The habitable zone is a rather crude way to identify planets that may have liquid water. Its boundaries are unclear and even contradictory since stellar spectral type, planetary albedo, mass, and even how cloudy its atmosphere is can determine if a planet has liquid water.

The idea of a conservative habitable zone (CHZ) is more helpful. It comes from a 2014 paper by Kopparapu et al. It’s a region around a star where a rocky planet receives between 0.42 and 0.842 as much solar insolation as Earth does. Any rocky planet receiving that much energy is in the CHZ, regardless of distance.

Discovering a Super-Earth in a star’s CHZ is always exciting. It fuels our sense of wonder about other planets and the possibility that some may harbour other life. For that reason, they’re more intriguing than planets like Hot Jupiters for instance, which have zero possibility of hosting liquid water or life. Not even the hardiest extremophiles can survive a Hot Jupiter’s wicked environment.

But this discovery is also exciting for a couple of other reasons.

Now that we’ve discovered thousands of exoplanets, astronomers are seeing trends in the population. One of the things they noticed is a gap in the small planet population between 1.5 and 2 Earth radii. It’s known as the small planet radius gap or the sub-Neptune radius gap (also called the Fulton gap and the photoevaporation valley.) At 1.55 Earth radii, TOI-715b is inside the gap.

It’s extremely unlikely that no planets form in this radius gap. Planets must start out larger and lose mass to end up in the gap. So, the Fulton Gap tells us something about how some planets lose mass. Astronomers think that planets in the gap start out larger, but their stars strip away some of their mass by photoevaporation, shrinking them. That’s why it’s sometimes called the photoevaporation valley. There’s a lot of uncertainty around the valley and photoevaporation, and astronomers want to study planets in the valley to see what they can learn.

“The importance of the radius valley lies in its potential to teach us about planetary formation and post-formation evolution, and hence, planets inside this gap are crucial in furthering our understanding of the factors that sculpt it,” the authors explain.

There’s some uncertainty if this radius gap exists around M-dwarfs or not. It’s possible that M-dwarfs have a density gap rather than a radius gap. “A recent study by Luque & Pallé (2022), however, indicates that M-dwarf planets may have a density gap rather than a radius gap separating two populations of small planets (rocky and water worlds),” the authors write.

Whether it’s a radius gap or a density gap, TOI-715b should have something to tell us about exoplanets, photoevaporation, and the nature of exoplanet distribution around red dwarfs. But to discover what it has to tell us requires further, detailed observations. That’s the second reason why this Super-Earth is so intriguing.

Ever since we started finding exoplanets, scientists have looked forward to the day when the James Webb Space Telescope is operational. “At long last, the era of JWST has arrived, and with it, the age of detailed exoplanetary atmospheric characterization,” the authors write in their paper. The JWST has the ability to observe the spectra of exoplanet atmospheres and determine their constituents. But even though the JWST is enormously powerful, some targets present better opportunities for transmission spectroscopy than others.

TOI-715b is a prime target because it’s close to its star. Since TOI-715 is a small red dwarf, and the planet orbits it every 19 days, the exoplanet’s transits in front of its star are deeper and more frequent. That means the JWST doesn’t need much time to observe the planet’s atmosphere, making it an efficient use of the space telescope’s time. “In the context of atmospheric characterization by transmission spectroscopy, bright, nearby M dwarfs are ideal planetary hosts as small temperate planets will transit frequently, enabling high signal-to-noise detections of atmospheric features with fewer hours of telescope time,” the authors explain.

Can this Super-Earth be habitable? Lacking the JWST’s spectroscopy, we’re reduced to speculating. It’s in the conservative habitable zone, but that doesn’t get us very far. Still, there are some hopeful signs.

TOI-715 is a little older than our Sun at about 6.6 billion years old. The star shows a “low degree of magnetic activity,” according to the authors. That’s probably why the star shows an absence of flaring in the TESS light curves compared to younger M-dwarfs. Red dwarfs are known to exhibit extremely powerful flaring that can sterilize planets. They can also strip away atmospheres, which could be responsible for the exoplanet photoevaporation valley.

Another planet may be orbiting TOI-715. It’s currently only a candidate named TIC 271971130.02, but if confirmed, it will be the smallest habitable zone planet TESS has ever found. But follow-up observations are needed to confirm it.

The TOI-715 system is a compelling target for further study. TOI-715b is waiting its turn, but eventually, the JWST will examine its atmosphere. If those results support habitability, astronomers’ excitement will only grow. At the same time, we may learn more about the radius or density gap, an obstacle to a more thorough understanding of exoplanets.

Add in the fact that the star may host another habitable zone planet, the smallest one found yet by TESS, and the TOI-715 system becomes even more importan

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

03-02-2024 om 23:07 geschreven door peter  

About eROSITA

eROSITA is a soft x-ray imaging telescope aboard the Spectrum-RG satellite. Its first all-sky survey, called eRASS1, took place over 7 months beginning on December 12, 2019. At its most sensitive setting, the telescope detected 170 million X-ray photons. That allowed the cameras to measure their energies and arrival times.

The astronomy team, led by principal investigator Andrea Merloni, put together a first-release catalog of data. They also published more than 50 new science papers based on their findings. After finishing this first survey, the instrument carried out three more scans of the entire sky between June 2020 and February 2022. That huge treasuring of x-ray data will be released shortly. The video below explains more about the mission.

eROSITA’s Treasury of X-ray Sources

X-ray astronomy focuses on hot and energetic objects and events in the Universe. Those would be the cores of galaxies (where supermassive black holes lurk), supernova explosions, newborn stars, and other places where matter gets heated to high temperatures.

This preliminary data eRASS1 data set pinpoints about 710,000 supermassive black holes, 180,000 x-ray emitting stars in the Milky Way, and 12,000 clusters of galaxies. It also covers a small number of other exotic sources like X-ray-emitting binary stars, supernova remnants, pulsars, and other objects.

“These are mind-blowing numbers for X-ray astronomy,” says Andrea Merloni, eROSITA principal investigator and first author of the eROSITA catalog paper. “We’ve detected more sources in 6 months than the big flagship missions XMM-Newton and Chandra have done in nearly 25 years of operation.”

The eROSITA first data release is a rich, “multi-layered” look at the sky at several X-ray energies. Each energy level tells astronomers something about the objects and events emitting the X-rays. And, for each set of images and data, the consortium provides more information. There are lists of source classes, sky positions, energies, and precise arrival times of the photons to the instrument. “We’ve made a huge effort to release high-quality data and software,” added Miriam Ramos-Ceja, who leads the eROSITA Operations team. “We hope this will broaden the base of scientists worldwide working with high-energy data and help push the frontiers of X-ray astronomy.”

Zeroing in on Specific X-ray Objects

eROSITA’s science objectives are to use X-rays as a way to detect the hot intergalactic medium of 50 to 100,000 galaxy clusters and groups. It also looks at hot gas in filaments between them. Those filaments glow in X-rays. The instrument is also tasked with detecting accreting black holes hidden in galaxies. Finally, it studied the physics of galactic X-ray sources (which include pre-main-sequence stars, supernova remnants, and X-ray binaries).

At least one of the papers released with the new survey data uses x-ray data to constrain cosmological models using clusters of galaxies. In one release image, we see a newly discovered filament of material. It stretches between one portion of the galaxy cluster Abell 3667 and the nearby cluster Abell 3651. This may help astronomers determine how much matter exists in the so-called “warm-hot intergalactic medium”. It gives insight into the formation of large-scale structures (like galaxy clusters) in the Universe.

The nearby Virgo Cluster of galaxies also shows up in the eRASS1 survey and provides a way to study large-scale filamentary structures. In particular, astronomers want to understand the physical effects operating in the outskirts of these massive galaxy clusters. Using the new survey data, plus other all-sky images, a science team explored the structure of the cluster’s outskirts. That included high-energy emissions around galaxies and groups within the cluster. They also studied a so-called 320-kiloparsec-long “x-ray extension” near the galaxy M49.

eROSITA’s Past Work and Future

eROSITA has enabled a huge leap forward in X-ray astronomy since its launch in June 2019. It began operations in October of that year, providing high-resolution X-ray vision of the cosmos. As it scanned the sky, it glimpsed changes in a distant quasar called SMSS J114447.77-430859.3. Those changes give some clues to the growth of the black hole at the heart of the quasar. It observed changes in the brightness variations at the heart of the quasar, indicating that the black hole swallows some of the material that strays into its event horizon. Other material escapes in the form of powerful winds.

The instrument has also detected a newly forming black hole in the early Universe and traced the existence of hot gas all around our own Milky Way Galaxy. The instrument had its first light on October 22, 2019. Currently, it’s in safe mode and technicians are assessing its health and status.

