Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS NEARLY 13 YEARS AND 4 MONTH.
ON /30/09/2024 MORE THAN 2.230.520
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
04-06-2024
JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE DISCOVERY UNVEILS EARLIEST KNOWN GALAXY IN THE UNIVERSE, AND A FEW SURPRISES
JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE DISCOVERY UNVEILS EARLIEST KNOWN GALAXY IN THE UNIVERSE, AND A FEW SURPRISES
Astronomers have discovered a pair of extremely distant celestial objects with help from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), one of which is believed to be the earliest known galaxy detected.
Dubbed JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1, these distant galaxies were revealed during the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) campaigns and may provide astronomers with crucial new insights into some of the earliest galaxies that formed in our universe.
Significantly, the new findings also challenge past assumptions about these formation processes, a trend that has continued since Webb first began operating.
Using the telescope’s NIRSpec instrument during observations of three candidate galaxies at redshifts greater than 14, the research team involved with the study was able to perform deep measurements of the spectra generated from interactions between matter and radiation in these ancient star systems.
Selected from observations in a region of the Fornax constellation identified within the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) south field, this grouping of galaxies was initially identified by the Hubble Space Telescope and Cycle 1 JWST/NIRCam data, which at the time pointed to a less than 1% chance that they were low-redshift “interlopers.”
Of the two galaxies, JADES-GS-z14-0 is the brightest and was found near a foreground galaxy, which introduced some initial complications in the team’s assessments. With time, Webb’s NIRCam observations of the region helped to dismiss the possibility of this premise, thanks to “additional deep medium-band NIRCam observations that substantially strengthened the case for the source being at high redshift,” the authors write in a new paper detailing their findings.
Detailed spectroscopy helped the team affirm the presence of a spectral line of hydrogen known as the Lyman-α break, placing the galaxies at redshifts of approximately 14.
After Webb’s NIRSpec camera also revealed that the faintest of the candidate galaxies had not been significantly detected, the team shifted their attention to JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1, galaxies whose spectra showed a clear flux density break. This information also helped the team to confirm the high redshift of these galaxies.
Ultimately, redshifts of 14.32 for JADES-GS-z14-0 and 13.90 for JADES-GS-z14-1 were determined, revealing spectrographic signatures suggestive of very young stars and relatively low dust in these galaxies, which astronomers recognize as being traits associated with the early universe.
Additionally, JADES-GS-z14-0 appears to display a pronounced distribution of ultraviolet (UV) light when compared with other very bright galaxies, likely due to its size. The team says this points to a spatially extended stellar population, as opposed to a dominant active galactic nucleus (AGN), denoting the small region near the heart of many galaxies which is brighter than astronomers would expect to result from the luminosity of stars alone.
In some cases, the high luminosity of this central region can overpower the rest of the light generated by such galaxies. However, in the case of JADES-GS-z14-1’s UV emissions, the team involved with the new study says they appear to point to stellar rather than AGN dominance.
Another significant finding is that the masses of these galaxies appear to have grown rapidly from redshift 20 to 14, which is also suggestive of early star formation activity. This, along with the relatively low dust present in these galaxies, is believed to originate from a few possible factors that may include galactic outflows.
Ultimately, the discovery of these very early galaxies is providing compelling new data that points to the much earlier existence of these massive galaxies than many astronomers previously thought, although that isn’t to say that no one had expected such discoveries.
Still, such ongoing discoveries, made in large part with the help of the JWST, fundamentally support the reality that our existing notions about galaxy formation require a bit more work. With ongoing observations of the most distant and early regions of our universe, astronomers hope to deepen our understanding of the ‘Cosmic Dawn,’ where the first galaxies were born, in the years ahead.
The team’s new paper, “A shining cosmic dawn: spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at z ∼14,” was uploaded to the preprint arXive.org server and can be read online.
Back in December, NASA officials, space industry experts, members of the academic community, and science communicators descended on Washington, D.C., for the Achieving Mars Workshop X (AM X). This workshop is hosted by Explore Mars Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing leading experts from disparate fields together to contribute to creating the first crewed missions to Mars. On May 17th, the results of this year’s workshop were summarized in a report titled “The Tenth Community Workshop for Achievability and Sustainability of Human Exploration of Mars.”
Erik Antonsen, Bruce Jakosky, and Lisa May co-chaired the workshop, which took place from December 5th to 7th at George Washington University. Antonsen is the CTO of Advancing Frontiers, a consulting company providing spaceflight integration services, and an Associate Professor of Space Medicine and Emergency Medicine with the Center for Space Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). Jakosky is a Professor Emeritus of Geological Sciences and the Associate Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at UC Boulder. May is the Chief Technologist for Lockheed Martin’s Commercial and Civil Space Advanced Programs.
As always, the workshop featured presentations and discussions that addressed the challenges, benefits, and ongoing efforts to realize the human exploration of Mars. But this year was special in several ways, not just because it was the tenth anniversary of the AM series. In addition, AM X took place during an auspicious time for NASA, space agencies, international organizations, and commercial space companies supporting human spaceflight. Between the impending return to the Moon through the Artemis programs and uncertainties about the first crewed missions to Mars, there was a lot to discuss!
For instance, last year’s workshop (AM IX) addressed the pressing question of whether NASA would be able to mount a crewed mission to Mars by 2033. This has been a key aspect of NASA’s Moon-to-Mars (M2M) mission architecture, detailed in the agency’s annual Architecture Concept Reviews (ACRs). It is also in keeping with Explore Mars’ goal of advancing the “human exploration of Mars and beyond no later than the 2030s.” Alas, in recent years, there has been growing skepticism that several key technologies will be ready to meet this deadline.
As Universe Today reported at the time, these doubts were raised at AM IX, and there was no consensus regarding potential solutions. This included the possibility of a flyby mission by 2033 and whether or not a nuclear-thermal propulsion (NTP) system, which can potentially reduce transit times to Mars (45 to 100 days), would be ready in time. In addition, there were the comments of Deputy Administrator Jim Reuters, who acknowledged that sending astronauts to Mars by 2040 was “an audacious goal for us to meet… It may sound like a lot, but it is [a] very short time to develop technologies we need to develop.”
As with previous AM workshops, cooperation and effective communication were emphasized. This includes coordinating robotic and human spaceflight missions and broader cooperation between space agencies, government, and industry. A key concern that was identified was the process through which NASA’s mission architecture evolves. While participants agreed that the M2M ADD “provides a strong starting point for an iterative architecture process,” they also concluded that the development process was insufficient. As stated in the AM X Report:
“Participants observed that despite recent progress, existing channels were insufficient to adequately integrate human capabilities and limitations as well as science objectives into the architecture development process. Similarly, sustainable human exploration of the Moon and Mars will not occur unless science and human exploration objectives are infused early and continuously into the systems engineering processes.”
To address these concerns, the workshop participants came up with four recommendations for improving existing channels and the architecture development process. They include:
Public Outreach & Involvement
First, the AM X Workshop Report recommended that public interactive forums be more frequent to develop inputs to NASA’s Architecture Definition Documents. The communities emphasized for engagement include operations, human research, science, international organizations, and others “that empower cross-disciplinary teaming, welcome broad participation from external experts, and provide a pathway to incorporate community recommendations and findings into Mars mission planning.”
The need to coordinate with diverse science communities to prioritize and narrow science objectives was also noted, as was the possible need for certification paths for external groups “to provide input in smaller settings and more frequently than once a year at the ACR.”
The Report also emphasizes the need for initiatives and workshops that focus on the development and integration of “intelligent systems” and “data analytics” that will be critical for missions operating farther from Earth for extended periods. According to NASA’s mission architecture, this applies to Phase III of the Moon to Mars plan (aka. “Earth Independent”), where operations will shift from cislunar to deep space. This will include transits to and from Mars using the Deep Space Transport (DST) and science operations on the Martian surface.
Risk Mitigation
Second, the Report acknowledges the historical trend where certain priorities (like discovery science, technology, and infrastructure development) are often sacrificed for short-term needs. To this end, it is recommended that NASA acknowledge and address tensions between scientific investment for “risk mitigation purposes and investment for discovery science in planning for M2M missions.” While there is no reference to the sacrifices made to realize the Artemis Program and a return to the Moon by 2024, there are some hints that this could be the case.
The shifting priorities brought about by the expedited timetable have led to the deprioritizing of mission elements crucial to reaching Mars by the 2030s – like the Lunar Gateway. As acting Deputy Administrator Doug Loverro explained in March of 2020 during a NASA Advisory Council science committee, the Gateway was deprioritized to “de-risk” Artemis so NASA could focus on meeting the mandatory goals of Artemis and its 2024 deadline. Meanwhile, no design or feasibility studies have been performed for the DST or a Mars orbital habitat (a la the Mars Base Camp) since 2018/19, coinciding with the Artemis “shake-up.”
Regardless, the Report cites the need for increased funding to ensure “technology maturation, demonstration, and infusion to incorporate capabilities.” This is understandable, given that budget concerns have been an issue since NASA began planning missions to the Moon and Mars. In addition to speeding the development of technology, an increase in funding is also desirable to incorporate rapidly advancing technologies such as “artificial intelligence, data management, in-space manufacturing,” and others that are still relatively early in the development process.
Another important factor emphasized here is Health and Human Performance (HPP), which clearly refers to strategies for mitigating the health risks associated with deep space transits. These include extended periods spent in microgravity and long-term exposure to elevated levels of solar and cosmic radiation. To date, NASA has explored multiple possibilities for addressing these concerns, but no concrete plans have emerged just yet.
Evolving Architectures
Further to Recommendation I, the Report states that NASA and commercial companies invested in Mars exploration should continue designing “evolvable mission and campaign architectures.” The purpose of this is to allow for new technologies to be incorporated along the way and prevent the current state of technology from limiting plans. As per the Report, this will help ensure that “we do not design architecture and hardware applicable only for the first mission without allowing both to evolve for subsequent missions.” To this end, NASA and commercial industries are encouraged to:
Develop common standards, requirements, and interfaces to allow the incorporation of multiple technologies, capabilities, and/or solutions as technology progresses over the next two decades.
Create and implement a Human and System Readiness Level verification process to assess if the human, hardware, software, and planning systems are sufficiently mature as an integrated system.
