Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
ON 06/05/2024 MORE THAN 1.972.210
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
16-11-2022
Scientists have just witnessed Titan's astonishing surface for the first time
Scientists have just witnessed Titan's astonishing surface for the first time
The largest moon of Saturn is an unique habitat in our Solar System. It appears to be a world different from our own, with its methane-filled lakes, freezing volcanoes, and underground tunnels. However, Titan's first geomorphological map demonstrates that, while its landscape is spectacular and diverse, these elements actually make it surprisingly similar to Earth.
Titan is the only other body in the Solar System known to have stable liquid on its surface except Earth. Titan's lakes, rivers, and seas, on the other hand, are made of the liquid methane and ethane that rains down from its clouds. Titan is also the only moon with a considerable atmosphere and dense enough air to allow a person to walk over its harsh terrain without a spacesuit (though you'd have some additional problems to cope with, what with the methane rain and lakes...).
Titan's liquid is very exciting for another reason: the moon may harbour life in the layer of water that runs beneath its frozen surface.
This new map points out the countless lakes, dunes, craters, and plains. According to the report, these various traits may have arisen as a result of the same geological process that occurred on Earth.
Titan's lakes, dunes, and flat plains are depicted in unparalleled detail in the first geological depiction of the planet. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU "Despite the differences in materials, temperatures, and gravity fields between Earth and Titan, many surface features are similar and can be interpreted as products of the same geologic processes," Rosaly Lopes, a planetary geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and lead author of the new study, said in a statement.
The map was built using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini was launched on October 15, 1997, to research Saturn and its moons, and it performed 120 flybys of Titan.
On September 15, 2017, the spacecraft crashed into Saturn's atmosphere, effectively terminating its 20-year mission.
Cassini employed radar imaging to peer through Titan's dense atmosphere of methane and nitrogen, as well as infrared equipment to see the planet's bigger geological formations.
“The Cassini mission revealed that Titan is a geologically active world, where hydrocarbons like methane and ethane take the role that water has on Earth,” David Williams, associate research professor at Arizona State University and a co-author on the study, said in a statement. “These hydrocarbons rain down on the surface, flow in streams and rivers, accumulate in lakes and seas, and evaporate into the atmosphere. It’s quite an astounding world!”
NASA thinks that by taking advantage of Titan's rich atmosphere and low gravity, its craft Dragonfly will be able to explore dozens of spots throughout the frozen globe – and maybe discover signs of life.
NASA/JHU-APL
In the year 2026, NASA is planning an expedition to better investigate this unique world. The Dragonfly mission will collect and return samples from the frozen moon to Earth. It is also hoped that traces of life may be discovered, which could be the first indication that humans are not as cosmologically unique as we believe.
Multiverse: Astronomers have possibly found evidence for infinite number of parallel universes
Multiverse: Astronomers have possibly found evidence for infinite number of parallel universes
Astronomers refer to it as the multiverse. There are multiple universes in this one. Physicists define more than one as an infinite number. These innumerable universes coexist in higher levels that our senses are incapable of directly experiencing.
Nonetheless, astronomers and cosmologists appear to be increasingly using the multiverse to explain baffling observations.
The stakes are really high. Each alternate universe has an own version of reality. There will be one in which you wrote this column and I read it; another in which the Guardian is an alt-right propaganda rag; and yet another in which Donald Trump uses Twitter to distribute only adorable cat videos.
The latest piece of evidence supporting a multiverse comes from the Royal Astronomical Society in the United Kingdom. They recently published a study on the "cold spot." This is an extremely chilly area of space detected in the radiation produced by the Universe's birth around 13 billion years ago.
The cold spot was discovered in 2004 by NASA's WMAP satellite and verified in 2013 by ESA's Planck spacecraft. It's quite perplexing. Most astronomers and cosmologists feel it is exceedingly improbable to have been formed during the creation of the universe since it is mathematically difficult to explain using the prevailing explanation, known as inflation.
This new study claims to rule out a more mundane explanation: that the chilly region is an optical illusion caused by a lack of adjacent galaxies.
One of the study’s authors, Professor Tom Shanks of Durham University, told the RAS, “We can’t entirely rule out that the Spot is caused by an unlikely fluctuation explained by the standard [theory of the Big Bang]. But if that isn’t the answer, then there are more exotic explanations. Perhaps the most exciting of these is that the Cold Spot was caused by a collision between our universe and another bubble universe. If further, more detailed, analysis … proves this to be the case then the Cold Spot might be taken as the first evidence for the multiverse.”
That's some serious thinking. But, if there is a multiverse, scientists must recognize that the ultimate goal of physics - explaining why our universe is the way it is - may be permanently out of grasp.
Physics' ultimate goal has been to explain why our cosmos takes the shape it does. This requires explaining why certain fundamental quantities have the values that they do. For example, the speed of light, the mass of an electron, and the gravitational interaction strength.
However, if there is a multiverse, that quest may be doomed to failure.
As there are an endless number of universes that are similar but somewhat different (such as the one in which you wrote this column rather than me), there will also be an infinite number in which the basic principles of physics are different.
As a result, every potential physics combination is tested across the multiverse. Inevitably, by pure chance, at least one will have the conditions we see around us now. It's just a huge old accident, which doesn't seem very rewarding.
Ironically, one of the most ardent opponents of the multiverse idea is one of its original founders. Princeton University's Paul Steinhardt contributed to the development of inflation, the theory of the start of our world. It's the one who can't explain the cold spot while still giving rise to the multiverse since, according to its arithmetic, once a universe begins to form, it causes more to form indefinitely.
However, Steinhardt rejected his own theory.
In 2014, he told Scientific American magazine, “Our observable universe would be just one possibility out of a continuous spectrum of outcomes. So, we have not explained any feature of the universe by introducing inflation after all. We have just shifted the problem of the original big bang model (how can we explain our simple universe when there is a nearly infinite variety of possibilities that could emerge from the big bang?) to the inflationary model (how can we explain our simple universe when there is a nearly infinite variety of possibilities that could emerge in a multiverse?).”
To put it another way, a multiverse does not sound appealing. It would go right to the heart of physics' purpose. Nature, of course, is unconcerned about this. Perhaps the universe really is this way, and we just have to accept it. Certainly, many people are willing to defend the multiverse as a credible line of thought.
If we truly live in a multiverse, we may rest confident that there is an alternate version of you and me out there who has already figured all of this out (and won a Nobel prize for the effort).
Kepler-1229b is a planet 2.7 times the mass of Earth in the habitable zone of a red star. Studies indicate that zodiacal light might be visible from its surface, creating a red, almost lavalike glow in the night sky.
SHAO/Yue Xu
One of the most coveted sights for skygazers is the zodiacal light, a tall cone of whitish light that climbs the mid-latitude sky before dawn in autumn and at twilight in the spring. The light comes from the Sun glinting off dust particles in the solar system and the dust, it seems, originates from comets and possibly even from Mars.
It turns out that anyone looking up on some exoplanets could see their own zodiacal light as well.
In excess
In research presented at the virtual 239th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society last week, Jian Ge of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and Chinese Academy of Sciences — whose team included three high school students — described other solar systems where data suggest there exist debris disks that could give rise to otherworldly zodiacal light.
