Strange UFO flying over Burbank, CA 3-Apr-2021

Author of the video said it saw this from a car while driving in Burbank, California yesterday (3rd April 2021) around 3:30 pm.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

04-04-2021 om 14:30 geschreven door peter  

Harry Reid: U.S. Government Is Hiding Facts On UFOs From Public

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the U.S. government has information about UFOs that it has been hiding and covering up for years.

Reid, 80, served as a Nevada senator from 1987 to 2017. While in office, he sought to continue funding a Defense Department program called Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification that had had been discontinued.

In the documentary, “The Phenomenon,” director James Fox asked Reid if there’s some evidence on UFOs that still hasn’t seen the light of day, Huffpost reported.

“I’m saying most of it hasn’t seen the light of day,” Reid replied.

“There’s more than one up there,” Reid said, adding that he believes UFOs may have interfered with U.S. weapons.

The film examines the history of UFO sightings in and outside the U.S. with new details about encounters involving U.S. Navy pilots. It also details a 1967 report about how 10 missiles became inoperative over a U.S. missile base at the same time that a UFO appeared above the base.

The Pentagon studied recordings of UFOs in a classified program, launched at the request of Reid in 2007 that ended in 2012 due to lack of funding.

Luis Elizondo, the former head of the classified program, told CNN in 2017 that he thinks “there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone. These aircraft — we’ll call them aircraft — are displaying characteristics that are not currently within the U.S. inventory nor in any foreign inventory that we are aware of.”

Elizondo said he resigned from the Defense Department in 2017 to protest the secrecy surrounding the program and the opposition to funding it.

“They did everything they could to stop the program from going forward … they wanted nothing to do with this … Nobody has to agree why it’s there. But shouldn’t we at least be spending some money to study all these phenomena? Shouldn’t we study this stuff? The answer is yes,” Reid said.

Instead, Reid said, “the federal government all these years has covered up, put brake pads on everything, stopped it. I think it’s very, very bad for our country.”

Elizondo described the documentary as setting “a new benchmark for disclosure” and “the most accurate and informative documentary ever made about UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena),” according to “The Phenomenon” website.

The “unwarranted stigma” around UFOs has “prevented the government and academia from taking this important topic seriously,” said Chris Mellon, former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in Defense Department.

“The rapidly increasing number and quality of land and space-based sensors is making the UAP issue impossible to avoid,” said Mellon, whose voice is also included in the documentary.

In August 2020, the Pentagon announced that the U.S. Navy was overseeing a new task force to investigate “unexplained aerial incidents” that have been observed on several occasions by U.S. military aircraft.

The new task force — the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) — will report to the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

“The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report,” the Pentagon said in a press release. “This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.”

By Dana Sanchez

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{ https://anomalien.com/ }

03-04-2021 om 23:12 geschreven door peter  

Who Will Resist The Aliens Who Want To Destroy Us?

Military news site Task & Purpose confirmed a disturbing fact: the newly created U.S. Space Force has no intention of fighting aliens.

Despite the recent uptick of military UFO sightings, the Pentagon appears uninterested (at least officially) in the possibility of hostile aliens. But if an alien invasion does take place, which arm of the Pentagon would respond? The answer: probably all of them.

During a recent Pentagon roundtable, Task & Purpose’s Pentagon reporter Jeff Schogol asked if the Space Force “is concerned about threats posed by extraterrestrial intelligence.” The official answer he got back? “No.”

Schogol’s question was asked with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but the revelation last year that U.S. Navy fighter jets encountered alleged UFO craft in 2004 and again in 2015—in both instances appearing on radar and leaving behind video evidence—makes one wonder.

If the unidentified flying objects described by Navy pilots, as well as military and civilian personnel for the past seventy years, are really of extraterrestrial origin and unfriendly, how would the Pentagon deal with them?

If UFOs suddenly descended from the skies, toasting the Statue of Liberty, the Great Mall of America, and the Golden Gate Bridge with death rays, the Pentagon would need to convene some sort of study group to quickly determine what kind of threat it was dealing with. If that happens, forget the Air Force.

Ironically, the service that would most likely take the lead is the U.S. Navy.

Why the Navy? Aliens would likely come from vast distances, traveling light years in long distance voyages, to smash puny humans. The U.S. Navy is unique among the services in planning similar, though much, much shorter voyages.

Both submarines and UFOs deal with pressure—in the case of submarines the pressure is on the outside, while in space the pressure is on the inside of the vehicle. From an operational and technical standpoint, aliens and sailors have a few things in common.

There are other reasons the Navy might take the lead. Seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and if aliens operated from the water (remember, the 2004 sighting included reports of a 737-sized object on the surface of the ocean) the Navy is unique in having manned aircraft, surface ships, and submarines prowling above, on, and below the surface of the ocean.

The Navy could also sail to the most remote locations in the world’s oceans, establishing a military presence for weeks or months, to investigate and monitor for enemy activity.

The Air Force could operate against aliens, but the service’s fighters and bombers could only remain on station for mere minutes or hours before returning to base.

Against a terrestrial threat this isn’t really a big deal, but against an alien threat we know nothing about—and according to the 2004 incident, theoretically capable of traveling extraordinary distances in a blink of an eye—such a force will be less useful.

If humans could lure aliens into a set-piece battle the Air Force could bring a lot of firepower, but how one lures aliens into battle is anyone’s guess. In the meantime the Space Force, nestled under control of the Air Force, would contribute to the alien war by maintaining the U.S. military’s network of position, navigation, and timing/GPS satellites, communication satellites, and other space-based assets.

The Army would be the service responsible if aliens attempted a landing in the United States, or presumably one of our allies. The Army’s 10 combat divisions would spring into action, attempting to destroy the aliens with fire and maneuver.

It would be in many ways similar to countering an airborne landing, with the Army attempting to destroy the alien’s landing zone and prevent the flow of alien reinforcements.

The Marines could also get in on the alien fighting, particularly overseas in Asia, Europe, or even the Middle East—though one would like to think aliens would be smart enough to avoid that region and the prospect of their own 18-year war altogether.

Of course, all of this is contingent on the U.S. military being on par with alien technology… which, frankly, is extremely unlikely.

The universe is billions of years old, and other races could easily have a head start of a million years or more on us. And certainly, any species capable of interstellar flight is far more technologically advanced.

Consider that a handful of 21st-century tanks could crush an army from the 11th century, or even the 19th century for that matter. Even a difference of a thousand years would be ample enough to ensure humanity’s defeat from even a minor alien expedition/hunting trip/bachelor party.

If aliens do exist, ultimately it may not matter if they are hostile or not. Our destruction at their hands would be about as inevitable as destruction from an extinction-level meteor impact.

They could even be friendly, the combination of advanced, destructive technology and violent tendencies leading to intelligent life self-screening itself from interstellar travel. (That would be bad news for humanity.)

The “UFOs” people are seeing could even be top secret U.S. government craft. The aliens could be us. In the end, maybe it doesn’t matter if the Pentagon has a plan to fight aliens after all.

Source: 

• Task & Purpose

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{ https://anomalien.com/ }

03-04-2021 om 22:59 geschreven door peter  

J’ai vu un objet volant non identifié : que faire ?

Nathalie Mayer - Journaliste

Les années passent et une chose reste : à travers le monde, les gens observent des ovnis. Le signe de visites de civilisations extra-terrestres ? Pas nécessairement. Mais si cela vous est déjà arrivé, vous pouvez le signaler. Des experts vous apporteront une réponse.

