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24-11-2023 om 18:01 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers pouring over imagery obtained by the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) in New Mexico recently spotted a transient object they say is unique—and potentially far more energetic—than past examples they have witnessed, according to new research.

In astrophysics, the area of transient astronomy involves the study of short-lived astronomical events or phenomena. Some of these transient objects may last as little as a few seconds, or even fractions of one, while others could persist for several weeks, or even years.

From the enigmatic fast radio bursts of recent years to sudden eruptions of gamma rays and the appearances of novae and supernovae, the primary feature uniting many transient events is their extremity. That is, they usually result from the powerful energy released by the complete or partial destruction of distant celestial objects.

Now, a team of researchers says they may have located one of the most powerful transient objects in its class that astronomers have ever observed, a discovery that could potentially offer clues toward unraveling other unusual phenomena observed in recent years.

The new object, dubbed VT 1137-0337, is believed by astronomers to be a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), also known as a plerion. These objects occur when a nebula forms within the remaining shell of a supernova remnant (SNR). The unique feature of a PWN involves how winds generated by a central pulsar are what astronomers believe powers the nebula.

The discovery of VT 1137-0337 resulted from the analysis of images collected by VLASS, part of an ongoing project of New Mexico’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory, by astronomers Dillon Dong, a graduate student at Caltech, and Professor Gregg Hallinan, his doctoral adviser.

Dong explained to The Debrief that the otherwise monumental task of sifting through the VLASS imagery was made easier by applying filtering that relied on code he wrote, which scanned every image they acquired and identified all of the radio sources present at the time they were recorded. Dong’s program also filtered out artifacts that occasionally turn up in VLASS images, all of which helped him and Hallinan narrow down transient objects that would likely be of interest to their research.

The next step was to take the filtered data and compare that against data from previous radio surveys conducted over the last several decades.

“By cross-matching my catalog of VLASS radio sources with a catalog from a historical radio survey from the 90s and 2000s called FIRST, I identified several thousand variable and transient sources,” Dong told The Debrief, noting that the transient objects he and Hallinan focused on were primarily “sources that have brightened substantially or newly appeared in the radio sky over the past two decades.”

Dong says that several of the transient objects they detected result from far distant black holes that possess relatively compact jets of powerful radio emissions, the likes of which have been discovered in previous studies of VLASS imagery in recent years.

However, during his recent research effort, Dong was more interested in objects that existed closer to us, within an estimated 600 million light-years.

“To find those nearby sources, I cross-matched the catalog of radio variables/transients with a catalog of nearby galaxies,” Dong explained. What he found surprised him.

“As it turns out, there are about 20 transients that are located too close to nearby galaxies to be explained by chance,” Dong told The Debrief, calling the new collection of transient objects—all presumably in nearby galaxies—a sort of “gold mine.”

One of the sources that stood out among those detected by Dong’s code filtering system turned out to be the first known instance involving a stellar collision that is believed to have given rise to a supernova explosion. And there were other transients that caught the eye of Dong and Hallinan, one in particular on account of several unusual features it possessed.

“VT 1137-0337 was another transient that stood out, this time because it had a very unusual flat radio spectrum and because it was fading so slowly,” Dong says. “Both of these properties are unique among known radio transients, and their combination is best explained by an emerging pulsar wind nebula.”

Dong says that the radio emission characteristics displayed by VT 1137-0337 resemble those of known pulsar wind nebula, the most famous of which is the Crab Nebula, located in the constellation Taurus. However, what set VT 1137-0337 apart from other nebulae like it was the amount of energy it produced: close to 10,000 times more than the Crab Nebula.

The Crab Nebula, as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

(Public Domain).

“VT 1137-0337 one is 10,000x the luminosity of the Crab Nebula,” Dong says, “mostly because the neutron star is young and hasn’t had a chance to slow down. It is also five to 500 times more strongly magnetized than the Crab Pulsar, which contributes to the energy.”

Dong says that astronomers currently think that most neutron stars have their genesis from within supernovae, which as he words it, “carve-out” a nebula that eventually emerges as gas ejected from the supernova becomes transparent.

“This one nicely fits the picture which is why we were able to identify it as a PWN,” Dong says, though noting that it “will be interesting to see if we can find examples of others that may be formed in different ways.”

However, the data Dong and Hallinan are processing could lead to more than just the discovery of transient objects like VT 1137-0337, now believed to be the most powerful PWN ever observed. In addition to being extremely dense, neutron stars are also some of the most magnetic objects in the universe (hence the name magnetar, which simply denotes a neutron star with a highly magnetic field). As highly magnetized neutron stars spin, a wind of highly charged particles is produced, which are ejected from the star at close to the speed of light.

However, even in the case of an object as powerful as VT 1137-0337, the amount of energy required to propel the particle wind outward eventually has a braking effect.

“If you leave the magnet spinning for hundreds or thousands of years, the energy it takes to launch that wind will act as an extremely strong brake and will significantly slow down the rotation” Dong explains.

“That’s the case for pretty much every neutron star we know of in the Milky Way” Dong told The Debrief, who says that “the previous youngest one is about 700 years old and has been slowing down ever since it was born.”

“In our case, we found one that’s less than 80 years old, which provides astronomers an opportunity to directly observe how particularly powerful neutron stars behave when they’re young.” Not only that, but it could also potentially shed light on another great mystery of modern astrophysics: fast radio bursts.

“Some of the leading theories for fast radio bursts claim that they are also due to young, highly magnetized neutron stars,” Dong says. “We haven’t seen any bursts yet from this source, but if we do, that would be an important piece of evidence in confirming this theory.”

Going forward, Dong says he plans to continue to watch VT 1137-0337, although he is always on the lookout for additional evidence of transient features that turn up in the VLASS imagery, and even hints at the fact that there may already have been a few others detected.

“There are many interesting transients left to publish,” Dong told The Debrief, confiding that he plans to “be spending much of the next year writing papers.”

• Micah Hanks is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on Twitter: @MicahHanks. 

{ https://thedebrief.org/ }

24-11-2023 om 01:14 geschreven door peter  

NASA is gearing up for a new space biology research program, which the agency says will advance its understanding of how lunar dust can affect animals and plants, along with a range of other investigations into how the lunar environment may affect organisms.

NASA announced that it has awarded nearly a dozen grants or cooperative agreements as part of its Thrive In DEep Space (TIDES) program, which aims “to enable long-duration space missions and improve life on Earth through innovative research,” the agency said in a release on Tuesday.

The focus areas of the TIDES program will study how environmental stressors imposed by spaceflight can impact organisms, along with other information aimed at helping NASA better understand how to leverage technologies in the years ahead as advances in human spaceflight carry our explorations further into deep space.

The space biology research programs include investigations into plants undertaken by University of Wisconsin, Madison scientist Simon Gilroy, Ph.D., who will look at how lunar regolith impacts the nutrition of vegetation. Aymeric Goyer, Ph.D. of Oregon State University, will also undertake a study of potato plants grown in lunar regolith.

At the intersection of plant studies and microbial organisms, Christopher Mason, Ph.D., a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, will study how microbes known as extremophiles can potentially aid plant growth in lunar soil.

A similar research effort, undertaken by University of Texas, Austin researcher Thomas Juenger, Ph.D., will look at engineering plant-microbial interactions to aid plant growth in simulated lunar soil, and Miranda Haus, Ph.D. of Michigan State University will examine root stunting in lunar highland regolith and its effect on legumes.

Additional TIDES research efforts will focus on how lunar regolith-based substrate impacts the growth of tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables, along with a series of experiments undertaken by Kathryn Fixen, Ph.D. with the University of Minnesota, into small-scale investigations of how lunar regolith may affect plants.

Animal research investigations are also included in the array of experiments undertaken by the TIDES program, which includes studies by Arizona State University scientist Cheryl Nickerson into the effects of lunar dust on the human intestine, as well as infectious disease risks, and investigations by NASA Ames researcher into how biological systems on the cellular level may be impacted by spaceflight and lunar regolith.

“Eleven investigators will conduct these Space Biology investigations from ten institutions in nine states,” the NASA statement reads. “Eight of these awards are to investigators new to the Space Biology Program.”

“When fully implemented, approximately $2.3 million will be awarded in fiscal years 2024-2027,” the agency said. More about NASA’s TIDES program can be found at the agency’s website.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on Twitter: @MicahHanks.

RELATED

{ https://thedebrief.org/ }

24-11-2023 om 00:37 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

24-11-2023 om 00:19 geschreven door peter  

US Air Force veteran and former intelligence officer David Grusch has made wild claims that aliens have been captured by humans and it has happened multiple times

To read more stories about Space and beings from another planet, click here

Earlier this year, Grusch stunned politicians when he claimed the US Government had been covering up UFO crashes for decades.

