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...
03-03-2021
Evidence for a Great Evolutionary Leap Finally Found?
Evidence for a Great Evolutionary Leap Finally Found?
Humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas all move similarly, and they share common anatomies. However, until now, it’s remained unknown how exactly humans were related to these other primates. That mystery of the “evolutionary leap” has now been solved, and the implications are Biblical.
Professor Thomas Cody Prang is a name you might hear more about very soon. He is an assistant professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University and he led the team of scientists who recently made the breakthrough in evolutionary sciences. The researchers analyzed a 4.4 million-year-old skeleton from an Ardi hominid ( Ardipithecus ramidus , Ardipithecus) that was discovered in Ethiopia, and their new observations were made in its “exceptionally well preserved hands.”
Ardipithecus ramidus, ‘Ardi.’ ( Fair Use ) Studying Ardi’s skeleton was key in discovering more about the evolutionary leap.
Well-Preserved Hands Holding Clues for an Evolutionary Leap
The so-called “Ardi’s” hands were compared with hundreds of others hand specimens from “recent humans, great apes, and dry-nosed primate.” The researchers looked at the types of locomotor behavior and hand restrictions experienced by the earliest hominins (fossilized human ancestors). The results of the study were published in Science Advances and show how early first humans began walking upright. Furthermore, it demonstrates how humans came to perform the range of movements we still use today.
Confirming Darwin’s Evolutionary “Theory” was a “Fact”
Study author Thomas Cody Prang says that among other things the study, as a whole, “confirms Darwin’s theory of the origin of man from apes.” This conclusion was reached after the scientists analyzed hundreds of bone samples and compare hand shapes, which reflect adaptations to primate habits and lifestyles. And with this new knowledge of how bone shape reflects behaviors, Dr. Prang says his team of researchers were able to draw inferences about the behavior of extinct species, such as the Ardipithecus.
Examination of the hand bones in this particular skeleton have given scientists deep insights into early hominin stone tool making and use. The aforementioned “large evolutionary leap,” however, was found when Dr. Prang compared Ardi’s hand with those of later hominins, including the species to which Lucy belonged ( Australopithecus).
Left: Scientific paleoartist Jay Matternes' rendition of Ardi. ( Fair Use ) Right: A reconstruction of a female Australopithecus afarensis.
Looking at the evolutionary timeline this observed genetic “leap” occurred at what the researchers calls “a critical juncture when the hominins evolved to adapt to a more human form of upright walking.” According to the new paper the fact that Ardi represents an earlier phase in human evolutionary history, “is important because it potentially sheds light on the species of ancestors from which humans and chimpanzees descended.”
The evolution of hominin hands and feet reflects an evolutionary shift toward enhanced manipulative capabilities and obligate bipedalism, respectively. Partial hands, partial feet, and stone tool exemplars are depicted here and supplemented by reference to more fragmentary specimens preserving functionally relevant anatomies. Gray bars, facultative bipedalism; black bars, obligate bipedalism; red bar, approximate timing of hypothesized hominin evolutionary shift.
What is perhaps the most impactful aspect of this new research project is that supports classic Darwinism. In 1871 Charles Darwin had little understanding of genetics, and less so about the use of hands in pre-history. He noted that upper limbs were used for manipulation and that they appeared in early human relatives in connection with upright walking in ancient humans. However, until now not everyone has been a fan of Darwin’s theory, and perhaps he has experienced no less fierce an enemy than the might of the Catholic Church.
According to a 2001 article in the Irish Times , the president of the Centre des Etudes et de Prospective sur la Science ( CEP), a 700-strong Catholic organization linked to scientists contesting evolution, said “Evidence does not support the theory of evolution.” They added that Darwin’s theory was “on the way out.”
These Catholic scientists maintained “No empirical proof exists that macro-evolution (that is, evolution from one distinct kind of organism into another) is occurring at present, or has ever happened in the past. No one, throughout recorded history, has ever seen it.” Furthermore, they argue that if evolution “had taken place” there should have been a great many transitional structures preserved in fossilized form recording the stages of development from one type of organism to another type.
Well. Guess what? That evidence has now been provided. Major changes in the anatomy of Ardi’s hands, and in the way all later hominins evolved, between approximately 4.4 and 3.3 million years ago, coincides with the earliest evidence for the loss of the grasping big toe in human evolution, according to the researchers. And if this is not the required hard evidence of evolution, then nothing will ‘work’.
Top Image: Scientists have found important evidence for an evolutionary leap between ancient hominids.
Scientists Bring Global Pole Shift Fears Into Focus
Scientists Bring Global Pole Shift Fears Into Focus
Scientists have published a paper revealing the catastrophic effects of a “Laschamps excursion” around 42,000-years-ago. A Lascah-what? A “Laschamps excursion” is better known in today’s vocabulary as a pole shift event. The “Cataclysmic Pole-Shift Hypothesis” is largely regarded as a fringe theory about a shifting of the relative positions of the Earth’s geographic poles. The results of pole shifts are often presented in popular culture as great tectonic events that spark global calamities such as floods and landslides.
However, now, a new scientific study suggests that the last time the Earth’s magnetic field “flipped around, then flopped back again,” the effects on Earth’s surface were just like how literature and the movies portray pole shifts.
An ancient kauri (Agathis australis) tree log from Ngawha, New Zealand, which was used as primary evidence in the recent scientific pole shift study.
Poles Shifts And The Earth’s Flipping Magnetic Field
The new study was published in the journal Science and reviewed in Science News . Opening with an analysis of fossilized Kauri (Agathis australis) trees from New Zealand that died over 41,000 years ago the researchers present new data about the Earth’s atmosphere at that time. The authors say our planet suffered a series of “unfortunate events” which overlapped with a “Laschamps excursion” event when the Earth's magnetic field flipped, resulting in a pole shift.
In 2006, the disaster movie Absolute Zero featured a “polar shift” that brought on an Ice Age in Florida. The 2009 Polar Storm film also explored the effects of rapid pole reversal. However, the recently published Science study is the first academic paper to consider such a wide swath of possible post-pole shift consequences.
The chemicals preserved within the fossilized Kauri tree rings served the researchers as an ancient library of atmospheric records detailing the Earth's magnetic field’s effect on the ozone layer . Furthermore, the researchers were able to derive data about solar activity and space weather in different periods of time that they say all “impacted ancient people and wildlife on Earth.”
How incredible that an ancient kauri tree log from New Zealand can tell us so much about what the Earth was like 42,000 years ago during a pole shift.
The Last Pole Shift? 800 Years Of Wonky Magnetics!
Last January, the New Zealand Herald announced the discovery of the 41,000 years old Kauri trees and the new study reveals that they had lived during the entirety of the last Laschamps excursion event. This pole shift event is thought to have lasted about 800 years after which the Earth’s magnetic field corrected itself “by flipping backwards.”
The study revealed that between 41,600 to 42,300 years ago the Earth’s magnetic field was only “six percent of its full strength.” The mean date for the pole shift event was calculated at about 42,000 years ago. This fact inspired the researchers to call the last pole shift “The Adams Event,” after author Douglas Adams who wrote Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , which famously states “the number 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.”
Taking all this right back to Earth one wonders how did the so-called Adam’s Event affect our ancient forebears who were busy hunting, trapping, fishing and developing survival technologies ? Co-author of the new study, University of New South Wales geoscientist Chris S.M. Turney, told the New York Times that “it must have seemed like the end of days.”
Explaining this dramatic statement Turney said it would have been bad enough if just the Earth’s magnetic field was weakened, but ice core data revealed the sun was also in a period of lowered activity. With fewer solar flares, the sun’s protective shield would have been bombarded with cosmic rays meaning “the heliosphere" (the vast, bubble-like region of space that surrounds and is created by the sun,) was also weakened.”
According to the researchers comments on the Conversation, with both its magnetic field and heliosphere diminished Earth was “doubly at risk from cosmic radiation.” With a thinner ozone layer, the aurora borealis would have appeared closer to the equator.
Furthermore, the paper says the increased ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface would have translated into a human experience of “raging electrical storms, and Arctic air reaching across continents.”
Measuring Up The Prospects Of A Pole Shift Today
Environmental effects linked to the last pole shift include “the extinction of large animals in Australia, and the demise of Neanderthals, and humans using red ocher pigments in their cave arts and as sun screens.”
Scientists generally agree that any such changes in the magnetic field today, including reversals, “probably don’t pose a threat to life.” The main modern threat is our electronic infrastructure on Earth and in the sky. This is because space weather events such as geomagnetic storms, arising from the interaction between the magnetic field and incoming solar radiation, could seriously disrupt satellite communications, GPS and power grids.
And while our lives might not be washed away in floods this is a troubling prospect when we consider the economic cost of a collapse of the US power grid due to a space weather event has been estimated at “around one trillion dollars.” And the pole shift threat is deemed serious enough in the UK that it is regarded as a high priority on the national risk register.
RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011
Top image: An abstract depiction of Earth with its magnetic rings, which are affected by pole shifts.
The comet was discovered in January and may be bright enough to see without a telescope.
The newfound comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) will make its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 12, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)
A new comet is on its way in toward the sun, with prospects that it may become bright enough to see with the unaided eye by year's end.
The object in question is Comet Leonard, catalogued C/2021 A1 and was discovered by astronomer Gregory J. Leonard on Jan. 3 at the Mount Lemmon Observatory, also known as the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory. The observatory is located on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains, approximately 17 miles (28 kilometers) northeast of Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Leonard is a senior research specialist for the observatory's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's Catalina Sky Survey.