For More Information

• eROSITA
• eROSITA Science Papers
• The X-ray Sky Opens to the World
• Discovery of a >13 Mpc long X-ray filament between two galaxy clusters beyond three times their virial radii
• The SRG/eROSITA All-Sky Survey: View of the Virgo Cluster

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

03-02-2024 om 22:54 geschreven door peter  

Fishermen Spot Rare Clouds Off Key West That Look Like UFOs

BY CASS ANDERSON

ISTOCKPHOTO / MINDFUL SNAP

Fishermen off Key West, Florida looking up at the sky might’ve thought they were seeing the early stages of an alien invasion due to the rare hole punch clouds in the sky.

Josh Jorgensen from BlacktipH Fishing, one of the most popular fishing YouTube channels around, shared this clip from Key West, Florida and at first glance his followers were like ‘yup, those are aliens.’ After comments from crackpots, someone pointed out they were rare punch hole clouds, better known as fallstreak holes, which are created when supercooled water evaporates and leaves a large circular gap behind.

Who better to explain what Fallstreak Holes aka Hole Punch Clouds are than a website named ‘Cloud Appreciation Society’ who wrote an article about these rare clouds back in 2011, shortly after a recent study into the phenomenon had been published in Science Magazine.

That article states “for the hole to form, the droplets in the cloud layer need to be ‘supercooled’. This means that they are at a temperature below 0˚ Celsius, but have yet to frozen.” The 2011 research confirmed that aircraft play a role in the formation of these clouds with “expansion of the air as it passes over the aircraft wings and (for certain types of plane) over the blades of its propellers” causing the cooling which leads to the formation.

Here is another look at these rare clouds:

It has been quite cold here in Florida over the past week. While January ended 1-degree warmer than the historical average it seemed amiss to Floridians who felt like the first month of the year was particularly cold.

That’s because while the afternoon temperatures were cooler than Januarys past the actual ‘low’ temperatures overnight and in the early mornings in Florida were much higher than the historical averages. All of that is to say Florida has had some particularly cold weather recently which triggered this rare cloud formation off Key West seen by BlacktipH.

 { https://brobible.com/ }

03-02-2024 om 22:34 geschreven door peter  

Fishermen witness Fleet of UFOs Over Key West, Florida Ocean On Feb 1, 2024, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Feb 1, 2024
Location of sighting: Key West, Florida, USA
Source: 

• https://www.tiktok.com/@blacktiph/video/7330299576592780587?q=blacktiph&t=1706981322276

Guys this is just amazing, remember that I mentioned that there is an alien base that is below part of Florida and extends out into the Florida Keys for 10 miles? Well here is more proof. More UFOs have been seen or at least, the imprint of the UAP disks have been seen which pressed into the clouds from above and created a bowl-like shape. This in not one, but a whole fleet of ships that came from outside our atmosphere and sat in the clouds until nightfall where they then lower down into the water to go down into the underground base, 5km below the ocean floor. 100% proof that alien try to outsmart us with making us second, third and fourth guess ourselves, when all along, there is only one explanation...aliens. 

 

Now in the 89 page MUFON UFO investigation paper on the O'Hare airport incident of 2006, they said the UFO seen by eyewitnesses at the airport hovered then shot off upward through the clouds fast, leaving a disk shaped hole in the cloud for 15 minutes! So yeah, UFOs make holes in clouds. The proof in documented. 

Scott C. Waring 

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

03-02-2024 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

Alien Base Discovered In NASA Moon Photo, Apollo 11, 1969, UFO Sighting News.

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

03-02-2024 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

The Italian Ufologists’ Quest for Truth'

In the realm of the unexplained and the mysterious, UFO sightings have always captivated human imagination. Italy, with its rich history and cultural heritage, is no exception. A group of dedicated Italian researchers, known as ufologists, have delved deep into the enigma of unidentified flying objects, bringing to light the intriguing and often perplexing phenomena associated with these sightings.

The Heart of Italian Ufology

At the forefront of this exploration is a documentary titled “UFO Hunters: The Italian Ufologists,” directed by Stefania Grondona and featuring David White among its cast. The documentary embarks on a journey through Italy, unraveling mass UFO sightings, the study of clipeology (the study of objects in the sky throughout history), and real testimonies from those who have witnessed these unexplained phenomena.

A Notable Case: Mont Proa’s Unidentified Visitor

One of the most compelling cases highlighted in the documentary occurred in 1996 in Mont Proa, a town in the province of Naples. Researchers, including the ufologist team, personally visited the town to meet with witnesses Luigi Kti and his family. Their account of a UFO circling undisturbed over the town, defying the laws of gravity and leaving onlookers in awe, represents a significant moment in Italian ufology. The object, estimated to be about 30 meters in diameter, exhibited characteristics beyond conventional aircraft, including three spheres around a transparent central core.

The Role of Technology and the Challenge of Authenticity

The documentary delves into the challenges faced by ufologists in documenting and analyzing UFO sightings. With the advent of smartphones, the quality of captured images often does not meet the standards required for clear analysis. Additionally, the documentary points out the paradox of authenticity in the digital age, where advanced video editing tools have made it easier to create fake sightings, underscoring the importance of relying on credible UFO research centers.

The Psychological Aspect of UFO Sightings

An interesting facet of the documentary is its exploration of the psychological impact of UFO sightings on individuals. It discusses how the sudden encounter with the unknown triggers a range of emotional responses, from excitement to fear, affecting the witnesses’ ability to accurately describe their experiences. The documentary emphasizes the need for a multidisciplinary approach to understand these encounters, incorporating expertise from psychology, neurology, and other fields to assess the credibility of witnesses and the impact of these experiences on their psyche.

The Continuous Quest for Understanding

“UFO Hunters: The Italian Ufologists” not only presents specific cases of UFO sightings but also reflects on the broader implications of these encounters for society. The documentary explores how these unexplained phenomena challenge our understanding of the world and push the boundaries of conventional science and knowledge.

VIDEO:

• UFO Hunters: The Italian Ufologists | Full Documentary

• https://youtu.be/3-20XsFyVM4

The dedication of Italian ufologists to unraveling the mysteries of UFO sightings offers a fascinating glimpse into a world that exists at the edges of our understanding. “UFO Hunters: The Italian Ufologists” stands as a testament to the human quest for knowledge and the unyielding curiosity that drives us to explore the unknown. Through meticulous research, analysis, and an open-minded approach, these researchers continue to seek answers, reminding us of the vastness of the universe and the potential for discoveries that lie beyond our current comprehension.

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

03-02-2024 om 18:33 geschreven door peter  

BRITSE WETENSCHAPPERS MAKEN PLANNEN OM BEWIJS VAN BUITENAARDS LEVEN TE PRESENTEREN

Britse wetenschappers hebben aangekondigd dat ze zich voorbereiden om bewijs te presenteren van buitenaards leven. Dit opwindende nieuws komt als een mijlpaal in de zoektocht naar leven buiten onze planeet en doet vragen rijzen over wat er precies ontdekt is en wanneer we de details kunnen verwachten. In dit artikel zullen we de aankondiging van deze wetenschappers nader onderzoeken en proberen te begrijpen wat deze onthulling voor de mensheid kan betekenen.

Bewijs van buitenaards leven

In een kort interview met Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, een vooraanstaande astronoom, stelde journalist Holland de prangende vraag over haar verwachtingen voor het jaar 2024. Tot verrassing van velen gaf Dr. Aderin-Pocock een opmerkelijk openhartig antwoord: ‘Ik denk dat we buitenaards leven zullen ontdekken.’ Deze gewaagde uitspraak werd al snel ondersteund door andere prominente experts in de ruimtewetenschap, waaronder astrofysicus Becky Smethurst en astronaut Tim Peake. Beiden hintten naar het bestaan van sterke bewijzen voor een biosignatuur op een exoplaneet, dat wil zeggen, een planeet die om een andere ster dan onze zon draait. De opvallende overeenkomst tussen deze voorspellingen, afkomstig van Britse wetenschappers, doet vermoeden dat ze mogelijk wijzen naar hetzelfde wetenschappelijke artikel, wellicht van Britse origine. In dit artikel verkennen we deze opwindende voorspellingen en de mogelijke implicaties voor de zoektocht naar buitenaards leven in 2024.”

“Dit artikel werpt een boeiend licht op een mogelijk keerpunt in de zoektocht naar buitenaards leven. Er wordt gesuggereerd dat binnenkort overtuigend bewijs kan worden geleverd voor de aanwezigheid van buitenaards leven op een exoplaneet, gebaseerd op biosignaturen zoals gassen en chemicaliën in de atmosfeer die mogelijk afkomstig zijn van organische wezens. Deze recente uitspraken hebben de speculaties en discussies over buitenaards leven naar een nieuw hoogtepunt gebracht. Sommigen beweren zelfs dat dit het begin zou kunnen zijn van wat wordt genoemd ‘openbaarmaking’, waarbij de mensheid voorzichtig wordt ingelicht over de mogelijke aanwezigheid van buitenaards leven, zonder de wereld te destabiliseren. In dit artikel verkennen we de opwindende ontwikkelingen en wat ze zouden kunnen betekenen voor ons begrip van het universum.”

