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
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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...
28-06-2021
NASA Administrator: 'Are we alone? Personally, I don't think we are'
NASA Administrator: 'Are we alone? Personally, I don't think we are'
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson tells CNN's Pamela Brown that he has read the classified version of the US intelligence report on the series of UFO sightings by Navy pilots and others, and that he feels that we may not be alone in this galaxy.
June 25, 2021, Mountain View, CA – The report from intelligence agencies to be delivered to the U.S. Congress on the subject of UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) has generated speculation that we may soon see compelling proof of the existence of extraterrestrial beings.
The observations to be discussed in the report – photographic, witness testimony, and radar – are sometimes conflated with a research discipline known as SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The latter involves looking for non-natural radio or light signals coming from deep space, as well as observations that might uncover non-natural phenomena (so-called “technosignatures”) in the course of conventional astronomical research.
Since the UAP analysis and SETI research have a region of overlap – the possibility of alien beings – there is frequent confusion by the public and media regarding the degree to which they are similar. We hope to mitigate this lack of understanding by pointing out differences in the assumptions, data, and verification methodologies for both UAPs and SETI.
UAPs
UAP is a relatively new term to categorize what have been called UFOs (Unidentified Flying Object) since the 1950s. At that time, the latter term replaced “flying saucer.” At least some of the objects in this category are believed by the public to be alien spacecraft. The evidence consists of visual and photographic imaging, as well as occasional radar reflections. Numerous sightings have been noted since the 1940s, and the rate of reports to the (private) National UFO Reporting Center is currently in excess of 7,000 per year.
Note that, because such sightings cannot be predicted, or are seldom anticipated, they do not constitute a deliberate observing program.
Recently, interest in UAPs has increased following the release of videos made from a Navy ship and by infrared cameras mounted on F 18 fighter jets. Objects seen in these videos appear to move in ways that imply exceptionally large accelerations and speeds that are beyond the capabilities of known aircraft. However, little can be said about such motions without knowledge of either the distance or the intrinsic size of whatever has been seen or photographed. Nonetheless, there are many people who interpret these videos as direct visual evidence for alien spacecraft. Herewith the assumptions made in this interpretation of UFOs/UAPs:
Assumptions
The aliens are here, in Earth’s airspace.
They are airborne (although some sightings of landed craft have been reported).
The putative intruders are most reliably seen by the U.S. Navy’s F 18 Hornet fighters. At least one pilot has said they can be observed every day. But as a general rule, sightings of UFOs/UAPs cannot be predicted.
The federal government has, until recently, elected to keep this evidence, as well as its understanding of what it might show, secret from the public.
SETI
SETI has been an intermittent activity of a small group of researchers, mostly radio astronomers, since 1960. In the mid-1970s, it became a modest program within NASA, although that effort was cancelled by the U.S. Senate in 1993. Since that time, SETI has been a privately funded activity. However, the discovery of exoplanets that are found in nearly every star system of the Galaxy has prompted both Congress and NASA to reconsider the use of federal funds for SETI endeavors.
Unlike for UAPs, in which unplanned observational evidence is evaluated, SETI conducts deliberate experiments. In this it is similar to many other science investigations (e.g., the hunt for the Higgs boson). SETI also applies a series of tests to any received signal to verify that it is truly coming from deep space, and is not misidentified terrestrial interference or an equipment or software fault.
Assumptions
The aliens reside in solar systems that are (typically) within a few hundred light-years of our own.
Some extraterrestrials have the technical ability to construct powerful radio transmitters or lasers, or to build very large structures that would be visible with our astronomical telescopes.
Earth is in the “beam” of such signal emitters during the time of a SETI observation. SETI experiments are largely incapable of finding brief, non-repeating signals.
No detection claims would be made until a signal is confirmed by others.
The experiment is completely “open” (there is no secrecy).
So, while the UAP investigation relies on the interpretation of chance observations, SETI relies on deliberate experiments. There is a vast divide in the assumptions made for the two activities, and they are fundamentally dissimilar.
Will the first compelling evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence be found in the atmosphere of our planet, or in the hundreds of thousands of star systems that pepper the nearest reaches of our galaxy?
We still don’t know. But if the pending government report indicates that there is a possibility that at least some UAPs might, indeed, be of extraterrestrial origin, then perhaps there will be an effort to pursue their study using the precepts of well-designed science experiments.
About the SETI Institute Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multidisciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to lead humanity’s quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the Universe and share that knowledge with the world. Our research encompasses the physical and biological sciences and leverages expertise in data analytics, machine learning and advanced signal detection technologies. The SETI Institute is a distinguished research partner for industry, academia and government agencies, including NASA and NSF.
Anyone with interest in the search for intelligent life in the universe has undoubtedly heard of the Fermi paradox – the dilemma described by physicist Enrico Fermi after pondering the existence of billions of stars with billions of planets capable of sustaining intelligent life, some far superior to us that could travel across space. If that’s true, why haven’t we encountered any of them? Recently, another scientist pondered the Red Sky paradox. What? You’ve never heard of the Red Sky paradox?
“Red dwarf stars are the most numerous and long-lived stars in the cosmos, and recent exoplanet discoveries indicate an abundance of rocky, temperate planets around them. This presents an apparent paradox as to why we do not see a red dwarf in our sky.”
Would it look like this?
If red dwarfs are the most abundant stars in the universe, with the most rocky planets seemingly capable of supporting life orbiting them, why isn’t the only planet with life that we are aware of orbiting one too? That is the question pondered in a new study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by David Kipping, an astronomy professor at Columbia University. Is our life on a planet orbiting a yellow-leaning-towards-white dwarf a fluke or is the theory that more red dwarfs means more life around them wrong?
“It’s just a question that has always perplexed me. If they’re so numerous, so long-lived, potentially trillions of years, and so they really seem to have everything going for them … it’s kind of odd then that we don’t live around a red dwarf.”
In an interview with Inverse, Kipping sounds a little like Fermi as he explains why he set up a team to ponder the Red Sky paradox and attempt to resolve it. They came up with three scenarios – 1) human life orbiting a yellow star is an exception; 2) something in the development of red dwarfs stops life from developing; 3) red dwarfs develop too slowly for life to happen. The first possibility runs into the Copernican principle – named for Nicolaus Copernicus and his hypothesis that Earth is not the center of the universe and instead is nothing special – which would make Earth a special exception in the universe.
Is it just me or is it getting hot here?
Instead, the team thinks red dwarfs are causing their own problems that kill their chances for spawning life. The ones with exoplanets we’ve been able to study (like Proxima Centauri and its two known planets) have frequent planet-toasting flareups that would cook life before it could escape. If the flares miss, the planets are generally in tidally-locked orbits — one side always faces the red dwarf, a position also not conducive to life. Finally, that abundance of rocky planets is pelted by life-killing asteroids because there are no giant gas planets like Jupiter to pull them into its own orbit.
Not only does Kipping’s theory seem to solve the Red Sky paradox, it does a good job on the Fermi paradox as well. If red dwarfs, which are the majority of stars, can’t spawn or support life, then the probability of life on the universe goes down dramatically. In other words, they’re not here because they’re not there either.
This paper was released just in time for the Pentagon UFO report. It didn’t find any aliens either. Would Fermi agree? Copernicus?
Artwork depicting a potentially habitable planet orbiting the nearby red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1.
At first glance, the 2006 court case carried out by the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s office in Santa Barbara, California, looks pretty mundane, for some boring even. It involved an action against the Greka Energy Corp., which is the county’s largest land-based oil and gas producer, for alleged health-and-safety violations at its refinery operations, as well as numerous environmental violations. While most of the counts in the lawsuit were eventually settled for $600,000, some stubbornly remained, and one of the key witnesses brought in was a former public safety officer with the company by the name of Gary Lowrey, who alleged that he had on numerous occasions pointed out safety violations that were ignored by his bosses. So far it just sounds like a dull, legal slog involving a big oil company and environmental concerns and safety protocols, more yawn inducing than anything else, but the eyebrows do pop up a bit when it gets to the part where Lowrey starts talking about horned aliens in his closet and visitations by alien forces terrorizing his family.
During the trial, Lowrey began to come out with some rather outlandish claims, to say the least. The claims were not made directly to the DA’s office, but were rather uncovered online, where it seems Lowrey was claiming that aliens had been regularly trespassing into his home and holding his family, his wife and kids, under siege. Lowrey claimed that bizarre horned, alien-like, vaguely insectoid entities were emerging from his closet at night to poke him and his family with needles as they slept, after which they would awaken with needle holes on their bodies, often forming diamond-shaped patterns. He himself stops short of labeling them as “aliens,” but is quick to point out that they are definitely not human. He would say of this to a Greka attorney, who was rather strangely none other than Bela G. Lugosi, son of the actor best known for playing Count Dracula:
They were bothering me. I don’t think I said they terrorized me. But I said they were bothering me. You can see his little eyes looking at you, and the horns and the eyebrow. I’m not sure that they’re — you know, that you’d call them aliens. I know they’re not human-looking. I don’t remember a lot of it because, you know, you’re asleep when it’s happening to you.