When Mr. Leonard found the comet's image, it was an exceedingly faint object of magnitude 19. That is nearly 160,000 times dimmer than the faintest stars visible to the unaided eye. Not surprisingly, when it was first sighted the comet was some 5 astronomical units from the sun (one astronomical unit, or AU, is equal to the Earth's average distance from the sun of 92.855 million miles, or 149.565 million km). So, at a distance of 5 AU, Comet Leonard was out near the orbit of Jupiter, far from the sun, but just beginning to feel the effects of its warming rays and slowly beginning the process for it to blossom into a conspicuous celestial object.
Today we know comets to be made primarily of frozen gases that are heated as they approach the sun and made to glow by the sun's light. As the gases warm and expand, the solar wind — subatomic particles radiating out from the sun — blow the expanding material out into the comet's beautiful tail.
To observers of antiquity, the tails resembled a head of flowing hair, so they called comets "hairy stars." Professional astronomers can observe anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen comets on any given night. But comets bright enough to excite those of us without big telescopes are rather unusual, perhaps appearing on an average of one or two years to every 10-15 years.
Of course, memories are still fresh from the striking appearance last summer of Comet NEOWISE. And some are no doubt hoping that we might have a December redux with Comet Leonard.
Coming from a long way out
When Comet Leonard was first sighted, it was about at that distance from the sun that methanol (CH3OH) and water start sublimation; in other words, going directly from a frozen state into a gas. And in some images, there was even evidence of a faint tail.
The first calculations demonstrated that it is traveling in an exceedingly long, flattened elliptical orbit taking it out as far as 3,500 AU from the sun — 325 billion miles (523 billion km). "Out there," temperatures are just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero: minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius) — so cold that particles stop moving. In essence, after being in a frozen state for tens of thousands of years, Comet Leonard was beginning to awake from its long slumber.
Guarded optimism
There are a couple of reasons for being optimistic about Comet Leonard brightening up to naked-eye brightness. First is the comet's orbit itself. Its orbit demonstrates that it is not a "new" comet coming directly from the Oort cloud — an icy shell around the solar system where comets appear to originate before swoop around the sun — and experience the effects of sunlight — for the first time.
Rather, Comet Leonard is traveling in a closed orbit and probably visited the vicinity of the sun at least once before, about 70,000 years ago. That in itself is good news. A "new" comet in a parabolic orbit — that is, a comet that has never passed near the sun before — may have its surface covered with very volatile material such as frozen carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. These ices tend to vaporize far from the sun, giving a distant comet a surge in brightness that can raise unrealistic expectations. Then as they draw closer to the sun, their rapid brightening suddenly slows and they end up falling far short of brightness expectations.
Comet Leonard does not fall into that category.
The newfound comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) will reach perihelion, its closest point to the sun, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)
The other reasons for expecting a bright show from this comet are its close approaches to both the Earth and the sun. On Dec. 12, it will pass within 21.7 million miles (34.9 million km) of Earth, and on Jan. 3, 2022 — exactly one year after discovery — it will pass within 57.2 million miles (92 million km) of the sun.
When using standard power-law formulas, taking into account how bright the comet is now versus how much closer it will be by year's end (to both Earth and the sun), the current expectation is that the comet could reach as bright as fourth magnitude, making it bright enough to see without optical aid in a dark sky.
Where and when to look
During the first two weeks of December, Comet Leonard will be accessible to early risers, visible a couple of hours before sunrise, low in the east-northeast sky. It will track through the constellations Coma Berenices, Boötes and Serpens Caput.
It should be an easy object to see with a small telescope or a pair of binoculars — and with any luck, with the unaided eye. During the latter half of December, as the comet gets closer to the sun, it will gradually get absorbed into the light of dawn and finally disappear from view.
But temper your expectations ...
Will Comet Leonard evolve into another NEOWISE? Unfortunately, from my many years of observing comets, I would have to say no. Most comets are at their best after reaching their closest point to the sun (perihelion) and heading back out into deep space. This is when comets release their maximum amount of dust and gas and when they are intrinsically at their brightest and their tails at their longest.
Comet Leonard will be hidden by the brilliant solar glare during this time, rapidly receding from both the sun and Earth after Jan. 3 of next year and quickly fading away. The best, I think, we can hope for is a modestly bright naked-eye comet that will be available to anyone who cares to get up before sunrise during early and mid-December mornings.
I have seen other websites stating that Comet Leonard will be a "once in a lifetime" sight. That is true, for once it rounds the sun it will be thrown out of the solar system, never to be seen again, according to EarthSky.org. Another claim suggests that it could be "the most brilliant and dramatic" comet of this year. If you compare it to the other "faint fuzzies" due to appear this year, that also is true, although to use words like "brilliant" and "dramatic" are hyperboles.
But since all new comets are notoriously unpredictable, we can only guess just how bright Comet Leonard will get and its tail will get. We're just going to have to wait and see. Space.com will keep you posted on its development in the coming months. Stay tuned!
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
And some pieces of the asteroid that generated the light show probably made it all the way to the ground.
A fireball blazed across the skies of southern England Sunday night (Feb. 28), and it likely dropped singed hunks of cosmic rock on the countryside below.
The brilliant yellow-green meteor, which flared up shortly before 10 p.m. local time Sunday, was seen by observers as far away as Ireland and the Netherlands, according to scientists with the UK Fireball Alliance (UKFall). It was a feast for the ears as well as the eyes, generating a sonic boom that rippled across southern England.
The fireball that streaked over southern England on Feb. 28, 2021, as seen by Ben L., who provided it to the American Meteor Society. (Image credit: Ben L. via fireball.amsmeteors.org)
"The video recordings tell us its speed was about 30,000 miles per hour [48,300 kph], which is too fast for it to be human-made space junk, so it’s not an old rocket or satellite," planetary scientist Ashley King, of UKFall and the Natural History Museum in London, said in a statement.
"The videos also allowed us to reconstruct its original orbit around the sun," King added. "In this case, the orbit was like an asteroid's. This particular piece of asteroid spent most of its orbit between Mars and Jupiter, though sometimes got closer to the sun than Earth is."
The fireball that streaked over southern England on Feb. 28, 2021, as seen by Lyndon B., who provided it to the American Meteor Society. (Image credit: lyndon b. via fireball.amsmeteors.org)
Excitingly, some pieces of the asteroid's charred corpse probably made it to the ground.
"This meteor fragmented a lot, as you can see in the videos. Most of the meteoroid vaporized during the six seconds of visible flight," meteorite scientist Luke Daly, of UKFall and the University of Glasgow in Scotland, said in the same statement.
"However, with this one, we think quite a few fragments probably reached the ground," Daly said. "If pieces landed, they are likely to have been on or just north of Cheltenham, out toward Stow-on-the-Wold. So most pieces are likely to be on farm land."
The path of the Feb. 28, 2021 English fireball and its likely meteorite fall field, as calculated by scientists with the UK Fireball Alliance and the Natural History Museum in London. (Image credit: Google Earth/Natural History Museum/UKFall)
If you find what may be a piece of this meteorite fall, "ideally photograph it in place, note the location using your phone GPS, don't touch it with a magnet, and, if you can, avoid touching it with your hands," planetary scientist Katherine Joy of the University of Manchester said in the statement. "Pick it up in a clean bag or clean aluminium foil if possible!"
UKFall operates more than 30 fireball cameras across the United Kingdom. Sunday night's event was spotted by six of them — those at Cardiff, Manchester, Honiton, Lincoln, Cambridge and Welwyn Garden City, representatives of the organization said.
Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
Researchers spotted a celestial object strangely outgassing far from the sun — like a comet — during a long road trip through our solar system that could conclude in interstellar space, NASA says.
The object is temporarily circling the sun in a group of ancient asteroids called Trojans, which are trapped by Jupiter's gravity and moving alongside the planet. New images from the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the cosmic interloper in its temporary parking spot, merrily spewing gas into space despite its great distance from the sun.
Simulations suggest the object originated in the icy Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, and then flew closer to the sun from a "bucket brigade" of comets kicked in to a region between Jupiter and Neptune. The object, called a "Centaur", will only stay by Jupiter for a couple of years before the planet punts it out of the Trojan zone and forces the outgassing object towards the sun, for further adventures.
This image, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the comet P/2019 LD2 as it swoops closely to the Trojans, the ancient asteroids trapped near Jupiter by the planet's gravitational pull. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, B. Bolin (IPAC/Caltech); CC BY 4.0 )
It was new observations from Hubble that revealed the shroud of gas and dust, confirming earlier suspicions of this activity spotted with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope days before Spitzer's retirement in early 2020.
"Only Hubble could detect active comet-like features this far away at such high detail, and the images clearly show these features," lead Hubble researcher Bryce Bolin, of the California Institute of Technology, said in a NASA statement. Bolin noted that the tail of the Centaur is roughly 400,000 miles (640,000 kilometers) in length, which is a little less than twice the average distance between Earth and our moon.
The outgassing so far away from the sun puzzles researchers, since water ice only barely starts to sublimate in Jupiter's neighborhood — that's roughly 465 million miles (750 million km) away from the sun. A typical water-ice comet only outgasses in earnest at 200 million miles (320 million km) away, so the tail may not be indicative of water. Spitzer's observations instead suggested the presence of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases, which don't need as much heat as water to start sublimating.
Bolin said even though this is the first Centaur spotted in a Trojan group, this might be a normal pit stop for objects slinging from the outer solar system to the inner solar system, where Earth and the other rocky planets reside. That said, figuring out the comet's origin story and future was a complicated tale.
