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 ALREADY 13 YEARS.
ON 06/06/2024 MORE THAN 2.056.610
VISITORS FROM 134 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...
30-06-2024
Determining the Safest Martian Caves for Future Astronauts
Image of a lava tube skylight entrance on the Martian volcano Pavonis Mons obtained by NASA’s HiRISE camera onboard the Mars reconnaissance Orbiter. (Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
Determining the Safest Martian Caves for Future Astronauts
When astronauts land on Mars someday, they might have tolive in lava caves or lava tubes to survive the harsh radiation that rains down on the Martian surface every second. But which caves could offer them the best chance of survival? This is what arecent studypresented at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as Dr. Anatoliy P. Vidmachenko from the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine investigated where, how, and why lava tubes and lava caves could aid future Mars astronauts regarding their survival. This study holds the potential to help scientists and engineers help mitigate risks for future Mars astronauts and what steps that need to be taken to make that a reality.
For the study, Dr. Vidmachenko examined several locations across Mars that have been found to possess lava caves and lava tubes suitable for future first-time settlements, including Arsia Mons, which is one of three extinct volcanoes that comprise Tharsis Montes. It is here that a 2007 study presented at the 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference discussed seven alleged skylights observed from orbital images that were later interpreted to be entrances to lava caves. This recent study mentions that the diameters of these lava caves could be between 100-250 meters (328-820 feet) wide.
“Such reliable caves can be used to create the first permanent settlements,” the study notes. “They will allow you to reliably protect yourself from powerful radiation exposure. And a certain drawback will be the need to organize the delivery of water ice to provide the settlers with water resources and raw materials for extracting the much-needed oxygen and hydrogen fuel for rocket engines.”
The study mentions several other locations across Mars where pits or skylights have been observed, including Hebrus Valles, the Pavonis volcano, Ascraeus Mons, Acidalia Planitia (whose surface location was featured The Martian), and Cydonia Mensae. Additionally, the study discusses how lava channels, caves, or tubes close to sources of water ice would also prove beneficial for future astronauts, which could significantly reduce the costs of shipping and storing water on their spacecraft for the initial journey to Mars.
“The best case would be a lava tube with strong walls found next to powerful glacial structures,” the study notes. “The colony itself, most likely, will have the appearance of separate premises, with residential, engineering, elevator and greenhouse compartments. They will have to be connected to each other by small transition tunnels to control the pressure and composition of the artificially created atmosphere in them.”
Lava tubes were featured prominently in the National Geographic television series, Mars, which depicted the first astronauts to the Red Planet and their quest to survive the harsh environment. During their journey, lava tubes provided shelter from the cosmic and solar radiation while also having large deposits of water ice at their disposal which they used for drinking and rocket fuel while drastically reducing the amount of water they initially had to bring during their journey.
The reason why cosmic and solar radiation rains down on to the Martian surface daily is due to the lack of protective ozone layer and magnetic field that exists on Earth and helps deflect this deadly radiation from reaching our surface, enabling life to exist here for billions of years. While Mars might have had both mechanisms billions of years ago, the interior of the Red Planet has since cooled drastically, causing these protective features to be stripped away by the solar wind and lost to space.
This study comes as NASA plans to send humans back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, and eventually Mars, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars Architecture. Therefore, adequate preparation prior to sending the first astronauts to the Red Planet would prove beneficial in increasing their chances of survival throughout the entire journey, and this study highlighted several ways lava tubes could do just that.
How will lava caves help future Mars astronauts in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
Zijn er andere planeten zoals die van ons? De zoektocht naar buitenaards leven houdt de wereld al tientallen jaren bezig. Terwijl telescopen naar de hemel kijken en de uithoeken van de ruimte afspeuren, leggen sondes zoals Voyager 1 ongelofelijke afstanden af in de hoop buitenaards leven te vinden. Maar waar kan zulk leven gevonden worden? Wat zijn de ideale omstandigheden voor buitenaardse wezens om in te leven? En hoe vergelijkbaar zijn hun planeten met die van ons?
LEES door deze galerij om de antwoorden te vinden die verborgen liggen in de interstellaire ruimte.
Waar te beginnen met zoeken? Er zijn naar schatting een septiljoen sterren in het bekende heelal (dat is een 1 gevolgd door 24 nullen!). En om elk van deze sterren kunnen wel een dozijn planeten draaien. Dus hoe kunnen we buitenaards leven vinden? De eerste stap is om het dichter bij huis te zoeken.
De aarde en haar omstandigheden De aarde is astronomisch gezien de perfecte plek om te leven. Het bestaan van water en een stabiele atmosfeer heeft een ideale omgeving gecreëerd waarin leven kan floreren.
De bewoonbare zone De afstand van een planeet tot zijn ster is cruciaal voor het begrijpen van de leefbaarheid van een planeet. De aarde bevindt zich perfect in wat de bewoonbare zone wordt genoemd, waar de omstandigheden niet te warm of te koud zijn om te kunnen leven.
De 'Goldilocks zone' De bewoonbare zone wordt in het engels ook wel de 'Goldilocks zone' genoemd, vernoemd naar het sprookje. In het verhaal kiest Goudlokje tussen drie sets van items en negeert de items die te extreem zijn (groot of klein, warm of koud), in plaats daarvan neemt ze genoegen met het item dat "precies goed" is.
Venus Venus, dat qua massa vergelijkbaar is met de aarde, staat te dicht bij de zon om levensvatbaar te zijn. Planeetwetenschappers denken dat Venus ooit water aan het oppervlak heeft gehad, maar dat de planeet verstikt is door kooldioxide en een temperatuur van 462°C.
Mogelijkheden beperken Door de criteria voor de bewoonbare zone te begrijpen, konden astronomen achterhalen dat er zo'n 40 miljard planeten in de bewoonbare zones van de Melkweg zouden kunnen draaien.
In de sterren geschreven Tot nu toe hebben astronomen slechts 1.780 planeten buiten ons zonnestelsel kunnen bevestigen. En van al die planeten bevinden zich er maar 16 in hun bewoonbare zones.
Te groot of te klein Maar het is niet genoeg voor een planeet om zich op de juiste afstand van een ster te bevinden. De grootte doet er ook zeker toe. Een kleine planeet kan geen atmosfeer behouden, terwijl een te grote planeet een verpletterende atmosfeer zal hebben.
De aarde als schaal Om de juiste atmosferische druk te hebben, moet een planeet tussen 0,1 en 10 keer de massa van de aarde hebben. Dit is een zeer smalle bewoonbare zone, zeker als je bedenkt hoeveel planeten in het heelal honderden keren groter zijn dan de aarde.
Gliese 581c In 2007 werd de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap verblijd met het nieuws over Gliese 581c, de eerste superaarde in de bewoonbare zone. Al snel werd ontdekt dat de omstandigheden aan het oppervlak van de planeet veel leken op die van Venus.
Kepler-186f In 2014 werd een exoplaneet ter grootte van de aarde ontdekt die Kepler-186f heet en in de bewoonbare zone van een rode dwergster rondcirkelt. Astronomen proberen nog steeds vast te stellen of de planeet leefbaar is.
Proxima Centauri b De exoplaneet die het dichtst bij de aarde staat is Proxima Centauri b. Deze planeet draait rond de ster die het dichtst bij de zon staat, op een afstand van ongeveer vier lichtjaar. Hoewel het een gouden planeet is, weten wetenschappers niet zeker of het ook een atmosfeer heeft.
Andere belangrijke criteria Hoewel de bewoonbare zone en de atmosfeer van een planeet belangrijk zijn om de bewoonbaarheid te begrijpen, is dat zeker niet alles. Planeten moeten aan een groot aantal andere criteria voldoen, waaronder het vermogen om vloeibaar water te bevatten.
Mars Mars is de enige andere planeet in ons zonnestelsel die zich binnen de bewoonbare zone bevindt. Maar de juiste atmosferische druk is alleen te vinden op de lage punten van de planeet en er is nog geen bewijs dat de planeet vloeibaar water heeft.
Droge planeten Hypothetisch gezien zouden droge planeten water kunnen vasthouden via oases. Dit zou betekenen dat zulke planeten dichter bij een ster en buiten de bewoonbare zone kunnen draaien.
Oceaanplaneten Er bestaat een theorie dat de oceanen op aarde zijn ontstaan nadat ijslichamen op onze planeet insloegen en vervolgens smolten. Er zouden nog meer van zulke planeten kunnen bestaan.
Manen Natuurlijke satellieten van planeten, of manen, zouden ook bewoonbaar kunnen zijn. Maar deze manen moeten zich binnen de bewoonbare zone van hun gastheerplaneten bevinden en ze moeten ver genoeg rond hun planeet draaien, zodat ze geen vulkanische planeten worden zoals Jupiters maan, Io.
Europa De op drie na grootste maan van Jupiter, Europa, zou een wateroceaan onder het oppervlak van de planeet bevatten, welke mogelijk buitenaards leven zou kunnen herbergen.
Magnetische velden Het magnetische veld van de aarde is een voorbeeld van een ander belangrijk criterium dat de levensvatbaarheid bepaalt, omdat het het oppervlak van de planeet beschermt tegen straling en kosmische stralen. Andere planeten zouden een vergelijkbaar veld moeten hebben om complex leven te kunnen laten floreren.