Ensure that the architecture is sufficiently flexible that it can address a wide range of missions beyond the first one.
Commercial Partnerships
Finally, the Report encourages NASA to continue investing and cooperating with commercial partners to realize lunar capabilities and technologies that will help them reach Mars. This goes to the heart of the M2M mission architecture, which prioritized a return to the Moon during the 2020s to develop the necessary technologies, systems, and expertise to create a pathway to Mars by the 2030s. “The Moon is how we learn to get to Mars,” it reads, “and we want companies thinking not just about getting to the Moon but, at the same time, how getting there prepares us for the more challenging missions to Mars.”
****
As usual, the prospect of sending crewed missions to Mars raised many concerns at this year’s workshop. This should come as no surprise, as the goal itself is incredibly ambitious and presents many major challenges. If there is a takeaway from this year’s workshop, it is that there is plenty of work to be done before a mission can be realized. This work must take place at the architectural level, emphasizing wider public engagement, advancing technologies, and a commitment to long-term goals.
Life Probably Played No Role in Mars’ Organic Matter
The Martian surface shows ample evidence of its warm, watery past. Deltas, ancient lakebeds, and dry river channels are plentiful. When the Curiosity rover found organic matter in ancient sediments in the Jezero Crater paleolake, it was tempting to conclude that life created the matter.
However, new research suggests that non-living processes are responsible.
There are three carbon isotopes on Earth: carbon-12 (12C), carbon-13 (13C), and carbon-14 (14C). Earth’s carbon is almost entirely carbon-12. It makes up 99% of the carbon on Earth, with carbon-13 making up the other 1%. (14C is extremely rare and unstable, so it decays into nitrogen-14.)
In 2022, MSL Curiosity took an inventory of organic carbon in sediments at Gale Crater. Organic carbon is usually described as carbon atoms bonded covalently to hydrogen atoms and is the basis for organic molecules. The carbon in organic carbon can be either carbon-12 or carbon-13, and the amounts are important. At Gale Crater, Curiosity found about 200 to 273 parts per million of organic carbon. “This is comparable to or even more than the amount found in rocks in very low-life places on Earth, such as parts of the Atacama Desert in South America, and more than has been detected in Mars meteorites,” said Jennifer Stern, a Space Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center when the results came in.
This carbon is important evidence in understanding Mars’ history. It can tell scientists about the planet’s atmospheric processes and environmental conditions and even shed light on potential life. In fact, understanding Martian carbon can aid our understanding of habitability and prebiotic chemistry on distant exoplanets. The isotope ratio in this carbon is different than on Earth. It has a lower amount of carbon-13 relative to carbon-12 compared to Earth. Why the discrepancy?
In recent research in Nature Geoscience, a team of researchers tried to understand the difference between Earth’s and Mars’s carbon isotope ratios. The work is titled “Synthesis of 13C-depleted organic matter from CO in a reducing early Martian atmosphere.” The lead author is Yuichiro Ueno, a biogeochemist in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
“Strong 13C depletion in sedimentary organic matter at Gale crater was recently detected by the Curiosity rover,” the authors write. “Although this enigmatic depletion remains debated, if correct, a mechanism to cause such strong 13C depletion is required.”
The amount of carbon-13 in the Martian sediments is far lower than in Earth’s sediments.
“On measuring the stable isotope ratio between 13C and 12C, the Martian organic matter has a 13C abundance of 0.92% to 0.99% of the carbon that makes it up,” lead author Ueno explained in a press release. “This is extremely low compared to Earth’s sedimentary organic matter, which is about 1.04%, and atmospheric CO2, around 1.07%, both of which are biological remnants and are not similar to the organic matter in meteorites, which is about 1.05%.”
The meteorite data is important because a four billion-year-old Martian meteorite named ALH 84001 is enriched in carbon-13, adding to the enigma of Mars’ carbon. Somehow, carbon-13 became depleted in the intervening billions of years. Solar escape is one possible reason for the carbon-13 depletion, but the authors discount that. There likely wasn’t enough time for enough carbon-13 to escape. “Furthermore, based on geomagnetic observations, early Mars probably had a geomagnetic field before 4?Ga,” the authors write. That field would’ve prevented solar escape.
To determine what’s behind this discrepancy, Ueno and his co-researchers simulated different Martian atmospheric conditions to see what would happen.
Their results show that isotope fractionation by solar UV light is responsible for Mars’ 13C depletion.
Carbon-12 and carbon-13 respond differently to UV light. Carbon-12 preferentially absorbs UV, which dissociates it into carbon monoxide that’s depleted in carbon-12. What’s left behind is CO2 enriched with carbon-13.
Scientists have observed this process in the upper atmospheres of Earth and Mars. In Mars’ reducing atmosphere, where oxygen was depleted, the CO2 enriched with carbon-13 would’ve transformed into formaldehyde and possibly methanol. But those compounds didn’t remain stable. In Mars’ early days, the surface temperature was close to the freezing point of water, and it never exceeded about 27 Celsius (80 F.) In that temperature range, the formaldehyde and other compounds could’ve dissolved in water. From there, they gathered in sediments.
But that’s not the end of Mars’ carbon isotope story.
The researchers used models to show that in a Mars atmosphere with a CO2 to CO ratio of 90:10, 20% of the CO2 would have converted to CO, leading to the sedimentary carbon isotope ratio we see today. The remaining atmospheric CO2 would be higher in C-13, and both values are in line with what Curiosity found, and with the ancient Martian meteorite ALH 84001.
This is a plausible scenario that can explain Curiosity’s curious carbon findings.
The team’s study also includes some other important details. For instance, atmospheric CO may not have come solely from photolysis by UV light. Some could have come from volcanic eruptions. And atmospheric CO may not have been the sole source of organics that found their way into the sediments. But either way, the results tell scientists something about Mars’ carbon cycle.
It also tells us to expect to find more organics in Martian sediments in the future.
“If the estimation in this research is correct, there may be an unexpected amount of organic material present in Martian sediments. This suggests that future explorations of Mars might uncover large quantities of organic matter,” said Ueno.
While the research shows us that life needn’t be present to produce these organics, it can’t rule life out. Nobody can, at least not yet.
The research also shows how complex atmospheric chemistry can be and how difficult it can be to draw conclusions from atmospheric studies of exoplanets. The JWST has examined several exoplanet atmospheres and found some interesting results. But there’s so much we don’t know. This research is a reminder that any conclusions are likely premature.
Wat zouden we kunnen doen als we een extra duim hadden? Robotica laat het ons zien door een apparaat te maken dat blijkbaar heel gemakkelijk te gebruiken is.
Zijn twee duimen niet genoeg? Daar zorgt robotica voor
Dani Clode Design / The Plasticity Lab
Tien vingers in totaal, waarvan slechts twee duimen, is misschien niet genoeg, zelfs als we ons daar niet van bewust zijn. Gedreven door de overtuiging dat “meer beter is” wilden wetenschappers van de Universiteit van Cambridge de menselijke hand een extra verlengstuk geven. Robotisch natuurlijk. Deze sector wordt steeds populairder en ontwikkelt een reeks gemotoriseerde draagbare apparaten. Het doel? Door de grenzen van de menselijke anatomie te overwinnen en de motorische vaardigheden te implementeren die we nodig hebben om de prestaties te verbeteren, en om ondersteuning te bieden aan mensen met bewegingsproblemen.
Tamara Makin van de Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit van de Medical Research Council aan de Universiteit van Cambridge legt uit: “De technologie verandert onze definitie van wat het betekent om mens te zijn, waarbij machines steeds meer een onderdeel van ons dagelijks leven worden. Deze technologieën bieden opwindende nieuwe mogelijkheden waar de samenleving profijt van kan hebben, maar het is van cruciaal belang om te overwegen hoe ze alle mensen in gelijke mate kunnen helpen."
De robotiche derde duim: hoe werkt het
University of Cambridge/Youtube screenshot
De Derde Duim, de specifieke naam van het apparaat, is ontwikkeld door Dani Clode, die meewerkt in het laboratorium van Makin. Het gaat om een extra robotische duim die de bewegingsmogelijkheden vergroot, waardoor zowel het grijpvermogen van de hand als de last die deze kan tillen en dragen toeneemt. Met andere woorden: het maakt het mogelijk om handelingen uit te voeren die met één hand moeilijk of onmogelijk zijn.
Het apparaat wordt aan de andere kant van de hand gedragen dan de natuurlijke duim en wordt bestuurd door een druksensor die onder de grote tenen wordt aangebracht. Druk van de rechterteen verlengt de robotische duim, terwijl druk van de punt van de linker grote teen deze dichter bij de vingers brengt. De kracht van de druk bepaalt de bewegingssnelheid, evenals de terugkeer van het apparaat naar zijn oorspronkelijke positie. Wetenschappers testten de Derde Duim in 2022 tijdens de Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, waarbij enkele leden van het publiek betrokken waren die de kans hadden om het uit te proberen.
Inclusieve robotische duim: geschikt voor iedereen en eenvoudig in gebruik
University of Cambridge
592 deelnemers in de leeftijd van 3 tot 96 jaar waren in staat om de sensor gedurende vijf dagen te bewegen. Slechts vier deelnemers hadden hier echter moeite mee, omdat het prototype dat op de tentoonstelling werd gepresenteerd niet geschikt was voor de handgrootte van kleine kinderen, noch voor de sensor. In de overgrote meerderheid van de gevallen lukte het de proefpersonen om de duim te bewegen tijdens de minuut die beschikbaar was om hem te testen, geleid door de instructies van het team. De test bestond uit het oppakken van voorwerpen met alleen de Derde Duim, inclusief het oppakken van pinnen van een geperforeerd paneel en deze één voor één in de mand te verplaatsen, om er zoveel mogelijk te verzamelen binnen 60 seconden. Meer dan de helft van de deelnemers slaagde daarin.
Uiteindelijk was 98% van de deelnemers in staat om de objecten naar tevredenheid te verplaatsen, ongeacht verschillen in achtergrond en geslacht. Kinderen en ouderen toonden een vergelijkbaar vaardigheidsniveau, waarbij oudere volwassen deelnemers minder vaardigheid vertoonden vanwege hun leeftijd. Zoals Dani Clode uitlegde: "Gezien de diversiteit van lichamen is het cruciaal dat de ontwerpfase van draagbare technologie zo inclusief mogelijk is, zodat deze apparaten toegankelijk en functioneel zijn voor een breed scala aan gebruikers."