Il arrive régulièrement que l'observation d'un objet volant non identifié (ovni) soit rapportée par des personnes tout à fait censées et lucides. Et les personnes en question en restent parfois marquées à jamais. La presse s'en fait généralement l'écho. Notamment lorsque l'observation est le fait d'un groupe de personnes, plus ou moins indépendantes et géographiquement séparées. Et sachez que si vous aussi, vous avez vu un ovni, vous pouvez être entendu.

D'abord, notez tout de même que les ovnis, officiellement, ça n'existe plus. Oubliez les objets volants non identifiés. Veuillez désormais parler de préférence de phénomène aérospatial non identifié (Pan). Peut-être, parce que le terme est moins connoté « extra-terrestres ». Mais aussi parce qu'il est moins réducteur. Beaucoup de signalements se rapportent en effet à des phénomènes naturels -- la foudre, par exemple -- qui ne sont pas des « objets ».

Si vous avez observé un pan, vous pouvez vous tourner vers la gendarmerie de votre secteur. Elle est habilitée à recueillir votre témoignage. Elle rédige alors un procès-verbal administratif qui enregistre la date et le lieu d'observation. Mais aussi tout ce qui peut être utile à percer le mystère : la forme de l'objet, ses dimensions, d'éventuels sons qu'il aurait pu émettre, etc. Des informations que les gendarmes transmettent ensuite à une cellule spécialisée du Centre national d'études spatiales (Cnes).

Avec la multiplication des drones, les signalements d’ovni augmentent.

© Naypong Studio, Adobe Stock 

Des explications terre à terre dans la plupart des cas

Le Groupe d'études et d'informations sur les phénomènes aérospatiaux non identifiés (Geipan) a été créé dès 1977. Et il est aussi possible de s'adresser directement à lui, par l'intermédiaire d'un formulaire à remplir en ligne.

Plus votre description sera précise, plus l'enquête du Geipan pourra être menée de manière poussée. Scientifiques et détectives privés en renfort. Car le Groupe affirme que tous les signalements sont pris très au sérieux. Et qu'en cas de doute, mieux vaut en parler afin de pouvoir s'appuyer sur des experts de la question pour les lever.

Ceci étant dit, la plupart du temps, les explications fournies par le Geipan aux observateurs de Pan manquent d'exotisme. Des lanternes lâchées à l'occasion d'un mariage. Un petit avion à l'atterrissage, feux temporairement éteints. Un vol de montgolfière. Un lancement de satellites. Seuls 3,5 % des signalements resteraient aujourd'hui encore sans explication. Sans pour autant vouloir dire qu'ils se cachent derrière, des visites extra-terrestres. Certains restent simplement non identifiés faute de renseignements suffisamment précis ou de moyens techniques. Mais tout comme certains cas anciens trouvent aujourd'hui solution, peut-être que ceux-ci seront résolus à l'avenir avec l'aide d'évolutions technologiques.

VIDÉOS LIÉES, sélectionnées et publiées par peter2011

{ https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/ }

03-04-2021 om 22:17 geschreven door peter  

Incredible UFO Sighting Over Arizona: Full-On Lights Beaming Down

That night, a local resident was driving down the highway from Yuma to Fax, Arizona and saw something incredible, reports latest-ufo-sightings.net.

Witness report: “I saw 4 of them flying in a square formation towards Yuma, couldn’t pull my phone out fast enough for those though, and the movement on those were crazy. Maybe next time I’m down there I’ll catch them on camera.

“In all my years here I’ve never seen them have full-on lights beaming down. Maybe flashes of red and green here and there like a normal plane/jet but I’ve never seen 4 of them flying in a square, solid white light the whole time.

“They all disappeared at the same time. The only thing that was letting me see them was the crazy amount of light they were emitting, so it just looked like someone just turned some lights off lol.

“Yuma Proving Grounds does military testing but I’ve never seen shit like this in all 23 years of living here, I wish I could’ve recorded the 4 flying in a square formation but I couldn’t pull my phone out fast enough after I was done being in awe.

“I saw no smoke trails like in the video. I was literally trying to see where smoke would be if they were flares but I couldn’t see a single column of smoke. It was from my phone, Samsung S20. Would’ve been awesome if I had a Nikon. Right after the BP checkpoint leaving Yuma, they were by the mountains.”

{ https://anomalien.com/ }

03-04-2021 om 21:31 geschreven door peter  

Les petits pieds de l’hélico Ingenuity ne sont plus qu’à quelques centimètres de Mars

• À lire : À quoi va ressembler le premier vol de l’hélicoptère Ingenuity sur Mars ?

Tel qu’il apparaît sur ces images, Ingenuity n’est plus relié que par le haut à Perseverance, qu’il peut encore utiliser comme source d’énergie. Une fois que le rover l’aura posé, il devra reculer rapidement, pour exposer Ingenuity aux rayons du Soleil. L’hélicoptère va puiser son énergie de cette source, à l’aide d’un panneau solaire installé au-dessus de ses deux pales. Ingenuity ne pourra plus compter que sur sa propre autonomie après sa séparation définitive de l’astromobile.

Une fois Ingenuity en contact avec la surface de Mars, sa mission pourra commencer. Une fenêtre de 30 sols (le nom du jour sur Mars), soit 31 jours terrestres, va s’ouvrir : il faudra mener toutes les tentatives de vol et les vérifications dans ce laps de temps.

UN PREMIER VOL AU PLUS TÔT LE 11 AVRIL

Le tout premier vol d’Ingenuity doit avoir lieu au plus tôt le 11 avril. Le petit engin de 1,8 kilogramme doit s’élever dans les airs à une altitude de 3 mètres, planer pendant 20 secondes, puis redescendre. Cela peut sembler modeste, mais c’est pourtant déjà un grand défi de voler ainsi dans l’atmosphère ténue de Mars. Perseverance observera la scène à 100 mètres de distance, de façon à pouvoir prendre des photos de son compagnon, tout en évitant de se mettre en danger si Ingenuity venait à avoir un incident. L’hélicoptère vise avant tout à faire une démonstration technologique du vol propulsé sur une autre planète et n’embarque pas d’instruments scientifiques — il dispose juste de deux caméras.

Si Ingenuity réussit sa première tentative de vol et qu’il est encore fonctionnel, la Nasa pourra envisager un deuxième essai, en changeant probablement un peu les paramètres du vol. Ingenuity pourrait s’élever jusqu’à 5 mètres d’altitude et voler horizontalement, parcourant quelques mètres de distance, lors d’un vol un peu plus long. Jusqu’à 5 tentatives de vol pourront être envisagées, s’il reste assez de temps et sous réserve des résultats des vols précédents.

• À lire : Voici où l’hélicoptère Ingenuity tentera de voler pour la première fois sur Mars

TOUT SAVOIR SUR LA PLANÈTE MARS

• Un morceau de l'histoire de l'aviation se cache sur l'hélico martien Ingenuity
• Ingenuity : notez dans votre agenda le premier vol de l'hélicoptère sur Mars
• Le rover Curiosity nous rappelle son existence avec un nouveau selfie martien
• À quoi va ressembler le premier vol de l'hélicoptère Ingenuity sur Mars ?
• Perseverance a commencé à déployer l'hélicoptère martien Ingenuity

03-04-2021 om 21:21 geschreven door peter  

Hidden boundaries of lost continent 'Zealandia' revealed in incredible detail

By Stephanie Pappas 

The underwater continent broke off from Gondwana 80 million years ago.

Zealandia is a submerged "lost continent" that hosts New Zealand and the territory of New Caledonia (part of which is shown here) in the South Pacific.  

(Image credit: Arne Hodalic via Getty Images)

A new ocean-mapping expedition is drawing the boundaries of Zealandia, a submerged "lost continent" that hosts New Zealand and the territory of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. 

