Astronomers Believe A Star Is About To Explode 3000 Light Years From Earth — Here’s How to See It

T CrB is usually much too faint to be seen. But once every 80 years or so, it brightly erupts.

BY TANYA HILL, AMANDA KARAKAS AND THE CONVERSATION

Stellarium Web Online Star Map

Most of the time T CrB, which is 3,000 light years away, is much too faint to be seen. But once every 80 years or so, it brightly erupts.

A brand new star suddenly seems to appear, although not for long. Just a few nights later, it will have rapidly faded, disappearing back into the darkness.

A BURST OF LIFE

During the prime of their lives, stars are powered by nuclear fusion reactions deep inside their cores. Most commonly, hydrogen is turned into helium, which creates enough energy to keep the star stable and shining for billions of years.

But T CrB is well past its prime and is now a stellar remnant known as a white dwarf. Its internal nuclear fire has been quenched, allowing gravity to compress the dead star dramatically.

T CrB also has a stellar companion – a red giant that has puffed up as it enters old age. The white dwarf mops up the swollen red giant’s gas, and this forms what’s known as an accretion disc around the dead star.

The matter keeps piling up on a star that’s already compressed to its limit, forcing a continual rise in pressure and temperature. Conditions become so extreme they mimic what once would’ve been found inside the star’s core. Its surface ignites in a runaway thermonuclear reaction.

When this happens, the energy released makes T CrB shine 1,500 times brighter than usual. Here on Earth, it briefly appears in the night sky. With this dramatic reset, the star has then expelled the gas, and the cycle can begin all over again.

HOW DO WE KNOW IT’S DUE?

T CrB is the brightest of a rare class of recurrent novae that repeat within a hundred years — a time scale that allows astronomers to detect their recurrent nature.

Only ten recurrent novae are currently known, although more novae may be recurrent — just on much greater timescales that aren’t as easily tracked.

The earliest known date of T CrB erupting is from the year 1217, based on observations recorded in a medieval monastic chronicle. It’s remarkable that astronomers can now predict its eruptions so precisely as long as the nova follows its usual pattern.

The star’s two most recent eruptions — in 1866 and 1946 — showed the exact same features. About ten years prior to the eruption, T CrB’s brightness increased a little (known as a high state), followed by a short fading or dip about a year after the explosion.

T CrB entered its high state in 2015, and the pre-eruption dip was spotted in March 2023, setting astronomers on alert. What causes these phenomena are just some of the current mysteries surrounding T CrB.

HOW CAN I SEE IT?

Start stargazing now! It’s a good idea to get used to seeing Corona Borealis as it is now so that you get the full impact of the “new” star.

Corona Borealis currently reaches its best observing position (known as a meridian transit) around 8:30 pm to 9 pm local time across Australia and Aotearoa. The farther north you are located, the higher the constellation will be in the sky.

The nova is expected to be a reasonable brightness (magnitude 2.5): about as bright as Imai (Delta Crucis), the fourth brightest star in the Southern Cross. So it will be easy to see even from a city location, if you know where to look.

WE WON’T HAVE MUCH TIME

We won’t have long once it goes off. The maximum brightness will only last a few hours; within a week T CrB will have faded and you’ll need binoculars to see it.

It almost certainly will be an amateur astronomer that alerts the professional community to the moment when T CrB outbursts.

These dedicated and knowledgeable people routinely monitor stars from their backyards on the chance of “what if” and, therefore, fill an important gap in night sky observations.

The American Association of Variable Star Observing (AAVSO) has a log of over 270,000 submitted observations on T CrB alone. Amateur astronomers are collaborating here and around the world to continually monitor T CrB for the first signs of eruption.

Hopefully, the nova will erupt as expected sometime before October because, after that, Corona Borealis leaves our evening sky in the Southern Hemisphere.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation by Tanya Hill at Museums Victoria Research Institute and Amanda Karakas at Monash University. Read the original article here.

{  https://www.inverse.com/ }

15-07-2024 om 17:38 geschreven door peter  

Ariane 6 vs. SpaceX: How the rockets stack up

The European Space Agency is planning to use the Ariane 6 for a variety of missions.

BY DORIS ELÍN URRUTIA AND MIKE BROWN

 

ESA

The Ariane 6 will take the Arianespace fleet to the next level. The modular design enables the rocket to take on light and heavy launches, adapting to the client’s needs. It can lift off with the power of either two or four boosters. It also offers two lengths for its fairing, the tip of the rocket that carries satellites into space. Ariane 6’s upper stage Vinci engine can also reignite in space, which means that on a single launch, the rocket can deliver several different missions into their orbits. ESA expects it to be a lot cheaper to launch than its predecessors.

But Arianespace still faces tough competition from SpaceX, which currently operates its semi-reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets to provide launch services. SpaceX is already looking ahead to the fully-reusable Starship, which can lift more than ever into space. The Ariane family, unfortunately, is not reusable..

CEO Elon Musk has previously criticized European efforts in the emergent new space race. In March 2021, he wrote on X: “They are aiming too low. Only rockets that are fully & rapidly reusable will be competitive. Everything else will seem like a cloth biplane in the age of jets.”

Here’s what you need to know about how they compare.

ARIANE 6 VS SPACEX: HOW MUCH CAN IT SEND TO LOW-EARTH ORBIT?

The Ariane 6 will send up varying amounts depending on the booster configuration. The two-booster version, known as Ariane 62, can launch 4,500 to 5,000 kg (9,920 to 11,023 pounds) to geostationary transfer orbit — where the Vinci engine would place a satellite on into the first leg so the mission can transfer towards its final orbit — or 6,500 kilograms (14,330 pounds) to a nearly polar, low-Earth orbit.

In the four-booster configuration, known as Ariane 64, the rocket can launch payloads of around 11,500 kg (25,353 pounds) into geostationary transfer orbit and 21,600 kg (47,620 pounds) into low-Earth orbit.

In its expendable configuration, the Falcon 9 Block 5 (the only variant in operation at the moment) can launch a similar amount to the four-booster Ariane 6. It can send 8,300 kg (18,300 pounds) to geostationary transfer orbit and 22,800 kg (50,265 pounds) to low-Earth orbit. The Falcon Heavy expands on this with the ability to launch 63,800 kilograms (140,660 pounds) to low-Earth orbit.

The Starship is set to blow these figures out of the water, with the ability to send 100,000 to 150,000 kgs (220,000 pounds) to low-Earth orbit. Its most recent launch test flew in June 2024.

ARIANE 6 VS. SPACEX: IS IT REUSABLE?

In 2014, SpaceX first successfully landed a Falcon 9 booster. This component of the rocket, Musk has claimed, comprises around three-quarters of the total rocket price. By 2021, SpaceX was recovering 30 boosters successfully in a year. In April 2024, SpaceX hit a major milestone: 300 total booster recoveries. SpaceX also recovers the boosters used with the Falcon Heavy rocket.

The company has also started attempting to recover the protective fairing that protects the satellite during launch. SpaceX first successfully recovered a fairing in 2019, and it successfully recovered 13 in 2021.

The upcoming Starship should take this to the next level. SpaceX has designed the rocket to be entirely reusable, which means that the booster and ship can return to Earth for re-use after a flight.

The Ariane 6 is not reusable. It stems back to a design decision in 2014, when the space agency chose to stick with expendability. France’s economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, admitted at a 2020 conference that “in 2014 there was a fork in the road, and we didn’t take the right path.”

“We should have made the choice of the reusable launcher,” Le Maire said. “We should have had this audacity.”

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

15-07-2024 om 00:24 geschreven door peter  

It has been nearly two decades since a mysterious humanoid encounter took place high up in the Himalayas, and the group of eminent glaciologists and geologists of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), who had observed this strange humanoid entity for nearly 45 minutes, are still baffled by what they had witnessed and what it all means. 

The bizarre event unfolded on September 27, 2004, on the penultimate day of a week-long expedition undertaken by the Ahmedabad-based, Space Application Centre (SAC) of ISRO. The 5-member team of scientists were camping in the Samudra Tapu glacier region, roughly 14,500 feet above sea level, not far from the ethereal Chandratal Lake which is steeped in local legends about otherworldly beings. The objective of the expedition was to study the Samudra Tapu glacier using satellite data, and other means.

One of the earliest accounts of the incident had been published in SiliconIndia, a few days after it had occurred. Although brief, it contained some intriguing details. Apparently, the humanoid entity was spotted at around 7 am, and it had “hovered around for about 45 minutes, some 200 metres from the stunned scientists.” Anil Kulkarni, the marine and water resources scientist of ISRO, went on to provide more details about the incident:

“There were balloons attached to this unusual object. It had ‘legs’ but we could not see the ‘hands’. It was moving closer to the hilltop. The object started moving in our direction when we started walking towards it. But when our porters made a noise, it moved away towards the hilltop,” he said. The object remained stationary for about five minutes after reaching the hilltop, then moved away in another direction before it disappeared, he added. “Interestingly when it was exposed to the sun, it turned black and in the shadow of the hill, it became white,” the scientist said.[1]

Nearly a year after the incident had occurred, a more detailed account of the events of that unusual day was published in the India Today magazine. The report states,

Around 6.45 a.m., as the scientists were preparing to leave their tents, one of the porters spotted a white object on top of an adjacent mountain ridge, and screamed: "Sir, the snow man is coming."
Anil Kulkarni, a senior ISRO scientist who has been mapping glaciers for a quarter century, and his team members saw what appeared to be a robot floating a few inches above the ground, approaching the camp along the mountain slope. Kulkarni and his co-researcher, geologist Sunil Dhar, pulled out their digital cameras and began shooting the object even as the team raced towards the mountain to investigate.
The oblong object, between 3 and 4 feet high, kept moving down the slope towards the team. It had a cylindrical head with two balloon-type attachments, a body, hands and two legs. “It seemed to be walking, planting and pacing its steps like a human being,” recalls Dhar.[2]

The scientists were flummoxed by what they had seen. They submitted the photographs to ISRO, and each of the scientists gave their versions of what had happened on that day. The report was circulated to the army and the SASE (Snow and Avalanche Study Establishments) - the only agencies stationed in high altitude areas. 

According to Kulkarni, the object could have been an UFO or an advanced espionage device capable of complex maneuverability. “It is a riddle beyond human perception,” said Dhar who, along with Kulkarni, contacted robotic labs across the world to determine what is technologically possible in unmanned flying vehicles. “But there is no known matching technology yet in the civilian realm to explain the mysterious object we saw so up close,” according to Kulkarni. “It didn't look like a man-made object,” opined geologist Rajesh Kalia.[3]
But, if it was not a balloon, UAV, spying robot, or any kind of man-made object for that matter, what could it possibly be?

If we put on our Sherlock Holmes hat, and apply that famous logic of his i.e. “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” then we are inevitably led to the conclusion that, what the team of scientists had seen at Samudra Tapu was a humanoid being, possibly of alien origin! 

This is not the first time that bizarre humanoid entities of a similar nature have been sighted, although it is certainly one of the first cases where a team of experienced scientists were the witnesses, which is why the matter received mainstream coverage. A quick perusal of some of the UFO and humanoid reports from around the world reveals that, what the ISRO scientists had seen on that day conforms to a general pattern. But first, let us take stock of some of the conspicuous attributes of this humanoid entity. 

1. It was a dwarf, humanoid being, between 3 to 4 feet tall. 
2. It had a large cylindrical head, hands and legs. 
3. It had two balloon-type attachments, probably on its head. 
4. It had robot-like movements, and appeared to pace its legs like a human. 
5. It floated a few inches above the ground, as it came down the mountain slope. It effortlessly went up the slope in a similar manner
6. It appeared white, but turned black when sunlight fell on it. 
7. It seemed to be a curious, non-threatening entity, which came down from the hilltop to “observe” the team of scientists and, perhaps, even interact with them, but moved away when it sensed the excitement and anxiety of the group. 