Computer simulations from the team suggest the object, more formally known as P/2019 LD2, flew close to Jupiter about two years ago. Jupiter then did what Jupiter often does to small objects, which was slingshot it in a new direction; in this case, the object landed in the Trojan asteroid group leading Jupiter in its orbit by about 437 million miles (703 million km).
Numerous telescopes caught P/2019 LD2 at various stages in its journey. The first to spot it in June 2019 was the University of Hawaii's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope system in Hawaii, and the comet activity was spotted by Japanese amateur astronomer Seiichi Yoshida.
The study team found archival images of the object from a wide-field survey at California's Palomar Observatory, called the Zwicky Transient Facility, dating to April 2019. They did more research using the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, and then the Spitzer Space Telescope in January 2020. Hubble, however, was the first to show the comet's tail, the structure of the coma, the size of the dust particles, and the ejection velocity of the particles.
Studying P/2019 LD2 could also give more detail as to how the so-called "bucket brigade" of comets work. Researchers believe these comets come from the Kuiper Belt and bounce between planets while moving ever-closer towards the sun, warming up along the way. Given the number of comets that pass by Earth, a short-period comet is delivered to Earth's neighborhood from the Kuiper Belt every 100 years or so, simulations suggest.
Once the object circles around the sun, simulations suggest a 90% chance that the gravity of Jupiter — the largest planet in the solar system — will scoop P/2019 LD2 back up sometime in the next 500,000 years. Then the planet may kick the object out of the solar system for good, sending P/2019 LD2 on a one-way trip into interstellar space. Of course, that scenario assumes the comet manages to avoid smacking into the sun or some other planet during its journey, or simply disintegrating from the heat of the sun.
A paper based on the research appeared Feb. 11 in The Astronomical Journal.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow uson Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.
Sprites and jets are fleeting atmospheric phenomena, hard enough to witness, let alone photograph.
But a new image from an observatory in Hawaii captures both a red sprite and a blue jet in the same shot. The photo, released on Feb. 24, comes courtesy a "cloud cam" at the Gemini North telescope, part of the International Gemini Observatory located on Maunakea.
Sprites and jets are upper-atmospheric phenomena caused by electrical discharges. Sprites, which are typically reddish-orange and sometimes blue-green, occur in the mesosphere, between 30 and 50 miles (50 and 80 kilometers) in altitude. They're often triggered by regular, lower-altitude lightning, but are much cooler in temperature. They're also sometimes shaped like jellyfish. Blue jets also occur at high altitude, triggered by a discharge of electricity from the positively-charged upper portion of a storm cloud to the negatively-charged cloud top, according to a paper published Jan. 20 in the journal Nature. They typically appear as blue streamers shooting spaceward.
The camera that captured the red sprite and blue jet was a modified consumer-grade DSLR (digital single-lens reflex), customized to take photographs within a fraction of a second to 30 seconds after lightning strikes. The cameras are mounted on the roof of the observatory, pointed toward the most likely locations of incoming storms. The Gemini North Observatory sits at 13,800 feet (4,200 meters), affording a fabulous view of the surrounding weather.
Though sprites and jets are rarely witnessed from the ground, they're not uncommon above thunderstorms. In 2017, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station witnessed 245 blue flashes in 160 seconds over one storm. Scientists debate whether these phenomena are simply transient or whether they have any lasting effects. For example, if their passage alters the chemistry of the upper atmosphere, they might have an effect on the ozone layer, researcher Hans Stenbaek-Nielsen of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks told Live Science in 2011.
Studying sprites and jets is difficult, physicist Ryan Haaland of Fort Lewis College in Colorado told Live Science in 2015. Scientists take measurements from ground-based observatories and sometimes fly specially-instrumented research aircraft close to storms to detect them. But as the phenomena last just tens of milliseconds, they remain mysterious.
The Crew-2 mission astronauts — from left, ESA's Thomas Pesquet, NASA's Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and JAXA's Akihiko Hoshide — train for their upcoming mission on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is scheduled to launch April 20, 2021. SpaceX's second fully-crewed astronaut flight, Crew-2, is prepared for launch, mission team members said today (March 1) during a news briefing.
(Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX's second fully-crewed astronaut flight, Crew-2, is prepared for launch, mission team members said Monday (March 1) during a news briefing.
Crew-2, which is set to launch April 20, follows the company's Demo-2 launch in May 2020, the first crewed test flight for SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, and Crew-1 launch in November 2020, which saw the company's first fully crewed mission to space. Like Crew-2, these missions took place as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
"Everybody is on track and ready," SpaceX director of crew mission management Benji Reed said during the briefing.
The mission will launch NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, who will act as spacecraft pilot and commander, respectively, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, both of whom will serve as mission specialists. The quartet will spend a little more than six months on to the International Space Station.
"This flight exemplifies the [international] partnership," Kathy Lueders, NASA's associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said today during the briefing about the inclusion of JAXA and ESA astronauts in Crew-2. It exemplifies, she continued, "how we are continuing to advance human spaceflight with what we do every day," and how missions like this "lead us to not only doing great things on the space station, but doing even more in our space exploration programs going forward."
The Crew Dragon vehicle used for Crew-2 will deliver not just the four astronauts, but over 440 lbs. (200 kilograms) of pressurized cargo to the space station, supporting science and technology development on the orbiting lab, space station program manager Joel Montalbano said today.
"Last year, we celebrated 20 years of continuous human presence on board the International Space Station," Montalbano said, adding that including the commercial space sector has allowed them to bring more people to the International Space Station. "It's an exciting time," he said.
"It's a sacred honor to make sure that we're going to carry this crew safely to the space station," Reed said of the upcoming launch.
Passing the torch
The crew for SpaceX's Crew-2 mission. From the left it's NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. (Image credit: NASA)
To prepare for Crew-2's arrival at the space station, the four astronauts making up Crew-1, who are still living in orbit, will don their spacesuits and relocate their Crew Dragon capsule to another port attached to the station, allowing the incoming spacecraft to dock where they have been "parked." This will also give the crew an opportunity to "get into their suits and check the suits out and make sure those suits are functioning and working fine," program manager for Commercial Crew Steve Stich told Space.com.
Now, while this is all happening in space, mission teams will be prepared here on the ground as well, just in case anything were to not go as planned. For the maneuver, "SpaceX will have their recovery ship ready to go for the Atlantic sites off the coast of Florida," Stich added. "It's the first time we've done this in the U.S. I would say the SpaceX and NASA teams are taking this operation very seriously and [are] working through checking all the procedures … and just making sure we're ready to go do this. It's something that we'll do quite often, but it's the first time we'll have done it with the Dragon vehicle."
Once the capsule has been moved to another port, making room for the Crew-2 craft, and the Crew-2 mission launches and docks and the astronauts board the space station, a handover will take place between the astronaut crews that will take place over five to seven days, Montalbano told Space.com.
While the astronauts flying to the station with Crew-2 are no strangers to the station, this handover gives the crew finishing their mission the opportunity to go over emergency procedures for possible events like fire or depressurization with the new crew and help them acclimate to life on the space laboratory, walking them through everyday essential activities, odd challenges that present themselves and necessary maintenance.
Possible delays
While the teams behind Crew-2 are ready for the April 20 launch, it's possible that the launch may be delayed a few days, Stich said during the conference. SpaceX is one of two companies
The next launch for Boeing's crew capsule, OFT-2, the second uncrewed test launch with the company's crew capsule Starliner, which will test the vehicle after its first uncrewed flight failed to reach the space station due to software issues. OFT-2 is currently targeting April 2, but will likely be delayed further, due partly to unforeseen challenges that came with unusually harsh winter weather and resulting power outages across Texas.
"We had some unfortunate weather here in the Houston area, where we lost about a week of time and some critical software testing," Stich said. "The vehicle's coming together nicely .. we're about two weeks down from where we'd like to be and we're in the process of figuring out the next step on OFT-2."
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
NASA's Perseverance Rover Gives High-Definition Panoramic View of Landing Site
NASA's Perseverance Rover Gives High-Definition Panoramic View of Landing Site
Mastcam-Z's First 360-Degree Panorama: This is the first 360-degree panorama taken by Mastcam-Z, a zoomable pair of cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The panorama was stitched together on Earth from 142 individual images taken on Sol 3, the third Martian day of the mission (Feb. 21, 2021). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Full image and caption › To interact: Use the controls in the top left (or pinch) to zoom in and out of the image. Click (or touch) and drag your cursor to move around in the image.
A 360-degree panorama taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument will be discussed during a public video chat this Thursday.
NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover got its first high-definition look around its new home in Jezero Crater on Feb. 21, after rotating its mast, or “head,” 360 degrees, allowing the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument to capture its first panorama after touching down on the Red Planet on Feb 18. It was the rover’s second panorama ever, as the rover’s Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, also located on the mast, captured a 360-degree view on Feb. 20.
Mastcam-Z is a dual-camera system equipped with a zoom function, allowing the cameras to zoom in, focus, and take high-definition video, as well as panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface. With this capability, the robotic astrobiologist can provide a detailed examination of both close and distant objects.
The cameras will help scientists assess the geologic history and atmospheric conditions of Jezero Crater and will assist in identifying rocks and sediment worthy of a closer look by the rover’s other instruments. The cameras also will help the mission team determine which rocks the rover should sample and collect for eventual return to Earth in the future.
