However, an investigation by The Debrief based on documents obtained through Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests, as well as interviews with investigators who probed the mysterious deaths, have revealed new details about the incidents that perplexed state officials and local cattle farmers on Colorado’s Western Slope last year.

AN UNSETTLING DISCOVERY

THE ORDEAL BEGAN in early October 2022, with the discovery of several calf carcasses strewn about the 13,000 contiguous deeded acres that comprise the family-owned and operated LK Ranch, located eight miles southeast of Meeker, Colorado.

Bordering Colorado’s scenic White River National Forest, one of the country’s most-visited national parks, the ranch is operated by the Klinglesmith family, a well-known and respected mainstay of the Meeker community and past recipients of a Wildlife Landowners of the Year recognition by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“The Klinglesmiths are the epitome of the rural, hard-working cattle rancher,” said Baily Franklin, Meeker District Wildlife Manager at the time of the family’s recognition, “and they serve as tremendous role models in northwestern Colorado.”

On October 4, 2022, the family discovered a total of 19 calf carcasses on their property, along with the remains of one adult cow. Eighteen of the calves were all located within just 1.5 miles of one another, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services were quickly notified.

“We were first notified about October 4 of a livestock producer that had found some dead cattle,” said CPW Northwest Region Manager Travis Black in an interview with The Debrief. Black said a local CPW District Wildlife Manager and the USDA Wildlife Services control specialist were accompanied by another local officer from a neighboring region during an initial visit to the location where the remains were located.

“Several carcasses had tails missing and marks consistent with canine teeth,” the Klinglesmith family would later report in an update on the investigation that appeared on November 28, 2022. While the carcasses appeared to display hemorrhaging in locations where CPW investigators are trained to look for signs of depredation by canines, the possibility that wolves might have been involved presented unique challenges for investigators trying to determine whether an animal was responsible for some of the killings.

“Our district wildlife officers are trained in identifying depredation primarily from bears and [mountain] lions,” Black told The Debrief.

“Wolves [are] a new one for us,” Black said, although emphasizing that the neighboring CPW officer who assisted in the early investigations had recently undergone training specifically focused on recognizing wolf depredation.

“The local district wildlife officer had twenty-plus years doing this job,” Black said. “It’s not like this was a new guy that didn’t know what he was doing.”

Necropsies were carried out on several of the earliest calf discoveries to aid in determining their cause of death. On October 7, an additional calf carcass was discovered, this time in the Wilson Pasture area along the east fork of Flag Creek, according to a partially redacted document providing a timeline of the discoveries obtained by The Debrief through an Open Records Act request.

Two days later, on October 9, another carcass was discovered at West Miller Creek, and over the course of the next two weeks, the total number of dead calves would climb to 42, excluding two additional deaths resulting from sick calves found by the Klinglesmith family on October 9 believed to have been suffering from Brisket disease, a condition found in cattle residing at high altitudes that sometimes results in heart failure.

A map indicating locations of calf remains discovered near Meeker, Colorado, in October 2022

(Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife).

However, as the investigation continued and additional cattle remains were discovered, one perplexing common trait began to emerge: only a handful seemed to show what CPW officials believed to be signs of wolf depredation.

“The three individuals involved, along with the landowner, decided that there were some injuries on a handful of these calves,” Black told The Debrief. “And I’m talking about four or five of them, not all eighteen.”

“A lot of those dead calves didn’t show any physical marks on the outside, but there were a handful of them that they determined were consistent with wolf depredation,” Black said.

“That does not mean that we said wolves did it.”

However, as investigators worked to understand what factors—or combinations of them—were behind the cattle deaths, the question over wolf involvement only promised to further aggravate a brewing storm that Colorado officials had long been dreading; one with roots that extend all the way back to the early 19th century, and the era of government-sanctioned wolf hunting in America.

OF WOLF AND MAN

DURING THE MIDDLE of the nineteenth century, beavers and other animal populations were in acute decline due to a demand for their pelts. As a result, many professional hunters turned their attention toward a new quarry that was capable of demanding comparable prices in the burgeoning fur trade.

Employing poison traps baited with elk, bison, or other natural prey of the canine predators to help ensure their pelts could be retrieved intact, between the years of 1870 and 1877 as many as 100,000 wolves were killed annually.

The era of the “Wolfers” had begun.

A Wolfer with his hounds, pictured near Amidon, North Dakota, in 1904

(public domain).

More than two centuries earlier, the first bounty systems on wolves were instituted in European settlements in America. A cash reward of a penny for each of the animals killed was instituted in Massachusetts Bay Colony as early as 1630, and by 1818 with the declaration of the “War of Extermination” against wolves and bears in Ohio, several more states began adopting bounty systems against wolves.

Shortly before its establishment as a state on August 1, 1876, a bounty system was established in what would become the State of Colorado in 1869. Similar bounty systems were established in Wyoming, Montana, and other states during the ensuing decades. By the turn of the century, wolf populations had declined significantly in many parts of America. In 1915, the first official government wolf hunters were hired, remaining in action until June 30, 1942. During this period, more than 24,132 wolves were killed under the direction of the United States government.

Artist’s depiction of former Presdient Theodore Roosevelt engaging in a wolf hunt in 1907

(public domain).

By the 1960s, wolf populations in the contiguous 48 states had reached record-low numbers, with scattered pockets of the remaining 350 to 750 animals existing in parts of extreme northeastern Minnesota. With the passing of the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966, the timber wolf became the first species of American wolf that officially became recognized as endangered under federal law.

The protection of this single wolf species didn’t stop the animals from being killed, however. Between 1969 and 1974, in response to ongoing depredation of livestock, a Directed Predator Control Program conducted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources still resulted in the killing of an average of 64 wolves each year, with $50 incentives offered to designated trappers in various parts of the state who harvested wolves. It wasn’t until the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was enacted by Congress and implemented under the direction of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that gray wolves and subspecies like the eastern timber wolf and Rocky Mountain wolf finally saw federal protection.

Recovery plans to help re-establish the decimated American wolf populations began in the late 1970s in various states, mostly undertaken by the USFWS, although the reinstatement of trapping resulting from the depredation of livestock continued for short periods in several states.

By the end of the century, work to manage wolf populations in various states continued. Throughout the early 2000s, the reclassification of gray wolf populations into three distinct population segments, as well as the proposed delisting of wolf species and other developments related to wolves in America, resulted in several legal controversies (an entire timeline of events detailing these events can be found at the website of the International Wolf Center).

Photo 1084F, taken in North Park, Colorado, depicts a wolf spotted in the wild in July 2019. The photo was later submitted anonymously to CPW

(Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife).

In October 2020, the gray wolf was removed from the Endangered Species Act list of endangered animals in the contiguous 48 United States. In November of that same year, Proposition 114, a ballot initiative that sought to reintroduce wolves west of the continental divide in Colorado, went to vote and was passed. Now recognized as state statute 33-2-105.8, it directs the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to develop a gray wolf reintroduction and management plan no later than December 31, 2023. It also allocates state funding to aid livestock owners “in preventing conflicts with gray wolves and pay fair compensation for livestock losses.”

Then, in October 2022 as dozens of dead calves were being found on the LK Ranch southeast of Meeker, Colorado, CPW officials realized they had a real problem on their hands.

That would especially be the case if wolves were found to be responsible.

CATTLE DEATHS AND CONSPIRACY CLAIMS

AS THE INVESTIGATIONS continued, Colorado officials remained baffled by the strange cattle deaths. Despite the questions that remained, a handful of the incidents did appear to present indications of canine activity. On October 7, 2022, CPW issued a news release revealing to the public that investigations into possible wolf depredations on U.S. Forest Service Land in the Meeker area were underway.

“This is an active investigation and CPW is working closely with the livestock producer to collect additional evidence, including looking for scat and tracks in the area,” the release stated. “If the depredations are confirmed as being caused by wolves, CPW will work in partnership with the livestock producer to implement approved hazing methods and respond to any damage claims submitted.”

“It is important to note,” the release added, “that no wolf reintroductions have taken place yet in Colorado and recent depredation incidents are not related to or a result of wolf reintroduction efforts in Colorado.”

Despite its careful wording, pushback following the CPW’s October news release came almost immediately.

“I received emails, mostly from wolf advocates, that were concerned that misinformation was being provided to the public and to ranchers,” Black told The Debrief, who said he became an easy target for parties who believed CPW was siding with local livestock producers worried about how the reintroduction of wolves could potentially impact their business.

“I was accused of collusion,” Black said, “and cooperation with livestock producers to try and stir up, you know, fear of wolves.”

“And it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Black said of the allegations. “We were just trying to follow an investigative process and figure out exactly what happened in a very unusual case.”

According to a copy of a livestock depredation guide produced for internal use by CPW officials that The Debrief obtained, wolf depredation is usually indicated by wounds inflicted to the hindquarters, flanks, throat, and front legs of large animals like cattle. Wolves also prefer most often to feed on the viscera and hindquarters of large livestock first, although large bones “may be chewed or broken while smaller bones may be consumed,” and such feeding patterns “are not always obvious on prey killed by packs.”

The guide also provides details on the spacing of puncture wounds left by canine teeth, noting the difference between those of wolves and coyotes generally involves a wider width when wolf depredation is involved. The spoor left by wolves is also larger than that of coyotes, with adult wolf tracks generally around 4.75 to 5 inches in length and 4 inches wide.

