Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
ON 06/05/2024 MORE THAN 1.972.210
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
08-04-2020
Beyond the Pyramid Ramp: Unravelling Egypt’s Most Elusive Enigma
Beyond the Pyramid Ramp: Unravelling Egypt’s Most Elusive Enigma
The mystery of how the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt were built continues to elude scholars, even in the 21 st century. As famed Egyptologist Flinders Petrie records in his The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh (1883): “The means employed for raising such masses of stone is not shown to us in any representations.” The brightest minds in the world still wrestle with competing ideas, offering educated guesses based on incomplete evidence.
Every theory begins with the inclined plane, or the pyramid ramp. This idea was first mentioned two millennia ago by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, who recounted what the Egyptians told him about the pyramids: "It is said that … the construction was undertaken with the help of ramps of earth, since at that time cranes had not yet been invented." (Library of History 1. 63).
Many Theories for the Pyramid Ramp
By the end of the 19 th century, Petrie had carefully measured the Pyramids of Giza , particularly the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and determined that the likeliest manner of their construction was using a single, long ramp, with a smaller zig-zag ramp near the summit. Since then, this idea has largely been discredited due to lack of evidence, and other theories have taken its place.
Three types of single, straight pyramid ramps to build that could have been used in the construction of the ancient site.
Late German Egyptologist Uvo Hölscher believed the Egyptians employed a short ramp that zig-zagged all the way up the face of the pyramid, while Dieter Arnold, the German archaeologist who wrote the famous Building in Egypt (1991) believes a long ramp was used, but that it cut through the center of and was partially composed of the pyramid itself.
Meanwhile, Giza archaeologists Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner believe the material evidence most clearly points to a spiral ramp that would have twisted up the exterior of the pyramid, either resting against the structure or on a large earthen mound. They suggest that water or milk would have been used to lubricate wooden sleds strapped with stone blocks, similar to a scene from the Middle Kingdom tomb of Djehuti-hotep (~1900 BC).
Three different pyramid ramp proposals, by Uvo Hölsher (left), Dieter Arnold (center) and Mark Lehner (right).
Numerous recent experiments have confirmed this possibility, including a study in 2014 by Daniel Bonn and other scientists from the FOM Foundation and the University of Amsterdam that demonstrated the right proportion of water on sand could reduce the required people hauling a block by half. There is also a depiction on a New Kingdom stela showing six oxen pulling a block on a sled (~1575 BC), and many actual sleds have been recovered.
What About the Evidence?
Evidence of earth ramps do exist in Egypt. The best example comes from the Temple of Karnak at Thebes, where it can be found still leaning against the back of the towering First Pylon. Made of mud brick, it was never completely disassembled, and it stands today as testament to the manner in which these large stone structures were built and decorated. Further examples come from the abandoned step pyramid of Sinki at Abydos. Likely built by Huni, Sneferu’s father and Khufu’s grandfather, this pyramid has four construction ramps still in place, composed of two outer mud-brick walls with an interior fill of debris and stone chips.
Remains of an ancient mud-brick ramp at the Temple of Karnak at Thebes (First Pylon, New Kingdom).
Amazingly, the potential construction ramp of the Great Pyramid has already been discovered, and it was similar to these other ramps. In 1995, the Giza Inspectorate “excavated trenches through thick layers of limestone debris south of the southwest corner of Khufu’s pyramid. Remains of fieldstone walls were found running north-northwest that could have been the accretions or retaining walls of the foundation of (such) a supply ramp.” (Lehner, 2017; 440).
According to Hawass, this lower section of the ramp: “consisted of two walls built of stone rubble and mixed with “tafla” (a calcareous clay). The area in between was filled with sand and gypsum forming the bulk of the ramp.” (Hawass, 1998; 58). He calculated the ramp would have reached ~30m (98ft) above the pyramid’s base, or roughly 20% of the pyramid’s original total height of 146.7m (481.3ft). Beyond that he believes the ramp would have spiraled up the exterior of the structure.
Map of the Giza Plateau, showing newly-discovered ancient ramp in red line at southwest corner of Khufu’s pyramid, and quarry and authors’ proposed wooden scaffolding running up to the top (red and brown lines added by author).
In late 2018, the remains of a ramp were found in the ancient alabaster quarry at Hatnub, from the very time of Khufu. It reveals how the Egyptians could have moved tremendously heavy blocks of stone by using physics to aid them. Archaeologists from the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology and the University of Liverpool excavated a ramp with flights of stairs on either side, and with post-holes near the stairs running all the way up the ramp.
It has been suggested by the excavating team that by using ropes tied around wooden posts, ancient workers could have hauled large blocks much easier by using gravity to pull down rather than pulling up. They could also control the blocks better, which are imagined as having rested on wooden sleds attached to the ropes.
Ancient ramp discovered at Hatnub, Eastern Egypt, in 2018, similar in shape but smaller in dimensions than the pyramid ramps that could have been used to build the contemporaneous site at Giza.
The addition of ropes and wooden poles to change the direction of force could have effectively doubled the ramp grade, meaning any ramps on the pyramids would have only needed to have been half their projected size. This could have potentially doubled the grade of Khufu’s ramp, discovered in 1995, up to ~60m (197ft), or 40% of the pyramid’s original height (and most of the volume).
However, problems persist. A ramp that spiraled around the pyramid would be impractical because of the inability to back-sight each corner to remain true, its massive size (rivalling the pyramid itself), and the lack of any archaeological evidence. So if the builders did use a ramp, where was it? An ingenious architect named Jean-Pierre Houdin thought he had the answer.
A Hidden Ramp Inside
Perhaps no other theory in recent years has garnered as much attention as that of the Great Pyramid’s supposed ‘internal ramp’, an idea first proposed by the French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin in 2005. Aided in his exploration by Egyptologist Bob Brier, they flew to Egypt to hunt for evidence of this proposed inside-ramp.
In essence, Houdin proposed that the Egyptians had built an internal ramp just inside the perimeter of the structure that wound its way up as the pyramid rose, composed of corbelled ceilings and corner notches in which the blocks would be rotated on rope cranes. This would seemingly eliminate the need for external ramps, levers, cranes or scaffolding.
Several lines of evidence jumped out at the researchers as proof of their idea. First, Houdin detected faint ‘phantom’ lines within the masonry of the pyramid that ran at ~7°, the exact angle he determined the internal ramp must run at.
Second, there is a mysterious ‘notch’ on the northeastern edge of the pyramid, where Houdin had predicted was an original ‘corner block-turning station’. This ‘notch’ was explored by Brier, who found a small irregular chamber (‘Bob’s Room’) but nothing more.
Third, in 1986 a French team completed a microgravimetric study of the pyramid, and the resultant CG-image of low- and high-density areas revealed an image consistent with an internal ramp.
Attractive Theory But Where is the Evidence?
Despite how attractive this theory seemed at first, many noted it was an unlikely scenario. Egyptologist David Jeffreys called it “far-fetched and horribly complicated,” for it proposed the pyramid is vastly more complicated than presently believed. Instead of having four internal chambers and corridors, it would actually have the equivalent of dozens of internal chambers. Instead of having one impressive and corbelled Grand Gallery, it would have the equivalent of over thirty grand galleries winding up through the monument, all corbelled corridors of impressive masonry.
It seems absurd, considering how amazing a feat the Grand Gallery itself was, that there would still be thirty more of them to discover somewhere inside the pyramid, all connected together. And despite much indirect evidence, Brier and Houdin have not found any specific hard data for their ramp. Even their much-lauded microgravimetric scan could be interpreted differently, such as via the model of internal ‘steps’.
The Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Houdin’s theory would require another 30 of these inside the pyramid.
Now, despite the difficulties with the idea, it remained a promising theory in need of independent verification. Fortunately, the ‘Scan Pyramids Mission’ ( scanpyramids.org) would be its ultimate test. Beginning in 2015, this study was based on the idea of using cosmic particles called muons to remotely scan the pyramid for void spaces, an idea first employed by famed physicist Luis Alvarez in the late 1960s on Khafre’s pyramid.
Large collectors were set up in the Great Pyramid and the muons that streamed through the structure were measured in the hopes of identifying any hidden chambers. The idea that a beautiful internal passageway snaking up through the structure would be revealed had millions of excited archaeology buffs on the edge of their seats. Then the results came in.
While a large void was detected above the Grand Gallery, no internal ramp was detected. Nada. This deflationary news was relayed by the theory’s first expert supporter, Bob Brier himself: “these data suggest that the ramp is not there. I think we’ve lost.” So if there was no internal ramp inside the Great Pyramid, then how was it actually built? How were the stones lifted skyward hundreds of feet, beyond the ramp?
New research looking at the density of particles called muons has found an empty space (shown in this illustration) more than 98 feet (30 meters) long right above the Great Pyramid's Grand Gallery, but no internal pyramid ramp was found.
Any theory based on ramps, whether internal or external, runs into problems near the apex of the pyramid. Lehner and Hawass admit that: “the fact that the four sides of the pyramid narrow towards closure at the top means that the builders ran out of room for ramps.” (Lehner 2017; 418), and that: “it is very possible that levering was the only means to raise the blocks of the highest courses, near the apex, once the builders had brought them as high as they could on ramps.” (Lehner, 2017; 417).
Other archaeologists have suggested a combination of ramps and levers, including Martin Isler in On Pyramid Building I & II (1985 & 1987).
The idea the ancient Egyptians used other technologies besides ramps was first put forth by Herodotus in 425 BC. He describes the construction of the Great Pyramid thusly: “This pyramid was made after the manner of steps, which some call ‘rows’ and others ‘bases’: and when they had first made it thus, they raised the remaining stones with machines made of short pieces of timber, raising them first from the ground to the first stage of the steps, and when the stone got up to this it was placed upon another machine standing on the first stage, and so from this it was drawn to the second upon another machine.” (Histories 2. 125).