There are behemoths that lurk at the center of almost all large galaxies in the known universe, including the sleepy giant in our Milky Way.
These are supermassive black holes, and they’ve been critical to the universe’s evolution. A newstudy, published today in the journal Nature, offers a fascinating new method to measure their spins. This ability could help astronomers flesh out how our universe came to look as it does today.
Back in 2020, astronomers noticed some strange activity. Using the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, they detected telltale signs that a star was going through what scientists call a tidal disruption event, in which an intense field of gravity rips a star apart. Tidal disruption events really only come from one thing: monster black holes. They realized what they were witnessing was a big black hole feasting on a star.
Astronomers observed the black hole in detail using the International Space Station’s NICER telescope, which is short for Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer. They found a few interesting details. Every 15 days, the supermassive black hole experienced a shift in X-ray intensity, and this pattern remained steady for the entirety of the four months they studied it.
From this, they were able to estimate the spin speed of the black hole. Finding such a specific detail about an object lurking roughly a billion light-years away is impressive. But the researchers say this new technique might be able to help solve some riddles about how the universe came to be. Specifically, how the hearts of galaxies evolved from Cosmic Dawn to today.
The supermassive black hole of the new study behaves somewhat like a kid swaying their hips to move a hula hoop. From the motion of the toy — in this case, the ring of shredded gas from the victim star — helped astronomers observe how the object’s intense gravity warps space-time to affect the disk. Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape them. But accretion disks around the black holes do emit light. They trace the path of this space-time warp. The black hole creates a drag called Lense-Thirring precession, and from this, astronomers deduced the spin speed.
This isn’t the first time that astronomers have derived the spin measurements of supermassive black holes and smaller black holes. But according to the lead author of the new study, MIT research scientist Dheeraj Pasham, this was the first time that the black hole’s warp of the space-time, paired with the luminosity of the accretion disk of an otherwise invisible object, led to finding the black hole’s spin speed.
The team owe much of their accomplishment to this black hole being a great candidate for study. It helped that the black hole was tilted towards Earth, letting astronomers investigate the X-rays clearly. NICER also has an easier job if it’s targeting objects in the direction of Earth’s poles, where the Sun can’t obstruct. The black hole is in the polar part of our sky, fortunately.
The spin speed of the black hole is a fingerprint. An abundance of slow-spinning black holes would mean frequent chaotic mergers between black holes — and the galaxies they reside in. “You’re dumping angular momentum in random orientations, and essentially spinning down the remnants,” Pasham tells Inverse.
“The other scenario is, let’s say you find most of the black holes are fast-spinning as close to the speed of light, that means they grew by accretion. Like a spinning top,” Pasham added. Over time, the balls of gas pulled in towards the black hole sped it up a little more.
This new research, along with discoveries emerging from a myriad of new telescopes taking flight soon, the universe’s history may not stay so hidden for long.
If there were a recipe for Kuiper Belt’s sweetest dwarf planet, it would look something like this: Take one 22-mile long, figure-8-shaped blob of mixed ice, and add a heaping pour of methanol. Bombard with cosmic rays and solar wind for about 2 billion years, until it reaches a nice reddish color. Serve chilled to -390 degrees Fahrenheit.
A recent study found that Arrokoth, a weirdly-shaped dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, gets its distinctive reddish coloration from complex hydrocarbon molecules, which form when cosmic rays and solar wind bombard the tiny world’s frozen methanol surface. The same chemical reactions that spawn those hydrocarbons also produce sugars like glucose and glycerol, which means that if you licked Arrokoth, it would probably taste sweet, but also a little like soap. (Please don’t try this, because methanol is poison, and also you shouldn’t open your spacesuit helmet in a vacuum. Safety first!)
Zhang and colleagues froze a slab of methanol and carbon monoxide to around -390° Fahrenheit, or about 40 Kelvin, in their lab, then blasted it with high-energy electrons to simulate a couple billion years of cosmic rays.
The simulated cosmic rays triggered a series of chemical reactions in the ice, which produced complicated molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — the chemicals that stain Arrokoth’s surface a distinctive reddish color. Those same chemical reactions also produced sugars like glucose (the stuff that sweetens honey, berries, nuts, grains, and even potatoes), glycerol (the backbone of fatty acids called lipids, which make up part of our cell membranes, among other things), and ribose (and important part of DNA and RNA).
And the hydrocarbon molecules that give Arrokoth its color are built benzene, a chemical that is a ring of six carbon atoms with six hydrogen atoms on the outside. That ring structure is the basis for most organic chemistry, including some of the most important molecules for life: the “nucleobases” that make up the genetic code, as well as the amino acids that combine to form proteins.
In other words, the surface of Arrokoth is probably laden is with the chemical building blocks for life — and that’s pretty sweet, too.
“SUGAR WORLDS” MEET WITH EARTH
Some of the ribose in your DNA right this moment may once have been locked in frozen ice on the surface of a world like Arrokoth.
“Sugar worlds” like Arrokoth may have played a role in giving Earth its starter kit of life-building molecules, like sugars and benzene-based hydrocarbon rings. Some of the comets that bombarded early Earth around 4 billion years ago may have come from tiny Kuiper Belt worlds like Arrokoth. And Zhang and colleagues’ experiment suggests those comets may have carried more than just water ice to our young planet.
Different Kuiper Belt worlds may have supplied different organic chemicals to early Earth, according to Zhang and colleagues. Pluto’s dancing partner, Charon, and another dwarf planet called Orcus, have water and ammonia frozen on their surfaces; others have carbon dioxide. Zhang and colleagues want to do more experiments in their lab to simulate how cosmic rays change the chemistry on each of those worlds to learn what’s out there — and how it got here
NASA's Lucy mission, which is a first of its kind mission to study a population of mysterious relics from the formation of the Solar System near Jupiter. And, as mission photos suggest, it’s not always about the destination, but the rocky encounters you make along the way.
The Lucy mission, named after the famous 3 million year old hominid fossil, is slated to visit the Trojans, a swarm of asteroids stuck in Jupiter’s orbit that may be relics of the Solar System’s formation. But the spacecraft made a pitstop at asteroid Dinkinesh on November 1, 2023 for what was meant to be a simple test subject for the spacecraft's navigational systems.
The asteroid, however, turned out to have plenty of science to offer, including new information about how planets form, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Dinkinesh, and its surprise mini-moon Selam, might also contain clues about how the planets formed billions of years ago, the study reveals.
HELLO DINKINESH
Dinkinesh is a rough half-mile-wide rock.
Lucy’s images show that Dinkinesh, located in the inner edge of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has a trough and a ridge, and is shaped like a spinning top.
Researchers think the ridge formed when a large chunk of rock dislodged from Dinkinesh. When the rock got knocked out, it broke into tiny pieces. These bits then settled to form the ridge. Some rock pieces might also have been lofted into space and then rained back down to add to the ridge.
“Basically, the planets formed when zillions of smaller objects orbiting the Sun, like asteroids, ran into each other. How objects behave when they hit each other, whether they break apart or stick together, has a lot to do with their strength and internal structure,” Lucy mission principal investigator Hal Levison said in the announcement.
Dinkinesh's terrain suggests it has a sturdy interior. This would have been an essential trait during the formation of the planets billions of years ago. The researchers think that the rock dislodged when an earthquake-like event occurred. During these types of events, there's a gradual buildup of stress that culminates as a swift release. If a celestial body experiences this type of event, that suggests it has a compact composition. If Dinkinesh's rocks were more loosely gathered together, the stress may not have built up, but instead, created gradual changes to the terrain, similar to the way a sand dune shape shifts.
The dislodged rock event could also explain how Dinkinesh’s tiny moon, Selam, formed. Over millions of years, the Sun’s thermal radiation caused Dinkinesh’s spin to accelerate. This created a centrifugal force. As material pooled near the center, or flew off into nearby space, Selam gained its raw ingredients.
In keeping with the moniker theme of the Lucy mission, Selam is a greeting meaning “peace” in the Amharic language. It’s spoken in Ethiopia, where the Lucy fossil was discovered. Dinkinesh is another Amharic word, meaning “marvelous.”
The Alien Abduction of the Century: The Unbelievable Story of Linda Napolitano
The Alien Abduction of the Century: The Unbelievable Story of Linda Napolitano
In the realm of UFO encounters and alien abductions, few stories are as compelling and mysterious as that of Linda Napolitano. Her extraordinary experience on the night of November 30, 1989, has been dubbed “the alien abduction case of the century” by experts in the field. This article delves into the intriguing details of her encounter and its broader implications for our understanding of extraterrestrial phenomena.
The Initial Encounter
Linda Napolitano, an ordinary housewife from New York City, had her life turned upside down in the early hours of a cold autumn night. At around 3 a.m., she was awakened by an unsettling presence at the foot of her bed. What she saw defied all rational explanation: a small, skeletal-bodied creature with a large head and completely black eyes. This being, along with two similar figures, would soon transport her into an experience that remains one of the most detailed and disturbing accounts of alien abduction to date.
Linda described a powerful blue light flooding her bedroom, paralyzing her and lifting her out of her bed. She floated through her apartment window, high above the streets of Manhattan, towards a massive UFO suspended in the sky. The craft was oyster-shaped and adorned with colorful lights. Inside, she found herself subjected to strange and invasive procedures by her captors.
The Aftermath and Hypnosis
Following the incident, Linda’s memories of the abduction were fragmented and hazy. Desperate for answers, she reached out to Budd Hopkins, a well-known ufologist. Hopkins, who had extensive experience with abduction cases, conducted several sessions of regressive hypnosis with Linda. Through these sessions, they managed to piece together the details of her ordeal, from the moment she was lifted from her bed to the invasive procedures performed aboard the UFO.
Eyewitness Accounts
What sets Linda Napolitano’s case apart from other abduction stories is the corroborative eyewitness testimony. Two men, Richard and Dan, who initially claimed to be police officers, later revealed they were security agents assigned to an important political figure. They reported seeing Linda and the three alien beings floating in the sky and entering the UFO. Their accounts added a significant layer of credibility to Linda’s story.
