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...
23-01-2023
Latvia’s Enigmatic Virtaka Cliff and Mysterious Gauja River Petroglyphs
Latvia’s Enigmatic Virtaka Cliff and Mysterious Gauja River Petroglyphs
Petroglyphs,cave paintings , and different rock carvings are some of the earliest forms of expression of early man. In the Baltic, Pomeranian, and Scandinavian regions of Europe, petroglyphs have been utilized for various purposes for thousands of years in the lives of its inhabitants. Popular in the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and well into the Bronze and even Iron Age, petroglyphs became a unique heritage of Europe. Today we will examine one of the most intricate and intriguing petroglyph examples in the Baltic region, known as the Virtaka Cliff in Latvia.
But what are petroglyphs? Petroglyphs are elaborate incisions in prominent rocks, boulders, and cliff walls that served a religious or similar purpose for the various cultures and tribes that lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They often depicted mythical creatures or the hunting of game. All the various symbols are still a subject of a lot of study to decipher and understand their purpose and meaning.
The Virtaka Cliff petroglyphs are located on sandstone cliffs along the Gauja River Basin in Latvia. (BirdsEyeLV / CC BY-SA 3.0 )
Belated Discovery of the Virtaka Cliff
The Krimulda parish and municipality is located close to the shores of the Baltic Sea in Latvia. This is the home of the Virtaka Cliff, a remote sandstone cliff that boasts a dense grouping of petroglyphs, one of the richest such collections of markings in the whole Baltic region. Latvia is the second largest of the three Baltic nations, and boasts a rich and lengthy history, seeped in the traditions and heritage of the Balts, and the Virtaka Cliff is a crucial insight into its oldest historical periods.
As it is situated in the so-called East European Plain, prominent rock outcrops and rock faces are somewhat of a rarity across the nation. Nevertheless, certain regions of Latvia still have suitable rocky canvases that the ancient peoples discovered and utilized for their enigmatic expressions. The Gauja River Basin is a critical example of this. The only truly Latvian river - emerging and ending entirely in Latvia – it carved out a deep river valley, with steep red rock cliffs all around its banks – a perfect canvas for some petroglyphs!
Natural caves are also in abundance in the region, many of them showing signs of ancient habitation. Many have been studied extensively and classed as sacred caves. There are roughly fifty of these in Latvia today. These are all important aspects of northeast European ancient cultures. But what is interesting is their geological background. These caves are formed through the same geological process as were the many cliffs in Latvia. Formed from sandstone, and relatively easy to work, they often show ancient carvings and symbols.
Sadly, visitors, travelers, wanderers, and tourists often exploited the softness of the sandstone by carving their names or goofy messages in the walls they chanced upon. Many of the ancient cliff faces and sacred caves have been thus defiled by “modern” writings. The rock faces of the popular Gutman Ala or Gutman’s cave have been extensively studied, but are also filled with tourist writings. The earliest of these dates to 1521!
The first discovery made by prominent cave researcher, Guntis Eniņš, was of mysterious carvings on the walls of the Lībiešu Upurala cave in 1971.
The very first ancient rock carvings in Latvia were discovered surprisingly recently. With centuries of outside interference and occupation from major regional powers, Latvia received its independence truly and formally around 1991. These occupations and internal struggles probably also influenced its scholarly world, limiting the extent of the archaeological studies until later decades of the 20th century.
In 1971, Latvia’s petroglyphs and rock carvings were discovered in earnest by a prominent cave researcher, Guntis Eniņš. His earliest discoveries were made in the Lībiešu Upurala cave. He discovered ritual remains in the cave, which were also corresponding to the mysterious carving on its walls. His next major discovery was made in 1986, on the face of the so-called Virtaka Rock. This prominent sandstone cliff face is located on the banks of the River Brasla.
The Virtaka Rock is one of the most stunning, primeval rivers of the Baltic region, with wild nature within its rugged valleys, and a truly heathenish ambience to it. The Virtaka Cliff is situated on its right bank, and its height is between 10 to 15 meters (32-50 feet), and length is roughly a 100 meters (~329 feet). At its base, secluded from sight, is a small niche cave, with a ceiling height of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet).
Upon close inspection, Guntis Eniņš was astounded by the majestic discovery he had made. The face of the sandstone cliff was covered with an intricate and dense grouping of ancient petroglyphs, covering a surface of 2 by 3.5 meters (6.5 by 11 feet). It was at once certain that this grouping of carvings was by far the largest and most significant such discovery in Latvia up to that point, and it made a big echo in the archaeological and historical scientific circles.
Discovered in 1986, the Virtaka Cliff petroglyphs in Latvia.
The carvings on Virtaka Cliff are very dense and very numerous, perhaps indicating a long period of “worship” or use by ancient inhabitants of the region. While the meaning, the role, and the symbolism behind the carvings remains largely a subject of debate, we can nevertheless spot some of the widely used symbols of the ancient times.
Some of them are various basic symbols used throughout Europe in the neolithic and the later ages, such as swastikas, sun crosses, circles, zig-zag lines, animal shapes and human shaped motifs. Important to note are the use of swastikas - which are ancient symbols of the sun in Old European cultures and civilizations. Some of them are arrayed in combined groups of four, while others are solitary. Sun crosses and similar shapes are also very old and very widespread in Ancient Europe.
The petroglyph carvings on Virtaka Cliff are very dense and numerous and were discovered in 1986 by Guntis Eniņš.
But more important to note are several symbols that are very recognizable in the later Balto-Slavic cultures. Many of them are best described as angular geometric symbols, and as such they are commonly observed in later Baltic andSlavic (Balto-Slavs diverged into these two distinct cultural groups) embroidery, carvings, and religious symbolism. The Hands of God (Slavic: Ręce Boga ) are one such symbol on the Virtaka Cliff, as are the numerous linear triangular formations that are identified as Slavic symbols of fertility, the tree of life, or the Sun.
As such, Virtaka Cliff could be an important indication into the traces of earliest Balto-Slavic cultural groups in the region, a remnant of the crucial amalgamation of the Proto and Indo Europeans. Alas, archaeological excavations at the foot of the cliff yielded no considerable finds that could help determine the age or the extent of its use in history. The uncertainty of the age of the carvings led to a lot of scholarly debate and a concentrated effort that could determine their age with certainty.
Eniņš, with the help of a prominent Latvian geologist, Vilma Venska, deduced that the carvings are between 500 and 1000 years old at most. This could place them into a time period of “late” Early Medieval Period, when some of Europe’s last pagans still held to their fate in the Baltic and Pomeranian region. As such, this dating by Eniņš does make sense. However, it could be even older than this.
Several key Latvian scholars offered their interpretations of these carvings, most of them largely agreeing as to their origins. However, it is the age that is subject to debate. The influential linguist Konstantīns Karulis offered his suggestion in 1988, saying that the Virtaka Cliff petroglyphs are motifs left behind by the early Balts, corresponding to their mythology and ancient world view. Several world tree symbols are clear suggestions of this.
The date the Virtaka cliff petroglyph were created has been a subject of debate.
But, surprisingly, Karulis somewhat shockingly suggested that the age of the carvings was no older than 200-300 yeas, which seems to be an almost impossible suggestion. Most other scholars across Latvia and Europe agree that the carvings are quite archaic, with a millennium of age being the lowest possibility. They also agree that these carvings can be easily connected to the Proto Indo-European symbolism and world view as it was commonly depicted through similar motifs thousands of years ago.
