BY MATT WILLIAMS

The study was led by Professor Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist with the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) and the MIT Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (MIT AeroAstro); and Dr. Janusz J. Petkowski, an astrobiologist and EAPS MIT Research Affiliate. They were joined by researchers with Nanoplanet Consulting, Rufus Scientific Ltd., the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and multiple universities. The paper that presents their findings was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Before the Space Age and the first robotic missions began making flybys of Venus, astronomers entertained the notion that it might be similar to Earth. Its impenetrable cloud deck was believed to be evidence of persistent rain storms, and some even speculated that the planet was a lush tropical environment. By 1961 and 62, the Soviet Venera 1 and 2 and NASA Mariner 1 and 2 probes became the first missions to buzz the planet and examine its atmosphere. These revealed an incredibly dense, scorching hot, and isothermic atmosphere – meaning there is little variation in temperature between day and night and during the course of a year.

As Dr. Petkowski told Universe Today via email, there are sulfuric acid clouds with very little water content. “Therefore, if there is life in the Venus clouds, and it still uses water as its solvent, it has to have adaptations that have no precedent here on Earth.” In a previous paper, Seager and her co-authors explored various characteristics of Venus’ clouds that would affect habitability, regardless of whether or not it was “Earth-like.” This included energy requirements (chemical and solar), radiation, the lack of available hydrogen, metals, acidity, and low water content.

As Petkowski explained, they concluded that the conditions in the Venusian clouds do not rule out life, although they do rule out Earth-like life:

“This is an important distinction, as opinions on the habitability and the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus vary widely, from calling the clouds ‘habitable’ to categorically stating that life cannot exist there. We decided to quantitatively review what we know about Venus and confront this knowledge with the basic principles of life, all of this to see if life on Venus is worth looking for by (e.g., astrobiology-focused missions), or whether life could be categorically ruled out.”

Spectral data from SOFIA overlain atop an image of Venus from NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft.

Credit: Venus: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Spectra: Cordiner et al.

This is a key consideration for astrobiologists: the possibility that life can and does exist in environments radically different from Earth. This complicates things since scientists cannot search for evidence of life that doesn’t follow the same patterns as life here on Earth. A possible way around this is to consider “what life does rather than what it is” (processes that don’t depend on specific molecules) or constitutes life on the most basic level. This was the focus of their recent paper, said Petkowski, where they explored if organic chemistry is possible in concentrated sulfuric acid.

“Here, we were able to show that nucleic acid bases adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil are stable in concentrated sulfuric acid ranging from 80 to 98% concentration at room temperature. We have confirmed the stability with UV spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy, and there was no detectable reactivity and degradation after incubation in concentrated sulfuric acid for up to 2 weeks. This result is significant because concentrated sulfuric acid is often thought to be sterile to any interesting organic chemistry. We aim to show that this is not the case. Our paper is the first step to do so.”

They note that organic chemistry is not the same thing as life, but no life can occur without it. So while this result does not indicate that life is present in Venus’ atmosphere, it confirms that organic processes necessary for life certainly can. In recent years, the apparent detection of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere triggered a debate over whether these chemical traces (if confirmed) resulted from biological processes in action (i.e., a biosignature). This debate is still unresolved, and scientists are eagerly awaiting for future missions to investigate further.

These include NASA’s proposed Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI+) and Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy (VERITAS) probes, both of which could explore Venus by 2028. China also announced plans to send a Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer (VOICE) probe to explore the geological history, evolution, and potential habitability of Earth’s “Sister Planet,” launching in 2026 and arriving by 2027. There are also proposals like the Rocket Lab Mission to Venus (scheduled for launch in January 2025), the first private mission to explore Venus’ clouds and look for signs of organics.

Artist’s impression of the Rocket Lab Mission to Venus.

Credit: Rocket Lab

This will be followed by MIT’s Morning Star Missions to Venus program, a series of mission concepts that evolved from the Venus Life Finder Mission Concept study led by Professor Seager. This program will send a series of probes to Venus to study its cloud for signs of life and investigate conditions for habitability. The program will culminate in 2041 with the launch of an Atmospheric and Cloud Sample Return Mission (ACSRM), which will bring samples of Venus’ atmosphere back to Earth for detailed analysis. As Petkowski noted, these and other missions to Venus could have significant implications when it comes to the search for extraterrestrial life in the Solar System and beyond:

“Although the ribose phosphate backbone of DNA is unstable in concentrated sulfuric acid, other polymers analogous to DNA could be stable and potentially support the idea that concentrated sulfuric acid in Venus clouds could support life. This would be instead of water, the concentrated sulfuric acid would become the main liquid environment for life to thrive.

“It is currently unknown if concentrated sulfuric acid could be the solvent for life, but if it could, then it has tremendous implications for the habitability of Venus clouds and the habitability of other planets in the galaxy (exoplanets). It is quite likely that there are many more planets like Venus out there. Who knows? Maybe many of them are also habitable for some very exotic forms of life.”

Further Reading: 

• PNAS

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

08-07-2023 om 22:14 geschreven door peter  

 Unearthed: The Triad of Unexplained Marine UFO Enigmas!

Deep within the heart of the dense jungle south of Tulum, Mexico, exists a fascinating geological anomaly, Cenote Angelita. This natural sinkhole, formed when the limestone bedrock collapsed, reveals the pristine, fresh water beneath. And further north in the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, elusive legends whisper of an enigmatic island, Hy-Brasil, said to be visible only once every seven years. These mysterious locations seem worlds apart, but they share intriguing narratives that might offer glimpses into humanity’s ancient connections to otherworldly phenomena.

Cenote Angelita: A Portal to Another World?

Cenotes, natural sinkholes prevalent in the Yucatan region, were created millions of years ago by the cataclysmic meteor strike that wiped out the dinosaurs. The impact formed shocked quartz, a particular type of quartz created under immense pressure. Intriguingly, quartz possesses the unique ability to convert Earth’s natural electrical vibrations into energy. This property led some scientists to suggest its potential use in the formation of wormholes, leveraging an electromagnetic reaction known as the Casimir effect.

Nestled amidst such cenotes, Cenote Angelita stands out due to its unique underwater phenomenon. Approximately 100 feet below its surface, the fresh water intermingles with the salt water from the ocean beneath, creating an eerily mesmerizing underwater river. This spectacle has led some to speculate that Cenote Angelita may serve as a gateway between the surface world and the underworld, echoing the ancient Aztec legends of Talalakon.

• Alien Case Files: Fast Walkers | Alien and UFO Encounters

The Aztecs firmly believed that their souls journeyed through portals like Cenote Angelita into other dimensions. They recounted tales of whirlpools in the water that led them to paradise. Given the quartz’s inherent ability to possibly create wormholes, is it conceivable that Cenote Angelita was an ideal location for advanced alien beings to fabricate such a gateway? Could this be the explanation behind the Aztec shamans’ accounts of an entrance to paradise?

Hy-Brasil: An Island Shrouded in Mystery

A stark contrast to the tropical allure of Cenote Angelita, the phantom island of Hy-Brasil is believed to be located in the North Atlantic Ocean, 100 miles west of Ireland. Its lore dates back to the 14th century when Mediterranean mapmakers first charted its existence. Hy-Brasil, said to appear and disappear behind mists, has been a subject of endless fascination for over 600 years.

Historical records document explorers who claimed to have set foot on the island. Captain John Nisbet from Ireland reportedly returned with gold and silver gifts from an old, mysterious man residing there. More curiously, explorers brought back tales of “giant black rabbits” and “beautiful, glowing people.”

In Irish mythology, Hy-Brasil was considered a source of civilization, where the Irish Gods originated. It was described as a land kept hidden by divine intervention. The last recorded sighting of the island was in 1872, fueling speculations that it might resurface under the right conditions.

But what if the tales of Hy-Brasil extend beyond the domain of mythology? Could the island serve as a high-tech alien base, a way station for advanced extraterrestrial races journeying across the cosmos? Could these locations, Cenote Angelita and Hy-Brasil, be interconnected gateways used by these advanced beings?

Cosmic Highways: A Bridge between Worlds

The concept of Earth harboring portals to other dimensions or cosmic highways for alien civilizations may seem far-fetched. However, it’s worth noting

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

08-07-2023 om 21:53 geschreven door peter  

SpaceX Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in just 6 months — and it will only get worse

"Right now, the number of maneuvers is growing exponentially," Hugh Lewis, a professor of astronautics at the University of Southampton in the U.K. and a leading expert on the impact of megaconstellations on orbital safety, told Space.com. "It's been doubling every six months, and the problem with exponential trends is that they get to very large numbers very quickly."

Related: 

• How many satellites can we safely fit in Earth orbit?

{ https://www.space.com/ }

08-07-2023 om 01:43 geschreven door peter  

'That guy is not real': Astonishing moment distressed woman has meltdown on plane over 'imaginary' passenger and demands to be let off

• A woman was filmed in distress aboard an American Airlines flight in Dallas
• The clip was shared on TikTok on Sunday and has been seen millions of times
• The original poster said the flight was delayed three hours due to the incident 

By GERMANIA RODRIGUEZ 

A woman's meltdown was caught on video as she frantically demanded to get off a plane and claimed someone in the back of the aircraft was not real.

