The two NASA astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, won’t be coming home anytime soon. During a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Aug. 24, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the space agency was giving up on the idea of bringing Wilmore and Williams home aboard their balky Boeing Starliner spacecraft—which has been experiencing thruster problems since its launch on June 5. Instead, the Starliner will be flown home uncrewed, and Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride back to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will launch to the ISS in September for a five-month station stay, returning in February. This extends what was supposed to be an eight-day ISS rotation for Wilmore and Williams to a whopping eight months.

“NASA has worked very hard with Boeing to reach this decision,” Nelson said. “The decision is a result of a commitment to safety.”

The ruling rested on what NASA calls a flight readiness review (FRR). As agency brass explained at an Aug. 14 news conference, FRR’s are typically held before launch, when officials gather for a final go or no-go on the planned mission.

“We bring in representatives from all of the related centers, the technical authorities, the NASA engineering, and safety center flight operations,” explained Ken Bowersox, a former astronaut and an associate administrator for NASA’s space operations mission directorate. “We listen to the status of the mission, go through some special topics, and then we poll everybody at the end on whether or not they think we're ready to undertake the mission.”

On one occasion, that panel’s decision led to disaster. The FRR for the final mission of the space shuttle Challenger was held on Jan. 15, 1986, and the ship was cleared to launch. Thirteen days later, on Jan. 28, that liftoff took place, ending in a fuel tank explosion and the death of all seven crew members just 73 seconds after the ship left the pad. That tragedy, followed by the breakup of the shuttle Columbia and a similar loss of all hands on Feb. 1, 2003, left NASA much more risk-averse than it had been before.

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• The Polaris Dawn Mission Opens a New Chapter in Private Space Flight

“We did not have the governance structure that we have today with technical authorities,” said Russ DeLoach, chief of NASA safety and mission assurance, during the earlier press conference. “So at that time, the program managers pretty much had near-unilateral decision making. And so if there were views that maybe a path we were taking was not correct, there was really no strong additional authority to step in and say, ‘Wait a minute.’”

That additional authority exists today, in the form of FRRs that take place mid-mission—though they often go by a different name: a mission risk acceptance forum. Whatever they’re called, the official panels are intended to bring the scrutiny of an FRR to bear at any point between the time a crew leaves the ground and the time they return to Earth. For the past several weeks, NASA has been under the gun to make such a decision about the hobbled Starliner—and to do it fast. The spacecraft’s batteries have a limited lifespan, and if the ship was not deemed fit to carry the crew home, it would have to fly back empty soon.

The FRR that resulted in the decision not to bring Wilmore and Williams home on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was held on Aug. 23, and Nelson was very much in the loop. If there are dissenting opinions during the review, the decision goes first to Jim Free, NASA associate administrator. After him, Nelson could step in, and clearly he did.

Ahead of the decision being finalized, it was still possible that NASA could surprise the public—not to mention Wilmore and Williams—and announce that the stranded astronauts would be flying their dodgy Starliner home. But that was never likely. NASA’s institutional sorrow runs deep—back far before the Challenger and Columbia disasters, to the Jan. 27, 1967, launch pad fire that claimed the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, when they were conducting a dress rehearsal for the launch of their Apollo 1 spacecraft. Shortly after that tragedy, legendary flight director Gene Kranz gathered the grieving NASA staffers together for a grim but bracing post-mortem.

Read More: 

• Fly Me to the Moon Is a Lighthearted Conspiracy Romp. But It Speaks to a Spiritual Sickness

“From this day forward, flight control will be known by two words: Tough and competent,” Kranz said, chalking the words on a blackboard. “Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write ‘tough and competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room, these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.”

That price still stands. NASA could have decided to spare Boeing the embarrassment of flying their Starliner home empty, and Wilmore and Williams the ordeal of spending six more months in space, but that’s not the route the agency chose. Astronaut lives are on the line. A chastened NASA chose not to risk them again.

• Write to Jeffrey Kluger at jeffrey.kluger@time.com.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/channel/ }

25-08-2024 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

Once astronomers began to map deep into the universe, however, the cosmic web could not be ignored. While some galaxies found their homes in the clusters, most inhabited long, thin filaments and broad walls. This cosmic web was defined by the voids, the vast regions of almost-nothing that dominate the volume of the universe.

The largest portions of the cosmic web are the superclusters. But unlike the clusters, they are not gravitationally bound. That means that the member galaxies in a supercluster have not yet finished their building project. The superclusters are still in the process of forming. This fact makes it difficult to pick out exactly what a supercluster is.

Recently astronomers have turned to dynamical definitions of a supercluster. This means that they don’t just consider the position in space of a particular galaxy, but also its movement. Since superclusters are in the process of continual construction, this method looks at what galaxies are trying to build.

This method allows astronomers to distinguish one supercluster from another, and that’s how we’ve recognized that the Virgo supercluster is just one individual branch of a much larger structure known as Laniakea, which contains an astounding 100,000 galaxies. And that is our home in the universe.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

25-08-2024 om 21:10 geschreven door peter  

Ever since the Apollo missions brought samples of lunar rocks and soil back to Earth for analysis, scientists have known that there is abundant water on the Moon. These findings were confirmed by several subsequent robotic sample-return missions, including China’s Chang’e-5 mission. However, much of this water consists of hydroxyl (OH) created through the interaction of solar wind (ionized hydrogen) and elemental oxygen in the regolith. There is also plenty of water in the form of ice that can be found in permanent shadowed regions (PSRs), such as the craters that cover the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

Unfortunately, lunar regolith contains very little hydroxyl that can be converted into water, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%. Moreover, the icy patches found in cratered regions are mixed with regolith, forming layers that extend beneath the surface. As such, extraction is a challenge regardless of where the water is coming from. After they examined the samples returned by the Chang’e-5 mission, the team led by Wang determined that the highest concentrations of water were contained in ilmenite (FeTiO₃), a titanium-iron oxide mineral found in lunar regolith.

According to the research team, this is due to “its unique lattice structure with sub-nanometer tunnels.” The team then conducted a series of in-situ heating experiments that revealed how hydrogen in lunar minerals could be used to produce water on the Moon. According to their study, the process consists of heating lunar regolith to temperatures exceeding 1,200 K (~930° C; 1700° F) with concave mirrors. This led to the formation of iron crystals and water bubbles in the material, the latter being released as water vapor. The chemical process is expressed mathematically as:

FeO/Fe₂O₃ + H –> Fe + H₂O.

The resulting water vapor is then reclaimed at a rate of 51-76 mg of water for every gram of lunar soil. That works out to 50 liters (13.2 gallons) of water for every ton of processed regolith, enough to sustain 50 people daily. As the team noted in their paper, “[t]his amount is ~10,000 times the naturally occurring hydroxyl (OH) and H₂O on the Moon.” In addition to drinking water, this process could provide the necessary irrigation water for growing crops, another important task for future lunar settlements to lessen their dependence on Earth.

This same process could be used to chemically separate hydrogen and oxygen gas from regolith, which could then be fashioned into propellant – liquid hydrogen (LH₂) and liquid oxygen (LOX) – or used as fuel and for maintaining supplies of breathable oxygen. “Our findings suggest that the hydrogen retained in [lunar regolith] is a significant resource for obtaining H2O on the Moon, which is helpful for establishing scientific research stations on the Moon,” they conclude.

Another benefit is that the process is driven almost entirely by focused sunlight, while solar arrays can provide the additional power that drives the retention process. The one limiting factor is that this process will only be possible during a lunar day in the southern polar region (where China, NASA, and the ESA plan to build their bases). This means that the facility could run for two weeks straight, followed by a two-week lull.

However, this can be mitigated by stationing processing facilities away from the polar regions or possibly creating a network of solar mirrors or satellites that can direct light toward the southern polar region. In any case, this method presents a potential means of harvesting water on the Moon that is cost-effective compared to heating regolith in industrial furnaces and could be paired with ice extraction and processing to ensure future settlements have plenty of water.

Further Reading: 

• NIMTE, 
• The Innovation

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

25-08-2024 om 21:04 geschreven door peter  

Unveiling UFO Secrets: Lue Elizondo’s Revelations in Ross Coulthart Interview

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

25-08-2024 om 11:54 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Study lays bare haunting connection between UFOs and nukes

By Matthew Phelan Senior Science Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Panicked locals in two cities north of Los Angeles, California, piled onto Amazon's Ring neighbors app to report UFOs that 'zig zagged' and hovered over the weekend.

Their reports of a 'bright light' that looked like 'a shooting star' but acted more like a 'hovercraft' sparked shockwaves across social media — alongside the emergence of eerie cell phone videos that purported to capture some of these six alleged craft. 

But a wide community of experts, including UFO researchers with Harvard's Galileo Project, told DailyMail.com that the videos were most likely 'an intentional hoax.'

The videos appeared to show drone swarms used in an LED light show thousands of miles away from California, based on landmarks and other visual cues, they said. 

And some of these UFO videos were paired with old and unrelated audio tracks passed off as the videos' own. 

Above, a clip from one of two videos purporting to be from the August 16, 2024 UFO sightings reported in California's Palmdale-Lancaster area, in the high desert north of LA

Electrical engineer John Tedesco, who runs a lab affiliated with Harvard's Galileo Project, told DailyMail.com: 'The first two videos seem a bit suspicious to me.

'The patterns of longitudinal lights are well-organized. This could be drone swarms.' 

However, he admitted: 'The quality of the video doesn’t give us much to work with.'

Further assessments, by Tedesco and others, only added to those suspicions, suggesting the videos weren't related to the initial UFO reports north of LA at all.

The social media frenzy first started online the morning of Saturday, August 17, apparently spurred by reports posted to Amazon's Ring neighbors app Friday night.

'I was intrigued by the first neighbor who posted that he saw a UFO from his yard,' wrote one resident of the Palmdale-Lancaster area, in the high desert north of LA. 

'So, my mom and I went out to ours to see if we'd see anything,' the user continued.

'They were too far [for] me to confidently say they were flying saucers, but [...] we counted six after being out there for 10 minutes.'

All told, at least five witnesses spotted one or all of the reportedly half dozen UFOs.

Records from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) related to mysterious and potentially hostile drone incursions over a top secret Pentagon airfield nearby, as well as public NASA data, may offer the best hope of explaining these Ring reports.

But the videos that were posted claiming to capture the same airborne enigmas are another story, one DailyMail.com's experts could answer more concretely.