Guntis Eniņš devoted his efforts to further research and went on to discover several similar places in Latvia, especially in the Gauja River basin and Gauja National Park. In 1987, merely 50 meters (~165 feet) from the Virtaka Cliff, Eniņš discovered another smaller group of rock carvings. These were much simpler, consisting mainly of groups of vertical lines arranged in groups of nine. Eniņš deduced that it was a form of an ancient lunar calendar, and thus named this new site Kalendāra klints (Calendar Rock).
After this flurry of activity, interest in Virtaka Cliff quickly subsided after that - mainly due to inability for scholars to agree on its age. Meanwhile enthusiasts kept up their devoted explorations. Eniņš was at the head of a group of amateur explorers, and they went on to make several important discoveries. Some other local historians also made discoveries in this region, such as Ansis Opmanis, Imants Jurģītis, and Sarmīte Ansberga.
The inspector of the Gauja National Park also discovered petroglyphs in his rounds. Guntis Eniņš conducted thorough cleaning and excavations at these sites, notably at Krusti Rock and Re¸ģi Rock, copying the petroglyphs for preservation. However, it is interesting to not that Eniņš refrained from publicly announcing the exact locations of these new petroglyphs, in order to protect them from tourists and desecration.
After the discovery of the Virtaka cliff petroglyphs, Guntis Eniņš refrained from publicly announcing the exact locations of these new petroglyphs, in order to protect them from tourists and desecration, as you can see at the bottom in a carving from 2004.
Most - if not all - of Latvia’s discovered rock carvings and petroglyphs are situated in the area of Gauja River, where Brasla and Amata Rivers flow into it. Some of these locations have up to 300 symbols carved. However, dating these carvings has proved to be a very difficult task. One of Latvia’s leading archaeologists, Juris Urtāns, helped determine their age after his critical 2001 academic study.
This work was centered on the then-recently discovered petroglyphs on the so-called Raksti Cliff on the banks of the Rakstupīte river. The majority of those carvings were depictions of ships, and as such their discovery was a sensation. Urtāns’ academic publication was thus the first such work regarding the discussion of rock carvings in Latvia as a cultural and historical source. By a careful and complex analysis of the ship carvings, Urtāns managed to compare them to some later church graffiti and medieval symbols, dating the petroglyphs at Raksti Cliff to 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries AD.
This pointed that at least a part of petroglyphs discovered in the region are dated positively to the medieval period, showing that the custom of rock carving was preserved in the region of Latvia much longer than elsewhere. But then again, the Baltic nations were the last in Europe to be Christianized, and thus their pagan customs survived for much longer than elsewhere. Lithuania was Christianized around 1387 through severely violent means.
One of the proposed theories of the meaning of the carvings placed them in relation to the so-called “cross tree” tradition. This old custom had funerary origins. Inhabitants of Latvia would carve crosses in trees, usually pine, which was selected for that purpose. When the deceased was laid to rest, a cross was carved in the cross-tree, so his soul would not go past the spot marked with the cross.
It is proposed that the numerous markings on Virtaka Cliff had the same purpose, and were left there by mourners over the ages. The custom of cross-trees died out in the early 20th century with the onset of Russian rule over Latvia. Virtaka Cliff could thus be an important insight into the regional funerary traditions that date far back in time.
The Virtaka petroglyphs are an important part of Latvia's history. In 2016 the National Library of Latvia opened a lecture room called the Virtaka classroom, named in honor of the Virtaka rock on the Brasla River. The rock patterns have been replicated with an image on the wall in the room.
The European pagan heritage is undoubtedly an important aspect of our collective history. The period of Old Europe, and the emerging of later cultures as shaped by the Indo European touches, both showcase a complex world view and a far-reaching mythology. And although much of it is still shrouded in mystery, ancient caves and sites such as the Virtaka Cliff can help us greatly in piecing the numerous puzzles of our past.
Top image: Discovered in 1986, the Virtaka Cliff petroglyphs in Latvia
Solar coronal jets are fast moving plumes of plasma that erupt suddenly from the polar regions of the Sun. Astronomers believe that these help heat up the solar corona, but the physics behind the formation of these jets is poorly understood. Recently a team of astronomers have used observations with the Solar Dynamic Observatory and the Solar Orbiter to discover that multiple intertwining magnetic fields that connect and reconnect can power these fast moving jets.
Normally in everyday situations we don’t care about magnetic fields all that much. Sure, they may wiggle our compasses around ,but they aren’t nearly powerful enough to influence us. The same is not true with the Sun. Usually the Sun has a powerful but relatively sedate magnetic field. But as the Sun rotates it can tangle up that magnetic field, forcing the field lines to twist up on themselves into thick ropes.
We can see when the magnetic fields get extremely tangled, because when bundles of magnetic field lines puncture the surface we see it as a sunspot. Eventually these tangled magnetic field lines get so caught up in themselves that they snap, releasing an enormous amount of energy. This is the mechanism behind the release ofsolar flares and coronal mass ejections.
And similar processes are probably behind coronal jets, at least according to new observations. A team of astronomers recently used multiple wavelengths of radiation to study jets at different times with both the Solar Orbiter spacecraft and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. They found that the bulk of the material in the jet was moving between 100 and 200 km/s, but with some of the features within the jet reaching speeds of over 700 km/s .
They also observed kinks, bends, and pinches in the jet. The team interpreted these features as places where the magnetic field is pinching strongly on the jet or in the process of breaking, where it can release its energy to continue powering the plasma.
This research helps potentially understand the nature of the solar corona. The corona is the thin, tenuous atmosphere that extends beyond the surface of the Sun. Despite its great distances from the solar surface, it has a temperature of over a million Kelvin. That’s much hotter than the surface of the Sun itself. Astronomers do not yet fully understand how the corona gets so hot. But observations like these suggest that coronal jets may play a role, because they release an enormous amount of energy directly into that region.
0
1
2
3
4
5
- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:Ruins, strange artifacts on other planets, moons, ed ( Fr, EN, NL )
Einstein’s Fascinating Letter on the UFO Phenomenon: A Closer Look
Einstein’s Fascinating Letter on the UFO Phenomenon: A Closer Look
In July 1952, reports of “flying saucers” over Washington D.C. sparked widespread panic and intrigue. Pilots, radar operators, and citizens alike reported sightings of the mysterious objects, and President Harry Truman even called for an investigation. However, before any serious probe could take place, the Air Force swiftly held a press conference to quell the panic and blame the sightings on weather conditions.
One individual who was not content to accept this explanation was Reverend Louis A. Gardner, an evangelical minister who decided to reach out to none other than Albert Einstein to see if the renowned physicist had any insight into the strange occurrences. In response, Einstein sent a letter stating, “Those people have seen something. What it is I do not know and am not curious to know.”
In response, Einstein sent a letter stating:
“Those people have seen something. What it is I do not know and am not curious to know.”
This response may seem surprising coming from a man who once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing” and who had also told his biographer just months prior that he was “passionately curious.” However, it is important to remember that Einstein was a scientist, and as such, he likely would have required concrete evidence and scientific explanation before becoming curious about a phenomenon. The lack of concrete information and the Air Force’s hasty attempts to explain the sightings away may have been enough for Einstein to remain skeptical and uninvested in the situation.
Orange Orbs in the Sky: San Pablo’s Latest UFO Sighting
Orange Orbs in the Sky: San Pablo’s Latest UFO Sighting
On the evening of January 21st, 2023, a resident of San Pablo, California reported a UFO sighting. The witness reported observing three orange orbs that appeared to be getting closer and larger in size before they suddenly disappeared into the clouds. As the witness went into their house to retrieve their phone to record the event, three more orbs appeared in the distance.