“Construction of the Great Pyramid According to Herodotus”, lithograph depicting multiple so-called ‘Herodotus Machines’ operating on the Great Pyramid
This description calls to mind a ‘liftjack’ tool, which uses levers and small shims, or wedges, to gradually lift a large block in many small increments. This was first suggested by Petrie in 1883: “for the ordinary blocks, of a few tons each, it would be very feasible to employ the method of resting them on two piles of wooden slabs, and rocking them up alternately to one side and the other by a spar under the block, thus heightening the piles alternately and so raising the stone.”
Several other scholars have noted this theory as well, including Isler, who actually tested this theory during a 1991 Pyramid building project filmed for NOVA. He discovered it was harder and took much longer than he anticipated, but mainly due to his lack of experience and the instability of his wooden support cribbing.
Assisting with this method may have been mysterious rounded wooden objects colloquially called “Petrie rockers”. Found by the famed Egyptologist at Thebes, he proposed these semi-circular wooden devices could have been used to help jack up heavy blocks by allowing them to tilt back and forth easier ( “rocking them up alternately to one side and the other”) , allowing successive planks to be inserted on either side and lifting the block.
Others like Paul Hai imagine the Egyptians actually “rolled” the large blocks by lashing a Petrie rocker to each side of the block, creating a cylinder. Again, there is no evidence for this, and there have never been found any of these wooden rockers near the pyramids.
A model wooden “rocker” device found by Flinders Petrie at Thebes, from the New Kingdom, ~1450 BC.
Alternatively, the Egyptians could have employed a counter-weight levering mechanism, similar to the shaduf, which has been used for millennia to lift water from the Nile. The machines described by Herodotus could have been composed of wooden beams with counterweights, used to see-saw the blocks up course-by-course.
Tomb painting showing an ancient Egyptian gardener using a shaduf (Tomb of the Royal Sculptor Ipuy, Deir el-Medina, 19th Dynasty, 1279-1213 BCE). The shaduf relies on the same principles of counter-weight leverage as the so called “Herodotus Machines” imagined by Goguet and other artists.
Other researchers such as Peter Hodges, Julian Keable, Louis Croon, and Robert Scott Hussey-Pailos have all made improvements on these designs, decreasing Isler’s original lifting time of over an hour down to only minutes. Whether the Egyptians used a rocker-shim-lever or counter-weight-lever method, they would have also needed some degree of wooden scaffolding.
We have no painting or material remains of any of these proposed lifting devices, but we do have evidence the Egyptians were familiar with wooden scaffolding. In a painted scene from the tomb of the Vizier Rekhmire in Thebes (~1450 BC), we can see several workers standing (and even sitting) on a scaffold while they polish and paint a large statue.
Depiction of wooden scaffolding from the Tomb of the Vizier Rekhmire, ~1450 BC.
(Metropolitan Museum of Art / Nina De Garis Davies / Public domain )
An earlier scene from the Fifth Dynasty Saqqara tomb of Khaemhesit shows a vertical wooden ladder with workers perched along it, and surprisingly wheels and an axle at its base! This is the only known Old Kingdom depiction of wheels, and the Egyptians did not use them to move the heavy pyramid blocks: wheels would have sunk into the ground, and there was no material strong enough for the axles.
Many researchers have suggested scaffolding was used to help build the pyramids, as far back as Somers Clarke and R. Engelbach in their classic Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture (1930). Hawass, Lehner, and Isler have likewise voiced limited support for the idea, along with James Frederick Edwards in his article Building the Great Pyramid: Probable Construction Methods Employed at Giza (2003). He notes in particular the likely use of scaffolding by the masons to dress the fine-white Tura casing stones, generally believed to have been the final stage of construction. Perhaps the most vocal supporter of the idea of wooden scaffolding is the Welsh structural engineer Peter James, who was called upon to save the Step Pyramid after being damaged in a 1992 earthquake.
As detailed in his 2018 book Saving the Pyramids, James and his team worked deep under the Step Pyramid in Djoser’s burial, using large air bags in conjunction with wooden scaffolding to prop up the sagging ceiling. They carefully drilled narrow holes into the superstructure, inserting steel rods and then cementing them in place, finally securing the 4,700-year-old building - the world’s oldest stone building - from collapse.
Modern wooden scaffolding set up around Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara
However, it was the abundant wooden scaffolding that was set up around the Step Pyramid to restore its crumbling façade that gave James an idea about its construction. He thought that similar scaffolding could have been used in the past, composed of pieces of timber lashed together: “In recent restoration work on the pyramids, traditional timber lashed together has been used as scaffolding, which demonstrates that it clearly would have been possible to use scaffolding to construct them in the first place.”
“We Have People, We Need Wood”
Most scholars dispute the notion that scaffolding served any primary construction role, relegating it to a minor function, such as dressing the casing stones or laying the very top courses of masonry. It remains an unpopular idea for one simple reason: most Egyptologists believe that the ancient Egyptians, with their dry and relatively treeless environment, had limited access to timber.
However, several scholars have demonstrated that the Egypt of the Old Kingdom, ~2550 BC, would have had more vegetation than today. Researchers have demonstrated that a major climate change accompanied or perhaps caused the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt around 4200 years ago. For example, Jean-Daniel Stanley and his colleagues, using strontium isotopes and petrologic data, showed in their 2003 study that Nile levels, and consequently tree populations, dropped drastically between 2200-2000 BC.
As D.M. Dixon states in his article Timber in Ancient Egypt (1974), “in antiquity, Egypt possessed, and still does, a number of trees capable of providing timber.” These include the date palm, acacia, tamarisk, persea, willow, sidder, moringa, and sycamore-fig. These trees were used for boat construction, to make furniture, huge temple doors, coffins, bows, arrows, and ramps, as described on the Papyrus Anastasi I: “There is to be constructed a ramp … consisting of 120 compartments filled with reeds and beams.”
Left: acacia tree, similar to what would have been found in Egypt and across the Levant during Khufu’s time, Israel’s Negev Desert. (Mark A. Wilson / Public domain ). Right: avenue of acacia trees leading towards the pyramids in 19th century Cairo
Archaeological evidence of wood inside ancient ramps has been found at Lahoun, Lisht, and Deir el-Bahri. We also know that Egypt imported huge beams of cedar and cilician fir from Lebanon, confirmed by the discovery in 1954 of two deconstructed funeral boats of Khufu buried beside his pyramid.
Al Arzz above Bsharri (Forest of the Cedars of God), Lebanon.
Made of gigantic beams of cedar, they were lashed together with rope and would seal by swelling in the water. We know from the Palermo Stone inscription that Pharaoh Sneferu , father of Khufu, sent an expedition of forty ships to Lebanon to collect prized cedar beams: “Bringing forty ships filled [with] cedar logs … Shipbuilding [of] cedar wood, one ship, 100 cubits [long].” 100 cubits was roughly equivalent to 50 meters (164ft), even longer than Khufu’s boat at 43.6m (143ft).
The magnificent Boat of Khufu, Solar Boat Museum, Giza.
We can still see the massive fifty-foot (15m) cedar beams that Sneferu’s engineers wedged between the walls of the Bent Pyramid’s burial chamber to keep it from collapsing. He could have easily used similar beams to construct wooden scaffolding for the construction of his two pyramids at Dashur (and earlier structure at Meidum).
Ancient wooden beams still inside the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu at Dashur.
An interesting feature of the solar boats is that their beams were held together entirely with hemp rope, which was also preserved beside the boat. Having cedar beams and sturdy rope, the Egyptians could certainly have built a robust scaffolding capable of supporting large stone blocks and multiple workers.
I believe the secret to building the pyramids, beyond the ramps anyways, was actually very simple: a relatively narrow section of wooden scaffolding, lashed together with ropes and anchored securely at the base. This would have rendered unnecessary large external mud brick ramps, internal stone ramps, and the need to dress the stone from the top down. The entire structure could have been completed level-by-level, with the exterior stone dressed before the next layer was begun (or even in the quarry when first removed, when it is softer and easier to carve, as noted by Bob Brier).
I believe work gangs would have used a combination of levers, rockers, and wedges to lift the blocks up through the scaffolding to the active building surface, where other gangs would have taken over. The scaffolding itself would have had dedicated wood-working teams building it as the pyramid rose. Each level of scaffolding would have had separate teams, while the teams operating on the pyramid would have likely been divided again.
Most work gangs would have focused on the inner fill and less precise masonry of the interior, some would have focused on the core blocks and grout, while the most skilled would have been stationed around the exterior to set and finish the precisely-angled and highly polished Tura limestone casing blocks. I therefore imagine an assembly-line type of process, from quarry to pyramid, with teams remaining at their spots and the rocks moving between them.
There is no good reason the Egyptians couldn’t have built a narrow stretch of scaffolding up the south side of the Great Pyramid through which to lever-up all the necessary blocks for its construction. It could then have been removed very quickly and re-used at further pyramid projects or alternatively used for solar boats, coffins, etc. The re-use of wood was common in Egypt, as demonstrated by Pearce Paul Creasman in his article: Ship Timber and the Reuse of Wood in Ancient Egypt (2013).
The pyramids were built with the available technology during the Old Kingdom: ramps, bronze chisels, stone pounders, levers, ropes, poles, plumb bobs, cubit rods, mallets, adzes, wedges, and squares. To these primitive yet capable tools, I believe, we can add wooden scaffolding, the final missing piece to the puzzle of their construction.
