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.
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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 Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
15-07-2022
The Mysteries of Stonehenge and Other Ancient Stone Circles: From UFOs to Strange Creatures
The Mysteries of Stonehenge and Other Ancient Stone Circles: From UFOs to Strange Creatures
Some ancient structures are more well-known than others. There’s no doubt, however, that Stonehenge is very near the top of the list. I should stress that although we have a great deal of data on the legendary creation itself, much of the story is still very much shrouded in enigmas, folklore and myth. Stonehenge was, most archaeologists suggest, constructed roughly around 3,100 BC. In other words, around five thousand years ago. That’s not the full story, though: there is clear evidence that the area on which Stonehenge stands now – the English county of Wiltshire - was used by the people of an even earlier era, possibly even to as far back as 8,000 BC. As for when Stonehenge was first studied to a fairly significant degree, the English Heritage comes to the point: “The first known excavation at Stonehenge, in the center of the monument, was undertaken in the 1620s by the Duke of Buckingham, prompted by a visit by King James I. The king subsequently commissioned the architect Inigo Jones to conduct a survey and study of the monument. Jones argued that Stonehenge was built by the Romans.” Jones was way off course.
(Nick Redfern) Stonehenge, almost magical
Merrily Harpur, the author of Mystery Big Cats, has logged a fascinating account from a man named George Price, who had an undeniably bizarre experience on Salisbury Plain, England in September 2002, while then serving with the British Army. It was at the height of a military exercise, Harpur was told, and Price was a ‘commander in the turret of our tank, and we were advancing to contact our warriors’. Suddenly, Price’s attention was drawn to a ‘large, ape-like figure’ that ‘looked scared because of the noise from the engines and tanks were moving at speed all around." Although the beast was not in sight for long - it raced for the safety of ‘nearby prickly shrubs’ - an amazed Price could see that ‘its fur was similar to an orang-utan in colour...its height was impressive...[and] it seemed to run with its back low, i.e. bent over’.
Salisbury Plain is not just home to military manoeuvres, however. It is also home to one of the world’s most famous ancient stone circles: Stonehenge. While most students of the legendary structure conclude it had its beginnings somewhere around 3,100 BC, evidence of human activity in the area has been found suggesting a presence as far back as 8,000 BC. And a degree of that same presence is indicative of ritualistic activity, even at that incredibly early age. But, regardless of when, precisely, large-scale construction of Stonehenge actually began, what can be said with certainty is that it is comprised of a ditch, a bank, and what are known as the Aubrey holes - round pits in the chalk that form a huge circle. And then, of course, there are those massive stone blocks.
No less than eighty-two of Stonehenge’s so-called bluestones, some of which weigh up to four-tons, are believed to have been transported from the Preseli Mountains in southwest Wales to the Wiltshire site, a distance of 240-miles. Although, the actual number of stones is in dispute since, today, barely more than forty remain. Certainly, such a mammoth operation to move such huge stones would be no easy feat in the modern era, never mind thousands of years ago. And yet, somehow, this incredible and mystifying task was successfully achieved. Stonehenge’s thirty giant Sarsen stones, meanwhile, were brought from the Marlborough Downs, a distance of around twenty-five miles. This might sound like a much easier task than having to haul the bluestones all the way from Wales. Hardly. As noted, the Welsh stones are in the order of four-tons. Some of the Sarsen stones from the downs, however, weigh in at twenty-five-tons, the heaviest around fifty. And people wonder why so much mystery and intrigue surrounds the creation of Stonehenge.
(Nick Redfern) A legendary place
Now, let's take a look at a mysterious aircraft around Stonehenge. In March 1997, the UK Independent newspaper ran an article titled "Secret US spyplane crash may be kept under wraps." In part, it stated: "A top-secret United States spyplane which flies on the edge of space at five times the speed of sound crashed at the British experimental airbase at Boscombe Down, Hampshire, in September 1994, according to a report in a leading military aviation journal. The SAS [Special Air Service], the report said, was scrambled to throw a cordon round the wreckage, which was flown back to the US two days later. The hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft, called Astra or Aurora, is believed to have been developed in the 1980s as a secret US government 'black programme.'" The account of the crash at Boscombe Down is made all the more intriguing by a story that was published in the UK's Salisbury Times newspaper on August 23, 1994 - just about a month before all hell broke loose at Boscombe Down. The location: the aforementioned A303 road. Interestingly, the A303 road goes by Stonehenge. The article states:
"A green flying saucer hovered beside the A303 road at Deptford last week - according to a lorry driver who rushed to Salisbury police station in the early hours of the morning. The man banged on the station door in Wilton Road at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday after spotting the saucer suspended in mid-air. 'He was 100 per cent convinced it was a UFO,' said Inspector Andy Shearing. The man said it was bright green and shaped like a triangle with rounded corners. It also had green and white flashing lights. Other drivers had seen it and were flashing their car lights at him. A patrol car took the driver back to the spot but there was no trace of the flying saucer. Inspector Shearing said police had been alerted about similar sightings in the same area in the past."
Although the Times called the object a "flying saucer," the description of it being "shaped like a triangle with rounded corners," sounds very much like the TR-3A. It's also a near-perfect description of equally unidentified aircraft that have become known within Ufology as "Flying Triangles." But here's the most important issue: the witness reported that the object he saw was "suspended in mid-air." This is particularly fascinating, as there are longstanding rumors that the TR-3A has hovering capabilities. It should be noted, too, that other stone circles in the United Kingdom are shrouded in mystery and high-strangeness.
Reports of hairy wild men absolutely abound throughout the English county of Staffordshire, but there is one area of the county that seems to attract a great deal more than its fair share of such activity. Its name is deeply familiar to one and all throughout the area as Castle Ring. Located near to the village of Cannock Wood, Castle Ring is an Iron Age structure commonly known as a Hill Fort. It is 801 feet above sea level, and its main ditch and bank enclosure is fourteen feet high and, at its widest point, 853 feet across. It has to be admitted that very little is known about the mysterious and long-forgotten people who built Castle Ring, except to say that they were already in residence at the time of the Roman invasion of A.D. 43 and remained there until approximately A.D. 50. Some suggest that the initial foundations of Castle Ring may even have been laid as early as 500 B.C. Moreover, historians suggest that the creators of Castle Ring might have represented a powerful body of people that held firm sway over certain other parts of Staffordshire, as well as significant portions of both Shropshire and Cheshire at the time in question.
(Nick Redfern) Castle Ring
On May 1, 2004, Alec Williams was driving passed the car-park that sits at the base of Castle Ring when he witnessed a hair-covered, man-like entity lumber across the road and into the trees. A shocked Williams stated that the sighting lasted barely a few seconds, but that he was able to make out its amazing form: "It was about seven feet tall, with short, shiny, dark brown hair, a large head and had eyes that glowed bright red." Interestingly, Williams stated that as he slowed his vehicle down, he witnessed something akin to a camera flash coming from the depths of the woods and heard a cry that he described as a howl.
Now, for some fascinating information from Jon Downes of the U.K.'s Center for Fortean Zoology. Jon reveals: "One of the most credible reports brought to my attention came from a family that had a daylight encounter with a large and hairy beast in the Peak District in 1991. This all occurred as they were driving near Ladybower Reservoir on the Manchester to Sheffield road. On a hillside, one of the family members had spotted a large figure walking down towards the road. But this was no man. Well, they brought the car to a screeching halt and came face to face with an enormous creature about eight feet tall, that was covered in long brown hair with eyes just like a man’s. Its walk was different, too, almost crouching. But just as the man-beast reached the road, another car pulled up behind the family and blasted their horn – apparently wondering why they had stopped in the middle of the road. Suddenly, the creature – which I presume was startled by the noise - ran across the road, jumped over a wall that had a ten-foot drop on the other side, and ran off, disappearing into the woods. Now, I know that the family has returned to the area but has seen nothing since."
It’s also worth noting that, with regard to the sighting of the large and lumbering beast that was seen near the Peak District-based Ladybower Reservoir in November 1991, less than one mile away, on Stanton Moor, stands a stone circle called the Nine Ladies. It was constructed during the Bronze Age era, and is a place at which, every year, druids and pagans alike celebrate the summer solstice. For sure, a wealth of mysteries to resolve.
One of the more interesting facets of the recent revelations of UFO encounters between US military pilots and UFOs – starting with the 2004 USS Nimitz incidents – are the reports of transmedium crafts that fly at impossible speeds and then enter and exit the water seamlessly, without effort, damage or loss of capabilities. Could this be an indication of underwater alien bases? In late 2021, an unusual story was unearthed about an alleged visit by Albert Einstein to Area 51 to allegedly view extraterrestrial spacecrafts and aliens – alive or dead. The story was told by a student assistant of Einstein who accompanied the renowned genius on his inspections. Now, a new documentary reveals that the student assistant claimed to have interviewed at least one of the aliens … and was told the ETs live under the ocean. Is it true? Could these be the same aliens flying the transmedium crafts seen by military pilots? Let’s see if this latest dot is legitimate and should be connected to any of the others in this truly unusual picture.
“If what Shirley said is right, and as she tells it is accurate, it is more likely that aliens come from somewhere under the sea or caves or something like that, rather than another planet.”
Do they look like this?
In an interview with The Daily Star, Anna Whitty, the author of “UFO's: A Fundamental Truth,” reveals she has been researching Dr. Shirley Wright, the student assistant of Albert Einstein (they met while she was a student at Yale University) who passed away in 2015. In 2021, longtime UFO researcher Anthony 'Tony' Bragalia reviewed an audio recording of an interview by MUFON researcher Sheila Franklin (who was given the assignment by noted UFO researcher Leonard Stringfield) of “Edith Simpson” – a pseudonym Stringfield had given Wright in another research article to protect her identity. Unfortunately, only the first half of the interview survived, but in the first half Wright describes attending a conference in Chicago with Einstein, being invited to fly to an undisclosed location which turned out to be Area 51, seeing what they believed was an extraterrestrial craft, and then viewing what were allegedly five alike five-foot-tall corpses “dressed in tight-fitting suits” which she heard “had no navels or genitalia." Finally, Wright said they were taken to another isolated building where she claims they saw one being that was still alive but in pain, and she later heard the creature had survived.