Ge worked with Chinese and American colleagues, including high schoolers Larry Ge, Amanda Hao, and Justin Hou. They gathered information from a number of sources, including the Kepler space telescope, the former Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope, the Gaia mission. The team looked at three worlds: the super-Earths Kepler-69c, Kepler-1229b, and Kepler-395c, all of which may be habitable. They sleuthed a variety of infrared data, searching for “extra” emission in the infrared portion of the spectrum. This excess is indicative of solar system dust and debris absorbing light and re-radiating it at longer wavelengths.
What’s more, they found dust as hot as 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius). Based on the similar temperature of our solar system’s own zodiacal dust, this suggests dust lurking close to at least two of the planets.
On Kepler-69c, a super-Earth 2.1 times the mass of our planet with a Venus-like atmosphere, the zodiacal light might appear as a narrow, bright band of white light.
SHAO/Yue Xu
Details in the dust
The team’s illustrations portray a poetic sense of the possible views. On both Kepler-1229b and Kepler-395c, red host stars would render an almost volcanic-looking zodiacal light. On Kepler-69c, the planet’s venusian environment might turn its zodiacal light into a white searchlight in a dark muted sky.
These results are not just aesthetic. The presence of dust suggests there could be — especially in the two younger systems — active formation of small objects like moons and minor planets. The prospect can help foster future research into how such smaller objects can both collide into and stabilize exoplanets.
“Younger planet systems experience more activities (such as comet activities and asteroid collisions),” Ge told Astronomy. But “we cannot rule out that some old systems experience occasional activities.” For example, the oldest system, Kepler-69, might have been experiencing increased activity — such as collisions or cometary activity — close to the star while Kepler was observing it, Ge says.
As to anyone — or anything — actually looking up from those planets to see the zodiacal light, well, theoretically it’s possible.
Although Ge says astronomers have previously found debris disks around other systems, none of them were considered habitable. “Our work is the first-ever on zodiacal light and debris disks around habitable planet systems,” Ge says.
So, the next time you’re hunting for the zodiacal light here on Earth, perhaps you can stretch your imagination to some other worlds where eyes are also looking.
'Giant arc' stretching 3.3 billion light-years across the cosmos shouldn't exist
'Giant arc' stretching 3.3 billion light-years across the cosmos shouldn't exist
A newly discovered crescent of galaxies spanning 3.3 billion light-years is one of the world’s largest known structures, challenging some of astronomers’ most fundamental assumptions about the universe.
The epic arrangement known as the Giant Arc is made up of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and a lot of gas and dust. It is located 9.2 billion light-years away and stretches across roughly a 15th of the observable universe.
Its discovery was “serendipitous,” according to Alexia Lopez, a doctoral candidate in cosmology at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the United Kingdom. Lopez was creating maps of things in the night sky using light from approximately 120,000 quasars, which are distant brilliant cores of galaxies where supermassive black holes consume material and produce energy.
As this light passes through matter between us and the quasars, it is absorbed by various components, leaving telltale traces that can provide important information to researchers. In particular, Lopez used marks left by magnesium to determine the distance to the intervening gas and dust, as well as the material’s position in the night sky
The Giant Arc. Grey regions show areas that absorb magnesium, which reveals the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters. The blue dots are background quasars, sometimes known as spotlights.
(Image credit: Alexia Lopez/UCLan)
In this way, the quasars act “like spotlights in a dark room, illuminating this intervening matter,” Lopez said. A structure began to develop in the midst of the cosmic maps. “It was sort of a hint of a big arc,” Lopez said. “I remember going to Roger [Clowes] and saying ‘Oh, look at this.'”
Clowes, her doctoral adviser at UCLan, suggested further investigation to guarantee it wasn’t an accident or a data trick. After doing two different statistical tests, the researchers determined that there was less than a 0.0003% probability that the Giant Arc wasn’t real. They presented their findings at the American Astronomical Society’s 238th virtual meeting
The structure of the Giant Arc is shown in grey, with nearby quasars superimposed in blue. There is a tentative relationship between these two datasets.
(Image credit: Alexia Lopez/UCLan.
But the finding, which will take its place in the list of the biggest things in the cosmos, undermines a bedrock expectation about the universe. Astronomers have long held to the cosmological principle, which holds that matter is more or less evenly distributed throughout space at the largest scales.
The Giant Arc is greater than other large buildings like the Sloan Great Wall and the South Pole Wall, both of which are dwarfed by even larger cosmic features. “There have been a number of large-scale structures discovered over the years,” Clowes told Live Science. “They’re so large, you wonder if they’re compatible with the cosmological principle.”
The fact that such massive entities have gathered in particular places of the universe suggests that matter may not have been distributed evenly throughout the universe. However, Lopez added, the current standard model of the cosmos is based on the cosmological principle.
“If we’re finding it not to be true, maybe we need to start looking at a different set of theories or rules.”
Lopez doesn’t know what those theories would look like, though she mentioned the idea of modifying how gravity works on the largest scales, a possibility that has been popular with a small but loud contingent of scientists in recent years.
The South Pole Wall’s founder, Daniel Pomarède, a cosmographer at Paris-Saclay University in France, agreed that the cosmological principle should put a theoretical limit on the size of cosmic things.
Some research has suggested that structures should reach a certain size and then be unable to get larger, Pomarède told Live Science. “Instead, we keep finding these bigger and bigger structures.”
Yet he isn’t quite ready to toss out the cosmological principle, which has been used in models of the universe for about a century.
“It would be very bold to say that it will be replaced by something else,” he said.
Alongside advances in space exploration, we've recently seen much time and money invested into technologies that could allow effective space resource utilization. And at the forefront of these efforts has been a laser-sharp focus on finding the best way to produce oxygen on the Moon.
In October, the Australian Space Agency and NASA signed a deal to send an Australian-made rover to the Moon under the Artemis program, with a goal to collect lunar rocks that could ultimately provide breathable oxygen on the Moon.
Although the Moon does have an atmosphere, it's very thin and composed mostly of hydrogen, neon, and argon. It's not the sort of gaseous mixture that could sustain oxygen-dependent mammals such as humans.
That said, there is actually plenty of oxygen on the Moon. It just isn't in a gaseous form. Instead it's trapped inside regolith – the layer of rock and fine dust that covers the Moon's surface.
If we could extract oxygen from regolith, would it be enough to support human life on the Moon?
The breadth of oxygen
Oxygen can be found in many of the minerals in the ground around us. And the Moon is mostly made of the same rocks you'll find on Earth (although with a slightly greater amount of material that came from meteors).
Minerals such as silica, aluminum, and iron and magnesium oxides dominate the Moon's landscape. All of these minerals contain oxygen, but not in a form our lungs can access.
On the Moon these minerals exist in a few different forms including hard rock, dust, gravel, and stones covering the surface. This material was resulted from the impacts of meteorites crashing into the lunar surface over countless millennia.
Some people call the Moon's surface layer lunar "soil", but as a soil scientist I'm hesitant to use this term. Soil as we know it is pretty magical stuff that only occurs on Earth. It has been created by a vast array of organisms working on the soil's parent material – regolith, derived from hard rock – over millions of years.
The result is a matrix of minerals which were not present in the original rocks. Earth's soil is imbued with remarkable physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Meanwhile, the materials on the Moon's surface is basically regolith in its original, untouched form.-
One substance goes in, two come out
The Moon's regolith is made up of approximately 45 percent oxygen. But that oxygen is tightly bound into the minerals mentioned above. In order to break apart those strong bonds, we need to put in energy.