In total, 24 witnesses came forward, describing bright lights in the sky, strange flying beings, and an unidentified flying object. This multitude of testimonies makes Linda’s case one of the most well-documented and witnessed UFO encounters in history.
Government Involvement and Threats
As Hopkins and Linda delved deeper into the case, it became apparent that there were broader implications. Richard and Dan’s initial friendly demeanor turned sinister as they began to harass and threaten Linda. They forced her into their car, interrogated her, and even subjected her to bizarre and invasive examinations. Their behavior suggested a deeper, more troubling connection to government agencies and possible cover-ups.
Hopkins received a letter from a third party, referred to as the “third man,” who warned him to cease his investigations. This mysterious figure hinted at ecological dangers, geopolitical implications, and the involvement of extraterrestrial forces in global affairs. Hopkins speculated that this third man might have been Javier Perez de Cuellar, the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations, who allegedly witnessed the abduction.
Theories and Implications
One of the most compelling aspects of Linda’s case is the possible explanations and theories that emerged from it. Professor Corrado Malanga, an Italian chemist and ufologist, proposed a groundbreaking theory based on his extensive research and regressive hypnosis sessions with abductees. Malanga suggested that aliens were interested in the human soul, a component of our being that they lacked.
According to Malanga, aliens performed intricate procedures to extract and utilize this soul component, which is timeless and immortal. This theory posits that humans are used as a source of life force by these extraterrestrial beings. Malanga’s findings suggest that the abduction phenomenon might be far more complex and sinister than previously thought.
VIDEO:
THE ALIEN ABDUCTION OF THE CENTURY : LINDA NAPOLITANO STORY – ORIGINAL V MOVIES
Linda Napolitano’s story remains one of the most fascinating and well-documented cases of alien abduction. With multiple eyewitnesses, government involvement, and credible research by experts like Budd Hopkins and Corrado Malanga, her experience continues to intrigue and challenge our understanding of extraterrestrial encounters. As ufology advances, the case of Linda Napolitano stands as a pivotal moment in the ongoing quest to uncover the truth about alien abductions and their implications for humanity.
There are many things happening within the UAP phenomenon. With the recent Mexican UAP hearings, the entire world has come to learn about how governments worldwide are earnestly investigating this phenomenon. It is not solely about alien objects flying at supersonic speeds; the UAP phenomenon is intricately connected to our reality. Such like-minded individuals as Jacques Vallee and Michio Kaku propose the existence of other dimensions, also known as parallel universes, coexisting alongside our own reality. Within these dimensions, it is plausible that there are beings or entities living alongside us, despite our inability to perceive them.
Interestingly, Tom DeLonge, the former lead vocalist and guitarist of the popular band Blink-182, has always had a keen interest in UFOs. He has spent many years researching and studying the topic. He has even formed a company, To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (or To The Stars) to investigate and promote research on UFOs and other related phenomena.
DeLonge even paid a visit to Rome with former Pentagon UFO official Luis Elizondo, where they discovered shocking details about the 2004 Sicily UFO attack. His “To The Stars” is behind publishing the three footages (captured in 2004 and 2015 by the US Navy) that were released in 2017 and 2018. They depict UFOs and include audio recordings of the pilots. These videos gained a lot of attention when they were released.
Tom’s fondness for UFOs began at a young age. As a child, he was fascinated by stories of alien encounters and sightings. He used to spend hours reading books and watching documentaries about unidentified flying objects and was particularly interested in the 1947 Roswell crash. Furthermore, his research led him to conclude that UFOs are not only real but that they have alien origins. He believes that there is a wealth of evidence to support this conclusion, including reports of sightings and encounters, as well as physical evidence such as radar tracks and photographs.
In this podcast with Dr. Brian Keating, Tom DeLonge shared several insights and personal experiences related to his involvement in UFO research. He was asked by TOE host Curt Jaimungal what it was that kept him up for three days.
DeLonge at first hesitates to delve into this topic but continues to talk about his communication with Jim Semivan (who is a co-founder of TTSA) and their unique way of thinking. Tom notes that Semivan and others have taught him how to analyze information more critically and avoid jumping to conclusions. They emphasize the importance of forming patterns and analyzing data over time.
Tom then touches on the idea of not fully grasping the stakes involved in the UAP phenomenon. He explains that initially, he struggled to accept the reality of it, despite encountering videos and books on the subject. He emphasizes the importance of verifying the authenticity of such evidence, especially when it comes to videos with a chain of title traced back to the Department of Defense (DOD).
“That’s why it was so important with the ones we brought out had chain of title all the way back to the DOD. So we knew those were real, it wasn’t just like it was on YouTube and leaked. So it’s, it’s the idea of bringing for things that you know, where they come from, and and you really take it from that point forward, and start getting really good data and evidence on people’s encounters, and the stakes that come with that. And that when when I’ve talked about this, as a threat, you know, this, that’s just my words, right? I mean, I would never know the way that government treats that that’s not my zone, obviously.
But for me, in my own personal research, if something’s been here for a long period of time, and it really is showing up in people’s bedrooms, or in front of an F 18, or on a petroglyph wall, or in an ancient text down in archives of the Vatican, or whatever it might be, it’s obviously doing something. And it’s obviously having an influence, and it might only be an influence on where we end up as mankind, or it might be an influence, to keep us suppressed in a weird way to where they can take advantage of something, who knows, um, but it’s here for a reason. And it’s not really being, you know, forward about its intent. But we do know that we’ve been dealing with it for a long period of time.”
Tom then recalls a personal experience when he had a meeting with a couple of generals in Colorado Springs. During the discussion, they talked about things that people were experiencing or witnessing related to the UAP phenomenon. This conversation left him feeling uneasy and made him question the safety of his environment, similar to how his religious mother might feel if she encountered something that contradicted her beliefs. He emphasizes that the phenomenon’s impact becomes more significant when it is perceived as real rather than just a belief.
He shares his personal belief that as humanity advances in its understanding of consciousness and the UAP phenomenon, it will merge metaphysical consciousness science with conventional science. He suggests that this merging might lead to a more harmonious coexistence of various religious beliefs, as the core principles of many religions focus on the individual’s connection to a higher consciousness. Tom hopes that instead of crumbling, religions will adapt and find common ground in this new understanding of reality.
“You know, I look at the taskforce report, and I look at what’s going on now. And if I if there was such a thing, like bodies are great After whatever, um, and they’re so advanced, and they’re somehow influencing the, you know, mankind and the way we are engineered to evolve or something crazy. I mean, because I look at us now it’s like, first we, we got into the biology of our bodies, and then we got deeper and we got into like, you know, DNA and what that’s doing. And every time we master parts of the body and parts of, you know, the world, we see and touch and feel like, what’s the next thing?
Well, I think the next thing is going to be discovering consciousness, and then we’re going to go how do we manipulate consciousness? And how do we capture it? And how do we are you know, so I’m kind of thinking of this, these beings have been around for so long, they must be in, they must be so far beyond like, wondering about our DNA, or wondering about like, what our spleen does, I think it’s going to be probably unnerving, probably complicated, probably a lot that we don’t know. And so the idea of the government just coming out and saying, Hey, look, what we got, before they know what it is, doesn’t make any sense to me.”
For some reason, Tom could not boldly speak about what he had discussed with those generals that kept him up for three days. In the same context, the case of former NASA researcher Ed Harris might shed some light on what Tom was trying to say.
Ed Harris claimed that serious researchers on the subject believe the story of former President Jimmy Carter crying after being briefed about classified UFO information to be true. According to the story corroborated by multiple witnesses, the U.S. presidents are given only a brief overview of the subject by the CIA, and presidential curiosity is not considered a sufficient need to know. (Click here to read the full article)
After being repeatedly stonewalled, Carter was given “the talk,” which reportedly left him deeply sobbing and visibly disturbed for weeks. He was told that major religions, including Christianity, were created by extraterrestrials to prevent humans from destroying themselves while they ran experiments on us, and that they made us. Carter, a deeply religious man who had witnessed a UFO with six other people, realized that releasing such information could cause tremendous economic and social upheaval.
Richard Dolan also covered this incident in his book, “UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-Up Exposed.” He wrote that President Carter was given a UFO briefing at the White House on June 14, 1977, which he was then bound to secrecy about.
Astronomer Jacques Vallée developed an alternative hypothesis that UFOs are part of a mechanism for controlling mankind. He is one of the few people who added credibility to the UFOlogy. When others called the UFO encounters a hoax, Vallée explained it scientifically. During his interview in 1986, he said that UFOs are a “physical object that interacts with the environment that causes effects on the witnesses on the psychology and the physiology and leaves traces on the ground and yet are capable of appeared to be manipulating time and space in ways that go beyond what our physics understands.” (Click here to read the full article)
Dr. Vallée argued that when investigating a UFO encounter, the focus should be on the witness, how he/she interpreted the event, and how it affected their life (he noted that many people tend to emotionally react to a UFO sighting as a spiritual or religious experience).
Blending artificial intelligence (AI) and speculative cosmology, an international team of researchers has introduced “CosmoAgent,” an innovative AI framework designed to simulate interactions between human and extraterrestrial civilizations.
This novel approach assesses the feasibility of peaceful coexistence while considering potential risks that could threaten well-intentioned civilizations.
The study, conducted by a collaboration of scientists from Northwestern University, New York University, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Georgetown University, offers new insights into the dynamics of interstellar interactions.
“CosmoAgent leverages large language models (LLMs) to simulate complex interactions between human and extraterrestrial civilizations,” the researchers explained. Employing mathematical models and state transition matrices, our approach quantitatively evaluates civilizations’ development trajectories, offering insights into future decision-making at critical points of growth and saturation.”
In a preprint published on ArXiv, researchers explain that the novel “CosmoAgent” framework draws inspiration from the late Dr. Stephen Hawking’s cautionary advice about trying to haphazardly initiate contact with extraterrestrial species.
In the latter part of his career, Dr. Hawking became an outspoken critic of attempts to contact intelligent alien life, warning that encountering advanced extraterrestrials could lead to the end of humanity.