Zonnetweeling Tot op de dag van vandaag hebben astronomen nog geen ster kunnen vinden die op de zon lijkt, een fenomeen dat een zonnetweeling wordt genoemd. Dit heeft het de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap moeilijker gemaakt om buitenaards leven te vinden dat op het onze lijkt.
Buitenaards leven Maar welke soorten buitenaards leven zouden we kunnen vinden? Het is algemeen aangenomen dat op koolstof gebaseerde levensvormen de enige levensvatbare manieren zijn waarop leven kan bestaan.
Koolstof-chauvinisme Veel wetenschappers hebben kritiek geuit op het idee dat buitenaards leven gebaseerd moet zijn op koolstof. Hypothetisch gezien zouden buitenaardse wezens uit heel andere elementen kunnen bestaan die hen in staat stellen om op plekken te overleven die voor mensen onherbergzaam zijn.
Titan Titan, de grootste maan van Saturnus, bezit koolwaterstofmeren die mogelijk leven zouden kunnen ondersteunen. Titan is het enige andere object in de ruimte waarvan is ontdekt dat het oppervlak vloeistof bevat.
Zijn we uniek, of alleen de eerste? Natuurkundige Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) kwam met de theorie dat we nog geen buitenaards leven zijn tegengekomen omdat intelligent leven ofwel zeldzaam is, ofwel nog maar net was onstaan in het universum.
Dicht bij het einde Andere natuurkundigen hebben beweerd dat we nog geen buitenaards leven hebben gevonden omdat we al te laat zijn. In feite zeggen ze dat de meeste buitenaardse wezens al dood zijn en dat het heelal te ver uitbreidt om hun overblijfselen nog te kunnen vinden.
Het Grote Filter Veel antropologen en astronomen geloven dat de mensheid alleen is in het universum, vanwege Het Grote Filter. Dit betekent in feite dat er zoveel onwaarschijnlijke stappen nodig zijn voor leven om intelligentie te ontwikkelen, dat het onwaarschijnlijk is dat dit nog eens zal gebeuren.
De 'dierentuin hypothese' Andere wetenschappers veronderstellen dat buitenaards leven wel degelijk bestaat, maar dat ze de mensheid vermijden om ons primitieve bestaan zonder tussenkomst te laten verlopen. Hoe dan ook, de ruimte is een grote grens die heel goed buitenaards leven zou kunnen herbergen.
Bronnen:
(National Geographic)
(NASA)
(Astronomy.com)
(Earth How)
(Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)
UFOs as ’bright as the sun’ spotted over Winipeg River in Canada
(Pixabay/kalhh)
A Canadian couple spotted two glowing UFOs above the Winipeg river, while driving through Fort Alexander on May 14. Justin Stevenson, and his wife Danielle Daniels-Stevenson spotted mysterious orbs with glowing yellow lights.
The objects, described “as bright as the sun,” were flying southwards above the river’s north shore before they disappeared behind a cloud.
“ Like being in a sci-fi movie," with the objects appearing as "super bright like a fire in the sky," Stevenson described his experience, who is a self-proclaimed fanatic of extraterrestrial life.
UFOs SPOTTED: WATCH VIDEO
A report by the New York Post mentions that the encounter has led Stevenson to believe there is life beyond earth. “I was sceptical before I saw this but now this has given me the proof I need that there's something out there other than humans,” said Stevenson, reported the NY Post.
While one user claimed it could be a “drone or a UFO,” someone else offered a more logical and analytical explanation, mentioning that a “swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and refracted the light from Venus.”
Another user was disappointed and expected more footage. “Why did you stop recording,” the person commented.
Increase in UFO sightings in Canada
Canada has witnessed a surge in "UFO sightings", with at least 17 reports filed in 2023.
In February 2023, a user on X had mentioned about Uruguayan Airforce being on red alert in South America, after spotting “spotting bright aerial vehicles in formation.”
Pilots and crews from airlines such as WestJet, Air France and British Airways, have further mentioned unexplained sightings. In February 2023, two airlines came forward with a strange account on the sky over Quebec, with one crew member describing the phenomenon as "a bit weird". The sightings are documented in an online aviation incident database maintained by Transport Canada, reported the NDTV.
UFOs: From psychology to air traffic, are we closer than ever to an answer?
UFOs: From psychology to air traffic, are we closer than ever to an answer?
By Shola Lee, BBC News
BBC/Twenty Twenty Productions LtdSian Eleri, pictured, investigates alleged UFO sightings in the late 1970s and early 1980s
As the new series of the BBC's Paranormal looks into alleged UFO sightings, one aerospace expert says accessible, modern technology puts us in a stronger position than ever to work out what's going on in the skies above us.
It was a rainy day in Pembrokeshire in February 1977 when a group of pupils from Broad Haven Primary School claimed to see an unidentified flying object (UFO) outside.
David Davies, who was just 10 at the time, remembers his fellow students coming inside throughout the day "trying to alert the headmaster that there was something strange going on".
The schoolboy was sure there was a logical explanation for what they had seen. "My intention was to go out there and completely prove them wrong," David says.
But when he went to investigate, he says he saw a "silver, cigar-shaped object" about the size of a bus, with a domed upper section and a "red pulsating glow" on top.
"I had this overwhelming urge to run away," David says of the sighting that lasted about 10 seconds.
BBC/Twenty Twenty Productions Ltd
David Davies was one of the children from Broad Haven Primary School who claimed to see a UFO in 1977
This event in south-west Wales is explored in the latest series of the BBC's Paranormal. Across four episodes, host Sian Eleri investigates alleged UFO sightings in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And one aerospace expert tells the BBC that in 2024, thanks to everyone having a phone in their pocket and many people using apps to follow air traffic, we are in "a much stronger position to be able to track what's known and what's unknown".
So is there a simple explanation for why we see UFOs? And should they be investigated?
'A lot of UFO hunting'
UFOs have held our attention for decades, ever since reports of alleged extraterrestrial debris in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, the movie The Flying Saucer being released three years later and the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union gaining steam throughout 1950s.
And stories about alien life would go on to influence popular culture in the years to come, from Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning E.T. in 1982, to The X Files first airing in 1993 and even recent additions like Jordan Peele's 2022 film Nope feeding into the cultural obsession.
Dr Ciaran O'Keeffe - the head of the school of human and social sciences at Buckinghamshire New University - says there was also a "huge peak of interest" in UFO sightings around the 1980s that resulted in "a lot of UFO hunting".
BBC/Twenty Twenty Productions Ltd
The children at the Broad Haven Primary School were asked to draw what they had seen
Reported sightings were covered by media around the world - and the alleged sighting at Broad Haven Primary School was picked up by publications as far as New Zealand.
The Broad Haven incident was one of a wave of sightings in the area in 1977 - dubbed the Dyfed Triangle. In the past, a number of theories have been put forward to explain them, including the work of a "local prankster".
While sightings like the one in Broad Haven captured mass attention, Dr O'Keeffe says there may be plausible explanations.
"The key fundamental psychological explanation for what's going on is around eyewitness testimony," says Dr O'Keeffe, who also consults on the BBC's Uncanny, adding that eyewitness testimony can be prone to errors.
"The nature of the interviewing of an eyewitness can distort the memory of the event significantly," he adds, especially if the questioning of a witness is poor. For example, leading questions and exposure to media coverage of an event can be distorting factors.
BBC/Twenty Twenty Productions Ltd
The children reportedly drew near identical images of the UFO, which captured widespread media attention
However, the UFO sighting at Broad Haven Primary School was not just one eyewitness, it was a group of pupils. Here, Dr O'Keeffe explains the idea of "contagion" and group conformity could be behind a mass UFO sighting.
"Contagion is this idea that thoughts, feelings and behaviours can spread amongst a group of people," Dr O'Keeffe says.
However, David feels he can "rule out" these psychological explanations for the 1977 sighting after the children reportedly drew near identical images of the UFO they had seen.
Before the incident, David adds, he did not have a "big interest in Sci-Fi". But in the years that followed, he would spend thousands of pounds on books and research materials to understand what happened.
'Not always publicised'
Dr Ryan Marks, an aerospace engineer who appears in Paranormal, says air traffic in the sky could also offer plausible explanations for UFO sightings, particularly around built-up areas where there are airfields.
According to the RAF Museum, between 1970 and 1990 there were five airfields in south Wales, with one being used as a missile testing range.
"There's a huge amount of air traffic at any one time and that's obviously increased over the last 40 years," Dr Marks explains, adding that there is "always a level of military activity" in the sky and that "not all of this is always publicised".
In March this year, for example, a US government report concluded that UFO sightings in the US in the 1950s and 1960s were caused by tests of advanced spy planes and space technology.
BBC/Twenty Twenty Productions Ltd
Dr Marks says today a lot of air traffic movements are recorded using apps
Around the mid-1970s to early 1980s, Dr Marks says developments were taking place in the UK exploring hot air balloons and airships - and some "would resemble traditional UFOs".
He notes, however, these were "small-scale" experiments that did not get outside of the air hangar.
Today, Dr Marks says, "a lot of air traffic movements are recorded," with free-to-download apps able to identify a plane, where it has come from and its destination. This "digital fingerprint" makes it a lot easier to track what is going on in the sky, he explains.
For his part, David remains confident in his UFO sighting.
"Unless somebody can explain to me what type of aircraft was flying at that time, that was 45-feet long, cigar-shaped and silver - I have no explanation for it," he says, adding that believing in UFOs can sometimes be "like you're banging your head against a brick wall, against society".