“I was just told to keep my mouth shut."
Well, it’s obvious that Shirly Wright didn’t keep her mouth shut, and Anna Whitty has apparently either found another interview or dug deeper into the one recorded by Sheila Franklin – her exclusive interview with The Daily Star does not say where Whitty received her information on what Wright saw at Area 51. It is possible that was revealed in the two hour documentary, “Roswell 75: The Final Evidence,” on the BLAZE network. However, Whitty shared a blockbuster piece of information with the Daily Star:
“She made the claim based of the testimony given by Dr Shirley Wright, a former colleague of Albert Einstein, who said that she had interviewed the aliens found at the site of the Roswell crash in 1947.”
That’s right – according to Whitty, Shirley Wright not only accompanied Albert Einstein to Area 51 to view the corpses of dead aliens and another which was injured but living, but Wright apparently was able to interview the being – and possibly more than one, since the Daily Star quotes her as saying “aliens” -- who somehow knew English or communicated in some other manner. The blockbuster reveals of Wright keep on coming, as Whitty says she claimed that the aliens asked “how far into the ocean” humans had explored.
“If what Shirley said is right, and as she tells it is accurate, it is more likely that aliens come from somewhere under the sea or caves or something like that, rather than another planet.”
Or do they look like this?
At this point, the UFO book author side of Anna Whitty takes over as she speculates what the comments of Shirley Wright about the aliens coming from under the oceans might mean. Her interpretation is that these “aliens” are actually Earth beings who moved underwater at some point in Earth’s history – a move which protected them from what Whitty says happens to the rest of us every few thousand years.
“It makes sense, because there's a lot of evidence on the planet that there has been a massive cataclysm every few thousand years.”
That might make sense if Whitty is referring to climate change events like ice ages or warmings. However, she then defines “cataclysm” as “humans on the surface are being reset to the Stone Age every several thousands of years.” That doesn’t match up with known human history, although it could certainly have been possible over a few ‘million’ years. Whitty thinks these ancient Earth beings escaped this “reset” and the result is that they are far ahead of us in technology … and perhaps even in body and mind capabilities.
“It's also possible that maybe they aren't beings at all, but they can make you think you're seeing what you're not seeing.”
That is an interesting conclusion and one that would be difficult to prove, especially since Wright, Einstein and the major participants and witnesses from that alleged visit to Area 51 are deceased. Or are they? Could one or more of the alleged aliens still be alive? Did this interview conducted by Shirley Wright give any more clues to where they are hiding in the ocean? Are they in any way connected to the transmedium UAPs?
“The pattern appears to be that it wants to affect some kind of behavioral change . . .not for any contact with it to be about what it is. If we know what it is, we can only think about ourselves and what we are. It wants us to think about what we are, not what it is – maybe they want to just help along our development, because they've already got a really good understanding of the universe and how everything works.”
Here's a hint … Anna Whitty’s conclusion sounds like the usual apocalyptic doomsayer warning that we really need to clean up our act because these underwater beings, which might be aliens or perhaps even be us on a different evolutionary path, want us to. It is a sad commentary that we need aliens – real or imagined – to tell us what we should already know.
James Webb-telescoop toont volgens Vaticaan "buitengewone kracht" van God aan
De met verstomming slaande foto's die de James Webb Space Telescope van sterrenstelsels kort na de Big Bang heeft gemaakt, tonen de "buitengewone kracht" van God aan alsmede zijn "liefde voor schoonheid". Dat heeft de Vaticaanse Sterrenwacht vandaag gezegd.
"We zijn erg enthousiast over de nieuwe beelden van de Webb Telescoop! Deze beelden zijn prachtig. (...) Het is een verrukkelijke glimp van wat we in de toekomst over het universum kunnen leren", zei observatoriumdirecteur Guy Consolmagno in een verklaring.
"De wetenschap achter deze telescoop is onze poging om de intelligentie die God ons heeft gegeven te gebruiken om de logica van het universum te begrijpen. Omdat het universum niet zou werken als het niet logisch was”, voegde hij eraan toe. Maar het universum, zo beklemtoonde de directeur ook, "is niet alleen logisch, het is ook mooi". "Het is het werk van God dat aan ons is geopenbaard, en daarin kunnen we zowel zijn buitengewone kracht als zijn liefde voor schoonheid zien.”
Guy Consolmagno zegt dat hij bijzonder "opgetogen" is het eerste teken van waterdamp in de atmosfeer van een exoplaneet te ontdekken, "150 jaar nadat pater Angelo Secchi een prisma voor de lens van zijn telescoop plaatste op het dak van de kerk van St. Ignatius in Rome, en de eerste spectrale metingen van de atmosferen van de planeten van ons eigen zonnestelsel uitvoerde”.
Evolutie
De goddelijke oorsprong van het universum blijft het onveranderlijke credo van de katholieke kerk, maar haar wetenschappelijke doctrine is duidelijk geëvolueerd in de afgelopen eeuw. Zo had paus Johannes Paulus II in 1992 Galileo Galilei definitief gerehabiliteerd. De wetenschapper was in 1633 veroordeeld door de Romeinse rechters van de inquisitie omdat hij de stelling van de Poolse wetenschapper Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) had gesteund, volgens welke de aarde rond zichzelf en de zon draait.
Bob Lazar is the most important entity in exposing the alleged secret activities related to extraterrestrials and UFOs happening at Area-51. He is widely recognized as the Area-51 whistle-blower who revealed aliens and the government worked together on secret bases in 1989. Thirty years ago, he claimed to have worked as an engineer near Area-51 at a hangar called S-4. There, as he claims, UFOs with tiny alien seats were made out of a material called Element 115.
The story of Element 115 gets weirder when Bob claimed that the FBI raided his business. His followers found this to be very suspicious, and have theorized that the FBI was attempting to recover samples of Element 115 that Lazar took from Area-51.
According to Motherboard, the FBI did actually raid Bob’s United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies, which sells radioactive ore and isotopes, X-Ray components, electrical items, high-powered magnets, lab equipment, jet engines, and UFO T-shirts.
This claim was revealed in Jeremy Corbell’s documentary “Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers.” Lazar and the documentary frame the raid as an attempt by the U.S. government to seize alien fuel that Lazar allegedly stole from Area-51. But the documents obtained by Motherboard had nothing to do with Element 115.
Corbell told Express.co.uk: “Lazar did have a stabilized version of Element 115 in his possession at one time. He did tests on it – and filmed the element bending light due to its unique gravitational characteristics. A handful of witnesses observed these tests – including investigative reporter, George Knapp. There is footage of one of these tests in my film. Lazar was able to acquire some of the element when it was being machined at Area 51.”
Someone can still question the credibility of Bob Lazar, but there are many authentic people to confirm his credibility. George Knapp stated that he had spoken with former employees who worked with Bob and verified that he was a physicist, however, these claims were made informally and off the record. Knapp said that those employees were friends of Lazar’s and only specifically named Joe Vaninetti as being one who confirmed it. Vaninetti had a significant interest in UFOs and was involved in UFO research with Bob, both before and after Bob claimed to have worked at S-4. (Click here to read more about Lazar’s credibility)
Element 115: An Alien Fuel?
According to Bob, this alien artifact is a highly radioactive element that allows alien spacecraft to traverse the cosmos, impervious to gravity’s effects. Lazar has been claiming for years that he worked on the material at Area-51 and that it can be used to power spacecraft.
“It’s a superheavy element,” Lazar once told Larry King. “It’s a unique element. When it’s exposed to radiation, it produces its own gravitational field—its own antigravitational field, and it’s what’s used to lift and propel the craft.” The UFO fuel is stable and did not decay, according to Lazar. He said that the fuel creates gravity waves to propel the UFO.
In his initial TV interviews (check the video below) with George Knapp back in 1989, Bob first discussed Element 115 and how it was used in the propulsion system of the alien craft hidden at the S-4 facility. He never denied or confirmed if aliens had given them Element 115 but he told that they had 500 pounds (227 kg) for reverse engineering purposes.
In 2014, Bob did another interview with Knapp where he discussed Element 115 and how it is created both synthetically and naturally through a supernova, which is the cataclysmic explosion of a star.
Bob Lazar further explained in his interviews that bombarding Element 115 with protons leads to it creating Element 116 (Livermorium), which immediately decays and produces antimatter. The antimatter collides with normal particles creating a massive energy burst, which can be used for propulsion. It is quite likely Element 115 could also be the famed exotic matter that is needed to create traversable wormholes that physicists such as Drs. Kip Thorne and Carl Sagan have speculated, and was the subject of a recently leaked Defense Intelligence Reference Document titled “Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative Energy.”
In September 2020, Corbell shared a photo of Lazar holding Aerogel that was used to package Element 115 for transport. He said that he could not include this part in his Netflix documentary but promised to publish the clip on his YouTube channel, discussing Element 115 and how he observed it functioning (Editor’s note: I searched throughout Corbell’s channel but could not find a clip explaining Element 115).
This image features Bob Lazar and the Aerogel that was used to package the ELEMENT 115 for transport. There has been a lot of confusion about this – and about the function of ELEMENT 115 in alien spacecraft. And this is a core aspect of what Bob Lazar has told you. Image credit: Jeremy Corbell
“It’s reported that a distortion occurs – a gravitational distortion. This is highlighted by how these vehicles appear to negate the effects of inertia. You’ve heard it thousands of times from credible witnesses regarding their UFO encounters… ‘It shot off at an IMPOSSIBLE speed.’ Cmdr. Fravor & Cmdr. Select Underwood used those exact words to me when describing their encounters with the TIC TAC UFO. The craft displayed instantaneous acceleration – and was immediately gone from both sight and radar. Even the Princeton with it’s SPY-1 radar system confirmed this in real-time.
So what’s up with these transmedium machines – these UFOs that fly with impunity in our airspace? Maybe ELEMENT 115 can give us a glimpse into the UFO presence on Planet Earth,” Corbell wrote.
Astronomers haven’t found aliens on Mars so far, but if they exist, they might know how to cook some good food. Jokes aside for now! The Perseverance rover that NASA sent towards the Red Planet in mid-2020 has taken a picture of a weird object that resembles spaghetti, according to CNET.