It was more than this technology, however, that helped realize these massive building projects. It was the organization and hierarchy of workers, overseers, priests and scribes that helped to bring to fruition these huge state dreams. It was the skilled coordination of this hard-working society, all based on the careful measurements by priests of the seasons, sky and Nile, that ultimately built the pyramids. It was a nation-wide effort, one of the largest in our history, to serve the kings, the gods, and to preserve balance in the land, so that their names and works would last forever.
End Note
Interestingly, Welsh architect and pyramid rescuer Peter James does dispute the idea the Egyptians used poles and ropes to increase their ramp grades at pyramid sites, as suggested by the new ramp discovery at Hatnub. In a personal email communication he discusses several flaws he has identified with this model:
“The question of the size and diameter of the ropes needed to haul the heavy blocks is an issue and also their durability on the edges of square blocks. The method of attaching the ropes to the blocks that would avoid twisting the blocks as they are lifted would also be a problem.
How would you make sure that the two sets of operatives pulling up the blocks would be able to provide the same tension in the ropes to control the lift and not induce twisting and movement of the blocks, particularly as they are on temporary constructed steps? This would be a very dangerous operation.
The same goes for the temporary wooden post that may have been good in a permanent position in a quarry but would be prone to movement under load on unconsolidated substrate and again would cause difficulties controlling the blocks; also the leading edge of the block would dig into the soil and any force used to move it would rotate the block into the soil and prevent further movement.”
Saturn’s auroras may explain the planet’s weirdly hot upper atmosphere
Saturn’s auroras may explain the planet’s weirdly hot upper atmosphere
Data from Cassini’s final orbits could solve the gas giant’s ‘energy crisis’
Saturn’s northern aurora (shown glowing in ultraviolet light this composite image from the Hubble Space Telescope) and its southern counterpart could warm the planet’s upper atmosphere.
HUBBLE, NASA, ESA, A. SIMON/GSFC, THE OPAL TEAM, J. DEPASQUALE/STSCI, L. LAMY/OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS
Saturn’s auroras may heat its atmosphere like an electric toaster.
Measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft’s final orbits show that Saturn’s upper atmosphere is hottest where its auroras shine, a finding that could help solve a long-standing mystery about the outer planets.
Saturn’s upper atmosphere is much hotter than scientists first expected based on the planet’s distance from the sun. In fact, all the gas giant planets — Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune — were thought to have chilly upper atmospheres of around 150 kelvins (–123° Celsius). But data from the Voyager spacecraft, which flew past the outer planets in the 1970s and 1980s (SN: 8/7/17), showed surprisingly toasty upper atmospheres of 400 to 600 kelvins (125° to 325° C).
Planetary scientists dub this mismatch an “energy crisis.” Something injects extra energy into the gas giants’ atmospheres, but no one knew what. “Trying to explain why these temperatures are so high has long been a goal in planetary atmospheric physics,” says planetary scientist Ron Vervack of Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory.
Data from the Cassini spacecraft’s waning weeks might point to an answer, planetary scientist Zarah Brown of the University of Arizona in Tucson and colleagues report April 6 in Nature Astronomy.
After orbiting Saturn for 13 years, Cassini finished its mission with a daredevil series of dips between the planet and its rings before plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere in September 2017 (SN: 9/15/17). During those final orbits, the spacecraft probed the planet’s upper atmosphere by watching stars in the background. Measuring the amount of starlight that the atmosphere blocks told Brown and colleagues how dense the atmosphere is at different points, a clue to its temperatures.
Using 30 of these stellar measurements, 22 of which came from the last six weeks of Cassini’s mission, the team mapped Saturn’s atmospheric temperatures across the whole planet and at different depths. “For the outer planets, this is an unprecedented data set,” says planetary scientist Tommi Koskinen, also of the University of Arizona.
The atmosphere was hottest around 60° N and 60° S latitudes — roughly where Saturn’s glowing auroras show up (SN: 2/16/05). Auroras are brilliant lights that sparkle when charged particles from the sun interact with a planet’s magnetosphere, the region defined by a planet’s magnetic field. Unlike Earth’s visible auroras, Saturn’s auroras glow mainly in ultraviolet light.
The auroras’ light doesn’t emit much heat on its own, but is accompanied by electric currents that can generate heat like the wires in a toaster. This process, called Joule heating, also happens in Earth’s atmosphere.
If Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune’s auroras also coincide with extra heat, then auroras may solve the mystery of hot atmospheres across the solar system. The same process could even take place on exoplanets, Brown says.
Vervack, who has worked with the Voyager dataset but was not involved in the new work, thinks this study marks “a big step in our understanding” of these hot upper atmospheres.
“The real test of whether they’re right will be when you go out to Uranus or Neptune,” whose magnetospheres are more complicated than Saturn’s, he says. “Being able to see how our understanding from Saturn holds up when we get to these more complicated systems is going to be really key to knowing if we’ve licked this problem or not.”
GLORIOUS NASA PHOTO SHOWS “THIN BANDS” RUNNING ACROSS JUPITER
GLORIOUS NASA PHOTO SHOWS “THIN BANDS” RUNNING ACROSS JUPITER
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
VICTOR TANGERMANN
North Of Jupiter
NASA just released a dramatic image that its Juno spacecraft took of Jupiter’s “tumultous northern regions” during a close flyby in February. The image was taken from 15,610 miles (25,120 kilometers) away from the gas giant — a distance about twice the diameter of Earth, making this the planetary equivalent of a close-up shot of the gas giant.
The spectacular image shows “thin bands” that run from top to bottom, representing layers of “haze particles” that drift underneath a cloud cover. We still don’t actually know what exactly they are or how they are formed.
Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in our solar system. You might not think of it as a place to learn about Earth's atmosphere and weather, but Jupiter, like our home planet, has cyclones (the Jovian equivalent of hurricanes) and anticyclones, along with fast-moving jet streams that circle its globe. Revealed in a sequence of black-and-white images taken by the Cassini spacecraft during its flyby of Jupiter are chevrons, dark V-shaped features that travel within a band of powerful winds near the equator. By tracking chevrons, NASA scientists were not only able to gauge the jet stream's speed, but also witness its subtle, wavelike movement as it zoomed around the planet—something never before seen. Studying this motion can help scientists better understand similar weather patterns on Earth. Learn more about this discovery and see footage of Jupiter's jet streams by watching the videos below.
In 2017, NASA scientists figured out that east-west jet streams on Jupiter tend to reverse course on a predictable schedule.
On Earth, jet streams are shifted by changing temperatures. Warmer temperatures force jet streams to flow eastwards, while cooler temperatures force it westwards. On Jupiter, a similar cycle takes about four Earth years and is mostly caused by gravity waves.
Top 15 Interesting Facts About Ancient Egypt That You May Not Know
Top 15 Interesting Facts About Ancient Egypt That You May Not Know
One of the greatest civilizations in our history belonged to the ancient Egyptians. It flourished in the fertile valleys of the world’s longest river - the Nile, where a magnificent civilization rose from the surrounding sands and lasted for roughly 3,000 years. Rising above beast and nature, these ingenious people became a unique culture of the world.
The ancient Egyptians brought to life a variety of gods and goddesses, and fashioned a colorful and natural mythology by which they governed their lives. As time went on and their advancements grew, the Egyptians pioneered some of the world’s first technologies - mathematics, papyrus making, writing systems, medicine and pyramid building. They gave us some of the finest achievements of humanity - which remain stunning and marvelous to this very day. And to celebrate this grand ancient civilization, we are going over the top 15 interesting facts about ancient Egypt!
Our List of the Top 15 Interesting Facts About Ancient Egypt
A civilization that flourished for approximately 3000 years had to be rich, well developed, vast and inspiring. And the ancient Egyptians were all this and more. To get better acquainted with this, we have assembled a list of the most amazing aspects of ancient Egypt.
From arts and entertainment, to religion and law, all the way to war and science - we will delve deeper into the most astonishing achievements of one of the world’s most amazing ancient civilization. Of course, it is difficult to put 3 millennia into a single article, but it should be enough to give you an idea that there are a lot of truly interesting facts about ancient Egypt, and that it definitely bears a passionate study.
The Pantheon
One of the most astonishing features of the ancient Egyptian civilization is their pantheon and in particular, the sheer amount of diverse deities and beings - today we know more than 1,500 of them by name.
Ancient Egyptian gods (Amun-Ra and goddess Mut can be seen to the right) and pharaohs found in the Khonsu Temple.
The Egyptian deities were closely entwined with the daily lives of the people, and were often the personification of everyday items, occurrences and natural phenomena. Moreover, they were for the most part the personification of animals that dominated the valleys of the Nile. And the minor deities were usually connected to seemingly trivial, everyday things.
The Mummification
Another unique and interesting fact about the ancient Egyptians is this astonishing part of their burial rites, mummification. Almost all of their burial practices and rites were connected to the belief in immortality. In the earliest days, the mummification was natural - bodies were desiccated by the harsh desert environment.
But as time went on, the mummification process became elaborate and to an extent artificial. Preservation of the bodies was often reserved for the wealthiest individuals, and involved organ removal, covering in natron salts and linen wrapping. The process took 70 days in its most advanced state.
The very age of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the timeline in which it spanned is a fact worthy of mention and awe. With its Early Dynastic Period having generally emerged around ~3000 BC, and the dynastic periods on the whole ending with Cleopatra in 30 BC, the age of this civilization came close to 3 millennia. And that in itself is incredible. It shows us the power and the importance of Egypt, and how it managed to persevere, for such a long time, through superiority and advanced technologies.