Zealandia broke off from the supercontinent Gondwana between 79 million and 83 million years ago. Except for New Zealand and New Caledonia, this fragment of continental crust now sits on the ocean floor. It's not the only bit of continental crust that's detached from a larger continent, but it is the largest at 1.9 million square miles (4.9 million square kilometers). That's six times larger than the next-largest continental fragment, the microcontinent of Madagascar.

Zealandia, also known as Te Riu-a-Māui in Māori, was assigned continental status in 2017. Since then, researchers have been working to map the lost continent — no easy feat, as 94% of it is under water. 

• Related: Photo timeline: How Earth formed

Now, Derya Gürer, an earth scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia, and her colleagues have collected new data on the northwestern edge of Zealandia, which is located offshore in Queensland's Coral Sea Marine Park. The researchers spent 28 days aboard the vessel Falkor exploring the region, mapping 14,285 square miles (37,000 square km). 

"Our expedition collected seafloor topographic and magnetic data to gain a better understanding of how the narrow connection between the Tasman and Coral Seas in the Cato Trough region — the narrow corridor between Australia and Zealandia — was formed," Gürer said in a university statement.

The area between the Australia plate and the Zealandia plate is likely very complicated, Gürer said. There are probably several microcontinents submerged there, all of which splintered off the main continental masses when Australia broke free of Gondwana. (The supercontinent encompassed what is today South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent.) These fragments of continental crust are different from the surrounding oceanic crust of the seafloor, which is denser and thinner than continental crust. 

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Done in collaboration with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the mapping was part of the Seafloor to Seabirds expedition. The mapping data will also feed into a larger project, the Seabed 2030 collaboration, which aims to make a publicly available, comprehensive map of the ocean floor by 2030. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), less than 10% of the seafloor has been mapped by modern sonar methods, which use sound to reveal undersea topography. The Seafloor to Seabird expedition not only collected information about topography, but also data on the intensity of the magnetic field across the area. Because oceanic crust and continental crust are made of different mineral concentrations with different magnetic signatures, this data will enable researchers to reconstruct the broken fragments of Gondwana.

"The seafloor is full of clues for understanding the complex geologic history of both the Australian and Zealandian continental plates," Gürer said.

• Originally published on Live Science.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

03-04-2021 om 18:34 geschreven door peter  

In the winter of 1850, a fierce storm hit the Orkney island archipelago of Scotland, causing massive amounts of devastation, particularly in the area of the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland Island, and when the storm passed it left behind swaths of damage and 200 people dead. Yet in addition to the tragedy and damage left in its wake, the ferocious storm had also uncovered a mystery that had been there under the earth for thousands of years. There, partially exposed by the raging storm atop a knoll called Skara Brae, was what appeared to be a previously unknown ancient Neolithic village, which would uncover more mysteries as it was further exposed, and unearth ancient enigmas that have never really been explained.

The first attempts to uncover more of the apparent buried village were amateurish affairs carried out by locals, which they conducted until 1868 before quitting after having unearthed four ancient houses. The site would then sit abandoned for decades, in the meantime being set upon by looters and hit with yet another storm, before it finally came to the attention of the University of Edinburgh’s Professor V. Gordon Childe and was properly investigated in 1917. When real archeologists got to work, it was found that the site was likely inhabited from between around 3180 BC to about 2500 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, and was composed of a total of ten clustered houses tucked down in earthen dams and mounds, meant to help support the walls and provide insulation. These houses were constructed of flagstone and featured stone hearths, beds, and various stone-built pieces of furniture, including cupboards, dressers, seats, and storage boxes, and there was even an indoor sewer system or toilet in each home, with small antechambers equipped with drains that carried waste to the sea and would have been very advanced for the time. This was all incredibly well preserved and complete.

Skara Brae

This elaborate design was one of the first mysteries of Skara Brae, and another was that it seems that the settlement was suddenly and inexplicably abandoned at some point. Whatever had made them leave caused the inhabitants to apparently flee in great haste, as there have been found many items that would have been considered very valuable at the time and even the remains of what are thought to have been meals laid out. Theories as to why these people so suddenly and decisively abandoned the village range from some sort of catastrophe like a storm, to some other calamity like disease, but no one really knows. Whatever the reason for this sudden exodus, the people who once lived here sure did leave a lot of stuff behind. Throughout this tiny village, which was estimated to have held perhaps 50 inhabitants at any one time, there were found fragments of stone, bone, and antler thought to be from some tool-making process, as well as numerous objects made of animal, fish, bird, and whalebone, whale and walrus ivory, and killer whale teeth, including awls, needles, knives, beads, jewelry, adzes, shovels, small bowls and plates. In addition to this there were found countless pieces of pottery, thousands of strange beads made from bone and sheep’s teeth, lumps of red ochre thought to have been used for body painting, and even one of the only pieces of preserved rope from a Neolithic site ever found. Much of this would have been seen as incredibly valuable at the time, but it is all just sitting around, with no real attempts to stow it, hide it, or take it along. Yet for as amazing as all of this is, by far the most mysterious objects found at Skara Brae are its inexplicable carved stone balls.

Scattered around the site are stone balls, about the size of a baseball and adorned with elaborate carvings of intricate patterns of spirals, circles and straight lines, with each one typically sporting between three to ten small knobs or bosses on the surface. It has long been considered a complete mystery as to how these ancient people could have created such elaborate inscriptions and carvings with only stone tools to work with, but the bigger mystery is that no one really knows what they are for. When it comes to the mysterious stone balls of Skara Brae the theories are numerous. Ideas include that they were used as weights for fishing nets, or that they were primitive scales, standardized weights for Neolithic traders, tools for the use of making beads or a multi-tool of some sort, objects used for rituals, oracles or fortune telling devices, status symbols, rollers for the transport of the giant stones used in megalithic monuments, or even weapons. Hugo Anderson-Whymark, curator of National Museums Scotland, has said of this theory:

It is perhaps best to think of them as ceremonial or stylized weapons. Things that could inflict damage if you wanted to use them, and may in some circumstances have been used that way, but are more likely to be objects which represent the status or power of the individual that held them in that community. Many of the ideas you have to take with a pinch of salt, while there are others that may be plausible. What’s interesting is that people really get their imaginations captured by them — they still hold a lot of secrets.

Some of the mysterious stone balls

Another idea is that the balls could represent what are called “Platonic solids,” which were symmetrical polyhedrons first proposed by the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher Plato to represent the classical elements of earth, water, air, fire and ether. If this theory is true it would be an amazing discovery, as it would mean that these Neolithic people understood these geometries and mathematics over a millennium before Plato first described it all. In an effort to come to some understanding of their mysterious purpose, scientists have created 3-D models of the balls and others like them found at other sites in Scotland, and while these have not provided any concrete answers one thing that was found is that the they seemed to have been worked and reworked or modified over several generations.

Similar balls have been found at other locations around Scotland, and indeed there have been around 500 of the objects found at various sites, with the Skara Brae examples being among the most famous, but all are equally enigmatic. No one really has a clue what they were for. They could have simply been left behind as a prank to mess with people in the future for all we know, and your guess is as good as anyone’s. The stone balls have baffled scientists for years, with no one any closer to a definitive answer. What happened to Skara Brae? What were these mysterious balls used for? Considering there is no written record for any of it we will probably never know, and your guess is as good as anyone else’s.

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{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

03-04-2021 om 18:04 geschreven door peter  

If Astronomers see Isoprene in the Atmosphere of an Alien World, There’s a Good Chance There’s Life There

It is no exaggeration to say that the study of extrasolar planets has exploded in recent decades. To date, 4,375 exoplanets have been confirmed in 3,247 systems, with another 5,856 candidates awaiting confirmation. In recent years, exoplanet studies have started to transition from the process of discovery to one of characterization. This process is expected to accelerate once next-generation telescopes become operational.