A Colorado Parks and Wildlife wolf support work summary dated October 24, 2022, states that biologists from the White River National Forest set up ten wildlife cameras in the area on October 11, 2022, just days after the initial group of dead calves were found.

“Reconyx cameras were used and placed on trees 7-9 meters across from another tree scented with a lure attractant,” read a copy of the document obtained by The Debrief. Additionally, a pair of howling stations were established along Forest Road 217 on the same day the cameras were installed.

“We removed all cameras on October 21st,” the document states. “No wolves were photographed on our cameras during the deployment window of October 11-21.”

Additionally, howling surveys conducted during the same period the cameras remained in use produced no audio recordings of wolves, and investigations along muddy areas near where one recently deceased calf body had been discovered “showed no canine tracks,” and “no scat was noted.”

At least a few scat samples collected and analyzed at other locations by CPW investigators “did not provide any DNA amplification,” according to emails reviewed by The Debrief, although a total of 14 hair samples were also collected during this period. One of the hair samples provided no amplification, and 12 were identified as bovine. Intriguingly, the final sample was determined to belong to a “wild canid,” although the research molecular biologist who performed the analysis said it had “a messy analysis and indicated coyote,” but added that “not much should be read into that as the sample was very degraded.”

The Debrief reached out to the biologist who provided these results, although the individual declined to comment further based on their limited involvement with the CPW’s investigation.

The question remained, then, as to what had been responsible for the deaths of more than 40 cattle around Meeker, Colorado, within a few short weeks. By now, with little evidence to support the presence of wolves in the area, some investigators were leaning toward the possibility that a very different kind of killer might have been involved.

A killer of the unseen kind.

ON THE TRACK OF AN INVISIBLE KILLER

AS THE DAYS wore on and more dead calves continued to be found, investigators were becoming convinced that the evidence in hand simply did not support the conclusion that wolves could have had any significant involvement. Eventually, a new possible explanation came to their attention: a soil-based pathogen called clostridium chauvoei associated with a condition called black leg, known to sometimes occur in both cattle and sheep.

“As we researched this clostridial disease and outbreaks in other regions of the world with large casualties, some similarities to this situation were recognized,” the Klinglesmith family wrote in their November 2022 update. Still, one of the prevailing questions involved what circumstances might have caused a large number of cattle to suddenly fall victim to this unseen pathogen.

According to one study cited in the family’s November update, “when the oxygen tension drops in areas of muscle in which spores are present, usually as a consequence of blunt trauma and associated tissue hemorrhage, degeneration, and necrosis, the spores germinate, proliferate, and produce toxins that are responsible for most clinical signs and lesions of black leg.” Such conditions would also seem to be consistent with the small number of initial cattle deaths around Meeker that displayed evidence of canine depredation.

Another possible factor involved a management decision among producers in the area to change the normal vaccination schedule, which usually entailed a spring and fall dose of 8-way vaccine, and instead administer a pair of fall doses. “The 8-way vaccine contains and protects against eight clostridial strains,” the Klinglesmith family wrote in their November update. “This change in vaccine protocol allowed us to focus spring immune responses on the four main respiratory viruses, and Pasteurella.”

“Our goal in changing vaccine protocol was to administer fewer antibiotics throughout the summer months for respiratory sicknesses,” the family wrote, “and we were successful in this aspect.”

However, the change in vaccine protocol may have also left several cattle that season susceptible to any forms of clostridium that might be present. In their update, the Klinglesmiths noted that “if in fact a clostridial was triggered by an attack, with a return to our original vaccine protocol we should be able to avoid the heavy casualties,” thereby reducing “our losses to a few depredation casualties,” and maintaining a strategy that “fits the research and experience consistently reported in the Northern Rockies.”

Ultimately, the results from pathology tests for the presence of clostridium chauvoei would be the final say in the matter. But before those tests could be completed, the sobering number of unexplained cattle deaths occurring around Meeker had already become the subject of significant attention from the media, which only further complicated an already uneasy situation for CPW officials.

It certainly didn’t help that among the speculations now in circulation were new claims of a “mysterious creature” that could have been responsible for the killings.

MYSTERIOUS MUTILATIONS AND KILLER CREATURES

THROUGHOUT THE EARLY 1970s, a wave of unsettling livestock deaths and mutilations captured the attention of people across the nation, deaths the likes of which Colorado had its fair share.

“Given the rate of human slaughter in any large American city, it might not seem too important that between April and September of this year 129 cattle were mutilated in the state of Colorado,” read an article by Alexander Cockburn in the December 1975 issue of Esquire. Similar stories appearing around the time drew attention from politicians like U.S. Senator from New Mexico Harrison Schmitt, as well as U.S. Senator Floyd Haskell of Colorado, who began to appeal to then-Attorney General Griffin B. Bell and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help in the matter.

One of several FBI documents detailing cattle mutilation incidents reported in the U.S. during the 1970s

(Credit: FBI).

“If the FBI will not enter the investigation of mysterious livestock deaths in Colorado and some adjacent states, then Sen. Floyd Haskell, D-Colo., should take the matter to Congress for resolution,” read a Denver Post article on September 3, 1975. The FBI, citing the absence of “interstate transportation” that would warrant attention from federal authorities, advised that “Our jurisdiction was explained to Senator Haskell and he said that he understood our statutory limitations,” according to a September 12, 1975 memorandum (the FBI’s entire collection of files related to animal mutilations can be read online here).

Quite unlike the cattle deaths that occurred near Meeker, Colorado, last Autumn, the cattle mutilation incidents that peaked during the mid-1970s reportedly involved animals found dead with selected organs and other body parts removed, and often blood drained from their carcasses. Between 1973 and 1976 alone, more than 1500 alleged cattle mutilations in 22 U.S. states were reported, prompting speculations about everything from satanic cults and secretive government research efforts to UFOs.

Although many of the cattle mutilation incidents from throughout the decades remain unsolved, nothing that conclusively links them to cultists, government agencies, or aliens with a flavor for filet mignon has ever surfaced. However, the persistence of such stories throughout the decades—tales now legendary among many Colorado cattle producers—did little to help the situation when dead calves started appearing around Meeker last October.

Black recalled one phone call he received from a family member who “asked if we had aliens or something.”

“There were a lot of kinda wild theories thrown out there,” Black told The Debrief.

By the end of November 2022, characterizations of the Meeker cattle deaths as having involved an “elusive predator” or a “mystery killer” began appearing after the publication of an article in the New York Post which, although correct in most of the details about what was known at the time about the evolving investigations by CPW and other Colorado officials, built intrigue by attributed dozens of the cattle deaths to an unknown predator “that has left no tracks.”

The remains of another calf found during investigations into cattle deaths near Meeker, Colorado, last fall

(Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife).

Based on emails from officials obtained by The Debrief through Colorado Open Records Act requests, the sensational media coverage of the situation did not go unnoticed by CPW investigators, who were growing increasingly frustrated by the elusive source behind the cattle deaths.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the consternation about the deaths of Lenny Klinglesmith’s cattle, and it seems to be getting worse,” read one email reviewed by The Debrief, where an official referred to an article by one news outlet as “not very good in multiple ways.”

“I’m sure you can appreciate that the press will write a story (both good and bad), and that is out of our control,” another email message read.

“If some want to jump to conclusions, that is their prerogative,” it continued. “Yes, the speculation isn’t helping,” the official wrote. “Neither will pushing for a final answer without due diligence.”

Another email exchange on November 30, 2022, noted that “The media continues to twist this story how they see fit,” adding that “One side wants to downplay wolf involvement. The other wants to blame wolves.”

Speaking with The Debrief, Black recalled his own frustrations over the media coverage the CPW’s investigation generated.

“We can’t control what the media says,” Black told The Debrief. “We tried to provide as detailed information as we could during this event, and they tend to pick and choose pieces of that or take some of it out of context and develop their own story.”

However, the details of that story would only become more complicated once the results of pathology tests for possible clostridium infection finally returned.

INCONCLUSIVE ANALYSIS  

ON OCTOBER 20, 2022, results from the Colorado State University Diagnostic Laboratory returned with pathology results from samples collected at the scene of several of the Meeker cattle deaths. While noting the presence of “significant autolysis in the skeletal muscle sections which makes interpretation difficult,” the results of the analysis nonetheless concluded that “there is no evidence of necrosis or active inflammation to suggest Black Leg,” the infectious bacterial disease associated with clostridium chauvoei.

Another series of samples tested by the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory yielded similar results on October 21, 2022, indicating “no microscopic lesions in the tissues examined that explain the cause of death in this animal.”

“This is frustrating,” Black wrote in an email to another CPW official dated Wednesday, November 30, 2022. “Initial assessments made by [District Wildlife Managers] and Wildlife Services staff said there were multiple injuries consistent with wolf depredation. I’ve seen some of the photos… I understand why they made that assumption. However, there is no other supporting evidence.”

Partially redacted theodolite image of cattle remains photographed during investigations in October, 2022, obtained by The Debrief through a Colorado Open Records Act Request

(Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

“Then the possibility of Clostridium bacteria came up,” Black’s email continued. “This seemed to answer a lot of questions. Then samples and lab analysis failed to positively point to this as [the] cause of death.”

“It also creates a lot of room for conjecture,” Black wrote. “Did wolves chase the cattle or attack them initially and cause a low oxygen environment within tissue that exacerbated the bacteria and created a toxin? Or is this natural progression of the disease?”