Footage shared on TikTok on Sunday night shows a woman seemingly in distress onboard an American Airlines flight departing from Dallas Fort Worth airport.

'I'm telling you, I'm getting the f*** off and there's a reason why I'm getting the f*** off and everyone can either believe it or they can not believe it,' the unidentified woman is heard saying as she walks to the front of the plane.

'I don't give two f****, but I am telling you right now - that m*****f***** back there is NOT real,' she adds, pointing towards the back of the plane.

'And you can sit on this plane and you can die with them or not. I'm not going to.'

A woman's meltdown was caught on video as she frantically demanded to get off a plane and claimed someone in the back of the aircraft was not real

Passengers turned their head as she seemed to point to the back of the plane while speaking about a guy who 'was not real'

t's unclear what the woman was referring to.

Passengers turned their head as she seemed to point to the back of the plane.

The video's poster, who goes by @texaskansasnnn, claimed the incident delayed his flight by three hours.

The TikTok user said the woman 'somehow didn't get arrested and got back through security after the whole plane had to deplane.' 

DailyMail.com has contacted American Airlines for comment on this story.

The original video has gathered more than 20,000 views  - and was reposted under the popular TikTok hashtag #drunkonaplane, gathering more than three million views.

Despite a lack of details, thousands of TikTok users weighed in on the comments.

One viewer wrote: 'I need to see him. I will be able to tell if he's not human. She may be telling the truth.'

Another one also joked, writing: 'sooooo we not going see who mini mouse is talking about.'

A third said: 'no because i would HAVE to get off the plane. I'm not about to be final destinationed.'

It was a chaotic weekend for traveling in the nation, as desperate families were forced to sleep in airports after thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled over the Fourth of July holiday.

Nearly 100 flights have already been canceled on Monday alone while delays were at 1,303 by lunchtime and steadily climbing, according to FlightAware.

The Fourth of July 'flightmare' continued today as travelers make one last ditch effort to get to their destinations for holiday on Tuesday after storms walloped the country in recent days, causing mass delays and cancelations.

More severe weather is expected to pummel at least 15 states from the Northeast and mid-Atlantic to the Southeast on Monday.

There were 15,567 flight delays in and out of the United States on Saturday and Sunday and a total of 905 flights were canceled.

More than 50 million people are expected to make a trip of 50 miles or more this holiday weekend with AAA predicting the numbers will break records.

Not only is air travel being snarled, but so it road traffic with millions of people along the Interstate 95 corridor under the threat of strong winds, hail and possibly an isolated tornado.

Do YOU know have any additional information on this video? If so, please get in touch with germania.rodriguez@mailonline.com.

“Nope. I’ve seen Final Destination too many times. I’m getting off that plane”

Many people were also comparing it to the scene in the movie Bridesmaids where Kristen Wiig’s character mixes alcohol and pills and ends up freaking out after she thinks she sees a colonial woman churning butter on the wing of the airplane.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

08-07-2023 om 01:01 geschreven door peter  

This Passenger Saw ‘Mysterious Being’ Who Scared Lady In Dallas to Orlando Flight

An unusual incident happened at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. An American Airlines flight was delayed for three hours after a woman onboard freaked out. She claimed to have encountered an eerie figure on the plane. She frantically demanded to get off the plane. Her behavior would seem strange to many but there are passengers who are in support of her.

On July 3, 2023, a video of a woman wearing a crop top and jeans went viral on social media. Her behavior on a flight from Dallas to Orlando caught the attention of fellow passengers. Walking down the aisle, she displayed signs of fear and urgency, expressing her desperate need to exit the airplane. Distressed, she claimed the presence of an unreal and dangerous figure onboard.

She can be seen saying in the video, “And everyone can either believe it or they can not believe it. I don’t give two … But I am telling you right now, that (—) back there is not real.” Her alarming statement alludes to a mysterious figure she perceives, causing other passengers to turn and look in the direction she points.

The video had originally been shared on TikTok, but it was removed from the platform. Since then, it has been reshared by various social media channels. In the clip, the woman claims that she is getting off the flight because someone on the flight (presumably a passenger) was not real, and warned that those who remain on the plane can “die with him or not.”

The incident led to a delay of the flight for approximately three hours, as reported by the original uploader. Curiously, the woman managed to avoid arrest and even re-entered the airport after the entire plane had to deplane.

Some speculate that the woman was on medication, under the influence, or undergoing psychosis. People on social media expressed their worry and curiosity about the outcome of the flight, with some individuals admitting they felt genuinely unsettled by her words.

A different video uploaded by another passenger captured the woman arguing with a flight attendant minutes before the viral episode. In the footage, she demands the plane to be stopped and adamantly expresses her desire to leave the plane, disregarding her personal belongings.

As the story gained attention on TikTok, various theories about what the woman might have encountered on the plane emerged. Speculations ranged from shapeshifting reptilians to extraterrestrial beings. However, the woman herself has not come forward to provide an explanation for her behavior, leaving room for speculation and further discussions.

Man in Hoddie

The American Airlines flight incident became interesting when a young man on TikTok “The Kole Show” shared a video, claiming that he saw a woman having a heated conversation with some man in a hoodie, who remained silent throughout. The Kole Show did not capture any video of the incident but noticed that the man in the hoodie appeared not normal. After the woman exited the plane, the man in the hoodie briefly interacted with him by asking if anything had happened and then winked at him. The Kole Show reflects on the strange encounter and mentions that the man winked horizontally.

I was on that flight. It was American Airlines. We were leaving Dallas Fort Worth. I was sitting in the left aisle, about three rows back from this woman. She was sitting in the right aisle, and she had this very, very interesting exchange with some dude in a hoodie. I don’t remember the color of the hoodie. You know how memory is when you’re not super paying attention. You don’t remember all the details.

I had one headphone in, couldn’t hear all the specifics of what happened. But I noticed this exchange between this woman and this dude in a hoodie. And it was kind of weird at the time because it seemed like no one else before she really started getting frantic, like, was paying attention to this. But that makes sense. It was like a normal flight. This was after putting all the luggage away. We’d been on the plane for a little bit. It was before the flight attendant came over and gave the little spiel. And what I remember is she was having, like, a full-blown conversation with this dude in the hoodie.

I’ll call him the hoodie guy. She was having a full-blown conversation with the hoodie guy. The weird thing was that he never once said a (—) word to her the whole time. And at the time, I don’t know, I wasn’t really thinking about it, but it’s like she would say something, and he would respond. But there was no exchange happening. It was just her getting more and more frantic, which, okay, if she’s drunk and she’s going crazy, then you would think the dude in the hoodie would have been like, “What are you talking about? What are you talking about?”

But he was just, like, deadlocked on her. Like, deep eye contact with her. I don’t want to feed into the conspiracies here, but almost like she was, like, in a hypnosis type of thing. And she started getting more and more frantic to the point where then people started kind of noticing. A flight attendant came over, tried to calm her down. Like, “What’s going on?”

She sat back down, but she kept looking over at this dude in the hoodie. And finally, she was like, “Done with it.” And that’s when I really started paying attention. Like, “Okay, what the (—) is going on?” And that’s when she was like, “I can’t do this.” She started getting up. She started walking up to the front. And then the whole video thing happened. I didn’t take a video of it. I was listening to a Stephen King audiobook. I wasn’t, like, pulling out my phone to record this. And she didn’t seem drunk to me, by the way.

Just throwing that out there. I didn’t see her drink. I mean, she seemed totally normal to me up until that point. The weird thing was, after she left the plane, the dude in the hoodie, which the flight attendant, was like, “Did anything happen?” And he still didn’t say a word. He just went like and shrugged. The dude in the hoodie looked around the plane and he looked back at me and he winked at me [Horizontally]. And again, I didn’t quite register it. I was like, “Okay, what the (—) was that about?” I was like, “Maybe he’s just being like an (—) .” Like winking like that was weird…

The Kole Show’s video gained more than 7 million views on TikTok. But it was called a fake story due to his comment where he writes the video is not real. But the twist is, the man claimed in the second part of the video that he intentionally put such a comment to avoid the platform algorithm taking his video down. He clarified in the second part that he was on the plane and everything he said in the first part is true.

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Okay, here’s your part two. I can’t even believe this video has blown up this much. I literally made this video in a few minutes, went to go see some fireworks, hung out with some friends, came home, went to bed a little bit tipsy, woke up in the morning, got to work, and didn’t even check my phone. And then I see this thing blown up all over the place, and there’s a bunch of in the comments of people saying, like, you weren’t there. Like, it’s a joke, he’s a liar. I don’t even care about any of that. I don’t, like, get on TikTok all that much at all. But I am kind of annoyed at the email I got last night.

…And I know it’s probably nothing serious. It kind of freaked me out a little bit when I got up in the morning, but I know it’s probably someone in the comments. One of you all probably found my email or something, and you’re just playing a prank… But I don’t appreciate that kind of stuff. So I’m going to make this one video.