The Pyramids Everyone knows about the pyramids - the immortal heritage of ancient Egypt. These immense structures of stacked stone served as royal burial chambers, and exuded a great sense of power and royalty. Even today, the pyramids continue to baffle all visitors. They perfectly display the wealth and the sheer power of the ancient Egyptians and their industry, as well as a clear emphasis of their belief in afterlife. Here is another pyramid-related fact: Did you know that it took around 10,000 workers close to 30 years to build a single pyramid?
Some of the earliest medicinal advancements came from ancient Egypt. Surviving hieroglyphic writings detail some of the techniques and methods used in treating wounds and illnesses. Furthermore, some of the earliest medicinal specializations appeared in Egypt, with certain doctors focusing only on certain types of afflictions.
Amputation was common, as was wound stitching and infection prevention. Also, some of the oldest artificial limbs appeared in Egypt, where wooden carvings replaced amputated limbs. Although primitive by modern standards, medicine in Egypt was highly developed for its time and covered a broad area of expertise.
The Mathematics
Even in the Pre-Dynastic period in Egypt, early mathematical calculations appeared - with a fully functional numerical system. Four basic mathematical operations were well known to the Egyptians - addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. Alongside basic knowledge of algebra and geometry, fractions, volume and area calculation.
They also had knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem - in their own way - and their buildings usually displayed the golden ratio. Today, there are several surviving mathematical papyrus scripts, including the famous ‘ Rhind Mathematical Papyrus ’, and the astronomical chart of Senemut’s tomb.
The Egyptians were well known for their writing system - the hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing goes back as far as 3000 BC, and it consisted of several hundred symbols. But did you know that the hieroglyphs were not the only form of writing in ancient Egypt? They were usually only used in a formal way - as inscriptions on tombs and monuments.
But in fact, there was a simpler script, called hieratic, a cursive version, which was used in everyday situations, by scribes, priests and officials. It was much simpler and faster to write than the hieroglyphs. It was dominant until roughly 1000 BC, when the demotic script took over, perhaps an even simpler script.
The fact that the earliest peace treaty in history was made by the Egyptians is also very important and needs to be on our list. This treaty dates to around 1259 BC, and was made between the Egyptians and the Hittites, after almost two centuries of conflict and enmity. At that time, both sides had ample reasons to cease conflicts and sue for peace, since the Egyptians were under threat from the infamous ‘Sea Peoples’, and the Hittites from the encroaching Assyrian Empire. Both versions of the treaty text survive to this day, fully translated. This peace treaty is known as the Eternal Peace.
The Faience
Did you know that the Egyptians developed a unique style of ceramic that was known as faience? This was a sintered quartz ceramic that displayed vitrification, meaning it had a bright luster of several colors, mostly blue and green. This is somewhat similar to glazing, and was used in all forms of ceramic ware, from ornaments to jewelry and to monuments. It was also widely exported throughout the ancient world, and built locally throughout Egypt. It is often described as the first high technology ceramic, and today survives in numerous archaeological finds.
The Shipbuilding
Even by 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians had mastered fully their shipbuilding techniques. They used these both for sailing up and down the Nile - which was an immense part of their economy, and also for seafaring trade with neighboring nations. In their earliest form these were plank ships, but they developed steadily into unique barges and transport vessels.
Egyptians mastered the use of trennels (wooden pegs for connection) and also the use of pitch for caulking. Mortise and tenon joints were also used, showing their understanding and mastery of woodworking. The most famous fully intact surviving ancient Egyptian ship is the ‘ Khufu Ship ’, found sealed in the Pyramid of Giza. It measures almost 44 meters in length (143 feet).
The magnificent Boat of Khufu, Solar Boat Museum, Giza, Egypt.
There is a reason why the Egyptians managed to dominate the ancient Near East and create a vast realm for such a long time. And this reason was their skilled military. For the most part the soldiers were trained civilians from the general populace, but over time, many mercenaries also filled the ranks. These came from Nubia, Libya, Kush and other places.
The Egyptian military relied on the use of bows and arrows, but also on use of shields, spears, and unique khopesh swords. They were also well known for their use of war chariots, which they adopted from their Hyksos enemies.
The Diet
You might be surprised to know one unique fact about the Egyptian diet - it was simple. Most commonly it consisted of bread and beer, and also great amounts of vegetables - mainly onion and garlic, which the Egyptians believed was highly beneficial to health. Dates, figs, carobs and other fruits were also common.
For the common folk, meat was reserved mostly for festivities, while the upper classes had it more often. Fish and fowl were common foods, especially with the proximity of the Nile. Interestingly, Egyptian beer was the most common, staple part of their diet - consumed daily and often. But don’t be mistaken, it was far from today’s beer. It was rich and nutritious, quite similar to a mash or gruel.
Contrary to popular belief, the ancient Egyptians really knew how to have fun. They enjoyed music greatly, and mastered the use of cymbals, tambourines, drums and bells, while importing other instruments from afar, such as lutes and lyres. They also had their iconic sistrum instrument, which was like no other, and closely resembled a rattle.
Other than music, the Egyptians enjoyed boardgames. Many different types are known today, such as senet and mehen, which are boardgames where pawns were moved about. Another highly unique boardgame was “Hounds and Jackals,” which spread from Egypt to many far places. Did you know that senet is one of the oldest known board games?
Faience senet board and playing pieces inscribed with the name of Amunhotep III. Reportedly from Thebes, and possibly from his tomb.
Even though the early Egyptian writings were the inscriptions from tombs and monuments, dealing with religious aspects and afterlife, later on they became more complex, and slowly Egyptian literature began to develop. A sort of autobiographical writing became popular, and was incised on tomb walls. Another unique genre of ancient literature was developed, and was known as Sebayt (teachings, instructions), which documented ethical teachings for a true way of living.
One of the finest examples of ancient Egyptian literature is known as the Story of Sinuhe , written around 1800 BC. Its author is unknown, but is widely heralded as the “Egyptian Shakespeare.” The work is written in a form of verse, and can be performed as well. It survived in numerous fragments, which tells us that it was extremely popular in its time.
“Does a lowly man become loved when fate makes him a master? Does a marsh-reed flourish on the mountain-side?”
Ostracon CG 25216, one of the biggest ostracon ever found. Found in 1886 in the tomb of Sennedjem (Deir el-Medina, Tomb Nr. 1), today in the Egyptian Museum Cairo, it is broken into two pieces, one side contains the Story of Sinuhe and the other a private letter.
One important fact about the ancient Egyptians is that they had a well-developed legal system. At its head was usually the ruler - a pharaoh - who brought new laws, ensured order, and delivered justice. In all court cases that dealt with minor disputes and offenses, a special council of elders presided - it was known as kenbet. And when the cases were serious, a great kenbet presided, at whose head was the pharaoh.
A key part of this system was the scribes. They kept all records, assessed taxes and dealt with administration. Around the coming of the New Kingdom, oracles began to play a major role in the legal system. At this time, the gods were asked for justice, where an effigy of a god had to give an answer - yes or no - through various orchestrated means.
And thus ends our short list of 15 interesting facts about ancient Egypt. There is no doubt that this magnificent civilization truly left enormous marks on our world, and that they have remained even to this day. The tales of this era in history can keep us occupied for days on end, and the sheer amount of archaeological wonders will continue to intrigue us for generations to come. Because we are often unaware at just how advanced and marvelous these ancient people truly were - all those millenniums before us.
Top image: Top 15 interesting facts about ancient Egypt. Source: Maurizio / Adobe stock
Every Black Hole Contains Another Universe – Equations Predict
Every Black Hole Contains Another Universe – Equations Predict
Like part of a cosmic Russian doll, our universe may be perfectly nested inside a black hole that is itself part of a larger universe.
In turn, all the black holes found so far in our universe—from the microscopic to the supermassive—may be ultimate doorways into alternate realities.
According to a mind-bending new theory, a black hole is actually a tunnel between universes—a type of wormhole. The matter the black hole attracts doesn’t collapse into a single point, as has been predicted, but rather gushes out a “white hole” at the other end of the black one, the theory goes.
In a paper published in the journal Physics Letters B, Indiana University physicist Nikodem Poplawski presents new mathematical models of the spiraling motion of matter falling into a black hole. His equations suggest such wormholes are viable alternatives to the “space-time singularities” that Albert Einstein predicted to be at the centers of black holes.
According to Einstein’s equations for general relativity, singularities are created whenever matter in a given region gets too dense, as would happen at the ultra-dense heart of a black hole.
Einstein’s theory suggests singularities take up no space, are infinitely dense, and are infinitely hot—a concept supported by numerous lines of indirect evidence but still so outlandish that many scientists find it hard to accept. If Poplawski is correct, they may no longer have to.
According to the new equations, the matter black holes absorb and seemingly destroy is actually expelled and becomes the building blocks for galaxies, stars, and planets in another reality.
The notion of black holes as wormholes could explain certain mysteries in modern cosmology, Poplawski said.
For example, the big bang theory says the universe started as a singularity. But scientists have no satisfying explanation for how such a singularity might have formed in the first place.
If our universe was birthed by a white hole instead of a singularity, Poplawski said, "it would solve this problem of black hole singularities and also the big bang singularity."
Wormholes might also explain gamma ray bursts, the second most powerful explosions in the universe after the big bang.
Gamma ray bursts occur at the fringes of the known universe. They appear to be associated with supernovae, or star explosions, in faraway galaxies, but their exact sources are a mystery. (Related: "Gamma-Ray Burst Caused Mass Extinction?")
Poplawski proposes that the bursts may be discharges of matter from alternate universes. The matter, he says, might be escaping into our universe through supermassive black holes—wormholes—at the hearts of those galaxies, though it's not clear how that would be possible.
