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 NEARLY 13 YEARS AND 4 MONTH.
ON /30/09/2024 MORE THAN 2.230.520
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
05-11-2020
Astronomers find the Moon's 'long-lost twin': Large rock that broke off from our satellite four BILLION years ago is spotted hiding behind Mars
Astronomers find the Moon's 'long-lost twin': Large rock that broke off from our satellite four BILLION years ago is spotted hiding behind Mars
Researchers from Northern Ireland studied asteroids that trail behind Mars
Found one asteroid has a composition that is 'strikingly similar' to the moon
The asteroid measures 1km across and is believed to be four billion years old
The long-lost twin of the moon has been spotted trailing behind Mars, according to a new study.
The 3,280-foot-wide asteroid called (101429) 1998 VF31 was first spotted 22 years ago, and new analysis reveals it is 'strikingly similar' to the moon.
Scientists from the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) in Northern Ireland used the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to study the space rock.
The lead author of the study, Dr Apostolos Christou from the AOP, believes it is possibly a chunk of moon that was dislodged by an enormous impact during the Solar System's formative years, around four billion years ago.
However, while the origin of this rock may be lunar, the research team say it is also possible it could have stemmed from the Martian surface.
Scroll down for video
The asteroid is a Mars Trojan which orbits the Sun while trailing behind the red planet at an angle of about 60 degrees relative to the Sun, in a so-called Lagrange point. These are locations in a planet's orbit where the gravity of the Sun and the planet balances out, allowing a rock to remain in a static location. L4 is ahead of Mars and L5, where VF31 is, sits behind Mars
Dr Christou studied the space rock with a technique called spectral matching.
'It's similar to the photo-IDing done by the police when chasing crooks, you try to match your data - the spectral profile - against the same type of data taken from other objects, for example other asteroids or meteorites,' he told MailOnline.
'None of these matches were particularly satisfactory until we included spectra of the Moon in our analysis. The similarity to parts of the lunar surface was striking.'
The asteroid is part of a group known as Mars Trojans, and their origin is a long-standing astronomical mystery.
They orbit the Sun while either trailing behind the red planet at an angle of about 60 degrees relative to the Sun, L5, or 60° in front of Mars, L4.
For example, if Mars reaches a point in its orbit deemed to be the same as 12 o'clock on a clock face, the Trojans will be at two o'clock.
They stay in this location because they are trapped at a Lagrange Point, a patch of space where the gravitational pull of various celestial bodies balances out.
As a result, they never go around Mars and always lurk behind it, following in the planet's wake.
The study, which was funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), reveals that VF31 is very different in composition to all the other Mars Trojans.
This, Dr Chrisotu told MailOnline, was surprising. None of the other Trojans had any resemblance to the moon, making this object unique.
The research team speculates that the moon may have been struck by an asteroid, called a planetesimal, causing VF31 to chip off the surface.
'The early solar system was very different from the place we see today,' Dr Christou says.
'The space between the newly-formed planets was full of debris and collisions were commonplace.
'Large asteroids – we call these planetesimals – were hitting the Moon and the other planets.
'A shard from such a collision could have reached the orbit of Mars when the planet was still forming and was trapped in its Trojan clouds.'
Although the researchers are unable to say conclusively that the space rock is a fragment of the moon, the evidence is convincing.
To test if it would even be possible for the asteroid, which is less than a kilometre in diameter, to have originated from the moon and end up in Martian orbit the researchers crunched the numbers.
Previous studies show that for a rock to escape the moon's gravity, it would have to be travelling at 2.4 km/s (5,368 mph).
For it to then enter an orbit around the Sun, it would have to be travelling at a minimum of 3.5 km/s (7,829 mph).
The researchers say it is possible for a rock fragment of around one kilometre in diameter to travel at this speed if the moon is hit by a projectile at least 125km (77 mils) in size, travelling at 10 km/s (22,369 mph).
Such a monumental collision would create a crater measuring 974 km (604 miles) across.
In order for a loose piece of rock from the lunar surface to escape the moon's gravity and enter a solar orbit it would require the moon to be hit with a projectile at least 125km (77 mils) in size, travelling at 10 km/s (22,369 mph). This would create a crater measuring 974 km (604 miles), much smaller than the Aitken crater (pictured) on the far side of the Moon, which is far bigger than this. This proves it is at least possible for the asteroid to have come from the moon
A 1km-wide asteroid called (101429) 1998 VF31 was first spotted 22 years ago and new analysis reveals it is 'strikingly similar' to the moon, astronomers say
(stock)
'This is considerably smaller than the size of the largest lunar basin, therefore this scenario is at least plausible,' the researchers write in their study, published today in the journal Icarus.
While there has not been another asteroid discovered which could be an ancient remnant of the moon, the researchers believe there could well be more undiscovered lunar 'twins'.
'It is sensible to expect that if there is one there could be more,' Dr Christou says.
'However, to preserve those objects for 4 billion years until today they would need to have been trapped early on in similar "safe havens" along the orbits of nearby planets, Mars or the Earth.
'Perhaps there is some other asteroid out there that looks exactly like this one; so far we haven't found it. But we will keep looking.'
WHAT IS A LANGRANGE POINT?
A Lagrange point is a spot in space where the combined gravitational forces of two large bodies are equivalent to the centrifugal force of another body.
The way the forces interact creates a net directional force of zero and allows an object to stay stationary in space.
These points are named after Joseph-Louis Lagrange, an 18th-century mathematician who wrote about them in 1772.
major astronomical bodies have five points - labelled L1, L2, L3 L4 and L5.
L1, L2 and L3 are all unstable as they rely entirely on a fragile equilibrium.
L4 and L5 are far more stable.
L1 - Between the two objects. This location between the sun and the Earth is currently occupied by SOHO - Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and the Deep Space Climate Observatory.
L2 - The second spot is a million miles beyond Earth and in the opposite direction to the sun. This is currently occupied by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and will be the target area for the upcoming James Web telescope.
L3 - This spot lies behind the sun and away from Earth. This spot remains, as of yet, unoccupied.
L4 and L5 - They lie along Earth's orbit at 60 degrees ahead of and behind Earth.
Nasa has created the four concepts and has said they will likely be positioned at L2 - an astronomical position a million miles beyond Earth and in the opposite direction to the sun
A new study has suggested that astronomers have located our moon’s “long-lost twin”. The asteroid, that’s called (101429) 1998 VF31, measures 3,280 feet (1 kilometer or 0.62 miles) in width and is located behind Mars. Even though it was first discovered 22 years ago, recent studies have just revealed that it is “strikingly similar” to our moon.
The asteroid was studied by scientists from the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) in Northern Ireland and they believe that it did break off of our moon approximately 4 billion years ago during a gigantic impact.