I’m going to clear the air and just nothing crazy happened on the plane for the rest of the flight. What else happened? Let me just clear the air and just tell you the rest of my little story. And then that’s it. I forgot about it. Whatever. I’ve seen in my life. Like, I’m going to move on with my life, so whatever. First off, I was on the plane. So everyone’s saying, oh, the reason I put that in the description, which I thought we all knew about TikTok, is because TikTok will suppress content and take content down. When you’re talking about controversial things or conspiracy things or political stuff, it’ll take your videos down…So that’s why I did that.

Several other eyewitnesses have shared their accounts of the incident. Notably, stand-up comedian and actor Scott Thompson popularly known as “Carrot Top” was present on the same flight and posted a video from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, expressing his frustration and blaming the woman for the delay. (Source)

Another passenger, “M Lee RN,” claimed to have witnessed the events and clarified that the woman’s outburst stemmed from losing her AirPods and accusing a nearby African-American passenger of stealing them. According to M Lee RN, the plane returned to the gate, law enforcement officials were involved, and the woman was eventually removed from the flight. The incident prompted an investigation to ensure the safety of the aircraft, and the three flight attendants who dealt with the woman were also replaced.

Although M Lee RN’s account provided a logical explanation for the incident, some individuals remain unconvinced and demand to hear the woman’s side of the story. However, an American Airlines representative confirmed the disruptive passenger’s removal from the flight and emphasized their commitment to safety and security.

The woman’s silence and absence from public discussions have left many people curious about her whereabouts and the reasons for her behavior. Speculations suggest that she may be embarrassed or even incarcerated. In the meantime, social media users urge caution and safety during future flights, acknowledging the potential for unexpected incidents.

{  https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

08-07-2023 om 00:32 geschreven door peter  

KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Earth’s core isn’t just a boring, featureless ball of metal, it turns out. A recent study used seismic waves from earthquakes to make a 3D model of the center of our planet, and the researchers discovered that Earth’s inner core is a patchwork of different textures and densities. And there may even still be some liquid iron trapped inside.

The recent study was published in the journal Nature. Seismologist Guanning Pang and his colleagues used a worldwide network of seismic stations, originally built to watch for underground nuclear weapons testing, to watch seismic waves from earthquakes reflect off Earth’s inner core. It took about 2,455 strong earthquakes, measured over about 25 years, before the geologists had mapped enough reflected seismic waves to create a 3D model of our planet’s solid metal heart.

Our comfy little planet was once a fiery ball of molten rock and metal. Because metal is heavier than rock (one of those rare statements that applies to both geology and musical genres), the molten metal sank through the lighter layers of molten rock, eventually ending up in a big ball of iron and nickel at the center of the planet (more or less).

Today, Earth’s core is actually two pieces. There’s an outer layer of molten metal about 1,795 miles thick. Inside that layer of molten metal lies a solid sphere of iron and nickel: the inner core, which is under enough pressure to be a solid despite the tremendous heat. At the center of an ocean of liquid metal, the inner core rotates on its own, like a weird little mini-planet deep inside the Earth. Together, the spinning inner core and the constantly churning outer core turn our planet into a giant electromagnet, powering the magnetic field that protects Earth’s surface from solar winds and deadly radiation.

Earth’s inner core is more complicated than it looks, however. It’s a mosaic of different textures, thanks to iron grains of different sizes and shapes, oriented in different directions. Those textures make up a record of how Earth’s core formed and how it has evolved over time: metals form grains of different sizes depending on how quickly they solidify, so one thing [authors] map tells us is that Earth’s inner core solidified quickly at some points in our planet’s history, and slowly at other points. Pressure, heat, and other factors also reshape those textures over time, which means Earth’s core is still changing and evolving.

In fact, some liquid iron may be trapped and sloshing around inside the otherwise solid core, according to University of Utah seismologist Keith Koper, a co-author of the recent study.

Mapping out those textures, at a resolution of less than 10 kilometers, was no easy feat. It takes an earthquake of around magnitude 5.7 to make seismic waves that can reflect off the core strong enough to be detectable, and even then, the signal is faint.

“The signal that comes back from the inner core is really tiny. The size is about on the order of a nanometer,” says Koper. “What we’re doing is looking for a needle in a haystack. These baby echoes and reflections are very hard to see.”

Eventually, our planet’s patchwork heart could reveal more details about Earth’s early history and the mechanics that drive our all-important magnetic field, without which we would all be dead – or rather, would never have existed at all.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

07-07-2023 om 23:59 geschreven door peter  

This is a screenshot from the flyover video of Mars' Matara Crater created from HiRise data.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

BY EVAN GOUGH

“Matara Crater is a favourite of ours to image owing to the massive and gorgeous sand sheet that dominates the floor. We often image these dunes for the gullies that form on them, some due to carbon dioxide ice,” NASA writes in the text accompanying the video.

The floor of the Matara crater is dominated by a massive sheet of sand. Mars’ relentless wind sculpts the top of the sheet into dunes, and the HiRISE camera has catalogued these changing shapes over time. There are more than 100 images of the dunes on the HiRISE website.

Dunes in Matara crater change as the seasons pass. Carbon dioxide freezes and melts and contributes to changes in the dunes. The HiRISE people highlighted these changes in a separate video a couple of years ago.

NASA didn’t build the HiRISE instrument and launch it into orbit around Mars on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter just for nice pictures of dunes. Dunes can reveal a lot about the planet’s past. Different sizes of dust grains tell scientists about the atmospheric conditions that deposited them. Dunes also contain information about the forces at work since their deposition. Taken together with other scientific observations of Mars, they help paint a picture of the planet’s history.

Some dunes even help us understand one of the largest issues on Mars: what happened to its water. China’s Zhurong rover found evidence in sand dunes near Mars’ equator showing that liquid water flowed there only 400,000 years ago.

Sand dunes are intriguing targets for rover exploration, but they’re tough to navigate and hazardous for wheeled vehicles. NASA’s Spirit rover got stuck in the sand in 2010, and its mission ended. Scientists are busy working on other locomotion methods for rovers to traverse sand dunes without wheels. Instead, these rovers would have bodies that roll over the sand. One design is based on the Golden Wheel Spider from the Namib desert. It’s noted for its wind-assisted rolling capabilities that help it transit across dunes more easily. It uses its rolling action to avoid parasitic wasps.

FESTO has developed a prototype of a rolling robot based on the Cartwheeling Spider. On level ground, the robot moves twice as fast when in rolling mode. It’s called the BionicWheelBot.

Here’s the BionicWheelBot being tested in the Sahara Desert.

Rolling robots may never visit Matara Crater to explore its dunes. But at least we have the MRO and the HiRISE camera. Thanks to them, and the quality of the 4K video, we can dream about visiting it ourselves.

This image shows the location of Matara Crater in a global Mars context.

Image Credit: USGS

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

07-07-2023 om 23:20 geschreven door peter  

LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS - 07/07/2023

Black Sphere Shaped UFO Filmed Moments Before Vanishing Into Thin Air Over Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

This black object was sighted on July 5, 2023 over Sand Springs in Oklahoma. The witness stated the following: "We couldnt see it with the naked eye, Only after zooming in could we see it. The trail from the sky to the ground is also sus."

Sphere UFOs, Glitching UFOs, Fast UFOs. Best UFOs Of June 2023, AFO

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James Webb Space Telescope sees remains of 'ancient cosmic clash' | 4K zoom-in

Zoom into an amazing James Webb Space Telescope view of galaxy NGC 3256. It is " the wreckage of a head-on collision between two equally massive spiral galaxies," according to ESA/NASA.

Full Story: https://www.space.com/webb-telescope-...

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb) | mash mix by Space.com's Steve Spaleta (https://twitter.com/stevespaleta)

India's Chandrayaan-3 moon mission spacecraft mated with rocket

India's Chandrayaan-3 moon mission is getting ready for launch. See the spacecraft, which is encapsulated within a payload fairing, get mated to Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3).

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NASA’s Mars Rover Sets New Oxygen Creation Record

With NASA’s future plans of landing humans on Mars and transporting them to and from the planet, one of the most important challenges is the lack of air. There is less than 1% of air on Mars as there is on Earth, and carbon dioxide makes up about 96% of it on Mars. While not ideal, this does present an opportunity to turn that CO2 into oxygen.

A few years ago when the Perseverance Rover landed on the Martian surface, it not only began its main purpose related to sample collection but also creating oxygen. It does this using MOXIE, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. Just recently, researchers pushed MOXIE to a maximum production level — a factor of two higher than reached earlier.

This was able to produce a substantial amount of oxygen compared to previous tests. With this, the agency is more confident in what the future holds as they continue to develop this technology. Here I will go more in-depth into this new milestone, the MOXIE payload, what to expect in the coming months, and more.

Full article here - https://thespacebucket.com/nasas-mars...

For more space-related content check out - https://thespacebucket.com/

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Major Breakthrough On Origins of Life on Earth: Did Magnetism Cause Chirality?