{ https://sgxl.nl/ }

03-02-2024 om 18:19 geschreven door peter  

CHINESE WETENSCHAPPERS ONTWIKKELEN MATERIAAL DAT JE ONZICHTBAAR MAAKT!

Chimera

Het concept van materiaal dat onzichtbaarheid mogelijk maakt, is even intrigerend als het klinkt. Deze vinding gebruikt verschillende soorten geavanceerde voorwerpen die licht– en warmtegolven op slimme wijze manipuleren, waardoor het objecten bijna volledig uit het zicht kan onttrekken. Het is alsof je een kameleon, glaskikker, en baardagaam samenbrengt in één supermateriaal, waarbij elk dier zijn unieke camouflagevermogen bijdraagt aan deze baanbrekende uitvinding.

Materiaal dat Onzichtbaarheid Mogelijk Maakt

Deze technologie, die bijna onzichtbaar is voor warmtecamera’s, zou een grote impact kunnen hebben op hoe we ons verbergen voor radar en camera’s. Het is alsof je je eigen onzichtbaarheidsmantel hebt, rechtstreeks uit de sciencefictionfilms! De mogelijkheden van Chimera zijn enorm. In een militaire context kan het worden gebruikt om uitrusting of zelfs personen aan het zicht te onttrekken. Maar het kan ook worden ingezet voor natuurbehoud, waardoor wetenschappers dieren kunnen observeren zonder hun natuurlijke gedrag te verstoren.

Uitvinding van Chinese wetenschappers

Chimera, de recente uitvinding van Chinese wetenschappers, opent een wereld van mogelijkheden in onzichtbaarheidstechnologie. Van het verbergen van militair materieel tot het onopvallend bestuderen van dieren in het wild, de toepassingen zijn net zo gevarieerd als ze indrukwekkend zijn. Deze ontwikkeling laat zien hoe ver we zijn gekomen in het nabootsen van de wonderen van de natuur en hoe we deze kunnen gebruiken voor onze technologische vooruitgang. Het materiaal dat onzichtbaarheid mogelijk maakt, is niet alleen een stap vooruit in de wetenschap, maar ook een fascinerend voorbeeld van hoe de natuur onze grootste inspiratiebron blijft.

Check ook:

• Man gelooft dat hij onzichtbaar is, terwijl hij dat niet is

{ https://sgxl.nl/ }

03-02-2024 om 18:05 geschreven door peter  

AMERIKAANSE EX-MILITAIR BEWEERT 92 DAGEN ONTVOERD TE ZIJN DOOR ALIENS

Beeld: Pixabay 2857440

Buitenaardse ontmoeting?! Je speelt verstoppertje, valt in slaap, en wordt wakker in een buitenaards moederschip! Dit klinkt als het script voor een sciencefictionfilm, toch? Maar voor Alex Collier, een voormalige Amerikaanse legerhelikopterpiloot, was dit de realiteit – tenminste, dat beweert hij. Hij deelt een ongelooflijk verhaal over zijn ‘ontvoering’ door aliens, waarbij hij 92 dagen bij Andromedianen doorbracht, maar op aarde slechts 18 minuten vermist was. Klinkt bizar? Lees verder en oordeel zelf!

Een Onverwachte Reis naar de Sterren

Het avontuur van Alex begon toen hij als kind verstoppertje speelde in een maïsveld. Wat begon als een onschuldig spelletje, eindigde in een buitenaardse ontmoeting die de grenzen van onze verbeelding tart. Eenmaal aan boord van het Andromediaanse schip, kreeg Collier de kans om hun samenleving van dichtbij te observeren. Hij beschrijft het als een leerzame en unieke ervaring, bijna als een ‘vis in een kom’, waarbij hij net zo goed werd bestudeerd als dat hij zelf observeerde.

De Complexiteit van Buitenaardse Technologie

Collier doet uit de doeken over de geavanceerde technologieën van het schip, die onze huidige wetenschappelijke kennis ver overstijgen. Hij beschrijft hoe de fysieke en dimensionale wetten veranderen zodra je het schip betreedt, iets wat voor ons, aardbewoners, bijna onmogelijk te bevatten is.

Buitenaardse Ontmoeting

De buitenaardse ontmoeting van Collier was niet alleen een culturele onderdompeling in een andere beschaving, maar ook een reis door de complexiteiten van tijd en ruimte. Hij ondervond fysieke veranderingen en tijdreizen, een concept dat onze aardse wetten tart. Volgens zijn verhaal stond één dag bij de Andromedianen gelijk aan 31 dagen op aarde. Deze verhouding in tijd zorgde voor een uniek perspectief, waarbij Collier ervaringen opdeed die een leven lang leken te duren in een fractie van de tijd zoals wij die kennen. Deze ongewone tijdsdynamiek op het buitenaardse schip bracht hem in een wereld waar seconden zich uitstrekten tot uren, en uren tot dagen, een fascinerende verstoring van onze normale tijdsperceptie.

Fascinerend

Alex Collier’s buitenaardse ontmoeting is niet iets wat je elke dag hoort. Zijn beweringen over een ontmoeting met buitenaardse wezens en een verblijf van 92 dagen op een moederschip, terwijl hij op aarde maar 18 minuten weg was, roepen veel vragen op. Zijn verhalen over tijdreizen, buitenaardse technologie en interdimensionale ervaringen klinken als iets uit een film, maar voor hem was dit een realiteit. Of je het nu gelooft of niet, het is een fascinerend verhaal dat de grenzen van onze verbeelding en ons begrip van het universum oprekt.

Check ook dit huiveringwekkende verhaal van een vrouw die door aliens zou zijn ontvoerd:

Check ook:

• Limburgse vrouw: buitenaards bezoek op komst!

 { https://sgxl.nl/ }

03-02-2024 om 17:56 geschreven door peter  

5 GIGANTISCHE ASTEROÏDEN ZO GROOT ALS EEN VOETBALSTADION NADEREN DE AARDE

By thalena

Maak je je zorgen over wat deze week gaat brengen? Nou, hou je vast: er zijn 5 gigantische asteroïden onderweg naar de aarde! Maar voordat je in doemdagmodus schiet, geen paniek. Volgens NASA zullen deze ruimterotsen, waaronder eentje zo groot als een voetbalstadion, onze mooie blauwe planeet niet raken. Laten we hopen dat ze geen rekenfoutje hebben gemaakt en eens duiken in de details van deze kosmische voorbijgangers en ontdekken waarom we toch rustig kunnen slapen.

Niet Zomaar Een Steen

NASA houdt deze week 5 gigantische asteroïden in het vizier die onze richting uit komen. Onder hen bevindt zich een ware reus met een diameter van ongeveer 280 meter, vergelijkbaar met de omvang van een flink voetbalstadion! Hoewel de gedachte aan zo’n gigantische ruimterots misschien angstaanjagend is, is er gelukkig geen enkel gevaar voor een botsing met onze planeet. Deze asteroïden zullen ons op veilige afstand passeren, waardoor de aarde gespaard blijft van een potentieel catastrofale impact. Deze kosmische voorbijgangers bieden een unieke kans voor wetenschappers om meer te leren over de samenstelling en het gedrag van dergelijke ruimteobjecten.

Beeld: wikipedia

5 gigantische asteroïden

Deze asteroïden variëren in grootte, van zo groot als een vliegtuig tot een voetbalstadion, en hun afstanden tot de aarde zijn zowel indrukwekkend als veilig. De dichtstbijzijnde zal ons missen met 1,7 miljoen mijl, terwijl de anderen zelfs nog verder verwijderd zijn, wat ons een comfortabele veiligheidsmarge biedt en de kans geeft om deze fascinerende ruimterotsen van een afstand te observeren en te bestuderen.

Beeld: wikipedia

Hoe Dichtbij Is Dichtbij?

Voor wat perspectief: de gemiddelde afstand tussen de aarde en de maan is ongeveer 239.000 mijl. Deze asteroïden zullen dus aanzienlijk verder weg zijn, ruim buiten de baan van de maan. Dit betekent dat we, ondanks hun indrukwekkende grootte, geen Hollywood-achtige doemscenario’s hoeven te verwachten. Hun passage is een kans voor wetenschappers om meer te leren, terwijl wij veilig op aarde blijven.

Geen risico

Dus, daar heb je het: een hemelse parade van 5 gigantische asteroïden, met een als headliner die de grootte heeft van een voetbalstadion. Hoewel het een fascinerend kosmisch spektakel is, benadrukt NASA dat er geen risico is op een botsing met onze planeet. Deze week hoeven we dus niet te vrezen voor een doemdag-scenario. In plaats daarvan kunnen we genieten van de wonderen van ons zonnestelsel, veilig en wel vanaf onze eigen blauwe marmer.