In an interview with MailOnline, Dr. Apostolos Christou from AOP explained how they used spectral matching to study the space rock. “It’s similar to the photo-IDing done by the police when chasing crooks, you try to match your data – the spectral profile – against the same type of data taken from other objects, for example other asteroids or meteorites,” he said, adding, “None of these matches were particularly satisfactory until we included spectra of the Moon in our analysis. The similarity to parts of the lunar surface was striking.”
Some of the moon’s many craters.
The asteroid is part of the Mars Trojans and orbits our sun at around a 60 degree angle either behind or in front of the Red Planet. It is stuck in the Lagrange point which is a spot where the combined gravitational forces of two bigger objects cancel each other out, causing the third smaller body to remain in place.
Based on their research, scientists noticed that VF31 is much different than the other Mars Trojans as it had certain resemblances to our moon. They think that a big asteroid hit the moon which caused a piece of the lunar surface to break off.
Dr. Christou explained this further, “The space between the newly-formed planets was full of debris and collisions were commonplace.” “Large asteroids – we call these planetesimals – were hitting the Moon and the other planets.” “A shard from such a collision could have reached the orbit of Mars when the planet was still forming and was trapped in its Trojan clouds.”
Prior studies were conducted in order to predict the series of events in which the lunar chunk would have been launched into space. Based on the fact that the rock is only about a kilometer in width, it would have been flying at a speed of around 5,368 miles per hour in order to leave the gravitational pull of the moon. It would have then been traveling at a minimum speed of 7,829 mph when it entered into the sun’s orbit.
And in order for the space rock to travel at this tremendous speed, the moon would have been hit by an object that measured at least 77 miles and traveling at around 22,369 mph prior to the impact. The impact would have made a crater that measured approximately 604 miles in width. In their study (which can be read here), the researchers wrote in part, “This is considerably smaller than the size of the largest lunar basin; therefore this scenario is at least plausible.”
What’s even more shocking is that there may be more moon “twins” lurking around the solar system. “Perhaps there is some other asteroid out there that looks exactly like this one; so far we haven’t found it. But we will keep looking,” Dr. Christou stated.
While it isn’t confirmed yet that the space rock is in fact a piece of the moon, the new research is certainly compelling.
Actor Dan Aykroyd Reveals His Own UFO and Men In Black Experiences via Coast to Coast AM
Actor Dan Aykroyd Reveals His Own UFO and Men In Black Experiences via Coast to Coast AM
Actor Dan Aykroyd Reveals His Own UFO and Men In Black Experiences
COAST TO COAST AM INSIDER Archived Show – George Noory welcomed Dan Aykroyd and David Sereda, who talked about their new documentary film, Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs. Aykroyd, who’s had a long-standing interest in ufology, said he’s had two of his own UFO experiences and that he serves as the Hollywood consultant for MUFON.
Of all the cases he’s studied, the one he said that stands out most for him featured police officer audio tapes with live descriptions of a UFO that was pursued around Trumbull County, Ohio in 1994.
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Skinwalker Ranch Latest News & Photos - Coast to Coast AM - October 2020
Skinwalker Ranch Latest News & Photos - Coast to Coast AM - October 2020
Skinwalker Ranch Latest News & Photos – Coast to Coast AM – October 2020
Chris Bartel worked for Robert Bigelow as a security officer and spent time at the Skinwalker Ranch. His photography of the ranch will be on display at the University of Maryland Art Gallery in 2021.
Chris, along with Taras W. Matla, Associate Director of the Gallery, joined George Knapp to discuss the exhibit and the experiences Chris had when working on the ranch, providing a rare glimpse into the mystique surrounding the location while highlighting its grandeur and natural beauty.
Dr. Steven Greer: Preparing For Contact... Early Age Experiences of the UFO Phenomenon
Dr. Steven Greer: Preparing For Contact... Early Age Experiences of the UFO Phenomenon
COAST TO COAST AM INSIDER Archived Show - Dr. Steven Greer returned to discuss his memoir Hidden Truth: Forbidden Knowledge, as well as to comment on ufology and disclosure. His latest book chronicles his UFO/alien encounters that began at an early age. At 8 he saw his first UFO, a silvery disc, and later he began to have lucid dreams where he was onboard the craft.
At 17, Greer said he had an NDE where he experienced “cosmic consciousness” (being at one with the universe) with two enlightened beings. Later in 1973, while at the top of a mountain, he described encountering a 3-4 ft.-tall ET lifeform that floated him into a spacecraft where he meditated with several ETs from different planetary systems.
Guys I found this really cool looking UFO that has landed on the moon. I was using an Arizona State University/NASA map so its not just a photo...and it had a measurement in the lower right hand corner. The ruler says this craft is 50 meters across. The craft also had a long horn like arm coming out one side of the front and an huge black opening into the craft. This could be some kind of mining craft, but it is a bit small. Probably a transport for equipment and such. Made a video to give you more looks at this and see it on the actual map. Please subscribe to my channel UFO Sightings Daily.
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Glowing UFO Over Ancient City of Thessaloniki Greece Aug 15, 2020, UFO Sighting News.
Glowing UFO Over Ancient City of Thessaloniki Greece Aug 15, 2020, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Aug 15, 2020
Location of sighting: Thessaloniki, Greece
Watch this video and you will see a huge flashing UFO over the ancient city of Thessaloniki, Greece. The city was founded over 2335 years ago in 315 BC. That makes this area a very important location since aliens can monitor the human inhabitants over a long time period and make accurate predictions of the future of the city. This glowing light looks similar to the one seen a back in 2011 over Dome of Rock (Holy temple) in Jerusalem in which thousands saw the UFO and recorded it. This...is the same UFO.
Scott C. Waring - Taiwan
BELOW IS A NEWS VIDEO OF THE EXACT SAME UFO IN 2011 OVER THE HOLY TEMPLE OF DOME OF ROCK, JERUSALEM.
White Cloud Orb Has Nowhere To Hide Over Mazatlan, Mexico, Oct 24, 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.
White Cloud Orb Has Nowhere To Hide Over Mazatlan, Mexico, Oct 24, 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Oct 24, 2020
Location of sighting: Mazatlan, Mexico
This UFO was recorded over Mexico last week. The white craft is seen not moving in the wind, but does rise higher. This UFO looks really similar to the cloud orbs I often seen shooting in and out of the clouds. These orbs are AI controlled, meaning no alien pilot, but then again, the AI controlling it is alive. Fantastic catch of an orb watching the people below. Since its a cloudless blue sky, the white orb stands out easily.
White UFOs Over Honfleur, Canada On Nov 2, 2020, UFO Sighting News.