In this video, a woman can be heard saying 'Oh, my God. It's landing!' as she appears to film the red-and-blue light UFO gliding slowly toward a marina dock below. Experts told DailyMail.com that the footage was likely taken from Hawaii - not California

Above, one of three user-generated posts to the Amazon Ring neighbors app about the UFOs

Soon piggy-backing off these text-only Amazon Ring app accounts, short UFO videos emerged of a blinking string of red and blue lights hovering allegedly over these same desert neighborhoods.

One 23-second video opens on a quiet, suburban street at night and then zooms in on the 'UFO' pulsing above the neighborhood. 

A male voice exclaims in palpable fear off-camera: 'Oh, what is that? Mom! Mom, you see this?' A woman's voice can next be heard replying: 'Holy s***! What the hell is that?' The video then ends abruptly.

In a second clip, a woman can be heard saying 'Oh, my God. It's landing!' as she appears to film similar red-and-blue lights off of a UFO as the craft glides slowly toward a marina dock. 

Ted Roe — who co-founded the nonprofit National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) with NASA psychologist Dr Richard Haines — told DailyMail.com that the videos appeared to be forged. 

'Nearly as I can tell, the Palmdale footage is an intentional hoax using footage from a drone show in Hawaii,' Roe advised, 'and an audio track used in several other vids.'

A year earlier, in fact, the same audio between a concerned boy and his mother was posted to Reddit paired with footage of a large, wet sea slug writhing in a still pool.

One 23-second video allegedly from Palmdale last weekend (screencaptures above) uses audio from unrelated video that is, at least, over a year old

Above, one of three user-generated posts to the Amazon Ring neighbors app about the UFOs

Above, one of three user-generated posts to the Amazon Ring neighbors app about the UFOs

Roe, whose work with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has helped improve how the FAA accepts UFO reports from civilian pilots, noted that his analysis was only provisional.  

But a deeper analysis by Tedesco, the electrical engineer, and his avionics specialist brother who also works with Harvard's Galileo Project confirmed Roe's assessment.

'I took one of the video frames from the [23-second] video as a still image,' as Tedesco explained to DailyMail.com.

'There seem to be multiples of the object in a rectangular pattern, possibly nine drones,' Tedesco added. 'However, due to the quality of the video, I'm not certain.' 

Tedesco's brother, aerospace avionics specialist Gerald Tedesco, who collaborates with him on their UFO field laboratory, agreed the drone explanation was most likely.

The behavior of these UFO lights also matched patterns pre-programmed into commercial drone swarms — according to Preston Ward, who serves as chief pilot and general counsel for the Texas-based drone light show company Sky Elements.

'To me it looks like the 6 drone test pattern,' Ward told DailyMail.com, 'distributed when someone first purchases drone show software.'

'The landing sequence is, for sure, drones using standard parameters,' the seasoned drone pilot opined.

Ward's colleague, Kyle Pivnick, added that one of the videos' visible landmarks did not match the alleged location of the sighting: 'Palmdale and Lancaster both are very land-locked and the video looks like it is at a marina.'

The footage appeared to have originated near the 2024 Pokémon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii — which capped off three nights of the international event with drone light shows according to local ABC affiliate KITV.

Footage uploaded to social media by the Hilton Hawaiian appears to show a similar marina adjacent to the coastal launch point for these Pokémon Worlds drone light shows — drones creating matching those red and blue LED light formations.

Above, an image of the Pokemon Worlds drone show posted by the Hilton Hawaiian last week

Above, another image of the 2024 Pokémon World Championships drone light show in Honolulu, Hawaii - captured by a local surf shop

Above, another image of the 2024 Pokémon World Championships drone light show in Honolulu, Hawaii - this one depicting Pikachu, a popular 'electric' type pokémon - captured on video by a local surf shop

Compounding the likelihood that these videos were simple online disinformation, the UFOs depicted do not resemble the written accounts of the UFOs posted by residents of the Palmdale-Lancaster area to the Ring neighbors app. 

Another of these witnesses, who 'saw a bright light up in the sky' while walking their dog, described their sighting as one solid object. 

'At first I was like omg what a cool plane that [US defense contractor] Northrop assembled, but to my dismay it was a hovercraft,' the Ring user wrote. 'I saw [a] UFO.'

Another self-reported witness said they saw a UFO that looked at first like 'a shooting star falling east,' while out in their backyard with their daughter. But the single bright object, not a collection of lights, 'stopped very abruptly and zig zagged going north.'

'Checking to see if anyone else saw it,' they continued, 'or are we both going crazy.'

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•  Pentagon official reveals seven-minute encounter with glowing blue UFO big as half a football field 

The Tedesco brothers told DailyMail.com that the UFO field research that they conduct with their Nightcrawler team employs a suite of sensors that resolve whether or not a UFO sighting is actually a drone. 

Their Galileo-partnered mobile lab has 'a sensitive acoustic microphone with a parabolic dish' to pull noise data off odd distant lights or apparent objects in the sky.

'If the objects were prosaic, we would get a specific sound and frequency profile for quadcopter propellers,' Gerald, the avionics expert told DailyMail.com, referencing a common, commercial drone model.

'The same could be said about the rotor blades of a helicopter, prop-driven planes or turbofan jet engines.'

'Additionally, doing a radar sweep of the sky would allow us to get a cross-sectional profile of the craft, gather distance, elevation, speed and possibly relative size and shape of the object,' Gerald added.

Despite the Tedesco brothers' high doubts about the videos that have claimed to be from the Palmdale-Lancaster sightings last weekend, the pair have not written off this 'UFO flap' entirely.

'I'm not saying it can't be something else, other than man-made drones,' Gerald Tedesco added. 'But with the limitations in parametric data to support other possibilities [...] the likelihood of drones becomes the simplest explanation.'

Above, NASA's experimentaal x-59 supersonic jet tested out of Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks, a classified facility run by the Pentagon contractor near Palmdale, California 

Above, a recent notice from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banning drones in the Palmdale area, near its airport, due to incursion on top secret military airspace

The suspect videos aside, the unexplained citizen UFO reports out of the high desert north of LA might have to do with a recent spate of rumored drone incursions on the US Air Force's top secret aerospace testing facility Plant 42 in the area. 

The Palmdale Regional Airport shares its runways with Plant 42, which is home to Lockheed Martin Skunkworks' advanced projects division.

The FAA has recently issued warnings and a ban on drone flights nearby, due to a series of incursions on this airspace that may have been flights by ordinary US citizens or espionage. 

'We have observed multiple UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities over Plant 42 during the last few months,' Edwards Air Force Base spokesperson Mary Kozaitis told defense news site The War Zone on Monday.

'The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size and configuration,' according to Kozaitis. 'FAA was made aware of the incursions and Edwards continues to monitor the air space to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets.'

'As a reminder to drone enthusiasts,' the Air Force official added, ;overflight of Plant 42 is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution, fines, and loss of operator privileges.'

Reporters for The War Zone also noted that no local police reports appear to have been filed to confirm the UFO sightings reported on the Ring neighbors app. 

Above, A skywatchers page run by the US space agency, and designed to help civilians spot the International Space Station (ISS) as it passes overhead, showed the station would be above Palmdale, California during the time of these UFO sightings

Above, a photograph of NASA's International Space Station (ISS) in orbit

But some of the sightings purporting to catch a glimpse of UFOs during last weekend's 'flap' are likely to have had an even more conventional explanation. 

Glimmers of sunlight reflecting off NASA's International Space Station (ISS) were expected to be visible on the ground for minutes at a time in the early morning all across the past weekend and beyond. 

A skywatchers page run by the US space agency, and designed to help civilians spot the ISS as it passes overhead, reported that sightings would feasible above Palmdale from Wednesday August 14, 2024 through Thursday August 29, 2024.

This page, NASA's 'Spot the Station' website, noted that visibility of the ISS from the ground around Palmdale-Lancaster was set to be one of its longest early on Saturday morning — shining in the sky for six minutes beginning at 5:35am local time. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 22:16 geschreven door peter  

UFO myth-buster reveals the crazy encounter even he cannot explain

• READ MORE: UFO expert's verdict on 2ft 'alien' mummies found in Peru 

By Alyssa Guzman For Dailymail.Com

A top UFO debunker has revealed the bizarre case that still puzzles him to this day. 

Scores of people, including military experts, have recorded eerie videos appearing to show UAPs - unidentified aerial phenomena - over the years and often seek answers by posting them online.

Mick West, of Sacramento, California, uses a range of tools to help explain these mysteries - but has been stumped by one Navy video of a UFO that was leaked by The New York Times. 

The footage released in 2017 had been taken by a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot two years earlier and appears to show a UFO following the jet from the USS Theodore Roosevelt after the object had been detected by radar off the East Coast. 

In the infrared cockpit video, the incredible high-speed object seemingly breaks the laws of physics - with the two pilots heard debating whether or not it was a drone. 

Mick West, of Sacramento, California, uses several tools to debunk random flying objects, including FlightAware, Flight Radar 24, and Invisor. But his biggest help is Sitrec that integrates flight data, video, and satellite imagery 

One case that piqued West's interest is footage taken by Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot Ryan Graves.  West wants to review the original video files himself to better understand their data

Combing over the footage, West, who often relies on data surrounding the video to debunk recorded events, investigated the clip and tried to work out the rotation of the camera and the glare on the lens. Still, he was left with no answers.

West is now hoping to gain access to the original radar data instead of the analysis the government released so he can recreate the phenomenon - and rule out any reasonable explanations.

As part of his approach, West uses multiple tools including FlightAware, Flight Radar 24 and Invisor, an app that gives information on video, audio, and photos such as resolutions and the date they were taken.

But his biggest resource is Sitrec - a tool he designed himself that stands for 'situation recreation' - which integrates flight data, video and satellite imagery to paint a full picture, he told Popular Mechanics. 

'You have to be very careful about what you're looking at...for me, that's the very first step in investigating a case,' West, who has investigated around 1,000 UFO cases, told the outlet. 

Last month, the former video game programmer spotted a white, elongated object from a plane window while he was flying to Pasadena and took a quick video of it. 

'It’s not an intuitive thing, and if you don’t delve too deeply into it, [you’ll be wrong],' said West, who programmed Tony Hawk's Pro Series games

'It can be very difficult to figure out…but you have no choice,' he added (Pictured: Sitrec) 

Read More

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•  UFO hunters claim to be in possession of debris from alien space craft that is lighter than a petal 

He thought was just another airplane - a conclusion he would be right about - but he found himself needing to investigate the matter personally, he told Popular Mechanics. 