There’s no use rushing to a NASA rocket hoping to go to Mars in order to eat your lunch! We’re pretty sure anybody can find something better to eat on our planet. The newfound unusual structure from the Martian soil is definitely not spaghetti or any kind of alien organism. It’s most likely just debris from a space mission. What’s even more amusing, the structure could belong to the Perseverance mission itself! What a bummer!
Otherwise, NASA’s Perseverance rover has already achieved some important milestones while roaming across Mars. Only for the 2021 review can we mention more than 100,000 images brought back to Earth, over 50GB of science data gathered, the longest drive for a day spent on the Red Planet, and more.
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory spoke about the purpose of Perseverance as follows:
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover is characterizing the planet’s geology and past climate and paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. Perseverance is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Back in March, we shared the news of NASA’s Perseverance rover carrying an “uninvited guest” on board. Although it created a bit of a fuss, and some might have been thinking that astronomers had finally found alien life, it was nothing else but a little rock.
NASA still hopes to send the first humans to Mars by the end of the decade,
DNA from fossils unearthed in southern China dating back 14,000 years suggests Native Americans have East Asian roots
DNA from fossils unearthed in southern China dating back 14,000 years suggests Native Americans have East Asian roots
Fossils found in China demonstrate that Native Americans may have had genetic roots in East Asia
The data will help us understand 'how humans change their physical appearance by adapting to local environments over time,' study co-author Bing Su says
DNA from ancient fossils in southern China has revealed that Native Americans may have roots in East Asia.
Scientists compared the genetic information of the Late Pleistocene era fossils to those from humans worldwide.
They found that the bones belonged to an individual that was linked deeply to the East Asian ancestry of Native Americans.
Archaeologists had been able to successfully sequence the genome of the fossils.
Scroll down for video
Researchers for the first time successfully sequenced the genome of fossils from the Late Pleistocene.
Pictured above is a lateral view of the skull unearthed from Red Deer Cave
'Ancient DNA technique is a really powerful tool,' Bing Su, a study co-author who works at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says.
'It tells us quite definitively that the Red Deer Cave people were modern humans instead of an archaic species, such as Neanderthals or Denisovans, despite their unusual morphological features.'
They proposed that some of the southern East Asian people traveled north along the coast of present-day China through Japan and eventually reached Siberia.
'It tells us quite definitively that the Red Deer Cave people were modern humans instead of an archaic species, such as Neanderthals or Denisovans, despite their unusual morphological features,' Bing Su, a study co-author, says.
Pictured is the reproduced portrait of the Red Deer Cave People or Mengziren
It's believed that they then crossed the Bering Strait between Asia and North America to become the first people to arrive in the New World.
The work that led to these insights began more than thirty years ago.
At that time, a group of archaeologists in China discovered a large set of bones in the Maludong, or Red Deer Cave, in southern China’s Yunnan Province.
Archaeologists used carbon dating - which uses the relative proportions of the carbon isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-14 to determine the age of organic matter - to show that the fossils were from the Late Pleistocene about 14,000 years ago.
The discovery dates back to work that began several decades ago when archaeologists found a large set of bones in the Maludong, or Red Deer Cave, pictured above
This was a period of time when modern humans had migrated to many parts of the world.
Researchers recovered a hominin skull cap from the cave that had characteristics of both modern humans and archaic humans.
For instance, the shape of the skull resembled that of Neanderthals, and its brain appeared to be smaller than that of modern humans.
As a result, some anthropologists had thought the skull probably belonged to an unknown archaic human species that lived until fairly recently or to a hybrid population of archaic and modern humans.
The finding contributes to our understanding of the rich genetic diversity of hominins living at that time in southern East Asia.
Su says that it suggests that early humans who first arrived in eastern Asia had initially settled in the south before some of them moved to the north.
'It’s an important piece of evidence for understanding early human migration,' he explains.
'Such data will not only help us paint a more complete picture of how our ancestors migrate but also contain important information about how humans change their physical appearance by adapting to local environments over time, such as the variations in skin color in response to changes in sunlight exposure,' Su says.
The team's findings were published July 14 in the journal Current Biology.
DNA: A COMPLEX CHEMICAL THAT CARRIES GENETIC INFORMATION IN ALMOST ALL ORGANISMS
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a complex chemical in almost all organisms that carries genetic information.
It is located in chromosomes the cell nucleus and almost every cell in a person's body has the same DNA.
It is composed of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
The structure of the double-helix DNA comes from adenine binding with thymine and cytosine binding with guanine.
Human DNA consists of three billion bases and more than 99 per cent of those are the same in all people.
The order of the bases determines what information is available for maintaining an organism (similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet form sentences).
The DNA bases pair up with each other and also attach to a sugar molecule and phosphate molecule, combining to form a nucleotide.
These nucleotides are arranged in two long strands that form a spiral called a double helix.
The double helix looks like a ladder with the base pairs forming the rungs and the sugar and phosphate molecules forming vertical sidepieces.
A new form of DNA was recently discovered inside living human cells for the first time.
Named i-motif, the form looks like a twisted 'knot' of DNA rather than the well-known double helix.
It is unclear what the function of the i-motif is, but experts believe it could be for 'reading' DNA sequences and converting them into useful substances.
DNA From Mysterious Hominin In China Suggests Native Americans’ East Asian Roots
DNA From Mysterious Hominin In China Suggests Native Americans’ East Asian Roots
Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - For the first time, researchers successfully sequenced the genome of ancient human fossils from the Late Pleistocene in southern China. The data, published July 14 in the journal Current Biology, suggests that the mysterious hominin belonged to an extinct maternal branch of modern humans that might have contributed to the origin of Native Americans
The reproduced portrait of the Red Deer Cave People or Mengziren.
Credit: Xueping Ji
"Ancient DNA technique is a really powerful tool," Su says. "It tells us quite definitively that the Red Deer Cave people were modern humans instead of an archaic species, such as Neanderthals or Denisovans, despite their unusual morphological features," he says.
The researchers compared the genome of these fossils to that of people from around the world. They found that the bones belonged to an individual that was linked deeply to the East Asian ancestry of Native Americans. Combined with previous research data, this finding led the team to propose that some of the southern East Asia people had traveled north along the coastline of present-day eastern China through Japan and reached Siberia tens of thousands of years ago. They then crossed the Bering Strait between the continents of Asia and North America and became the first people to arrive in the New World.
The journey to making this discovery started over three decades ago, when a group of archaeologists in China discovered a large set of bones in the Maludong, or Red Deer Cave, in southern China's Yunnan Province. Carbon dating showed that the fossils were from the Late Pleistocene about 14,000 years ago, a period of time when modern humans had migrated to many parts of the world.
The excavation site of Maludong (Red Deer Cave).
Credit: Xueping Ji
From the cave, researchers recovered a hominin skull cap with characteristics of both modern humans and archaic humans. For example, the shape of the skull resembled that of Neanderthals, and its brain appeared to be smaller than that of modern humans. As a result, some anthropologists had thought the skull probably belonged to an unknown archaic human species that lived until fairly recently or to a hybrid population of archaic and modern humans.
In 2018, in collaboration with Xueping Ji, an archaeologist at Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Bing Su at Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues successfully extracted ancient DNA from the skull. Genomic sequencing shows that the hominin belonged to an extinct maternal lineage of a group of modern humans whose surviving decedents are now found in East Asia, the Indo-China peninsula, and Southeast Asia islands.
The finding also shows that during the Late Pleistocene, hominins living in southern East Asia had rich genetic and morphologic diversity, the degree of which is greater than that in northern East Asia during the same period. It suggests that early humans who first arrived in eastern Asia had initially settled in the south before some of them moved to the north, Su says.
"It's an important piece of evidence for understanding early human migration," he says.
Next, the team plans to sequence more ancient human DNA by using fossils from southern East Asia, especially ones that predated the Red Deer Cave people.
"Such data will not only help us paint a more complete picture of how our ancestors migrate but also contain important information about how humans change their physical appearance by adapting to local environments over time, such as the variations in skin color in response to changes in sunlight exposure," Su says.
Millionaire buys 25-foot-tall Cold War-era radar system to 'hunt UFOs': Founder of autonomous car company worth up to $250 million asks the public what he should do with the technology once it's brought back to life
Millionaire buys 25-foot-tall Cold War-era radar system to 'hunt UFOs': Founder of autonomous car company worth up to $250 million asks the public what he should do with the technology once it's brought back to life
While most millionaires spend their fortune on pricey cars and luxurious boats, William Sachiti (inset center) used his fortune to purchase a Cold War era radar station in Norwich, England. Sachiti, who is a British entrepreneur, purchased a network of private roads along a 250,000 square mile to test his ‘spaceship, alien-looking’ autonomous vehicles, but the radar system was an added bonus.
‘UFOs obviously,’ he jokingly told DailyMail.com in response to being asked what he plans on doing with the gigantic 25-foot-tall machine that once alerted the British army to oncoming nuclear missiles. ‘I will find a way to bring this to life and let the people choose the best way to use it,' he said. ‘If people want to hunt UFOS, I guess it is hunting UFOs.’ The massive system is located on the Royal Air Force Neatishead, an air defense station in England. In 2010, it was advertised for sale with an asking price of $4,780,000 – Sachiti declined to say how much he paid for the location.
During a Zoom interview, Sachiti (pictured) gave DailyMail.com a close up look at the coveted radar system that is about 65 feet wide and sits on a large pedestal. ‘This thing could do for others what Star Trek did for me as a kid,’ he said, noting that it will take about two years until the radar system is up and running. He reached out on Reddit for help on bringing it back to life, which he says is part of his belief in the power of crowdsourcing. Sachiti is a roboticist, artificial intelligence expert and serial entrepreneur who uses his free time to solve the problems of the world.
His prized possession, however, is his company Kar-go, which uses self-driving cars to deliver packages. ‘Think of it as a post office sorter on wheels. It drives to an address, opens its trunk and out comes a package,’ Sachiti said, sharing a look at the small, green robotic machine with DailyMail.com. ‘It only delivers small parcels because they make up 80 percent of the parcels shipped.’