Time Ran Slower in Early Universe, New Study Finds

Today we talk about the first evidence that time ran slower in the early universe, how to catch light, what astronomers think about the new starlink satellites, a breakthrough in quantum computing reported by Microsoft, what helps against tinnitus, better cooling for qubits, the Euclid Mission, laser scans of Ukrainian art, a metasuit, and of course the telephone will ring.

Topics

00:00 Intro

00:28 First Evidence That Time Ran Slower in the Early Universe

02:56 Physicists Figure Out How to Catch Light

04:43 New Starlink Satellites are Less Bright (But)

07:21 Microsoft Reports Quantum Computing Breakthrough

09:35 Lasers Help Against Tinnitus

11:07 Better Cooling for Qubits

13:04 ESA Launches Euclid Mission

14:22 Laser Scans of Ukrainian Buildings

15:35 A Metasuit

17:27 Learn Science With Brilliant

Could Life Be Transmitted Via Radio Waves? Information Panspermia

Lunar Mining, Processing & Refining

After over half a century, it is time to return to the Moon, and use its vast resources as a bridge to countless new worlds.

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07-07-2023 om 23:03 geschreven door peter  

The Mysterious Crop Circles of 2023: The Enigmatic Formation at Allan King Way

As the season of summer sets in, there is more than just the warm sun captivating our attention in the field of Hampshire. June 26th, 2023, a new enigma unfolded on the verdant canvas of Allan King Way, near Owslebury, Hampshire: a crop circle, a phenomenon that has held the world in an eerie suspense for decades.

Imagine walking alongside the feathered path of Allan King Way, officially signed as Featherbed Lane, that is a quiet public way for horses and hikers. As you amble along, you find yourself at a gap in the hedgerow, just 75 yards away from a puzzle that lies etched into the field, one that came to be known as the Owslebury Crop Circle of 2023. You might find the entrance deterrent, thanks to the aromatic greeting of a large pile of organic fertilizer. But with just a little perseverance, the sight that unfolds is worth the olfactory assault.

Once you get past the initial challenge, the experience that awaits you is truly surreal. One visitor recounted feeling the energy that crafted this crop circle, as it stirred his senses, making them tingle and come alive. Despite being located near a road, the crop circle of Owslebury has managed to keep its mystery veiled, easily overlooked by passersby.

• Crop Circles the Enigma (Full Documentary) - YouTube

Resembling an outdoor cathedral, Owslebury instills a sense of sacredness. Its design, detailed yet simple, involves green barley stalks bent carefully into shape, not broken, and still growing towards the sun. It seems as if the artist used a gentle hand, or perhaps an energy of a higher order, to create this intricate design. It’s almost like the circle is a pair of wide open eyes, peering into the mysteries of the cosmos.

It’s crucial to remember the importance of maintaining respect for these crops and the farmer’s land. The seemingly discouraging “greetings” by the farmer is perhaps a nudge towards observing proper crop circle etiquette. We encourage you to stick to the tram lines and not trample the crops.

While we continue to speculate about the formation’s source, the presence of the Owslebury Crop Circle adds another fascinating chapter to the ever-growing saga of the Crop Circles of 2023. As to what the artist was looking at or trying to convey, that remains part of the mysterious allure of these enigmatic formations. Indeed, these crop circles offer more than just unique patterns; they pose intriguing questions, inviting us all to ponder the secrets of our universe.

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07-07-2023 om 21:54 geschreven door peter  

Navigating the New Horizon: A Deep Dive into the UFO Phenomenon and Disclosure

The increasing international interest in Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), often referred to as UFOs, is sparking an entirely new discourse in scientific, governmental, and public realms. After decades of skepticism, silence, and ridicule, the conversation is changing, with governments, researchers, and civilians now openly exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

The Shift in Perspective

The U.S. government, in particular, is leading this shift. The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a previously undisclosed investigative effort funded by the U.S. government, is now a public revelation, adding credibility to discussions about UAPs. This marks a significant change from the past, where UFO sightings and experiences were often brushed aside or discounted as fabrications. Instead, they are now seen as potentially groundbreaking phenomena deserving of serious scientific scrutiny.

• UFOs - Truth, Lies & Coverup (Session 3) | The Citizen Hearing on UFO Disclosure

Why Now?

The timing of this change is intriguing. Why is the government now choosing to be more transparent about their studies and experiences with UAPs? Is it simply the pressure of living in the 21st-century information age, where civilian demand for UFO data is escalating? Are governments simply responding to the call for disclosure from the public?

Some believe that this shift is because the U.S. government, along with others around the world, now feels more equipped in terms of technological advancements and research capacities to understand and reveal the secrets of the cosmos. They may have developed deep-space capabilities and technologies to interact with phenomena they previously could not comprehend.

Disclosures: The Global Scenario

France and Britain were ahead of the curve, opening their respective files on UFOs in 2007 and 2008. However, their disclosure was limited to public programs, often revealing little more than public accounts of UFO sightings. Unlike these, the revelations from AATIP give an unprecedented insider’s view into government involvement in UFO research.

A New Narrative

This ongoing dialogue has sparked speculation about a new narrative emerging from the military. Are these disclosures a response to the escalating civilian demand for transparency, or do they point to something more significant? Is this a carefully calibrated strategy to gradually disclose information, controlling the narrative to manage public reaction?

Terms like “Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon” are gradually being used to replace “UFO,” effectively detaching the subject from its history of ridicule and dismissal. This rebranding could be a strategic move to control the conversation around these phenomena.

VIDEO:

• Extraordinary: The Revelations (Full Documentary)

Disclosure: The New Reality

If disclosure isn’t about a proverbial ‘spaceship in the hangar’ but about accepting that we have unknown entities in our airspace that we can’t catch or fully comprehend, then we may already be there. We’ve entered an era of “soft disclosure” or “controlled disclosure” where the conversation isn’t about confirming the existence of extraterrestrial life but about managing the realization of its potential existence.

The implications of this shift are enormous. As more experiencers come forward with their encounters and governments release more information about UAPs, we are gradually moving towards a collective acceptance that we may not be alone in the universe.

In the face of potential imminent disclosure, we need to ready ourselves to embrace this new reality. So we ask you: Are you prepared to face the reality that we might not be alone in the cosmos?

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

07-07-2023 om 20:40 geschreven door peter  

The 2023 Crop Circle Phenomenon: An Ethereal Encounter at Hetty Pegler’s Tump Long Barrow

It’s June 24th, 2023, in the heart of Gloucestershire, UK, near the tranquil town of Nympsfield. There’s an unexpected spectacle at the renowned neolithic site of Hetty Pegler’s Tump Long Barrow: a crop circle, intriguingly exquisite in design and tantalizingly mysterious. This crop circle of 2023, often referred to as the “Uley Long Barrow crop circle,” raises many questions, not just in Gloucestershire, but globally.

This phenomenon, a few short miles from the serene Stroud, took on an aura of the mystical at this archaeological treasure. And though it didn’t spring up in the same field as the ‘tump,’ the picturesque cornfield across the road houses our crop circle, an unlikely yet equally captivating location.

The long barrow is worth noting, as it contributes to the overall experience of our crop circle visit. Despite being dubbed as ‘long,’ it’s rather lozenge-shaped from an aerial view. Although restored in the 19th century, it retains a distinctive charm that outshines other famed sites like West Kennett or Belas Knapp.

As you explore this spiritual site, its low entrance channel humbles you, forcing you to your knees. The secluded compartments within the cave-like structure, the serene isolation from the external world, all contribute to a deep sense of reverence. It seems as if the vibrant energy of the crop circle complements the sacred aura of this ancestral space.

The crop circle’s discovery, hidden from the road, was presumably reported by a pilot from the gliding club at Nympsfield. Just 2km away, the club offers a splendid aerial view of this mystifying formation. The crop circle itself, designed with two flattened rings encircling a flattened central circle, is not flashy but beautifully simple.

The mature barley crop gives the circle an alluring golden glow. Yet, the stalks, thinner and shorter than usual, imply a struggle against insufficient moisture, hinting at their fast ripening in the summer heatwave. The edges of the circle, despite looking ragged, showcase an outward swirl pattern, adding to the overall intrigue.

As you stand in the outer ring, the untouched green barley stalks contrast starkly against the mature crop. A few isolated mature stalks, unaffected by the circle-making force, stand tall among the flattened ones, posing another mystery. The entire scene at the crop circle, this 2023 Crop Circles phenomenon, is mystifying, riveting, and remarkably unique.

In the heart of the formation, a bouquet of flowers left by an anonymous admirer pays homage, marking the human fascination with the enigmatic and the extraordinary.

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

07-07-2023 om 20:25 geschreven door peter  

Pentagon Has Clear Image Of Triangle UFO Rising Out Of Ocean, Elizondo Confirmed

The Pentagon reportedly holds a highly classified photograph of a “Black Triangle” UFO emerging from the ocean, taken by a US Navy pilot flying an F/A-18F Super Hornet. The photo’s existence has not been officially confirmed by the Pentagon, but many people believe that it does exist, as they have been told by government insiders. It is thought to be one of the most compelling UFO sightings ever captured on camera and is considered to be highly classified because it was captured using military equipment onboard the fighter plane.