Similar sightings of dwarf humanoid beings with oversized heads, dressed in a silvery or gray suit, and walking in a robotic manner while floating a few inches above the ground, have been reported from all parts of the world for more than half a century. In some cases, the humanoid beings were spotted coming in and out of an UFO. Typically, these types of sightings are dismissed as hallucinations, observational mistakes or made-up stories, but now that a team of highly experienced scientists, who are trained in making observations at high altitudes, have seen a similar humanoid entity at close quarters for more than 45 minutes, it is a matter that cannot be treated flippantly any more. 

Let’s peruse some of the similar cases that have been reported over the years. One of the earliest sightings of a similar nature occurred way back in 1937, at a place near the small town of Chashniki in the Vitebsk Region of Belarus. A 7-year old girl named Ludmila Chepik was shepherding some cows and collecting flowers on a meadow near the River Uloy when suddenly she saw a “man” descending from the sky towards her without a parachute. 

“He descended to about 1 to 2 meters from her. The man was approximately 113 cm – 143 cm in height (dwarf like), of athletic built, with broad shoulders and a disproportionately large head. The man wore dark, tight-fitting clothing and had a helmet on his head, with a cone-shaped or “bulb” shaped protrusion on top. His face was visible, reddish in color and was wearing something resembling a transparent visor. The entity spent approximately 1 minute with the witness. He opened his visor, produced a protracted smile at the girl, looked around, and touched the grass with an oval device in his hands. After that, he waved his hands, and zoomed soundlessly up into the sky at high speed. After gaining an altitude of about 100 meters, he seemed to compress into a ball and dissolve into thin air.”[4]

On September 2, 1954, in Coldwater, Kansas, 12-year old John Jacob Swaim had just finished driving a tractor when he saw something downright bizarre.

“A dark complexioned little man about the size of a 5-year old child, with pointed nose & ears, was crouching about 20 feet away. The little man wore shiny clothing and carried 2-foot long cylinders on his back. He ran, apparently floating, to a 50 foot disc hovering 5 feet above the ground, jumped in, and took off without tilting the saucer, lights shone from windows as it flew off faster than a jet. At the site were found numerous pear shaped footprints 2" x 4.5", with very narrow heels.”[5]

In the idyllic city of Clermont Ferrand, in the Puy-de-Dome administrative department of France, something out of the ordinary had transpired in March 1969. 

“On the slopes of the bare hill, Puy-de-Chanturgue, Miss B. saw, about 600 feet away, 3 little humanoid forms of squat aspect and uniform gray color. Without touching the ground, they were moving rapidly back and forth. After she had watched these “gnomes” for 3 to 4 minutes they suddenly disappeared.”[6]

In August 1973, Edmund, a 19-year old youth from the Amparo settlement, in the Novo Friburgo municipality of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, was in the fruit garden of the farm when he noticed agitation among the nearby fruit trees. He went out to investigate the matter, and saw a strange spherical object with metallic sheen, around 2 meters wide, hovering just above the ground and revolving slowly. As he gazed at it from a distance of about 4 meters,

“At this point an aperture appeared in the side of the craft with a loud bang; from it emerged a small humanoid figure in a one-piece suit that covered his head. Strapped to his back was a rather large, squarish backpack. The entity did not walk, but floated, with a "feverish" swinging of arms and legs in midair. The entity approached Edmund to within a distance of a meter, at which time the youth became panic stricken and fled, seeking others at the farmhouse. As he ran off, he looked back and saw the little being still “hovering” in the air at the spot where he stopped when the boy ran off.”[7]

A number of strange humanoid sightings were reported during the UFO invasion of Italy in 1978, of which a couple surprisingly similar to what the Indian scientists saw in the high Himalayas. On August 28, 1978, at 02:30 a.m., near Chieti, Italy, a baker named Amerigo Rocci was on his way to work when his car broke down. While checking under the hood, a powerful bright light illuminated the area around him.

“Approaching the light he noticed five strange figures, the height of an eight-year old child. The figures moved in unison in "synchronized" movements and appear to float 25 cm above the road. The figures wore a dark gray tight-fitting diver's suits that covered them from head to toe. They had thick necks and from the top of their heads protruded an “antenna” like device resembling a funnel. The beings were about 500 meters away and Rocci was not able to see any facial features. The beings glided away in single file from the witness, who noticed that the last figure was carrying something resembling a “shovel” like apparatus.”[8]

Another equally inexplicable event occurred in San Vito Chietino, Italy, on December 23, 1978. At around 8:30 pm, the Bucco family was returning from visiting relatives when a dazzling light began to follow their vehicle. The light overtook the vehicle and the vehicle suddenly stopped without the driver applying the brakes. 

“Then, at the same time a strange little man crossed road in front of the vehicle in bounding jumps. While Francesco and Fiorentina Bucco saw only one humanoid, the other two passengers in the vehicle reported seeing two. The figure or figures wore brown astronaut like suits, large helmets with black square visors, and 5-digit white gloves. The beings were about 1 meter in height, and moved over the road in unison, in a strange robot-like manner, floating 20-35 cm above the road, as if moving and bouncing on an invisible cushion. Mr. Bucco noticed a green flashlight like object wrapped over the humanoid's shoulder.”[9]

A mystifying account was reported from the small town of Los Zazos in the Tucuman province of Argentina, which had many of the classic ingredients of a humanoid encounter. A goat-herder called Flores de Mamani, was walking her animals back to her ranch along an isolated hillside when she suddenly felt paralyzed, completely unable to move. 

“She was leaning back against a rock when she saw, a hovering sphere very close to her position. The normally fierce dog remained quiet and the goats remained very still. A door-like opening became visible on the sphere and two little men came out. They wore brown diver's suits, and had what appeared to be backpacks on their backs. The witness attempted to scream but could not. The beings were about 4 feet tall, heavy set and there appeared to be some stripes on their shiny brown suits. They wore helmets with a glasslike visor. She also noticed what appeared to be two antennas coming out of their suits. They seemed to glide just above the ground. The sphere was described as shiny and silvery with several multi-colored lights around it. 
One of the little men then approached the witness grabbed her arm and tied a rubber hose around it, and then he proceeded to extract blood from the witness arm using a syringe like instrument. She felt no pain. The other little man then proceeded to milk one of the goats that remained completely still. Soon the little men glided back to the silvery sphere and went inside. The sphere then shot away at tremendous speed.”[10]

The dwarf humanoids seem to be very interested in collecting samples, for, in many humanoid sighting reports they have been seen collecting samples of vegetation or soil and putting them into the cylinders strapped to their back. They have also been seen poking the ground with long stick-like devices and digging holes with shovels. It’s almost as if they are interdimensional scientists keeping tabs on the planetary health and ecosystem.

Some witnesses have described these humanoid entities as “gnomes” (from Latin gnomus, meaning "earth-dweller") – that legendary race of dwarf people possessing various magical abilities, who are said to live in lavish comfort in underground chambers. The gnomes were said to be a wise, intelligent race who were beneficent to humans and were proficient in smithing, crafting, and mining. In ancient and medieval mythologies, gnomes were believed to guard mines and subterranean treasures. The Encyclopedia Brittanica tells us that, in Germanic legends, “Mine-dwelling dwarfs were usually more capricious and spiteful than their mountain brothers. They could be heard moving about the lower levels and were sometimes seen by miners, who took care to placate them by gifts of food.”

This is why the next report is so important – for it is one of those rare humanoid sighting that took place inside a mine.

This fascinating encounter took place on August 27, 1989, deep within a mine 1070 meters below the earth’s surface in Donetsk, Ukraine. An electrical worker in one of the mines was working the night shift when he suddenly saw two strangers standing at the end of the electric train depot. The figures moved slowly along the garage, stopping from time to time and studying different areas and equipment located there. Finally, the witness gathered up enough courage to confront the strangers, and walking out of his hiding place he yelled, “Who are you? What are you doing here? “and began to walk slowly towards the pair. 

“After taking several steps he looked closely and literally became numb with fear as he realized that the entities standing before him were not human. They were short creatures, dwarf-like with sallow facial complexions, and features he could not recognize as human. Both were dressed in silvery colored coveralls and their chest they had lighted circles and luminous dots circling around, like the screen of an oscillograph. After standing for a while, the entities turned around and walked away, quickly moving away floating just above the ground. In several seconds they vanished behind a bend on the underground tunnel.”[11]

Now that we have looked at a few similar humanoid sighting reports that have come in from all over the world over the past century or so, it becomes quite obvious that what the Indian scientists had witnessed in the Samudra Tapu glacier region of the Himalayas, some 14,500 feet above sea level, was not something unique or unprecedented. Everything that the scientists had noted about the humanoid entities has been reported elsewhere: the silvery suits, the oversized heads, the helmets with a pair of “balloon” or “funnel” or “bulb”-shaped extensions on top, the robot-like movements while floating a few inches above the ground, etc. Typically, such reports go unnoticed, but since the sighting in the Himalayas was reported by a group of respected scientists it generated more interest, at least in India.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and tackle the big question: Who are these humanoid entities that have been spotted around the world, including the upper reaches of the Himalayas, and have been seen getting in and out of UFOs? Some witnesses have described them as “gnomes”, and since these entities have also been sighted inside mines, the “gnome” angle definitely needs to be explored. Perhaps, the gnomes are not imaginary beings as they have been made out to be, and maybe there is something to the ancient stories that speak of them.  

In India, the dwarfs or gnomes were called yakshas (also yakhhas, jakkhas or jakhs). They were the custodians of the earth’s wealth and were regarded as the protectors of sacred sites and villages. Yakshas statues were placed outside temples, on either side of the entrances, to ward off intruders. Not long ago, people used to set up altars for them under trees, made offerings of food and prayed to them for wealth, protection and fertility. A lot of interesting details about the yakshas have been recorded in the ancient Indian texts, which I shall probably discuss at a later time, but a couple of points stand out in relation to this case.

Firstly, in ancient Indian legends, the yakshas have often been associated with the flying vehicles called “vimanas”. The Ramayana relates that, in the Treta Yuga, after killing the rakshasha Ravana in a fierce battle, Rama had returned from Lanka to Ayodhya on the spacious, dome-shaped, vimana called “Pushpaka”, which was gilded and shone like the sun and was operated by thoughts or voice instructions.[12] The Pushpaka vimana originally belonged to Kuvera, who was the “chief of the yakshas”, and it had been snatched away from him by his half-brother Ravana, who was a rakshasha i.e. giant. 

Incidentally, the yakshas had access to many such vimanas. As per the Puranic Encyclopedia, Ravana had attacked Kuvera's city Alaka located on Mount Kailash, and "in the fight that followed, between Kubera and Ravana, the former fell down unconscious. But the yakshas brought two vimanas and carried Kubera to the palace.”[13]

The association of the yakshas with vimanas bolsters the argument that they could be the dwarf humanoids reported in UFO sightings. Another intriguing point about the yakshas throws light on the humanoid encounter that took place in the Himalayas. While yakshas were said to inhabit remote forests, hills and lakes, their favorite haunt was the Himalayan ranges. In the Mahabharata, there are many passages that highlight this. For instance,

“This Himalaya is inaccessible, and abounds with Yakshas (dwarfs) and the Rakshasas (giants), and searching about for me, they will be distracted.”[14]
“We shall now ascend that white rock, the mountain Mandara (one of the peaks of the Himalayas), inhabited by the Yakshas, Manibhadra and Kuvera, king of the Yakshas.”[15]

One of the mighty peaks of the Himalayan range is Mount Kailash, which is sacred to the Hindus, Buddhists and to all the mountain folk, and is an important place of pilgrimage. Kuvera’s city Alaka was said to be established on the summit of Kailash. The Mahabharata states, “It was here, on the breast of Kailasa, O Galava, that Kuvera, was installed on the sovereignty of the Rakshasas (giants), the Yakshas (dwarfs), and the Gandharvas (elves).” In the book Yaksas, the renowned scholar and art-historian Ananda Coomaraswamy, who was also a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, wrote of Kuvera that,   

“His city Alaka (or Alakapuri) situated on Mt. Kailasa (also the abode of Siva) is a magnificent walled town, where dwell not only Yaksas, but also Kinnaras (sirens), Munis (sages), Gandharvas (elves) and Raksasas (giants)...Kubera has many beautiful palaces, groves, gardens, etc., on Mt. Kailasa. These need not be referred to in detail, but it may be remarked of the grove Caitraratha that its trees have jewels for their leaves and girls as their fruits.”[16]

Let’s look at a few images of Mount Kailash (6638 m), which is located in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Even though it is not a very high peak, being nearly 2000 m lower than Mount Everest, it has never been scaled. And that’s because the peak has a pyramidal shape with steep sides, and some sections are almost vertical which makes climbing impossible. The inhospitable climatic conditions and almost perennial snow cover makes the task even more challenging. 