He claimed whistleblowers had told him they had worked on secret projects aimed at reverse-engineering recovered alien craft wreckage - and "non-human biologics" had been found at crash sites.And he's since appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast.

After the host asked him how many biological entities had been found, Grusch said there were "a variety and we have a certain number of different things".

"But the total numbers of what’s interacting with us on earth, I mean nobody knows that," he said.

While he admitted he had not seen first-hand evidence of the craft or bodies he said he had spoken at length with dozens of senior intelligence and military officials who had come forward to him.

He claimed the US Government was in possession of "double digit" numbers of crashed UFOs but could not disclose the exact number.

Grusch told Rogan the number of retrieved ET bodies was "up there as well, just like with the retrievals".

Asked where they came from he said: "Nobody I talked to espoused any specific origin to me. We may know that but I’m not aware of anything."

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{ https://www.dailystar.co.uk/ }

23-11-2023 om 22:48 geschreven door peter  

David Grusch Says Multiple Alien Species Are On Earth & UAP Phenomena Is Ancient

Former US intelligence officer David Grusch appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience, providing additional details on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). A Pentagon whistleblower, Grusch shared more insights, revealing some harsh truths. Jesse Michels, among the first to interview Grusch after his story broke, asserts with 100% certainty that Grusch is not lying. Furthermore, Grusch has received support from Karl E. Nell, a retired Army Colonel.

On the podcast with Joe Rogan, David Grusch makes a series of intriguing claims regarding UAPs and government involvement. He told Rogan a story about a high-ranking Navy officer who saw a strange triangular UFO above his car. Grusch highlighted that the officer is trustworthy. After the UFO encounter, the officer’s car paint changed to a milky white color, and there are photos of this. Grusch points out that there’s no normal explanation for why the paint changed so quickly.

When Rogan asked about the strange event and if there were pictures or a regular explanation, Grusch said he could not think of a normal airplane or technology that could cause this. He also mentioned that the incident happened in the continental U.S., where planes usually need special permission to fly at low altitudes. Grusch revealed that the witness kept the experience to himself for a couple of years before sharing it as the UAP Task Force was established.

Grusch discussed how he got into the UFO program. He said someone important in the intelligence community approached him and introduced him to a person with impressive academic qualifications and permissions. They met at a secret place and discussed a program about studying materials from unidentified flying objects that had crashed.

Grusch says that he and his colleagues, who had special access, confirmed this information by talking to about 40 people, including high-ranking officials. These people shared reports, documents, and their experiences, which Grusch checked with other sources. Everything matched, and Grusch became more sure that the program was real.

Grusch also talked about filing a complaint about facing negative consequences, keeping the identities of people who shared information safe, and how his claims about crashed UFOs became more credible and urgent. He explained that this complaint led to him giving classified testimony for about 11.5 to 12 hours before congressional staffers and lawyers in December 2022.

According to Grusch, the United States possesses a double-digit number of retrieved UAP crafts, with documented events dating back to the 1930s. He talked about an Italy UFO event that happened in 1933, called the Magenta case. A UFO with a disc shape crashed there and turned into a bell or acorn-shaped object. It was about 20 by 10 feet in size.

Grusch described there was nothing inside the UFO, and the Italians thought it might be a German experiment. They asked the Germans, but they said it was not theirs. The Pope and the Vatican got involved, secretly telling the U.S. through the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which later became the CIA.

Interestingly, Joe Rogan asked about technology connected to UFO stories, like the idea that fiber optics came from studying UFOs. Grusch neither confirmed nor denied this, saying it is classified. He talked about how he has to be careful about what he says, going through a review process by the Department of Defense’s Office of Pre-Publication and Security Review (DOPSR).

According to Grusch, $22 million was given to Bigelow Aerospace in a program called AATIP. This money was meant for studying buildings and equipment related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Grusch talked about how they tried to get access to materials from UFOs, and it seems they might have had to enter forcefully, but he does not give all the details. He said they got pieces of a hallway from the 1950s. Grusch mentions that Dr. James Lacatski, a retired DIA intelligence officer who set up the UFO program that ran from 2008 to 2010, shared similar information in his book and public talks.

Grusch said the program had problems with bureaucracy. The CIA did not allow UFO materials from Lockheed Martin to be transferred to the AATIP program. This caused the program to end. After that, AATIP focused on studying strange occurrences at Skinwalker Ranch to please the government.

When it comes to details about the UFO materials, like where they came from or where they are now, Grusch said he cannot share that information. He suggests asking people like Dr. Lacatski for more details. Grusch disclosed that he came across intelligence documents suggesting that a certain foreign adversary had knowledge of the U.S. program through stolen information. He emphasized the potential security risks associated with such breaches.

Phenomena is Ancient

Grusch continued to share his perspective on the UFO phenomenon. He wanted to make it clear that he was not trying to blame anyone. He thought it would be good for everyone to be more open and honest about UFOs. He believes that if we talk about it more, it could lead to more jobs, more research, and better education.

He talked about the fundamental questions related to UFOs, such as the existence of extraterrestrial life and the nature of human consciousness. Grusch asserted with confidence, based on conversations with high-level individuals like Harry Reid, that we are not alone, and the UFO phenomenon is real.

“You know for humanity. Are we alone or you know what happens when we die? Well, I don’t know about that, but are we alone? Well, the answer is we’re not alone. And I know that with 100% certainty, which as an Intel officer, you never say 100%, but all things pointed towards based on the people I talked to…The phenomenon is real. It’s been going on for thousands of years. People have been seeing strange things and not everybody’s mass hallucinating. So that’s kind of my long diatribe about what’s happening."

Rogan asked Grusch what the people he talked to think about these strange objects. Grusch said some people use words like “extraterrestrial,” but the Schumer amendment uses “non-human intelligence” to cover more possibilities.

Grusch shared his thoughts and talked about Dr. Jacques Vallée‘s work on how UFO stories changed over time, such as people used to talk about witches, and now they talk about alien abductions. He touched upon the morphological similarities between historical accounts, such as the Foo Fighters in World War II and the more recent Tic Tac incident in 2004. Grusch discussed declassified Air Force reports from the 1950s describing flying objects with similar measurements to those observed in the Tic Tac incident, albeit labeled differently.

Grusch also mentioned Ezekiel’s Wheel and Vedic texts, highlighting ancient depictions of aerial battles and phenomena that resemble modern interpretations of UFO encounters. He suggested that there is a real and trippy phenomenon with an undetermined origin, presenting itself in various forms, including orbs and balls of energy. Grusch highlighted the idea of an interdimensional or shadow biome cryptocurrency, acknowledging the multitude of theories surrounding the nature of UFOs.

Grusch acknowledged the existence of a variety of entities but mentioned that the total number and the extent of their interaction with Earth are unknown. He highlighted the challenges in understanding these entities, particularly in terms of their physiology. Grusch mentioned that he had discussions with people familiar with biological analysis which implies that there is some understanding but not a complete picture.

Rogan then asked if there are different types of biological remains, and Grusch said yes, confirming that there are various retrievals. He further asked about interactions with these beings and if they share information or talk about human problems. Grusch replied it is a sensitive topic, and the people he talked to did not want to discuss it. He admitted there might be detailed records but said he does not know much about it.

Rogan further asked about possible interactions with live beings and when they happened. Grusch said he was told about specific events, but the details were classified. Some of those events go back a long time. They discussed alleged UFO stories such as President Eisenhower sending UFO wreckage to a military base. Grusch mentioned discussions about UFOs dating back to the late 1980s involving Senator Barry Goldwater.

Grusch brings up public statements by officials, like General Goldwater and Senator Barry Goldwater, supporting the idea that some people have known about UFOs for a long time. Grusch expresses hope for change and transparency, especially with current political figures in positions of influence. He mentioned individuals like Chuck Schumer, Jake Sullivan, and John Podesta, emphasizing the need for championing the disclosure of UFO information within the government. Grusch also brings up an interview with Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director, where Pompeo briefly mentions having seen the UFO file and states, “we have bigger problems.” Grusch suggests that Pompeo should clarify his statement for further understanding.

Consciousness

Grusch and Rogan further discussed human abilities and consciousness. Grusch mentioned the CIA Stargate program, which involved remote viewing. He shared a story about remote viewing involving a hostage situation and emphasized that there seemed to be a real feedback loop confirming the accuracy of the information obtained through remote viewing.

Grusch pointed out the work of Stanford professor Gary Nolan, who studied individuals with heightened abilities and observed increased activity in the caudate nucleus in their brains. They speculated on whether this part of the brain acts as a transceiver, allowing individuals to access information from higher spatial dimensions.

Rogan expressed his fascination with the idea that certain abilities could be emergent properties of human beings as they evolve. He noted that human communication goes beyond acoustic communication and discusses the limitations of verbal communication in conveying complex information.