“We don’t know much about aliens, but we know about humans,” said Dr. Hawking at a 2015 event. “If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced.”
“A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”
Inspired by Dr. Hawking’s warnings, researchers sought to explore the potential consequences of human policies toward extraterrestrial life and devise strategies to mitigate risks associated with first contact scenarios.
Employing large language models (LLM) to model diverse ethical paradigms, CosmoAgent simulates interactions between entities with distinct moral principles. This approach addresses the Earth-centric bias inherent in current AI designs by incorporating varied cosmologies, ethical codes, and worldviews that might be held by alien civilizations.
CosmoAgent’s simulations allow civilizations to choose between hiding, fighting, or collaborating based on their characteristics and decision-making processes.
These choices are evaluated in a dynamic environment that examines potential outcomes, including alliances, rivalries, adherence to specific rules or agreements, and responses to unexpected threats or opportunities.
One key aspect of the study is the use of a Multi-Agent System (MAS) framework to model interactions among various civilizations. The framework allows for detailed exploration of different scenarios, such as civilizational alliances or rivalries, the effects of asymmetric information, and the development of novel cultures or technologies.
“Our simulations investigate potential interactions among different civilizations, including alliance formations, competitive relationships, and responses to unknown threats or opportunities,” researchers wrote. “By simulating these interactions, we gain insights into the mysteries of extraterrestrial existence, communication, conflict, and cooperation, potentially uncovering significant behavioral patterns and contributing valuable knowledge on diversity and order in the universe.”
The study addresses several key research questions, including the risks and benefits of human policies toward aliens, by using state transition matrices to simulate development levels and decision-making modes. Additionally, the model examines the management of asymmetric information and the impact of different moral views on civilizational interactions.
For instance, the researchers explored how LLMs handle asymmetric information differences, notably when observational data lags behind the actual development of civilizations. This aspect is crucial for making effective decisions in interstellar exploration and contact efforts.
“Information Asymmetry, particularly the time delay in observational data due to the speed of light, poses a significant challenge in space exploration and the study of extraterrestrial civilizations,” the study noted. “This time lag means that any observed information about extraterrestrial civilizations is inherently outdated, potentially leading to misconceptions about their current states.”
“Our research seeks to understand how to effectively manage and overcome these asymmetric information challenges in future extraterrestrial exploration and contact efforts.”
Researchers designed “CosmoAgent” to pay special attention to the potential “Diversity of morality” between humanity and an alien species. Powered by LLMs, the AI model examines how differing moral views might affect interactions, including recognizing that an alien civilization will likely hold divergent worldviews and ethical beliefs from human beings.
With the release of CosmoAgent’s code and datasets, researchers hope the model can provide a foundation for future studies and spur further academic investigation into the intriguing outcomes of “first contact” between humans and intelligent extraterrestrials.
“This study marks a pivotal advancement in computational social science. It shows how we can leverage the latest artificial intelligence technologies, especially LLMs, to mimic complex social phenomena.,” the researchers emphasized. “These models serve as the foundation for multi-agent systems, enabling the creation of detailed and varied behaviors and interactions within civilizations.”
“This research not only broadens the scope and realism of simulations but also opens a new area for investigation within computational social science: the study of civilizations in the universe.”
CosmoAgent could also offer astronomers a fresh perspective and tool for exploring and understanding civilizations beyond Earth. By simulating how different civilizations develop and make decisions, the study could aid in forecasting and spotting the distinct characteristics of intelligent alien civilizations.
Moreover, the study opens a novel platform for philosophical exploration, addressing the existence, communication, conflicts, and collaborations among civilizations in the universe. Through simulations of ethical viewpoints and behavior patterns of diverse cultures, it exposes the moral variety and intricacy within the universe’s civilizations.
As humanity continues to explore the cosmos, the insights gained from CosmoAgent could prove invaluable in shaping our approach to potential encounters with extraterrestrial life, ensuring that we are prepared to navigate the challenges and opportunities of interstellar communication and cooperation.
Finally, by integrating diverse ethical paradigms and simulating interactions between human and alien civilizations, researchers believe their innovative approach can expand our perspective and provide valuable insights for future decision-making and conflict resolution.
“This innovative research provides a new way to understand complex inter-civilizational dynamics, expanding our perspective while pioneering novel strategies for conflict resolution,” researchers concluded. “These strategies are key to avoiding interstellar conflicts and broaden our understanding of inter-civilizational relations.”
Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter:@LtTimMcMillan. Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email:LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com
There are already dozens of claims in favor of extraterrestrial visitation. Today, numerous astronauts and government officials support the UAP phenomena, and some are highly positive that they could have an alien origin. The Honorable Paul Hellyer (1923-2021), former Canadian Minister of Defense said extraterrestrials have been visiting our planet for thousands of years and it is likely that at least two of them are working with the U.S. government and sharing their highly-advanced technologies with humans.
In the 1960s, Paul Hellyer, a high-ranking official during the Cold War, asserted that he had discovered with certainty about the existence of aliens while serving in the military. He said that people from other worlds had been coming to Earth for a very long time. He insisted that a lot of the stuff that makes up our high-tech gadgetry had been gifted to us by overly-advanced ETs.
Hellyer had long expressed his views on extraterrestrials in public. He testified at the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure in May 2013 in Washington, DC. Five former members of U.S. Congress and one former U.S. senator listened to more than thirty hours of testimony from government officials, military personnel, researchers, and witnesses.
Huffington Post Canada described that, as part of his testimony, Hellyer stated that “aliens are living among us and that it is likely at least two of them are working with the U.S. government.” More specifically, Hellyer announced that at least four species of extraterrestrials had been visiting Earth for thousands of years. According to Huffington Post Canada, he also stated that some extraterrestrials originate from the “Zeta Reticuli, the Pleiades, Orion, Andromeda, and Altair star systems” and “may have different agendas.”
He first spoke openly about his belief governments are covering up an alien presence back in 2005, saying UFOs are as plentiful in our sky as airplanes. “Much of the media won’t touch it, so you just have to keep working away at it and we will get a critical mass and one day they will say Mr. President or Mr. Prime Minister, we want the truth and we want it now because it affects our lives.”
In 2013, Hellyer appeared on the RT interview show SophieCo with Sophie Shevardnadze to discuss extraterrestrials and UFOs. Shevardnadze asked Hellyer, “Why do you say that UFOs are as real as airplanes flying over our heads?” Hellyer replied, “Because I know that they are. As a matter of fact, they’ve been visiting our planet for thousands of years.” He further stated military action had brought down UFOs, and humans had adapted alien technology for use on Earth. (Source)
He said: “As far as technology is concerned, they are light years ahead of us, and we have learned a lot of things from them. A lot of the things we use today we got from them, you know – led lights and microchips and Kevlar vests and all sorts things that we got from their technology and we could get a lot more too, especially in the fields of medicine and agriculture if we would go about it peacefully. But, I think, maybe some of our people are more interested in getting the military technology, and I think that’s wrong-headed, and that’s one of the things that we are going to have to change, because we’re going to have to work together, all of us, everywhere on the planet.”
Shevardnadze asked: “Have you ever had your own encounter with aliens?” Hellyer replied: “Not encounter with aliens, no. I’ve seen a UFO, about 120 miles north of Toronto, over Lake Muskoka, where I have a cottage. Two years ago, at Thanksgiving, which is October, [my wife?] said that she wanted to go out and look at the stars, so… I’m not much of a night man… but I put on my cap and went out with her and she looked into the eastern sky and said, ‘There’s a star,’ and I turned the other way and said, ‘Oh, there’s a much brighter one over here,’ and she looked there and we watched it until our necks almost broke for about 20 minutes, and it was definitely a UFO because it could change position in the sky by three or four degrees in three or four seconds.”
Shevardnadze further asked Hellyer if shooting down those UFOs was risking an interstellar war, and, if so, “should we be creating a Star Wars force to defend ourselves from possible invasion or something like that?”
Hellyer said: “I think it’s a possibility, but it’s a possibility especially if we shoot down every UFO that comes into our airspace without asking who they are and what they want. Right from the beginning, we started scrambling planes, trying to shoot them down, but their technology was superior enough that we weren’t able to get away with it, certainly not for a long while.”
He continued: “During that period of time they could have taken us over without any trouble if they wanted to, so I think, rather than developing our own Star Wars to protect ourselves against them, we should work with the benign species that are of a vast majority and work together, and rely largely on them, of course, and cooperate, so that we would be contributing something at the same time; I don’t think there’s any point in us developing a galactic force that would tempt us to ride on our own and get into mischief, which is one of the things that some of them are.
On countering physicist Stephen Hawking’s assertion that any alien visitors to Earth would likely be malevolent, Hellyer argued that not only have aliens already visited Earth but that they have helped contribute to humanity’s technological progress. He said earthlings owe a lot to their alien friends. “Even that computer screen on your desk,” he said, “can trace its origins to spaceships. Microchips, for example, fiber-optics, they are just two of the many things that allegedly — and probably for real — came from crashed vehicles,” Hellyer added. (Source)
Hellyer was not the only one speaking of a partnership between humans and extraterrestrial intelligence. The former head of the Israeli space security program and retired general Haim Eshed also claimed that a sort of agreement had been made between aliens and the US government to keep silent on their experiments on Earth and secret bases on Mars.
Mr. Eshed said that aliens and “Galactic federation” do exist and have been working with the US and the Israel government for years, but they keep it a secret to avoid mass hysteria. According to him, President Trump was aware of it and has already been in contact with space aliens. He further said that the aliens have been waiting for humans to evolve and reach a certain stage to actually understand space and spaceships. Besides, they signed a contract with humans to do experiments on Earth and also research with them to learn the fabric of the universe.
A screengrab of camcorder footage of the V-shaped formation of lights that appeared over the Valley on March 13, 1997.Screen Capture
Arizona residents had a close encounter of the unusual kind on a warm spring night back more than 27 years ago.
On March 13, 1997, two formations of light were sighted in the skies over the Valley and other parts of Arizona. One was shaped like V and cruised across the sky while the other was a series of glowing orbs that appeared in a line near the Sierra Estrella mountain range.