The Chinese government had imposed restrictions on climbing the sacred peak – so as not to offend the religious sentiments - once the region came under the control of China in 1951, but prior to that many mountaineers had tried to work out a route to the summit, but failed.  In 1926, Hugh Ruttledge studied the north face of Mount Kailash, and described it as “utterly unclimbable”. His mountaineering colleague Colonel R. C. Wilson attempted to climb via the southeast ridge, when he ran into heavy snowfall, and aborted the effort.

My question is, when we look at the imposing, awe-inspiring images of Mount Kailash, does it seem like it could have ever hosted the walled city of Kuvera called Alaka, complete with palaces, groves and gardens? Absolutely not. You can’t even stand steadily on those steep, treacherous, snow-covered slopes on a windy day, let alone build a city. In which case, one needs to ask, why did the Indian texts make such an extravagant claim? Was it a made-up story, or could there be more to this than meets the eye?

My guess is that, Kuvera’s city Alaka may have been built “inside” Mount Kailash and not on its summit or slopes. In other words, there may exist giant, well-lit, and lavishly decorated caverns inside the Kailash Mountain where the yakshas and other magical beings live. Isn’t that what is said of the gnomes, in general? While they usually live underground, they also inhabit the interiors of mountains, and “gnome tunnels” were said to lead to fabulous places inside mountains. A Welsh story written by Walter Map at around 1183 CE, in De Nugis Curialmn, tells of a dwarf king who led Herla, and ancient king of the Britons, to his own kingdom. 

“He [Herla] and his guide entered a very lofty cliff and after a space of darkness they passed into the light, seemingly not of the sun but of many lamps, like the palace of the sun in Ovid’s description.”[17]

Apparently, a similar belief is still associated with Mount Demerdzhi in Crimea, which is a popular tourist destination, for, on the slope of the mountain lies the so-called “Valley of Ghosts” that contains a large number of stone formations resembling humans, animals, mysterious creatures, pyramids and other puzzling objects. The region generally remains enveloped in a characteristic haze, and when the light conditions change the stone formations seem to magically change their shape and color. Although these formations are said to have been “naturally formed”, it is not impossible that some of them may have been sculpted by intelligent hands eons ago, and then suffered erosion over time.

In Albert Rosales, “1978 Humanoid Reports”, there is an entry about an odd incident that occurred on Mount Demerdzhi in June 1978.

A local teenager, Andrey, from the nearby town of Alushta had climbed to the top of Mount Demerdzhi and had camped there to spend the night. During the night a bright light pointed directly at his face suddenly awakened him. He opened his eyes and saw the outlines of several human-shaped figures. They had domed-shaped heads connected directly to their shoulders. Their faces were not visible or were absent…Apparently the witness was paralyzed and everything was brightly lit around him. Andrey felt no fear or any other emotions during the encounter; he soon fell asleep and could not remember anything else. A local legend states that Demerdzhi is hollow and had been excavated thousands of years before by a race of dwarfs in an effort to extract supposed treasures buried within. A local clairvoyant, Lenura Azizova, claims that there still exists an ancient underground alien base under the mountain.”[18]

The possibility of a “city of the yakshas” being concealed inside Mount Kailash is not a very outlandish proposition, if we think about it. Not only do we have analogous stories coming down to us from ancient times, but there are persistent local beliefs along similar lines in other parts of the world.

Now that we have explored the Himalayan humanoid encounter from a few different perspectives, what would you say happened on that intrigue-filled day at the Samudra Tapu glacier? I would reckon that the scientists saw a “juvenile” yaksha, who was ambling around the mountainside, going about his normal routine of collecting samples of soil, snow and vegetation, when he chanced upon the group of scientists who had camped there. The yaksha may not have seen humans, or at least interacted with them, before, and was led on by his curiosity. But on sensing the agitation within the group, it moved away and probably returned to his “yaksha city” hidden in the interiors of the mountains to tell his friends what he had just seen.

It may feel somewhat strange to hear of “yakshas” or “gnomes” being talked about as real entities, but a couple of thousand years ago no-one would have batted an eyelid to hear what I just proposed. Yakshas were an integral part of the belief systems of the people in the subcontinent, and many “yakshas shrines” were erected in their honor. Much has been forgotten over time as the inter-dimensional interactions began to dry up, but the increased sightings since the 1950s suggest that we could be living at a time when contact is re-established.     

References

[1] "UFO photo puts Indian scientists in fix", SiliconIndia, 06 October 2004, https://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/ufo-photo-puts-indian-scientists-in-fix-nid-25663-cid-2.html
[2] Ramesh Vinayak, "UFO sighting in Himachal Lahaul-Spiti district remains a mystery", INDIA TODAY Feb 13, 2006, https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/science-and-technology/story/20060213-ufo-sighting-in-himachal-lahaul-spiti-district-remains-a-mystery-783701-2006-02-12
[3] Ibid.
[4] Albert Rosales “1937 Humanoid Reports” Case # 4, Source: Aleksandr Kuzovkin, Selected reports of UFO observations in the USSR, 1982
[5] Albert Rosales “1954 Humanoid Reports” Case # 63, Humcat 1954, Source: Sheriff Floyd Hadley & Rev. Albert Baller
[6] Albert Rosales “1969 Humanoid Reports” Case # 51, Humcat 1969, Source: LDLN Circle of Clermont Riom
[7] Albert Rosales “1973 Humanoid Reports” Case # 103, Humcat 1973, Source: SBEDV Bulletin # 104
[8] Albert Rosales “1978 Humanoid Reports” Case # 189, Source: Archivio S.U.F.
[9] Albert Rosales “1978 Humanoid Reports” Case# 303, Source: Archivio S.U.F.
[10] Albert Rosales “1990 Humanoid Reports” Case# 13, Source: Pablo Villarrubia Mauso 
[11] Albert Rosales “1989 Humanoid Reports” Case# 210, Source: Gennadiy Ya. Leszshenko, “Edge of the Unknown or What is Behind the Curtain” Donetsk, 1994.
[12] Valmiki Ramayana, 6.124 - 126, https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-ramayana-of-valmiki/d/doc424752.html
[13] Vettam Mani, Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.
[14] Mahabharata 3.178.8839
[15] Mahabharata 3.139.7068
[16] Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Yaksas, The Smithsonian Institution, 1928, p. 6.
[17] Vernon J. Harward Jr., The Dwarfs of Arthurian Romance and Celtic Tradition, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1958, p 6-20
[18] Albert Rosales “1978 Humanoid Reports” Case# 132, Source: Anton Anfalov

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

15-07-2024 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

AI Focuses Cigar UFO Over Thermal, California May 14, 2022, UFO Sighting News

 

Date of sighting: May 14, 2022
Location of sighting: Thermal, California, USA

Email report: Sent to scwaring@yahoo.com 

 

Hey all I just wanted to take a screenshot and ai focus this UFO that was reported to me back in 2022, and wow! I was blown away by what ai showed me. This is a real alien cigar UFO and it's never before been seen this clear until today. Watch the video till the end, because the ai enhanced version is at the end. 

Scott C. Waring 

 

Eyewitness states: 

Saw a very large cigar shape object hovering floating in the sky over the mountain. Airplane flew towards the object but as it got closer the airplane disappeared because of the distance but the cigar shape was huge so I could easily see it.

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com }

14-07-2024 om 23:21 geschreven door peter  

AI Focused Black Knight Satellites, Up Close And Personal, UFO UAP Sighting News.

Hey all, I was asked on X and Youtube by many people to put the Dark Knight satellites through the ai program and see what happens. Well I did and it sharpened them a lot and brought the surface of the space craft into focus. It is said that these satellites are tens of thousand of years old or older. That they cannot be approached or they will paralyze the oncoming spacecraft. Tell me your thoughts of what these are and why they are in Earths orbit and why did NASA move the links three times before giving up?

Scott C. Waring 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com }

14-07-2024 om 23:14 geschreven door peter  

Dat de ontdekking van die extra ogen zo lang op zich heeft laten wachten, is wel te verklaren. Ze zitten – in gefossiliseerde trilobieten – namelijk enigszins verstopt.

Zo’n 500 miljoen jaar geleden wemelden de oceanen van de trilobieten. Dit zijn een bekende klasse uitgestorven geleedpotigen die in vervlogen tijden in de zee leefden. Trilobieten behoren samen met ammonieten en dinosauriërs ongetwijfeld tot de bekendste fossielen. Maar ondanks 150 jaar onderzoek heeft het beestje alsnog verrassingen voor ons in petto. Zo zijn wetenschappers op extra ogen gestuit, die al die tijd over het hoofd zijn gezien.

Ogen

Geleedpotigen hebben meestal twee soorten ogen. Allereerst hebben ze een paar samengestelde ogen (ook wel facetogen genoemd). Deze bestaan vaak uit duizenden aparte lensjes. Daarnaast zijn geleedpotigen ook nog eens uitgerust met mediane ogen. Dit zijn eigenlijk een extra set enkelvoudige ogen, die zich in het midden van het voorhoofd bevinden, tussen de samengestelde ogen in. Alleen trilobieten, een belangrijke groep geleedpotigen die ten tijde van het Paleozoïcum leefden, leken vreemd genoeg geen mediane ogen te hebben.

Ontdekking
Tenminste, dat was tot voor kort de veronderstelling. Totdat onderzoekers de trilobiet Aulacopleura koninckii, waarvan een deel van de kop was afgeschraapt, aan een nadere inspectie onderwierpen.

Het team ontdekte drie bijna identiek gevormde, donkere, onopvallende kleine ovale vlekjes van dezelfde grootte aan de voorkant van de kop. Deze drie structuren lopen evenwijdig aan elkaar en waaieren aan de onderkant iets uit. Alle drie de vlekken worden gekenmerkt door een gladde, duidelijke omtrek en een uniforme, donkerbruine kleur. “Deze plekken onderscheiden zich duidelijk van de vlekken die ontstaan door verval of fossilisatie,” legt onderzoeker Brigitte Schoenemann uit. “In plaats daarvan komt het precies overeen met hoe de overblijfselen van eenvoudige mediane ogen eruitzien.

Mediaan oog
Het betekent dat trilobieten mogelijk toch – net als alle andere geleedpotigen én veel naaste verwanten – niet alleen samengestelde ogen hadden, maar ook met een extra set ogen waren uitgerust. “De ontdekking ondersteunt de veronderstelling dat trilobieten oorspronkelijk mediane ogen hadden,” concludeert Schoenemann.

Onopgemerkt
Dat de trilobiet dit geheimpje zolang heeft weten te bewaren, is opvallend. Zoals gezegd is de trilobiet al ruim een eeuw uitgebreid bestudeerd. Bovendien zijn er ondertussen al meer dan 22.000 soorten ontdekt. Ondanks dat, zijn de mediane ogen al die tijd onopgemerkt gebleven. Toch is dit wel te verklaren. Ze zitten – in gefossiliseerde trilobieten – namelijk enigszins verstopt.