Grusch added to this by mentioning experiences of alleged contacts where individuals reported receiving instant knowledge or nonverbal communication, such as QR code-like information. He referenced the work of Dr. John Mack, who studied people claiming alien encounters and mentioned the book “Proof of Heaven” by Dr. Eben Alexander, describing a near-death experience and the difficulty of expressing the acquired knowledge in human language.

Grusch talked about the 9-person presidential panel which would disclose the UAP story between 2024 and 2030. The bill has cleared the Senate but is threatened in the House by Mike Turner and Mike Rogers.

“As long as the house doesn’t kill the Schumer Amendment, which would be the greatest setback to humankind and US history literally. The presidential panel gets empaneled 90 days after the passage of the bill. If it doesn’t get killed, by Christmas, it will be in the National Security Act. The panel will be formed say February or March. Then they have a 300-day process to develop to process to develop an initial plan for the president, and I don’t know if Chuck Schumer and his staff are being crafty, but the 300 days if you do it out is the election. I don’t know if they want to make this an election issue.”

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

23-11-2023 om 22:14 geschreven door peter  

Three Alien Faces On Moon Iapetus Orbiting Saturn, Google Moon Map, Nov 23, 2023, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Nov 23, 2023
Location of discovery: Moon Iapetus, orbiting Saturn
Map location: 

• https://www.google.com/maps/space/iapetus/@3.8067908,27.7196464,19641127a,38.3y,63.71h/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&entry=ttu 

Now I was looking at an Iapetus moon map and noticed a face looking to the left, like a silhouette. Then realized there were not one, but three faces all looking the same direction. One species is clearly similar to humans, another at least half similar species, but the lower face to the right is that of a dog species. All show a different expression on the face, confusion, interest and the dog species is happy.  

 

Oh, happy thanksgiving to those in the USA. 

Scott C. Waring

 

{  https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

23-11-2023 om 20:37 geschreven door peter  

Quote of the day, something to think about, UFO Sighting News.

1. Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
2. Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.” 
   
   

   ― Marcus Tullius Cicer, born January 15, 0106 BC

{  https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

23-11-2023 om 20:28 geschreven door peter  

NASA's Psyche spacecraft just fired a laser 10 million miles away in deep space

Related: 

• NASA's Psyche asteroid mission will test next-gen laser communications in space

{ https://www.space.com/ }

23-11-2023 om 20:05 geschreven door peter  

Exploring the Cosmos: NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Pioneers Laser Communication from the Depths of Space

In a groundbreaking achievement that may revolutionize space exploration communication, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, on a pioneering mission to explore the asteroid belt, has successfully sent a laser-beamed message from a staggering distance of 16 million kilometers—far beyond the Moon’s orbit. This landmark event, a testament to human ingenuity and the relentless pursuit of knowledge, marks a new era in how we reach out to the vastness of space.

The Deep Space Optical Communications Breakthrough

At the heart of this revolutionary feat is the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) tool, a marvel of modern engineering. Onboard the Psyche spacecraft, DSOC accomplished what no other has done before: transmitting a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from a position about 40 times farther than the distance between the Moon and Earth. The message was successfully received by the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in California, proving the viability of laser communication over immense cosmic distances.

The Psyche Mission: A Journey to the Unknown

Psyche, an ambitious NASA mission, is not just a spacecraft; it’s a daring voyage to a metal-rich asteroid named Psyche, nestled in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This mission, however, is not just about reaching an asteroid; it’s a testbed for futuristic technologies that could shape the future of space exploration. The DSOC technology demonstration, riding along on this journey, is one such innovation, aiming to revolutionize how we communicate in the vastness of space.

Laser Communication: The Future of Deep Space Messaging

Traditional space communication has relied heavily on radio waves, which, while effective, have their limitations, especially when it comes to data transmission speed and volume. DSOC changes the game by using laser beams, tightly packed with data, to send information across the solar system. This method allows for the transmission of vast amounts of data at unprecedented speeds, a crucial feature for future deep-space missions, including potential manned voyages to Mars and beyond.

Overcoming Cosmic Challenges

However, this technological leap is not without its challenges. The further the distance, the more precision is required in pointing the laser beam. Additionally, the signal weakens over long distances, introducing communication lags. For instance, during the initial test, photons took around 50 seconds to travel from Psyche to Earth, a duration that will only increase as the spacecraft ventures further into space.

The Implications of DSOC’s Success

The successful test of DSOC’s laser communication is more than a mere technical accomplishment; it’s a beacon of possibilities. It heralds an era where high-resolution scientific data, detailed imagery, and even live video streams from distant planets could become the norm. This technology promises to enhance our understanding of the cosmos, bringing distant worlds within our digital reach.

Looking Ahead: A New Dawn in Space Exploration

As NASA’s Psyche spacecraft continues its journey, carrying with it the DSOC technology, we stand on the brink of a new age in space exploration. This is not just about the exploration of distant celestial bodies, but also about how we connect with our robotic emissaries in the void. The success of DSOC’s laser communication is a pivotal step towards a future where the mysteries of the universe are just a laser beam away. With this incredible technology, we are rewriting the rules of space exploration, bringing the cosmos closer to Earth than ever before.

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

23-11-2023 om 19:41 geschreven door peter  

Methane is common in our Solar System, though not necessarily plentiful. As far as scientists can tell, it’s all abiotic. Processes like serpentinization could explain it. Serpentinization is a natural, abiotic process involving water, carbon dioxide, and the mineral olivine. Olivine is common on Earth and is the primary component of our planet’s upper mantle. We’ve also found it on the Moon, on Mars, and on some asteroids.

Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope detected methane in the atmosphere of WASP-80b, a gas giant about half as massive as Jupiter. WASP-80b orbits a K-type main sequence star about 1.5 billion years old. WASP 80 is about 162 light-years away, and WASP-80b is the only planet detected around the star so far.

Since WASP-80b is a gas giant, then life is ruled out, barring some extreme sci-fi scenarios. But the serpentinization of olivine, the most well-known abiotic source of methane, is also ruled out since WASP-80b is not a rocky planet. But finding it is still interesting. That’s partly because we can now compare the exoplanet to the methane-containing atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune in our own Solar System. That can only help us understand future methane detections better.

A new paper published in the journal Nature presents the detection. It’s titled “Methane throughout the atmosphere of the warm exoplanet WASP-80b.” The lead author is Taylor Bell, a post-doc researcher at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute.

WASP-80b is a warm Jupiter. Its temperature is about 550 Celsius (1,025 F; 825 K.) So it’s in between hot Jupiters like HD 209458 b (the first transiting exoplanet discovered) and cold Jupiters, like our Solar System’s largest planet. Our Jupiter is about 112 Celsius (235 F; 125 K.)

The temperature is an important point. There’s a dearth of methane detections in exoplanet atmospheres, so at this stage of the game, each detection plays an important role in developing atmospheric theory and guiding follow-up research. WASP-80b’s temperature puts it in “an interesting transitional regime where equilibrium chemistry models predict that there should be detectable CH4 and CO/CO2 features in the planet’s transmission and emission spectra…” the authors of the research explain.

WASP-80b is really close to its red dwarf star and takes only three days to orbit. Because the planet is so far away and so close to its star, even the powerful JWST can’t actually see it. Instead, astronomers used the JWST to study the combined light from the star and the planet in transits and eclipses.

There haven’t been many methane detections in exoplanet atmospheres by telescopes like the Hubble and the Spitzer, which can both observe in infrared, though not like the JWST can. The lack of detections led scientists to develop theoretical explanations of how methane could be depleted in atmospheres. High metallicity, high interior heat flux, and other reasons were explored as methane depletion mechanisms.

Since the JWST has now detected methane, it raises an important question. “However, this definitive detection of methane throughout the atmosphere of WASP-80b with low-resolution, JWST spectroscopy raises the question to what extent past non-detections were affected by the sparse wavelength coverage and precision achievable with HST and Spitzer,” the authors write. So if astronomers keep detecting methane in more exoplanet atmospheres, we may have to change our thinking about methane as a biosignature.

“As we find methane and other gases in exoplanets, we will continue to expand our knowledge about how chemistry and physics work under conditions unlike what we have on Earth, and maybe sometime soon, in other planets that remind us of what we have here at home,” the authors wrote in a NASA blog post.

The researchers explain that finding exoplanets with methane in their atmospheres also helps us understand our own Solar System. “NASA has a history of sending spacecraft to the gas giants in our solar system to measure the amount of methane and other molecules in their atmospheres,” the authors write. “Now, by having a measurement of the same gas in an exoplanet, we can start to perform an “apples-to-apples” comparison and see if the expectations from the solar system match what we see outside of it.”

The researchers also say that measuring methane alongside water helps define how and where a planet formed. “For example, by measuring the amount of methane and water in the planet, we can infer the ratio of carbon atoms to oxygen atoms,” they write. “This ratio is expected to change depending on where and when planets form in their system.” Astronomers can use this data to determine if a planet formed close to its star or formed further away and then migrated inward.