The autonomous, four-wheeled vehicle sits low to the ground and features an aerodynamic look that is colored green and black, along with a license plate on the front and back. Sachiti told said that it is not just the vehicle he is focused on, it is the supercomputer ‘brain’ inside of it. The system is being used by the Royal Air Force and by a company that monitors 25 percent of UK roads. ‘They are using our car vision to detect potholes and depth,’ he said. Elon Musk’s Tesla announced on Monday that its vehicles are now scanning for potholes – a feature that came much later than Sachiti’s.
He also gave DailyMail.com a tour of his ‘space bus’ that is a traveling office and auto shop for engineers to work on the autonomous vehicles. It once ran on diesel, but Sachiti redesigned it to only use the power of the sun. The highlight of the bus is a chair with a steering wheel at the back, which looks similar to one seen in arcades. The chair allows engineers to take over control of the autonomous vehicles and drive them into the bus to work on them.
While his team is testing the vehicles along the roads, Sachiti plans on bringing new life to the radar system, which was part of an early warning system meant to alert the British military if nuclear missiles were coming their way. Known as the AMES Type 84 radar unit, this one was in operation from 1962 through 1994 and released microwaves to detect nukes. Sachiti does not plan on using it for its original purpose, but instead hopes the public can find a task more suitable for the modern world. ‘My expensive hobby will finding UFOs,’ he said. ‘If that is what the world wants, who am I to judge.’
Giant Cold War Radar Bought by Tech Millionaire to “Find UFOs”
Giant Cold War Radar Bought by Tech Millionaire to “Find UFOs”
The abandoned Royal Air Force (RAF) air defense radar station was home to British IT entrepreneur William Sachiti for around three months until he asked for assistance in a Reddit thread.
He wrote in a post on /r/electronics that featured a picture of a massive AMES Type 84 radar equipment, that he wanted help to bring that back to life. It is a huge dish that is 60 feet wide and 25 feet tall and is supported by a pedestal. It sent out microwaves with a 250-mile range, and there were warnings around that warned of ionizing radiation.
Despite posting under an assumed identity, Redditors swiftly identified Sachiti as the author. Only five Type 84s were ever produced by Britain, and Redditors were able to find this one using some open source intelligence technologies. Additionally, Sachiti’s acquisition of the tower and the former RAF site made British headlines.
A few people have responded, according to Sachiti, expressing a desire to use it to scan the Moon. Someone asked him why he purchased the item in the discussion itself. Because he said he has persuaded himself in using to look for UFOs may be entertaining.
The response, according to Sachiti, was somewhat of a joke, but other individuals had contacted him in a serious manner about utilizing the device to search for unexplained flying objects. There are undoubtedly UFO seekers, he claimed. He also doesn’t get to decide what the best use is for it in the present world. As long as it’s not harmful and obtrusive, we should give it some life… He has the technology.
When questioned about the abundance of new information regarding UFOs and the potential of extraterrestrial life in general. He said that although aliens could already be here, they are likely too evolved for us to even contemplate them. The lack of actionable knowledge throughout all this time is the reason it doesn’t worry him too much, he added. Assuming an ant wanted to communicate with humanity, would we even notice? These UFOs, if there is any form of intelligence behind them, have mostly ignored us.
Through Reddit, we were able to contact Sachiti and get him on Zoom. He was on the grounds of the RAF base, sitting in a solar-powered bus as we talked. He managed to get his laptop out to where I could see the Type 84, which was looming behind some trees.
He claimed that although it was just sitting there, it was slowly deteriorating because nobody had been around for a long. And each time he had looked at it, he had simply felt that something needed to be done.
Roboticist and artificial intelligence entrepreneur Sachiti’s business, Kar-go, employs autonomous vehicles to deliver products around Britain. He said that the reason he purchased the base was because he required area for research and development. Roads, industries, and subterranean bunkers were all present. It is essentially all our business required.
However, the acquisition included more than simply the area he needs. The Type 84 is classified as a Grade II listed structure. That indicates that it is protected as a historical monument of considerable cultural significance to the nation and its history and cannot be destroyed.
Sachiti claimed that he felt depressed every time he saw the object. He desired to make repairs. He continued by saying that it is more about giving something new life when it had otherwise progressively deteriorated. It is gorgeous, and he urgently wanted to give it some sort of new life.
AMES Type 84 radar is a remnant of the Cold War. The five radar devices were a part of a system that could notify the British military if nuclear weapons were approaching. They ran from 1962 to 1994 and produced a significant amount of ionized radiation using microwaves. Additionally, he said that once this item was done, it used to spin around four times each minute. Every TV [in the surrounding] would be static for roughly three seconds whenever it performed a scan.
The ionizing radiation will be left behind, according to Sachiti, who wants to set the machine spinning once more. He told me that the bus he’s riding on now operates on solar energy after previously using fuel.
In order to give contemporary technology life, he added, we must figure out how to use it. Finding professionals who could assist him in getting it back up and running was his immediate thinking. He also said that we can today create little desktop-sized devices and power some of the things that in the 1960s required a huge room.
When asked why he utilizes Reddit to locate helpers, he responded that you can see in the thread that you can find individuals that are very detailed and will explain everything to you in detail. You would never find someone with that kind of talent by placing an ad in the newspaper. Even a television advertisement… The ability to publish in a very particular subreddit, where geeks who produce stuff like this play with it, is what he enjoys about Reddit. The beauty of asking the correct question to the appropriate audience is that he has received an overwhelming number of responses from unquestionable experts.
Although Sachiti is unsure of where this may go, he is optimistic that improving the historic place will have positive effects. Eventually, he says, possibly colleges or students will logon and utilize it to do the necessary scans.
Romanski used AutoCAD to create a 3D model of one of the crop circles from 2009. It looked like “some kind of machine.” He said it looked like a “power plant for alternative zero-point energy…some people may call it a light-speed engine.
Romanski used eleven crop circle designs to create a model that he and Maxwell tried to build. The job proved to be harder than anticipated and they had to consult a team of engineers and to outsource the making of many parts
There have been more than 12,000 crop circles that appeared around the world. The majority of scientists write them off as pranks afraid to be associated with studying a controversial subject. Yet, even they admit that many crop circles are not explained. Crop circle enthusiasts are still looking for answers, and one created an experiment unlike any other. First-time filmmaker Charles Maxwell theorizes that crop circle images are blueprints for building UFOs; the theory that he tests in his documentary “A Field Full of Secrets.”
Crop Circle History
Crop circles started heavily appearing in the English countryside in the 1980s and 1990s; they appear to this day. Some are elaborate and represent mathematical equations. In 2008, for example, one crop circle in England represented the first ten digits of Pi; it was divided into 10 invisible segments like a pizza pie.
It is no argument that many crop circles are made by people. In 1991, two men Doug Bower and David Chorley of England admitted to creating 250 of them but of course there have been thousands more. Other artists interested in the topic may have taken it as an intriguing challenge to make one. Some do not even care about making circles, they just want to create art.
Firefox symbol was created in a field by the Oregon State University Linux Users group in 2006, celebrating a popular web browser. Corn mazes remain popular during the fall. One German town created Asterix and Obelix characters from French comic books in a field of corn in 2009.
Yet, many crop circles remain unexplained. Many crop circles show no signs of human contact. The most bizarre trait of a crop circle is that the crops are not broken when laid down.
A crop circle from A Field Full of Secrets footage.
Australian Independent Crop Circle Research Megan Heazlewood said that crop circles can appear on many different crop types from silverbeet to rice paddies. She is most intrigued by canola field crop circles because canola stalks snap like celery at 45 degrees, yet they did not break when bent 90 degrees in crop circles.
A reporter from The Conversation also points out that most hoaxers claiming to have created crop circles are unable to reproduce the results or ignore most questions when requested proof of how they did it with boards and rope (the method hoaxers use).
In 1991 a biophysicist Dr. William C. Levengood studying the stalks from the crop circles and found anomalies in the first node of each plant that can only be explained by either electromagnetic or microwave energy exposure from a technology that humanity does to possess (at least to the public’s knowledge).
In 1992, Michael Chorost led an investigation named “Project Agnus” that also found anomalies in the soil of the crops.
All of which still points to potential involvement of not Earthly forces in making the crop circles.
Crop Circle In An Early Newspaper?
IMAGE: Wikipedia Commons
Some believe that the first circle was written about in a 1678 woodcut of the mowing devil. The illustration shows a horned-man mowing a field in a circular motion. Others say it originated from a folklore that tells a story of an English farmer who in a fight with a farm worker said out loud that he would rather pay the devil himself to take care of the job. The image does not represent a crop circle by definition because the crop stalks are shown being cut down, not laid down.
Two-Months Crop Circle Investigation In England
(The rest of the article contains spoilers from A Field Full of Secrets).
Maxwell stepped into a crop circle for the first time in 2008 with a friend Dax Phelan who filmed everything, and his life was changed forever. As soon as he entered the crop circle, he says he felt being watched; and that it was not a part of this world, even though his friends were not as convinced.
Maxwell became hooked on looking for answers about what crop circles are, not satisfied with the mainstream “hoax” answer explaining all of the formations.
Maxwell’s answer to what crop circles are is unique. Looking at the fact that the designs became more complex every year, and after visiting 42 crop circles during his two-months stay in England, he says that he has more questions than answers.
He went into many fields himself, saw the damaged nodes of the crops done in the way that according to the experts in the movie no hoaxer can do. He also returned many nights to try to catch any hoaxers at work, but only saw backpackers who were camping out in the middle of one crop circle.
Maxwell and his team bumped into a man Peter Sorenson who was said to claim some involvement in making the Pi crop circle, yet he refused to say or admit anything on camera about it. Instead he was shown teaching children how to make crop circles with a rope and board method. The designs came out looking imperfect.
Maxwell saw fields that was created by a hoaxer like Sorenson claims to be; and the way the stalks are broken and not bend is seen clearly in the finished documentary.
Not finding real answers, Maxwell got an idea that the crop circles are getting more intricate and larger (up to ¾ mile across) because “we are being taught a language.”
Another crop circle from A Field Full of Secrets footage.
He tried to make his own circle with encoded Morse code and had Sorenson create it in the field to send a message; but the message was either not received or misunderstood.