Verstopt
De wetenschappers gaan ervan uit dat de mediane ogen kenmerkend waren voor het larvenstadium, zo leggen ze in hun studie uit. Bovendien bevonden ze zich onder een transparante laag van het schild. Gedurende het fossilisatieproces wordt deze laag echter ondoorzichtig. “Dit heeft er beide toe bijgedragen dat de ontdekking van de extra set ogen zo lang op zich heeft laten verwachten,” aldus Schoenemann.

Meer over trilobieten
Trilobieten zijn te herkennen aan een verkalkt exoskelet aan de rugkant van het lichaam. Ze hadden een halvemaanvormige kop die wel wat weg had van de hedendaagse degenkrab. Hoewel de dieren onderhand zijn uitgestorven, waren ze een succesvolle soort in termen van evolutie. Ze hebben meer dan 250 miljoen jaar weten te overleven; langer dan de dinosauriërs.

Het betekent dat trilobieten waarschijnlijk meerdere verborgen ogen hadden. Toen de onderzoekers de trilobiet Cyclopyge sibilla bestudeerden, vonden ze namelijk ook drie mediane ogen op het voorhoofd, precies tussen de twee samengestelde ogen in. Deze waren bovendien zelfs uitgerust met lenzen die vergelijkbaar zijn met die in menselijke ogen. Dit wijst erop dat deze trilobiet waarschijnlijk beter kon zien dan zijn naaste verwant Aulacopleura koninckii, die – in tegenstelling tot Cyclopyge sibilla – enkel op de bodem leefde.

Variërend
Kortom, uit de bevindingen blijkt dat trilobieten veel meer ogen hadden dan gedacht; waarschijnlijk minstens vijf! Al kan dat aantal ook nog weleens hebben gevarieerd. De onderzoekers denken dat geleedpotigen namelijk op verschillende momenten in de evolutie over een verschillend aantal mediane ogen beschikten. “Het oorspronkelijke aantal mediane ogen is twee,” vertelt Schoenemann. “Daarnaast hadden zeer primitieve geleedpotigen er waarschijnlijk vier. Hedendaagse dieren, zoals insecten en schaaldieren, zijn uitgerust met drie mediane ogen.”

Al met al zijn de onderzoekers er dankzij hun eigen scherpe oog in geslaagd het mysterie van de ontbrekende mediane ogen bij trilobieten op te lossen. Maar dit breidt niet alleen onze kennis over deze uitgestorven prehistorische zeedieren uit. Dat het aantal mediane ogen in geleedpotigen varieerde, zou mogelijk de evolutionaire classificatie van archaïsche geleedpotigen kunnen vergemakkelijken. “Met behulp van het aantal mediane ogen kunnen we nu mogelijk eenvoudiger de positie van een geleedpotige in de evolutieboom bepalen,” besluit Schoenemann.

Bronmateriaal

• "New eyes discovered in trilobites" - University of Cologne
  
• Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: jonnysek van Getty Images (via canva.com)

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

14-07-2024 om 23:10 geschreven door peter  

Er is een "Pompeii van de zee" ontdekt met perfect bewaarde fossielen: het dateert van 515 miljoen jaar geleden

Abderrazak El Albani, University of Poitiers

Allerlei families van trilobieten verschijnen plotseling in het Cambrium en zien er al direct zeer complex uit. Van evolutionaire voorouders is vooralsnog geen spoor te bekennen.

Overblijfselen van trilobieten bewaard gebleven dankzij gevonden vulkanische as: de studie

We zijn in Aït Youb, in de regio Souss-Massa in Marokko. Hier heeft een team onderzoekers onder leiding van Abderrazak El Albani fossielen ontdekt van twee nieuwe soorten trilobieten die gedateerd kunnen worden op ongeveer 515 miljoen jaar geleden. Tot zover niets vreemds, behalve dat de staat van bewaring van deze trilobieten de beste is die ooit is gevonden.

Zoals we in de inleiding al zeiden, was het tot nu toe onmogelijk om de interne structuren van trilobieten goed te bestuderen: meestal fossiliseert alleen het exoskelet. In het geval van Aït Youb daarentegen heeft vulkanische as van uitbarstingen uit het Precambrium het mogelijk gemaakt om exemplaren te vinden die bijna perfect bewaard zijn gebleven, zo goed zelfs dat ze doen denken aan de vondsten in Pompeii. Aan de andere kant, zo stelt El Albani, is de dynamiek die ten grondslag ligt aan het behoud ervan vrijwel hetzelfde.

Wat is er gebeurd met de trilobieten die ontdekt zijn in Aït Youb?

Didier Descouens/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Volgens El Albani en zijn team hebben we de uitstekende conservering van de trilobieten in feite te danken aan een snelle vulkaanuitbarsting, die de exemplaren begroef en in zeer korte tijd gevangen hield. Sommige trilobieten zijn al opgerold, terwijl andere zich voorbereiden om te ontsnappen, en er zijn enkele exemplaren die zelfs het spijsverteringskanaal vol sediment laten zien dat kort voor de uitbarsting is ingenomen. Als je bedenkt dat het tot voor kort niet mogelijk was om de interne anatomie van een trilobiet te bestuderen, begrijp je heel goed de revolutionaire betekenis van deze ontdekking.

Om deze fossielen beter te kunnen bestuderen, gebruikten de onderzoekers röntgenmicrotomografie, zodat ze een driedimensionale weergave konden bekijken zonder de exemplaren uit de rotsmatrix te halen.  Dit is een innovatieve techniek waarmee anatomische details kunnen worden bekeken zonder de vondsten in gevaar te brengen. Het onderzoek, gepubliceerd in het tijdschrift Science, onthulde ook tot nu toe onbekende anatomische structuren van trilobieten, waaronder sporen van mondaanhangsels en zacht weefsel.

Een bijna perfecte bewaring... zoals in Pompeii

El Albani zelf noemde de vondst in Marokko een “Pompeii van de zee”, en met een goede reden. Zoals we hebben gezien, creëerde de vulkanische as driedimensionale mallen van de trilobieten, waardoor ze in feite bevroren werden in de tijd. Maar terwijl er in het geval van Pompeii zo'n 2000 jaar is verstreken, is er hier 515 miljoen jaar verstreken en daarom was het gebruik van röntgenmicrotomografie bijzonder nuttig.

Ontdekkingen zoals deze zorgen voor een beter begrip van het belang van vulkanische asafzettingen voor het behoud van fossielen, maar tegelijkertijd testen ze de technologische vooruitgang in het bestuderen van het verleden. In staat zijn om trilobieten van 515 miljoen jaar geleden te analyseren vertegenwoordigt een onmisbare kans, die in het verleden onmogelijk was: vanuit een bepaald oogpunt is het ook een vorm van respect voor deze oude fossielen. Laten we niet vergeten dat ze een groot deel van de geschiedenis van onze planeet hebben overbrugd en bijna perfect bewaard zijn gebleven.

Allerlei families van trilobieten verschijnen plotseling in het Cambrium en zien er al direct zeer complex uit. Van evolutionaire voorouders is vooralsnog geen spoor te bekennen.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl}

14-07-2024 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

NASA heeft twee asteroïden ontdekt die dicht langs de aarde kwamen: planetaire radarbeelden

Unsplash - Not the actual photo

De ruimte van het zonnestelsel is bijna helemaal leeg, zelfs als je rekening houdt met de hemellichamen die rond de zon draaien, maar minder dan 0,15 procent van de massa van het hele stelsel uitmaken. Toch is het niet zo onwaarschijnlijk dat twee hemellichamen heel dicht bij elkaar kunnen zijn, zoals gebeurde met twee asteroïden die dicht bij de aarde passeerden, slechts een paar dagen na elkaar. De ontdekking werd gedaan door wetenschappers van JPL dankzij de Goldstone Solar System Radar, die er ook in slaagde om enkele beelden van deze asteroïden, die beide potentieel gevaarlijk zijn, vast te leggen.

Eerste waarneming: asteroïde van 1,5 kilometer passeerde dicht bij de aarde

Eén van de doelstellingen van op de ruimte gerichte radars is het relatief vroeg detecteren van de passage van asteroïden vlakbij de aarde. Onlangs werd bijvoorbeeld asteroïde 2011 UL21 slechts 13 dagen vóór zijn dichtste nadering tot onze planeet gedetecteerd. Nu hebben we het over een relatief groot hemellichaam, ongeveer 1,5 kilometer breed en potentieel gevaarlijk voor de aarde.

Gelukkig zijn er momenteel geen risico's, zoals bevestigd door wetenschappers van het Jet Propulsion Laboratory van NASA. 2011 UL21 passeerde feitelijk op 27 juni 2024 op een afstand van ongeveer 6,6 miljoen kilometer, oftewel ongeveer 17 keer de afstand tussen de aarde en de maan. Maar dat is nog niet alles: dankzij de Goldston Solar System Radar heeft JPL ontdekt dat 2011 UL21 niet één enkele asteroïde is, maar een systeem van twee asteroïden in een baan om de aarde. Een beetje zoals wat er gebeurde met Dinkinesh, het kleine binaire systeem dat werd geïdentificeerd door de Lucy-missie die eind 2023 richting Jupiter reisde.

Tweede waarneming: asteroïde passeerde veel dichter bij onze planeet

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Slechts twee dagen na de waarneming van 2011 UL21 op zo'n 6,6 miljoen kilometer van de aarde, hebben wetenschappers van JPL een tweede asteroïde gezien, dit keer veel dichter bij onze planeet. Het gaat om asteroïde 2024 MK, die slechts 150 meter breed is en dus veel kleiner dan het hemellichaam dat eerder werd waargenomen. 2024 MK wordt echter ook beschouwd als een potentieel gevaarlijke asteroïde en deze asteroïde passeerde slechts 295.000 kilometer van de aarde. Met andere woorden, ongeveer driekwart van de afstand die ons van de maan scheidt.

Dergelijke naderingen zijn vrij zeldzaam en komen ongeveer elke 20 jaar voor. Hoewel ze in strikte zin niet gevaarlijk zijn voor onze planeet, zijn ze essentiële informatiebronnen voor ons begrip van het zonnestelsel. De eenvoudige passage naar 295 duizend kilometer van de aarde verminderde bijvoorbeeld de baan van 2024 MK rond de zon met ongeveer 24 dagen.

Potentieel gevaarlijke asteroïden: wat betekent dat?

Er zijn verschillende factoren waarmee wetenschappers bij NASA en andere ruimtevaartorganisaties rekening houden om een ​​asteroïde als "potentieel gevaarlijk" te definiëren. Hiervan zijn de volgende zeer belangrijk:

•  de afmetingen, met een diameter van minimaal 140 meter;
• de afstand tot de aarde, binnen 0,05 Astronomische Eenheden, of ongeveer 7,5 miljoen kilometer;
• de naderingssnelheid, de onregelmatige vorm en samenstelling, als secundaire factoren.

Zoals je kunt zien, zijn potentieel gevaarlijke asteroïden niet de asteroïden die een gevaar in de strikte zin van het woord voor de aarde inhouden, een beetje zoals in het geval van 2011 UL21 en 2024 MK. Kortom, we hebben het niet over Chicxulub dat 66 miljoen jaar geleden leidde tot het uitsterven van niet-aviaanse dinosaurussen, maar over hemellichamen die NASA van plan is te observeren tijdens hun passage op een bepaalde afstand van onze planeet. In de hoop dat deze afstand altijd groter zal zijn.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

14-07-2024 om 22:35 geschreven door peter  

THIS SCORCHINGLY HOT PLANET THAT RAINS DOWN GLASS APPARENTLY ALSO SMELLS LIKE ROTTEN EGGS

A study published Monday shows evidence for the toxic, nasty-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide in a nearby exoplanet.