In 2020, during an interview on Coast to Coast AM radio with investigative journalist George Knapp, former AATIP head Luis Elizondo stated that the current UAP Task Force obtained images of multiple unknown aerial objects, including a clear image of a mysterious triangle emerging from the ocean, recorded by military pilots.

The object was described as a large triangle with “blunted” edges and spherical white “lights” on each corner, and the encounter is said to have occurred off the East Coast of the US. The pilots who encountered the object are believed to have been operating from either the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower or the USS John C. Stennis, both of which are Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarriers, which further deepens the apparent links between UFOs and man’s nuclear capabilities.

Several officials confirmed the photo’s existence, but they did not provide any further details. The report primarily focused on “Unidentified Submersible Phenomena” or unidentified “transmedium” vehicles that can operate both underwater and in the air. The UAP Task Force appears to be concerned that these objects may originate from within the world’s oceans.

Tom Rogan, a national security writer for the Washington Examiner, verified the existence of the photo with his sources. He believes that the photo is “the tip of the iceberg” and that more UAP imagery and data would be leaked in the coming years. Rogan also called on the Pentagon to officially release more material. (Source)

In 2020, The Debrief reported that the Pentagon was investigating the “transmedium” element of the phenomena, which is the apparent ability of some UAPs to transit seamlessly between the air and the ocean.

The idea of “USOs,” or “unidentified submersible objects,” is not exclusive to the current UAP Task Force. In fact, there have been reports of unexplained, very high-speed sonar targets recorded by some of the most sophisticated listening equipment on the planet. A senior member of the intelligence community, whose responsibilities for decades involved underwater surveillance and reconnaissance programs, acknowledged that there are valid claims of extremely fast-moving underwater objects being detected by U.S. military systems.

The UAP Task Force is particularly interested in “transmedium vehicles,” which may seem unusual, but there have been many accounts, some going back centuries, in which people observed unidentifiable craft operating in and out of the water. In public appearances, Marc D’Antonio, an astronomer and chief video/image analyst for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), shared an unusual experience involving the detection of an underwater “Fast Mover,” which occurred while he was sailing as a civilian aboard one of the U.S. Navy’s prized attack submarines.

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Tyler Rogoway, a defense journalist, spoke with several veteran submariners who almost unanimously acknowledged that unexplained, very high-speed sonar targets are indeed recorded by some of the most sophisticated listening equipment on the planet. Although there is skepticism about D’Antonio being granted a civilian ride-along, the Navy vets being interviewed confirmed the validity of such claims. The intelligence official declined to provide further details, citing the high levels of security classification associated with underwater reconnaissance.

Andy McGrillen from UAP Media UK, a team set up to campaign for a more open and serious discussion on UFOs in Britain, told The Sun Online that the triangular object was initially tracked underwater, then emerged, climbing to an altitude of 35-40,000 feet when an aircraft’s onboard systems took a high-fidelity image. He thought that something like this would surely be highly classified given the nature of the equipment taking the picture. However, if it did make its way into the public domain, it could be a key piece of evidence, demonstrating that we are truly in the presence of some other intelligence.

Mystery Wire reported that UFO enthusiast Joe Murgia wrote on his Twitter that Knapp asked Elizondo about an alleged triangle UFO coming out of the water, to which Elizondo responded by saying he was confident the photo exists, and it might even be a still frame from a video. Elizondo and Knapp talked about the need for patience when talking about disclosure and the series of high-level briefings that Elizondo took part in. Elizondo praised Florida Senator Marco Rubio for his willingness to talk about UFOs publicly.

Knapp also asked if the UFO mystery can be solved by just looking at military encounters with UFOs or if we need to expand our horizons and look at other topics like poltergeists and Bigfoot that seem to be connected to close encounter cases. Elizondo said the government programs have limitations, such as an inability to speak with commercial pilots about sightings.

When asked if he would consider ever returning to the government to work on the new Unidentified Aerial Phenomena task force (UAPTF), Elizondo said he would have to clear it with his family first. If he did go back, he would try to run it differently than when he ran the AATIP at the Pentagon. Elizondo said he would push for more openness with the public and work to break down the barriers that stigma about UFOs can cause.

“The problem with it is that the government recognizes it. There are some very authentic UAP images. When people say, “Oh, they’re all grainy and blurry,” no, they’re not. There are some that are really clear and are very authentic because we can look at the date and time stamp and the metadata on the video. We can then correlate that to any other type of assets that may be in the area, and we know where it turns out that we’re picking something up that came across, let’s say, the Pacific Ocean. All of a sudden, someone in San Diego says, “I had this really funny light doing these weird things in the backyard,” and all of a sudden, you realize, “Oh, man, they got it on camera.”

Yeah, there are some very, very compelling ones. There’s one, in particular, I probably can’t talk about it, but there’s one of a triangle, and it’s at night, and it’s not just three points of light. I mean, you can see the skin of the aircraft. You can see a lot, and to the point where some of our folks were like, “Well, should we take it off?” No, don’t take it off the internet. Leave it up. That’s not your video to take down. That’s a private citizen’s. Yes, they got a great video of a UAP. Congratulations. You should probably give them an award. Don’t take the video down”

—Elizondo said during an interview with Calling All Beings.

Leaked emails from John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, may provide new insight into transmedium UFOs. The emails include a conversation between Podesta and a person named Bob Fish, who claims that the federal government has been collecting data on UFOs since the 1970s, using the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites. (Click here to read the full article)

Fish shared an incident that happened to him in California, where a USAF official who worked on the program told Fish that there were times when they were diverted from these missions to track UFOs off the east coast of Florida. Fish stated that the UAP entered the atmosphere and descended into the Atlantic Ocean, specifically in an area east of Miami, Florida and north of Bermuda.

The US government has knowledge of some UAPs entering Earth’s orbit from deep space and can actively track them via RF signals emanating from these crafts. The officials realized that if this god-like technology were to be obtained and mastered by their adversaries before the United States, it would make democracy vulnerable.

Additionally, for many years, Bob McGwier worked in clandestine intelligence. He disclosed two incidents about underwater UFOs or USOs, that he saw while performing covert operations. This claim was made several months after a video had been made public by the United States military, in which it appeared to show an unidentified flying object moving from the sky into the water in the year 2019. (Click here to read the full article)

The Sun Online produced a mock up of what the incident may have looked like as the F/A-18F came across the "Black Triangle" off the East Coast of the US

"BLACK Triangles" have been a common part of the UFO phenomena since the first wave of sightings back in the 1940s.

As their name suggests, the objects appear floating in the sky as dark triangular shapes often peppered with lights.

Some of the triangles have been described as up to 120 metres long and they appear to move noiselessly without any contrails.

The triangles are part of a host of weird and wonderful UFO shapes - going from saucers, to spheres, to the infamous "Tic Tacs".

David Marler, UFO researcher and author of Triangular UFOs: An Estimate of the Situation, told the HISTORY he has up to 17,000 cases files on the phenomena.

He suggested the slow movement of the shapes could suggest "surveillance" or perhaps even scanning the landscape.

And in one of the most stunning encounters, it is reported in March 1990 two F-16 fighter jets in Belgium encountered a "Black Triangle".

It was said the shape accelerated away at 1,120mph within seconds - a manoeuvre that "exceeded the limits of conventional aviation", according to the air force.

British military UFO investigation Project Condign - which ran from 1997 to 2000 - makes mention of the shapes, but dismisses them as similar phenomena to ball lightning.

But if the existence of the Pentagon photo and the accounts of the 2019 East Coast encounter are true - it seems there is more to the triangles than a bizarre atmospheric disturbance.

Some have also speculated sightings of "Black Triangles" could be mis-identification for military aircraft using the flying wing design - such as Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk or B-2 Spirit.

Or the sightings could perhaps be more speculative and experimental craft, such as the rumoured TR-3A Black Manta or the Aurora.

Once again however - this does not explain the potential sighting in the Atlantic allegedly photographed by the US Navy pilot in 2019.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

07-07-2023 om 01:03 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Just Created Artificial Cells That Evolve Faster Than Natural Ones

Life finds a way, even when not dealt a full hand of genetic cards.

BY MIRIAM FAUZIA

 

The Book of Life — a.k.a. the genome — is pretty darn long. Whether we’re talking about bacteria like Escherichia coli with 4.6 million base pairs or the Australian lungfish punching in at a cool 43 billion base pairs (14 times larger than the human genome), the number of genetic instructions determines the characteristics and function of a living organism.

But do genomes have to be so long? Nature is known to program redundancy to help an organism cope with environmental stress or to offset harmful mutations. What if you stripped down a genome to its barest essential genes — what would happen? Turns out, life would still find a way to survive and thrive, even evolve despite being dealt less than a full hand of genetic cards.