But don’t just take his word for it, as Lowrey would claim to have plenty of evidence to back his story up. In addition to recording footprints of the beasts with a sheet of aluminum foil that he had laid out, he also claimed to have found a claw from one of the creatures hanging from a towel in his closet, and even claimed to have captured video footage of them. This footage was seen by Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian, who found it to be very compelling. After seeing the tapes, Lulejian would make a statement saying:
I’m going to argue in court that there is something going on in these videos that substantiates what Gary Lowrey is talking about. But I can’t tell you what that is. I can’t give away the juicy part. There are things that look really, really strange. It sort of put the hair on the back of my neck up when I saw them. He’s shown me he’s rational, he’s shown me that there are things going on outside of him, and he’s shown me proof that they’re there. Everything he’s said in his deposition so far checked to be true based on what he’s said in his – or what I’ve seen on the videos and what’s in the reports.
Images from the videos would eventually be released, but they are rather underwhelming, showing what may, kind of sort of look like a misshapen head if you squint your eyes. As to why the picture quality is so bad, one UFO researcher had this to add:
If these beings move between frames, detected on pause, on the camera as he says, they may have a sort of cloaking device, to fool our sense of vision, or their slightly out of phase with our 3-dimensions, as the camera can capture what the un-enhanced eye can’t, but not being seen as continuing motion on the videocam, that is strange. A high-speed infra-red cam plus a night vision cam, and a taser to disable the being, triggered by the cameras would sent about 50,000 volts into whatever, and maybe able to capture it, as it has mass, as exhibited by the indentation of the aluminum foil where fast-walker appeared, in the closet I think he said.
Lowrey also enlisted the help of notable UFO researcher, podiatrist, and expert on alien implants, Dr. Roger Leir, who also believed his story. Amazingly, none of this seemed to disqualify Lowrey as a credible witness in the case against Greka, despite the company seeking to use his stories of aliens as a reason to discredit him and have him booted as a reliable witness in the case. Greka attorney Lugosi would lament the court’s decision to allow Lowery to continue his involvement in the case, saying:
Don’t you find a witness who claims that he’s being visited by aliens at night and getting punctured at night rather a whacky thing to be claiming? Obviously, credibility is important. It’s not every day you have a code enforcement matter which involves aliens in the closet, mysterious claws and a podiatrist who removes alien implants. Here’s their most important witness, and the D.A. is buying into it, saying that none of this affects his credibility. We’re very surprised. Yes, there are people who believe in aliens, but we’re talking about the Santa Barbara district attorney’s office here!
As all of this was going on, Lowrey was becoming a sort of minor celebrity in the UFO field, appearing on the paranormal radio program Coast to Coast AM with host Mike Seigel, but then he began to go silent on his story, according to some because he was being told not to speak of these things, sparking tales of conspiracies going beyond even the court case. Peter A. Gersten, Executive Director of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, would say of it all:
Several weeks before the Bay Area Expo in August, Gary Lowrey, a Bakersfield Fire Safety Officer, contacted me after numerous failed attempts to get the attention of other well-known organizations and persons in the UFO field. After listening to his story about his ongoing encounters with strange insectoid-type creatures in his home, and based upon his possession of certain physical evidence, I agreed to represent him both as an attorney and also in a joint venture to get the truth out. Though Lowrey was forthcoming in stating that he wants to help his family financially with the information and evidence he possesses, he assured me that his primary motivation is to share his ongoing encounters with the world and hopefully learn some answers as to what he and his family are experiencing. My part of our agreement included my successful efforts to get him national attention through my organization CAUS, my workshop at the Bay Area UFO Expo, and my frequent appearances on Mike Siegel’s Coast to Coast Radio show as well as other projects and forums that were being planned.
After speaking with Lowrey over the course of several weeks, I came to believe that the Bakersfield California family represents one of the best cases of contact because of the confirmatory physical evidence, the believability of the witnesses and the continuous nature of the experiences. Unfortunately because of the greed and selfishness of several people, Lowrey is temporarily silenced and his credibility forever compromised. Last Saturday, give or take a day, Gary Lowrey, after being told by a self-styled “Hollywood producer” that there was no need for him to consult me or any other attorney, signed a contract for the exclusive print and movie rights to his story. According to Lowrey, the contract prohibits him from talking to anyone about his past and present experiences. The producer even deceptively composed an e-mail for Lowrey to send to me in which he states that he can no longer appear on Mike Siegel’s Coast to Coast radio show and if I have any questions I should consult his attorney, Mark Commerford, who I later determine is actually the producer’s attorney and not Lowrey’s. Sadly, though Lowrey appeared with me on the radio show this past Monday night, he refused to talk about his experiences, which he had originally agreed to share before the producer’s gag order.
What makes the Lowrey debacle even more unpalatable is the fact that the perpetrators of this travesty are members of the UFO community. In fact the producer is none other than Christopher Wyatt, founder, President and CEO of UFO Community.com, a company, which, as evidenced by Wyatt’s callous disregard for both the public’s right to know and the significance of Lowrey’s interaction with other life forms, is quite inappropriately named. Why Wyatt, after signing Lowrey to an exclusive contract, would want to silence him on the eve of his national coming-out-party thereby avoiding a Coast to Coast listening audience of millions and the free promotion inherent in such exposure, is very strange and suspicious. Christopher Wyatt has used the tools of deception, misrepresentation, and coercion to silence an individual who is presently interacting with a non-human form of intelligence. On Siegel’s show, Lowrey stated he was “coerced” by Wyatt into signing the contract. Wyatt has now convinced Lowrey that he has no choice but to honor their contract and that Wyatt will sue him if he shows the contract to me. I am not surprised that there are those within the UFO community who are more interested in money than in our right to know the truth. But to compromise something we all have been waiting years for, the opportunity to record and verify evidence of ongoing contact, is unconscionable and requires exposing the true nature of the beast.
Indeed, during the coming court appearances, Lowrey would freeze up and refuse to mention the aliens again, allowing the whole thing to resolve in mundane fashion. Was he silenced, and if so, by who exactly? What in the world was going on here? What are we to make of all of this? A big court case, a lawyer who is the son of the actor who played Dracula, and aliens? I seems as if it could not possibly get more absurd, and yet this all did happen and is there on the record. It is all a very bizarre case, and certainly adds some spice to the otherwise dry and humdrum business of a court case.
Over the years, controversial claims have been made about a highly-classified facility located in Wiltshire, England: the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). It is better known as Porton Down. Over the years, claims have been made about a connection between Porton Down and UFOs. Before we get to the matter of UFOs, let’s first take a look at Porton Down. Dr. Robert M. Wood’s book, Alien Viruses states: “Although work at Porton Down had originally begun in March 1916, it was not until 1940 that the installation became the central hub of British interest in biological warfare. Following the start of the Second World War, a highly secret and independent group – the Biology Department, Porton – was established by the War Cabinet, with a mandate to investigate the reality of biological warfare and to develop a means of retaliation in the event that biological warfare was utilized against the United Kingdom. By 1946, the name of the wartime group had become the Microbiological Research Department. A decade later, the biological warfare research of Porton Down’s staff had become solely defensive in nature; and in 1957 it was re-named the Microbiological Research Establishment.”
The BBC say: “Porton Down was set up in 1916. It was a center designed to test chemical and biological weapons. Nerve gases such as Sarin and CS gas were tested on volunteer servicemen. Servicemen were offered around £2 and three days leave as an incentive to take part in tests. Very few servicemen knew what they were volunteering for and some were even told it was research into the cure for the common cold. In 1953 it is alleged that serviceman Ronald Maddison died after taking part in a Sarin gas experiment. In 1962, one of Porton Down’s own scientists, Geoffrey Bacon died of the plague. Since the end of WWII, 20,000 people have taken part in experiments at Porton Down.”
Now, let’s get to the UFO angle of Porton Down. It was in January 2001 that the then-retired – and now late – British Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Hill-Norton, decided to get into the Rendlesham Forest controversy – without doubt the most famous “UFO” event in the U.K. Having had an interest in UFOs for decades, he used his considerable clout to try and figure out what occurred in 1980. It was hardly an easy task for Hill-Norton to achieve. Of specific interest to Hill-Norton were the claims of a Rendlesham connection to the activities of the Porton Down staff. He wanted to know “whether personnel from Porton Down visited Rendlesham Forest or the area surrounding RAF Watton in December 1980 or January 1981; and whether they are aware of any tests carried out in either of those two areas aimed at assessing any nuclear, biological or chemical hazard.” As time progressed, more and more data surfaced and suggested that the “UFO landing” was really a sophisticated hologram-driven experiment designed to determine the extent to which the military personnel in the forest could have their minds meddled. “Mind-control, in other words.
Berwyn Mountains
Of course, most people in Ufology don’t want to hear one of their most famous cases destroyed. Too bad. Now, let’s jump back to 1974. Andy Roberts states in his book UFO Down!: “In 1958 Gavin Gibbons wrote a children’s science-fiction novel By Space Ship to the Moon,which featured a UFO landing on Moel Sych in the Berwyn Mountains of North Wales. Sixteen years later, in a surreal case of life imitating art, those very same mountains would again be the focus for a story involving a downed UFO. But this time, some said, the story was for real.” Indeed, there have been claims for years of a crashed UFO on the mountains. Not only that, in 1996 an anonymous soldier came forward, claiming to know that the remains of dead aliens were held at Porton Down. Of course, this has not been confirmed. But, we do have the fascinating story of a man named Robert Bolton.”
I first interviewed Bolton by phone, and then met him in person, in Norwich, England, in 2000. He told me: “I spent thirty years in the Royal Air Force as an aircraft engineer. I had various postings, including at Akrotiri in Cyprus, RAF Honnington, and at RAF Valley in North Wales from 1971 to 1974. My wife and her family came from Corwen. At the time that the thing on the Berwyns happened, they lived up on the side of the mountain and her mom still lives there to this day. Corwen is part of the Berwyn range. From where their house is, if you walk up the path that goes behind the houses up and onto the top of the mountains, you’re talking perhaps a mile and a quarter away from where it all occurred; so it’s not very far away at all.