Stitched together from 142 images, the newly released panorama reveals the crater rim and cliff face of an ancient river delta in the distance. The camera system can reveal details as small as 0.1 to 0.2 inches (3 to 5 millimeters) across near the rover and 6.5 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) across in the distant slopes along the horizon.
The detailed composite image shows a Martian surface that appears similar to images captured by previous NASA rover missions.
“We’re nestled right in a sweet spot, where you can see different features similar in many ways to features found by Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity at their landing sites,” said Jim Bell of Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, the instrument’s principal investigator. ASU leads operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
The camera team will discuss the new panorama during a question and answer session at 4 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 25, which will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website, and will livestream on the agency’s Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Daily Motion, and YouTube channels, as well as the NASA app. Speakers include:
Jim Bell of Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, the instrument’s principal investigator
Elsa Jensen of Malin Space Science Systems, who leads the uplink operations team that sends commands to Mastcam-Z
Kjartan Kinch of the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen, who led the design, construction, and testing of Mastcam-Z’s color calibration targets, which are used to tune the instrument’s settings
Mastcam-Z’s design is an evolution of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover’s Mastcam instrument, which has two cameras of fixed focal length rather than zoomable cameras. The two cameras on Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z dual cameras are mounted on the rover’s mast at eye level for a person 6 feet, 6 inches (2 meters) tall. They sit 9.5 inches (24.1 centimeters) apart to provide stereo vision and can produce color images with a quality similar to that of a consumer digital HD camera.
The Mastcam-Z team includes dozens of scientists, engineers, operations specialists, managers, and students from a variety of institutions. In addition, the team includes deputy principal investigator Justin Maki of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
More About the Mission
A key objective of Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
A Wind Carved Rock: This wind-carved rock seen in first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument shows just how much detail is captured by the camera systems.
Crater Rim: This shows the rim of Jezero Crater as seen in the first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.
The Myth And Truth About The 13,000 Year-Old Alien Satellite
The Myth And Truth About The 13,000 Year-Old Alien Satellite
The story begins in 1954, three years before mankind launched its first artificial satellite, the Soviet Sputnik 1.
On May 14, 1954, several newspapers published articles centered on a statement belonging to retired Major D. E. Keyhoe. At the time, Keyhoe believed the Earth was circled by one — if not two artificial satellites.
Scientists at the famous White Sands government facility in New Mexico were actively researching this possibility and trying to determine the purpose and origin of these objects.
Later that summer, Aviation Week magazine attempted to explain the mystery by saying the two satellites’ orbits had been mapped out at an altitude of 400, respectively 600 miles above Earth.
“Pentagon scare over the observance of two previously unobserved satellites orbiting the Earth has dissipated with the identification of the objects as natural, not artificial satellites. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, expert on extraterrestrial bodies from the University of New Mexico, headed the identification project.
“One satellite is orbiting about 400 miles out, while the other track is 600 miles from the Earth. Pentagon thought momentarily the Russians had beaten the U.S. to space explorations.”
Keep in mind that this was all happening during the space race, when spirits were high and tensions were higher. The competition between the United States and the Soviet Union fueled the paranoia as each nation raced towards the sky.
Many astronomers suspected a large satellite was indeed orbiting the Earth and by 1960, even the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledged this alien presence.
“WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 — An unidentified, silent satellite has been discovered circling the Earth in a near-polar orbit by United States tracking stations, the Defense Department said today. The identity of the mystery satellite — which has been dubbed “the dark satellite” are not known despite nearly two weeks of tracking.”
It wasn’t long before people made the connection between the unknown object and Nikola Tesla. In 1899, he had detected a repeating radio signal and believed it originated in outer space. The enigma surrounding the black satellite was deepened by its strange behavior.
Virtually all the artificial satellites had been launched on West to East orbits (following our planet’s natural rotation) while this one circled Earth on a polar orbit, from North to South. Interestingly enough, polar orbits are employed by modern observational satellites that carry out mapping missions. So, was the Black Knight Satellite an observational unit? If so, who put it there?
1998 NASA photo of an mysterious object believed by some conspiracy theorists to be an extraterrestrial satellite, the “Black Knight.”
Some astronomers who claimed to have observed it said the object would disappear, only to reappear in a different place, traveling along a different orbit. They also reported it was moving twice as fast as any other known satellite.
The Black Knight is often mentioned in conjunction with astronaut Gordon Cooper’s historic flight. In 1963, on the last of his 22 days spent in orbit, Cooper radioed Muchea Tracking Station in Australia, telling them that he was able to see a glowing green object rapidly approaching his capsule.
Although his sighting had received live coverage by the National Broadcasting Company, reporters were forbidden to question him upon his return to Earth. Although Major Cooper was a stern believer in aliens and their presence here on Earth, there is no link between his sighting and the Black Knight.
An interesting yet unverified aspect is the alleged decoding of the radio message the satellite is said to broadcast. As the story goes, ham radio operators who picked up the alien transmission managed to interpret it as a star map that pointed to Epsilon Boötis, a star in the Boötes constellation, located at a distance of 52 light years from Earth. Interestingly enough, in Babylonian mythology, the Boötes constellation was depicted as the god Enlil, the chief divinity among the Anunnaki on Earth.
Almost every article on the Black Knight Satellite mentions its age of 13,000 years without referencing the origin of this claim. In 1973, Scottish astronomer and science fiction writer Duncan Lunan said he had succeeded in decoding the message caught by two Norwegian physicists in the 1920’s.
The message was said to have come from a probe orbiting the Earth in the same Lagrangian point as the Moon and that probe had been sent a long time ago by the inhabitants of a planet orbiting Epsilon Boötis. The message read:
“Start here. Our home is Epsilon Boötes , which is a double star. We live on the sixth planet of seven, coming from the sun, which is the larger of the two. Our sixth planet has one moon. Our fourth planet has three. Our first and third planets each have one. Our probe is in the position of Arcturus, known in our maps.”
The star Arcturus was pictured in the deciphered star map in the position it occupied 13,000 years ago, hence the supposed age of the Black Knight.
Lunan’s theory was picked up by Time magazine and included in several documentaries. However, in 1976 he acknowledged it was flawed and withdrew it, only to revise and reinterpret part of it in 1998.
There are a number of famous photos that allegedly show the alien satellite. The official explanations for the object they show is that it’s nothing more than a thermal blanket that had come off one of the many satellites we’ve put up there. While this might be the case, it only explains the photos and not the Black Knight itself, as the unknown object had been reported prior to these photos.
Another aspect is that these famous photos show an object far smaller than the one indicated in earlier reports, which was said to be as large as a city block. On a side note, the vimanas portrayed in ancient Hindu texts were of similar size. Perhaps there’s a connection between the two.
And since no one can deny the size and scope of the UFO phenomena, it stands to reason that among all reports of flying saucers in our skies and oceans we can fit one more: a huge alien satellite orbiting above our planet.
Like with most things related to the unexplained, there is an aura of misinformation surrounding the Black Knight Satellite. Keep in mind, this is the internet, the place where things come to get blown out of proportion.
One last thing, before you go. In medieval times, a black knight was one who had no allegiance or opted to hide it by covering his colors and emblems, effectively stating that he served no lord. Quite a fitting name for an enigmatic alien watcher, isn’t it?
Astronomers have published a map of the sky showing 25,000 black holes - the most detailed of its kind ever produced.
The map uses low radio frequencies, built from data from 52 stations across nine continents.
It covers an astounding four per cent of the northern half of the sky, but the scientists do not intend to stop until the entire sky has been mapped.
While the bright specs appear to be stars they are in fact supermassive black holes, with each one located in a distant galaxy.
“This is the result of many years of work on incredibly difficult data. We had to invent new methods to convert the radio signals into images of the sky”, research leader Francesco de Gasperin said in a statement.
(LOFAR/LOL Survey)
Making the map was not easy; the ionosphere that surrounds the Earth - a layer of free electrons that clouds telescopes - makes it difficult to track the black holes.
“It’s similar to when you try to see the world while immersed in a swimming pool”, explains co-author Reinout van Weeren.
“When you look up, the waves on the water of the pool deflect the light rays and distort the view”,
In total, it took 256 hours of observations to make the map, and advanced equipment was needed to clear up the picture.
Supercomputers used by the researchers engaged algorithms to correct the effect of the ionosphere every four seconds.
“After many years of software development, it is so wonderful to see that this has now really worked out”, Huub Röttgering said.
They say the truth is out there, but nobody ever said it would be easy to find. Now, after a search lasting decades, a giant trove of long-classified records held by the CIA in relation to reported UFO activity has finally come to light.
This huge public release of what the CIA claims is its "entire" archive of documentation on Unidentified Flying Objects – now termed "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (UAPs) – comprises hundreds of formerly top-secret records going back more than a half-century.
The unprecedented and fascinating data dump is thanks to a long-sustained effort by intelligence website The Black Vault, which has been sourcing and sharing declassified government documentation on UFOs (among many other things) since the mid–1990s.
According to the site's founder, John Greenewald Jr., The Black Vault has been fighting since 1996 for the release of these UFO records, which began to emerge in dribs and drabs in the 1980s after legal proceedings in relation to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
While some of the documentation has seen the light of day before, this is the first time the supposedly complete archive of the CIA's UFO records has been publicly released, and was made possible after The Black Vault acquired a CD-ROM from the CIA containing what the intelligence agency claims is its entire haul of UFO records, including much information that has never been seen before.
As Greenewald points out however, there's no easy way of factually verifying whether this is the CIA's entire archive, as the agency claims – or whether the US government is still holding onto classified records on UFOs/UAPs we don't yet know about.