After a two-months journey, the harvest season put the crop circle research that year to and end, and Maxwell went home to Los Angeles with more questions.
Crop Circle Images As Blueprints
The only real clue Maxwell saw was the Pi crop circle and its built-in math. This is how his idea was born that each crop circle is a blueprint to be decoded.
“Some researchers believe that the formation that we see are effectively two dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects. And that if we could learn to create these three-dimensional objects, they might actually be showing us a new technology, be it antigravity, be it free energy…”
“The universe does not run on gasoline,” Maxwell says.
It runs on free energy or a different type of energy yet unknown by our technology. Maxwell is hoping the crop circles may help.
A crop circle blueprint material from A Field Full of Secrets footage.
3D model made on the computer using a combination of crop circles such as the image above.
He paired up with a ‘mysterious inventor’ Nikola Romanski after the man emailed him with the information to use these crop circle blueprints to build a UFO. This is the very first time this was attempted to be done.
Romanski used AutoCAD to create a 3D model of one of the crop circles from 2009. It looked like “some kind of machine.”
He said it looked like a “power plant for alternative zero-point energy…some people may call it a light-speed engine.”
Romanski used eleven crop circle designs to create a model that he and Maxwell tried to build. The job proved to be harder than anticipated and they had to consult a team of engineers and to outsource the making of many parts.
The closest the got was creating a plasma flame, which was like the heart of the engine, and shocking to Maxwell friends’ proof that this blueprint can create a real device.
Unfortunately, they ran out of money the investors have put in and needed about $100,000 more and another six months of work.
Not The Only One…
Maxwell decided to accept that the project has failed and stop everything. However, he soon discovered that he is not the only person who has attempted to use crop circles as a free-energy device blueprint. There was at least one more person doing the same.
With reignated hope, Maxwell flew to Hawaii to meet with Nassim Haramein, the founder of The Resonance Project. The first thing he asked him was if he had wasted his time building a UFO.
“Absolutely not. In science, there is no such thing as a waste of time. Edison made thousands of lightbulbs before the one that worked.”
Haramein also reminded Maxwell that the scientific community did not believe that airplanes could fly until it was done.
“When I look at your guys’ device and what you extrapolated from the crop circle, I think you guys were right on track…that the fundamental spin is important…When you understand that, you can build devices to interact with the universe.”
The movie also has interviews of various crop circle researchers, many of whom believe non-Earthly makers of the crop circles are possible; and that E.T. beings may be creating them to help and work with human higher consciousness.
“What I was trying to do was to prove to myself and to my friend and to my daughter that there’s wonder in the world.”
Sounds like Maxwell is not giving up anytime soon; and perhaps his project will fuel ideas from others.
See the movie trailer “A Field Full of Secrets” below or rent it or buy it here.
Dit zijn de beste memes over de nieuwe foto’s van de James Webb Space Telescope
De foto’s van de James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) die deze week door de Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA werden vrijgegeven spreken tot de verbeelding. Niet alleen is er verwondering voor het feit dat we 13 miljard jaar in het verleden kunnen kijken, de beelden zijn ook een vruchtbare grond voor memes op sociale media.
Yorick Dupon
Wat zien we juist op de foto’s van James Webb?
De ouderdom van wat er in de foto van SMACS 0723 te zien is, vraagt om grappen over de oudere medemens.
Ook binnenlandse oude bekenden zoals columniste Mia Doornaert ontspringen de dans niet.
Anderen zien iets uit hun eigen verleden in de foto’s.
Maar uiteindelijk: hoe belangrijk de foto’s ook zijn voor de wetenschap, ze zijn ook erg mooi als bureaubladachtergrond. Alle foto’s zijn in hoge resolutie te downloaden op deze website.
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Alaska: A Whole Town Witness UFO Circling Over Them
Alaska: A Whole Town Witness UFO Circling Over Them
The people of Seward, Alaska saw some strange things happening over 30 years ago when a big spaceship circled their town for hours with intense lights.
Two More Disc-eyed Giants of Mont’e Prama Found in Sardinia!
Two More Disc-eyed Giants of Mont’e Prama Found in Sardinia!
Their purpose is currently unknown, but two more disc-eyed giants of Mont’e Prama have been unearthed on Sardinia. The Mont’e Prama Iron Age burial necropolis on the Italian island of Sardinia has for the last 50 years been the source of a great archaeological mystery. The site was first discovered by local farmers in March 1974 on farmland near Mont'e Prama, in the commune of Cabras, in central-western Sardinia, Italy. It was here that the so-called “Giants of Mont'e Prama” were discovered. This collection of ancient stone giant sculptures, with large disc-eyes, are also known as “boxer statues.”
The head of one of the newly found boxers is here on the right, with a visible chin and thick broken neck.
While it is understood that the giants of Mont’e Prama were created by people by the Nuragic culture of ancient Sardinia, the purpose of these gargantuan monuments is currently unknown. However, on Saturday afternoon, Italy’s Ministry of Culture announced that “two more giant naked torsos” had been identified by researchers at Mont’e Prama. In this instance, the two giants were covered with a large shield which has allowed the researchers to date them precisely to between 950 to 730 BC.
Emerging in the Early Bronze Age, Nuragic civilization derives its name from Sardinia’s “ nuraghe,” which are stone fortresses with high towers. Most of these structures were raised around 1800 BC and today no less than 7,000 nuraghes are peppered across the ancient Sardinian landscape. It was from these stone forts that the Nuragic people defended their rule over Sardinia until the 2nd century AD.
Many of you will already have noticed that the Sardinian nuraghe resembles, and perhaps functioned similarly to, the 2nd century Pictish brochs of northern Scotland. Day to day these stone towers housed community chiefs and their families, and they became community shelters for people and animals while under attack from rivalling tribes and foreign invaders.
Italy’s Cultural Minister, Dario Franceschini, said the two giant stone torsos are officially called “Cavalupo-type boxers,” which means they are either warriors, archers or boxers with shields and armed gloves. The culture ministry’s superintendent for southern Sardinia, Monica Stochino, said the statues are made of limestone which is soft and fragile. Therefore, the site archaeologists now need more time to excavate the two huge torsos from the surrounding sediment which has set like clay.
Some of the giants of Mont’e Prama had curved stone shields over their heads and this was also true of both of the recently discovered giants.
An article in Arkeonews explains that since the site’s discovery in 1974 “thousands of fragments” of giant human figures have been recovered at Mont’e Prama. While their original purpose remains veiled in mystery, so far, archaeologists have reassembled about 40 statues and while no one is complete each measures over 2 meters (6.56 feet) tall. Furthermore, they all represent warriors, archers, or nuraghe boxers.
Giant Warriors, Archers, and Boxers
Archaeologists believe the giant’s disc-shaped eyes and eastern-style garments probably depicted Nuragic cultural mythological heroes who were buried to symbolically guard the sepulchral site . However, other archaeologists consider the statues as representing deities from the Nuragic pantheon. However, these two interpretations are relatively limited and don’t consider inspiration from the land of the living first.
Polynesian Easter Island , formerly known as Rapa Nui , is famed for its monumental giant statues called moai which were created during the 13th-16th centuries. According to writer Jo Anne Van Tilburg these carved human figures with oversize heads are believed to be “the living faces ( aringa ora ) of deified ancestors ( aringa ora ata tepuna )”. Perhaps the giants of Mont’e Prama, Sardinia also reflect the bodies and faces of the ancestors who taught them how to survive on an ocean locked island?
We will never know for sure what the large-eyed giants represented, but as long as archaeologists continue to excavate at Mont’e Prama in Sardinia it is only a matter of time before more statues will surface, adding to the emerging army of giants.
Top image: Two more stone giants of Mont’e Prama from the Iron Age have been unearthed in Sardinia. Source: mont’e prama
An 8,000-year-old "Mother Goddess" figurine has been uncovered at a Neolithic site in Israel. Why then, does she have “coffee-shaped” eyes?
Located at the foot of the Golan Heights in the Jordan Valley area of north-eastern Israel, the Sha'ar HaGolan kibbutz archaeological site is situated less than 1 km (2/3 of a mile) from the border with Jordan. It was here that archaeologists recently unearthed the broken 20-centimeter (7.87 inch) long figurine.
Dating back 8,000 years, this 'Mother Goddess' figurine was created by the Yarmukian culture. While Israeli archaeologists are describing the goddess as having “coffee-bean” shaped eyes, she has nothing to do with coffee. In fact, coffee can be traced to the mid-15th century in Yemen . So what then does this ancient mistress of the Levantine otherworld represent?
Red Is The Color Of Love, And Sex
The Neolithic Yarmukian culture of the ancient Levant is regarded as the first culture in prehistoric Israel. This attribution is given because Yarmukians were the first people in Levant to make clay pottery. And, similarly to later Neolithic groups in Ireland and Scotland, Yarmukian ceramics feature lozenge, herringbone and linear diagonal lines and patterns.
Judea district archaeologist Anna Eirikh-Rose from Israeli Antiquity Authority serves as co-director of the dig at Sha'ar HaGolan kibbutz and she told J-Post the 20-centimeter goddess figurine was excavated next to the wall of a house covered with “a red bottomed bracelet.” Depending on agricultural success and the fertilization of people and animals for sustained survival, Yarmukians worshipped a “ Mother Goddess ” and red, like in most ancient cultures, represented fertility and all things sexual/reproductive.
The Largest Mother Goddess Ever Discovered In Israel
The Museum of Yarmukian Culture at the kibbutz archaeological site exhibits all of the artifacts recovered from this vast 20-hectare Neolithic excavation zone. The site was first excavated in 1949, and again in 2004. At these previous excavations researchers identified planned streets, courtyards and houses, as well as smaller mother goddess figurines with incised pebble faces, and further so-called “eye figurines.”
The dig’s current co-director, Dr. Julien Vieugue, describes the newly excavated goddess figurine as “a large, seated woman with big hips, a unique pointed hat and what is known as ‘coffee-bean’ eyes and a big nose.” She has one hand on her hip and the other is under her breast. Vieugue said the artifact represents one of the “largest examples'' of the goddess figurine ever found from the Yarmukian culture.”