White UFOs Over Honfleur, Canada On Nov 2, 2020, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Nov 2, 2020 Location of sighting: Honfleur, Canada Source: MUFON
Some white objects were recorded a few days ago over Canada. The person was in a moving car so the objects are a bit difficult to see, but you can see there are white objects moving in the sky. Although this could be a flock of geese or ducks its very hard to say for sure. UFOs or flock of geese...impossible to say for sure without a more close up look. Still, such UFOs have been recorded shooting in and out of clouds.
Scott C. Waring - Taiwan
Eyewitness states:
Yesterday November 2, 2020 my kids and I were driving home to Honfleur, Quebec and we saw something in the sky that seemed very strange to us.
Kid On School Bus Records UFO Over Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Nov 2, 2020, MUFON, UFO Sighting News.
Kid On School Bus Records UFO Over Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Nov 2, 2020, MUFON, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Nov 2, 2020 Location of sighting: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
A student was still in a school bus when he recorded a dark triangle object passing his school. The boy asked his friends "What is it?" Then he responded to himself saying UFO, and then possibly a kite. But as I watch this strange object in the sky the diamond shape does remind me of thousands of UFO reports that came in just this year alone of such similar looking craft. Even the US Navy have reported some infrared footage with a UFO that looks very close to this one over Philadelphia. This video is powerful evidence that UFOs not only exist, but are deliberately allowing themselves to be seen in public places.
UFO fleet flying across Long Beach, California 3-Nov-2020
UFO fleet flying across Long Beach, California 3-Nov-2020
These multiple unidentified flying objects were seen and recorded in the sky above Long Beach, a coastal city and port in Southern California. This happened on Tuesday, 3rd November 2020.
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Possible TR-3B UFO sighting over Pomona, California 1-Nov-2020
Possible TR-3B UFO sighting over Pomona, California 1-Nov-2020
Check out this interesting footage of a possible triangle UFO – T3-RB that was filmed over Pomona, a city in Los Angeles County, California. This happened on Sunday, 1st November 2020 at around 4pm.
Witness stated that it was not moving for about 3 hours.
Check out this amazing book about the top 10 UFO cases in the history.
Unknown lights witnessed over Melbourne, Australia 25-Oct-2020
Unknown lights witnessed over Melbourne, Australia 25-Oct-2020
These bright unidentified flying objects were filmed in the sky above Melbourne, Australia on 25th October 2020.
Witness report:
Not sure what we seen… never seen this before. Living on the spacecoast we seen a lot of beautiful rocket Launches. What we seen doesn’t make sense. I posted the videos online to ask others. Some people saying Flares but no aircraft flying or sounds of one in the air. It was a very still night and clear sky’s. My video would’ve been better if I didn’t have a bright street light in my way. I was able to video some at the end when I grabbed my phone.
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SCIENTISTS CONFIRM THE SOURCE OF MYSTERIOUS RADIO BURSTS IN THE MILKY WAY
SCIENTISTS CONFIRM THE SOURCE OF MYSTERIOUS RADIO BURSTS IN THE MILKY WAY
All the signs point to a powerful type of star.
ON APRIL 28, space observatories detected a burst of activity from the center of the Milky Way that lasted for a fraction of a second.
The blip was a fast radio burst, a strong radio signal that lasts mere milliseconds. Although fast radio bursts are frequently detected coming from outside our own galaxy, their sources remain a mystery. But a team of astronomers believe they have identified the source of the first such radio burst detected in the Milky Way — a kind of hyper-magnetized star.
Their findings are detailed in three studies published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
An artist's illustration of a magnetar — a dense, spinning ember left behind after a supernova and wrapped in intense magnetic fields.
Fast radio bursts were first detected in 2007, but the signals came from a far enough distance that astronomers had a hard time identifying their source. But then a radio burst came in from a little closer to home.
Before 2007, the next closest source detected was at a distance of 490 million light years away from Earth.
This radio signal was different. It was so bright scientists could tell that it came from within our own galaxy, yet it shared the properties of fast radio bursts from very distant sources — putting its source also tantalizingly close at hand.
"This burst was so bright that, in theory, if you had a recording from the raw data from your cellphone's 4G LTE receiver, which does detect radio waves, and if you kind of knew what you were looking for, you might have found the signal that came about half way across the galaxy in your cellphone data," Christopher Bochenek, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology and one of the authors on the new studies, said in a press briefing to discuss the results.
“THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO TIE ONE OF THESE EXOTIC FAST RADIO BURSTS TO A SINGLE ASTROPHYSICAL OBJECT.”
Tracing it back, scientists found that the burst, dubbed SGR 1935+2154, appeared to erupt from a source just 30,000 light-years away from Earth.
From their observations, the astronomers worked out that the radio pulses seem to have been produced by a magnetar, a dense, spinning and hyper-magnetized star. These strange stars are the remnants left after a supernova and are wrapped in intense magnetic fields. These fields are so strong, Bochenek said, they "squish atoms into pencil-like shapes."
“There’s this great mystery as to what would produce these great outbursts of energy, which until now we’ve seen coming from halfway across the universe,” Kiyoshi Masui, assistant professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the team’s analysis of the fast radio burst's brightness, said in a statement.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to tie one of these exotic fast radio bursts to a single astrophysical object.”
Scientists have long hypothesized that fast radio bursts are produced by magnetars, but this is the first time that they have been able to prove it with direct observations. Such a discovery is no mean feat — this project had a 10 percent chance of actually detecting this kind of fast radio burst, Bochenek said.
In the case of this particular magnetar, dubbed SGR 1935+2154, it is one of about 30 known magnetars in the Milky Way. These neutron stars occasionally go through spurts of activity, during which they emit radiation at different wavelengths.
The researchers were able to pinpoint the fast radio burst to a point in the sky within a fraction of a degree of this magnetar, which happened to be blasting out X-rays around the same time.
“There was some buzz in the astronomy community about this magnetar that had become active in the X-ray, and it had been mentioned within our collaboration that we should keep an eye out for something more from this magnetar,” Masui said. “If it was coming from any other object close to the magnetar, it would be a very big coincidence," he added.
Now that scientists have confirmed that fast radio bursts are produced by magnetars, the next cosmic mystery to crack is to figure out exactly how these bursts of emissions are produced by the strange stars.