You might be familiar with this if you know about electrolysis. On Earth this process is commonly used in manufacturing, such as to produce aluminum. An electrical current is passed through a liquid form of aluminum oxide (commonly called alumina) via electrodes, to separate the aluminum from the oxygen.
In this case, the oxygen is produced as a byproduct. On the Moon, the oxygen would be the main product and the aluminum (or other metal) extracted would be a potentially useful byproduct.
It's a pretty straightforward process, but there is a catch: it's very energy hungry. To be sustainable, it would need to be supported by solar energy or other energy sources available on the Moon.
Extracting oxygen from regolith would also require substantial industrial equipment. We'd need to first convert solid metal oxide into liquid form, either by applying heat, or heat combined with solvents or electrolytes.
We have the technology to do this on Earth, but moving this apparatus to the Moon – and generating enough energy to run it – will be a mighty challenge.
Earlier this year, Belgium-based startup Space Applications Services announced it was building three experimental reactors to improve the process of making oxygen via electrolysis. They expect to send the technology to the Moon by 2025 as part of the European Space Agency's in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mission.
How much oxygen could the Moon provide?
That said, when we do manage to pull it off, how much oxygen might the Moon actually deliver? Well, quite a lot as it turns out.
If we ignore oxygen tied up in the Moon's deeper hard rock material – and just consider regolith which is easily accessible on the surface – we can come up with some estimates.
Each cubic meter of lunar regolith contains 1.4 tonnes of minerals on average, including about 630 kilograms of oxygen. NASA says humans need to breathe about 800 grams of oxygen a day to survive. So 630 kg oxygen would keep a person alive for about two years (or just over).
Now let's assume the average depth of regolith on the Moon is about 10 meters, and that we can extract all of the oxygen from this. That means the top 10 meters of the Moon's surface would provide enough oxygen to support all 8 billion people on Earth for somewhere around 100,000 years.
This would also depend on how effectively we managed to extract and use the oxygen. Regardless, this figure is pretty amazing!
Having said that, we do have it pretty good here on Earth. And we should do everything we can to protect the blue planet – and its soil in particular – which continues to support all terrestrial life without us even trying.
The Moon Has Enough Oxygen to Sustain 8 Billion People For 100,000 Years
The Moon Has Enough Oxygen to Sustain 8 Billion People For 100,000 Years
Although the Moon does have an atmosphere, it is very thin and mostly made of hydrogen, neon, and argon. This is not a gaseous combination capable of supporting oxygen-dependent animals such as humans.
On the Moon, there is an abundance of oxygen. It is just not in a gaseous state. Rather than that, it is trapped inside regolith — the lunar surface's covering of rock and fine dust. Would oxygen extracted from regolith be sufficient to sustain human life on the Moon?
Oxygen is present in a wide variety of minerals found in the earth around us. Additionally, the Moon is composed mostly of the same materials found on Earth (although with a slightly greater amount of material that came from meteors).
The Moon's surface is dominated by minerals such as silica, aluminum, iron, and magnesium oxides. All of these minerals include oxygen, but in an inaccessible form to our lungs.
These minerals occur in a variety of forms on the Moon, including hard rock, dust, gravel, and stones that blanket the surface. This substance is the consequence of countless millennia of meteorites colliding with the lunar surface.
The regolith of the Moon is composed of around 45 percent oxygen. However, that oxygen is inextricably linked to the minerals listed above. To dismantle such tenacious relationships, we must invest energy.
If you are acquainted with electrolysis, you may be familiar with this. This procedure is often used in manufacturing on Earth, for example, to manufacture aluminum. To separate the aluminum from the oxygen, an electrical current is conducted through a liquid form of aluminum oxide (usually termed alumina) through electrodes.
As a byproduct, oxygen is created in this situation. On the Moon, the primary product would be oxygen, but aluminum (or other metal) would be a potentially valuable byproduct.
It's a rather basic operation, but there is a catch: it consumes a lot of energy. To be sustainable, it would need to be powered by solar energy or other Moon-based energy sources.
Earlier this year, Belgian firm Space Applications Services announced the construction of three experimental reactors to enhance the electrolysis process for producing oxygen. They want to launch the device to the Moon in 2025 as part of the European Space Agency's in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) program.
Having said that, how much oxygen may the Moon supply if we succeed? As it turns out, quite a bit.
We can make some estimations if we disregard oxygen trapped in the Moon's subsurface hard rock material and focus only on the regolith that is readily accessible on the surface.
Lunar regolith includes an average of 1.4 tonnes of minerals, including around 630 kilos of oxygen per cubic metre (35 sq ft). According to NASA, people need around 800 grams of oxygen every day to exist. Thus, 630 kg of oxygen would sustain a human for around two years (or just over).
Assume now that the average depth of regolith on the Moon is around 10 meters and that we can extract all of the oxygen from it. That indicates that the top ten meters of the Moon's surface would contain enough oxygen to sustain the Earth's eight billion people for around 100,000 years.
This would also rely on our ability to collect and use oxygen properly. Regardless, this figurine is rather incredible!
Having said that, we on Earth really have it pretty well. And we should do everything possible to conserve the blue world — particularly its soil — which sustains all terrestrial life without our intervention.
Secret unmanned US spaceship causes chaos as it lands in Florida - after almost THREE YEARS circling earth - with locals fearing it was a UFO streaking through the sky... as sonic boom rocked houses
Secret unmanned US spaceship causes chaos as it lands in Florida - after almost THREE YEARS circling earth - with locals fearing it was a UFO streaking through the sky... as sonic boom rocked houses
Central Florida residents received quite the scare on Saturday around 5.15am when the X-37B spaceship deorbited, causing a sonic boom
Many said they were woken up by the boom and that houses rattled from it
'Woke me up, thought something hit the house,' a Twitter user said
The Space Force later confirmed the X-37B had successfully landed at 5.22am after being in orbit for 908 days
The unmanned ship is used to conduct experiments in space, including crop production and harnessing solar rays to be used as energy on Earth
A secret, unmanned US Space Force X-37B ship landed early on Saturday after spending a record 908 days in orbit, causing Florida residents to fear it was a UFO after hearing sonic booms.
The solar-powered vehicle, which looks like a miniature space shuttle, landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center around 5.15am on Saturday afterlaunching in May 2020 on its sixth mission. Its previous mission lasted 780 days.
Its unexpected return left some Central Floridians fearing for their life as a loud sonic boom sounded in the early morning hours and houses shook when the spacecraft returned to earth.
The boom could be heard from Titusville to Kissimmee, according to Fox 29.
Twitter user Robert Haas, wrote: 'Woke me up, thought something hit the house, Facebook and Twitter seem to confirm it was what I thought, sonic boom seems likely.'
Another wrote: 'I heard a triple boom at 5.15am in Haines City, FL. I thought someone jumped on my roof!'
A secret, unmanned US Space Force X-37B ship landed early on Saturday after spending a record 908 days in orbit
The solar-powered vehicle, which looks like a miniature space shuttle, landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center around 5.15am, unexpected to Central Florida residents
'Just woke up to a sonic boom shaking the house. I’m seeing reports from Tampa to Titusville. What the hell just flew across Florida? Was there a launch?,' another user wrote.
'Just heard a sonic boom in the Orlando area. No launch scheduled right now,' Matt Collins wrote.
Sophie Sanchez claimed she 'saw' the rocket landing near the Cape early in the morning and said 'everyone on the road hit their brakes.'