As a result, astrobiologists are working to create comprehensive lists of potential “biosignatures,” which refers to chemical compounds and processes that are associated with life (oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, etc.) But according to new research by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), another potential biosignature we should be on the lookout for is a hydrocarbon called isoprene (C₅H₈).

The study that describes their findings, “Assessment of Isoprene as a Possible Biosignature Gas in Exoplanets with Anoxic Atmospheres,” recently appeared online and has been accepted for publication by the journal Astrobiology. For the sake of their study, the MIT team looked at the growing list of possible biosignatures that astronomers will be on the lookout for in the coming years.

To date, the vast majority of exoplanets have been detected and confirmed using indirect methods. For the most part, astronomers have relied on the Transit Method (Transit Photometry) and the Radial Velocity Method (Doppler Spectroscopy), alone or in combination. Only a few have been detectable using Direct Imaging, which makes it very difficult to characterize exoplanet atmospheres and surfaces.

Only on rare occasions have astronomers been able to obtain spectra that allowed them to determine the chemical composition of that planet’s atmosphere. This was either the result of light passing through an exoplanet’s atmosphere as it transitted in front of its star or in the few cases where Direct Imaging occurred and light reflected from the exoplanet’s atmosphere could be studied.

Much of this has had to do with the limits of our current telescopes, which do not have the necessary resolution to observe smaller, rocky planets that orbit closer to their star. Astronomers and astrobiologists believe that it is these planets that are most likely to be potentially habitable, but any light reflected from their surfaces and atmospheres is overpowered by the light coming from their stars.

However, that will change soon as next-generation instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) takes to space. Sara Seager, the Class of 1941 Professor of Physics and Planetary Sciences at MIT, leads the research group responsible (aka. the Seager Group) and was a co-author on the paper. As she told Universe Today via email:

“With the upcoming October 2021 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope we will have our first capability of searching for biosignature gases—but it will be tough because the atmospheric signals of small rocky planet are so weak to begin with. With the JWST on the horizon the number of people working in the field has grown tremendously. Studies such as this one coming up with new potential biosignature gases, and other work showing potential false positives even for gases such as oxygen.”

Artist’s impression shows the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System.

Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Once it is deployed and operational, the JWST will be able to observe our Universe at longer wavelengths (in the near- and mid-infrared range) and with greatly improved sensitivity. The telescope will also rely on a series of spectrographs to obtain composition data, as well as coronagraphs to block out the obscuring light of parent stars. This technology will enable astronomers to characterize the atmospheres of smaller rocky planets.

In turn, this data will allow scientists to place much tighter constraints on an exoplanet’s habitability and could even lead to the detection of known (and/or potential) biosignatures. As noted, these “biosignatures” include the chemical indications associated with life and biological process, not to mention the types of conditions that are favorable to it.

These include oxygen gas (O₂), which is essential to most forms of life on Earth and is produced by photosynthetic organisms (plants, trees, cyanobacteria, etc.). These same organisms metabolize carbon dioxide (CO₂), which oxygen-metabolizing life emits as a waste product. There’s also water (H₂O), which is essential to all life as we know it, and methane (CH₄), which is emitted by decaying organic matter.

Since volcanic activity is believed to play an important role in planetary habitability, the chemical byproducts associated with volcanism – hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen gas (H₂), etc. – are also considered biosignatures. To this list, Zhan, Seager, and their colleagues wished to add another possible biosignature – isoprene. As Zhan explained to Universe Today via email:

“Our research group at MIT focuses on using a holistic approach to explore all possible gases as potential biosignature gas. Our prior work led to the creation of the all small molecules database. We proceed to filter the ASM database to identify the most plausible biosignature gas candidates, one of which is isoprene, using machine learning and data-driven approaches – Dr. Zhuchang Zhan.”

Like its cousin methane, isoprene is an organic hydrocarbon molecule that is produced as a secondary metabolite by various species here on Earth. In addition to deciduous trees, isoprene is also produced by a diverse array of evolutionary-distant organisms – such as bacteria, plants, and animals. As Seager explained, this makes it promising as a potential biosignature:

“Isoprene is promising because it is produced in vast qualities by life on Earth—as much as methane production! Furthermore, a huge variety of life forms (from bacteria to plants and animals), those that are evolutionary distant from each other, produce  isoprene, suggesting it might be some kind of key building block that life elsewhere might also make.”

While isoprene is about as abundant as methane here on Earth, isoprene is destroyed by interaction with oxygen and oxygen-containing radicals. For this reason, Zhang, Seager, and their team chose to focus on anoxic atmospheres. These are environments that are predominantly composed of H_2, CO₂, and nitrogen gas (N₂), which is similar to what Earth’s primordial atmosphere was composed of.

According to their findings, a primordial planet (where life is beginning to emerge) would have abundant isoprene in its atmosphere. This would have been the case on Earth between 4 and 2.5 billion years ago when single-celled organisms were the only life and photosynthetic cyanobacteria were slowly converting Earth’s atmosphere into one that was oxygen-rich.

By 2.5 billion years ago, this culminated in the “Great Oxygenation Event” (GOE), which proved toxic to many organisms (and metabolites like isoprene). It was also during this time that complex lifeforms (eukaryotes and multi-celled organisms) began to emerge. In this respect, isoprene could be used to characterize planets that are in the midst of a major evolutionary shift and laying the groundwork for future animal phyla.

But as Zhang noted, teasing out this potential biosignature will be a challenge, even for the JWST:

“The caveats with isoprene as a biomarker are that: 1. 10x-100x the Earth’s Isoprene production rate is needed for detection; 2. Detecting Near-Infrared isoprene spectral feature can be hindered by the presence of methane or other hydrocarbons. Unique detection of isoprene will be challenging with JWST, as many hydrocarbon molecules share similar spectra features in Near-Infrared wavelengths. But future telescopes that focus on the mid-IR wavelength will be able to detect isoprene spectral features uniquely.”

Beyond the JWST, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (successor to the Hubble mission) will also be taking to space by 2025. This observatory will have the power of “One-Hundred Hubbles” and its recently-upgraded infrared filters will allow it to characterize exoplanets on its own and through collaborations with the JWST and other “great observatories.”

There are also several ground-based telescopes currently being built here on Earth that will rely on sophisticated spectrometers, coronographs, and adaptive optics (AOs). These include the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) These telescopes will also be able to conduct Direct Imaging studies of exoplanets, and the results are expected to be ground-breaking.

Between improved instruments, rapidly improving data analysis and techniques, and improvements in our methodology, the study of exoplanets is only expected to accelerate further. In addition to having tens of thousands of more available for study (many of which will be rocky and “Earth-like”), the unprecedented views we will have of them will let us see just how many habitable worlds are out there.

Whether or not this will result in the discovery of extraterrestrial life within our lifetimes remains to be seen. But one thing is clear. In the coming years, when astronomers start combing through all the new data they will have on exoplanet atmospheres, they will have a comprehensive list of biosignatures to guide them.

Seager and Zhan’s previous work include a concept for a Martian greenhouse that could provide all the necessary food for a crew of four astronauts for up to two years. This greenhouse, known as the Biosphere Engineered Architecture for Viable Extraterrestrial Residence (BEAVER), took second place in the 2019 NASA BIG Idea Challenge. You can read more about it here.

Further Reading: 

• arXiv

The post If Astronomers see Isoprene in the Atmosphere of an Alien World, There’s a Good Chance There’s Life There appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/150725/if-astronomers-see-isoprene-in-the-atmosphere-of-an-alien-world-theres-a-good-chance-theres-life-there/

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03-04-2021 om 17:34 geschreven door peter  

The Lost Pacific Continent of Advanced Human Beings... Did It Really Exist?