Check ook:

• Asteroïde ‘Bennu’ mogelijk op ramkoers met aarde: ‘Kracht van 22 atoombommen’

{ https://sgxl.nl/ }

03-02-2024 om 17:44 geschreven door peter  

Countless robotic pioneers have explored the surface and atmosphere of Mars in incredible detail and continue to teach us whether Mars once had—or currently has—life. However, humans could provide an extra level of exploration since they won’t be hindered by waiting for instructions from Earth ground controllers, which can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes one way. If something goes wrong, human explorers can make on-the-spot decisions to find solutions, whereas robot explorers are faced with waiting for engineers back on Earth to find solutions, followed by sending instructions, and more waiting. Regarding technological advancements, a human mission will undoubtedly teach us how to live and work on Mars, and this includes testing shelters, food, bathroom facilities, and even combating the mental fatigue from being so far from Earth for a prolonged period. All things considered, what are the pros and cons of sending humans to Mars?

Dr. Bretzfelder tells Universe Today, “Pros are as above, and many examples of the benefits of humans in the field can be found in the history of the Apollo missions; instances where certain scientifically valuable rocks were collected due to the quick thinking and judgement of the astronauts. Cons include the difficulties involved in keeping astronauts alive and safe on a distant and environmentally complicated planetary surface. Additionally, the possibility of accidentally introducing terrestrial microbes to Mars is a potential risk.”

Whether it’s a robotic or human mission, NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection is responsible for ensuring that microbes don’t hitch a ride and contaminate extraterrestrial environments that we wish to explore, but especially to protect us from any microbes that could potentially be brought back to Earth.

Regarding the ongoing robotic exploration of Mars, there are presently seven active Mars orbiters from several nations teaching us more and more about the Red Planet and unlocking its secrets. On the surface, there are currently three active missions: NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, and China’s Zhurong rover. Past successful surface missions include NASA’s Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers, Mars Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Phoenix lander, and InSight lander. From marsquakes to finding evidence for past surface liquid water, each of these missions spent years unlocking the secrets of Mars, both above and below the surface. But what additional science could be conducted by a human mission compared to a robotic mission?

“As above, humans (within limits based on their suits and other equipment) have the ability to navigate terrain that may not be suitable for a rover or helicopter,” Dr. Bretzfelder tells Universe Today. “They also can make real time decisions in the field about sampling etc., meaning there is less delay in waiting for signals from mission control to guide the rovers. Humans are also very adaptable to changing conditions and can respond quickly to address any issues or unexpected situations during a mission.”

In terms of an actual human habitat on Mars, countless images, videos, movies, and television shows have depicted a human habitat on the Martian surface, with very little depiction of a human habitat below the surface. While this depiction might be for aesthetics, a habitat on the surface would provide ideal surveying and sampling conditions, along with far better communications with Earth. However, a habitat on the surface would also expose the crew to dangerous amounts of solar radiation since Mars does not possess either an ozone layer or magnetic field like the Earth, both of which protect us from solar storms and other cosmic rays.

In contrast, another type of human habitat could be below the surface, with past studies identifying the use of lava tubes for human settlements to shield them from the harmful solar radiation. However, any surface ventures could become tedious, along with communications with Earth becoming more complicated, even if a communications array was above-ground. Therefore, if humans were to travel to Mars, should it be above the surface or below?

Dr. Bretzfelder tells Universe Today, “An above surface mission, similar to the Apollo and upcoming Artemis missions would be the most feasible given the technology available and would limit impact to the Martian surface by simply operating above ground rather than excavating below ground. Samples or cores taken from depth may be scientifically valuable though.”

This discussion comes as NASA prepares to send humans back to the Moon as part of its Moon to Mars Architecture while SpaceX develops its Starship with the goal of sending humans to Mars, someday. China announced plans in 2021 to send their own astronauts to the Red Planet in 2033, with follow-up launches occurring every two years afterwards. Additionally, NASA has the goal of sending humans to Mars sometime in the 2030s.

“It is an exciting time to be able to seriously consider this type of exploration, and as we return to the Moon, we will likely learn valuable lessons to enable human exploration of Mars,” Dr. Bretzfelder tells Universe Today.

Will we ever send humans to Mars? Will such a mission achieve greater scientific objectives than the myriad of robotic missions sent to the Red Planet, and what could a human mission to Mars teach us about living and working so far from Earth? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!

• As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

02-02-2024 om 22:39 geschreven door peter  

Like the Moon and other airless bodies, Ryugu has no protective atmosphere and does not experience weathering or erosion. This ensures that craters caused by past impacts on its surface (which is directly exposed to space) are carefully preserved despite the passage of eons. These impacts generate intense heat that leaves behind melted patches of glass (aka. “melt splashes”), which quickly solidify in the vacuum of space. These impacts cause changes to the composition of the asteroid’s surface materials, revealing information about the history of impacts.

After analyzing the Ryugu samples, Matsumoto and her colleagues found melt splashes ranging in size from 5 to 20 micrometers. Their composition suggests they came from cometary sources that impacted Ryugu while it was in a near-Earth orbit. “Our 3D CT imaging and chemical analyses showed that the melt splashes consist mainly of silicate glasses with voids and small inclusions of spherical iron sulfides,” said Matsumoto in a recent Tohoku University news release. “The chemical compositions of the melt splashes suggest that Ryugu’s hydrous silicates mixed with cometary dust.”

Their analysis revealed small carbonaceous materials with a spongy texture indicative of nano-pores, small voids caused by the release of water vapor from hydrous silicates. This vapor was subsequently captured in the melt splashes, which also contained silicate glasses rich in magnesium and iron (Mg-Fe) and iron-nickel sulfides. The carbonaceous materials are similar in texture to primitive organic matter observed in cometary dust but differ in composition – lacking nitrogen and oxygen. Said Matsumoto:

“We propose that the carbonaceous materials formed from cometary organic matter via the evaporation of volatiles, such as nitrogen and oxygen, during the impact-induced heating. This suggests that cometary matter was transported to the near-Earth region from the outer solar system. This organic matter might be the small seeds of life once delivered from space to Earth.”

Looking ahead, the team hopes to examine more Ryugu samples that will provide further insights into how primitive organic materials were delivered to Earth billions of years ago. Similarly, scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center recently completed the careful process of removing the samples collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from their sample container. Analysis of these samples will reveal the composition and history of asteroid Bennu, another NEA that will provide vital information on how our Solar System evolved.

Further Reading: 

• Tohoku University, 
• Science Advances

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

02-02-2024 om 22:30 geschreven door peter  

Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt took control of a series of robots in Germany while on board the International Space Station, zipping around the Earth at 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,500 mph.) Researchers want to understand how time delays can affect the remote control of robots from an orbiting platform. Future astronauts could control rovers on the Moon’s or Mars’s surface from a spacecraft in orbit. Until now, only wheeled rovers have been part of the tests, but now they have added a dog-like robot called Bert.

This robot research session, called ‘Surface Avatar’ follows initial experiments carried out in July 2023. Wandt operated the robots from a control station in the space station’s Columbus module, commanding three different robots at the German Space Agency’s (DLR) Robotics and Mechatronics Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. The goal is to develop innovative technologies that will allow humans to control several robots with precision, and have them act semi- or fully autonomously and even have different robots perform a task together.

“Future stations on the Moon and Mars, including astronaut habitats, will be built and maintained by robots operating under the guidance of astronauts,” said Alin Albu-Schäffer, Director of the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, in a DLR article. “Our latest control and AI algorithms enable a single astronaut to command an entire team of different robots. Our DLR-ESA team is a world leader when it comes to this technology.”

The remote operation of the dog-like robot Bert was marked the first time a non-wheel-driven robot was controlled remotely from space by astronauts. Previously, DLR’s humanoid service robot Rollin’ Justin and ESA’s Interact Rover have been teleoperated from space.

During the session, Wandt, who is part of the private Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), was able to command Bert to utilize several types of gaits and, because of his leg-based locomotion, Bert was able to explore rough terrain, including small caves — areas that the rolling robots cannot reach. At one point, Wandt allowed Bert to explore the lab’s surroundings independently and monitor the terrain with his camera eyes. Meanwhile, Wandt operated Rollin’ Justin and the Interact Rover.

The time delay between the ISS and Earth is usually less than one second.

“That’s because my radio call comes from ISS first to White Sands in the USA,” explained German Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer, in a video from DLR. “From there it goes to Houston at NASA. From there it will be forwarded to Munich where our control center is in Oberpfaffenhofen.”

Maurer added that the delay experienced is like what sometimes happens on a Skype call, which occasionally has delays in communications. And of course, the round-trip delay time might be close to 2 seconds, which is deficiently noticeable, especially during conversations.