The video of the sighting, which is 2 minutes long, appears to show the orange orbs moving in the night sky. The orbs appear to be stationary at first, but then they start to move and disappear. Some people who have viewed the video have speculated that the orbs could be flares, lanterns, or other types of aircraft.
UFO sightingsare not uncommon, and many can be explained as natural phenomena or man-made objects. However, this particular sighting has not yet been explained. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not reported any unusual activity in the area on the night of the sighting, and no aircraft were reported to have been in the vicinity at the time.
Apollo 20: The secret mission to the moon to salvage an ancient alien spacecraft
Apollo 20: The secret mission to the moon to salvage an ancient alien spacecraft
If you've seen this before, you might want to look again. If you have never seen it, you also might want to look again.
According to Viewzone, we talking about an enormous spaceship on the moon allegedly discovered and photographed during the Apollo 15 mission. The story about this alien spacecraft has been going around the web since about 2007.
The craft was supposed to have been a very large alien spacecraft which had crashed or was otherwise abandoned on the Moon in ancient times.
The existence of this ship is shrouded in mystery and it is said there were 'classified NASA space missions' to the moon, with top priority, a close examination of the huge spaceship.
The mystery continues with the statement of William Rutledge. Mr. William Rutledge (retired) claims he was on a special NASA mission and involved with NASA in the late 70s.
Rutledge claims to have worked on at least two missions to the Moon, including the failed Apollo 19, and the Apollo 20, which he says was launched in August of 1976 from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Both of these missions, according to Rutledge, were 'secret joint space missions' resulting from collaborations between U.S. and Soviet governments. They do not appear on any roster of NASA missions, and if this is true, its for good reason.
Now, 'The Why Files' has made an amazing video on this mysterious alien spacecraft and you may wonder if all of this is actually real, but at the end of the video he concludes, as many other people, that the whole story on the secret Apollo 20 mission to the moon to salvage an ancient alien spacecraft was a hoax.
But... was it really a hoax, the above panoramic photo AS15-P-9630 (Atlas Apollo Images) proves the existence of an enormous ancient spacecraft on the moon.
SpaceX Conducts 1,000th Rocket Engine Test in 9 months
Since April 28, 2022, NASASpaceflight has been livestreaming engine tests from SpaceX's Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, TX. This past week, SpaceX passed 1,000 engine tests.
A mix of Rapid Unscheduled Disassembles, Pre-Burners, and successful tests, here's the best of the past 1,000 tests.
Ancient Aliens: Atomic Blast Destroys Ancient Pakistani Civilization
Ancient Astronaut Theorists made a shocking discovery related to the Indus people from Mohenjo Daro. See more in this clip from Aliens and Lost Civilizations.
Updates on Proxima B, The Closest Exoplanet to Us...Is Life Possible Here or Nah?
The UnXplained: Pterodactyl Creature Spotted in 1800s Arizona (Season 4)
A large bird-like creature is rumored to have been spotted in the 1800s in Tombstone, Arizona. See more in this scene from Season 4, Episode 20, "The Weird Wild West."
Watch all your favorite episodes of The UnXplained, and stay up to date on all of your favorite The HISTORY Channel shows at history.com/schedule.
This Ancient Tomb Found In Egypt Revealed Something Terrifying
Did you hear about the evidence of a lost civilization found in the amazon? Or about the lost civilization that constructed the pyramids in Egypt? Well, this latest development will change the way you look at the mysterious ancient wonders of the world. Join us as we break down the latest shocking discovery scientists have made inside an ancient tomb.
Alien Case Files: Fast Walkers | Alien and UFO Encounters
American history is riddled with mysterious objects in the sky. This episode will look into that past, the year 1972 and uncover secret truths about UFOs. The Hidden Truths and Secrets to life beyond our planet are discussed in detail by Alien researchers and first-hand experiencers. Hear directly from U.F.O. and Alien abductees. The stories that these experiencers share will shock you.
The Largest Volcano Ever Is About To Crack Open The Earth
The Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds REALLY Exist!
The lives of our ancestors are still full of mysteries. While many archaeological discoveries have already helped us unravel some of the mysteries of history, other finds only raise more questions. It gets particularly tricky in cases where the recovered artifacts cannot initially be classified in a plausible context. The exciting objects that we are going to take a closer look at today also repeatedly become the focus of adventurous theories. We will now show you what makes the corresponding discoveries so special and what exciting background stories accompany them!
De verschrikkelijke voorspellingen van Nostradamus en Baba Vanga voor 2023
De verschrikkelijke voorspellingen van Nostradamus en Baba Vanga voor 2023
De toekomst volgens helderzienden
2022 zal met name herinnerd worden vanwege de verschrikkelijke oorlog tussen Rusland en Oekraïne. En het is nog niet afgelopen. Volgens verschillende lezers van de Franse astroloog Nostradamus had deze helderziende de oorlog al voorspeld in de 16e eeuw.
Profetieën voor 2023
Over profetieën valt altijd te debatteren. Verschillende mensen kunnen de woorden van zieners op verschillende manieren interpreteren. Daarnaast spreekt het voor zich dat het voorspellingen zijn; er is geen enkele garantie dat ze ook echt uitkomen...
Nostradamus en Baba Vanga
In deze galerij zullen we proberen ons te beperken tot de belangrijke (en nogal verontrustende) feiten die Nostradamus en Baba Vanga voorspelden voor het jaar 2023.
De grote Oorlog
Tot de voorspellingen van Nostradamus voor het jaar 2023 behoort helaas 'Een Grote Oorlog.' Diezelfde voorspelling omvatte ook het jaar 2022, en dat is uitgekomen. De Russische aanval op Oekraïne is de grootste Europese oorlog die we kennen sinds de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
De woorden van Nostradamus
Dit zijn de woorden van de profeet opgeschreven door de website wionews.com: "Zeven maanden na het begin van de Grote Oorlog stierven mensen omdat ze kwaad deden. Rouen, Évreux zal niet in de handen van de koning vallen."
Russisch-Oekraïense oorlog?
Deze woorden suggereren een mogelijke escalatie in de aanhoudende oorlog tussen Oekraïne en Rusland. Deze zou mogelijk kunnen leiden tot een nucleaire wereldoorlog. We hopen oprecht dat Nostradamus op dit punt ongelijk had.
Opwarming van de aarde
Een andere profetie van de Franse astroloog betreft de opwarming van de aarde. De voorspelling gaat over een verdere stijging van de temperatuur en de zee- en oceaanspiegels.
Zijn woorden zijn opgeschreven in het boek der profetieën
Dit zijn de woorden die hij hierover opschreef in de 16e eeuw: "Net als de zon, zal het hoofd de heldere zee verbranden: de levende vis van de Zwarte Zee zal op het punt staan te koken.
Opstanden
Helaas zouden deze gebeurtenissen, de oorlogen en opwarming van de aarde in 2023, ook leiden tot grote burgeropstanden. Ook deze zijn voorspeld door Nostradamus.
'Grote veranderingen, verschrikkelijke rampen en wraakacties'
Nostradamus beschreef de situatie met de volgende uitspraken: "Vroeger of later zul je getuige zijn van grote veranderingen, verschrikkelijke rampen en wraak." Volgens sommige interpretaties verwijzen deze woorden naar een mogelijke opstand van arme tegen rijke mensen.
Een nieuwe paus
In zijn profetie voor 2023 voorspelde Nostradamus ook de komst van een nieuwe paus. Er zou dus een opvolger komen voor de huidige paus Franciscus.
De laatste paus?