When he got to his hotel room, he used Photoshop to closely look at the image and downloaded the GPS routes from his flight and a few others in the area from FlightAware.com. 

In order for West to find an answer, he has to look at simultaneous events and see how they all fit into the bigger picture.

His plane wasn't the only in the air, so he had to look at other flight paths, as well as  weather phenomenon and satellite data. 

He also looks closely at the video angle, In his case, he knew the video he took was several thousand feet above ground and the object was below him.  

He used Flight Aware 24 to configure where other nearby planes were so he could 'figure out what’s actually in the air at a particular time,' he told Popular Mechanics. 

West then zoomed in on his own flight and found the exact location of his plane when he took the video. 

'I knew I was sitting on the right side of the plane,' he told the outlet. 

The map showed him a 'likely contender' - a plane that had taken off from LA's Van Nuys Airport. 

'That matches what we see in the video,' he told Popular Mechanics. 

He then used Sitrec - which an unidentified organization paid him to develop and make publicly accessible - to point the camera from his plane directly down onto where the other plane was traveling. 

'I set the camera to point from my plane to the other two. One of them matched exactly. It was a small Cessna,' he told the outlet. 'This confirms that this was the plane I was actually looking at.'

One Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UPA) - the term that took over for UFO in 2023 - that piqued West's interest appeared in footage the Chilean Navy caught of a black blob leaving streaks behind it in 2014, he told Popular Mechanics. 

The Chilean military investigated the footage for roughly two years and boldly determined it to be aliens. 

He determined the black blob seen by Chilean authorities was just a plane that had just departed from Santiago Airport, and the reason it appeared black in the footage their Navy had captured was because it was taken on a thermal camera and the plane was hotter than the surrounding area

However, West, thanks to Sitrec, came to a more reasonable conclusion and documented his investigation on YouTube. 

He determined the black blob to be a plane that had just departed from Santiago Airport. He claimed the reason it appeared black in the footage captured by the Navy was because it was taken on a thermal camera and the plane was hotter than the surrounding area. 

'It’s not an intuitive thing, and if you don’t delve too deeply into it, [you’ll be wrong],' West, who programmed Tony Hawk's Pro Series games, told the outlet. 

As for the streaks the Navy recorded, he explained that these were just the airplane's engines leaving contrails. 

West claimed that the Chilean Navy also got the flight path wrong.

'They thought they were looking at an object that was moving left to right.

'In fact, what they were looking at was this plane, just departed from Santiago Airport that had looped around to gain height over the mountains,' he said. 

Using his program, he was able to successfully simulate the plane's movements by accounting for the camera angle and matched it to flight records. 

West thinks his video game programming days helped condition him for the life of debunking UFOs as he spent 'an inordinate amount of time on this trivial little thing, this one intractable little bug that is just causing this problem' during his former profession. 

West thinks his video game programming days helped condition him for the life of debunking UFOs as he spent 'an inordinate amount of time on this trivial little thing, this one intractable little bug that is just causing this problem' during his former profession

UFO sightings over America's nuclear arsenal appeared to shift their interest from the making of the bombs to silos and bomber bases as the Cold War arms race grew (above)

'It can be very difficult to figure out… but you have no choice,' he told Popular Mechanics. 

He finds debunking claims of alien sightings has the same rigor as programming a game and tied with his fascination with conspiracy theories, it ignited his passion for investigating UAP. 

However, other experts remain convinced that UFO activity is real and seemingly has some connection to nuclear sites. 

The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, Lue Elizondo, agreed that there 'seems to be a lot of correlation' between UFO appearances and nuclear sites.

And independent researcher Robert Hastings, who has been working toward full government disclosure of UAP activity, said in 2010, 'Declassified US government documents and witness testimony from former or retired US military personnel confirm beyond any doubt the reality of ongoing UFO incursions at nuclear weapons sites.'

Now, new research — in the form of three studies helmed by a retired US Air Force staff sergeant, Larry Hancock, and a data analyst affiliate with Harvard's UFO-hunting Galileo Project, Ian Porritt — shows that not only has there been unusual activity around nuclear weapons and facilities, it has shifted over the years.

At first seemingly interested in the production of nuclear weapons, UFO sightings later sprang up around silos and bomber bases.

'You would see this interest at silos when they were being installed before 'the activity would drop off,' Porritt previously told the DailyMail.com.

Eerily similar to these encounters are the instances of UAPs following fighter jets that were disclosed by the UAP Task Force, including a 'giant Tic Tac' UFO witnessed by Navy veteran fighter pilot Commander David Fravor in 2004.

Fravor's fellow co-pilot Chad Underwood witnessed the 'perfectly white' wingless oblong captured by his cockpit's in-flight video.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 21:50 geschreven door peter  

'There was no denying it': Retired fighter pilot and mother-of-three who saw Tic-Tac UFOs in 2004 says Navy crew kept quiet due to fears of being labeled 'kooky'

• Alex Dietrich, 41, was on patrol near San Diego in 2004 when she saw a Tic Tac-shaped UFO appear flying at pace and erratically
• When her Navy commander went into for a closer look, the object began mimicking its movements and then disappeared
• The mother of three and former Lt. Cmdr. says she feels a 'duty and obligation' to speak out about what she saw 
• She says other pilots were fearful of speaking about UFOs as they would be dismissed for being 'kooky' 
• The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is to release its report about unidentified aerial phenomena sightings by military personnel next month

By Bevan Hurley For Dailymail.Com

A former fighter pilot who saw Tic Tac-shaped UFOs in 2004 says her Navy colleagues stayed quiet for fear of being labeled 'kooky'.

Mother-of-three Alex Dietrich, 41, says she feels a 'duty' to speak up about her close encounter with unidentified aerial phenomena because she sees it as a vital matter of national security.

Dietrich appeared on a recent 60 Minutes special on unexplained aerial phenomena and also speaks regularly to House and Senate enquiries into UFOs, and says military pilots fear the stigma of being associated with UFOs.

'I do feel a duty and obligation,' the former Lt. Cmdr. told the Washington Post when asked why she was open to talking about her experiences, unlike many of her former colleagues.

'I was in a taxpayer-funded aircraft, doing my job as a military officer,' she told the Post. 

'Citizens have questions. It's not classified. If I can share or help give a reasonable response, I will.'

The Director of National Intelligence and other agencies is due to release a highly-anticipated report on UFOs to Congress next month.

Former fighter pilot Alex Dietrich, 41, was on patrol near San Diego in 2004 when she saw a Tic Tac-shaped UFO appear flying at pace and erratically

When her Navy commander Dave Fravor went into for a closer look, the object began mimicking its movements and then disappeared

Dietrich was one of six Super Hornet pilots who saw the object, but says many fear being labeled 'kooky' for speaking out about what they saw

Last April, the infamous 'Tic Tac' incident was one of three videos released by the Pentagon which showed footage of 'unexplained aerial phenomena' taken by US Navy pilots.

At least six pilots, including Dietrich, encountered the mysterious object as it flew at speed over the Pacific near Mexico on November 14, 2004. The way it moved has led to speculation that it was a UFO and it has become a key piece of evidence for those who believe in extraterrestrials.

Recalling that day, Dietrich says she had recently got her stripes as a fighter pilot and was on a regular training flight in her Super Hornet with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group when she noticed an unfamiliar object flying at speed and erratically.

A video of the encounter, verified by the Pentagon as authentic, showed the astonished reactions of the pilots as they watch the objects fly at great speed and with sudden changes in direction. 

Her commanding officer Dave Fravor told Dietrich to stay back while he went closer to investigate. The object began to mimic his movements, and then flew off and disappeared.

These unidentified vehicles were reported to have descended 80,000 feet in less than a second. 

Seconds later, he said, it reappeared on the the USS Princeton's radar 60 miles away. 

Dietrich tweeted recently: 'Some days your boss asks you to swab the deck. Some days he asks you to keep high cover while he spars with a UFO.' 

While recounting the incident to 60 Minutes, Dietrich said other fighter pilots had struggled with how much to reveal to the public about what they had seen. 

'Over beers we've said, 'Hey man, if I saw this solo, I don't know that I would have come back and said anything,'' Dietrich said during the interview. 

'Because it sounds so crazy when I say it.'  

Now a tutor George Washington University and the US Naval Academy, Dietrich told 60 Minutes: 'I felt the vulnerability of not having anything to defend ourselves. And then I felt confused when it disappeared.'

Dietrich told the Washington Post that people had got in contact over the years with her wanting to know more about what she had seen.   

'I just was an eyewitness to something in the course of my normal duties . . . that somehow makes me a portal.'

Dietrich says she had recently got her stripes as a fighter pilot and was on a regular training flight in her Super Hornet with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group when she noticed an unfamiliar object flying at speed and erratically on November 14 2004 

 'Over beers we've said, 'Hey man, if I saw this solo, I don't know that I would have come back and said anything,'' Dietrich said during the interview. 'Because it sounds so crazy when I say it'

'Some days your boss asks you to swab the deck. Some days he asks you to keep high cover while he spars with a UFO' she tweeted recently

Why are people suddenly interested, Dietrich wondered in a tweet after the 60 Minutes special aired

The mother of three now teaches at the US Naval Academy and George Washington University

In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Sean Cahil - a retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms on the USS Princeton (pictured) - spoke about the sighting of a UFO that has become known as the 'Tic-Tac', because of its shape

Marco Rubio says many lawmakers in Congress 'giggle' when the topic of UFOs comes up, but that the national security threat needed to be taken seriously

Ahead of next month's blockbuster intelligence report to Congress on military sightings  of UFOs, retired Navy officers have been warning of the dire threat the mystery objects could pose.  

'The technology that we witnessed with the Tic Tac was something we would not have been able to defend our forces against at the time,' Sean Cahil - a retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms - told CNN's Chris Cuomo of one recently-released video.

'What we saw in the Tic Tac is the five observables. [These] indicate a technology that outstrips our arsenal by at least 100 to 1000 years at the moment.' 

Footage released recently week confirmed as real by the Pentagon appeared to show a UFO buzz a United States stealth ship near San Diego before diving under the water.

Commenting on the video, an ex-navy officer said that the technology on display is 100 to 1000 years ahead of that possessed by the United States.