BY DORIS ELÍN URRUTIA

 

Roberto Molar Candanosa/Johns Hopkins Univeristy

A study published Monday in the journal Nature shows evidence for the presence of the toxic, nasty-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide in HD 189733 b. The knowledge isn’t just for sensorial space exploration: It shapes how astronomers understand the evolution of all planets under the Sun – err, stars.

Sewer gas on another world is a helpful clue. The chemical compound aids the construction of more complex molecules, including those essential to life. “Sulfur is a vital element for building more complex molecules, and — like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphate — scientists need to study it more to fully understand how planets are made and what they’re made of,” Guangwei Fu, lead researcher and astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, said in an announcement about the new paper.

In the case of this particular exoplanet, Fu said, researchers aren’t looking for life. Astronomers already know this world, located 64 light years away from Earth, is inhospitable. Temperatures reach 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit there, and its glass-filled wind would humble any terrestrial storm, thanks to its 5,000 mph winds.

“We’re not looking for life on this planet because it’s way too hot, but finding hydrogen sulfide is a stepping stone for finding this molecule on other planets and gaining more understanding of how different types of planets form,” Fu added.

HD 189733 b is one of many exoplanets analyzed through a technique called the transit method. Astronomers glean details about it as the gas giant passes in front of its parent star. HD 189733 b is one of the nearest known “hot Jupiters” to Earth, making it a scientifically-rich object.

According to NASA, there are now more than 5,600 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky Way.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

14-07-2024 om 00:13 geschreven door peter  

5 Fascinating Facts On The Sleek USAF U-2 Dragon Lady Spy Plane

By Mike Scanlon

SUMMARY

With its sleek design and technological prowess, the U-2 spy plane, often referred to as the "Dragon Lady," represents one of the most iconic aircraft in military aviation history. Developed in the early 1950s in response to increasing nuclear and long-range nuclear missile threats from the USSR during the Cold War, the high-flying aircraft changed the landscape of aerial reconnaissance and espionage, providing the United States with unmatched intelligence-gathering capabilities. In this article, we take a look at a healthy handful of interesting facts about the legendary Dragon Lady.

1. Secretive U-2 test flights caused a spike in UFO sightings

Fiery objects in the sky baffle pilots below

When given just eight months to design an aircraft capable of flight above 70,000 feet (21,336 m), Lockheed Chief Engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson (pictured below) and his team at the secret Skunk Works plant in California delivered what was essentially a jet-powered glider, the CL-282, which would later be dubbed the U-2. As time was of the essence, the design was quickly approved by the CIA, and production was immediately underway.

Completed units were delivered to the highly classified Nevada Test and Training Range, also known as Area 51, for testing under tremendous secrecy. According to the CIA, high-altitude testing of the aircraft led to a significant spike in UFO reports. With most commercial flights flying under 20,000 ft (6,096 m) and military aircraft below 40,000 ft (12,192 m), pilots of these aircraft were dumbfounded by the object flying above them at 60,000 ft (18,288 m), a feat considered impossible at the time

Under certain conditions, the sun would reflect off the then-silver wings of the U-2, which made them appear as "fiery objects" flying high above to pilots below. The overwhelming reports of UFOs led to the USAF's Operation Blue Book, also known as Project Blue Book, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Operation Blue Book gathered all the reports of UFOs and cross-referenced them against U-2 flight logs. USAF investigators would subsequently dismiss the reports as "natural phenomena," unable to reveal the truth behind these sightings. U-2 (and later OXCART) are believed to have been the source of over half of the UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s.

RELATED

U-2 Dragon Lady: Meet One Of The US Air Force’s Oldest Cold War Aircraft Still Operating

The U-2 spy plane has had a long career, although it appears to be finally approaching the end of it.

2. Suited for space travel

U-2 pilots wear space suits similar to those worn by NASA astronauts

Photo: Senior Airman Alexander Recupero | US Air Force

Soaring to the edge of space at altitudes over 70,000 feet (21,336 m), U-2 pilots are required to wear specialized space suits, also known as full-pressure suits, made by the same company that supplies NASA, to ensure their survival in the harsh environment of the upper atmosphere. The model S1034 space suit serve as a personal life support system, should the cockpit pressurization system fail, and are key to safeguarding the pilots against decompression sickness, hypoxia, and exposure to the near-vacuum conditions of high altitudes.

Photo: US Air Force

The suit's engineering is nothing short of remarkable, meticulously designed to balance safety, functionality, and comfort, highlighting the extreme conditions U-2 pilots face. It features a distinct helmet equipped with a communications system, a visor that can be heated to prevent fogging and an oxygen supply system that guarantees the pilot has a steady flow of breathable air. Furthermore, the suit includes a cooling garment integrated with tubing to circulate temperature-controlled water, ensuring the pilot remains comfortable during long missions.

3. It's like riding a bicycle...that weighs 16,000 pounds with massive wings

The U-2 has a very unique set of wheels

Photo: US Air Force

Designed to minimize aircraft weight and promote higher altitude, the U-2's unique landing gear configuration distinguishes it from most conventional aircraft. Unlike typical aircraft that utilize a tricycle arrangement, the U-2 employs a bicycle-style arrangement with two sets of wheels positioned along the longitudinal axis of the fuselage.

This setup includes a forward main landing gear located just behind the cockpit and an aft main landing gear near the tail and connected to the rudder to provide steering functionality during taxiing.

To maintain balance during takeoff, the U-2 utilizes outrigger gears, known colloquially as "pogos." These removable wheels are attached to mid-wing sockets and jettisoned during takeoff, falling to the runway. Upon landing, once the aircraft comes to rest on its wingtip, the pogos are reinstalled for taxiing. Suffice it to say that U-2 takeoff and landing procedures are not for the faint of heart, as shown in the X link below.

4. Taming the Dragon Lady

The U-2 is considered by many to be the most difficult airplane to fly

• https://youtu.be/eiA6u0mT4oI

The U-2 is widely considered the most difficult airplane to fly. Mastery of the U-2 requires an exceptional level of expertise, dexterity, and resilience, qualities that define the elite group of pilots (fewer than 1500) capable of taming the "Dragon Lady." There are several factors contributing to its notoriously difficult handling, making it a true test of a pilot's skill and endurance.

Firstly, the U-2 operates at extreme altitudes, often above 70,000 ft (21,336 m), where the air is thin and the margin for error is minimal. The aircraft's design prioritizes performance at these altitudes over ease of control, leading to a unique combination of a highly sensitive control system and low maneuverability.

Secondly, the U-2's takeoff and landing phases are particularly challenging. During takeoff, the aircraft's massive wings and lightweight frame make it highly susceptible to crosswinds and other atmospheric disturbances.

Landing the U-2 is equally daunting due to the bicycle-like landing gear configuration, as described above. Landing the U-2 requires exceptional skill and coordination, as the pilot must balance on the bicycle gear while reducing speed and altitude, with the assistance of a chase car driven by another pilot as shown below, providing real-time feedback and assistance. To make matters worse, visibility is limited during the landing because of the plane's unique design.

Moreover, pilots must endure long missions that can extend beyond ten hours, confined to a pressurized suit similar to those worn by astronauts. This suit is necessary due to the harsh conditions at cruising altitude and introduces additional challenges in terms of physical comfort, fatigue management, and sustenance.

The U-2 is still in service but the US Air Force plans to retire the iconic aircraft in 2026.

5. What do U-2 pilots eat during flight?

Hint: The Dragon Lady isn't much of a cook

Photo: David Kamm | US Army

Flying sorties up to and beyond ten hours, U-2 pilots often need to eat and drink during flight. However, at such extreme altitudes, doing so isn't as simple as it sounds. According to U-2 Support Launch and Recovery Supervisor Staff Sergeant David Labarge, U-2 pilots are instructed that once their helmet is locked down, they are not to open it until they land. Failure to heed this warning could have disastrous consequences.

As long as the cockpit is pressurized, theoretically, a U-2 pilot could safely open their helmet to eat, scratch their nose, or have a sip of water. However, Sgt. Labarge cautions that, at such high altitudes, were a pilot to open their helmet and the cockpit pressurization system suddenly failed, "the blood in their body would instantaneously boil, leading to instantaneous death."

"The blood in their body would instantaneously boil, leading to instantaneous death."

As such, the helmet is designed with a feeding port through which pilots can drink from a gravity-fed water bottle and eat "tube food, made by the same people who make traditional meals-ready-to-eat (MRE).

Photo: Airman 1st Class Drew Buchanan | US Air Force

The food is squeezed from a toothpaste-like tube through the helmet's feeding port directly into the pilot's mouth.

Photo: Jeff Sisto | US Army

Dinner service aboard a U-2 offers a variety of choices, including beef stroganoff, truffle mac and cheese, chicken alfredo, peaches, pears, chocolate pudding, and even caffeinated cinnamon applesauce. A heater inside the aircraft ensures their meatloaf-in-a-tube is nice and hot. Bon Appétit!

U-2 Specifications
Power plant	One General Electric F118-101 engine.
Thrust	17,000 pounds
Wingspan	105 feet (32 meters)
Length	63 feet (19.2 meters)
Height	16 feet (4.8 meters)
Weight	16,000 pounds
Speed	410 mph
Range	6,090 nautical miles
Crew	One
Initial operating capability	1956
Unit cost	Classified

{ https://simpleflying.com/ }

14-07-2024 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

Failed Thrusters, Helium Leaks, and a Hard Deadline: Inside NASA’s Decision to Keep Boeing’s Starliner At the ISS

Does it still count as being "grounded" when you're in space?

BY KIONA SMITH

 

Maxar/Getty Images

Inverse has all the details about why it’s taking so long to bring Starliner home, how the not-stranded-but-definitely-delayed crew is spending their time in orbit, and why the spacecraft has to leave ISS by mid-August.

AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION

Boeing and NASA don’t believe that any of Starliner’s thrusters are damaged, say Stich and Nappi speaking at a press conference on Wednesday. If Starliner had to leave the International Space Station immediately (maybe because of a collision with a piece of satellite debris, like the near-miss that caused the crew to take shelter aboard Starliner earlier this week), the ship could get its crew home safely, according to Nappi.

“If we were to have to do that today, we would just perform a nominal undocking and return,” Nappi told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday.

The extensive tests keeping the spacecraft docked at ISS, they said at the press conference, are a chance for engineers to figure out exactly why five of Starliner’s 28 maneuvering thrusters (technically called the Reaction Control System, or RCS) failed while the spacecraft was docking with the International Space Station on June 6. Starliner’s service module — which houses the thrusters — is designed to burn up during re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere, so once the ship heads home, engineers will lose their chance to poke at the problem.

Boeing and NASA also want to be extremely sure there’s actually nothing wrong. “We don’t believe that we have damaged thrusters, but we want to fill in the blanks and run these tests to assure ourselves of this,” Nappi says.

Stich adds, “Really, what we're doing is just taking the time to make sure that we have looked under every rock and every stone, just to make sure that there's nothing that would surprise us.”

STARLINER RECAP: FAILED THRUSTERS AND HELIUM LEAKS

During its rendezvous with ISS on June 6, five of Starliner's 28 maneuvering thrusters failed. The crew and mission control managed to get four of them back online, but one (thruster B1A3) refused to cooperate, first sputtering out just 11 percent of its normal thrust, and then nothing at all. B1A3 will remain shut off for the rest of the mission.

The thruster issues appeared after Starliner had to fire its thruster more — and more often, in several short pulses — than engineers had expected.

And then there are the helium leaks. Starliner uses helium to pressurize its thrusters, and some of that helium is leaking out around the O-rings used to seal the area where the helium — and two lines that carry rocket propellant — pass through a flange and into the thruster.