In any case, the 2,780-page collection now available on The Black Vault website represents a significant victory for freedom of information on this mysterious and tantalising subject, and a personal milestone for Greenewald.
Amidst the archive, hundreds of records dating back to the mid–20th century can now be read, either via individual PDFs, or a giant ZIP file.
(The Black Vault)
It's worth pointing out that not all of the information is easily readable. Many details in documents are redacted, and the overall quality of scans and photocopies is hit and miss, with some of the records being quite difficult to read, while others are clearer.
Those hoping that the haul will finally offer proof that the US government has been concealing knowledge of alien life-forms visiting Earth will be disappointed, however.
As we've explained before, UFOs or UAPs are a real, serious topic, reflecting documented accounts of incidents involving objects or phenomena that can't be easily identified or otherwise explained, even by experts.
The terms – including related descriptors such as Anomalous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs) – are not themselves synonymous with (or evidence of) extraterrestrials life forms, even though they often get bundled together, given the wilder possibilities of what these strange sightings could represent.
In other words, UFO means Unidentified Flying Object – nothing more, nothing less, as astronomer Chris Impey from the University of Arizona recently explained.
That said, these hundreds of newly revealed reports offer countless riveting reads of strange and inexplicable episodes, and make a huge contribution to historical records on UFO sightings and how they get handled by those in the intelligence community.
Whether the timing is coincidental or not is unclear, but US intelligence services were already being obliged to publicly divulge more of their knowledge about UFOs in the coming months, thanks to a buried clause in the massive COVID–19 relief bill signed into law in late 2020. Strange but true.
Which is another way of saying that it's possible we may find out even more about UFOs this year – if the CIA's complete archive doesn't turn out to be as complete as it could be.
For Greenewald, it's all part of the job – an important duty to get to the truth, no matter how weird it might be.
"Plain and simple, the public has a right to know!" Greenewald told Motherboard. "I feel I am achieving what I set out to do. Easy access, to important material, for people to make up their own minds on what is going on."
The Extraterrestrial Species Almanac, 82 Documented ET's, Craig Campobosso via Leak Project
The Extraterrestrial Species Almanac, 82 Documented ET's, Craig Campobosso via Leak Project
Discover who the aliens are – the benevolent ones and those who mean us harm – and what they want from us. Here is the ultimate field guide to the 82 extraterrestrial species that populate the universe. Fully illustrated throughout.
This is the ultimate field guide to the 82 extraterrestrial species that populate the universe. ET enthusiast Craig Campobasso explores the origins, physical characteristics, technological and consciousness abilities, dimensional capacities, belief systems, and cosmic agendas of each of the species.
The species fall into two categories: 1) benevolent races, which function as the guardians of humanity, whose goals include helping people overcome duality, healing, and protecting; and 2) malevolent races, which are responsible for abductions, cloning, and ultimately domination.
This intergalactic expose will entertain all those interested in UFOs, aliens, ETs. Sci-fi and fantasy fans of the Marvel universe; Star Trek, Star Wars, and other popular TV shows like Ancient Aliens; Roswell, and Project Blue Book are prime targets for this book that delves deep into who the real extraterrestrials are and what they want with the people of Earth.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Agartha, the Hidden Civilization of Inner Earth | Truth or Lore via Mr. Mythos
Agartha, the Hidden Civilization of Inner Earth | Truth or Lore via Mr. Mythos
Agartha, the Hidden Civilization of Inner Earth | Truth or Lore via Mr. Mythos
There’s an ancient mystery of connected tunnels across the world… could these paths lead to the legendary Hollow Earth kingdom Agartha deep under the Himalayas? Who (or what) lives in Agartha? What kind of lost knowledge might they hide from mankind?
I was looking over an old Mars photo, when something just hit me. I just opened the photo and there in front of me was a huge white triangle in the side of hill. The triangle looked like it was not a rock. I say that because there is nothing in this entire Mars photo that resembles the white color of this triangle. I do believe it to be a fungus. There is also another possibility...that its a door blocking an entrance and it was made to seal off the heat from the outside so the inside stays cool. There was also a small square opening not far from the triangle which could be a window.
On the other side of the photo there are a few anomalies that defy any explanation but one...that there was once intelligent life on Mars. A strange sculpture of a woven birdlike head. A statue head and even a large box about 2 meters across with a stone lid! These are not made by nature, but by intelligent beings from an ancient civilization that once lived and thrived on Mars.
V-shaped UFO formation over Minnetonka, Minnesota 28-Feb-2021
V-shaped UFO formation over Minnetonka, Minnesota 28-Feb-2021
This UFO video was just submitted to me through our Facebook page. It shows unidentified flying objects in some kind of a V-formation in the sky above Minnetonka, a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota. This happened on 28th Februray 2021.
Witness report:
I looked at the news nothing was mentioned about it. We asked others if they saw it and nothing
From a 360-degree panorama of the dusty landscape to a cheeky rover selfie: NASA's most stunning shots of Mars from Perseverance's first week on the Red Planet
From a 360-degree panorama of the dusty landscape to a cheeky rover selfie: NASA's most stunning shots of Mars from Perseverance's first week on the Red Planet
More than 5,000 images have been sent back to Earth by the NASA Perseverance rover from the Red Planet
The images include thousands of the entry, descent and landing stage of the mission including the parachute
There are 23 cameras on board the $2.2 billion Mars vehicle covering science, landing and engineering
As well as capturing images of the Martian sunset, the desert-like landscape and the rover itself, the cameras will be used to better understand the planet and guide the rover over difficult and rocky Martian terrain
NASA's Perseverance rover has spent the last week on the surface of Mars and in that short time has already sent back thousands of photos - including a cheeky selfie.
The latest rover from the US space agency landed on the Red Planet just before 21:00 GMT on Thursday, February 18 after a hair raising '7-minutes of terror'.
The $2.2 billion vehicle is equipped with 23 cameras including nine for engineering work, seven for science and seven to help it land on the Martian surface.
The first image sent back from Mars was a grainy, dust covered black and white picture taken by one of the Navigation Cameras and shows rocks of various sizes littering the Jezero crater.
Moments after touchdown, Perseverance beamed back its first black-and-white images from the Martian surface
Among the most iconic images sent back was the rover dangling over the Martian surface, attached to the sky crane that helped it safely land on the Red Planet.
Other images returned include a sensational high resolution 360-degree panorama of the Martian landscape and a video of Perseverance's nail biting landing.
The cameras on Perseverance all serve multiple purposes, beyond simply sending back images showing the landscape, sunrise, sunset and skyline of another world.
The space agency said the rover's cameras will help scientists assess the geologic history and atmospheric conditions of Jezero Crater and identify rocks and sediment worthy of a closer examination and collection for eventual return to Earth.
Pictured is an image snapped by the sky crane as it lowered NASA's Perseverance down to Mars' surface using long mechanical bridles
The sky crane (pictured) lowered the car-sized rover to Martian surface with long mechanical bridles and flew off to a safe distance where it crashed into the surface - and Perseverance captured its selfless act
NASA PERSEVERANCE CAMERAS
There are 23 cameras mounted to the Perseverance rover including:
Nine engineering cameras, seven science cameras and seven for entry, descent and landing.
The engineering cameras give detailed information in colour about the terrain the rover has to cross.
They measure the ground for safe driving, check out the status of hardware and support sample gathering.
There are HazCams for hazard detection and Navcams for navigation.
Science cameras record in more detail and can even capture 3D images.
The Mastcam-Z on a 2 metre arm has a zoom feature for focusing on distant objects and can film video.
The Supercam fires a laser at mineral targets beyond the reach of the rovers arm to analysed the chemical composition of the rock.
The camera system can reveal details as small as 3 to 5 millimetres across near the rover and 2 to 3 meters across in the distant slopes along the horizon.
The majority of cameras on the vehicle are designed for engineering use, and they give detailed information - in colour - about the terrain the rover has to cross.
They measure the ground for safe driving, check out the status of hardware on the vehicle for analysis and support sample gathering - a core mission objective.
There are HazCams for hazard detection and Navcams for navigation, cameras that shoot lasers and those that film video or capture 3D views.
So far the majority of images have come from the various entry, descent and landing camera - including those looking at the parachute, descent stage and rover.
There are more than 4,625 images taken by the landing and descent cameras, with about 600 coming from the left and right science 'Mastcam-Z'.
This makes sense given we are only a week into a mission that could last more than a decade, capturing hundreds of thousands of images, videos and audio files.
For comparison, NASA Curiosity, the rover that has been on Mars since 2012, has captured almost 400,000 images of the Red Planet from fewer cameras.
Mastcam-Z's design is an evolution of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's Mastcam instrument, which has two cameras of fixed focal length rather than zoomable.
The two cameras on Perseverance's Mastcam-Z dual cameras are mounted on the rover's mast at eye level for a person 2 meters tall.
They sit 24.1 centimeters apart to provide stereo vision and can produce colour images with a quality similar to that of a consumer digital HD camera.
A number of sensational images, video and even audio clips have already been shared of the Red Planet from Perseverance's array of cameras and equipment.
At about 7,000 feet into the decent, the cameras captured the sky crane manoeuvre over the landing site. As Perseverance is lowered, it kicks up dust on the ground that may have sat in the same place for billions of years
This is the shining heat shield dropping away from Perseverance, which protected the rover as it soared through temperatures of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit
NASA used a large parachute to slow the rover and online detectives discovered the red and white were code, reading 'Dare Mighty Things' and the coordinates for NASA JPL in California
The NASA team was overjoyed after hearing the news that Perseverance had landed safely on Mars
These included a hair raising video showing the '7-minutes of terror' the rover went through as it descended through the Martian atmosphere to land in the crater.