"It's still being dismissed as nonsense," he says.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) closed their UFO desk in 2009 after saying it served no defence purpose and was taking staff away from more valuable defence-related activities.
In a statement, an MOD spokesperson added: "In over 50 years, no sightings of extraterrestrial intelligence, Unidentified Flying Objects and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena reported to us indicated the existence of any military threat to the United Kingdom."
UAP over Baytown, Texas on 6-25-2024, UFO Sighting News. It suddenly turns left into a cloud and flies away.
UAP over Baytown, Texas on 6-25-2024, UFO Sighting News. It suddenly turns left into a cloud and flies away.
Date of sighting: 6-25-2-24
Location of sighting: Baytown, Texas, USA
Now this was caught on a security cam this week and it not only shows a UFO but it shows a round sphere UFO that quickly flashes a bright green light in an attempt to fake eyewitnesses out and make them believe its a meteor. However the UFO then makes a hard left into the clouds and shoots away. Such maneuvers are impossible for meteors. The evidence is right there on security cam footage.
Could A Mound of Dust and Rock Protect Astronauts from Deadly Radiation?
Protecting the astronauts of the Artemis program is one of NASA’s highest priorities. The agency intends to have a long-term presence on the Moon, which means long-term exposure to dangerous radiation levels. As part of the development of the Artemis program, NASA also set limits to the radiation exposure that astronauts can suffer. Other hazards abound on the lunar surface, including a potential micrometeoroid strike, which could cause catastrophic damage to mission equipment or personnel. NASA built a team to design and develop a “Lunar Safe Haven” to protect from these hazards. Their working paper was released in 2022 but still stands as NASA’s best approach to long-term living on the lunar surface.
The two hazards mentioned above provided the primary impetus for the design, but there are some nuances to them—in particular, radiation. Astronauts will experience two main types of hazardous radiation on the lunar surface: cosmic rays and solar eruptions.
Cosmic rays are the more insidious of the two. They have a high energy range, so a shielding material that might work well for higher-energy particles might not do so for lower-energy ones. Moreover, some high-energy particles can interact with shielding, causing even more damaging radiation further down its path. Essentially, this increases the radiation risk inside the shielding compared to outside. The order in which the radiative particles are dealt with is one of the critical design considerations for dealing with this dangerous phenomenon.
Lunar regolith can be hard to deal with, as Fraser discusses with Dr. Kevin Cannon.
However, solar particle events (SPEs) are the more overtly dangerous of the two types of radiation. While rare, they can cause acute radiation sickness. Current astronauts must shelter in place inside a protected chamber on the ISS when these happen, and building something equivalent on the surface of the Moon is a necessity to ensure that astronauts don’t simply die of acute radiation poisoning within the first six months of arrival.
With the problems to solve firmly in hand, the design team moved on to other considerations—like what the habitat inside the LSH would actually look like and how it would be built. Consideration of the habitat shape focused on one primary distinction—should the habitat be horizontal or vertical? The answer is vertical based on modeling the risk of radiation and micrometeoroid strikes.
So, how do you build a structure around a vertical habitat on the Moon? You employ robots and remotely operated construction equipment. Other groups at NASA had been working on solutions like the Lightweight Surface Manipulation System (LSMS), essentially a large crane that can be constructed in lunar gravity, and the Lunar Attachment Node for Construction and Excavation (LANCE) – a bulldozer module designed to attach to the front of NASA’s Chariot exploration vehicle. Utilizing these ideas and other construction ideas, it’s possible to construct a protective dome of lunar regolith around a long-term habitat for the Artemis missions.
Fraser overviews the Artemis mission that LSH will attempt to help.
Such a protective habitat has significant advantages over digging one into the ground, which requires moving a massive amount of regolith or utilizing lava tubes with indeterminate structural integrity. But that means the LSH must have an above-ground design. The team developed two separate design ideas – a parabolic arch and a “Round Cake” design using polyethylene. The first is self-explanatory, but the second looks more like a typical cylinder with the radiation and micrometeoroid-blocking polyethylene stored in “beans” at the top of the structure. This could be made of waste materials from the mission, such as discarded food packaging.
Each design has advantages and disadvantages, and the team didn’t pick a final one as part of the paper. However, they did come up with a five-phase development process, from preparing the site in advance to living in interconnected habitats surrounded by regolith and protective shielding. Depending on the amount of automation involved and some real luck, those development phases could take anywhere from a few years to a few decades.
It remains to be seen if this system will be adopted as an official part of the Artemis program. But it serves a need of critical importance to humanity’s long-term existence on the Moon. If that is indeed NASA’s goal for the end of the 2030s, it would be good to consider how to start making the LSH a reality.
A video of a jellyfish-looking object flying over a military base was released by Jeremy Corbell during a docuseries. (Jeremy Corbell)
Screengrabs from Jeremy Corbell’s UFO video show the jellyfish-like object changing colour.
Jeremy Corbell/X
UFO whistleblowers are being threatened, and protections currently in place "are a joke," a congressman told Fox News Digital.
Lue Elizondo, who was the head of a secretive Pentagon unit that studied UFOs, said there have been threats against him and "several other whistleblowers formerly associated with the UAP [unidentified anomalous phenomena] effort for the U.S. Government."
"I would like to make this perfectly clear to the American people. I am not prone to accidents. I am not suicidal. I am not abusing drugs. I am not engaged in any illicit activities," Elizondo said in a statement to "The Good Trouble Show" on May 15.
"If something happens to me or my family members in the future, you will know what happened."
Left: Photograph of the supposed Westall UFO encounter where more than 200 students and teachers at two Victorian state schools in Australia allegedly witnessed a flying object which descended into a nearby open wild grass field in 1966. Right: Lue Elizondo, who was the head of a secretive Pentagon unit that studied UFOs, said there have been threats against him and "several other whistleblowers."
(Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images | Fox News )
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who has been one of the lawmakers leading the push for full UFO disclosure, is a personal friend of Elizondo.
"There is whistleblower protection, but it's a joke, and we know it's a joke," Burchett told Fox News Digital.
The congressman and Elizondo had dinner around the time Elizondo made it known he was being threatened.
He didn't detail what the threats were, or who made them, but Burchett expressed his anger and said he's "alarmed."
"If something happens to me or my family members in the future, you will know what happened."
— Lue Elizondo
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., attends a hearing with the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on June 6, 2023.
(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"Lou is a dear friend of mine, and I take any threat against anybody seriously, especially against friends and somebody that has given so much to this country and to this issue [UFOs]," Burchett said.
"So, I'm very much aware of it, and I'm very much alarmed. I'm pursuing every avenue I can to get to the bottom of it."
The threats aimed at Elizondo and UFO whistleblowers aren't new, but are the latest in a disturbing trend.
Last July, David Grusch testified in front of Congress that his life was threatened and he was instructed to keep quiet about a secret government-run crashed UFO retrieval program.
From left: former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, former U.S. intelligence officer David Grusch and ex-Navy commander David Fravor testify before the House of Representatives subcommittee focused on UFOs in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 2023.
(House subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs)
"I can't get into the specifics in an open forum but… what I personally witnessed myself and my wife was very disturbing," said Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer and Air Force veteran.
"I've faced brutal, unfortunate tactics" of retribution that he called "administrative terrorism."
Elizondo was the former senior leader of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a shadow government program created "from the ashes of the AAWSAP (Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program)," veteran journalist George Knapp wrote in his testimony to Congress.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., started the program in 2009 to "investigate potential next generation aerospace technologies," according to a March report by the Pentagon's UFO-focused office called AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office).
The U.S. Navy filmed "pyramid-shaped" UFOs hovering over the USS Russell off the coast of California in July 2019.
(@JeremyCorbell)
Specifically, the AATIP was focused on advanced lift, propulsion, the use of unconventional materials and controls, and signature reduction.
"Although investigating UFO/UAP was not specifically outlined in the contract’s statement of work, the selected private sector organization conducted UFO research," AARO's report says.
"This research included: reviewing new cases and much older Project BLUE BOOK cases, operating debriefing and investigatory teams, and proposals to set up laboratories to examine any recovered UFO materials."
READ FULL PENTAGON UFO REPORT
The same report concluded that there was no evidence of aliens, alien technology or secret government-run reverse engineering programs.
It was met with sharp backlash from experts, scientists and lawmakers, who said the 63-page report was incomplete and filled with holes.
"The historical review is an attempt to rewrite history and obscure the basic fundamental facts about the UFO phenomenon," Jeremy Corbell, an investigative journalist and pivotal figure in the fight for UFO transparency, told Fox News Digital in March after the report was released.
Chris Eberhart is a crime and US news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to chris.eberhart@fox.com or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.
Mars is Bombarded by Meteoroids At More Frequent Rates than Previously Thought
Mars is Bombarded by Meteoroids At More Frequent Rates than Previously Thought
Current impact rates at Mars could be 2-10 times higher than previously estimated, depending on the size of the meteoroids, according to new research.
Mars; the center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system.
Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
“It’s possible Mars is more geologically active than we thought, which holds implications for the age and evolution of the planet’s surface,” said Brown University’s Dr. Ingrid Daubar.
“Our results are based on a small number of examples available to us, but the estimate of the current impact rate suggests the planet is getting hit much more frequently than we can see using imaging alone.”