“She still remembers what happened on the night of 23 January. She said to me when I spoke to her about it just recently: ‘I saw aircraft and heard aircraft shot down during the Blitz and it was like an aircraft coming down, but the sound was louder, bigger, heavier that anything you could imagine to do with an aircraft.’ They didn’t know what it was. They heard the noise first of all and ran out into the road. They weren’t the only ones: all their neighbors ran out as well. It got louder and louder and louder and they couldn’t see anything in the sky but then they felt the impact where the houses shook and she had things fall off the mantle-piece in the house.
“It was my wife’s dad, who told me the story about bodies being found on the mountain. His name was Harold Smith. But everyone called him Mick. He had a full-time job with Vauxhall at Elsmere Port; he was a local councilor and was also a part-time Sub-Fire Officer at Corwen. One day we got talking and got on to the subject of UFOs and he said to me: ‘Oh, well, you obviously don’t know about the incident up on the Berwyn Mountains.’ “I first heard the story from him around 1976. At that time he only told me that bodies had been brought down from the mountain and didn’t say anything more. Nothing about who brought them down or where they were taken. But from 1979 to 1982 I was posted to Germany and Mick and my wife’s mother came out to stay for a month and it was here that he told us a lot more.
“I remember that the information that he told us had apparently come from another person in the North Wales Fire Service whose son was in the Army. But it’s not surprising that he would have been told: Mick was a well-respected man and knew people throughout the North Wales Fire Service including at Bala and Wrexham. Mick told me that while the police weren’t involved, the Army was – heavily. I can’t give you an exact date when they visited and he told us this, but it was definitely between 1979 and 1982. He said that there were definitely [trucks] from Porton Down at the scene; that there was a lozenge-shaped object on the mountainside; and that bodies were taken off the mountain and driven to Porton. And to this day, his wife can also confirm that Mick told her the story about Porton Down and bodies too – either in the late 1970s or the early 1980s[italics mine].”
Robert signed off: “I do remember Mick saying that when he had first told me this story in 1976, he didn’t know that it was the Army who had taken the bodies off the mountain and he didn’t know at the time that they’d been taken to Porton Down. So he must have learned that between 1976 and when he came to see us in Germany.” Dead aliens at Porton Down? A Rendlesham Forest connection to Porton Down? All we have right now are rumors. Maybe, things are destined to stay like that. On the other hand, though, just perhaps something incredible might one day surface.
Studie bewijst dat 7 soorten dino’s permanent op Noordpool leefden
Studie bewijst dat 7 soorten dino’s permanent op Noordpool leefden
WETENSCHAP Er hebben minstens zeven dinosaurussoorten permanent geleefd op de Noordpool. Wellicht gebruikten ze technieken zoals de winterslaap of kregen ze veren tegen de kou. Dat zegt een nieuwe studie die vorige week is verschenen in het tijdschrift Current Biology.
Meer dan tien jaar lang werden fossielen opgegraven voor het onderzoek. De resultaten tonen aan dat de dino’s niet alleen leefden op plaatsen met een zachter klimaat.
“Een deel van de nieuwe vindplaatsen heeft opzienbarende zaken aan het licht gebracht, met name botten en tanden van dinosaurusjongen”, zegt Patrick Druckenmiller van de Universiteit van Alaska. “Dat is ongelofelijk, want het toont aan dat die dinosaurussen niet alleen konden leven in het poolgebied, maar dat ze er zich ook konden voortplanten.”
Wetenschappers ontdekten in 1950 voor het eerst resten van dinosaurussen in het gebied. Lange tijd gingen ze ervan uit dat het arctische gebied niet geschikt was voor reptielen. Er werden toen twee hypotheses geformuleerd: ofwel leefden de dino’s er permanent, ofwel migreerden ze ernaar in het warmste seizoen.
Zeven soorten
De nieuwe studie bewijst nu voor het eerst dat minstens zeven soorten dinosaurussen in staat waren zich voort te planten op de zeer hoge breedtegraden. Het gaat onder meer over de Hadrosauridae, Ceratopia en Tyrannosaurussen. Hun jongen zouden niet in staat geweest zijn om meteen lange afstanden af te leggen.
Het Noordpoolgebied was in de tijd van de dinosaurussen niet zo koud als nu, maar de omstandigheden waren toch al erg veeleisend. De jaartemperatuur lag rond 6 graden Celsius, maar in de wintermaanden was het een stuk kouder en sneeuwde het.
Het feit dat de dinosaurussen het hele jaar op de Noordpool bleven, is een nieuwe aanwijzing dat ze warmbloedig waren. Andere recente studies suggereerden dat ook al.
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Dinosaur species large and small, passed and live in ancient Arctic, study says.
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LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS - 28 - 06 - 2021
LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS - 28 - 06 - 2021
UFO Sighted Over Tamasopo, Mexico ( June 25, 2021 )
UFO Sighted Over Tamasopo, Mexico on June 25, 2021
STATEMENT : Ovnis en tamasopo UFO in tamasopo
credit : Inwy Rea
UFO Sighted Over Las Vegas, Nevada ( June 27, 2021 )
STATEMENT : I sent the video to a friend and the first thing he told me that a drone wasn't because it measures about 10 meters and drones like this, not that we know, and a helicopter is not because noise doesn't make... , so, otherwise the video is from here in Las Vegas Nevada US where I live and remind you that I have the area 51 next to it.
credit : Cristian Alonso
UFO Sighted Over Barnoldswick, Lancashire, England. ( June 27, 2021 )
The Original Unedited Complete Video !!! The Barnoldswick Lancashire, UK UFO
credit : Paranormal Research and Evaluation Team
UFOs Sighted Over Lumby, Canada ( June 23, 2021 )
STATEMENT :I have seen this a couple of times within the last weeks : I have been seeing this for the past few weeks. Randomly. It’s after the sun has gone down completely.
credit : Mutual UFO Network : MUFON SUBMISSIONS
Date Submitted : 2021-06-24
Date of Event : 2021-06-23 / 9:38PM
MUFON SUBMITTER FILES :
trim.AFA459C6134F4F5B8D25FB93897FDA60.MOV :
trim.C80A1095F91A4021A8A0E17F52032680.MOV
UFO Sighted Over Puglia, Italy ( June 23, 2021 )
UFO sighted over Puglia, Italy on June 23, 2021
STATEMENT : GIUGNO 2021, Puglia, Italy
TRANSLATE : JUNE 2021, Puglia, Italy
credit : Moonreflex Informations
UFOs Sighted Over Switzerland ( June 27, 2021 )
STATEMENT : This Saturday we were having a bbq near my house I live in Suica and my daughter made this video when she saw these lights in the sky can you help me understand what is this please
I found some alien artifacts in a Mars photo today. The artifacts all lead me to believe that this was all part of an elaborate tomb. I found a grave stone on its side and near it is a large square slab that has alien writing on it. What does it say? It's the name of the person who died. Near it is another part of a coffin with engravings on its side and one meter away is a long upper and lower leg with the knee area very visible and seems to have insect like exoskeleton ridges on it. Very unique and defiantly worth looking at close by the rover, although I don't feel that NASA would ever do so and share those close ups. NASA has the intention to entertain the public with the Remote control toy helicopter to distract the public from thinking about searching for life or evidence of life on Mars. Instead they fly a toy helicopter around Mars and tell the public its amazing...although such toys have been around on Earth for over 40 years! This discovery of the ancient artifacts of a broken tomb of an alien is real science.
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Are aliens watching us? Astronomers identify 29 potentially habitable exoplanets where extraterrestrials could have been observing Earth for 5,000 years
Are aliens watching us? Astronomers identify 29 potentially habitable exoplanets where extraterrestrials could have been observing Earth for 5,000 years
Researchers looked at star-systems that could see Earth transit over the Sun
This would allow them to detect signs of life in the atmosphere of our planet
It would also put the Earth in a position where they could listen to radio waves
There are an estimated 29 potentially habitable worlds within a 100 light years of the Earth allowing them to listen to broadcasts from the past century
There could be as many as 29 potentially habitable worlds 'perfectly positioned' to observe the Earth if they hold an intelligence civilisation, according to a new study.
Exploring ways in which we find exoplanets, that is worlds outside the solar system, the team from Cornell University reversed the process to see which could spot us.
Working alongside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, astronomers identified 2,034 star-systems in our galactic neighbourhood - within 326 light years of the Earth - that could watch our planet cross the sun.
Out of those stars, 1,715 could have spotted Earth since human civilisation blossomed about 5,000 years ago, and 319 will be added over the next 5,000 years.
The number of stars varies depending on their location in space relative to the solar system and changes due to the fact we live in a dynamic universe.
While exoplanets haven't been detected around all of the stars that can observe the Earth, the team estimate 29 will have a rocky world in the habitable zone that are well positioned to also detect radio waves emitted by humans over 100 years ago.
A view of Earth and Sun from thousands of miles above our planet. Stars that enter and exit a position where they can see Earth as a transiting planet around our Sun are brightened
Working alongside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, astronomers identified 2,034 star-systems in our galactic neighbourhood - within 326 light years of the Earth - that could watch our planet cross the sun
WHAT IS THE TRANSIT METHOD?
The transit method is a technique in astronomy used to detect exoplanets or study more about objects within the solar system.