There is at least one way to test Poplawski's theory: Some of our universe's black holes rotate, and if our universe was born inside a similarly revolving black hole, then our universe should have inherited the parent object's rotation.
If future experiments reveal that our universe appears to rotate in a preferred direction, it would be indirect evidence supporting his wormhole theory, Poplawski said.
Wormholes Are "Exotic Matter" Makers?
The wormhole theory may also help explain why certain features of our universe deviate from what theory predicts, according to physicists.
Based on the standard model of physics, after the big bang the curvature of the universe should have increased over time so that now—13.7 billion years later—we should seem to be sitting on the surface of a closed, spherical universe.
But observations show the universe appears flat in all directions.
What's more, data on light from the very early universe show that everything just after the big bang was a fairly uniform temperature.
That would mean that the farthest objects we see on opposite horizons of the universe were once close enough to interact and come to equilibrium, like molecules of gas in a sealed chamber.
Again, observations don't match predictions, because the objects farthest from each other in the known universe are so far apart that the time it would take to travel between them at the speed of light exceeds the age of the universe.
To explain the discrepancies, astronomers devised the concept of inflation.
Inflation states that shortly after the universe was created, it experienced a rapid growth spurt during which space itself expanded at faster-than-light speeds. The expansion stretched the universe from a size smaller than an atom to astronomical proportions in a fraction of a second.
The universe therefore appears flat, because the sphere we're sitting on is extremely large from our viewpoint—just as the sphere of Earth seems flat to someone standing in a field.
Inflation also explains how objects so far away from each other might have once been close enough to interact.
But—assuming inflation is real—astronomers have always been at pains to explain what caused it. That's where the new wormhole theory comes in.
According to Poplawski, some theories of inflation say the event was caused by "exotic matter," a theoretical substance that differs from normal matter, in part because it is repelled rather than attracted by gravity.
Based on his equations, Poplawski thinks such exotic matter might have been created when some of the first massive stars collapsed and became wormholes.
"There may be some relationship between the exotic matter that forms wormholes and the exotic matter that triggered inflation," he said.
The new model isn't the first to propose that other universes exist inside black holes. Damien Easson, a theoretical physicist at Arizona State University, has made the speculation in previous studies.
"What is new here is an actual wormhole solution in general relativity that acts as the passage from the exterior black hole to the new interior universe," said Easson, who was not involved in the new study.
"In our paper, we just speculated that such a solution could exist, but Poplawski has found an actual solution," said Easson, referring to Poplawski's equations.
Nevertheless, the idea is still very speculative, Easson said in an email.
"Is the idea possible? Yes. Is the scenario likely? I have no idea. But it is certainly an interesting possibility."
Future work in quantum gravity—the study of gravity at the subatomic level—could refine the equations and potentially support or disprove Poplawski's theory, Easson said.
A supermassive black hole sits inside the galaxy Centaurus A, as seen in a composite picture.
IMAGE COURTESY NASA/CXC/CFA/R.KRAFT ET AL., MPIFR/ESO/APEX/A.WEISS ET AL. AND ESO/WFI
Wormhole Theory No Breakthrough
Overall, the wormhole theory is interesting, but not a breakthrough in explaining the origins of our universe, said Andreas Albrecht, a physicist at the University of California, Davis, who was also not involved in the new study.
By saying our universe was created by a gush of matter from a parent universe, the theory simply shifts the original creation event into an alternate reality.
In other words, it doesn't explain how the parent universe came to be or why it has the properties it has—properties our universe presumably inherited.
"There're really some pressing problems we're trying to solve, and it's not clear that any of this is offering a way forward with that," he said.
Still, Albrecht doesn't find the idea of universe-bridging wormholes any stranger than the idea of black hole singularities, and he cautions against dismissing the new theory just because it sounds a little out there.
"Everything people ask in this business is pretty weird," he said. "You can't say the less weird [idea] is going to win, because that's not the way it's been, by any means."
Uranus likely got whacked by a body one to three times as massive as the modern Earth.
Uranus is uniquely tipped over among the planets in our solar system. Uranus' moons and rings are also orientated this way, suggesting they formed during a cataclysmic impact which tipped it over early in its history.
The impactor that knocked Uranus on its side long ago isn't quite so mysterious anymore.
Uranus is tipped over more than 90 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system, and so are the gaseous planet's ring system and the orbits of its 27 known moons. Astronomers think this unique configuration is evidence of a violent collision Uranus suffered shortly after it was born, which also apparently supercharged the planet's rotation. (Uranus spins around its axis once every 17 hours, significantly faster than Earth does.)
Details of that collision have remained elusive, however, because simulations have struggled to generate the Uranus system that we see today. For example, the mass of the post-impact debris disk tends to be quite big in these models — much bigger than it "should" be, given the total mass of Uranus' moons today.
Until now, that is. A team of researchers has had success with a novel modeling strategy devised to investigate the formation of moons around frigid planets, a new study reports.
The frigid part is key. Giant impacts in the cold and dark outer solar system have different consequences than smashups much closer to the sun, such as the long-ago collision that resulted in the formation of Earth's moon, the researchers found.
This latter encounter involved the proto-Earth and a Mars-size body called Theia, both of which were primarily rocky (rather than icy). The material blasted into space by the impact therefore solidified rather quickly, allowing the newborn moon to snare quite a bit of it gravitationally.
But the material liberated during the Uranus collision was much more volatile — stuff like water and ammonia — and remained gaseous longer. The growing proto-Uranus gobbled most of this gas up, leaving less of it around to form moons, according to the new study, which was published online last week in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The researchers' model, which takes all of this into account, suggests that the body that slammed into Uranus was icy and big, with a mass between one and three times that of the modern Earth.
"This model is the first to explain the configuration of Uranus' moon system, and it may help explain the configurations of other icy planets in our solar system such as Neptune," study lead author Shigeru Ida, of the Earth-Life Science Institute at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, said in a statement.
"Beyond this, astronomers have now discovered thousands of planets around other stars, so-called exoplanets, and observations suggest that many of the newly discovered planets known as super-Earths in exoplanetary systems may consist largely of water ice," Ida said. "And this model can also be applied to these planets."
Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated byKarl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcom orFacebook.
According to a new study, scientists think that an exoplanet candidate may be shaped like an American football. The planet, named KOI 1843.03, orbits its red dwarf star at such a close proximity that the gravitational force is what’s causing its odd football-like shape. The discovery of the exoplanet was made public in 2013.
The red dwarf star KOI 1843 is located approximately 395 light-years away from Earth and is a little less than half the mass of our sun. The exoplanet KOI 1843.03 measures around 60% of Earth’s diameter and has about 44% of its mass. It’s also believed that the planet is more than likely made up of 66% iron (compared to Earth being made up of around 32% iron) because if it contained less iron it would be ripped apart being so close to its star. “KOI 1843.03 is one of the most iron-enhanced exoplanets discovered to date,” stated Leslie Rogers who is an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago as well as the senior author of the new study (which can be read in full here).
(Not KOI 1843.03)
And it has an extremely fast orbit – in fact, it makes its way around its star much closer than any other planet previously studied. Rogers went into further detail by explaining to Space.com, “Whizzing around its star in only 4.245 hours, a ‘year’ for this planet is just over one-sixth of a day on Earth.”
By conducting 3D simulations of the planet’s interior structure in order to find out what type of effects such a close orbit would have on KOI 1843.03, researchers discovered that it may very well be shaped like a football. “KOI 1843.03 is the most aspherical exoplanet discovered to date,” Rogers explained, adding, “Our models show that KOI 1843.03 is significantly elongated along the direction toward its star, having an aspect ratio of up to about 1.8.” For comparison, a wide-screen television has an aspect ratio of 1.7 while a chicken egg has a 1.3 aspect ratio.
(Not KOI 1843.03)
Another fact that the researchers mentioned was that they studied nine exoplanets with orbits that last less than an Earth day and they found that four of them are rich in iron. They also mentioned that the planets could possibly be more spherical-shaped than those with the same orbit that contain less iron. Ellen Price, who is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts as well as the lead author of the study, explained to Space.com, “We expect that more iron-rich compositions will lead to less distorted planets,” adding, “There is a trade-off between how extreme the shape of the planet is and how extreme its composition is.”
More research needs to be done on tidally distorted exoplanets, such as how they appear when they travel in front of their stars and if scientists will be able to determine if a planet is distorted based solely on how its shadow appears.
UFOs come in all sorts of shapes: flying saucers, cigar-shaped craft, flying triangles, and rocket-like vehicles. And that’s just the start of it. There is also the matter of the sizes of some of these craft. Indeed, there are a number of cases that suggest at least some UFOs are massive in size. And that’s what today’s article is all about. With that said, let’s take a look at some cases that fall into that giant-sized category. As its staff state: “The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for the regulation of aviation safety in the U.K., determining policy for the use of airspace, the economic regulation of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, the licensing and financial fitness of airlines and the management of the ATOL financial protection scheme for holidaymakers.” Over the years the CAA has received more than a few UFO reports, which is hardly surprising. Let’s take a look at one such CAA report that is focused on a UFO of huge proportions. The summary of the report reads as follows: “12 Jun 82 Dinkelsbuhi – Large translucent object 500 feet long at 41,000 feet. ATCC [Air Traffic Control Center] requested subject aircraft to investigate this object which was found to have the form of a double rectangle surmounted by a globe (egg shape) crowned by a silver cone. Object observed by all on board.”