Dr. Daubar and colleagues used the highly sensitive seismometer onboard NASA’s InSight lander to identify eight new impact craters from meteoroids not previously seen from orbit.
The frequency of these cosmic collisions challenges existing notions about how often meteoroids hit the surface of Mars and suggests a need to revise current Martian cratering models to incorporate higher impact rates, especially from smaller meteoroids.
The findings could ultimately reshape current understandings of the Martian surface — as batterings from small meteoroids continue to sculpt it — and the impact history of not just Mars, but other planets.
“This is going to require us to rethink some of the models the science community uses to estimate the age of planetary surfaces throughout the entire Solar System,” Dr. Daubar said.
Six of the craters the researchers detected were near the site where the stationary InSight set down.
A meteoroid impact on Mars formed Martian craters, seen in blue, on September 5, 2021. NASA's InSight mission detected the impacts, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the craters.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured an image of a meteoroid impact that was later associated with a seismic event detected by the agency's InSight lander. This crater was formed on May 27, 2020.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
The two distant impacts they identified from the data were the two biggest impacts ever detected by scientists, even after decades of watching from orbit.
The larger impacts, each leaving a crater roughly the size of a football field, came just 97 days apart, underscoring the higher frequency of these types of geological events.
“This size impact, we would expect to happen maybe once every couple of decades, maybe even once in a lifetime, but here we have two of them that are just over 90 days apart,” Dr. Daubar said.
“It could just be a crazy coincidence, but there’s a really, really small likelihood that it’s just coincidence.”
“What’s more likely is that either the two big impacts are related, or the impact rate is a lot higher for Mars than what we thought it was.”
“Planetary impacts are happening all across the Solar System all the time.”
“We’re interested in studying that on Mars because we can then compare and contrast what’s happening on Mars to what’s happening on the Earth,”
“This is important for understanding our Solar System, what’s in it and what the population of impacting bodies in our Solar System looks like — both as hazards to the Earth and also historically to other planets.”
The orbiter spotted a meteoroid impact that occurred on February 18, 2021. InSight tracked a seismic signal from the event.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
InSight data was matched with photos from orbiters, such as this one of an impact crater created on August 30, 2021, to pin down when and where meteoroid strikes happen on the red planet.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
The study appeared today in the journal Science Advances.
Ingrid J. Daubar et al. 2024. Seismically detected cratering on Mars: Enhanced recent impact flux? Science Advances 10 (26); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk7615
50-Minute Global UFO Sightings Compilation: Explore the Unexplained
50-Minute Global UFO Sightings Compilation: Explore the Unexplained
Explore an incredible collection of UFO sightings from around the world! This 50-minute compilation features stunning videos and photos that capture mysterious objects in the sky. Witness firsthand accounts and unexplained phenomena that have intrigued and puzzled experts for decades. Dive into the unknown and join the quest to uncover the truth about UFOs!
De twee astronauten die met de Boeing-ruimtecapsule Starliner drie weken geleden aankwamen in het internationale ruimtestation ISS, zitten daar "niet geblokkeerd". Dat heeft het Amerikaanse ruimteagentschap NASA vrijdag benadrukt. De terugkeer van de Starliner naar de aarde is ondertussen herhaaldelijk uitgesteld en zal er nu pas komen na nieuwe tests.
NASA benadrukt dat astronauten Starliner niet geblokkeerd zitten in ISS
De terugvlucht was aanvankelijk ten laatste op 26 juni gepland. NASA gaf geen nieuwe datum, maar liet eerder al weten dat de terugkeer van de Starliner met de twee astronauten Butch Wilmore en Suni Williams niet meer voor juni zou zijn.
Onderweg naar het ISS had de Starliner te maken gekregen met talrijke technische problemen. Er waren bijvoorbeeld heliumlekken opgetreden. Na problemen met de motoren slaagde het ruimteschip er pas bij de tweede poging in om aan te meren bij het ISS.
"Butch en Suni zijn niet geblokkeerd in de ruimte", benadrukte Steve Stich, een hoge verantwoordelijke van NASA, vrijdag tijdens een ongewoon gespannen persconferentie. De twee astronauten zouden aanvankelijk slechts iets meer dan een week in de ruimte blijven. In Amerikaanse media werd dan ook de vraag gesteld of de astronauten nog wel konden terugkeren naar aarde.
NASA benadrukt dat astronauten Starliner niet geblokkeerd zitten in ISS
"We kunnen Starliner op elk moment terughalen", benadrukte Mark Nappi, een hoge verantwoordelijke bij Boeing. De eerste bemande vlucht van de Starliner was de ultieme testvlucht van de Boeing-ruimtecapsule, alvorens er reguliere vluchten mee uitgevoerd kunnen worden van en naar het ISS.
De Starliner, ontwikkeld en gebouwd door de Amerikaanse vliegtuigbouwer Boeing, maakte zijn eerste succesvolle onbemande vlucht in 2022.
NASA benadrukt dat astronauten Starliner niet geblokkeerd zitten in ISS
NASA benadrukt dat astronauten Starliner "niet geblokkeerd" zitten in ISS, al is er voorlopig geen nieuwe datum voor terugkeer
NASA benadrukt dat astronauten Starliner "niet geblokkeerd" zitten in ISS, al is er voorlopig geen nieuwe datum voor terugkeer
Artikel door Belga
De terugvlucht was aanvankelijk ten laatste op 26 juni gepland. NASA gaf geen nieuwe datum, maar liet eerder al weten dat de terugkeer van de Starliner met de 2 astronauten Butch Wilmore en Suni Williams niet meer voor juni zou zijn.
Onderweg naar het ISS had de Starliner te maken gekregen met talrijke technische problemen. Er waren bijvoorbeeld heliumlekken opgetreden. Na problemen met de motoren slaagde het ruimteschip er pas bij de tweede poging in om aan te meren bij het ISS.
De capsule kon pas bij een tweede poging aanmeren bij het ISS
"Butch en Suni zijn niet geblokkeerd in de ruimte", benadrukte Steve Stich, een hoge verantwoordelijke van NASA, vrijdag tijdens een ongewoon gespannen persconferentie. De 2 astronauten zouden aanvankelijk slechts iets meer dan een week in de ruimte blijven. In Amerikaanse media werd dan ook de vraag gesteld of de astronauten nog wel konden terugkeren naar aarde.
"We kunnen Starliner op elk moment terughalen", benadrukte Mark Nappi, een hoge verantwoordelijke bij Boeing. De eerste bemande vlucht van de Starliner was de ultieme testvlucht van de Boeing-ruimtecapsule, alvorens er reguliere vluchten mee uitgevoerd kunnen worden van en naar het ISS.
De Starliner, ontwikkeld en gebouwd door de Amerikaanse vliegtuigbouwer Boeing, maakte zijn eerste succesvolle onbemande vlucht in 2022.
Microfossils, tiny fossil fragments also known as palynomorphs that are only visible under a microscope, can be found almost anywhere on the Earth one chooses to look. Although these ubiquitous fossils play an essential role in telling the geological and organic story of Earth’s ancient past, studying them is no simple matter, mainly because there are billions of them.
Artist's reconstruction of Gangtoucunia aspera as it would have appeared in life on the Cambrian seafloor, circa 514 million years ago. The individual in the foreground has part of the skeleton removed to show the soft polyp inside the skeleton. Reconstruction by Xiaodong Wang.
Credit: Reconstruction by Xiaodong Wang.
An exceptionally well-preserved collection of fossils discovered in eastern Yunnan Province, China, has enabled scientists to solve a centuries-old riddle in the evolution of life on earth, revealing what the first animals to make skeletons looked like. The results have been published today inProceedings of the Royal Society B.
The first animals to build hard and robust skeletons appear suddenly in the fossil record in a geological blink of an eye around 550-520 million years ago during an event called the Cambrian Explosion. Many of these early fossils are simple hollow tubes ranging from a few millimeters to many centimeters in length. However, what sort of animals made these skeletons was almost completely unknown, because they lack preservation of the soft parts needed to identify them as belonging to major groups of animals that are still alive today.
The new collection of 514 million year old fossils includes four specimens of Gangtoucunia aspera with soft tissues still intact, including the gut and mouthparts. These reveal that this species had a mouth fringed with a ring of smooth, unbranched tentacles about 5 mm long. It's likely that these were used to sting and capture prey, such as small arthropods. The fossils also show that Gangtoucunia had a blind-ended gut (open only at one end), partitioned into internal cavities, that filled the length of the tube.
These are features found today only in modern jellyfish, anemones and their close relatives (known as cnidarians), organisms whose soft parts are extremely rare in the fossil record. The study shows that these simple animals was among the first to build the hard skeletons that make up much of the known fossil record.
Because of this, researchers are now turning to artificial intelligence for help in classifying these minuscule preserved remnants of Earth’s ancient past.
Typically ranging from 5 to 500 micrometers in size and anywhere from a couple of million years to over 500 million years old, these tiny fossils are found mostly in sedimentary rocks, making them invaluable both to geologists and paleontologists. They help determine the age of rock layers, reconstruct past environments, and understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth. For instance, the presence of certain microfossils can indicate whether a rock layer was formed in a marine or terrestrial environment, providing insights into past climate conditions and geological events. Simply put, they offer a glimpse into what a specific area was like all those years ago.
Fossil specimen (left) and diagram (right) of Gangtoucunia aspera preserving soft tissues, including the gut and tentacle. Image credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.
Credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.