According to Churchward, the lost Pacific continent of Mu “extended from somewhere north of Hawaii to the south as far as the Fijis and Easter Island.” 

He claimed Mu was the site of the Garden of Eden and the home of 64,000,000 inhabitants known as the Naacals.

Its civilization, which flourished 50,000 years before Churchward’s day, was technologically more advanced than his own, and the ancient civilizations of India, Babylon, Persia, Egypt and the Mayas were merely the decayed remnants of its colonies. 

Could this strange land and advanced human’s have really existed? 

• 01:15​ Colonel James Churchward 
• 04:22​ Lemuria and Australia

The Lost Pacific Continent of Advanced Human Beings… Did It Really Exist? (ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com)

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{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

03-04-2021 om 16:27 geschreven door peter  

Robbie Williams Hires More Security Personnel to Guard Him Against UFOs and Aliens After Terrifying Experiences

During interviews, Robbie Williams has said many times that he believes that we’re not alone in the universe, but the thought that extraterrestrials can contact causes him, terror.

Because of this phobia, he strengthened his house security to the point of even hiring a bodyguard to watch over while he sleeps.

The famous singer previously confessed during an interview for the Alien Nation his meeting with what he believes to be a UFO when he was sober. He said that he might have a mental illness, but he wants to share his story with the skeptics.

He also shared that he always felt terrified, thinking that aliens could try to contact him. The artist is aware that statements like his will always be taken with skepticism.

For this reason, he didn’t rule out that he may have suffered hallucinations in the past, which could explain his alleged sightings of UFOs.

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

03-04-2021 om 15:34 geschreven door peter  

Five Legendary Lost Cities that have Never Been Found

The story of Atlantis is one of the most renowned and enduring tales of a lost city, said to have been swallowed up by the sea and lost forever. Yet, the story of Atlantis is not unique, as other cultures have similar legends of landmasses and cities that have disappeared under the waves, been lost beneath desert sands, or buried beneath centuries of vegetation. From the ancient homeland of the Aztecs, to jungle cities of gold and riches, we examine five legendary lost cities that have never been found.

1. Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z

Since Europeans first arrived in the New World, there have been stories of a legendary jungle city of gold, sometimes referred to as El Dorado.  Spanish Conquistador, Francisco de Orellana was the first to venture along the Rio Negro in search of this fabled city.  In 1925, at the age of 58, explorer Percy Fawcett headed into the jungles of Brazil to find a mysterious lost city he called “Z”.  He and his team would vanish without a trace and the story would turn out be one of the biggest news stories of his day.  Despite countless rescue missions, Fawcett was never found. 

In 1906, the Royal Geographical Society, a British organization that sponsors scientific expeditions, invited Fawcett to survey part of the frontier between Brazil and Bolivia.  He spent 18 months in the Mato Grosso area and it was during his various expeditions that Fawcett became obsessed with the idea of lost civilizations in this area. In 1920, Fawcett came across a document in the National Library of Rio De Janeiro called Manuscript 512.  It was written by a Portuguese explorer in 1753, who claimed to have found a walled city deep in the Mato Grosso region of the Amazon rainforest, reminiscent of ancient Greece.  The manuscript described a lost, silver laden city with multi-storied buildings, soaring stone arches, wide streets leading down towards a lake on which the explorer had seen two white Indians in a canoe.  Fawcett called this the Lost City of Z.

In 1921, Fawcett set out on his first of many expeditions to find the Lost City of Z, but his team were frequently hindered by the hardships of the jungle, dangerous animals, and rampant diseases.  Percy’s final search for Z culminated in his complete disappearance.  In April 1925, he attempted one last time to find Z, this time better equipped and better financed by newspapers and societies including the Royal Geographic Society and the Rockefellers.  In his final letter home, sent back via a team member, Fawcett sent a message to his wife Nina and proclaimed “We hope to get through this region in a few days.... You need have no fear of any failure.”  It was to be the last anyone would ever hear from them again.

While Fawcett’s lost city of Z has never been found, numerous ancient cities and remains of religious sites have been uncovered in recent years in the jungles of Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia and Honduras. With the advent of new scanning technology, it is possible that an ancient city that spurred the legends of Z, may one day be found.

2. The Lost City of Aztlan – Legendary Homeland of the Aztecs

The Aztec people of Mexico created one of the most powerful empires of the ancient Americas. While much is known about their empire located where today’s Mexico City can be found, less is known about the very start of the Aztec culture. Many consider the missing island of Aztlan to be the ancient homeland where the Aztec people began to form as a civilization prior to their migration to the Valley of Mexico. Some believe it is a mythical land, similar to Atlantis or Camelot, which will live on through legend but will never be found in physical existence. Others believe it to be a true, physical location that will someday be identified. Searches for the land of Aztlan have spanned from Western Mexico, all the way to the deserts of Utah, in hopes of finding the legendary island. However, these searches have been fruitless, as the location – and existence – of Aztlan remain a mystery.

The formation of civilization at Aztlan comes from legend. According to Nahuatl legend, there were seven tribes that once lived at Chicomoztoc – “the place of the seven caves.” These tribes represented the seven Nahua groups: Acolhua, Chalca, Mexica, Tepaneca, Tlahuica, Tlaxcalan, and Xochimilca (different sources provide variations on the names of the seven groups). The seven groups, being of similar linguistic groups, left their respective caves and settled as one group near Aztlan.

The word Aztlan means “the land to the north; the land from whence we, the Aztecs, came.” It is said that eventually, the people who inhabited Aztlan became known as the Aztecs, who then migrated from Aztlan to the Valley of Mexico. The Aztec migration from Aztlan to Tenochtitlán is a very important piece of Aztec history. It began on May 24, 1064, which was the first Aztec solar year.

To this day, the actual existence of an island known as Aztlan has not been confirmed. Many have searched for the land, in hopes of having a better understanding of where the Aztecs came from, and perhaps a better understanding of ancient Mexican history. However, like other lost cities, it is not clear whether Aztlan will ever be found.

3. The Lost Land of Lyonesse – Legendary City on the Bottom of the Sea

In Arthurian legend, Lyonesse is the home country of Tristan, from the legendary story of Tristan and Iseult.  The mythical land of Lyonesse is now referred to as the “Lost Land of Lyonesse,” as it is ultimately said to have sunk into the sea. However, the legendary tale of Tristan and Iseult shows that Lyonesse is known for more than sinking into the ocean, and that it had a legendary presence while it remained above ground. While Lyonesse is mostly referred to in stories of legend and myth, there is some belief that it represents a very real city that sunk into the sea many years ago. With such a legendary location, it can be difficult to ascertain where the legend ends and reality begins.

There are some variations in the legends that surround the sinking of the land. Prior to its sinking, Lyonesse would have been quite large, containing one hundred and forty villages and churches. Lyonesse is said to have disappeared on November 11, 1099 (although some tales use the year 1089, and some date back to the 6th century). Very suddenly the land was flooded by the sea. Entire villages were swallowed, and the people and animals of the area drowned. Once it was covered in water, the land never reemerged. While the Arthurian tales are legendary, there is some belief that Lyonesse was once a very real place attached to the Scilly Isles in Cornwall, England. Evidence shows that sea levels were considerably lower in the past, so it is very possible that an area that once contained a human settlement above-ground is now beneath the sea level. Indeed, fisherman near the Scilly Isles tell tales of retrieving pieces of buildings and other structures from their fishing nets. These stories have never been substantiated, and are viewed by some as tall tales.

From the legendary tales of Tristan and Iseult, to Arthur’s final battle with Mordred, to the stories of a city being swallowed by the sea, the tales of Lyonesse invoke a vast array of thoughts and emotions by those who wish to know more about this legendary city, and who like to believe that it’s legendary tales are founded upon a very real lost city.