Abstract, study one:
Magnetars are highly magnetized young neutron stars that occasionally produce enormous bursts and fares of X-rays and γ-rays1 . Of the approximately thirty magnetars currently known in our Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, fve have exhibited transient radio pulsations2,3 . Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecondduration bursts of radio waves arriving from cosmological distances4 , some of which have been seen to repeat5–8 . A leading model for repeating FRBs is that they are extragalactic magnetars, powered by their intense magnetic felds9–11. However, a challenge to this model is that FRBs must have radio luminosities many orders of magnitude larger than those seen from known Galactic magnetars. Here we report the detection of an extremely intense radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) FRB project. The fuence of this two-component bright radio burst and the estimated distance to SGR 1935+2154 together imply a burst energy at 400 to 800 megahertz of approximately 3 × 1034 erg, which is three orders of magnitude higher than the burst energy of any radio-emitting magnetar detected thus far. Such a burst coming from a nearby galaxy (at a distance of less than approximately 12 megaparsecs) would be indistinguishable from a typical FRB. However, given the large gaps in observed energies and activity between the brightest and most active FRB sources and what is observed for SGR 1935+2154-like magnetars, more energetic and active sources— perhaps younger magnetars—are needed to explain all observations.
Abstract, study two:
Since their discovery in 20071 , much efort has been devoted to uncovering the sources of the extragalactic, millisecond-duration fast radio bursts (FRBs)2 . A class of neutron stars known as magnetars is a leading candidate source of FRBs3,4 . Magnetars have surface magnetic felds in excess of 1014 gauss, the decay of which powers a range of high-energy phenomena5 . Here we report observations of a millisecond-duration radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154, with a fuence of 1.5 ± 0.3 megajansky milliseconds. This event, FRB 200428 (ST 200428A), was detected on 28 April 2020 by the STARE2 radio array6 in the 1,281–1,468 megahertz band. The isotropic-equivalent energy released in FRB 200428 is 4 × 103 times greater than that of any radio pulse from the Crab pulsar—previously the source of the brightest Galactic radio bursts observed on similar timescales7 . FRB 200428 is just 30 times less energetic than the weakest extragalactic FRB observed so far8 , and is drawn from the same population as the observed FRB sample. The coincidence of FRB 200428 with an X-ray burst9–11 favours emission models that describe synchrotron masers or electromagnetic pulses powered by magnetar bursts and giant fares3,4,12,13. The discovery of FRB 200428 implies that active magnetars such as SGR 1935+2154 can produce FRBs at extragalactic distances.
Abstract, study three:
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients of unknown physical origin observed at extragalactic distances1–3 . It has long been speculated that magnetars are the engine powering repeating bursts from FRB sources4–13, but no convincing evidence has been collected so far14. Recently, the Galactic magnetar SRG 1935+2154 entered an active phase by emitting intense soft γ-ray bursts15. One FRB-like event with two peaks (FRB 200428) and a luminosity slightly lower than the faintest extragalactic FRBs was detected from the source, in association with a soft γ-ray/hard-X-ray fare18–21. Here we report an eight-hour targeted radio observational campaign comprising four sessions and assisted by multi-wavelength (optical and hard-X-ray) data. During the third session, 29 soft-γ-ray repeater (SGR) bursts were detected in γ-ray energies. Throughout the observing period, we detected no single dispersed pulsed emission coincident with the arrivals of SGR bursts, but unfortunately we were not observing when the FRB was detected. The non-detection places a fuence upper limit that is eight orders of magnitude lower than the fuence of FRB 200428. Our results suggest that FRB–SGR burst associations are rare. FRBs may be highly relativistic and geometrically beamed, or FRB-like events associated with SGR bursts may have narrow spectra and characteristic frequencies outside the observed band. It is also possible that the physical conditions required to achieve coherent radiation in SGR bursts are difcult to satisfy, and that only under extreme conditions could an FRB be associated with an SGR burst.
SCIENTISTS OBSERVE GALAXY CLUSTER COLLISIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE
CRASH
SCIENTISTS OBSERVE GALAXY CLUSTER COLLISIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE
Ancient galaxy cluster collisions can enhance our understanding of how the universe formed.
ACROSS THE VAST COSMOS, EACH GALAXY stretches some 3,000 to 300,000 light years in diameter. These massive structures tend to be separated from one another by millions of light years. But some are much closer together, grouped to form one of the largest structures in the universe — a galaxy cluster.
Galaxy clusters contain hundreds to thousands of galaxies, bound to one another by the force of gravity.
Incredibly, these huge structures can also collide, smashing into one another over the course of millions of years. Hidden in these collisions are clues to how the universe itself formed and evolved. For the first time, a team of scientists has observed nine massive collisions between galaxy clusters in the early universe. These cataclysmic events, which took place 7 billion years ago, are the most distant to have ever been observed.
The observations are detailed in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Gabriella Di Gennaro is a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands and lead author of the new study. She and her team looked for these collisions by observing a sample of galaxy clusters.
"We didn’t know how many of these clusters were colliding," Di Gennaro tells Inverse. "We looked at ones located far in the universe."
Using the Dutch-European network of linked LOFAR antennas, the researchers gathered unprecedentedly detailed data from galaxy clusters located at greater distances than ever before.
As galaxy clusters merge together, the motion created by the collision accelerates the particles located within the clusters to almost the speed of light. As they come in contact with the magnetic fields of the clusters, the accelerated particles emit radio waves.
Di Gennaro compares it to throwing a stone in a lake, and the ripples that are created from the impact.
"These ripples generate turbulent motions inside the clusters," she says. "It’s all about turbulent motion, shock waves that propagate from the point of impact to the external parts of the lake."
Previous attempts to capture these radio waves were unsuccessful because our instruments were just not powerful enough to catch them from such long distances. The radio waves observed in this study were produced by collisions that took place 7 billion light years away. The universe is currently 13.8 billion years old. So these collisions took place around halfway through its cosmic lifespan.
By observing the galaxy cluster collisions, the scientists were surprised to find that the mergers produced brighter radio emissions than previously expected for a young universe.
"What we see now, and what we see 7 billion years ago, is actually the same," Di Gennaro says. "The only difference we can see is that when the universe was young, there was a higher probability of finding these collisions."
Astronomers study galaxies in order to test out the current theories of cosmology and the model that they have of the universe.
"Galaxies are the final point of evolution," Di Gennaro says.
Observing galaxies can inform scientists of processes such as star formation and understanding the laws of physics that govern the universe.
As the technology behind space telescopes continues to improve, scientists are expecting to observe a lot more of these distant collisions and be able to analyze them in more detail.