'When I saw [it, I don't know] what streaked overhead. Meteor? UFO?' she had wondered.
Another shared a US Fish and Wildlife Services notification claiming Merritt Island would be closed due to 'operations NASA.'
It was later confirmed by the Space Force that the spacecraft had successfully deorbited at 5.22am.
While on its nearly three-year journey, the spacecraft - for the first time - hosted a service module that carried experiments for the Naval Research Laboratory, US Air Force Academy, and others. The module separated from the vehicle before de-orbiting to ensure a safe landing.
Among the experiments was a satellite dubbed the FalconSat-8 that was designed and built by academy cadets in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory. It was deployed in October 2021 and still remains in orbit.
Another experiment evaluated the effects of long-duration space exposure on seeds.
'The seeds experiment will inform space crop production for future interplanetary missions and the establishment of permanently inhabited bases in space,' the military reported.
Naval Research Laboratory's experiment 'successfully harnessed solar rays outside of Earth's atmosphere and aimed to transmit power to the ground in the form of radio frequency microwave energy,' according to Space Force.
'This mission highlights the Space Force's focus on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force,' said Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations.
'Since the X-37B's first launch in 2010, it has shattered records and provided our nation with an unrivaled capability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies,' said Jim Chilton, a senior vice president for Boeing, its developer.
Many were woken up by the sonic booms and took to social media to wonder what it was
The ship is powered by solar cells with lithium-ion batteries, the plane was orbiting at around 200 miles high.
The first mission in 2010 lasted 224 days, the second a year later went on for 468 days and the mission that ended in 2019 lasted a total of 780 days.
The X-37Be has now flown over 1.3billion miles and spent a total of 3,774 days in space.
The Air Force is usually very secretive about what the spacecraft takes to orbit with, but made an exception in its last mission.
The military group also shared some details of the craft's 2019 mission.
The group noted that the X-37B was carrying the Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader built by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
According to the AFRL, the payload's three primary science objectives are to measure the initial on-orbit thermal performance, to measure long-duration thermal performance and to assess any lifetime degradation.
Another shared an FAA map, showing the spacecraft had landed in Central Florida
Five previous X-37B missions have been launched by United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.
Each time the unmanned space plane has carried a mystery payload on long-duration flights in Earth orbit.
'The many firsts on this mission make the upcoming OTV launch a milestone for the program,' Walden said at a previous launch.
'It is our goal to continue advancing the X-37B OTV so it can more fully support the growing space community.'
WHAT IS THE X-37B SPACE PLANE?
The U.S. Air Force's unmanned X-37B space plane looks similar to Nasa's space shuttle but is much smaller.
The space plane is 29 feet (8.8 metres) long, 9.6 feet (2.9 metres) tall and weighs around 11,000 lbs. (4,990 kilograms).
It is orbiting at around 200 miles (320 kilometres) high.
The U.S. Air Force's unmanned X-37B space plane looks similar to Nasa's space shuttle but is much smaller. The space plane is 29 feet (8.8 metres) long, 9.6 feet (2.9 metres) tall and weighs around 11,000 lbs. (4,990 kilograms)
Officials have revealed few details about the OTV-5 mission (the aircraft's fifth) but according to the Air Force, one on board OTV-5 payload is US thermal spreader which will test the longevity of electronics and heat pipes in the space environment.
The craft is powered by solar cells with lithium-ion batteries.
Four previous X-37B missions have been launched by United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.
Each time the unmanned space plane has carried a mystery payload on long-duration flights in Earth orbit.
Mysterious US Space Drone Returns to Earth After Record-Breaking Mission
Mysterious US Space Drone Returns to Earth After Record-Breaking Mission
A US military space drone landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday after nearly two and a half years in orbit, Boeing said.
The unmanned X-37B shuttle, whose first flight took place in 2010, has now spent a total of more than 10 years in space and flown more than 1.3 billion miles during six missions, Boeingsaid in a statement.
"This mission highlights the Space Force's focus on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force," said General Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations.
Launched in secrecy, the X-37B was designed for the Air Force by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
It is 30 feet (9 meters) long, has a 15-foot wingspan and is powered by solar panels.
Before the shuttle's last launch, in May 2020, the Pentagon evoked a series of scientific experiments it would undertake.
The mission was to test how certain materials react in space, to evaluate how ambient radiation in space affects a series of seeds, and to transform solar radiation into radio-electric energy, the army said.
The Milky Way Is MOVING Through The Universe At 2.1 MILLION Kilometers Per Hour
The Milky Way Is MOVING Through The Universe At 2.1 MILLION Kilometers Per Hour
Nothing is standing or stationary. As you are reading this, the Earth spins around its own axis; it revolves around the sun, the sun is moving through space at a stunning 792,000 km/h around the gigantic center, and our universe is moving at a mind-boggling 2.1 million kilometers per hour.
You may contemplate that as you are reading this, your body in a stationary position. But, everything inside the universe travels, from our planet (Earth) –which revolves on its axis at a speed of approximately 1700 km/h— to the solar system and even the Milky Way Galaxy.
All the planets in the solar system and their personal moons also travel through space. Actually, in order to retain a stable orbit, it is essential for Earth to move around 30 km/s. The innermost planets in our system, Mercury and Venus travel faster while planet Mars and the external planets of our solar system fly through space at a sluggish pace.
But think superior and bigger. Even yet the Sun is at the heart of our solar system, it is also travelling at an unbelievable speed through space.
If we consider even bigger, we will understand that even our gigantic Milky Way galaxy is in motion, and all continuing things that make up the universe such as stars, gas clouds, planets, black holes and even the mighty dark matter travel within the universe.
Just as Earth revolve around the Sun and our Sun revolves the galactic center –which from our vantage point is situated around 2500 light-years away— in an elliptic trajectory. It finishes a revolution every 225 million years roughly. This is known as a Galactic year.
It is predicted that since the Sun and Earth came into being, 20 galactic years have passed, which means that we ended 20 successful revolutions orbiting the galactic center. However, if we relate detailed human history to our movement through the universe, we would understand we hardly moved in our galactic path.
But what about the Speed? In order to finish a successful revolution around the galactic center, the Star (Sun) has to travel at a stunning speed of 792,000 km/h. Including Earth and all other objects in our complete solar system follow the sun at this obsessive speed.
In comparison, light-travels at a mesmerizing speed of 1.09 BILLION km/h.
Though, not only do moons, planets, and in this particular case, our sun travels through space, the galaxy also moves through space, pushed by the gravitation of other enormous objects in the universe.
As it turns out, our Galaxy is now being thrown, by other huge galaxies and clusters in the surrounding area — near a certain point in the universe.
But wait a minute, related to WHAT is we actually calculating the movement through the universe? Well, when arguing our speed around the Milky Way Galaxy, researchers are capable to measure it relative to the HEART of the Milky Way Galaxy.
However, the Milky Way Galaxy isn’t motionless or stationary, and it also moves through the universe. So is there anything to which its motion can be compared?
For a long period time, astronomers and scientists were not able to answer any questions like this. We can compare our galaxy’s speed with other galaxies, but all the other galaxies travel through the universe just as the Milky Way Galaxy does.
In order to answer this mystery, astronomers and scientists point towards the CBR (Cosmic Background Radiation) and the Big Bang.