A Cult Fertility Icon, Or A Recognized State Goddess
While many similar Yarmukian sites have been identified in the Levant, by a long shot, Sha’ar Hagolan is the largest and the most probable center of Yarmukian culture. Eirikh-Rose says that 8,000 years ago the inhabitants of Sha’ar Hagolan began mass-producing pottery. Now, it’s the primary goal of the archaeologists to better understand the “origin and mechanism of development of the pottery production” at the site.
Eirikh-Rose said the figurine was created by wrapping and layering clay around a central cylindrical core. The archaeologist added that it was anything but easy to make. The artifact is currently undergoing residue analysis which will eventually reveal what type of clay was used to make the goddess idol. Ultimately the researchers aim to find out if this particular Mother Goddess was a cultic icon, or a deity from an already established religion.
A close up of the head of one of the Yarmukian figures, showing the ‘coffee bean eyes’ shape.
Returning To Those Problematic “Coffee-Bean” Shaped Eyes
We should finish this piece with a return to the figurine’s so-called “coffee-bean” shaped eyes. One could perhaps better understand this “coffee-bean” reference to the symbolism of the figurine had it been discovered at a medieval Yemen site, or in 17th century South America where the Mother Goddess was worshipped as “ Pachamama” - the World-Mother and controller of fertility.
For the sake of clarity, Israeli archaeologists should perhaps change the name “coffee” to what the eyes actually represent. They should be called “wheat or barley-shaped eyes,” for these two details represent the unplanted wheat or barley kernel, and the promise of new life tomorrow.
Top image: 8,000-year-old Mother Goddess figurine excavated at Sha’ar HaGolan, Israel Source: Anna Eirikh-Rose / Jerusalem Post
NASA’s Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail
NASA’s Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail
Webb’s enormous mirror, precise instruments joined forces to capture most detailed measurements of starlight filtering through atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system to date
The spectrum of light – which contains information about the makeup of a planetary atmosphere 1,150 light-years away – reveals distinct signature of water
The strength of the signal that Webb detected hints at the significant role the telescope will play in the search for potentially habitable planets in coming years
Webb’s powerful new view also shows evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star.
The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb’s unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away.
While the Hubble Space Telescope has analyzed numerous exoplanet atmospheres over the past two decades, capturing the first clear detection of water in 2013, Webb’s immediate and more detailed observation marks a giant leap forward in the quest to characterize potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.
WASP-96 b is one of more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky Way. Located roughly 1,150 light-years away in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, it represents a type of gas giant that has no direct analog in our solar system. With a mass less than half that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.2 times greater, WASP-96 b is much puffier than any planet orbiting our Sun. And with a temperature greater than 1000°F, it is significantly hotter. WASP-96 b orbits extremely close to its Sun-like star, just one-ninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun, completing one circuit every 3½ Earth-days.
The combination of large size, short orbital period, puffy atmosphere, and lack of contaminating light from objects nearby in the sky makes WASP-96 b an ideal target for atmospheric observations.
On June 21, Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) measured light from the WASP-96 system for 6.4 hours as the planet moved across the star. The result is a light curve showing the overall dimming of starlight during the transit, and a transmission spectrum revealing the brightness change of individual wavelengths of infrared light between 0.6 and 2.8 microns.
While the light curve confirms properties of the planet that had already been determined from other observations – the existence, size, and orbit of the planet – the transmission spectrum reveals previously hidden details of the atmosphere: the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds that were thought not to exist based on prior observations.
A transmission spectrum is made by comparing starlight filtered through a planet’s atmosphere as it moves across the star to the unfiltered starlight detected when the planet is beside the star. Researchers are able to detect and measure the abundances of key gases in a planet’s atmosphere based on the absorption pattern – the locations and heights of peaks on the graph. In the same way that people have distinctive fingerprints and DNA sequences, atoms and molecules have characteristic patterns of wavelengths that they absorb.
The spectrum of WASP-96 b captured by NIRISS is not only the most detailed near-infrared transmission spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere captured to date, but it also covers a remarkably wide range of wavelengths, including visible red light and a portion of the spectrum that has not previously been accessible from other telescopes (wavelengths longer than 1.6 microns). This part of the spectrum is particularly sensitive to water as well as other key molecules like oxygen, methane, and carbon dioxide, which are not immediately obvious in the WASP-96 b spectrum but which should be detectable in other exoplanets planned for observation by Webb.
Researchers will be able to use the spectrum to measure the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, constrain the abundance of various elements like carbon and oxygen, and estimate the temperature of the atmosphere with depth. They can then use this information to make inferences about the overall make-up of the planet, as well as how, when, and where it formed. The blue line on the graph is a best-fit model that takes into account the data, the known properties of WASP-96 b and its star (e.g., size, mass, temperature), and assumed characteristics of the atmosphere.
The exceptional detail and clarity of these measurements is possible because of Webb’s state-of-the-art design. Its 270-square-foot gold-coated mirror collects infrared light efficiently. Its precision spectrographs spread light out into rainbows of thousands of infrared colors. And its sensitive infrared detectors measure extremely subtle differences in brightness. NIRISS is able to detect color differences of only about one thousandth of a micron (the difference between green and yellow is about 50 microns), and differences in the brightness between those colors of a few hundred parts per million.
In addition, Webb’s extreme stability and its orbital location around Lagrange Point 2 roughly a million miles away from the contaminating effects of Earth’s atmosphere makes for an uninterrupted view and clean data that can be analyzed relatively quickly.
The extraordinarily detailed spectrum – made by simultaneously analyzing 280 individual spectra captured over the observation – provides just a hint of what Webb has in store for exoplanet research. Over the coming year, researchers will use spectroscopy to analyze the surfaces and atmospheres of several dozen exoplanets, from small rocky planets to gas- and ice-rich giants. Nearly one-quarter of Webb’s Cycle 1 observation time is allocated to studying exoplanets and the materials that form them.
This NIRISS observation demonstrates that Webb has the power to characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets—including those of potentially habitable planets—in exquisite detail.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
NASA Headquarters oversees the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centerin Greenbelt, Maryland, manages Webb for the agency and oversees work on the mission performed by the Space Telescope Science Institute, Northrop Grumman, and other mission partners. In addition to Goddard, several NASA centers contributed to the project, including the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California; Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; and others.
NIRISS was contributed by the Canadian Space Agency. The instrument was designed and built by Honeywell in collaboration with the Université de Montréal and the National Research Council Canada.
Download full-resolution, uncompressed versions and supporting visuals of this and other "Webb First Images" from the Space Telescope Science Institute:
SPECTACULAIR: DIT ZIJN DE FOTO’S VAN DE JAMES WEBB-TELESCOOP (WE KIJKEN 13 MILJARD JAAR TERUG IN DE TIJD)
SPECTACULAIR: DIT ZIJN DE FOTO’S VAN DE JAMES WEBB-TELESCOOP (WE KIJKEN 13 MILJARD JAAR TERUG IN DE TIJD)
Jeannette Kras
Daar zijn ze dan: de eerste vijf kleurenfoto’s van de James Webb-telescoop. De opvolger van Hubble stelt niet teleur. De afbeeldingen, waarmee je ’13 miljard jaar terug in de tijd kunt kijken’, zijn indrukwekkend.
NASA lanceerde op eerste kerstdag vorig jaar samen met het Europese en Canadese Ruimteagentschap (de ESA en de CSA) de James Webb-ruimtetelescoop, die de ‘verste en scherpste infraroodbeelden van het vroege universum’ kan maken. James Webb produceert niet alleen vele malen scherpere foto’s dan zijn voorganger Hubble, maar doet dat ook veel sneller.
Revolutionair “De James Webb-telescoop gaat ons zo veel antwoorden geven. Zelfs antwoorden op vragen die we nog niet eens kennen”, vertelt Günther Hasing, wetenschapsdirecteur van de ESA, enthousiast tijdens de onthulling van de foto’s. Josef Aschbacher, directeur-generaal van de ESA vult aan: “De ontwikkeling van de James Webb-telescoop is meer dan alleen wetenschap. Het is bovenal een fantastische samenwerking van internationale ruimtevaartorganisaties.”
“De nieuwe James Webb-telescoop is revolutionair, een enorme sprong voorwaarts”, vindt ook NASA-topman Bill Nelson. “We gaan dingen zien, die ik nooit voor mogelijk had gehouden. Met de infraroodtechnologie kijken we dwars door stofwolken heen naar sterrenstelsels en zwarte gaten. Het heelal is 13,8 miljard jaar oud. Wij kunnen nu 13,5 miljard jaar terug in de tijd kijken. Dit licht heeft al die tijd met 300.000 kilometer per uur door het heelal gereisd en valt nu op onze nieuwe telescoop. Onvoorstelbaar, maar waar.”
Nederlands tintje De feestelijke onthulling van de foto’s heeft ook een Nederlands tintje. Hoogleraar Moleculaire Astrofysica Ewine van Dishoeck (Sterrewacht Leiden, NOVA) vertelt tijdens een persbijeenkomst dat NOVA (de Nederlandse Onderzoeksschool Voor Astronomie) een bijdrage heeft geleverd aan de hardware van het MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Dit is een camera en een spectrograaf die middellange tot lange infraroodstraling observeert. MIRI neemt in het bijzonder licht van langere golflengtes waar. “Het was een spannend moment of MIRI wel koud zou worden. Anders zouden we alleen maar ruis kunnen meten”, vertelt Van Dishoeck. “Dat dat lukte, was voor ons een enorme mijlpaal.” NOVA was verantwoordelijk voor de hoofdoptiek van de MIRI-spectrometer. Ook onder meer TNO werkte mee.
Een zandkorrel Met hulp van MIRI konden de eerste foto’s tot stand komen, waarvan de Amerikaanse president Joe Biden gisteren de eerste al onthulde. “Deze afbeelding omvat een deel van het heelal ter grootte van een zandkorrel op armlengte. Het is een piepkleine splinter van het enorme universum”, zei Bill Nelson van de NASA. “Deze missie is mogelijk gemaakt door menselijk vernuft.” Het publiek over de hele wereld was onder de indruk van het beeld van dat verre cluster van sterrenstelsels.
