U.K. Flight Lieutenant John Kilburn prepared a report on what happened for senior officers. It reads as follows: “Sir, I have the honor to report the following incident which I witnessed on Friday, 19th September, 1952. I was standing with four other aircrew personnel of No. 269 Squadron watching a Meteor fighter gradually descending. The Meteor was at approximately 5000 feet and approaching from the east. [Flight Officer R.N.] Paris suddenly noticed a white object in the sky at a height between ten and twenty thousand feet some five miles astern of the Meteor.”

Kilburn added: “The object was silver in color and circular in shape, it appeared to be traveling at a much slower speed than the Meteor but was on a similar course. It maintained the slow forward speed for a few seconds before commencing to descend, swinging in a pendular motion during descent similar to a falling sycamore leaf…After a few seconds, the object stopped its pendulous motion and its descent and began to rotate about its own axis. Suddenly it accelerated at an incredible speed towards the west turning onto a south-easterly heading before disappearing. All this occurred in a matter of fifteen to twenty seconds. The movements of the object were not identifiable with anything I have seen in the air and the rate of acceleration was unbelievable.”

So, what we have are multiple radar-based UFO incidents during Mainbrace. We have the words of Bill Maguire, who was involved in the tracking of a UFO “with the equivalent mass of a warship.” And, a group of military personnel at Topcliffe witnessed a UFO perform incredible maneuvers over a military base. And that was just the start of things: there are now dozens of Mainbrace-based cases on record. You may disagree with me, but as I see it, the reality of Mainbrace is far more intriguing than the History Channel’s version of events!

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-03-2020 om 15:12 geschreven door peter  

AMAZING: Triangle UFO over Minneapolis, MN 27-Mar-2020

Another great UFO footage was just submitted to us through our Facebook page. This was filmed in the night sky above Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday, 27th March 2020.

What do you think this was? Please leave your comment below!

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

29-03-2020 om 01:03 geschreven door peter  

By Emily Conover

Chalk up a potential third win for hypothetical particles called axions.

If the subatomic particles exist, they could solve two pressing puzzles of particle physics: the source of the dark matter that fills galaxies with invisible mass, and the reason why interactions between quarks — the particles that make up protons and neutrons — adhere to a certain symmetry of nature, called CP symmetry, that other types of particle interactions eschew.

Now, two researchers say that axions could solve a third thorny problem: why the universe is made mostly of matter, while antimatter is rare. In the early universe, the axion could have behaved in a manner that produces an excess of matter, particle physicists Raymond Co and Keisuke Harigaya suggest in the March 20 Physical Review Letters.

“They have an idea which has all the right ingredients to do some interesting things,” says physicist Michael Dine of the University of California, Santa Cruz. But it remains to be seen whether the idea can fully reproduce the properties of the cosmos, he says. “This is one of those cases where the devil is in the details.”

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

29-03-2020 om 00:37 geschreven door peter  

Tim Hinchliffe

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!”

As a thought exercise, let’s take a look at one of the 38 research papers that the DIA disclosed it had funded as part of its “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program” called “Warp Drive, Dark Energy and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions.”

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.

{ https://sociable.co/ }

28-03-2020 om 23:44 geschreven door peter  

Tim Hinchliffe

“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.

Jack Sarfatti@JackSarfatti

"There is zero G-force inside Tic Tac at all times even when it appears to make a U turn at thou..." — @JackSarfatti https://www.spot.im/s/00612wsuxZXD 

@JackSarfatti on IBTimes Singapore

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...

spot.im

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8:56 PM - Mar 21, 2020

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The Nimitz UAP incident happened over 15 years ago. A lot can happen in 15 years.

There is advanced technology out there that is way beyond anything that is commercially available at present, be it military or otherwise.

28-03-2020 om 23:07 geschreven door peter  

Here's why the Space Force just launched a rocket as the world fights the coronavirus pandemic

By Mike Wall 

Launches are rare these days.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches the AEHF-6 satellite for the U.S. Space Force on March 26, 2020.