'What we're seeing are a number of distinct and different things,' he said.

'Sometimes we're seeing a 50-foot object that can travel at hypersonic speeds and seemingly go into orbit or come down from altitudes of potentially above 100,000 feet.'

He added that the social stigma around reporting such events has for a long time kept witnesses of such phenomena quiet.  

The Department of Defense's watchdog is also expected to examine how the Pentagon has handled UFO reports, with a source telling CNN earlier this month that there will be more enquiries announced in the near future.

The Pentagon released three short videos from infrared cameras In April 2020 that appeared to show flying objects moving quickly, after the veracity of the videos had been acknowledged in September 2019 ahead of their official release.

It came as Senator Marco Rubio warned that UFOs pose a serious threat to national security and can no longer be laughed off by lawmakers. 

'Some of my colleagues are very interested in this topic and some kinda, you know, giggle when you bring it up. But I don't think we can allow the stigma to keep us from having an answer to a very fundamental question.'

Rubio said the possibility that drones or aircraft from a rival military power - or from another civilization - were entering US airspace without permission should be getting more attention and resources.

'I want us to take it seriously and have a process to take it seriously,' Rubio told 60 Minutes.

'Tic Tac' UFO: US Navy pilot made visual contact with the object on November 14, 2004 

At least six Super Hornet pilots made visual or instrument contact with the UFO on November 14, 2004.

The encounters, which are documented in numerous interviews with first-hand witnesses, remain a mystery, and the object's incredible speed and movements have led to speculation that it was extraterrestrial in origin.

The original FLIR video from the USS Nimitz encounters leaked online as early as 2007.

Witnesses say that clips of the video had been circulated widely on the Navy's intranet - used to communicate between ships in the carrier group - and an unknown sailor in the group likely first leaked it.

The USS Nimitz, a US Navy aircraft carrier, was at the center of a bizarre UFO sighting saga in 2004.

The clip became one of the most-touted pieces of evidence in the UFO community when the Pentagon confirmed its authenticity in 2017.

In January, Chad Underwood, the former Navy aviator who shot the famous leaked video clip, broke his silence in an interview with New York Magazine.

He said the oblong, wingless 'Tic Tac' shaped object was spotted off the coast of Mexico over the Pacific.

He also revealed that for about two weeks, the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Princeton, part of Carrier Strike Group 11, had been tracking mysterious aircraft intermittently on an advanced AN/SPY-1B passive radar.

The radar contacts were so inexplicable that the system was even shut down and restarted to to check for bugs - but operators continued to track the unknown aircraft.

Then on November 14, Commander David Fravor says he was flying in an F/A-18F Super Hornet when he made visual contact with the object, which seemed to dive below the water, resurface, and speed out of sight when he tried to approach it.

As Fravor landed on the deck of the Nimitz, Underwood was just gearing up to take off on his own training run.

Fravor told Underwood about the bizarre encounter, and urged Underwood to keep his eyes open.

He recalls how he suddenly saw a blip on his radar before tracking it on his FLIR camera.

'The thing that stood out to me the most was how erratic it was behaving,' Underwood told the magazine.

'And what I mean by 'erratic' is that its changes in altitude, air speed, and aspect were just unlike things that I've ever encountered before flying against other air targets.'

Underwood said the object wasn't obeying the laws of physics and dropped from 50,000 feet altitude to 100 feet in seconds, which he says, 'isn't possible'. He added that he saw no signs of an engine heat plume or any sign of propulsion.

The pilot refuses to speculate as to whether the object is an alien spacecraft or not, however.

'That's not my job. But I saw something. And it was also seen, via eyeballs, by both my commanding officer, Dave Fravor, and the Marine Corps Hornet squadron commanding officer who was out there as well.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE * Witnesses to 2004 Tic-Tac-shaped UFO sighting reveal shocking cover-up of infamous USS Nimitz encounter

•  READ MORE: Retired fighter pilot and mother-of-three who saw Tic-Tac UFOs in 2004 says Navy crew kept quiet due to fears of being labeled 'kooky

By Josh Boswell and Chris Sharp For Dailymail.Com

Witnesses to an infamous 2004 UFO incident reveal 'Tic-Tacs' spotted flying at incredible speeds by top Navy pilots off the California coast were also picked up on sonar speeding underwater.

Two Navy officers told DailyMail.com that masses of high-quality radar, sonar and other data of the strange craft were sent to a Naval base on shore – as they accuse the government of a cover up after the Pentagon claimed the data is nowhere to be found.

A source who investigated the incident for the Department of Defense told DailyMail.com that they were briefed about sonar data from a nearby submarine that tracked the UFOs moving at more than 460 mph underwater during the shocking November 2004 encounter.

Witnesses to an infamous 2004 Tic-Tac UFO incident have given shocking new information about the infamous incident to DailyMail.com. They include Kevin Day who was Senior Chief Operations Specialist aboard the USS Princeton at the time

Sean Cahill was a Chief Master-At-Arms on the Princeton, and from its deck he says he saw lights in the sky matching the movements of the objects Day saw on his radar

What he found was a roughly 40ft white object with no windows or wings, shaped like a Tic-Tac, flitting about above the sea that was roiling below it, disturbed by something large submerged beneath the surface.

Commander Fravor told Congress last year that as he circled the object, it turned to mirror his movements, then shot off past him at thousands of miles per hour, somehow stopping a second later at a secret pre-designated rendezvous point 60 miles away, that only he and a handful of Navy staff on his ship were given ahead of their training exercise.

Fellow F-18 pilot Lieutenant Chad Underwood then flew out and caught the object on video – footage that was published by the New York Times in 2017, igniting a firestorm of intrigue about the government's knowledge of UFOs.

Kevin Day was Senior Chief Operations Specialist aboard the USS Princeton at the time, in charge of monitoring the skies with radar to protect the Nimitz.

He told DailyMail.com that in the 10 days prior to the incident, he saw similar objects on his radar, behaving inexplicably.

F-18 pilot Lieutenant Chad Underwood

Day said groups of about 10 objects were repeatedly detected 80,000ft above them, where the Earth's atmosphere becomes space, dropping down to 20,000ft in less than a second, then following the ships by flying through the air at a relatively leisurely 115mph, before zooming off towards Guadalupe Island off the coast of Mexico where they seemed to disappear under the sea.

'They originated from sub-earth orbit. They came in groups of five to 10 at a time. If you added up all the groups, it was about 100 contacts,' Day said.

'The very first group had 10 objects. They sat right around 80,000ft or so, off the east coast of Catalina Island. They just sat there for a time. 

'Then they would drop down as a group, instantly, down to between 20,000 and 28,000ft off the coast of Catalina Island, about 10 miles east of it.

'The really weird thing was, a single object would leave that group and travel very slowly right over the top of us, at between 20-28,000ft at about 100 knots, which was really slow.

'It would just track above us, and then the next one would depart, and the next one,' he added. 'All the groups did that.

'All 100 of them, to the best of my knowledge, disappeared in the same spot in the sky. And that spot was about 60 miles north of an island off the coast of Mexico called Guadalupe Island.

'Everyone was looking at me like, what is this? And I didn't have good answers.

'We agreed just to track and report. Of course we made our intentions known to the admiral on the Nimitz.'

The 'Tic-Tac' UFOs disappeared from sight about 60 miles north of Guadalupe Island off the coast of Mexico, according to witnesses who spoke with DailyMail.com

A screenshot from the video of a Navy pilot tracking the space craft over the Pacific. US military personnel in California believe they saw UFOs off the coast on November 14, 2004

The story has become one of the strongest examples of other-worldly craft routinely encountered by the military in US airspace.

But the story gets stranger from there.

DailyMail.com can reveal that unknown objects were also allegedly recorded zooming around underwater during the incident.

A senior sonar officer on board the USS Princeton at the time told comrades that while Day was seeing objects dropping from space and Fravor was dogfighting with the 'Tic-Tac', his team were picking up sonar returns for objects in the water.

This shocking revelation marks a new element to the infamous story, 20 years after it occurred.

Sean Cahill was a Chief Master-At-Arms on the Princeton at the time of the sighting

Sean Cahill was a Chief Master-At-Arms on the Princeton, and from its deck he says he saw lights in the sky matching the movements of the objects Day saw on his radar.

He says a senior sonar officer on the Princeton later told him about the underwater data.

'I was shopping at the local Navy commissary about a mile from my house. I bumped into a former shipmate who worked in the sonar department and was active during the exercise.

'He said that they were practically all around us. He goes, 'Man, we were tracking things underwater, just as much as they were tracking them in the air during that exercise.'

The top sonar tech, who asked not to be named, did not dispute the story when contacted by DailyMail.com, but declined to elaborate.

A source who worked as a senior official in defense intelligence told DailyMail.com that they investigated the incident several years later, and were briefed on sonar data recorded by a US submarine in the area of the Nimitz carrier strike group.

The source said that the sub's sonar caught the UFOs traveling at more than 400 knots, or 460 mph, through the water in the vicinity of the ships.

Day said that the ships in the group built a three-dimensional picture from combining their sophisticated radar and sonar, and that all the data was combined and sent to a Naval base in San Diego.

'We shared all the combat information, put it on a data link and sent it back to the beach. So anybody who was interested in these things, they could see our data,' he said.

'There's underwater stations called SOSUS. And we also have towed array. So we have those three sonar devices going off for each ship. All the ships are feeding the composite picture. So we have a really good three-dimensional picture underneath the water.'

Sean Cahill was a Chief Master-At-Arms on the Princeton at the time of the TIc-Tac UFO sighting, and from its deck he says he saw lights in the sky matching the movements of the objects Day saw on his radar

Warships guarding the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz as well as a submarine in the area spotted a sttrange object on radar in the Pacific in November 2004

Cahill has spoken openly about the 2004 UFO sighting before – including during a 2001 appearance on Fox News 

He said these records would routinely be kept for decades.

But the Pentagon official charged with investigating UFO incidents claimed that he couldn't find any data on the Nimitz incident.

'My opinion is that one is going to remain unresolved because there is no data. There is no radar data,' Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the recently-retired head of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), said in a March 2024 interview.

'I think the Tic-Tac is so far back in time, there's no data. We went and looked for all of it.

I asked around for it.'

The seminal case was also glossed over in a historical report released by AARO, the Pentagon's UFO investigation office, on March 6 2024.

Cahill and Day say Kirkpatrick is wrong, and could even be deliberately trying to hide the truth.