Bovendien zal Franciscus, volgens de teksten van Nostradamus, de laatste 'echte' paus zijn. Betekent dat het einde van het katholieke leiderschap zoals wij dat kennen?
Hemels vuur
Volgens de gelovers van Nostradamus voorspelde de Franse astroloog ook het einde van deze wereld. Hij voorzag het begin van een nieuwe wereldorde voor 2023.
De nieuwe wereldorde
De woorden die aanleiding gaven tot deze interpretaties zijn: "Hemels vuur over het koninklijk gebouw." Dit moet volgens kenners van Nostradamus geïnterpreteerd worden als een nieuwe wereld, geboren uit de as van een oude beschaving.
Mars
In zijn boek met profetieën voorspelde Nostradamus met betrekking tot 2023 ook de landing op Mars, hoewel hij dat nogal cryptisch leek te doen.
Op Mars in 2023?
"Licht dat op Mars valt." Dat zijn de woorden die geïnterpreteerd worden als een indicatie van een mogelijke menselijke landing op de rode planeet. Onze hedendaagse 'waarzegger' Elon Musk meent overigens dat die marslanding gepland staat voor 2029.
Economische crisis
Onder de verontrustende profetieën van Nostradamus bevindt zich ook een rampzalige economische crisis die de mens tot onherstelbare wanhoop zou kunnen leiden.
Ernstige ontberingen en hongersnood
In dit verband schreef de ziener de volgende gruwelijke woorden op in zijn boek: "De graanprijs zal zo hoog zijn dat de man zijn buurman zal opeten." (Dit betekent waarschijnlijk oorlog, niet letterlijk kannibalisme.)
Baba Vanga
Naast Nostradamus is er nog een beroemde ziener die het vermelden waard is. Haar naam is Baba Vanga en ze wordt ook wel beschouwd als de Nostradamus van de Balkan.
Profetieën door Baba Vanga
De in 1996 overleden Bulgaarse mysticus verwierf bekendheid dankzij haar 'voorspellingen' van de aanslagen van 9/11 in New York en de dood van prinses Diana.
Verwoestende zonnestorm
Helaas zijn de profetieën van Baba Vanga voor 2023 verre van positief. Naast het door Nostradamus voorspelde apocalyptische scenario kondigt Baba Vanga ook een verwoestende zonnestorm aan.
Totale verduistering
Als dit zou gebeuren, zou de infrastructuur van de wereld ernstig worden beschadigd, wat zou leiden tot een stroomuitval van meerdere jaren. De gevolgen daarvan zouden rellen en sociale chaos zijn.
Verandering van de baan van de aarde
Een andere verontrustende profetie van de in Bulgarije geboren helderziende betreft een apocalyptische verandering van de baan van de aarde.
Hogere temperaturen
Als zoiets zou gebeuren, zelfs maar een kleine verandering, zoals history.co.uk beweert, "zouden de effecten apocalyptisch kunnen zijn," met als gevolg een toename van straling en temperaturen.
Biologische wapens
De aanhangers van Baba Vanga beweren dat de ziener informatie had over biowapentests in een groot land in 2023. Het is niet bekend om welk land het ging.
Nieuwe virussen
In het geval van zo'n test met biologische wapens kunnen de gevolgen desastreus zijn, zelfs ronduit apocalyptisch. Het zou bijvoorbeeld kunnen gaan om de ontwikkeling van nieuwe virussen in een laboratorium.
Profetieën en interpretaties - serieus te nemen?
Al deze scenario's zijn beangstigend. Maar laten we er iedereen aan herinneren dat het slechts (indicaties van) voorspellingen en hun interpretaties zijn. Er is geen enkel wetenschappelijk bewijs voor de waarde van deze voorspellingen.
Binary Dwarf Stars Found Orbiting Each Other Every 20 Hours. They Were Once Almost Touching
Astronomers have spotted a pair of ultra-cool dwarf stars in a tight binary configuration. They rotate around one another in less than one Earth day. Image Credit: NASA/JPL Caltech
Binary Dwarf Stars Found Orbiting Each Other Every 20 Hours. They Were Once Almost Touching
A team of astrophysicists has discovered a binary pair of ultra-cool dwarfs so close together that they look like a single star. They’re remarkable because they only take 20.5 hours to orbit each other, meaning their year is less than one Earth Day. They’re also much older than similar systems.
We can’t see ultra-cool dwarf stars with the naked eye, but they’re the most numerous stars in the galaxy. They have such low masses that they only emit infrared light, and we need infrared telescopes to see them. They’re interesting objects because theory shows stars this close together should exist, but this system is the first time astronomers have observed this extreme proximity.
“It’s amazing to see something happen in the universe on a human time scale.”
Professor Adam Burgasser, UC San Diego.
A team of astronomers presented their findings at the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle. Chih-Chun “Dino” Hsu, an astrophysicist at Northwestern University, led the research. The system is named LP 413-53AB.
“It’s exciting to discover such an extreme system,” said Chih-Chun “Dino” Hsu, a Northwestern astrophysicist who led the study. “In principle, we knew these systems should exist, but no such systems had been identified yet.”
This image from the presentation illustrates low-mass stars. The Sun is on the left, and Jupiter, sometimes referred to as a ‘failed star’ because it’s as massive as some stars, is on the right. Image Credit: Robert Hurt.
Nature’s extremes play an important role in calibrating our theoretical models, and that’s true of low-mass binaries. Prior to this discovery, astronomers knew of only three short-period, ultra-cool binaries.
The research team found the pair in archival data. They were combing through data using an algorithm Hsu wrote that models stars based on their spectral data. But in those earlier images, the stars just happened to be aligned, so they appeared as a single star. The chances of that happening are high for a tight binary pair like this. But Hsu and his colleagues thought the data was odd, so they observed the star more closely with the Keck Observatory. The observations showed that the light curve changed so quickly there must be two stars.
Eventually, they realized they had found the closest binary pair ever found.
This figure from the paper and the presentation show how the tight binary’s RV measurement changed in only two hours (pink and orange arrows), showing how tightly they orbit one another. This data is from the Keck Telescope NIRSPEC instrument. Image Credit: Hsu et al. 2023.
“When we were making this measurement, we could see things changing over a couple of minutes of observation,” said Professor Adam Burgasser of UC San Diego. Burgasser was Hsu’s advisor while Hsu was a Ph.D. student. “Most binaries we follow have orbit periods of years. So, you get a measurement every few months. Then, after a while, you can piece together the puzzle. With this system, we could see the spectral lines moving apart in real-time. It’s amazing to see something happen in the universe on a human time scale.”
To emphasize just how close the stars are to each other, Hsu compared them to our own Solar System and another well-known system. The pair are closer together than Jupiter and one of its Galilean moons, Callisto. It’s also closer than the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 is to its closest planet, TRAPPIST-1b.
This image from Hsu’s presentation shows how close the stars in LP 413-53AB are. It shows that the system is unlikely to have planets in its habitable zone. Image Credit: Adam Burgasser
The stars are much older than the other three similar systems astronomers know of. While those three are relatively young at up to 40 million years old, LP 413-53AB is several billions of years old, like our Sun.
Their age is a clue that the stars didn’t start out this close to one another. The researchers think they could have started out in an even tighter orbit. “This is remarkable because when they were young, something like 1 million years old, these stars would have been on top of each other,” said Burgasser.
Or the stars may have begun as a pair on wider orbits and then become closer over time. Another possibility is the stars started out as a triple-star system. Gravitational interactions could’ve simultaneously ejected one star and drawn the remaining two into a tighter orbit. More observations of the unique system might help answer that.