The first image NASA shared from Mars, sent minutes after the vehicle landed on the Red Planet, was a grainy black and white picture through the fish eye lens of the Perseverance Hazard Cameras.
The dust obscured image showed the baron, rock covered landscape of the Jezero crater with shadows of the Perseverance rover in the foreground and the Martian sky in the background.
The image came in while mission control crew were still celebrating the successful landing in the 28-mile wide crater that was picked as a promising target for finding ancient life signs.
The rover's rear cameras watch the sky crane fly off into the distance where it landed far enough to not interfere with Perseverance
NASA shared an image of its 'sky crane' sacrificing itself by intentionally crashing into Mars after it safely delivered the Perseverance rover to the Red Planet. Smoke is seen the in distance where the sky crane made impact with the Martian surface
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter also captured amazing images of Perseverance, showing it attached to the sonic parachute moments after shooting through the Martian atmosphere like a comet
Perseverance will make oxygen on Mars
The primary task for Perseverance is to search for signs of microbial life and take soil samples, but it will also conduct a host of other jobs during its operational window of one Martian year one (687 Earth days).
One of these, for example, involves investigating if Mars' natural resources can be turned into oxygen to make breathable air for astronauts and also to make rocket fuel for return missions.
This task is called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE).
Future crewed missions to Mars will require oxygen for astronauts to breathe. Carrying oxygen from Earth to Mars is heavy and expensive.
MOXIE is designed to see if it is possible to extract oxygen from Mars and turn it into breathable air.
Mars atmosphere is more than 95 per cent of carbon dioxide and less than 0.15 per cent oxygen.
Moxie will take Martian air, heat it to 800°C, inject energy into a pair of electrodes and this then separates oxygen from the CO2.
Oxygen is pumped out of one line and waste gase are spewed out of another.
The first colour image from Perseverance came from the Hazard Camera photo, soon followed by a look down from the sky crane that placed the rover on the surface, showing the rocks and soil as the rover approached.
The sky crane manoeuvre is the final landing stage that was also used when Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012.
The detailed image, which could become an iconic image in spaceflight shows the long Nylon cords lowering Perseverance to the Martian surface, along with the rover's mechanics and wheels dangling in the air.
This is something we've never seen before,' said Aaron Stehura, NASA flight system engineer, describing himself and colleagues as 'awe-struck' when first viewing the image.
'You are brought to the surface of Mars. You're sitting there, seven meters off the surface of the rover looking down,' he said. 'It's absolutely exhilarating, and it is evocative of those other images from our experience as human beings moving out into our solar system.'
After the first image they came in a flurry’s , including a close up of the wheel tracks on Perseverance, taken by the colour Hazard Cameras.
It wasn't just pictures taken by Perseverance that captured the imagination. The HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flying above Mars. It showed the descent stage holding Perseverance.
One of the most recent images was a sensational 360-degree panorama taken by the Navcams stitched together from six individual images after they were sent back to Earth.
It showed the deep rust-coloured orange of the Martian surface, looking towards the horizon with a light orange/pink tinged sky and a large looking Sun in the distance.
Other panorama images show the deck of the Perseverance with the equipment used to search for signs of long gone Martian microbial life and a sweeping panoramic view taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument.
After landing, two of the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) captured views from the front and rear of the rover, showing one of its wheels in the Martian dirt
Perseverance touched down on Mars Thursday and has been sending NASA videos and footage over the weekend. Pictured is one of thousands of images the rover has taken of the Red Planet
New images from Mars shot by the NASA Perseverance rover have revealed the impressive contours of the red planet's surface, pictures here are taken in false colour for calibration
The surface of Mars directly below NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is seen using the Rover Down-Look Camera in a combination of images acquired February 22, 2021 in a false colour for calibration
This was the first panorama from the science camera and shows rubble like rocks in the foreground, with sweeping hills in the background, looking towards the rim of the Jezero crater.
Within the images was one of a wind carved rock with strange angles, showing the level of detail possible in the zoomable Mastcam-Z cameras on the rover.
The stunning panorama was created with 5,000 commands parameters that shot a total of 142 images that were beamed back to Earth where NASA stitched them together.
While the image may seem like a barren landscape, taking a closer look through the area reveals a number of hidden gems waiting to be investigated by Perseverance.
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover's onboard Left Navigation Camera (Navcam), which is located high on the rover's mast and aids in driving, shows the surrounding area on Mars in an image acquired February 22, 2021
Also released Monday was the mission's first panorama of the rover's landing location, taken by the two Navigation Cameras located on its mast
NASA shared a video of the 7-minutes of terror landing on Mars that included this shot of Perseverance's aluminum wheels making contact with the surface for the first time
Captured in stunning HD, it was taken by the rover's Mastcam-Z, a dual-camera system equipped with a zoom function to help it focus on distant objects
To the left of the rover sits an interesting rock that NASA has named ‘harbor seal’ that was formed by Martian winds eroding it for billions of years and northeast of the rover are structures littering the ground that could have came from an ancient volcano.
More images are being shared all the time, with more than 5,600 raw images already shown on the Perseverance page - including bright red shots of the surface.
To the left of the rover sits an interesting rock that NASA has named ‘harbor seal’ that stands at a point that was formed from Martian wind eroding it for billions of years
NASA gave the world a tour of Mars using the high resolution 360-degree panorama Perseverance sent back from the Red Planet. The rover captured the scene using its powerful Mast Camera, Mastcam-Z for short, as it sat about one and a half miles from the basin of the Jezero Crater with mountains in the distance surrounding the rim
Perseverance's main mission on Mars is astrobiology and the search for signs of ancient microbial life. All of its cameras can aide in this mission, including those designed to help it navigate the Martian surface
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life.
The rover will characterise the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
Subsequent missions, currently under consideration by NASA in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
NASA shared this stunning 'Sun' image taken from Mars which orbits our star every 687 days and is 227.9 million km away from it
Perseverance beamed back its first image of the crater moments after NASA established radio contact with the rover (left). The rover beamed a new image back without the camera lens that shows the Martian landscape in full color
First audio recording of Mars from Perseverance rover
Mars Rover Curiosity drills first powder samples from r…
NASA MARS 2020: THE MISSION WILL SEE THE PERSEVERANCE ROVER AND INGENUITY HELICOPTER SEARH FOR LIFE
NASA's Mars 2020 mission will search for signs of ancient life on on the Red Planet in a bid to help scientists better understand how life evolved on Earth.
Named Perseverance, the main car-sized rover will explore an ancient river delta within the Jezero Crater, which was once filled with a 1,600ft deep lake.
It is believed that the region hosted microbial life some 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago and the rover will examine soil samples to hunt for evidence of the life.
Nasa's Mars 2020 rover (artist's impression) will search for signs of ancient life on Mars in a bid to help scientists better understand how life evolved on our own planet
The $2.5 billion (£1.95 billion) Mars 2020 spaceship launched on July 30 with the rover and helicopter inside - and landed successfully on February 18, 2021.
Perseverance landed inside the crater and will collect samples that will eventually be returned to Earth for further analysis.
A second mission will fly to the planet and return the samples, perhaps by the later 2020s in partnership with the European Space Agency.
This concept art shows the Mars 2020 rover landing on the red planet via NASA's 'sky-crane' system
ROVER PERSEVERANCE MAAKT ER EEN ZOOITJE VAN OP MARS
ROVER PERSEVERANCE MAAKT ER EEN ZOOITJE VAN OP MARS
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Dat blijkt uit beelden gemaakt door de Trace Gas Orbiter.
De orbiter heeft vanuit een baan rond Mars een fraaie foto gemaakt van de landingsplek van Perseverance. En de foto onthult dat de rover er tijdens zijn landing wel een beetje een rommeltje van heeft gemaakt.
De foto Ongeveer in het midden van de foto zien we de Perseverance-rover. Helemaal links ligt de parachute en de bovenzijde van de beschermende schelp die Perseverance tijdens de reis naar Mars en afdaling omhulde. Ietsje rechts daarvan ligt de zogenoemde descent stage: een soort jetpack met acht motoren die Perseverance veilig op Mars zette. Nadat Perseverance op Mars was geland, haastte de descent stage zich weg, om iets meer dan een halve kilometer verderop – zoals gepland – te crashen.
Het hitteschild zie je helemaal rechts. Dit vormde de onderzijde van de schelp die Perseverance omringde en werd na de gang door de atmosfeer afgeworpen.
Afbeelding: ESA/Roscosmos/CaSSIS; acknowledgement A. Valantinas.
Stoffig De verschillende attributen die gebruikt zijn om Perseverance op Mars te zetten, zijn nu nog goed zichtbaar, maar dat gaat veranderen. Mars is bijzonder stoffig en ook het hitteschild, de parachutes en wat nog over is van de gecrashte descent stage zullen na verloop van tijd bedekt worden met stof en langzaam maar zeker opgaan in de ondergrond.
Trace Gas Orbiter De foto is zoals gezegd gemaakt door de Trace Gas Orbiter. Deze orbiter – een project van de Europese en Russische ruimtevaartorganisaties – arriveerde in 2016 bij Mars. De sonde doet er onderzoek naar de Martiaanse atmosfeer, maar wordt momenteel ook ingezet om communicatie tussen Perseverance en de aarde mogelijk te maken. Zo is het mede aan de Trace Gas Orbiter te danken dat we kort na de landing al snel op spectaculaire beelden van Mars en de landing zelf getrakteerd werden.