Now, let’s take a leap back to the 1950s. On the morning of April 4, 1957 – according to now-declassified British Royal Air Force documents housed at the National Archive, Kew, England – radar operators at Balscalloch, Scotland reported to RAF West Freugh, Wigtownshire that they had detected a number of “unidentified objects on the screens of their radars.” And it quickly became apparent this was no Cold War penetration of British airspace by Soviet spy-planes or bombers. As the mystified radar-operators watched their screens, they were amazed to see a large, stationary object hovering at 50,000 feet that then proceeded to ascend vertically to no less than 70,000 feet. According to the files: “A second radar was switched on and detected the object at the same range and height.” Most significant of all at this stage was the assessment by the radar experts of the incredible proportions of the UFOs: “It was noted by the radar operators that the sizes of the echoes were considerably larger than would be expected from normal aircraft. In fact they considered that the size was nearer that of a ship’s echo.”
Consider this case from 1951, which is described in the files of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey: ““On September 20, Andrew J. Reid G-2 [Army Intelligence] Ft. Monmouth, NJ, provided following report of unconventional aircraft observed by radar at above Army installation. On Sept 10, fifty one], an AN/MPG-1 radar set picked up a fast moving low flying target, exact altitude undetermined at approximately 11:10 a.m., southeast of Ft. Monmouth at a range of about twelve thousand yards. The target appeared to approximately follow the coast line, changing its range only slightly but changing its azimuth rapidly. The radar set was set to full aided azimuth tracking which normally is fast enough to track jet aircraft, but in this case was too slow to be resorted to. Target was lost in the N.E. at a range of about fourteen thousand yards. “This target also presented an unusually strong return for aircraft, being comparable in strength to that usually received from a coastal ship. The operator initially identified target as a ship and then realized that it could not be a ship after he observed its extreme speed.”
In 1952, radar operator William Maguire had an extraordinary, radar-based UFO encounter in 1952. It was while he was stationed at Royal Air Force Sandwich in Kent, England. Of his experience, Maguire said: “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.” Similarly, there are the words of John Oliver, who had his encounter with a huge UFO in 1949. Once again, it was a radar-based encounter. He recalled: “The general consensus regarding its size, among the very experienced radar personnel engaged in the operations, was that the object offered an echo similar to that of a large passenger or freighter surface vessel, something in the region of 15,000 or 20,00 tons.”
Asteroid warning issued by the Bible. Scripture expert addresses claims of space rock
Asteroid warning issued by the Bible. Scripture expert addresses claims of space rock
Asteroid Apophis will come exceptionally close to our planet on April 13, 2029, giving astronomers a chance to study it in great detail. Although scientists have ruled-out any odds of impact, some Christians evangelists believe the 1,200ft-wide (370m) space rock is a biblical harbinger of doom
Anew sighting of a huge UFO flying in deep space. While recording with his telescope Viewfinder a sky-watcher caught an object moving from the Southern sky to Northern sky in the western part of Omaha, Nebraska.
He said that he is pretty familiar with most objects in the sky but this one just seems very strange to him.
The cigar shaped UFO that seemly leaves a blue trail behind, flies in deep space right though the Pleiades which is located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The first part of the video shows the UFO when it suddenly comes very quickly from left to the right, check it out.
Another mass UFO sighting: Cleveland, Ohio – 4-Apr-2020
Another mass UFO sighting: Cleveland, Ohio – 4-Apr-2020
This UFO video was submitted to me today through our Facebook page. It was recorded over Cleveland, Ohio on 4th April 2020. Similar footagewas recorded in the sky above Detroit on April 3rd.
Mass UFO sighting during coronavirus quarantine in Detroit, Michigan 3-Apr-2020
Ex-Military Medical Officer Reveals the Truth About Advanced Extraterrestrial Technologies
Ex-Military Medical Officer Reveals the Truth About Advanced Extraterrestrial Technologies
Does the U.S. government know more than they are saying when it comes to Extraterrestrial Technology? Ex-Military medical officer reveals the startling truth behind some of the incredible technology we now have in our possession.
Ex-Military Medical Officer Reveals The Truth About Advanced Extraterrestrial Technologies
Secret UFO Files! Modern Day Military UFO Footage and the Mystery of Long Island
Secret UFO Files! Modern Day Military UFO Footage and the Mystery of Long Island
Incredible military film footage of UFOs are becoming more commonly released to the general public. Strange crafts that defy all rational explanation are being sighted and are still being secretly investigated by the U.S. authorities. Key locations as to where such strange activity is reported include Long Island.
Secret UFO Files… Modern Day Military UFO Footage And The Mystery of Long Island
Presented by Joseph Flammer Filmed by MUFON MAINLINE
Astronomers using the CARMENES spectrograph at Calar Alto Observatory in Spain have discovered a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf star in the binary system Gliese 338. The newfound planet orbits on the inner edge of the habitable zone and is much more massive than Earth.
An artist’s impression of the super-Earth Gliese 338Bb and its stars.
Image credit: Sci-News.com.
Gliese 338 is a wide binary system located approximately 20.7 light-years away from Earth.
The stellar system is over one billion years old, and consists of two similar M0-type stars: Gliese 338A (also known as GJ338A or HD 79210) and Gliese 338B (GJ 338B or HD 79211).
The stars are between 64 and 69% the mass of the Sun. The projected separation between them is about 109 AU.
A team of astronomers led by Centro de Astrobiología’s Dr. Esther González-Álvarez explored the presence of small planets in tight orbits around Gliese 338A and B using the spectroscopic radial velocity technique.
They analyzed radial velocity data from the CARMENES spectrograph as well as ground-telescope photometry from Las Cumbres and Sierra Nevada observatories.
The planet they discovered orbits the smaller member of the system, Gliese 338B, once every 24.45 days at a distance of 0.14 AU.
Named Gliese 338Bb (GJ 338B or HD 79211b), the alien world has a mass of 10.3 times the mass of the Earth.
“Gliese 338Bb is one of the least massive planets ever discovered in one star of a binary system of relatively small separation,” Dr. González-Álvarez and her colleagues said.
They estimate the planet’s temperature to be between 27 and 117 degrees Celsius (81-243 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Gliese 338Bb lies inside the inner boundary of the habitable zone around its parent star,” the astronomers said.
“The masses, spectral types, brightnesses, and even the rotational periods are very similar for both stars, which are likely coeval and formed from the same molecular cloud, yet they differ in the architecture of their planetary systems.”
E. González-Álvarez et al. 2020. The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. A super-Earth planet orbiting HD 79211 (GJ 338 B). A&A, in press; arXiv: 2003.13052
This newly discovered fossil is a hugely important find, say scientists. It means that one of our earliest ancestors possibly originated in southern Africa. Read more
The Homo erectus cranium labeled DNH 134 and nicknamed “Simon” – from approximately 2 million years ago – from the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind. Homo erectus is thought to be a direct ancestor of modern humans and the first human ancestor to spread widely across the world.
The human evolutionary path is complicated. It’s almost impossible to say exactly when we modern humans became “us.”
This quandary is best articulated by the famous naturalist Charles Darwin in his book “The Descent of Man“:
In a series of forms graduating insensibly from some apelike creature to man as he now exists, it would be impossible to fix on any definite point where the term ‘man’ ought to be used.
The understanding of modern humans’ own genus, Homo, has taken many turns over the last century. Homo erectus, one of our purported ancestors, was first discovered in Indonesia in 1891 by geologist and anatomist Eugene Dubois. Since then, representatives of both this species, and other Homo, have been found across the world; for instance, in 2015, a new species of Homo, Homo naledi, was discovered in South Africa. Another new Homo species, Homo luzonensis, was found more recently in the Philippines in 2019.
These discoveries, combined, have led scientists to set Homo erectus‘ emergence at about 1.8 million years ago – with the oldest known record coming from Dmanisi, Georgia, and an important slightly later record from the East African Rift valley.
But our new discovery in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind – located about 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, and one of the world’s most important paleoanthropological sites – suggests that Homo erectus actually emerged 200,000 years earlier than we thought. We were part of a team from South Africa, Australia, Italy and the U.S. that discovered a Homo erectus cranium which has since been dated to almost 2 million years ago. The work was published in Science on April 3, 2020.
This is a hugely important find. It reasserts that Homo erectus’ origins are in Africa, not Asia. Our discovery suggests, though, that Homo erectus likely did not evolve in eastern Africa as so often thought but perhaps somewhere else in Africa, or potentially in South Africa itself.
More evidence is needed before firm conclusions can be reached, of course. But the South African find means that the Drimolen fossil site – where we made the discovery – could represent an important shift in the simple narrative that all early species of human ancestry are East African.
A critical discovery
The Drimolen Fossil Hominin site in the Cradle of Humankind, northwest of Johannesburg, has been excavated since its discovery in 1992. The site is best known for its Paranthropus robustus, another ancient hominin species with massive teeth, as well as some early Homo fossils. The most famous specimen from Drimolen is the most complete skull of Paranthropus robustus ever discovered, DNH 7.
It was here that members of our team found the fossil cranium that has been named DNH 134. Its nickname is Simon, named for the site technician whose contribution to the team was immeasurable. Simon Mokobane sadly passed away in 2018, but his expertise, unwavering support and fossil knowledge will forever be remembered.
In 2015, during the Drimolen Field School, a student named Richard Curtis began excavating an intriguing, but highly fragmented specimen. At first, no one was sure what it was from but in-field reconstructions quickly revealed that it was a hominin cranium.
We used a battery of dating methods, including Uranium-lead dating on the flowstones, Uranium-Series Electron Spin Resonance on fossil teeth and Palaeomagnetism on sediments. Each of these complementary techniques helped to establish a very narrow age of 2.04-1.95 million years for the whole Drimolen Main Quarry and the fossils found in it, including DNH 134.