As a planet transits in front of its host star it blocks a portion of the light and when observed from Earth this change can be measured.
Astronomers produce a light curve that can provide physical characteristics of both the planet and host star including density.
Hot Jupiters - that is Jupiter-sized worlds orbiting very close to their host start - are most likely to be detected, but it has also been used to find Earth-sized worlds orbiting red dwarf stars.
The transit method is the most prominent technique for detecting exoplanets and was first used in 1999 to confirm the existence of HD209458b, previously detected using the radial velocity method.
The first new detection using the transit method came four years later with the detection of OGLE-TR-56b in 2003.
Transit can be used to determine the radius of the planet and its period of revolution.
Current telescopes aren't able to detect signs of life within an exoplanet atmosphere or whether it is truly habitable, but future observatories including the NASA James Webb space telescope will delve deeper into these distant worlds than ever before.
'From the exoplanets' point-of-view, we are the aliens,' said Lisa Kaltenegger, professor of astronomy and director of Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute.
'We wanted to know which stars have the right vantage point to see Earth, as it blocks the Sun's light,' she said.
Because stars move in our dynamic cosmos, this vantage point is gained and lost over time, so they were able to pin-point specific star systems.
The transit method is one of the main ways astronomers use to detect planets in other star systems - they look for 'dips' in the light coming from the star.
It requires specific positioning for the exoplanet the star it is orbiting and the Earth for us to be able to view it as it passes by and this changes over time.
Kaltenegger and astrophysicist Jackie Faherty, a senior scientist at the American Museum of Natural History used positions and motions from the European Space Agency's Gaia catalog to determine which stars enter and exit the Earth Transit Zone.
'Gaia has provided us with a precise map of the Milky Way galaxy,' Faherty said, 'allowing us to look backward and forward in time, and to see where stars had been located and where they are going.'
Of the 2,034 star-systems passing through the Earth Transit Zone over the 10,000-year period examined, 117 objects lie within about 100 light-years of the sun.
Of these 75 objects have been in the Earth Transit Zone since commercial radio stations on Earth began broadcasting into space about a century ago.
The Kepler mission has spotted thousands of exoplanets since 2014, with 30 planets less than twice the size of Earth now known to orbit within the habitable zones of their stars
Out of those stars, 1,715 could have spotted Earth since human civilisation blossomed about 5,000 years ago, and 319 will be added over the next 5,000 years
Current telescopes aren't able to detect signs of life within an exoplanet atmosphere or whether it is truly habitable, but future observatories including the NASA James Webb space telescope will delve deeper into these distant worlds than ever before
'Our solar neighbourhood is a dynamic place where stars enter and exit that perfect vantage point to see Earth transit the Sun at a rapid pace,' Faherty said.
Included in the catalog of 2,034 star-systems are seven known to host exoplanets.
Each one of these worlds has had or will have an opportunity to detect Earth, just as Earth's scientists have found thousands of worlds orbiting other stars.
By watching distant exoplanets transit - or cross - their own sun, Earth's astronomers can interpret the atmospheres backlit by that sun.
If exoplanets hold intelligent life, they can observe Earth backlit by the sun and see our atmosphere's chemical signatures of life including oxygen.
The number of stars varies depending on their location in space relative to the solar system and changes due to the fact we live in a dynamic universe
While exoplanets haven't been detected around all of the stars that can observe the Earth, the team estimate 29 will have a rocky world in the habitable zone that are well positioned to also detect radio waves emitted by humans over 100 years ago
HOW THEY ESTIMATE THE NUMBER OF ALIEN WORLDS THAT CAN VIEW THE EARTH
Astronomers identified 2,034 star-systems in our galactic neighbourhood - within 326 light years of the Earth - that could watch our planet cross the sun - also known as a transit.
Out of those stars, 1,715 could have spotted Earth since human civilisation blossomed about 5,000 years ago.
Another 319 will be added over the next 5,000 years as the various stars move into viewable range - known as the Earth Transit Zone (ETZ).
But the team had to then determine how many of those stars might have rocky Earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone - where liquid water can flow freely on the surface.
Estimates of the number of rocky planets in the habitable zone of their star depend on the radius of the planet and the size and type of the host star.
New estimates place the number of planets per star within the habitable zone at 1.28.
The team predict about 25 per cent of all stars will have potentially habitable worlds in this zone.
This led to the figure of 508 rocky worlds in the habitable zone of the full sample of more than 2,000 star systems able to view the Earth within 100 light years.
Within that limit they determined there would be about 29 potentially habitable worlds that 'could' host an alien civilisation capable of listening in since Marconi invented the radio.
However, communication could be difficult as a civilisation 82 light years away would just be hearing broadcasts from the start of WW2, and we wouldn't get a reply until 2101 if they sent it today.
The Ross 128 system, with a red dwarf host star located in the Virgo constellation, is about 11 light-years away and is the second-closest system with an Earth-size exoplanet - its world is about 1.8 times the size of our planet.
Any inhabitants of this world could have seen Earth transit our own sun for 2,158 years, starting about 3,057 years ago but lost that ability 900 years ago.
The Trappist-1 system, at 45 light-years from Earth, hosts seven transiting Earth-size planets - four of them in the temperate, habitable zone of that star.
While we have discovered the exoplanets around Trappist-1, they won't be able to spot us until their motion takes them into the Earth Transit Zone in 1,642 years.
Potential Trappist-1 system observers will remain in the cosmic Earth transit stadium seats for 2,371 years once they finally enter the cosmic vantage point.
Whether humans will still be on Earth, or whether Earth is still habitable for humans by that point is unknown.
'Our analysis shows that even the closest stars generally spend more than 1,000 years at a vantage point where they can see Earth transit,' Kaltenegger said.
'If we assume the reverse to be true, that provides a healthy timeline for nominal civilisations to identify Earth as an interesting planet.'
Estimates of the number of rocky planets in the habitable zone of their star depend on the radius of the planet and the size and type of the host star.
New estimates place the number of planets per star within the habitable zone at 1.28 - or between one and two per system.
This matches the Solar System with the Earth as the only habitable planet, but Venus and Mars both at the outer edge of the habitable zone.
The concept of an empirical habitable zone limit is actually based on the amount of sunlight a young Venus and Mars would have received early in the solar system.
As we haven't identified habitable worlds or even rocky worlds around all nearby stars, the team decided to estimate how many there would likely be.
The discussion on the occurrence rate of rocky planets surrounding other stars is ongoing, according to the researchers.
However, they wanted to estimate how many there would be so used pessimistic predictions of 25 per cent of all stars having at least one rocky world to create a rough estimate.
The Ross 128 system, with a red dwarf host star located in the Virgo constellation, is about 11 light-years away and is the second-closest system with an Earth-size exoplanet - its world is about 1.8 times the size of our planet
Estimates of the number of rocky planets in the habitable zone of their star depend on the radius of the planet and the size and type of the host star.
THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE CAN PEER INTO ALIEN ATMOSPHERES
NASA and the European Space Agency plan to launch their next major space telescope this year and it will serve as the natural successor to Hubble.
Primarily an infrared telescope, it will have a wider spectrum view than Hubble and operate further out from the Earth, in a solar orbit.
Research by Ohio State University claims that within five years of it coming online, James Webb will have found signs of alien life.
Graduate student Caprice Phillips calculated it could detect ammonia created by living creatures around gas dwarf planets after just a few orbits.
The James Webb has been described as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe.
The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe 13.5 billion years ago.
It will also observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system.
ESA said 30 per cent of the first 18 months of observations will focus on alien worlds and their atmosphere.
This led to the figure of 508 rocky worlds in the habitable zone of the full sample of more than 2,000 star systems able to view the Earth within 100 light years.
That is roughly the area radio waves will have travelled - so at the outer edge people living on that world may be hearing test messages from Guglielmo Marconi.
Within that limit they determined there would be about 29 potentially habitable worlds that 'could' host an alien civilisation capable of listening in to our radio.
However, communication could be difficult as a civilisation 82 light years away would just be hearing broadcasts from the start of WW2, and we wouldn't get a reply until 2101 if they sent it today.
The James Webb Space telescope - expected to launch later this year - is set to take a detailed look at several transiting worlds to characterise their atmospheres.
Doing so will allow astronomers to ultimately search for signs of life as we may be able to spot tell-tale chemical signatures only created by living creatures.
The Breakthrough Starshot initiative is an ambitious project underway that is looking to launch a nano-sized spacecraft toward the closest exoplanet detected around Proxima Centauri - 4.2 light-years from us - and fully characterise that world.
'One might imagine that worlds beyond Earth that have already detected us, are making the same plans for our planet and solar system,' said Faherty.
'This catalog is an intriguing thought experiment for which one of our neighbours might be able to find us.'
The 29 world estimate is also heavily human centric, based on the idea of life as we know it - requiring water and a rocky world.
However, despite the prediction of 29 planets, we don't actually know if those stars have worlds capable of housing intelligent civilisations.
Study author, Lisa Kaltenegger told MailOnline: 'There are not stars with known exoplanets that could have seen us in the last 100 years - we have not found them yet because we have not searched this region of the sky for them yet.'
It doesn't mean they are not there, just that the number of star systems visible from the Earth is so vast that we haven't got round to looking yet.
The findings have been published in the journal Nature.