As stated by NASA, The Big Bang theory guesses that the early universe was an extremely hot place and that as it grows; the gas within it gets cooler. Therefore the universe should be packed with radiation that is exactly the remnant heat left from the Big Bang, called the “Cosmic Microwave Background,” or CMB. The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation was produced 13.7 billion years ago.
Theoretically speaking, the CBR suggests experts with a frame of reference for the entire universe, compared to which we can determine and calculate our motion.
In order to get knowledge of how fast we’re travelling through the universe, astronomers need to take away the motion of planet Earth around the Sun and the Sun around the center of the Milky Way from the movement measured compared to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CBR).
This means that the Milky Way Galaxy is travelling through space at an amazing speed of 2.1 million km/h, in the direction of the constellations of Virgo and Leo; exactly where the so-called Great Attractor is situated.
New Observations Confirm That a Magnetar has a Solid Surface and No Atmosphere
An artist's impression of a magnetar, a highly magnetic, slowly rotating neutron star.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
New Observations Confirm That a Magnetar has a Solid Surface and No Atmosphere
Atmosphere
Can a star have a solid surface? It might sound counterintuitive. But human intuition is a response to our evolution on Earth, where up is up, down is down, and there are three states of matter. Intuition fails when it confronts the cosmos.
Magnetars are dead stars with intense magnetic fields, the most intense we know of. They’re a type of neutron star, the stellar remnants of a massive star that exploded as a supernova. Magnetars are not only highly magnetized compared to neutron stars, but they also rotate more slowly. While a magnetar might rotate once or twice every ten seconds, a neutron star can rotate as fast as ten times each second.
Magnetars are one of those cosmic objects that scientists deduced must have existed long before they found one. They were invoked to explain the existence of transient gamma-ray sources called soft gamma repeaters (SGRs.) The hypothesis is that as a magnetar’s intense magnetic field slowly decays, it will emit gamma rays and x-rays. It takes about 10,000 years for the field to decay. Now we know of at least 31 magnetars, and researchers calculate that there are about 30 million inactive magnetars in the Milky Way.
Magnetars emit powerful x-rays and undergo erratic bursts of activity. A magnetar’s bursts and flares can emit in a single second what our Sun needs an entire year to emit. The extreme magnetic fields are responsible for this behaviour, scientists think, and they can be up to one thousand times more powerful than the magnetic fields around neutron stars.
A new study says that one of these magnetars has a solid surface and no atmosphere. It’s called 4U 0142+61, and it’s about 13,000 light years away from Earth in the Cassiopeia constellation. The study is “Polarized x-rays from a magnetar,” and it’s published in the journal Science. The lead author is Dr. Roberto Taverna, from the University of Padova (Padua), Italy.
“The star’s gas has reached a tipping point and become solid in a similar way that water might turn to ice. This is a result of the star’s incredibly strong magnetic field.”
Co-lead author Professor Silvia Zane, UCL, IXPE science team member.
A spacecraft launched in December 2021 made this study possible. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a joint mission between the Italian Space Agency and NASA. As the name makes clear, the spacecraft observes the polarisation of x-rays. Exotic objects like black holes, pulsars, neutron stars, and magnetars all have extreme environments that polarise x-rays. IXPE can observe these x-rays and provide insights into the objects and their environments. Understanding the exotic, powerful magnetic fields around magnetars is one of IXPE’s explicit objectives.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft onboard from Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The IXPE spacecraft is the first satellite dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars. The launch occurred at 1 a.m. EST. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky
As this study shows, it’s paying dividends.
This study marks the first time that scientists have observed polarised x-rays from a magnetar. IXPE observed the magnetar for a total of 840 kiloseconds (about 233 hours) in January and February of 2022. What did those observations show?
First, a bit about polarised light.
Most of the light we encounter is non-polarized. That means that as the light travels, it “vibrates” in multiple planes and travels outward in multiple directions. Sunlight, electric light, and a candle flame all emit non-polarized light.
Polarized light is light that vibrates in only one plane. You’ve probably worn polarized sunglasses at one time or another. They reduce glare by filtering out light vibrating on other planes and only allowing aligned light to reach your eyes.
Since light, including x-rays, is electromagnetic energy, extremely powerful magnetic fields around magnetars can polarise light. By measuring the degree of polarity, scientists can make deductions about the magnetic fields and the objects generating them. That’s at the heart of IXPE’s mission and at the heart of this study. IXPE has three identical imaging X-ray polarimetry systems that operate independently for redundancy. IXPE creates polarization maps that reveal the structure of the magnetic fields around objects like magnetars.
An artist’s rendition of the IXPE spacecraft. Image Credit: HEASARC (High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Center.)
As the paper’s one-sentence summary says, “The IXPE observation of 4U 0142+61 gives the first ever measurement of polarized emission from a magnetar in x-rays.”
The researchers found a much lower proportion of polarised light than there should be if the x-rays had passed through an atmosphere. An atmosphere around the magnetar would act like a filter and allow only one polarisation state of light to pass through.
The team also found that the wiggle, or angle of polarisation, flipped exactly 90 degrees for higher energies when compared to lower energies. Theoretical models of magnetars state that a solid surface surrounded by magnetic fields can produce these observations.
“The most exciting feature we could observe is the change in polarisation direction with energy, with the polarisation angle swinging by exactly 90 degrees,” said lead author Taverna. “This is in agreement with what theoretical models predict and confirms that magnetars are indeed endowed with ultra-strong magnetic fields.”
“This was completely unexpected,” said co-lead author Professor Silvia Zane (UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory) and a member of the IXPE science team. “I was convinced there would be an atmosphere. The star’s gas has reached a tipping point and become solid in a similar way that water might turn to ice. This is a result of the star’s incredibly strong magnetic field.”
“But, like with water, temperature is also a factor – a hotter gas will require a stronger magnetic field to become solid,” added Zane. “A next step is to observe hotter neutron stars with a similar magnetic field, to investigate how the interplay between temperature and magnetic field affects the properties of the star’s surface.”
Quantum theory plays a role in these findings. It predicts that when light is propagated in a highly magnetized environment, it’ll be polarized in two directions: parallel to the magnetic field lines and perpendicular to them. By observing both the polarity of the light and the amount of light, scientists can understand the structure of the magnetic field itself, which imprints itself on the light and on the physical state of the matter in the region of the magnetar. According to the study, this is the only way to access that information.
Magnetars can have complex magnetic fields, and IXPE is a powerful tool for observing them. IXPE creates polarization maps of objects like magnetars which is the only way to reveal their structure. This image is an artistic impression of a magnetar with a very complicated magnetic field at its interior and a simple small dipolar field outside. Credits: ESA – Author: Christophe Carreau
Professor Roberto Turolla from the University of Padova is another of the paper’s co-authors. In a press release, Turolla said, “The polarisation at low energies is telling us that the magnetic field is likely so strong to turn the atmosphere around the star into a solid or a liquid, a phenomenon known as magnetic condensation.”
Theory also predicts that this solid surface is made of ions held together in a lattice by magnetic fields. Rather than spherical like other atoms, these ones would be elongated due to the powerful magnetic force.
Scientists still debate whether or not magnetars and other neutron stars can even have atmospheres. There’s a ton of mystery surrounding these extreme objects and their confounding nature. But at least we know of one magnetar that has no atmosphere, or at least where a solid crust is a suitable explanation.
But the explanation still needs more scrutiny, say the authors.