DNH 134 is extremely significant. Its discovery and dating means that the story of Homo erectus and its journey out of Africa is more complicated than previously thought. Also, we know too that South Africa played a seminal role in this key species that ultimately led to us.
Next steps
Work will continue at the Drimolen site. We aim to continue excavating using a new method where our efforts are focused along the breccia (fossilized rock with fossils in it). This has proved fruitful with not only the discovery of DNH 134, but also a male Paranthropus robustus skull (DNH 152; also discussed in the Science article) as well as a number of other hominin remains we are still studying.
The site also has a wide variety of animal fossils from both extinct and living species, all of whom add to the overall story that we aim to build about how our ancient ancestors lived.
We will also continue to encourage young paleoanthropologists from across the African continent to get involved in excavations. The site hosts an annual field school with international partner institutes and offers full scholarships exclusively to students from African countries (South Africans have first preference).
The idea behind this is to ensure that researchers from the continent and country are at the forefront of future discoveries that add to the human story.
NASA CASSINI MISSION'S FINAL MOMENTS REVEAL THE REASON WHY SATURN'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE IS SO HOT
NASA CASSINI MISSION'S FINAL MOMENTS REVEAL THE REASON WHY SATURN'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE IS SO HOT
Before it met its doom, the spacecraft gathered data that puts to rest a long-standing mystery about the sixth planet from our Sun.
After two decades in space, on September 15, 2017, NASA's Cassini spacecraft ended its life dramatically by plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere, disintegrating into nothingness.
But before it sacrificed itself, NASA’s mission to the ringed giant conducted 22 close orbits over a period of around five months, threading through the space between Saturn's main body and the planet's rings.
Dubbed Cassini’s Grand Finale, this final tour of Saturn revealed unprecedented detail about the planet's atmosphere, magnetic field, iconic rings, and opaque clouds. And now, almost three years on, this treasure trove of data have resolved yet another mystery about the planet and its curious climate.
In a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, a team of scientists used data from Cassini’s Grand Finale to create a map of temperatures of Saturn’s temperatures.
The findings suggest a resolution to the planet’s ENERGY CRISIS. Unlike on Earth, Saturn’s ‘energy crisis’ has nothing to do with a limited supply of natural resources. Instead, the crisis on Saturn refers to the inexplicably hot temperatures in the planet’s upper atmosphere.
In the past, scientists had observed strangely hot temperatures in Saturn's upper atmosphere — twice as hot as they should be. The new data support a long-standing hypothesis that the planet’s aurorae may be responsible for driving these extreme temperatures.
Ultimately, the findings could help scientists in their quest to find signs of habitability in exoplanets.
SATURN'S STRANGE CLIMATE— For years, scientists have tried to understand why Saturn’s upper atmosphere, known as the planet’s thermosphere, is much hotter than it should be.
Earth’s thermosphere is heated by the Sun. But the further you get away from the Sun in the Solar System, the less the intensity of the star’s radiation. That means objects further in the Solar System receive less heat from the star.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is about 10 times further away from the Sun than Earth. Based on this, the temperature of its upper atmosphere should be around 150-200 Kelvin, or between -190 and -100 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezing, in other words.
The ringed giant has posed an energy crisis in the Solar System. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Instead, the temperatures of Saturn’s upper atmosphere are between 350-600 Kelvin, according to the study. That's the equivalent of a positively boiling 170 to 620 degrees Fahrenheit.
“When I plotted all the temperatures up from pole to pole, I could see that the temperatures and polar regions were not doing what all the models were predicting,” Zarah Brown, a researcher in planetary atmosphere at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and lead author of the new study, tells Inverse.
Instead, the results reveal that Saturn’s upper atmosphere is at its hottest at the planet’s poles, where there are auroras. Similar to Earth’s Northern Lights, auroras take place when the Sun emits charged particles in the form of solar wind, exciting oxygen and nitrogen atoms in Saturn's ionized upper atmosphere.
The auroras generated by the charged solar wind connect Saturn’s thermosphere to its magnetosphere, a protective bubble of magnetic field that surrounds planets. This process results in electric currents that in turn heat the planet's thermosphere up. The extreme heating is a direct result of solar wind interacting with particles being emitted by Saturn’s moons and rings, the study suggests.
“The heat is coming from these processes associated with the aurora,” Brown says.
“The data supports that by just the fact that there’s sort of this ring of elevated temperatures right near the auroral regions, that is suggestive that that’s where the heat is being deposited.”
A view of Saturn, with its orbiting moon Titan, captured by Cassini.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Other giant planets in the Solar System like Jupiter and Uranus also experience inexplicable heating in their upper atmosphere, although whether the same auroral process is driving their strange temperatures can't be inferred from these data, Brown says.
But they do suggest new avenues for researchers to explore.
“No other giant planet has been studied in this kind of detail, this is really a great starting point,” Brown says.
CASSINI WONDERS—Cassini launched on October 15, 1997, and entered Saturn’s orbit on June 30, 2004. The intrepid satellite was originally slated for a four year mission, which was later extended twice.
During its 20-year mission, the spacecraft conducted nearly 300 orbits of Saturn, and took more than 453,000 images and sent back 635 gigabytes of data.
In April, 2017, Cassini began its final tour of the giant planet, diving further into the approximately 1,200-mile-wide gap between Saturn and its rings at a distance of about 1,000 to 2,500 miles above the planet’s clouds.
The team behind the mission were unsure if the spacecraft could even survive this close encounter with Saturn, and whether some of the material from the planet’s rings would ultimately destroy Cassini. But the risk paid off.
The reason for its dramatic death drop was to avoid crashing into Saturn’s moons and contaminating them, especially with Enceladus and Titan believed to contain some form of life.
“It was a risky procedure, we didn’t know if it would encounter impact,” Brown says.
“The Grand Finale data set is really unprecedented,” she says. “It was designed to give us this very special ability to have this snapshot of Saturn’s atmosphere.”
But even as the spacecraft plunged to its death, it was still sending data back to Earth.
EXPLORING OTHER WORLDS — The data not only help us better understand Saturn, but may also be useful in the quest to study exoplanets, and potentially find life outside the Solar System.
Most of the exoplanets scientists have found have been giant planets such as super-Earths or mini-Neptunes, and some of them had lost their atmosphere at some point during their existence.
Studying giant planets in our own Solar System may provide scientists with a more detailed model of what these faraway worlds look like than we could otherwise achieve with current technology.
“Understanding the planets in our Solar System is critical to understanding exoplanets in general,” Brown says.
Abstract:Temperatures of the outer planet thermospheres exceed those predicted by solar heating alone by several hundred degrees. Enough energy is deposited at auroral regions to heat the entire thermosphere, but models predict that equatorward distribution is inhibited by strong Coriolis forces and ion drag1,2. A better understanding of auroral energy deposition and circulation are critical to solving this so-called energy crisis. Stellar occultations observed by the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph instrument during the Cassini Grand Finale were designed to map the thermosphere from pole to pole. We analyse these observations, together with earlier observations from 2016 and 2017, to create a two-dimensional map of densities and temperatures in Saturn’s thermosphere as a function of latitude and depth. The observed temperatures at auroral latitudes are cooler and peak at higher altitudes and lower latitudes than predicted by models, leading to a shallower meridional pressure gradient. Under modified geostrophy3, we infer slower westward zonal winds that extend to lower latitudes than predicted, supporting equatorward flow from approximately 70° to 30° latitude in both hemispheres. We also show evidence of atmospheric waves in the data that can contribute to equatorward redistribution of energy through zonal drag.
WATCH AS NASA'S JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE DEPLOYS ITS MASSIVE, HONEYCOMB-SHAPED MIRROR
WATCH AS NASA'S JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE DEPLOYS ITS MASSIVE, HONEYCOMB-SHAPED MIRROR
NASA’s James Webb Telescope is designed to peer back in time across the universe, observing distant galaxies that are over 13 billion light years away.
But to get a glimpse, the telescope needs a pretty massive mirror capable of revealing the cosmos in great detail. And now, you too can see it in all its golden, shimmery glory before it heads into space.
The telescope’s 21 feet-wide, 4-inch-thick mirror was unfurled in a video released by NASA this week.
When fully deployed on the telescope, it appeared like a great, golden, reflective honeycomb.
While beautiful, the video also demonstrates one of the critical, final tests that the James Webb Telescope has to undergo at the Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Redondo Beach, California. Once it passes these tests, it will be packaged up, and shipped to French Guiana for launch onboard an Ariane space rocket.
In the video, the telescope’s primary mirror is deployed to the same position that it will have when floating through space.
REFLECTIVE HEXAGONS — The large mirror is needed to reflect light from objects in space. Doing this essentially amplifies the light, enabling the telescope's instruments to better pick up on what it is seeing. But the James Webb Telescope requires a mirror so large, that it is too large to fit into the Ariane 5 rocket.
A mirror this large has never been launched into space, so the team of engineers behind the telescope had to get creative.
In order to fly the telescope into orbit, the mirror must be tucked away during the ride to space. The James Webb Telescope mirror was built in 18 separate segments on a structure that folds up, each of the segments is around 4.3 feet in diameter.
Engineers at the Northrop Grumman Space Systems performed the final deployment test for the telescope's massive mirror.NASA/Chris Gunn
The reason why the segments are shaped like hexagons is so that they could fit together with no gaps in between, according to NASA.
Once in orbit, the James Webb Telescope can fully spread its wings, deploying the segments to its sides and initiating detailed observations of our cosmos.
“Deploying both wings of the telescope while part of the fully assembled observatory is another significant milestone showing Webb will deploy properly in space,” Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement.