(Image: © United Launch Alliance)

The Space Force can't afford to shelter in place.

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.

• Video: Watch the Space Force launch the AEHF-6 satellite
• Updates: The coronavirus pandemic impacts on space exploration

"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."

United States Space Force

✔@SpaceForceDoD

.@SpaceForceCSO addresses the force on the spread of #COVID19.

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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."

• Coronavirus pandemic: Full space industry coverage
• What is the U.S. Space Force?
• Gallery: declassified US spy satellite photos & designs

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life.

Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/}

28-03-2020 om 22:11 geschreven door peter  

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

Other videos about area51, peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

28-03-2020 om 20:57 geschreven door peter  

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.

  

other videos, peter2011

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

28-03-2020 om 20:09 geschreven door peter  

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.

(Rillke / Public Domain )

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.

• The story of Ragnarok and the Apocalypse
• When Kalki the Destroyer Descends: Greed, Corruption, War, Destruction, and the Apocalypse
• The Hindu Vedas: Charms, Myths, and Formulas for Enlightenment

The Lamb opening the book/scroll with seven seals. The first four seals summons the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

(Batchheizer / Public Domain )

The White Horseman of the Apocalypse

“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.

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

28-03-2020 om 18:49 geschreven door peter  

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.

How true can it be.

Videos, selected by peter2011

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

28-03-2020 om 18:29 geschreven door peter  

Naked Science – Alien Contact

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.

other videos, peter2011

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

28-03-2020 om 17:34 geschreven door peter  

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.

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

28-03-2020 om 17:03 geschreven door peter  

Nilometers: Ancient Egypt’s Ingenious Invention Used Until Modern Times

For thousands of years, nilometers measured the water level of the Nile River during 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 ancient Egyptian civilization. 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).

(Internet Archive Book Images / Public domain )

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.

( Khaled El-Adawi / Adobe stock)

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).

The well of the nilometer at Kom Ombo in Egypt.

Source: Claudio Caridi / Adobe stock

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.

(Prong hunter / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Nilometers from Pharaonic and Greco-Roman Times

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 outside of the nilometer’s well at Kom Ombo.

(JMCC1 / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

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.

(Olaf Tausch / CC BY 3.0 )

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.”

• The Nile – Its Fertile Past and Its Imperiled Future
• Ancient structure that measured the Nile for tax purposes uncovered in Egypt
• Volcanic Eruptions and Climate Change Incited Upheaval in Ancient Egypt - and Historians Warn of Repetition

The Construction of the Dam Changed it All

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 )

By: Wu Mingren                   

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

28-03-2020 om 01:59 geschreven door peter  

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.

(sataikasia / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 )

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.

( University of Göttingen )

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 – The Oldest Known Artificial Pigment
• History Buff Bakes Ancient Egyptian Bread Using 1,500-Year-Old Yeast Scrapings
• Nilometers: Ancient Egypt’s Ingenious Invention Used Until Modern Times

The Long Blue Light Cycle

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

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

28-03-2020 om 01:15 geschreven door peter  

A large asteroid ignored social distancing norms over the weekend

An asteroid as wide as a football field passed through the neighborhood.

 Eric Mack 

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

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2:55 PM - Mar 23, 2020

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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

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241404096.html …

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...

miamiherald.com

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2:27 PM - Mar 22, 2020

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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 22^nd known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and the 3^rd this month.

{ https://www.cnet.com/ } 

28-03-2020 om 01:01 geschreven door peter  

It's Not an Alien, Says NASA for Millionth Time

BY JENNIFER LEMAN

Credit: NASA

• NASA has debunked theories about a not-so-mysterious smudge on one of its images.
• The smudge in question is just an artifact of light reflected back on the lens.
• UFO hunters can rest easy.

---

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.

Credit: NASA

NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) Mission is comprised of twin spacecraft that launched in 2006 to study the sun and its weather. Only one of the mission's spacecraft is still operating today.

"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.

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28-03-2020 om 00:31 geschreven door peter  

27-03-2020 om 23:58 geschreven door peter