Abstract:
In the present-day Universe, magnetic fields pervade galaxy clusters1and have strengths of a few microgauss, as measured from Faraday rotation2. Evidence for cluster magnetic fields is also provided by the observation of megaparsec-scale radio emission, namely radio halos and relics3. These are commonly found in merging systems4 and are characterized by a steep radio spectrum Sν (α < −1, where Sν∝να and is ν the observing frequency). It is widely believed that magneto-hydrodynamical turbulence and shock waves (re-)accelerate cosmic rays5 and produce radio halos and relics. The origin and amplification of magnetic fields in clusters is not well understood. It has been proposed that turbulence drives a small-scale dynamo6,7,8,9,10,11 that amplifies seed magnetic fields (which are primordial and/or injected by galactic outflows, such as active galactic nuclei, starbursts or winds12). At high redshift, radio halos are expected to be faint, owing to losses from inverse Compton scattering and the dimming effect with distance. Moreover, Faraday rotation measurements are difficult to obtain. If detected, distant radio halos provide an alternative tool to investigate magnetic field amplification. Here, we report Low Frequency Radio Array observations that reveal diffuse radio emission in massive clusters when the Universe was only half of its present age, with a sample occurrence fraction of about 50%. The high radio luminosities indicate that these clusters have similar magnetic field strengths to those in nearby clusters, and suggest that magnetic field amplification is fast during the first phases of cluster formation.
The Yarkovsky effect is a minuscule push on a small body in space, imparted by nothing more than sunlight.
Would you believe that sunlight has the ability to change the course of asteroids and comets? It can. Consider the example of asteroid Bennu, which made headlines last month when NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully collected a sample of dust from its surface (the spacecraft is due to return to Earth in 2023). Bennu has been known since at least 2012 to undergo the delicate nudge of what is called the Yarkovsky effect. It’s a minuscule push on an asteroid, imparted by nothing more than sunlight.
The effect of sunlight on rotating asteroids is tiny in contrast to the gravitational forces acting on asteroids as they move through the solar system. But – over many years – the tiny pushing effect of sunlight mounts up, so that asteroids have a tough time sticking to their orbits. Rotating asteroids drift widely over time. It’s a factor that complicates the picture for scientists trying to assess the long-term risk of asteroids on Earth-crossing orbits.
The Yarkovsky effect – sometimes called the Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect – happens because, just as on Earth, the side of an asteroid facing the sun is warmed by sunlight. On asteroid Bennu, for example, a single spin takes just 4 hours and 17.8 minutes, so the part of the asteroid’s surface that faces the sun is constantly shifting. As Bennu rotates, it continuously expels heat from its ever-shifting sunlit side. As its surface heats up during the day and cools down at night, Bennu gives off radiation that can act as a sort of mini-thruster.
This tiny force is the Yarkovsky effect. Because of it, Bennu’s rotation has been found to be speeding up by about 1 second per century. In other words, Bennu’s rotation period is getting shorter by about 1 second every 100 years.
The animation below shows how sunlight alters the orbit of a rotating asteroid via the Yarkovsky effect.
The Yarkovsky effect also changes the orbit of asteroids. For asteroids that spin in a prograde direction – that is, the asteroid spins in the same direction it’s orbiting – the asteroid gets a push in the direction of its orbital motion. The asteroid speeds up and moves out to a slightly larger orbit.
The opposite happens for an asteroid rotating in a retrograde direction, opposite from its orbital motion. A retrograde rotator gets pushed backwards due to the Yarkovsky effect. It is effectively slowed down and falls towards the sun on an increasingly smaller orbit.
The OSIRIS-REx team explains how this works in the video below:
Knowing the precise orbit of the asteroid is essential to a successful spacecraft encounter. That’s why – for asteroid Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission – astronomers observed every close passage of the asteroid and bounced signals from radio telescopes off the asteroid’s surface. By measuring the delay in the return signal, researchers were able to measure accurately how far the asteroid was from Earth. Repeated observations beginning in 1999 (when the asteroid was discovered) and into this century – using the Arecibo and Goldstone radio telescopes – revealed the Yarkovsky effect acting on asteroid Bennu.
Between 1999 and 2012 – when a measurement of the Yarkovsky effect for asteroid Bennu was first announced – Bennu had wandered by about 100 miles (160 km) from where it otherwise would have been. The discrepancy is entirely the result of heat radiating from the asteroid’s surface.
Like the proverbial tortoise racing the hare, slow and steady is the way the Yarkovsky effect manifests itself. If you guessed that the thrust imparted by radiation is tiny, you would be right. Asteroid Bennu – 68 million tons of mass, a third of a mile (half a kilometer) wide – is being pushed around by a force equal to, as team member Steven Chesley said in 2012, the weight of three grapes on Earth. That’s about half an ounce (14 grams).
Understanding the evolution of our solar system requires taking into account all the forces at play, no matter how small. If the weight of three grapes can shove an entire asteroid off course by 100 miles over a dozen years, what about over 1,000 years? Or a 100,000? Or a billion?
The Yarkovsky effect was first described by a Russian civil engineer named Ivan Yarkovsky around the year 1900. Yarkovsky, born in 1844, worked for the Alexandrovsk railway company for more than 20 years, exploring railroad technology. During that time, he also dabbled in other scientific pursuits. His interest in the motions of the planets led to the publishing of a pamphlet describing the effect that would come to bear his name.
His work would have been lost had it not been rediscovered by Ernst Opik and made widely known in 1951.
In the years since Yarkovsky published his musings, planetary astronomers have come to realize that his effect has most likely dramatically changed entire families of asteroids and played an essential role in the movement of objects from the main asteroid belt to Earth. In fact, without this effect, the Earth would have experienced fewer asteroid impacts over its history. One is left to wonder if any mass extinctions were the result of just half an ounce of pressure on one side of a rock quietly orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Astronomy often focuses on the large, the vast, and the highly energetic. But sometimes, very small forces can alter the evolution of an entire planetary system. The Yarkovsky effect is one example. An imbalance in the radiation of heat off an asteroid changes its orbit.
And that change can make the difference between the status quo and mass extinction.
Title page of Ivan Yarkovsky’s pamphlet, privately published in Bryansk, Russia in 1901. This is where the concept of his effect appeared for the first time (although in a context that’s now obsolete; he assumed that ether existed between solar system bodies).
Bottom line: An ounce of force from an imbalance in sunlight can steer asteroids into (or out of) Earth-crossing orbits. This is the Yarkovsky effect, a minuscule push on an asteroid, imparted by nothing more than sunlight. Given a long-enough time, the effect can drastically alter the layout of the solar system.
Astronomers in Hawaii have detected the Yarkovsky effect – a minuscule push imparted by sunlight – for asteroid Apophis. The effect is particularly important for Apophis, because it relates to the possibility of an Earth impact in 2068.
Orbit of asteroid Apophis (pink) in contrast to the orbit of Earth (blue). The yellow dot represents the sun. Apophis takes 323.6 days to orbit the sun. Earth takes 365.3 days.
Astronomers at the University of Hawaii issued a statement on October 26, 2020, revealing critical new findings linked to the large near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis, which is expected to pass close to Earth in 2029, 2036 and again in 2068. Dave Tholen and collaborators announced they have now detected a Yarkovsky accelerationon asteroid Apophis, arising from a minuscule push imparted by sunlight. This force is particularly important for asteroid Apophis, the scientists in Hawaiisaid, because it relates to the possibility of an Earth impact in 2068.