“Nobody can seem to give us a definitive answer.”

THE INVESTIGATION ENDS, AND QUESTIONS REMAIN

ON FEBRUARY 7, 2023, four months after the first dead calves were discovered near Meeker, CPW announced that it was closing its investigation, despite there being no conclusive explanation that could account for all the cattle deaths.

“CPW investigators could not determine the exact cause of death for a few calves with hide damage and trauma consistent with a canine attack,” the news release stated

According to the CPW release, the discovery of a pack of nine dogs seven miles from where the cattle deaths occurred that were blamed for harassing wildlife, “cast doubt on whether wolves were in the area.”

“CPW is working with the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s office on a call-by-call basis and will deal with any domestic dog issues according to legal processes,” the release added.

Black was quoted in the release saying that while some cattle displayed wounds that were “consistent with injuries from large canines,” there had been “no confirmation of wolves in the area,” adding that “we do not have specific evidence to determine what species of canid caused the depredations.”

In Colorado, a 90-day window is allotted for producers to present proof of loss when deaths suspected to be the result of animal depredation occur. Following last October’s cattle deaths, the investigation by CPW was officially closed after the expiration of this window period.

“The Klinglesmith family would like to thank the local DWMs and veterinary staff for the many hours spent in the field and in the office investigating this incident,” Lenny Klinglesmith was quoted saying in the release, which added that his family did not plan to pursue compensation for the losses “Due to lack of evidence of wolves in the area.”

One week later on February 14, The Humane Society of the United States reported that wolves had been ruled out as a cause behind the Meeker cattle deaths, admonishing CPW officials for assessments they said “led to anti-wolf hysteria” among residents and certain stakeholders on the Colorado Western Slope.

“A wildlife expert who examined photos of dead cows obtained by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in an open records request has concluded that wolves are not to blame for the deaths of 41 cattle whose bodies were found near Meeker, Colorado in 2022,” the press release read.

According to a report based on a review of CPW documents provided by the HSUS, Carter Niemeyer, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture District Supervisor and Wolf Management Specialist wrote that there wasn’t any evidence that supported wolf involvement in the cattle deaths in Colorado last year.

“Based on the evidence in these photos,” Niemeyer wrote in his report, “it [is] my opinion that wolves had nothing to do with the death of Meeker cattle. I don’t really see any evidence of dog bites either. Although they can be less damaging, dogs can inflict serious injuries to the legs of cattle or even the faces/nose.”

“I believe the cattle died fairly quickly where they were standing,” Niemeyer continued, “and the cause had nothing to do with predation of any sort.” Niemeyer also raised the question of whether Brisket disease might have played a more significant role in the deaths, based on communications that referenced a pair of cattle deaths that were believed to have been caused by this condition.

“My question would be – If a couple of cattle died this way, it is reasonable to assume others did too,” Niemeyer wrote. “Brisket disease is a well-known and recognized condition in cattle that graze at high elevations in Colorado.”

“In conclusion, I did NOT see any evidence of wolf predation in any of the images provided,” Niemeyer wrote.

LINGERING QUESTIONS

FOR TRAVIS BLACK, what began as an investigation into how more than 40 cattle died in his home state last year blossomed into a controversy that eventually made its way into headlines around the world. At the heart of the investigation had been the concerns of a respected ranch family in Meeker, who felt an obligation to communicate with their neighbors in the region about the unsettling situation that had invaded their lives.

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

06-07-2024 om 22:31 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 21:13 geschreven door peter  

“The three-body problem, which seeks stable orbit configurations among gravitating bodies, is a longstanding challenge in celestial mechanics,” Feng writes. Feng examines ? Centauri AB, our nearest binary neighbour, to understand if the system could host a super Jupiter and what orbit the giant planet could follow.

Feng isn’t the first astronomer to tackle the problem. “As the closest triple stellar system to Earth, Alpha Centauri system has attracted diverse studies in astronomy, including exoplanet stability,” Feng writes. Though the entire Alpha Centauri system is a triple star system, ? Centauri AB are far enough from the third star that they comprise a binary system.

There are some solutions to the three-body problem if one of the bodies has a negligible mass compared to the other two. ? Centauri AB is a pair of Sun-like stars. ? Centauri A is a class G star a little more massive than the Sun, and ? Centauri B is a class K star a little less massive than the Sun.

The study compares the ? Centauri AB system with a similar star system named GJ65AB (Gliese 65). It’s a binary pair known to host a Neptune-mass exoplanet. Though Gliese 65 is a pair of M-dwarfs, the comparison is still valuable because it “shares similar mass ratios and orbital eccentricities,” Feng writes. Gliese 65 is also close at only about 8.8 light-years from Earth. Feng also performed simulations of the ? Centauri AB system to test the idea of it hosting an exoplanet.

“The similarities between GJ65AB and Alpha Centauri AB, together with the newly detected stable super Neptune in the GJ65 system, suggest the stability of the corresponding potential super Jupiter in Alpha Centauri AB,” Feng writes. The Gliese 65 and the Alpha Centauri AB systems have nearly identical mass ratios and eccentricities. If GJ65 can host a planet in a stable orbit, can ? Centauri AB also host one?

Feng used the Mean Exponential Growth factor of Nearby Orbits (MEGNO) method to test the potential stability of a super Jupiter at ? Centauri AB. First, he used it to simulate the GJ65AB system and the newly discovered planet to verify the planet’s orbital stability. Then, he did the same with ? Centauri AB. “For this simulation, we restricted the semimajor axis of the planet to range from 0.1 to 5.0 au, and eccentricities less than 0.5,” Feng writes.

The MEGNO simulations for Gliese 65 showed that the newly discovered Neptune mass planet should be stable.

The next step was to find stable orbits for a planet orbiting ? Centauri AB. To do that, Feng used ? Centauri A as the primary star and injected a 350 Earth-mass planet at a distance of 23.336 AU. All of the other parameters were similar to GJ65 but scaled to ? Centauri AB. “We figured out the stable zone with ?
spanning from 0.1 to ~ 2.2 au, and ? ranges from 0 to 0.5,” Feng writes.

Feng says that the “potentially stable planet” should have ? about equal to 1.189 and ? about equal to 0.33. Those numbers place the planet in the stable zone in MEGNO results.

Of course, none of this means there is a planet there. It just shows that a potential stable orbit is available.

Feng’s work proposes that exoplanets in binary systems with nearly identical mass ratios and eccentricities can exhibit similar stability properties. “From this hypothesis, together with the newly detected Neptune-mass planet in the GJ65 system, which is similar to Alpha Centauri AB, we assume the existence of a potential Jupiter-mass planet with corresponding orbital parameters in Alpha Centauri AB should also be possible,” Feng writes.

No planets have been detected around ? Centauri AB, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one there. Our planet-hunting methods are far from absolute, and there are bound to be many planets in nearby systems that we haven’t been able to detect yet.

There are many proposals for missions to the region or for telescopes designed to probe the system more deeply. Their neighbour, Proxima Centauri, has two confirmed exoplanets. And there’ve been tantalizing hints that Alpha Centauri A hosts a planet, but it remains only a candidate.

A true detection or emphatic non-detection may be years or decades away. Who knows? But at least Feng’s work shows that there could be a stable orbital home for a super Jupiter in the system.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 21:04 geschreven door peter  

SOURCE : NASA

When looking up into the night sky, you can see millions of stars with the naked eye. When using high-powered telescopes, that number jumps up into the billions.

While most people cannot point out too many specific stars, they know they are always there. Throughout human history, people have even used the consistency of the stars to aid in navigation, planning, and much more.

Of course, today we know that stars do eventually die, often in brilliant explosions known as supernovae. Smaller stars can also simply fade out over time as they exhaust their fuel sources.

Over the past 70 years, however, scientists have documented another phenomenon with stars. They simply disappear without a trace. Astronomers look at the star at one point, then when they return (even just an hour later), and it is gone.

What makes this even more unusual is that the star never returns.

There have been over 800 cases of this documented so far, and they have largely left astronomers baffled.

New research from astronomers at the University of Copenhagen, however, has published a paper that may offer an explanation.

The study’s co-author, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez said in a statement:

“Were one to stand gazing up at a visible star going through a total collapse, it might, just at the right time, be like watching a star suddenly extinguish and disappear from the heavens. The collapse is so complete that no explosion occurs, nothing escapes and one wouldn’t see any bright supernova in the night sky.”

This can happen, they theorize, when massive stars collapse under their own gravity and become black holes, or extremely dense neutron star, immediately.

All detectable evidence that this occurred would be captured by the gravity and sucked back in, leaving nothing for us to see. From our perspective, it would look like the star simply disappeared.

The evidence that they used is from observing a binary star system that is called VFTS 243. In it, a star that is about ten times more massive than our sun is orbiting with a black hole. Vigna-Gomes says of this situation:

“The orbit of the system has barely changed since the collapse of the star into a black hole.”

One obvious problem with this type of theory is that it is difficult to gather any type of hard evidence for it.

All the energy, partials, and even light would be sucked back down into the black hole. in this type of case, scientists can theorize what would happen and compare it to the data that is available.

So far, it seems that things fit well.

Of course, more research is needed before the theory can be widely adopted.

Who knew that stars could disappear?

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.