The JWST likely isn’t done with WASP-80b. This data is from the space telescope’s NIRCam instrument. Future MIRI and NIRCam observations will probe the planet at different wavelengths, which should detect other carbon molecules like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. “Our findings lead us to think that we will be able to observe other carbon-rich molecules, such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, enabling us to paint a more comprehensive picture of the conditions in this planet’s atmosphere,” the researchers explain.

While methane catches everyone’s attention because of its link to biology, this research shows us another side to methane. It can help us understand how and where some planets formed and if they migrated. Methane detections in exoplanets will help us build a better overall understanding of exoplanet atmospheres. They can even help us understand our own Solar System, about which we still have so many questions.

The JWST is poised to play a key role in building our knowledge of methane and atmospheres.

“One thing is clear: the journey of discovery with the James Webb Space Telescope is brimming with potential surprises,” the authors say.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

23-11-2023 om 00:53 geschreven door peter  

POSTED  BY EVAN GOUGH

What’s Going on With the Mars Sample Return Mission?

Anybody with a modicum of intellectual curiosity is looking forward to the NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return Mission. NASA’s Perseverance rover is busily collecting and caching samples for eventual return to Earth. While the technical and engineering challenges in getting those samples into scientists’ hands here on Earth are formidable, budgeting and funding might be the mission’s biggest headaches.

Budgetary wrangling between NASA and Congress is nothing new. During its development, the James Webb Space Telescope faced potential cancellation as lawmakers balked at its growing expense. Even the Apollo Program had its budget cut. But this time, it’s NASA itself that is curtailing its budget. NASA announced that it’s taking the unusual step of cutting its budget for the Mars Sample Return Mission

The MSR mission has struggled with ballooning costs. While initially estimated at $4 billion US, the expected cost has inflated to nearly $11 billion US. Compare that to the Perseverance mission, which cost about $2.4 billion to build and launch. Obviously, the MSR mission is more complicated, but a $7 billion price increase can be hard to rationalize, no matter what comparison is made.

In this case, NASA has decided to take action, possibly hoping to forestall governmental interference in the mission.

“It’s very unfortunate that we have to make this decision at this point.”

Sandra Connelly, deputy associate administrator for science at NASA

“It is our responsibility to spend American taxpayer funding responsibly. Significant reductions in spending must be implemented immediately, or the program will not have sufficient funds to last through the fiscal year,” Margaret Vo Schaus, NASA’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.

The budget cuts stem from an independent review of the MSR mission. There’s nothing remarkable about it being reviewed; mission reviews are commonplace. And while a $7 billion jump from the initial $4 billion projection to $11 billion might seem shocking, it may be because the price was set too low to begin with.

“MSR was established with unrealistic budget and schedule expectations from the beginning,” the Independent Review Board (IRB) said in their report. “Technical issues, risks, and performance-to-date indicate a near zero probability of the mission launching on time,” they wrote.

“The projected overall budget for MSR in the FY24 President’s Budget Request is not adequate to accomplish the current program of record,” they stated.

That’s pretty damning. The report also criticizes NASA for its weak job of explaining the significance of the MSR mission. The IRB also says that NASA should reorganize the mission. “Alternate architectures should be examined under clear guidelines provided by NASA HQ for yearly budget constraints,” they write in their recommendations.

Is NASA being rash with their internal budget cutting?

Some lawmakers in California, where JPL is situated, think so. They’re decrying the cut and the effect it will have on people and the economy.

Six Californian lawmakers wrote a letter that said, “We write to express our strongest opposition to NASA’s recent unilateral and unprecedented decision to prematurely move forward with funding cuts to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission before Congress has finalized its Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations process.”

“This short-sighted and misguided decision by NASA will cost hundreds of jobs and a decade of lost science, and it flies in the face of congressional authority,” according to the letter. “We are mystified by NASA’s rash decision to suggest at this stage of the appropriations process that any cuts would be necessary.”

The lawmakers point out that the mission has assembled an elite team of people and that cutting the budget might drive some of them into the arms of the private sector. That would be difficult to reverse, they say.

“This talent represents a national asset that we cannot afford to lose, and if this uniquely talented workforce is lost to the private sector, it will be near impossible to reassemble,” they write.

The internal budget cut could also lead to cancelled contracts between NASA and different companies, adding to the economic fallout.

It’s also about American leadership in science, technology, and space exploration. America’s position is being challenged by China, who announced their own sample return mission to Mars named Tianwen 3 that should launch in 2028 and return samples by 2031. If China beats NASA and the ESA, that changes the space science landscape considerably.

“China is rapidly expanding its space program with a new space station, a goal of landing taikonauts
on the moon by the end of this decade, a stated intention of being the first to return samples from
Mars, and an aggressive vision for more ambitious endeavours,” the lawmakers write.

The IRB also recognizes China’s Mars ambitions and said in their report, “China is planning to return Mars samples on a similar timetable, but lack similar scientific rigour. MSR will bring back carefully selected samples that the international Mars science community has deemed are of the greatest value.”

NASA itself seems committed to leadership in space exploration, so from that perspective, the MSR budget cut appears confounding. “Interviews with NASA and ESA personnel reflected a strong commitment to a partnership of world leadership in Mars exploration and to mission success,” the IRB report says.

Politicians control the purse strings, so who knows what will come of this. If the six bi-partisan lawmakers who wrote the letter have enough influence, perhaps NASA will reverse its decision.

The committee behind the House appropriations bill that funds NASA had this to say: “The Committee supports consistent funding for the Mars Sample Return mission. The Committee directs NASA to allocate no less than $949,300,000 for this mission.” (Note that that figure is an annual figure.) “The Committee directs NASA to ensure that its fiscal year 2025 budget request includes the funding necessary to complete the mission launch no later than 2030,” the committee wrote.

So where does this leave the MSR mission?

It seems like NASA is wary of the turmoil in Congress as the Republican majority struggles to work together. They get some of their funding from the Senate, which is confirmed, but the rest comes from the House, which is struggling to fund the government itself.

Sandra Connelly is the deputy associate administrator for science at NASA. She said that NASA is responding to a worst-case scenario that would see NASA only receive funding from the Senate while other funding might be stalled.

On November 13, she said, “It’s very unfortunate that we have to make this decision at this point. However, the intent is to enable sufficient funding to carry us throughout the year so we can continue working on and architecting this mission,” she said.

In a roundabout way, the letter from the six Californian lawmakers could be a shot across the bow of the House of Representatives and the dysfunction the Republicans in the House are struggling with.

In the end, it’s up to politicians to sort it out. The problem is many of the US’s politicians seem to be distracted with other issues at this point. Hopefully, they’ll sort it out before American space leadership is undermined.

We all want those samples returned.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

23-11-2023 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

Imagine you were just elected President of the United States. During one of your first classified briefings, you learn that the US military has recovered advanced extraterrestrial technology. You are told we’ve made only modest headway in understanding how this technology works, where it is from, or why these intelligently controlled machines are here. What would you do in that circumstance?

As President, your top priority is to keep the American people safe from all threats, both foreign and domestic. Hundreds of millions of people, including tens of millions of children, place their faith in you. Are you going to hold a press conference revealing that aliens are visiting planet Earth, but we don’t know where they’re coming from, why they are here, or whether we can defend ourselves from them?

It is hard for me to imagine any of the politicians I’ve worked for over the years leaping at that opportunity. The sudden, unexpected confirmation of an ET presence on Earth would not only unsettle but inevitably terrify millions—if not billions—of people. And for what purpose? What chance would you have as President of moving forward on other vital issues on your agenda, given the tumult that would result? What reason is there to believe the net effect for society would be positive rather than negative?

These are questions that need to be addressed by those advocating the release of information confirming an extraterrestrial presence on Earth. Such information has the potential to be a genuine Pandora’s box, and it is, therefore, vital we think this through carefully before proceeding.

This is a pressing issue, as various committees and members of Congress are seeking to determine whether the US government has incontrovertible proof of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth. Such a revelation would undoubtedly be the most shocking, profound, and transformative discovery in human history. Yet, despite the gravity of the issue, Congress has been proceeding without holding any hearings or requesting any studies to assess the impact of this potential bombshell. It appears that our legislators are failing to heed the maxim, “Don’t ask the question if you aren’t prepared for the answer.”

Strangely, there is little discussion of this critical issue among proponents of disclosure in the UAP community. Perhaps advocates of disclosure simply assume that truth and transparency are always for the better. Although I applaud the sentiment, the issue is not so simple for government officials bearing the weighty responsibility of governing. I therefore thought I would offer some thoughts from the standpoint of a former national security official because national security concerns are inescapably central to this discussion.