4. The Search for El Dorado – Lost City of Gold

For hundreds of years, treasure hunters and historians alike have searched for El Dorado, the lost city of gold. The idea of a city filled with gold and other riches has a natural appeal, drawing the attention of individuals from all over the world in hopes of discovering the ultimate treasure, and an ancient wonder. In spite of numerous expeditions around all of Latin America, the city of gold remains a legend, with no physical evidence to substantiate its existence.

The origins of El Dorado come from legendary tales of the Muisca tribe. Following two migrations – one in 1270 BC and one between 800 and 500 BC, the Muisca tribe occupied the Cundinamarca and Boyacá areas of Colombia. According to legend, as written in Juan Rodriguez Freyle’s “El Carnero,” the Muisca practiced a ritual for every newly appointed king that involved gold dust and other precious treasures.

When a new leader was appointed, many rituals would take place before he took his role as king. During one of these rituals, the new king would be brought to Lake Guatavita, where he would be stripped naked, and covered in gold dust. He would be placed upon a highly decorated raft, along with his attendants, and piles of gold and precious stones. The raft would be sent out to the center of the lake, where the king would wash the gold dust from his body, as his attendants would throw the pieces of gold and precious stones into the lake. This ritual was intended as a sacrifice to the Muisca's god. To the Muisca, “El Dorado” was not a city, but the king at the center of this ritual, also called “the Gilded One.” While El Dorado is meant to refer to the Gilded One, the name has now become synonymous with the lost city of gold, and any other place where one can quickly obtain wealth.

In 1545, Conquistadores Lázaro Fonte and Hernán Perez de Quesada attempted to drain Lake Guatavita. As they did so, they found gold along its shores, fueling their suspicion that the lake contained a treasure of riches. They worked for three months, with workers forming a bucket chain, but they were unable to drain the lake sufficiently to reach any treasures deep within the lake. In 1580, another attempt to drain the lake was made by business entrepreneur Antonio de Sepúlveda. Once again, various pieces of gold were found along the shores, but the treasure at the depths of the lake remained concealed. Other searches were conducted on Lake Guatavita, with estimates that the lake could contain up to $300 million in gold, with no luck in finding the treasures. All searches came to a halt when the Colombian government declared the lake a protected area in 1965. Nonetheless, the search for El Dorado continues, even without the ability to search Lake Guatavita. The legends of the Muisca tribe, the Gilded One and their ritualistic sacrifice of treasures have transformed over time into today’s tale of El Dorado, lost city of gold.

5. The Lost Desert Cities of Dubai: The Hidden History

Dubai cultivates an ultra-modern image of dazzling architecture and effortless wealth. Yet its deserts conceal forgotten cities and a hidden history which reveal how its early inhabitants adapted and overcame dramatic past climate change.

One of the most famous lost cities of Arabia – tantalizingly so because historians have known it existed from written records but simply could not find it – is the medieval city of Julfar. Home to the legendary Arabian seafarer Ahmed ibn Majid, as well as allegedly to the fictional Sindbad the Sailor, Julfar thrived for a thousand years before falling into ruin and disappearing from human memory for almost two centuries. Unlike other desert cities, Julfar was a thriving port, in fact the hub of southern Gulf Arabic trade in the Middle Ages.

Julfar was known to be somewhere on the Persian Gulf coast north of Dubai, but the actual site was only found by archaeologists in the 1960s. The earliest signs of settlement found on the site date from the 6th century, by which time its inhabitants were already trading as far afield as India and the Far East on a routine basis.

The 10th to 14th centuries were a golden age for Julfar and for long-distance Arab trading and seafaring, with Arab navigators routinely traveling halfway around the world. Arabs had sailed into European waters long before Europeans succeeded in navigating through the Indian Ocean and into the Persian Gulf, for instance. As the main base for these voyages and trade, Julfar was the largest and most important city in the southern Gulf for over a thousand years. Arab merchants routinely made the mammoth eighteen-month sea voyage as far as China, and traded almost everything imaginable.

Such a valuable commercial centre attracted constant attention from rival powers though. The Portuguese took control in the 16th century, by which time Julfar was a substantial city of around 70,000 people. A century later the Persians seized it, only to lose it in 1750 to the Qawasim tribe from Sharjah who established themselves next-door at Ras al-Khaimah, which they continue to rule to this day, leaving the old Julfar to gradually decay until its ruins became forgotten amongst the coastal sand dunes. Today most of Julfar in all likelihood remains still hidden beneath the sprawling dunes north of Ras al-Khaimah.” – courtesy David Millar

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

03-04-2021 om 02:08 geschreven door peter  

Romanie Smith was standing in her garden in Great Sutton when she saw the lights

By Olivia Williams

A woman believes the strange lights she saw from her house could be a 'UFO'.

Romanie Smith, was standing in her garden in Great Sutton when she noticed the mysterious lights in the sky on Monday night (March 29) at around 9.20pm and which she said stayed for around 40 minutes.

She said the 'object' was a around a mile away in the Chester direction from where she was standing.

Romanie described the lights as flashing in a 'twinkly pattern' in multiple colours including orange, green, red and blue but was still 'quite a white light'.

The Great Sutton resident said every so often it 'tilted' to show a 'dark shadowy shape of the object', which she described as curved.

Romanie told CheshireLive: "It was flashing in a twinkly pattern, in a line that tilted every so often showing a dark shadowy shape of object and it was curved like a semi-circle, like it had tilted on its side.

"Then it would almost three-quarter tilt, showing how round it was and the lights would still be twinkling that’s when it almost showed a strip beam of light from it, then it would tilt back.

"I understand this could have just been a light flare dazzling me not a light beam as such.

"I realised it was moving slightly almost a shifting, shaky movement, but always hovering like almost stationary, but would jiggle to the left and then back to the right.

"Then up a bit and back down and then it would shift quite a lot and move across from the point I first saw it, but not a slow travel it was a jerky movement.

"At one point it tilted and that’s when I noticed a second light, not as big, much smaller and the lights from the big one almost outlined them both.

"I watched the shadows get closer and closer until the smaller one disappeared into the main one, and then it really lit up.

"That’s when I could see lights coming off it, showing almost lines or like it was absorbing light into it or off of it."

{ https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/ }

03-04-2021 om 01:50 geschreven door peter  

Why is there water on Earth?

This is not a simple question: it was long thought that Earth formed dry — without water, because of its proximity to the Sun and the high temperatures when the solar system formed. In this model, water could have been brought to Earth by comets or asteroids colliding with the Earth. Such a complex origin for water would likely mean that our planet is unique in the universe.

However, in a 2020 study, we showed that water — or at least its components, hydrogen and oxygen — may have been present in the rocks that initially formed the Earth. If that is so indeed, other "blue planets" with liquid water are more likely to exist elsewhere.

Water on Earth, water inside the Earth

Liquid water covers more than 70% of Earth's surface, with about about 95.6% of it in oceans and seas, and the remaining 4% in glaciers, ice caps, groundwater, lakes, rivers, soil humidity, and the atmosphere.

But most of Earth's water is deep underground: between one and ten times the volume of the oceans are contained in the mantle.

At the surface of the Earth, "water" means two hydrogens for each oxygen (H20), whereas what we call "water" in the mantle corresponds to hydrogen incorporated in minerals, magmas and fluids. This hydrogen can bond with surrounding oxygen to form water at the appropriate temperature and pressure conditions.

While water represents less than 0.5% of the mass of the Earth, it is key to the evolution of the planet itself and to life at its surface.