Fossil specimen of Gangtoucunia aspera preserving soft tissues, including the gut and tentacles (left and middle). The drawing at the right illustrates the visible anatomical features in the fossil specimens. Image credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.
Credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.
According to the researchers, Gangtoucunia would have looked similar to modern scyphozoan jellyfish polyps, with a hard tubular structure anchored to the underlying substrate. The tentacle mouth would have extended outside the tube, but could have been retracted inside the tube to avoid predators. Unlike living jellyfish polyps however, the tube of Gangtoucunia was made of calcium phosphate, a hard mineral that makes up our own teeth and bones. Use of this material to build skeletons has become more rare among animals over time.
Corresponding author Dr. Luke Parry, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, said, "This really is a one-in-million discovery. These mysterious tubes are often found in groups of hundreds of individuals, but until now they have been regarded as 'problematic' fossils, because we had no way of classifying them. Thanks to these extraordinary new specimens, a key piece of the evolutionary puzzle has been put firmly in place."
The new specimens clearly demonstrate that Gangtoucunia was not related to annelid worms (earthworms, polychaetes and their relatives) as had been previously suggested for similar fossils. It is now clear that Gangtoucunia's body had a smooth exterior and a gut partitioned longitudinally, whereas annelids have segmented bodies with transverse partitioning of the body.
The fossil was found at a site in the Gaoloufang section in Kunming, eastern Yunnan Province, China. Here, anaerobic (oxygen-poor) conditions limit the presence of bacteria that normally degrade soft tissues in fossils.
Ph.D. student Guangxu Zhang, who collected and discovered the specimens, said, "The first time I discovered the pink soft tissue on top of a Gangtoucunia tube, I was surprised and confused about what they were. In the following month, I found three more specimens with soft tissue preservation, which was very exciting and made me rethink the affinity of Gangtoucunia. The soft tissue of Gangtoucunia, particularly the tentacles, reveals that it is certainly not a priapulid-like worm as previous studies suggested, but more like a coral, and then I realized that it is a cnidarian."
Although the fossil clearly shows that Gangtoucunia was a primitive jellyfish, this doesn't rule out the possibility that other early tube-fossil species looked very different. From Cambrian rocks in Yunnan province, the research team have previously found well-preserved tube fossils that could be identified as priapulids (marine worms), lobopodians (worms with paired legs, closely related to arthropods today) and annelids.
Co-corresponding author Xiaoya Ma (Yunnan University and University of Exeter) said, "A tubicolous mode of life seems to have become increasingly common in the Cambrian, which might be an adaptive response to increasing predation pressure in the early Cambrian. This study demonstrates that exceptional soft-tissue preservation is crucial for us to understand these ancient animals."
The paper "Exceptional soft tissue preservation reveals a cnidarian affinity for a Cambrian phosphatic tubicolous enigma' will be published inProceedings of the Royal Society Bon Nov. 2.
Traditionally, the classification of microfossils has been a manual, time-consuming process requiring expert knowledge, with scientists staring into a microscope or at a computer screen for hours at a time. Given the sheer volume of data—potentially billions of microfossils from numerous slides—manual classification is tedious work, and attempting to classify all these microfossils is an insurmountable and impossible task. There are just too many of them, hence the advantage of letting AI assist in that process.
Spearheaded by a team from the University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway, researchers have developed a novel method to automate the classification of microfossils.
The study introduces a two-stage AI-driven pipeline to automate the detection and classification of microfossils from microscope images.
The first stage involves using a pre-trained object detection model, YOLOv5, to identify and extract individual microfossils from high-resolution slide images. This model efficiently generates bounding boxes around each microfossil, a task that would be labor-intensive if done manually.
In the second stage, the researchers employ self-supervised learning (SSL) techniques to train models that can extract features from the detected microfossils. SSL is particularly advantageous in scenarios with limited labeled data, as it allows the model to learn useful representations from unlabeled data. The study compares two SSL frameworks, SimCLR and DINO, and finds that both significantly improve classification performance.
An image of the same slide of microfossils. On the left, the Machine learning approach. On the right, the pipeline of standard image processing methods. As the study notes, more fossils are separated with the machine learning approach as it is better able to differentiate the various fossil types.
(Image: Artificial Intelligence in Geosciences)
Basically, the AI is able to differentiate between different fossils and classify them. According to the study, this method is fast and computationally light, making it feasible to process and classify millions of microfossils efficiently. This scalability is crucial for handling the vast datasets typical in geological research. Moreover, as the AI classifies more fossils, it labels them and learns from its data, continuously adding to its own knowledge base.
“This work shows that there is great potential in utilizing AI in this field,” explained Iver Martinsen, one of the study’s authors, in a press statement. “By using AI to automatically detect and recognize fossils, geologists might have a tool that can help them better utilize the enormous amount of information that wellbore samples provide.”
The ability to automate microfossil classification has profound implications for earth sciences. It can accelerate research in subsurface exploration, aiding in oil and gas exploration and carbon capture and storage projects. Moreover, the insights gained from microfossil analysis can contribute to broader scientific inquiries, such as studying past climate changes and mass extinction events. Understanding these historical patterns is essential for predicting future environmental changes and developing strategies to mitigate their impacts.
Close up photograph of the mouth region of Gangtoucunia aspera showing the tentacles that would have been used to capture prey. Image credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.
Credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.
“We are very happy with our results,” Martinsen concluded. “Our model exceeds previous benchmarks available out there. We hope that the present work will be beneficial for geologists both in industry and academia.”
MJ Banias covers space, security, and technology with The Debrief. You can email him at mj@thedebrief.org or follow him on Twitter @mjbanias.
Researchers in Antarctica report a concerning new discovery that had not been anticipated in their existing models involving ice melting on Earth’s southernmost continent.
According to new findings, relatively warm water that can make its way beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets can cause additional melting from below that had not been previously known to scientists.
The new research, undertaken by scientists with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), reveals the problems posed by warm seawater. This water seeps into the lower portions of ground-based ice, thereby accelerating not only ice melt but also its movement into the surrounding ocean.
Additionally, the results could help climate researchers develop a clearer picture of how Antarctic ice melt contributes to rising sea levels and other changes that could impact far-reaching areas around the world in the years ahead.
BAS researcher Alex Bradley, who specializes in ice dynamics and served as lead author of the new study, says his team has identified what they believe could be “a new tipping point in Antarctic ice sheet melting.”
“This means our projections of sea level rise might be significant underestimates,” Bradley recently warned in a statement.
CHILLING DISCOVERIES WITHIN THE GROUNDING ZONE
Bradley and his team’s study focuses on the grounding zone, which describes an area beneath the Antarctic ice sheet where the ground-based ice on the continent meets the sea.
Land-based ice in Antarctica moves gradually over long periods, making its way into the ocean, where it begins to melt once it meets the seawater. However, over time, climate change has been accelerating both the movement of the ice sheets and warming the surrounding seawater. Such processes are identified as major contributors to sea level rise, which can affect coastlines all around the world.
“We reveal a sensitive dependence of the grounding-zone dynamics,” the team writes in their new paper, noting that “as the grounding zone widens in response to melting, both temperature and flow velocity in the region increase, further enhancing melting.”
“We find that increases in ocean temperature can lead to a tipping point being passed, beyond which ocean water intrudes in an unbounded manner beneath the ice sheet, via a process of runaway melting.”
“Additionally,” they add, “this tipping point may not be easily detected with early warning indicators.”
SEAWATER WORKING ITS WAY BENEATH ANTARCTICA
In the team’s new study, they modeled how seawater makes its way into the areas between the land and the ice sheet above, effectively lubricating the ice bed and quickening its movement toward the nearby ocean.
This process of speeding along the movement of Antarctica’s ice is further quickened by the presence of warmer seawater.
“Ice sheets are very sensitive to melting in their grounding zones,” Bradley recently said, adding that grounding zone melt he and his colleagues have observed “displays a ‘tipping point like’ behaviour, where a very small change in ocean temperature can cause a very big increase in grounding zone melting, which would lead to a very big change in flow of the ice above it.”
When warm water begins to seep into the grounding zone, cavities open up, allowing additional water into the area, precipitating the melt. Even a small increase in water temperature would likely significantly impact the amount of melting that occurs.
“Our results point towards a stronger sensitivity of ice-sheet melting,” Bradley and his co-author write in their recent study, emphasizing that such dynamics contribute to “higher sea-level-rise contribution in a warming climate” than scientists had previously been able to discern from past studies.
Satellite image of the ice surface from Radarsat with the valleys and ridges of the buried ancient mountains mapped.
(Supplied: Stewart Jamieson, Durham University)
ABSENT FROM EXISTING MODELS
Given that such factors are currently absent from models scientists rely on to determine the amount of melt that can occur, it seems likely that warm seawater and its impact on ice within the grounding zone can account for some of the accelerated shrinkage of ice sheets observed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others. This would also relate to ice sheets in other parts of the world apart from Antarctica such as Greenland, where similar ice melt has been observed to occur at rates faster than scientists expected based on existing models.
Bradly called the new data “missing physics” that, while remaining absent from current models, prohibits scientists from accurately projecting the potential impact of ice melt in the Earth’s polar regions.
“They don’t have the ability to simulate melting beneath grounded ice, which we think is happening,” Bradley says, adding that he and his colleagues are “working on putting that into our models now.”