The first question that arises is, “How can we make a fair determination about the potential risks and benefits of disclosure without access to all the facts?” Suppose the US government recovered extraterrestrial technology decades ago. In that case, there has inevitably been some progress in assessing it and, hopefully, some insights gleaned regarding the nature and intent of its designers. However, no credible individuals purporting to have access to such information have provided any details. One of the only things we can say with certainty is that unless ETs prove to be angelic, which is not what our military is reporting, disclosure would undeniably frighten, if not terrify, large segments of the population.

Moreover, what if disclosure precipitated a change in the behavior of an alien civilization, given that they no longer had an incentive to remain elusive and clandestine? What is the risk potential that disclosure might cause some governments to overreact, precipitating fearful and aggressive interactions? If these risks are substantial, does it still make sense to release such disruptive information?

When I first became publicly involved in the UAP topic, the alleged recovery of ET technology was not an issue. My immediate goal was to alert policymakers to a dangerous intelligence failure, namely, the fact of serious and recurring intrusions into restricted DoD airspace by strange, unidentified aircraft. It was shocking to learn our vaunted multi-billion-dollar intelligence system was paralyzed by ineffable stigma, as effectively as any electromagnetic warfare (EW) weapon, placing US personnel and the nation at risk. This situation reminded me of both Pearl Harbor, where vital warning information was not forwarded up the chain of command, as well as 9/11, when intelligence agencies failed to share vital information that could have saved the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. Having survived the attack on the Pentagon myself, this was not a purely theoretical consideration.

Admittedly, I was also hoping to generate enough Congressional pressure to compel the DoD and the Intelligence Community to use their vast capabilities to study UAP. Knowing our technical intelligence systems well, I was tantalized by the prospect of what we might learn if these sometimes mind-boggling capabilities were brought to bear on the UAP mystery. Therefore, it was also an opportunity to potentially solve this fascinating and profound mystery.

At the time, the ET issue was present but remained unspoken for good reason; if we had approached Congress with an explicit focus on aliens, we would have quickly been shown to the exit. Many legislators were privately curious about UAP, but we needed to focus on the national security angle to provide a politically viable justification for engaging on the UAP issue. Nevertheless, as time passed and new information became available, Congressional interest expanded to include credible allegations of recovered extraterrestrial materials.

I confess I was partly responsible for this change of emphasis because I brought physicist Eric Davis to Capitol Hill to meet with oversight committee staff in October of 2019. This was, to my knowledge, the first time a Congressional oversight committee had been provided credible information on the issue of allegedly recovered non-human technology from an individual with knowledge of such operations. Later, I played a role in helping bring other witnesses forward, including whistleblower David Grusch. In doing so, I was forced to wrestle with the same simple but critical question that guides everyone in the national security community: “What is in the nation’s best interest?”

Eventually, members of Congress began to realize that the alleged recovery of off-world materials was a serious issue. Consequently, they enacted a provision requiring the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which reports jointly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Director of National Intelligence, to investigate this sensational allegation. Congress understandably did so without deciding in advance whether to make the report’s findings public. Although it is true that some key members of Congress, such as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), have expressed support for releasing the facts, whatever they prove to be.

However, it is not clear how many of their colleagues agree. It is also conceivable their views might change if confronted by disturbing revelations in the event such allegations prove to be true. For example, Senator Gillibrand has young children, and it is conceivable that if sufficiently alarming information emerges, she might reconsider her admirable desire to share as much information as possible with the public.

At this point, it already seems clear that AARO will report that it found no credible evidence the US government has recovered alien technology or knows of any extraterrestrial activity. However, I don’t think this finding by AARO will satisfy key members of Congress or the public. This is entirely understandable because asking AARO to investigate this issue is roughly comparable to asking the Intelligence Community to investigate the Iran-Contra Affair. AARO has a clear conflict of interest in that it must protect this explosive information if directed to do so. Alternatively, AARO could also be denied access to the information. The only way for Congress to assure itself of the truth is to continue pressing ahead with its own investigation, as advocated by members of both parties in the House of Representatives.

In that regard, I want to challenge the recurring assertion that the UAP issue is primarily for scientists, not politicians or government officials. Although UAP deserves serious attention from the scientific community, as NASA itself recently acknowledged, national security considerations are inevitably paramount.

I say that partly because we are not dealing (at least not exclusively) with remote signals from deep space or an intangible interdimensional intelligence that seeks to subtly influence human affairs. For all we know, something along those lines could be happening, and it is a fascinating proposition, but what current intelligence collected by the US indicates is that our military is encountering intelligently controlled, solid objects invading restricted military airspace, sometimes even flying in formation, on an almost daily basis. Many of these objects are emitting radiation in the 1-3 and 8-12 gigahertz range. Multiple credible reports indicate that UAP has rendered segments of our nuclear deterrent inoperable; in other cases, they are jamming radars on fighter aircraft. We also have multiple cases of near-mid-air collisions and cases involving serious injuries to military and civilian personnel. Therefore, as much as we need and want scientific investigations, the government cannot be permitted to divest itself of the UAP issue.

Similarly, the government does not have the luxury of limiting itself to pristine scientific information. This is one of the areas in which I differ with Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the current Director of AARO, who claims there is no “credible” evidence of UAP demonstrating capabilities or doing things that violate our understanding of science. To my mind, the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) aviators, radar operators, and technicians who encountered an anomalous craft during training exercises off the California coast in 2004 are eminently credible. The Intelligence Community prefers rigorous scientific information whenever possible. Still, it would be untenable—if not suicidal—for either the Intelligence or Law Enforcement communities to limit themselves to pristine, scientifically repeatable sensor data. We rarely have the luxury of having sensor information when facing the intentions of foreign leaders or the precise capabilities of adversary military forces. Hence, the Intelligence Community does its best with what it has in those circumstances, including reliance on human intelligence reporting.

Therefore, by its own standards, the Intelligence Community should consider the accounts of the Nimitz aviators and radar operators as highly credible evidence of intelligently controlled craft doing things we cannot emulate and simply don’t understand. For example, the “Tic Tac” UAP they encountered accelerated to supersonic speeds without producing a sonic boom; it overcame g-forces that would destroy anything built by man, and there was no evidence of the electrically charged plasma we would normally expect to see on manmade aircraft moving at hypersonic velocities. I realize the inherent limitations of human reporting. Still, I also see no reason to suddenly change the normal rules and standards the Intelligence Community relies on in cases that involve evaluating UAP.

I’m raising these issues to provide a reminder that the paramount question about UAP, both for government policymakers and the public, will undoubtedly be whether UAP poses an existential threat. I’m thrilled to be supporting investigations of UAP signatures, propulsion systems, metamaterials, and UAP effects on humans, but national security, rather than science, will be at the forefront in the minds of government officials assessing the potential costs and benefits of disclosure. In sum, we can’t dodge the national security issue when making the case for disclosure; we must address it head-on.

Admittedly, nothing as potentially ontologically shocking as UAP disclosure has probably ever occurred, certainly not in modern times. However, there are still some interesting historical precedents we can examine.

Consider the Sputnik issue that arose in 1957. Sputnik was merely a small satellite emitting tracking signals, not a weapons system. Yet the mere fact America was lagging behind the Soviet Union in space and missile technology immediately became a major political issue, reminiscent of the furor over the more recent Chinese spy balloon incident. It was not long before Congress and the White House responded, and the space race got underway. Thankfully, what began as a military competition with the Soviet Union eventually turned into a collaborative space exploration effort involving the Russians and many other nations. So, in that case, the initial fright and concern, which was a national security issue, ultimately led to major scientific and technological breakthroughs and laudable international cooperation. I would like to believe the UAP issue can follow that same path from national security to science.

Admittedly, other examples are tragic. When we look at the first contact between more technologically advanced civilizations and indigenous peoples, the consequences often proved catastrophic for the less technologically advanced. In part, this was due to the spread of lethal diseases for which indigenous peoples had no immunity. But it was much more than that; contact often proved psychologically and culturally devastating, as the leadership and cherished religious and cultural beliefs of many indigenous groups were eradicated without being replaced by a viable substitute. We all need psychological and cultural maps to navigate reality. For many indigenous people, those maps were destroyed but not replaced, leaving behind a devastating psychological and spiritual void that millions of people are still contending with as they seek to reconcile Western secular views with their traditional beliefs.

Note the difference between these two cases. In the case of Sputnik, we have an awareness of a potential threat; in the second instance, we have an actual invasion and occupation. So, a key question for us to ask ourselves (again, a national security issue) is whether disclosure might provoke hostilities. That seems highly unlikely; so, although the Sputnik case is far less shocking and provocative than disclosure would be, it may be a more appropriate model than the tragic cases involving European contact with pre-industrial indigenous societies.

I believe that a graduated process of disclosure would avert a crisis atmosphere while prompting new investments in technology, scientific research, and a rash of collaborative international meetings and initiatives. Processing this unsettling information would certainly take time, but danger and fear of the unknown have always been inherent in the human condition, and people would, as always, adapt. For example, few Americans are losing sleep over the fact they live in cities targeted by Chinese and Russian thermonuclear weapons. Similarly, if some UAP proves to be extraterrestrial, people would still get out of bed the next day, go through their morning wake-up rituals, and head to school or work.