DLR said that future operations of robots and humans working together must be well planned out in order for them to work as a team. When building a habitat, for example, combining the different skills of several robots is very helpful.

Wandt also tested out this concept and for the first time two robots worked together to accomplish a task: Rollin’ Justin and the Interact Rover jointly installed a short pipe representing a scientific measuring device. Under the command of Wandt, Rollin’ Justin used his dexterous hands to safely grasp the pipe and carefully guide it to the measuring point. Wandt then used the Interact rover’s remote control to install the pipe held in position by Justin.

Robots have also been used in space on board the ISS. Robonaut is a joint DARPA–NASA project that created a humanoid torso robot to test out robotics in space. Additionally, three free-flying robots on the space station, known as Astrobees, support multiple demonstrations of technology for various types of robotic assistance on space exploration missions and on Earth.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

02-02-2024 om 22:20 geschreven door peter  

The habitable zone is a rather crude way to identify planets that may have liquid water. Its boundaries are unclear and even contradictory since stellar spectral type, planetary albedo, mass, and even how cloudy its atmosphere is can determine if a planet has liquid water.

The idea of a conservative habitable zone (CHZ) is more helpful. It comes from a 2014 paper by Kopparapu et al. It’s a region around a star where a rocky planet receives between 0.42 and 0.842 as much solar insolation as Earth does. Any rocky planet receiving that much energy is in the CHZ, regardless of distance.

Discovering a Super-Earth in a star’s CHZ is always exciting. It fuels our sense of wonder about other planets and the possibility that some may harbour other life. For that reason, they’re more intriguing than planets like Hot Jupiters for instance, which have zero possibility of hosting liquid water or life. Not even the hardiest extremophiles can survive a Hot Jupiter’s wicked environment.

But this discovery is also exciting for a couple of other reasons.

Now that we’ve discovered thousands of exoplanets, astronomers are seeing trends in the population. One of the things they noticed is a gap in the small planet population between 1.5 and 2 Earth radii. It’s known as the small planet radius gap or the sub-Neptune radius gap (also called the Fulton gap and the photoevaporation valley.) At 1.55 Earth radii, TOI-715b is inside the gap.

It’s extremely unlikely that no planets form in this radius gap. Planets must start out larger and lose mass to end up in the gap. So, the Fulton Gap tells us something about how some planets lose mass. Astronomers think that planets in the gap start out larger, but their stars strip away some of their mass by photoevaporation, shrinking them. That’s why it’s sometimes called the photoevaporation valley. There’s a lot of uncertainty around the valley and photoevaporation, and astronomers want to study planets in the valley to see what they can learn.

“The importance of the radius valley lies in its potential to teach us about planetary formation and post-formation evolution, and hence, planets inside this gap are crucial in furthering our understanding of the factors that sculpt it,” the authors explain.

There’s some uncertainty if this radius gap exists around M-dwarfs or not. It’s possible that M-dwarfs have a density gap rather than a radius gap. “A recent study by Luque & Pallé (2022), however, indicates that M-dwarf planets may have a density gap rather than a radius gap separating two populations of small planets (rocky and water worlds),” the authors write.

Whether it’s a radius gap or a density gap, TOI-715b should have something to tell us about exoplanets, photoevaporation, and the nature of exoplanet distribution around red dwarfs. But to discover what it has to tell us requires further, detailed observations. That’s the second reason wh

Ever since we started finding exoplanets, scientists have looked forward to the day when the James Webb Space Telescope is operational. “At long last, the era of JWST has arrived, and with it, the age of detailed exoplanetary atmospheric characterization,” the authors write in their paper. The JWST has the ability to observe the spectra of exoplanet atmospheres and determine their constituents. But even though the JWST is enormously powerful, some targets present better opportunities for transmission spectroscopy than others.

TOI-715b is a prime target because it’s close to its star. Since TOI-715 is a small red dwarf, and the planet orbits it every 19 days, the exoplanet’s transits in front of its star are deeper and more frequent. That means the JWST doesn’t need much time to observe the planet’s atmosphere, making it an efficient use of the space telescope’s time. “In the context of atmospheric characterization by transmission spectroscopy, bright, nearby M dwarfs are ideal planetary hosts as small temperate planets will transit frequently, enabling high signal-to-noise detections of atmospheric features with fewer hours of telescope time,” the authors explain.

Can this Super-Earth be habitable? Lacking the JWST’s spectroscopy, we’re reduced to speculating. It’s in the conservative habitable zone, but that doesn’t get us very far. Still, there are some hopeful signs.

TOI-715 is a little older than our Sun at about 6.6 billion years old. The star shows a “low degree of magnetic activity,” according to the authors. That’s probably why the star shows an absence of flaring in the TESS light curves compared to younger M-dwarfs. Red dwarfs are known to exhibit extremely powerful flaring that can sterilize planets. They can also strip away atmospheres, which could be responsible for the exoplanet photoevaporation valley.

Another planet may be orbiting TOI-715. It’s currently only a candidate named TIC 271971130.02, but if confirmed, it will be the smallest habitable zone planet TESS has ever found. But follow-up observations are needed to confirm it.

The TOI-715 system is a compelling target for further study. TOI-715b is waiting its turn, but eventually, the JWST will examine its atmosphere. If those results support habitability, astronomers’ excitement will only grow. At the same time, we may learn more about the radius or density gap, an obstacle to a more thorough understanding of exoplanets.

Add in the fact that the star may host another habitable zone planet, the smallest one found yet by TESS, and the TOI-715 system becomes even more important.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

02-02-2024 om 22:10 geschreven door peter  

Is this another Chinese spy balloon moment? Famous 'cube in a sphere' UFO spotted at military bases along the East Coast may have been a high-tech ENEMY drone, says ex-Pentagon UFO investigator dubbed 'Dr. Evil'

• The Pentagon's first ever UFO boss pointed to a Chinese-made 'spherical' drone in an uncut version of his new interview, made available to DailyMail.com 
• Retired UFO chief Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick was called 'Dr. Evil' for his laser research 
• READ MORE: UFO whistleblower held secret talk with 'Wall St. bigwigs' and CIA officials in Manhattan and claimed US was in possession of 40ft Tardis-like craft

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The Pentagon's former UFO chief has revealed his conclusion to one of the most famous UFO cases of the modern era: the Navy's baffling 'cube in a sphere' UFO was just a super high-tech drone.

US Navy fighter pilots had reported seeing these other-worldly craft near the Atlantic coast between 2014 and 2015, which nearly tore the wing off an F/A-18 Super Hornet that was flying with the USS Roosevelt during one incident.

Now Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the Pentagon's recently retired UFO chief, says that the objects were likely 'next generation,' 'spherical' drones that move 'very accurately.'

While not confirmed, his description matches a drone-prototype made public by Chinese researchers in 2022 — a silver orb with eight thrusters configured at the tips of an internal cube, making it capable of unprecedented mid-air twists and turns.

The case highlights why UFOs must be taken seriously and not be subject to ridicule, Kirkpatrick suggested. 

The Pentagon's departing UFO chief, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, cited public 'next generation' drone research by academics in Singapore in an effort to explain the Navy's 'cube in a sphere' UFO sightings. Above a 'SpICED (Cube)' drone prototype published by Chinese researchers in 2022

In an op-ed published by Scientific American last week, Dr. Kirkpatrick dismissed US Air Force veteran David Grusch as one of several 'conspiracy-minded 'whistleblowers'' on UFOs. He emphasized that the Pentagon's UFO mission should be focused on US foreign adversaries

Dr Kirkpatrick's new comments come ahead of the Pentagon's congressionally mandated 'Historical Record Report' on UFOs, due to lawmakers in June of 2024. 

DailyMail.com was given an early draft transcript of Dr. Kirkpatrick's appearance on Fresh Produce Media's 'In the Room with Peter Bergen,' in which the physicist delved deeper into the national security risk that has come from stigmatizing eyewitness reports of UFOs.

'That gap could potentially be exploited by somebody,' Dr. Kirkpatrick told Bergen, 'put a platform in [the] continental United States that nobody knew was there.'

A longtime laser physicist, Dr. Kirkpatrick's government service took him to the Air Force Research Laboratory, the CIA and a position at America's highly secretive spy satellite agency the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) before chasing UFOs.

The physicist's Air Force colleagues once nicknamed him 'Dr. Evil' after the laser-obsessed villain in the Austin Powers series of spy film spoofs. 

'One of my going away presents, as I was leaving the National Reconnaissance Office,' Dr. Kirkpatrick told CNN national security reporter Peter Bergen, 'was one of my close colleagues gave me a shark with a laser pointer strapped to its head.'

Dr. Kirkpatrick headed up the Pentagon's then-brand new All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) from July 2022 until the end of December 2023, leveraging his scientific expertise toward the tricky task of investigating military UFO cases.