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• The post Astronomers Have Counted Over 800 Stars That Have Disappeared Without A Trace. Now They Think They Know What Happened. first on TwistedSifter.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

06-07-2024 om 20:50 geschreven door peter  

Close encounters of the nerd kind: Smiling troopers in 2 states pull over 'out of this world' vehicle heading to UFO Festival

mage source: Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Smiling troopers in two states performed traffic stops in recent days on a spaceship-like vehicle heading to the UFO Festival in — of course — Roswell, New Mexico, Fox News reported.

A couple of close encounters of the nerd kind, one might say, to borrow from a sitcom episode from the last century.

The first took place in Missouri, as the Crawford County Sheriff's Office wrote in a Facebook post last Friday about a pair of "friendly humanoids, who have come in peace."

'He was also warned about our strict enforcement of warp speed on the interstate and to keep his phasers on stun only while traveling.'

The sheriff's office noted that the traffic stop "was a little out of this world," but law enforcement was assured that the vehicle's occupants — as the below dashcam image indicates — were "heading west to Roswell, NM for a festival."

Image source: Crawford County (Missouri) Sheriff's Office

The sheriff's office added in its post that "there was a brief conversation about his out of space, correction, out of state registration, but he assured us that he would take care of that issue when he returned to Krypton. He was also warned about our strict enforcement of warp speed on the interstate and to keep his phasers on stun only while traveling."

Image source: Crawford County (Missouri) Sheriff's Office

Fox News, citing an email from the sheriff's office, said the vehicle's driver was observed committing a lane violation; the vehicle's Indiana tag also was expired.

Considering the "wind/traffic of the interstate plus the size and aerodynamics of his vehicle, he understood that the potential for lane violations existed," a Crawford County Sheriff's Office official added in a statement to Fox News.

"Given the good nature of the driver and the interesting nature of the vehicle, we opted to provide a fun social media post for our community," the official added in the statement, the cable news network said. "It was a great interaction, and we wished him safe travels to his destination."

There was a second close encounter with same vehicle Monday in Oklahoma, Fox News said.

Image source: Oklahoma Highway Patrol

"It's not every day you pull over a UFO," the Oklahoma Highway Patrol wrote Tuesday on its Facebook page. "Trooper Ryan Vanvleck #722 pulled over this vehicle on the Turner Turnpike yesterday for an obstructed tag. They were on their way to a UFO festival in Roswell, New Mexico. Trooper Vanvleck let them go with a warning."

Image source: Oklahoma Highway Patrol

The event to which the vehicle's occupants apparently were headed looks to be the "UFO Festival" set to take place in Roswell from July 5 through July 7. The annual gathering promises attendees that they can participate in a "cosmic extravaganza filled with out-of-this-world events, including the renowned Roswell Galacticon, family fun at the AlienFest, the gripping Roswell Incident, the captivating Roswell Film Festival, and enlightening experiences at the International UFO Museum and Research Center."

{ https://www.theblaze.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 18:35 geschreven door peter  

Denisovans Survived on Tibetan Plateau until 48,000-32,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists have found a new hominin rib specimen in Baishiya Karst Cave, one of the only two places where Denisovans are known to have lived. Dated to 48,000-32,000 years old, the specimen also belongs to the Denisovan lineage, extending their presence at the cave well into the Late Pleistocene.

A portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps.

Image credit: Maayan Harel.

Denisovans are an extinct hominin group initially identified from a genome sequence determined from a fragment of a finger bone found in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.

Subsequent analyses of the genome have shown that Denisovans diverged from Neanderthals 400,000 years ago and that at least two distinct Denisovan populations mixed with ancestors of present-day Asians.

In 2019, a 160,000-year-old jawbone from Baishiya Karst Cave, a limestone cave at the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau, was identified to be of Denisovan origin.

In 2020, archaeologists found Denisovan mtDNA in the sediments of this cave d indicating their presence at about 100,000 years ago, 60,000 years ago, and possibly 45,000 years ago.

The new rib bone of a Denisovan from Baishiya Karst Cave dates to approximately 48,000-32,000 years ago.

“Together, the fossil and molecular evidence indicates that Ganjia Basin, where Baishiya Karst Cave is located, provided a relatively stable environment for Denisovans, despite its high-altitude,” said Dr. Frido Welker, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen.

“The question now arises when and why these Denisovans on the Tibetan Plateau went extinct.”

In their research, Dr. Welker and colleagues studied more than 2,500 bones from Baishiya Karst Cave.

“We were able to identify that Denisovans hunted, butchered and ate a range of animal species,” said Dr. Geoff Smith, a zooarchaeologist at the University of Reading.

“Our study reveals new information about the behavior and adaptation of Denisovans both to high altitude conditions and shifting climates.”

“We are only just beginning to understand the behavior of this extraordinary human species.”

The Baishiya Karst Cave is revealing the resilience of the Denisovans who endured a harsh climate.

Credit...Dongju Zhang’s group/Lanzhou University

An artist's impression of the Stone Age landscape of Ganjia Basin where Baishiya Karst Cave is located, depicting some of the animals which were identified by archaeologists via bone analysis. 

Xia Li© Provided by CNN

Many of the bones recovered from Baishiya Karst Cave, like this spotted hyena vertebra, contain traces of human activities such as cut marks. 

Dongju Zhang’s group/Lanzhou University© Provided by CNN

Many of the bones recovered from the Baishiya Karst Cave, such as this hyena vertebra, have cut marks most likely made by Denisovans using stone tools.

Credit...Dongju Zhang’s group/Lanzhou University

Bone remains from Baishya Karst Cave were broken into numerous fragments preventing identification.

The researchers used a novel scientific method that exploits differences in bone collagen between animals to determine which species the bone remains came from.

“Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) allows us to extract valuable information from often overlooked bone fragments, providing deeper insight into human activities,” said Dr. Huan Xia, a researcher at Lanzhou University.

The scientists determined that most of the bones were from blue sheep, known as the bharal, as well as wild yaks, equids, the extinct woolly rhino, and the spotted hyena.

They also identified bone fragments from small mammals, such as marmots, and birds.

“Current evidence suggests that it was Denisovans, not any other human groups, who occupied the cave and made efficient use of all the animal resources available to them throughout their occupation,” said Dr. Jian Wang, also from Lanzhou University.

“Detailed analysis of the fragmented bone surfaces shows Denisovans removed meat and bone marrow from the bones, but also indicates the humans used them as raw material to produce tools.”

• This research is described in a paper in the journal Nature.
• H. Xia et al. Middle and Late Pleistocene Denisovan subsistence at Baishiya Karst Cave. Nature, published online July 3, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07612-9

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

06-07-2024 om 18:20 geschreven door peter  

UFO Near Apollo 10...Focused With AI, NASA link, UAP Sighting News.

Below is a close up of an alien inside, chest, two arms head all visible. 

Source photo:

• http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/DatabaseImages/ISD/highres/AS10/AS10-35-5264.JPG 

Caught in orbit around Earth during an Apollo 10 mission, this UFO looks awfully close to the Apollo module. The photo was taken in July of 1969 and shows a solid craft in high orbit. Notice the bulging center of the craft...much like we hear about in classic UFO reports. AI is the new UFOlogist tool that everyone needs to start using. Did you also notice that the alien occupant of the UAP is visible in the dark dome cockpit of the UFO? It's true, check out the close up above and see. 

Scott C. Waring, please hit subscribe on my Youtube channel.

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

06-07-2024 om 18:00 geschreven door peter  

Tibetaanse grot vertelt over oude uitgestorven mensen: Denisoviërs leefden hier 100.000 jaar

Door Janine

Dongju Zhang/Wikimedia commons -

CC BY-SA 4.0

De Denisoviërs zijn oude, uitgestorven mensen die voor het eerst werden geïdentificeerd in 2010: een nieuw onderzoek heeft meer ontdekt op de plek waar ze meer dan honderdduizend jaar leefden.

De Denisoviërs zijn recenter dan gedacht

De wetenschap weet nog steeds niet veel over de oude Denisoviërs, mensen die duizenden jaren geleden uitstierven, maar een nieuwe studie heeft iets meer ontdekt: deze groep leefde meer dan 100.000 jaar op het Tibetaans Plateau. Archeologen onderzochten 2500 fossiele botfragmenten van verschillende diersoorten, die werden ontdekt in de karstgrot van Baishiya, in Tibet, op een hoogte van 3.280 meter. De grot ligt nabij Xiahe, in de Chinese provincie Gansu. Het is een van de slechts drie plaatsen ter wereld waar bewijs is gevonden van hun bestaan op aarde.

Uit het nieuwe onderzoek is gebleken dat de Denisoviërs in staat waren om te jagen en een grote groep dieren van verschillende grootte te verwerken voor consumptie en het maken van gereedschappen, waaronder vogels, wolharige neushoorns, marmotten en blauwe schapen. De onderzoekers vonden ook een menselijk fossiel overblijfsel van tussen 48.000 en 32.000 jaar geleden, het meest recente van de fossielen van Denisoviërs die tot nu toe zijn ontdekt. Dit betekent dat deze soort later uitstierf dan eerder werd gedacht.

De Denisoviërs van Tibet waren veerkrachtige mensen

Nature

De beperkte hoeveelheid fossiel bewijs heeft het moeilijk gemaakt om informatie te verkrijgen over deze mensen, maar dankzij het nieuwe onderzoek weten we nu dat de Denisoviërs die de karstgrot Baishiya bewoonden een grote veerkracht hadden en zich aanpasten aan een van de meest barre omgevingen op aarde. Dongju Zhang, hoofdauteur van het onderzoek, archeoloog en professor aan de Universiteit van Lanzhou, zei: "Ze gebruikten alle dieren die ze tot hun beschikking hadden, wat betekent dat hun gedrag flexibel was."