"Helium was getting out from that flange area and somehow getting around that O-ring," says Nappi "The design should have been sufficient, but there's obviously something going on in that cavity that we don't understand."

SO MUCH TESTING, SO LITTLE TIME

Last week, Starliner test-fired its thrusters while docked to the ISS, using the station’s flight control system to measure how much thrust the thrusters were actually thrusting (Inverse would certainly not like to apologize for that sentence, thank you).

Meanwhile, at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, engineers have test fired several thrusters, trying to re-create the extreme temperatures and workload Starliner’s thrusters faced during flight. Those tests are now complete, but engineers still need to physically check the tested thrusters for damage and analyze a tremendous collection of data about their performance. Next, engineers will be repeating the process — but this time they’ll be simulating the “downhill” phase of the mission, or the return to Earth.

“We really wanted to get that testing completed and actually physically inspect the thruster before we committed to the nominal undocking,” says Stich. “I think there's ways from what we've learned from this flight to change the number of pulses required for the rendezvous and docking phase to not put such demand on the thrusters.”

Engineers are also working on the helium leak, which means smearing grease on spare flanges, tossing debris into them, and blasting them with heat to test possible causes for the leak. They also need to make sure that the thrusters are still getting enough helium to keep them pressurized — at least enough to work reliably and safely.

“We would like to duplicate that flange design on the ground under a controlled test and see if we can't make it leak, and experiment with some larger seals or maybe a different seal material that might not be as susceptible to degradation from the propellant,” said Nappi.

“THE NATURE OF WHAT WE DO”

To bystanders, it seems like an alarming situation: a new spacecraft launches with its first crew, only for its thrusters to fail and start leaking helium pressurizer. But for test pilots like Starliner test commander Butch Wilmore, it’s another day at the office.

“Human spaceflight is not easy. There have been multiple issues with every spacecraft that has ever been designed, and that's the nature of what we do,” said Wilmore.

Nappi and Stich repeated a similar message to reporters.

“We knew that there would be some learning from this flight test. We've learned a great deal from how the hardware works, how our processes work, and how we can improve the things that we're doing,” said Nappi. “As engineers, we test, we learn, we fix, and that’s exactly what we’re going through.”

MAKE ROOM, MAKE ROOM!

The testing and analysis are likely to take another couple of weeks, at least, which means Wilmore and Starliner test pilot Suni Williams probably won’t be bidding farewell to the ISS until at least the end of July – and Stich described that possible timeframe as optimistic. But Starliner needs to be on its way by mid-August, when a SpaceX Crew Dragon is set to bring a new quartet of spacefarers (astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, and Stephanie Wilson, as well as Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov) to the ISS.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that carried Crew-8 (astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin) to the ISS is still docked at the station, waiting for Crew-8 to hop aboard and fly it home. Before they leave, though, they need to meet and brief their replacements, a process NASA calls a handover. Crew-9 will dock their Crew Dragon with ISS and come aboard before Crew-8 leaves. At the moment, that’s a problem, because Starliner is sitting in Crew-9’s parking spot.

That gives NASA and Boeing a deadline for finishing their tests and either deeming Starliner fit to fly home or making other arrangements.

“The beautiful thing about the commercial crew program is that we have two vehicles, two different systems, that we could use to return the crew,” said Stich, referring to Starliner and Crew Dragon. “We have a little more time to go through the data and decide whether we need to do anything different but the prime option today is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner.”

“LIKE COMING BACK HOME”

For now, Wilmore and Williams are safe and sound on the ISS, where they’ve been pitching in with maintenance and science experiments.

“Butch and I have been up here before, and it feels like coming back home,” says Williams. “We've been integrated right into Expedition 71. We've been doing science with them, maintenance, and some major maintenance that has been waiting for a little while.”

Wilmore recently tested NASA’s Moon Microscope, a handheld 3D-printed microscope that’s part of a medical kit that could help future lunar explorers diagnose illnesses and make sure their food, water, and quarters aren’t contaminated. And Williams sequenced DNA while zipping around Earth at 17,500 miles per hour. The pair also helped swap out a urine processor pump. (Never a dull moment aboard ISS, and no lack of variety, either.)

Stich says the whole ISS crew is comfortable and has plenty of supplies — including things like food and clothing — to last the duration. A Northrop-Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch in early August, bringing new supplies and probably some extra items from home for the Starliner crew, if they’re still aboard. Meanwhile, this isn’t even close to the most crowded the ISS has ever been.

In fact, situations like this one may become more common over the next few years. Stich, paraphrasing retired astronaut Ken Bowersox, said earlier today that now that ISS can provide electricity to docked spacecraft, it can serve as a sort of temporary hangar for engineers to troubleshoot spacecraft in orbit.

Meanwhile, Williams and Wilmore sound calm and confident – which is also part of their job.

“I have a really good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home,” says Williams.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

13-07-2024 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

13-07-2024 om 23:20 geschreven door peter  

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket suffers failure during Starlink satellite launch (video)

SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket suffered a rare anomaly on Thursday night (July 11).

The incident occurred during a launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 performed well initially; its two stages separated on time, and the first stage came down for a landing on a drone ship about eight minutes after liftoff as planned.

But the rocket's upper stage, which was hauling 20 Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit, encountered a problem — a leak of liquid oxygen, which had serious repercussions for the mission.

"After a planned relight of the upper-stage engine to raise perigee — or the lowest point of orbit — the Merlin Vacuum engine experienced an anomaly and was unable to complete its second burn," SpaceX wrote in an update today (July 12). (The Falcon 9's upper stage is powered by that single engine; the first stage sports nine Merlins, which explains the rocket's name.) 

SpaceX engineers worked to get the 20 Starlink satellites — 13 of which were capable of beaming service directly to cell phones — to raise their orbits using their onboard ion thrusters. But the hill was too steep to climb, according to the company.

"At this level of drag, our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites," SpaceX wrote in the update. "As such, the satellites will reenter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise. They do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety."

The Falcon 9 is the most prolific rocket flying today, with 69 launches under its belt already in 2024. It's known for its reliability; before Thursday night, the Falcon 9 had suffered only one full in-flight failure in its storied history, which occurred during the launch of a robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2015.

The Falcon 9 is also human-rated; it has launched 13 crewed missions to date, nine of which have sent astronauts to the ISS for NASA. It's unclear how Thursday's failure will affect the rocket and its manifest at this point; SpaceX will first need to figure out exactly what happened and how to address the issue — an effort that's already underway.

"SpaceX will perform a full investigation in coordination with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration], determine root cause, and make corrective actions to ensure the success of future missions," SpaceX wrote in today's update. "With a robust satellite and rocket production capability, and a high launch cadence, we’re positioned to rapidly recover and continue our pace as the world’s most active launch services provider."

Most Falcon 9 missions these days service the giant and ever-growing Starlink megaconstellation, which currently consists of more than 6,100 operational satellites; 49 of the 69 Falcon 9 launches so far in 2024 have been dedicated Starlink missions.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. ET on July 12 with the news from SpaceX that all 20 Starlink satellites will be lost due to the Falcon 9 upper-stage failure.

A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024.

Image: SpaceX

{ https://www.space.com/ }

13-07-2024 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

13-07-2024 om 22:37 geschreven door peter  

Former Area-51 Pilot Claimed He Flew Re-Engineered UFO To 500 Feet But It Crashed & Broke His Legs

Before 2013,  Area-51 had only been in the conspiracies. People ridiculed those who claimed to have worked in this highly classified US Air Force facility. Thanks to archivist Jeffrey Richelson who made it possible for the government to finally admitted that  Area-51 is a real place in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. A few years back, ApexTV, famous for their mysterious content, did an interview with a fellow named Robert Miller who piloted an alien spacecraft at Area-51 telepathically, before crashing and breaking both his legs.

His story is worth reading as who knows what secrets may open up later in the future and become the reality in our life.  Area-51 is one of the world’s most secretive places controlled by the US Air Force, which is claimed to be the storehouse of alien spacecraft, where their technology is being developed. It has been actively working since 1955 (as officially stated), which was the study point of UFOs in the 50s. Since then, the place has become a pilgrimage for alien hunters and UFO researchers.

In December 2017, Robert Miller did an interview with ApexTV where he revealed secrets of the inner workings of  Groom Lake. According to Miller, aliens and extraterrestrial crafts are being kept inside  Area-51, and he alleged to have been part of a top-secret project in which he was chosen to pilot a reverse-engineered UFO.

The video shows a bald man in cargo shorts claiming he flew an alien spaceship telepathically, but the sound quality is terrible. Miller cliamed to have hidden the fact that he worked in  Area-51 from his closest relatives, but his mother had the slightest that idea about his job. His purpose for recording the video is to remove this secret from his conscience, and he knew the circumstances of the reveal that the government would come after him.

Miller grew up in a small town in Southern Nevada, and his father was an aerospace engineer who taught him to fly aircraft which helped him become a licensed pilot at the age of 15. He later joined Marine Corps as a pilot, where he was considered one of the top pilots. By the time he became 18, he was planning to retire from the Marine Corps and find a normal job back home and thinking to start a family.

Everything changed when he received an offer letter about his new job as a test pilot in a secret program. “I thought, great. It also said, a plane would be picking me up at the Las Vegas airport Friday the second at three AM to take me there. So we flew out there in the middle of the night and two men in black suits escorted me into an underground building. It was built on the side of a hill and yes, the men in black are real. Believe me, they’re real,” Miller said.

He continued explaining the place which had long hallways and many doors on each side. Miller added: “We went down several flights of stairs, must have been far underground at that point. They showed me into a small room with a single bed and a desk.” He was then locked inside the room by those men.

Miller looked in one of his drawers and found a booklet, titled something like “Working at Grim Lake” that mentioned that there were 1,200 other employees. He claimed only insiders decide whom to recruit to work in  Area-51. “I assumed that my father invited me and this is where he had been working when I was a kid. He had long, long since retired by the time I got there, and I wasn’t sure what was in store for me now.”

Miller was appointed as a test pilot for the so-called alien technology that was allegedly recovered from the crafts that crashed in 1947. Like any other whistleblower, he also said that they had already reversed engineering the alien spacecraft technology. He was going to be the first person to pilot the craft.

“Also, they threatened me again, if I told anybody, even my family, there would be dire consequences for all. I asked them what were the origins of the craft they found and they really thought it just was from another country. They told me not of this world and the beings that engineered it were extra-dimensional. They said the beings were still alive and were being kept in an undisclosed location in a facility,” Miller revealed.

Miller described a large disc-shaped craft about “50 feet from end to end, edge to edge” standing in the middle of the warehouse. It had a transparent dome at the top. He assumed that it was his testing vehicle. The engineers who worked on the craft technology told him that it was powered by an anti-matter reactor. The reactor produced bursts of dense energy that could generate wormholes and make the craft travel near the speed of light.

Read also:

• Ret. US Army Major Showed Deleted UFO Photos Captured By Apollo Astronauts On Moon
• FBI Chilling UFO Reports: Recovered 3 UFOs With Alien Bodies In New Mexico & 27,000 Mph Craft
• Ret. US Army Colonel Claimed Aliens In Roswell UFO Crash Were Bio-Robots Built For Space Travel
• Ariel School 62 Children Witnessed Landing Of Grey Aliens In Zimbabwe 1994, New Photo Evidence

“They then said that my test flight was going to be delayed until the next day because they had to explain to me everything I needed to know in order to be able to pilot this thing. Now I’m just going off of what I can remember. There was a lot of specifics, gauges, and things but as I’ve gotten older, so I’m telling you as much as I can possibly remember. I do remember they brought me inside the craft.”

According to Miller, the alien spacecraft had a room for only one person. The cockpit had a seat, no joystick, no steering wheel, and no other controls, only a helmet. He told that the craft operates only telepathically.