Last May, Dr. Kirkpatrick briefed NASA's UFO advisory panel that AARO had logged roughly 800 cases of flying, spherical 'metallic orb' UFOs.

'This is a typical example of the thing that we see most of,' Dr. Kirkpatrick told the panel. 'We see these all over the world and we see these making very interesting apparent maneuvers.' 

It's unclear just how similar these metallic orbs may be to the UFOs first brought to public attention by former Navy lieutenant and fighter pilot Ryan Graves, who described them to Congress as 'a dark gray or black cube inside of a clear sphere.'

But Dr. Kirkpatrick told the podcast these otherworldly craft may very likely have been a foreign espionage platform.

'There's a large number of people, pilots, others, who have said, 'Hey, I saw this giant sphere. It had a cube in it,'' he said, ''I don't understand it. It must be an alien.''

Swiss-based drone maker Flyability has also been producing spherical 'gimbal' drones since at least 2015. Both Flyability and the Singapore-based makers of the SpICED drone cited collision safety as their reasoning for pursuing these aircraft's round designs - not airborne spying 

DailyMail.com has been given an early draft transcript of Dr. Kirkpatrick's appearance on the 'In the Room with Peter Bergen' podcast (above) in which the physicist discussed 'spherical' drones made by researchers in Singapore, comparing them to the US Navy's UFO sightings

'Well, actually, no, there's a number of papers out,' Dr. Kirkpatrick continued in this early, uncut draft of his podcast interview with CNN analyst Peter Bergen.

'The most recent one was from, University of Singapore, I believe, where the next generation of drones that are being built are spherical.'

'They've taken about a two-meter size, inflatable, and they put a cube inside of it,' Dr. Kirkpatrick continued. 'And everywhere the corner of the cube touches the sphere, they've fused it, cut it out, and put little thrusters in.'

READ MORE: 

• US Customs and Border Protection quietly released a tranche of 10 videos of mysterious 'craft' whizzing around US skies - as one senior ex-intelligence officer says they are a THREAT

US Customs and Border Patrol, the agency responsible for keeping terrorists and weapons out of the country, uploaded 10 videos that appear to show craft moving in strange ways in our skies. The videos document a fighter jet pursued by an apparently baffling flying orb, as well as something that appears to be a propeller-powered hang-glider, and another apparent orb hovering near a parked 16-wheeler truck

'So, now I have eight thrusters. And I can put cameras on it and anything else I want,' the ex-AARO chief told Bergen. 

'With eight thrusters in a cube configuration, I can maneuver this drone around very accurately.' 

Scientists with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in China did, in fact, prototype a spherical drone along these lines, dubbed the 'Spherical Indoor Coandă Effect Drone (SpICED)' in a September 2022 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Drones. 

The research team in Singapore noted that their new prototype, which benefited from an internal propulsion system with eight nozzles in a cube configuration, showed a promising 40 percent reduction in 'trajectory control error' during their test flights. 

The SUTD's 'cube in a sphere' drone prototype, they wrote, proved to be more swiftly and accurately maneuverable than their past internal 'tetrahedron' configuration.

But the Chinese-made drone is not the only novel unmanned spherical craft in production: Swiss-based Flyability has been producing 'spherical' drones since at least 2015, when it won a $1 million competition in the United Arab Emirates.

The makers of Flyability's 'gimbal' drone and the SpICED balloon drone both cited collision safety as their reasoning for pursuing these unmanned aircrafts' round designs — not high maneuverability for clandestine spying.  

But they are not the only actors pursuing this kind of aerospace research, according to AARO's departing director. 

'They've tried these all over the place,' Dr. Kirkpatrick said.

'There are a number of advanced technologies that are being commercialized that people don't recognize,' he said. 'Why they go immediately to 'this is extraterrestrial' is another conversation.'

While playing a 2022 military UFO video taken by an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Mid East, AARO director Dr. Kirkpatrick told NASA's UFO advisory panel last May, 'We see these ['metallic orbs'] all over the world, and we see these making very interesting apparent maneuvers'

Speaking to Bergen's podcast, Dr. Kirkpatrick emphasized that he sees more terrestrial, counter-intelligence and defense-oriented tasks as AARO's primary reason for being.

'The office's mission is not to prove the existence of extraterrestrials,' he said.  

'The office's mission is to minimize technical and intelligence surprise. That is the primary mission.'

The laser physicist noted that last February's Chinese spy balloon drama, when multiple objects were tracked and shot down within US and Canadian airspace, could be attributed to AARO's work focusing on anomalous aerial activities.

'Four major candidates' have been interviewed to replace Pentagon UFO boss, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick (above), an anonymous source told DailyMail.com, following heated public sparring between the former CIA physicist and UFO whistleblowers, who 'never did trust Sean,' according to one UFO whistleblower's attorney Daniel Sheehan  

For years, national security reporters have speculated that the Navy's 'cube in a sphere' UFOs might be related to a 1949 patent for an 'airborne radar reflector' (schematic above) filed with the US Patent and Trade Office by Washington DC resident Leon Chromak

In the past, Dr. Kirkpatrick said, 'in the long list of things that they need to be paying attention to, this one was at the bottom of that list.' 

'So, there is a gap — and no one fully, I think, appreciated until the last few years that that gap could potentially be exploited by somebody,' he explained, 'put a platform in, you know, [the] continental United States that nobody knew was there.' 

But Dr. Kirkpatrick's terrestrial approach during his 18-month tenure at AARO has not been without its critics — particularly over his very public disagreements with UFO whistleblower and fellow NRO veteran David Grusch. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick expanded his own criticisms of Grusch in his new interview with Bergen, describing him as someone who had 'fallen to the influence' of UFO 'True Believers' within the US military and private defense contractor Bigelow Aerospace, which investigated UFO cases on contract for the Pentagon from 2007 to 2012.

In a new op-ed published by Scientific American last week, Dr. Kirkpatrick further dismissed Grusch as one of several 'conspiracy-minded 'whistleblowers.'' 

Grusch, a former high-ranking US intelligence official, has accused the US military and its private contractors of illegally hiding evidence of crashed UFOs, recovered 'beings,' and even UFO-related deaths, both under oath to Congress and in the press. 

For their part, these same UFO whistleblowers have accused Dr. Kirkpatrick of fostering an 'atmosphere of disinterest,' while others have suggested his superiors are secretly holding back AARO's UFO investigation efforts. 

Daniel Sheehan, the Harvard-trained lawyer who represented UFO whistleblower Luis Elizondo in his complaint to the Pentagon's Inspector General, said last year to DailyMail.com, 'really knowledgeable' UFO whistleblowers 'never did trust Sean.' 

Instead, 'what they were doing is they were going straight through to the Senate Intelligence Committee,' Sheehan said. 

(To be sure, however, some military UFO witnesses have also described 'really positive' experiences with the Dr. Kirkpatrick's office.)

Scientists with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in China, published their prototype spherical drone (above) in a Sept. 2022 issue of the journal Drones. The cube configuration, they wrote, showed a 40 percent reduction in 'trajectory control error'

Swiss-based Flyability entered their own spherical drone (above) into a contest launched by the Prime Minister's Office of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE competition was billed as the 'World Cup of Drones,' with over 800 submitted entries from 57 countries

Flyability won $1 million in the UAE's 'Drones for Good' competition in 2015 for their 'gimbal'

In portions of Dr. Kirkpatrick's new podcast interview, which appear to have been cut before air, the retired government scientist commented that AARO's benefit to the US Intelligence Community (IC) was its latitude to conduct domestic surveillance 'We filled a gap,' he said

In portions of Dr. Kirkpatrick's podcast interview — which appear to have been cut before air — the retired government scientist commented that AARO's benefit to the US Intelligence Community (IC) was its latitude to conduct domestic surveillance.  

'We filled a gap,' Dr. Kirkpatrick said. 'The intelligence community is prohibited by law from observing [the] continental United States, right?' 

'And so, the only people that actually have authority to do that, really, are FBI, Homeland Security, [and] a few other counter-intelligence elements across the IC,' he noted, 'but that's pretty much it.'

'No one fully, I think, appreciated until the last few years that that gap could potentially be exploited by somebody [...] And that's where you ended up with Chinese balloons,' he said. 

When DailyMail.com reached out to Peter Bergen and a spokesperson for his podcast, the spokesperson noted that, based on conversations with the 'In the Room' team, 'those excerpts were cut for time.' 

'Episodes generally don't go over 45 minutes,' they said.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

02-02-2024 om 20:38 geschreven door peter  

Ieder mens is anders en dat geldt ook voor spiraalstelsels. De James Webb-ruimtetelescoop richtte zijn blik op negentien spiraalstelsels en trof verschillende structuren aan.