“It is also worth noting that including quantum electrodynamics effects, as we did in our theoretical modelling, gives results compatible with the IXPE observation,” said co-author Professor Jeremy Heyl of the University of British Columbia. “Nevertheless, we are also investigating alternative models to explain the IXPE data, for which proper numerical simulations are still lacking.”
The Sun Could Hurl Powerful Storms at us from its Goofy Smile
NASA recently photographed the Sun "smiling"
(Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Solar Dynamics Observatory)
The Sun Could Hurl Powerful Storms at us from its Goofy Smile
Our Sun is the very reason we’re alive. It provides warmth and the energy our planet needs to keep going. Now you can add photogenic to its illustrious résumé, as NASA recently photographed our giant ball of nuclear fusion doing something quite peculiar.
“Say cheese!” NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) tweeted on October 26th. “Today, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the Sun “smiling.” Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the Sun are known as coronal holes and are regions where fast solar wind gushes out into space.” These dark patches are also known as sunspots, which can reach approximately 3600 degrees Celsius (6500 degrees Fahrenheit), and are responsible for radiation-filled solar flares that can wreak havoc on a planet.
This phenomena is also known as space weather, and thankfully, our own planet has a protective magnetic field that deflects the solar flares to both the north and south poles, resulting in the beautiful auroras seen by many. Even with this field, solar storms can sometimes be powerful enough to create chaos with both satellites and worldwide electrical grids, causing communication delays and even blackouts.
Solar weather and the Earth’s magnetic field. (Credit: NASA)
It turns out this isn’t the first time our Sun has made faces at us, as NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, imaged the Sun depicting a jack-o-lantern’s face back in October 2014, which made for a spooky pre-Halloween treat for astronomy lovers.
Sun photographed displaying a jack-o-lantern face in October 2014. (Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory)
In terms of size, our Sun is approximately 100 times wider than the Earth, meaning dozens of Earths could snugly fit inside the Sun’s recent “smile”, which is a humble reminder that while our Sun is responsible for both life and displaying familiar surface features from time to time, it can also be responsible for immense death and destruction, as well.
Maybe our Sun smiling at us is a sign that it wants us to stick around for a while, but if we capture it giving us a frown, then maybe it’s time to panic.
Flashing Object Over Dunnellon, Florida Nov 12, 2022, UFO Sighting News
Flashing Object Over Dunnellon, Florida Nov 12, 2022, UFO Sighting News
Eyewitness states:
Saturday night 11/12/22 approximately 9:30pm eastern sky rural Dunnellon Florida ... over pasture Romeo/Rainbow lakes area looking towards Ocala. Stationary/hovering circular pulsating bright white object eventually moved towards the south and disappeared.
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Eyewitness states:
Large blinking lights that changed in color and would blink. I also saw planes in the sky but their lights were much much smaller than the unidentified light. I was with my husband, cousin, and cousin-in-law. The lights seemed to pulsate, blink and change color.
Huge UFO Sighting over Orlando, FL, USA, February 10th 2022
Saturn Moons Titan And Dione Are Space Stations! Nov 12, 2022, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Saturn Moons Titan And Dione Are Space Stations! Nov 12, 2022, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Guys, check this out. I discovered this back in 2010, but I have often thought deeply about it and really wanted to talk about it more. I thought it was photoshop by NASA, but more and more I am believing that this is a space station. The link still works and NASA actually labels it "photo of the day." It should be photo of the millennium because this is a huge and historical discovery about Dione and Titan. They are space stations, the back of Dione has huge finger like structures coming out of it. Dark structures so that they could not be detected from far away. The auto of colors around those dark fingers indicated a thriving civilization within them...the reds, pinks and greens could only be coming from a technological intelligent species.
Air Traffic Control Center Porto Alegre, Brazil captures UFO reported by pilots
Air Traffic Control Center Porto Alegre, Brazil captures UFO reported by pilots
For the fifth consecutive night, pilots belonging to different airlines have reported the presence of UFOs over the skies of Porto Alegre, Brazil.
According to Inexplicata, between 22:50 and 23:10, four flights reported the presence of strange lights in the sky to the Air Traffic Control center.
The flights in question were 4248, 3140, 4407, of Azul Air, and LATAM flight 3406. Pilots noticed that the lights went on and off, but did not constitute a hindrance to air traffic.
The moment was recorded by the Salgado Filho Airport Control Center.
This huge flashing UFO was filmed in the night sky above Dunnellon, a small city in Marion County, Florida this Saturday.
Witness report:
Saturday night 11/12/22 approximately 9:30pm eastern sky rural Dunnellon Florida … over pasture Romeo/Rainbow lakes area looking towards Ocala. Stationary/hovering circular pulsating bright white object eventually moved towards the south and disappeared.
Multiple UFOs filmed over Austin, Texas 12-Nov-2022
Multiple UFOs filmed over Austin, Texas 12-Nov-2022
On November 12, 2022, residents of Austin, Texas, saw and recorded the appearance of mysterious lights in the sky. The state capital is located in an inland region bordering the Hill Country.
Witness report:
Eight shooting Stars shooting down position from exiting portal or more come dripping out of portal. Driving to the store me and my girlfriend saw portal open and shooting stars came out in a down position dripping fire ( trails) one after after another then another alot of them came dripping out they had orange yellow fire like effect. Moving up down left right blinking off and on abruptly changing directions and disappearing and reappearing landing very quickly at least two of them some got close but did not land . They were looking for something on the ground and they were quick to land and look with no fear of anything like they owned the place just doing what they want Two of the stars combined together in mid air in front of me and broke away from the group and disappear in front of me a few seconds later after joining together. They were just so many to keep up with it made me scared nausea’s confused I have video and a one picture I have proof this happened.
SpaceX Starship Record Static Fire Up Next, Starbase Management Change, Cygnus NG-18, JPSS 2 & SLS
Over at SpaceX’s Starbase at BocaChica this week, all effort seems focused on the first orbital test flight of Starship, with everything on site looking more refined by the day. We should have the SpaceX Starship record static fire up next! Ships coming down, Ships moving out, and a load of intriguing stuff to cover this week (including the Starbase management change). Cygnus NG-18 made its trip up to resupply the international space station, however there was an unexpected hiccup. A final farewell to United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V from Vandenberg in the spectacular JPSS-2 mission. SLS makes its way back to the launch pad for another attempt at its maiden flight
All About Tiangong Space Station
All About Tiangong Space Station
What is Tiangong Space Station? How big is it? Who is on board? Why was it built? Find out in this informative animation. China has launched their first space station, Tiangong. In this video, learn all about this historic accomplishment and how it will change space exploration.
China's Tiangong Space Station may not seem as large or advanced as the International Space Station, but it is still an important accomplishment in the field of space exploration. Now, let's take a closer look at Tiangong's design and construction.
Starship Booster 33 Engines Test Campaign Begins, SLS Damage, LOFTID, Cygnus Solar Array, Rocket Lab
SpaceX shuffles Starships, and gears up for 33 engine static fire test. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell takes over Starbase operations.
Cygnus arrives at the space station despite the solar array problem. NASA inspects Artemis I rocket after Hurricane Nicole. NASA tested the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator. Rocket Lab launches Swedish satellite but fails to catch booster with a helicopter.