This illustration shows what Antarctica would look like if the ice sheet were lifted from the continent. Highland A is a series of three hills in the East Antarctic.
(Supplied: Stewart Jamieson, Durham University)
Bradley and his team’s findings were detailed in a new study, “Tipping point in ice-sheet grounding-zone melting due to ocean water intrusion,” co-authored with Ian J. Hewitt and published in the journal Nature Geoscience on June 25, 2024.
Samples retrieved from an asteroid during NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission have undergone analysis, revealing the presence of components hinting at the origins of life on Earth.
Launched on September 8, 2016, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft traveled to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, where it retrieved a sample of rocks and dust and successfully brought them back to Earth for study.
Scientists were eager to analyze the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) sample, and now, less than a year after its arrival on Earth, a new study published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science has revealed the discovery of vital prebiotic compounds and minerals on Bennu’s rocky surface.
Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author of the new paper, said the OSIRIS-REx mission “gave us exactly what we hoped: a large pristine asteroid sample rich in nitrogen and carbon from a formerly wet world.”
The asteroid’s composition, represented in the samples retrieved by OSIRIS-REx, offers scientists a look into the formation of the solar system and the components that may have played a role in the formation of life on Earth.
The analysis is key to confirming carbon and nitrogen-rich dusts and organic compounds essential for life. However, the sample also revealed a few surprises, including the presence of magnesium-sodium phosphate, which had not been detected in data obtained from the asteroid through remote sensing.
Microscopic view of samples obtained from asteroid Bennu by OSIRIS-REx, revealing a bright vein containing phosphate (Credit: Lauretta & Connolly et al. (2024) Meteoritics & Planetary Science, doi:10.1111/maps.14227.)
This significant finding points to the likelihood that Bennu may have its origins in a small, primitive ocean world since magnesium-sodium phosphate is a water-soluble phosphate that plays a crucial role in Earth’s biochemistry. The detections made in the Bennu samples were also very pure and of a size that set them apart from similar phosphates found in asteroid samples retrieved by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission.
Although it seems likely, based on the new data, that Bennu has a history involving interactions with water, the asteroid is still relatively chemically primitive, and somewhat paradoxically, researchers compare the elements it possesses to those of the Sun.
Confirming the presence of carbon and nitrogen in the asteroid samples obtained from Bennu’s surface allows researchers to glean new insights into environments where those elements formed, as well as how they became complex molecules over time. These processes would have once occurred early in Earth’s history, also a process that would have been fundamental in the formation of life.
Retrieving the samples directly from the surface of an asteroid also offered NASA scientists access to a veritable “time capsule” where the materials remained preserved for billions of years. Given their low density, such materials are destroyed when asteroids collide with Earth’s atmosphere, burning up during reentry.
Studying the preserved samples retrieved by OSIRIS-REx has already provided new insights toward understanding the intricate processes of solar system formation and prebiotic chemistry, but researchers involved in the ongoing analysis believe there will likely be more surprises in the near future.
“Each week, analysis by the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team provides new and sometimes surprising findings,” said Harold Connolly, co-lead author of the new study and OSIRIS-REx mission sample scientist at Rowan University.
Connolly said the ongoing discoveries Bennu’s samples are revealing “are helping place important constraints on the origin and evolution of Earth-like planets.”
The new paper by lead-author Dante Lauretta and colleagues, “Asteroid (101955) Bennu in the laboratory: Properties of the sample collected by OSIRIS-REx,” was published on June 26. Additional information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission can be found on its official web page.
Trump Claims He Has Access To UFO Files. Here's What Experts Say
Trump Claims He Has Access To UFO Files. Here's What Experts Say
Donald Trump suggested in a recent interview with celebrity influencer Logan Paul that he has access to UFO files after being asked about what information he had about the existence of alien life.
The former president, appearing on Paul's ImPaulsive podcast, was asked what files or documents he was privy to on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)—the term used by defense officials referring, in part, to sightings of what are colloquially called UFOs.
Trump's conversation comes amid heightened interest in the topic, following thePentagon's release of declassified documents detailing instances reported to it by airmen and other service personnel.
Donald Trump recently claimed he had received briefings about alien life and UFOs while in office. The president was pressed during an interview with celebrity influencer Logan Paul.
REUTERS/GETTY IMAGES
Last summer, 36-year-old Air Force veteran David Grusch caused a media storm after he said that a top-secret U.S. military program had found the wreckage of several fully intact unidentified aerial craft, claiming some of which contained dead nonhuman pilots.
A 2023 report from the Office for the Director of National Intelligence found that there were 510 UAP sightings in 2022, higher than the 366 seen in 2021. Of these, 171 were considered to "appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis."
During the podcast, when asked about aliens, Trump said he had spoken to Air Force personnel who had claimed to see aircraft "round in form, going like four times faster than my super jet fighter plane."
"I have met with people that are serious people that say there are some really strange things they see flying around out there," he added.
Pressed whether he had access to information on alien life and UAPs, Trump replied, "I have access...and I speak to people about it, I've had actually meetings on it, and they will tell you there's something going on.
"When they say things, things are going four times faster than my beautiful top-of-the-line airplane that goes, you know, real fast, Mach 2, right?"
Newsweek has contacted media representatives for Donald Trump via email for comment.
Newsweek has also spoken to experts on what access Trump may have and if that privileges him to any information about UFOs while he is no longer in office.
What can Trump access?
The answer to this has been addressed, in part, through the discussion that followed Trump's handling of confidential documents, claiming that he had the authority as a former president to hold on to papers—a claim that Newsweek has previously explored.
There is no evidence to suggest that information on UAPs was among the documents at Mar-a-Lago or otherwise.
Jason R. Baron, former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and a University of Maryland professor, told Newsweek that at the end of a president's time in office, all official presidential records by law come into legal, physical custody of NARA, with any classified documents stored to protect unauthorized access. A former president may request to access records with additional clearances for classified information.
However, Baron said, "Former presidents do not have the right to request presidential records of the incumbent president or records created in presidential administrations other than their own."
Furthermore, under NARA regulations, the incumbent president also has the right to assert executive privilege to withhold records from the former president, with the archivist providing notice of any request made by a former president to the incumbent.
President Joe Biden has restricted Trump from some information, specifically intelligence briefings, arguing the former president could reveal sensitive information. Speaking to CBS Evening News in February 2021, Biden said the decision had been motivated by Trump's "erratic behavior, unrelated to the insurrection."
Asked what his worst fear was if Trump continued to receive the briefings, Biden said: "I'd rather not speculate out loud."
"What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?"
'Unidentified aerial phenomena' filmed by US Navy pilots. Pic: US Dept of Defence
While this restricts some documentation, these briefings are usually only offered as a courtesy and, in any case, are unlikely to contain information about UAPs unless they present an immediate or near-future security risk.
However, under the Presidential Records Act, Trump can only access material that originated in his four years as president per the archivist's approval, according to Gail Helt, a former CIA official and a professor of political science at King University.
"These would be documents that originated inside his White House, not the intelligence community or DOD," Helt told Newsweek.
"He would have no continued access, nor the right to such continued access, to any classified documents that originated with the CIA, FBI, DOD, etcetera, at all. Those are not his property; those belong to the intelligence community (IC) or, rather, to the nation, which trusts the IC to keep them secret."
Helt added that "if he wanted a briefing on a particular national security issue, or to access the classified intelligence record on UAPs from his four years in office, he would need to request that access from the White House."
There has been no suggestion that the documents found at Mar-a-Lago contained any information on UAPs.
Though Helt said, "I don't think that the fact that classified documents related to UAPs were not mentioned as having been present in the Mar-a-Lago stash suggests that they were not there.
"We don't know exactly what was in that trove of documents, and given the sensitivity of the topic of UAPs generally, I doubt anyone would call out the existence of such documents even in vague terms.
"Such documents could well have been present, and we may never know."
"Reporting and evidence suggests that there are still missing documents or boxes that were not found or searched, perhaps at Bedminster," Lindsay Chervinsky, an award-winning presidential historian, told Newsweek.
"Accordingly, there is no evidence to suggest he has those documents among the items that were collected and returned, but we don't really know what he has that we don't know about."
Some documents released by the Pentagon and NASA on UAPs are declassified and Trump requesting these would be no different from any other member of the public accessing them, with no additional privileges granted to presidents.
An anomalous object shows up on video captured by a Navy fighter jet in 2021.
Credit: AARO / DoD
So what's left?
Based on the descriptions given to experts about Trump's privileges, and the fact that the only papers he could access would be those created in the White House while he was in office—and not from security agencies that are coordinating investigations into UAP sightings—it is not entirely clear what information he could have, if any.
In 2023, Trump told podcast host Hugh Hewitt that he had been briefed about UAPs while in office, saying that he interviewed "a couple of people from the Air Force" without elaborating. This could be the information he may be referring to, but what more those briefings would have revealed beyond the reports that have already been declassified and investigated by the Pentagon isn't clear.
In December 2020, Trump signed a $2.3 trillion government funding bill that also compelled intelligence services to provide Congressional committees with an unclassified report about UAPs, helping the topic's popularity to skyrocket. However, that effort was engineered by Congress, not the president, and Trump was out of office for more than a year by the time it was released.
While it's feasible that Trump may have held notes or information that passed through the White House at some point, when pressed for detail Trump has remained vague.