Het gevonden fossiel was hoogstwaarschijnlijk een tijdgenoot van de moderne mens en de Neanderthalers die destijds in Eurazië leefden, volgens Frido Welker, professor aan de Biomolecular Paleoanthropology Group van het Globe Institute aan de Universiteit van Kopenhagen en co-auteur van het onderzoek.

Denisoviërs: de ontmoeting met Neanderthalers en moderne mensen

Nature

Zoals we al zeiden, werden Denisoviërs voor het eerst geïdentificeerd in 2010 door DNA-sequenties te onderzoeken die in het laboratorium werden verkregen uit het eerste fossiele fragment dat werd gevonden. Sindsdien zijn er slechts een dozijn overblijfselen gevonden op de hele planeet, waarvan de meeste in de Denisova-grot in het Altaigebergte in Siberië, waar deze uitgestorven soort zijn naam aan te danken heeft.

Op basis van genetische analyse hebben wetenschappers ontdekt dat zij zich, net als de Neanderthalers, bij de moderne mens hebben gevoegd: zelfs vandaag de dag overleven sporen van Denisovan-DNA in de mens en dit duidt op hun geconcentreerde aanwezigheid in Azië. Het eerste fossiel buiten de grot werd in 2019 door een monnik ontdekt in de aartsgrot Baishiya, die door Tibetaanse boeddhisten als heilig wordt beschouwd en meer dan 160.000 jaar oud is. De duizenden fragmenten van dierlijke botten werden onderzocht met behulp van de meest recent uitgevonden techniek genaamd Archeozoölogie die erin slaagde individuele dieren te identificeren. Tegenwoordig herbergt dit gebied voornamelijk blauwe schapen, geiten en jakken.

Naast de Denisoviërs leefden er verschillende groepen mensen in de Denisova grot, waaronder de Neanderthalers en de eerste moderne mensen: in de karstgrot Baishiya  leefden echter alleen de eersten en hier zijn alle “geheimen” over hun uiterlijk, gedrag en de redenen voor hun uitsterven verborgen.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

06-07-2024 om 17:55 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Heleen Vander Beken

Rood zand, een koepel die je van de rest van de wereld afzondert, en 160 vierkante meter om met z'n vieren in te wonen en werken. Dat is de wereld waarin Anca Selariu, Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell en Kelly Haston het afgelopen jaar leefden.

De 4 'valse' astronauten leefden om precies te zijn 378 dagen samen in isolatie. En die koepel mogen ze vanavond om 23 uur onze tijd verlaten. Voor het eerst in een jaar zullen ze terug kunnen gaan en staan waar ze willen, hun familie en vrienden vastpakken, en echt alleen zijn wanneer ze dat willen. 

De© Foto: NASA

Met het experiment wil het Amerikaanse ruimteagentschap NASA missies naar Mars voorbereiden, met een focus op de voedselvoorziening tijdens zo'n missie. En ook de gevolgen van die isolatie voor de crew kunnen ze zo onderzoeken, want eerder onderzoek toont aan dat mensen wel degelijk veranderen door een ruimtemissie.

De proefpersonen leefden in omstandigheden die lijken op die van een mogelijke missie naar Mars. Ze hebben geen vers voedsel, behalve de groenten die ze zelf telen, er werden geen nieuwe voorraden geleverd, ze hadden een beperkte hoeveelheid water...

Tomaten die de crew in isolatie gekweekt heeft

© Foto: NASA

Ook de communicatie met het thuisfront was gesimuleerd met een vertraging van 6 tot 22 minuten - zo traag zou het namelijk ook gaan naar Mars - en 2 keer met een black-out (radiostilte) van 2 weken. Ze zagen geen daglicht en werden blootgesteld aan stresssituaties, bijvoorbeeld technische problemen. Ze oefenden er ook op ruimtewandelingen.

Groepsdynamiek als grootste uitdaging

Eerder was er namelijk al een kortere versie van dit soort experiment. 6 mensen verbleven 4 maanden lang onder een plastic koepel op de flank van een berg: de Mauna Loa-vulkaan op Hawaï. In dat verlaten, rotsige landschap moesten ze onder meer ontdekken hoe je kan koken tijdens een marsmissie.

De Belg Angelo Vermeulen, een bioloog gespecialiseerd in ruimtevaart, was er toen bij als gezagvoerder.

Dat brengt ons meteen bij het allermoeilijkste van de missie: de groepsdynamiek. "Ik moest als gezagvoerder de groep bij elkaar houden. Die samenhang is de grootste uitdaging, maar ze is essentieel, niet alleen voor het welzijn van iedereen, maar ook om samen de uitdagingen te kunnen aanpakken die zich voordoen." Denk dan aan problemen met apparatuur, de barre omstandigheden, noem maar op.

Niet evident als je een jaar lang samen opgesloten zit. "Vaak zie je dat één iemand zich in zulke experimenten, of ook tijdens ruimtemissies, wat afzondert van de groep. Logisch, want je hebt behoefte aan wat privacy. Ook tussen de crew in het station en de crew in het controlecentrum ontstond er spanning, wat ook wel vaker gebeurt in ruimtemissies. Je kijkt anders naar de dingen als je daar zit." 

Vier 'astronauten' na fictieve marsmissie van 378 dagen terug in de echte wereld: wat doet 1 jaar isolatie met een mens?

© VRTNWS

Wat staat de 'valse' astronauten te wachten?

Hoe ze zullen reageren als de deur vanavond opengaat, is af te wachten. Maar Vermeulen herinnert zich wel nog wat het met hem deed. "Je kijkt er enorm naar uit, om terug te kunnen buitenstappen, zonder afspraken te maken en een ruimtepak te moeten aandoen. Ik dacht vaak aan het moment dat het voorbij zou zijn."

"Ik herinner me ook nog het uitgebreide ontbijt dat we kregen. We hebben ons allemaal op het verse fruit gestort. Dat trok ons het meeste aan, omdat we dat gemist hadden." Al hebben ze in de simulatie die nu beëindigd wordt een kleine plaats om verse groenten te telen, waarschijnlijk zal ook dit team naar vers voedsel snakken.

Maar de ervaring na de 'bevrijding' ging veel dieper voor Vermeulen, die zich echt had ingeleefd in de idee dat hij op een andere planeet leefde. "We stapten in een busje en zigzagden naar beneden. Het eerste wat je ziet, is de oceaan, nadat je lang in een dor lavalandschap hebt geleefd. Dat water terugzien, dat beroerde me enorm: het feit dat dat water is meegebracht door meteorieten in de geschiedenis van de aarde."

"Ik denk dat het wat lijkt op wat astronauten ervaren als ze de aarde zien vanuit de ruimte: je wordt je zo bewust van de kwetsbaarheid van onze aarde. En hoe uniek die groene planten hier zijn."

Geen daglicht en slapeloze nachten

Los van die emotionele ervaringen, heeft de isolatie ook effect op je lichaam. Vermeulen herinnert zich bijvoorbeeld dat iedereen in het team wel een of andere vorm van slaapproblemen had.

"Dat is zeker ook zo in de ruimte", zegt Angelique Vanomberen, wetenschapscoördinator bij het Europese ruimteagentschap ESA. "Je hebt geen normale blootstelling aan daglicht. In het internationaal ruimtestation ISS zie je bijvoorbeeld 16 keer per dag de zon opkomen, in een simulatie als deze zie je gewoon geen daglicht, terwijl dat de aanmaak van melatonine regelt, een slaaphormoon." 

"En dan heb je nog de psychologische stress van die isolatie. Als ik niet lekker in m'n vel zit, kan ik ook moeilijker slapen", legt Van Ombergen uit.

Verandering in hersenen en bloed

Of je je tijdens die lange maanden samen ook verveelt? "Het is niet zo saai als je zou denken. Je hebt heel veel onderzoek te doen, je moet 1 uur per dag fysieke oefeningen doen om gezond te blijven, en je organiseert samen ontspanningsmomenten zoals een filmavond", blikt Vermeulen terug. 

Maar je lichaam verandert wel door die eentonige isolatie. "We weten van eerder onderzoek, zowel bij dieren als bij mensen dat, wanneer je ze gaat isoleren in een monotone omgeving, dat dat impact heeft op hun brein", zegt Van Ombergen. Bij muizen en ratten veranderde de hippocampus in de hersenen, specifiek een stuk ervan dat belangrijk is voor het vormen van herinneringen en het verkennen van nieuwe omgevingen. 

Dat bleek ook al het geval te zijn bij mensen. Duitse wetenschappers hebben onderzocht wat een verblijf van 14 maanden deed met poolreizigers in het Neumayer-Station III op Antarctica, één van de meest afgelegen, geïsoleerde plekken op aarde. Ook bij hen was dat stukje gekrompen. En dat was ook te zien in hun bloed.

Neumayer-Station III is een afgelegen poolbasis op Antarctica.

© VRTNWS

"Toen ze anderhalve maand uit isolatie waren, was die bloedwaarde wel weer verbeterd, maar nog niet op het oorspronkelijke niveau", vertelt Van Ombergen. "Hoe die op lange termijn evolueert, moet nog blijken uit onderzoek."