This image shows two possible scenarios for LP 413-53AB’s evolution. They may have drawn closer over time, or they could’ve started out as a triple-star system. Image Credit: Adam Burgasser
Astronomers are interested in stars like these because of what they might tell us about habitable worlds. Since ultracool dwarfs are so dim and cool, their habitable zones are tight regions. That’s the only way they could warm the planets enough to sustain liquid surface water. But in LP 413-53AB’s case, the habitable zone distance is the same as the stellar orbit, eliminating the possibility of habitable exoplanets.
“These ultracool dwarfs are neighbours of our sun,” Hsu said. “To identify potentially habitable hosts, it’s helpful to start with our nearby neighbours. But if close binaries are common among ultracool dwarfs, there may be few habitable worlds to be found.”
Now that astronomers have found one system as tight as this, they want to know if there are more. That’s the only way to understand all these different scenarios. It’s difficult to even approach any conclusions when you only have one data point. But astronomers don’t know if they’ve only found one because they’re so rare or because they’re so difficult to spot.
“These systems are rare,” said Chris Theissen, study co-author and a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego. “But we don’t know whether they are rare because they rarely exist or because we just don’t find them. That’s an open-ended question. Now we have one data point that we can start building on. This data had been sitting in the archive for a long time. Dino’s tool will enable us to look for more binaries like this.”
What's Going On Over Turkey? Jan 20, 2023, UFO Sighting News. Video!
What's Going On Over Turkey? Jan 20, 2023, UFO Sighting News. Video!
Date of sighting: Jan 20, 2023
Location of sighting: Turkey
This is not a cloud at all, but a UFO that created a cloud within its energy field around it. The field contains the cloud so it wont fly away leaving the UFO visible to humans on the ground.
Why do they observer only? Well, flying in a UFO is kinda like a fish traveling across the universe in a fishtanks, safe and sound within its habitat. The fish takes its water, air, food, everything it needs to survive within its craft. So when it gets to a planet, it can observer safely without risk to itself. Our planet atmosphere, air, viruses, bacteria could be very deadly to aliens, not to mention the odds of them looking like us are very small, so even if they could adjust to our environment, they cold not leave the ship. So...the #1 way aliens can observe us if they fall into those categories is form a cloud around the ship and bring in close.
Possible UFO disguised as cloud hovers over Turkey
Possible UFO disguised as cloud hovers over Turkey
This week a very strange sky phenomenon appeared over Turkey. It is said that the apparition was a massive lenticular cloud which appeared at sunrise and featured a large hole in the middle.
The object was spotted over the city of Bursa in Turkey on Thursday, surprising citizens who captured the rare phenomenon on their phones.
Despite official reports stating that the object was a lenticular cloud, many believe the flying saucer-like apparition was a massive UFO but disguised as a cloud.
California UFO sightings: Dana Point Residents Spot a Pulsating, Snake-Like UAP
California UFO sightings: Dana Point Residents Spot a Pulsating, Snake-Like UAP
Residents of Dana Point, California were left stunned on November 12th, 2022, when an unidentified flying object was spotted in the sky. According to eyewitnesses, the object was a long glowing linear object that appeared to be pulsating and had a snake-like action.
One local resident was able to capture footage of the strange sighting on their phone and posted it on their Instagram account. The video shows the object with a long lighted snake-like movement with a sloth-like slithering motion, which the witness claim that it is not of this world.
ThisUFO sightingwas reported to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), an organization that investigates and records reports of unidentified flying objects.
While the object remains unidentified, the sudden change in shape and movement has led some to speculate that it could be some sort of advanced technology from another civilization. However, others are skeptical and believe the UFO sightings could be explained by natural phenomena or even a hoax. Until more information comes to light, the true nature of the object remains a mystery.
Latest UFO Sightings video from West Virginia: Triangle spins and then turns into one light
Latest UFO Sightings video from West Virginia: Triangle spins and then turns into one light
At least one resident of Morgantown, West Virginia was left stunned on December 1st, 2022, when an unidentified flying object was spotted in the sky. According to eyewitness, the object was in the shape of a triangle and appeared to spin before turning into a single light.
Local resident was able to capture footage of the strange UFO sighting on their phone. The video, which is only 24 seconds long, shows the triangle-shaped object moving in the sky before it turns into a single light.
The video footage is available to view, but unfortunately is only 24 seconds long. It is not enough information to confirm the authenticity of the sighting or identify the object.
Our solar system's 'fossils' studied by NASA space missions
NASA Hubble Space Telescope, New Horizons and Lucy missions are examples of the missions that are leading to discoveries about the "fossils of our solar system," according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Titan's Dragonfly Test // New Nuclear Rocket // Shadow Universe
The Titan Dragonfly is coming together, NASA is considering a new kind of nuclear rocket, getting more warning for solar flares, and pinpointing carbon emissions from space.
Launching Into Sunlight & Revealing The Moon's Shadows - Deep Space Updates January 20th
Lots of Launches already in 2023, China and SpaceX are both throwing lots of rockets up there. Virgin Orbit and ABL Space Systems both attempted launches which ended in failure, with ABL only rising a few hundred feet before all the engines shut down and the rocket fell back onto the launch site.
Elsewhere there are a pair of small NASA spacecraft having trouble getting to the moon due to engine problems, and some amazing images of the permanently shadowed regions of the moon from the Shadowcam payload on Korea's Danuri spacecraft
Scientists Finally Uncovered The Book Of Thoth Under The Nile In Egypt That Revealed This Knowledge
SpaceX upgrades everything on Starship 24 for orbital launch incoming
SpaceX upgrades everything on Starship 24 for orbital launch incoming
Revolutionizing Flight! The Amazing Potential of the CFM RISE Engine.
#Boeing and #Airbus both re-engined their single-aisle 737 and A320 families in the second half of the previous decade. The new versions are a whopping 14 to 15% more efficient than those they replaced. But now, the #CFM#RISE engine promises to ECLIPSE this new generation completely. And in a way, we probably should already have airliners with #engines like these, starting 2 or 3 decades ago! Stay tuned.
UFO’S ON THE MOON : TRUTH EXPOSED - FULL HD SCI-FI MOVIE IN ENGLISH
Science now recognizes that the Moon is far older than previously thought, potentially even older than the Earth or the Sun. Our Moon is the only moon in the solar system with a fixed, nearly perfect circular orbit; it is not a solid object. Stories from the past explain how the Moon came to be in orbit. Why are there mysterious geometric structures on the Moon's surface that resemble those in prehistoric Egypt and other parts of Earth? How is it possible that the Moon perfectly eclipses our Sun by miraculous chance? It is mathematically impossible for a total eclipse to occur on Earth if the Sun and Moon are properly aligned.
RELATED
Can SpaceX Starship take the pressure of the first full load? Falcon Heavy, GPS 3, Starlink, EVA
Starbase Texas continues to march towards that first orbital flight test with Starship, with further testing of the super heavy stack, and some continued Starship destruction. A colossal week for the Falcons as SpaceX roars back into the sky multiple times. One of course is the majestic Falcon Heavy launch. The excitement was certainly back on for these past few missions, all intriguing in their own way. Then a few neat items to explore real quick as well. Strap on and get ready for lift off, because we have got a whole fleet of rockets in this one.
COMETS, ASTEROIDS AND METEORIDS– Dangerous Drifters in the Solar System | WELT Documentary
Our solar system was born from a cloud of gas and dust. The largest part of this cosmic rubble heap clumped together to the planets. What remained were cosmic rubble: comets, asteroids and meteoroids. Their investigation helps science to learn more and more about our origin. But they can also be dangerous to us. This episode of "Spacetime" focuses on the cosmic rubble that date back to the early days of our solar system.