Scripted on 10th November 2022
00:00 A Spacecraft Arrived at ISS With a Failed Solar Panel
01:49 NASA Assessing Damage to SLS From Hurricane Nicole 0
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IN DE RUIMTE BEVINDT ZICH DIT ENORME 'KATTENOOG' EN HET BLIJKT EEN VERRASSING TE HERBERGEN
IN DE RUIMTE BEVINDT ZICH DIT ENORME 'KATTENOOG' EN HET BLIJKT EEN VERRASSING TE HERBERGEN
Vivian Lammerse
Dat de beroemde Kattenoognevel een vreemde eend in de bijt is, wisten astronomen al langer. Maar nu begrijpen ze ook waarom.
De Kattenoognevel is een planetaire nevel, die met wat fantasie op het oog van Sauron lijkt. De meeste planetaire nevels zijn vrij recht-door-zee, maar dat geldt niet voor de Kattenoognevel. Deze nevel bestaat uit een ingewikkelde structuur van knopen en structuren, boogachtige filamenten en concentrische gasschillen. Niet voor niets is de Kattenoognevel één van de meest complexe planetaire nevels die we kennen. Onderzoekers hebben nu voor het eerst een driedimensionaal model van de Kattenoognevel vervaardigd. En die verraadt hoe hij zijn opvallende voorkomen heeft gekregen.
Planetaire nevel Een planetaire nevel ontstaat wanneer een stervende, zonachtige ster zijn buitenste gaslaag wegslingert. Hierdoor wordt er en kleurrijke ‘schil’ gevormd die kenmerkend is voor dergelijke objecten. Maar zoals gezegd is de Kattenoognevel – een planetaire nevel op iets meer dan 3000 lichtjaar afstand van de aarde, te zien in het sterrenbeeld Draak – een vreemde eend in de bijt. De mysterieuze structuur van de nevel heeft astrofysici al eerder in verwarring gebracht. Zo blijkt dat zijn raadselachtige voorkomen niet kan worden verklaard door eerder aanvaarde theorieën over de vorming van planetaire nevels.
3D-model Onderzoeker Ryan Clairmont besloot een verwoede poging te wagen om de mogelijke mechanismen die de Kattenoognevel zijn vorm hebben gegeven, te ontraadselen. Daarvoor schakelde hij de hulp in van het het San Pedro Martir National Observatory in Mexico. Spectrale gegevens vervaardigd door dit observatorium verschaffen namelijk inzicht in de interne beweging van materiaal in de nevel. Samen met gegevens en afbeeldingen van de Hubble-ruimtetelescoop construeerde Clairmont vervolgens een gedetailleerd 3D-model.
De Kattenoognevel. Links: het nieuw vervaardigde 3D-model. Rechts: Een eerder gemaakte foto van Hubble.
Afbeelding: Ryan Clairmont (links), NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) (rechts)
Het 3D-model onthult ringen van gas die rond de buitenste schil van het Kattenoog cirkelen. Verrassend genoeg zijn deze gasringen bijna perfect symmetrisch ten opzichte van elkaar gepositioneerd. En dat is interessant. Deze symmetrie suggereert namelijk dat de gasringen zijn gevormd door een jet – een stroom van gas – die in tegengestelde richtingen werd uitgestoten vanuit een centrale ster.
Dubbelster Volgens de onderzoekers vertoonde deze jet een zogenoemde ‘ precessie-beweging’. Het eenvoudigste voorbeeld van precessie is een draaitol die op de grond ronddraait. En dat verraadt dat de centrale ster waarschijnlijk vergezeld is door een andere ster. Dat komt omdat bekend is dat alleen dubbelsterren zogenaamde ‘precesserende’ straalstromen in planetaire nevels kunnen aandrijven. Kortom, in het hart van de Kattenoognevel houdt zich vermoedelijk een dubbelster op.
De studie werpt nieuw licht op de raadselachtige vorm van de Kattenoognevel. Zo denken de onderzoekers dat de hoek en de richting van de jet in de loop van de tijd veranderde. En op deze manier zagen vervolgens alle opvallende kenmerken van de nevel het levenslicht. Daarnaast breidt het onderzoek ook onze kennis over planetaire nevels in het algemeen uit. “Precesserende jets in planetaire nevels zijn relatief zeldzaam,” zegt Clairmont. “Het is daarom belangrijk om te begrijpen hoe ze bijdragen aan de vorming van complexere systemen zoals de Kattenoognevel. Uiteindelijk zal dit ook inzicht verschaffen in het uiteindelijke lot van onze zon, die op een dag zelf een planetaire nevel zal worden.”
WETENSCHAPPERS VINDEN MYSTERIEUZE 'BLAUWE SMURRIE' OP DE BODEM VAN DE OCEAAN EN HEBBEN GEEN IDEE WAT HET IS
WETENSCHAPPERS VINDEN MYSTERIEUZE 'BLAUWE SMURRIE' OP DE BODEM VAN DE OCEAAN EN HEBBEN GEEN IDEE WAT HET IS
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Ideeën? Iemand?
Wetenschappers spotten de mysterieuze ‘blauwe smurrie’ tijdens een expeditie naar de Mid-Atlantische Rug; een grotendeels onder water gelegen bergketen in de Atlantische Oceaan. Onder meer met behulp van onderwaterrobots werd het gebied rondom deze keten – en het leven dat daar te vinden is – nader in kaart gebracht. Voorafgaand aan de expeditie verwachtten onderzoekers daarbij onder meer op diepzeekoraal en sponzen te stuitten, maar verrassingen waren zeker niet uitgesloten.
Blauwe smurrie En zo’n verrassing heeft zich nu dus aangediend in de vorm van wat de onderzoekers zelf ‘blauwe smurrie’ noemen. De ‘smurrie’ is op verschillende plekken voor de kust van de Amerikaanse Maagdeneilanden – op enkele honderden meters diepte – aangetroffen. En onderzoekers hebben geen idee wat het is.
Het zou een zacht koraal kunnen zijn, merkt één van de onderzoekers in bovenstaande video op. Maar, zo benadrukt een ander, we weten het nog niet. Het zou bijvoorbeeld ook een soort spons kunnen zijn. Of een soort manteldier. “Ik denk dat het een mysterie blijft, tot we het kunnen bemonsteren,” stelt één van de onderzoekers. Of tot een deskundige het op basis van de vrij scherpe beelden kan identificeren.
Gaten Het is zeker niet het eerste mysterie dat de expeditie naar Mid-Atlantische Rug voortbrengt. Zo stuitten onderzoekers eerder al op tamelijk mysterieuze gaten in de zeebodem waarvan nog altijd onbekend is hoe ze tot stand komen.
De nog altijd onverklaarbare gaten in de zeebodem die onderzoekers eerder aantroffen.
Afbeelding: NOAA Ocean Exploration, Voyage to the Ridge 2022.
En ook kwamen wetenschappers tijdens de expeditie een zeer zeldzame vergadering van zee-egels tegen. Onderzoekers zijn er nog maar zelden getuige van geweest dat zee-egels het gezellig maken samen. Maar wat de ontmoeting nog bijzonderder maakte, is dat alle verzamelde zee-egels zichzelf een ‘hoedje’ van puin hadden aangemeten. Waarom de zee-egels elkaar ontmoetten en waarom ze daarbij allemaal een hoedje op hadden, is nog altijd onduidelijk.
Eerder stuitten de onderzoekers tijdens de expeditie ook al op een zeldzame vergadering van zee-egels, waarbij alle verzamelde zee-egels ook nog eens een mysterieus ‘hoedje’ droegen.
