Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS NEARLY 13 YEARS AND 4 MONTH.
ON /30/09/2024 MORE THAN 2.230.520
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
03-03-2021
Russian Astronaut On The ISS Allegedly Sees 5 UFOs In New Footage
Russian Astronaut On The ISS Allegedly Sees 5 UFOs In New Footage
IN BRIEF
The Facts:
A Russian astronaut stationed on the ISS claims to have seen 5 'UFOs' in his video footage. The objects lasted in frame for about 52 seconds.
Reflect On:
Are we seeing greater news coverage of this type of story in mainstream media due to a greater public acceptance of the topic?
I’m not sure this story would have been so widely covered if it had happened 3 or 4 years ago, but given the rise in public awareness around UFOs, Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner’s footage of what appears to be 5 lights ‘flying’ in unison was met with mainstream media curiosity.
Vagner referred to the lights as:
“Space guests, or how I filmed the new time-lapse […] you will see something else, not only the aurora”
He made these statements in a Tweet showcasing footage of a breathtaking time-lapse of aurora australis over the earth taken from the International Space Station (ISS) where he is stationed. Vagner does admit that these are only potentially UFOs as he writes in a follow up Tweet:
“At 9-12 seconds, 5 objects appear flying alongside with the same distance,” Vagner wrote in a follow-up tweet. “What do you think those are? Meteors, satellites or … ?”
In the footage, which you can see below, we see the aurora australis passing near Antarctica and Australia. At around the 9 second mark, you see what looks like 5 lights flying in unison coming up from the Earth horizon. The video you see below was shot in a time-lapse, therefor the brief images of the 5 objects you see coming up over the horizon lasted for about 52 seconds.
This is not the first time ISS related footage of what appear to be UFOs has been brought to public awareness. Although in previous incidents, the mainstream media was less interested in reporting on it. Perhaps due to the general lack of public acceptance? We wrote back in 2015 and 2016, about two separate occurrences where NASA cut live video feeds of the ISS following what appeared to be strange phenomenon caught on tape. Both incidents are linked above, and while neither can be proven as being an actual craft, it is interesting to note that live feed footage was cut on both occasions.
“There is abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been visiting us for a very long time, that their appearance is bizarre from any kind of traditional materialistic western point of view, that these visitors use the technologies of consciousness, they use toroids, they use co-rotating magnetic disks for their propulsion systems, that seems to be a common denominator of the UFO phenomenon.”
Dr. Brian O’Leary, former NASA astronaut and Princeton physics professor (source)
The Takeaway
It is no secret that UFOs have become a much more widely accepted topic in recent years. This is primarily due to widespread mainstream media coverage of recent US Navy footage that was released and confirmed to be UFO in nature. This essentially means they do not know what these flying objects are. The next plausible question is “who is manning these craft?”
For those interested in exploring this topic further, it’s important to note that the evidence available in the realm of the UFO, ET and contactee phenomenon is extremely vast. It’s not a fringe topic where cheap evidence is brought forth in the form of grainy images or videos online, it’s a realm where high ranking military, government personnel, astronauts and more high profile figures have personally blown the whistle to share evidence with the public that western governments refuse to share at this time. We’ve covered this topic in great detail over the last 11 years and you can find tons of information going through our archives or by watching our coverage on CETV.
Hurricanes are one of nature’s most powerful storms. They produce strong winds, storm surge flooding, and heavy rainfall, leading to inland flooding, tornadoes, and rip currents. They are characterized by a low-pressure center (hurricane eye), strong winds and flow shears, and a spiral arrangement of towering clouds with heavy rains.
Astronomers recently reported a long-lasting space hurricane in the polar ionosphere and magnetosphere during low solar and otherwise low geomagnetic activity. They spotted space hurricanes on Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter, similar to terrestrial hurricanes in the lower atmosphere.
Astronomers wondered if there is a hurricane in Earth’s upper atmosphere. If yes, it must be violent and efficiently transfer solar wind/magnetosphere energy and momentum into the Earth’s ionosphere.
Can we find hurricanes in the upper atmosphere (ionosphere and magnetosphere) in any planet of our heliosphere?
An international team of scientists led by Prof. Zhang Qinghe has answered the question by discovering a space hurricane in the Earth’s polar ionosphere and magnetosphere. Using satellite observations and high-resolution 3D global MHD simulations, scientists found a huge and long-lasting (about 8 hours) cyclone-like auroral spot (diameter over 1000 km) with multiple arms and a trend of anti-clockwise rotation around the north magnetic pole from four DMSP satellites observations.
This cyclone-like auroral spot is also associated with: a spot-like strong upward FAC (with sometimes a FAC hole developed in the center), zero horizontal flow near its center (the hurricane eye) as well as strong flow shears around the edges, ion upflows, enhanced electron temperature (about 1000 K enhancement), a negative-to-positive bipolar magnetic structure (implying a circular magnetic field perturbation), electron inverted-V acceleration to above ten keV, and large and rapid deposition of energy and flux into the polar ionosphere (much stronger precipitating electron energy flux than that during typical quiet and substorm conditions, and comparable to that during superstorms).