“The helmet measured my brainwaves and

was to control the craft by simply thinking about it. After a hard night of trying to sleep, thinking about this, morning came. And it was finally time to take the craft for the first test flight. They brought out a tarp and ordered everyone working on the base to go inside. They wanted to keep everybody not knowing about this secret technology to a bare minimum.”

He put on the helmet and followed the guidance as the craft was only going to operate by analyzing his brain waves. He had to imagine the craft floating off the ground but instead, he imagined being a part of the craft. After that, he began thinking of himself floating off the ground. “I felt vibrations from the anti-matter reactor below me as it started to fire up.”

He was instructed to take the craft up to 1000 feet. He succeeded in taking it to 500 feet but shockingly, the engine stopped and Miller started losing altitude. He found no safety feature, and no seat ejection system was there in the craft. He kept imaging the craft floating but eventually, it hit the ground and Miller received serious injuries.

Miller said he fell unconscious and then woke up in the medical ward, where he was told by another man in a black suit that the craft mysteriously disappeared just before crashing and everyone at the base simply “called it a day” and went inside. Then in the middle of the night, they heard a loud crashing noise outside. Running out to see what happened, they saw the craft had crashed in the spot it was about to crash a while earlier during the day.

“I was inside the pilot’s seat unconscious, both my legs were shattered. The scientists had hypothesized that the craft had actually time traveled to a point in time, several hours later. They had me sign a non-disclosure, the third one, stating, since the first meeting, I would not tell anybody as long as I lived and making this video. Well, as you can see, I have gone against this NDA contract because I feel that the public needs to know about this.”

A similar claim of testing a re-engineered ET craft has another witness named Bill Uhouse who testified that it required a good amount of time for a person to train in order to operate the disc. Besides, its design was so exacting that nothing could be externally installed on it such as machine guns and bombs like in traditional aircraft.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

13-07-2024 om 21:47 geschreven door peter  

Former Area-51 Pilot Claimed He Flew Re-Engineered UFO To 500 Feet But It Crashed & Broke His Legs

Before 2013,  Area-51 had only been in the conspiracies. People ridiculed those who claimed to have worked in this highly classified US Air Force facility. Thanks to archivist Jeffrey Richelson who made it possible for the government to finally admitted that  Area-51 is a real place in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. A few years back, ApexTV, famous for their mysterious content, did an interview with a fellow named Robert Miller who piloted an alien spacecraft at Area-51 telepathically, before crashing and breaking both his legs.

His story is worth reading as who knows what secrets may open up later in the future and become the reality in our life.  Area-51 is one of the world’s most secretive places controlled by the US Air Force, which is claimed to be the storehouse of alien spacecraft, where their technology is being developed. It has been actively working since 1955 (as officially stated), which was the study point of UFOs in the 50s. Since then, the place has become a pilgrimage for alien hunters and UFO researchers.

In December 2017, Robert Miller did an interview with ApexTV where he revealed secrets of the inner workings of  Groom Lake. According to Miller, aliens and extraterrestrial crafts are being kept inside  Area-51, and he alleged to have been part of a top-secret project in which he was chosen to pilot a reverse-engineered UFO.

The video shows a bald man in cargo shorts claiming he flew an alien spaceship telepathically, but the sound quality is terrible. Miller cliamed to have hidden the fact that he worked in  Area-51 from his closest relatives, but his mother had the slightest that idea about his job. His purpose for recording the video is to remove this secret from his conscience, and he knew the circumstances of the reveal that the government would come after him.

Miller grew up in a small town in Southern Nevada, and his father was an aerospace engineer who taught him to fly aircraft which helped him become a licensed pilot at the age of 15. He later joined Marine Corps as a pilot, where he was considered one of the top pilots. By the time he became 18, he was planning to retire from the Marine Corps and find a normal job back home and thinking to start a family.

Everything changed when he received an offer letter about his new job as a test pilot in a secret program. “I thought, great. It also said, a plane would be picking me up at the Las Vegas airport Friday the second at three AM to take me there. So we flew out there in the middle of the night and two men in black suits escorted me into an underground building. It was built on the side of a hill and yes, the men in black are real. Believe me, they’re real,” Miller said.

He continued explaining the place which had long hallways and many doors on each side. Miller added: “We went down several flights of stairs, must have been far underground at that point. They showed me into a small room with a single bed and a desk.” He was then locked inside the room by those men.

Miller looked in one of his drawers and found a booklet, titled something like “Working at Grim Lake” that mentioned that there were 1,200 other employees. He claimed only insiders decide whom to recruit to work in  Area-51. “I assumed that my father invited me and this is where he had been working when I was a kid. He had long, long since retired by the time I got there, and I wasn’t sure what was in store for me now.”

Miller was appointed as a test pilot for the so-called alien technology that was allegedly recovered from the crafts that crashed in 1947. Like any other whistleblower, he also said that they had already reversed engineering the alien spacecraft technology. He was going to be the first person to pilot the craft.

“Also, they threatened me again, if I told anybody, even my family, there would be dire consequences for all. I asked them what were the origins of the craft they found and they really thought it just was from another country. They told me not of this world and the beings that engineered it were extra-dimensional. They said the beings were still alive and were being kept in an undisclosed location in a facility,” Miller revealed.

Miller described a large disc-shaped craft about “50 feet from end to end, edge to edge” standing in the middle of the warehouse. It had a transparent dome at the top. He assumed that it was his testing vehicle. The engineers who worked on the craft technology told him that it was powered by an anti-matter reactor. The reactor produced bursts of dense energy that could generate wormholes and make the craft travel near the speed of light.

Read also:

• Ret. US Army Major Showed Deleted UFO Photos Captured By Apollo Astronauts On Moon
• FBI Chilling UFO Reports: Recovered 3 UFOs With Alien Bodies In New Mexico & 27,000 Mph Craft
• Ret. US Army Colonel Claimed Aliens In Roswell UFO Crash Were Bio-Robots Built For Space Travel
• Ariel School 62 Children Witnessed Landing Of Grey Aliens In Zimbabwe 1994, New Photo Evidence

“They then said that my test flight was going to be delayed until the next day because they had to explain to me everything I needed to know in order to be able to pilot this thing. Now I’m just going off of what I can remember. There was a lot of specifics, gauges, and things but as I’ve gotten older, so I’m telling you as much as I can possibly remember. I do remember they brought me inside the craft.”

According to Miller, the alien spacecraft had a room for only one person. The cockpit had a seat, no joystick, no steering wheel, and no other controls, only a helmet. He told that the craft operates only telepathically.

“The helmet measured my brainwaves and

was to control the craft by simply thinking about it. After a hard night of trying to sleep, thinking about this, morning came. And it was finally time to take the craft for the first test flight. They brought out a tarp and ordered everyone working on the base to go inside. They wanted to keep everybody not knowing about this secret technology to a bare minimum.”

He put on the helmet and followed the guidance as the craft was only going to operate by analyzing his brain waves. He had to imagine the craft floating off the ground but instead, he imagined being a part of the craft. After that, he began thinking of himself floating off the ground. “I felt vibrations from the anti-matter reactor below me as it started to fire up.”

He was instructed to take the craft up to 1000 feet. He succeeded in taking it to 500 feet but shockingly, the engine stopped and Miller started losing altitude. He found no safety feature, and no seat ejection system was there in the craft. He kept imaging the craft floating but eventually, it hit the ground and Miller received serious injuries.

Miller said he fell unconscious and then woke up in the medical ward, where he was told by another man in a black suit that the craft mysteriously disappeared just before crashing and everyone at the base simply “called it a day” and went inside. Then in the middle of the night, they heard a loud crashing noise outside. Running out to see what happened, they saw the craft had crashed in the spot it was about to crash a while earlier during the day.

“I was inside the pilot’s seat unconscious, both my legs were shattered. The scientists had hypothesized that the craft had actually time traveled to a point in time, several hours later. They had me sign a non-disclosure, the third one, stating, since the first meeting, I would not tell anybody as long as I lived and making this video. Well, as you can see, I have gone against this NDA contract because I feel that the public needs to know about this.”

A similar claim of testing a re-engineered ET craft has another witness named Bill Uhouse who testified that it required a good amount of time for a person to train in order to operate the disc. Besides, its design was so exacting that nothing could be externally installed on it such as machine guns and bombs like in traditional aircraft.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

13-07-2024 om 21:47 geschreven door peter  

Story by Paul M. Sutter

The sci-fi landscape is littered with wormholes. From Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Rick and Morty to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these theoretical constructs allow characters to zip between distant points in the universe as easy as stepping through a doorway.

An Einstein-Rosen bridge is the simplest kind of wormhole. And while it can, in theory, allow you to meet a new friend from a distant part of the universe, there are some important reasons why it won’t let you travel back in time.

Black Holes, White Holes and Wormholes

Let’s start with everybody’s favorite astronomical mystery: a black hole. Despite their fearsome reputation, they’re actually rather simple creature. They have a point of infinite density, known as the singularity, in their centers. They are surrounded by a boundary called the event horizon.

The event horizon doesn’t exist in the same way that the surface of a planet exists. Instead it’s just a mathematical line in the sand that tells you one thing: if you cross within that special distance, you’re trapped forever, because you’ll have to travel faster than the speed of light to escape.

Read More: 

• 'Fuzzballs' Might Be the Answer to a Decades-Old Paradox About Black Holes

And that’s it. That’s a black hole. A singularity and an event horizon. All things that cross the event horizon will never escape back into the universe – things go in and never come out.

Mathematically we can also define the polar opposite of a black hole, which is conveniently called a white hole. White holes also have a singularity, but their event horizons act differently. Anything already on the outside of a white hole (like, the entire universe) can never, ever cross within it, no matter how hard it tries. And anything already inside the white hole will find itself ejected from it faster than the speed of light.

Now when we take a black hole and a white hole and connect their singularities together, we get an entirely new kind of object: an Einstein-Rosen bridge, better known as a wormhole.

Read More:

•  Astronomers Found a Baffling Black Hole That Existed 13 Billion Years Ago

What Is a Wormhole?

Wormholes are essentially hollow tubes through space and time that can connect very distant regions of the universe. A star may be thousands of light-years away, but a wormhole can connect that star to us with a tunnel only a few steps long.

Wormholes also have the somewhat mystical ability to allow backwards time travel. If you take one end of the wormhole and accelerate it to a speed close to that of light, it will experience time dilation — its internal “clock” will run slower than the rest of the universe.

That will cause the two ends of the wormhole to no longer be synchronized in time. Then you could walk in one end and end up in your own past. Voilà: time travel.

Read More: 

• Is There a Particle That Can Travel Back in Time?

Can Humans Travel Through Wormholes?

There's just one, tiny, teensy problem with this setup: Einstein-Rosen bridges are indeed wormholes, but the entrance to the wormhole sits behind the black hole event horizon. And the number one rule of black hole event horizons is that once you cross them, you’re never allowed to escape. Ever.

Once you pass through a black hole event horizon, you are forced towards the singularity, where you are guaranteed to meet your gruesome end. In other words, once you enter an Einstein-Rosen bridge, you will never escape.

So, the unfortunate truth with Einstein-Rosen bridges is that while they appear to be magical doorways to distant reaches of the universe, they are just as deadly as black holes. When you enter you can meet other travelers who have fallen in from the other side, and you could even carry on a conversation…briefly, before you both struck the singularity.

There have been attempts to stabilize Einstein-Rosen bridges and make them traversable by somehow getting their entrances to sit outside the event horizon. So far the only way we know how to do this is with exotic matter. If you threaded the wormhole tunnel with matter that had negative mass, then in principle you could have a not-deadly-at-all wormhole.

Alas, negative matter does not appear to exist in the universe, and so our wormhole — and time travel — dreams will have to remain as mere mathematical fantasies.

Read More: 

• What Did Einstein's Theories Say About the Illusion of Time?