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, an Indiana University and J. Craig Venter Institute-led team created a “minimal cell” from a bacterium called Mycoplasma mycoides, containing only about 493 genes, the smallest genome of any known free-living organism. These minimal cells were able to evolve and grow in number, regaining genetic fitness lost when downsizing their genomes.

“It appears there’s something about life that’s really robust,” Jay T. Lennon, the paper’s senior author and a professor of biology at Indiana University Bloomington, said in a press release. “We can simplify it down to just the bare essentials, but that doesn’t stop evolution from going to work.”

Mycoplasma mycoides is a bacterium behind contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, or “lung sickness,” that lives in the guts of ruminants like cows and goats. In 2016, J. Craig Venter Institute researchers pared down M. mycoides’s genome from 901 genes to 493 genes, creating a new synthetic strain of the bacterium dubbed JCVI-syn3B.

In the new study, Lennon and his colleagues wanted to see how the minimal cell would respond when placed in an inhospitable lab environment. They knew the cells could multiply in number, as bacteria are wont to do. But with a streamlined genome, would the minimal cells still need to mutate? If so, would these mutations benefit or hinder the genetically modified bacterium's survivability?

“Every single gene in [M. mycoides JCVI-syn3B’s] genome is essential,” said Lennon. “One could hypothesize that there is no wiggle room for mutations, which could constrain its potential to evolve.”

The researchers found that even with the most skeletal of genomes, M. mycoides demonstrated an exceptionally high mutation rate over the 300 days it was allowed to freely grow in the lab, equivalent to 40,000 years of human evolution.

When placed in test tubes with limited nutritional resources (the inhospitable environment) alongside another strain of minimal cells that weren’t given the 300 days to grow and regular M. mycoides with untampered genomes, the minimal cells came out second place. What appeared to give the minimal cells a survival advantage was having those 300 days, which the scientists found helped the bacterium regain the 50 percent drop in fitness it initially experienced when stripping down its genome. These cells even evolved 39 percent faster than their untampered counterparts.

While the full ins and outs of how these mutations improve the fitness of minimal cells are unclear, the hope is this study and others like it will help us to better understand how to successfully engineer synthetic cells, maybe even usher in an age of synthetic life.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

07-07-2023 om 00:38 geschreven door peter  

June 2023 UFO-Sightings Statistical Report MUFON

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD UNITED STATES 474 UNITED KINGDOM 37 CANADA 31 FRANCE 22 AUSTRALIA 13 SOUTH AFRICA 4 GERMANY 4 HUNGARY 3 PORTUGAL 3 HONDURAS 3 MEXICO 3 BRAZIL 3 NORWAY 3 SPAIN 2 ISRAEL 2 SWEDEN 2 BELGIUM 2 CHINA 1 SAUDI ARABIA 1 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 1 COLOMBIA 1 GUATEMALA 1 SLOVENIA 1 TURKEY 1 MAURITIUS 1 IRELAND 1 AUSTRIA 1 FRENCH POLYNESIA 1 VENEZUELA 1    TOTAL: 623 BY SHAPE Circle 106 Sphere 94 Other 53 Unknown 44 Triangle 43 Disc 37 Oval 35 Star-like 25 N/A 24 Square/Rectangular 21 Cylinder 19 Cigar 15 Diamond 15 Tic Tac 8 Fireball 7 Egg 6 Flash 6 Saturn-like 5 Boomerang 4 Bullet/Missile 4 Chevron 4 Cone 4 Blimp 3 Cross 2 Teardrop 2 Dumbbell 1

STATES OF THE USA California 45 Texas 30 Arizona 26 Pennsylvania 25 Florida 25 New York 22 Ohio 17 Washington 15 Illinois 15 New Jersey 15 Colorado 14 Maryland 13 Michigan 13 Missouri 13 Nevada 12 North Carolina 12 Virginia 11 Oregon 11 Massachusetts 11 Indiana 10 New Mexico 10 Georgia 8 Arkansas 8 Oklahoma 7 South Carolina 7 Wisconsin 7 Tennessee 7 Connecticut 6 Utah 6 Minnesota 5 Mississippi 5 Kentucky 5 Alabama 5 Montana 5 Maine 4 Hawaii 4 New Hampshire 4 Iowa 3 Kansas 3 Nebraska 2 Vermont 2 Alaska 1 West Virginia 1 Delaware 1 Louisiana 1 DISTANCE FROM THE WITNESS < 100 ft 66 101-500 ft 75 501 ft - 1 Mile 112 Over 1 Mile 116 Unknown 64 NO VALUE 31 Most impressively there were 18 Landings, Hovering, or Takeoffs reported and 36 Entities observed. Number of abduction (ERT) cases were 24.

{ https://mufon.com }

07-07-2023 om 00:27 geschreven door peter  

In 1960 the visionary astronomer Frank Drake, who passed away recently, pioneered Project Ozma, a year after the seminal paper by Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison proposed a search for interstellar radio communications produced by any prospective alien intelligence that might be capable of such long-distance correspondence.

Project Ozma was named after the queen in L. Frank Baum’s 1904 book, The Land of Oz, is a place “very far away, difficult to reach, and populated by strange and exotic beings.” Drake’s approach established the methodology of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) methodology, which has focused since then on electromagnetic signals as the primary signature of technology engines. In 2021, the Galileo Project added to it a search for interstellar objects of technological origin.

Identifying signs of all forms of life, based on the composition of the planet’s atmosphere or its appearance as a faint blue dot, is an extremely challenging task that, decades ago, the mainstream of astronomy chose to focus on. From a great interstellar distance, a technological civilization like ours might appear as little more than an engine that converts starlight and nutrients on a rocky planet to intelligent electromagnetic signals and rockets that escape from it.

The products of technological engines might be easier to detect if they existed in sufficient abundance. However, it would be a strategic mistake to focus our telescopes on hard-to-reach fruits at distant tree tops if low-hanging fruit might be available for us to pick that could be much nearer by.

Whereas electromagnetic signals propagate at the speed of light and escape the Milky-Way disk of stars within tens of thousands of years, rockets move at a speed that is ten thousand times smaller and remain gravitationally bound to the Galactic disk. The characteristic space-rocket speed of tens of kilometers per second is an order of magnitude lower than the local escape speed from the Milky Way of five hundred kilometers per second. As a result, chemically-propelled spacecraft would accumulate over time within the Milky-Way disk. Viewed this way, the Galactic disk can be considered as a basket that had been collecting technological “fruits” from Milky-Way planets for billions of years.

Technological objects are split into two categories: space trash and functional devices. The five probes that NASA launched so far towards interstellar space: Voyager 1 & 2, Pioneer 10 & 11, and New Horizons will all become space trash in less than a million years. But in the coming decades, our technological civilization is likely to launch much smaller and more resilient spacecraft, equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printers, that can repair themselves and last much longer. In fact, self-replicating probes might be the most abundant in interstellar space, as they could multiply exponentially in time by using the raw materials available on habitable planets throughout the galaxy.

If another civilization reached this tipping point of sending self-replicating AI probes billions of years ago, we may be hard-pressed to find the faint electromagnetic signals from its early phase of radio communications as they are billions of light-years away by now. However, we can find their self-replicating probes as they enter the Solar system from interstellar space.

Ten years before Project Ozma, Enrico Fermi asked, “where is everybody?” This was in 1950, whereas just over the past decade, humanity developed survey telescopes and satellites that allow it to detect interstellar objects hardly any bigger than a particle of dust.

The first three known interstellar objects were identified thanks to advances made only within in the last decade. They include the discoveries of the interstellar meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08 in 2014, the interstellar space object `Oumuamua in 2017, and the interstellar comet Borisov in 2019. Among these three, the first two appear to be outliers relative to familiar space rocks within the Solar system.

The interstellar meteor was tougher in material strength than all 272 meteors listed in the CNEOS catalog, rarer than 99.6% of the familiar meteor population. Moreover, it was faster than 95% of all the stars in the vicinity of the Sun. `Oumuamua was inferred to be flat, pushed away from the Sun without a visible cometary tail, and its initial velocity was closer the Local Standard of Rest than 99.8% of all nearby stars. Borisov appeared to be a typical comet.

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The fact that two out of the first three interstellar objects appear weird is the reason the Galileo Project team plans an expedition to retrieve fragments from the landing site of the first interstellar meteor. CNEOS 2014-01-08 could be natural but from an astrophysical source never imagined before. For example, X-ray imaging of the Vela supernova remnant revealed bow shocks from bullets flying out of the explosion site. Perhaps CNEOS 2014-01-08 was a bullet tougher than conventional iron meteorites, which was shot out of a supernova explosion.

On the other hand, in case we identify some interstellar objects as technological relics, their inferred abundance will depend on whether they are functional or space trash. In collaboration with my Harvard undergraduate student, Carson Ezell, we calculated that probes targeting the habitable zone of stars would be inferred to be less abundant by 16 orders of magnitude than those on random trajectories, based on the same detection rate near Earth.