In the early solar system, there was a lot of hydrogen, mainly in the form of dihydrogen gas (H2), or bonded with oxygen atoms to form water (H2O). However, Earth and the other rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars) formed near the sun, where it was too hot for water to incorporate into rock as ice: it just would have evaporated. So why does the Earth now have so much water, both in its mantle and on its surface?

The prevalent hypothesis: hydrogen delivered to Earth by hydrated asteroids

Some meteorites, called chondrites, come from small asteroids that, unlike the planets, have not geologically evolved since their formation. They are good witnesses of the first millions of years of the solar system.

The carbonaceous chondrites for instance formed far enough away from the Sun to initially contain water ice (all of which has since been incorporated in hydrated minerals through hydrothermal alteration). Contrastingly, ordinary and enstatite chondrites formed closer to the sun where water was gaseous and was incorporated in large amounts into rocks: like the rocky planets, ordinary and enstatite chondrites are considered to be "dry."

Until now, the accepted hypothesis was that Earth formed from dry materials, and that its water was delivered by celestial bodies that formed further from the sun: hydrated meteorites, such as carbonaceous chondrites, or comets — although this last hypothesis was recently thwarted by the ESA space probe Rosetta.

Another origin for Earth’s water?

Our study tells a different story. We analyzed the hydrogen in enstatite chondrites. Remember that these are among our best analogues for the rocks that formed Earth, so the hydrogen concentrations in these "dry" rocks hint at the possible presence of water during Earth’s formation.

We compared the Earth composition and that of enstatite chondrites by looking at the amounts of various isotopes (atoms of the same element but containing different numbers of neutrons). We find that, although enstatite chondrites do not contain hydrated minerals, they do contain small amounts of hydrogen with an isotopic ratio consistent with the Earth's. Hydrogen is thought to have been present in trace amounts (<0.1%) in the minerals and organic compounds that agglomerated to form enstatite chondrites, explaining where most of the water contained in Earth's mantle and in part of the oceans comes from. The majority of Earth's water (more precisely its elements, hydrogen and oxygen) may thus have been present from the beginning.

What are the consequences of a local origin of water?

This does not tell us when the oceans appeared on Earth's surface, but we now know that Earth's water was not necessarily delivered by hydrated bodies that formed very far from the sun. However, we do not yet understand in what form(s) and by what process hydrogen was incorporated and stored in rocks of the inner solar system.

• Read more: Why is the Earth blue?

The presence of hydrogen in inner solar system rocks is particularly important because it could have been a water source for the other rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars). Similar rocks could then represent a source of water for planets orbiting other suns, a condition to develop life, at least life as we know it.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

• Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook and Twitter. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. 

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02-04-2021 om 23:16 geschreven door peter  

NASA's Juno spacecraft detects strange new auroras on Jupiter

02-04-2021 om 22:48 geschreven door peter  

China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft captures stunning crescent Mars photos

By Andrew Jones 

China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft has captured stunning images of Mars as a bright red sunlit crescent in deep space.

The photo captured by an image sensor on Tianwen 1.

Image: CGTN/Chinese National Space Administration

The photographs were separately taken over the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars with the medium resolution camera on Tianwen-1, China's first interplanetary mission. 

The result is two glorious shots showing the illuminated eastern hemisphere of Mars, including surface features and the faint edge of the Martian atmosphere. The photographs were taken at a distance of around 6,850 miles (11,000 kilometers) away from Mars.

• Related: The latest news about China's space program

The image of Mars’ southern hemisphere, in which the lower portion of the image is illuminated, was taken on March 16 while the northern hemisphere shot was taken by the same camera on March 18.

The Tianwen-1 probe is currently in a polar orbit around Mars which takes it as close as 174 miles (280 kilometers) to the surface and as far away as 36,660 miles (59,000 km), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The orbit allows the spacecraft to pass over the primary candidate landing site for the mission's rover.

The spacecraft’s high resolution camera has been collecting detailed images of the target landing site in preparation for a rover landing attempt in May or June, according to CNSA. 

Tianwen-1 arrived at Mars on Feb. 10, just a day after the United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe, and a week ahead of NASA’s Perseverance rover.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

02-04-2021 om 22:23 geschreven door peter  

« L’excitation monte » à la Nasa avec la liste des premiers objets qui seront observés par son nouveau télescope spatial

Nathalie Mayer - Journaliste

Le lancement du télescope spatial James Webb est annoncé pour cet automne. Enfin ! Les préparatifs battent leur plein. Les responsables du projet viennent d'annoncer la liste des 286 projets auxquels ils ont souhaité attribuer du temps sur la première année d'observation de l'instrument.

Le lancement attendu depuis longtemps du télescope spatial James Webb est aujourd'hui prévu pour le 31 octobre 2021. Et outre les derniers ajustements techniques, du côté de la Nasa, la mission avance. Les responsables viennent de sélectionner les programmes qui pourront être menés au cours de la première année d'observation du télescope.

Rappelons que le grand miroir du télescope spatial James Webb permettra d'observer l'Univers dans le domaine de l’infrarouge -- proche à moyen --, le tout avec des capacités d'imagerie et de spectroscopie haute résolution. De quoi espérer découvrir des pans entiers de l'Univers qui nous étaient jusqu'alors inaccessibles. « Nous ouvrons le coffre au trésor et les surprises sont garanties », s'enthousiasme John C. Mather, scientifique principal du projet au Goddard Space Flight Center, dans un communiqué de la Nasa.

Une sélection rigoureuse et prometteuse

Le temps d'observation avec le télescope spatial James Webb étant extrêmement précieux, le processus de sélection a été drastique et mené par près de 200 membres de la communauté internationale des astronomes pendant plusieurs semaines sur plus de 1.000 projets volontairement anonymisés. Finalement, 286 propositions ont été sélectionnées (explorez-les par type). Elles ambitionnent de trouver les premières galaxies, d'étudier la formation des étoiles ou encore de mesurer les propriétés physiques et chimiques des systèmes planétaires, y compris du nôtre.

« Nous attendons avec impatience les belles images et spectres et les découvertes étonnantes que Webb fera au cours de cette première année d'observations », note Gunther Hasinger, directeur des sciences à l'Agence spatiale européenne (ESA), partenaire de la Nasa sur le projet. « L'excitation monte. Ces cibles sont des observations très attendues qui promettent d'élargir notre vision de l'Univers et notre place dans celui-ci », a souligné de son côté Sarah Gallagher, conseillère scientifique auprès du président de l'Agence spatiale canadienne, l'autre partenaire du projet de télescope spatial James Webb.

{ https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/ }

02-04-2021 om 21:55 geschreven door peter  

Did Steven Greer fake a UFO with flares?

by Tom Rogan, Commentary Writer 

Dr. Steven Greer likes to suggest that he is in regular contact with extraterrestrials who are visiting Earth. Kindly, if for a price, Greer offers to train others in his "close encounters of the fifth kind" contact "protocols." But is Greer really in contact with unidentified flying objects or what the military refers to as unidentified aerial phenomena?

Well, like the U.S. military, I'm very confident  that some UFOs are true unknowns not belonging to China, the United States, or Russia. That said, I'm not convinced these objects are what Greer is seeing or communicating with. A Jan. 27, 2015, Greer "contact" event in Florida offers a case in point.

That date saw Greer leading an expedition at Vero Beach on Florida's east coast. Greer's website says that his weeklong expeditions come with a "tuition fee" of "$2,500-$3,500 depending on facility costs." The website explains that "all of the Ambassador to the Universe trainings are similar. All participants are expected to complete and return liability release, confidentiality agreement and Ambassador Agreement, which will be sent after they have paid and registered."

Back to Jan. 27, 2015, when Greer's expedition claimed to have summoned two UFOs.