The two incidents became known as the Phoenix Lights, one of the largest and best-known UFO sightings in history. Thousands of people across Arizona witnessed the phenomena, which caused a hullabaloo in the media over the next few months that grew into a worldwide obsession.
Despite the public clamoring for answers about what caused the Phoenix Lights, both at the time and over the ensuing decades, no official investigation has ever occurred. Here's everything to know about the Phoenix Lights.
What are the Phoenix Lights?
The Phoenix Lights were two separate UFO sightings on the same night in March 1997 over Arizona. The first was a V-shaped formation of six to ten glowing orbs the flew from from southwest Nevada over Prescott, metro Phoenix, parts of Tucson and southeast Arizona. The second sighting occurred hours later when a line of glowing orbs appeared near the Sierra Estrella mountain range in the southwest Valley.
The Phoenix Lights sightings took place on March 13, 1997. The first sighting happened between 7:55 and 8:40 p.m. and the second between 9:15 and 9:35 p.m.
How many people saw the Phoenix Lights?
Several thousand people reportedly witnessed the Phoenix Lights, with a 1997 Rocky Mountain Poll indicating that up to 10 percent of Arizonans saw it.
Why did so many people see it?
Shane Hurd, assistant state director of the Arizona chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, told Phoenix New Times in 2022 the sighting occurred on a clear moonless night, which aided visibility. Many people were already watching the skies because Comet Hale-Bopp was highly visible to the naked eye at the time because of its brightness.
Actor Kurt Russell may have been the first pilot to officially report the Phoenix Lights.
Yes. In 2017, actor Kurt Russell told BBC's “The One Show” he was flying his stepson Oliver Hudson into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport that night and spotted the V formation while landing and reported it to air-traffic controllers. The actor joked that might have made the first official report of the sighting.
Despite publicly mocking the fervor over the Phoenix Lights during a joke-filled news conference months after the sightings, then-Arizona Governor Fife Symington claimed a decade later that he saw the phenomenon. In 2007, he began stating in interviews that he’d ditched his security detail on the night of the sightings, joined a crowd of skywatchers at Piestewa Peak (then Squaw Peak) and witnessed the V-shaped formation.
In a 2021 episode of the Showtime program "UFO," Symington claims his reluctance to reveal that he witnessed the sightings was due to being under federal indictment at the time for 21 counts of extortion, bank fraud and making false financial statements.
How famous are the Phoenix Lights?
Pretty famous. The late Art Bell, host of the syndicated paranormal radio show “Coast to Coast AM,” called it "the second biggest case in UFOlogy after Roswell." It’s become part of both pop-culture (including being referenced in movies like “Captain America: Civil War” and television shows like “The X-Files”) and Valley lore.
Inside the “Phoenix Lights” exhibit at the Arizona Heritage Museum.
New Times Staff
Was there a Phoenix Lights investigation?
Officially, no. Frances Emma Barwood, then a Phoenix City Councilwoman and Vice Mayor, publically called for an official investigation after her office was deluged with inquiries from the general public. She later lost her Council seat, partially because of the public humiliation she received over the matter, and dropped out of politics.
In the 2021 episode of "UFO," Symington claims that, as governor, he inquired with officials at Luke Air Force Base about the possibility of military exercises or flight maneuvers being mistaken by witnesses as alien spacecraft.
What are some of the explanations for the Phoenix Lights?
The explanation accepted by most skeptics is that the Phoenix Lights were caused by military activity in Arizona during the night of the incidents.
The first sighting is believed to have been a group of A-10 Thunderbolt jets flying in a V-shaped formation as part of Operation Snowbird, a pilot training program operating out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson by the Air National Guard.
The story is backed up by the account of Mitch Stanley, a 21-year-old amateur astronomer living in Scottsdale at the time, who told New Times in 1997 he used a 10-inch Dobsonian mirrored telescope to view a squadron of fighter planes.
In regards to the second sighting, Lieutenant Colonel. Ed Jones of the Maryland Air National Guard told the Arizona Republic in 2017 it was caused by a different squadron of A-10 jets dropping parachute-equipped flares while conducting exercises at what's now the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range near Gila Bend.
BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music and nightlife. He joined New Times in 2003. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Vroeg of laat zullen mensen naar Mars gaan. Misschien zal de missie niet in de nabije toekomst plaatsvinden, maar het staat vast dat het koloniseren van de rode planeet een van de doelstellingen van ruimtevaartorganisaties is. De vraag is: wat zullen toekomstige kolonisten eten? Leveringen vanaf de aarde zijn allesbehalve duurzaam, en dus blijft er maar één optie over: voedsel direct op Mars verbouwen, met enige hulp van oude Maya-praktijken.
De Maya's en de landbouw op Mars
PLOS ONE/Gonçalves et al./2024
De voedselvoorziening en de landbouw op Mars zijn verre van een ondergeschikt probleem, maar uiterst belangrijke kwesties. Met name een onderzoek van Wageningen University & Research in Nederland heeft mogelijk de eerste stappen gezet om het probleem op te lossen. De onderzoekers hebben in feite een moderne versie van een oude Maya-techniek overgenomen, genaamd intercropping of tussenteelt, en zijn begonnen met het telen van tomaten, erwten en wortels in dezelfde potten.
De resultaten, gepubliceerd in PLOS ONE, waren verrassend. Tomaten geteeld door middel van tussenteelt verdubbelden hun productie vergeleken met individueel geteelde tomaten, met grotere vruchten en in minder tijd. Hetzelfde gebeurde niet met erwten, die een onveranderde opbrengst behielden, en wortelen, die daarentegen een lagere opbrengst vertoonden. Terwijl aan de ene kant intercropping veelbelovende resultaten oplevert, is het aan de andere kant essentieel om zorgvuldig gewassen, grond en additieven te kiezen.
Verbouwen op Marsgrond: is dat mogelijk?
PLOS ONE/Gonçalves et al./2024
Bij het experiment van de onderzoekers van de Nederlandse universiteit waren in deze eerste fase drie soorten gewassen betrokken. Zoals we al zeiden, zijn de grondsoort en eventuele toevoegingen even belangrijk. Om de bodem van Mars te simuleren, ontwikkelden wetenschappers een bodem die bestaat uit regoliet, zonder organisch materiaal, waaraan ze vervolgens bacteriën en voedingsstoffen toevoegden. Een proces dat sterk lijkt op het proces dat toekomstige kolonisten zouden kunnen gebruiken om gewassen op Mars te verbouwen.
Als aanvoer vanaf de aarde moet worden uitgesloten vanwege de kosten en tijd die daarvoor nodig is, lijkt teelt op de rode planeet de enige optie. En intercropping, oftewel het gebruik van planten met complementaire eigenschappen, zou echt een levensvatbare toekomst kunnen vertegenwoordigen. Evenals een manier om het gebruik van water en voedingsstoffen te optimaliseren.
De nieuwe landbouw op Mars en de kunst van het kiezen van de juiste planten
PLOSE ONE/Gonçalves et al./2024 / 中国新闻网/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 3.0 DEED
Uit de resultaten van hun experiment ontdekten de onderzoekers dat de tomatenplanten een concreet voordeel haalden uit de nabijheid van erwten. Deze laatste kunnen namelijk zeer efficiënt stikstof uit de lucht opnemen en omzetten in voedingsstoffen. Tegelijkertijd profiteerden de wortels niet alleen niet van de nabijheid van de erwten, maar werden ze er ook door geschaad, waarschijnlijk als gevolg van de concurrentie om licht. En we weten dat zonlicht op Mars niet in grote hoeveelheden beschikbaar is: ook in dit geval zal het nodig zijn om na te denken over duurzame alternatieven voor een menselijke kolonie.
Het succes van toekomstige missies naar de rode planeet hangt inderdaad ook af van het vermogen van de kolonisten om zelfvoorzienend te zijn. En deze capaciteit hangt op zijn beurt af van duurzame landbouw op Marsgrond, dat wil zeggen van de tussenteelt van de oude Maya’s. Naast het kiezen van de juiste gewassen om het project te starten, rest er vandaag nog maar één twijfel: niemand heeft de tomaten, erwten en wortelen geproefd. Wie weet hoe ze zullen smaken.
Venus, onze dorre buur, was ooit rijk aan water. Maar waar is al het water gebleven? Een nieuwe studie heeft het antwoord gevonden.
Waarom is Venus een warme, droge planeet als er water is?
Waarom Venus van een planeet met water, zo warm en droog is geworden, is voor wetenschappers een mysterie. De oeroude aanwezigheid van water zou de planeet heet en vochtig moeten maken, maar toch is er geen spoor van waterdamp te vinden. Dit werd ontdekt door planeetwetenschappers van de University of Colorado Boulder en werpt een licht op waarom deze hete en onbewoonbare planeet is geworden wat hij nu is.
Men denkt dat Venus oorspronkelijk een vergelijkbare hoeveelheid water had als de aarde. Er is echter nog maar een honderdduizendste van over, volledig ingesloten in de atmosfeer, in plaats van verspreid in de oceanen, zeeën, ijs en lucht zoals op onze planeet. Dus waar is al het water gebleven? Een echt mysterie dat eindelijk ontrafeld lijkt te zijn.
De verantwoordelijke voor de dorre toestand van Venus
NASA/JPL/Wikimedia commons - Public domain
Eryn Cangi, co-hoofdauteur van het onderzoek en onderzoeker aan het Space and Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, legt uit: "Water is echt belangrijk voor leven. We moeten de omstandigheden begrijpen die vloeibaar water in het heelal ondersteunen en die mogelijk de huidige droge staat van Venus hebben veroorzaakt." Als we al het water op aarde op het oppervlak van onze planeet zouden gieten, zouden we een vloeibare laag hebben van ongeveer 3 kilometer. Als we hetzelfde zouden doen op Venus, zou de diepte slechts 3 centimeter zijn. Dat komt omdat de droge planeet 100.000 keer minder water heeft dan de aarde, ook al is hij even groot.