As these features are similar to the hurricane in the lower atmosphere, scientists named it as a space hurricane.
The detailed observations and simulation results suggest that the magnetic reconnection will steadily occur at the high latitude lobe region for an extended period of time during a several-hour period of stable northward IMF and very low solar wind density and speed.
After the lobe reconnection, the recently reconnected open field lines are draped by the solar wind to move downward and afterward tailward from the morning side to the afternoon side in the high-latitude lobe region and will slowly get back to their past positions and take an interest in another pattern of magnetic reconnection.
Their development will, in the end, form a tornado cyclone-shaped funnel of FAC with multiple FAC arms and a clockwise circulation of the plasma flow because of the pressing gradient and magnetic stresses on both sides of the funnel for completing the FACs and the flow shear and curve of the circular flow.
Inside the funnel, a corkscrew magnetic field forms with the circular flow and upward FACs, which accelerate electrons that precipitate into the ionosphere and create the auroral spot with multiple arms. This means that the space hurricane opens a rapid energy transfer channel from space to the ionosphere and thermosphere.
Scientists noted, “Our study suggests that even during an otherwise extremely quiet geomagnetic condition, there are still existing local intense geomagnetic disturbance and energy depositions which is comparable to that during superstorms. This will update our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling process under tranquil geomagnetic conditions.”
Journal Reference:
Zhang, QH., Zhang, YL., Wang, C. et al. A space hurricane over the Earth’s polar ionosphere. Nat Commun 12, 1207 (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21459-y
Singapore-based Kelley Aerospace has officially launched the world's first supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).
Called 'Arrow,' the drone is designed with a single-shell made of lightweight carbon fiber that allows it to reads speeds up to Mach 2.1 – exceeding the speed of sound.
The UCAV is fitted with a reduced radar cross-section and infra-red signature, and is designed for multiple combat or reconnaissance roles.
The firm says it has already received more than 100 pre-orders for the war machine, which costs between $9 million to $16 million.
Arrows maximum weight is 37,038 pounds, but its monocoque design 'endows the Arrow with outstanding strength and stiffness,' the firms shared in a statement.
Video: Drones are growing into a $100 billion industry (CNBC)
However, what makes this machine so special is that it is the first to travel faster than the speed of sound, which is Mach 1 – but Arrow can reach Mach 2.1.
It is estimated that it will not cost more than $16 million with prices going as low as $9 million.
Kelley notes that this 'allows more airframes to be purchased and yet, have a multi-role supersonic UCAV to perform high-risk missions as it does not necessarily need to return home.'
The firm conducted the first scale prototype test flights in 2014, Flight Global reports.
Kelley Aerospace plans to be a big player in the supersonic area, and its Arrow UCAV may be the push it needs to take over the space.
At a launch event in Singapore in December 2020, the company disclosed it was also developing a supersonic business jet.
And two prototypes are reporting undergoing testing in the USA and Sweden.
Kelley Aerospace chief executive Ian Lim says: 'UAVs are known for their persistence…loitering, [but] are never known for their speed. So with the Arrow supersonic UAV, you will overcome the issues of speed and reach.'
Other fighter jets do have the ability to reach supersonic speeds, but most are only capable of doing so for short bursts.
The jets, which have also been bought by the US Navy and Marine Corps, are at risk of 'structural damage' when hitting their top speeds of around 1,200mph, potentially hindering their ability to intercept other planes, according to a report by the US Department of Defense.
Last year, the Pentagon announced plans to commission a prototype for prototype of a new supersonic Air Force One that could one day ferry the president around the world at nearly twice the speed and half the time currently required to travel – but the innovation is still in early developmental phases.
There can be very few people – if any at all – who have never experienced the phenomenon of Déjà vu. There are two overriding theories for what causes Déjà vu: one is that now and again time itself has a glitch, albeit usually a very brief glitch that leaves us feeling slightly weird and a bit uneasy. The other theory is far more down to earth: that Déjà vu is caused by the occasional misfiring of the brain. Healthline have addressed the matter and provide us some fascinating material: ‘”‘Déjà vu’ describes the uncanny sensation that you’ve already experienced something, even when you know you never have. Say you go paddleboarding for the first time. You’ve never done anything like it, but you suddenly have a distinct memory of making the same arm motions, under the same blue sky, with the same waves lapping at your feet. Or perhaps you’re exploring a new city for the first time and all at once feel as if you’ve walked down that exact tree-lined footpath before. You might feel a little disoriented and wonder what’s going on, especially if you’re experiencing déjà vu for the first time.”
Scientific American have tackled this slightly jarring phenomenon, too: “Carrie-Anne Moss, as Trinity in The Matrix trilogy, tells us (and Keanu Reeves as Neo) that déjà vu is a ‘glitch in the Matrix’’ – the simulated reality that keeps humanity unaware that intelligent machines have actually taken over the world. That explanation is perfect for cyberpunk science fiction, but it doesn’t give us any scientific understanding of the phenomenon. We associate the feeling of déjà vu with mystery and even the paranormal because it is fleeting and usually unexpected. The very things that intrigue us about déjà vu are the same things that make it hard to study. But scientists have tried using tricks like hypnosis and virtual reality.”