Op de foto’s zie je waar sterren, gas en stof zich bevinden in deze sterrenstelsels. De infraroodbeelden helpen wetenschappers om meer te weten te komen over spiraalstelsels. Zo kunnen computersimulaties verbeterd worden om zo meer inzicht te krijgen in de vorming en de evolutie van spiraalstelsels. En dat is handig, want ook ons eigen moederstelsel – de Melkweg – is namelijk een spiraalstelsel met een centrale balk.

Dankzij de NIRCam zijn miljoenen sterren gefotografeerd in deze negentien spiraalstelsels. Je kunt deze sterren herkennen als blauwe stipjes. Zie je heldere verdikkingen? Dit zijn sterrengroepen. Het MIRI-instrument van James Webb is gebruikt om het gloeiende stof tussen sterren in kaart te brengen. Dit instrument kan ook protosterren zien. Dit zijn sterren die nog niet volledig zijn gevormd en zich schuilhouden in cocons van stof. Verder zien astronomen grote, ronde schillen van gas. Deze zijn mogelijk ontstaan door geëxplodeerde sterren, oftewel door supernova’s.

Astronomen denken dat sterrenstelsels van binnenuit groeien. De eerste sterren ontstaan nabij het centrum en daarna spreidt stervorming naar buiten. Des te verder een ster is verwijderd van het centrum, des te groter is de kans dat het een jonge ster is. Op de foto’s zie je veel blauwe stippen nabij de centra van de sterrenstelsels, maar dit zijn oude sterren.

Hierboven waren al vier sterrenstelsels zichtbaar. Hieronder volgen de overige vijftien foto’s. Klik op de foto’s om een grotere versie te downloaden, bijvoorbeeld als achtergrond op je telefoon.

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

02-02-2024 om 20:16 geschreven door peter  

Ieder mens is anders en dat geldt ook voor spiraalstelsels. De James Webb-ruimtetelescoop richtte zijn blik op negentien spiraalstelsels en trof verschillende structuren aan.

Op de foto’s zie je waar sterren, gas en stof zich bevinden in deze sterrenstelsels. De infraroodbeelden helpen wetenschappers om meer te weten te komen over spiraalstelsels. Zo kunnen computersimulaties verbeterd worden om zo meer inzicht te krijgen in de vorming en de evolutie van spiraalstelsels. En dat is handig, want ook ons eigen moederstelsel – de Melkweg – is namelijk een spiraalstelsel met een centrale balk.

  NGC 1672 op 60 miljoen lichtjaar van de aarde.

Bronmateriaal

• "Webb depicts staggering structure in 19 nearby spiral galaxies" - ESA
  
• Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: ESA

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

02-02-2024 om 20:11 geschreven door peter  

Unveiling Our Cosmic Legacy: The Panspermia Hypothesis

In the grand tapestry of the cosmos, the origins of life on Earth have been a subject of endless fascination and inquiry. Among the myriad theories proposed by scientists and thinkers alike, one stands out with its bold assertion that we, the inhabitants of Earth, might not be solely of this world. This theory, known as panspermia, suggests that life’s seeds were not sown on the fertile grounds of Earth from scratch but were instead delivered from the vast reaches of space.

The Journey from the Stars

Panspermia posits that microscopic life forms, capable of surviving the harsh conditions of space, journeyed across the interstellar void, hitching rides on comets, asteroids, or meteorites, to find a new home on Earth. This journey, spanning possibly millions of years, could explain how life began on our planet. The theory challenges the traditional notion of abiogenesis, which argues that life arose independently on Earth through natural processes.

Microbial Astronauts: Evidence and Implications

Evidence supporting panspermia comes from the study of extremophiles—organisms that thrive in conditions previously thought to be uninhabitable. These resilient beings survive extreme temperatures, radiation, and vacuum, hinting at a possible extraterrestrial origin. Moreover, discoveries of organic molecules in comets and meteorites add credence to the idea that the building blocks of life could indeed travel across the cosmos.

VIDEO:

• The Why Files – We Are the Aliens | Life’s Interstellar Journey to Earth: Panspermia

• https://youtu.be/xxZLBncNRXs

The panspermia hypothesis also gains support from the analysis of ancient rocks on Earth that contain isotopic signatures and biogenic carbon, suggesting that life might have appeared on Earth much earlier than previously thought, possibly during the Hadean or Archean eons. These findings challenge the timeline of life’s emergence and open the door to the possibility that Earth’s first life forms were alien stowaways.

Directed Panspermia: A Galactic Gardening?

Taking the concept a step further, some propose the theory of directed panspermia, which suggests that life on Earth was not a mere accident but a deliberate act by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. This controversial idea implies that these cosmic gardeners seeded Earth with life for reasons unknown, perhaps as part of a galactic experiment or as a way to ensure the propagation of life throughout the universe.

Unraveling Our Origins

The implications of panspermia are profound, challenging our understanding of life’s origins and our place in the universe. If life on Earth indeed has extraterrestrial roots, it would suggest that the universe is teeming with life, much of it possibly sharing a common ancestry with us. It raises philosophical questions about the nature of life itself and the interconnectedness of all living beings across the cosmic expanse.

The Search Continues

While panspermia remains a hypothesis, the search for evidence continues. Space missions like the study of asteroids, comets, and the Martian surface aim to uncover more clues about the organic compounds present in our solar system. As our technological capabilities grow, so does our ability to probe deeper into the mysteries of life’s origins.

The panspermia hypothesis offers a tantalizing glimpse into our cosmic legacy, suggesting that we may indeed be aliens, our lineage tracing back to the stars. As we continue to explore the vastness of space and the depths of our own planet, we inch closer to understanding the true origins of life on Earth. Whether we find definitive proof of panspermia or not, the journey of discovery will undoubtedly shed light on the intricate and wondrous nature of life itself.

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

02-02-2024 om 17:41 geschreven door peter  

Arizona Man Filmed Huge Solid UFO In Phoenix Lights: MIB Took Video & Man Vanished

Frances Barwood, a member of the city council, opened an investigation into the incident. Since the military and local authorities had already managed to claim that the lights seen by the eyewitnesses were only flares, her coworkers thought her behavior was ludicrous.

Barwood received a call from Richard Curtis a few months later. He said right away that he had extremely detailed footage of the Phoenix Lights despite being an injured former soldier. He claimed that had personally captured them using high-quality equipment.

“He said you could see the shape. He said you could see how big it was in comparison to the surrounding buildings and everything. He described that the lights were gaseous. He was so excited that he had gotten all this on video,” Barwood recalled him telling her. Additionally, Curtis admitted to Barwood that he had no idea who else to call and that he trusted her.

Since the majority of the Phoenix Lights video footage up until this point had been merely specks of light on a dark background, Barwood was intrigued by this message. Curtis agreed to provide copies of the footage to Barwood’s office after she urged him to do so. However, days passed, and she did not receive films either by mail or by courier. “I thought he made this up. He didn’t have video, you know, all this stuff,” she said.

A week later, Curtis telephoned Barwood at her house and inquired about her thoughts on the films. Barwood informed him that she had not received them and expressed her amazement. Curtis continued by telling her that following their phone call, two men from her workplace stopped up at his home. The two “similar-looking” individuals were fully covered in black (three-piece black suits, black shoes, black hats, black suitcases, etc.). The men were not dressed in jackets or other gear, even though it was fairly chilly outside. It struck Curtis as weird.

He asked the men if they were from Barwood’s office and they confirmed it. Then they inquired about the Phoenix Lights videos, specifically to find out if Curtis had copied them. They responded that they would make copies for him themselves when he said he had not been able to. Curtis then handed them his videos and the two men left his house in a black sedan.

Barwood informed Curtis that she had no men in her office and that all of her staff were female. “I had no idea who these guys were. It sounds so bizarre. Nothing made sense to me,” Barwood recalled thinking. All of this infuriated Richard Curtis, who concluded that the authorities had misled him. In an interview with Phoenix TV, he discussed everything that had happened, including the “Men in Black” visit and that they took his videos.

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And shortly after that, when Barwood tried to call Curtis, she discovered that he was not answering. When she got to his apartment, he was not there, but the neighbors informed her that Curtis had supposedly taken a faulty medication and had been transported by ambulance to the hospital. There were no records of Curtis ever being admitted to any Phoenix-area hospitals when Barwood started looking for him there.

Barwood made the decision to have her phone lines checked by a professional when she questioned how the odd men even knew about the tapes. He visited her house and conducted his tests there. After that, he went outdoors. “He wouldn’t come back in the house. He came to the backdoor and said, “No, I’m not coming in. Yes, your phone is tapped, it’s a government tap,” she said.

Since the military and authorities insisted that the Phoenix Lights were nothing more than flares, Barwood was astounded to learn that someone in the US government had tapped her phones. Richard Curtis vanished without a trace.