What Planetary Scientists revealed of SpaceX's Starship just SHOCKED the entire world...
What Planetary Scientists revealed of SpaceX's Starship just SHOCKED the entire world...
A ROBOT CHOREOGRAPHER REVEALS WHY M3GAN — AND ALL ROBOTS — SHOULD DANCE
MOLLY GLICK JAN 19 2023
A ROBOT CHOREOGRAPHER REVEALS WHY M3GAN — AND ALL ROBOTS — SHOULD DANCE
Something about dancing robots seems to tickle people’s fancies. After all, millions of people watched a 2020 video from the robotics company Boston Dynamics of its fancy humanoid and quadrupedal devices getting down to ‘60s soul.
More recently, the murderous (yet campy) villain in the movie M3GAN has captivated the internet with her moves — and even earned recognition as a gay icon. Whether we’re obsessing over grooving robots or moving like robots ourselves, automaton choreography clearly holds a place in our hearts.
So it’s no surprise that a niche research field dubbed choreorobotics has gained traction in recent years. Brown University even has an entire course dedicated to the subject. Not only are labs programming robots to gyrate and hop, but dance experts are also helping scientists give their devices more fluid, human-like movements. Ultimately, this kind of work could help us feel closer to robots in an increasingly automated world.
Kate Sicchio, a choreographer and digital artist at Virginia Commonwealth University, combines her dance and tech knowledge to devise robot performances.Last year, Sicchio worked with Patrick Martin from the university’s engineering department to produce a (surprisingly touching) human-automaton duet. Offstage, she also helps design machines with more realistic motions.
Inverse talked to Sicchio to learn more about choreorobotics — and whether increasingly limber robots could actually become blood-thirsty killers like M3GAN.
WHY DO YOU THINK ROBOT DANCING VIDEOS GET SO POPULAR?
It's really interesting to have this unfamiliar device do this uncanny human thing. It’s similar to why we love putting googly eyes on everything. This makes it human even though it's not supposed to be. And that becomes funny or endearing somehow. It's very popular to make the robot do this very human, expressive thing when it's not human or expressive on its own
WHAT MAKES A ROBOT PERFORMANCE POWERFUL?
One of the things we found is that a robot on its own feels very isolated and cold. We have this piece called “Amelia and the Machine.”In the opening, this dancer is actually moving the robot arm around.
People are really moved by this intimacy with the robot and the fact that she's touching it.
It's a small manipulator robot, so it's probably the size of a toddler. The fact that she’s sitting next to it — that small connection really changes how people see the robot because it's no longer this isolated thing. All of a sudden it has a companion.
WHAT STYLE OF DANCE DO ROBOTS DO BEST?
My home is contemporary dance, so that's where I go first. That tends to work well because, with the robot we’re using, it's not a one-to-one mapping of the human body onto the robot. Sometimes it's hard to do traditional ballet, where there are really specific positions to hit. It’s really hard to map an arabesque onto a robot that doesn't have a leg.
I think contemporary dance, where there's a lot of freedom and creativity in how you develop movement, works well. I would be interested in doing things with dance forms with more rhythm or more structure and timing — that would be a really interesting study to follow up with at some point. More tutting or street dance forms could be really interesting to play with.
THE M3GAN DANCE SEEMS TO FRIGHTEN, OR AT LEAST CONFUSE, VIEWERS. CAN DANCING DEVICES BACKFIRE AND ACTUALLY ALIENATE US FROM ROBOTS?
That’s something that we're also studying. There's this weird space where it totally can go wrong and could be like, “They're trying too much to make it human,” and it just falls short and becomes scary. I think what's interesting about M3GAN is that it's a very humanoid robot. The robots I work with do not look human at all, and I'm not interested in trying to make them look human. I get a lot of recommendations to put costumes on them. But I don't know that it needs a hand or a hat, or a tiara. It’s this weird moment where it can become scary instead of endearing or friendly.
One thing that's interesting about M3GAN is how it quickly becomes a killer robot. That is an ethical concern in this field — where might this go wrong? Could this become weaponized somehow if it becomes so good at moving? That's something I think about, too: How do we keep them ethical? I've never taken DARPA funding, but I know people who have gotten military funding for projects like this.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE HOLLYWOOD DANCING ROBOT SCENE?
The scene from Ex Machina. What I like about that dancing robot scene is it’s kind of the reveal that, guess what, this is all training for this AI robot, and all these women you keep seeing in the house aren't really women — and I'm going to show you because we can do this crazy dance routine together.
What stands out and makes it so interesting is that they do all these disco moves, but their eyes are locked on the guy watching. They never move their heads, which is what makes it so weird and un-human: They never unlock their focus. They're not having fun.
WHAT TYPES OF ROBOTS HAVE THE BEST MOVES?
With simpler robots, you can better appreciate the movement they can do and see how that can be made into something more expressive or more collaborative with the human. I think that’s less scary because it's not trying to be human and then failing.
Most researchers use more simple devices — a lot do big industrial arms. It's almost become a trope, the pretty ballerina with the big industrial arm. And then Boston Dynamics has the bipedal, more human sort of robots. The company’s dance spectacles look seamless, but they are actually really hard to program. So they never do them live, you only see the edited videos. They’re a huge production that takes several days to film to get you three minutes of a Bruno Mars song or whatever.
The humanoid ones are just tricky, that center of gravity thing is really hard — it’s easier when the robot is low to the ground. With our small robots, if you make a movement too fast or wild, it will fall over. So you can imagine a big humanoid robot trying to get it to jump, and land is very difficult.
WHY IS CHOREOROBOTICS IMPORTANT BEYOND PERFORMANCE?
I make stage pieces with Patrick Martin, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. But we're also doing scientific studies during that process. We found that, because dancers are interested in doing extreme or different movements, they're very good at finding the boundaries of what a robot can do very quickly. A friend of mine calls dancers “extreme user testers.”
We’ve been doing a lot with machine learning and creating new algorithms for robots to move and we’ve been doing that by studying dancers. We do things like motion capture of dancers doing certain gestures, and then see how we can map those to the robot and see if we can get it to move with new qualities or in ways that normal programming hasn't thought of.
I also think it’s interesting when roboticists engage with choreography themselves. We did a workshop with Patrick Martin and his graduate students and some of my dance students — getting them to move. We explored a variety of prompts around moving the body in space, ways to repeat lines of the body with other body parts, and other approaches of responding to the geometry of the body.
When roboticists think about movement, they're always thinking of it outside of their own body. I think about it like getting the robot to follow my arm. Getting roboticists to actually do the dance and be in their bodies is a really interesting place for us to go next. That will start to develop this kind of kinesthetic empathy that perhaps we're searching for with dancing robots. I think roboticists should become dancers.
Zhurong (pictured, centre) spent a year exploring Mars before it went into hibernation last May.
Credit: Xinhua/Shutterstock
Is something amiss with Zhurong, China’s first Mars rover? The vehicle was supposed to come out of its months-long hibernation last month, but the Chinese space agency has been tight-lipped about its status, leading some researchers to speculate that it might not have survived the harsh Martian winter and dust storms.
“It wouldn’t be surprising for the rover to fail to come out of hibernation because it is solar-powered, and there’s a long history of solar-powered landers and rovers on Mars running out of power,” says David Flannery, an astrobiologist at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He is part of the team working on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, which runs on nuclear power. Last month, researchers said goodbye to NASA’s solar-powered InSight lander, which succumbed to a dust storm.