'Those things are available for decades of the most mundane events that happened and everyday operations, they should be there for all these all the vessels that were there. But they're all missing,' said Cahill.

'It seems like purposeful obfuscation to me. It seems like a dereliction of duty for them not to investigate what is the most famous, well-documented case of UAP activity that we have, with the most amount of witnesses, the most amount of assets placed on it. And it's public now.

'They completely ignored it.'

'I think he should give all his money back that he took in salary,' Day said.

They said Kirkpatrick should have also had access to high fidelity radar and satellite data from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) that could have picked up the Tic-Tac and other UFOs tracked by the warships in November 2004.

Others on the ship at the time say that tapes with data of the incident were erased and taken by mysterious visitors in flight suits.

Petty Officer Gary Voorhis told engineering news site Popular Mechanics in 2019: 'These two guys show up on a helicopter, which wasn't uncommon, but shortly after they arrived, maybe 20 minutes, I was told by my chain of command to turn over all the data recordings for the AEGIS [radar] system.

'They even told me to erase everything that's in the shop—even the blank tapes.'

The men were spotted returning with 'a bunch of bags', another witness on the ship, Leading Petty Officer Ryan Weigelt, told Popular Mechanics.

Reports of objects moving rapidly and in inexplicable ways underwater – as they allegedly were around the Nimitz in 2004 – are less well-known frontier in the UFO topic.

But they are increasingly coming under scrutiny, and now even have their own name: Unidentified Submerged Objects, or USOs.

Retired Navy Commander David Fravor testifies before a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing about UFOs in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC in 2023

UFO expert and author Richard Dolan is set to release a book on the topic this year called The History of USOs: The True Story of Anomalous Craft in Earth's Bodies of Water.

It documents more than 600 cases, including extraordinary incidents of objects picked up by submarine radar moving faster than torpedoes and executing impossible right-angle turns, hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean.

'For every one of these USO stories, there's probably close to 100 you don't know. It's often sheer luck that they come out,' Dolan told DailyMail.com.

'One of the shocking things that I've seen in my last two years of USO research, is the number of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers encountering objects that were actually able to disable them for certain periods of time. I have at least 10.

'If you're the US Navy, I can't think of anything more important to you than your fleet of aircraft carriers,' he added. 'Anything that's going to shut down those aircraft carriers is going to be of supreme importance.

'Ronald Moultrie [former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security] spoke to the Senate a couple of years ago, saying we're confident that if we encounter these UAP we can identify and, if necessary, mitigate them.

'That's such a joke on every level. We know full well that this is a major problem, and they're not mitigating anything.'

Since retiring from government, former Rear Admiral and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator Tim Gallaudet has revealed that he was briefed on similar incidents of submarines picking up UFOs on sonar moving at rapid speeds underwater.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Gallaudet cautioned that he has not spoken with any of the sonar operators involved in the 2004 tic tac incident, but added that in general: ‘We have to investigate undersea and transmedium UAP in the same way we do other UAP to get a more complete understanding of the phenomenon.’

 { https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 21:19 geschreven door peter  

Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes Contain Much More Water than Previously Thought

Water is an important component of exoplanets, with its distribution, that is, whether at the surface or deep inside, fundamentally influencing the planetary properties. According to new research, for Earth-size planets and planets more massive than 6 times the mass of Earth, the majority of water resides deep in the cores of planets.

The majority of water can be stored deep within the exoplanet’s core and mantle, and not at the surface.

Image credit: Sci.News.

“Most of the exoplanets known today are located close to their star,” said ETH Zurich’s Professor Caroline Dorn.

“This means they primarily comprise hot worlds of oceans of molten magma that have not yet cooled to form a solid mantle of silicate bedrock like the Earth.”

“Water dissolves very well in these magma oceans — unlike, for instance, carbon dioxide, which quickly outgasses and rises into the atmosphere.”

“The iron core is located beneath the molten mantle of silicates. So how is the water distributed between the silicates and the iron?”

“The iron core takes time to develop. A large share of the iron is initially contained in the hot magma soup in the form of droplets.”

“The water sequestered in this soup combines with these iron droplets and sinks with them to the core. The iron droplets behave like a lift that is conveyed downwards by the water.”

Until now this behavior had only been known to be the case for moderate pressures of the sort that also prevail in the Earth.

It was not known what happens in the case of larger planets with higher pressure interior conditions.

“This is one of the key results of our study,” Professor Dorn said.

“The larger the planet and the greater its mass, the more the water tends to go with the iron droplets and become integrated in the core.”

“Under certain circumstances, iron can absorb up to 70 times more water than silicates.”

“However, owing to the enormous pressure at the core, the water no longer takes the form of water molecules but is present in hydrogen and oxygen.”

This study was triggered by investigations of the Earth’s water content, which yielded a surprising result four years ago: the oceans on the Earth’s surface only contain a small fraction of our planet’s overall water.

The content of more than 80 of the Earth’s oceans could be hidden in its interior.

This is shown by simulations calculating how water behaves under conditions of the kind that prevailed when the Earth was young. Experiments and seismological measurements are accordingly compatible.

The new findings concerning the distribution of water in planets have dramatic consequences for the interpretation of astronomical observation data.

Using their telescopes in space and on the Earth, astronomers can under certain conditions measure the weight and size of an exoplanet.

They use these calculations to draw up mass-radius diagrams that permit conclusions to be drawn about the planet’s composition.

“If in doing so — as has been the case so far — the solubility and distribution of water are ignored, the volume of water can be dramatically underestimated by up to ten times,” Professor Dorn said.

“Planets are much more water-abundant than previously assumed.”

Water distribution is also important if we wish to understand how planets form and develop. The water that has sunk to the core remains trapped there forever.

However, the water dissolved in the magma ocean of the mantle can degas and rise to the surface during mantle cooling.

“So if we find water in a planet’s atmosphere, there is probably a great deal more in its interior,” Professor Dorn said.

Water is one of the preconditions for life to develop. There has long been speculation about the potential habitability of water-rich super-Earths.

Then calculations suggested that too much water could be hostile to life. The argument was that in these water worlds a layer of exotic high-pressure ice would prevent the exchange of vital substances at the interface between the ocean and the planet’s mantle.

The current study reaches a different conclusion: planets with deep water layers are likely to be a rare occurrence as most of the water on super-Earths is not located on the surface, as has been assumed until now, but is trapped within the core.

This leads the astronomers to assume that even planets with a relatively high water content could have the potential to develop Earth-like habitable conditions.

“Their study thus casts a new light on the potential existence of water-abundant worlds that could support life,” the authors said.

• The study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
• H. Luo et al. The interior as the dominant water reservoir in super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. Nat Astron, published online August 20, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02347-z

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

24-08-2024 om 17:57 geschreven door peter  

Cretaceous Amber Fossils Shed New Light on Evolutionary Origin of Tardigrades

Tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates widely known for their extreme survival capabilities. Molecular clocks suggest that tardigrades diverged from other panarthropods (arthropods, tardigrades, velvet worms and lobopodians) before the Cambrian period, but their fossil record is extremely sparse. Now, paleontologists have described a new species of tardigrade and redescribed a previously known species, Beorn leggi, both from Canadian Cretaceous-aged amber.

Artistic reconstruction of Beorn leggi (top) and Aerobius dactylus (bottom) in a hypothetical fossilization environment.

Image credit: Franz Anthony.

First discovered in 1773, tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions.

Also known as water bears or moss piglets, these creatures can live for up to 60 years, and grow to a maximum size of 0.5 mm, best seen under a microscope.

They are able to survive for up to 30 years without food or water, for a few minutes at temperatures as low as minus 272 degrees Celsius or as high as 150 degrees Celsius, and minus 20 degrees Celsius for decades.

Tardigrades withstand pressures from virtually 0 atm in space up to 1,200 atm at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, and are also resistant to radiation levels up to 5,000-6,200 Gy.

They survive by entering a state of suspended animation called biostasis, using proteins that form gels inside of cells and slow down life processes.

“Tardigrades are microscopic invertebrates characterized by a compact body plan with four pairs of typically claw-bearing lobopodous legs that are closely related to onychophorans and euarthropods as members of Panarthropoda,” said Harvard University Ph.D. candidate Marc Mapalo and colleagues.

“Tardigrades are popularly known for the cryptobiotic ability of some species that allow them to survive extreme conditions, such as space vacuum, ionizing radiation, and low subzero temperatures, as well as their worldwide distribution in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats.”

“Despite their ubiquitous nature in the present-day biosphere, tardigrades have a notoriously scarce fossil record, which limits the study of their macroevolution including the origin of their body plan, and the timing of their terrestrialization and acquisition of cryptobiotic capabilities.”

“Currently, there are only four known crown-group tardigrade fossils, all of which are preserved as amber inclusions, but only two of them have well-established taxonomic positions relative to extant tardigrades.”

Aerobius dactylus.

Image credit: Mapalo et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06643-2.

In their study, the authors looked at a piece of amber found in Canada in the 1960s that contains the known fossil tardigrade Beorn leggi and another presumed tardigrade that couldn’t be substantively described at the time.

Using confocal laser microscopy, a method usually employed for studying cell biology, they were able to examine the tiny structures of the fossil tardigrades in stunning detail.

The study provides not only a definitive classification of Beorn leggi in the tardigrade family tree, but the identification of a new species: Aerobius dactylus.

“Both of them are found in the same piece of amber that dates to the Cretaceous period, which means that these water bears lived alongside dinosaurs,” said Dr. Javier Ortega-Hernández, also from Harvard University.

“The images of Beorn leggi show seven well-preserved claws, with the claws that curve toward the body being smaller than those curving away from it, a pattern found in modern-day tardigrades.”

“The second, previously unidentified specimen, had claws of similar length on each of its first three pairs of legs, but longer outer claws on its fourth set of legs.”

Both species serve as critical calibration points for what’s called molecular clock analysis, which help scientists estimate the timing of key evolutionary events.

For example, the latest findings suggest that modern tardigrades likely diverged during the Cambrian period over 500 million years ago.

The study also sheds light on the origin of the remarkable ability of tardigrades to survive extreme conditions by entering a state of stasis.

“The study estimates that this survival mechanism likely evolved during the mid to Late Paleozoic, which may have played a crucial role in helping tardigrades endure the end-Permian mass extinction, one of the most severe extinction events in Earth’s history,” Dr. Ortega-Hernández said.