Frontiers for Young Minds offer these words: “The percentage of people who experience déjà vu is probably somewhere between 30% (about 8 in a class of 30) and 100% (everyone in a class of 30). We are not sure about the exact percentage for two important reasons. First, we cannot ask everyone in the world so we have to use the results of surveys of small groups of people. This is a problem because surveys can give us quite different results depending on who we ask. Second, people can give very different answers depending on the definition we give of déjà vu. Asking the question in different ways can get very different results. We can also get an idea of how often déjà vu happens by asking people. Again, the answers they give depend on who they are and how we ask them the question, but most people report déjà vu somewhere between every few weeks and every few months. Typically, this means that déjà vu is not very common so if you have experienced it recently you are very lucky!”
Going back to the matter of the mind itself causing Déjà vu, Penn Medicine have some interesting data: “Though much rarer, déjà vu is sometimes a sign of a seizure, specifically an epileptic seizure. ‘About 60 percent of people with epilepsy have something called a focal seizure, which is in just one part of the brain. This can be in the same part of the brain where memory is stored: the temporal lobe,’ says Dr. Spears. Focal seizures can be hard to recognize as seizures because they are short and you remain conscious throughout. A person having one may look like they are having a staring spell or daydreaming.
“Some people who have focal seizures may experience intense feelings of déjà vu. This is often accompanied by: Motor feelings, which impact your ability to control your muscles, like twitching or the inability to move certain muscles; Sensory feelings, involving taste, touch, smell, vision, and hearing, like tasting or hearing something that’s not real; Sudden and unexplainable feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or nausea; Strange, repetitive behaviors, such as blinking, twitching, or moving your mouth involuntarily; An unusual sensation that a seizure is about to occur, called an aura.”
Despite the medical explanations for Déjà vu, what about the movie-themed explanation for the mystery? Did the Matrix movies inadvertently play into a real situation: that reality is not what it appears to be? And, just like the situation in the movies, time is not as we perceive it to be?
Two Suns Seen Over Isle Of Man, England On Feb 2, 2021, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Two Suns Seen Over Isle Of Man, England On Feb 2, 2021, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Feb 2, 2021
Location of sighting: Isle of Man, England
The eyewitness goes by the name GoldeNLemonZ on Youtube. He posted a video back on Feb 2 of not one, but two suns seen during sunset. The video was taken at Isle of Man, an island belonging to England. Now I believe that second sun is actually a round UFO that is trying to go unnoticed slowly into the ocean...matching speed with the sun setting, so everyone believes its a reflection, but its not. It's a cloaked UFO lowering into the ocean. Its also proof that there is an alien base in that location, about 5-6km below the ocean floor.
This bright unidentified flying object or orb was hovering in the daytime sky above Encinitas, California on 28th February 2021.
Witness report:
White orb travelled across sky. Stopped. Then changed direction and came towards us before ascending and vanishing from sight. On Sunday late afternoon, we watched and partially filmed a prominent white orb travel across the sky. It was moving from North to South, when we first saw it. I called for my son to go grab my cell phone. When he retrieved the phone he began to film it. He pointed the phone towards the eastern sky. At this time, the object stopped moving North/South and hovered in the eastern sky. It then proceeded to move from east to west towards the coast. We followed if for a couple of minutes before it ascended and disappeared from our view. In the video, the erratic movement is due to my son not holding the phone still. The object did not move erratically. it moved in a straight and deliberate path and hovered before changing direction (90 degrees). It was very high in the sky (near to wear we see airplanes). It was much larger than a balloon and smaller than an aircraft by my estimation. It was white, spherical, very reflective, and had no visible characteristics of a plane, common drone, or hot air balloon.
Approximately 15 minutes after it disappeared, a small non-military personal aircraft circled the exact location in the eastern sky where the object hovered. It did multiple, tight circular passes, which seemed odd. It then left the area. 5 minutes later, 3 military ‘Osprey’ aircraft came into the same airspace (heading from west to east). This may have been unrelated, as we often see military planes heading in this direction frequently going to and from Air Station Miramar.
Perseverance Rover's Descent and Touchdown on Mars: Onboard Camera Views
Perseverance Rover's Descent and Touchdown on Mars: Onboard Camera Views
February 22, 2021
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured thrilling footage of its rover landing in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. The real footage in this video was captured by several cameras that are part of the rover's entry, descent, and landing suite. The views include a camera looking down from the spacecraft's descent stage (a kind of rocket-powered jet pack that helps fly the rover to its landing site), a camera on the rover looking up at the descent stage, a camera on the top of the aeroshell (a capsule protecting the rover) looking up at that parachute, and a camera on the bottom of the rover looking down at the Martian surface.
The audio embedded in the video comes from the mission control call-outs during entry, descent, and landing.
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.
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 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 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."
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."
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.
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
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
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?
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.
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.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.