Although it would be a much more disturbing provocation than Sputnik, I believe the inevitable ontological shock would eventually prove highly beneficial, stimulating immense creativity, investment, and research. Moreover, and most importantly, it could have a profound, positive, and desperately needed impact on mankind and international relations.

Earlier this year, I penned an article for Politico titled, “If the US Government has UFO Crash Materials It is Time to Reveal Them.” In the article, I made several points, including the following:

1. 1. Democracy requires transparency.
   2. The American people own any materials recovered by our government.
   3. The public can handle disclosure.
   4. The government cannot forever stifle the truth, so it is better to get ahead of it.
   5. Secrecy stifles Science.
   6. There is no evidence of an imminent threat.
   7. If there is a threat, we need to know so we can prepare.

Finally, I argued that disclosure could transform international tensions, catalyzing desperately needed international collaboration. I’d like to expand on this last point as it is both the most important point and the least obvious.

In my view, both domestically and internationally, we are presently on an extremely dangerous trajectory that requires urgent intervention. Disclosure would undoubtedly alter the trajectory of our species, but almost certainly for the better.

It is obvious that our nation, our species, and the environment are in serious and growing jeopardy. If this were solely my view, it would be easy to dismiss, but unfortunately, that is not the case. I don’t have the time here to list all my concerns, nor all the ways our society is presently financing its own downfall through perverse incentives that have developed over many decades, nor is there space here to do justice to the growing dangers we face abroad. Hence, rather than attempt to make the case myself, I’ll offer the perspective of two renowned analysts of world affairs.

Ray Dalio is the ingenious billionaire who established the world’s largest hedge fund. Yuval Hariri is a dazzling Cambridge-trained historian and author. Their perspectives are as different as their occupations, but their analyses are complimentary and equally sobering.

Mr. Dalio’s views are available to us through his fascinating book Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order. His argument, supported by myriad graphs and piles of data, is that the evolution of human societies runs in discernable cycles. It appears he has handsomely profited from understanding these cycles. In short, when a nation or civilization becomes debt-ridden and over-extended, wealthy but complacent, with massive disparities in wealth, dangerous internal fractures and civil strife emerge.

Today, the US is more deeply indebted than at any time since WWII, and the debt is rapidly growing even as interest rates rise, making repayment of this mountain of debt far more difficult. When interest on debt crowds out productive investments, the economy suffers. Eventually, economic hardship and disputes over how to share the pain of deficit reductions occur, leading to polarization and instability.

When this instability and economic stagnation occur simultaneously with challenges from a rising foreign power, as is the case with China today, history shows that war and disaster for the declining power usually follow. Regrettably, military confrontation between the US and China is a real and growing risk, especially in the South China Sea and Taiwan. Dangerous encounters between US and allied nations and Chinese forces are occurring with disturbing and growing frequency. Meanwhile, President Xi is moving China in the direction of North Korea, a state where an ambitious and intolerant dictator with near godlike status imposes his views at every level of society from the classroom to the boardroom. A fanatically nationalistic 1.5-billion-person version of North Korea, replete with AI security systems controlling Orwellian surveillance capabilities, is a daunting prospect.

For all these reasons, I share Mr. Dalio’s concerns about the prospect of tectonic and possibly catastrophic change occurring in the years immediately ahead. As Dalio states:

“The most reliable signs of an escalation to civil war are 1) the rules being disregarded; 2) both sides emotionally attacking each other; 3) blood being spilled.”

It’s not hard to see the relevance of these factors given the riots and demonstrations of recent years, the assault on the nation’s Capital, and the incredible partisan hatred gripping the nation, making it impossible to pass desperately needed legislation. To my knowledge, the US has never before failed to pass a defense bill at a time when the US military is under fire and already stretched to its limits supporting friends and allies. This growing crisis of government legitimacy is toxic and only getting worse; meanwhile, there are no efforts in sight to correct the massive fiscal imbalances that are undermining our children’s future.

Mr. Dalio also observes that when change comes, it is generally swift, devastating, and unanticipated. This conservative businessman sees a shocking 30% risk of civil war in America with what he characterizes as the “next big risk point” occurring around the time of the next Presidential election.

Dr. Harrari offers a very different perspective, one that focuses primarily on global existential challenges facing our species. He states:

“Each of these problems – nuclear war, ecological collapse, and technological disruption – is enough to threaten the future of human civilization. But taken together, they add up to an unprecedented existential crisis, especially because they are likely to reinforce and compound one another.”

Harrari later adds:

“If despite these common threats humans choose to privilege their particular national loyalties above everything else, the results may be far worse than in 1914 or 1939.”

Thankfully, there is a potential solution. As Dr. Harari further observes:

“A common enemy is the best catalyst for forging a coming identity…”

Suppose a common threat is the best recipe to achieve a desperately needed common bond. What could be more helpful or consistent with our long-term prosperity and survival than learning that one or more advanced civilizations are visiting our planet? It would be a shock, to be sure, and many would initially be frightened or even terrified—whether or not for good reason—but that fear would quickly subside if little change occurred in UAP activity. Regardless, we need a jolt to reframe international perspectives in order to manage issues such as AI, global warming, and WMD effectively.

Much as NASA recently demonstrated the ability to alter the trajectory of an asteroid, in the event we detect one on a collision course with Earth, we need a powerful ontological jolt to promote the collaboration required to manage these common global threats. This is why, in addition to democratic principles, I support UAP transparency and believe our nation and species would hugely benefit from an awareness that we are not alone.

And on the chance that a threat does exist, aren’t we better off knowing so we can take appropriate action? When has ignorance ever been a good national security strategy?

In conclusion, I’d like to cite a third figure quite different either from Mr. Dalio or Dr. Harriri: a former US President who had an extraordinary personal UAP sighting. Whether Ronald Reagan was prescient or speaking from an awareness of secret government information remains to be seen, but his statement to the UN General Assembly in 1987 is most apt:

“In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?”

For all the reasons above, I hope our elected officials will seek and reveal the truth of what our government knows about UAP. We need and deserve the truth, however unsettling it may be, and the sooner we are made aware, the better. 

• Christopher Mellon spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. Intelligence Community, including serving as the Minority Staff Director of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. He actively participates in Harvard’s Galileo Project and, in his free time, works to raise awareness regarding the UAP issue and its implications for national security. Follow him online at his official website and on X: @ChrisKMellon.

• A version of this essay was originally presented at The Sol Foundation’s first annual symposium, held at Stanford University November 17-18, 2023.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

22-11-2023 om 23:38 geschreven door peter  

A fascinating and unique structure spanning 4 kilometers in length has been discovered on Mars by Myytinkertojat Media and shared by Suspicious0bservers. 

While conventional geological perspectives might attribute it to a natural formation, such as a ridge or mountain shaped by specific erosion patterns over the planet's history, this particular structure stands out. Unlike numerous other straight and vertical formations on Mars, it defies the natural order and it does not fit with the surrounding landscape. 

Rather than mirroring the typical traits of natural features, this structure bears a striking resemblance to a constructed wall. Notably, even there is a reflection of light bouncing off the structure onto the Martian surface. 

This discovery adds to a growing list of anomalies on Mars that defy conventional explanations. Could it be conceivable that this intriguing structure represents the remnants of an ancient wall, perhaps constructed by intelligent beings who once inhabited Mars before a catastrophic event made the planet uninhabitable?

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

22-11-2023 om 21:56 geschreven door peter  

Noah's Ark Located! Google Earth Map, Nov 22, 2023, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Coordinates: 39°42'55.04"N 44°17'48.27"E 

Date of discovery: Nov 22, 2023

 

I was using Google Earth map looking at Mount Ararat in Turkey and found something exciting...Noahs Ark, Google ruler says it's 150 meters high and close to 300 meters from end to end. This is the biblical location where they say Noah landed his arch 5,000 years ago after the earth flooded for 150 days. If ancient Egyptians could lift chilled stone blocks weighting tons each to make pyramids, then it would be a much easier task to build a 300 meter by 150 meter ship made of gopherwood. Gopherwood is the type of wood the Bible cites as being used to make the ark. 

 

Scott C. Waring 

  

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

22-11-2023 om 20:51 geschreven door peter  

Spaceship Bigger Than Earth Seen On Google Sky Map, Nov 21, 2023, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Note 12, 2023

Location of sighting: space

Source: Google Sky map

Coordinates: 0h 40m 07.35s,  -36° 36' 55.23”

 

I found a space station, or space ship, which is both one and the same. The object is unique and like a metallic egg with appendages on two sides. These appendages are four in total and each is of a different side, but each is also like a bent arm at a 90 degree angle to the main part of the ship. Near the giant spaceship are three smaller ships. How big is it? It is many times bigger than Earth itself. 