It became a worldwide sensation throughout the course of the subsequent months. It was “the second biggest case in UFOlogy after Roswell,” according to the late Art Bell, host of the syndicated paranormal radio program Coast to Coast AM.

The bizarre light show, according to skeptics, was caused by man-made aircraft from Glendale’s Luke Air Force Base or other neighboring military installations conducting training drills. The Phoenix Lights, according to UFOlogists, were not of this world.

Below you can find a transcript from a FOX10 NEWS (Phoenix Lights) reported by Jim Schnabel: (Source)

Voiceover: Months after this (March 13) sighting there are many questions regarding the strange lights over Phoenix. Is this a solid craft, or merely lights in an empty sky? What could be the conclusive evidence is now mysteriously missing. Richard Curtis claims his home video is proof that this sighting was a huge flying craft. And he claims his video shows a solid object in the sky passing over his home.

Curtis: I saw the bottom part (of the craft) as it went over Phoenix, because the lights lit the bottom of it, and it partially blocked out the clouds and the stars. : voiceover: Curtis called city councilwoman Frances Emma Barwood, wanting to show her the footage. : (on screen: cut to a headshot of Barwood)

Barwood: He said he had it on two videotapes, and would I like them, so I said, “Of course I would.”, and could he give me copies of them. He said he would. I told him how to get them to my office and to mark them ‘personal and confidential’.

Voiceover: But before Curtis could send copies to Barwood, he’s paid a visit by two mysterious men in black. : Curtis:(voiced over MIB reenactments) They were dressed in black suits, with black hats and sunglasses. They asked me if I had tapes for councilwoman Barwood, and I said “Yah, they’re laying right here”. They said, “We’ve stopped by to pick them up.” So I said, “Great!” and just handed (the original tapes) to them.

Barwood: I didn’t get them, and I have no idea who these two men were since I have just females working in my office. It’s absolutely puzzling to me.

Voiceover: Did the tapes ever exist, and if so were they proof of more than “lights” in the sky? And who were these mysterious Men in Black who allegedly took them?

Curtis (voiced over): I think someone listened in on that phone call and wanted those tapes.

Barwood (voiced over): I can’t explain it. It’s just eerie. Voiceover: The mystery continues.

Source:

•  Encounter: UFO, Season 1, Episode 5, Episode aired Sep 21, 2021

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

02-02-2024 om 00:46 geschreven door peter  

Here, The Debrief looks at three of the past most promising warp drive models, along with one brand new physics concept called the “Tri-Space Model,” which may hold the key to making faster-than-light travel possible.

THE ORIGINAL: ALCUBIERRE/WHITE WARP DRIVE

While Alcubierre’s warp drive concept showed that traveling faster than light was mathematically possible, it was widely criticized for its massive power requirements and use of purely theoretical “exotic matter.” Still, many scientists and engineers were intrigued by his work, including former NASA engineer and physicist Dr. Harold G. “Sonny” White.

Hoping to move Alcubierre’s metric from theory into a published, canonical form, White first looked at the idea more closely in 2003.

“I started working in the (NASA) space program in 2000,” White told The Debrief in an interview. “While I was working in the space program, I was thinking about this Advanced Power propulsion. I was thinking about this Alcubierre Warp metric. You know, it was not published in its canonical form. And so, in 2003, I published a paper in the journal General Relativity and Gravitation.”

White immediately noted how Alcubierre’s math worked but also spotted areas he thought his own background in engineering and physics could improve the concept.

“Some things didn’t quite make sense to me, but by putting it into canonical form, helped me figure out ‘how does this concept really work?’, White told The Debrief. “From the process of not being at warp to being at warp… what would that look like when you look at the mathematics? And the only way I could see to answer the question is to put it in the canonical form in 2003, so that’s what I talked about in that paper.”

Theoretical Warp Bubble Structure

(Image Credit LSI)

Years later, White was asked by NASA to present his updated warp concept, leading to his 2011 paper and the warp drive concept now known as the “Acubierre/White Warp Drive.”

“I got asked to give a talk [about the warp drive] to DARPA and NASA at the DARPA 100-year Starship Symposium in 2011,” he told The Debrief. “I did a sensitivity study on the metric. I looked at what happens when you change the parameters and the mathematics.”

Specifically, White looked at the geometry of the classic warp drive model and found something that dramatically reduced the amount of energy required by Alcubierre.

“It basically comes down to how thick you make the toroidal ring and negative vacuum energy density,” he explained. “How thick or thin to make it, topologically? What does that do to the overall energy required? And so, during that work, I had no ‘objective’ objectives, per se, other than just to explore. In the process of doing that, I discovered that by making that ring a little thicker, instead of being like a wedding band wrapped around your finger, it’s a little bit more like a lifesaver, was key.”

In fact, White’s geometric adjustment to the classic model dramatically reduced the amount of exotic matter required to a much more manageable concept.

“By using that optimization technique, I was able to reduce the amount of exotic matter from a Jupiter-sized amount down to something about the size of the Voyager spacecraft,” said White. “So about two metric tons or just under two metric tons.”

As White notes, even a few tons of a theoretical substance like exotic matter is still unachievable by today’s scientists and engineers, but his changes definitely improved the ultimate viability of Alcubierre’s idea.

“Instead of just being mathematically possible in our work, we potentially move it into the category of maybe it’s plausible,” he noted with a lighthearted shrug. “There are now two metric tons of this stuff we’re not quite sure exactly how to make.”

White’s views about the feasibility of warp drives and their related effects have garnered a fair amount of attention from critics over the years. Among them is astrophysicist Ethan Siegel who, while remaining skeptical of White’s claims, has noted that the warp drive concept “remains an interesting possibility and one worthy of continued scientific investigation, but one that you should remain tremendously skeptical about given the current state of affairs.”

THE LENTZ DRIVE

A decade after White updated the original warp drive concept, reducing the need for exotic matter down from a Jupiter-sized amount to a few tons, another scientist named Dr. Eric W. Lentz decided to take a stab at his own warp drive concept. Published in 2021, his paper “Breaking the warp barrier: hyper-fast solitons in Einstein–Maxwell-plasma theory” lays out a whole new warp drive concept. And unlike Alcubierre and White, Lentz believed that his faster-than-light warp drive model could be accomplished in a completely new and different way.

“The Alcubierre solution provided an intuitive picture of what a warp drive would do: contract the space immediately in front of the central region containing the ship or transport, and expand the space immediately behind,” Dr. Lentz explained in an email to The Debrief. “This gives us the picture of the warp drive as a wave of curvature on which a ship will ride to its destination.”

However, Lentz explains, “this picture is not an essential feature of a warp drive.” Instead, he says, a solution proposed by physicist Jose Natario back in 2002 showed that the expansion and contraction weren’t necessary to transport the ship forward. That work, says Lentz, was critical to forming his own theory, one where a warp field could be created using only traditional matter and not exotic matter.

“[Natario] showed that the expansion could be trivial (zero) everywhere and still perform the same task of transporting a ship,” Lentz told The Debrief. This is a significant breakthrough, he says, because it means that exotic matter that warps the space in front of the theoretical passenger, as well as behind them (as depicted in nearly all theoretical warp drive solutions), is no longer needed to achieve faster-than-light travel.

Could dark matter allow physicists a path toward overcoming the challenges of faster-than-light travel?

(Credit: ESO)

“In the Alcubierre solution, the energy density and curvatures are maximally separated, with the energy being restricted to a small torus between the regions of high contraction and expansion,” Lentz told The Debrief, once again evoking the classic image of the Alcubierre Warp model. “The curvatures and sources in my proposal are instead highly correlated, with the regions of high energy density and high expansion and contraction overlapping almost exactly.”

As his published paper explains, “This is the first example of hyper-fast solitons resulting from known and familiar sources, reopening the discussion of superluminal mechanisms rooted in conventional physics.”

Lentz does freely admit that his theory is somewhat novel, even in this highly theoretical arena. “The expansion factor in my proposal is stranger still [than in Natario or Alcubierre], having regions of large expansion and contraction of space surrounding the central region containing a ship.”

Still, the issue of power requirements is not totally solved by Lentz, although he told The Debrief there is some hope in this area.

“There are a number of very effective energy-saving mechanisms for the Alcubierre drive described in the literature,” he explained. “The challenge would be to either modify these mechanisms to operate using only conventional sources, [like his proposed theory which does not require exotic matter] or to innovate novel energy saving techniques.”

In other words, if these proposed energy reduction techniques don’t work on his drive concept due to the lack of exotic matter, a legitimate concern, then an entirely new solution, the likes of which has not yet been proposed, would need to be found. Fortunately, Lentz says, his drive already accomplishes some of that goal since “not all the energy needs to come directly from the reactor, as we expect much of the energy sourcing the bubble to come from the particles’ rest masses.”

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

01-02-2024 om 23:25 geschreven door peter