Tholen and colleagues used the 323-inch (8.2-meter) Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to make the new observations. Their work suggests that the huge space rock – whose estimated diameter is between 1,115 and 1,214 feet (340 to 370 meters) – is drifting more than 500 feet (about 170 meters) per year from its expected position in its orbit.
The team will present their research later this week at a virtual conference held under the auspices of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. Referring to the encounter in 2029, the conference is called Apophis T-9 Years.
Goldstone and Arecibo radar observations confirm that Apophis is elongated.
Image via NASA/JPL.
Tholen – who has been tracking the motion of Apophis in the sky since he and his colleagues discovered it from Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in on June 19, 2004 – commented in the statement:
We have known for some time that an impact with Earth is not possible during the 2029 close approach.
The new observations we obtained with the Subaru telescope earlier this year were good enough to reveal the Yarkovsky acceleration of Apophis, and they show that the asteroid is drifting away from a purely gravitational orbit by about 170 meters [about 500 feet] per year, which is enough to keep the 2068 impact scenario in play.
These observations aren’t easy to obtain and analyze, by the way. Factors such as the asteroid’s distance at the time of observation, its composition, its shape and its surface features all affect the outcome.
But astronomers are pushing to understand the orbit of asteroid Apophis because of its close sweeps past our planet in this century and beyond.
Because of the distance, asteroid 99942 Apophis appears as a small dot in this telescope image.
Image via University of Hawaii.
In recent years, astronomers have been able to find and track tiny asteroids sweeping very near the Earth. For example, on September 24, 2020, asteroid 2020 SW swept even closer to us than our meteorological and television satellites as well as other geostationary satellites, which orbit our planet at some 22,300 miles (35,900 km) from Earth’s surface. Asteroid 2020 SW came within about 7% of the Earth-moon distance. But asteroid 2020 SW is estimated to be only about 14 to 32 feet (about 4.5 to 10 meters) in diameter. That’s very small in contrast to asteroid Apophis.
Asteroid Apophis will have an extremely close encounter with Earth on April 13, 2029. At its closest in 2029, Apophis will sweep just 23,441 miles (37,725 km) from our planet, or about 10% of the Earth-moon distance. That’s very close for a space rock over 1,115 ft (340 meters) across! Lance Benner of NASA/JPL commented:
This will be the closest approach by something this large currently known. (In 2029) Apophis will be visible to the unaided eye for several hours, and Earth tides will probably change its spin state.
This animation shows the distance between the Apophis asteroid and Earth at the time of the asteroid’s closest approach in 2029. The blue dots are manmade satellites orbiting our planet, and the pink represents the International Space Station.
Although the probability of an impact from asteroid Apophis for 2029 and 2036 has been ruled out, the new findings suggest that there might be a very small chance of impact in April 2068. Previous calculations made in 2016 had all but ruled out the probability of an impact on 2068. The chance of an impact was seen in 2016 as vanishingly small, at just 1 in 150,000 odds of impact, or a 99.99933% chance the asteroid would miss the Earth. The new findings might slightly change these numbers again, as new calculations are made using both the recent data and new observations that will be made very soon.
Astronomers will know well before 2068 if there is any chance of an impact from Apophis. And opportunities for observing asteroid Apophis are coming up again soon.
Another radar image of asteroid 99942 Apophis.
Image via NASA/ JPL.
This year, and next (December 2020 and April 2021) astronomers are planning to study asteroid Apophis using NASA’s NEOWISE infrared space telescope. This is the same telescope that discovered 2020’s favorite comet, Comet NEOWISE, which has now faded from view.
Due to its short orbital period around the sun of only 323.6 days (less than an Earth year), asteroid Apophis comes by this region of the solar system quite often and will have a distant encounter with Earth in just a few months. On the night of March 5, 2021, the huge space rock will pass at 10,471,577 miles (16,852,369 km) from our planet, i.e. about 44 times the distance to the moon. Apophis is then expected to reach a visual magnitude of 15 to 16, too faint to be seen in small telescopes, but within the reach of 12-inch-diameter and larger telescopes, and possibly even smaller telescopes using sensitive cameras.
Astronomers will also study Apophis during the 2021 flyby with radar observations, using the Goldstone observatory in California. If the Arecibo observatory is sufficiently repaired by that time, studies of Apophis from there would be significant, as the radio telescope in Puerto Rico would provide more detailed detections of this asteroid.
These observations of Apophis should improve our knowledge of its shape and spin state, and they’ll help reduce uncertainties in the space rock’s orbit caused by Yarkovsky acceleration.
This 2021 flyby will be Apophis’ closest approach until the great encounter in 2029.
Friday, April 13, 2029, will be more of a showtime for the general public and astronomers alike. Apophis will come so close that it’ll be visible to the unaided eye alone; something that almost never happens with asteroids! According to NASA, Apophis will first become visible in the Southern Hemisphere and will look like a speck of light moving across Australia during this close encounter. It will be over the Atlantic Ocean at its closest approach to Earth. It will move so fast that it crosses the Atlantic in just an hour, and will have crossed the U.S. in the late afternoon/early evening within the next hour. Calculations indicate that Apophis will reach a visual magnitude of 3.1 during this approach, comparable to the stars in the Little Dipper. It is expected to be visible to the unaided eye from some areas of Australia, western Asia, Africa, and Europe.
An asteroid is quite the traveller: While the semi-major axis (the largest diameter of its elongated orbit) of Apophis’ orbit now is shrinking by 170 meters (500 feet) per year, Dave Tholen told EarthSky that this will change:
The 2029 close approach to the Earth will increase the semi-major axis significantly, changing Apophis from an asteroid of the Aten variety to one of the Apollo variety. Average orbital speed will slow down as a result.
So currently, Apophis has a semi-major axis smaller than that of the Earth and occasionally crosses paths with our orbit. This makes it an Aten category asteroid in the Near Earth Objects (NEO) classifications, and means that the asteroid spends the majority of its time inside the Earth’s orbit around the sun. After 2029, it will join the ranks of Apollo objects, which still cross Earth’s orbit but have a semi-major axis larger than the Earth’s. That is, Apophis will then live its majority of time outside of Earth’s orbit.
According to some estimates, an asteroid the size of Apophis can be expected to strike Earth about every 80,000 years.
As a result of the extremely close approach of April 2029, it is expected that perturbations caused by Earth’s gravity will change Apophis’ orbit from the Aten to the Apollo class.
Image via NASA/ JPL.