 

Just above it is another similar size ship, but of a different shape, like a horse shoe, but the side facing the camera are the two ends. 

 

Its funny that such massive evidence that proves that aliens exist is so easy to find, but you must understand, that we humans have been programed from birth to believe aliens don't exist, so why would anyone bother looking for something that doesn't exit? I like to think outside my programing. I have reprogramed myself to keep an open mind, allow new and unusual possibilities inside and to accept the answers once I find them. 

Scott C. Waring 

 

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

22-11-2023 om 20:35 geschreven door peter  

Satellite Images Capture ARCTIC UFO

In the ever-evolving realm of extraterrestrial exploration and the quest for understanding our universe, a fascinating discovery emerged in October 2020. Satellite images unveiled a peculiar, metallic-looking object in Antarctica, half-buried under ice. This finding sparked a series of intriguing theories and debates within the scientific and ufological communities. But the question remains: Is this an actual alien artifact, or merely an optical illusion?

Antarctica: A Land of Ice and Mysteries 

Antarctica, the coldest and most remote continent on Earth, is a land shrouded in ice and mystery. Holding 90% of the planet’s ice, its landscape often draws comparisons to alien worlds due to its stark and unforgiving terrain. In October 2020, an investigator analyzing satellite imagery of this icy wilderness stumbled upon something that defied conventional explanation – a saucer-shaped object protruding from the ice.

The Martian Connection 

The discovery fueled theories about extraterrestrial life and interplanetary connections. Brad Olsen, an author and researcher, speculated that this object could be an alien spacecraft, suggesting it had emerged from its icy tomb as global temperatures rose. Such a find was not just a leap into the world of science fiction but also a potential bridge to our cosmic neighbors.

George Haas, chairman of the Cydonia Institute, proposed a bold theory linking Earth and Mars as twin cradles of an ancient interplanetary civilization. He pointed to pyramid-like structures and humanoid faces on Mars, asserting they were more than natural formations but relics of a shared Martian and Earthly heritage. This hypothesis, while controversial, raises the tantalizing possibility that our red neighbor once harbored life similar to our own.

The Science Behind the Sightings 

However, not everyone is convinced about the extraterrestrial origin of these findings. Science writer and forensic video analyst Mick West offered a more grounded explanation, attributing the Antarctic object’s appearance to the ‘crater illusion’ – a trick of perspective and light. NASA’s Bob Anderson also weighed in, suggesting that natural erosion could explain the Martian formations, though he remained open to further exploration and study.

VIDEO:

• Satellite Images Capture ARCTIC UFO (S2) | The Proof Is Out There | The UnXplained Zone

The Quest for Answers Continues 

As the debate rages on, the mysteries of Antarctica and Mars continue to captivate our imagination. While some experts lean towards optical illusions and natural explanations, others advocate for expeditions to these remote locations for direct study. The Antarctic object and Martian formations, whether products of nature or evidence of ancient civilizations, remind us of the vast unknowns that lie beyond our current understanding. In our quest to unravel the secrets of the universe, these enigmas serve as beacons, guiding our scientific and exploratory endeavors into new and uncharted territories.

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

22-11-2023 om 18:39 geschreven door peter  

James Webb onthult ongelooflijke details en geheimen van het centrum van de Melkweg

De James Webb Ruimtetelescoop van de NASA, in samenwerking met andere ruimteagentschappen, heeft een fantastisch en gedetailleerd beeld vastgelegd van het centrum van ons sterrenstelsel, de Melkweg, waarbij kenmerken werden onthuld die tot nu toe onontdekt waren door astronomen.

De James Webb heeft het stervormingsgebied Sagittarius C vastgelegd, gelegen op 300 lichtjaar van het supermassieve zwarte gat in het centrum van ons sterrenstelsel en op 25.000 lichtjaar afstand van de aarde.De afbeelding onthult een cluster van jonge sterren en benadrukt een nog in vorming zijnde ster met meer dan 30 keer de massa van onze zon. De gegevens van Webb zullen astronomen helpen meer te weten te komen over stervorming in een extreem kosmische omgeving en de geschiedenis van de oorsprong van ons universum.

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22-11-2023 om 18:14 geschreven door peter  

Bob Fish Told Coulthart: US Govt. Filmed High-Speed UFOs Going Underwater in Atlantic Ocean

In 2016, a large number of emails from the account of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, were leaked by WikiLeaks. The tranche of emails thrilled the Internet when reporters associated with the New York Times were working on the groundbreaking story entitled “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program.”

The emails between Podesta and a person named Bob Fish are the main subject that has been widely discussed by UFO enthusiasts. Mr. Fish, who had previously worked as an IT contractor, held the position of Director of Advanced Programs at Network Equipment Technologies from 1984 to 1993. (Source)

During that time, he was responsible for overseeing a top-secret global network for a major intelligence agency within the Department of Defense. In addition, he was involved in various operations that were of national importance, such as the Gulf War and Operation Just Cause.

The leaked emails may provide new insight into UFOs. Mr. Fish sent an email to Podesta on March 5, 2015, in which he stated that blurry photos, crop circles and statements from witnesses alone would not be enough to confirm the existence of UFOs. “What was needed,” he continued, was “hard scientific data collected from instruments that are known to be accurate and reliable.” Which, he added, was available “if one knows ‘where to look’ and ‘what to look for.’”

He claimed that the federal government had been collecting data on UFOs since the 1970s, using the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites.

In his next email to Podesta, he shared an incident that happened with him in El Segundo, a city in California. After Project Blue Book was shut down, Fish met with a USAF official who worked on the program. He told Fish that “there were times when they were diverted from these missions to track UFOs off the east coast of Florida.”

Further, the email stated: “His claim was the UFOs had a landing and takeoff spot in the ocean east of Miami, north of Bermuda. He also claimed there was a specific electronic signature (frequency) emanating from them when they were going into or coming out of the water, so they were easy to track. On several occasions, they filmed the UFO as it transitioned from water to air or vice versa.”

Mr. Fish was convinced that the United States Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which was officially closed in 1970, did not end but instead was taken out of public view. The existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) demonstrated that the Pentagon’s interest in UFOs never dissipated.

Based on the observations provided by Lue Elizondo, the former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the United State government had already been aware that UAPS were vastly outmatched by superior technology. These objects have capabilities that are beyond comprehension.

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They can travel at incredibly fast speeds and have the ability to get invisible while accelerating. They are capable of moving through air without wings and can travel through space, atmosphere, and oceans without being affected by gravity, and without any visible means of propulsion.

Such scenarios alarmed the US government, and 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. Australian investigative reporter Ross Coulthart noted that his sources confirmed “there has been consideration given to offensively trying to bring down these objects.”

In his book “In Plain Sight: An investigation into UFOs and impossible science“, Coulthart describes that the United States government appears to have knowledge of some UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) entering Earth’s orbit from deep space. Furthermore, the US government can actively track them via RF signals emanated from these craft based on conversations with retired US intelligence officer Bob Fish.

“I wrote to Bob Fish and after a few weeks, he kindly responded, confirming everything he told Podesta, and more. He had never spoken publicly about UAPs before. A previously very highly security-cleared defense communications intelligence insider, Fish has extensive experience working on classified programs, including President Reagan’s ‘Trust but Verify’ nuclear missile disarmament treaty with the Soviets, and he assured me he was happy to be quoted about his strong interest and belief in UAPs.

He clearly knew a lot more than he was prepared to reveal. When I asked him what he knew about the purported US ability to track such mystery craft, he told me, ‘At some point, the information about “alien” stuff and true US national defense information crosses paths.

Patriots with clearances do not want to be traitors to their country or their way of life. For instance, if I told you the exact electromagnetic signature of a high-Mach UFO that US sensors search for, but don’t attack, and you put it in a book, the Soviets/Chinese would manufacture a bomber with SIGINT/ELINT [signals and electronic intelligence] countermeasure equipment that generated that exact signature.

We must find a path forward that brings about greater knowledge of the truth without endangering the civilizations we have evolved into. The intriguing thing about Fish’s comment was the implication there was indeed a ‘truth’ still being concealed.”

Mr. 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. He suggested that this location would be ideal for a telescope with sensor capabilities if one were to be running the Galileo Project.