During the next decade, humanity could find a functional device from another technological civilization. We might harvest the fruits of technological civilizations as long as we invest similar funds in searching for them as we do in the search for primitive life. One of the rules of dating is that you could find what you are looking for only if you are committed to the search. There are numerous daters who searched in the wrong places, gave up on the search, and fulfilled their own prophecy that they are alone. We should at the very least search our “backyard” in the Solar system for artifacts from our neighbors. Some of these objects may be intelligent, while others will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Here’s hoping that finding the products of technological engines from afar will inspire us to focus on an ambitious future in space rather than a past entangled with a rock we were born on by chance.

• Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s – Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011-2020). He chairs the advisory board for the Breakthrough Starshot project, and is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors onScience and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos”, both published in 2021.

{ https://thedebrief.org/ }

07-07-2023 om 00:16 geschreven door peter  

This Michigan Woman Encountered Reptilian Alien Dubbed ‘Mr.’, MUFON Director Investigated

It is true now that UFOs are real, as the Pentagon publicly confirmed it. Moreover, space agencies around the world are looking for aliens and they are serious about it. NASA joined hands in the UFO investigation, which is the big move in the history of UFOlogy. There are accounts where people in authority have claimed that reality is somewhat different from what we see. There are hidden dimensions that could be a gateway for the aliens’ access to our world. The story of Nancy Tremaine has solid witnesses, historic records, and data point to support her claims of lifetime alien interactions.

Nancy Tremaine was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1949. She is the middle of five children and grew up in Novi, Michigan. She is a lifelong experiencer, messenger, and participant in the hybrid project. “Symbiosis” is the true story of Nancy’s lifetime relationship with a Reptilian being, which she dubbed “Mr.” or “Mister with period.”

In 1961, Tremaine and her female friend Cindy, also 12, were stunned when a flying saucer suddenly appeared over their residential neighborhood. The object was “bigger than a house” and hovered close.

Cindy’s father also witnessed the UFO, as well as many others in the neighborhood, including at least three police officers. “Hovering above a tree between our two homes was a silver ship at least the size of our three bedroom ranch home but twice as tall and it had a band of rotating lights of red green and white which were either flashing or rotating they were going so quickly we couldn’t tell no fear just awe it was it was absolutely breathtaking against the blue sky,” Tremaine said.

At one point, the UFO sent down a light beam that zapped an unmarked police car and stopped it cold. Tremaine, who had no clue what was going on, started jumping and yelling at the ship. She remembered that the ship was alive and then snapped, she and Cindy were abducted and taken into the object. The officers radioed the sighting back to their Chief of Police, Lee BeGole, who in his 90s remembered the harrowing reports coming in from his men. He passed away recently.

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Tremaine recalled that the aliens performed a number of highly intrusive physical examinations upon her. Cindy was merely locked up in a “tube” positioned above from where she observed the aliens working over her friend. It seemed that the aliens had a particular interest in Tremaine, but not so much on Cindy.

Both girls were released after some time. A period of missing time then occurred. The next thing Tremaine knew, she was back in her home where her obviously troubled father was doing his best to reassure her that she was safe. He told his shaken daughter that what had just happened was to never be spoken of again — not even a secret whisper to a friend.

Nancy Tremaine and Cindy had been traumatized for 50 years. They tried talking about that evening, but the fear always stopped them. Tremaine visited several therapists to let come out everything she was feeling inside. Even after a new diagnosis and a new medication, she suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder panic attacks, severe anxiety and depression for half a century. And so Cindy.

It was not until 2011 that Tremaine finally got a chance to tell her story. She contacted former Michigan State MUFON director Harry Willnus, a researcher for more than 60 years. She had no memory of the incident, so Dr. Willnus called a regression therapist and she underwent the hypnotic regression. The sessions revealed a lifetime of fantastically freakish events retrieved from her memory. What she had to say under hypnosis was extraordinary and weird.

Former Novi Police Chief Lee BeGole, who spoke to the Novi News last year at age 93, didn’t see the UFO, but he was on duty at the police station the night the incident occurred. BeGole said an off-duty officer told dispatch he saw a strange object overhead, and police dispatch took multiple calls from people who said they also saw a strange object in the sky. If you ask your 10 best friends if they ever had a UFO experience, Willnus said, 10 percent would say, “yes.” “But, people get laughed at once they say that,” Willnus noted. “And then they say, ‘I’m not going to share that again.’”

The most sensational claim by Nancy Tremaine was that she met a reptilian alien back in 1961. Furthermore, she has since developed a deeply loving relationship with a particular reptilian whom she has dubbed “Mr.” He is her friend, teacher, and sometimes lover.

Tremaine said that at the age of 30, she was impregnated by Mr. and from him, she had a son named Drax. Drax is actually a three-way hybrid resulting from a combination of Nancy, her boyfriend (some guy she dated), and the reptilian Mr.

Not only did Nancy Tremaine give birth to a human-reptilian hybrid alien child, but she did it at the age of 62. In her book, she has a picture of her swollen, pregnant belly. She says that the birth of this baby was not natural — it was simply taken from her one night by the aliens. One day, her stomach was showing, the next day it was flat.

There are more such stories, Tremaine told in her book. She also has pictures of an odd set of round footprints in the snow that lead up to her house and appear to enter right into her doorway. Tremaine said these are tracks left by Drax when he came to visit her one night.

The lore of reptilian interference with humans has historical references. In many cultures, there are mentions of serpentines who were gods. The snake who tempted Adam and Eve, for example, is a metaphor for the interference of reptilians in the affairs of humankind.

Reptilian entities have even been glimpsed or perceived by remote viewers including perhaps the greatest of all the U.S. Military remote viewers, Joseph McMoneagle. Possibly, currently, the foremost expert on reptilians today is John Rhode. He prefers the term “reptoids,” which he says is a more accurate description of who and what these beings truly are. His most fundamental claim is that reptoids are not aliens or interdimensional beings but species native to our own planet earth.

Nancy Tremaine’s story may be bizarre and seem unbelievably fantastic, but she is hardly alone concerning the deep relationship she believes she has developed with a reptilian entity. It’s a worldwide phenomenon that exists across cultures in all parts of the globe and has been manifesting in human experience since the beginning of time.

Her story is supported by the highly respected former Novi, Michigan, Chief of Police Lee BeGole who has a street named after him. Her friend Cindy is on record with both seeing the UFO in 1961 and being aboard the craft where she was ensconced in a tube. Other witnesses have come forward as well.

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06-07-2023 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

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06-07-2023 om 20:51 geschreven door peter  

UFO Religions: A Fascinating Interplay of Science, Spirituality, and Extraterrestrial Life

From the dawn of human civilization, we have been fascinated by the enigmatic and elusive mysteries of the cosmos. This fascination has culminated in the emergence of a rather captivating cultural phenomenon known as ‘UFO Religions.’ These spiritual movements draw heavily from the supposed experiences and encounters with Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), blending scientific intrigue, religious faith, and a profound sense of curiosity about extraterrestrial life.

A Historical Glimpse into UFO Religions

The UFO religions phenomenon began to skyrocket during the Cold War era, specifically in the 1950s and 60s. This period saw an increased interest in UFOs, fuelled by anxieties around nuclear annihilation and the space race. The UFO experiences, often described in religious terminology, gave birth to various religious movements. But these did not emerge in a vacuum. They found a significant portion of their philosophical foundation in theosophy, a 19th-century spiritual movement that harmoniously blended Western esotericism and occultism with Eastern spiritual principles found in Hinduism and Buddhism.

One such concept borrowed from theosophy is that of ‘Mahatmas,’ or ‘Masters of Wisdom.’ Helena Blavatsky, a founding figure of theosophy, propagated the idea of spiritually enlightened beings who transcended the regular human condition. Early UFO religions ingeniously adapted this concept to their framework, reimagining Mahatmas as enlightened extraterrestrial beings, often referred to as ‘Cosmic Masters.’

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The Blend of Spiritual and Scientific

A shared characteristic among many UFO religions is their unique stance towards religion and science. They consider religious beliefs, experiences, mythologies, and texts as explainable by science and technology. For instance, some UFO believers interpret Ezekiel’s Chariot Vision in the Bible as an encounter with extraterrestrial life. They see the ‘bright cloud’ and ‘flashing fire’ not as supernatural phenomena but as descriptions of energy fields and retro rockets, and the ‘four-faced creatures’ as aliens. While these interpretations often diverge from mainstream scientific views, they underscore a distinctive “physicalist perspective,” a belief that everything is inherently physical or can be explained through science and technology.

Millennialism and Pop Culture: An Intriguing Blend

Another dominant theme in UFO religions is ‘millennialism,’ the belief in a future golden age or mass salvation event, often conjoined with an apocalyptic scenario. For instance, the Aetherius Society, founded by George King, preaches a belief in an impending apocalypse if humanity doesn’t deviate from its self-destructive path. The members consider themselves as ‘builders of the new age,’ envisioning a paradisiacal future brought about by the guiding influence of advanced alien species.

Furthermore, UFO religions creatively mingle elements of pop culture, deriving inspiration from science fiction media such as Star Trek, The X-Files, and Ancient Aliens. This interplay between religious ideology and pop culture further enhances the sacralization of extraterrestrials, the notion that aliens are not just technologically advanced, but ethically and spiritually superior and capable of guiding humanity towards a better future.