The results appear in the journal Communications Biology.

M.A. Mapalo et al. 2024. Cretaceous amber inclusions illuminate the evolutionary origin of tardigrades. Commun Biol 7, 953; doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06643-2

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

24-08-2024 om 17:50 geschreven door peter  

AI Focused UFO Behind Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Jan 2016, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Jan 2016
Location of sighting: behind Nellis AFB, Nevada, USA

 

Guys, I decided to use ai to focus this old sighting from 2016 and wow it blew my mind! The detail is amazing, but I have to admit, I have never seen anything like it. This is different, it's unique unlike anything ever. And it's flying slowly over top secret USAF land that is dangerous to enter.

Scott C. Waring

 

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

24-08-2024 om 17:42 geschreven door peter  

AI Focused Sunken Shipwreck Off Wisteria Island, Florida Keys, UFO Sighting News. 4K HD.

Hey all, I was asked by many followers of mine on Youtube to use my ai focusing program on something different. So here we go. This is a ship I discovered in the Florida Keys, USA back in 2023. Watch the video, see for yourself if ai is capable of focusing all photos or just human faces. The proof is in the pudding. 

Scott C. Waring 

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

24-08-2024 om 17:37 geschreven door peter  

AI corrects three UFO photos from 1927, 1957, 1958, two military! UAP Sighting News.

Please hit subscribe, like and tell me your thoughts about it, Thanks, Scott. 

1. 1927 at Cave Junction, Oregon, USA 
2. Sept 1957 at Edwards AFB, California, USA 
3. Jan 16, 1958 Trindade Island, Brazil

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

24-08-2024 om 17:33 geschreven door peter  

The world is full of mysterious places, and Vottovaara Mountain in Russia's Republic of Karelia is one of them. This site has been revered for thousands of years by ancient Saami tribes and shamans, who considered it a sacred place surrounded with powerful energy. 

Image credit: Universe Inside You

Vottovaara is home to numerous strange megalithic structures and ruins that many believe couldn't have formed naturally. Among these are around 1,600 sacred stones, known as "seids," arranged in a puzzling pattern. These stones, often unusually shaped, are precariously balanced on small rocks in ways that defy simple explanations. While scientists suggest that this was the result of natural processes during the Ice Age, the sheer number and precision of these balanced stones challenge the idea that they occurred by chance. 

Another intriguing feature of Vottovaara is a structure referred to as "the well," which locals believe to be an ancient, man-made water reservoir. 

As you climb Vottovaara, you'll notice an eerie transformation in the trees. None of the trees on the summit are older than a few decades, and while young pines and firs start growing normally, they soon begin to twist and deform in bizarre ways. This phenomenon is thought to be caused by some unknown energy affecting the trees. 

Known as Death Mountain, Vottovaara also is believed to be connected to ancient spirits that are said to inhabit the area, adding to its aura of mystery.

  

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

24-08-2024 om 17:28 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE:  Only people with high IQ can solve stargazer test in 30 seconds

By Nikki Main Science Reporter For Dailymail.Com

An eye-popping video of seven suns taken from a hospital in China has captured the attention and baffled viewers around the world.

A woman was recording the sun’s descent over the horizon when something spectacular occurred - the image showed more than one sun in the sky.

However, the minute-long video which seemed like a cosmic miracle was actually an optical illusion created by the glass window through which it was filmed.

The phenomenon was caused by the light refracting through the window’s layered glass.

A woman in China captured an image of what appeared to be seven suns in the sky. The image was caused by refracted light through the paned glass window

The video was captured from the 11th floor of a hospital in Chengdu, China southwest of Sichuan on August 18, showing the sun duplicated with varying levels of intensity.

The woman who reportedly captured the video, known as Wang, said viewers were transfixed by the surreal display, according to Jam Press, as many have offered theories about how the phenomenon occurred.

‘This happened because of a magnetic field glitch that made parallel universes visibly manifest,’ one person wrote on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

‘The Cosmic Bureau has fixed the issue, and those responsible have been reprimanded,’ they added.

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• NASA's James Webb snaps two galaxies coming together to form image of a beloved animal 

Others argued on Reddit that the fragmented suns were a sign of ‘immense pollution’ in China and another person wrote: ‘The truth about global warming has finally been revealed.

Meanwhile, one person simply joked: ‘Will the real Sun shady please rise up?’ in a nod to rapper Eminem’s famed hit ‘The Real Slim Shady.’

However, one commenter did correctly address the question of how a video showed seven suns, writing: ‘This is caused by the reflection/refraction in glass in a multi-pane window. Light from the sun bounces between layers causing the distinct visual separation of the reflections.’

Similar to how you would see a reflection in a mirror, the light refracted and reflected off the layered glass, with each layer creating another copy of the image.

Except for the brightest sun in the center, which is the real one, the others are part of the optical illusion.

Although there is a scientific explanation for the seven suns, some people still preferred to believe that the spectacle fell under the story of Hou Yi.

In Chinese mythology, Hou Yi was portrayed as the god of archery who was sent from the Heavens to help humans.

He is said to have stopped 10 suns from burning up the earth and according to the tale, shot them down with his magic bows and arrows.

The tenth sun begged for its life and agreed to separate the day from the night as punishment for attempting to burn up the earth.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 17:22 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE*Scientists demand the Shroud of Turin to be re-analyzed amid growing evidence it could be authentic

• READ MORE:  New blood analysis of the Shroud of Turin supports the Bible

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

Scientists are calling for a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin amid a seemingly growing body of evidence that challenges the idea it's a fake.

There are also claims that bad data was used in a landmark 1988 UK study which found the shroud was a Medieval forgery and not the cloth Jesus was buried in.

A new review by researchers from France and Italy has revisited those 30-year-old findings and claims to have discovered discrepancies in the data which were not made public and raise doubts about the definitiveness of the results.

Tristan Casabianca, a French independent researcher, who made the find, told DailyMail.com that his findings do not confirm the shroud is older or the burial cloth used to lay Jesus to rest.

But Casabianca - who was an atheist until he began investigating the shroud 20 years ago - said those factors could not be ruled out 'without a re-analysis.' 

The research in question is a 1988 study that conducted radiocarbon dating on a piece of the shroud. Pictured are the sample containers that held strips of the cloth

Graphic designer Otangelo Grasso created a progression of what Jesus may have looked like based on the shroud image

The 1988 study used a technique known as carbon dating to determine the age of the controversial Shroud of Turin. 

The team determined with '95 percent confidence' the relic was manufactured sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD, long after the time of Christ's resurrection. 

The conclusion was reached after analyses performed on a corner of the ancient fabric by three different labs - at the universities of Arizona, Zürich and Oxford.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Atheist who set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was fake reveals why he's now 'convinced' it's the cloth Jesus was buried in 

But after obtaining the raw data, Casabianca found the results varied by decades.

One of Zürich's estimates in the Nature study said the cloth was up to 733 years old, but 595 years in the raw data.

Oxford's shroud sample was between 730 and 795 years old, but the raw data featured estimates that were off by up to 55 years.

Arizona's linen was between 591 and 701 years old, with the raw data showing a difference of up to 59 years.

Even though that would still places the cloth in the Middle Ages, hundreds of years after Jesus, Casabianca said it raises doubts.

He continued to explained that 'the lack of precision seriously affects the reliability of the 95 percent,' suggesting it was no more than 41 percent.

Anything lower than 60 percent suggests that there is a lot of disagreement or inconsistency among the results, according to the 2019 study published in Archaeometry. 

'We can say with confidence that the 1988 radiocarbon dating process led to a failure,' said Casabianca, who is an independent researcher in France.

'It was supposed to close a book, and it has only opened a new chapter. This failure could have been avoided with a better protocol.'

The raw data obtained by Casabianca showed it varied by decades than what was published in the Nature study. The red are changes made by the laboratories between their raw radiocarbon dates and the radiocarbon dates mentioned in the Nature article

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus

The 1988 research was conducted in three laboratories: The University of Arizona, Zürich in Switzerland and Oxford University in the UK. Each lab received a strip from the original piece cut, which were then reduced to smaller sizes for the research

But Dr AJ Timothy Jull, who worked on the 1988 analysis, told DailyMail.com that even if the teams did re-run the analysis, 'The results would be the same, but the data would be less scattered.' 

Dr Jull was part of the team at the University of Arizona.

'Zürich was close to ours, but Oxford was a bit different,' Dr Jull said.

'But that does not change the results. Others use this argument to say there is something wrong with the measurements, Casabianca tries to do this.'

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus.

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s when it was exhibited in the small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France.

Christians believe those wounds were miraculously imprinted on the burial shroud after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, scorched into the fibers by a burst of energy when he came back to life.   

Some believe it to be a Medieval fake, which Dr Jull and his team determined in the 1980s.

The piece was cut from the bottom corner on the back of the shroud, which experts said was not mended in the Middle Ages

However, a research involved with the 1988 study said that the radiocarbon dating of the shroud was done correctly

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s when it was exhibited in the small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France

The 1988 study saw scientists take a 10 mm by 70 mm piece of the shroud from the corner, which was cut into smaller pieces and distributed to the different labs.

Co-author Emanuela Marinelli, an independent researcher in Italy, told DailyMail.com: 'The sample was not representative of the full cloth because it is different [from one corner from another].

'The [1988] study found dating was more or less 150 years, so it is impossible to say the age of the entire 14-foot cloth.

'But for us, it was the statistical analysis that is the reason to reject to carbon dating.'

This technique estimates the age of organic materials based on the amount of radioactive isotope of carbon in them. 

The results were collected and collated by London's British Museum, which held on to the raw data until Casabianca and his team issued a legal request under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the raw information for the first time.

'I received a reply from the British Museum with more than 200 pages of documents,' Casabianca said.

'Our access to the documentation kept in the archives of the British Museum showed that the statistical analysis is supported by the documentation. 

'In it, we find that the samples were contaminated (including cotton and rogue fibers). This suggests that the sampling was suboptimal, to say the least.'

Dr Jull told DailyMail.com that he conducted another in 2010 to characterize the shroud samples, finding 'odd bits of cotton.'

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24-08-2024 om 17:12 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE / New blood analysis of the Shroud of Turin 'supports Biblical story about Jesus' crucifixion'

• READ MORE:  Scientists make new discovery after analyzing Shroud of Turin

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

The agonizing crucifixion of Jesus from the Bible details how he endured severe beatings, punctures and nails driven into his hands and feet.