Dat kan deze studie misschien prijsgeven, net als nog veel andere effecten van het samenleven in isolement. Maar het zegt niet alles over hoe een Marsmissie zal uitdraaien, want je hersenen veranderen ook door de extreme omstandigheden in de ruimte.

"Het interessante aan dit experiment is dat we nu kunnen zien welke veranderingen de isolatie en psychosociale stress precies geven in je brein. Bij astronauten die uit de ruimte komen, weten we niet wat er een specifieke verandering veroorzaakt."

En je kan in dit soort simulaties ook kritieke situaties nabootsen die op Mars zouden kunnen gebeuren. "Dat geeft al een eerste indruk van hoe mensen ermee omgaan. Al weten ze natuurlijk ergens in hun achterhoofd altijd wel dat het een simulatie is", besluit Van Ombergen.

De NASA plant nog 2 gelijkaardige studies de komende jaren, om in totaal 12 personen te testen, en ook de ESA doet vergelijkbaar onderzoek.

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/feed?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=u531 à

 

06-07-2024 om 17:18 geschreven door peter  

Ignatius shies away from calling the novel “science fiction.”

“All of my books really are drawn from my reporting,” he says. “I begin with the real world — the subjects that interest me — and if they seem bigger and more important than I can express in a newspaper column of 800 or 1,200 words, then I think maybe that might be a novel.”

The real-world reporting behind “Phantom Orbit” began in 2017, when Ignatius became intrigued by calls for the creation of the U.S. Space Force. Over the years that followed, he mapped out a spy-novel plot with a Russian satellite researcher as one of the main characters — and made plans for a research trip to Russia’s industrial heartland.

But before he could take that trip, the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022 — and Russia put Ignatius on its list of banned travelers. “My journalist friends were envious,” he recalls.

Ignatius ended up stealing an assortment of plot points from real-life developments in the war in Ukraine — for example, how Russia jammed Viasat’s satellite internet network at the start of its offensive, how SpaceX’s Starlink network stepped into the breach to help Ukraine fight back, and how commercial satellite imagery contributed to Ukraine’s battlefield awareness.

In response, the Russians have escalated the space-based battle — by interfering with Starlink, scrambling satellite navigation systems and  camouflaging its military assets to hide them from satellite sensors.

If Space War I gets hotter, Ignatius worries that Russia may resort to measures that bring down entire satellite constellations. “We should be very scared about the vulnerability of space systems,” he says.

For more than two decades, policymakers have warned about the potential for a “space Pearl Harbor” — a sneak attack on America’s orbital assets. Ignatius points to U.S. Rep. Mike Turner’s recent warning about the potential for Russia to use nuclear weapons in space. Such weapons might destroy enough satellites to create a crippling debris field in orbit, or shut down electronics with an electromagnetic pulse.

“The Russians understand their vulnerability in space. They understand that the United States and its commercial companies would suffer asymmetric damage. We’d suffer a lot more than Russia or China,” Ignatius says. “So, they’re willing to go forward with this planning, and it ought to scare the heck out of people.”

What is to be done? “What I would say, first, is that our existing systems in space need to be hardened,” Ignatius says. “They need to be less vulnerable to all of the mischief that an adversary could attempt.”

The U.S. Space Force is already well into its effort to make satellite networks more resilient — and more replaceable in the event of an attack. That’s what its “Tactically Responsive Space” initiative is all about. Millions of dollars are being paid out to commercial ventures to demonstrate how they could help the U.S. military send up fresh assets to support existing networks in a matter of days, if not hours.

One rapid-response demonstration mission, known as Victus Nox, was conducted successfully last year with Firefly Aerospace and Millennium Space Systems serving as the Space Force’s commercial partners. Another demonstration, Victus Haze, is currently being readied by Rocket Lab and True Anomaly. In all, a dozen commercial launch providers are on the Space Force’s list for future rapid-response satellite missions.

The Space Force is even supporting the development of new space station architectures — such as the orbital system being built by Gravitics, a Seattle-area startup.

Keeping track of what’s going on in orbit — also known as space domain awareness — is another must-have for ensuring America’s space security. With Pentagon support, True Anomaly, Starfish Space and Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics subsidiary are working on spacecraft that could approach other satellites in orbit to inspect them, refuel them, boost them into different orbits or deorbit them safely.

In the Fiction Science podcast, Ignatius hints that there may be bigger things to come. “I was just hearing about a company that’s going to radically change the way space and other big weapons systems are built,” he says. “It will revolutionize how weapons are built. The Russians and Chinese just don’t have anything remotely like that kind of creativity. So, there are a lot of reasons that I think people should be worried, but that’s a reason people should be reassured.”

Which begs the question: Which company is Ignatius talking about? If I had to guess, I’d put a bet down on a defense-tech startup called Anduril. But Ignatius isn’t telling. At least, not yet.

“It’s coming to a Washington Post near you,” he says with a laugh.

• “Phantom Orbit” is David Ignatius’ 12th novel. Check out DavidIgnatius.com for links to information about his books and about his columns for The Washington Post. He’ll participate in a live online chat with readers on July 15.
• For more about space security policy, check out the resources offered by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, including the center’s latest Space Threat Assessment. Ignatius also recommends resources provided by The Aerospace Corp.
• This report and the accompanying podcast were originally published on Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log. Stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and Podchaser. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 01:43 geschreven door peter  

Their results are in new research published in Nature Astronomy titled “An estimate of the impact rate on Mars from statistics of very-high-frequency marsquakes.” The lead authors are Géraldine Zenhäusern and Natalia Wójcicka, from the Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, and the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, London, respectively.

Though SEIS was an effective instrument, it couldn’t always tell what each seismic event was. Only a handful of the events it detected were powerful enough to determine their location. However, six events in close proximity to the InSight lander were confirmed as meteorite impacts because they were correlated with acoustic atmospheric signals that meteors make when they enter Mars’ atmosphere. The six events belong to a larger group called very high-frequency (VF) events.

While the source process for a typical marsquake measuring magnitude 3 takes several seconds, an impact-generated quake takes much less time because of the collision’s hypervelocity. These are the VF events.

During about three years of recording time, InSight and SEIS detected 70 VF events. 59 of them had good distance estimates, and according to the researchers, a handful of them were “higher quality B VF events,” meaning their signal-to-noise ratios are strong. “Although a non-impact origin cannot be definitively excluded for each VF event, we show that the VF class as a whole is plausibly caused by meteorite impacts,” the authors explain in their paper.

This led to a new estimate of Mars’s impact frequencies. The researchers say that between 280 and 360 meteoroids about the size of basketballs strike Mars each year and excavate craters greater than 8 meters (26 ft) in diameter. That’s almost one every day at the upper end. “This rate was about five times higher than the number estimated from orbital imagery alone. Aligned with orbital imagery, our findings demonstrate that seismology is an excellent tool for measuring impact rates,” Zenhäusern said in a press release.

Impact rates on different bodies in the Solar System are one way of understanding the age of their surfaces. Earth’s surface is young because the planet is so geologically active. Earth is also much easier to study in greater detail, for obvious reasons. But for bodies like the Moon and Mars, impact rates can tell us the ages of various surfaces, leading to a more thorough understanding of their history.

Orbital images and models based on preserved lunar craters have been the main tools used by planetary scientists to infer impact rates. The data from the Moon was used to extrapolate Mars’ impact rate. But there are problems with that method. Mars has more powerful gravity and is closer to the source of most meteors, the asteroid belt.

That means more meteoroids strike Mars than the Moon, and that had to be calculated somehow. Conversely, Mars has widespread dust storms that can obscure craters in orbital images, while the lunar surface is largely static. Mars also has different types of surface regions. In some regions, craters stand out; in others, they don’t. Trying to accurately account for that many differences when extrapolating impact rates from the Moon to Mars is challenging.

This work shows that seismometers can be a more reliable way to understand impact rates.

“We estimated crater diameters from the magnitude of all the VF-marsquakes and their distances, then used it to calculate how many craters formed around the InSight lander over the course of a year. We then extrapolated this data to estimate the number of impacts that happen annually on the whole surface of Mars,” Wójcicka explained.

“While new craters can best be seen on flat and dusty terrain where they really stand out, this type of terrain covers less than half of the surface of Mars. The sensitive InSight seismometer, however, could hear every single impact within the landers’ range,” said Zenhäusern.

These results extend beyond Mars. Understanding Mars also helps us understand the wider Solar System. “The current meteoroid impact rate on Mars is vital for determining accurate absolute ages of surfaces throughout the Solar System,” the authors write in their paper. Without accurate surface ages, we don’t have an accurate understanding of the Solar System’s history.

Now we know that an 8-metre (26-feet) crater is excavated somewhere on Mars’ surface almost daily, and a 30-metre (98-feet) crater is a monthly occurrence. But it’s about more than just crater size. These hypervelocity impacts create blast zones that dwarf the crater itself. The blast zones can easily be 100 times larger than the crater. So, a better understanding of impact rates can make robotic missions and future human missions safer.

“The higher overall number of impacts and the higher relative number of small ones found in our study show that meteoritic impacts might be a substantial hazard for future explorations of Mars and other planets without a thick atmosphere,” the authors write in their conclusion.

This study is a win for InSight and SEIS and for the researchers who pieced this together.