In wezen heeft het turbulente broeikaseffect van Venus het water letterlijk gekookt, waardoor stoom ontsnapte. Door middel van computersimulaties ontdekten de onderzoekers dat de waterstofatomen in de atmosfeer van Venus de ruimte in vliegen door “associatieve recombinatie”, een proces dat ervoor zorgt dat de planeet twee keer zoveel water verliest als eerder werd voorspeld. Met behulp van computermodellen stelden wetenschappers zich Venus voor als een enorm scheikundelaboratorium, waar ze reacties in de atmosfeer observeerden. Een molecuul genaamd HCO+, een ion dat bestaat uit een waterstof-, koolstof- en zuurstofatoom en dat wordt aangetroffen in de bovenste atmosfeer van de planeet, zou verantwoordelijk kunnen zijn voor het ontsnappen van water van Venus.
Dit is hoe Venus zo anders werd dan de aarde
NASA
Daarom kan deze ontdekking volgens Cangi onthullen waarom Venus zo anders werd dan de aarde, ook al waren de twee planeten oorspronkelijk bijna identiek: "We proberen te begrijpen welke kleine veranderingen zich op elke planeet voordeden om ze in deze zeer verschillende toestand te brengen." Volgens de wetenschappers veroorzaakten de machtige wolken koolstofdioxide in de atmosfeer een ongekend broeikaseffect in het hele zonnestelsel, waardoor de temperatuur steeg tot ongeveer 480°. Water werd stoom en het meeste daarvan kwam in de ruimte terecht. De rest verdween door HCO+, gevormd door de interactie tussen water en koolstofdioxide in de bovenste atmosferen van de planeet.
Dezelfde molecule kan ook een belangrijke rol hebben gespeeld bij het verdwijnen van water van Mars. Op Venus wordt de molecule continu geproduceerd, maar de ionen leven niet lang: de elektronen splitsen ze in twee delen, waarvan er één door de ruimte raast. Waarschijnlijk is de hoeveelheid van de molecule nooit gedetecteerd bij gebrek aan geschikte apparatuur.
Chinese Probe Lands on Moon’s Far Side to Collect Samples for Return
After touching down on the moon’s far side, China’s Chang’e-6 lander is collecting samples to bring back to Earth — and sending back imagery documenting its mission.
Chang’e-6, which was launched May 3, went through weeks’ worth of in-space maneuvers that climaxed with its weekend landing in the moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin region. The mission plan calls for the probe to collect samples of lunar soil and rock over the course of about two days, and then pack them up for the return trip.
If the operation is successful, Chang’e-6 would bring back the first fresh lunar samples ever collected on the moon’s far side — following up on the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020, which returned samples from the moon’s Earth-facing side.
The China National Space Administration said the lander used its onboard camera during its powered descent to detect obstacles autonomously and select a safe landing site. Chang’e-6 captured video imagery during the final phase of the lander’s descent and transmitted the views back to Earth. One video frame shows the shadow of the lander itself moments before touchdown.
Chang’e-6 is built to collect samples using a drill and a robotic arm. It’s also expected to gather scientific data about its surroundings using a radon detector, a negative-ion detector and a mini-rover. During surface operations, data and telemetry are being relayed between Chang’e-6 and Earth via China’s Queqiao-2 satellite.
Up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar samples will be stowed inside the lander’s “ascender” stage. The rocket-powered ascender will then lift off from the surface and transfer the samples to the Chang’e-6 orbiter, which is currently in lunar orbit. Following the model set by Chang’e-5, the orbiter will head back toward Earth and release the sample capsule for atmospheric re-entry and touchdown in Inner Mongolia.
The moon’s south polar region is of particular interest because it’s thought to harbor reserves of water ice that could support lunar settlement. Studying fresh samples from the South Pole-Aitken Basin could help scientists and mission planners learn more about the region’s resources.
Chang’e-6 is the latest spacecraft in an international armada of moon landers — including Russia’s Luna 25, iSpace’s Hakuto-R and Astrobotic’s Peregrine, which were unsuccessful, plus more fruitful missions such as India’s Chandrayaan-3, Japan’s SLIM and Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus.
Coming attractions include NASA’s VIPER rover, which is currently due to be delivered to the moon late this year; and China’s Chang’e-7 mission, which features a hopping probe and is set for launch in 2026. Looking further ahead, China aims to send astronauts to the lunar surface by 2030 — not long after NASA’s Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing, currently scheduled for 2026.
Exploring the Depths: Admiral Tim Gallaudet on Underwater Alien Bases, UFO Psyops, and Weather Weapons
Exploring the Depths: Admiral Tim Gallaudet on Underwater Alien Bases, UFO Psyops, and Weather Weapons
Admiral Tim Gallaudet, a retired Navy Admiral and oceanographer, has an extensive and distinguished career in both military and civilian sectors. His expertise spans across oceanographic research, national security, and, more recently, unidentified submerged objects (USOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). This article delves into Gallaudet’s insights on underwater alien bases, UFO psyops, and the potential for weather manipulation weapons.
Career Background
Gallaudet’s military career included pivotal roles aboard several naval vessels, such as the USNS Harkness, USS Peleliu, and USS Kitty Hawk. He participated in numerous operations, including Operations Southern Watch, Provide Promise, Sharp Guard, Deny Flight, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. Beyond his naval service, Gallaudet contributed significantly to environmental research and management as the Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Today, he is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, a firm specializing in ocean exploration, including the study of USOs.
Underwater Alien Bases and USOs
Gallaudet’s exploration into USOs has revealed intriguing possibilities about underwater alien bases. He recounts an incident involving the USS Omaha, which captured video evidence of a UAP entering the water. This, coupled with classified information and various anecdotal reports, suggests that underwater phenomena may be more common than previously acknowledged.
One particularly fascinating case involves a feature off the Southern California coast. This area, often referred to as an undersea mesa, has been speculated to be an alien base due to its unnatural appearance in Google Earth imagery. However, Gallaudet clarifies that such features often appear man-made due to data processing and resolution discrepancies in mapping technologies.
UFO Psyops and Government Disinformation
Gallaudet discusses the complex issue of government disinformation related to UAPs and USOs. He references historical cases such as the Project Beta, where the Air Force allegedly deceived a civilian researcher into believing in an imminent alien invasion, leading to his mental breakdown. This case exemplifies the lengths to which government entities might go to obscure the truth about UAPs.
Moreover, Gallaudet criticizes the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) for its inadequate report on UAPs, which he believes deliberately omits significant information. He argues that the government’s reluctance to disclose the full extent of UAP activities is partly due to national security concerns and the potential public panic it might cause.
Weather Weapons and Geoengineering
The concept of weather manipulation as a weapon has also been explored within military circles. Gallaudet touches upon the history and potential of geoengineering to influence weather patterns. Although the technology to create typhoons or manipulate weather on a large scale remains underdeveloped, research in this field continues, driven by both defense and climate change mitigation interests.
For instance, Gallaudet mentions a theory about using space weather monitoring to predict earthquakes, a concept that has faced resistance from traditional geological institutions. He advocates for a multidisciplinary approach to studying such phenomena, similar to how weather forecasting has evolved to include oceanographic data for better accuracy.
VIDEO:
Admiral Tim Gallaudet – Underwater Alien Base, UFO Psyops and Weather Weapons | SRS #113
Admiral Tim Gallaudet’s contributions to oceanographic research, national security, and the study of UAPs provide a comprehensive view of the unexplored frontiers beneath our oceans and in our skies. His advocacy for transparency and scientific inquiry into USOs, UAPs, and potential weather manipulation technologies underscores the need for an open-minded and multidisciplinary approach to these enigmatic subjects. As Gallaudet continues to push for more rigorous exploration and understanding, his work reminds us of the vast unknowns that still lie within our reach, waiting to be discovered.
China has now landed two missions on the moon's mysterious far side.
China has landed on the moon's mysterious far side — again.
The robotic Chang'e 6 mission touched down inside Apollo Crater, within the giant South Pole-Aitken basin, at 6:23 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday (June 2) , according to Chinese space officials. It was 6:23 p.m. EDT (2223 GMT) on June 1 at the time of the landing. The probe "successfully landed in the pre-selected area," China's space agency said.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) now has two far-side landings under its belt — this one and Chang'e 4, which dropped a lander-rover combo onto the gray dirt in January 2019. No other country has done it once.
A depiction of China's Chang'e 6 moon lander on the far side of the moon after landing on June 2, 2024. (Image credit: CCTV)
And Chang'e 6 will make further history for China, if all goes according to plan: The mission aims to scoop up samples and send them back to Earth, giving researchers their first-ever up-close looks at material from this part of the moon.
"The Chang'e-6 mission is the first human sampling and return mission from the far side of the moon," CNSA officials said in a translated statement. (To be clear: Chang'e 6 is a robotic, not crewed, mission.) "It involves many engineering innovations, high risks and great difficulty."
Chang'e 6 launchedon May 3 with a bold and unprecedented task: haul home samples from the moon's far side, which always faces away from us. (The moon is tidally locked to Earth, completing one rotation on its axis in roughly the same amount of time it takes to orbit our planet. So observers here on Earth always see the same side of our natural satellite.)
Every lunar surface mission before Chang'e 4 targeted the near side, largely because that area is easier to explore. It's harder to communicate with robots operating on the far side, for example; doing so generally requires special relay orbiters, which China launched ahead of both Chang'e 4 and Chang'e 6. China's newest moon relay satellite, called Queqiao-2, aided the Chang'e 6 landing, CNSA officials said.
Chang'e 6 arrived in lunar orbit about four days after liftoff. It spent the next few weeks scrutinizing its planned landing site and gearing up for today's big event, which went according to plan: Chang'e 6's lander came down softly in Apollo Crater, leaving the mission's orbiter, with its attached Earth-reentry module, circling the moon.
Diagram showing the various phases of the Chang'e 6 lunar sample-return mission. (Image credit: CNSA)
The lander will spend the next few days studying its surroundings and collecting about 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of lunar dirt and rock. Some of these samples will be scooped from the surface and some will be dug from up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) underground, using Chang'e 6's onboard drill.
This material will then be launched into lunar orbit by a rocket that rode down with the lander. The sample container will rendezvous with the Chang'e 6 orbiter, then make the long trek back to Earth, eventually touching down here under parachutes on June 25.
Chang'e 6 is also carrying a tiny moon rover and has a variety of scientific experiments onboard the lander.