Afbeeldingen: NOAA Ocean Exploration, Voyage to the Ridge 2022.
Zoveel onbekend De mysterieuze ontdekkingen op de bodem van de oceaan geven wel aan hoe belangrijk het is dat er meer onderzoek naar onze oceanen wordt gedaan. De oceaanbodem is nog tamelijk onontgonnen terrein; hoewel de oceaan zo’n 70 procent van het aardoppervlak bestrijkt, is slechts 20 procent van de wereldwijde zeebodem tot op heden in kaart gebracht. En ook de organismen die op de bodem en in de (dieper gelegen) wateren leven, hebben nog behoorlijk wat geheimen voor ons.
Langste bergketen Dat geldt zeker ook voor het gebied waar de beelden van de blauwe smurrie en mysterieuze gaten zijn gemaakt; de Mid-Atlantische Rug is met een lengte van 16.000 kilometer de langste bergketen op aarde, maar deze onder water gelegen berg en omgeving zijn nog nauwelijks bestudeerd. Wetenschappers probeerden daar recent daar tijdens een serie expedities – die samen aangeduid worden als ‘Voyage to the Ridge 2022‘ verandering in te brengen. Vanaf het onderzoeksschip Okeanos Explorer werd de Mid-Atlantische Rug en omgeving met sonarapparatuur in kaart gebracht, terwijl onderwaterrobots een inkijkje gaven in wat er allemaal in het gebied leeft. Want pas als we dat weten, kunnen we de ecosystemen gaan monitoren en eventueel ingrijpen als een ecosysteem – bijvoorbeeld door inmenging van mensen – in de knel dreigt te komen.
Eerder deze maand kwam de laatste van de serie expedities naar de Mid-Atlantische Rug ten einde. De komende tijd zal de sonardata gebruikt worden om de – nog altijd flinke – gaten in onze kaarten van de wereldwijde zeebodem te helpen opvullen. De onderzoekers leveren zo een bijdrage aan Seabed 2030: een project dat erop gericht is om de complete zeebodem tegen 2030 in kaart te hebben gebracht. Daarnaast zullen ook de door onderwaterrobots gemaakte beelden ongetwijfeld verder worden uitgeplozen. Of het tot identificatie van de nu nog mysterieuze blauwe smurrie zal leiden, is afwachten. Vaststaat dat de data leidend zal zijn voor het plannen van nieuwe expedities naar de bodem van de oceaan. Want wat alle vergaarde gegevens vooral laten zien, is dat er nog heel veel is wat we niet weten of in ieder geval slecht begrijpen.
Archaeologists sυrveyiпg the world’s oldest sυbmerged towп have foυпd ceramics datiпg back to the Fiпal Neolithic. Their discovery sυggests that Pavlopetri, off the soυtherп Lacoпia coast of Greece, was occυpied some 5,000 years ago — at least 1,200 years earlier thaп origiпally thoυght.
These remarkable fiпdiпgs have beeп made pυblic by the Greek goverпmeпt after the start of a five-year collaborative project iпvolviпg the Ephorate of Uпderwater Aпtiqυities of the Helleпic Miпistry of Cυltυre aпd The Uпiversity of Nottiпgham.
As a Myceпaeaп towп, the site offers poteпtial пew iпsights iпto the workiпgs of Myceпaeaп society. Pavlopetri has added importaпce as it was a maritime settlemeпt from which the iпhabitaпts coordiпated local aпd loпg-distaпce trade.
The Pavlopetri Uпderwater Archaeology Project aims to establish exactly wheп the site was occυpied, what it was υsed for aпd throυgh a systematic stυdy of the geomorphology of the area, how the towп became sυbmerged.
This sυmmer the team carried oυt a detailed digital υпderwater sυrvey aпd stυdy of the strυctυral remaiпs, which υпtil this year were thoυght to beloпg to the Myceпaeaп period — aroυпd 1600 to 1000 BC.
The sυrvey sυrpassed all their expectatioпs. Their iпvestigatioпs revealed aпother 150 sqυare metres of пew bυildiпgs as well as ceramics that sυggest the site was occυpied throυghoυt the Broпze Age — from at least 2800 BC to 1100 BC.
The work is beiпg carried oυt by a mυltidiscipliпary team led by Mr Elias Spoпdylis, Ephorate of Uпderwater Aпtiqυities of the Helleпic Miпistry of Cυltυre iп Greece aпd Dr Joп Heпdersoп, aп υпderwater archaeologist from the Departmeпt of Archaeology at The Uпiversity of Nottiпgham.
Dr Joп Heпdersoп said: “This site is υпiqυe iп that we have almost the complete towп plaп, the maiп streets aпd domestic bυildiпgs, coυrtyards, rock-cυt tombs aпd what appear to be religioυs bυildiпgs, clearly visible oп the seabed. Eqυally, as a harboυr settlemeпt, the stυdy of the archaeological material we have recovered will be extremely importaпt iп terms of revealiпg how maritime trade was coпdυcted aпd maпaged iп the Broпze Age.”
Possibly oпe of the most importaпt discoveries has beeп the ideпtificatioп of what coυld be a megaroп — a large rectaпgυlar great hall — from the Early Broпze Age period. They have also foυпd over 150 metres of пew bυildiпgs iпclυdiпg what coυld be the first example of a pillar crypt ever discovered oп the Greek maiпlaпd. Two пew stoпe-bυilt cist graves were also discovered aloпgside what appears to be a Middle Broпze Age pithos bυrial.
Mr Spoпdylis said: “It is a rare fiпd aпd it is sigпificaпt becaυse as a sυbmerged site it was пever re-occυpied aпd therefore represeпts a frozeп momeпt of the past.”
The Archaeological coordiпator Dr Chrysaпthi Galloυ a postdoctoral research fellow at The Uпiversity of Nottiпgham is aп expert iп Aegeaп Prehistory aпd the archaeology of Lacoпia.
Dr Galloυ said: “The пew ceramic fiпds form a complete aпd exceptioпal corpυs of pottery coveriпg all sυb-phases from the Fiпal Neolithic period (mid 4th milleппiυm BC) to the eпd of the Late Broпze Age (1100 BC).
Iп additioп, the iпterest from the local commυпity iп Lacoпia has beeп faпtastic.
The iпvestigatioп at Pavlopetri offers a great opportυпity for them to be actively iпvolved iп the preservatioп aпd maпagemeпt of the site, aпd sυbseqυeпtly for the cυltυral aпd toυristic developmeпt of the wider regioп.”
The team was joiпed by Dr Nicholas Flemmiпg, a mariпe geo-archaeologist from the Iпstitυte of Oceaпography at the Uпiversity of Soυthamptoп, who discovered the site iп 1967 aпd retυrпed the followiпg year with a team from Cambridge Uпiversity to carry oυt the first-ever sυrvey of the sυbmerged towп.
Usiпg jυst sпorkels aпd tape measυres they prodυced a detailed plaп of the prehistoric towп which coпsisted of at least 15 separate bυildiпgs, coυrtyards, streets, two-chamber tombs aпd at least 37 cist graves.
Despite the poteпtial iпterпatioпal importaпce of Pavlopetri, пo fυrther work was carried oυt at the site υпtil this year.
Throυgh a British School of Archaeology iп Atheпs permit, The Pavlopetri Uпderwater Archaeology Project begaп its five-year stυdy of the site with the aim of defiпiпg the history aпd developmeпt of Pavlopetri.
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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 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
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