THE 20 NEAREST STAR SYSTEMS ABLE TO VIEW THE EARTH
Star name
Known planets
Light years away
Wolf359
0
7.9
Ross128
1
11
Teegardens star
2
12.5
Wolf 28
0
14.1
GJ 9066
2
14.6
SIMP0136
0
19.9
Wolf 358
0
22.7
G 157-77
0
23.4
1507-1627
0
24.2
HD 4628
0
24.2
Ross 64
0
27.7
EGGR453
0
27.8
LP 469-206
0
29.6
L 768-119
0
31.6
LP 867-15
0
34.6
HD 28343
0
36.6
Ross85
0
37.6
Wolf 918
0
38.6
TRAPPIST
7
40.6
G 85-19
0
41.2
Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using enormous space satellites like Hubble
Distant stars and their orbiting planets often have conditions unlike anything we see in our atmosphere.
To understand these new world's, and what they are made of, scientists need to be able to detect what their atmospheres consist of.
They often do this by using a telescope similar to Nasa's Hubble Telescope.
These enormous satellites scan the sky and lock on to exoplanets that Nasa think may be of interest.
Here, the sensors on board perform different forms of analysis.
One of the most important and useful is called absorption spectroscopy.
This form of analysis measures the light that is coming out of a planet's atmosphere.
Every gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens a black line appears on a complete spectrum.
These lines correspond to a very specific molecule, which indicates it's presence on the planet.
They are often called Fraunhofer lines after the German astronomer and physicist that first discovered them in 1814.
By combining all the different wavelengths of lights, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up the atmosphere of a planet.
The key is that what is missing, provides the clues to find out what is present.
It is vitally important that this is done by space telescopes, as the atmosphere of Earth would then interfere.
Absorption from chemicals in our atmosphere would skew the sample, which is why it is important to study the light before it has had chance to reach Earth.
This is often used to look for helium, sodium and even oxygen in alien atmospheres.
This diagram shows how light passing from a star and through the atmosphere of an exoplanet produces Fraunhofer lines indicating the presence of key compounds such as sodium or helium
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Scientists have identified where aliens might be watching us from
Scientists have identified where aliens might be watching us from
Are aliens watching us? For decades humans have searched and wondered about extraterrestrial and planet life beyond earth. Well now, scientists have created a list of planets where, if they exist, curious aliens could view our planet.
There could be as many as 29 potentially habitable worlds 'perfectly positioned' where extraterrestrials could have been observing Earth for 5,000 years, according to a new study.
This would allow the aliens to detect not only signs of life in the atmosphere of our planet but allowing them to listen to broadcasts from the past century since commercial radio stations on Earth began broadcasting into space about a 100 years ago. which means that an alien race 82 light years away would just be hearing broadcasts from the start of WW2, read more here.
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Pop Culture’s Impact On UFO’s Ahead Of US Intelligence Report
Pop Culture’s Impact On UFO’s Ahead Of US Intelligence Report
NBC News’ Daniel Arkin reports on how some of Hollywood’s most well-known sci-fi filmmakers are reacting to the upcoming U.S. intelligence report on UFOs.
Siberia: Meet the strange “metallic spheres” of unknown origin
Siberia: Meet the strange “metallic spheres” of unknown origin
Siberia is a frozen land, full of mysteries and enigmas that have dazzled the scientific world. One of these questions is metal spheres that baffle experts.
Located in Russia, Siberia is a region endowed with mysteries ; the area has been linked to multiple UFO sightings, habitat of lost civilizations, strange phenomena or rare explosions.
An example is the strange case of Tunguska ; mystery that little by little has become more related to an unidentified flying object.
Siberian Metal Spheres
North of Russia is Yakutia, a region of 3,083,523 square kilometers. This area has been explored very little since, being surrounded by swamps, it is practically impassable.
The natives know it as ” The Valley of Death ” and avoid approaching the area at all costs. Local stories assure that whoever enters, never returns .
It is in this frozen valley, where there are testimonies of the existence of some strange metallic spheres that nobody knows how they appeared or what function they fulfill there.
The locals assure that the origin of the spheres is not terrestrial , although there is no type of scientific research to corroborate it.
Obviously this whole area of Siberia seems to be a magnet for mysterious and strange phenomena ; A small list of unfortunate events in the area are the Tunguska, in 1908, Chulum in 1984, and Vitim, in 2002.
People who live in the vicinity say that the fear they feel is due to the number of diseases and deaths of people who went through it or were in the vicinity of the metal.
Hence, the legend of the “Ancient Taiga Demons” is born, quite popular among the natives.
Testimonials of people who went to the place
The renowned explorer R. Maak, was one of the first people to explore the region in 1853 . His story tells of Algy timirbit, a river that flows through the upper part of the Viliuy mountain . In that place there is a kind of “copper cauldron” that he could not measure , since only the edges were visible sticking out of the ground.
A geologist, in 1936 he ignored the legends of the area and entered the vicinity of the Olguidakh river , guided by native elders. There he found a sphere buried in the ground, reddish in color and extremely smooth . He said the edges were sharper than any material he has ever known and the outer walls were barely 2 centimeters thick.
All this information was sent to the Yakutia regional center.
In 1979 , an expedition of native archaeologists tried to locate the spheres mentioned in different legends.
The person who guided them claimed to have seen them in his youth, but the topography of the place was totally different compared to those days.
ND Arkhipov, a researcher who studied Yakutia culture, had this to say:
«Among the population of the Viliuy basin there is an ancient legend about the existence in the upper parts of this river of bronze cauldrons or olgis.
This legend deserves attention since the areas that are the supposed location of the mythical calderas contain several streams with the name Olguidakh ».
Other testimonies with less documentation come from hunters who claimed to have seen them. Some protruded from the ground and others covered by vegetation or under water.
What can be deduced is that these strange spheres are made of an unknown metal, very similar to copper. It is believed that its strength and toughness is far superior to what is known.
The curse of the spheres
The few tests that have been done have not been taken into account by the laboratories, since they do not know their origin or composition .
Local explorers assure that as time passes the spheres sink deeper into the ground until they disappear.
A strange fact is that in their surroundings, strange blackish spots appear on the ground and the vegetation does not grow . Reason why the elders of the area curse them.
Related to this is the testimony of Mikhail Koretsky from Vladivostok, who claimed to have been in the place where the spheres are found.
He said that up to 3 times he visited the place; the first time with his father at the age of 10 in 1933. Then he returned in 1947 with a group of young people.
His interest in visiting the place was the possibility of finding gold in the valleys. On the spheres, he managed to make out up to 7 spheres or cauldrons .
The size and the metal were powerfully conspicuous. They tried to scratch them with a fine, sharp chisel on several occasions, without success. The metal they are made of is not damaged .
The little vegetation that existed around the spheres was totally strange , of disproportionate sizes or peculiar colors.
They spent the night in the area and did not immediately feel any strange effects. However, 3 months later, one of the 6 young men lost all his hair and 3 strange sore spots appeared on the left side of Vladivostok’s head . Coincidentally, that side was the one that rested on the ground to sleep.
So far there is no scientific study on the spheres, beyond testimonies made by adventurers. But the spheres of Siberia continue to generate intrigue. Where do they come from or what is their origin? Nobody seems to know.
NASA’s Search for Life: Astrobiology in the Solar System and Beyond
NASA’s Search for Life: Astrobiology in the Solar System and Beyond
Are we alone in the universe? So far, the only life we know of is right here on Earth. But here at NASA, we’re looking.
NASA is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions about life beyond our home planet. From studying the habitability of Mars, probing promising “oceans worlds,” such as Titan and Europa, to identifying Earth-size planets around distant stars, our science missions are working together with a goal to find unmistakable signs of life beyond Earth (a field of science called astrobiology).
Through the study of astrobiology, NASA invests in understanding the origins, evolution, and limits of life on Earth. This work has been important in shaping ideas about where to focus search for life efforts. As NASA explores the solar system, our understanding of life on Earth and the potential for life on other worlds has changed alongside the many discoveries. The study of organisms in extreme environments on Earth, from the polar plateau of Antarctica to the depths of the ocean, have highlighted that life as we know it is highly adaptable, but not always easy to find. The search for life requires great care, and is based in the knowledge we gain by studying life on Earth through the lens of astrobiology. If there's something out there, we may not yet know how to recognize it.
Dive into the past, present, and future of NASA’s search for life in the universe.
Past Missions
Viking 1 and 2
Over 45 years ago, the Viking Project found a place in history when it became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars.
Viking 1 and 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, were NASA’s first attempt to search for life on another planet and thus the first mission dedicated to astrobiology. The mission’s biology experiments revealed unexpected chemical activity in the Martian soil, but provided no clear evidence for the presence of living microorganisms near the landing sites.
Galileo
NASA’s Galileo mission orbited Jupiter for almost eight years, and made close passes by all its major moons. Galileo returned data that continues to shape astrobiology science –– particularly the discovery that Jupiter’s icy moon Europa has evidence of a subsurface ocean with more water than the total amount of liquid water found on Earth. These findings also expanded the search for habitable environments outside of the traditional “habitable zone” of a system, the distance from a star at which liquid water can persist on the surface of a planet.
Cassini
For more than a decade, the Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons –– taking us to astonishing worlds and expanding our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist.
For the first time, astrobiologists were able to see through the thick atmosphere of Titan and study the moon’s surface, where they found lakes and seas filled with liquid hydrocarbons. Astrobiologists are studying what these liquid hydrocarbons could mean for life’s potential on Titan. Cassini also witnessed icy plumes erupting from Saturn’s small moon Enceladus. When flying through the plumes, the spacecraft found evidence of saltwater and organic chemicals. This raised questions about whether habitable environments could exist beneath the surface of Enceladus.
Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers
NASA’s twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, launched towards Mars in 2003 in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. Originally a three-month prime mission, both robotic explorers far outlasted their original missions and spent years collecting data at the surface of Mars.
Spirit and Opportunity were the first mission to prove liquid water, a key ingredient for life, had once flowed across the surface of Mars. Their findings shaped our understanding of Mars’ geology and past environments, and importantly suggested Mars’ ancient environments may once have been suitable for life.
Kepler and K2
NASA’s first planet-hunting mission, the Kepler Space Telescope, paved the way for our search for life in the solar system and beyond. An important part of Kepler’s work was the identification of Earth-size planets around distant stars.
After nine years in deep space, collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets – more planets even than stars – the space telescope retired in 2018. Kepler left a legacy of more than 2,600 exoplanet discoveries, many of which could be promising places for life.
Spitzer
Over its sixteen years in space, the Spitzer Space Telescope evolved into a premier tool for studying exoplanets, using its infrared view of the universe. Spitzer marked a new age in planetary science as one of the first telescopes to directly detect light from the atmospheres of planets outside the solar system, or exoplanets. This enabled scientists to study the composition of those atmospheres and even learn about the weather on these distant worlds.
Spitzer’s infrared instruments allowed scientists to peer into cosmic regions that are hidden from optical telescopes, including dusty stellar nurseries, the centers of galaxies, and newly forming planetary systems. Spitzer’s infrared eyes also enabled astronomers to see cooler objects in space, like failed stars (brown dwarfs), extrasolar planets, giant molecular clouds, and organic molecules that may hold the secret to life on other planets.
Current Missions
Hubble
Since it launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has made immense contributions to astrobiology. Astronomers used Hubble to make the first measurements of the atmospheric composition of extrasolar planets, and Hubble is now vigorously characterizing exoplanet atmospheres with constituents such as sodium, hydrogen, and water vapor. Hubble observations are also providing clues about how planets form, through studies of dust and debris disks around young stars.
Not all of Hubble’s contributions involve distant targets. Hubble has also been used to study bodies within the solar system, including asteroids, comets, planets, and moons, such as the intriguing ocean-bearing icy moons Europa and Ganymede. Hubble has provided invaluable insight into life’s potential in the solar system and beyond.
MAVEN
NASA’s atmosphere-sniffing Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission launched in November 2013 and began orbiting Mars roughly a year later. Since that time, the mission has made fundamental contributions to understanding the history of the Martian atmosphere and climate.
Astrobiologists are working with this atmospheric data to better understand how and when Mars lost its water and identifying periods in Mars’ history when habitable environments were most likely to exist at the planet’s surface.
Mars Odyssey
For two decades, NASA’s Mars Odyssey – the longest-lived spacecraft at the Red Planet – has helped locate ice, assess landing sites, and study the planet’s mysterious moons.
Odyssey has provided global maps of chemical elements and minerals that make up the surface of Mars. These detailed maps are used by astrobiologists to determine the evolution of the Martian environment and its potential for life.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history, it remains a mystery whether water was ever around long enough to provide a habitat for life.
Data from MRO is essential to astrobiologists studying the potential for habitable environments on past and present Mars. Additionally, these studies are important in building climate models for Mars, and for use in comparative planetology studies for the potential habitability of exoplanets that orbit distant stars.
Curiosity Mars Rover
The Curiosity Mars rover is studying whether Mars ever had environments capable of supporting microbial life. In other words, its mission is to determine whether the planet had all of the ingredients life needs – such as water, carbon, and a source of energy – by studying its climate and geology.
It’s been nearly nine years since Curiosity touched down on Mars in 2012, and the robot geologist keeps making new discoveries. Curiosity provided evidence that freshwater lakes filled Gale Grater billions of years ago. Lakes and groundwater persisted for millions of years and contained all the key elements necessary for life, demonstrating Mars was once habitable.
TESS Mission
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is the next step in the search for planets outside of our solar system, including those that could support life. Launched in 2018, TESS is on a mission to survey the entire sky and is expected to discover and catalogue thousands of exoplanets around nearby bright stars.
To date, TESS has discovered more than 120 confirmed exoplanets and more than 2,600 planet candidates. The planet-hunter will continue to find exoplanets targets that NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will study in further detail.
Perseverance Mars Rover
NASA’s newest robot astrobiologist, the Perseverance Mars rover, touched down safely on Mars on February 18, 2021, and is kicking off a new era of exploration on the Red Planet. Perseverance will search for signs of ancient microbial life, which will advance the agency’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars.
What really sets this mission apart is that the rover has a drill to collect core samples of Martian rock and soil, and will store them in sealed tubes for pickup by a future Mars Sample Return mission that would ferry them back to Earth for detailed analysis.
Upcoming Missions
James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb), slated to launch in 2021, will be the premier space-based observatory of the next decade. Webb is a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror.
Webb observations will be used to study every phase in the history of the universe, including planets and moons in our solar system, and the formation of distant solar systems potentially capable of supporting life on Earth-like exoplanets. The Webb telescope will also be capable of making detailed observations of the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, to search for the building blocks of life on Earth-like planets beyond our solar system.
Europa Clipper Mission
Jupiter’s moon Europa may have the potential to harbor life. The Europa Clipper mission will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. Targeting a 2024 launch, the mission will place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter in order to perform a detailed investigation of Europa –– a world that shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust.
Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, though it will investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.
Dragonfly Mission to Titan
The Dragonfly mission will deliver a rotorcraft to visit Saturn’s largest and richly organic moon, Titan. Slated for launch in 2027 and arrival in 2034, Dragonfly will sample and examine dozens of promising sites around Saturn’s icy moon and advance our search for the building blocks of life.
This revolutionary mission will explore diverse locations to look for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth. Titan is an analog to the very early Earth, and can provide clues to how prebiotic chemistry under these conditions may have progressed.
Nancy Grace Roman Telescope
Slated to launch in the mid-2020s, the Roman Space Telescope will have a field of view that is 200 times greater than the Hubble infrared instrument, capturing more of the sky with less observing time. In addition to ground-breaking astrophysics and cosmology, the primary instrument on Roman, the Wide Field Instrument, has a rich menu of exoplanet science. It will perform a microlensing survey of the inner Milky Way that will reveal thousands of worlds orbiting within the habitable zone of their star and farther out, while providing an additional bounty of more than 100,000 transiting exoplanets.
The mission will also be fitted with “starglasses,” a coronagraph instrument that can block out the glare from a star and allow astronomers to directly image giant planets in orbit around it. The coronagraph will provide the first in-space demonstration of technologies needed for future missions to image and characterize smaller, rocky planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. Roman coronagraph will make observations that could contribute to the discovery of new worlds beyond our solar system and advance the study of extrasolar planets that could be suitable for life.
The alien hypothesis isn't mentioned — but it isn't ruled out, either.
Footage of a UFO captured by a U.S. Navy jet.
(Image credit: DOD/U.S. Navy)
The U.S. government needs some more time to get to the bottom of theUFO mystery.
That's the main take-home message from the highly anticipated UFO report released Friday (June 25) by the Pentagon and the U.S. director of national intelligence.
"The limited amount of high-quality reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent of UAP," the report's executive summary states, using the military's now-preferred term for "UFO" (presumably because that older acronym has a lot of baggage attached to it).
There's another feature of the report that will probably draw a lot of attention as well: The nine-page document, which you can read in full here, does not rule out alien spacecraft as a possible explanation for some UAP. However, that's primarily an inferred conclusion as the words "alien" and "extraterrestrial" do not appear in the report.
Over the past few years, we've learned that UFO sightings by U.S. Navy pilots are relatively common occurrences. This revelation broke firmly into the public consciousness in late 2017, thanks in large part to stories published by The New York Times and Politico.
The U.S. military has taken such sightings increasingly seriously, viewing them more and more as a legitimate national security issue. Some of the UAP reported by Navy pilots, after all, appear to be far faster and more maneuverable than their own jets, and the military would like to know if adversary nations possess such technology.
From 2007 to 2012, a Pentagon project called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program investigated such sightings. And in August of last year, the U.S. military established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) for more or less the same purpose.
Then, in December 2020, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — at the time chairman of the Senate's intelligence committee — asked the Pentagon and the director of national intelligence to investigate the spate of mysterious recent UFO sightings and deliver a report on the matter within six months.
That's the report that just came out today. The investigation summarized by the unclassified document, whose authors describe it as a "preliminary assessment," primarily focused on UAP sightings by Navy pilots between November 2004 and March 2021.
Most of the encounters that were analyzed occurred in the last two years, the report states, because the Navy established a standardized reporting mechanism in March 2019, resulting in better and more reliable data.
The UAP investigation examined 144 encounters documented by U.S. government (USG) sensors. Eighty of these involved observations with multiple sensors, suggesting that instrument error is not a plausible explanation in at least those cases.
"Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects, given that a majority of UAP were registered across multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers and visual observation," the report states.
Eighteen of the UAP encounters reported objects moving in unusual or unexpected ways.
"Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion. In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings," the report states.
Such apparently weird behavior "could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis," it adds.
Exactly what's behind the UAP encounters, however, remains completely mysterious — except in a single case, which the investigators determined to be a sighting of a large, deflating balloon.
The investigators concluded that there's probably not a single explanation for all UAP. If and when these encounters are explained, the report states, they'll likely fall into one of five categories: airborne clutter (like the deflating balloon), natural atmospheric phenomena, advanced U.S. government or industry tech, advanced foreign tech, or "other."