Christians believe those wounds were miraculously imprinted on the burial shroud after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, scorched into the fibers by a burst of energy when he came back to life.

Now, a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin - also known as the Holy Shroud - claims to have uncovered evidence that the crucifixion may be historically accurate.

An engineer from the University of Padua in Italy used modern technology to reanalyze samples taken from the cloth in the 1970s, finding tiny blood particles showing signs of organ failure, trauma, disease and radiation. 

Materials that were typical in ancient Jerusalem were also said to be discovered, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region and not in Europe where many skeptics think it was created as a medieval forgery.

The new study analyzed blood samples taken from the shroud in 1978, which were collected using adhesive tape. This blood, according to the study, showed signs of disease, trauma and radiation

Independent experts dismissed the findings, however, saying blood could have contaminated the cloth at any point in the past 700 years.

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus.

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s, when it was exhibited in small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France. Some believe it to be a Medieval fake.

It was not until 1978 when the first physical samples were removed from the cloth, done using adhesive tape to carefully lift particles from the front fibers and a vacuum to collect dust from the back.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Atheist who set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was fake reveals why he's now 'convinced' it's the cloth Jesus was buried in 

But, back then, the results were inconclusive about whether or not blood had been present in the samples.

Now, University of Padua professor Giulio Fanti has placed those samples under modern-day microscopes capable of highlighting details down to the size of individual particles.

His study was published in Archives of Hematology Case Reports and Reviews, which peer-reviewed his research.

The reanalyzed particles showed the presence of hemoglobin, which is a key component of blood, and also two different types of blood that Fanti labeled Type A and Type B. 

Fanti says this suggests the cloth was used on someone with bloody injuries, rather than forged using ink, dye, paint or other techniques.

Traces of creatine were also identified in the shroud sample, which is released into the blood stream when a person undergoes muscle breakdown or some type of trauma.    

Your body produces creatine from amino acids in your liver, kidneys, and pancreas. It is also present in foods.

The body releases the chemical into the bloodstream when cells in the brain, heart or skeletal muscles are damaged.

It was not until 1978 when the first physical samples were allowed to be taken from the cloth, which was done using adhesive tape to carefully remove particles off the front fibers. Dr. Max Frei, a Swiss criminologist, can be seen taking samples from the shroud

The Shroud of Turin features hundreds of reddish spots, varying in shapes and sizes, across the imprinted body image

The expert found another type of blood that was shed while Jesus was still alive. It also contained signs of radiation, which Christians believe was released when Jesus rose from the dead

'The high percentage of creatinine found in [the sticky tape samples], may be explained, especially during Jesus' last hour before dying on the cross, by a reduced blood flow to the kidneys also caused by hypovolemia and by severe dehydration,' the study reads.

Fanti claimed that his findings align with John 19:28 that states 'Jesus said, I thirst.'

The samples also featured signs the person whose blood allegedly stained the shroud had suffered from uremic syndrome which occurs when the kidneys are unable to eliminate waste products.

While the condition typically happens from kidney disease, it can also be brought on by blunt trauma to the organ, which Fanti believes may have occurred when Jesus was whipped. 

John 12:1 reads, 'Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.'

'I would refer to Type A blood as that which came out of the corpse and therefore postmortem blood; it consists of microcytes which indicate the respiratory suffering of Jesus on the cross,' Fanti, a Christian who has been studying the shroud for 25 years, told DailyMail.com.

While the testing cannot prove whose blood litters the cloth, a new recent study claimed to find evidence that the shroud dates back 2,000 years. 

This new finding came in stark contrast to a 1988 study which found the shroud to be a fake, after researchers determined it had been produced between 1260 and 1390 AD.

The study analyzed samples taken from the 1970s. Researchers collected particles using adhesive tape. Pictured are the samples zoomed in 1,500 times

The 1970s research also collected samples from the back of the shroud using a vacuum. Pictured are dust particles with traces of blood attached

In his study, Fanti found the blood particles he labled 'Type B' to mostly have a darker color than the 'Type A' blood and sharper edges.

He claims this suggests Type B came from before Jesus had died, with the differences being due to clotting characteristics.

'Type B consists of coagulated blood crusts probably formed when Jesus was on the cross or ascended Calvary,' said Fanti.

Both types of blood also had traces of earth materials that Fanti said are typically found in Jerusalem, such as clay and limestone, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region.

Mark 15:46 explains how Joseph, one of Jesus' disciples, removed Christ from the cross and 'bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.'

Some believe that Jesus' body was not washed during that time, but quickly placed in the tomb, which means he was not cleaned of earthy materials before being wrapped.

'When I went to Jerusalem to analyze the earthy material taken from the Holy Shroud, geologist Amir Sandler of the Geological Survey Of Jerusalem recognized among other things, like smectite and illite, which are typical of the Jerusalem soil as well as other material coming from the Sahara winds,' Fanti explained. 

The blood detected by Fanti was also said to have evidence of possible radiation in different forms.

The Type A blood contained Beta particles that are electrons of great kinetic energy emitted by some radioactive nuclei, such as Potassium-40 used in explosives and fireworks.

Photon radiation particles were identified in the Type B samples - these are also known as Gamma rays, which are typically formed by a nuclear reaction.

However, Dr Lawrence Kobilinsky, a forensic scientist who is a professor emeritus at John Jay College, told DailyMail.com that the 'blood' was likely a 'secondary thought.'

'Earlier work... found a pigment [coloring agent] constituted the image,' he said.

Indeed, American chemist Dr Walter McCrone, who analyzed the tape strips in 1978, found the image consisted of red ochre and a gelatin solution.

'The simplest explanation is that this shroud was placed over a statue covered with pigment in certain areas, which transferred to the cloth, and gave it this three-dimensional configuration when you do the right kind of photography,' Dr Kobilinsky said.

The shroud features a faint image of a man with long hair and a beard, which many believe is the face of Jesus

The burial cloth has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, skeptics and Catholics since it was first presented to the public in the 1350s. It is housed in Turin, Italy inside this chapel

Both types of blood had earth materials that Fanti said are typically found in Jerusalem, such as clay and limestone, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region. The image shows elements captured from the surface of the fibers

A study in 2018 also determined the shroud to be a fake after a new forensic investigation showed that its bloodstains were left by someone who had been standing – rather than crucified.

Researchers concluded that the bloodstain patterns were also not consistent with a face-down corpse.

Dr Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University, worked with chemist Luigi Garlaschelli, of the University of Pavia in Italy, looking at the orientation of the shroud's stains. 

They sought to answer whether the crucifixion shown on the shroud was T-shaped, Y-shaped, or revealed another type of ancient Roman execution.

What they found, however, was that the bloodstains were not consistent with any one pose in particular. This suggested that someone who had been standing was used to imprint the famous patterns at different angles for the hands, chest and back.

Christians have claimed the imprints were created by energy released from Christ's body at the moment of resurrection.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 16:57 geschreven door peter  

Scientists analyse the famous 'WOW!' signal first detected in 1977 - and finally reveal the truth about the mysterious flash

• Scientists have new found evidence that the signal was not sent by aliens
• The signal could have been caused by a natural microwave laser hitting Earth  

By Wiliam Hunter

In 1977, the Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope captured a signal from space so strange that scientists are still baffled by it almost 50 years later.

For decades, scientists have struggled to find any natural process capable of producing the 72-second burst which prompted astronomer Jerry Ehman to write 'WOW!' on the telescope's readout.

Now, new analysis of the so-called WOW! signal has revealed that it might have been caused by a hugely powerful laser slamming into Earth.

Experts say this was not the first salvo of an alien invasion, but rather the entirely natural product of a rare alignment between a collapsed star and a cloud of cool hydrogen.

Unfortunately for alien-hunters, scientists from the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo say this new evidence shows that the WOW! signal is not evidence of life beyond Earth.

For decades, scientists have struggled to find any natural process capable of producing the 72-second burst which prompted astronomer Jerry Ehman to write 'WOW!' on the telescope's readout

What are the theories to explain the WOW! signal?

There have been many theories over the years for what could have been the source for the short-lived, narrow band radio signal that became known as the Wow! signal.

At the time, it was seen has having all the traits of having come from a distant planet, but the inability to pick it up again has frustrated astronomers.

While some have taken it to be a radio message broadcast by an alien beacon into space, others have looked for other astronomical sources. 

Theories have included collisions between asteroids and stars, flares from stars, merging white dwarfs and colliding neutron stars. 

Now, experts suggest that it could have been caused by energy from a neutron star trigger a cloud of atomic hydrogen gas to release a laser burst. 

When the WOW! signal hit Earth, many scientists put forward the idea that this could have been the first 'hello' from a distant alien civilisation.

The signal was not only uniquely powerful but also arrived in an unusually narrow band of frequencies around 1420 MHz - similar to those produced by atomic hydrogen.

Since hydrogen is so abundant in the universe, some suggested that advanced civilisations might be using its frequency as a calling card for signalling to other intelligent species.

Other natural explanations for the signature have been proposed, such as passing comets releasing clouds of gas.

In the absence of any good natural explanation, the idea that the WOW! signal was a 'technosignature' from another world became widespread.

Now, Professor Abel Méndez and his colleagues believe they have identified a series of similar signals which could explain the WOW! signal's origin.

The made the discovery by combing through the archives of the now-collapsed Arecibo Observatory's Radio Emissions from Red Dwarf Stars (REDS) project.

Since this telescope had a similar experimental set-up to the Big Ear radio telescope, he hoped that it would be able to reveal if anything like the WOW! signal had ever been spotted.

The researchers spotted several signals which appeared to be extremely similar to the WOW! signal, albeit considerably fainter. 

In 1977, the Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope (pictured) captured a signal from space so strange that scientists are still baffled by it almost 50 years later 

Researchers have used data from the now defunct Arecibo Observatory (pictured) to find signals that match the original WOW! signal. This evidence suggests it could be been the product of a giant space laser 

Read More

• Amateur astronomer traces possible source of notorious 'WOW!' signal first detected in 1977 to a sun-like star 1,800 light years from Earth  

Four of those originated from the tiny red dwarf star, Teegarden's Star, which is just 12.5 light-years from Earth.

Professor Méndez says: 'Our latest observations, made between February and May 2020, have revealed similar narrowband signals near the hydrogen line, though less intense than the original Wow! signal.'

What makes Teegarden's star unique, however, is that it is surrounded by clouds of cool atomic hydrogen.