The China National Space Administration's Chang'e 6 sample-return probe and its mini-rover (circled) seen before launching to the far side of the moon. (Image credit: CAST)
Scientists will study the returned material in detail, seeking insights about the moon's history and evolution and clues about why the lunar far side is so different than the near. The dark volcanic seas known as maria are common on the near side, for example, but are rare on the far side, for reasons that remain mysterious.
Researchers will doubtless compare the Chang'e 6 material to the samples collected on the moon's near side by Chang'e 5, which came down to Earth in December 2020. (Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 are sister missions, with virtually identical architectures.)
The Chang'e moon program, which is named after the Chinese moon goddess, has launched increasingly complex and ambitious missions over the past 17 years.
Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 sent orbiters to the moon in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Chang'e 3 marked China's first trip to the lunar surface, putting a lander-rover duo on the near side in late 2013. Chang'e 4 landed a similar pair on the far side in early 2019. Chang'e 5-T1 launched a test capsule around the moon and back to Earth in 2014, proving out the gear that could get lunar samples here safely, which Chang'e 5 did in late 2020.
And there are more missions to come. Chang'e 7 is scheduled to launch in 2026 to assess the resource potential of the moon's south polar region, which is thought to harbor large stores of water ice. Chang'e 8, which will lift off two years later, will test ways to use those resources on-site — building a structure out of lunar dirt and rock, for example.
And all of this robotic work will lead to something even bigger, if all goes according to plan: crewed missions to the moon, which China aims to start launching by 2030. The nation wants to build an astronaut outpost near the south pole called the International Lunar Research Station later in the 2030s, with help from partners such as Russia, Belarus and Pakistan.
The United States has similar aims with its Artemis program, which is targeting late 2026 for its first crewed lunar landing. The U.S. is also building a moon-exploration coalition via a diplomatic framework called the Artemis Accords; more than 40 nations have signed on to date.
A New Way to Make Precise Maps of the Lunar Surface
There was a time when maps of the Moon were created from telescopic observations and drawings. Indeed Sir Patrick Moore created maps of the Moon that were used during the historic Apollo landings. Now researchers have enhanced a technique to create accurate maps from existing satellite images. Their approach uses a technique called ‘shape-from-shading’ and involves analyzing shadows to estimate the features and shape of the terrain. Future lunar missions will be able to use the maps to identify hazards on the surface making them far safer.
Researchers at the Brown University in Rhode Island have helped refine a process used to map the surface of the Moon making it more accurate than ever before. In their paper, published in the Planetary Science Journal and authored by Benjamin Boatwright and team details the enhancements to the mapping technique. It can generate detailed models of the Moon’s surface to highlight craters, ridges and slopes from composites of 2D images.
Closeup of lunar surface (Credit NASA)
Highly detailed maps are of crucial importance to lunar missions and help the planners to identify the safest place to land. They can also use them to identify areas of particular interest that require further study enabling the whole mission to be far more efficient. Missions such as the Artemis project will benefit when it heads for the south pole of the Moon, an area which is not well mapped. High resolution maps of the area will aid the autonomous landing systems to avoid hazards.
Artist impression of Artemis lunar landing
Creating the maps is a time consuming job and is difficult to be accurate when lighting levels on target area are poor. The interpretation of shadows has been less than effective until now with the team addressing the issues. In their paper, the team explain how advanced computer algorithms can automate a lot of the process and improve the resolution of the generated models. Their new software gives lunar astronomers the necessary tools and information to create larger more detailed maps of the surface.
To allow lunar scientists to create a map from images requires at least two images of the same area. Each image must be perfectly aligned with its counterpart so that features in one are in exactly the same place in the other. Until now, the technology has not been able to take multiple images of an area and create a perfect map. Boatwright said ‘We implemented an image alignment algorithm where it picks out features in one image and tries to find those same features in the other and then line them up, so that you’re not having to sit there manually tracing interest points across multiple images, which takes a lot of hours and brain power.’
Along with the image alignment algorithm, the researchers created quality control algorithms and filters to remove poor quality images from the alignment process. By only inputing good quality images to the process means the output will be of far higher quality. It is a similar model that astronomical imaging employs when processing multiple images through stacking and alignment techniques.
To evaluate the accuracy of their work, the team compared the output from existing maps of the Moon to look for errors. To their delight, they found that maps created using their enhanced ‘shape-from-shading’ technique was more precise compared to those acquired during traditional techniques.
Many reports of untimely deaths in the US have been linked to aliens, sparking theories that these individuals may have been murdered by the third kind.
They include a US Air Force pilot who died shortly after claims he witnessed a flying object and a Brazilian man who was 'zapped in the head by an extraterrestrial.'
Nigel Watson has written about the cases in a new bookazine, the UFO Files, which includes a chapter Death By UFO dealing with these mysterious deaths.
UFO believers are on a missions to prove that aliens were behind many high-profile murders in the past few decades
Watson has spent years researching UFO reports worldwide and published several books and reports about his findings.
Fatal encounter in the skies
One of the cases explored in the book is the death of U.S. Air Force Captain Thomas Mantell who was asked to investigate a silvery, conical flying object in 1948.
Reports have claimed that Mantell, who was a 25-year-old Second World War hero, and three other pilots were conducting training exercise when the request came in to investigate a high-flying silvery object tipped with red.
'It appears to be a metallic object or possibly the reflection of the sun from a metallic object, and it is of tremendous size,' Mantell reported as he flew in the skies above Fort Knox in Kentucky.
The three planes soared 22,000ft into the air to intercept the object.
Captain Thomas Mantell died after he followed a mysterious metallic object in his jet
At 2.45pm, Mantell radioed the tower that he had spotted the object.
'The object is directly ahead of me and above me now, moving at about half my speed,' he said.
He provided another update 30 minutes later: 'It appears to be a metallic object or possible reflections of sun from a metallic object, and it is of tremendous size. I’m still climbing. The object is above and ahead of me moving at my speed or faster. I’m trying to close in for a better look.'
Shortly after, the two other planes had to aborted the mission due to a lack of oxygen supplies.
Mantell, however, continued soaring higher and higher - reaching around 25,000ft.
But at 5pm, debris from his plane was discovered in Shelby County, south-east of Louisville.
The U.S. Air Force first claimed he was chasing the planet Venus, but then said the object was a secret CIA-sponsored Skyhook balloon launched in Southern Ohio.
UFO believers still maintain that Mantell met his demise at the hands of a murderous UFO, Watson said - with the Skyhook explanation not being revealed until the late 1960s.
Zapped by 'death ray'
Brazilian man Inacio de Souza and his wife were returning to their home in August 1967 when they saw an object shaped like an inverted wash basin - and three men wearing skin-tight clothes.
Souza reflexively shot one of the men with his rifle It seemed to have no effect, but a green ray of light shot out at Souza's head from the UFO.
De Souza fell unconscious and suffered numbness and tremors in his head and hands.
A doctor suggested that Souza had merely suffered hallucinations - and a few days later was diagnosed as having leukemia. The illness progressed quickly and he died on 11 October 1967.
Watson wrote: 'While some ufologists think the encounter and de Souza's illness are simply a tragic coincidence, others prefer to believe that the green light from the UFO was an intense beam of deadly radiation.'
'Heavy rain' from a UFO
In 1947, Harold A Dahl along with his son Charles and two crewmen were in a tugboat off Maury Island in Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma.
The men said they saw six golden and silver doughnut-shaped objects above them - with one 'wobbling' before releasing a rain of thin metallic strips and black lumps.
Harold Dahl was in a tugboat with his sons when he saw mysterious golden and silver objects above them
One struck the boy's arm, burning it, and their dog died.
Dahl's boss Fred Lee Crisman visited the site and claimed some of the debris.
Dahl was then confronted by a dark-suited man driving a black sedan who drove him to a diner in Tacoma and warned him to keep silent.
Kenneth Arnold - who had spotted 'flying saucers' just days earlier - asked for help from Air Force Intelligence.
On 31 July 1947, Captain William Davidson and Lieutenant Frank M Brown were dispatched to Tacoma, but found no evidence of a rain of molten lead, and thought the sample fragments were slag from a smelting plant.
Davidson and Brown died when their B-25 crashed on their way back to base - and many of the samples and photographs associated with the case vanished.
Watson writes: 'To many, this all smacked of a military-intelligence cover-up. When, in October 1968, District Attorney Jim Garrison brought Clay Shaw to trial for his suspected involvement in the assassination of John F Kennedy, a Fred Lee Crisman was subpoenaed to attend.
Kenneth Arnold, who saw the first 'flying saucers'
A B-25 bomber aircraft similar to the one the men rode in
'Garrison believed Shaw and Crisman were long-standing CIA employees involved in a range of dubious activities including the JFK killing.
'As they were returning to their base at Hamilton Field, California, the port engine of their B-25 aircraft caught fire and they were killed when he crashed near Kelso, Washington State. An anonymous caller to the local newspaper, named the victims before the crash was made public and claimed the aircraft was shot down by a 20mm cannon because it was carrying fragments of a flying saucer.'
'When Kenneth Arnold took off from Tacoma, his engine failed and he had to make a crash landing. On checking his aircraft, he found that his fuel valve had been switched off. Paul Lance, a reporter for the Tacoma Times, who covered this story, died suddenly two weeks later of meningitis.'
'Many of these stories sound outlandish and many of these deaths do have credible explanations. So they don't go much beyond the UFO community. Government agencies or the notorious Men in Black, could be at work but it seems very extreme to murder people, especially over decades, when there are easier ways to discredit UFO researchers..'
'Frozen' near a UFO
New York UFO researcher Jennifer Stevens was contacted by two boys in February 1968 who claimed to have seen a 'glowing fireball' over the Mohawk River.
The boy's friend thought he saw a white-suited humanoid in bushes.
Another 16-year-old boy's body was found nearby after leaving a note with his grandparents to say he was going for a walk.
Watson writes: 'The coroner's verdict was death from exposure, but Stevens was convinced that his death was connected to UFO activity in the area. She noted that the boy's tracks in the snow indicated he had been running at first, then it seemed as if something had dragged him from above.'
After the sighting, Stevens husband was accosted by a man who said, 'People who look for UFOs should be very careful.'
When her husband died suddenly, Stevens gave up her UFO investigations.
The UFO Files bookazine by Fortean Times is available here.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.