This last category is a catch-all that apparently includes the alien hypothesis, though the possible E.T. link is never explicitly stated.
The report states that UAP are likely to remain mysterious without "a more sophisticated analysis," which would probably require additional data, a consolidation of reports from across the U.S. government and streamlined report-processing techniques, among other things.
And, it stresses, there are good reasons to search hard for answers — even if you're not on a hunt for E.T.
"UAP clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security," the report states. "Safety concerns primarily center on aviators contending with an increasingly cluttered air domain. UAP would also represent a national security challenge if they are foreign adversary collection platforms or provide evidence a potential adversary has developed either a breakthrough or disruptive technology."
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.
Pentagon UFO Report: US 'Has No Explanation' for Sightings
Pentagon UFO Report: US 'Has No Explanation' for Sightings
The US government has said it has no explanation for dozens of unidentified flying objects seen by military pilots.
A Pentagon report released on Friday says of 144 reports made about the phenomena since 2004, all but one remain unexplained.
It does not rule out the possibility that the objects are extra-terrestrial.
Congress demanded the report after the US military reported numerous instance of objects seen moving erratically in the sky.
The Pentagon then established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force last August to look into the reports.
The group's job was to "detect, analyse and catalogue" these events, as well as to "gain insight" into the "nature and origins" of UFOs, the Pentagon said.
Did the report reveal anything new?
The interim report released on Friday said most of the 144 reported cases of the "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAP), came in the last two years, after the US Navy put in place a standardised reporting mechanism.
In 143 of the reported cases, they "lack sufficient information in our dataset to attribute incidents to specific explanations".
Crucially, it said there were "no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation" for the aircraft, but also did not rule it out.
UAP "probably lack a single explanation", the report said. Some could be technologies from another nation like China or Russia, others could be natural atmospheric phenomena like ice crystals that could register on radar systems, while the report also suggested some could be "attributable to developments and classified programs by US entities".
The one case they could identify "with high confidence" was identified as "a large, deflating balloon", the report said.
It added that the UAP posed "a clear safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to US national security".
The taskforce is now "looking for novel ways to increase collection" of reports and gather more information, adding that "additional funding" could "further study of the topics laid out in this report".
What evidence is there?
The US Department of Defense released videos of the UAPs in April 2020. It said they had been filmed by the US Navy.
In a CBS News 60 Minutes episode last month, two former Navy pilots discussed seeing an object in the Pacific Ocean that appeared to mirror their movements.
One pilot described it as a "little white Tic-Tac-looking object", referring to the white oblong mints.
"And that's exactly what it looked like, except it was travelling very fast and very erratically and we couldn't anticipate which way it was going to turn or how it was manoeuvring the way that it was, or the propulsion system," witness and former Navy pilot Alex Dietrich told BBC News.
"It didn't have any apparent smoke trail or propulsion. It didn't have any apparent flight control surfaces to manoeuvre in the way that it was manoeuvring."
China stuurt aan op bemande missie naar Mars in 2033
China stuurt aan op bemande missie naar Mars in 2033
RUIMTEVAARTChina wil in 2033 voor het eerst een bemande missie naar Mars sturen. In de jaren daarna volgen nog meer vluchten naar de rode planeet, vertelde het hoofd van een belangrijke Chinese raketfabrikant.
China is bijzonder ambitieus in de ruimte en zette onlangs al een karretje op Mars (zie video hierboven). Er staan bemande vluchten naar die planeet gepland in 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041 en daarna, zei Wang Xiaojun van de Chinese Academie voor Lanceerinstallatie Technologie (CALT) via videoverbinding op een conferentie in Rusland.
De Chinezen zijn van plan eerst robots naar Mars te sturen. Die gaan kijken wat de beste plek is om een basis te bouwen. Ook moeten ze systemen gaan neerzetten om bijvoorbeeld water te winnen en zuurstof en elektriciteit te genereren. Daarvan kunnen menselijke ruimtevaarders later dan gebruikmaken.
Nieuwe technologie
Mensen naar Mars sturen is al een enorme uitdaging, maar daar blijft het niet bij. China moet ook nog een manier bedenken om de ruimtevaarders weer op te halen en terug te brengen naar de aarde. Wang sprak de hoop uit dat nieuwe technologie het mogelijk maakt om in “enkele honderden dagen” heen en weer te vliegen.
China stuurde deze maand ook al ruimtevaarders, dat het taikonauten noemt, naar een eigen ruimtestation in een baan om de aarde. Het land wil ook een maanbasis neerzetten en onbemande missies naar asteroïden en de planeet Jupiter sturen.
NASA is continuing to diagnose a problem with the payload computer on the Hubble Space Telescope after completing another set of tests on June 23 and 24. The payload computer halted on June 13 and the spacecraft stopped collecting science data. The telescope itself and its science instruments remain in good health and are currently in a safe configuration.
The spacecraft has two payload computers, one of which serves as a backup, that are located on the Science Instrument and Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit. There are various pieces of hardware which make up both payload computers, including but not limited to:
a Central Processing Module (CPM), which processes the commands that coordinate and control the science instruments
a Standard Interface (STINT), which bridges communications between the computer's CPM and other components
a communications bus, which contains lines that pass signals and data between hardware
and one active memory module, which stores operational commands to the instruments. There are three additional modules which serve as backups.
Additional tests performed on June 23 and 24 included turning on the backup computer for the first time in space. The tests showed that numerous combinations of these hardware pieces from both the primary and backup payload computer all experienced the same error—commands to write into or read from memory were not successful.
Since it is highly unlikely that all individual hardware elements have a problem, the team is now looking at other hardware as the possible culprit, including the Command Unit/Science Data Formatter (CU/SDF), another module on the SI C&DH. The CU formats and sends commands and data to specific destinations, including the science instruments. The SDF formats the science data from the science instruments for transmission to the ground. The team is also looking at the power regulator to see if possibly the voltages being supplied to hardware are not what they should be. A power regulator ensures a steady constant voltage supply. If the voltage is out of limits, it could cause the problems observed.
Over the next week, the team will continue to assess hardware on the SI C&DH unit to identify if something else may be causing the problem. If the team determines the CU/SDF or the power regulator is the likely cause, they will recommend switching to the backup CU/SDF module and the backup power regulator.
While the release of the Pentagon report on UAPs put a damper on finding new intelligent species from other planets, archeologists are busy finding new species of humans right here on Earth. Shortly after the blockbuster find of a jaw and partial skull of a Neanderthal ancestor named Nesher Ramla Homo in Israel, researchers in China rediscovered a massive skull lost for 90 years that appears to be the cranium of a new Homo species that is the closest relative of modern humans. Does this change everything that was just changed a few days ago?
“The Harbin fossil is one of the most complete human cranial fossils in the world. This fossil preserved many morphological details that are critical for understanding the evolution of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens.”
This discovery is so big, it prompted Qiang Ji, a professor of paleontology of Hebei GEO University, to co-author threeseparatepapers about it in the journal The Innovation. In 1933 in Harbin, a city it north-east China’s Heilongjiang province, the skull was reportedly found by a construction worker working on a bridge on the Songhua river – Songhua means ‘Black Dragon’. Fearing that China’s Japanese occupiers at that time would confiscate it, the man was said to have hidden it in a family well, only telling his family about it right before he died in 2018. Fortunately, they did the right thing and contacted archeologists who recovered the well-preserved skull which, unlike Neanderthals and other ancient Homo species, was as large as modern human heads.
Where will it fit in the evolution of homo sapiens?
“While it shows typical archaic human features, the Harbin cranium presents a mosaic combination of primitive and derived characters setting itself apart from all the other previously-named Homo species.”
Ji explains in a press release that, while its hat size was the same as that of modern humans, the species had larger, almost square eye sockets, thick brow ridges, a wide mouth, and oversized teeth – enough to prompt him to call it a new species he named Homo longi or Dragon Man – ‘long’ means dragon. (Photos here.)
KAI GENG
image captionThe Dragon Man's skull is huge, with a brain size about the same as the average for our species
KAI GENG
image captionArtist's impression of what Dragon Man may have looked like. His skull suggests he was powerfully built and rugged
KAI GENG
image captionThe researchers claim the form of ancient human on the far left may have evolved into the relatively modern Dragon Man on the far right over millions of years
His research team dated the skull to at least 146,000 years in the Middle Pleistocene, a time of migration for other Homo species, which means H. longi and H. sapiens could have been in the area at the same time. Co-author Xijun Ni, a professor of primatology and paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hebei GEO University, thinks the relationship may have been even closer than just a chance meeting in Harbin.
“It is widely believed that the Neanderthal belongs to an extinct lineage that is the closest relative of our own species. However, our discovery suggests that the new lineage we identified that includes Homo longi is the actual sister group of H. sapiens.”
Would Dragon Man want to still be around today?
Ni thinks the divergence time between H. sapiens and the Neanderthals may have occurred over one million years ago, putting it 400,000 years earlier than scientists commonly believe. However, co-author Chris Stringer, research leader at the Natural History Museum in London, isn’t convinced just yet that Dragon Man is indeed a new species or simply a variation of another one found in Dali county in China in 1978.
“I prefer to call it Homo daliensis, but it’s not a big deal. The important thing is the third lineage of later humans that are separate from Neanderthals and separate from Homo sapiens.”
As with other ancient human species, it will be difficult to trace lineage because of all of the inbreeding that took place between them. While the discovery of Dragon Man is probably a “this changes everything” moment, it also reinforces the fact that, when it comes to humans and sex, some things never change.