Video of the sighting was posted to Greer's YouTube channel, and the incident was the first case listed on the "photographic and video evidence" page of Greer's website. The video introduction says the "event" occurred between 9:10 and 9:15 p.m. and "was a result of an invitation initiated by the members using coherent thought and meditation practices, also known as, CE-5 protocols." The video description states, "There were NO boats or ships seen anywhere in the area of the objects and there were no jets or planes or other airborne objects anywhere near the objects before, during or after the event."

That's not true. But let's not jump the gun.

The video starts with one bright orange light appearing off the coast. Greer is heard directing a participant to "please turn off your night scope." Note that a night scope would assist in detecting low visibility aircraft in the vicinity. Shortly thereafter, a second light appears off the coast, to the left of the first light. Greer confirms that these are indeed UFOs.

"I'm looking with the night scopes. There's no smoke. There's no trails. These are not flares," he continues. "They were waiting for us to arrive." A few seconds later, Greer implores his group, "Let's welcome the beings on board to join us in meditation. That is such a beautiful color — see, you'll never forget that color," he says. "This is huge," one participant says. Greer agrees, "Yes, this is a major event." At the 3-minute, 32-second mark, the first light disappears. Ignoring the lights' slow but obvious altitude decline, Greer states that "they've stayed pretty much the same altitude, though. ... Let's invite them to come as close as they can." At the 4:11 mark, the second light dissipates. While the second light is quite obviously above the water as it fades out, Greer quickly states, "Oh, that's gone into the ocean. See what it did?" Greer concludes, "Now the way that you know that's not like something like a flare, first of all, it didn't shoot up and then come down." The video fades out. We then see a series of other photos and videos of the same event.

But were these UFOs? Or were they something more terrestrial?

Well, FlightAware flight tracking data attained by the Washington Examiner suggest the latter is true. At 9:11 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2015, a Beech 76 Duchess registered N110SU was recorded flying at 85 mph off Vero Beach. This is slower than the aircraft's normal cruising speed and would feasibly allow the aircrew to deploy parachute flares or some other illumination device. The aircraft took off and returned to the airport in Fort Pierce. The screenshot below shows the aircraft's location at the time of the "event."

(Screenshot via FlightAware)

The owner of the aircraft is listed by the Federal Aviation Administration as Ari Ben Aviator, Incorporated. The website of the Fort Pierce-based flight school, Aviator College of Aeronautical Science and Technology, lists Michael Cohen as its president and CEO, and "the Owner and only President of Air Ben Aviator, Inc. since its inception." The website explains that Cohen "has 33 years of experience with managing a successful flight training school in all areas including advertising and recruiting." The distinction between "Air Ben Aviator" and "Ari Ben Aviator" seems to be a spelling mistake. Florida state business records list Cohen as the owner of both the Aviator College and Ari Ben Aviator.

When I reached out to the Aviator College to ask about the Jan. 27, 2015, flight, Director of Maintenance Christopher Speer told me that the college never does things like dropping flares. After sending Speer a copy of the flight record, he did not respond to any further emails. Incidentally, another aircraft listed to Ari Ben Aviator was forced to land on a section of Interstate 95 in Florida on Jan. 30, 2017, after running out of fuel. CNN has also reported that Ari Ben Aviator received a loan between $350,000 and $1,000,000 under the federal government's coronavirus relief Paycheck Protection Program.

The top line, however, is that the flight was in the place and time that the witnesses saw the lights. I'd thus offer a pretty confident assessment that what was seen off Vero Beach that night were not UFOs but, in fact, flares of some kind. Watch the video recording of the Jan. 27, 2015, incident below.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ }

02-04-2021 om 21:36 geschreven door peter  

Just In! Crazy Other-Worldly Craft Over Major Airport! Multiple Source Videos! 2021

Just In! Crazy Other-Worldly Craft Over Major Airport! Multiple Source Videos! 2021

Since 2008, THIRDPHASEOFMOON has changed the way people look up at the skies and wonder, “Are we Alone?” With over 773,000 subscribers and millions of views, our goal is simple! We speak with UFO EYE WITNESSES from around the globe, including ground reporting with Experts and Professionals, such as Astronauts, Scientists, Government Officials, ETC.

With permission granted, THIRDPHASEOFMOON, will share, discuss, enhance and analyze UFO videos. And along with our research and opinion of the evidence, THIRDPHASEOFMOON also produces 100% Original Documentaries in regards to the UFO PHENOMENON happening everyday! Our Aim is to bring Truth and Evidence in the field directly to the Public!

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

02-04-2021 om 20:31 geschreven door peter  

“The generated intraspecies chimaeras were viable and displayed normal histology, morphology and function. Human:pig chimaeras generated with TP53-null human induced pluripotent stem cells led to higher chimaerism efficiency, with embryos collected at embryonic days 20 and 27 containing humanized muscle, as confirmed by immunohistochemical and molecular analyses. Human:pig chimaeras may facilitate the production of exogenic organs for research and xenotransplantation.”

Science-speak is often so confusing that it makes seemingly horrific things less so, but one phrase in the opening abstract of a new study jumps out in a way that anyone can understand – “Human:pig chimaeras.” The chimera (or chimaera) of Greek mythology was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature made from parts of a lion, goat and serpent. Modern-day chimeras are creatures, organisms or tissue that are one body with two sets of cells and two different sets of DNA. A whole-body chimera is created when two embryos merge at a very early stage and the two embryos develop as one being. This can occur in humans when a fetus absorbs a dead fraternal twin. For comparison, a hybrid is the offspring of two different species with each of their cells containing DNA from both species — mules (horse-donkey) and ligers (lion-tiger) are examples.

Classic chimera

Human-pig chimeras in the U.S. were first created in 2017 by placing human cells in pig embryos. In a few, the cells grew into muscle and organ cells before the embryos were destroyed. The goal was to eventually grow human organs in pigs for transplanting, and more experiments involving human-rodent and human-chimpanzee chimeras allegedly occurred in China and Japan. On the other hand, these experiments in the U.S. have been tightly regulated and are quite rare. Recently, researchers at the University of Minnesota focused on some less complex but just as needed tissue – muscles to replace those lost in accidents, combat or surgical procedures. That focus resulted in the creation of more human-pig chimeras with one new twist – the embryos were allowed to grow to full term!

“It is important to note that we demonstrate that the human donor cells are located only where the pig skeletal muscle [now genetically deleted] once was. The human donor cells do not migrate to the brain or to the reproductive cells of the pig.”

Mary Garry, associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota’s Cardiovascular Division and co-author of the study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, answers in Inverse the chimera-elephant-in-the-room question – the human stem cells were implanted in pig embryos that had the genes required to develop pig skeletal muscle tissue removed via CRISPR gene editing. Because of that, they never strayed to the pigs’ brains or reproductive organs. Also, these were adult-derived stem cells, not embryonic stem cells.

You know what this means?

That still left a lab full of human-pig chimeras running around. Transplanting their human muscles is not yet technologically feasible nor ethically approved — Garry estimates that both will happen in the next 3 to 5 years in the U.S. What about outside the U.S.? We’ve already seen that regulations don’t matter in some countries and money talks in just about all of them. Could human-pig chimeras be supplying organs already somewhere else? That needle is moving quickly on the probability meter. Organ transplants of all kinds are in short supply, even in countries with illegal or look-the-other-way harvesting. Do the benefits outweigh the risk of unethical development or an accidental escape into the normal population? Is there a twisted scientist with the goal of creating a real Orwellian “Animal Farm” or Seinfeldian Pig Man?

Stranger things have happened … and they’re not going to stop.

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Scientists from the Salk Institute discuss the breakthrough.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

02-04-2021 om 18:39 geschreven door peter