Considering what little he has said, his limited access to White House documents, no access to Pentagon documents, and the fact that the great deal of Congressional and Washington attention to UAPs has occurred during the Biden presidency, it seems unlikely that Trump is holding on to any wild truths or information not already revealed through committee hearings and Pentagon reports. That does not mean he has nothing, but in all likelihood, whatever he possesses may be pretty slim and inconsequential.
New insights into the function of the world’s oldest analog computer, the famous Antikythera mechanism, have been made with help from an unlikely source: technology developed for the study of gravitational waves.
The Antikythera mechanism is regarded as the world’s oldest known analog computing device. An example of precocious “lost” ancient technology, the early science instrument dates back more than 2000 years and was used by astronomers to predict the positions of celestial objects by as much as decades.
Originally discovered among the wreckage of a shipwreck along the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, the mysterious mechanism has long intrigued modern scientists and engineers, primarily because it appears to be a singular invention, with no other similar devices from this period known to exist.
Now, researchers with the University of Glasgow have employed statistical modeling techniques originally developed for analyzing ripples in spacetime to determine how many holes likely existed in one of the famous Antikythera mechanism’s broken rings.
At the time of its discovery, the Antikythera mechanism was in a highly eroded state, having spent close to two thousand years amidst the wreckage of a ship that sank near the Aegean Island of Antikythera, the device’s namesake.
Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.
The Antikythera mechanism was recovered from a shipwreck in 1901 (Credit: Wikimedia Commons.)
Fast forward to 2020, when X-ray images of one of the device’s components, which researchers identify as its calendar ring, unveiled new features that included a series of regularly spaced holes beneath the ring. Given its highly eroded state, the presence of rings could be discerned, although the number remained unclear, with estimates suggesting anywhere between 347 and 467 of the holes having once existed along this damaged portion of the device.
Now, in new research published in the Horological Journal, Glasgow researchers outline their use of a pair of statistical techniques in a new effort to refine the previously estimated number of holes that once existed in this region of the Antikythera mechanism. Applying Bayesian analysis and, notably, new techniques from gravitational wave research, the team determined that the ring likely contained 354 holes.
This is significant since the 354 holes on the device would have perfectly aligned with the Greek lunar calendar, as opposed to the Egyptian calendar’s 365 holes. Based on the new analysis, the presence of 354 holes is hundreds of times more probable than the previously considered 360-hole count.
Professor Graham Woan, a co-author of the paper, explained that he became interested in the problem after being introduced to data by YouTuber Chris Budiselic, who was creating a replica of the calendar ring.
“Towards the end of last year, a colleague pointed to me to data acquired by YouTuber Chris Budiselic, who was looking to make a replica of the calendar ring and was investigating ways to determine just how many holes it contained.”
Woan said Budiselic’s conundrum “struck me as an interesting problem, and one that I thought I might be able to solve in a different way during the Christmas holidays.” Woan then went to work employing statistical techniques to see if a definitive answer could be obtained.
Dr. Joseph Bayley, a colleague of Woan’s at the University’s Institute for Gravitational Research, further refined the research by adapting techniques used in analyzing LIGO gravitational wave data to study the calendar ring. Their combined approaches, including Markov Chain Monte Carlo and nested sampling, confirmed the probability of 354 or 355 holes with a precision of about 1/3 mm.
Additionally, the new analysis also reveals the extraordinary accuracy of the holes’ placement, with an average radial variation of just 0.028mm. According to Bayley, the use of these dual approaches to resolving the lingering questions about the Antikythera mechanism showcases the truly remarkable skill employed by the device’s mysterious builder(s).
“It’s given me a new appreciation for the Antikythera mechanism and the work and care that Greek craftspeople put into making it,” Bayley said. “[T]he precision of the holes’ positioning would have required highly accurate measurement techniques and an incredibly steady hand to punch them.”
Professor Woan says using contemporary techniques to study an ancient device designed to track celestial events will enhance the research community’s appreciation of ancient technological achievements like the Antikythera mechanism, which represents a singularly unique and innovative construction.
“We hope that our findings about the Antikythera mechanism, although less supernaturally spectacular than those made by Indiana Jones, will help deepen our understanding of how this remarkable device was made and used by the Greeks,” Woan said in a statement.
Woan and Bayley’s study, “An Improved Calendar Ring Hole-Count for the Antikythera Mechanism,” appeared in the July 2024 issue of The Horological Journal.
A couple were left stunned after they spotted UFOs 'as bright as the sun' hovering above a river in Canada.
Justin Stevenson and his wife Danielle Daniels-Stevenson were driving through Fort Alexander on May 14 when they saw the bright lights above the Winnipeg River.
Several sun-like flying objects were spotted above the Winnipeg River in Canada.Kennedy News & Media
Kennedy News and Media
He pulled over at a clearing where Danielle, 32, filmed two 'sun-like' balls of light floating above the tree line without making a sound.
Justin, 49, can be heard declaring 'I think we're seeing some aliens' as another two appear 'from nowhere' and begin moving downwards.
Other clips show two UFOs continuing to hover while the bemused pair sit in their vehicle for half an hour to watch them.
Observers called the footage a “strange anomaly” and “a clear shot of UFOs.
”Kennedy News & Media
Justin, previously a sceptic of extraterrestrial life, said the experience felt 'like he was in a sci-fi movie' and it's given him 'proof there's something out there other than humans'.
Danielle posted one of the clips on Facebook later that night where it's been viewed more than 650,000 times with users calling it a 'strange anomaly' and 'a clear shot of UFOs'.
Others have claimed they're helicopters, drones or flares dropped from planes but mechanic Justin disagrees and is adamant there's no explanation for the sighting.
Justin, from Manitoba, Canada, said: 'My wife saw lights and we were confused at what they were so we drove to a clearing where we could see properly.
'There were two really bright lights above the river almost like the sun shining but the sun had set by this time. They were super bright like a fire in the sky.
'They were sitting above the tree line for the longest time then they started to move down and then two more popped up right out of nowhere.
'There were six all together and they didn't even make a sound.
'I just thought 'what the f**k?'. That's when I realized it wasn't a fire and I questioned if it was aliens.
Justin Stevenson and his wife Danielle Daniels-Stevenson were driving through Fort Alexander on May 14 when they spotted bright lights above the Winnipeg River
He pulled over at a clearing where Danielle, 32, filmed two 'sun-like' balls of light floating above the treeline without making a sound
Justin, 49, can be heard declaring 'I think we're seeing some aliens ' as another two appear 'from nowhere' and begin moving downwards
'It was pretty surreal and it felt like we were in a sci-fi movie.
'I was skeptical before I saw this but now this has given me the proof I need that there's something out there other than humans.
'There's no explanation so we posted it because we wanted people to describe for themselves what that is.
'The naysayers can have their opinion but I disagree.'
Danielle's post read: 'We saw this just a few mins ago. What is it? It lasted like half an hour.'
Social media users were quick to offer their thoughts on what the UFO could be
One social media user commented: 'Oh wow!! You're brave to record this. I would've taken off.'
A second wrote: 'Oh my word! What is that? Pretty scary that it's so close to home, yikes!'
A third added: 'That is one strange anomaly.'
A fourth said: 'UFO that's a nice clear shot ... Wow.'
However some disagreed and wrote: 'Looks like helicopters.'
Another commented: 'It could be flares that planes drop.'
Australian intelligence officials met with their United States counterparts to discuss "unidentified anomalous phenomenon collection planning", documents released under freedom of information laws show.
WATCH: An unidentified object has illuminated the sky in Northern Territory on Thursday, May 25, 2023.
The meeting was held at the Pentagon in May 2023 and involved the so-called Five Eyes - US, Australia, Canada, UK, New Zealand - to brief the alliance about UAPs, the modern term for UFOs.
The Australian Defence Force previously denied attending the briefing, however the agenda released by the US government shows the Five Eyes alliance met for a "caucus working group" to "cultivate shared awareness of allies' UAP issues, detection, and mitigation activities and challenges".
The allies discussed the need for "networks to share Five Eyes UAP reporting", including documents marked "top secret" and "special intelligence".
"The intention is to develop a framework for future UAP collaboration," one document said.
The document also highlighted the need to share databases "showing known objects using various sensors".
It's unclear if the "UAP collection planning" discussion was related to the collection of data or crashed craft.
It should be noted the term UAP can apply to objects such as drones or the Chinese surveillance balloon, which caused an international incident when it flew over the US and Canada, and was subsequently shot down, in early 2023.
Australia discussed future UAP collobration plans with its Five Eyes allies.
Image digitally altered
In November, it was reported a wing of the CIA - the Office of Global Access - coordinated the retrieval of crashed UAPs around the world.
The briefing flagged sharing "Talent Keyhole" data, which is among the USA's most highly-classified data and refers to the information collected by satellites, spy planes and other sensor data.
Each country, including Australia, presented their allies with an update on their latest internal UAP information.
The meeting closed with a conversation about the future UAP meeting scheduling, along with talks about what other Five Eye forums the issue could be tied into, such as "emerging and disruptive technologies".
Australian Defence Force quiet on UAPs
WATCH: NASA held its first public meeting to show footage of UAPs.
The Australian Defence Force has refused to officially acknowledge any interest in the subject, and says it does not collect UAP reports, as "there was no scientific or other compelling reason to continue to devote resources to the recording and investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena".
ACM, publisher of this masthead, asked Defence Minister Richard Marles if Australia had discussed sharing UAP data and reports, or a UAP collaboration plan with its allies.