It is hard to get a lock on the true beginning of the UFO craze in the United States, but there are some old standbys. The Kenneth Arnold sighting of 1947 often crops up, as of course does the supposed UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico that same year. These are the cases that launched the UFO phenomena into the mainstream consciousness And started the whole “flying saucer” fad, but there have been sightings and incidents going back well beyond these commonly held milestones. Indeed, the earlier UFO reports from America predate Arnold or Roswell by quite a good margin, and have served to carve out their own bizarre corner of the UFO landscape.
In 1628, the English Puritan settlers of the New World established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was the second major settlement in New England following the Plymouth Colony. A very important figure at the time was a lawyer named John Winthrop, who was in charge of a huge wave of settlers coming to America, and he would serve as the governor of the colony for 12 years starting from 1629. Winthrop would also be the founder of various other communities along Massachusetts Bay and the Charles River, and was also known as an authoritarian and religiously conservative leader, known to be against pure democracy, once calling it “the meanest and worst of all forms of government.” Despite this, he was still a well-respected leader and politician who has made his mark upon the early history of the United States, with some of his writings serving to influence politicians to this day, but a lesser-known aspect of the man is that he also wrote some pretty weird stuff in his journals, including what is thought to be among the very first UFO accounts in the New World.
John Winthrop
Tucked away between the pages of various mundane accounts of colonial life is a very curious entry dated March 1, 1639, in which Winthrop writes of a very bizarre and outlandish incident involving a man named James Everell, who he describes as a “discreet, sober man.” According to Winthrop, Everell had been rowing with two other men up a section of the Muddy River, about two miles from the village of Charlestown, when they saw a “great light in the sky,” which seemed to dart about back and forth.
When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square; when it ran, it was contracted into the figure of a swine: it ran as swift as an arrow towards Charlton [Charlestown], and so up and down about two or three hours ran as swift as an arrow, darting back and forth between them and the village of Charlestown, about two miles away. They were come down in their lighter about a mile, and, when it was over, they found themselves carried quite back against the tide to the place they came from. Diverse other credible persons saw the same light, after, about the same place.
The men claimed that after the sighting they had inexplicably found themselves transported about one mile upstream, with no idea or memory of how they had gotten there, nor any sense of the time that had passed. This is an odd detail, as it would mark this incident as not only the first report of a UFO in America, but also the first account of missing time and possibly even the first of alien abduction. One of the explanations at the time was that the men had merely seen illumination from a light phenomenon springing from swamp gas, called ignis fatuus, caused by the combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter. Others thought it was just a misidentified meteorite, and one skeptic was a man named James Savage, who added his own footnote to the sighting in a published version of Winthrop’s journal in 1839, saying:
This account of an ignis fatuus [pale light over marshy ground] may easily be believed on testimony less respectable than that which was adduced. Some operation of the devil, or other power beyond the customary agents of nature, was probably imagined by the relaters and hearers of that age, and the wonder of being carried a mile against the tide became important corroboration of the imagination. Perhaps they were wafted [carry lightly], during the two- or three-hours’ astonishment, for so moderate a distance, by the wind; but, if this suggestion be rejected, we might suppose, that the eddy, flowing always, in our rivers, contrary to the tide in the channel, rather than the meteor, carried their lighter back.
In the end, neither swamp gas nor meteorites really seem to adequately explain what the men reported as written in Winthrop’s journal, and considering that it is only mentioned in one entry and happened so long ago, we will probably never know for sure. Interestingly, this isn’t even the only weird such account to be found within Winthrop’s journal. Five years later there is another entry dated January 18, 1644, which makes mention of a light rising from the water that was witnessed by several boatmen near Boston. This light was apparently “in form like a man,” and “went at a small distance to the town, and so to the south point, and there vanished away.” A few weeks after this yet another journal entry mentions another strange report from Boston Harbor, in which Winthrop writes:
A light like the moon arose about the N.E. point in Boston, and met the former at Nottles Island, and there they closed in one, and then parted, and closed and parted diverse times, and so went over the hill in the island and vanished. Sometimes they shot out flames and sometimes sparkles. This was about eight of the clock in the evening, and was seen by many. About the same time, a voice was heard upon the water between Boston and Dorchester, calling out in a most dreadful manner, ‘Boy! Boy! Come away! Come away!’; and it suddenly shifted from one place to another a great distance, about 20 times. It was heard by diverse godly persons. About 14 days after, the same voice in the same dreadful manner was heard by others on the other side of the town towards Nottles Island.
Winthrop would muse that the voice heard was perhaps from the ghost of a sailor who had died several moths prior to the UFO sighting when his ship had exploded when gunpowder had accidentally been ignited. Whatever the case may be, it is a pretty bizarre report, and it is hard to know what might be going on here. Once again, it only appears in one entry and is never brought up again, leaving it firmly and forever in the realm of speculation. It is all quite the strange case and series of events, and we are left to try and make sense of it all. Was any of this real, and is so what was it? Or was this just a gag thrown into an important historical figure’s journal. And if so, why? It is all certainly a bizarre historical oddity, which has definite repercussions on the UFO discussion and which many are not aware even exist at all.
Mars, our nearest planetary neighbor in the Solar-System, is approximately forty million miles from the Earth and one hundred and forty two million miles from the Sun. Not particularly big in size, it is dwarfed by all of the planets except for Mercury. At the other end of the spectrum, however, Mars is home to the gigantic Olympus Mons, which is the biggest volcano in the entire Solar-System. The huge amount of iron oxide on Mars gives it a noticeable – famous, even – reddish color, hence its memorable nickname: the Red Planet. It has a blood-freezing average temperature of -81 degrees F, and its decidedly harsh atmosphere is comprised almost exclusively of carbon dioxide; aside, that is, from a small amount of water vapor. There is no denying the fact that dusty, rocky, desert-like Mars is a very interesting world: for one thing, it has polar ice-caps. And those ice-caps are comprised of water. Yes, good old water; just like ours. And, there’s no denying that mars has its mysteries. Let’s begin.
As NASA noted in 1997: “Launched November 7, 1996, Mars Global Surveyor became the first successful mission to the red planet in two decades. After a year and a half spent trimming its orbit from a looping ellipse to a circular track around the planet, the spacecraft began its prime mapping mission in March 1999. It has continued to observe the planet from a low-altitude, nearly polar orbit ever since.” Not only that, NASA added that Mars has “very repeatable weather patterns” and that a “panoply of high-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor has documented gullies and debris flows suggesting that occasional sources of liquid water, similar to an aquifer, were once present at or near the surface of the planet.”
That same panoply revealed something else; something amazing, if the data was not being misinterpreted. Tucked away among a wealth of less controversial images from the Mars Global Surveyor were a number of astounding images that appeared to show nothing less than vast areas of vegetation; trees, even. They looked eerily like what on Earth are termed Banyan Trees. They are, essentially, trees that grow and thrive by living on other trees. It wasn’t long before the media – and Arthur C. Clarke – caught wind of these extraordinary photographs and what they seemed to show. The debate still goes on. Some say trees. NASA says “no.”
Now, let’s address the matters of Mars’ giant-sized spiders. Yes, you did read that right. But, no, we’re not talking about something like a wild plot from a 1950s sci-fi-driven Godzilla-type movie. We’re actually talking about something far more exciting. It’s a story that dates back to 1999, which was when the Mars Global Surveyor photographed some seriously strange “things” on the surface of Mars. “Spidery” is the best way to describe them. One person, more than any other, who took up the challenge to solve the mystery is Greg Orme. Someone who has a deep passion for the mysteries of Mars, Orme began his research into Martian anomalies in 1994. Since then, he has written a book, Why We Must Go to Mars: The King’s Valley, and a paper on those mysterious spiders for the journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Orme’s voluminous collection of photos of Martian anomalies is highly impressive. Mac Tonnies was excited by Orme’s work and went on to describe the “Black Spiders,” as they became known, as resembling “nerve ganglia” or “ground-hugging trees” within “a macabre forest.” Such descriptions are undeniably appropriate. NASA has a very different view on the spiders of Mars: “…these aren’t actual spiders. Called ‘araneiform terrain,’ they are spider-like radiating mounds that form when carbon dioxide ice below the surface heats up and releases.”
It was in 1998 that the Mars Global Surveyor photographed what looks very much a monolith on the surface of Mars’ moon Phobos. The controversy surrounding the eye-opening image continues to annoy NASA and to amaze seekers of Martians and those who conclude that Mars was once a world filled with life. It should be noted, though, that Phobos’ monolith is not alone. That’s right: Phobos has a rival in the weird stakes. Say”hello” to nothing less than the monolith of Mars. That’s right: both Phobos and its parent planet appear to have on their surfaces what seem to be obelisk-shaped stones. It’s no surprise that the controversy surrounding the ““object”” seen on the Red Planet reverberated all around the world when the story reached the eager ears and eyes of the media.
On September 24, 2015, the U.K.’s Express newspaper ran an article titled “Has Stonehenge been found on Mars? Ancient ‘alien’ stone circle discovered on Red Planet.” That’s quite a headline, to say the very least. “Mr. Enigma,” who highlighted the breaking story at his YouTube channel said that what appeared to be in evidence on the surface of Mars was “a perfectly circular platform with a strange cluster of stones emerging from it.” He added: “I know the formation is not an exact match, nor am I saying it is, indeed, a Stonehenge set up. I am just saying there is something strange about this area and it looks very much like the mysterious ancient stone circle of Stonehenge.
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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.