Wetenschap met het blote oog Maar zijn zulke foto’s nu enkel voor het publiek mooi of hebben sterrenkundigen er ook echt wat aan? De aanwezige wetenschappers op de persbijeenkomst stellen dat die foto’s ook voor de wetenschap van grote waarde zijn. “Voor je een spectrum kunt nemen, moet je het eerst vinden. Daar zijn die beelden wel voor nodig”, aldus Paul van der Werf, hoogleraar Extragalactische Astrofysica bij de Sterrewacht van de Universiteit Leiden. “Je moet een gebied aan de hemel afzoeken, daar zijn die beelden absoluut noodzakelijk voor. Ze moeten zo gevoelig en groot mogelijk zijn. Dat het een mooi plaatje is, is mooi meegenomen, maar dat is natuurlijk niet waarom we het doen. Er zijn duidelijke wetenschappelijke redenen, zeker met diepe velden (deep fields). Je moet de context hebben. Je kunt niet zomaar je spectrum op een punt richten en weten wat er aan de hand is.” Spectra zijn (elektromagnetische) golven, die worden opgepikt door de telescoop, die ze weer omzet in beeld. Van Dishoeck vult aan: “Het is een multi-color-image. Dan kun je direct met je oog al wetenschap doen. Als je een plaatje neemt in verschillende kleuren geeft dat al een heleboel informatie.”
De foto’s Maar waar het vandaag om draait, zijn natuurlijk de foto’s zelf. “De vijf foto’s zijn het resultaat van een week scannen door de Webb-ruimtetelescoop. Over een week hebben we dubbel zoveel data en foto’s. Dit gaat het hele jaar zo door”, klinkt het verheugd.
SMACS 0723 Over de eerste foto, van SMACS 0723, schreven we vanochtend al. De afbeelding toont een cluster van sterrenstelsels, zoals het er 4,6 miljard jaar geleden uitzag. De totale massa van alles wat in dit cluster aanwezig is, zorgt voor een kromming van het licht als ware het een vergrootglas: het licht van veel verder gelegen, zwakkere sterrenstelsels wordt erdoor vergroot. Het beeld werd in 12,5 uur gemaakt door NIRCam, de camera van James Webb. De sterrenstelsels op de foto stralen licht uit dat in sommige gevallen 13 miljard jaar oud is. Daarmee zijn het de oudste objecten die ooit zijn vastgelegd.
Foto: NASA, ESA, CSA, en STScI
De Carinanevel Hieronder zie je een spiksplinternieuwe afbeelding van de Carinanevel, die 7600 lichtjaar van de aarde is verwijderd. In NGC3372, zoals de nevel officieel heet, staan twee van de zwaarste en helderste sterren van het melkwegstelsel.
De Webb-telescoop laat de Carinanevel zien als nooit tevoren. Vele sterren die nooit eerder zijn waargenomen, staan nu scherp op de foto. We zien jonge sterren die gaswolken uitstoten. Er is veel gas en stof te zien, waar nieuwe sterren worden gevormd. Elk stipje op de foto is een ster, net als onze zon. Hubble maakte al prachtige foto’s van de Carinanevel, maar de Webb maakt er een nog veel gedetailleerder en mooier plaatje van.
Foto: NASA, ESA, CSA, en STScI
WASP-96b James Webb maakte ook een spectrum van exoplaneet WASP-96b. Deze planeet staat op 1150 lichtjaar van de aarde en draait in iets minder dan 3,5 dag om zijn moederster. Bijzonder is dat de atmosfeer van de exoplaneet wolkenvrij is. De exoplaneet is ongeveer net zo groot als Jupiter en erg heet. Spectrumanalyse van deze planeet maakt duidelijk dat er veel water aanwezig is in de vorm van waterdamp.
Exoplaneet WASP 96b
foto: NASA, ESA, CSA, en STScI
NGC 3132 Op 2000 lichtjaar van de aarde vinden we een planetaire nevel, die in het Engels ook wel Eight-burst Nebula wordt genoemd. De nevel (een groeiende gaswolk rond een stervende ster) breidt zich momenteel uit met 14,5 kilometer per seconde. Webb geeft astronomen een schat aan nieuwe informatie over de samenstelling van planetaire nevels zoals NGC 3132. Uit wat voor moleculen is deze gigantische gaswolk bijvoorbeeld opgebouwd?
foto: NASA, ESA, CSA, en STScI
Kwintet van Stephan Dit is een groep sterrenstelsels in het sterrenbeeld Pegasus. Het dichtstbijzijnde is NGC 7320C op 39 miljoen lichtjaar afstand. De overige vier sterrenstelsels liggen veel verder weg, namelijk op 290 miljoen lichtjaar van de aarde. Er is een actief zwart gat in deze foto verscholen. De moleculaire stoffen die in de buurt rondvliegen, kunnen worden geïdentificeerd door spectrumanalyse van de Webb-telescoop.
It was meant to be a momentous celebration of decades of research coming to fruition.
We really can't overstate how important it was when NASA unveiled the first stunning set of images from its uber-expensive James Webb Space Telescope, a day decades in the making.
But while the results were indeed absolutely mind blowing, we wish we could say the same thing about the livestream itself.
In true NASA fashion, the space agency's announcement was a hot mess — to put it lightly — with host astronomer Michelle Thaller visibly struggling to keep the show rolling and coherent.
Ironic
Twitter users were quick to catch on to the irony.
"Deploying a giant infrared space telescope: easy," SpaceNews senior writer Jeff Foust tweeted. "Coordination multiple video feeds worldwide: not so easy."
For much of the hour-long presentation, Thaller struggled to transition from one section of the presentation to the next, often interrupted by swelling music at inopportune of times.
On more than one occasion, audio feeds from NASA HQ didn't cut out, allowing us to get glimpses of panicked technicians struggling to keep the show together. At another moment, we could hear what sounded like the voices of audio techs loudly whispering on a hot mic.
Who's There?
Audio feeds from remote teams around the world were basically nonexistent until the presentation was already well underway. With the absence of their microphone feeds, Thaller was left to awkwardly breathe into her microphone while we got to watch some of the brightest minds in astronomy sheepishly stare into the camera.
NASA's solution — they clearly saw this IT travesty coming from a mile away — was to have a backup crew of experts ready to personally run Thaller through the images in the studio. But even this backup plan posed a bit of a challenge.
In short, NASA's "superstar media producers," as Thaller referred to them at the end of the stream, should probably go back to the drawing board.
Good thing scientists don't have to rely on NASA livestreams to do their work — if so, the Webb would probably be a smoldering wreck on the launchpad.
NASA toont nieuwe spectaculaire beelden van James Webb-telescoop: bekijk ze hier
NASA toont nieuwe spectaculaire beelden van James Webb-telescoop: bekijk ze hier
NASA heeft nieuwe beelden vrijgegeven van de James Webb-ruimtetelescoop. De indrukwekkende beelden volgen op de historische eerste kleurenfoto van de telescoop, die gisterenavond al werd gedeeld door de Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie. Bekijk hieronder de spectaculaire beelden.
Op de nieuwe beelden zien we onder meer Stephan’s Quintet, een visuele groepering van vijf sterrenstelsels, in een heel nieuw licht. Het is het grootste beeld dat de telescoop tot nu toe heeft gemaakt, ongeveer zo groot als een vijfde van de diameter van de maan. Het bevat meer dan 150 miljoen pixels en is opgebouwd uit bijna 1.000 afzonderlijke beeldbestanden.
De ‘zuidelijke Ringnevel’, gefotografeerd door twee Webb-instrumenten (links door Nircam op wat kortere golflengten en rechts door Miri op langere golflengten), is een langzaam uitdijende schil van sterrengas op een afstand van ongeveer 2.000 lichtjaar (één lichtjaar is zo’n 9,5 biljoen kilometer).
De nevel is duizenden jaren geleden uitgestoten door de stervende ster in het centrum. In zo’n afkoelende nevel ontstaan minuscule stofdeeltjes en verschillende moleculen, waaronder koolwaterstofverbindingen die aan de basis liggen van het leven. Over een kleine vijf miljard jaar zal ook onze eigen zon opzwellen tot een rode reuzenster en net zo’n uitdijende nevel het heelal in blazen.
Het lijken oranje-blauwe penseelstreken op een impressionistisch schilderij, maar het zijn wervelende gas- en stofwolken in de Carinanevel, op 7.600 lichtjaar afstand. In de koude, stoffige krochten van dit nevelcomplex ontstaan nieuwe, zware sterren; een geboorteproces dat door Webb in detail bestudeerd kan worden, omdat infrarode straling dwars door de meeste stofwolken heendringt.
Net als op de andere Webb-foto’s zijn de kleuren niet echt (het menselijk oog kan geen infrarode straling waarnemen); met verschillende kleuren worden verschillende infrarode golflengten in beeld gebracht.
‘Stephan’s Quintet' heet deze groep van vijf sterrenstelsels op 290 miljoen lichtjaar afstand, naar de Franse astronoom Édouard Stephan, die het groepje in 1877 ontdekte. Vier van de vijf stelsels zijn gevangen in een onderlinge zwaartekrachtdans. Getijdenkrachten leiden tot schokgolven en het ontstaan van talloze nieuwe sterren in losgerukte en weggeslingerde slierten van gas en stof, die op de infrarode Webb-foto’s goed zichtbaar zijn.
De eerste foto van de nieuwe James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is gisteren vrijgegeven. De Amerikaanse president Joe Biden deelde maandagavond rond 23 uur Belgische tijd de eerste kleurenafbeelding van duizenden sterrenstelsels die miljarden jaren oud zijn. “De James Webb-telescoop gaat ons veel leren over het universum, bijvoorbeeld over wat er net na de big bang gebeurde”, vertelt wetenschapsexpert Martijn Peters in de studio van HLN LIVE.
De JWST werd op kerstdag 2021 de ruimte in gestuurd en legde daarna een afstand van 1,5 miljoen kilometer af. De telescoop kon deze foto vastleggen na een intens proces van afstellen en configureren. Zo moesten de kenmerkende gouden spiegels van de telescoop in de ruimte uitgevouwen worden en stuk per stuk in de juiste hoek worden gezet. De instrumenten werden bovendien afgekoeld, één ervan tot een temperatuur van 266 graden Celsius onder nul.