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

13-07-2024 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers may have found a rare "missing link" black hole in the Milky Way after spotting a group of improbably fast-moving stars at the heart of a nearby stellar cluster. If confirmed, the cosmic juggernaut, known as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH), would be the second-largest black hole ever found in our galaxy. 

IMBHs are an extremely rare subset of black holes that are larger than stellar-mass black holes but smaller than supermassive black holes. This means they can be anywhere between 100 and 100,000 times the mass of the sun, according to NASA.

In theory, IMBHs should be just as common as other black hole types. However, astronomers have struggled to locate potential IMBHs or confirm their existence — and they aren't sure why. As a result, IMBHs are often referred to as missing link black holes. While several promising candidates have been detected, none have been proven to be the real deal.

Now, in a recent study uploaded April 4 to the preprint server arXiv, researchers may have uncovered evidence of a large IMBH in the globular cluster Omega Centauri — a compact group of around 10 million stars in the Milky Way located around 17,000 light-years from Earth.

The team compared 500 photographs of Omega Centauri taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and mapped the movements of around 1.4 million stars at the cluster's center. This revealed at least seven stars that "should not be there," researchers wrote in a statement.

Omega Centauri is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way.

(Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Häberle)© Provided by Live Science

This is because these stars were spotted whizzing around fast enough to escape the cluster's gravity and fly off into intergalactic space. But despite this, the stars continue to orbit at breakneck speed near the cluster's center.

"The most likely explanation [for this] is that a very massive object is gravitationally pulling on these stars and keeping them close to the [cluster's] centre," study lead author Maximilian Häberle, a doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Germany, said in the statement. "The only object that can be so massive is a black hole, with a mass at least 8,200 times that of our sun."

Related: 

• The most elusive black holes in the universe could lurk at the Milky Way's center

The Milky Way's second-biggest black hole?

Omega Centauri is an unusual entity: It is around 10 times larger than most other globular clusters and is surprisingly flat. It is so massive that you can even see it with the naked eye on dark, clear nights, when it takes up almost as much of the night sky as the moon when viewed from Earth.

Researchers suspect that the cluster likely used to be a dwarf galaxy that orbited the Milky Way, before being pulled into the galaxy's middle. As a result, scientists have often wondered if there could have been a sizable black hole at its heart.

Researchers first proposed the idea of an IMBH in Omega Centauri in 2008, when Hubble revealed how tightly the cluster's stars are bunched at its center. However, at the time, other researchers argued that this could be caused by a swarm of several smaller, stellar-mass black holes.

But the superfast stars highlighted in the new study indicate the existence of an IMBH, the study authors argue.

"This discovery is the most direct evidence so far of an IMBH in Omega Centauri," study co-author Nadine Neumayer, an astronomer at MPIA, said in the statement. If confirmed, it would be the Milky Way's second-largest known black hole behind Sagittarius A* — the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy, she added. "This is exciting because there are only very few other black holes known with a similar mass."

However, the presence of an IMBH in Omega Centauri is not confirmed, and more data is needed to know for certain if it is really there. It is also unclear exactly how large the cosmic entity might be and where it is.

The researchers have been granted time in the future to use the powerful James Webb Space Telescope to peer deeper into the cluster, which means we may not have to wait too long for more evidence of the black hole's existence.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

13-07-2024 om 18:39 geschreven door peter  

De geur van een planeet niet ver van de aarde ontdekt, waar gesmolten glas naar beneden regent: het ruikt naar “rotte eieren”

ESA/Hubble/Wikimedia commons - CC BY 4.0

We kunnen exoplaneten, die zich buiten ons zonnestelsel bevinden, niet bereiken, maar we kunnen hun geur wel waarnemen: een van hen ruikt naar rotte eieren, zo heeft een nieuw onderzoek ontdekt.

HD 189733 b, de “warme Jupiter" op 64 lichtjaar afstand van ons

Mensen associëren de geur van zwavel met die van rotte eieren, en zouden hun neus moeten dichtknijpen voor de exoplaneet die volgens wetenschappers een atmosfeer heeft die aan deze “geur” doet denken. De buitenaardse wereld in kwestie is een hete exoplaneet van Jupiter genaamd HD 189733 b en is 64 lichtjaar van de aarde verwijderd: een relatief korte afstand, gezien de locatie buiten ons zonnestelsel.

Dankzij de James Webb-telescoop was het mogelijk om te ontdekken dat het omgeven is door een atmosfeer gevuld met waterstofsulfide, waardoor je je gemakkelijk de geur kunt voorstellen die je zou kunnen inademen. HD 189733 b staat dertien keer dichter bij zijn moederster dan Mercurius bij de zon, waardoor het een “helse” planeet is, zoals beschreven. Een bijzonder hete en gasvormige Jupiter in het sterrenbeeld Vosje, die in slechts twee aardse dagen een baan rond zijn ster voltooit. Dit betekent dat de temperatuur bijna 925°C bedraagt: uiteraard onleefbaar voor mensen, afgezien van de geur die het afgeeft. Maar dit is niet de enige bizarre eigenaardigheid van de exoplaneet in kwestie.

De exoplaneet die naar rotte eieren ruikt en waarop het gesmolten glas regent

Roberto Molar Candanosa/Johns Hopkins Univeristy

Voordat ze in het nieuwe onderzoek de geur van HD 189733 b ontdekten, hadden wetenschappers al onthuld dat er een grote kans bestaat dat er op de exoplaneet buien van gesmolten glas ontstaan, die het gevolg zouden kunnen zijn van winden die het materiaal met een snelheid die kan oplopen tot 800 km per uur zijwaarts duwen, drie keer zo snel als een orkaan van categorie 5 op aarde. Het zijn precies de “eigenaardigheden” van deze buitenaardse wereld die onderzoekers ertoe hebben aangezet er nieuwe aandacht aan te besteden met behulp van de James Webb.

De nieuwe waarnemingen maakten het mogelijk om koolstofdioxide, zware metalen in de atmosfeer, de hoeveelheid water en zuurstof te meten. Zo ontdekten ze de aanwezigheid van waterstofsulfide, dat op onze planeet wordt uitgestoten door vulkanen en ontbindend organisch materiaal. Het is een licht ontvlambaar, schadelijk en kleurloos gas. Voor wetenschappers was het geen echte verrassing: men vermoedde al dat HD 189733 b, als zijnde gasreus, dit molecuul zou kunnen bevatten, dat ook op Uranus en Jupiter aanwezig is. Tot nu toe is dit gas echter zelden buiten het zonnestelsel gedetecteerd, behalve in de ruimte tussen de sterren.

Op zoek naar andere werelden met waterstofsulfide

Guangwei Fu, een astrofysicus aan de Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, noemde de ontdekking van waterstofsulfide op de exoplaneet een belangrijke "opstap naar het vinden van dit molecuul op andere planeten en om beter te begrijpen hoe verschillende soorten werelden ontstaan." Zwavel, zo legde Fu uit, is een essentieel element voor het bouwen van complexe moleculen en is van fundamenteel belang voor de overgrote meerderheid van de levensvormen op aarde.

De aanwezigheid van buitenaards leven op HD 189733 b kan echter vrijwel zeker worden uitgesloten, vanwege de extreem hoge temperaturen, maar ook vanwege de meteorologische omstandigheden. Het feit dat er waterstofsulfide aanwezig is op de exoplaneet doet ons echter denken dat andere werelden buiten ons zonnestelsel dit zouden kunnen bevatten, samen met mogelijke buitenaardse levensvormen. De volgende stap van de onderzoekers zal zijn om andere hete planeten vergelijkbaar met Jupiter te observeren met behulp van de James Webb om de aanwezigheid van hetzelfde gas te evalueren.

• https://youtu.be/xxs_et1yQlY

• https://youtu.be/UVS4tpWWNTM

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

13-07-2024 om 17:56 geschreven door peter  

Yalçin Yalman Speaks: Unveiling the Turkey UFO Phenomenon

The enigmatic Kumburgaz UFO sightings, recorded between 2007 and 2009, have captivated the imaginations of UFO enthusiasts worldwide. At the heart of this phenomenon is Yalçin Yalman, the man behind the camera. In a recent groundbreaking interview, Yalman has broken his silence, providing new insights into his extraordinary experiences, the beings he encountered, and his predictions for future sightings. This article delves into Yalman’s journey and the broader implications of the Turkey UFO phenomenon.

A Journey Begun in Childhood

Yalçin Yalman’s fascination with UFOs began at the tender age of 12. His early years were marked by vivid dreams and astral journeys, during which he claimed to encounter beings from the Zeta Reticuli star system. These experiences left a profound impact on him, laying the foundation for a lifelong quest to understand and document extraterrestrial phenomena.

At the age of 20, while serving in the military, Yalman had a pivotal encounter. He reported seeing a hexagonal craft in the sky that communicated with him telepathically, urging him to follow it. This incident, coupled with his earlier experiences, cemented his belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life and set him on a path of relentless pursuit.

• https://youtu.be/Nhsz1Wkkp18

The Kumburgaz UFO Footage

Between 2007 and 2009, Yalman captured several significant UFO sightings in Kumburgaz, Turkey. Using a Canon XL1 mini DV camera and later a Sony handicam with a telescoping lens, he recorded footage of hexagonal and triangular crafts, some of which appeared to have humanoid figures inside. This footage gained substantial attention and was validated by Turkish authorities and scientists, including TÜBİTAK, Turkey’s scientific and technological research council.

Despite the recognition, Yalman’s journey was fraught with challenges. He faced severe financial difficulties and homelessness, which hindered his ability to continue his work. However, he felt an irresistible compulsion to document these sightings, often feeling as though he was under some form of hypnosis or guided influence.

Astral Contact and Beings from Zeta Reticuli

Yalman claimed to have had ongoing astral contact with beings from Zeta Reticuli. According to him, these beings chose him for a mission to share their existence and information with humanity. He believed these beings protected him from malevolent entities, specifically reptilians from the Orion constellation.

One of Yalman’s most startling revelations was a vision suggesting that an ancient spacecraft was buried under Mount Nemrut in Turkey. This vision, he claimed, could have profound implications for our understanding of extraterrestrial life and ancient human history.

Predictions for Future Sightings

In his interview, Yalman made bold predictions about future UFO sightings. He stated that two large spacecraft would be visible in regions such as Peru, Chile, Brazil, or northern New Mexico by specific dates: July 28 and between August 15-20. He believed these sightings would occur in cloudy weather and hoped that their occurrence would validate his experiences and insights.

Challenges and Validation

Yalman’s claims have been met with skepticism from some quarters. Detractors question the authenticity of his footage, suggesting it could be hoaxed. However, Yalman and his supporters emphasize the multiple witnesses and expert validations that corroborate his accounts.

Throughout his life, Yalman faced numerous personal hardships, including health issues like epilepsy and legal troubles that led to imprisonment. These challenges, however, did not deter him from his mission. He continued to document his experiences and share them with the world, driven by a deep-seated belief in the significance of his work.

VIDEO:

• Chris Lehto – Yalçin Yalman Breaks Silence: Inside the Turkey UFO Phenomenon

• https://youtu.be/1RF6dl4hQ1g

• https://youtu.be/HciJorFh1Jg

Yalçin Yalman’s message to those interested in UFO phenomena is clear: faith and a pure heart are essential for making contact or capturing footage of extraterrestrial entities. He expressed a strong desire to share his knowledge and experiences with humanity before he dies, highlighting the potential role of extraterrestrial beings in shaping human history and future.

In conclusion, Yalçin Yalman’s revelations provide a fascinating glimpse into the Turkey UFO phenomenon. His experiences, while controversial, offer valuable insights into the potential existence of extraterrestrial life and its interaction with humanity. As the dates of his predicted sightings approach, the world will be watching closely to see if his extraordinary claims hold true.

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

13-07-2024 om 16:53 geschreven door peter