“This is the first paper of its kind to determine how often meteorites impact the surface of Mars from seismological data – which was a level one mission goal of the Mars InSight Mission,” says Domenico Giardini, Professor of Seismology and Geodynamics at ETH Zurich and co-Principal Investigator for the NASA Mars InSight Mission. “Such data factors into the planning for future missions to Mars.”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 01:32 geschreven door peter  

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

05-07-2024 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

De Fermiparadox: waar zijn alle aliens?

Caroline Kraaijvanger

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

05-07-2024 om 23:26 geschreven door peter  

NASA Finally Revealed Who Will Help Intentionally Destroy The International Space Station

The space agency picked SpaceX to be the space station's grim reaper.

BY DORIS ELÍN URRUTIA

 

Both the vehicle and its cargo would burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. “While the company will develop the deorbit spacecraft, NASA will take ownership after development and operate it throughout its mission. Along with the space station, it is expected to destructively break up as part of the re-entry process,” NASA officials wrote in the announcement.

The mission’s main goal is to ensure there’s no risk of harm to populated areas. The first step is to dock the vehicle to the ISS. Then teams would gradually lower their altitude until they’re ready to perform the deorbit burn. The vehicle would execute that burn, NASA officials told reporters on Friday afternoon.

WHY DESTROY THE SPACE STATION?

The ISS is subject to numerous forces as it orbits 270 miles above the planet’s surface. Year after year, these take their toll. The station currently requires regular maintenance by the astronauts who swap in and out, keeping the station permanently occupied and functional.

What’s more, NASA also seeks to open up its budget for loftier goals. Retiring the ISS may free up resources to develop the Artemis program, which could see the first humans on the Moon since Apollo.

WHAT’S NEXT?

NASA officials said they will be working with SpaceX to execute the design and construction of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle. The mission’s final price tag also isn’t set. “The single-award contract has a total potential value of $843 million,” according to the announcement.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 23:01 geschreven door peter  

Mars orbiter captures Red Planet scar that's longer than the Grand Canyon (image)

The recently published images owe themselves to ESA's Mars Express, Europe's first mission to the Red Planet, which has been orbiting Mars since 2003. Although its lander, Beagle 2, was lost, the orbiter remains conducting a global investigation of Mars. It maps minerals, studies the atmosphere, probes beneath the crust and investigates the planet's blob-shaped moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Related: 

• Largest canyon in the solar system revealed in stunning new images

Mars Express captured the new images of Aganippe Fossa with its high resolution stereo camera and revealed the varied surface features of Mars in great detail, showing both clustered, uneven hills and smooth, gently sloping cliffs covered in debris — referred to as hummocky and lobate terrains, respectively.

These terrains are characteristic of Arsia Mons's ring-shaped "aureole," the ESA press release states, in reference to a 100,000-square-kilometer (38,610-square-mile) disk around the base of the volcano, possibly associated with ancient glaciers.. "Intriguingly," the statement continues, "this aureole has only built up on the northwestern flank of the volcano, likely due to prevailing winds from the opposite direction controlling where ice settled over time.

The team also describes windblown dust and sand dynamics of this region of Mars, which create "zebra-like" patterns on the planet's surface as a result of darker material getting deposited on lighter ground. "The surface here also shows evidence of lava flows, dating from when the volcano was active." the scientists wrote.

Aganippe Fossa is one of many classical albedo features on Mars, which refers to the light and dark features that can be seen on the planet through even an Earth-based telescope. With space-based orbiters, astronomers have been given unprecedented views of the planet's surface and its intriguing topography.

"The mission has been immensely productive over its lifetime, creating a far fuller and more accurate understanding of our planetary neighbor than ever before," ESA scientists said. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 22:50 geschreven door peter  

Indeed, the fundamental distinction between AI and human intelligence might offer us a first taste of what we may one day encounter through the eventual discovery of extraterrestrial technologies manufactured under unimaginable circumstances on some distant exoplanet.

The Drake equation does little to shed any light on the chances of having such an encounter. Within billions of years, it takes just a single advanced civilization in the entire Milky Way galaxy to fill all of interstellar space with self-replicating probes that are equipped with AI and 3D printers so as to produce copies of themselves out of the raw materials they can find in remote locations. This trick of self-replication is familiar to terrestrial microbes, which regularly reproduce and multiply.

Interestingly, the computational abilities of both AI and the human brain are limited by the power available to them. The human brain grew to consume a fifth of the body’s metabolic energy, a requirement barely satisfied by hunting and gathering natural resources. The exponential growth of AI systems will likely saturate within a decade or two because of limitations on the electric power supply.

It is natural to assume, by extension, that the level of intelligence exhibited by extraterrestrial probes will be limited by their power supply. The energy flux supplied by a star scales inversely with distance squared, whereas the time to cross that distance scales in proportion to its value. As a result, the amount of available stellar energy scales inversely with the distance of the closest approach to a star. By reaching the Earth-Sun separation, an interstellar probe can harvest 100,000 more energy than attainable at the midpoint between the Sun and its nearest star. This provides a good incentive for interstellar probes to visit the habitable region around stars. Diving ten times closer to the star could lead to the melting of the probe, as its surface temperature would exceed a thousand degrees.

Aside from providing power at tolerable surface temperatures, the habitable region around a star also offers the opportunity for finding liquid water, which could be converted to hydrogen or oxygen fuel through the breakup of water molecules by electrolysis. For these reasons, habitable planets could be viewed by interstellar probes as fueling stations.

Functional interstellar probes might arrive near Earth for these reasons. Imagining that they do it because of us is pretentious. We might not be the main attraction on Earth, as science fiction movies often lead us to believe, given our self-centered mindset.

In a big city, we often find strangers on our street who do not care about us. Similarly, extraterrestrial probes might not view our nuclear arsenals as a threat or as an asset. But we might use them to benefit from their insights or align our interests with theirs. These are the same motivations that guide our interaction with AI systems. Given these similarities, the abbreviation AI could stand for alien intelligence as much as it stands for artificial intelligence of our own making.

Our biggest telescopes are unable to detect the flux of sunlight reflected from meter-size probes unless they arrive within a distance comparable to the Earth’s diameter. Based on the impact rate of interstellar meteors, like IM1 or IM2, there should be millions of meter-scale objects from interstellar space within the orbit of the Earth around the Sun at any given time. The key question is whether any of these interstellar objects is artificial in origin. And most importantly, are there any functional devices among the rocks and space trash that most objects represent?

I write this with hopes that the three observatories of the Galileo Project in the U.S. will join forces with the Rubin Observatory in Chile, to find new interstellar objects starting in 2025.  Even if only one in a million of these objects happens to be a functional device, its discovery will change the way we behave, similar to the realization that someone is reading our emails or listening to our phone calls.

After identifying the nutrients an interstellar probe feeds on, we can attract it to our backyard by generously providing these nutrients. A closer encounter would allow us to learn more about the nature of its alien intelligence. The limited power supply might limit an alien probe’s intelligence level, but the critical unknown is whether that level exceeds ours.  When dealing with alien intelligence, the ultimate challenge is the `unknown unknowns,’ not the `known unknowns.’

We might be part of a large population of intelligence that emerged since the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. The fundamental question is how many of them have more parameters than the human brain. For now, our limited knowledge allows us to imagine the benefits of large numbers. We know that there are about 100 billion neurons in the human brain, similar to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy or the number of Milky Way galaxies in the observable volume of the universe.

AI systems might augment our bodies in the future, like alien lifeforms. This will not be unprecedented, as there are 100 trillion bacteria in the human gut, similar to the number of stars in a rich cluster of galaxies.

• Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s – Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011-2020). He is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos,” both published in 2021. His new book, titled “Interstellar,” was published in August 2023.

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

05-07-2024 om 22:32 geschreven door peter  

Bizarre moment police pull over ‘UFO’ for traffic offence in ‘out of this world’ encounter

Crawford County Sheriff’s Office said the 'humanoids' had 'come in peace'. 

Picture: Crawford County Sheriff’s Office

By Jenny Medlicott - @JennyMedlicott

Police in Missouri had an ‘out of this world’ experience after they had to pull over a ‘UFO’ for a minor traffic offence.

UFO-Like Vehicle on Oklahoma Highway

Crawford County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri shared the unexpected encounter on social media with photos of the vehicle.

Posting on Facebook, the Sheriff’s office shared photos of the vehicle resembling an alien spacecraft with two people seated inside.

They also shared a photo of one of their officers posing next to the vehicle with his thumbs up.

The driver of the vehicle was reportedly travelling in the ‘spacecraft’ vehicle for a festival in Roswell, New Mexico - a city known for its alien-inspired conspiracy theories.

They were pulled over for a minor traffic offence. 

Picture: Crawford County Sheriff’s Office

The post read: “Well, you never know what will be traveling through Crawford County but this one was a little out of this world.

“These friendly humanoids, who have come in peace, are heading west to Roswell, NM for a festival.

“There was a brief conversation about his out of space, correction, out of state registration, but he assured us that he would take care of that issue when he returned to Krypton. He was also warned about our strict enforcement of warp speed on the interstate and to keep his phasers on stun only while traveling.”

{ https://www.lbc.co.uk/ }

05-07-2024 om 22:20 geschreven door peter  

'Best ever UFO footage' caught on camera had it's authenticity '100%' confirmed

Could this be the closest we've come to proving the existence of aliens?

 Brenna Cooper

Aliens and UFOs are surely one of the longest running fascinations of modern times.