Former U.S. Navy Lt. Ryan Graves told Lex Fridman on a podcast that his squadron started getting the UAP hits, once they upgraded their APG-73 radar to the APG-79. He mentioned that the upgrade was something like going from analog to digital and that sometimes they would fly F-18s with the old radar in the morning, and the objects would not be there, but when they swapped to the F-18s with the new radar, the UAP hits would be back again. He also noted that perhaps the new radar was not filtering out something that they should have been yet, or perhaps it had not been calibrated. (Source)

“The radar always picks up everything flying, but they go so fast, you don’t recognize them. Your mind says it could have been an 18-wheeler, it could be something low, I don’t know what it was…”

— John Callahan, FAA Retired at the National Press Club, Washington D.C., 2013. (Source)

There is pretty good evidence that the government has been intercepting UFO signals or emissions since at least the 1950s. In one 1957 case investigated by James E. McDonald, a UFO was simultaneously witnessed by military officers, it was seen on radar and ECM gear detected a certain frequency coming from it. (Source)

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22-11-2023 om 01:37 geschreven door peter  

During the summer of 1954, the United States Air Forcewas on high alert. A pair of mysterious objects had been located in orbit between 400 and 600 miles from Earth, and now officials were in a state of confusion as to what they might represent. Could they be non-terrestrial objects of natural origin, or could they be something else entirely?

A more concerning possibility also lurked in the minds of officials at the time: what if the objects were manmade, and possibly of Soviet origin?

Dr. Lincoln La Paz, then the head of the Extra-Terrestrial Bodies Institute at the University of New Mexico, had been in constant communication with the Air Force about their unusual new problem. For weeks, he shot back and forth between the Palomar Observatory in California and the missile test center at White Sands, New Mexico, until it was finally determined by the astronomer that the objects were indeed natural: they were only meteors.

The story received tremendous attention after it first appeared in Aviation Week, and just days later, a source close to the Army Office of Ordnance Research assured the New York Times that no satellites deemed to be of artificial origin had been detected yet, adding about La Paz’s meteors that “there was absolutely no connection between the reported satellites and flying saucer reports.”

The search for objects in Earth’s orbit had been virgin territory in 1954, and the events in the fall of that year were only a foreshadowing of the kind of public fear yet to come. Once the Soviets actually did launch Sputnik 1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the early days of October 1957, concerns about a technological gap among Western nations escalated into a full-blown crisis.

The world would never be the same. In the aftermath of the “Sputnik crisis,” the United States accelerated its space-bound efforts, eventually placing its own satellites into orbit, followed by successful manned space missions and, eventually, humans landing on the Moon in July 1969. Today, on any clear night one can look at the night sky and see tiny points of light moving silently along in their positions in orbit, representing objects that range from satellites and the International Space Station, to tiny reflective bits of debris from past space missions that have accumulated in Earth’s orbit steadily over time.

In addition to the satellites we have placed into orbit around our own planet, humans have also sent several spacecraft to further locales, some of which we have positioned around nearby planets like Mars. It seems logical to assume that if there were any intelligent extraterrestrials out there, they might do the same.

This brings to mind an interesting question for modern astronomers: what if aliens have surveilled our planet, either in the past, or even in the present day? If so, how might we detect evidence of their technologies?

(Credit: NASA)

With the amount of debris that clutters the space around our planet today, it would prove difficult to locate any prospective alien probes that may be watching us. Based on current European Space Agency data, there are 5,800 functioning satellites in orbit, with nearly 31,590 debris objects that have been logged and continuously tracked by Space Surveillance Networks.

However, not all objects in orbit around our planet are being tracked. According to current statistical models, smaller space objects between 1 mm and 10 cm could number greater than 131 million.

In short, the orbital area around our planet has become a very cluttered place since the dawn of the Space Age, making it increasingly difficult to search for any possible outliers that might represent evidence of non-terrestrial technological artifacts that might be observing our planet.

That’s why one group of researchers, led by Beatriz Villarroel of the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics and Stockholm University, has undertaken a citizen science effort to search for evidence of such non-terrestrial artifacts in what some might consider an unusual place: data that has already been publicly available for decades.

Prior to the launch of manmade satellites like Sputnik 1 in the late 1950s, Earth’s skies were free of the clutter that hinders modern searches for prospective non-terrestrial objects. According to Villarroel and her team, one way to overcome this problem is by scanning earlier photographic plate projects such as the First Palomar Sky Survey (POSS-1), which is the focus of the Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) project.

“We expect the project to yield many interesting findings over time,” reads a statement on the website of the VASCO Network, “maybe even some anomalous objects and events — could aliens be responsible for any of those?”

In the May issue of Acta Astronautica, Villarroel and several colleagues published a paper, “A glint in the eye: Photographic plate archive searches for non-terrestrial artefacts,” which elaborates on how potentially anomalous non-terrestrial objects might be located.

“We show that even the small pieces of reflective debris in orbit around the Earth can be identified through searches for multiple transients in old photographic plate material exposed before the launch of the first human satellite in 1957,” the researchers state in the paper’s abstract. According to Villarroel and her coauthors, images depicting what they identify as “simultaneous transients” may hold the key to detecting evidence of non-terrestrial artifacts that may have been lurking in Earth’s orbit since the days prior to Sputnik.

Beatriz Villarroel of the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics and Stockholm University

(Image Credit: Karl Nordlund/Stockholm University)

“About 80% of the very fast bright flashes (glints) in our sky are the result of artificial objects with highly reflective, flat surfaces,” Villarroel recently told The Debrief. These objects, many of them relatively small according to Villarroel, may be found in geosynchronous orbit around the Earth.

“A fast glint like this will look like a star in an image,” Villarroel says, “and sometimes one can see several glints from the same object in an image (or from different ones). Space debris and satellites in geosynchronous orbits can leave multiple glints in an image.

“Multiple glints in sky images is, therefore, a typical signature of artificial objects,” Villarroel says. By looking at some of the earliest photographic plates collected by 20th-century astronomers, the VASCO team thinks they could easily discern the presence of any reflective objects in geosynchronous orbits (GEO) since they would appear as short lines in these photographs, the length of which can be used as an indicator of their speed and position in orbit (satellites at higher GEO altitudes produce fast, transient glints that result from the light they reflect from the Sun).

Of particular interest to Villarroel and her colleagues are the appearances of multiple glints, which may indicate a single object tumbling through space producing a series of flashes as its surfaces reflect sunlight, or possibly even the presence of several objects.

“We propose to look for multiple glints in image data before Sputnik I,” Villarroel told The Debrief. “If such signatures are found in a time when there were no high-altitude satellites, that could imply the presence of Non-Terrestrial Artifacts (NTAs) in orbits around the Earth.”

Although surveying photographic data from pre-satellite times offers obvious benefits to the search for non-terrestrial artifacts, there are challenges for modern researchers using this approach, since multiple glints in older sky survey imagery could be accounted for by a number of other things. These could include defects in the images that produce the appearance of star-like objects which, in fact, may simply be photographic artifacts.

“If one finds multiple glints in an image, we cannot know for sure that the observation is real as some defects might possibly look star-like,” Villarroel says. “And it is difficult to access the original photographic plates to examine the ‘stars’ under a microscope.”

One simple way that Villarroel and her colleagues have proposed to help narrow down any likely anomalies is to search or instances where they appear in a single line.

“The main proposal of the paper is, therefore, to look for an even clearer signature, which is to search for these multiple glints-events that on top of everything, also are aligned along a line,” Villarroel told The Debrief. Unlike plate defects, which could most often be expected to appear randomly across the image, Villarroel says that genuine glints of light detected by cameras, possibly produced by debris or satellites of unknown origin, would produce consistent glints of light along a line in an image.

Villarroel says there are several sources of imagery that astronomers can use for such surveys, many of which are freely available. However, an added benefit of conducting multiple surveys could be that the presence of any anomalies detected in one photographic plate collection, if thereafter found in a separate set of images, could help confirm the presence of a genuine anomaly.

“Many observatories have their photographic plate collections,” Villarroel says. “Finding similar examples of ‘multiple transients’ in other image data sets could help to confirm the effect. Also, we have predicted some shapes and glinting patterns in our recent preprint that one can use to search for the predicted objects in modern datasets.”

Along with her efforts with the Vasco Network, Villarroel is a research team member of The Galileo Project, a scientific effort led by astronomer Avi Loeb aimed at detecting extraterrestrial technological signatures produced by Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations (ETCs).

“The Galileo project is excellently suited for these searches,” Villarroel told The Debrief.

With decades of imagery now in hand, modern advances in computer imaging and artificial intelligence could prove to be instrumental in helping astronomers make a breakthrough in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Considering some of the early observations by Lincoln La Paz and other astronomers at the dawn of the Space Age, it would indeed be ironic if it were ever proven that evidence of extraterrestrial technologies had been lurking much closer to home than most would have ever expected.

When asked about some of the intriguing observations that preceded the earliest launch of artificial satellites in 1957, Villarroel says cases from decades ago might indeed be worthy of renewed attention from modern astronomers, especially if the current efforts to analyze photographic plate collections ever turns up anything odd.

“These historical examples would be very interesting for us to look at through the VASCO glasses,” Villarroel says.

• Micah Hanks is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on Twitter: @MicahHanks. 

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }  

22-11-2023 om 01:05 geschreven door peter