Schiaparelli De Trace Gas Orbiter maakt deel uit van de eerste ExoMars-missie. Deze bestond uit de orbiter en een Marslander, Schiaparelli genaamd. De lander maakte zich in 2016 los van de orbiter en zette koers richting het Marsoppervlak. Het resulteerde in een nog groter zooitje dan de Perseverance-landing; Schiaparelli crashte namelijk op Mars. De crash weerhoudt ESA er niet van om nog eens naar Mars te trekken. De Europese Marsrover Rosalind Franklin moet in 2023 op de rode planeet arriveren. Daarnaast zijn er plannen voor een Sample Return Mission, waarvoor ESA nauw gaat samenwerken met NASA. Het idee is om door Perseverance verzamelde Marsmonsters op te pikken en terug te brengen naar de aarde voor analyse.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter De Trace Gas Orbiter is natuurlijk niet de enige Marsorbiter. Zo heeft NASA zelf bijvoorbeeld ook de Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter nog rond Mars cirkelen. Deze orbiter heeft Perseverance ook al op het oppervlak van Mars gespot. Nog spectaculairder is echter de foto die MRO maakte tijdens de afdaling van Perseverance (zie hieronder). Op de foto zien we de rover aan de parachute bungelen.
Afbeelding: NASA / JPL Cal-Tech.
Perseverance landde op 18 februari in de Jezero-krater op Mars. De rover zal daar op jacht gaan naar sporen van (voormalig) leven. Dat is een primeur; eerdere rovers onderzochten de leefbaarheid van Mars, maar hebben nooit actief naar leven gezocht. Daarnaast zal Perseverance ook een instrument gaan testen waarmee mogelijk zuurstof uit de Martiaanse atmosfeer kan worden gehaald (van groot belang voor toekomstige bemande missies naar Mars). En er staat een spannende demonstratiemissie op stapel; aan boord van Perseverance bevindt zich een kleine helikopter die over een paar maanden het luchtruim moet kiezen. NASA hoopt zo te weten te komen of je op Mars kunt vliegen.
Tijd voor een spectaculaire foto van de afdaling van de rover. Deze foto is gemaakt door de descent stage – een soort jetpack met acht motoren – die ervoor zorgde dat Perseverance veilig landde op het Marsoppervlak. De rover bungelt enkele meters boven het oppervlak. Nu al de ruimtefoto van het jaar?
Veel ogen waren gisteravond gericht op Perseverance, ook die van de HiRISE-camera aan boord van de Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Het ruimtevaartuig boven Mars fotografeerde Perseverance en zijn parachute. Links op de foto zie je de Jezero-krater: het doel van de missie. Onderzoekers denken dat deze krater zo’n 3,5 miljard jaar geleden gevuld was met water dat door rivieren naar de krater werd gevoerd. De ‘armen’ van deze delta zijn nog steeds op de kraterbodem te aanschouwen. De foto is op 700 kilometer afstand van Perseverance gemaakt, terwijl de Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter een snelheid had van drie kilometer per seconde. Een kwestie van zeer goede timing.
Panoramafoto van Perseverance op Mars. Afbeelding: NASA
Naast de panoramafoto, maakte Perseverance ook nog een mooie selfie:
Selfie van Perseverance.
Afbeelding: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Bekijk in deze video de beelden van Perseverance’ landing op Mars.
DOOIEND ARCTISCH PERMAFROST POMPT VEEL MEER CO2 IN DE LUCHT DAN GEDACHT
DOOIEND ARCTISCH PERMAFROST POMPT VEEL MEER CO2 IN DE LUCHT DAN GEDACHT
Vivian Lammerse
En de boosdoeners zijn hongerige, ijzer-verorberende microben…
De aarde warmt op. En dat is slecht nieuws voor permafrost; een normaliter permanent bevroren laag aarde. Stijgende mondiale temperaturen zorgen er namelijk voor dat bevroren Arctische permafrost dooit. Hierdoor komt er methaan en koolstofdioxide vrij, dat er al voor duizenden jaren in opgeslagen zat. In klimaatmodellen is hier al rekening mee gehouden. Maar mogelijk is de hoeveelheid CO2 die vrijkomt door dooiend Arctisch permafrost onderschat. Want waar onderzoekers niet aan hebben gedacht, is aan hongerige, ijzer-verorberende bodemmicroben.
CO2 Zoals gezegd zit er in Arctisch permafrost heel veel koolstof gevangen. De hoeveelheid koolstof die in het permafrost opgesloten zit, wordt geschat op vier keer zoveel als de gecombineerde hoeveelheid CO2 die moderne mensen hebben uitgestoten. Het is dan ook niet voor niets dat wetenschappers zich zorgen maken. Want wanneer alle broeikasgassen die het permafrost herbergt een weg naar onze atmosfeer weten te vinden, zou dat dus een enorme impact hebben op ons mondiale klimaat.
Studie Wetenschappers proberen dan ook al enige tijd de processen achter de dooi beter te doorgronden. En in een nieuwe studie reisden onderzoekers hiervoor af naar het Zweedse natuurreservaat Stordalen Mire. “Het dooien van het permafrost is één van de grootste verhalen van deze tijd,” zegt onderzoeker Monique Patzner in een interview met Scientias.nl. “Wat er gaande is, is geen toekomstige zorg. We ondervinden het al aan den lijve. De permafrost in ons onderzoeksgebied zal tegen 2050 naar verwachting volledig verdwenen zijn. Elk jaar, zelfs tussen de seizoenen in, zien we veranderingen en instortingen in het veld, veroorzaakt door het verlies van permafrost. Dit betekent dat de transformatie heel rap gaat.”
Ondertussen in Alaska Niet alleen in Zweden smelt permafrost weg. Ook in Alaska zien wetenschappers permafrost dooien. Dat komt omdat het in Alaska een stuk regenachtiger is geworden. Sterker nog, De Amerikaanse staat beleeft de regenachtigste vijf jaar op rij ooit. In plaats van sneeuw, komt er dus regen naar beneden zetten. En dat is behoorlijk verontrustend. Want de regen zorgt ervoor dat er steeds meer permafrost verdwijnt. Daarnaast hebben ook ijverige bevers een vinger in de pap. Hoe? Gewapend met hun scherpe tanden bouwen de bevers van struiken en bomen dammen, waardoor er kleine poeltjes ontstaan die uitgroeien tot nieuwe meren die soms wel een paar hectare omvatten. En dat gaat rap. In slechts vijf jaar tijd hebben bevers woonachtig in noordwest-Alaska 56 nieuwe meren gecreëerd. Ook al bestaande meren dijen door toedoen van de bever uit. En dat gaat ten koste van kwetsbaar permafrost. Het water is namelijk warmer dan de omringende grond. En dus kunnen deze meren en vijvers de dooi van permafrost versnellen.
Hoewel dat al verontrustend genoeg is, zijn de onderzoekers er nu achtergekomen dat we mogelijk de hoeveelheid CO2 die vrijkomt door dooiend Arctisch permafrost hebben onderschat. In feite kan er zelfs veel meer CO2 vrijkomen dan onze worstcase-modellen hebben voorspeld. En dat komt volgens de onderzoekers omdat we geen rekening hebben gehouden met hele actieve bodemmicroben. Onderzoekers zijn zich al wel langer bewust dat micro-organismen een sleutelrol spelen bij het vrijkomen van CO2 als permafrost smelt. Als reactie op de stijgende temperaturen worden microben in de grond namelijk wakker en beginnen organisch materiaal dat jarenlang in het permafrost lag opgeslagen, af te breken. Daarbij komt CO2 en methaan vrij. Maar onderzoekers hebben nu ontdekt dat bodemmicroben mogelijk een nóg grotere rol spelen dan gedacht.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
Nieuwe ontdekking Men veronderstelde dat het mineraal ijzer koolstof bindt, zelfs als permafrost dooit. Maar onderzoekers uit de nieuwe studie hebben ontdekt dat hongerige microben die zich verschuilen in de Arctische bodem, het vermogen van ijzer om koolstof vast te houden, uitschakelen. “Bevroren grond heeft een hoog zuurstofgehalte, waardoor de ijzermineralen stabiel blijven en koolstof zich aan kan binden,” legt onderzoeker Carsten Müller uit. “Maar zodra het ijs smelt en in water verandert, daalt het zuurstofgehalte en wordt het ijzer instabiel. Tegelijkertijd geeft het ijs toegang tot bacteriën. En die gebruiken vervolgens de ijzermineralen als voedselbron. Terwijl ze eten, worden de bindingen die koolstof bevatten vernietigd en komt het vrij in de atmosfeer als broeikasgas.” Het zijn verontrustende bevindingen. Want de hoeveelheid extra koolstof die kan vrijkomen – en momenteel nog gevangen en gebonden is door het ijzer – wordt geschat op circa twee tot vijf keer de hoeveelheid koolstof die jaarlijks vrijkomt door antropogene emissies van fossiele brandstoffen. “Dit betekent dat we een grote nieuwe bron van CO2-uitstoot hebben gevonden die in klimaatmodellen moet worden opgenomen en nader bestudeerd moet worden,” aldus Müller.