When intense light from the red dwarf hits these clouds of hydrogen atoms, they are stimulated to produce a powerful burst of microwave energy in the 1420 MHz. 

Researchers spotted similar bands of energy (pictured) being produced at fainter levels from a nearby red dwarf star called Teegarden's Star. Importantly this star is surrounded by clouds of atomic hydrogen 

Read More

• Signals from outer space: The FOUR times scientists have believed we were contacted by aliens... as 'impossible' spinning object 4,000 light years away sends repeated radio bleeps to earth  

The result is an entirely natural microwave laser, or maser, within the hydrogen range which looks extremely similar to that of the WOW! signal.

The researchers argue that the WOW! signal was likely produced when an even more powerful burst of energy collided with a similar hydrogen cloud, producing an even bigger maser.

A burst that powerful is rare, but could have been produced by a type of neutron star called a magnetar.

These are formed when a star collapses and explodes into a supernova, leaving behind an ultra-dense, fast-spinning core with an extremely powerful magnetic field.

If the burst from a neutron star hit a cloud of cool hydrogen gas it could trigger a colossal maser burst just like the WOW! signal.

The signal may have been produced by a microwave laser triggered by the collision of energy from a magnetar (artists impression pictured) and a cloud of hydrogen gas. This means that the Wow! signal is not evidence for alien life 

Since it would be extremely rare for a magnetar to line up with a hydrogen cloud in just the right way, this also explains why we haven't heard the signal again.

If true, this would mean there is no need to suppose that the WOW! signal is evidence of alien life.

In their paper, published on arXiv, Professor Méndez and his colleagues write: 'Our hypothesis accounts for all observed characteristics of the Wow! signal introduces another source of false positives in technosignature searches, and suggests that this signal represented the first recorded astronomical maser flare in the hydrogen line.

'We will continue with Arecibo Wow! exploring our extensive sets of observations from Arecibo REDS. Future studies will incorporate archival data from the Arecibo Observatory.'

WHAT IS THE FERMI PARADOX?

The Fermi Paradox questions why, given the estimated 200bn-400bn stars and at least 100bn planets in our galaxy, there have been no signs of alien life. 

The contradiction is named after its creator, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi.

He first posed the question back in 1950.

Fermi believed it was too extraordinary that a single extraterrestrial signal or engineering project has yet to be detected in the universe — despite its immense vastness. 

Fermi concluded there must a barrier that limits the rise of intelligent, self-aware, technologically advanced space-colonising civilisations.

This barrier is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Filter'.

Italian physicist Enrico Fermi devised the so-called Fermi Paradox in the 1950s. It explores why there is no sign of alien life, despite the 100 billions planets in our galaxy

If the main obstacle preventing the colonisation of other planets is not in our past, then the barrier that will stop humanity's prospects of reaching other worlds must lie in our future, scientists have theorised.  

Professor Brian Cox believes the advances in science and engineering required by a civilisation to start conquering the stars ultimately lead to its destruction.

 He said: 'One solution to the Fermi paradox is that it is not possible to run a world that has the power to destroy itself and that needs global collaborative solutions to prevent that.

‘It may be that the growth of science and engineering inevitably outstrips the development of political expertise, leading to disaster.'

Other possible explanations for the Fermi Paradox include that no other intelligent species have arisen in the universe, intelligent alien species are out there — but lack the necessary technology to communicate with Earth.

Some believe that the distances between intelligent civilsations are too great to allow any kind of two-way communication.

If two worlds are separated by several thousand light-years, it's possible that one or both civilisation will be extinct before a dialogue can be established. 

The so-called Zoo hypothesis claims intelligent alien life is out there, but deliberately avoids any contact with life on Earth to allow its natural evolution.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 16:44 geschreven door peter  

I witnessed a UFO crash and aliens flee the ship - and I have a piece of the craft to prove it

• READ MORE:  Ex-Pentagon official claims US has recovered alien bodies

By Ellyn Lapointe For Dailymail.Com

A man from Los Angeles claims that he witnessed aliens fleeing from a UFO after it crashed landed in the desert - and he has a piece of the spacecraft to prove it.

Jose Padilla was just a nine-year-old boy growing up in San Antonio, New Mexico, when he and his friend discovered the 'avocado-shaped' UFO.

To this day, he swears that what he witnessed was real. 

Jose Padilla claims to have had a real alien encounter as a young boy living in San Antonio, New Mexico - he even has a piece of the UFO to prove it. 

The encounter occurred while the two boys were horseback riding in the desert just 13 miles from the Trinity nuclear test site, Robert Oppenheimer and other members of the Manhattan Project detonated the world's first nuclear bomb in 1945.

The encounter occurred that very same year, and at first, Padilla thought the sound of the crash was just another bomb test, he told CBS News Los Angeles. 

'I told my friend, 'it must be another test from the bomb' and he said, 'no, it's not a bomb, look at the smoke coming out of the ground,'' Padilla said.

Upon closer inspection, the smoke appeared to be coming from a crashed aircraft.

Then, all of a sudden, three extraterrestrials emerged from the aircraft and began 'sashaying and running in circles,' he said. 

But Padilla wasn't afraid of these creatures. 

'They had crashed at my father's ranch, and they needed help,' he said. 

Over the next ten days, the military cleaned up the wreckage while Padilla and his friend watched from a nearby ridge, despite being warned to stay away.

An artist's rendering of the crashed spacecraft that Padilla claims to have discovered in San Antonio, New Mexico in 1945.

'We were hiding behind cactuses,' he said.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  US Congress to investigate controversial Peru 'alien' mummies amid fears they could be linked to UFOs 

When the soldiers took a break from cleaning up the wreckage, Padilla and his friends entered the aircraft.

The 'extraterrestrials' were gone, giving Padilla the perfect opportunity to extract a souvenir from inside. 

He pulled a small 'dial' off the wall, brought it home and hid it in his garage. 

Frontier Analysis, a chemical testing lab based in Ohio, analyzed the artifact in 2015. Their report revealed that it was made of aluminum mixed with silicon and copper, CBS Los Angeles reported.

This mix of metals is commonly found in engine parts, and the report stated that the isotopic ratios were terrestrial.

An artist's rendering of the 'dial' that Padilla extracted from the inner wall of the crashed spacecraft.

But an extraterrestrial source for the metals could not be ruled out, the report stated.

'No one knows what it is,' Padilla said.

The years passed, and Padilla moved from San Antonio to Rowland Heights, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles, California, and quietly raised a family.

But he always held onto that strange artifact from his childhood.

Padilla has held onto the strange metal artifact for all these years, claiming that it's proof of his alien encounter. 

In 2012, Padilla and the friend who was with him when he witnessed the UFO were interviewed by investigative journalist and UFO researcher Paola Harris. 

At the time, Harris was investigating a claim by the son of World War II army pilot William Brophy.

Brophy's son told Harris that one of his father's last missions was to fly over the area that Padilla claims the UFO crash landed in. During one such flight, he saw two young boys on horseback, Harris told CBS Los Angeles.

She believes those two little boys were Padilla and his friend. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 16:30 geschreven door peter  

Since landing on June 1, Chang’e 6 has been carrying out a robotic lunar exploration mission launched by China’s National Space Administration. The Chinese probe was initially launched in early May.

Nearly a week after Chang’e 6 touched down in the Apollo basin, NASA’s LRO passed above its landing site, allowing it an opportunity to capture images that revealed the Chinese spacecraft’s location near the rim of a 50-meter crater.

With the new imagery in hand, LRO imaging experts were quickly able to determine the coordinates of Chang’e 6’s position to be roughly 42 degrees south latitude, 206 degrees east longitude, and placing the probe at an elevation of about minus 5,256 meters.

The new imagery obtained by the LRO was released amid a flood of recent social media posts that falsely link earlier imagery obtained by NASA, some dating as far back as 2010, to the recent landing of Chang’e 6.

Land of the Ancient Lunar Lava Flows

Billions of years ago, the area where Chang’e 6 is carrying out its mission was the site of basaltic lava flows that made their way to the area, where they likely subsided once they met a geological fault believed to exist in the area.

Chang’e 6’s landing site is roughly halfway between a pair of prominent dorsum or “wrinkle ridges,” features that are ubiquitous on lunar basalt plains and can sometimes reach several hundreds of kilometres in length. The basaltic flow in this region appears to overlap with an earlier one located to the west, which lacks the iron oxide and titanium dioxide that is evidenced by the adjacent younger basaltic formation.

NASA’s Spy in Lunar Orbit

Since June 18, 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been observing the moon from its unique eccentric mapping orbit, providing crucial imagery for creating a 3D map of the lunar surface.

Although the LRO was initially planned for a two-year mission, its operation was extended to gather data addressing various scientific questions, including the evolution of the moon’s crust and regolith.

The recent photos the LRO obtained of China’s Chang’ e 6 spacecraft aren’t the first time NASA’s ever-watchful eye in lunar orbit has successfully spotted operations on the lunar surface undertaken by other countries. Last September, the LRO captured images of India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at its landing site. Also, in April of this year, the LRO managed to capture images of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), an orbital spacecraft operated by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

Mapping the Moon and Beyond

Apart from photographing spacecraft sent to the Moon by other nations, the LRO has provided an unprecedented amount of information that has helped scientists expand our knowledge of Earth’s natural satellite. With a suite of high-resolution cameras and other powerful instruments, the LRO has succeeded at mapping the surface of the Moon with an impressive amount of detail, imagery which NASA has made available for viewing online.

Artist’s concept of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in orbit around the Moon

(Credit: NASA).

The LRO has played a significant role in several major discoveries, including the confirmation of water ice in craters on the Moon that remain in permanent shadow. Last December, the LRO also transmitted a laser beam from its laser altimeter instrument toward a tiny device on the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Vikram lander, proving that the LRO could be used to locate retroreflectors on the surface of the Moon.

Currently, Chang’e 6 is carrying out China’s second sample return mission. The samples collected by the lander were transferred to an ascender module and carried to an orbiter where it docked on June 6 for their transfer back to Earth. The Chang’e 6 lander and its associated rover have also conducted experiments while operating on the lunar surface.

Additional information on China’s Chang’e 6 mission can be found here, and more about the ongoing operations of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissaince Orbiter can be found on NASA’s official LRO mission webpage.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

• https://youtu.be/7kagUc6kDho

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24-08-2024 om 01:39 geschreven door peter