But others remain optimistic that Zhurong will wake up in the next few months as temperatures warm up enough to charge its battery and as dust storms settle down. “I want to be optimistic that the rover will wake up,” says Baptiste Chide, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who is also part of the Perseverance team.
Zhurong jettisoned from the orbiter Tianwen-1 and plunged down to the vast Utopia Planitia impact basin in Mars’s northern hemisphere on 15 May 2021. It travelled nearly 2 kilometres from its landing site over the space of a year, exceeding its original mission goal of three months. The rover scoped out rocks, craters, sand dunes and even found evidence of past flooding from below the planet’s surface1.
Dust storm
Last May, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that it had powered Zhurong down because a major dust storm was heading its way. Dust swirling around the atmosphere reduces the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface of Mars. And dust that settles on the rover’s solar panels can also reduce the amount of sunlight it receives, affecting its power generation, says Chide.
Zhurong’s solar panels are made of dust-repellent materials and can be angled to prevent dust settling. But combating dust is an ongoing problem for many Martian missions. “That typically is what finishes a solar-powered mission in the end on Mars,” says Gregory Michael, a planetary scientist at the Free University of Berlin. Sometimes, whirlwinds known as dust devils, can come along and clear the dust off the panels, but that depends on luck, he says.
In May, the CNSA said that temperatures would drop to –20 °C during the day and –100 °C at night, and were expected to fall further. Cold temperatures mean that Zhurong needs more energy to keep its battery warm and prevent it from failing. To save energy, engineers typically shut off all scientific instruments, keeping only the communications system on for the rover to alert Earth when it wakes up. Chinese engineers have faced this problem before, says Chide — China’s solar-powered Yutu-2 rover has survived many long, cold nights on the lunar surface.
In September, a member of the Chinese team said they expected Zhurong to make contact when its energy levels had risen to 140 watts and the temperature of its components rose above –15 °C. They had initially expected that to happen by late December, at the end of the Martian winter and dust-storm season.
Researchers often develop models of the Martian atmosphere that can be used to predict when solar-powered spacecraft will revive, but they have lots of uncertainties, says Chide. “It is too soon to say that there is something wrong,” he says.
But the absence of an official update “is strange”, says a Chinese researcher and member of Zhurong’s science team, who requested anonymity to avoid repercussions from talking publicly before an official announcement. The last batch of images from Zhurong was received in June.
If the rover does eventually make contact, scientists will be ready. They hope that it will trundle to unusual geological formations nearby, including a barely visible ghost crater and a possible mud volcano. Together with laser instruments on Curiosity and Perseverance, Zhurong had been collecting data on the chemical make-up of Martian rocks. “I hope it will continue its traverse,” says Chide.
Mummified Crocodiles Sacrificed to the Gods Uncovered in Egypt
Mummified Crocodiles Sacrificed to the Gods Uncovered in Egypt
While performing excavations at a site known as Qubbat al-Hawā in southern Egypt in 2019, archaeologists from the University of Jaén in Spain made a strange and startling discovery. They unearthed a tomb that contained the remains of 10 mummified crocodiles, which once swam the waters of the River Nile in large numbers during the time of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.
Two of the Spanish archaeologists have joined forces with a pair of Belgian scientists to produce a full and complete analysis of the skeletons of these mummified crocodiles and their tombs, published in the journal PLOS One .
“More than 20 burial sites with crocodile mummies are known in Egypt, but to find 10 well-preserved crocodile mummies together in an undisturbed tomb is extraordinary,” explained study lead author Bea De Cupere, an archaeozoologist from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences(RBINS), when discussing the mummified crocodiles. “Of most mummies collected by museums in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often hatchlings, we don’t know exactly where they come from.”
Ten mummified crocodiles unearthed in an undisturbed tomb in Qubbat al-Hawā, discovered in 2019.
Excavations of Rock-Cut Tombs Revealed Mummified Crocodiles
Qubbat al-Hawā is the site of an ancient Egyptian necropolis and is located on the western bank of the Nile opposite the historic city of Aswan. Its collection of over 100 tombs features the resting places of many aristocrats and priests, mostly from the age of the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2,700 to 1,800 BC).
The small, rock-cut tomb of the crocodiles, which contained five skeletons and five crocodile skulls, was located right next to six tombs that held the bodies of many local dignitaries, signifying the importance of this unique ritual burial. While the necropolis at Qubbat al-Hawā was still in use as late as the Roman period, the Belgian researchers have confirmed that the crocodiles were entombed sometime during the pre-Ptolemaic era, or before 304 BC.
Overview of some of the Qubbat al-Hawā tombs, including the crocodile tomb on the right.
(José Luis Pérez Garciá)
Sacrifices to Sobek, the Crocodile-Headed God
In ancient Egypt, crocodiles were used in rituals dedicated to Sobek, the god of water, fertility and pharaonic power and influence. In addition to his role in helping Egypt’s pharaohs achieve and preserve political and military strength, Sobek was also said to protect the people from the dangers associated with the Nile.
These would have included rapid and massive flooding, exposure to waterborne diseases, and attacks by ferocious creatures including venomous snakes, hippopotami, and crocodiles - the same crocodiles that were used in rituals meant to appease the mighty Sobek, who was usually portrayed with a man’s body but a crocodile’s head.
The skeletal remains found in the tomb belonged to two different species: the West African crocodile and the iconic Nile crocodile , both of which proliferated in the Nile region thousands of years ago.
The crocodile five bodies ranged in size from six to 11 feet (1.8 to 3.5 meters) long, which is average size for a West African adult but on the small side for the Nile version (the latter can grow to twice the length of a West African type). Three of the five skeletons were virtually complete, but the other two had a lot of missing parts.
Statue of Sobek, the crocodile-headed god, from the mortuary temple of Amenemhat III, on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. (BVBurton / CC BY-SA 4.0 )
Rare Discovery of Intact Mummified Crocodiles at Qubbat al-Hawā
“The crocodiles were first buried elsewhere, possibly in sand pits,” De Cupere said. “This allowed the crocodiles to dry out naturally. Then the remains were unearthed, wrapped and moved to the tomb in Qubbat al-Hawā. Body parts must have been lost during wrapping and transport.”
One of the intact mummified crocodiles was so perfectly preserved that the archaeologists found stones known as gastroliths still present it its intestines. These are small rocks that reptiles will sometimes swallow to help them digest food, or in the case of crocodiles to help them maintain their balance while immersed in water. The presence of gastroliths helped confirm that the crocodiles were not cut open and cleaned out after their deaths, but were mummified in a more natural state.
There were no signs of physical injury on the skeletal remains of the mummified crocodiles. Ancient Egyptians captured the dangerous creatures by ensnaring them with nets, and the researchers speculate the crocodiles buried in the tomb were either drowned, suffocated or baked in the hot sun to ensure they were dead before been sent off to the afterworld.
The unfortunate creatures were being offered to Sobek as sacrifices, with the proper rituals being carried out beforehand to make sure the sacrifices would be accepted and would bring favor to the Egyptian people.
Archaeologist Vicente Barba Colmenero excavating the skull of one of the mummified crocodiles from the tomb at Qubbat al-Hawā.
Sometimes, an Unwrapped Mummy is Better than a Wrapped One
The skeletal remains of the mummified crocodiles were no longer wrapped. But samples taken from the tomb contained microscopic traces of linen, palm leaves and rope, showing that the bodies and skulls had been mummified at the time of burial. The archaeologists determined they’d been entombed more than 2,300 years ago, based on stratigraphic evidence and on the advanced decay of the bandaging and the lack of pitch or bitumen covering the crocodile skeletons (later burials featured these added preservatives).