Vragen Hoewel de onderzoekers slechts één moerasgebied in het Noord-Zweedse Abisko hebben bestudeerd, besloten ze hun resultaten te vergelijken met gegevens uit andere delen van het noordelijk halfrond. En daaruit blijkt dat de nieuwe resultaten mogelijk ook van toepassing zijn op andere permafrost-gebieden. Het is behoorlijk zorgelijk. Al is er ook nog een hoop dat we niet weten. Hoewel koolstof opgeslagen in duizenden jaren oud permafrost een grote impact heeft op ons wereldwijde klimaat, weten onderzoekers eigenlijk nog heel weinig over de mechanismen die bepalen of koolstof in de bodem wordt omgezet in broeikasgassen. Het merendeel van het klimaatonderzoek in het noordpoolgebied richt zich op de hoeveelheid opgeslagen koolstof en hoe gevoelig deze is voor klimaatverandering. Er is veel minder aandacht voor de diepere mechanismen die koolstof in de bodem vasthouden. “De vraag blijft bijvoorbeeld of de vrijkomende koolstof door permafrost-dooi echt wordt uitgestoten als broeikasgasemissies, of opnieuw wordt opgeslagen, bijvoorbeeld in toenemende biomassa,” zegt Patzner. Ook weten we niet precies welke micro-organismen de boosdoeners zijn. “Welke microben het ijzer verorberen en zo de bijbehorende organische koolstof vrijgeven, is momenteel de focus van onze lopende onderzoeken,” gaat Patzner verder. “Ook is het heel belangrijk om de hoeveelheid ijzer in diepere lagen, de hoeveelheid koolstof gebonden aan reactieve ijzermineralen in de talrijke permafrost-gebieden en de biologische beschikbaarheid van deze koolstof na het vrijkomen ervan verder te bepalen.”
Al met al laat dit onderzoek wederom de complexe mechanismen van onze aarde zien. “Dankzij de studie krijgen we een beter begrip van de ingewikkelde processen die plaatsvinden in deze complexe permafrost-gebieden,” zegt Patzner. “Dit is van fundamenteel belang om de snelheden van broeikasgasemissies zoals kooldioxide en methaan te bepalen, wat nodig is om betere voorspellingen te doen over klimaatverandering.” Het betekent bovendien dat de kans groot is dat we onze huidige klimaatmodellen moeten herzien. En dat door hele kleine microben die ver onder onze voeten, zich hongerig te goed doen aan hun omgeving.
Asteroïdenstof gevonden in inslagkrater die einde dinosaurussen betekende
Asteroïdenstof gevonden in inslagkrater die einde dinosaurussen betekende
Nieuw onderzoek levert bewijs dat het uitsterven van de dinosauriërs linkt aan de inslag van een asteroïde 66 miljoen jaar geleden. De wetenschappers vonden voor het eerst aanwijzingen van stofresten van een asteroïde in de Chicxulub-inslagkrater in Mexico.
Zesenzestig miljoen jaar geleden vond een catastrofale massa-extinctie plaats die het leven op onze planeet volledig veranderde. De dinosauriërs verdwenen van het aardoppervlak, samen met vele andere soorten en families, waaronder de ammonieten en de mosasauriërs. De eerste aanwijzing om dit plotse en wereldwijde uitsterven van het leven beter te begrijpen werd gevonden in sedimentlagen bij Gubbio in Italië en Caravaca in Spanje, waar een zeer dunne kleilaag de grens vormt tussen de tijdperken van het Krijt en het Paleogeen.
In het begin van de jaren tachtig vonden wetenschappers in deze kleilaag opmerkelijk hoge concentraties van iridium, een zeldzaam metaal dat in hoge concentraties voorkomt in meteorieten maar in zeer lage concentraties in de aardkorst. Deze kleilaag zou gevormd zijn uit stof dat was ontstaan na de inslag en verdamping van een asteroïde met een diameter van ongeveer twaalf kilometer. Deze ontdekking werd later bevestigd door de ontdekking van de 180 tot 200 kilometer grote Chicxulub inslagkrater, die onder het oppervlak van het schiereiland Yucatán in México begraven ligt.
Nu, meer dan 40 jaar later, hebben wetenschappers het laatste stukje bewijs ontdekt dat de wereldwijde massa-extinctie met de asteroïde-inslag in verband brengt. Een internationaal team van onderzoekers onder leiding van wetenschappers van de Vrije Universiteit Brussel heeft de globale asteroïde stoflaag getraceerd tot binnen de Chicxulub inslagkrater in Mexico. 'De cirkel is nu eindelijk rond', zegt Steven Goderis, docent geochemie aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel en hoofdauteur van de studie.
Lift boat L/B Myrtle die gebruikt werd om de Chicxulub krater in de Golf van Mexico aan te boren. Foto credit: UTexas
In mei 2016 werd een ring van heuvels die het centrum van de Chicxulubkrater in Mexico omringt, een zogenaamde piekring, aangeboord door een wetenschapsteam van het International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) en het International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expeditie 364. Ongeveer 835 meter gesteente werd naar de oppervlakte gebracht, die een enorme hoeveelheid nieuwe informatie heeft opgeleverd over de processen die zich in het kratergebied hebben afgespeeld tijdens en vlak na de inslag van de asteroïde.
De boorkern heeft ook zeer gedetailleerd het tijdsinterval vastgelegd waarin de krater overging van een dynamische omgeving met terugkerend oceaanwater en tsunamigolven naar veel rustigere omstandigheden. Op basis van een uitgebreide geochemische analyse van dit deel van de boorkern werden de hoogste concentraties iridium gevonden in een kleirijk interval in sedimenten die de kraterpiekring bedekken, net onder kalksteen uit het vroegste Paleogeen.
Boorkernen van drie sectie van de inslagkrater naast elkaar geplaats. Foto credit: The University of Texas at Austin
'Iridium is een element dat in deze context vrij moeilijk te meten is vanwege de lage concentraties. Daarom hebben we de resultaten van vier onafhankelijke laboratoria over de hele wereld gecombineerd om er zeker van te zijn dat we dit juist hebben', verduidelijkt Steven Goderis. De iridiumconcentraties die in de boorkern werden gemeten, komen overeen met de concentraties die eerder werden gemeten op plaatsen rond de Golf van Mexico. 'Het is heel opmerkelijk dat we zulke hoge concentraties hebben gevonden in de inslagkrater zelf. In de eerste uren tot maanden na de inslag was de krater een zeer turbulente omgeving die werd beïnvloed door tsunami's, oscillerende golven en aardbevingen. Bovendien zijn hydrothermale vloeistoffen die van dieper in de krater naar het oppervlakte kwamen ook door de iridiumlaag heen gegaan, maar hebben deze niet wezenlijk veranderd. Gelukkig is de iridiumlaag bewaard gebleven, mede dankzij de unieke positie van de boorkern in een depressie op de verhoogde piekring. Na enkele jaren in de atmosfeer rond de aarde te hebben gecirkeld, kan de afzetting van dit iridiumrijke stof tot een paar decennia na de inslag hebben geduurd', vat Goderis samen.
Het behoud van de iridiumlaag in de krater is werkelijk fantastisch, het vormt het onweerlegbare bewijs dat de inslag en de uitsterving nauw met elkaar verbonden zijnPhilippe Claeys, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
De atmosferische neerslag van dit asteroïdestof legt dus belangrijke tijdslimieten op aan de afzetting van het kratergesteente net onder deze iridiumlaag. 'Dit deel van de krater keerde terug naar een relatief laag-energetische omgeving in een veel kortere tijd dan eerder verwacht. Samen met andere tijdsindicaties, zoals microfossielen en helium-3 concentraties, geeft de iridiumlaag de timing weer van het herstel van leven gedurende de jaren tot millennia na de inslag, wat duidt op een zeer complexe biologische reactie op de snel veranderende omgeving op ‘ground zero’', aldus Sean Gulick, onderzoeksprofessor aan de Universiteit van Texas in Austin en mede-hoofdwetenschapper van de boorexpeditie. De boorkern van IODP-ICDP Expeditie 364 bevat dus een uitzonderlijk gedetailleerd verslag van de processen die gepaard gingen met de vorming van de Chicxulub-krater en het herstel van het leven.
Snelle neerdaling inslagmateriaal
De ontdekking van zo'n goed gedefinieerde iridium anomalie in de Chicxulub krater zal ongetwijfeld ook het onderzoek naar de Krijt-Paleogeen massa-extinctie nieuw leven inblazen. 'Met deze ontdekking zijn we beter dan ooit in staat om precieze tijdslimieten te stellen aan de producten die als gevolg van de asteroïde-inslag zijn gevormd. In de krater zien we een 130 meter dikke stapel van gesmolten, gebroken en fijnkorrelig gesteente dat waarschijnlijk in minder dan twintig jaar is afgezet, waarbij het grootste deel zelfs in de eerste dag is afgezet, wat verbluffend snel is. Op veel verschillende plaatsen in de wereld wordt dit tijdsinterval van twintig jaar vertegenwoordigd door een veel dunnere gesteentelaag, die bestaat uit geschokt, gesmolten en gecondenseerd materiaal dat uit de krater werd geslingerd. Door deze verschillende locaties te vergelijken, zullen we de precieze mechanismen beter begrijpen die verband houden met de Chicxulub-inslag die leidde tot het wereldwijde massa-uitsterven', legt Pim Kaskes uit, een FWO-doctoraatsstudent aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel die werkt op de boorkern. 'Het behoud van de iridiumlaag in de krater is werkelijk fantastisch, het vormt het onweerlegbare bewijs dat de inslag en de uitsterving nauw met elkaar verbonden zijn', besluit Philippe Claeys, gewoon hoogleraar geologie aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel en al 30 jaar veteraan op het gebied van Krijt-Paleogeen onderzoek.
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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..
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