However, Mr Marles declined to respond to questions. Instead, the Department of Defence pointed to the Australian representative attending the Five Eyes meeting.
Last year, the Department of Defence denied attending the Five Eyes UAP briefing multiple times, including in a response to a question on notice by Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson in the May Senate estimates
Internal talking points prepared the day after the The Canberra Times' story (February 11), and secured under freedom of information, reveal Defence was unaware it had a representative at the Five Eyes briefing when responding to questions and FOI requests.
"On 2 November 2023, Senator [Peter] Whish-Wilson submitted a question on notice asking whether Defence attended the UAP Forum ... in responding to this QoN, Defence identified a Defence representative from the Australian Embassy in Washington had attended the UAP Forum," the memo stated.
It's also understood the representative was from one of Australia's intelligence agencies.
An FOI request relating to the Washington representative was refused under Section 7(2A), which states intelligence agencies are exempt from the FOI Act.
Freedom of information reveals department briefings
Briefing notes prepared for Air Marshal Robert Chipman and Defence Chief Science Professor Tanya Monro state "the United States has shared intelligence on UAP".
"Defence will continue to monitor and engage with the [All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office] on UAP, especially if they are deemed to be a security or safety threat," the document stated.
The FOI dossier also revealed the Australian Space Agency requested information from the Defence Space Command to prepare a brief on "unidentified aerial phenomenon".
The Canberra Times asked ASA who the brief was prepared for, if it was internal or for a minister, to what extent the ASA leadership had been brief on UAPs and if the organisation had engaged with NASA on the topic of UAPs.
However, ASA refused to respond to questions.
"The Australian Space Agency does not comment on internal briefings," a spokesperson said.
NASA Release 3D Visualization of ‘Pillars of Creation’
NASA Release 3D Visualization of ‘Pillars of Creation’
Using images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have produced a new 3D visualization of the Pillars of Creation, three towers of gas and dust within the Eagle Nebula.
The Pillars of Creation are three towers of gas and dust located some 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens.
They are a fascinating but relatively small feature of the Eagle Nebula (also known as Messier 16), which was discovered in 1745 by the Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux.
The Pillars of Creation are approximately 4-5 light-years long, while the nebula is 55-70 light-years wide.
They arise when immense, freshly formed blue-white O- and B-type stars give off intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds that blow away less dense materials from their vicinity.
“By flying past and amongst the pillars, viewers experience their 3D structure and see how they look different in the Hubble visible-light view versus the Webb infrared-light view,” said Dr. Frank Summers, principal visualization scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
“The contrast helps them understand why we have more than one space telescope to observe different aspects of the same object.”
“The four Pillars of Creation, made primarily of cool molecular hydrogen and dust, are being eroded by the fierce winds and punishing ultraviolet light of nearby hot, young stars.”
“Finger-like structures larger than the Solar System protrude from the tops of the pillars. Within these fingers can be embedded, embryonic stars.”
“The tallest pillar stretches across 3 light-years, three-quarters of the distance between our Sun and the next nearest star.”
A mosaic of visible-light (Hubble) and infrared-light (Webb) views of the same frame from the Pillars of Creation visualization.
Image credit: Greg Bacon / Ralf Crawford / Joseph DePasquale / Leah Hustak / Christian Nieves / Joseph Olmsted / Alyssa Pagan / Frank Summers, STScI / NASA’s Universe of Learning.
The movie takes visitors into the 3D structures of the Pillars of Creation.
“The Pillars of Creation were always on our minds to create in 3D,” said Dr. Greg Bacon, also from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
“Webb data in combination with Hubble data allowed us to see the Pillars in more complete detail.”
“Understanding the science and how to best represent it allowed our small, talented team to meet the challenge of visualizing this iconic structure.”
The new visualization helps viewers experience how two of the world’s most powerful space telescopes work together to provide a more complex and holistic portrait of the pillars.
Hubble sees objects that glow in visible light, at thousands of degrees. Webb’s infrared vision, which is sensitive to cooler objects with temperatures of just hundreds of degrees, pierces through obscuring dust to see stars embedded in the pillars.
“When we combine observations from NASA’s space telescopes across different wavelengths of light, we broaden our understanding of the Universe,” said Dr. Mark Clampin, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters.
“The Pillars of Creation region continues to offer us new insights that hone our understanding of how stars form.”
“Now, with this new visualization, everyone can experience this rich, captivating landscape in a new way.”
Stel dat er op vele lichtjaren afstand een intelligente beschaving op ontdekking wacht, dan gaan we die misschien wel vinden dankzij broeikasgassen die deze intelligente aliens met opzet in hun atmosfeer pompen.
Met dat wilde idee komen Amerikaanse onderzoekers op de proppen in het blad The Astrophysical Journal.
Atmosfeer Afgaand op het grote aantal planeten in het universum en het feit dat bouwblokken voor leven in datzelfde universum alomtegenwoordig zijn, zou je verwachten dat ook elders in de ruimte leven te vinden is. Toch hebben we het tot op heden niet kunnen vinden. Maar de zoektocht is nog altijd in volle gang. Een belangrijke rol is daarbij onder meer weggelegd voor de ruimtetelescoop James Webb, waarmee onderzoekers in de atmosfeer van buitenaardse werelden kunnen jagen op zogenoemde biosignaturen: gassen die hinten op de aanwezigheid van leven, zoals bijvoorbeeld (hoge concentraties) zuurstof, methaan en/of ozon.
Maar er zijn nog meer gassen die de aanwezigheid van (intelligente) aliens kunnen verraden, zo schrijven Amerikaanse onderzoekers nu. In hun nieuwe studie tonen ze namelijk aan dat het mogelijk moet zijn om broeikasgassen die aliens met opzet in hun atmosfeer pompen, met behulp van James Webb te detecteren.
Intelligente actie Met opzet broeikasgassen in je atmosfeer brengen: dat klinkt misschien – met wat wij weten over de gevolgen van de broeikasgassen die we zelf in onze atmosfeer hebben gebracht – niet direct als een heel intelligente actie. Toch kan het zomaar zijn dat intelligente aliens er – op vele lichtjaren afstand van de aarde – bewust voor kiezen om hun atmosfeer met broeikasgassen te bewerken. Bijvoorbeeld om een naderende ijstijd af te wenden of een iets te koude planeet geschikt te maken voor kolonisatie.
Fluor De aliens zouden daar verschillende gassen voor kunnen gebruiken, zo onthullen de onderzoekers. Ze denken dan bijvoorbeeld aan met fluor verrijkte versies van methaan, ethaan, propaan, stikstof en zwavel. Dergelijke gassen komen in de natuur niet in significante hoeveelheden voor. Dat betekent dat als James Webb ze in hoge concentraties in buitenaardse atmosferen aantreft, dat een sterke aanwijzing kan zijn voor de aanwezigheid van intelligente aliens die deze gassen eigenhandig hebben gemaakt, omdat ze ontevreden zijn met hun klimaat en het willen veranderen.
Artist's concept of an exoplanet in the process of being terraformed.
CREDIT - Thibaut Roger/University of Bern
Weinig en lang Maar waarom zou een alien nu uitgerekend een met fluor verrijkte versie van methaan of zwavel inzetten om zijn klimaat aan te passen? Daar zijn meerdere goede redenen voor te bedenken, zo stellen de onderzoekers. Een groot voordeel van dergelijke gassen is dat het heel effectieve broeikasgassen zijn. Zo is een verbinding van zwavel met fluor – ook wel zwavelhexafluoride genoemd – een 23.000(!) keer potenter broeikasgas dan CO2. Met relatief kleine hoeveelheden kun je dan ook al een flinke klimaatverandering realiseren. Een ander voordeel van dergelijke gassen is dat ze heel lang in de atmosfeer blijven hangen; tot wel 50.000 jaar. Dat betekent dat de aliens niet voortdurend nieuwe gassen in de atmosfeer hoeven te pompen om het door hen veranderde klimaat ook langdurig te kunnen handhaven.
Zichtbaar Kortom: er zijn verschillende goede redenen waarom aliens die ontevreden zijn met hun klimaat naar deze gassen zouden kunnen grijpen. En als ze dat op een relatief nabije exoplaneet doen, kunnen we daar met bestaande instrumenten – zoals de James Webb-telescoop – getuige van zijn, zo meent onderzoeker Edward Schwieterman. “Als in een atmosfeer zoals de onze slechts 1 op elke 1 miljoen moleculen zo’n broeikasgas is, zouden we het mogelijk nog kunnen detecteren. En een dergelijke concentratie zou ook genoeg zijn om het klimaat te veranderen,” voegt hij eraan toe.
Hoewel we natuurlijk niet met zekerheid kunnen concluderen dat aliens met behulp van deze gassen hun klimaat aanpassen, staat voor de onderzoekers wel vast dat als ze het doen, wij dat waarschijnlijk kunnen zien. Een goede reden om naast de zoektocht naar biosignaturen ook onze ogen open te houden voor deze ‘technosignaturen’; signalen voor de aanwezigheid van technologisch geavanceerd en intelligent buitenaards leven. “Je hoeft geen extra inspanning te doen om naar deze technosignaturen te zoeken op het moment dat je met een telescoop al bezig bent om een planeet om andere redenen nader te karakteriseren,” merkt Schwieterman op. “En het zou adembenemend zijn als we ze vinden.”
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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 73 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.