“Although several hundred crocodile mummiesare available for study in museums worldwide, not many specimens have been subjected to detailed investigation,” the study authors noted in their PLOS One paper. “This is undoubtedly due to the fact that observations of these mummies are complicated by the bandages and because large amounts of resin orbitumen are often applied to the animal bodies.”
Because they could look at the skeletons of the animals directly, instead of being forced to rely on non-invasive imaging technologies (CT-scanning and radiographing) to peer through layers of bandages and resin, the archaeologists were able to examine the skeletons of the mummified crocodiles more thoroughly and completely than would normally be the case.
“I'm thrilled that finds like these give us another glimpse into the life of ancient Egyptians,” said De Cupere, in acknowledgement of the scientific and historical significance of this anomalous but highly revealing discovery.
Top image: Bea De Cupere from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences with one of the mummified crocodiles.
A new way to Peer Into the Permanently Shadowed Craters on the Moon, Searching for Deposits of Water ice
Not all flashlights are created equal. Some are stronger, consume more power, or have features such as blinking or strobes. Some aren’t even meant for humans, such as a new project that recently received funding from a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I award. Designed by the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), this flashlight doesn’t emit visible light, but it does emit x-rays and gamma rays, and the researchers on the project think it could be useful for finding resources on the Moon.
The key to this technology is a novel radioisotope that USNC developed that goes by the trade name EmberCore. It is a type of nuclear chargeable ceramic, similar to the radioisotopes contained in the radioisotope thermal generators used by Mars rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance. So the radioisotope itself can be used as a power source for a rover, but it has a distinct advantage over other RTG cores.
When shielded a specific way, EmberCore emits X and Gamma rays that can be directed to a particular location, much like a flashlight. Effectively, the rover’s power source could also power a high-intensity scanning beam. According to the press release provided by the company in association with the announcement of their Phase I award, the beam could travel many kilometers on an airless world.
Image of a hot EmberCore – multiple cylinders can be stacked to provide increased power output. Credit – USNC
As with many remote sensing applications, that beam would then at least partially reflect back towards a sensor mounted on the rover and can be analyzed to detect the material it was reflecting off of. But, X-rays have an additional feature that anyone who has seen a medical one would be familiar with – they can see what’s underneath an object’s surface. Gamma rays can do so as well.
That added advantage makes having a controllable x-ray/gamma-ray remote sensing platform that also serves as the power source of the rover carrying is an exciting innovation and precisely the kind of research that NIAC usually goes for. The outcome of this preliminary research would be a mission design to one of two places on the Moon.
First would be Shackleton Crater, which has long been thought to hold large amounts of water. Accessing that water would be vital to supporting any long-term human effort to live on the Moon. A remote sensing platform that could scan the crater’s surroundings for the most significant deposits on and under the surface would be invaluable for directing astronauts where to look.
Water in craters on the Moon has been proven. Now we have to get there.
Another location would be the famous Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis), where Apollo 11 first touched down on the Moon. It has plenty of exposed rock strata that could provide insights into the geological formation of the Moon. However, they are only accessible by dangerous terrain that would be difficult for any rover to traverse. Hitting them with an EmberCore flashlight would allow a rover to observe them remotely without making the tricky trek to get to them.
NIAC Phase I grants are a first step down a long road towards being used on a space mission. But USNC, which is based in Seattle and headed by a former Chief Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and its EmberCore technology are starting down that road with this concept, and it’s not the first one they’re doing. They were also funded by the US Military’s Defense Innovation Unit to research a nuclear propulsion engine for spacecraft, also based on the EmberCore engine. There might be plenty of more use cases for this novel innovation in space exploration in the future.
Breder dan een voetbalveld: grootste vliegtuig ter wereld bijna klaar om hypersonische toestellen te lanceren
Het grootste vliegtuig ter wereld heeft een negende geslaagde testvlucht achter de rug. Voor het eerst bleef de Roc zes uur in de lucht en reikte de route verder dan de Mojavewoestijn (in het zuiden van Californië en Nevada; nvdr). Alles lijkt op koers om via deze mastodont uiteindelijk hypersonische raketten en toestellen te lanceren.
SVM, Sander Van den Broecke
De Roc heeft een spanwijdte van 117,3 meter, dat is breder dan een voetbalveld. Onder die gigantische vleugels zijn twee vliegtuigen parallel naast elkaar gemonteerd, waardoor het gevaarte lijkt op een catamaran.
Het grootste deel van de carrosserie is van carbon. Het tuig wordt aangedreven door zes motoren van een Boeing 747. Ook de cockpit van het luchtschip - die zich in één van de twee cabines bevindt - is gerecycleerd uit oude Boeing 747's. In het dashboard zitten zelfs nog analoge controle- en besturingsdisplays. Kortom: het is niet de NASA die dit toestel heeft ontworpen, het zijn echte ‘space cowboys’.
Medeoprichter Microsoft
Het ruimtevaartbedrijf StratoLaunch was een project van Paul Allen, de medeoprichter van Microsoft die zijn hele leven bezeten was van ruimtevaart. Zo bezeten dat hij er in 1981 - toen hij en Bill Gates volop het besturingssysteem voor de eerste IBM-computer aan het ontwikkelen waren - zomaar een tijdje tussenuit kneep om in Florida de lancering van de eerste Space Shuttle bij te wonen. Gates kon er niet mee lachen.
Jaren later leerde Allen een revolutionaire vliegtuigbouwer kennen. Bert Rutan, een Elvis-fan met grote bakkebaarden die de vreemdste toestellen ontwierp en ook de lucht in kreeg. De Roc was een idee van Rutan, het geld kwam van Allen. Allen heeft de eerste vlucht helaas niet mogen meemaken, hij overleed ruim vier jaar geleden.
Grote droom dichterbij
De Roc kan tien kilometer hoog vliegen en daar een raket droppen die zichzelf vervolgens het heelal in schiet. Het is in principe een eenvoudigere en ook goedkopere manier om ruimtetuigen te lanceren, maar de concurrentie met SpaceX (Elon Musk) en Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) is uiteraard niet min.
Toch komt de grote droom steeds dichterbij. Voor de tweede keer werd nu een proeflancering van een onbemand hypersonisch onderzoeksvliegtuig getest. In de eerste helft van dit jaar nog zou een echte lancering moeten plaatsvinden.
0
1
2
3
4
5
- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:HLN.be - Het Laatste Nieuws ( NL)
The First 2023 UFO Photo from Venezuela
The First 2023 UFO Photo from Venezuela
Venezuela may have captured the first UFO photo of 2023, according to journalist Héctor Escalante. Escalante, who is known for his coverage of UFO sightings in Venezuela, shared the photo on his Instagram account, claiming it was taken by a man named Ricardo Monzón on January 7th in the Miranda Region. The photo appears to show a disc-shaped unidentified flying object in the sky, and Escalante notes that the shape and orientation of the object do not match that of any street lights in the area, leading him to believe it is not simply a reflection. While the authenticity of the photo has not been confirmed, it has sparked excitement and speculation among UFO enthusiasts in Venezuela and beyond.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
Druk op onderstaande knop om je bestand , jouw artikel naar mij te verzenden. INDIEN HET DE MOEITE WAARD IS, PLAATS IK HET OP DE BLOG ONDER DIVERSEN MET JOUW NAAM...
Druk op onderstaande knop om een berichtje achter te laten in mijn gastenboek
Alvast bedankt voor al jouw bezoekjes en jouw reacties. Nog een prettige dag verder!!!
Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=link}