Bottom line: Asteroid Apophis is a relatively large body, noteworthy for its extremely close approaches to Earth in 2029, 2036 and 2068. Astronomers in Hawaii have now measured a Yarkovsky effect for this asteroid – a change in its orbital motion, due to a tiny push imparted by sunlight as the asteroid spins – as they strive to pin down the asteroid’s orbit with precision.
Neanderthals and Humans Were at War… For 100,000 Years!
Neanderthals and Humans Were at War… For 100,000 Years!
Once much of Eurasia was dominated by Neanderthals, our archaic humanancestors. And the extinction of Neanderthals is one of the great mysteries in science. Anevolutionary biologistand paleontologist now believe that the extinction of Neanderthals was the result of losing a 100,000-year war with anatomically modern humans. It seems that the expansion of our ancient human ancestors across Eurasia was a result of conquest.
The Neanderthals and the ancestors of the modern humans separated in Africa over 500,000 years ago. Homo neanderthalensis migrated into the Middle East and spread over much of Europe and Asia. According to BBC Future they “They weren't our ancestors, but a sister species, evolving in parallel.” The Neanderthals were not primitive cavemen and women: they were comparatively quite advanced. They were capable hunters who lived in complex social systems. Neanderthals had a culture, and even buried their dead, which may indicate they even had some form of religion.
Neanderthals Were Predators and Territorial Like Us
Anatomically modern humans left Africa about 200,000 years ago. We know that they encountered Neanderthals because there is some evidence of interbreeding between the two hominins. This may indicate that the two species lived in harmony and even cooperated.
Nicholas R Longrich, who teaches evolutionary biology and paleontology at the University of Bath, Britain wrote in Science Alert that “It's tempting to see them in idyllic terms, living peacefully with nature and each other, like Adam and Eve in the Garden.” Many philosophers believed that war and violence are modern phenomena that were biproducts of civilization.
Prehistoric Neanderthals or Homo Sapiens? It's difficult to say as we were so similar.
But as Longrich writes in Science Alert “Biology and paleontology paint a darker picture.” Neanderthals were predators and they were hard-wired to be territorial. They would defend their territory with violence, and they would work in a cooperative way to fight off all trespassers. This means that the extinction of Neanderthals could not have been easy.
Territorial Behavior
Defending one’s territory and using violence to do so, if necessary, was a trait that Neanderthals, modern humans and chimpanzees all inherited from their ancestors. As a result, modern humans and our sister species, the Neanderthals, were programmed to be violent when protecting their territory.
Longrich told BBC Future that “ cooperative aggression evolved in the common ancestor of chimps and ourselves 7 million years ago.” This impulse is the root of all organized violence and war. The expert also stated in Science Alert that “War isn't a modern invention, but an ancient, fundamental part of our humanity.” Evidence for this is everywhere in the archaeological record and in our earliest myths.
Neanderthals were remarkably similar to modern humans. They behaved as we do, and Longrich said in Science Alert that “If Neanderthals shared so many of our creative instincts, they probably shared many of our destructive instincts, too.” So, when the ancestors of modern humans left Africa and encountered other species of archaic humans, conflict and war was inevitable.
The Stone Age archaeological record has provided us with some examples of prehistoric stone tools or weapons of violence. Probably, these tools were used for daily life and territorial defense.
A look at the paleontological record shows that there is evidence of trauma on the bones of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The primitive weapons found by archaeologists at prehistoric sites also tell a tale of violence, as the bone record does. In particular, it seems that young Neanderthal males showed signs of injuries from blunt force trauma. These would have been the fighters of their groups and this may indicate that they were injured or killed in violent confrontations. While some deaths may have been accidental, some may have been the result of raids and ambushes.
The Extinction of Neanderthals Took 100,000 Years!
There is a real possibility that Neanderthals and early humans were engaged in violence similar to the inter-tribal conflicts of the past and even present. The Neanderthals resisted the incursions of modern humans into their territories. Longrich told the Daily Express that this “led to a 100,000-year war to determine who was top dog.” So, the extinction of Neanderthals was not fast: it took humans a long time to achieve.
The Neanderthals were formidable foes. This was because they survived for tens of thousands of years after encountering modern humans. They were capable hunters, and they had the skills and weapons to resist newcomers. Moreover, they were stockier and stronger than our ancestors, and probably had better night vision, which could have helped them in ambushes after dark. This means that the extinction of Neanderthals was not necessarily an obvious outcome. We won but not so fast . . .
A prehistoric cave painting showing a battle between two groups, who may have been Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. As we know, the Homo Sapiens were the ones who won the war.
The war between the two human species ebbed and flowed for many thousands of years. Likely there was a stalemate between the two species for countless millennia and it was a war of attrition. BBC Future reports that “In Israel and Greece, archaic Homo sapiens took ground only to fall back against Neanderthal counteroffensives.” It took our ancestors some 75,000 years to achieve the extinction of Neanderthals from what is now Israel and Greece.
No one is sure why early modern humans were ultimately able to prevail against their sister species. The Daily Express quotes Longrich as stating that “It’s possible the invention of superior ranged weapons – bows, spear-throwers, throwing clubs – let lightly-built Homo sapiens harass the stocky Neanderthals from a distance using hit-and-run tactics.” Over time, we evolved and acquired advantages that, eventually, resulted in the extinction of Neanderthals.
However, it is also possible that our ancestors used better hunting techniques and had other strategic advantages. Our early hunting groups may have been bigger than those of the Neanderthals. And with more fighters, humans may have had an advantage.
The theory that our ancestors eventually overcame the Neanderthals through violence, seems to support the view that they disappeared because they were exterminated by H. sapiens . However, there are also other theories to explain the extinction of Neanderthals, including disease, failure to adapt to changing environments and even a lack of genetic diversity.
Jupiter may host atmospheric ‘sprites’ or ‘elves’ never seen beyond Earth
Jupiter may host atmospheric ‘sprites’ or ‘elves’ never seen beyond Earth
In a first, the Juno spacecraft may have spied the bright, superfast flashes on another world
The Juno spacecraft has seen the first hints of bright flashes of light, called “elves” or “sprites” (illustrated), distinguishable in part on their size, high in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Jupiter may be the first planet besides Earth known to host atmospheric light shows called “sprites” or “elves.”
Sprites (SN: 6/14/02) and elves (SN: 12/23/95) are two kinds of atmospheric glows that form when lightning alters the electromagnetic environment in the atmosphere above a storm. On Earth, these electromagnetic upsets cause nitrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere to emit a brief, reddish glow. Sprites can brighten a region of the sky tens of kilometers across, while elves can span hundreds of kilometers (SN: 12/21/96).
Scientists suspected these atmospheric phenomena might appear on other planets that crackle with lightning (SN: 6/19/18). But until now, no one had seen hints of sprites or elves on another world.