Ever since reports of an alien spaceship crashing at Roswell way back in the 1940s hit the press; mankind has been hooked on UFO hysteria.

We all know someone who's spotted a rogue birthday balloon or glow lantern in the sky and whipped their phone camera out to declare that an alien invasion is imminent - but every now and again footage emerges and rattles even the biggest alien skeptics.

One person who managed to capture pretty eerie footage is pilot Jorge A. Arteaga, whose video recorded during a flight has been called the 'best UFO footage ever' - and has also been found to be 100 per cent authentic.

Check out the footage for yourself:

Arteaga was travelling through the skies above Antioquia, Colombia, when he spotted a strange object hurtling through the sky.

Captured in brought daylight, the mysterious, square-like object shoots out of the clouds and past Arteaga's cockpit in a matter of seconds.

He was able to quickly grab his camera and record the object - which appeared to be light in colour and pointed at one end - as it flew towards him before quickly speeding off.

Arteaga would later claim that he and his co-pilot had spotted the item floating in the air between the cities of Medellín and Santa Fe, before it drastically picked up speed and beelined towards them.

The pair had originally wanted to follow the UFO, but later abandoned the search after it suddenly began to hurtle towards them.

A birthday balloon? A rogue Wii Fit board? Or aliens?

(X/Jorge Arteaga)

Now I know what you're thinking, surely it's just another runaway balloon or random piece of debris?

Not according to Arteaga, who claimed that it would have been too cold or turbulent for a balloon to survive, adding that they were flying 12,500 feet in the air at the time.

And it seems that Arteaga has the backing of controversial ufologist Jaime Maussan, who later authenticated.

As for what happens during a 'UFO authentication' process we're not sure, but the pair would later sit down for an interview about the video, which Maussan later shared on his social media account.

"We are facing one of the greatest UAP (UFO) evidences of all time; captured by the Captain Pilot Aviator @JorgeArteagaG," he wrote on X, alongside a clip from their chat.

UFO or flying supermarket carrier bag?

(X/Jorge Arteaga)

Maussan went on to add that Arteaga had told him the object moved with 'something totally unknown without means of propulsion with movements that he considers intelligent.'

He also added that he'd cross-referenced the footage with Pilot Lieutenant Ryan Graves, who had agreed the clip showed a UFO, also known as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena).

Whether or not you believe the clip is a UFO or a floating piece of rubbish depends on what your stance on aliens is.

Eerie footage of UFO 'splitting in two' before mysteriously vanishing resurfaces

A video has resurfaced of mysterious lights in the sky, which many believe to have been extraterrestrial visitors to Earth.

Way back in the late 1990s, or 1997 to be precise, there were a series of strange sightings in the night sky. This was stretched between Tucson, Arizona, and just past Phoenix, close to the border with Nevada some 300 miles south.

All manner of strange things were reported at the time, including claims of strange formations of lights in the sky. There were even claims of a v-shaped UFO passing overhead. Scary stuff.

A video has resurfaced from a later round of the so-called 'Phoenix Lights', not to be confused with the much-loved Peter Kay comedy set in Bolton.

KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty

The clip appears to show a UFO splitting into two, with the light dividing and going off in separate directions. The image, of course, is extremely hazy as these videos always seem to be.

The footage was uploaded to YouTube, and explained by YouTuber ChaosMoogle.

He said: "This is not an infrared video — it is just a regular video, so we're seeing it how it would be seen with the naked eye."

An official explanation was in fact given for the sightings of lights in the sky around Phoenix. Local air force bases announced that they had been conducting routine training operations, and that the lights seen in the sky belonged to their aircraft.

But, of course, some people did not buy this explanation and firmly believed that there was something being covered up, and that something was an alien presence in the sky over Nevada.

Youtube/ ChaosMoogle

The suspicion around aliens became more pronounced following a congressional hearing this year, which once again opened up the question of whether there have been aliens visiting Earth.

One question which always provokes questions is looking at a map that shows reports of sightings of aliens, the vast majority - nearly all of them in fact - are in the USA.

Aliens must love the USA.

Former intelligence officer Major David Grusch made a surprising testimony in front of Congress where he claimed that U.S. officials had discovered crashed alien spacecraft. Moreover, he claimed that the craft had indeed contained 'non-human' remains.

The Pentagon has, of course, denied the claim.

Meanwhile, the reaction to the apparent announcement from many Americans was one of indiffernece. Many videos being posted showing off a collective shrug as many Americans struggle to get by amid rising fuel prices, health insurance, and living costs.

So much so it's become a joke online, that aliens arrive and say that they have taken over our government and done away with our rulers.

And humanity's reaction? 'Oh thank god'.

Featured Image Credit:

• Youtube/ ChaosMoogle

{ https://www.ladbible.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 21:37 geschreven door peter  

Years ago, physicist Dr. John Brandenburg stated that there is evidence of two nuclear explosions on Mars. These explosions could have been caused by thermonuclear bombs. 

Remnants of an ancient city on Mars destroyed by thermonuclear attack.

Evidence supporting this theory includes the presence of nuclear isotopes in the Martian atmosphere and the detection of a thin layer of substances such as uranium, thorium, and radioactive potassium on the surface of Mars. 

The absence of craters at the sites indicates that the bombs were likely detonated above ground in an air blast, which worsens the global fallout but dampens the immediate ground impact. Conversely, if detonated on the ground, the local devastation is immense but the global impact is minimized. Regardless, these explosions were powerful enough to cause a global catastrophe and significantly alter Mars' climate. According to Brandenburg, the nuclear attack apparently wiped out two races: the Cydonians and Utopians. 

The MRO HiRISE image ESP_019103_1460 shows the "Atlantic Chaos," and a closer examination reveals a city that was almost destroyed by the thermonuclear explosions. Amid the ruins of destroyed buildings and towering structures, a largely intact dome-shaped structure is visible (See image below.) 

The remnants of this city suggest that Mars was once inhabited by intelligent species like the Cydonians and Utopians, who lived there under conditions similar to those on Earth. This also serves as evidence that far more advanced civilizations may have existed for millions of years and possessed the capability to annihilate all life on a planet using thermonuclear bombs, among other means. 

See also:

• J.E. Brandenburg:Evidence for a Large Anomalous Nuclear Explosions in Mars Past 

Gigapan images (zoom) of the destroyed city on Mars: 

• Javed Raza's-Atlantis Chassis-ESP 019103 1460 by Neville Thompson

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

05-07-2024 om 21:13 geschreven door peter  

Implications of an Expanded or Two-part Kuiper Belt

Beyond simply expanding the limit of the Kuiper Belt, the Subaru observations have profound implications for our understanding of the solar nebula, according to Fumi Yoshida, who led the research for the Subaru observation team. “Looking outside of the Solar System, a typical planetary disk extends about 100 AU from the host star (100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun), and the Kuiper Belt, which is estimated to extend about 50 AU, is very compact. Based on this comparison, we think that the primordial solar nebula, from which the Solar System was born, may have extended further out than the present-day Kuiper Belt,” said Yoshida.

Let’s say the primordial disk was quite large. Then it’s possible that undiscovered planetary bodies clipped the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt. If that happened, then it makes sense to search the outer limits of the current Belt to find such a cut-off object. It’s also possible that perhaps that truncation created a second Kuiper Belt beyond the currently known belt. What it’s like is anybody’s guess, although it’s probably dusty and very likely has at least a few larger objects. So, even if there’s nothing along the New Horizons trajectory, using Subaru to study the distribution of objects it has found will help scientists to understand the evolution of the Solar System.

Searching for KBOs

Subaru Telescope’s has been searching for more KBOs to explore ever since New Horizons flew past Arrokoth in 2019. The idea is to find additional KBOs along the path of flight. The search focused two Hyper Suprime-Cam fields along the spacecraft’s trajectory through the Belt. The New Horizons team spent about 30 half-nights to find more than 240 outer Solar System objects.

The next step was for a Japanese team to analyze images from those observations. However, they used a different method than the mission team did and found seven new outer Solar System objects. The scientists then analyzed the HSC data with a Moving Object Detection System developed by JAXA. Normally it detects near-Earth asteroids and other space debris. Those types of bodies move very fast, compared to more distant ones. So, looking for very dim, faraway, slow-moving objects was a challenge. That’s because the team had to adjust for the speed of the Kuiper Belt objects. Then they applied some updated image analysis to confirm their findings. Scientists now know the orbits of two of the seven new objects and they’ve been assigned provisional designations by the Minor Planet Center (MPC.

Continuing to Search the Kuiper Belt

The discovery of more KBOs in the outer Solar System (along with New Horizons’ continued dust detection activities) tells scientists that there’s more to the Kuiper Belt than anyone expected. The proof will be in continued Subaru observations to detect and confirm more objects “out there.”

“The mission team’s search for Kuiper Belt objects using Hyper Suprime-Cam continues to this day, and a series of papers will be published in the future, mainly by the North American group,” said Yoshida. “This research, the discovery of sources with the potential to expand the Kuiper Belt region using a method developed in Japan and led by Japanese researchers, serves as a precursor to those publications.”

For More Information

• A New Horizon for the Kuiper Belt: Subaru Telescope’s Wide-Field Observations
• A Deep Analysis of New Horizons’s KBO Search Images
• The PI’s Perspective: Needles in the Cosmic Haystack

{https://www.universetoday.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 01:48 geschreven door peter