“This is a great achievement and an inspiring image for the entire team.”
A HISTORY OF THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE
The James Webb Telescope has been in the works for more than a decade, since 1996. It is meant to be a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been feeding scientists with valuable data and imagery on the cosmos for 30 years.
Once it launches, the James Webb Telescope will be the most powerful telescope ever designed, with an unprecedented ability to observe objects that are far away in the universe and therefore unfold the history of the cosmos.
The James Webb Telescope in its full, shimmery glory.NASA
But it’s been a rather bumpy road to space for this large telescope.
As the novel coronavirus continues to threaten space agencies’ plans to carry on with space business as usual, the future remains uncertain for James Webb.
The final test was carried out by limited personnel at Northrop Grumman before NASA shutdown all testing or integration operations. The agency wants to limit the number of its employees on site to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
NASA will reassess the situation for both the James Webb Telescope and its other science operations within the next couple of weeks, and make decisions accordingly. We hope that — sooner rather than later — we might see this gigantic honeycomb make its way out into the cosmos.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover @NASAPersevere Some of you spotted the special message I’m carrying to Mars along with the 10.9+ million names you all sent in. “Explore As One” is written in Morse code in the Sun’s rays, which connect our home planet with the one I’ll explore. Together, we persevere. http://go.nasa.gov/33S5SCa
On March 30th, NASA let the world know via tweet that its next Mars Rover, Perseverance, will carry the names of 10.9 million people etched on three silicon chips, essays of the 155 finalists in NASA’s “Name the Rover” contest, and a small plaque with a picture of the Sun, Earth and Mars, and a message – “Explore as One” – written in Morse code. Morse code? Are Martians still in the telegraph age?
This isn’t the first cryptic message NASA has left for extraterrestrials. In 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts carried a silicon disc the size of a 50-cent piece (ask your grandpa how big that is) containing goodwill messages from leaders of 73 countries (the U.S. and its Cold War allies) and the names of the leaders of Congress, the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for legislation related to NASA, and NASA’s current and past administrators. Buzz Aldrin dropped it on the lunar surface (after being reminded by Neil Armstrong) right before they left the Moon. It’s probably covered in dust by now.
Apollo 11 disk
Equally famous and easier to interpret were the Pioneer Plaques attached to Pioneer 10 and 11, the first Earth ships (that we know of) known to have left the solar system. They contained a picture of a naked human couple (designed by Carl Sagan and drawn by his wife), along with illustrations intended to show where Earth is. To show how times have changed, many newspapers printing photos of the plaque in 1972 had to hide the man’s penis and the woman’s nipples. Would ETs be offended? Everything was written in English so experts were still thinking any being who picks it up has been monitoring our radio and television broadcasts.
Pioneer plaque
Voyagers 1 and 2 went beyond radio and TV to record albums (ask your grandfather). Carl Sagan was again involved in the design and selection. The record contains audio signals for 115 images, a selection of sounds of nature, actual musical selections (from Bach to Chuck Berry), greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages (a definite improvement) and a Morse code depiction of the Latin phrase “per aspera ad astra” – “through harsdship to the stars.” Fortunately for any ETs picking up one of the Voyagers, the gold record has pictorial instructions of how to listen to it and translate the pictures from the audio signals. And yes, there’s drawings of an anatomically correct naked male and naked female.
Voyager Gold Record
The next spaceship to head out of the solar system was the New Horizons. It was originally supposed to complete its mission at Pluto and then receive a digital signal from Earth called the One Earth Message. Similar in concept to the Voyager Gold Records, the One Message would contain digital (not analog) images submitted and selected by people around the world. This crowd-sourced message could even be updated as long as there was contact with New Horizons. Unfortunately, NASA never fully approved the idea and it didn’t happen. Instead, ETs pulling New Horizons into their own cargo bay will find some really lame stuff – two CDs of photos of the mission team and human faces (but no instructions on how to read them), a piece of another space ship that was not involved in the mission (?), two U.S. postage stamps and quarters (so they can mail a message back?), a nylon American flag (but no instructions on how to salute), and the ashes Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto (but no instructions on how to scatter them).
Here’s a quarter — call if you find this spaceship
Does it seem the messages are going downhill?
That brings us back to Perseverance and its Morse code greeting.
When most people think of a “UFO”, any number of things may come to mind. In likelihood, the many will envision a disc-shaped “flying saucer” or something similar; it is an image that has indelibly shaped our attitudes about unidentified flying objects since 1947 when American newspapers first began calling them “flying saucers.”
Not all reports of UFOs involve disc-shaped objects, of course. In fact, far more often, reports of unidentified flying objects involve sightings of things that are far less distinct: often they are merely unusual lights seen at night which, appropriately enough, the late J. Allen Hynek referred to as “nocturnal lights.”
Even if an object seen by the cover of night is unidentifiable at the time of observation, there are a lot of things that can be discerned about what that object or aircraft is not, based on light color and patterns.
The following account was shared with me by an observer named Jen, who observed the object in question shortly after 4 AM while traveling to work.
“I was driving to work and it was about 4:30 in the morning. There’s not usually anyone else on the road at that time except for a handful of other drivers,” Jen said, “so usually I can be a little more laid back.”
The moment she first observed lights in the distance ahead of her, she was aware that something about their appearance seemed unusual.
“[A]bout halfway down the road, going East, I saw a dark, bright blue light,” she recalled. “I thought it was weird but thought I’d just watch it until I got to work and see what happens. Well, the single light, turned into two dark blue bright lights.
Many observers would probably agree that the appearance of such lights would seem unusual, namely because blue is not a color that falls within FAA regulations.
“As it got closer,” Jen continued, “I could tell that they were attached to the same craft but one was in front and the other was slightly behind.
“Then a third dark blue bright light appeared at the tail end of the craft, as well as white blinking lights on what would be the wings. Now, I didn’t see an outline of any shape of the craft which held the lights, but you could tell they were all a part of the same object.”
Despite never seeing the shape of the plane or object to which they were attached, this report is curious since the coloration does not conform to any known aircraft lighting patterns. Add to that, as mentioned before, the fact that it falls outside of legal lighting for aircraft around the world, and it seems highly unlikely that this would have been any kind of conventional aircraft.
“I was sure it had to be some plane,” Jen added, “but it wasn’t flying high enough, (it was half the height of the mountains) and it was flying directly south, not trying to gain any altitude but not coming down like to land.
“I really wouldn’t have given it much thought but it was unlike any plane I’ve ever seen,” she concluded, “and apparently it’s illegal to fly with blue headlights in a plane.”
The white blinking lights oriented near the wingtips that Jen described seeing do match the position of strobe lights that appear on many conventional aircraft. However, according to federal aviation regulations part 25, pertaining to “regulations for transport aircraft,” section 1385 states that:
(b)Forward position lights. Forward position lights must consist of a red and a green light spaced laterally as far apart as practicable and installed forward on the airplane so that, with the airplane in the normal flying position, the red light is on the left side and the green light is on the right side. Each light must be approved.
Based on Jen’s description, in addition to there only being blue lights observable on the aircraft she witnessed, there did not appear to be any green or red position lights visible.
This presents a problem, since according to federal aviation regulations part 121, section 323, “No person may operate an airplane at night under this part unless it is equipped with the following instruments and equipment in addition to those required by §§121.305 through 121.321 and 121.803,” after which the first item listed under item “a” is position lights.
So what was the aircraft Jen observed in the early morning hours during her commute to work? It’s anybody’s guess, but it would seem pretty clear that its lighting pattern doesn’t seem to match any known aircraft and their operations under FAA regulations… and that, by definition, would make it an unidentified flying object, whatever its actual purpose and origins might have been.
For a long time, calling someone a “Neanderthal” was considered an insult to their intelligence. No long. A news study has turned it around and now calling someone a Neanderthal is a compliment … to their libido! Is humanity the by-product of Neanderthals doing more than just walking erect?
“A new study supports this notion, finding that people in Eurasia today have genetic material linked to Neanderthals from the Altai mountains in modern-day Siberia.”
That may not seem like a big deal since scientists have found Neanderthal DNA in the human genome, but that was in Eurasians and the Neanderthals were linked to remains found in the Vindija cave in Croatia. Omer Gokcumen, a University of Buffalo biologist, reveals in a new study published in the journal Genetics that his team of researchers had found Neanderthal DNA in Eurasians that traces back instead to the Altai mountains in what is now Siberia. How did this happen … scientifically speaking, of course?
“The picture in my mind now is we have all these archaic hominin populations in Europe, in Asia, in Siberia, in Africa. For one reason or another, the ancestors of modern humans in Africa start expanding in population, and as they expand their range, they meet with these other hominins and absorb their DNA, if you will.”
“Absorbed their DNA.” That a scientifically nice way of saying they had sex that resulted in babies. However, the phrasing of Gokcumen’s revelation raises an interesting question: were the ancestors of modern humans really horny or were the Neanderthals? Conversely, were the early humans really sexy or were the Neanderthals? Or was prehistoric Eurasia just one big free-love orgy between homo sapiens and Neanderthals … and what about the Denisovans?
“The story is not as neat as it was before. Every single ancient genome that is sequenced seems to create a completely new perspective in our understanding of human evolution, and every new genome that’s sequenced in the future may completely change the story again.”
The research concludes that each interbreeding population was different. The amount of “absorbing of DNA” varied based on geography and time period. Were the early Neanderthals sexier? Did the later ones feel these invading humans were taking advantage of them? More research is obviously necessary and it’s a foregone conclusion that more Neanderthal-human ‘absorbing’ will be found.
Perhaps the answer to all of these questions will boil down to finding out which one paid for dinner.
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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 73 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.