The Heaven’s Gate Tragedy and Beyond

Among all UFO religions, the most infamous is undoubtedly Heaven’s Gate, due to the tragic mass suicide of 39 of its members in 1997. The group merged elements of Christianity, new age spirituality, and belief in extraterrestrials, convinced that their salvation lay in traveling aboard a UFO to a celestial realm populated by advanced beings. The arrival of the Hale-Bopp comet was perceived as a divine signal to fulfill their destiny. This tragedy alerted the world to the potential dangers of fringe religious beliefs and served as a grim reminder of the consequences of unchecked fanaticism.

However, Heaven’s Gate doesn’t typify UFO religions. Most of these movements preach a message of peace, unity, and spiritual growth, emphasizing service to humanity. They reflect our timeless quest for understanding our place in the universe and the fundamental human yearning for transcendence and connection to something greater than ourselves.

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At their core, UFO religions are less about UFOs or aliens, and more about humanity. They mirror our anxieties, hopes, and dreams in the face of the unknown. They offer their followers a unique worldview where science and spirituality coexist harmoniously, and where our earthly existence is not the be-all and end-all of life.

In the grand scheme of religious studies, these UFO religions invite us to challenge our preconceived notions about mainstream and fringe religions. To comprehend them in a wider context, we must dismantle our biases and embrace a more inclusive understanding of faith, spirituality, and the human need for connection – whether to gods, spirits, ancestors, divine beings, or advanced extraterrestrial life.

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

06-07-2023 om 18:38 geschreven door peter  

The Enigma of Westall: Unraveling Australia’s Grandest UFO Mystery and Claims of a Government Conspiracy

The year was 1966, in a small suburb of Melbourne, Australia, when an event of epic proportions took place, etching itself permanently into the annals of the UFO phenomenon. The infamous Westall UFO incident is one of Australia’s most significant and tantalizing UFO sightings to date, with a narrative so rich it has sparked myriad theories, investigations, and claims of a government cover-up.

On the morning of April 6, 1966, a silvery, saucer-shaped object, about the size of two family cars, descended upon the tranquil suburban landscape of Westall. Over 200 students and teachers at Westall High School and Westall State Primary School became transfixed by an eerie spectacle unfolding before their eyes. The UFO appeared to drop behind a grove of pine trees, seemingly landing, only to take off again shortly after.

Those who witnessed the event recounted the strange object’s unexpected movements. It didn’t behave like a traditional aircraft or a weather balloon; instead, it seemed to defy the laws of physics. The object moved quickly across the horizon, dropped abruptly, stayed stationary for a brief period, and then, in a blink of an eye, ascended straight up into the heavens.

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Adding to the mystery, numerous witnesses including Colin Matthews, who was only a child at the time of the incident, reported that the object had a unique silvery color with a hint of a purple hue. It shone brightly, yet it wasn’t overwhelming to look at.

Matthews, like many other witnesses, was later interviewed by officials. But he, along with others, didn’t recall seeing any light aircraft trailing the UFO, contradicting some accounts. Many began to question the official responses to the incident, which further fueled theories of a possible cover-up. The lack of an official report in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) archives, despite numerous accounts of an immediate official presence in the aftermath, only added to the intrigue.

According to UFO researchers and skeptics alike, the varied and conflicting accounts, coupled with the area’s proximity to Moorabbin Airport, suggest the likelihood of an experimental, Earth-based craft. However, others believe the narrative is more intricate and potentially darker than initially thought.

Fast forward to 2014, when nearly five decades after the mysterious event, an explosive revelation began to surface. Newly discovered government documents indicated that the Westall UFO might not have been of extraterrestrial origin at all, but rather a result of a covert government radiation-testing program known as HIBAL.

The HIBAL program, a joint US-Australian initiative, monitored atmospheric radiation levels between 1960 and 1969. Large silver balloons equipped with sensors were released into the sky, and the project was shrouded in secrecy.

Researchers believe that what the witnesses saw that day was a rogue HIBAL balloon, blown off course and forced to land in Westall. Reports of government officials asking witnesses to keep silent and withholding information lent more credibility to this theory. However, there’s a crucial piece missing from this jigsaw. The paperwork for the launches, scheduled for the day before the Westall incident, seemed to have mysteriously disappeared from official records, adding another layer to the intrigue.

Despite the prevailing radiation-testing theory, the true nature of the Westall UFO incident remains clouded in uncertainty, fostering countless debates and investigations over the years. However, the one thing that remains certain is that the event itself has been seared into the collective memory of Westall’s residents and has become a cornerstone in the study of UFO phenomena worldwide.

From a sensational UFO sighting to allegations of a government cover-up, the Westall incident continues to be a tantalizing mystery, a story that still captures imaginations and sparks conversations more than five decades later.

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

05-07-2023 om 22:45 geschreven door peter  

New Moai Statue Found on Chile’s Easter Island Excites Researchers

In the news last October for the damage inflicted by a forest fire over 100 hectares, Easter Island is now in the news again – for the discovery and addition of a new Moai statue on the Chilean island. The discovery was found buried in a dried lake bed, in an area not usually available for access to humans, but now reachable due to climate-change related drying up. It has been described as a “very, very important discovery” for the Rapa Nui people.

Researchers inspect the new-found Moai in the dry lake bed on Rapa Nui.

(GMA/ YouTube Screenshot )

New Moai Smaller Than Most: Hiding in Plain Sight

The new Moai is smaller than most of the other sacred monuments found on Easter Island - statues that are important markers of Rapa Nui culture and heritage. The Rapa Nui people carved almost 1,000 Moai statues from tuff, a volcanic rock, between the 13th and 16th centuries. The statues are believed to represent ancestors or important leaders of the community and are arranged in a ring around the island, facing inwards.

“The moai are important because they really represent the history of the Rapa Nui people,” Terry Hunt, professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, told  ABC. “They were the islanders’ deified ancestors. They’re iconic worldwide, and they really represent the fantastic archaeological heritage of this island.”

The discovery of the new Moai statue has excited researchers, as it is smaller than most others on the island, and had been hidden by tall reeds in the dry lake bed. Archaeologists believe that there may be more statues to uncover, and are looking for evidence of other Moai as well as the tools that might have been used to make them. The discovery of new Moai statues could provide insight into the culture and traditions of the Rapa Nui people.

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New Moai seems to be lying on the lake bed, and smaller than the existing finds.

(GMA/ YouTube Screenshot)

“They’ve been hidden by the tall reeds that grow in the lake bed, and prospecting with something that can detect what’s under the ground surface may tell us that there are in fact more moai in the lakebed sediments,” Hunt added. “When there’s one moai in the lake, there’s probably more.”

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The Moai Statues and the Rapa Nui People

The Moai statues are one of the most recognizable and fascinating features of Easter Island, which is also known as Rapa Nui. The Moai are large, monolithic stone statues that were carved by the Rapa Nui people between the 13th and 16th centuries. They are thought to represent ancestors or important leaders of the community.

The Moai are made from a volcanic rock called tuff, which is found in several quarries on the island. The statues were carved using stone tools and were transported to their final locations on the island using a system of ropes, ramps, and rollers, reports Artnet News .

There are over 800 known Moai on Easter Island, ranging in height from a few feet to over 30 feet tall. The largest Moai weighs over 75 tons, and it is believed that the Rapa Nui people used a combination of levers and ropes to move the statues from the quarries to their final locations.

The Moai were placed on stone platforms called ahu, which were built by the Rapa Nui people. The ahu served as a ceremonial center and were often located near the coast. The Moai were typically placed with their backs to the sea, facing inland, and were arranged in a line along the ahu.

Moai (stone statues) on Ahu Nau, Anakena Beach, Easter Island, with their backs to the sea.

(Guillaume Massardier/ CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The reason why the Rapa Nui people carved and erected the Moai statues is still a mystery, though it is believed that they may have served as a way to honor ancestors, leaders, or gods. The decline of the Rapa Nui civilization is often associated with the over-exploitation of the island's resources, including the deforestation of the island and the loss of fertile soil, which led to a collapse in the island's agricultural system. The exact cause of the Rapa Nui civilization's decline is still debated among archaeologists and historians.

The Moai statues are vulnerable to damage or attack. For instance, an arsonist set fire to the island last fall, leaving some statues charred and cracked, while in 2020, another was knocked over by a runaway pickup truck .

As a result, there is an ongoing debate about the repatriation of one sculpture, Hoa Hakananai'a, which was taken without permission by the U.K.'s Royal Navy in 1868 and is currently held by the British Museum. In the current political climate, where there are renewed conversations around protecting the heritage of indigenous peoples all over the world, the Rapa Nui people and their cultural heritage hold a vital place in this discourse.

• Top image: Stylized AI generated graphic of a Moai statue.        
• Source: artefacti/Adobe Stock

By Sahir Pandey

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

05-07-2023 om 01:30 geschreven door peter