From 2016 to 2020, the ultraviolet spectrograph on NASA’s Juno spacecraft, in orbit around Jupiter, caught 11 superfast flashes of light across the giant planet. Those flares, reported online October 27 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, lasted an average 1.4 milliseconds, which is about as fleeting as sprites and elves on Earth. The ultraviolet light was at wavelengths emitted by molecular hydrogen — the type of glow expected of sprites or elves on Jupiter, whose atmosphere is made mostly of hydrogen, rather than nitrogen.
Juno would need to spot a lightning strike at the same place as one of these bright flares to confirm that they actually are sprites or elves, says study coauthor Rohini Giles, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “But there is reasonably good circumstantial evidence,” she says. The flashes originated a few hundred kilometers above Jupiter’s layer of water clouds, where lightning typically forms, and several appeared in known stormy regions.
Observations of these events when Juno is closer to Jupiter may reveal their size, and help determine whether it is sprites or elves (or both) lighting up Jupiter’s atmosphere.
“Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus”
– Stephen Hawking
Alexander Panov is a top scientist at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University. He is the leader of the SETI scientific and cultural center under the Council on Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and chairman of the Life and Mind in the Universe department of the Council on Astronomy of the RAS. Panov told the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti that the reason humans haven’t been formally introduced to alien civilizations is that we’re just an experiment.
Panov believes that extraterrestrials have the whole of humanity under Earthly imprisonment, and they do not want to interfere with our natural progression to see if we will evolve into anything worthwhile, or whether we’ll just destroy everything in our paths on a quest for answers that have always been beyond our reach. We are essentially cosmic entertainment. “It lies in the fact that highly humanized civilizations do not interfere in our development and have created a quarantine zone around us, a radio silence zone so as not to interfere with our independent development,” Panov told RIA Novosti.
If Panov’s theory is accurate, the we humans are down here making art, writing books, and hoping that our social media followers will “like” our stupid photos. We think we’re at the top of the food chain. All the while, interplanetary beings are up there tapping on the aquarium glass, giving us stupid pet names, and talking about how cute we are. They must be amused at how we use different interpretations of manmade texts to wage wars against each other, commit acts of terror, and otherwise keep us from getting along.
Our extraterrestrial overlords must marvel at how Americans now have two presidential candidates fighting over a political office that neither would be able to find, if not for GPS. If Earth really is just entertainment for a superior class of extraterrestrials, they are getting their money’s worth. Why would they want to reveal themselves and ruin a good thing?
So it’s probably for the best that we keep the aliens laughing. Otherwise, they might get bored, swoop down here with ray-guns blazing, and show us what it’s really like to live in a dystopia. The last thing any of us need is to become sex slaves to a society of malevolent green anarchists.
If you hang around outside long enough at night, it’s impossible not to wonder, “Are we alone in the universe?” Especially if you’ve just consumed a handful of magic mushrooms and are listening to “Echoes” from Pink Floyd’s Meddle album. Oh, and if there happens to be a couple of dogs barking incessantly in the background, forget about it. That’s when those deep thoughts really start to make a man feel like a lost character in the last twenty minutes of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, and he’s catapulting at speeds through unseen dimensions only to end up at the death bed portal known as the end. You can almost smell the door that leads to the other side.
Whew!
Let’s just say they were really good shrooms, and leave it at that. But it goes without saying that even without mind-altering chemicals coursing through the old noggin, the question remains: Are we the only “intelligent” life floating around in outer space? Religious nuts often scoff at the idea of life outside our pissant planet – their guidebook doesn’t say anything about beady-eyed men — but evidence has surfaced over the decades showing that there’s a pretty damn good chance other civilizations exist. And maybe, perhaps, quite possibly, those big-head bastards aren’t huge fans of humanity. Or better yet, maybe they are our master controllers, and we’re all just part of one big project assembled for their amusement. Yikes! The apostles didn’t write anything about that, did they?
It might sound a bit far-fetched to suggest that we are actually walking around in an alien ant farm and that life as we know it cannot be explained because we’re nothing but meaningless specimens of test-tube tomfoolery. But that could be the case. No, this isn’t some warped idea that I conjured during a psychedelic trip underneath the starry skies. It is one that a leading Russian scientist would be willing to bet his left nut and a bottle of vodka on. Well, we didn’t actually ask him whether he’d give up a testicle if his theory proved to be a load of caca, but he seems pretty confident.
Alexander Panov, one of the top dogs at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University, leader of the SETI scientific and cultural center under the Council on Astronomy of the RAS and chairman of the Life and Mind in the Universe department of the Council on Astronomy of the RAS recently toldRIA Novosti that the reason humans haven’t been formally introduced to alien civilizations is that we’re just an experiment. The scientist believes that extraterrestrials have the whole of humanity on reserve mode (Earthly imprisonment), and they do not want to interfere with its natural progression. Why? They could be waiting to see if we will evolve into anything worth a damn or whether we’ll just destroy everything in our paths on a quest for answers that have always been beyond our reach. We are cosmic entertainment, and it’s Season 45!
“It lies in the fact that highly humanized civilizations do not interfere in our development and have created a quarantine zone around us, a radio silence zone so as not to interfere with our independent development,” he told the news source.
It’s a theory that, if accurate, makes it all the more humorous that humans are down here acting like a bunch of big swinging dicks changing the world. We’re making art, writing books, and allowing ourselves to get big heads when the majority of social media followers likes one of our stupid photos. We think we’re at the top of the food chain. All the while, interplanetary beings are up there tapping on the aquarium glass, giving us stupid pet names, and talking about how cute we are. It’s probably got them in stitches that a planet the space-size equivalent of a rat turd uses different interpretations of manmade texts to wage wars against each other, commit acts of terror and otherwise keep from getting along. They are probably just about to become purple (if they aren’t that color already) over how we have two presidential candidates fighting over an office that neither would be able to find if not for GPS and a gang of handlers. If Earth really is just entertainment for a superior class of space weirdos, those bastards are getting their money’s worth, that’s for sure. Don’t believe it? Well, like Panov says, just because these beings aren’t making themselves known doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Why would they want to ruin a good thing?
And, truthfully, it’s probably for the best that we keep the aliens laughing as long as humanly possible. Otherwise, they might get bored, swoop down here with all ray-guns blazing, and show us what it’s really like to live in a dystopia. The last thing any of us need is to become sex slaves to a society of green anarchists and spend the rest of our days getting violated by a creature with seven peckers.
All of a sudden, the upcoming election doesn’t sound so bad.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
Massive asteroid named after Apophis - the 'God of Chaos' -...
Martian meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert provides...
There IS water on the Moon: NASA reveals tiny pockets of ice...
NASA OSIRIS-REx craft JAMS after collecting too much rubble...
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