“Nieuwe kijk op ons universum”
Als eerste test werd de James Webb gericht op een stukje hemel dat de naam SMACS 0723 draagt. “Nu kijken we naar een stukje aan de hemel dat ongeveer een zandkorreltje groot lijkt en daarin zien we plots duizenden sterrenstelsels verschijnen”, vertelt Peters bij HLN LIVE.
Het waren de Amerikaanse president Joe Biden en vicepresident Kamala Harris die dit eerste beeld van de Webb-telescoop onthulden tijdens een persconferentie. Biden noemde het beeld en het werk van de telescoop “een nieuwe kijk op ons universum”.
Sterrenstelsels die nooit eerder werden waargenomen
SMACS 0723 bevat sterrenstelsels die zo massief zijn dat ze licht afbuigen. Daardoor zijn er objecten te zien die nog verder verwijderd liggen van ons. SMACS 0723 is vanop de zuidelijke hemisfeer van onze planeet (en dus niet vanuit België) te zien in het sterrenbeeld Vliegende Vis of Volans.
Vele van de duizenden sterrenstelsels die te zien zijn op de foto werden voor het eerst vastgelegd door de JWST. Het gaat in sommige gevallen om de zwakste infrarode straling die we ooit hebben waargenomen. De foto is een samenstelling van verschillende beelden die de JWST heeft vastgelegd op verschillende golflengtes. Het resultaat was een composiet in grijswaarden, die met filters werden ingekleurd.
“Grote impact binnen de wetenschap”
Dat de JWST succesvol gelanceerd en ingesteld werd zonder al te veel problemen, is op zich al een mirakel te noemen. Wat we vanaf nu dankzij de ruimtetelescoop kunnen waarnemen, zal voor een hoop nieuwe kennis zorgen. “Alle wetenschappelijke data gaat binnenkort vrijgegeven worden en onderzoekers gaan er los op gaan. Ze gaan het gebruiken om te achterhalen wat daar gebeurt, hoe bepaalde sterren zich vormen en wat er gebeurde na de oerknal. Er gaat massaal veel onderzoek gedaan worden op deze data”, vertelt Peters.
De JWST kan ook licht waarnemen dat bijna net zou oud is als het universum zelf. “Dat konden we met de Hubble-telescoop niet waarnemen, maar wel met de speciale instrumenten van de James Webb-telescoop”, aldus Peters.
Daarnaast zullen we naar de geboorte van sterren kunnen kijken, maar ook naar planeten rond andere sterren dan onze zon. Dat kan helpen in de zoektocht naar leven op andere plaatsen, vertelt onze wetenschapsexpert: “We gaan ook kunnen te weten komen of planeten atmosferen hebben die leefbaar zijn en of er de bouwstenen aanwezig zijn voor leven.”
Sterrenkundigen zijn opgetogen over de eerste beelden. “Het is fantastisch spannend allemaal, en ook heel emotioneel”, aldus Ewine van Dishoeck van de Sterrewacht in Leiden. Van Dishoeck is de Europese hoofdonderzoeker van Miri, een van de waarnemingsinstrumenten van Webb.
Opvolger van Hubble-ruimtetelescoop
De JWST is honderd keer gevoeliger dan de beroemde ruimtetelescoop Hubble, die zijn einde nadert. De James Webb kan zo licht detecteren dat één miljard jaar ouder is dan wat de Hubble kon vastleggen. Ook vallen er verschillende objecten te onderscheiden die op foto’s van de Hubble eruit zagen als één object.
Om dit eerste beeld te creëren, verzamelde de Webb-telescoop gedurende 12,5 uur licht van verschillende golflengten. De Hubble had weken de tijd nodig om foto’s te maken van de SMACS 0723-cluster aan sterrenstelsels.
De James Webb heeft achttien zeshoekige spiegels die aan elkaar zitten, maar los van elkaar kunnen bewegen om scherp te stellen. De spiegel is gemaakt van beryllium, met daarbovenop een miniem laagje goud van 100 nanometer dik. Dat is duizend keer zo dun als een menselijk haar of een vel papier. Beryllium is een onedel metaal dat licht en sterk is en goed bestand tegen extreme kou. Het goud zorgt ervoor dat de spiegel beter in staat is infrarood licht te zien.
Het Amerikaans-Europees-Canadese project kost in totaal ongeveer 8 miljard euro. James Webb zou tot 20 jaar operationeel kunnen blijven.
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They’re Here! Check out the First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope!
They’re Here! Check out the First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope!
This is it! Today, people worldwide were treated to the first images acquired by James Webb! After years of delays, we are finally seeing the sharpest images of the Universe taken by the most powerful telescope ever deployed. The world was given a sneak peek yesterday when President Biden, VP Kamala Harris, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and other NASA officials released the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the Universe to date. But at 10:30 Eastern (07:30 Pacific), all the remaining first images were released!
The event was live-streamed by NASA TV, took place at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, and featured live streams from partner institutes in Canada, Europe, and across the U.S. This allowed the science teams that were responsible for the images to present them and explain how they illustrate the different science operations the JWST will perform throughout its mission.
Deep Field
The first image, Deep Field SMACS 0723, was presented by Jane Rigby, the Operations Project Scientist for the JWST mission. This image, which was revealed yesterday, showed a massive galaxy cluster and the gravitational lenses they produced (which magnified fainter galaxies in the distance). As Rigby explained, the images show galaxies as they appeared 13 billion years ago and spectra obtained by Webb‘s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec).
The Deep Field SMACS 0723 image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
Another interesting tidbit was the speed at which Webb acquired this image and the spectra, which took mere hours. For comparison, Rigby explained that it took Hubble weeks to obtain a deep field image of this same galaxy cluster. The depth, detail, and speed with which Webb acquired this image showcase how the observatory is a fitting successor to the venerable Hubble and builds on its incredible legacy!
Exoplanet Atmosphere
The second image consisted of spectra obtained by Webb’sNear InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) from WASP-96b, a hot gas giant located about 1,000 light-years away. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), which provides the NIRISS instrument, was originally intended to present the image. Due to a technical issue, the presentation was made by Knicole Colón, NASA’s Deputy Project Science for Exoplanet Science at NASA Goddard.
The spectrographic image shows the composition of WASP-9b’s atmosphere, which showed a significant amount of water vapor. As Colón explained, the data was obtained during a transit, when WASP-96b passed in front of its star (relative to Webb’s position). As light passed through the atmosphere, Webb characterized it using its advanced spectrographs. This image effectively showcases how Webb will characterize the atmospheres of planets, be they beyond the Solar System or inside it.
A transmission spectrum based on data acquired by Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS). Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
“A Dying Star”
Next was the side-by-image of the Southern Ring planetary nebula presented by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI). The image shows the expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star (located approximately 2,000 light-years away from Earth) as it appeared to both the NIRCam and MIRI. The resulting images provide the most detailed view of this iconic nebula and the stellar remnant at its core – and in multiple wavelengths.
In the NIRCam image, a white dwarf appears to the lower left of the central white dwarf (which is much brighter) and is partially hidden by a diffraction spike. The same star appears brighter, larger, and redder in the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) image, a visual effect caused by the thick layers of dust enshrouding the star. An easter egg was a background galaxy visible on the far left side of the image (seen through a relatively thin patch of nebular dust).
This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from NASA’sWebb Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
Infrared Galaxies
The fourth image was a composite of Stephan’s Quintet, a compact galaxy group located 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Presented by the ESA science team at Europe’s Spaceport, the image beautifully illustrates the composition and tidal interactions of four galaxies in the process of merging. It was obtained by the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and MIRI instruments, which captured light in multiple wavelengths and provided never-before-seen details about this galaxy group.
These include sparkling clusters of millions of young stars, starburst regions where new stars have just formed, and sweeping tails of gas, dust, and stars being pulled back and forth by the gravitational interaction of the galaxies. Most dramatically, Webb‘s MIRI instrument also captured the huge shock waves (the red and gold region surrounding the central pair of galaxies) produced by NGC 7318B smashing through the cluster.
A mosaic of Stephan’s Quintet captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
Star Birth
Amber Straughn, the Deputy Project Scientist for the JWST mission at NASA Goddard, presented the fifth and final image. The image features the Carina Nebula, one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located about 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Once again, this nebula was previously observed by Hubble, which provided a breathtaking look at a prominent star-forming region. But thanks to Webb‘s superior infrared imaging capabilities, this new image captures details that were previously invisible to astronomers.
For starters, there’s the central feature known as the “cosmic cliff,” which looks like a craggy mountainside. This is, in reality, the edge of the gigantic gaseous cavity carved within the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from the extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble (at the top of the image). This image also reveals previously-unseen newborn stars, a more detailed look at the gas and dust of the nebula, and the interaction between solar wind and gas clouds.
Thanks to the crisp resolution and unparalleled sensitivity of Webb‘s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), this image is already providing fresh insight into how “stellar nurseries” work and how new stars are born.
Image of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3324) captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
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The development of this next-generation telescope officially began in 1996 as an intended successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). These efforts were largely motivated by the success of the Hubble Deep Fields campaign, which provided the deepest views of the Universe to date. They were further motivated by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), which mapped the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from 1989 to 1993. In short, these two surveys allowed astronomers to observe the early Universe and how it all began with the Big Bang.
Now they wanted to see what happened in-between, which included the formation of the first stars and galaxies and how they evolved into the large-scale cosmic structures we see today. After a redesign, multiple tests, delays, cost overruns, and the COVID pandemic, Webb finally launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guyana on Christmas Day in 2021. Once it reached orbit, the mission team spent weeks unfolding its sunshield, deploying and aligning its primary mirror, cooling the observatory to operational temperature, and navigating Webb to its orbit – about 1.5 million km (930,000 mi) from Earth.
Since then, the JWST has been conducting science operations and observing different cosmic objects and phenomena. These images provide a good preview of what we can expect in the coming years as more and more images are released. The event wrapped up with Administrator Bill Nelson praising the teams responsible for James Webb and the international cooperation that made it possible. He finished by repeating the words of the late and great Carl Sagan:
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
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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.
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